Lectitō › Julius Caesar › Gallic War, Book 6
De Bello Gallico 6.26
An ox shaped like a stag
Caesar, De Bello Gallico VI. Latin text with a sentence-by-sentence English translation, notes and vocabulary.
Tap any word for its meaning and grammar, save words to review, and track your reading.
Read in Lectitō6.26.1Est bōs cervī figūrā, cuius ā mediā fronte inter aurēs ūnum cornū exsistit excelsius magisque dīrēctum hīs, quae nōbīs nōta sunt, cornibus: ab eius summō sīcut palmae rāmīque lātē diffunduntur.
There is an ox shaped like a stag, from the middle of whose forehead, between the ears, a single horn rises, taller and straighter than the horns we know; from its top it spreads out widely like open hands and branches.
Note. This 'ox shaped like a stag' with one horn may be a garbled report of the reindeer. figūrā: ablative of description.
6.26.1Eadem est fēminae marisque nātūra, eadem fōrma magnitūdōque cornuum.
The female and the male are alike in nature, and alike in the shape and size of their horns.
Vocabulary
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| bōs, bovis, gen. plur. boum, dat. and abl. plur. bōbus, m. and f. | ox, bull, cow |
| cervus, -ī, m. | stag |
| figūra, -ae, f. | form, shape, figure |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| ā, ab (prep. + abl.) | away from, from; by (ā only before consonants) |
| medius, -a, -um | mid, middle |
| frōns, frontis, f. | forehead |
| inter, prep, with acc. | among, between |
| auris, -is, f. | ear |
| ūnus, -a, -um | one; only, alone |
| cornū, -ūs, n. | horn |
| exsistō, -ere, -stitī | come forth, arise; appear |
| excelsus, -a, -um | high, tall |
| magis, comp. adv. | more, rather |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| dīrigō (dērigō), -ere, -rēxī, -rēctus | set straight, arrange in line; dērēctus: straight |
| hic, haec, hoc, dem. pron. | this; ille ... hīc, that ... this, the former ... the latter |
| nōs | plur. of ego |
| nōtus, -a, -um | known, well-known, famous |
| is, ea, id, dem. pron. | this, that; he, she, it, they |
| summus, -a, -um | uppermost, highest, greatest |
| sīcut (conj.) | just as |
| palma, -ae f. | palm of the hand; flat spreading branch |
| rāmus, -ī, m. | branch, bough |
| lātē | widely |
| diffundō, -fundere, -fūdī, -fūsus | pour forth, spread or shed abroad, diffuse |
| īdem, eadem, idem, dem. pron. | the same; sometimes to be translated likewise, also |
| fēmina, -ae, f. | woman |
| mās, maris m. | male |
| nātūra, -ae, f. | nature, character |
| fōrma, -ae, f. | form, appearance; beauty |
| magnitūdō, -tūdinis, f. | greatness, size |