A Complete Good Works Translation from De Bello Gallico 6.11-28
This complete source-unit gives Caesar's full ethnographic excursus in Book 6: Gaulish factions and clientship, Druids, sacrifice, gods, descent from Dis, household law, public rumor, Caesar's comparison with Germanic customs, the Volcae Tectosages, and the Hercynian forest animals.
Translation
Section 11
Since we have come to this point, it does not seem out of place to set forth the customs of Gaul and Germany, and how these nations differ among themselves. In Gaul there are factions not only in all the states, in all the districts, and in all the divisions, but almost even in individual households. The leaders of these factions are those who, in their judgment, are thought to have the highest authority; to their decision and judgment the highest conduct of all matters and plans returns. This custom seems to have been established from ancient time for this reason: that no one of the common people should lack help against a more powerful person. For each leader does not allow his own people to be oppressed and surrounded; if he does otherwise, he has no authority among his own. The same arrangement exists at the highest level of all Gaul, for all the states are divided into two parties.
Section 12
When Caesar came into Gaul, the leaders of one faction were the Aedui and of the other the Sequani. Since the Sequani had less strength by themselves, because the highest authority had belonged from ancient time to the Aedui and their clienteles were great, they had joined the Germans and Ariovistus to themselves and brought them over with great losses and promises. But after several successful battles had been fought and all the nobility of the Aedui had been killed, the Sequani had gone so far ahead in power that they drew a large part of the clients from the Aedui to themselves, received the sons of chiefs from them as hostages, forced them to swear publicly that they would undertake no plan against the Sequani, held by force a part of neighboring land that they had occupied, and possessed the chief place of all Gaul. Driven by this necessity, Diviciacus had gone to Rome to the senate to seek help and had returned with the matter unfinished. By Caesar's arrival, a change of affairs had been made: hostages were returned to the Aedui, old clienteles were restored, new ones were gained through Caesar, because those who had attached themselves to their friendship saw that their condition was better and the rule fairer; and, with their influence and dignity increased in other matters, the Sequani lost the chief place. The Remi succeeded into their place. Since it was understood that they were equal in favor with Caesar, those who because of old enmities could in no way be joined with the Aedui committed themselves into clientship with the Remi. The Remi guarded them diligently, and so they held an authority both new and suddenly gathered. The state of affairs then was this: the Aedui were considered by far the leading people, and the Remi held the second place in dignity.
Section 13
In all Gaul, among those people who have any rank and honor, there are two classes. The common people are held almost in the place of slaves: they dare nothing by themselves and are admitted to no council. Many of them, pressed by debt, by the weight of tribute, or by the injustice of the powerful, give themselves over in servitude to nobles; over them the nobles have all the same rights that masters have over slaves. Of these two honored classes, one is the Druids and the other is the horsemen. The Druids take part in divine matters, oversee public and private sacrifices, and interpret religious obligations. A great number of young men come to them for instruction, and they are held in great honor among the Gauls. They decide almost all public and private disputes. If a crime has been committed, if a killing has happened, if there is a dispute about inheritance or boundaries, the Druids judge it and set rewards and punishments. If any private person or people does not stand by their decree, they forbid that person or people from the sacrifices. This is the heaviest punishment among them. Those so forbidden are counted among the impious and criminal; everyone withdraws from them, avoids their approach and speech, and will not risk harm by contact with them. They receive no justice when they seek it, and no honor is shared with them. Over all these Druids one man presides, who holds the highest authority among them. When he dies, either one who excels the rest in dignity succeeds, or, if several are equal, the Druids choose by vote; sometimes they even contend by arms for the chief place. At a fixed time of year they sit in the territory of the Carnutes, a region considered the center of all Gaul, in a consecrated place. All who have disputes come there from every side and obey their decrees and judgments. Their discipline is thought to have been discovered in Britain and then carried over into Gaul; and now those who want to know it more thoroughly often go there for the sake of learning.
