Explōrātiō Octāva (VIII) Adventure Eight

“Bring an umbrella,” she told me. “There’s a downpour in the city today.” And indeed, as soon as the magic drink placed us in the heart of the capital – in the middle of the Roman Forum, with its grand temples – we were pelted by a heavy rain. I raced to open my umbrella while sprinting for shelter, Latinitas in the lead. The building we ran for was a massive structure. It looked like a temple, but it had no central statue; instead on the inside it looked more like an old shopping mall, with wooden architecture. (“It’s called a basilica,” she told me later, “and this is the Basilica Porcia, commissioned a century ago by Cato.”) After we climbed the steps, she stepped behind one of the columns, then jumped out at me, brandishing her umbrella like a sword, a gladius. I collapsed my umbrella to parry her thrusts. She was very fast and aggressive, slashing away at me:

Gladium habeō, gladiō pugnō, gladiatrix sum!

“I have a sword, I fight with a sword, I am a female gladiator!”

I picked up a wooden pole for extra defense, and she shouted:

Duōbus gladiīs tū pūgnābis? Illī tē nōn prōtegent!

“With two swords you will fight? Those will not protect you!”

She knocked the pole out of my hand. I spun around to avoid her next thrust, hoping to catch her from the side. But my move was too slow: as soon as I turned my head around, she had the point of the umbrella pointed directly at my throat. With that she dropped her weapon and crowed: “Vīcī vīcī, I have won, I have won!”

Victor es, I bowed.

“Nōn victor sum, sed victrix,” she corrected me. “Victor est vir quī vīcit, A victor is a man who has won; victrix est fēmina quae vīcit. Victrix sum. But you showed promise. You were game, and you were not afraid to make a mistake. You cannot learn a language, or anything of value, if you don’t possess these traits. Never be afraid to make a mistake.”

Julius Caesar and the Gallic War

A rumble of voices from a crowd on the other side of the building drew our attention. They had not noticed our fight; instead, they were listening intently to a man reading out loud from a book. The audience looked to be mostly made up of soldiers – real combatants, not gladiators. Their swagger, thick calves, and ugly scars were enough to give them away as veterans of old, hard wars. It was a large crowd, four- or five-hundred strong – nearly the size of a Roman cohort.

What they were listening to was a report composed by the general Gaius Julius Caesar and sent to Rome by messengers from the land to the north that the Romans called Gaul, roughly where France is today. Latinitas explained that this was the ninth year of a massive and violent campaign designed to bring Gaul under Roman control and secure Caesar’s reputation as a master general. The soldiers assembled in the basilica had fought under Caesar there, and managed to force most of the towns into submission. Recently an alliance of tribes led by a man named Vercingetorix had started a revolt. Several months of fighting reached a climax in the battle of Alesia. It was a complex operation, with Caesar’s army laying siege to Vercingetorix’s army in the city of Alesia while simultaneously fighting off a Gallic relief force. Someone had drawn a simple map in red chalk on the wall to illustrate the positions for the crowd. It looked like a donut, with the Gauls on the inside and outside, and the Romans in the ring in between. The reader was approaching the end of the general’s report. You will notice that Caesar refers to himself in the third person in the narrative and anchors his storytelling in the present tense, to heighten the drama:

“After learning of these facts, Caesar sends Labienus with six cohorts to help those who are struggling. He commands him, if he should be unable to hold out, to break down his cohorts and fight to break out; don’t do this unless necessary. He goes in person to the remaining troops, urges them not to yield to the struggle; he teaches them that the outcome of all the prior battles rests on this day and hour. The troops of the Gauls who are caught inside, despairing of the situation in the plain because of the size of our fortifications, probe the steep ground with a climbing action; to this location they bring what they have prepared. With a multitude of spears, they drive our frontline fighters from the towers, fill the ditches with earth and wicker sheets, and cut back the rampart and parapet with machetes.”

“Caesar first sends the young Brutus with his cohorts, and next, his lieutenant Gaius Fabius with others. Finally, when the fighting is at its peak, he leads fresh troops to the rescue, in person. The battle resumes and the enemy is driven back. Next he heads where he sent Labienus. He leads four cohorts from the nearest fort; he orders some of the cavalry to follow, others to circle the outer fortifications and surprise the enemy from behind. When the earthen mounds and ditches are unable to hold off the enemy, Labienus gathers together 40 cohorts that chance presented to him, drawn from the nearest defenders, and informs Caesar through messengers what he thinks must be done. Caesar speeds to be present at the battle.”

