A Good Works Translation from De Bello Gallico 7.4, 7.14, and 7.89

These three passages from Caesar's seventh book give the Roman narrative of Vercingetorix's rise among the Arverni, his appeal to common liberty, the hard strategy of burning settlements to starve the Roman army, and his surrender after Alesia.

Translation

Section 4

By a similar plan, Vercingetorix, son of Celtillus, an Arvernian and a young man of the highest power, whose father had held the chief place of all Gaul and had been killed by his state for that reason, because he was seeking kingship, called together his clients and easily set them on fire. When his plan was known, people ran to arms. He was blocked by Gobannitio, his uncle, and by the other chiefs, who did not think this chance should be tried; he was driven out of the town of Gergovia. Yet he did not stop. In the countryside he held a levy of the needy and desperate. With this band gathered, he brought over to his view everyone from the state whom he approached. He urged them to take arms for the cause of common liberty, and, after great forces had been gathered, he drove from the state the opponents by whom he had been cast out a little before. He was called king by his own people. He sent embassies in every direction and begged them to remain faithful. Quickly he joined to himself the Senones, Parisii, Pictones, Cadurci, Turoni, Aulerci, Lemovices, Andes, and all the rest who touch the Ocean; by the consent of all, command was handed over to him. With this power offered, he demanded hostages from all these states, ordered a fixed number of soldiers to be brought to him quickly, and set how many arms each state should make at home and by what deadline. Above all, he gave attention to cavalry. To the highest diligence he added the highest severity of command. By the greatness of punishment he forced the wavering. For a greater offense he killed by fire and every torture; for a lighter cause he sent men home with their ears cut off or with one eye gouged out, so that they might be a lesson to the rest and terrify others by the greatness of the penalty.

Section 14

After so many continuous setbacks had been received at Vellaunodunum, Cenabum, and Noviodunum, Vercingetorix called his people to council. He taught that the war had to be waged by a very different plan from the one used before. Every effort had to be given to this: the Romans must be kept from fodder and provisions. This would be easy, because they themselves were strong in cavalry and because the season of the year helped them. Fodder could not be cut; the enemy would have to scatter and seek it from buildings, and all of them could be destroyed daily by cavalry. Besides this, for the sake of safety, the advantages of private property had to be disregarded. Villages and buildings ought to be burned in every direction for the distance from the road that the Romans seemed able to reach for the sake of foddering. Their own people had abundance of these things, because they would be helped by the resources of those in whose territory the war was being fought. The Romans would either not endure scarcity, or would advance farther from camp with great danger. It made no difference whether they killed the Romans themselves or stripped them of their baggage, for once that was lost the war could not be carried on. Moreover, towns ought to be burned when they were not safe from all danger by fortification and the nature of the place, so that they would not be refuges for their own people to avoid military service, nor be set before the Romans as a supply of provisions and plunder. If these things seemed heavy or bitter, they should judge this much heavier: their children and wives dragged into slavery, and themselves killed, which things must happen to the defeated.

Section 89

On the next day Vercingetorix called a council and showed that he had undertaken that war not for his own necessities, but for the cause of common liberty. Since one must yield to fortune, he offered himself to them for either outcome: whether they wished to satisfy the Romans by his death or to hand him over alive. Envoys were sent to Caesar about these matters. Caesar ordered the arms to be handed over and the chiefs to be brought out. He himself sat in the fortification before the camp. The leaders were brought there; Vercingetorix was surrendered; the arms were thrown down. Caesar kept back the Aedui and Arverni, in case he could recover the states through them; from the rest of the captives he distributed one head to each soldier throughout the whole army in the name of plunder.

Colophon

This page translates Caesar, De Bello Gallico 7.4, 7.14, and 7.89 from Latin for the Celtic continental expansion of the Good Work Library. Caesar is an enemy commander writing his own war narrative; the translation preserves his framing as source evidence for the Gallic coalition and its Roman representation.