Section 14
The Druids are accustomed to keep away from war, and they do not pay tribute with the rest. They have exemption from military service and freedom from all such burdens. Stirred by such rewards, many come into the discipline by their own will, and many are sent by parents and relatives. They are said to learn by heart a great number of verses; for that reason some remain twenty years in training. They do not think it lawful to commit this teaching to writing, though in almost all other matters, public and private accounts, they use Greek letters. Caesar thinks they established this for two reasons: they do not want the discipline carried out among the common crowd, and they do not want students to trust in writing and care less for memory. That is what often happens to many people: relying on the help of letters, they relax their diligence in learning and their memory. Above all they wish to persuade people that souls do not perish, but after death pass from some people into others; and they think that by this, fear of death being cast aside, people are most strongly stirred toward courage. They also discuss many things about the stars and their movement, about the size of the world and the earth, about the nature of things, and about the power and might of the immortal gods, and they hand these matters down to the young.
Section 15
The other class is the horsemen. When there is need and some war occurs, as before Caesar's coming used to happen almost every year, whether they were making attacks themselves or driving off attacks made against them, all these men are engaged in war. Each man, as he is greatest in birth and resources, has around him the largest number of retainers and clients. This is the only kind of influence and power they know.
Section 16
The whole nation of the Gauls is very much given to religious rites. For this reason, those who are afflicted with more serious diseases, and those who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice human beings as victims or vow that they will sacrifice them, and they use Druids as ministers for those sacrifices. They believe that unless a human life is paid back for a human life, the divine power of the immortal gods cannot be appeased; and they have public rites of the same kind. Some have images of immense size, whose limbs, woven from wicker, they fill with living people; when these are set on fire, the people enclosed in flame are killed. They think the punishment of those caught in theft, robbery, or some other offense is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such people runs out, they descend even to the punishment of the innocent.
Section 17
Of the gods, they worship Mercury most of all. His images are very many. They say he is the inventor of all arts, the guide of roads and journeys, and they judge that he has the greatest power for the gaining of money and for trade. After him they worship Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. About these gods they hold almost the same opinion as other peoples: Apollo drives away diseases, Minerva hands down the beginnings of works and crafts, Jupiter holds rule over the heavenly ones, and Mars governs wars. When they have decided to fight a battle, they usually devote to Mars what they have taken in war. When they have prevailed, they sacrifice the captured animals and gather the rest of the spoil into one place. In many states one may see mounds of these things built up in consecrated places; and it does not often happen that anyone, neglecting religion, dares either to hide captured goods at home or to take away what has been set there. A very heavy punishment, with torture, has been established for that offense.
Section 18
All the Gauls proclaim that they are descended from Father Dis, and they say that this has been handed down by the Druids. For that reason they measure every span of time not by the number of days but by nights. They keep birthdays and the beginnings of months and years in such a way that the night is followed by the day. In the other customs of life they differ from most others chiefly in this: they do not allow their children to approach them openly until they have grown old enough to bear the duty of military service, and they think it shameful for a son in boyhood to stand in public in his father's sight.
Section 19
Whatever amount of money husbands have received from their wives in the name of dowry, they join an equal amount from their own goods with the dowries, after an assessment has been made. An account of all this money is kept jointly, and the profits are preserved: whichever of the two survives in life, to that one comes the share of both, together with the profits of earlier times. Husbands have power of life and death over wives as over children. When a father of a household born in a more distinguished rank has died, his relatives assemble; if the matter concerning his death comes into suspicion, they hold an inquiry concerning the wives in the manner used for slaves, and, if guilt is established, they kill them after tormenting them with fire and every torture. Funerals, according to the culture of the Gauls, are magnificent and costly. Everything that they think was dear to the living is brought into the fire, even animals; and a little before this time, slaves and clients who were known to have been loved by them were burned together after the proper funeral rites had been completed.
Section 20
The states that are thought to administer their commonwealth more suitably have established by law that if anyone has heard anything about public affairs from neighboring peoples by rumor or report, he must bring it to the magistrate and not share it with anyone else. For it has been learned that reckless and inexperienced people are often frightened by false rumors, driven to crime, and led to make plans about the highest matters. The magistrates conceal what seems best to conceal and disclose to the multitude what they judge to be useful. It is not permitted to speak about public affairs except through the council.
