17 19 21 22 30 31 32 L. Pisone, A. Gabinio coss.] 58 B. C. L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus was Caesar's father-in-law. In the previous year, 59 B. C., Caesar then consul had married Piso's daughter Calpurnia, and had given his own daughter Julia to Pompey. Neither Piso nor his colleague A. Gabinius were persons of reputable character if we may trust the invectives of Cicero in his speech for Sestius. CHAP. 7. Caesari cum] the sentence would have been more regular if Caesar had written Caesar, cum, etc.: at present the subject of maturat, viz. Caesar, has to be supplied from the dative Caesari. The transposition of cum is not uncommon in our author. ulteriorem] 'further Gaul', that is, Gaul beyond the Alps as opposed to Gallia cisalpina, the Gallic province on the Italian side. pervenit] Plutarch says that he arrived on the eighth day after leaving Rome. It is not known for certain by what route he travelled. provinciae imperat] imperare in the sense to order a person to furnish', 'to requisition', takes a dative of the person of whom the demand is made, and an accusative of the person or thing demanded. nullum] notice the emphatic position of nullum at the end of the sentence. rogare] sc. se which is omitted here and elsewhere in similar sentences. 'that they asked (se rogare) to be allowed to do this with his permission'. For eius voluntate cf. 30, 35, etc. L. Cassium] the Epitomiser of Livy, Epit. LXV., says L. Cassius consul a Tigurinis Gallis, pago Helvetico, qui a civitate secesserant in finibus Allobrogum (Mommsen writes Nitiobrogum) cum exercitu caesus est. milites qui ex ea clade superaverant obsidibus datis et dimidia rerum omnium parte ut incolumes dimitterentur cum hostibus pacti sunt. This was in 107 B. C.: the defeat probably took place in the department of Haute Savoie. Orosius says that Cassius had pursued the Helvetii as far as the Ocean when his army was entrapped, but this is probably a mistake. Valois proposes usque ad Rhodanum for usque Oceanum. Cf. Desjardins II. 240. sub iugum missum] the iugum consisted of two spears fixed in the ground and surmounted by a third placed crossways; under this the conquered soldiers were made to walk. CHAP. 8. p. 5. 7 qui influit] for the rather strange statement that the lake flows into the river, instead of the river into the lake, Kraner qu. VII. 57 perpetuam paludem quae influeret in Sequanam. 9 milia passuum decem novem] 19 Roman miles, that is, 27 or 28 kilomètres, is just the distance from the lake to the Pas de l'Écluse in a 14 16 17 19 21 22 straight line. The distance following the bend of the river is, judging from Baron Stoffel's report, 32 kilomètres; hence Desjardins, who corrects Napoleon's error in saying that the distance, following the river line, was 28 kilomètres, errs himself when he says that the distance by the river line is at least one-third more than the distance in a straight line. Napoleon shows that there is no need to suppose the line of fortification to have been continuous from the lake of Geneva to the pass: for some distance the ground on the south bank is too precipitous to require any artificial strengthening; there were only five points where such defensive works were necessary, one opposite the village of Russin, the others at or near the villages of Cartigny, Avully, Chancy and Cologny. It has been conclusively shown by Napoleon and Baron Stoffel that by murus fossaque must not be understood a wall in the ordinary sense of the term, flanked by a ditch, but by murus Caesar means simply the scarp of a fosse, dug along the steep face of the hill; the scarp of such a ditch would naturally be nearly or quite twice the altitude of the counterscarp. The whole extent which Caesar had to fortify is according to Baron Stoffel 5000 mètres = 3 miles 188 yards: this work might have been accomplished in two or three days. reverterunt] reverti, not reversus sum, is used as the perfect of re vertor. ea spe deiecti] cf. v. 48 opinione deiectus: 'foiled of this hope'. alii vadis] the sentence would have been more regular if another alii had preceded navibus iunctis: 'the Helvetii crossed partly (alii) by rafts, partly (alii) by fording', but Caesar begins by saying that the Helvetii crossed or attempted to cross by means of rafts and then as an afterthought adds that some crossed by fording. operis munitione] munitione would have done by itself; operis munitione serves better to balance militum concursu. telis is not, I think, to be connected with militum. CHAP. 9. una per Sequanos via] only the route through the Sequani'. This is the narrow defile between the Rhone and the Jura, now called the Pas de l'Écluse. sua sponte] 'on their own account'. Cf. Cic. Ep. Fam. VII. 2 magnum quiddam spectavit, nec sua sponte, sed eorum auxilio qui me stante stare non poterant. Caes. B. G. v. 28. 