Julius Caesar's Gallic War Commentaries

Public Domain translation of Caesar's Gallic War

Primary Texts Index

"De Bello Gallico" & Other Commentaries: of Caius Julius Caesar

First Published in This Edition, 1915 Reprinted 1923, 1929

By Thomas De Quincey - The Commentaries of Caius Julius Caesar

Introduction | De Bello Gallico Book I
De Bello Gallico Book II
De Bello Gallico Book III
De Bello Gallico Book IV
De Bello Gallico Book V
De Bello Gallico VI
De Bello Gallico VII
De Bello Gallico VIII
De Bello Civili (Civil Wars): Book 1
DBC (Civil Wars): Book 2
DBC (Civil Wars): Book 3

(Alphabetical) Index

A

N.B. The numerals refer to the book, the figures to the chapter. G. stands for the Gallic War, C. for the Civil.

Acarn[=a]n[i]a, a region of Greece, Carnia

Acco, prince of the Sen[o]nes, his conduct on Caesar's approach, G. vi. 4; condemned in a council of the Gauls, vi. 44

Achaia, sometimes taken for all Greece, but most commonly for a part of it only; in Peloponnesus, Romania alta

Achillas, captain of Ptolemy's guards, sent to kill Pompey, C. iii. 104; appointed by Pothinus commander of all the Egyptian forces, ibid. 108; heads an army of twenty thousand veteran troops, ibid. 110

Acilla, or Achilla, or Acholla. There were two cities in Africa of this name, one inland, the other on the coast. The modern name of the latter is Elalia

Acilius, Caesar's lieutenant, C. iii. 15

Act[i]um, a promontory of Epirus, now called the Cape of Tigalo, famous for a naval victory gained near it, by Augustus, over M. Antony

Act[i]us, a Pelignian, one of Pompey's followers, taken by Caesar, and dismissed in safety, C. i. 18

Act[i]us Rufus accuses L. Apanius of treachery, C. iii. 83

Act[i]us Varus prevents Tubero from landing in Africa, C. i. 31; his forces, C. ii. 23; his camp, ibid. 25; engages Curio, ibid. 34; his danger, defeat, and stratagem, ibid. 35

Adcant[u]annus sallies upon Crassus at the head of a chosen body of troops, G. iii. 22

Add[u]a, the Adda, a river that rises in the Alps, and, separating the duchy of Milan from the state of Venice, falls into the Po above Cremona

Adriatic Sea, the Gulf of Venice, at the extremity of which that city is situated

Adrum[=e]tum, a town in Africa, Mahometta; held by Considius Longus with a garrison of one legion, C. ii. 23

Aduat[u]uci (in some editions Atuatici), descendants of the Teutones and Cimbri, G. ii. 29; they furnish twenty-nine thousand men to the general confederacy of Gaul, ibid. 4; Caesar obliges them to submit, ibid. 29

Aed[u]i, the Autunois, a people of Gaul, near Autun, in the country now called Lower Burgundy; they complain to Caesar of the ravages committed in their territories by the Helvetii, G. i. 11; join in a petition against Ariovistus, ibid. 33; at the head of one of the two leading factions of Gaul, G. vi. 12; Caesar quiets an intestine commotion among them, C. vii. 33; they revolt from the Romans, G. vii. 54; their law concerning magistrates, ibid. 33; their clients, i. 31; vii. 75

Aeg[=e]an Sea, the Archipelago, a part of the Mediterranean which lies between Greece, Asia Minor, and the Isle of Crete

Aeg[=i]n[i]um, a town of Thessaly; Domitius joins Caesar near that place, C. iii. 79

Aegus and Roscillus, their perfidious behaviour towards Caesar, C. iii. 59, 60

Aegyptus, Egypt, an extensive country of Africa, bounded on the west by part of Marmarica and the deserts of Lybia, on the north by the Mediterranean, on the east by the Sinus Arabicus, and a line drawn from Arsino[e] to Rhinocolura, and on the south by Aethiopia. Egypt, properly so called, may be described as consisting of the long and narrow valley which follows the course of the Nile from Syene (Assooan) to Cairo, near the site of the ancient Memphis. The name by which this country is known to Europeans comes from the Greeks, some of whose writers inform us that it received this appellation from Aegyptus, son of Belus, it having been previously called Aeria. In the Hebrew scriptures it is called Mitsraim, and also Matsor and Harets Cham; of these names, however, the first is the one most commonly employed

Aemilia Via, a Roman road in Italy, from Rimini to Aquileia, and from Pisa to Dertona

Aet[=o]lia, a country of Greece, Despotato; recovered from Pompey by the partisans of Caesar, C. iii. 35

Afr[=a]nius, Pompey's lieutenant, his exploits in conjunction with Petreius, C. i. 38; resolves to carry the war into Celtiberia, ibid. 61; surrenders to Caesar, ibid. 84

