Happy Latin: Caesar’s BattlesHour 17 · Siege of Quintus Cicero's Camp · DBG 5.39–48

Hour 17 — Siege of Quintus Cicero's Camp · DBG 5.39–48

Note on sources. The source course-design document specifies Hour 17 = Siege of Quintus Cicero's Camp = Wheelock Ch. 17 = Relative Pronoun. Latin from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit (Holmes 1914), lightly smoothed; English from McDevitte & Bohn (1869), adapted; grammar from Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 17.

Codebook update: This hour activates Rule #3 (connective yellow) — sentence-initial connecting relatives get a yellow highlight from now on.

Briefing

Back to Caesar — the heroic defense of Cicero's camp

Two hours with Tacitus (15–16) are behind us. We return to Caesar, and to the most spectacular act of defensive endurance in the entire De Bello Gallico: the siege of Quintus Tullius Cicero's winter camp (DBG 5.39–52). Chronologically this takes place immediately after Hour 13 — within days of the destruction of Sabinus and Cotta at Atuatuca. The same revolt that destroyed one Roman legion now threatens to destroy another. The Eburones under Ambiorix had moved against Sabinus. The neighboring Nervii — Caesar's old enemies from Hour 5 — now move against the camp of Caesar's other legate in the region: Quintus Tullius Cicero, younger brother of the famous orator Marcus.

Q. Cicero's camp is in the territory of the Nervii. He has a single legion. The Nervii have gathered with allied Belgic peoples — perhaps 60,000 fighting men. They arrive without warning, kill foragers and woodcutters outside the camp, then encircle the camp itself and demand surrender. Cicero refuses on principle: "the Roman people are not accustomed to receive any terms from a hostile enemy" (5.41). The Nervii promptly build a 10-foot rampart and a 15-foot ditch around the camp. They construct siege towers and a covered approach. They throw red-hot clay shot and burning javelins to set the camp on fire. Snow begins to fall. The Romans are dying of arrow wounds; nine-tenths of them are wounded by the time relief arrives.

What follows in our excerpt is the moment of Cicero's refusal (5.41), the famous duel between centurions Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus (5.44 — the inspiration for the HBO Rome characters), and the smuggling-out of a message to Caesar (5.45–48). Cicero writes to Caesar in Greek so that if intercepted the Nervii cannot read it. A Gallic slave of the noble Vertico, bribed with the promise of freedom, slips out through the enemy lines. Caesar gets the message. Within hours the relief column is moving.

Hour 17: Siege of Quintus Cicero's Camp — Source: DBG 5.39–48

On the same day, the enemy arrived at Cicero's camp, which was in the territory of the Nervii. Cicero quickly recalled the soldiers who were absent in the fields for the sake of grain. The enemy demanded that Cicero surrender his arms, with safety promised. Cicero gave just one answer: that it was not the custom of the Roman people to accept any terms from an armed enemy. And so the enemy threw up a rampart of ten feet and a ditch of fifteen feet around the camp, built siege towers, and threw burning weapons into the camp. There were in that legion two centurions, very brave men, Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, who used to compete with one another daily for first place. Pullo asked Vorenus: 'What are you hesitating for? To whom do you wish to prove your courage? This day will decide our rivalry.' Having said this, he advanced, and Vorenus, stirred by the fame of his valor, followed. Pullo, when he had killed an enemy in the fight, was struck heavily on his shield; Vorenus saved him — by whom he himself was saved a moment later. Cicero, with the wounds of all growing graver by their multitude, decided to send a messenger to Caesar. But this was difficult. There was in the camp a noble man, Vertico, who from the beginning of the siege had fled to Cicero and had given pledges of his loyalty. He persuaded a slave with a reward, that he should carry letters to Caesar. The slave carried them; he passed through the enemy in Gallic dress. These letters had been written in Greek letters, so that, if they were intercepted, the enemy would not learn their plans. When this had been learned, Caesar set out immediately with his legions.

Connection to Wheelock

This hour pairs with Wheelock Chapter 17 — The Relative Pronoun quī, quae, quod. The relative pronoun is the single most common Latin word after est. The rules:

1. A relative pronoun takes its number and gender from its antecedent (the noun it refers back to).
2. It takes its case from its function within its own clause.
3. Connecting relatives: a relative pronoun at the start of a sentence equals "and he/she/it/this." Quae cum ita essent = "and these things being so."

Today's Task

Identify all the verbs (finite + infinitives) AND all relative pronoun forms — both ordinary relative-clause openers and sentence-initial connecting relatives.

