Book 4.24-36.1
4.24
quo genere: ‘a type of warrior which’ (Kelsey)
quo genere: ‘the kind of soldiers which’ (Towle and Jenks)
essedarius, -ri m. A soldier fighting from a war chariot, charioteer. (Walker)
subsecuti: seeing the fleet stand out to sea, they guessed Caesar’s purpose and marched at once to oppose his landing. (Towle & Jenks)
aridus, -a, -um dry; neut. as noun, dry land. (Walker)
impeditis manibus: ‘having their hands full’ (Towle & Jenks)
autem: ‘while’ (Towle & Jenks)
insuefactos: trained to it, i.e. to charge to the water’s edge (Allen & Judson); accustomed, trained (Walker); 'accustomed to this work', i.e. to this mode of warfare (Harkness).
Quibus rebus nostri perterriti atque huius omnino generis pugnae imperiti, non eadem alacritate ac studio quo in pedestribus uti proeliis consuerant utebantur.
pedestribus: ‘on land’ (Kelsey)
utebantur: ‘were displaying’ (Kelsey) non…utebantur: ‘did not display’ (Walker)
alacritas, -tatis f. liveliness, ardor. (Walker)
4.25
quod: ‘Now…this’ (Kelsey)
inusitatior: 'less familiar' than that of the transports. The latter were more like the trading vessels, with which the Britons were acquainted. (Walker)
ad usum: i.e. ad navigandum : ‘the movement was more easily controlled’ (Kelsey)
motus…expeditior: lit., ‘whose motion was freer for use’ = ‘which were more easily managed.’ (Walker); 'which were swifter and easier to handle' (Rice Holmes)
ad latus apertum: ‘over against the exposed flank’ (Kelsey). I.e. the right, unprotected by their shields (Allen & Greenough)
inde…summoveri: inde: connect with propelli ac submoveri (Allen & Greenough)
fundis, sagittis, tormentis: it seems a queer combination to join two instruments for throwing (fundis, tormentis) with a class of missiles (sagittis, arrows). Translate the latter, bows (Towle & Jenks). Evidently Cretan and Numidian archers and Balearic slingers (cf. 2.7.1) served on board the galleys. The tormenta, which were mounted in the turrets (3.14.4) of galleys were probably small catapults (scorpiones) which discharged bolts at point blank range (Rice Holmes).
fundis: ‘slings’ (Kelsey)
quae res: ‘and this tactic’ (Kelsey); ‘a movement which’ (Towle and Jenks); ‘this maneuver’ (Allen, & Judson)
paulum modo: ‘just a little’ (Kelsey); ‘though only for a short distance,’ ‘just for a little’ (Moberly)
permoti: 'startled' (Allen & Judson)
ea res: his act (Towle & Jenks)
inquam, -is, -it def. verb. tr., used only with direct quotations and following one or more words of the quotation: 'say'. (Walker)
milites: Meusel doubts whether a centurion would have addressed his men as milites, though the general would have done so; and accordingly he prefers commilitones, the reading of manuscript beta. But in our army non-commissioned officers address privates as 'men'; so why not centurions, who enforced strict discipline? Cf. B.C. 3.91.1--sequimini me manipulares mei qui fuistis. (Rice Holmes)
praestitero: note the force of the tense: '(whatever the the result shall be) I at least shall have done my duty' (Walker).
inter se: 'one another' (Walker)
universi: 'in a body' (Allen & Judson)
dedecus, -oris n.: dishonor, disgrace (Walker)
proximis primi navibus: primi is a conjecture of Madvig's. The manuscript reading proximis primis navibus is nonsense; for it would imply that the ships were ranged in at least two lines, one behind the other; and since the soldiers could only just leap into the sea without being drowned, those who were on board the ships in the imaginary second line could not have done so, for their ships would have been in deeper water. (Rice Holmes)
4.26
pugnatum est ab utrisque acriter: ‘sharp fighting was kept up by both sides’ (Kelsey)
alius alia ex navi: men from different ships (Allen & Greenough); ‘one from this ship, another from that…’ (Kelsey)
quibuscumque…aggregabat: ‘gathered about whatever standards they chanced upon’ (Walker). aggrego, -are: [ad + grex, flock], unite in a flock; assemble, join, attach. (Walker)
ordines servare: ‘to keep the ranks’ (Kelsey)
singularis: ‘one by one’ (Kelsey); ‘scattered soldiers’ (Allen & Greenough)
vadis: ‘the shallow places’ (Towle and Jenks)
ubi…conspexerant…adoriebantur, etc.: a general condition, ‘whenever they saw,’ etc. (Allen & Greenough). The pluperfect instead of the usual perfect with ubi, expressing repeated action, just as the following imperfects do. (Walker)
adoriebantur: ‘would attack’ (Allen & Greenough)
universos: universos does not mean all the Roman soldiers; for the line of ships from which they were landing must have been fully a mile long. The word is contrasted with singulares and means 'an entire group' (Rice Holmes).
