LXXIII.
Mox Treviros ac Lingonas ad contionem vocatos ita adloquitur: ‘neque ego umquam facundiam exercui, et (neque ego umquam … et: ‘while I never …yet at the same time’; ego is seldom used except for emphasis.) populi Romani virtutem armis adfirmavi: (populi Romani virtutem armis adfirmavi: an alternate reading is populus Romanus virtutem armis adfirmavit.) sed quoniam apud vos verba plurimum valent (quoniam … valent: quoniam takes indicative.) bonaque ac mala non sua natura, sed vocibus seditiosorum aestimantur, statui pauca disserere quae profligato bello utilius sit vobis audisse quam nobis dixisse. (pauca …quae profligato bello utilius sit vobis audisse quam nobis dixisse: ‘…a few things, now that war is nearly over, that it may be more useful for you to have heard than for me to have uttered’; sit is potential subjunctive; audisse …dixisse: perfect infinitive for actions preceding in time utilius sit: Latin is much stricter than English in the observance of time relationships.) terram vestram ceterorumque Gallorum ingressi sunt duces imperatoresque Romani nulla cupidine, sed maioribus vestris invocantibus, quos discordiae usque ad exitium fatigabant, et acciti auxilio Germani (acciti auxilio Germani: in 71 B.C. the Sequani had appealed to the German leader Ariovistus, mentioned a couple of lines ahead, for help against the Aedui. Ariovistus imposed his dominion over both the Sequani and the Aedui. He was driven out of Gaul by Caesar in 58 B.C.) sociis pariter atque hostibus servitutem imposuerant. quot proeliis adversus Cimbros Teutonosque, (Cimbros Teutonosque: two German tribes that repeatedly defeated the Romans, but were in the end destroyed by Marius in 102 and 101 B.C. ) quantis exercituum nostrorum laboribus quove eventu Germanica bella tractaverimus, satis clarum. nec ideo Rhenum insedimus ut (nec ideo … ut: lit. ‘not for the reason that …’; the ut clause expresses the reason itself.) Italiam tueremur, sed ne quis alius Ariovistus regno Galliarum potiretur. (ne quis alius Ariovistus regno Galliarum potiretur: ‘lest someone, a second Ariovistus, should make himself master of the kingdom of Gaul’; quis is pronoun, not adjective, and is for aliquis after ne. alius is in place of alter; potior governs the abl.) an vos cariores Civili Batavisque et transrhenanis gentibus creditis (an vos … creditis: the particle an can introduce a simple direct question, especially if the question expresses incredulity or sarcasm.) quam maioribus eorum patres avique vestri fuerunt? eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias, (eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias: lit. ‘the reason for the Germans of trespassing into Gaul is always the same, namely … ’; causa seems to be nominative here, rather than abl. (‘for the purpose of’), as the three appositions that follow, libido, avaritia, and amor indicate. Germanis is dat. of possessor with implied est. transcendendi is gen. gerund after causa.) libido atque avaritia et mutandae sedis amor, ut relictis paludibus et solitudinibus suis (relictis paludibus et solitudinibus suis: an echo of Tacitus’ words in Germania 5: terra in universum aut silvis horrida aut paludibus foeda) fecundissimum hoc solum vosque ipsos possiderent: ceterum libertas et speciosa nomina praetexuntur; (ceterum libertas et speciosa nomina praetexuntur: ‘but of course liberty and other specious words are put forward as a pretext’. For ceterum see note in ch. 47.) nec quisquam alienum servitium et dominationem sibi concupivit ut non eadem ista vocabula usurparet.’ (nec quisquam alienum servitium et dominationem sibi concupivit ut non eadem ista vocabula usurparet: lit. ‘no one has ever coveted the enslavement of others and mastery for himself so that he has not made frequent use of these words’; the ut clause is consecutive as shown by the use of ut non instead of ne.)