Chapter 1.14

Caesar requires hostages and reparation for injuries done to the allies of Rome. The negotiations are broken off.

hīs: “to them,” i.e., to the Helvetian lēgātī (Harkness).

Caesar ita respondit: observe that Caesar’s reply, occupying most of the chapter, is in the form of indirect discourse (Harkness), like Divico’s speech preceding it.

eō sibi … putāret: Caesar’s response converted to direct discourse, with changes underlined: eō mihi minus dubitātiōnis datur, quod eās rēs quās lagātī Helvētiī commemorāvērunt (or vōs commemorāstis) memoriā teneō, atque eō gravius ferō, quō minus meritō populī Rōmānī accidērunt, quī sī … sibi cōnscius fuisset, nōn fuit difficile cavēre, sed eō dēceptus est, quod neque commissum ā sē intellegēbat quā rē timēret, neque sine causā timendum putābat. Quod sī … oblivīscī velit (or velim), num etiam recentium iniūriārum, quod mē invītō iter … temptāstis, quod Aeduōs, …  vexāstis, memoriam dēpōnere potest (or possum). Quod vestrā victōriā … glōriāminī, quodque tam diū vōs impūnē iniūriās tulisse admīrāminī, eōdem pertinent. Cōnsuērunt enim dī immortālēs quō gravius hominēs … doleant, quōs prō scelere eōrum ulcīscī volunt … hīs impūnitātem concēdere. Cum eā ita sint, tamen sī obsidēs ā vōbīs mihi dabuntur, utī ea quae pollicēminī (vōs) factūrōs intellegam, et sī Aeduīs dē iniūriīs quās … intulistis …  satisfaciētis, (ego) cum vōbīs pācem faciam.

eō sibi minus dubitātiōnis darī quod: “that he felt the less hesitation (“the less perplexity” (L-E)) on this account” (H-T), literally, “that less doubt was given him on this account, because … ” Caesar means that the very circumstances which the Helvetii had mentioned for the purpose of intimidating him had only induced him to make up his mind more promptly on the question, whether he would conclude a peace with them or go on with the war. For the defeat of Cassius had happened undeservedly to the Romans, and he was resolved to avenge it (Anthon).

eō, quod: “for this reason, [namely] because … ” Eō is ablative of degree of difference with minus (AG 414), but almost equivalent to an ablative of cause (AG 404) (Hodges).

minus dubitātiōnis: minus is used as a neuter substantive (“less”), the accusative subject of darī in indirect discourse, together with dubitātiōnis as a partitive genitive (AG 346),

eās rēs: i.e., the defeat of Cassius (Walker).

commemorāssent: = commemorāvissent.

memoriā tenēret: “he remembered” (Kelsey).

atque eō gravius ferre quō minus meritō populī Rōmānī accidissent: sc. sē: literally, “that he bore them the more heavily” (Anthon), i.e., that he was all the more indignant. Eō … quō, ablatives of degree of difference (AG 414), best rendered “the … the” (Harkness): “and that he was the more annoyed, the less the Roman people deserved that they should have happened” (L-E); “and that he felt the more indignant at them, the less they had happened in accordance with the deserts (“through any fault” (Harkness)) of the Roman people,” i.e., that he resented them all the more strongly, as they had happened undeservedly to his countrymen (Anthon); that he was the more indignant in proportion to his conviction that the Romans the less deserved the defeat they had met with under Crassus (Spencer). The Romans always considered their opponents the aggressors (Hodges).

meritō populī Rōmānī: meritō is ablative of cause (AG 404) (Harkness): “in accordance with what was due to the Roman people” (Kelsey).

quī sī alicuius iniūriae sibi cōnscius fuisset: “for if they (literally, “who,” referring to the populus Rōmānus–Caesar uses the singular in referring to the collective noun populus, but English prefers the plural (Walker)) had been conscious [to themselves] of an act of injury” (Anthon), i.e., if they had been aware of having done any injury to the Helvetians (H-T); “if they had been conscious of any wrong doing (L-E). Alicuius (from aliquis): according to the common grammatical rule, it should have been sī cuius, but the ali- here has a peculiar force, and is emphatic: if they had been conscious of any act of injustice, ever so trifling (Spencer). Iniūriae is genitive and sibi is dative (not to be translated in English (L-E)), both governed by cōnscius, an adjective pertaining to the mind (AG 349a).

nōn fuisse difficile: “it would not have been difficult” (Walker); for fuit in direct discourse (M-T). This is a consequent clause (apodosis), and the verb accordingly has been changed because of indirect discourse, i.e., in which the sentiments or speeches of a person are related in the third person instead of the first. In direct discourse it would be, sī sibi cōnscius fuisset, nōn fuisset difficile cavēre (Spencer).

cavēre: “to take precautions,” literally “to be on guard,” against reprisals, which the Roman people would have expected if they had in any way wronged the Helvetians (Kelsey); subject of fuisse, which in the direct discourse would be fuisset (Harkness).

eō dēceptum: sc. eum esse; referring to the populus Rōmānus: “that they had been deceived / misled by this on this account” (L-E), viz. quod … intellegeret …  putāret (Harkness). Eō is ablative of means (AG 409) or ablative of cause (AG 404) (Walker); dēceptum is the perfect passive infinitive (esse omitted) (M-T).

commissum ā sē: sc. esse and aliquid as an impersonal subject; translate with neque as if et nihil commissum esse (Kelsey): “that they had not done anything” (H-T); “that no offence (thing) had been committed” (Harkness); “that nothing had been done” (L-E).