“When his arrival is recognized by the color of his garment – a distinguishing mark which he was accustomed to use during battle – and when the squadrons of cavalry and cohorts he has told to follow him are seen, since our slopes and low areas are visible from the higher ground, the enemy joins the fight. A shout rises from both sides, answered in turn by a shout from the palisade and all the fortifications. Our men lay their javelins aside and carry out their task with swords. Suddenly from behind our cavalry are seen; other cohorts come near. The enemy turns back; the horsemen meet those who flee. A great slaughter takes place. Sedulius, general and head man of the Lemovices, is killed; Vercassivellaunus of Arvernus is captured alive while fleeing. Seventy-four military flags are brought to Caesar; out of such a great host, few get back to camp unharmed… Given the situation, if our soldiers had not been exhausted by repeated relief efforts and a full day’s hardship, all of the enemy’s forces could have been destroyed.”

With that line, a round of roars and shouts rose from the crowd. They were cheering the Roman victory and admiring their general’s relentless determination and skill. And he was their general – the audience was made up largely of Caesar’s veterans. They loved him – maybe too much.

Latinitas gestured for me to take a seat on a stool. She had a text in her hands – but this time, not a papyrus roll; it was an old English schoolbook from the 19th century.

“When Latin was taught in schools many years ago, it often involved a few years of grammar, followed by a forced march through several books of Caesar’s Commentāriī dē Bellō Gallicō, his Reports on the Gallic War. So I thought I would bring this along. Open your notebook, and let us begin. After you enter these words in your vocabulary, we will add the dative and ablative plural endings.”

Vocabulary

First Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
fāma, fām-ae	f.	reputation; fame
fortūna, fortūn-ae	f.	fortune
glōria, glōri-ae	f.	glory
terra, terr-ae	f.	earth

Second Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
annus, ann-ī	m.	year
locus, loc-ī	m.	place
modus, mod-ī	m.	measure; limit
numerus, numer-ī	m.	number

Third Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
Caesar, Caesar-is	m.	Caesar
pāx, pāc-is	f.	peace
virtūs, virtūt-is	f.	virtue
dux, duc-is	m.	leader
mīles, mīlit-is	m.	soldier
eques, equit-is	m.	horseman; knight
sanguis, sanguin-is	m.	blood

Third Declension I-Stem Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
cīvis, cīv-is	m.	citizen
hostis, host-is	m.	enemy (foreign)
ignis, ign-is	m.	fire “The ablative singular is ignī.”

Fourth Declension Noun

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
exercitus, exercit-ūs	m.	army

Fifth Declension Nouns

Latin Noun	Noun Gender	English Meaning
diēs, di-ēī	m. / f.	day “The singular forms are sometimes feminine rather than masculine.”
rēs gestae, rērum gestārum	f.	achievements (plural) “Literally, things (rēs) accomplished (gestae)”

Plural Noun Forms: Dative and Ablative Plural, Declensions 1-5

“The endings of the dative and ablative plural are straightforward. For 1st and 2nd declension nouns, the ending of both the dative and ablative plural is –īs. For 3rd and 4th declension nouns, it is –ibus. And for 5th declension nouns it is –ēbus. Within each declension, the forms of the dative and ablative plural are always the same. Here are all of the plural noun endings for all five declensions:”

Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Ablative Plural Endings, Declensions 1-5

	1st Decl.	2nd Decl.	3rd Decl.	3rd Decl. I-Stems	4th Decl.	5th Decl.
Nominative	-ae	-ī	-ēs	-ēs	-ūs	-ēs
Genitive	-ārum	-ōrum	-um	-ium	-uum	-ērum
Dative	-īs	-īs	-ibus	-ibus	-ibus	-ēbus
Accusative	-ās	-ōs	-ēs	-īs/ēs	-ūs	-ēs
Ablative	-īs	-īs	-ibus	-ibus	-ibus	-ēbus

“Attached to nouns they look like this:”