Section 21
The Germans differ greatly from this custom. They have no Druids to preside over divine matters, and they do not give attention to sacrifices. They count among the gods only those whom they see and by whose powers they are openly helped: the Sun, Vulcan, and the Moon. Of the rest they have not even received report. Their whole life consists in hunting and in zeal for military affairs. From childhood they devote themselves to labor and hardness. Those who have remained longest without sexual maturity carry the greatest praise among their people; they think that by this the body is nourished, and strength and sinews are confirmed. To have known a woman before the twentieth year they hold among the most shameful things; and there is no concealment of this matter, because they bathe promiscuously in the rivers and use skins or small coverings of hide, with a large part of the body naked.
Section 22
They do not give attention to agriculture, and the greater part of their food consists of milk, cheese, and meat. No one has a fixed measure of land or private boundaries; instead, the magistrates and chiefs assign each year to peoples and kin-groups of people who have come together as much land as seemed good, and in whatever place seemed good, and the next year force them to move elsewhere. They give many reasons for this practice: that people not be caught by continual habit and exchange zeal for waging war for agriculture; that they not strive to acquire broad boundaries, and the more powerful drive the lower from their possessions; that they not build too carefully to avoid cold and heat; that no desire for money arise, from which factions and dissensions are born; and that they hold the common people in equality of spirit, since each sees his own wealth made equal with that of the most powerful.
Section 23
For states, the greatest praise is to have, around themselves as widely as possible, wasted borders and empty lands. They think this the proper mark of courage: that neighbors, driven from their lands, yield, and that no one dare settle nearby. At the same time they judge that they will be safer because fear of a sudden incursion has been removed. When a state either defends a war or makes one, magistrates are chosen to preside over that war and to have power of life and death. In peace there is no common magistrate; instead, the chiefs of regions and districts administer justice among their own people and lessen disputes. Raids made outside the borders of each state carry no infamy; they declare that these are done to exercise the young and lessen idleness. And when one of the chiefs has said in council that he will be leader, and that those who wish to follow should declare themselves, those who approve both the cause and the man rise, promise their help, and are praised by the crowd. Those who have not followed after this are counted among deserters and traitors, and afterward trust in all matters is withdrawn from them. They do not think it lawful to violate a guest. Those who have come to them for any reason whatever they protect from injury and hold sacred; to them the houses of all are open, and food is shared.
Section 24
There was once a time when the Gauls surpassed the Germans in courage, brought war upon them of their own accord, and, because of the multitude of people and lack of land, sent colonies across the Rhine. Therefore the Volcae Tectosages occupied and settled in those most fertile places of Germany around the Hercynian forest, which I see was known by report to Eratosthenes and certain Greeks, who call it Orcynia. This people holds itself in those seats down to the present time and has the highest reputation for justice and warlike praise. Now, because they remain in the same poverty, lack, and endurance as the Germans, and use the same food and bodily culture, while to the Gauls the nearness of provinces and knowledge of overseas goods gives much toward abundance and use, they have gradually grown accustomed to being surpassed. Defeated in many battles, they do not even compare themselves with the Germans in courage.
Section 25
The breadth of this Hercynian forest, which was shown above, stretches over nine days' march for a lightly equipped traveler. It cannot be defined otherwise, and they do not know measurements of journeys. It begins from the borders of the Helvetii, Nemetes, and Rauraci, and extends in a straight line along the region of the river Danube to the borders of the Daci and Anartes. From there it bends leftward, away from the river through different regions, and because of its size touches the borders of many peoples. There is no one from this Germany who says that he has either gone to the beginning of that forest, though he has advanced a journey of sixty days, or has learned from what place it begins. It is agreed that many kinds of wild animals are born in it that have not been seen in other places. Of these, the following are the ones that seem to differ most from the others and to deserve remembrance.
Section 26
There is an ox with the shape of a deer, from the middle of whose forehead, between the ears, one horn rises, higher and straighter than the horns known to us. From its top, like palms and branches, the horn spreads widely. The nature of the female and the male is the same; the shape and size of the horns are the same.
Section 27
There are also animals called alces. Their shape and the varied color of their skins are like goats, but in size they are a little greater; they are without horns, and they have legs without knots and joints. They do not lie down for rest, and if they have fallen by any accident, they cannot raise or lift themselves. Trees serve them as beds: they lean themselves against them, and so, reclining only a little, they take rest. When hunters have noticed from their tracks where they are accustomed to withdraw, they either undermine all the trees at the roots in that place or cut them so far that the outward appearance of standing trees remains. When the animals lean on them by habit, they bring the weakened trees down by their weight and fall together with them.
