Ch. 68

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Title

Fugato¹ omni equitatu Vercingetorix² copias³, ut⁴ pro castris collocaverat, reduxit protinusque Alesiam⁵, quod⁶ est oppidum Mandubiorum, iter⁷ facere coepit celeriterque impedimenta⁸ ex castris educi⁹ et se¹⁰ subsequi iussit. 2 Caesar impedimentis¹¹ in proximum collem deductis, duabus¹² legionibus praesidio relictis, secutus¹³ quantum diei tempus est¹⁴ passum, circiter¹⁵ tribus milibus hostium ex¹⁶ novissimo agmine interfectis altero die ad Alesiam castra fecit. 3 Perspecto¹⁷ urbis situ perterritisque hostibus, quod¹⁸ equitatu¹⁹, qua²⁰ maxime parte exercitus confidebant, erant pulsi, adhortatus²¹ ad laborem milites circumvallare instituit.

1. Fugato omni equitatu: Fugo, fugare, fugavi, fugatus means “to put to flight,” NOT fugio, fugere, which means “to flee.” Caesar is (usually) quite friendly with putting his ablative absolutes towards the front of his sentences/clauses ↩

2. Vercingetorix: Vercingetorix, the leader of the Averni (a powerful Gallic tribe). He has been chosen to lead the Gallic confederation against Caesar and the Romans, hoping to oust them permanently from Gaul. ↩

3. Copias: copiae can be “supplies” (usually when singular) or “troops” (usually when plural). Use context clues to figure it out. Take this as your direct object of reduxit later on ↩

4. ut pro castris collocaverat: ut + indicative is going to be “as”, compared to ut + subjunctive for a purpose/result/ etc clause ↩

5. Alesiam: Alesia is a major oppidum, fortified town, of the Mandubii, a Gallic tribe in central-eastern Gaul ↩

6. quod est oppidum Mandubiorum: remember that while we love a quod = because, there is also quod = which ↩

7. iter facere: literally “to make a journey,” you can go with travel too ↩

8. impedimenta ex castris educi et se subsequi iussit: iu_beo, ibuere, iussi, iussus_ takes an ACC + infinitive. Impedeimenta means “baggage,” the armor and supplies that soldiers carry with them as they march. ↩

9. Educi: this is a passive infinitive, “to be verb-ed”. You can recognize them by the final -i. (-are → -ari; -ēre → -eri; -ere → -i; -ire → -iri) ↩

10. se subsequi: subsequi is a deponent infinitive, so it stays active, to follow. Se here is accusative direct object, NOT accusative subject ↩

11. impedimentis in ….. praesidio relictis: you have two ablative absolutes here, in spite of having Caesar in the nominative in front of them. Find a conjugated main verb that he is the subject of ↩

12. duabus legionibus praesidio relictis: praesidio is dative of purpose here, having been left behind as protection (for the purpose of protection) ↩

13. secutus: agrees with Caesar above, having followed. Deponent PPP of sequor ↩

14. est passum: passum is the PPP of patior meaning “to allow, permit, suffer.” A deponent PPP (with or without a form of sum) stays active, the time of the day has allowed ↩

15. circiter tribus …. interfectis: another ablative absolute! ↩

16. ex novissimo agmine: from the furthest battle line, novus, -a, -um can be “new, young, most recent”, etc ↩

17. Perspecto urbis situ perterritisque hostibus: you absolutely know what’s going on here! ↩

18. Quod: explaining why the enemies were scared ↩

19. Equitatu …. erant pulsi: they had been driven off from their horsemen, talking about the best part of their army being beaten back from the bulk of their forces. Equitatu is ablative of separation ↩

20. qua maxime parte exercitus: qua parte is on which part. Remember that exercitus is 4th declension, so most of the endings are -us. This is genitive singular here, on which part of the army ↩

21. adhortatus: again, this nominative PPP goes back to Caesar, our only nominative, masculine, singular noun in this sentence ↩