24 eo deprecatore] with him to plead their cause', abl. abs. Notice impetrarent without an object: 'gain their request'. 32 Sequani, ne] dare obsides 'give hostages' is equivalent in sense to 'give pledges', and is therefore naturally followed by ut or ne with subjunctive: tr. 'the Sequani binding themselves not to hinder the march of the Helvetii'. CHAP. 10. p. 6. 2 Santonum] the Santones dwelt on the coast north of the mouth of the Garonne; the province of Santogne and the town of Saintes on P. C. I. 5 7 the Charente receive their name from them. They can scarcely have been within 100 miles of the Tolosates, from whose borders Caesar says non longe absunt. The Tolosates dwelt in the neighbourhood of Tolosa, Toulouse. T. Labienum] Labienus was one of Caesar's most able and trusted officers: in the civil war he joined the side of Pompey. 8 duas legiones] the Xith and XIIth. 9 10 12 14 15 17 tres, quae circum Aquileiam hiemabant] the VIIth, VIIIth, and Ixth; the legion which he already had with him in Gaul (cf. 7) was the xth. Aquileiam] Aquilée, situated on the coast at the most northern corner of the Adriatic in the district of Venetia. proximum iter] the route adopted by Caesar has been much disputed. Napoleon's view is that Caesar, after leaving Turin, proceeded along the valley of the Chiusone through the village of Usseau (Ocelum), then across the Col de M. Genèvre to Briançon and Grenoble on the frontier of the Vocontii, where he would have to cross the Isère, and thence to Lyon. Desjardins, however, perhaps a better authority, places Ocelum at or near the village of Drubiaglio on the Dora Riparia, about 20 miles eastward of Segusio (Suse): this would be a more direct route from Turin to M. Genèvre. Ceutrones] thus, and not Centrones, should the name be spelt. They are placed by Desjardins between the northernmost bend of the Isère and Briançon. In Napoleon's map they are put more to the north-east. Graioceli] Desjardins places this tribe on the east slope of the Alpes Graiae, between them and Ocelum (Drubiaglio). The Alpes Graiae are the chain connecting the little S. Bernard (M. Graius) with M. Cenis, Napoleon places the Graioceli along the left bank of the Isère. Caturiges] this tribe, whose name may survive in the village of Chorges, seem to have occupied the right bank of the Durance not far from Embrun. compluribus his proeliis pulsis] the order of the words is a little confusing: these having been beaten in several engagements'. Vocontiorum] the Vocontii extended from the Rhone to Briançon: the place here alluded to by Caesar is probably Grenoble. Segusiavos] they must have occupied a part of the departments of Rhone and Loire: from VII. 75 we learn that they were clientes of the Aedui. CHAP. 11. 24 liberi eorum] liberi sui would have been more in accordance with the oblique structure of the sentence. 26 Aedui Ambarri] this tribe was settled on the right bank of the Rhone in the department of Ain; a trace of their name may still survive in the village of Ambérieux. Ambarris should in all likelihood 28 30 be read for Ambivaretis in the list of the clientes of the Aedui given in VII. 75. Allobroges] it will be remembered that the Allobroges occupied the region lying between the Isère and the Rhone; from the present passage we learn that they had some detached settlements on the right bank of the Rhone. fuga se recipiunt] betake themselves in flight', different from ex fuga se recipere, for which see VII, 20. sibi nihil esse reliqui] 'they had nothing left'; cf. Sall. Cat. 28 quibus lubido atque luxuria ex magnis rapinis nihil reliqui fecerat. 