Review of Case Endings, Declensions 1-5

Singular	1st Decl.	2nd Decl.	3rd Decl.	3rd Decl. I-Stem	4th Decl.	5th Decl.
Nom.	vi-a	amīc-us	rēx	urbs	man-us	r-ēs
Gen.	vi-ae	amīc-ī	rēg-is	urb-is	man-ūs	r-eī
Dat.	vi-ae	amīc-ō	rēg-ī	urb-ī	man-uī	r-eī
Acc.	vi-am	amīc-um	rēg-em	urb-em	man-um	r-em
Abl.	vi-ā	amīc-ō	rēg-e	urb-e	man-ū	r-ē
Plural
Nom.	vi-ae	amīc-ī	rēg-ēs	urb-ēs	man-ūs	r-ēs
Gen.	vi-ārum	amīc-ōrum	rēg-ūm	urb-ium	man-uum	r-ērum
Dat.	vi-īs	amīc-īs	rēg-ibus	urb-ibus	man-ibus	r-ēbus
Acc.	vi-ās	amīc-ōs	rēg-ēs	urb-īs/ēs	man-ūs	r-ēs
Abl.	vi-īs	amīc-īs	rēg-ibus	urb-ibus	man-ibus	r-ēbus

“Now you can finish your declensions of these nouns by adding the dative and ablative plurals to the words you declined yesterday.”

Drill

“Provide all the case forms (genitive, dative, accusative, ablative singular; nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative plural) for the following nouns, which are given in the nominative singular form. To do so, first identify the declension to which the noun belongs (see How to Identify the Declension of a Noun in Explōrātiō IV), then identify the stem of the noun based on the genitive-stem rule (see Explōrātiō IV), and finally add the correct case ending to the stem.”

Singular
Nom.	patria	populus	vōx	gēns	senātus	fidēs
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.
Plural
Nom.
Gen.
Dat.
Acc.
Abl.

Genitive, Dative, and Ablative Plural Personal Pronouns

“Today we can also complete our chart of the plural personal pronouns:”

Plural Personal Pronouns, All Case Forms

Case	1st Person	2nd Person	3rd Person (m., f., n.)
Nominative	nōs	vōs	eī, eae, ea
Genitive	nostrum (nostrī)	vestrum (vestrī)	eōrum, eārum, eōrum
Dative	nōbīs	vōbīs	eīs, eīs, eīs
Accusative	nōs	vōs	eōs, eās, ea
Ablative	nōbīs	vōbīs	eīs, eīs, eīs

Plural Personal Pronouns, All Case Forms, Translated

Case	1st Person	2nd Person	3rd Person (m., f., n.)
Nominative	we	you all	they, they, they
Genitive	of us	of you all	their/of them, their/of them, their/of them
Dative	to/for us	to/for you all	to/for them, to/for them, to/for them
Accusative	us (d. o.)	you all (d. o.)	them, them, them
Ablative	prep. + us	prep. + you all	prep. + them, prep. + them, prep. + them

What about the two forms of nostrum and vestrum? I asked.

“Latin regularly uses nostrum and vestrum. But when the pronoun is paired with a noun that has verbal root, like ‘love’ or ‘care’, the genitive pronoun becomes nostrī or vestrī: amor nostrī ‘love of us’, cūra vestrī ‘care for you all’. Still, nostrum and vestrum are the usual forms. OK?”

I understand, I told her, though I didn’t like it one bit.

The Preposition cum with 1st and 2nd Person Pronouns

“As with mē and tē, ablative nōbīs and vōbīs combine with the preposition cum to make one word with cum attached at the end:”

cum with 1st and 2nd Person Pronouns

Latin Form	Translation
nōbīscum	with us
vōbīscum	with you all

Exercises 1-9

“Now try these sentences.”

1. Ūnus vestrum nōbīscum erat.

2. Numerus equitum noctem timēbat.

3. Ducēs exercitum manēre iubēbunt.

4. Fortūna dīvīna fāmam atque gloriam hostibus dabit.

5. Sine cūrīs mīlitēs sunt, nam Caesar pācem parat.

6. Ē fīnibus terrae inimīcōs cōnsulēs movēbunt.

7. Dē rēbus gestīs gēns mea cōgitat.

8. Who now fears blood and fire?

9. The leader of the (foreign) enemies is without virtues.

Dative of Reference, Dative of Possession

“Let’s now talk some more about the use and meaning of the dative case. As you learned in Explōrātiō VI, the dative case can designate the indirect object in a sentence, and you often translate a dative noun or pronoun by adding ‘to’ or ‘for’ before it in English.”