Afr[i]ca, one of the four great continents into which the earth is divided; the name seems to have been originally applied by the Romans to the country around Carthage, the first part of the continent with which they became acquainted, and is said to have been derived from a small Carthaginian district on the northern coast, called Frigi. Hence, even when the name had become applied to the whole continent, there still remained in Roman geography the district of Africa Proper, on the Mediterranean coast, corresponding to the modem kingdom of Tunis, with part of that of Tripoli

Agend[i]cum, a city of the Senones, Sens; Caesar quarters four legions there, G. vi. 44; Labienus leaves his baggage in it under a guard of new levies, and sets out for Lutetia, G. vii. 57

Alba, a town of Latium, in Italy, Albano; Domitius levies troops in that neighbourhood, C. i. 15

Alb[=i]ci, a people of Gaul, unknown; some make them the same with the Vivarois; taken into the service of the Marseillians, C. i. 34

Albis, the Elbe, a large and noble river in Germany, which has its source in the Giant's Mountains in Silesia, on the confines of Bohemia, and passing through Bohemia, Upper and Lower Saxony, falls into the North Sea at Ritzbuttel, about sixty miles below Hamburg

Alces, a species of animals somewhat resembling an elk, to be found in the Hercynian forests, C. vi. 27

Alemanni, or Alamanni, a name assumed by a confederacy of German tribes, situated between the Neckar and the Upper Rhine, who united to resist the encroachments of the Roman power. According to Mannert, they derived their origin from the shattered remains of the army of Ariovistus retired, after the defeat and death of their leader, to the mountainous country of the Upper Rhine. After their overthrow by Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, they ceased to exist as one nation, and were dispersed over Gaul, Switzerland, and Nether Italy. From them L'Allemagne, the French name for Germany, is derived

Alemannia, the country inhabited by the Alemanni

Alesia, or Alexia, a town of the Mandubians, Alise; Caesar shuts up Vercingetorix there, C. vii. 68; surrounds it with lines of circumvallation and contravallation, ibid. 69, 72; obliges it to surrender, ibid. 89

Alexandr[=i]a, a city of Egypt, Scanderia. It was built by Alexander the Great, 330 years before Christ; Caesar pursues Pompey thither, C. iii. 106

Aliso, by some supposed to be the town now called Iselburg; or, according to Junius, Wesel, in the duchy of Cleves, but more probably Elsen

Allier (El[=a]ver), Caesar eludes the vigilance of Vercingetorix, and by an artifice passes that river, G. vii. 35

All[o]br[o]ges, an ancient people of Gallia Transalp[=i]na, who inhabited the country which is now called Dauphiny, Savoy, and Piedmont. The name, Allobroges, means highlanders, and is derived from Al, "high," and Broga, "land." They are supposed to be disaffected to the Romans, G. i. 6; complain to Caesar of the ravages of the Helvetians, ibid. 11

Alps, a ridge of high mountains, which separates France and Germany from Italy. That part of them which separates Dauphiny from Piedmont was called the Cottian Alps. Their name is derived from their height, Alp being an old Celtic appellation for "a lofty mountain"; Caesar crosses them with five legions, G. i. 10; sends Galba to open a free passage over them to the Roman merchants, G. iii. 1

Alsati[)a], a province of Germany, in the upper circle of the Rhine, Alsace

Amagetobr[i]a, a city of Gaul, unknown; famous for a defeat of the Gauls there by Ariovistus, G. i. 31

Amant[i]a, a town in Macedonia, Porto Raguseo; it submits to Caesar, and sends ambassadors to know his pleasure, C. iii. 12

Am[=a]nus, a mountain of Syria, Alma Daghy, near which Scipio sustains some losses, C. iii. 31

Am[=a]ni Pylae, or Am[=a]nicae Portae, Straits of Scanderona

Ambarri, a people of Gaul, uncertain; they complain to Caesar of the ravages committed in their territories by the Helvetii, G. i. 11

Ambialites, a people of Gaul, of Lamballe in Bretagne. Others take the word to be only a different name for the Ambiani; they join in a confederacy with the Veneti against Caesar, G. iii. 9

Ambi[=a]ni, or Ambianenses, the people of Amiens; they furnish ten thousand men to the general confederacy of the Belgians against Caesar, G. ii. 4; sue for peace, and submit themselves to Caesar's pleasure, G. ii. 15

Ambi[=a]num, a city of Belgium, Amiens

Amb[i]b[)a]ri, a people of Gaul, inhabiting Ambie, in Normandy Amb[i][o]rix, his artful speech to Sabinus and Cotta, G. v. 27; Caesar marches against him, G. vi. 249. Ravages and lays waste his territories, ibid. 34; endeavours in vain to get him into his hands, ibid. 43

