Quotes from book
Commentarii de Bello Gallico

Commentarii de Bello Gallico
Julius Caesar Original title De Bello Gallico (Latin)

Commentāriī dē Bellō Gallicō , also Bellum Gallicum , is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting the Germanic peoples and Celtic peoples in Gaul that opposed Roman conquest.


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“The immortal gods are wont to allow those persons whom they wish to punish for their guilt sometimes a greater prosperity and longer impunity, in order that they may suffer the more severely from a reverse of circumstances.”
Consuesse enim deos immortales, quo gravius homines ex commutatione rerum doleant, quos pro scelere eorum ulcisci velint, his secundiores interdum res et diuturniorem impunitatem concedere.

Book I, Ch. 14, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn
De Bello Gallico

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“It was an enormous struggle to destroy the Belgian nation.”

A cursory overview of the history of Belgium, applied to the present events, until January 1830, (Issued for the benefit of the fund for the needy relatives of the extended Volunteers from Northern Brabant) 's HERTOGENBOSCH, Ter Boek en Provinciale Courant - Drukkerij Van DE. LION en ZONEN. (Januari 1831) Quoted from Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico.
De Bello Gallico

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Julius Caesar photo

“Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest/strongest.”
Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae.

Book I, Ch. 1
De Bello Gallico

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“All Gaul is divided into three parts”
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.

Book I, Ch. 1 http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall1.shtml; these are the first words of De Bello Gallico, the whole sentence is "All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls, the third." http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0448.phi001.perseus-lat1:1.1.1
De Bello Gallico

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“In most cases men willingly believe what they wish.”
Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.

Book III, Chapter 18
Variant translation: Men willingly believe what they wish to be true.
As quoted in The Adventurer No. 69 (3 July 1753) in The Works of Samuel Johnson (1837) edited by Arthur Murphy, p. 32
Compare: "What each man wishes, that he also believes to be true" Demosthenes, Olynthiac 3.19
De Bello Gallico

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“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.”
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.

Book VI
De Bello Gallico

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