Section 28
The third kind are those called uri. They are a little below elephants in size, and in appearance, color, and form are bulls. Their strength is great and their speed is great; they spare neither human being nor wild animal that they have seen. People eagerly kill them after capturing them in pits. Young men harden themselves by this labor and exercise themselves by this kind of hunting; those who have killed the most of them, bringing the horns into public as testimony, receive great praise. But they cannot become accustomed to human beings or be made tame, not even when caught young. The breadth, shape, and appearance of their horns differ greatly from the horns of our oxen. These are carefully sought out, bound with silver around the rims, and used as drinking cups at the largest feasts.
Colophon
This page translates Caesar, De Bello Gallico 6.11-28 from Latin for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. It preserves Caesar's Roman administrative and ethnographic framing as source evidence, including his comparison between Gauls and Germans, rather than treating it as neutral description.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Caesar, De Bello Gallico 6.11-28
Latin source text from The Latin Library's text of Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book 6. This page gives Caesar's continuous ethnographic source-unit on Gaul and Germany, including Gaulish factions, Druids, sacrifice, household law, German comparison, the Volcae Tectosages, and the Hercynian forest.
Section 11
Quoniam ad hunc locum perventum est, non alienum esse videtur de Galliae Germaniaeque moribus et quo differant hae nationes inter sese proponere. In Gallia non solum in omnibus civitatibus atque in omnibus pagis partibusque, sed paene etiam in singulis domibus factiones sunt, earumque factionum principes sunt qui summam auctoritatem eorum iudicio habere existimantur, quorum ad arbitrium iudiciumque summa omnium rerum consiliorumque redeat. Itaque eius rei causa antiquitus institutum videtur, ne quis ex plebe contra potentiorem auxili egeret: suos enim quisque opprimi et circumveniri non patitur, neque, aliter si faciat, ullam inter suos habet auctoritatem. Haec eadem ratio est in summa totius Galliae: namque omnes civitates in partes divisae sunt duas.
Section 12
Cum Caesar in Galliam venit, alterius factionis principes erant Aedui, alterius Sequani. Hi cum per se minus valerent, quod summa auctoritas antiquitus erat in Aeduis magnaeque eorum erant clientelae, Germanos atque Ariovistum sibi adiunxerant eosque ad se magnis iacturis pollicitationibusque perduxerant. Proeliis vero compluribus factis secundis atque omni nobilitate Aeduorum interfecta tantum potentia antecesserant, ut magnam partem clientium ab Aeduis ad se traducerent obsidesque ab eis principum filios acciperent et publice iurare cogerent nihil se contra Sequanos consili inituros et partem finitimi agri per vim occupatam possiderent Galliaeque totius principatum obtinerent. Qua necessitate adductus Diviciacus auxili petendi causa Romam ad senatum profectus infecta re redierat. Adventu Caesaris facta commutatione rerum, obsidibus Aeduis redditis, veteribus clientelis restitutis, novis per Caesarem comparatis, quod hi, qui se ad eorum amicitiam adgregaverant, meliore condicione atque aequiore imperio se uti videbant, reliquis rebus eorum gratia dignitateque amplificata Sequani principatum dimiserant. In eorum locum Remi successerant: quos quod adaequare apud Caesarem gratia intellegebatur, ei, qui propter veteres inimicitias nullo modo cum Aeduis coniungi poterant, se Remis in clientelam dicabant. Hos illi diligenter tuebantur: ita et novam et repente collectam auctoritatem tenebant. Eo tum statu res erat, ut longe principes haberentur Aedui, secundum locum dignitatis Remi obtinerent.