Ambivar[e]ti, a people of Gaul, the Vivarais. They are ordered to furnish their contingent for raising the siege of Alesia, G. vii. 75

Ambivar[=i]ti, an ancient people of Brabant, between the Rhine and the Maese; the German cavalry sent to forage among them, G. iv. 9

Ambr[)a]c[i]a, a city of Epirus, Arta; Cassius directs his march thither, C. iii. 36

Ambrones, an ancient people, who lived in the country which is now called the Canton of Bern, in Switzerland

Amph[i]l[o]chia, a region of Epirus, Anfilocha. Its inhabitants reduced by Cassius Longinus, C. iii. 55

Amph[i]p[o]lis, a city of Macedonia, Cristopoli, or Emboli. An edict in Pompey's name published there, C. iii. 102

Anartes, a people of Germany, Walachians, Servians, or Bulgarians, bordering upon the Hercynian Forest, G. vi. 25

Anas, a river of Spain, the Guadiana, or Rio Roydera, bounding that part of Spain under the government of Petreius, C. i. 38

Anc[)a]l[=i]tes, a people of Britain, of the hundred of Henley, in Oxfordshire; they send ambassadors to Caesar with an offer of submission, G. v. 21

Anch[i][)a]los, a city of Thrace, near the Euxine Sea, now called Kenkis

Ancibarii, or Ansivarii, an ancient people of Lower Germany, of and about the town of Ansestaet, or Amslim

Anc[=o]na, Ancona, a city of Italy, on the coast of Pisenum. It is supposed to derive its name from the Greek word [Greek: agkon], an angle or elbow, on account of the angular form of the promontory on which it is built. The foundation of Ancona is ascribed by Strabo to some Syracusans, who were fleeing from the tyranny of Dionysius. Livy speaks of it as a naval station of great importance in the wars of Rome with the Illyrians. We find it occupied by Caesar (C. i. 2) shortly after crossing the Rubicon; Caesar takes possession of it with a garrison of one cohort, C. i. 11

Andes, Angers, in France, the capital of the duchy of Anjou

Andes, a people of Gaul, the ancient inhabitants of the duchy of Anjou; Caesar puts his troops into winter quarters among them, G. ii. 35

Andomad[=u]num Ling[o]num, a large and ancient city of Champagne, at the source of the river Marne, Langres

Anglesey (Mona), an island situated between Britain and Ireland, where the night, during the winter, is said to be a month long, G. v. 13

Angrivarii, an ancient people of Lower Germany, who dwelt between the Ems and the Weser, below the Lippe

Ansivarii, see Ancibarii

Antioch[=i]a, Antachia, an ancient and famous city, once the capital of Syria, or rather of the East. It is situate on two rivers, the Orontes and the Phaspar, not far from the Mediterranean; refuses to admit the fugitives after the battle of Pharsalia, C. iii. 102

Ant[=o]nius (Mark Antony), Caesar's lieutenant, G. vii. i i; quaestor, G. viii. 2; governor of Brundusium, C. iii. 24; his standing for that priesthood, G. vii. 50; obliges Libo to raise the siege of Brundusium, C. iii. 24; and in conjunction with Kalenus transports Caesar's troops to Greece, ibid. 26

Apam[=e]a, Apami, a city of Bithynia, built by Nicomedes, the son of Prusias

Apennine Mountains, a large chain of mountains, branching off from the Maritime Alps, in the neighbourhood of Genoa, running diagonally from the Ligurian Gulf to the Adriatic, in the vicinity of Ancona; from which it continues nearly parallel with the latter gulf, as far as the promontory of Garg[=a]nus, and again inclines to Mare Inf[e]rum, till it finally terminates in the promontory of Leucopetra, near Rhegium. The etymology of the name given to these mountains must be traced to the Celtic, and appears to combine two terms of that language nearly synonymous, Alp, or Ap, "a high mountain," and Penn, "a summit"

Apoll[=o]n[i]a, a city of Macedonia, Piergo. Pompey resolves to winter there, C. iii. 5; Caesar makes himself master of it, ibid. iii. 12

Appia Via, the Appian road which led from Rome to Campania, and from the sea to Brundusium. It was made, as Livy informs us, by the censor, Appius Caecus, A.U.C. 442, and was, in the first instance, only laid down as far as Capua, a distance of about 125 miles. It was subsequently carried on to Beneventum, and finally to Brundusium. According to Eustace (Classical Tour, vol. iii.), such parts of the Appian Way as have escaped destruction, as at Fondi and Mola, show few traces of wear and decay after a duration of two thousand years

Apsus, a river of Macedonia, the Aspro. Caesar and Pompey encamp over against each other on the banks of that river, C. iii. 13

Apulia, a region of Italy, la Puglia. Pompey quarters there the legions sent by Caesar, C. i. 14

Aquil[=a]ria, a town of Africa, near Clupea. Pompey quarters there the legions sent by Caesar, C. i. 14; Curio arrives there with the troops designed against Africa. C. ii. 23

Aquileia, formerly a famous and considerable city of Italy, not far from the Adriatic, now little more than a heap of ruins, Aquilegia. Caesar draws together the troops quartered there, G. i. 10

Aquitania, a third part of ancient Gaul, now containing Guienne, Gascony, etc.