“Sometimes a dative word is not an indirect object, but it clarifies to or for whom the sentence refers; for example, the dative can specify the point of view of an opinion. This usage can be called the dative of reference. Notice, however, that this use of the dative can be translated in much the same way that we translated the dative when it was the indirect object in a sentence, by adding ‘to’ or ‘for’:”

Latin Sentence with a Dative of Reference: Example

I. Deus mihi is semper erit.

II. Deus (nom. sg. m.) mihi (dat. sg.) is (nom. sg. m.) semper erit (3rd sg. fut.).

III. He (nom. subj.) will always be (3rd sg. fut.) a god (nom. pred.) to me (dat.).

“Now how do you say ‘my name is’ in Latin?”

You say nōmen mihi est, I answered.

“Right. Literally that means ‘the name to me is’. The phrase consists of a nominative subject (nōmen), which is the thing possessed, a third-person form of the verb sum, and a dative word (mihi), which indicates the possessor. Latin uses this sort of phrasing sometimes to make a statement of possession. We can call the usage of the dative in such a phrase the dative of possession. In English, we will usually have to rework the sentence a little bit: make the dative possessor the subject, use the verb ‘have’ in the appropriate tense (whatever tense the form of sum is in) and person, and make the nominative that is possessed the object.”

Dative of Possession: Examples

Dative + form of sum + Nominative	Literal Translation	Reworked Translation: [Dative] has [Nominative]
Mihi (dat. sg.) est (3rd sg. pres.) spēs (nom. sg. f.).	To me is hope.	I have hope.
Erit (3rd sg. fut.) fāma (nom. sg. f.) fēminīs (dat. pl. f.).	Fame will be to the women.	The women will have fame.

Sosicles in Plautus’ Menaechmi has this line: Eadem urbs et patria est mihi. Translated literally, this means, ‘The same (eadem) city and country is to me’, but it’s better reworked as ‘I have the same city and country.’”

Exercises 10-14

“Now try these sentences featuring some dative words.”

10. Hominibus amor, nōn furor, est fīnis magnus vītae.

11. Lēgēs nōbīs rēx bonus servābit.

12. Lībertās populō erit.

13. Cūra et īra puellīs sunt.

14. I will have good fortune, but my enemies will have bad (fortune). “Use a form of the verb sum and two dative words for the possessors.”

Uses of the Ablative Case without a Preposition

“You’re now used to seeing the ablative case with certain Latin prepositions, such as cum, dē, ā/ab. Often, however, an ablative noun will have no preposition with it. In such a situation you must add a preposition to your English translation of the ablative word, just as you do when you translate a genitive or dative word. The prepositions that you will mostly commonly use when translating the ablative are ‘From’, ‘With’, ‘In’, or ‘By’. When you see an ablative word on its own, think F.W.I.B.!”

Ablative of Means

“When you want to explain in Latin how the action of the sentence is done, with what instrument or technique, you use the ablative without a preposition. This use of the ablative is called the ablative of means. When an ablative of means is translated into English, use the preposition ‘by’ or ‘with’, or the word ‘using’:”

Ablative of Means: Examples

vōcibus meīs	with/by/using my words
mīlitibus	with/by/using soldiers
manū	with/by/using (a) hand

Exercises 15-19

“Each of these sentences has at least one ablative of means.”

15. Sīc Lucrētius vōcibus tē dē morte docēbit.

16. Īgnī sanguineque Catilīna mortem senātuī parābat.

17. Dux magnō numerō mīlitum et glōriam et fāmam parābit.

18. By my labors I will preserve the city, if it is possible.

19. The enemies were holding the place with knights and soldiers.

Ablative of Time When

“You also use an ablative without a preposition when you want to communicate the time when something happens. This use is called ablative of time when. An ablative of time when is translated into English with the preposition ‘by’ or ‘in’ or ‘at’. (Sometimes no additional word is needed.):”

Ablative of Time When: Examples

diē	by day
annō	in the year “A.D. means Annō Dominī, In the year of the Lord.”
nocte	by/at night

Exercises 20-21

“Each of these sentences has at least one ablative of time when.”