33 Santonos] in 10, if the reading be correct, Caesar wrote Santonum from Santones; here all the best MSS have Santonos. CHAP. 12. p. 7. Arar] the Saône. In the fourth cent. it bore the name Sauconna, afterwards Saogonna or Sagona, whence the modern Saône. The extreme slowness of the stream is mentioned by the Latin poets, lentus Arar Claudian XVII. 53; tacitoque liquore mixtus Arar, Silius Ital. v. 451: cf. Desjardins 1. 162. 4 7 II 12 14 16 transibant] Napoleon, with whom A. von Kampen agrees, fixes their point of crossing at Trévoux, a few miles north of the junction of the Rhone and Saône. He makes their line of march after leaving the Pas de l'Écluse pass through Culoz, Virieu-le-grand, Tenay, Ambérieux. Desjardins is disposed to put the point of crossing higher up, near Mâcon, on the ground that the Helvetii would not have ventured to cross so large a river with six Roman legions occupying the neighbouring heights (supposing them to have been encamped at Sathonay as seems probable), and that, had they been so near to him, Caesar would not be said to have learnt their movements by means of scouts. reliquam] in sense quite equivalent to relictam; this usage of reliquus is by no means rare. Cf. v. 52. de tertia vigilia] the Romans divided their night from sunset to sunrise into four vigiliae (watches) of varying length according to the season of the year. Cf. 21. in proximas silvas abdiderunt] in with the accusative is used because a verb of motion is implied: they went to the woods and hid themselves in them. Tigurinus] of the four pagi, into which the Helvetic state was divided, Caesar only mentions two by name, the Tigurini and the Verbigeni (27). Desjardins supposes that the other two were the Raurici and the Tulingi, cf. n. on 5. The Tigurini probably dwelt south of the Rhine and the lake of Constance. L. Cassium] cf. note on 7. sive inmortalium] compare Caesar's allusion to the interference of heaven in human affairs in his answer to Divico 14. Mr Froude perhaps goes too far in saying His own writings contain nothing 20 23 25 26 28 30 32 to indicate that he himself had any religious belief at all. He saw no evidence that the gods practically interfered in human affairs. He never pretended that Jupiter was on his side. He thanked his soldiers after a victory, but he did not order Te Deums to be sung for it'. Caesar, p. 493. L. Pisonis] the consul of 58: cf. n. on 6 end. CHAP. 13. pontem] the construction of Caesar's bridges is explained in my n. to IV. 15. Of course a bridge of much slighter texture than that which Caesar constructed on the Rhine would suffice for the Saône. cum intellegerent] 'understanding as they did'. ut flumen transirent] explanatory of confecerant 'that which they had accomplished', etc., 'namely the passage of the river'. See n. on 5 ut exeant. bello Cassiano] this was in 107; Divico then must have been 70 or 80 years of age at this time. faceret...ituros] in or. rect. si...facit...ibunt...ubi...constituerit. p. 8. 3 tribueret] this absolute use of tribuere is to say the least unusual: in the passage quoted by Schneider from Cic. Fam. XIII. 9 plurimum is read after tribuerim by Wesenberg and Kayser: in the phrase plurimum tribuere, which is common enough, is plurimum an adverb or an accusative after tribuere? With the present passage Kraner cf. dabat 7 famae, Tac. An. I. 7. ut magis virtute] had Caesar written ut non dolo contenderent aut insidiis niterentur, the sense would have been perfectly clear; it would seem that having intended to write this he changed his mind and substituted magis virtute quam dolo for non dolo, thus leaving the connexion of the last words aut insidiis niterentur rather ambiguous. See appendix. internicione] annihilation': the word properly means 'mutual slaughter'; it is common in the phrase ad internicionem, e.g. bellum ad internicionem gestum est. Cf. II. 28. CHAP. 14. 8 his] 'sc. legatis (cf. 34 ei legationi respondit), not neuter, in which case Caesar would have said ad haec as in 36, II. 32, etc.' Kraner. ΤΟ 12 15 teneret] the past tense is conditioned by the perfect respondit: teneat would have been equally correct. qui si] 'and if it', i. e. the Roman people. quod si] 'suppose that I am willing to forget a bygone insult, can I also put away the recollection of recent wrongs, the wrong of attempting to force a passage through the province against my will, the wrong of harassing the Aedui, the Ambarri, the Allobroges?' |