Aquit[=a]ni, the Aquitanians reduced under the power of the Romans by Crassus, G. iii. 20-22; very expert in the art of mining, ibid. 21

Arar, or Araris, a river of Gaul, the Sa[^o]ne; the Helvetians receive a considerable check in passing this river, G. i. 12

Arduenna Silva, the forest of Ardenne, in France, reaching from the Rhine to the city of Tournay, in the low countries; Indutiom[)a]rus conceals in it the infirm and aged, G. v. 3; Caesar crosses it in quest of Ambiorix, G. vi. 29

Arecomici Volcae, Caesar plants garrisons among them, G. vii. 7

Arel[=a]te, or Arel[=a]tum, or Arelas, a city of Gaul, Arles. Caesar orders twelve galleys to be built there, C. i. 36

Ar[i]m[i]num, a city of Italy, Rimini; Caesar having sounded the disposition of his troops, marches thither, C. i. 8

Ar[i][o]vistus, king of the Germans, his tyrannical conduct towards the Gauls, G. i. 31; Caesar sends ambassadors to him demanding an interview, ibid. 34; he is defeated and driven entirely out of Gaul, ibid. 52

Arles, see Arelate

Arm[e]n[i]a, a country of Asia, divided into the greater or lesser, and now called Turcomania

Armorici, the ancient people of Armorica, a part of Gallia Celtica, now Bretagne; they assemble in great numbers to attack L. Roscius in his winter quarters, G. v. 53

Arr[=e]t[i]um, a city of Etruria, in Italy, Arezzo; Antony sent thither with five cohorts, C. i. 10

Arverni, an ancient people of France, on the Loire, whose chief city was Arvernum, now Clermont, the capital of Auvergne; suddenly invaded, and their territories ravaged by Caesar, G. vii. 8

Asculum, a town of Italy, Ascoli; Caesar takes possession of it, C. i. 16

Asparagium, a town in Macedonia, unknown; Pompey encamps near it with all his forces, C. iii. 30

Astigi, or Astingi, a people of Andalusia, in Spain

Athens, one of the most ancient and noble cities of Greece, the capital of Attica. It produced some of the most distinguished statesmen, orators, and poets that the world ever saw, and its sculptors and painters have been rarely rivalled, never surpassed. No city on the earth has ever exercised an equal influence on the educated men of all ages. It contributes to fit out a fleet for Pompey, C. iii. 3

Atreb[)a]tes, an ancient people of Gaul, who lived in that part of the Netherlands which is now called Artois; they furnish fifteen thousand men to the general confederacy of Gaul, G. ii. 4

Attica, a country of Greece, between Achaia and Macedonia, famous on account of its capital, Athens

Attuarii, a people of ancient Germany, who inhabited between the Maese and the Rhine, whose country is now a part of the duchy of Gueldes

Atuatuca, a strong castle, where Caesar deposited all his baggage, on setting out in pursuit of Ambiorix, G. vi. 32; the Germans unexpectedly attack it, ibid. 35

Augustod[=u]num, Autun, a very ancient city of Burgundy, on the river Arroux

Aulerci Eburovices, a people of Gaul, in the country of Evreux, in Normandy

Aulerci Brannovices, a people of Gaul, Morienne

Aulerci Cenomanni, a people of Gaul, the country of Maine

Aulerci Diablintes, a people of Gaul, le Perche

Aulerci reduced by P. Crassus, G, ii. 34; massacre their senate, and join Viridovix, G. iii. 17; Aulerci Brannovices ordered to furnish their contingent to the relief of Alesia, G. vii. 7; Aulerci Cenomanni furnish five thousand, ibid.; Aulerci Eburovices three thousand, ibid.

Ausci, a people of Gaul, those of Auchs or Aux, in Gascony; they submit to Crassus and send hostages, G. iii. 27

Auset[=a]ni, a people of Spain, under the Pyrenean mountains; they send ambassadors to Caesar, with an offer of submission, C. i. 60

Aux[i]mum, a town in Italy, Osimo, or Osmo; Caesar makes himself master of it, C. i. 15

Av[=a]r[i]cum, a city of Aquitaine, the capital of the Biturigians, Bourges; besieged by Caesar, G. vii. 13; and at last taken by storm, ibid. 31

Ax[o]na, the river Aisne, Caesar crosses it in his march against the Belgians, G. ii. 5, 6

Index

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