Humanitext Reader

Julius Caesar · Gallic War §7.25.1-7.25.4

Valour of the Gaulish Soldiers Maintaining the Fire

Passage 283 of 404 · Latin

Summary

During the intense night-long battle, Caesar records a memorable incident he witnessed: a succession of Gaulish soldiers bravely taking over the dangerous task of keeping the fire burning on the mound, each being killed one after another by an artillery piece (scorpio) until the fight ended.

§7.25.1Cum in omnibus locis consumpta iam reliqua parte noctis pugnaretur, semperque hostibus spes victoriae redintegraretur, eo magis, quod deustos pluteos turrium videbant nec facile adire apertos ad auxiliandum animadvertebant, semperque ipsi recentes defessis succederent omnemque Galliae salutem in illo vestigio temporis positam arbitrarentur, accidit inspectantibus nobis quod dignum memoria visum praetereundum non existimavimus.
When the battle was still being fought in all places, the remaining part of the night having already been spent, and the hope of victory was constantly renewed for the enemy—all the more because they saw that the breastworks of the towers were burnt down, and noticed that it was not easy for our men, being exposed, to go to assist, and because they themselves with fresh men were constantly succeeding those who were fatigued, and believed that the entire safety of Gaul depended on that single moment of time—there occurred, while we were looking on, an event which seemed worthy of memory and which we did not think should be passed over.
§7.25.2Quidam ante portam oppidi Gallus per manus sebi ac picis traditas glebas in ignem e regione turris proiciebat: scorpione ab latere dextro traiectus exanimatusque concidit.
A certain Gaul before the gate of the town was throwing into the fire opposite the tower lumps of tallow and pitch passed to him from hand to hand; having been pierced through his right side by a scorpio, he fell lifeless.
§7.25.3Hunc ex proximis unus iacentem transgressus eodem illo munere fungebatur; §7.25.4eadem ratione ictu scorpionis exanimato alteri successit tertius et tertio quartus, nec prius ille est a propugnatoribus vacuus relictus locus quam restincto aggere atque omni ex parte summotis hostibus finis est pugnandi factus.
One of those nearest him, stepping over him as he lay, performed that same duty; in the same manner, when the second was killed by a blow from a scorpio, a third succeeded the second, and a fourth succeeded the third, nor was that spot left vacant of defenders until, the mound being extinguished and the enemy repulsed from every side, an end was put to the fighting.

Notes

  1. §7.25.1apertos — Accusative plural masculine of the adjective `apertus`, referring to the Roman soldiers who were left exposed. It functions as the subject (or its modifier) of the infinitive `adire`.
  2. §7.25.1inspectantibus nobis — It can be interpreted either as an ablative absolute ("while we were looking on") or as a dative modifying `accidit` ("it happened to us who were looking on").
  3. §7.25.4alteri successit tertius — Dative singular masculine of the pronominal adjective `alter`, referring to the "second" person (the other one) who had just fallen. The verb `succedere` governs the dative, meaning "to succeed" or "to take the place of."

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §7.25.1-7.25.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:7.25.1-7.25.4

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