ClTM in Italiam proficisceretur Caesar, Ser. Galbam
cum legione XII. et parte equitatus in Nantuates,
~eragros Sedunosque misit, qui a finibus Allobrogum
et lacu Lemanno et flumine Rhodano ad summas Alpes
pertinent. Causa mittendi fuit quod iter per Alpes,
quo magno cum periculo magnisque cum portoriis
mercatores ire consuerant, patefieri volebat. E~uic
permisit, si opus e~se arbitraretur, uti in hi~ locis
legionem hiemandi causa conlocaret. Gal1~)a secundis
aliquot proeliis factis castellisque compluribus eorum
expugnatis, missis ad eurn undique legatis obsidibus-
que datis et pace facta, constituit cohortes duas in
~antuatibus conlocare et ipse cum reliquis eius legio-
nis cohortibus in vico Veragrorur~l, qui appellatur
Octodurus hiemare; qui vicus positus in v~lle non
magna adiecta planitie altissimis montibus undique
continetur. Cum hic in duas partes f~umine divide-
retur, alteram partem eius vici Gallis [ad hiem~ndum]
concessit, alteram vacuam ab his relictam cohortibus
attribuit. Eum locum vallo fossaque munivit.
1, 2. iter per Al~es,--evidently the route over the Great
St. Bernard.
4. caste71is, ' forts '. See the first note on ii, 29, ~ 2.
~ 6. ~umine. The Dranse then flowed in a different channel
through the centre of the valley: it is now close to the western
hills.
ad hiemandum. German editors are now generally agreed
that these words are either spurious or originally followed co-
hortibus. Mcusel (J.B., 1910, p. 56) deletes them, on the
ground that Caesar, after writing cohortibus . . . hiemare in 4,
would not have superfluously inserted ad hiemand~m.
alteram . . . attribuit. Galba certainly encamped on the left
or western bank of the river, while the Gauls occupied the
right; for if he had allowed them to hold the left bank, they
would have cut his communications with the two cohorts which
he had left among the Nantuates (C. G., pp. 677-8).
Cum dies hibernorum complures transissent fru- 2
mentumque eo comportari iussisset, subito per e~plo_
r~tores certior factus eSt ex ea parte vici, quam Gallis
eonceSserat, omnes noctu discessisse montesque qui
5 impenderent ~ n~axima multitudine Sedunorum et
Veragrorum teneri. Id aliquot de cauSis acciderat,~
ut subito Galli belli renovandi legionisque oppri-
mendae eonsilium caperent: primum, quod legionem 3
neque eal~ plenissimam detractis cohortibus du~bus
et compluribus singillatim, qui comme~tus petendi
eausa missi erant, absentibus propter paucitatem de-
spiciebant; tum etiam, quod propter iniquitatem loci, 4
cum ipsi ex montibus in vallem decurrerent et tela
coieerent, ne primum quidem impetum suum posse
5 sustineri existimabant. Aeeedebat quod suos ab Se 5
liberos abstraetos obsidum nomine dolebant, et Ro-
manos noll sollml itinerum eausa sed etiam perpetuae
possessionis eulmina Alpium oceupare conari et ea
loca finitimae provineiae adiungere sibi persuasum
20 habebant.
nuntii~ acceptis Galba, cum neque opus hiber- 3
2, 1. e~plor~ctores. See the note on ii, 11 ''.
eoncesserat. As it is impossible in transiating to separate
quam . . . coneesserat from ex . . . viei (we should say ' he was
informed that during the night the Gauls had all quitted the
part of the village which he had allotted to them'), it may
seem at first ~ight surprising to a beginner that Caesar did not
write eoncessisset- but he used the indicative because the
patrols had simply said that the Gauls bad quitted their part
of the village: he independently reminded the reader that he
had allotted it
2. Id . . . capere~lt. Id relers to 1, and ut . . . caperent is
added in order to make it quite clear what is meant by Id. In
English one would say ' Various reasons had led the Gauls to
form tbe sudden resolution of renewing hostilities', &c. Cf. i,
~ 3. After legionem Meusel, following Jurinius, supplies
Ynam, in my opinion unnecessarily.
- 4. Notice that decu1rerent does not mean 'were charging
down- but 'would charge down': the charge had not yet
~egun. See the note on ad~ictarentur in 12, 1.