Section 13
In omni Gallia eorum hominum, qui aliquo sunt numero atque honore, genera sunt duo. Nam plebes paene servorum habetur loco, quae nihil audet per se, nullo adhibetur consilio. Plerique, cum aut aere alieno aut magnitudine tributorum aut iniuria potentiorum premuntur, sese in servitutem dicant nobilibus: in hos eadem omnia sunt iura, quae dominis in servos. Sed de his duobus generibus alterum est druidum, alterum equitum. Illi rebus divinis intersunt, sacrificia publica ac privata procurant, religiones interpretantur: ad hos magnus adulescentium numerus disciplinae causa concurrit, magnoque hi sunt apud eos honore. Nam fere de omnibus controversiis publicis privatisque constituunt, et, si quod est admissum facinus, si caedes facta, si de hereditate, de finibus controversia est, idem decernunt, praemia poenasque constituunt; si qui aut privatus aut populus eorum decreto non stetit, sacrificiis interdicunt. Haec poena apud eos est gravissima. Quibus ita est interdictum, hi numero impiorum ac sceleratorum habentur, his omnes decedunt, aditum sermonemque defugiunt, ne quid ex contagione incommodi accipiant, neque his petentibus ius redditur neque honos ullus communicatur. His autem omnibus druidibus praeest unus, qui summam inter eos habet auctoritatem. Hoc mortuo aut si qui ex reliquis excellit dignitate succedit, aut, si sunt plures pares, suffragio druidum, nonnumquam etiam armis de principatu contendunt. Hi certo anni tempore in finibus Carnutum, quae regio totius Galliae media habetur, considunt in loco consecrato. Huc omnes undique, qui controversias habent, conveniunt eorumque decretis iudiciisque parent. Disciplina in Britannia reperta atque inde in Galliam translata esse existimatur, et nunc, qui diligentius eam rem cognoscere volunt, plerumque illo discendi causa proficiscuntur.
Section 14
Druides a bello abesse consuerunt neque tributa una cum reliquis pendunt; militiae vacationem omniumque rerum habent immunitatem. Tantis excitati praemiis et sua sponte multi in disciplinam conveniunt et a parentibus propinquisque mittuntur. Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur. Itaque annos nonnulli vicenos in disciplina permanent. Neque fas esse existimant ea litteris mandare, cum in reliquis fere rebus, publicis privatisque rationibus Graecis litteris utantur. Id mihi duabus de causis instituisse videntur, quod neque in vulgum disciplinam efferri velint neque eos, qui discunt, litteris confisos minus memoriae studere: quod fere plerisque accidit, ut praesidio litterarum diligentiam in perdiscendo ac memoriam remittant. In primis hoc volunt persuadere, non interire animas, sed ab aliis post mortem transire ad alios, atque hoc maxime ad virtutem excitari putant metu mortis neglecto. Multa praeterea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum natura, de deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant et iuventuti tradunt.
Section 15
Alterum genus est equitum. Hi, cum est usus atque aliquod bellum incidit (quod fere ante Caesaris adventum quotannis accidere solebat, uti aut ipsi iniurias inferrent aut illatas propulsarent), omnes in bello versantur, atque eorum ut quisque est genere copiisque amplissimus, ita plurimos circum se ambactos clientesque habet. Hanc unam gratiam potentiamque noverunt.
Section 16
Natio est omnis Gallorum admodum dedita religionibus, atque ob eam causam, qui sunt adfecti gravioribus morbis quique in proeliis periculisque versantur, aut pro victimis homines immolant aut se immolaturos vovent administrisque ad ea sacrificia druidibus utuntur, quod, pro vita hominis nisi hominis vita reddatur, non posse deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur, publiceque eiusdem generis habent instituta sacrificia. Alii immani magnitudine simulacra habent, quorum contexta viminibus membra vivis hominibus complent; quibus succensis circumventi flamma exanimantur homines. Supplicia eorum qui in furto aut in latrocinio aut aliqua noxia sint comprehensi gratiora dis immortalibus esse arbitrantur; sed, cum eius generis copia defecit, etiam ad innocentium supplicia descendunt.
Section 17
Deum maxime Mercurium colunt. Huius sunt plurima simulacra: hunc omnium inventorem artium ferunt, hunc viarum atque itinerum ducem, hunc ad quaestus pecuniae mercaturasque habere vim maximam arbitrantur. Post hunc Apollinem et Martem et Iovem et Minervam. De his eandem fere, quam reliquae gentes, habent opinionem: Apollinem morbos depellere, Minervam operum atque artificiorum initia tradere, Iovem imperium caelestium tenere, Martem bella regere. Huic, cum proelio dimicare constituerunt, ea quae bello ceperint plerumque devovent: cum superaverunt, animalia capta immolant reliquasque res in unum locum conferunt. Multis in civitatibus harum rerum exstructos tumulos locis consecratis conspicari licet; neque saepe accidit, ut neglecta quispiam religione aut capta apud se occultare aut posita tollere auderet, gravissimumque ei rei supplicium cum cruciatu constitutum est.
