All Gaul is divided: the opening of Caesar's Gallic War
Caesar wrote up his own campaigns in Gaul in the 50s BC, referring to himself as “Caesar” throughout, and generations of students have started real Latin here. The prose is clear and the opening sentence is the most famous in Latin. The long final sentence shows how far he can stretch one.
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The text and translation
Gallia est omnis dīvīsa in partēs trēs, quārum ūnam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquītānī, tertiam quī ipsōrum linguā Celtae, nostrā Gallī appellantur.
All Gaul is divided into three parts, of which the Belgae inhabit one, the Aquitani another, and the third those who in their own language are called Celts, in ours Gauls.
Word by word
- Gallia
- Gaul
- est
- is
- omnis
- all, as a whole
- dīvīsa
- divided
- in
- into
- partēs
- parts
- trēs
- three
- quārum
- of which
- ūnam
- one
- incolunt
- inhabit
- Belgae
- the Belgae
- aliam
- another
- Aquītānī
- the Aquitani
- tertiam
- the third
- quī
- those who
- ipsōrum
- their own
- linguā
- in the language
- Celtae
- Celts
- nostrā
- in ours
- Gallī
- Gauls
- appellantur
- are called
Hī omnēs linguā, īnstitūtīs, lēgibus inter sē differunt.
All these differ from one another in language, customs and laws.
Word by word
- Hī
- these
- omnēs
- all
- linguā
- in language
- īnstitūtīs
- in customs
- lēgibus
- in laws
- inter
- among
- sē
- themselves
- differunt
- differ
Gallōs ab Aquītānīs Garumna flūmen, ā Belgīs Mātrona et Sēquana dīvidit.
The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani, the Marne and the Seine from the Belgae.
Word by word
- Gallōs
- the Gauls
- ab
- from
- Aquītānīs
- the Aquitani
- Garumna
- the Garonne
- flūmen
- river
- ā
- from
- Belgīs
- the Belgae
- Mātrona
- the Marne
- et
- and
- Sēquana
- the Seine
- dīvidit
- separates
Hōrum omnium fortissimī sunt Belgae, proptereā quod ā cultū atque hūmānitāte prōvinciae longissimē absunt, minimēque ad eōs mercātōrēs saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effēminandōs animōs pertinent important, proximīque sunt Germānīs, quī trāns Rhēnum incolunt, quibuscum continenter bellum gerunt.
Of all these the bravest are the Belgae, because they are farthest from the culture and civilisation of the Province, and merchants least often travel to them and bring in the things that tend to make spirits soft, and they are nearest to the Germans, who live across the Rhine, with whom they are continually at war.
Word by word
- Hōrum
- of these
- omnium
- all
- fortissimī
- bravest
- sunt
- are
- Belgae
- the Belgae
- proptereā
- for this reason
- quod
- that, because
- ā
- from
- cultū
- culture
- atque
- and
- hūmānitāte
- civilisation
- prōvinciae
- of the Province
- longissimē
- farthest
- absunt
- are away
- minimēque
- and least
- ad
- to
- eōs
- them
- mercātōrēs
- merchants
- saepe
- often
- commeant
- travel
- atque
- and
- ea
- those things
- quae
- which
- ad
- towards
- effēminandōs
- making soft
- animōs
- spirits
- pertinent
- tend
- important
- bring in
- proximīque
- and nearest
- sunt
- are
- Germānīs
- to the Germans
- quī
- who
- trāns
- across
- Rhēnum
- the Rhine
- incolunt
- live
- quibuscum
- with whom
- continenter
- continually
- bellum
- war
- gerunt
- wage
What to notice
- Gallia est omnis dīvīsa is the sentence everyone knows. The word order puts Gaul first and leaves “divided” for later, with no words needed for “the” or “a”.
- linguā, īnstitūtīs, lēgibus lists language, customs and laws. All three have endings that mean “in” or “by”, so no separate word for “in” is needed.
- fortissimī means “the bravest”. The ending -issimus gives the highest degree, and you can see it again in longissimē (“farthest”).
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Sources
Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico 1.1 (first four sentences), Latin Wikisource; English: literal translation by Claude (AI)
Text licence: Public domain.
Language pack licence: Texts public domain; annotation and translations CC BY-SA 4.0.
Texts: Latin Wikisource (public domain; Catullus ed. Merrill, with long-vowel marks; the Vulgate passages in the Clementine text). English: Douay-Rheims (public domain) for the Vulgate passages; other sentence translations and all tagging by Claude (AI), checked against Wiktionary; not yet reviewed by a person.
The introduction and notes on this page were written by Claude (AI). Word glosses are AI-assisted, and so is the English unless the source above names another translator.