Gāius Iūlius Caesar, postquam cōpiās suās pedestrēs et equestrēs ex Britanniā in Galliam trānsportāvit, nihil amplius dē Britannīs cōgitāvit. Ab incolīs lītoris merīdiānī victōriam reportāverat, ad flūmen Tamesam penetrāverat, oppidum Cassivellaunī expugnāverat, magnum numerum captīvōrum in servitūtem vēnumdederat, tribūtum Britannīs imperāverat. Id eī satis erat. Sed Britanniam nōn rēvērā dēbellāverat, nec victōria eius magna fuerat. Tacitus eum nōn magnam victōriam reportāvisse in capite tertiō decimō Vītae Agricolae affirmat. “Dīvus Iūlius” inquit “Britanniam Rōmānīs mōnstrāvit, sed nōn dēbellāvit.” Britannī autem virī animō fortī erant. Tribūtum et servitūtem nōn tolerābant.
Et Rōmānīs post tempora C. Iūliī Caesaris longa oblīviō erat Britanniae. Nam per multōs annōs bellum domesticum cīvitātem Rōmānam vexāvit. Post fīnem eius bellī Rōmānī Augustum prīncipem creāvērunt. Eī Britannia nōn cūrae erat. Nec prīncipēs secundus et tertius, Tiberius et Caligula, īnsulam nostram intrāvērunt; quamquam Caligula dē eā intrandā cōgitāvit.
Vocabulary
amplius (adverb): any more
dīvus, -a, -um: divine; Augustus, the first Roman emperor, was declared divine after his death
bellum domesticum: civil war
oblīviō, oblīviōnis [3/f]: the state of being forgotten
Notes
[i] Britannī autem virī animō fortī erant. │ But the British men were of brave spirit; ablative of description, used with a noun to indicate a quality or characteristic of the person
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/300425-level-3-beasts-in-egypt-and.html
[ii] Eī Britannia nōn cūrae erat. │ Britannia was not ¦ of concern ¦ to him.
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/030525-level-3-verbs-with-dative-case-9.html
[iii] quamquam Caligula ¦ dē eā intrandā ¦ cōgitāvit. │ although Caligula did think ¦ about attacking it
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/11/120225-level-2-reading-schoolmasters.html
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/08/260924-level-2-ora-maritima-24-and-25-6.html
[iv] Tacitus ¦ eum nōn magnam victōriam reportāvisse … affirmat. │ Tacitus asserts ¦ that he did not bring back a great victory.
This is a feature of the language that has not yet been covered in depth but was briefly referred to here:
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/070225-speaking-latin-on-campus_30.html
This is an example of an indirect statement e.g. “he says that …” “she replied that …”; the use of a conjunction e.g. English: he says that …, French: il dit que …, German: er sagt, dass …, Russian: on govorit, chto … was not used in Classical Latin although Mediaeval Latin can create an indirect statement with quod.
Instead, Latin uses a construction known as the accusative-infinitive. The literal translation of the Latin sentence is:
Tacitus ¦ [i] eum nōn magnam victōriam [ii] reportāvisse … affirmat. │ Tacitus asserts ¦[i] him not [ii] to have brought back a victory = Tacitus asserts ¦ that he did not bring back a great victory.
i.e. [i] the subject of the indirect statement is put into the accusative and [ii] the verb becomes an infinitive
This infinitive has not been discussed before, and is known as the perfect active infinitive = to have done something.
To form it:
[i] the third principal part of the verb is used: reportō, reportāre, reportāvī
[ii] the personal ending -ī is removed: reportāv-
[iii] -isse is added: reportāv¦isse
Further information on notes [iv] the gerundive and [v] the accusative-infinitive will be given in later Level 3 posts
Language Review: is, ea, id (singular and plural)
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/220525-level-1-readings-12-15-review-1a.html
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/02/220525-level-1-readings-12-15-review-1b.html
All posts:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LsKpv7nwA3-rwgzn88bzoOGgPMV8Kqj-/view?usp=sharing