Scapha, -ae f.: skiff, boat (Walker)
speculatorius, -a, -um: of a spy, spying, scounting. (Walker)
simul: = simul atque (Walker).
neque: 'but...not' (Walker).
longius: 'very far' (Walker)
capere: 'reach' (Walker)
hoc unum: the pursuit by the cavalry was an important part of every regular engagement (Walker).
hoc unum…defuit: In fact, a tide of disasters was now setting in to continue several years (Allen & Judson).
4.27
Hostes proelio superati, simul atque se ex fuga receperunt, statim ad Caesarem legatos de pace miserunt; obsides daturos quaeque imperasset sese facturos polliciti sunt. Una cum his legatis Commius Atrebas venit, quem supra demonstraveram a Caesare in Britanniam praemissum.
simul atque: ‘as soon as’ (Allen & Greenough)
oratoris modo: modo = 'in the capacity of', 'as' (Walker). oratoris does not mean here 'an orator' but 'an envoy'. Caesar's point is that Commius presented himself to the Britons as his accredited envoy, and there for that they committed an outrage in seizing him (Rice Holmes). ‘in the character of an envoy’ (Kelsey)
cum: ‘although’ (Walker)
imprudentiam: ‘lack of knowledge’ (Kelsey); 'imprudence, want of foresight or forethought, ignorance, indiscretion' (Walker).
ignosceretur: ‘that [this thing] might be pardoned’ (Allen & Judson)
Caesar questus quod, cum ultro in continentem legatis missis pacem ab se petissent, bellum sine causa intulissent, ignoscere imprudentiae dixit obsidesque imperavit; quorum illi partem statim dederunt, partem ex longinquioribus locis arcessitam paucis diebus sese daturos dixerunt.
bellum...intulissent: these barbarous people might be pardoned for mistaking Caesar's expedition as an invasion! (Allen and Greenough)
ignoscere: supply se (Rice Holmes).
arcessitam: ‘for whom they had sent.’ (Walker)
Interea suos remigrare in agros iusserunt, principesque undique convenire et se civitatesque suas Caesari commendare coeperunt.
remigrare: 'to move back' (Allen and Greenough)
in agros: 'to their farms' (Walker)
principes: principes, as the context shows, here means chiefs who were magistrates. (Rice Holmes).
4.28
His rebus: the giving of hostages, the demobilization of the British host, and the presence of British leaders in Caesar’s camp (Kelsey)
Post diem quartum: i.e. three days after (Allen & Judson)
leni vento: ‘with a light breeze’ (Kelsey)
Quae cum appropinquarent Britanniae et ex castris viderentur, tanta tempestas subito coorta est ut nulla earum cursum tenere posset, sed aliae eodem unde erant profectae referrentur, aliae ad inferiorem partem insulae, quae est propius solis occasum, magno sui cum periculo deicerentur; quae tamen, ancoris iactis, cum fluctibus complerentur, necessario adversa nocte in altum provectae, continentem petierunt.
occasum: west. (Allen & Judson)
sui: (Obj. gen. with periculo), to themselves. (Allen & Judson)
ancoris iactis: 'yet casting anchor', i.e., notwithstanding the violence of the storm. (Harkness)
adversa nocte: ‘in face of the night’ (Kelsey)
in altum provectae: (being borne into the deep), put to sea and (Towle & Jenks)
proveho, -vehere, -vexi, -vectum: carry forward; pass., be carried forward, sail. (Walker)
4.29
Eadem nocte accidit ut esset luna plena, qui dies maritimos aestus maximos in Oceano efficere consuevit, nostrisque id erat incognitum.