New codebook activation: Rule #3 — Connective yellow. Caesar's connecting relatives now get a yellow underline.

Grammar Target — Relative Pronoun (quī, quae, quod)

Full declension

The two-rule system

1. Number and gender come from the antecedent (the noun the relative refers back to in the main clause).
2. Case comes from the relative's function inside its own clause (subject? direct object? object of a preposition?).

In "vir quem vīdī" ("the man whom I saw"), quem is masc. sg. (agreeing with vir) but accusative (direct object of vīdī).

The "connecting relative" — Caesar's favorite linking device

A sentence often begins with a relative pronoun whose antecedent is some idea or noun in the preceding sentence. Translate as "and + demonstrative":

• Quī ubi pervēnit = "And when he arrived..." (lit. "who when he arrived")
• Quā ex rē = "And from this circumstance..."
• Quae cum ita essent = "And these things being so..."

Our passage uses several. Watch sentences 9, 11, 12.

Three warning signs

1. cuius and cui look strange because they're irregular. cuius = gen. sg. (any gender); cui = dat. sg. (any gender).
2. quem (m.acc.sg.) and quam (f.acc.sg.) can be confused with quem (interrog. "whom?") and quam (conj. "than, as, how"). Context disambiguates.
3. quī is also the interrogative adjective "what?" and the indefinite "any" after sī, nisi.

Vocabulary

(122 entries — see HTML for full badge-tagged table. New badge this hour: RELATIVE marks forms of quī, quae, quod.)

Selected entries:

Tagging rules in effect this Hour

• Rule #1 — Indicative (red). Carried.
• Rule #2 — Subjunctive. dubitās (s. 7); interfēcisset (s. 8); dēferat (s. 11, ut-clause); intercepta essent, cognōscerent (s. 12, nē-clause).
• Rule #3 — Connective yellow — NEW THIS HOUR. Sentence-initial relatives (and connecting use): Quae (s. 1), cui (s. 7), quem (s. 8), Quod (s. 9), quī (s. 10), Quās (s. 11), Quae, Quā (s. 12).
• Rule #4 — Infinitive (green). trādere, accipere, mittere, probāre, etc.
• Rule #5 — Participle. prōmissā, commōtus, locūtus, ingravēscentibus, cognitā.
• Rule #7 — Noun-adj phrase. Carried.
• Rule #8 — Abl. abs. [salūte prōmissā] (s. 3); [vulneribus omnium multitūdine ingravēscentibus] (s. 9); [Quā rē cognitā] (s. 12).
• Rule #9 — Noun-case ★. Carried.

Battle Task focus this hour: identify the 10 relative pronoun forms (3 ordinary + 7 connecting).

Battle Task — Identify all verbs, and the relative pronoun forms

Hour 17 Passage on the Siege of Cicero's Camp

(Relative pronoun targets in bold, other verb targets in italics. Connecting relatives marked ⚡.)

1. Eōdem diē hostēs ad castra Cicerōnis advēnērunt, ⚡quae in fīnibus Nerviōrum erant.
2. Cicerō mīlitēs, quī in agrīs frūmentī causā aberant, celeriter revocāvit.
3. Hostēs Cicerōnem trādere arma postulāvērunt, [salūte prōmissā].
4. Cicerō ūnum modo respondit: nōn esse cōnsuētūdinem populī Rōmānī ūllam condiciōnem ab hoste armātō accipere.
5. Hostēs igitur vāllum decem pedum et fossam quīndecim pedum ad castra circumdūxērunt, turrēs excitāvērunt, tēla ardentia in castra coniēcērunt.
6. Erant in eā legiōne duo centuriōnēs, fortissimī, Titus Pullō et Lūcius Vorēnus, quī dē locō prīncipātūs inter sē cōtīdiē contendēbant.
7. Pullō Vorēnum interrogāvit: "Quid dubitās, ⚡cui virtūtem probāre cupis? Hic diēs nostrum certāmen discrīminābit."
8. Sīc locūtus, prōcēdit, atque Vorēnus, virtūtis fāmā [commōtus], subsequitur. Pullō, cum in proeliō hostem interfēcisset, scūtō graviter ictus est; Vorēnus eum servāvit, ⚡quem brevī ipse servātus est.
9. Cicerō, [vulneribus omnium multitūdine ingravēscentibus], ad Caesarem nūntium mittere cōnstituit. ⚡Quod tamen erat difficile.
10. Erat in castrīs vir nōbilis Vertico, ⚡quī ab initiō obsidiōnis ad Cicerōnem perfūgerat et fidem suam praestiterat.
11. Hic servum praemiō persuādet, ut litterās ad Caesarem dēferat. ⚡Quās servus attulit; ille per hostēs in Gallicō habitū trānsiit.
12. ⚡Quae litterae Graecīs litterīs cōnscriptae erant, nē, sī intercepta essent, hostēs cōnsilia cognōscerent. ⚡Quā rē [cognitā], Caesar legiōnēs statim prōfectus est.

