Happy Latin: Caesar’s BattlesHour 14 · The Second Invasion of Britain · DBG 5.16–18

Hour 14 — The Second Invasion of Britain · DBG 5.16–18

Note on sources. The source course-design document (0 Caesar's Latin Course Structure and Task 1-2.docx, funmi/happy latin/) specifies Hour 14 = The Second Invasion of Britain = Wheelock Ch. 14 = i-stem Nouns and Ablatives (Means, Manner, Accompaniment). No dedicated source .docx exists for this hour; this hour's content has been constructed in the paradigm of Hours 1–13. Latin text drawn from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit (Holmes, Oxford 1914); English translation adapted from W. A. McDevitte & W. S. Bohn (1869); grammar from Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 14.

Briefing

From Hour 13 to Hour 14 — back to Britain

Hour 13 ended in catastrophe: Sabinus and Cotta dead, the legion at Atuatuca annihilated. Caesar will write that disaster up only in 54 BC, when he reaches it in Book 5. But chronologically, the events of Hour 13 occur after the second British expedition. Hour 14 is a step back in time, to summer 54 BC — Caesar's second invasion of Britain, which addresses the failures of the first (Hour 12) with a vastly larger force, a different landing strategy, and the goal of reaching the territory of Cassivellaunus, the warlord who has united the British tribes north of the Thames.

The second expedition is on a different scale: five legions and 2,000 cavalry — about 30,000 men — in over 800 ships. Caesar lands unopposed on the same Kent coast that gave him such trouble the year before, then marches inland. The Britons abandon their settlements and retreat into forests. After an early cavalry skirmish, the British war-bands choose Cassivellaunus as their war-chief. Cassivellaunus fights as the Britons have always fought: from two-horse chariots (essedī), driving up to the Roman lines, dismounting to throw javelins, then leaping back on board to retreat. This is unfamiliar to the Romans, whose own cavalry follows in close pursuit and gets ambushed every time. The climactic moment of the campaign comes when Caesar's army reaches the Thames (Tamesis), the boundary of Cassivellaunus's territory. Cassivellaunus has driven sharpened wooden stakes (sudēs) into the riverbed, both above water and below, expecting to halt the Romans. The Romans cross anyway. The infantry walks across with only their heads above water; the cavalry leads. The Britons cannot hold. Cassivellaunus retreats to his last stronghold, and the second invasion ends — politically a great success (Caesar will winter in Gaul having "received the submission" of the British tribes), militarily a half-measure.

Hour 14: Second Invasion of Britain — Source: DBG 5.16–18

Their manner of fighting from chariots is this: first they ride through all parts and hurl missiles, and by the very terror of the horses and the rattle of the wheels they usually throw the enemy's ranks into disorder. When they have worked themselves between the cavalry squadrons, they leap down from their chariots and fight on foot. The charioteers meanwhile withdraw a little from the battle and so station their chariots that, if those (the warriors) should be hard-pressed by the multitude of enemies, they may have a ready retreat to their own. Thus they show in battles the mobility of cavalry combined with the stability of infantry. And by daily training and practice they bring it about that, in a sloping or steep place, they can rein in horses at full gallop, and quickly govern and turn them, and run along the chariot-pole. Caesar, with the enemy's plan having been learned, led his army to the river Thames into the territory of Cassivellaunus; which river, in only one place, on foot (and at this place with great difficulty), can be crossed. When he had arrived there, he observed great enemy forces drawn up on the other bank of the river. The bank, moreover, had been fortified with sharpened stakes fixed in advance, and stakes of the same kind, fixed beneath the water, were being covered over by the river. These things having been learned from captives and deserters, Caesar, with cavalry sent ahead, ordered the legions to follow at once. But with such speed and such force did the soldiers go, although they extended (out of the water) with their head only, that the enemy could not sustain the attack of the legions and cavalry, and abandoned the banks, and committed themselves to flight.

Connection to Wheelock

This hour pairs with Wheelock Chapter 14 — i-Stem Nouns of the Third Declension, and Ablatives of Means, Manner, and Accompaniment. The chapter has two halves:

• i-Stems are a sub-pattern of 3rd-declension nouns with an extra i in genitive plural (-ium), sometimes accusative plural (-īs), and ablative singular (-ī). High-frequency members include cīvis, hostis, nāvis, pars, urbs, ignis, mōns, mare, vallis, classis, falx, fīnis, turris, puppis, cohors.

• The three basic ablative uses:

• Ablative of Means (no preposition): gladiō pugnat "he fights with a sword"
• Ablative of Manner (with cum, optional when modified): magnā cum celeritāte "with great speed"
• Ablative of Accompaniment (always with cum): cum amīcīs venit "he comes with friends"

The Thames-crossing passage (s. 11) gives us all three core uses in close succession.

Today's Task

Identify all the verbs (finite + infinitives) AND all core-use ablative noun phrases in the given passage.