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 7.4, 7.14, 7.89

Latin source text from The Latin Library's text of Caesar, De Bello Gallico, Book 7. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Section 4

Simili ratione ibi Vercingetorix, Celtilli filius, Arvernus, summae potentiae adulescens, cuius pater principatum Galliae totius obtinuerat et ob eam causam, quod regnum appetebat, ab civitate erat interfectus, convocatis suis clientibus facile incendit. Cognito eius consilio ad arma concurritur. Prohibetur ab Gobannitione, patruo suo, reliquisque principibus, qui hanc temptandam fortunam non existimabant; expellitur ex oppido Gergovia; non destitit tamen atque in agris habet dilectum egentium ac perditorum. Hac coacta manu, quoscumque adit ex civitate ad suam sententiam perducit; hortatur ut communis libertatis causa arma capiant, magnisque coactis copiis adversarios suos a quibus paulo ante erat eiectus expellit ex civitate. Rex ab suis appellatur. Dimittit quoque versus legationes; obtestatur ut in fide maneant. Celeriter sibi Senones, Parisios, Pictones, Cadurcos, Turonos, Aulercos, Lemovices, Andos reliquosque omnes qui Oceanum attingunt adiungit: omnium consensu ad eum defertur imperium. Qua oblata potestate omnibus his civitatibus obsides imperat, certum numerum militum ad se celeriter adduci iubet, armorum quantum quaeque civitas domi quodque ante tempus efficiat constituit; in primis equitatui studet. Summae diligentiae summam imperi severitatem addit; magnitudine supplici dubitantes cogit. Nam maiore commisso delicto igni atque omnibus tormentis necat, leviore de causa auribus desectis aut singulis effossis oculis domum remittit, ut sint reliquis documento et magnitudine poenae perterreant alios.

Section 14

Vercingetorix tot continuis incommodis Vellaunoduni, Cenabi, Novioduni acceptis suos ad concilium convocat. Docet longe alia ratione esse bellum gerendum atque antea gestum sit. Omnibus modis huic rei studendum, ut pabulatione et commeatu Romani prohibeantur. Id esse facile, quod equitatu ipsi abundent et quod anni tempore subleventur. Pabulum secari non posse; necessario dispersos hostes ex aedificiis petere: hos omnes cotidie ab equitibus deleri posse. Praeterea salutis causa rei familiaris commoda neglegenda: vicos atque aedificia incendi oportere hoc spatio ab via quoque versus, quo pabulandi causa adire posse videantur. Harum ipsis rerum copiam suppetere, quod, quorum in finibus bellum geratur, eorum opibus subleventur: Romanos aut inopiam non laturos aut magno periculo longius ab castris processuros; neque interesse, ipsosne interficiant, impedimentisne exuant, quibus amissis bellum geri non possit. Praeterea oppida incendi oportere, quae non munitione et loci natura ab omni sint periculo tuta, neu suis sint ad detractandam militiam receptacula neu Romanis proposita ad copiam commeatus praedamque tollendam. Haec si gravia aut acerba videantur, multo illa gravius aestimare, liberos, coniuges in servitutem abstrahi, ipsos interfici; quae sit necesse accidere victis.

Section 89

Postero die Vercingetorix concilio convocato id bellum se suscepisse non suarum necessitatium, sed communis libertatis causa demonstrat, et quoniam sit fortunae cedendum, ad utramque rem se illis offerre, seu morte sua Romanis satisfacere seu vivum tradere velint. Mittuntur de his rebus ad Caesarem legati. Iubet arma tradi, principes produci. Ipse in munitione pro castris consedit: eo duces producuntur; Vercingetorix deditur, arma proiciuntur. Reservatis Aeduis atque Arvernis, si per eos civitates reciperare posset, ex reliquis captivis toto exercitui capita singula praedae nomine distribuit.

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_7_latin_library.html. The English translation is a New Tianmu Anglican Church Good Works Translation made from the Latin source.

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