Section 18
Galli se omnes ab Dite patre prognatos praedicant idque ab druidibus proditum dicunt. Ob eam causam spatia omnis temporis non numero dierum sed noctium finiunt; dies natales et mensum et annorum initia sic observant ut noctem dies subsequatur. In reliquis vitae institutis hoc fere ab reliquis differunt, quod suos liberos, nisi cum adoleverunt, ut munus militiae sustinere possint, palam ad se adire non patiuntur filiumque puerili aetate in publico in conspectu patris adsistere turpe ducunt.
Section 19
Viri, quantas pecunias ab uxoribus dotis nomine acceperunt, tantas ex suis bonis aestimatione facta cum dotibus communicant. Huius omnis pecuniae coniunctim ratio habetur fructusque servantur: uter eorum vita superarit, ad eum pars utriusque cum fructibus superiorum temporum pervenit. Viri in uxores, sicuti in liberos, vitae necisque habent potestatem; et cum paterfamiliae illustriore loco natus decessit, eius propinqui conveniunt et, de morte si res in suspicionem venit, de uxoribus in servilem modum quaestionem habent et, si compertum est, igni atque omnibus tormentis excruciatas interficiunt. Funera sunt pro cultu Gallorum magnifica et sumptuosa; omniaque quae vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur in ignem inferunt, etiam animalia, ac paulo supra hanc memoriam servi et clientes, quos ab eis dilectos esse constabat, iustis funeribus confectis una cremabantur.
Section 20
Quae civitates commodius suam rem publicam administrare existimantur, habent legibus sanctum, si quis quid de re publica a finitimis rumore aut fama acceperit, uti ad magistratum deferat neve cum quo alio communicet, quod saepe homines temerarios atque imperitos falsis rumoribus terreri et ad facinus impelli et de summis rebus consilium capere cognitum est. Magistratus quae visa sunt occultant quaeque esse ex usu iudicaverunt multitudini produnt. De re publica nisi per concilium loqui non conceditur.
Section 21
Germani multum ab hac consuetudine differunt. Nam neque druides habent, qui rebus divinis praesint, neque sacrificiis student. Deorum numero eos solos ducunt, quos cernunt et quorum aperte opibus iuvantur, Solem et Vulcanum et Lunam, reliquos ne fama quidem acceperunt. Vita omnis in venationibus atque in studiis rei militaris consistit: ab parvulis labori ac duritiae student. Qui diutissime impuberes permanserunt, maximam inter suos ferunt laudem: hoc ali staturam, ali vires nervosque confirmari putant. Intra annum vero vicesimum feminae notitiam habuisse in turpissimis habent rebus; cuius rei nulla est occultatio, quod et promiscue in fluminibus perluuntur et pellibus aut parvis renonum tegimentis utuntur magna corporis parte nuda.
Section 22
Agriculturae non student, maiorque pars eorum victus in lacte, caseo, carne consistit. Neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines habet proprios; sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus cognationibusque hominum, qui una coierunt, quantum et quo loco visum est agri attribuunt atque anno post alio transire cogunt. Eius rei multas adferunt causas: ne adsidua consuetudine capti studium belli gerendi agricultura commutent; ne latos fines parare studeant, potentioresque humiliores possessionibus expellant; ne accuratius ad frigora atque aestus vitandos aedificent; ne qua oriatur pecuniae cupiditas, qua ex re factiones dissensionesque nascuntur; ut animi aequitate plebem contineant, cum suas quisque opes cum potentissimis aequari videat.
