Bellum Africum 69

B. Afr. 69.1Cum iam nōn longē ā castrīs Scīpiōnis abesset, quae eum necesse erat praetergredī, Labiēnus Afrāniusque cum omnī equitātū levīque armātūrā ex īnsidiīs adortī agminī eius extrēmō sē offerunt atque ex collibus prīmīs exsistunt.

When he was already not far from Scipio's camp, which he had to pass, Labienus and Afranius, attacking from ambush with all their cavalry and light-armed troops, threw themselves on his rearguard and burst out from the nearest hills.

Note. quae eum necesse erat praetergredī: 'which he had to pass'; quae refers to castra. agminī … extrēmō: 'the rear of his column'; offerō takes the dative. Labiēnus Afrāniusque: two leading Pompeians, both survivors of earlier defeats.

B. Afr. 69.2Quod postquam Caesar animum advertit, equitibus suīs hostium vī oppositīs sarcinās legiōnāriōs in acervum iubet comportāre atque celeriter signa hostibus īnferre.

When Caesar noticed this, he set his cavalry against the enemy's force and ordered the legionaries to pile their packs in a heap and quickly advance against the enemy.

Note. animum advertit = animadvertit, 'noticed'. sarcinās … in acervum: the legionaries drop their packs so as to fight unencumbered. signa īnferre: 'to advance the standards', i.e. attack.

B. Afr. 69.3Quod postquam coeptum est fierī, prīmō impetū legiōnum equitātūs et levis armātūra hostium nūllō negōtiō locō pulsa et dēiecta est dē colle.

When this began to be done, at the first charge of the legions the enemy's cavalry and light-armed troops were driven from their position without any trouble and thrown down from the hill.

Note. Quod postquam coeptum est fierī: 'after this began to be done'; with a passive infinitive, coepī is itself passive. nūllō negōtiō: 'without any trouble'.

B. Afr. 69.4Cum iam Caesar exīstimāsset hostēs pulsōs dēterritōsque fīnem lacessendī factūrōs et iter coeptum pergere coepisset, iterum celeriter ex proximīs collibus ērumpunt atque eādem ratiōne, quā ante dīxī, in Caesaris legiōnāriōs impetum faciunt Numidae levisque armātūrae mīrābilī vēlōcitāte praeditī, quī inter equitēs pugnābant et ūnā pariterque cum equitibus accurrere et refugere cōnsuēverant.

When Caesar had now thought that the enemy, beaten and frightened off, would stop harassing him, and had begun to continue the march he had started, they burst out again quickly from the nearest hills, and in the same way that I described before the Numidians and light-armed troops, men gifted with remarkable speed, who fought among the cavalry and were used to running forward and falling back together and level with the horsemen, made an attack on Caesar's legionaries.

Note. factūrōs (esse): future infinitive in indirect statement after exīstimāsset. fīnem lacessendī: 'an end of harassing'. quā ante dīxī: the author speaks in the first person, as he often does. levisque armātūrae: genitive of description, 'men of light armour'.

B. Afr. 69.5Cum hoc saepius facerent et proficīscentēs Iūliānōs īnsequerentur, refugerent īnstantēs, propius nōn accēderent et singulārī genere pugnae ūterentur eōsque iaculīs convulnerāre satis esse exīstimārent, Caesar intellēxit nihil aliud eōs cōnārī, nisi ut sē cōgerent castra eō locō pōnere, ubi omnīnō aquae nihil esset, ut exercitus iēiūnus, quī ā quārta vigiliā usque ad hōram X diēī nihil gustāsset, ac iūmenta sitī perīrent.

Since they did this repeatedly, followed the Caesarians when they marched on, fell back when they pressed them, did not come any closer, used a peculiar kind of fighting and thought it enough to wound them with javelins, Caesar realised that they were trying to do nothing else but force him to pitch camp in a place where there was no water at all, so that his army, which had tasted nothing from the fourth watch until the tenth hour of the day, and its pack animals should die of thirst.

Note. A long cum-clause with five verbs: facerent, īnsequerentur, refugerent, accēderent, ūterentur, existimārent. prōficīscentēs, īnstantēs: present participles used as nouns. nihil aliud … nisi ut: 'nothing else but that'. hōram X: the tenth hour of daylight, mid-afternoon. gustāsset = gustāvisset, pluperfect subjunctive in a relative clause inside indirect thought.