C. Iulius Caesar, Commentariī dē Bellō Civilī, 1.4.4 - 1.5

1.4.4

ipse Pompeius, ab inimicīs Caesaris incitātus et quod neminem dignitate secum exaequārī volēbat, totum sē ab eius amicitiā averterat et cum communibus inimicīs in gratiam redierat, quōrum ipse maximam partem illō affinitatis tempore iniunxerat Caesarī; simul infamia duarum legionum permotus, quās ab itinere Asiae Syriaeque ad suam potentiam dominatumque converterat, rem ad arma deducī studebat.

1.5

his de causis aguntur omnia raptim atque turbate. nec docendi Caesaris propinquis eius spatium datur, nec tribunis plebis sui periculi deprecandi neque etiam extremi iuris intercessione retinendi, quod L. Sulla reliquerat, facultas tribuitur, sed de sua salute septimo die cogitare coguntur ... itaque V primis diebus, quibus haberi senatus potuit, qua ex die consulatum iniit Lentulus, biduo excepto comitiali et de imperio Caesaris et de amplissimis viris, tribunis plebis, gravissime acerbissimeque decernitur. profugiunt statim ex urbe tribuni plebis seseque ad Caesarem conferunt. is eo tempore erat Ravennae exspectabatque suis lenissimis postulatis responsa, si qua hominum aequitate res ad otium deduci posset.

Operatives, you have met the following way of expressing a command in Latin:

magister inquit, "Discipūlī, tacēte et aperīte librōs!"
The school-master says, "Students, be quiet and open the books!"

Septimus inquit, "Tiberius, Sinistrō nōlī crēdere!"
Septimus says, "Tiberius, don't trust Sinistrus!"

These sentences are examples of direct commands. They report a command first hand in a direct fashion, generally expressed in text through quotations. Think about how often you do this in conversation. Now consider these other examples:

magister discipulīs imperāvit ut tacērent et librōs aperīrent.
The school-master ordered the students to be quiet and open their books.

Septimus Tiberium monuit nē Sinistrō crēderet.
Septimus warned Tiberius not to trust Sinistrus.

These are examples of indirect commands. In these examples, the command is reported second hand and states what the original command was. Notice the way the indirect command is constructed. There is a verb of commanding, ut or nē and then a verb in the subjunctive. When you want to construct a negative indirect command, use nē instead of ut.

Operatives, it in not only verbs of commanding which introduce indirect commands but also verbs of begging, praying, persuading as well ordering and requesting. For your convenience here is a list of verbs which introduce indirect commands:

hortārī - to urge, encourage
imperāre (+dat) - to order
invītāre - to invite
mandāre - to command
monēre - to advise, warn
obsecrāre - to beg beseech
ōrāre - to plead, pray
persuādēre (+ dat) - to persuade, convince
petere - to ask
praecipere (+ dat.) - to instruct
rogāre - to ask

Operatives, there are a few important things to remember when dealing with indirect commands:

1. Several of the verbs which introduce indirect commands take the dative case as a direct object. These verbs are imperāre, persuādēre, and praecipere. The rest take the accusative.

2. There is a ridiculous acronym which details all the verbs which introduce indirect statement. This acronym is "HIPPIPROMMO."

3. Remember that the verb iubere, which also means "to order," does NOT introduce an indirect command. Iubere takes a complementary infinitive and a subjective accusative, e.g.,

egō tē iubeō ferre vīnum hospitibus.
I order you to bear wine to the guests.

You may wish to review the significance of Ovid's exile. It seems strange that such a famous poet would be banished not by formal decree of the Senate, but by executive order from Augustus himself.

Operative, we're extremely excited that you're getting into this stuff at last. Last mission you learned about the Civil Wars from the beginning--now you're going to be present at the start of the most serious one of all--the one that begins at the Rubicon and doesn't truly end until Actium.

To answer the two prompts you've got in this episode, you're going to need to know about Caesar, above all--and because it's he who really brought things to a head, learning about Caesar is learning about the great Civil War, specifically the significance of his famous crossing of the Rubicon River.