20. Nocte aliquid vidēbamus, sed diē nīl erat.

21. In a bad year people will not remain in the city.

Ablative Absolute

“To indicate the circumstances in which something happens, you use two ablative words in agreement with each other. One acts like a subject and the second like a predicate, with a missing sum: ‘(with) [ablative] (being) [ablative]’. For a better English translation, try ‘when [ablative] am/is/are/was/were [ablative]’. Use ‘was/were’ if the verb of the sentence is imperfect, otherwise use ‘am/is/are’. This use of the ablative is called the ablative absolute:”

Ablative Absolute: Examples

Sentence with Ablative Absolute	Literal Translation	Reworked Translation: [Ablative] am/is/are/was/were [Ablative]
Cicerōne (abl sg. m.) cōnsule (abl. sg. m.), urbs (nom. sg. f.) valet (3rd sg. pres.).	(With) Cicero (being) consul, the city is strong.	When Cicero is consul, the city is strong.
Caesare (abl. sg. m.) duce (abl. sg. m.), hostīs (acc. pl. m.) nōn timēbāmus (1st pl. impf.).	(With) Caesar (being) leader, we were not fearing the enemies.	When Caesar was leader, we were not fearing the enemies.

“The Romans used the ablative absolute construction to identify their years. Each year they elected two consuls to a one-year term. The combination of their two names, in the ablative case, combined with the ablative plural cōnsulibus, gave each year a label: ‘(with) X and Y (being) consuls’. The current year is labelled ‘when C. Pompeius Magnus and Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius were consuls’. Romans who were concerned with history would look up the list of consul-pairs, and use these to express dates.”

Exercises 22-23

“Each of these sentences has at least one ablative absolute.”

22. Mē et tē cōnsulibus, populus lībertātem habēbit.

23. (With) him (being) king, the citizens were fearing blood and fire.

Ablative Review: Caesar’s Commentāriī dē Bellō Gallicō

“As a review of what we’ve just learned, and as a preview of what’s to come, read out loud this Latin version of Caesar’s report – this is the last of the paragraphs we heard the reader recite for the crowd:”

Eius adventū ex colōre vestītūs cognitō, quō insignī in proeliīs ūtī cōnsuerat, turmīsque equitum et cohortibus vīsīs quās sē sequī iusserat, ut dē locīs superiōribus haec dēclīvia et dēvexa cernēbantur, hostēs proelium committunt. Utrimque clāmōre sublātō excipit rursus ex vallō atque omnibus mūnītiōnibus clāmor. Nostrī omissīs pīlīs gladiīs rem gerunt. Repente post tergum equitātus cernitur; cohortēs aliae appropinquant. Hostēs terga vertunt; fugientibus equitēs occurrunt. Fit magna caedēs. Sedulius, dux et princeps Lemovīcum, occīditur; Vercassivellaunus Arvernus vīvus in fugā comprehenditur; signa mīlitāria septuāginta quattuor ad Caesarem referuntur: paucī ex tantō numerō sē incolumēs in castra recipiunt… Quod nisi crēbrīs subsidiīs ac tōtīus diēī labōre mīlitēs essent dēfessī, omnēs hostium cōpiae dēlērī potuissent.

“The ablative is everywhere in this passage, but we’ll focus on three usages. There are six prepositional phrases (a), and two examples of the ablative of means (b). The rest are examples of the ablative absolute, describing the circumstances of an action (c). A common form of the ablative absolute consists of an ablative noun or pronoun combined with an adjective made from a verb (something called a participle). For example, an adjective made from videō is vīsus, vīs–a, vīsum, and it means ‘having been seen’ or just ‘seen’. So, mīlitibus vīsīs would mean ‘with the soldiers having been seen’ or ‘when the soldiers were seen’. See if you can identify these uses of the ablative as (a) prepositional phrase, (b) ablative of means, or (c) ablative absolute:”

Eius adventū ex colōre vestītūs cognitō, quō insignī in proeliīs ūtī cōnsuerat, turmīsque equitum et cohortibus vīsīs quās sē sequī iusserat, ut dē locīs superiōribus haec dēclīvia et dēvexa cernēbantur, hostēs proelium committunt.

When his arrival is recognized by the color of his garment – a distinguishing mark which he was accustomed to use during battle – and when the squadrons of cavalry and cohorts he has told to follow him are seen, since our slopes and low areas are visible from the higher ground, the enemy joins the fight.

