Caesar 6.14 and 6.15 - Privileges and training of the Druids/The Nobility: prestigious warriors

6.14

Druidēs ā bellō abesse cōnsuērunt, neque tribūta ūnā cum reliquīs pendunt; mīlitiae vacātiōnem omniumque rērum habent immūnitātem. Tantīs excitātī praemiīs et suā sponte multī in disciplīnam conveniunt et ā parentibus propīnquīsque mittuntur. Māgnum ibī numerum versuum ēdiscere dīcuntur. Itaque annōs nōn nūllī XX in disciplīnā permanent. Neque fās esse exīstimant ea litterīs mandāre, cum in reliquīs ferē rēbus, pūblicīs prīvātīsque ratiōnibus, Graecīs litterīs ūtantur. Id mihi duābus dē causīs īnstituisse videntur, quod neque in vulgum disciplīnam efferrī velint neque eōs quī discunt litterīs cōnfīsōs minus memoriae studēre; quod ferē plērīsque accidit ut praesidiō litterārum dīligentiam in perdiscendō ac memoriam remittant.

The Druids were accustomed to being away from war, they don’t pay taxes together with the rest; they have an exception from the military and immunity of all affairs. Having been excited by such great rewards they come into this training on their own accord or they are sent to this training by their parents or those close to them. There they are said to memorize a great number of verses. And some men remain in this training for twenty years. Nor do they think that is right to entrust things to letters, although generally in the remaining affairs, public and private translations, they use Greek letters. They seem to me to have begun this for two reasons, because they do not wish that their teaching be brought among the common people nor do they wish they who learn it having relied in letters to become less eager for memory: because it generally happens to many men that by the protection of letters they lose their diligence in memorizing and lose their memory.

6.14

In prīmīs hōc volunt persuādēre, nōn interīre animās sed ab aliīs post mortem trānsīre ad aliōs, atque hōc māximē ad virtūtem excitārī putant, metū mortis neglēctō. Multa praetereā dē sīderibus atque eōrum mōtū, dē mundī ac terrārum māgnitūdine, dē rērum nātūrā, dē deōrum immortālium vī ac potestāte disputant et iuventūtī trādunt.

They wish to persuade this, that their souls don’t perish, but after death they cross from some to others, and they think that by this they are aroused especially to courage with the fear of death having been pushed aside. Moreover they debate many things about the stars and their motion, about the magnitude of the world and of the earth, about the nature of things, about the force of the immortal gods, and they hand it over to the youth.

6.15

Alterum genus est equitum. Hī, cum est ūsus atque aliquod bellum incidit (quod ferē ante Caesaris adventum quotannīs accidere sōlēbat, utī aut ipsī iniūriās īnferrent aut illātās prōpulsārent), omnēs in bellō versantur; atque eōrum ut quisque est genere cōpiīsque amplissimus, ita plūrimōs circum sē ambactōs clientēsque habet. Hanc ūnam grātiam potentiamque nōvērunt.

Another kind is of the cavalry. These men, when there is need for them and some sort of war (which generally was accustomed to occur before the arrival of Caesar almost every year) when they themselves either bring injury or they repel injuries having been brought, they are all versed in war, and whichever one of them is most noble in his family, and in his wealth, in this way he has the most vessels and clients among them. They recognize this one’s esteem and power.

(6.14) Line 1: tributa

Accusative - direct object

(6.14) Line 3: excitati (perfect passive participle - adjective)

Nominative - subject

(6.14) Line 3: praemiis

Ablative of Means

(6.14) Line 5: annos

Accusative - duration of time

(6.14) Line 7: litteris

Ablative - special verb

(6.14) Line 11: perdiscendo (gerund)

Ablative of Means

(6.14) Line 12: animas

Accusative - indirect statement

(6.14) Line 13: metu

Ablative Absolute

(6.14) Line 15: vi

Ablative - preposition

(6.15) Line 17: aliquod

Nominative - subject

(6.15) Line 20: se

Accusative - preposition