Ch. 75

Title

Dum haec1 apud Alesiam geruntur, Galli concilio2 principum indicto non3 omnes eos qui arma ferre possent, ut4 censuit Vercingetorix, convocandos statuunt, sed certum numerum cuique5 ex civitate imperandum, ne tanta6 multitudine confusa nec7 moderari nec discernere8 suos nec7 frumentandi9 rationem habere possent. 2 Imperant Aeduis10 atque eorum clientibus, Segusiavis, Ambivaretis, Aulercis Brannovicibus, Blannoviis, milia XXXV; parem numerum Arvernis11 adiunctis Eleutetis, Cadurcis, Gabalis, Vellaviis, qui sub imperio Arvernorum esse consuerunt; Sequanis12, 3 Senonibus, Biturigibus, Santonis, Rutenis, Carnutibus duodena milia; Bellovacis X; totidem Lemovicibus; octona Pictonibus et Turonis et Parisiis et Helvetiis13; [Suessionibus,] Ambianis, Mediomatricis, Petrocoriis, Nerviis, Morinis, Nitiobrigibus quina milia; Aulercis Cenomanis totidem14; Atrebatibus [IIII milibus]; Veliocassis, Lexoviis et Aulercis Eburovicibus terna; Rauracis et Boiis bina; 4 [XXX milia] universis civitatibus, quae15 Oceanum attingunt quaeque16 eorum consuetudine Armoricae appellantur, quo17 sunt in numero Curiosolites, Redones, Ambibarii, Caletes, Osismi, Veneti, Lemovices, Venelli. 5 Ex his Bellovaci suum numerum non compleverunt, quod se18 suo nomine atque arbitrio cum Romanis bellum gesturos dicebant neque cuiusquam19 imperio obtemperaturos; rogati20 tamen ab Commio21 pro eius hospitio duo milia una miserunt.

Chapter 76 - English 

 note - in the name of brevity, read this chapter in English

This Commius, as we have before mentioned,⁠ had rendered faithful and efficient service to Caesar in previous years in the expedition to Britain. For these good offices Caesar had ordered his state to be exempt from taxation, had restored its rights and laws, and had made the Morini tributary to him. Yet so strong was the unanimity of Gaul as a whole for the maintenance of their liberty and the recovery of their ancient renown in war that no benefits, no memory of friendship could influence them, and all devoted themselves with heart and strength to the campaign before them. When eight thousand horsemen and about two hundred and fifty thousand footmen had been collected, the force was reviewed and a muster was taken in the country of the Aedui. Officers were appointed, and the chief command was entrusted to Commius the Atrebatian, Viridomarus and Eporedorix the Aeduans, and Vercassivellaunus the Arvernian, a cousin of Vercingetorix. To them were attached a staff selected from the states, by whose counsel the campaign was to be conducted. Full of spirit and confidence, all started for Alesia; there was not a man of them all who thought the mere sight of so vast a host could be withstood, especially in a two‑sided engagement, when there would be fighting with those who made a sortie from within the town, and outside the display of so vast an army of horse and foot.

  1. haec apud Alesiam geruntur: haec is “these things,” neuter, nominative, plural. You can tell this because your verb, geruntur, is plural. Apud Alesiam is at Alesia ↩

  2. concilio principum indicto: with a council of chiefs/leaders having been summoned ↩

  3. non omnes …. convocandos statuunt: Statuunt triggers indirect statement. Take in this order - statuunt [that] non omnes eos (qui arma ferre possent), (ut censuit Vercingetorix), convocandos. ↩

  4. ut censuit Vercingetorix: ut + indicative is just “as,” as Vercingetorix recommended ↩

  5. cuique: verbs of ordering (imperandum) take a dative, from each [chief/leader] ↩

  6. tanta multitudine confusa: ablative absolute ↩

  7. nec….nec: neither….nor ↩ ↩2

  8. discernere suos: to distinguish their own [men] ↩

  9. frumentandi rationem: an account of gathering grain. Furmentandi is a gerund, the FPP on it’s own, translated as “the act of verbing” ↩

  10. Aeduis: the Aedui were a prominent Gallic tribe. The following names are smaller tribes tied to them ↩

  11. Arvernis: the Arverni were the tribe that Vercingetorix belongs to. The following names are smaller tribes tied to them ↩

  12. Sequanis: the Sequani were a prominent Gallic tribe. The following names are smaller tribes tied to them ↩

  13. Helvetiis: the Helvetii were the initial Gallic tribe that attempted to cross Roman territory at the start of DBG 1, giving a causa belli for Caesar to attack Gaul. The modern country of Switzerland, the Helvetic Republic, takes their name from this tribe ↩

  14. Totidem: the same number ↩

  15. quae Oceanum attingunt: who border the (Atlantic) Ocean ↩

  16. quaeque: here, this is quae + -que, meaning “and those who….” NOT quaeque meaning “each” ↩

  17. quo sunt in numero: in which number there are…. ↩

  18. se suo …. dicebant: note that dicebant starts off indirect statement ↩

  19. cuiusquam imperio obtemperaturos: note obtemperaturos as an FAP, were they going to obey the command of anyone ↩

  20. rogati: describes the Bellovaci, they, having been asked ↩

  21. Commio: Commius, king of the Gallic tribe Atrebates, was originally an ally of Caesar, but has since turned against him ↩

All material is taken, with gratitude, from The Latin Library as well as my own work, available under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license CC BY-SA 4.0