Lectitō › Julius Caesar › Gallic War, Book 5
De Bello Gallico 5.46
Caesar sends for his legions
Caesar, De Bello Gallico V. Latin text with a sentence-by-sentence English translation, notes and vocabulary.
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Read in Lectitō5.46.1Caesar acceptīs litterīs hōrā circiter XI diēī statim nūntium in Bellovacōs ad M. Crassum quaestōrem mittit, cuius hīberna aberant ab eō mīlia passuum XXV;
On receiving the letter at about the eleventh hour of the day, Caesar at once sends a messenger to the Bellovaci, to Marcus Crassus the quaestor, whose winter camp was twenty-five miles from him;
Note. hōra circiter XI diēī: about the eleventh hour, late afternoon. Roman hours counted from sunrise. mīlia passuum XXV: accusative of extent of space.
5.46.2iubet mediā nocte legiōnem proficīscī celeriterque ad sē venīre.
he orders the legion to set out at midnight and come to him quickly.
5.46.3Exit cum nūntiō Crassus.
Crassus leaves with the messenger.
5.46.3Alterum ad Gāium Fabium lēgātum mittit, ut in Atrebatium fīnēs legiōnem addūcat, quā sibi iter faciendum sciēbat.
He sends another to Gaius Fabius the legate, telling him to bring his legion into the territory of the Atrebates, through which he knew he would have to march.
5.46.4Scrībit Labiēnō, sī reī pūblicae commodō facere posset, cum legiōne ad fīnēs Nerviōrum veniat.
He writes to Labienus to come with his legion to the borders of the Nervii, if he could do so without harm to the public interest.
Note. Scrībit Labiēnō … veniat: an indirect command without ut, 'he writes to Labienus that he should come'. reī pūblicae commodō: 'without harm to the state's interest'.
5.46.4Reliquam partem exercitūs, quod paulō aberat longius, nōn putat exspectandam;
He does not think he should wait for the rest of the army, because it was somewhat too far away;
5.46.4equitēs circiter quadringentōs ex proximīs hībernīs colligit.
he gathers about four hundred cavalry from the nearest winter camps.
Vocabulary
| accipiō, -cipere, -cēpī, -ceptus | take to oneself, receive, accept; hear; suffer |
| litterae, -ārum f. pl. | letters (of the alphabet); a letter, dispatch |
| hōra, -ae, f. | hour |
| circiter, prep. with acc. and adv. | about |
| Roman numeral | a number written with letters: I 1, V 5, X 10, L 50, C 100, D 500, M 1000 |
| diēs, -ēī, m. and f. | day |
| statim, adv. | on the spot, forthwith, at once, immediately |
| nūntius, -ī, m. | messenger; message |
| in, prep. with acc. and abl. | with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on |
| ad, prep. with acc. | to, toward; at, near; for |
| quaestor, -ōris m. | quaestor, a Roman official in charge of an army's funds |
| mittō, mittere, mīsī, missus | send |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| hīberna, -ōrum n. pl. | winter quarters |
| absum, abesse, āfuī, āfutūrus | be away, be absent, be distant; be wanting |
| ā, ab (prep. + abl.) | away from, from; by (ā only before consonants) |
| is, ea, id, dem. pron. | this, that; he, she, it, they |
| mīlle, indecl. adj. | a thousand; mīlia, -ium, n. plur., thousands; |
| passus, -ūs, m. | pace (mīlia passuum: miles) |
| iubeō, iubēre, iussī, iussus | bid, order, command |
| medius, -a, -um | mid, middle |
| nox, noctis, f. | night |
| legiō, -ōnis f. | legion |
| proficīscor, -ficīscī, -fectus sum | set out, depart, march |
| celeriter, adv. | swiftly, quickly |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| suī, sibi, sē or sēsē, reflexive pron. | himself, herself, itself, themselves |
| veniō, venīre, vēnī, ventus | come |
| exeō, -īre, -iī, -itus | go out |
| cum, prep, with abl. | with |
| alter, -era, -erum | one or the other (of two); another, second |
| lēgātus, -ī, m. | ambassador |
| ut, conj. | as; when; that; ita ut, as |
| fīnis, -is, m. | end, boundary; plur., borders, territory, country |
| addūcō, -dūcere, -dūxī, -ductus | lead to, bring, take; induce, influence |
| quā, adv. | in which place, where |
| iter, itineris, n. | a going, journey, march; iter facere, to journey, march |
| faciō, facere, fēcī, factus | make, do; iter facere, see iter |
| sciō, -īre, -īvī, -ītus | know |
| scrībō, scrībere, scrīpsī, scrīptus | write |
| sī, conj. | if |
| rēs, reī, f. | thing, matter, affair, circumstance, situation; rē vērā, in truth, in fact, really |
| pūblicus, -a, -um | public, of the state (rēs pūblica: the state) |
| commodum, -ī n. | advantage, interest |
| possum, posse, potuī | be able, have power, can |
| reliquus, -a, -um | left, the remaining, the other, the rest of |
| pars, partis, f. | part, side, direction |
| exercitus, -ūs, m. | army |
| quod, conj. | that, in that, because |
| paulō, adv. | by a little, a little, somewhat |
| longē, adv. | far |
| nōn, adv. | not |
| putō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | think |
| exspectō, -spectāre, -spectāvī, -spectātus | look out for, wait for, await, expect; wait |
| eques, equitis m. | horseman; (pl.) cavalry |
| quadringentī, -ae, -a | four hundred |
| ex, ē (prep. + abl.) | out of, from; of (ē only before consonants) |
| proximus, -a, -um | nearest, next |
| colligō, -ere, -lēgī, -lēctum | gather, collect (sē colligere: recover oneself) |