Grammar Target — i-stem Nouns and Ablatives of Means / Manner / Accompaniment

Part 1 — i-Stem Nouns (3rd Declension, sub-pattern)

Most 3rd-declension nouns are consonant stems like rēx, rēgis. A smaller but high-frequency group are i-stems, distinguished by:

• Genitive plural in -ium (instead of -um): cīvium, hostium, nāvium
• Accusative plural sometimes -īs (instead of -ēs): cīvīs / cīvēs
• Neuters: ablative singular -ī, nom./acc. plural -ia: marī (abl. sg.), maria (nom./acc. pl.)

The clue: their genitive singular ends in -is AND either (a) their nominative singular ends in -is / -ēs and has the same number of syllables as the genitive (cīvis, cīvis), OR (b) their stem ends in two consonants (pars, partis; urbs, urbis).

cīvis, cīvis (m./f.) "citizen" — i-stem 3rd declension

Part 2 — The three "core" Ablative uses

The "is it Means or Accompaniment?" test

1. Look for cum. No cum? It's probably Means.
2. If cum is present, is the noun a person? Then it's Accompaniment.
3. If cum is present and the noun has an adjective modifying it (especially abstract)? It's Manner.

The Thames-crossing ablatives (sentence 11)

"sed eā celeritāte atque eō impetū mīlitēs iērunt, cum capite sōlō ex aquā extārent"

• eā celeritāte — Manner (cum is omitted because eā modifies it)
• eō impetū — Manner (parallel structure)
• capite sōlō — Manner / quasi-Specification ("with only the head")

Vocabulary

(115 entries with full macrons, English and Chinese glosses, and conjugation/declension/i-stem badges. See the bilingual HTML for the complete badge-tagged table. New badge this hour: i-STEM marks 3rd-declension i-stem nouns.)

Selected high-frequency entries:

Tagging rules in effect this Hour

• Rule #1 — Indicative (red). Carried.
• Rule #2 — Subjunctive. īnsinuāvērunt (s. 2, cum-clause); premantur, habeant (s. 3); cōnsuērint (s. 5); vēnisset (s. 8); extārent (s. 11); possent, dīmitterent, mandārent (s. 12).
• Rule #4 — Infinitive (green). sustinēre, moderārī, flectere, percurrere (s. 5); trānsīrī (s. 7); subsequī (s. 10); sustinēre (s. 12).
• Rule #5 — Participle. cognitō, īnstrūctās, praefīxīs, dēfīxae, cognitīs, praemissō.
• Rule #7 — Noun-adj phrase. Carried.
• Rule #8 — Abl. abs. [brackets]. [cōnsiliō hostium cognitō] (s. 6); [Hīs rēbus cognitīs ā captīvīs perfugīsque] (s. 10); [praemissō equitātū] (s. 10).
• Rule #9 — Noun-case ★ — 3rd-decl. only. Carried.

New this hour: the Battle Task's second toggle isolates core-use ablative noun phrases — the Wheelock-Ch.14 grammar focus.

Battle Task — Identify all verbs, and the ablative noun phrases

Hour 14 Passage on the Second Invasion of Britain

(Ablative-phrase targets in bold-italic, other verb targets in italic.)

1. Genus hōc est ex essedīs pugnae: prīmō per omnēs partēs perequitant et tēla coniciunt, atque ipsō terrōre equōrum et strepitū rotārum ōrdinēs plērumque perturbant.
2. Cum sē inter equitum turmās īnsinuāvērunt, ex essedīs dēsiliunt et pedibus proeliantur.
3. Aurīgae interim paulum ē proeliō excēdunt atque ita currūs collocant, ut, sī illī ā multitūdine hostium premantur, expedītum ad suōs receptum habeant.
4. Ita mobilitātem equitum, stabilitātem peditum in proeliīs praestant.
5. Ac cōtīdiānā cōnsuētūdine et exercitātiōne efficiunt, ut in dēclīvī ac praecipitī locō, incitātōs equōs sustinēre, et brevī moderārī ac flectere, et per tēmōnem percurrere cōnsuērint.
6. Caesar, [cōnsiliō hostium cognitō], ad flūmen Tamesim in finēs Cassivellaunī exercitum dūxit;
7. quod flūmen ūnō omnīnō locō pedibus, atque hōc aegrē, trānsīrī potest.
8. Eō cum vēnisset, animum advertit ad alteram fluminis ripam magnās cōpiās hostium īnstrūctās.
9. Ripa autem erat acūtīs sudibus praefīxīs mūnīta, eiusdemque generis sub aquā dēfīxae sudes flūmine tegēbantur.
10. [Hīs rēbus cognitīs ā captīvīs perfugīsque], Caesar, [praemissō equitātū], legiōnēs confestim subsequī iussit.
11. Sed eā celeritāte atque eō impetū mīlitēs iērunt, cum capite sōlō ex aquā extārent,
12. ut hostēs legiōnum atque equitum impetum sustinēre nōn possent rīpāsque dīmitterent ac sē fugae mandārent.

