Ch. 87

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Title

Mittit primo Brutum¹ adulescentem cum cohortibus Caesar, post cum aliis Gaium² Fabium legatum; postremo ipse³, cum vehementius pugnaretur⁴, integros subsidio⁵ adducit. 2 Restituto proelio ac repulsis hostibus eo⁶ quo Labienum miserat contendit⁷; cohortes quattuor ex proximo castello deducit, equitum partem sequi⁸, partem circumire⁸ exteriores munitiones et ab tergo hostes adoriri⁸⁹ iubet. 3 Labienus¹⁰, postquam neque aggeres neque fossae vim hostium sustinere poterant, coactis¹¹ una¹² XL cohortibus, quas ex proximis praesidiis¹³ deductas fors¹⁴ obtulit, Caesarem per nuntios facit¹⁵ certiorem quid¹⁶ faciendum existimet. Accelerat Caesar, ut proelio intersit.

1. Brutum adulescentem: This “young Brutus,” Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, is a cousin of the main Brutus, Marcus Junius Brutus, the former friend and assassin of Caesar. Young Brutus served as a top commander under Caesar, but also turns on him and takes part in the assassination on the Ides of March ↩

2. Gaium Fabium: Gaius Fabius is another legate of Caesar. He is prominent towards the end of the Gallic Wars, sides with Caesar in the Civil War with Pompey, but then largely disappears from the historical scene ↩

3. Ipse: this refers to Caesar ↩

4. Pugnaretur: as we’ve seen, this is an impersonal passive. It was being fought → they were fighting ↩

5. Subsidio: this is just a dative of purpose, which is NOT part of a double dative, since you’re missing the dative of interest. Translate it as as help/relief ↩

6. eo quo: to the spot (in) which ↩

7. contendit: contendo, -ere is usually going to be “to rush, to hurry” ↩

8. sequi, circumire, adoriri: when you see al lof these infinitives, you should look forward to see if you have a verb that will require an infinitive. ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. Adoriri: note this as a passive infinitive from adoirio, -ire – “to attack, assault” ↩

10. Labienus: Titus Labienus was one of Caesar’s top legates whom we saw Caesar send out with reinforcements in chapter 86 ↩

11. Coactis: cogo, -ere can mean “to gather/collect,” but also “to compel, to force.” Both meanings are good to remember ↩

12. Una: often, una will be the adverb meaning “together, at once, as one,” especially when it does not describe another noun, as in “una villa,” for example ↩

13. ex proximis praesidiis: a praesidium is a “fort/post” ↩

14. fors: this is your nominative subject here. Caesar is stressing the luck that helped him win, though, for the Romans, being lucky shows that you have the favor of the gods ↩

15. facit certiorem: facere certiorem is an expression that literally means “to make [someone] more certain,” but can also be translated as “to inform [someone]” ↩

16. quid faciendum existimet: this is an indirect question following the Caesarem facit ceteriorem. “He informs Caesar (of) what he thinks must be done” with faciendum as an FPP. ↩