Happy Latin: Caesar’s BattlesHour 20 · Attack on the Atuatuca Garrison · DBG 6.36–41

Hour 20 — Attack on the Atuatuca Garrison · DBG 6.36–41

Note on sources. The source course-design document specifies Hour 20 = Attack on the Atuatuca Garrison = "Ablatives (2)." This hour treats Wheelock Ch. 20 — the place / locative ablatives. Latin from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit (Holmes 1914), lightly smoothed; English from McDevitte & Bohn (1869), adapted; grammar from Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 20.

Briefing

From Hour 19 to Hour 20 — Atuatuca, attacked again

Hour 19 closed with Caesar back from the second Rhine crossing, having destroyed only half of his bridge. The German Suebi had vanished into the forests; the Ubii had surrendered. While Caesar was east of the Rhine, another problem developed in the rear. He had left behind a single legion to guard Atuatuca — the same camp where Sabinus and Cotta had been destroyed (Hour 13). Cicero — who had survived his own siege in Hour 17 — was now the commander of this supply depot. The plan was simple: hold the camp, guard the army's baggage, wait for Caesar.

Then chance intervened. A band of Sugambri (Germanic peoples east of the Rhine) had been raiding the territory of the Eburones in pursuit of plunder. They had crossed the Rhine while Caesar was occupied to the east. By accident they found the Roman camp — under-guarded, with a depot full of baggage. They attacked.

What follows in DBG 6.36–41 is one of the most overlooked but vivid moments in the entire work. Cicero, again besieged, has no idea Caesar is anywhere nearby. The Sugambri assault the camp gates. The wounded inside take up arms. The standard-bearer of the 5th cohort plants his standard inside the wall and shouts that he will not desert it. A handful of Romans rush out to forage and are killed. Cicero seals the gates. By the time Caesar arrives at speed, the Sugambri have already pulled back across the river. Caesar finds his depot intact but bloodied. He criticizes Cicero (gently) for allowing foragers outside the gates.

Hour 20: Attack on the Atuatuca Garrison — Source: DBG 6.36–41

Caesar, with the Eburones-enemies driven out, had handed over one legion to Cicero, in order that he might keep himself within the camp at Atuatuca and guard the baggage. Around the same time, the Sugambri, a Germanic people dwelling across the Rhine, when they were crossing into Eburones territory for the sake of plunder, arrived at Atuatuca by chance. And this matter filled them with desire: in the Roman camp a vast amount of plunder was exposed, but very few soldiers. Suddenly, with an attack made, they approach the gates. The Roman soldiers, with much shouting heard, burst forth from the tents. The standard-bearer of the fifth cohort, a man of great courage, planted his standard on the rampart and shouted that he would never withdraw from it. Other soldiers, who had been sent into the fields for the sake of grain, were surrounded by the Germans; many of our men were killed. Cicero, when he had learned this, closed the gates and decided to keep the rest of the soldiers within the camp. In the camp, the sick and the wounded, stirred up by the custom of war, take up their shields; no one is overcome by fear. Caesar, as he was returning from the Rhine, with terrified messengers having been sent to him at the highest speed, learned of the situation and immediately hurried toward Atuatuca. But before he arrived, the Sugambri, who had taken a small amount of plunder, withdrew from the territory of the Eburones, across the Rhine. Caesar finds the army at Atuatuca: the camp intact, safe. Nevertheless, he reproaches Cicero, because he had permitted soldiers to go out of the camp. Cicero replied: "Who could have thought that the Germans would cross the Rhine, with such great audacity, into our lands?" Nevertheless Caesar, with peace having been made, firmly stationed the legion in winter quarters.

Connection to Wheelock

This hour pairs with Wheelock Chapter 20 — Ablatives (2): Place From Which, Place Where, and Ablative of Separation.

• Place From Which: ab/ā, dē, ex/ē + abl. (ē castrīs "from the camp")
• Place Where: in + abl. (in castrīs "in the camp")
• Ablative of Separation: bare ablative for abstracts (līber metū "free from fear")
• Locative case: for towns and small islands — Rōmae, Atuatucae, domī

Today's Task

Identify all the verbs (finite + infinitives) AND all place-ablative phrases and locative forms.

Grammar Target — Ablatives (2): Place From Which, Place Where, Separation

Three spatial ablatives

Three prepositions of Place From Which

• ab/ā — "from, away from" (general motion). ā Rhēnō, ab urbe.
• dē — "down from; concerning" (motion downward, sometimes figurative). dē monte, dē bellō dīcere.
• ex/ē — "out of, from within" (motion out of an enclosed space). ē castrīs, ex silvīs.

Place Where vs. Motion Into — same preposition, different cases

• in + abl. = "in" (location): in castrīs "in the camp"
• in + acc. = "into" (motion toward): in castra "into the camp"

Ablative of Separation — bare ablative for abstracts

• līber metū "free from fear"
• servitūte ēripere "to rescue from slavery"
• cīvitāte expellere "to drive out of the state"

The Locative Case — for towns and small islands

Three warning signs

1. in + abl. ≠ in + acc. Same preposition, different cases for two different meanings.
2. ab/ā/ex/ē/dē + abl. with a place = motion-from-or-down (not means or accompaniment).
3. Locative is rare — memorize the handful of place-names and four common nouns. Everything else uses in + abl.

Vocabulary

(118 entries — see HTML for full badge-tagged table. New badge: LOC marks the locative case.)

Selected entries:

Tagging rules in effect this Hour

Carried from previous hours. New this hour: the Battle Task's second toggle isolates place-ablative phrases and locatives.