_;~3, ~ l. opus hic~ernorum munitionesqcce. Opus or its plural i~
~n used as an equivalent of munitiones, and therefore at first
_It munitionesque may appear superfluous. But opus may
~mean the work of constructing munitiorces (cf. ii, 20, ~ 1),
norum munitionesque plene es~ent perfectae nequ~
to de frurnento reliquoque commeatu satis esset pro~isum
quod deditione facta obsidibu~que acceptis nihil d~
l~ello timendum existimaverat, con~ilio celeriter con-
2 vocato sententias exquirere coepit Quo in consilio.
cum tantum repentini periculi praeter opinionem ac-
cidisset ac iam omnia fere superiora loca multitudine
a~natorum completa conspicerentur neque subsidio
veniri neque commeatus supportari interclusis itineri-
3 bus po~sent, prope i~m desperata salute non nullae
eius modi sententiae dicebantur, ut impedimentiS
relicti~ eruptione facta isdem itineribus quibus eo
4 pervenissent ad salutem contenderent. Maiori tamen
parti placuit, hoc reservato ad extremum <casum>
consilio interim rei eventum experiri et castra de-
fendere.
4 Brevi spatio interiecto, vix ut iis rebus quas con-
� stitui~sent conlocandis atque administrandis tempus
daretur, hostes ex omnibus partibus signo dato de-
currere, lapides gaesaque in vallum coicere. Nostri
and munitioi1esque is added here to complete and define opus
hibe1'1/01'um. Similarly in i, 8, 4 Caesar speaks of openis mu~
tion.e even though operis plainly means 'entrenchment' ~md
opere might have been used alone in the sense of munitione.
The entrenchment was an entrenchment even before the pali-
sade and castella which completed it were made.
plene. H. J. Muller (W, kl. Ph., 1894, col. 566) prefers plane
(cf. 26, ~ 3), which is found in one inferior MS.; for he can find
no satisfactory analogy to ple~le. Will not these examples do,
--s~ hoc plene 1~itare non potes (Cicero, Q. fi:, i, 1, ~ 38) and quae
utl~le1le esset . . . perfecta (DeDiv., ii, 1, $ 3) ?
2. omnia fere . . . conspicerentui: Probably the natives were
posted on both the parallel ranges of mountains which domi-
nate Martigny, in order to cut off the Romans from all possi
bility of escape (C. G., pp. 677-8).
4. ad extremum. W. Paul (Z.G., 1878, p. 194) supplies
casum, referring to 5, ~1 (resque esset iam ad e~ctrem~m perducta
casum) and rem~rking thatCaesar, like Cicero, only uses ectre-
mum l~y itself in the sens~ of ' end ' or ' conclusion ', ne~er in
that of ' e~treme peril '.
4, 1. constit~issent. See the note on ii, 35, 1.
conlocandis. If the MS. reading is right, the meaning of iis
l ebus . . . conlocandis is ' for making the dispositions which had
been resol~ed upon '. W. Nitsche suggests that Caesar wrote
compar~lndis.
primO integris viribus fortiter propugnare neque
ullum flustra telum ex loco superiore mittere, et
quaecunlqUe pars castrorum nudata defensoribus
premi ~-idebatur, eo occurrere et auxilium ~erre, sed 3
hoc superari quod diuturnit~te pugnae hostes defessi
proelio excedebant, alii integris viribu~ succedebant;
qu~rum reruln a nostris propter paucit~tem fieri nihil 4
poter~t, ac non modo defesso ex pugna excedendi, sed
ne saucio quidem eius loci ubi constiterat relinquendi
D ~c sui recipiendi facult~s dabatur.
Cul~l iam amplius horis sex continenter pugnaretur, 5
ac non solum vires sed etiam tela nostros deficerent,
atque hostes acrius instarent languidioribusque nostris
vallum scindere et fossas complere coepissent, resque
5 esset iam ad extremum perduct~ casum, P. Sextius 2
Baculus, primi pili centurio, quem N ervico proelio
compluribus confectum vulneribus diximus, et item
C. Volusenus, tribunus militum, vir et consilii magni
et virtutis, ad Galbam accurrunt atque un~m esse
o spem salutis docent, si eruptione facta extremum
au~i]ium experirentur. Itaque convocatis centurio- 3
nibus celeriter milites certiores facit, paulisper in-
2. quaecumque . . . videbati~: The e~planation is suggested
by 2, 3.
4. non modo . . . excedendi. The reader has doubtless noticed
that non is omitted before excedendi, though in a similar clause
(ii, 17, 4) it is expressed. ~aesar began the sentence as if he