Answer Key — Relative Pronoun Targets (10)

Ordinary relative clauses (3):

Connecting relatives (7, yellow-highlighted):

Answer Key — Other Verbs (~32 forms)

S. 1: advēnērunt, erant S. 2: aberant, revocāvit S. 3: trādere, postulāvērunt, prōmissā S. 4: respondit, esse, accipere S. 5: circumdūxērunt, excitāvērunt, coniēcērunt S. 6: erant, contendēbant S. 7: interrogāvit, dubitās, probāre, cupis, discrīminābit S. 8: locūtus, prōcēdit, commōtus, subsequitur, interfēcisset, ictus est, servāvit, servātus est S. 9: ingravēscentibus, mittere, cōnstituit, erat S. 10: erat, perfūgerat, praestiterat S. 11: persuādet, dēferat, attulit, trānsiit S. 12: cōnscriptae erant, intercepta essent, cognōscerent, cognitā, prōfectus est

Questions on the Narrative

1. Cicero gives one answer (s. 4). What is the answer's cōnsuētūdō argument? Compare with Sabinus's reasoning in Hour 13.
2. The Nervii build a rampart and ditch in s. 5. How does this compare with what Caesar built around the Atuatuci in Hour 6? Who is imitating whom?
3. Sentences 6–8 narrate the Pullo-and-Vorenus episode. Identify the chiastic structure of s. 8's final line. Translate.
4. Sentence 12 says the letters were written in Greek letters. What is the practical reason? What is the cultural symbolism?
5. The seven connecting relatives (yellow) all do similar work. Pick three and replace them with "and + demonstrative." What is lost stylistically?

Further Questions — Translation

Translate sentences 4, 8, and 9 into idiomatic English. Pay attention to: - The indirect statement after respondit in s. 4 — supply the implicit (Cicerō dīxit). - The chiastic compression of s. 8's final clause — Vorēnus eum servāvit, quem brevī ipse servātus est. - The shift from abl. abs. (vulneribus... ingravēscentibus) to main clause (cōnstituit) to connecting relative (Quod tamen erat difficile) in s. 9.

Screening

Proposed clip: HBO's Rome, S1E4 or S1E9 — Pullo and Vorenus. LOTR: The Two Towers — Helm's Deep, for the visual vocabulary of fortified defense. Hacksaw Ridge (2016) — for the night smuggling-out trope. Subject to instructor confirmation.

Discussion

1. Cicero's refusal in s. 4 frames his decision as a matter of Roman national character, not personal courage. Compare to Sabinus's decision in Hour 13. Why does Cicero survive and Sabinus die?

2. The Pullo-and-Vorenus episode (ss. 6–8) is the only place in DBG where Caesar names two ordinary soldiers. Why these two? What does Caesar want his Roman senatorial audience to take from this anecdote?

3. The Greek-letter message (s. 12) is realistic but also performs cultural identity. What does this say about Roman cultural self-presentation in 54 BC?

4. The relative pronoun and the connecting relative — together — make Caesar's prose flow. Replace the seven connecting relatives in our passage with "and + demonstrative." What is lost?

Intermission

Break before Hour 18 (Punitive Expeditions — Caesar's reprisals against the Eburones; Wheelock Ch. 18, Passive Voice).

Sources

• Latin text: De Bello Gallico 5.39–48, from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit corpus (phi0448), with light morphological smoothing.
• English translation: McDevitte & Bohn (1869), adapted.
• Grammar: Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 17.
• Course design: 0 Caesar's Latin Course Structure and Task 1-2 .docx.
• The Pullo-and-Vorenus episode and its reception: HBO Rome (2005–07), creator Bruno Heller — note that the TV characters depart freely from Caesar's brief sketch; Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (2006), ch. 12.
• Greek as elite Roman lingua franca: Mary Beard, SPQR (2015), pp. 251–60 (on Cicero's letters and the bilingual senatorial class).
• Connecting relative: Charles E. Bennett, New Latin Grammar §251.6; the standard discussion is in Hofmann–Szantyr, Lateinische Syntax und Stilistik (1965), pp. 569–73.