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Julius Caesar · Gallic War §8.54.1-8.54.5

Surrender of Two Legions and Winter Quarters in Gaul

Passage 403 of 404 · Latin

Summary

Following a senate decree to send legions for the Parthian war, Caesar effectively loses two legions, but he complies despite knowing his enemies' designs. After distributing winter quarters to secure Gaul, Caesar himself departs for Italy.

§8.54.1Fit deinde senatus consultum, ut ad bellum Parthicum legio una a Cn. Pompeio, altera a C. Caesare mitteretur; neque obscure duae legiones uni detrahuntur.
Then a decree of the senate was made, that for the Parthian war one legion should be sent by Gnaeus Pompey, and another by Gaius Caesar; and not obscurely were two legions taken away from one man.
§8.54.2Nam Cn. Pompeius legionem primam, quam ad Caesarem miserat, confectam ex delectu provinciae Caesaris, eam tamquam ex suo numero dedit.
For Gnaeus Pompey gave the first legion, which he had sent to Caesar, raised from the levy in Caesar's province, as if from his own number.
§8.54.3Caesar tamen, cum de voluntate minime dubium esset adversariorum suorum, Pompeio legionem remisit et suo nomine quintam decimam, quam in Gallia citeriore habuerat, ex senatus consulto iubet tradi.
Caesar, however, although there was no doubt at all about the intention of his adversaries, returned the legion to Pompey, and, on his own account, ordered the fifteenth, which he had kept in Hither Gaul, to be delivered up in accordance with the decree of the senate.
In eius locum tertiam decimam legionem in Italiam mittit quae praesidia tueretur, ex quibus praesidiis quinta decima deducebatur.
In its place, he sent the thirteenth legion into Italy to protect the garrisons from which the fifteenth was being withdrawn.
§8.54.4Ipse exercitui distribuit hiberna: C. Trebonium cum legionibus quattuor in Belgio collocat, C. Fabium cum totidem in Aeduos deducit.
He himself distributed winter quarters to the army: he stationed Gaius Trebonius with four legions in Belgium, and led Gaius Fabius with as many into the territory of the Aedui.
§8.54.5Sic enim existimabat tutissimam fore Galliam, si Belgae, quorum maxima virtus, Aedui, quorum auctoritas summa esset, exercitibus continerentur.
For he thought that Gaul would be safest in this way, if the Belgians, whose valor was the greatest, and the Aedui, whose influence was supreme, were kept in check by the armies.
Ipse in Italiam profectus est.
He himself set out for Italy.

Notes

  1. 8.54.1uni — Dative singular of the numeral unus, functioning as a dative of separation with the verb detrahuntur ("are taken away from one man"). Although the senate's decree required one legion from Pompey and one from Caesar, the legion Pompey sent had originally been borrowed from Caesar, meaning both legions were effectively taken from Caesar alone.
  2. 8.54.2legionem primam... eam — The direct object legionem primam at the beginning is modified by the relative clause quam... miserat and the participle phrase confectam... Because of this long insertion, the accusative feminine pronoun eam is repeated just before the main verb dedit to resume the object, keeping the syntactic structure of the sentence clear.
  3. 8.54.5fore — An alternative form of the future infinitive futurum esse. It functions in the indirect discourse (accusative and infinitive construction) introduced by the verb of thinking existimabat, with Galliam as its subject, meaning "he thought that Gaul would be...".

Cite this passage

Julius Caesar, Gallic War §8.54.1-8.54.5. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.humanitext-lat2:8.54.1-8.54.5

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