CaesarBG4Notes

4.24

tactical map schematic tactical map

quo genere: ‘a type of warrior which’ (Kelsey); ‘the kind of soldiers which’ (Towle and Jenks)

essedarius, -ri m.: A soldier fighting from a war chariot, charioteer.

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).

pedestribus: ‘on land’ (Kelsey)

utebantur: ‘were displaying’ (Kelsey)

non…utebantur: ‘did not display’ (Walker)

alacritas, -tatis f.: liveliness, ardor.

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)

aquilam: The aquila was the standard of a Roman legion, carried by the aquilifer. (Towle & Jenks)

ea res: his act (Towle & Jenks)

inquit: 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)

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’ aggrego, -are: [ad + grex, flock], unite in a flock; assemble, join, attach. (Walker)

signis: signa were the standards of individual cohorts. (Towle & Jenks)

ordines servare: ‘to keep the ranks’ (Kelsey)

singulares: ‘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

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)

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)

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)

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)

tactical map

4.29

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)