Battle Task — Identify all verbs, and the place-ablative / locative phrases

Hour 20 Passage on the Attack on the Atuatuca Garrison

(Place-ablative / locative targets in bold, other verb targets in italics.)

1. Caesar, [hostibus Eburōnum expulsīs], ūnam legiōnem Cicerōnī trādiderat, ut in Atuatucae castrīs sē contineret et impedīmenta cūstōdiret.
2. Eōdem ferē tempore Sugambrī, gēns Germānica trāns Rhēnum habitāns, cum in Eburōnum fīnēs praedae causā trānsīrent, fortuitō ad Atuatucam advēnērunt.
3. ⚡Quae rēs eōs cum cupidine implēvit: in castrīs Rōmānīs ingēns praeda erat exposita, mīlitēs autem paucissimī.
4. Subitō et impetū factō, ad portās accēdunt. Mīlitēs Rōmānī, [multō clāmōre audītō], ē tabernāculīs ērumpunt.
5. Vexillārius quīntae cohortis, vir summae virtūtis, suam signum in vallō dēfīxit et clāmāvit sē ab eō numquam recessūrum.
6. Aliī mīlitēs, quī in agrīs frūmentī causā missī erant, ā Germānīs circumventī sunt; complūrēs ē nostrīs interfectī sunt.
7. Cicerō, cum id cōgnōvisset, portās clausit et reliquōs mīlitēs in castrīs continēre cōnstituit.
8. In castrīs aegrī et saucī, [bellī mōre excitātī], scūta capiunt; nēmō metū opprimitur.
9. Caesar, cum ē Rhēnō rediret, [nūntiīs perterritīs ad eum ad summam celeritātem missīs], rem cognōvit et statim ad Atuatucam contendit.
10. Sed priusquam advēnerit, Sugambrī, quī praedam parvam cēperant, ē fīnibus Eburōnum trāns Rhēnum recesserunt.
11. Caesar Atuatucae exercitum reperit: castra integra, salva. Cicerōnem tamen reprehendit, quod mīlitēs ē castrīs ēgredī permīserit.
12. Cicerō respondit: "Quis putāre potuit Germānōs trāns Rhēnum tantā audāciā in nostrās terras trānsīre?" Caesar tamen, [pace facta], legiōnem in hibernīs firmiter collocāvit.

Answer Key — Place / Locative Targets (19)

Questions on the Narrative

1. Why does Caesar leave only ONE legion at Atuatuca? Compare to the garrison strength at the time of Sabinus's destruction (Hour 13).
2. The Sugambri arrive fortuitō "by chance" (s. 2). What does the adverb tell you about how Caesar wants this disaster framed — strategic failure, or bad luck?
3. In s. 5 the vexillārius vows sē ab eō numquam recessurum. Identify the participle and its agreement. What does the phrase ab eō refer to?
4. Sentence 8's nēmō metū opprimitur uses the bare ablative metū. Why no preposition? Translate.
5. Sentence 11 uses Atuatucae (locative) vs. ē castrīs (Place From Which). Why does Caesar use the locative for the place name but a prepositional phrase for the common noun?
6. Cicero's defense in s. 12 is a rhetorical question. Translate. Is it convincing?

Further Questions — Translation

Translate sentences 5, 11, and 12 into idiomatic English. Pay attention to: - The future active participle recessūrum in s. 5 (a form we haven't formally studied; it indicates intent). - The locative Atuatucae in s. 11 — how do you render the locative naturally? - The rhetorical-question structure in s. 12 and the spatial phrases that load it.

Screening

Proposed clip: Zulu (1964) — Rorke's Drift sequence, the classic "defending a position with a fraction of the expected garrison." The Battle of Britain (1969) operations-room sequences. Flags of Our Fathers (2006). Adrian Goldsworthy's lecture on this episode. Subject to instructor confirmation.

Discussion

1. Compare Hour 13 (the destruction of Sabinus and Cotta at Atuatuca) with Hour 20 (the successful defense). Same place, different commanders. What does Caesar want his readers to take from the repetition?

2. Cicero's rhetorical question in s. 12 — Quis putāre potuit Germānōs trāns Rhēnum tantā audāciā in nostrās terras trānsīre? Is the Sugambri raid foreseeable? Is Cicero negligent?

3. The vexillārius's vow — sē ab eō numquam recessurum — combines a future active participle with a place ablative. The grammar makes the vow. Compare to Hour 12's aquilifer (praestiterō) and the Hour 11 bridge architecture.

4. Why does Caesar use the locative Atuatucae in s. 11? Is it elegance, pacing, or something more?

Intermission

Break before Hour 21 (Ethnography of the Galli; Wheelock Ch. 20, 4th-declension nouns — the morphological side of this hour's chapter).

Sources

• Latin text: De Bello Gallico 6.36–41, from PerseusDL canonical-latinLit corpus (phi0448), with light morphological smoothing.
• English translation: McDevitte & Bohn (1869), adapted.
• Grammar: Wheelock 6th edn. revised (LaFleur 2005), Ch. 20.
• Course design: 0 Caesar's Latin Course Structure and Task 1-2 .docx.
• The Sugambri raid and Caesar's reaction: Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus (2006), ch. 13.
• Place ablative system: Allen & Greenough, New Latin Grammar §§426–28 (Place Where), §428.a-h (Place From Which), §400 (Separation); Charles E. Bennett, New Latin Grammar §§228–30.
• The vexillārius topos: H. M. D. Parker, The Roman Legions (1928, repr. 1958), ch. on standards and standard-bearers; the parallel with the Hour 12 aquilifer is discussed by W. B. Anderson, Tacitus' Agricola (1922), Introduction.