[*] 2.11. nobilissimus, of highest birth. Popular revolutions had, among the Gauls as among the Greeks and Romans. mostly dispossessed the old chiefs, or kings; and they had established an annual magistrate calledVergobret （ch. 16）. But the heads of the ruling families would naturally be ambitious to recover what they could of the old class power and Orgetorix is represented as aspiring to create a monarchy in Gaul. [*] 2.12. M. = Marco. Always read and translate these names without abbreviation. — Messala, etc.: this was B.C. 61, three years before Caesar's first campaign in Gaul. This construction of consulibus （abl. abs., § 419. a (255 and a); B. 227. 1; G. 409, 410; H. 489 and 1 (431 and 2); H-B. 421. 1） was the usual way of denoting the year; not so formal in English as while Messala and Piso were consuls, but merely in the consulship of. [*] 2.13a. cupiditate: abl. of means （§ 409 (248. c); B. 218; G. 401; H. 476 (420); H-B. 423）. — coniurationem, a league sworn to fidelity by oath （iuro）. — nobilitatis: from the account given in ch. 4, we see how immense was the class power still held by the nobles, and why they would naturally join in such a combination. [*] 2.13b. civitati persuasit: § 367 (227); B. 187. ii. a; G. 346; H. 426. 1 (385. ii); H-B. 362. ftn. 3. and 1.; the direct object of persuasit is the clause ut … exirent （§ 563 (331); B. 295. 1; G. 546; H. 564. i (498); H-B. 502 ）; translate the latter by the infinitive according to the English idiom. Votes were easily "persuaded" by such means as Orgetorix possessed. For the sequence of tenses in exirent, see § 484 (286. R.); B. 267; G. 510; H. 545. ii. 1 (493. 1); H-B. 476; and for the plu., see § 280. a (182. a); B. 254. 4; G. 211. R. I; H. 389 (636. IV. 4); H-B. 325. [*] 2.15. perfacile （predicate with esse, while its subject is the infin. clause with potiri, § 289. d (189. d); G. 422. 3; H. 394. 4 (438. 3); H-B. 325. b）, showing that it was quite easy, since they exceeded all men in valor, to win the empire of all Gaul. — esse: indir. disc., depending on some word implied in persuasit （§ 580. a (336. 2. N.2); B. 314. 2; G. 546. R. I, 649. R. 2; H. 642. 1 (523. 1. N); cf. H-B. 534. 1. a.）. Notice that the Latin has the power of putting various dependent clauses after a single verb. Here the idea of persuading takes the thing that was to be done in an ut clause. The facts of which they were persuaded take the indir. disc. Careful attention to this usage will make many difficult passages easy. It is not the verb used, but the meaning, that decides the construction. — cum praestarent: subjv. after cum meaning since, § 549 (326); B. 286. 2; G. 586; H. 598 (517); H-B. 526. [*] 2.16. imperio: § 410 (249); B. 218. 1; G. 407; H. 477 (421); H-B. 429. [*] 2.17. hoc facilius, all the easier: originally degree of difference, as in all ablatives with comparative; but hardly different in sense from the abl. of cause （§ 404 (245); B. 219; G. 408; H. 475 (416); H-B. 424. a）. — id: object of persuasit （§ 369 (227. f); B. 176. 2. a; G. 345; H. 426. 6 (384. 2); H-B. 364. 4）: we should say, persuaded them of it. Usually with persuadere the dat. and acc. are both used only when the latter is a pronoun. — loci natura, by the nature of the country. [*] 2.18. una ex parte, on one side: cf. ab Sequanis above, so undique, on （lit. from） all sides; hinc, on this side, etc. The effect on the senses is supposed to come from the direction referred to. — latissimo, very broad. [*] 2.19. qui takes its gender not from flumine, but from Rheno （§ 306 (199); B. 250. 3; G. 614. 3. b; H. 396. 2 (445. 4); H-B. 326）. [*] 2.23. his rebus, etc.: lit. from these things it was coming about that they roamed about less widely and could less easily make war, etc. But this is obviously not an English mode of thought, nor a form which any English-speaking person would ever naturally use. So here, as always, you must see from this clumsy expression what is meant and then express it in the natural vernacular, something like, from all this they were getting less free to wander, and having less opportunity to make war, etc. Several other ways of expressing this may be imagined. One of the greatest advantages of classical study is to set the mind free from forms, and bring into prominence the possibility of saying the same thing in fundamentally different ways. — fiebat: the imperfect expresses the continued effect of the causes （§ 470 (277); B. 260. 1; G. 231; H. 534 (468, 469); H-B. 468. 2）; the subject of fiebat is the clause ut … possent （§ 569 (332. a); B. 297. 2, cf. 284. 1; G. 553. 3, 4; H. 571. 1 (501. 1); H-B. 521. 3. a）. [*] 2.24. qua ex parte: here 'in which respect' hardly differs from 'from which cause.' — homines （a sort of apposition） = being （as they were） men eager for war. [*] 3.1. bellandi: § 349. a (218. a); B. 338. 1. b; G. 374. 5; H. 626, 451. 1. (542. 1, 399. i. 1.); H-B. 612. 1 — adficiebantur = afficiebantur: for the assimilation of consonants, see § 16 (11); B. 8. 4; G. 9; H. 374. 2 (344. 5); H-B. 51. 2. In this edition the unchanged form of the preposition is usually preferred. — pro, in proportion to; cf. our force of for. [*] 3.2. multitudine: their numbers, including some small dependent populations, were 368,000 （see ch. 29）. [*] 3.3. angustos finīs = too narrow limits. So in English such words often suggest a negative idea; cf. a 'scant pattern.' [*] 3.4. milia passuum miles （1000 paces）, the regular way of stating this measure, milia being acc. of extent of space, and passuum part. gen. The passus was the stretch from heel to heel, i.e. from where one heel is raised to where it is set down again, and is reckoned at five Roman feet. A Roman mile （mille passuum） was about 400 feet less than ours; it measures the distance which a soldier would march in a thousand double paces. — CCXL = ducenta quadraginta. Always give the Latin words for numerals in reading the text.
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| Figure 110. Gallic coin. Obverse: horse. VIRO (perhaps name of a chief), or VIRO[mandui]. Reverse: various devices. |