ā sē: “by them,” i.e., the Roman people (L-E); ablative of agent (AG 405).

quārē timēret: quārē = propter quod, the antecedent of the quod being the omitted subject of commissum (H-T): “they did not know that anything had been done by them on account of which they should fear” (Hodges).

timendum: sc. sibi esse: “that they need fear” (Walker); “that they ought to fear,” literally “that it should be feared,” or “that there should be fear”; an impersonal use of the gerundive in the future passive periphrastic construction (AG 500.3) (Harkness).

quod sī vellet: “but even if he were willing” (Spencer); “but if he should consent” (H-T). The sense here is, “if I were willing to forget the old outrage, can I put aside the memory of the recent wrongs also?” (Hodges). Here the subject changes abruptly from populus Rōmānus to Caesar; therefore supply ipse (L-E).

veteris contumēliae oblivīscī: “to forget their former insult (“indignity” (Kelsey)),” i.e., to the Roman people in the defeat of Cassius (Harkness). Genitive with oblivīscī, a verb of forgetting (AG 350).

quod: “the fact that.” The four clauses introduced by quod are substantive clauses (AG 560, 561), not causal clauses, and explain, i.e., are in apposition to, iniūriārum. The mood with this quod in direct discourse is the indicative, but here, in indirect discourse, is subjunctive (L-E). This repetition of a word (quod) is called anaphora (M-T).

quod temptāssent, vexāssent: = temptāvissent, vexāvissent: “in that they had attempted … in that they had harrassed”; more freely, “in their having attempted … and having harrassed” (Anthon).

num etiam recentium iniūriārum … memoriam dēpōnere posse: “could he also lay aside the remembrance (“recollection” (Harkness)) of recent injuries (“fresh outrages” (Kelsey))?” The English order is, num etiam posse dēpōnere memoriam recentium iniūriārum? (Anthon). Regular questions in indirect discourse take the verb in the subjunctive; but statements expressed in the form of questions (i.e., rhetorical questions), like all simple statements, take the accusative and infinitive (H-T). Notice that this sentence is interrogative and that in interrogative sentences in indirect discourse the mood varies according to the person of the subject or the character of the question (L-E).

eō invītō: eō = Caesare: “without his (Caesar’s) consent,” literally, “in spite of him being unwilling” (Kelsey). Sē might have been used instead of eō (Harkness).

num posse: “he could not, could he?” (L-E); num expects the answer “no” (Spencer)),

recentium iniūriārum: objective genitive (AG 348) with memoriam; the iniūriārum are explained by the following quod-clauses (Hodges).

quod: “the fact that”; these are substantive quod-clauses, in apposition with iniūriārum. In direct discourse such clauses employ the indicative (Walker).

Allobrogās: Greek accusative form of a foreign word (M-T).

dēpōnere: “put aside” (Kelsey).

quod victōriā … glōriārentur: “the fact that they boasted so insolently of their victory” (H-T), i.e., their victory over the Romans under Cassius in 107 B.C. The clauses with quod are the subject of pertinēre (Harkness). Victōriā is the ablative object of glōrior (AG 431). This quod-clause differs from those in the previous sentence only in having no noun to explain; in this use it is said to be in the adverbial accusative (L-E). In the speech of Divico, as quoted by Caesar, we do not find any boasting. Probably, however, it was indulged in, as being characteristic of the people and their neighbors (Spencer).

quod sē impūne iniūriās tulisse admīrārentur: “as to their wonder that they had so long carried off their wrongdoings with impunity”; sē refers to the subject of admīrārentur (M-T); “that they (the Helvetii) had for so long a time carried off their misdeeds (“that they had inflicted injury” (Hodges)) without punishment,” i.e., had escaped punishment for their misdeeds (L-E); “that they had carried out their crimes with impunity,” i.e., had not been punished for them (Harkness); “that they so long had kept on perpetrating wrongs without punishment” (Kelsey).

eōdem pertinēre: “[both of these things] tended to the same result” (Walker), were of a similar tendency, i.e., only tended the more surely to provoke his anger (Anthon); “pointed in the same direction,” toward impending retribution for the wrongs committed by the Helvetians (Kelsey); “amount to the same thing,” literally, “tended to the same place.” The subject of pertinēre is the preceding clauses (H-T). The sense is, “the fact of their so insolently exulting in their victory, and of their wonder at having so long (fifty years) gone unpunished for their wrong doings, pointed in the same direction,” this direction being the coming vengeance (Walpole).

