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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §8.22.1-8.22.2

Caesar's Response to the Bellovaci Envoys

Passage 371 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Caesar points out to the ambassadors that the Bellovaci had persisted in the war most obstinately. While noting that blame is easily shifted to the dead, he agrees to be satisfied with the punishment they have brought upon themselves.

§8.22.1Haec orantibus legatis commemorat Caesar: Eodem tempore superiore anno Bellovacos ceterasque Galliae civitates suscepisse bellum: pertinacissime hos ex omnibus in sententia permansisse neque ad sanitatem reliquorum deditione esse perductos.
To the ambassadors making these entreaties, Caesar points out: that at the same time in the preceding year, the Bellovaci and the other states of Gaul had undertaken war; and that these, of all, had most obstantly persisted in their resolution, and had not been brought back to sanity by the surrender of the rest.
§8.22.2Scire atque intellegere se causam peccati facillime mortuis delegari. Neminem vero tantum pollere, ut invitis principibus, resistente senatu, omnibus bonis repugnantibus infirma manu plebis bellum concitare et gerere posset.
He said that he knew and understood well that the blame for the offense was very easily laid upon the dead; but that no one possessed so much power that, with the leaders unwilling, the senate resisting, and all good men opposing, he could stir up and wage war with only the weak hand of the populace.
Sed tamen se contentum fore ea poena quam sibi ipsi contraxissent.
Nevertheless, he would be satisfied with that punishment which they themselves had brought upon themselves.

Notes

  1. §8.22.1Haec orantibus legatis — An ablative absolute construction with the present participle 'orantibus' and the noun 'legatis', functioning as a circumstantial or temporal clause ('while the ambassadors were entreating these things') modifying the main verb 'commemorat'.
  2. §8.22.2Scire atque intellegere se causam peccati facillime mortuis delegari — A nested accusative-with-infinitive construction in indirect speech. The accusative 'se' is the subject of the infinitives 'scire' and 'intellegere', which in turn govern another accusative-with-infinitive clause where 'causam peccati' is the subject accusative and 'delegari' is the passive infinitive.
  3. §8.22.2invitis principibus, resistente senatu, omnibus bonis repugnantibus — Three coordinate ablative absolute constructions in parallel. They express concessive or circumstantial relations ('with the leaders unwilling, the senate resisting, and all good men opposing'), emphasizing the impossibility of the populace stirring up war alone within the 'ut... posset' result clause.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §8.22.1-8.22.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:8.22.1-8.22.2

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