De Bello Gallico 1.36

1.36.1Ad haec Ariovistus respondit: iūs esse bellī ut quī vīcissent iīs quōs vīcissent quem ad modum vellent imperārent.

To this Ariovistus replied: it was the right of war that the victors should rule those they had conquered as they pleased.

Note. quem ad modum vellent: 'as they wished', literally 'in what manner they wished'.

1.36.1Item populum Rōmānum victīs nōn ad alterīus praescrīptum, sed ad suum arbitrium imperāre cōnsuēsse.

In the same way the Roman people were used to ruling those they had conquered not as someone else directed but as they themselves judged best.

1.36.2Sī ipse populō Rōmānō nōn praescrīberet quem ad modum suō iūre ūterētur, nōn oportēre sē ā populō Rōmānō in suō iūre impedīrī.

If he did not tell the Roman people how to use their rights, he should not be hindered by the Roman people in the use of his.

1.36.3Haeduōs sibi, quoniam bellī fortūnam temptāssent et armīs congressī ac superātī essent, stīpendiāriōs esse factōs.

The Haedui had become his tributaries because they had tried the fortune of war, met him in battle and been defeated.

1.36.4Magnam Caesarem iniūriam facere, quī suō adventū vectīgālia sibi dēteriōra faceret.

Caesar was doing him a great wrong, since his arrival was making his revenues smaller.

Note. quī … faceret: a relative clause of cause, 'since he was making'.

1.36.5Haeduīs sē obsidēs redditūrum nōn esse neque hīs neque eōrum sociīs iniūriā bellum inlātūrum, sī in eō manērent quod convēnisset stīpendiumque quotannīs penderent;

He would not return their hostages to the Haedui, but he would not make war on them or their allies without cause, if they kept to what had been agreed and paid the tribute every year;

1.36.5sī id nōn fēcissent, longē iīs frāternum nōmen populī Rōmānī āfutūrum.

if they did not, the name of brothers of the Roman people would be of no use to them.

1.36.6Quod sibi Caesar dēnūntiāret sē Haeduōrum iniūriās nōn neglēctūrum, nēminem sēcum sine suā perniciē contendisse.

As for Caesar's warning that he would not overlook the wrongs done to the Haedui, no one had fought with him without being destroyed.

1.36.7Cum vellet, congrederētur: intellēctūrum quid invictī Germānī, exercitātissimī in armīs, quī inter annōs XIIII tēctum nōn subīssent, virtūte possent.

Let him attack when he liked: he would learn what the unbeaten Germans, highly trained in arms, who had not been under a roof for fourteen years, could do with their courage.

Note. intellēctūrum: future infinitive, esse left out. inter annōs XIIII: 'for fourteen years'.