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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §7.87.1-7.87.3

Caesar's Intervention and the Crisis of Labienus

Passage 345 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Caesar sends reinforcements under Brutus and Fabius, and eventually leads fresh troops himself while ordering the cavalry to flank the enemy. Labienus, unable to hold, concentrates forty cohorts and alerts Caesar, who hastens to his aid.

§7.87.1Mittit primo Brutum adulescentem cum cohortibus Caesar, post cum aliis Gaium Fabium legatum; postremo ipse, cum vehementius pugnaretur, integros subsidio adducit.
Caesar sends first the young Brutus with some cohorts, afterwards the lieutenant Gaius Fabius with others; lastly, as the fight was raging more fiercely, he himself brings up fresh troops to their relief.
§7.87.2Restituto proelio ac repulsis hostibus eo quo Labienum miserat contendit; cohortes quattuor ex proximo castello deducit, equitum partem sequi, partem circumire exteriores munitiones et ab tergo hostes adoriri iubet.
Having restored the battle and repulsed the enemy, he hastens to that place whither he had sent Labienus; he draws out four cohorts from the nearest fort, and orders one part of the cavalry to follow him, and another part to go around the exterior fortifications and attack the enemy from behind.
§7.87.3Labienus, postquam neque aggeres neque fossae vim hostium sustinere poterant, coactis una XL cohortibus, quas ex proximis praesidiis deductas fors obtulit, Caesarem per nuntios facit certiorem quid faciendum existimet.
Labienus, when neither the ramparts nor the ditches could sustain the violent onset of the enemy, having collected together forty cohorts, which, drawn from the nearest garrisons, fortune had presented to him, informs Caesar by messengers what he thinks necessary to be done.
Accelerat Caesar, ut proelio intersit.
Caesar hastens to be present at the battle.

Notes

  1. §7.87.1subsidio — Dative of purpose. It functions with the accusative 'integros' (fresh troops) to express the purpose of bringing them as a reinforcement.
  2. §7.87.2eo quo — A correlation between the demonstrative adverb of direction 'eo' (to that place) and the relative adverb 'quo' (whither). It means 'to the place where'.
  3. §7.87.3quas ex proximis praesidiis deductas fors obtulit — The perfect passive participle 'deductas' modifies the relative pronoun 'quas' (antecedent 'cohortibus'). Literally, 'which, having been drawn from the nearest posts, fortune presented to him'.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §7.87.1-7.87.3. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:7.87.1-7.87.3

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