Eadem nocte: According to astronomical calculation, this was on the night of August 30th, 55 BC (Harkness). The moon was full at 3:00 a.m. (Allen & Greenough)
qui dies: 'which period' (Harkness)
aestus maximos: the "spring" tide. The average rise and fall of the tide at Deal is said to be 16 ft. This tide, helped by the wind, rose much higher (Walker). The tides in the English channel are notably high, as much as twenty feet, while the rise off the coast of Italy is only a few inches. (Towle & Jenks)
nostris...incognitum: the Romans were best acquainted with the Mediterranean, where the tides rise only a few inches. Yet the had some experience with the tides in the war with the Veneti (Walker).
adflictabat: 'dashed about' (Allen & Judson)
quae...deligatae: 'which were riding at anchor' The transports were heavier than the war-ships, and Caesar had not thought it worth the effort to beach them. (Walker)
facultas: 'opportunity (to do a thing)' (Allen & Greenough).
funibus…amissis: ‘on account of the loss of…’ (Kelsey)
magna: with perturbatio (Kelsey)
id quod necesse erat: ‘as was bound to happen’ (Kelsey). ‘a thing which could not but happen.’ ‘Id’ is generally prefixed to the relative when a sentence is the antecedent, for the purpose of summing it up in one word, and clearing it to view. (Moberly)
perturbatio: ‘commotion’ (Kelsey)
exercitus: here, as often, used of the infantry in contradistinction to the cavalry (Rice Holmes).
quibus possent: a clause of characteristic (Walker).
omnia quae erant usui: 'all the things which were needed' (Walker).
quod...constabat: 'because it was manifest to all' (Harkness).
hiemare opportere: 'that they must pass the winter' (Walker)
in hiemem: 'for the winter' (Walker)
4.30
quae erant: ‘which was’ (Kelsey).
hoc…etiam angustiora: ‘even smaller (than usual for two legions) for this reason,’ explained by the quod-clause (Kelsey); ‘so much the smaller’ (Moberly).
optimum factu esse: ‘that the best thing to do was’ (Kelsey).
optimum: in predicate, after esse (Kelsey).
duxerunt: 'thought' (Allen & Judson).
rem: ‘their operations’ (Kelsey); ‘the campaign’ (Towle & Jenks).
his, etc.: ‘if these (invaders) should be,’ etc. (Kelsey).
eis…interclusis: abl. abs. of condition: ‘if these should be overcome’(Allen & Judson).
reditu: ‘return’ (Kelsey).
postea: ‘in the future’ (Kelsey).
Itaque, rursus coniuratione facta, paulatim ex castris discedere ac suos clam ex agris deducere coeperunt.
rursus coniuratione facta: 'they renewed their oaths of mutual fidelity' (Rice Holmes).
rursus: not ‘a second time,’ but ‘back’ from negotiations to hostilities. (Allen & Judson)
4.31
ex eo quod: ‘from the fact that’ (Kelsey)
fore id quod accidit: ‘that what would happen which actually did’ (Towle & Jenks)
ex…eo: ‘from the disaster to his ships and from the fact.’ (Walker)
ad eas res: ‘for that purpose’ (Kelsey)
quae…usui: whatever was of use: the antecedent of quae is ea, subj. of comportari. (Allen & Judson)
4.32
Dum ea geruntur, legione ex consuetudine una frumentatum missa quae appellabatur septima, neque ulla ad id tempus belli suspicione interposita, cum pars hominum in agris remaneret, pars etiam in castra ventitaret, ei qui pro portis castrorum in statione erant Caesari nuntiaverunt pulverem maiorem quam consuetudo ferret in ea parte videri quam in partem legio iter fecisset.
pulvis, -eris m. dust (Walker)
quam…ferret: = than usual. (Allen & Judson)
Caesar id quod erat suspicatus, aliquid novi a barbaris initum consili, cohortis quae in statione erant secum in eam partem proficisci, ex reliquis duas in stationem succedere, reliquas armari et confestim sese subsequi iussit.
confestim, adv., hastily, at once, immediately (Walker)
aliquid, etc.: ‘some new scheme had been worked up.’ (Kelsey)
aliquid…consili: ‘that some new design was on foot’ (Allen & Greenough)
in stationibus: ‘on guard’; plural because each gate was thought of as a separate post. (Kelsey)
Cum paulo longius a castris processisset, suos ab hostibus premi atque aegre sustinere et conferta legione ex omnibus partibus tela coici animadvertit.
premi…sustinere: were getting pushed, and hardly held their ground. (Allen & Judson)
Nam quod omni ex reliquis partibus demesso frumento pars una erat reliqua, suspicati hostes huc nostros esse venturos noctu in silvis delituerant; tum dispersos, depositis armis in metendo occupatos subito adorti, paucis interfectis reliquos incertis ordinibus perturbaverant, simul equitatu atque essedis circumdederant.
