Caesar dē bellō Britannicō in suīs librīs nārrat. Postquam gentēs multās et Gallōrum et Germānōrum superāvit, propter duās causās ad Britanniam cōpiās dūxit. Prīmum Britannī auxilia Gallīs in bellīs Gallicīs subministrāverant; deinde īnsula, gentēs, loca īnsulae Gallīs erant incognita. Mercātōribus, quī ad īnsulam nāvigābant, ōra maritima sōla erat nota. Caesar, ubi mercātōrēs convocāvit, pauca cognōvit. Itaque Volusēnum, lēgātum, ad Britanniam cum nāvī longā mīsit, et cum suīs cōpiīs iter contrā Morinōs fēcit. Volusēnus, quī ad Caesarem ā Britanniā post quīnque diēs vēnit, pauca sōla nārrāvit.
[i] Gaius Volusenus Quadratus was a distinguished military
officer of the Roman Republic, serving under Julius Caesar for ten years,
during both the Gallic Wars and the civil war of the 40s. Caesar praises him in
his narrative:
C. Volusēnus, tribūnus mīlitum, vir et cōnsiliī magnī et
virtūtis (B.G. 3.5) │ C. Volusenus, a tribune of the soldiers, a man of great
skill and valour
[ii]
nāvis longa: ship of war
nāvis onerāria: transport / cargo ship
nāvis mercātōria: merchant ship
Notes:
Use of the dative case
Mercātōribus … ōra maritima sōla erat nota. │
Only the coastline was known to the merchants.
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Caesar tells (us) about the
British war in his books. After he had overcome many tribes of both the Gauls
and Germans, he led troops to Britain for two reasons. First the Britons had
supplied aid to the Gauls in the Gallic wars; then the island, the nations, and
the places of the island were unknown to the Gauls. Only the sea coast was known
to the merchants who were sailing to the island. Caesar, when he summoned the
merchants, knew little. And so he sent Volusenus as an emissary, to Britain
with a long ship, and he marched against the Morinos with his troops. Volusenus,
who came to Caesar from Britain after five days, only described a few things.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico
Online versions of Dē bellō
Gallicō:
https://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Caesar/Gallic_War/home.html
https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar%27s_invasions_of_Britain
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