Ablative Usage	English Translation	Type of Ablative
1. eius adventū… cognitō	(when) his arrival (was) recognized
2. ex colōre vestītūs	based on the color of the garment
3. in proeliīs	in battles
4. turmīs… et cohortibus vīsīs	(when) the squadrons and cohorts (were) seen
5. dē locīs superiōribus	from the higher places

Utrimque clāmōre sublātō excipit rursus ex vallō atque omnibus mūnītiōnibus clāmor. Nostrī omissīs pīlīs gladiīs rem gerunt. Repente post tergum equitātus cernitur; cohortēs aliae appropinquant. Hostēs terga vertunt; fugientibus equitēs occurrunt. Fit magna caedēs.

A shout rises from both sides, answered in turn by a shout from the palisade and all the fortifications. Our men lay their javelins aside and carry out their task with swords. Suddenly from behind our cavalry are seen; other cohorts come near. The enemy turns back; the horsemen meet those who flee. A great slaughter takes place.

Ablative Usage	English Translation	Type of Ablative
6. clāmōre sublātō	(when) a shout (was) raised
7. ex vallō atque omnibus mūnītiōnibus	out of the palisade and all the fortifications
8. omissīs pīlīs	(when) javelins (were) omitted
9. gladiīs	with swords

Sedulius, dux et princeps Lemovīcum, occīditur; Vercassivellaunus Arvernus vīvus in fugā comprehenditur; signa mīlitāria septuāginta quattuor ad Caesarem referuntur: paucī ex tantō numerō sē incolumēs in castra recipiunt… Quod nisi crēbrīs subsidiīs ac tōtīus diēī labōre mīlitēs essent dēfessī, omnēs hostium cōpiae dēlērī potuissent.

Sedulius, general and head man of the Lemovices, is killed; Vercassivellaunus of Arvernus is captured alive while fleeing. Seventy-four military flags are brought to Caesar; out of such a great host, few get back to camp unharmed… Given the situation, if our soldiers had not been exhausted by repeated relief efforts and a full day’s hardship, all of the enemy’s forces could have been destroyed.”

Ablative Usage	English Translation	Type of Ablative
10. in fugā	in flight
11. ex tantō numerō	out of such a great number
12. diēī labōre	by the struggle of the day

“If you identify all twelve correctly, you will erase the humiliation of your defeat earlier at the tip of my umbrella!”

As I finished up, she drew my attention to a group of soldiers in the basilica who were harassing a vendor of exotic pets, including a collection of monkeys and talking parrots. They were letting the animals free, rifling through his stores, looking for valuables, and otherwise making trouble. Though I had a goddess protecting me, I could not help but feel fear in my stomach, mixed with pity for the vendor. “In a few days,” Latinitas let me know, “a prominent Roman politician named Clodius will be killed in gang violence and his funeral will be held near here. Afterwards there will be a riot, and in the middle of the violence, the crowd will burn this basilica to the ground.”

This one, the one that we’re in?

“Yes.”

A name she mentioned rang a bell in my head. Clodius – is he any relation to Clodia? I asked.

“Her brother. He’s another populist leader, riding the same wave that gave Catiline his power and, long before that, Gaius Gracchus. The rival gang that will kill him is led by a friend of Cicero’s. Rome is a huge city, with hundreds of thousands of people, but at the very top, all of the major persons are connected to each other, like Clodius and his sister.”

What will happen to these soldiers? They seem like they are out of control.

“A year and a half from now, Caesar will come back from Gaul with his armies,” Latinitas added as we moved away from the commotion. “The senate will request that he disband his army before entering Italy. Caesar will refuse, citing broken promises and threats to his life. He will cross the Rubicon river with his troops, in defiance of the senate’s order. The senate will command these soldiers to join and fight with them. Forced to choose between loyalty to Caesar and loyalty to the institutions of the Roman Republic, most will follow the man, not the institutions.”

“The Republic is a complex thing, which will never disappear entirely; but soldiers shifting their loyalties to a private individual with whom they personally identify will certainly accelerate its decline.”

18. Vercingetorix Throws down his Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar, by Lionel Royer, 1899. Note Caesar’s distinctive dress or vestītus, which is mentioned in the narrative. The Gauls are distinguished from the Romans by their mustaches.

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8 Explōrātiō Octāva (VIII) Adventure Eight

Where and When Are We Today?