I’m working out of a book entitled Second Year Latin. It’s divided into the Gallic War and Jesus’ life. Concerning the Gallic War, I read a difficult sentence. In this instance, Caesar, having learned that the Gauls are moving through Cisalpine Gaul, takes action:
Contendit ab urbe proficisci et quam maximis potuit itineribus in Galliam Ulteriorem contendit.
The problem I have is the number of verbs, which doesn’t seem to match the implied subject, Caesar. I translated:
He hastened to set out from the city [Rome] and on greatest possible routes he could he hastened toward Outer Gaul.
I don’t see how ‘potuit’ fits in. It seems to stand alone without the usual complementary infinitive. Another thing is ‘maximis itineribus,’ which seems to be ablative of place where but uses no ‘in’ before.
Hi elduce, I’ve been reading from the Gallic Wars too, and I’ll warn you that my Latin isn’t that good. Is this from chapter seven in the first book? My edition has something different here: maturat ab urbe proficisci et quam maximis potest itineribus in Galliam ulteriorem contendit. The notes in my edition for quam maximis potest itineribus confirm what ingrid says: “by the longest possible marches.” I’m using a second year book too, so perhaps one of them is trying to simplify things.
Hi Chris, yes, I’ve been working at Latin, although mostly as a tool for my Greek studies. It’s fun to compare it with the Greek, and that makes it a little easier to learn actually. For instance, I was surprised about the very different place of participles in Latin. I’m hoping something will catch my fancy though, so I’ll be motivated to speed my progress. Happy Holidays, N.
Ingrid70: Thanks for your answer. I’m not sure whether you’re right, but it’s good to get opinions from other people. Do you understand why there are two 'contendit’s? I don’t.
Swiftnicholas: The book I’m working out of is not De Bello Gallico itself but excerpts from it. The book also seems to paraphrase and add punctuation. This is the reason for similarities between your book and mine. Thank you for helping me out.
