Julius Caesar/Quotations

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• Veni, vidi, vici.
  • I came, I saw, I conquered.
  • Written in a report to Rome 47 B.C. after conquering Pharnaces at Zela in Asia Minor in just five days. Quoted in Plutarch, Life of Caesar, and Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Julius
  • It is also believed that Caesar included the famous three words : Came, Saw, Conquered, in a letter to his friend Amantius in Rome.

• Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.
  • All Gaul is divided into three parts
  • De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1

• Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae.
  • Of all these, the Belgians are the bravest/strongest .
  • Caesar suffered his greatest military defeat at the hands of the Belgians, the humiliation reaching Rome, and infuriating the man who then set out on one of Rome's biggest campaigns to crush the Republic's most feared rebels once and for all.
  • De Bello Gallico, Book I, Ch. 1

• Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.
  • Men willingly believe what they wish.
  • De Bello Gallico, Book III, Ch. 18

• Sunt item, quae appellantur alces. Harum est consimilis capris figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilaeque sunt cornibus et crura sine nodis articulisque habent neque quietis causa procumbunt neque, si quo adflictae casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus: ad eas se applicant atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt. Quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus, quo se recipere consuerint, omnes eo loco aut ab radicibus subruunt aut accidunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur. Huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverunt, infirmas arbores pondere adfligunt atque una ipsae concidunt.
  • De Bello Gallico, Book VI
  • There are also animals which are called elks [alces = moose in Am. Engl. Elk = Wapiti]. The shape of these, and the varied colour of their skins, is much like roes, but in size they surpass them a little and are destitute of horns, and have legs without joints and ligatures; nor do they lie down for the purpose of rest, nor, if they have been thrown down by any accident, can they raise or lift themselves up. Trees serve as beds to them; they lean themselves against them, and thus reclining only slightly, they take their rest; when the huntsmen have discovered from the footsteps of these animals whither they are accustomed to betake themselves, they either undermine all the trees at the roots, or cut into them so far that the upper part of the trees may appear to be left standing. When they have leant upon them, according to their habit, they knock down by their weight the unsupported trees, and fall down themselves along with them.
  • De Bello Gallico, Book VI

• Alea iacta est.
  • The die is cast.
  • Suetonius, Divus Iulius, paragraph 33 [1]
  • Said when crossing the river Rubicon with his legions on 10 January, 49 BC, thus beginning the civil war with the forces of Pompey. The Rubicon river was the boundary of Gaul, the province Caesar had the authority to keep his army in. By crossing the river, he had committed an invasion of Italy.
  • This was originally a quote from the playwright Menander.

• Galia est pacata.
  • Gaul is subdued.
  • Written in a letter with which Caesar informed the Roman Senate of his victory over Vercingetorix in 52 BC

• Sed fortuna, quae plurimum potest cum in reliquis rebus tum praecipue in bello, parvis momentis magnas rerum commutationes efficit; ut tum accidit.
  • Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces.
  • The Civil War, Book III, 68