demeto, -ere, -messui, -messum: mow, reap (Walker)
delitesco, -ere, -litui: hide one’s self, lurk (Walker)
essedum, -i n.: two-wheeled war chariot of the Britons. (Walker)
incertis ordinibus: they had bewildered the ranks and, etc. (Towle & Jenks)
4.33
Genus hoc est ex essedis pugnae. Primo per omnes partes perequitant et tela coiciunt atque ipso terrore equorum et strepitu rotarum ordines plerumque perturbant et, cum se inter equitum turmas insinuaverunt, ex essedis desiliunt et pedibus proeliantur.
perequito, -are: ride about, ride through or around (Walker)
turma, -ae f.: troop or squadron of about thirty cavalrymen (Walker)
ex essedis: with pugnae (Kelsey)
cum se insinuaverunt: when they have worked themselves among. (Allen & Judson)
Aurigae interim paulatim ex proelio excedunt atque ita currus collocant ut, si illi a multitudine hostium premantur, expeditum ad suos receptum habeant.
receptus, -us m.: receive, retreat; refuge, shelter (Walker)
expeditum receptum: ‘a ready retreat’ (Allen & Judson)
Ita mobilitatem equitum, stabilitatem peditum in proeliis praestant, ac tantum usu cotidiano et exercitatione efficiunt uti in declivi ac praecipiti loco incitatos equos sustinere et brevi moderari ac flectere et per temonem percurrere et in iugo insistere et se inde in currus citissime recipere consuerint.
temo, -onis m.: pole (of a wagon) (Walker)
stabilitatem: ‘steadiness’ (Kelsey)
citissime: ‘with the utmost quickness.’ (Kelsey)
praestant: exhibit. Caesar was much struck with the efficiency of the German and British horse, and made it the basis of important changes in the Roman army. (Allen & Judson)
praestant: ‘display’ (Walker)
tantum...efficiunt: ‘they are so skilful’ (Towle & Jenks)
incitatos: when at full speed. (Towle & Jenks)
incitatos equos sustinere: to check their horses in full gallop. (Allen & Judson)
4.34
Quibus rebus perturbatis nostris novitate pugnae tempore oportunissimo Caesar auxilium tulit: namque eius adventu hostes constiterunt, nostri se ex timore receperunt.
Quo facto, ad lacessendum hostem et committendum proelium alienum esse tempus arbitratus suo se loco continuit et, brevi tempore intermisso, in castra legiones reduxit. Dum haec geruntur, nostris omnibus occupatis, qui erant in agris reliqui discesserunt.
nostris, etc.: while the Romans were busy repairing ships and strengthening their defenses, the Britons ‘withdrew’ from the open country, gathering for attack. (Kelsey)
quo facto: (which having been done), then. (Towle & Jenks)
Secutae sunt continuos compluris dies tempestates quae et nostros in castris continerent et hostem a pugna prohiberent. Interim barbari nuntios in omnes partes dimiserunt paucitatemque nostrorum militum suis praedicaverunt et quanta praedae faciendae atque in perpetuum sui liberandi facultas daretur, si Romanos castris expulissent, demonstraverunt.
praedae faciendae: ‘of securing booty’ (Kelsey)
praedae faciendae: they would have been disappointed, for the Romans left their baggage in Gaul (Walker)
in perpetuum: ‘forever’ (Kelsey)
His rebus celeriter magna multitudine peditatus equitatusque coacta ad castra venerunt.
4.35
Caesar etsi idem quod superioribus diebus acciderat fore videbat, ut, si essent hostes pulsi, celeritate periculum effugerent, tamen nactus equites circiter XXX, quos Commius Atrebas, de quo ante dictum est, secum transportaverat, legiones in acie pro castris constituit.
Idem: subject of fore, explained by the appositive clause ut…effugerent. (Kelsey)
Ut effugerent: (in appos. With idem, the subj. of fore), namely, that if, &c. (Allen & Judson)
Idem fore, ut: ‘that the same thing would occur… namely, that’ (Walker)
Commisso proelio, diutius nostrorum militum impetum hostes ferre non potuerunt ac terga verterunt.
Quos tanto spatio secuti quantum cursu et viribus efficere potuerunt, compluris ex eis occiderunt, deinde omnibus longe lateque aedificiis incensis se in castra receperunt.
Tanto spatio, etc.: ‘so far as their speed and strength allowed.’ (Kelsey)
Cursu et viribus: ‘hard running’ (Towle & Jenks)
Efficere: ‘cover’ (Towle & Jenks)
tanto spatio quantum…potuerunt: ‘over as great a distance as their speed and strength permitted.’ (Walker)
