De Bello Gallico 4.1

4.1.1Eā quae secūta est hieme, quī fuit annus Cn. Pompēiō, M. Crassō cōnsulibus, Usipetēs Germānī et item Tencterī magnā cum multitūdine hominum flūmen Rhēnum trānsiērunt, nōn longē ā marī, quō Rhēnus īnfluit.

In the following winter, the year in which Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus were consuls, the Usipetes, a German people, and likewise the Tencteri crossed the river Rhine with a great host of people, not far from the sea into which the Rhine flows.

Note. Cn. Pompeiō, M. Crassō cōnsulibus: ablative absolute used for dating, 'in the consulship of Pompey and Crassus', i.e. 55 B.C. The winter is that of 56–55.

4.1.2Causa trānseundī fuit quod ab Suēbīs complūrēs annōs exagitātī bellō premēbantur et agrī cultūrā prohibēbantur.

The reason for crossing was that they had been harassed for several years by the Suebi, were hard pressed in war, and were kept from farming their land.

4.1.3Suēbōrum gēns est longē maxima et bellicōsissima Germānōrum omnium.

The nation of the Suebi is by far the largest and most warlike of all the Germans.

4.1.4Hī centum pāgōs habēre dīcuntur, ex quibus quotannīs singula mīlia armātōrum bellandī causā ex fīnibus ēdūcunt.

They are said to have a hundred districts, from each of which every year they lead out a thousand armed men from their territory to make war.

Note. singula mīlia: distributive numeral, 'a thousand from each (district)'. bellandī causā: gerund with causā, 'for the purpose of making war'.

4.1.4Reliquī, quī domī mānsērunt, sē atque illōs alunt;

The rest, who have stayed at home, feed both themselves and those others;

4.1.5hī rūrsus in vicem annō post in armīs sunt, illī domī remanent.

these in turn are under arms the year after, and the others remain at home.

4.1.6Sīc neque agrī cultūra nec ratiō atque ūsus bellī intermittitur.

In this way neither farming nor the practice and experience of war is interrupted.

4.1.7Sed prīvātī ac sēparātī agrī apud eōs nihil est, neque longius annō remanēre ūnō in locō colendī causā licet.

But among them there is no private or separate land, and they are not allowed to stay longer than one year in one place to farm it.

Note. prīvātī ac sēparātī agrī … nihil: partitive genitive with nihil, 'nothing of private land'. longius annō: ablative of comparison.

4.1.8Neque multum frūmentō, sed maximam partem lacte atque pecore vīvunt multumque sunt in vēnātiōnibus;

They do not live much on grain, but for the most part on milk and cattle, and they spend much time in hunting;

4.1.9quae rēs et cibī genere et cōtīdiānā exercitātiōne et lībertāte vītae, quod ā puerīs nūllō officiō aut disciplīnā adsuēfactī nihil omnīnō contrā voluntātem faciunt, et vīrēs alit et immānī corporum magnitūdine hominēs efficit.

and this way of life, through the kind of food, the daily exercise and the freedom of their life (for, never trained from boyhood to any duty or discipline, they do nothing at all against their will), both feeds their strength and makes them men of enormous size.

Note. quae rēs … et … et: 'and this way of life both … and'. The quod-clause in the middle explains the 'freedom of life'.

4.1.10Atque in eam sē cōnsuētūdinem addūxērunt ut locīs frīgidissimīs neque vestītūs praeter pellēs habeant quicquam, quārum propter exiguitātem magna est corporis pars aperta, et laventur in flūminibus.

And they have brought themselves to such a habit that even in the coldest places they wear no clothing except skins, because of whose small size a great part of the body is bare, and they bathe in the rivers.