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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §7.68.1-7.68.3

Vercingetorix's Retreat to Alesia and Start of the Siege

Passage 326 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Following the defeat of his cavalry, Vercingetorix retreats to Alesia, while Caesar, after pursuing the enemy's baggage train and inflicting heavy casualties, begins constructing siege works around Alesia.

§7.68.1Fugato omni equitatu Vercingetorix copias, ut pro castris collocaverat, reduxit protinusque Alesiam, quod est oppidum Mandubiorum, iter facere coepit celeriterque impedimenta ex castris educi et se subsequi iussit.
All the cavalry having been put to flight, Vercingetorix drew back his forces, just as he had stationed them before the camp, and immediately began to march toward Alesia, which is a town of the Mandubii, and quickly ordered the baggage to be brought out of the camp and to follow close after him.
§7.68.2Caesar impedimentis in proximum collem deductis, duabus legionibus praesidio relictis, secutus quantum diei tempus est passum, circiter tribus milibus hostium ex novissimo agmine interfectis altero die ad Alesiam castra fecit.
Caesar, having conveyed the baggage to the nearest hill and left two legions as a guard, pursued as far as the time of day allowed, and having slain about three thousand of the enemy from the rear guard, on the next day pitched his camp near Alesia.
§7.68.3Perspecto urbis situ perterritisque hostibus, quod equitatu, qua maxime parte exercitus confidebant, erant pulsi, adhortatus ad laborem milites circumvallare instituit.
Having reconnoitered the situation of the city, and the enemy being panic-stricken because they had been defeated in their cavalry, the part of their army in which they chiefly confided, he encouraged his soldiers to the task and resolved to invest the town with a siege-wall.

Notes

  1. §7.68.1quod — The relative pronoun quod agrees in gender with the predicate noun oppidum (neuter) within the relative clause, rather than with its antecedent Alesiam (feminine).
  2. §7.68.1impedimenta ex castris educi et se subsequi iussit — An accusative with infinitive construction governed by iussit. The passive infinitive educi and the deponent (active in meaning) infinitive subsequi share the same subject accusative impedimenta, which is treated somewhat personified in the second clause.
  3. §7.68.3qua maxime parte exercitus confidebant — The relative adjective qua modifies parte in an appositive-like relative clause explaining the antecedent equitatu (ablative). The ablative qua parte is governed by the verb of trusting, confidebant (imperfect of confido).

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §7.68.1-7.68.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:7.68.1-7.68.3

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