I am now
starting a new project with this blog, which kind of needed it since it has
been sitting fallow for years. I will be
using it as Latin practice of a sort. I
will be choosing various Latin pieces and translating them, plus adding commentary
when applicable. To start I am going to be working on Caesar’s de bello Gallia book
one part
[1]
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam
Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes
lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna
flumen, a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit. Horum omnium fortissimi sunt
Belgae, propterea quod a cultu atque humanitate provinciae longissime absunt,
minimeque ad eos mercatores saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effeminandos animos
pertinent important, proximique sunt Germanis, qui trans Rhenum incolunt,
quibuscum continenter bellum gerunt. Qua de causa Helvetii quoque reliquos
Gallos virtute praecedunt, quod fere cotidianis proeliis cum Germanis
contendunt, cum aut suis finibus eos prohibent aut ipsi in eorum finibus bellum
gerunt. Eorum una, pars, quam Gallos obtinere dictum est, initium capit a
flumine Rhodano, continetur Garumna flumine, Oceano, finibus Belgarum, attingit
etiam ab Sequanis et Helvetiis flumen Rhenum, vergit ad septentriones. Belgae
ab extremis Galliae finibus oriuntur, pertinent ad inferiorem partem fluminis
Rheni, spectant in septentrionem et orientem solem. Aquitania a Garumna flumine
ad Pyrenaeos montes et eam partem Oceani quae est ad Hispaniam pertinet;
spectat inter occasum solis et septentriones.
Translation:
All
Gaul is divided into three parts, first of which dwell the Belgians, another
the aquitani, third are those of their own language Celts, and in ours are
called Gauls. All of these differ among themselves in languages, customs, and
laws. The Garonne river divides the Gauls from the Aquitanni , the Marne and
the Seine divide them from the Belgians. Of all of these the strongest are the
Belgians because they are farthest away from the culture and humanity of the
province, and those traders least often pass to them those things that emasculate their character, and the
nearest are the Germans, who dwell
across the Rhine, with whom they continuously wage war. For which reason the Swiss surpass the
remaining Gauls in virtue, by which they contend closely with the Germans in
battle daily, either restrain the Germans from their borders, or they
wage war itself on the German borders. One part of these which it has been said the
Gauls occupy, makes a beginning from the river Rhone to be bordered at the Garonne
river, to the ocean, to the borders of the Belgians, also it approaches from
the Seine and the Swiss Rhine river it bends to the north. The Belgains rise from the outermost to the
borders of the Gauls, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine, they watch
in the north and in the rising sun alone. Aquitania extends from Garonne river
to the Pyrenees mountains and to that part of the ocean which extends to Spain.
It looks between the setting of the sun and the north.
Notes:
This
section of De Bello Gallia is interesting, given its simplicity. It is simply a
lay out of the nations and peoples of Gaul prior to the war. This makes sense
given his plebian audience.
I
apologize if the latin is rusty and the translation is not perfect, improving
my Latin is the entire point of the project.
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