Answer Key — Ablative Phrases (10 targets, sorted by use)

Ablatives of Means (7):

Ablatives of Manner (3):

No Accompaniment ablatives appear in our chunks (the cum + person construction doesn't fall within the excerpted sentences).

Answer Key — Other Verbs (~28 forms)

S. 1: est, perequitant, coniciunt, perturbant (3 sg./pl. pres. ind.) S. 2: īnsinuāvērunt (3 pl. perf. ind., cum-clause); dēsiliunt, proeliantur (3 pl. pres. ind. / pres. dep. ind.) S. 3: excēdunt, collocant (3 pl. pres. ind.); premantur, habeant (3 pl. pres. subj.) S. 4: praestant (3 pl. pres. ind.) S. 5: efficiunt (3 pl. pres. ind.); sustinēre, moderārī, flectere, percurrere (pres. infinitives); cōnsuērint (3 pl. perf. subj., result clause) S. 6: cognitō (perf. pass. part., abl. abs.); dūxit (3 sg. perf. ind.) S. 7: trānsīrī (pres. pass. infin.); potest (3 sg. pres. ind. of possum) S. 8: vēnisset (3 sg. pluperf. subj., cum-clause); advertit (3 sg. perf. ind.); īnstrūctās (perf. pass. part.) S. 9: erat (3 sg. impf.); mūnīta (perf. pass. part., w/ erat); dēfīxae (perf. pass. part.); tegēbantur (3 pl. impf. pass. ind.) S. 10: cognitīs (perf. pass. part., abl. abs.); subsequī (pres. dep. infin.); iussit (3 sg. perf. ind.) S. 11: iērunt (3 pl. perf. ind. of eō); extārent (3 pl. impf. subj., cum-clause) S. 12: sustinēre (pres. infin.); possent, dīmitterent, mandārent (3 pl. impf. subj., result-clause cluster)

Questions on the Narrative

1. Sentences 1–5 describe the British chariot tactic in five carefully ordered moves. What are they?
2. What two military arms are combined in the chariot tactic (s. 4)? Why was this so unusual to the Romans?
3. In s. 5, what does cōtīdiānā cōnsuētūdine tell us about how the Britons trained? Compare to Roman disciplīna mīlitāris.
4. The Thames is described as fordable in only one place (s. 7). What does this tell you about why Cassivellaunus chose to defend it?
5. What three defenses does Cassivellaunus deploy at the Thames (ss. 8–9)?
6. In s. 11, why does Caesar use eā celeritāte atque eō impetū (Manner ablatives without cum) rather than cum magnā celeritāte? What is the rhetorical effect?
7. What happens in s. 12? Why does the result fall to the enemy so easily, given the elaborate defense?

Further Questions — Translation

Translate sentences 1, 9, and 11 into idiomatic English. Pay attention to: - The compound subject of perturbant in s. 1 — terrōre... et strepitū — and how to render two parallel Means ablatives in English. - The double passive in s. 9 — mūnīta and tegēbantur — how do you handle these elegantly? - The Manner-without-cum construction in s. 11 — does English allow you to be this concise?

Screening

Proposed clip: Ben-Hur (1959 or 2016), the chariot race — for the visual vocabulary of two-horse chariots. Apocalypse Now (1979), the Do Lung Bridge sequence — for an opposed river crossing. Caesar's Britain (BBC, 2003), episode covering DBG 5. Drone footage of the river Thames at Brentford / Walton-on-Thames. Subject to instructor confirmation.

Discussion

1. Caesar spends ss. 1–5 describing the British chariot tactic in painstaking technical detail. Why? Compare this to how he handled the German Suebi cavalry tactics in Book 1.

2. Cassivellaunus's defense of the Thames — sharpened stakes underwater, infantry on the far bank — is textbook river-defense. The Romans cross anyway. What does Caesar praise in his prose?

3. The second invasion ends not with conquest but with submission "to Caesar's word." Britain will not become a Roman province until AD 43. What did Caesar's two expeditions actually achieve?

4. Sentences 11–12 are among Caesar's most cinematic. Compare to the bridge of Hour 11. What audience is each crossing addressed to?

Intermission

Break before Hour 15 (Ethnography of Britain — Tacitus's Agricola; Wheelock Ch. 15, Numerals; we switch authors briefly).

Sources

• Latin text: PerseusDL canonical-latinLit (Holmes, Oxford 1914), phi0448.phi001.perseus-lat2.xml.
• English translation: McDevitte & Bohn (1869), adapted.
• Grammar: Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 14.
• Course design: 0 Caesar's Latin Course Structure and Task 1-2 .docx (Hour 14 entry on the course schedule).
• Historical context: Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (2006), ch. 11; Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins (2013), ch. on Iron Age Britain and the Caesarian expeditions.
• River-crossing engineering: Peter Connolly, Greece and Rome at War (1981), ch. on Roman amphibious operations and river crossings.