Chapter 1.33

Caesar, for reasons of state, promises to help against Ariovistus.

Gallōrum animōs verbīs cōnfirmāvit: “strove to cheer by words the spirits of the Gauls” (Anthon).

sibi eam rem cūrae futūram: sc. esse: “that this matter would receive his attention” (Kelsey); “that he would attend to this matter,” literally, “that this matter would be to him for a concern” (Harkness). Sibi cūrae is the double dative construction (AG 382.1): sibi is dative of reference, cūrae is dative of purpose / service (A-G), together with a form of sum (futuram [esse]).

magnam sē habēre spem: = magnopere spērāvit: “he confidently expected” (L-E).

et beneficiō suō et auctōritāte adductum: “induced by both his [former] kindness [to him] and by his authority”; the first et refers to services which would inspire gratitude, the second to the prestige which would inspire fear in Ariovistus (A-G); no doubt the Gauls were greatly impressed by Caesar’s confident bearing (L-E). Beneficiō refers to the fact that, during his consulship the year previous, Caesar had obtained for Ariovistus, from the Roman senate, the title of “King and friend” (Anthon). This had been done to keep Ariovistus from interfering with Roman interests in Gaul until Caesar should be ready to take charge of his province (Walker). Compare Chapter 35, cum in cōnsulātū suō rex atque amīcus ā senātū appellātus (H-T). Beneficiō and auctōritāte are ablatives of cause (AG 404).

fīnem iniūriīs factūrum: “that he would put an end to his wrongdoings” (M-T); “that he would end his outrages” (L-E). Iniūriīs is ablative of respect / specification (AG 418).

concilium: i.e., the private conference (L-E).

factūrum: sc. esse; after habēre spem (Hodges).

secundum ea: “in accordance with these considerations” (A-G); “in harmony with these things” (H-T); “besides these arguments (of Diviciacus and the other Gauls)” (M-T); “next to these considerations” (Walpole). Ea refers to the facts stated by Diviciacus (Harkness). The preposition secundum (actually a participle from sequor (Walpole)) has here a meaning derived directly from its primitive force of “following” after something which has gone before (Anthon).

“To have repulsed the Helvetii was nothing, if the Suevi invaded Gaul. Their migrations were constant, and had already carried there 120,000 fighting men. Gaul was about to become Germany. Caesar affected to yield to the prayers of the Aedui and Sequani, oppressed by barbarians. The same Druid (i.e., Diviciacus) who had solicited the assistance of Rome, undertook to explore the road, and to guide Caesar to Ariovistus” (Michelet’s History of France).

multae rēs eum hortābantur: “many considerations induced him.” Multae rēs refer to considerations which he now proceeds to enumerate (Harkness). The reasons here assigned are all a mere pretence. Caesar’s real object was to subjugate the whole of Gaul, and the present state of affairs between the Gauls and Ariovistus afforded him a favorable opportunity of interfering in the political concerns of the country, and of taking the first step towards the accomplishment of his object (Anthon).

quārē … putāret: quārē = propter quās (A-G), ut proptereā (Spencer); subjunctive in a result clause (AG 537): “to think,” literally, “by which thing (quā rē) / why he should think,” i.e., so that he should …  (Harkness); “to think that he must consider this business carefully and set about it” (L-E).

sibi eam rem cōgitandam: sc. esse; sibi is the dative of agent (AG 374) with the passive periphrastic construction cōgitandam [esse]: “that this matter ought to be taken under consideration” (Hodges).

in prīmīs: “first of all” (Hodges).

Aeduōs: the subject of tenērī (A-G), creating indirect discourse dependent on vidēbat.

frātrēs cōnsanguineōsque: “brothers and kinsmen” (Anthon); predicate accusative after appellātōs. Cōnsanguineōs, “kin,” implies blood-relationship, while frātrēs, like our “brethren,” might be used as a title implying intimacy of relations without kinship. The use of the title here may imply that the Aedui claimed descent from the Trojans, as did the Romans, and Caesar himself (Hodges). Compare Chapter 11, necessāriī et cōnsanguineī (H-T).

saepe numerō: “repeatedly” (Hodges).

appellātōs: “who had been called” (A-G).

Germānōrum: to be construed as a subjective genitive (AG 343 note 1) with diciōne only, not with servitūte (Harkness). The word is derived, according to some authorities, from ger, “lance,” “spear”; hence it means “lancers,” “spearmen” (L-E).

quod: “and this,” i.e., the condition of the Aedui (Walker); “a state of affairs which”; a relative pronoun, its antecedent being the fact just expressed by the infinitive clauses dependent on vidēbat and intellegēbat (Hodges).

in tantō imperiō populī Rōmānī: “in view of the greatness of the power of the Roman people” (Hodges); “in so great an empire as the Roman people had,” literally, “of the Roman people” (Harkness); “while the empire of the Roman people was so great.” The prepositional ablative absolute is used, as the verb sum has no present participle (Moberly).

turpissimum: “exceedingly disgraceful” (Hodges). Caesar saw this now more clearly than he did at Rome. His point of view was different (L-E).

