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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §6.32.1-6.32.6

Plea of the Segni and Condrusi and Assembly at Aduatuca

Passage 246 of 404 · Latin

Summary

The Segni and Condrusi send ambassadors to Caesar pleading their innocence, which Caesar accepts on certain conditions. Caesar deposits the baggage of all the legions at Aduatuca under the guard of the fourteenth legion and Cicero.

§6.32.1Segni Condrusique, ex gente et numero Germanorum, qui sunt inter Eburones Treverosque, legatos ad Caesarem miserunt oratum, ne se in hostium numero duceret neve omnium Germanorum, qui essent citra Rhenum, unam esse causam iudicaret: nihil se de bello cogitavisse, nulla Ambiorigi auxilia misisse.
The Segni and Condrusi, of the nation and number of the Germans, who are situated between the Eburones and the Treveri, sent ambassadors to Caesar to entreat that he would not regard them in the number of his enemies, nor conclude that the cause of all the Germans who were on this side of the Rhine was one and the same; asserting that they had not thought of war, and had sent no auxiliaries to Ambiorix.
§6.32.2Caesar explorata re quaestione captivorum, si qui ad eos Eburones ex fuga convenissent, ad se ut reducerentur, imperavit; si ita fecissent, fines eorum se violaturum negavit.
Caesar, having investigated the matter by the interrogation of prisoners, commanded that if any Eburones should flee to them and assemble there, they should be brought back to him; and declared that if they did so, he would not violate their territories.
§6.32.3Tum copiis in tres partes distributis impedimenta omnium legionum Aduatucam contulit.
Then, having divided his forces into three parts, he conveyed the baggage of all the legions to Aduatuca.
§6.32.4Id castelli nomen est.
That is the name of a fort.
Hoc fere est in mediis Eburonum finibus, ubi Titurius atque Aurunculeius hiemandi causa consederant.
This is situated nearly in the middle of the territory of the Eburones, where Titurius and Aurunculeius had taken up their quarters for the purpose of wintering.
§6.32.5Hunc cum reliquis rebus locum probabat, tum quod superioris anni munitiones integrae manebant, ut militum laborem sublevaret.
He approved of this place for many other reasons, and especially because the fortifications of the previous year remained entire, so that he might relieve the labor of the soldiers.
Praesidio impedimentis legionem quartamdecimam reliquit, unam ex eis tribus, quas proxime conscriptas ex Italia traduxerat.
As a guard for the baggage he left the fourteenth legion, one of those three which he had lately levied in Italy and brought over.
§6.32.6Ei legioni castrisque Quintum Tullium Ciceronem praeficit ducentosque equites attribuit.
Over that legion and the camp he placed Quintus Tullius Cicero, and assigned him two hundred cavalry.

Notes

  1. 6.32.1oratum — A supine in -um expressing purpose, depending on the verb of motion miserunt.
  2. 6.32.1ne se in hostium numero duceret — The reflexive pronoun se refers to the subject of the main clause (the Segni and Condrusi).
  3. 6.32.1nihil se de bello cogitavisse — An accusative with infinitive construction in indirect discourse, depending on the idea of declaring or pleading implied in oratum.
  4. 6.32.2ad se ut reducerentur — The conjunction ut is placed after the prepositional phrase ad se for emphasis (hyperbaton). The entire clause is a substantive clause of purpose serving as the object of imperavit.
  5. 6.32.5Praesidio impedimentis — A double dative construction, consisting of the dative of purpose praesidio (as a guard) and the dative of reference impedimentis (for the baggage).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §6.32.1-6.32.6. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:6.32.1-6.32.6

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