In this chapter, Caesar writes that there are principes of the various factions in Gaul, who have the highest authority in each one and to whom all business and decisions are referred. He then goes on to write:
Idque eius rei causa antiquitus institutum videtur, ne quis ex plebe contra potentiorem auxilii egeret; suos enim quisque opprimi et circumveniri non patitur, neque, aliter si faciat, ullam inter suos habeat auctoritatem.
I am a bit puzzled by the "eius rei causa" in the first sentence, which doesn't seem to be needed, since the author could just have written "Idque antiquitus institutum videtur, ne quis ex plebe contra potentiorem auxilii egeret", i.e. "And this seems to have been set in ancient times, so that no one of the common people should lack help against a more powerful [one]". According to Schneider, some manuscripts have Itaque (or Et ita) instead of Idque, which to me makes more sense. In that case, causa could be a nominative instead of an ablative, and the translation would become something like "And thus the cause of this seems to be the custom from ancient times, that ...". What do you think?
Idque eius rei causa antiquitus institutum videtur, ne quis ex plebe contra potentiorem auxilii egeret; suos enim quisque opprimi et circumveniri non patitur, neque, aliter si faciat, ullam inter suos habeat auctoritatem.
I am a bit puzzled by the "eius rei causa" in the first sentence, which doesn't seem to be needed, since the author could just have written "Idque antiquitus institutum videtur, ne quis ex plebe contra potentiorem auxilii egeret", i.e. "And this seems to have been set in ancient times, so that no one of the common people should lack help against a more powerful [one]". According to Schneider, some manuscripts have Itaque (or Et ita) instead of Idque, which to me makes more sense. In that case, causa could be a nominative instead of an ablative, and the translation would become something like "And thus the cause of this seems to be the custom from ancient times, that ...". What do you think?