sibi: refers to Caesar, the subject of arbitrābātur, not to the subject of the clause in which it stands; it is therefore an indirect reflexive (Walker).

paulātim autem Germānōs cōnsuēscere: “that the Germans, moreover, should gradually become accustomed / get in the habit of” (Harkness). Germānōs cōnsuēscere and multitūdinem venīre are the subject of esse, “was,” understood after vidēbat (Hodges).

perīculōsum: sc. esse, commonly omitted after verbs of perceiving, saying, judging, etc. (Spencer): “it was full of danger” (Hodges); predicate, agreeing with Germānōs consuēscere … multitūdinem venīre (A-G): “he saw it was dangerous to the Roman people for the Germans, little by little, to become gradually accustomed to crossing the Rhine and for a throng of them to come … ” (Anthon). This potential situation would advance the German frontier from the Rhine to the northern boundary of the Roman Province (L-E).

sibi … temperātūrōs … quīn … exīrent: “would refrain (literally, “would check / restrain themselves”) from going forth” (A-G); quīn (“whereby” (H-T)) introduces a subjunctive clause expressing result or purpose after a verb of hindering (AG 558). Temperāre with a dative indirect object (sibi) signifies “to set bounds on something,” “to moderate,” or “restrain.” With the accusative it means “to regulate” or “arrange something” (Anthon). Sibi refers to hominēs, the subject of the clause in which it stands; it is therefore the direct reflexive (Walker).

Galliam: Gaul, in its limited sense of “Celtic Gaul” (Harkness).

ut ante Cimbrī Teutonīque fēcissent: “as the Cimbri and Teutoni had done before” (A-G). The terrible hordes of the Cimbrians and Teutons (from Jutland and the coasts of the Baltic (L-E)) in the closing years of the second century B.C. swept over Celtic Gaul and passed into the Province, whence the Cimbrians made their way into Cisalpine Gaul. Finally the Teutons were annihilated in a fierce battle at Aquae Sextiae (now Aix), about 20 miles north of Massilia, by Gaius Marius in 102 B.C.; and a year later the Cimbrians met a similar fate at Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul, northeast of Turin (Hodges). Normally ut (“as”) takes indicative, but here fēcissent is subjunctive because it is included in the indirect discourse (H-T).

in Ītaliam: here including Cisalpine Gaul (Hodges).

praesertim cum Sēquanōs ā prōvinciā nostrā Rhodanus dīvideret: “especially since the Rhône alone separated the Sequani from our province” (Anthon); the Rhône, since it was fordable (Spencer), was only a slight protection against an invading host (Hodges). Some editors consider this clause to be an interpolation of some later hand (Anthon). Dīvideret is subjunctive in a cum-causal clause (AG 549). Ā prōvinciā nostrā is ablative of separation (AG 400).

quibus rebus … occurrendum: sc. sibi esse: “possibilities which he thought must be met”; “scenarios which he thought he must thwart” (Anthon); “that he must face this danger” (Walker). Rēbus is dative with compound intransitive verb occurrendum [esse] (AG 370); the implied sibi is the dative of agent (AG 374) with the impersonal passive periphrastic occurrendum [esse]. In this clause two things are to be noticed: first, that the Latin regularly puts an antecedent, which is in apposition with something preceding, in the relative clause, e.g., “which kind,” not “a kind which”; and, second that a verb which governs the dative cannot be used in the passive with a personal subject. In both these respects the form must be altered in translating to suit the English idiom (A-G).

quam mātūrrimē: = quam prīmum: “as promptly as possible” (AG 291 c) (Harkness); “at once” (A-G) “as speedily as possible” (H-T); “at the earliest possible moment” (Hodges). Mātūrrimē is the superlative of mātūrē, however the form mātūrissimē is more common (M-T).

tantōs sibi spīritūs … sumpserat: “had taken on himself such haughty airs [of importance]” (Anthon); “such insolent airs” (Hodges).

ut ferendus nōn vidērētur: in Latin the negative has an attraction for the main verb. We should say instead, “that he seemed unendurable / unbearable / insufferable” connecting the negative with the adjective idea (A-G). Result clause (AG 537).

Caesar here sums up with admirable brevity the grounds which induced him to go to war with Ariovistus. To complete the view of the status, some other facts, however, must be taken into accouont. The Sequani had originally attacked the Aedui (and called in Ariovistus to their help), because of the tyranny exercised by them in laying excessive tolls on the dried meat trade of the Saône. Shortly after this battle, in 61 B.C., the Roman senate, in order to guard against the expected Helvetian invasion, had sent messengers to the chief Gallic cities to induce them to oppose it; and in pursuance of this object had passed the decree for the protection of the Aedui and other allied states, to which Caesar refers in Chapter 35, a step which, taken so late as it was, showed but little “fraternal” affection. At the same moment, and with the same object, they sent confidential messengers to Ariovistus, saluting him as rex et populī Rōmānī amīcus, recognizing thus his claims on Gaul, and according to Plutarch, inviting him to Rome. In this manner they persuaded him not to favor the Helvetian invasion; but their duplicity in allying themselves with oppressed and oppressor at once led to its natural consequences in the war now to be narrated (M-T).