Section 23
Civitatibus maxima laus est quam latissime circum se vastatis finibus solitudines habere. Hoc proprium virtutis existimant, expulsos agris finitimos cedere, neque quemquam prope audere consistere; simul hoc se fore tutiores arbitrantur repentinae incursionis timore sublato. Cum bellum civitas aut illa tum defendit aut infert, magistratus, qui ei bello praesint, ut vitae necisque habeant potestatem, deliguntur. In pace nullus est communis magistratus, sed principes regionum atque pagorum inter suos ius dicunt controversiasque minuunt. Latrocinia nullam habent infamiam, quae extra fines cuiusque civitatis fiunt, atque ea iuventutis exercendae ac desidiae minuendae causa fieri praedicant. Atque ubi quis ex principibus in concilio dixit se ducem fore, qui sequi velint, profiteantur, consurgunt ei qui et causam et hominem probant suumque auxilium pollicentur atque ab multitudine collaudantur: qui ex his secuti non sunt, in desertorum ac proditorum numero ducuntur, omniumque his rerum postea fides derogatur. Hospitem violare fas non putant; qui quacumque de causa ad eos venerunt, ab iniuria prohibent, sanctos habent, hisque omnium domus patent victusque communicatur.
Section 24
Ac fuit antea tempus, cum Germanos Galli virtute superarent, ultro bella inferrent, propter hominum multitudinem agrique inopiam trans Rhenum colonias mitterent. Itaque ea quae fertilissima Germaniae sunt loca circum Hercyniam silvam, quam Eratostheni et quibusdam Graecis fama notam esse video, quam illi Orcyniam appellant, Volcae Tectosages occupaverunt atque ibi consederunt; quae gens ad hoc tempus his sedibus sese continet summamque habet iustitiae et bellicae laudis opinionem. Nunc quod in eadem inopia, egestate, patientia qua Germani permanent, eodem victu et cultu corporis utuntur; Gallis autem provinciarum propinquitas et transmarinarum rerum notitia multa ad copiam atque usus largitur, paulatim adsuefacti superari multisque victi proeliis ne se quidem ipsi cum illis virtute comparant.
Section 25
Huius Hercyniae silvae, quae supra demonstrata est, latitudo novem dierum iter expedito patet: non enim aliter finiri potest, neque mensuras itinerum noverunt. Oritur ab Helvetiorum et Nemetum et Rauracorum finibus rectaque fluminis Danubi regione pertinet ad fines Dacorum et Anartium; hinc se flectit sinistrorsus diversis ab flumine regionibus multarumque gentium fines propter magnitudinem adtingit; neque quisquam est huius Germaniae, qui se aut adisse ad initium eius silvae dicat, cum dierum iter LX processerit, aut, quo ex loco oriatur, acceperit: multaque in ea genera ferarum nasci constat, quae reliquis in locis visa non sint; ex quibus quae maxime differant ab ceteris et memoriae prodenda videantur haec sunt.
Section 26
Est bos cervi figura, cuius a media fronte inter aures unum cornu exsistit excelsius magisque directum his, quae nobis nota sunt, cornibus: ab eius summo sicut palmae ramique late diffunduntur. Eadem est feminae marisque natura, eadem forma magnitudoque cornuum.
Section 27
Sunt item, quae appellantur alces. Harum est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilaeque sunt cornibus et crura sine nodis articulisque habent neque quietis causa procumbunt neque, si quo adflictae casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt. Quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ab radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipsae concidunt.
Section 28
Tertium est genus eorum, qui uri appellantur. Hi sunt magnitudine paulo infra elephantos, specie et colore et figura tauri. Magna vis eorum est et magna velocitas, neque homini neque ferae quam conspexerunt parcunt. Hos studiose foveis captos interficiunt. Hoc se labore durant adulescentes atque hoc genere venationis exercent, et qui plurimos ex his interfecerunt, relatis in publicum cornibus, quae sint testimonio, magnam ferunt laudem. Sed adsuescere ad homines et mansuefieri ne parvuli quidem excepti possunt. Amplitudo cornuum et figura et species multum a nostrorum boum cornibus differt. Haec studiose conquisita ab labris argento circumcludunt atque in amplissimis epulis pro poculis utuntur.
Source Colophon
The Latin source was captured from The Latin Library on 2026-05-13 and inspected on disk at Tulku/Tools/celtic/sources/continental_batch_2026-05-13/caesar_gallic_war_6_latin_library.html. The English translation is a New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation made from the Latin source.
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