De Bello Gallico 2.5

2.5.1Caesar Rēmōs cohortātus līberāliterque ōrātiōne prōsecūtus omnem senātum ad sē convenīre prīncipumque līberōs obsidēs ad sē addūcī iussit.

Caesar encouraged the Remi and addressed them kindly, and ordered their whole senate to come to him and the children of their leading men to be brought to him as hostages.

2.5.1Quae omnia ab hīs dīligenter ad diem facta sunt.

All this was done by them carefully and on time.

2.5.2Ipse Dīviciācum Haeduum magnopere cohortātus docet quantō opere reī pūblicae commūnisque salūtis intersit manūs hostium distinērī, nē cum tantā multitūdine ūnō tempore cōnflīgendum sit.

He himself strongly urged Diviciacus the Haeduan and showed him how important it was for the state and their common safety that the enemy's forces be kept apart, so that they would not have to fight so great a host at one time.

Note. quantō opere … intersit: 'how much it mattered'. intersum is impersonal here, with the genitive reī pūblicae.

2.5.3Id fierī posse, sī suās cōpiās Haeduī in fīnēs Bellovacōrum intrōdūxerint et eōrum agrōs populārī coeperint.

This could be done if the Haedui led their forces into the territory of the Bellovaci and began to lay waste their fields.

Note. sī … intrōdūxerint et … coeperint: future perfects of direct speech have become perfect subjunctives in indirect speech.

2.5.4Hīs datīs mandātīs eum ā sē dīmittit.

With these instructions he sends him away.

2.5.4Postquam omnēs Belgārum cōpiās in ūnum locum coāctās ad sē venīre vīdit neque iam longē abesse ab iīs quōs mīserat explōrātōribus et ab Rēmīs cognōvit, flūmen Axonam, quod est in extrēmīs Rēmōrum fīnibus, exercitum trādūcere mātūrāvit atque ibi castra posuit.

When he saw that all the forces of the Belgae had gathered in one place and were coming toward him, and learned from the scouts he had sent and from the Remi that they were not far off, he hurried to lead his army across the river Aisne, which is at the edge of the territory of the Remi, and pitched camp there.

2.5.5Quae rēs et latus ūnum castrōrum rīpīs flūminis mūniēbat et post eum quae erant tūta ab hostibus reddēbat et commeātūs ab Rēmīs reliquīsque cīvitātibus ut sine perīculō ad eum portārī possent efficiēbat.

This protected one side of the camp with the river banks, made what lay behind him safe from the enemy, and meant that supplies could be brought to him from the Remi and the other states without danger.

2.5.6In eō flūmine pōns erat.

There was a bridge over that river.

2.5.6Ibi praesidium pōnit et in alterā parte flūminis Q. Titūrium Sabīnum lēgātum cum sex cohortibus relinquit;

There he posts a guard, and on the other side of the river he leaves his officer Quintus Titurius Sabinus with six cohorts;

2.5.6castra in altitūdinem pedum XII vallō fossāque duodēvīgintī pedum mūnīrī iubet.

he orders the camp to be fortified with a rampart twelve feet high and a trench eighteen feet wide.

Note. in altitūdinem pedum XII: 'twelve feet high'. vallō fossāque duodēvīgintī pedum: 'with a rampart and a trench eighteen feet (wide)'.