cōnsuēsse: = cōnsuēvisse; a perfect with present meaning (AG 205b note 2) (Hodges): “they are wont” (Kelsey).

enim: note that the conjunctions meaning “for,” enim (always postpositive (AG 324j), etenim, nam, namque, introduce independent sentences (Hodges).

quō gravius hominēs ex commūtātiōne rērum doleant: “that men may feel the heavier affliction (“may grieve the more” (H-T)) from a change of circumstances,” i.e., from a reversal of fortune (Anthon); purpose clause introduced with quō when a comparative (gravius) is present in the clause (AG 531.2a) (Harkness). Rērum is an objective genitive with commūtātiōne (AG 348). Notice that the tense of doleant is present subjunctive, though this speech depends on respondit, a secondary tense (Hodges); the primary tenses are used here because the statement made is a general one, and therefore true in the present as well as the past (M-T).

So far in this chapter the subjunctive tenses have all been imperfects and pluperfects, because the indirect discourse depends on the past verb respondit. But it is quite common for the writer of indirect discourse to use the tenses that were used in the direct form instead of following the rule of sequence of tenses. Thus presents and perfects are used to the end of this chapter. This usage, called repraesentātiō, is due to the same desire for vividness which leads to the use of the historical present for a past tense. It is usually better to translate the historical present indicative by a past (Walker).

quōs prō … concēdere: the order is, concēdere interdum secundiōrēs rēs et diūturniōrem impūnitātem hīs, quōs vellent ulcīscī prō scelere eōrum (Anthon). The relative clause is put first; the antecedent of quōs is hīs in the clause following (H-T). Concēdere depends on consuēsse (Hodges).

eōrum: “their,” literally, “of them,” referring to quōs (Harkness).

velint: the subjunctive would be used even in direct discourse (Harkness).

hīs: “to those” (Kelsey), the antecedent of quōs (Harkness).

secundiōrēs rēs: “greater prosperity,” literally, “more prosperous things” (Harkness); “a considerable degree of prosperity” (L-E).

diūurniōrem impūnitātem: “more prolonged (“quite long” (L-E)) escape from punishment” (Kelsey). Observe that the comparative may be rendered by “too,” “rather,” “quite,” or any term expressing a comparison (AG 291a) (L-E).

cum ea ita sint: “that, although these things were so,” i.e., although this was the case (Anthon). Sint is an historical present (AG 469) (Harkness).

tamen: this adverb indicates that the cum-clause preceding it has an adversative/concessive force. Join it with sēsē … factūrum (Harkness).

dentur, intellegat, satisfaciant: present subjunctive, perhaps influenced by the tenses in the preceding section. Caesar here changes from the historic to the speaker’s original tenses (M-T).

sī obsidēs ab iīs sibi dentur: protasis to sēsē … factūrum (Hodges).

ab iīs: = ab eīs; ablative of agent (AG 405).

utī ea quae polliceantur factūrōs intellegat: “in order that he may perceive that they intend to fulfill their promises,” i.e., that he may perceive their sincerity by the fact of their giving hostages. The promises referred to are that they will go into such part of Gaul as Caesar may appoint, and will dwell there for the time to come (Anthon).

factūrōs: sc. eōs and esse: “they they would do” (L-E).

ea: the object of facturōs [esse], the subject of which is eōs, referring to the Helvetii (Harkness).

sī Aeduīs … Allobrogibus satisfaciant: “if they will give satisfaction to the Aedui, and likewise to the Allobroges, for the wrongs they have done them and their allies … ” (L-E); “they should make restitution to … ” (Kelsey); literally, “do enough for the Aeduī and for the Allobroges,” i.e., satisfy (H-T); dative with satisfaciant (AG 368.2).

ipsīs sociīsque: datives with the compound verb intulerint (AG 370).

ipsīs, eōrum: referring to the Aedui. Ipsīs, “themselves,” in contrast with their allies (Harkness).

sēsē: i.e., Caesar (Walker).

ita Helvētiōs ā maiōribus suīs īnstitūtōs esse: “that the Helvetians had inherited such traditions from their ancestors” (Kelsey); “that the Helvetians had been trained in this way by their ancestors.”

utī … consuērint: = consuēverint: “they they are accustomed” (Kelsey); consuērint governs the infinitives accipere and dare. A substantive clause of result (AG 568). Perfect with a present meaning (M-T).

eius reī … esse testem: “that the Roman people were witnesses of this,” alluding to the hostages given by the survivors after the defeat and death of Cassius (Harkness); “that the Roman people themselves were a proof of that custom” (Anthon); “that the Roman people could furnish testimony to this” (Kelsey).

hōc respōnsō datō: “after making this reply” (Kelsey).

discessit: sc. Divicō; “he withdrew” (Kelsey).