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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §8.42.1-8.42.5

Defense with Flaming Casks and Roman Bravery

Passage 391 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Suffering from thirst, the townspeople roll burning casks onto the Roman works and fight fiercely to deter them from putting out the fire. Despite the fire and unfavorable conditions, the Roman soldiers fight bravely to demonstrate their valor in full view of their comrades.

§8.42.1Quo malo perterriti oppidani cupas sebo, pice, scandulis complent; eas ardentes in opera provolvunt eodemque tempore acerrime proeliantur, ut ab incendio restinguendo dimicationis periculo deterreant Romanos.
Terrified by this calamity, the townspeople filled casks with tallow, pitch, and shingles; they rolled them on fire down onto our works, and at the same time fought most fiercely, in order to deter the Romans from extinguishing the fire by the danger of the combat.
§8.42.2Magna repente in ipsis operibus flamma exstitit.
Suddenly a great flame arose in the works themselves.
Quaecumque enim per locum praecipitem missa erant, ea vineis et aggere suppressa comprehendebant id ipsum quod morabatur.
For whatever had been rolled down the steep slope, being stopped by the vineae and the rampart, set fire to that very thing which delayed it.
§8.42.3Milites contra nostri, quamquam periculoso genere proeli locoque iniquo premebantur, tamen omnia fortissimo sustinebant animo.
Our soldiers, on the other hand, although they were hard pressed by a dangerous kind of fighting and an unfavorable position, yet endured everything with the greatest courage.
§8.42.4Res enim gerebatur et excelso loco et in conspectu exercitus nostri, magnusque utrimque clamor oriebatur.
For the action was going on both in an elevated place and in full view of our army, and a great shout arose from both sides.
§8.42.5Ita quam quisque poterat maxime insignis, quo notior testatiorque virtus esset eius, telis hostium flammaeque se offerebat.
Thus, each as conspicuous as he possibly could be, so that his valor might be better known and attested, offered himself to the weapons of the enemy and to the flames.

Notes

  1. 8.42.1quo malo — Ablative of cause led by the connecting relative `quo` (= `et eo`). It refers back to the situation described in the previous chapter (8.41.6), where the enemy was suffering severely from thirst.
  2. 8.42.1ab incendio restinguendo — A gerundive construction governed by the preposition `ab`, serving as a complement to the verb `deterreant` ("to deter/debar"). It means "to deter [the Romans] from extinguishing the fire."
  3. 8.42.2comprehendebant — Here used in a transitive sense meaning "to ignite" or "to set fire to." The subject is `ea` (the burning casks rolled down the slope), and the direct object is `id ipsum quod morabatur` (the vineae and rampart which arrested their progress).
  4. 8.42.5quam quisque poterat maxime insignis — A structure where the verbal phrase `quisque poterat` ("each was able") is embedded between the adverb `quam` and the superlative modifier `maxime` (modifying `insignis`, meaning "as conspicuous as possible"). `insignis` is a nominative singular agreeing with the subject `quisque`.

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §8.42.1-8.42.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:8.42.1-8.42.5

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