De Bello Gallico (ch2)

[Tactixian]

Id hoc facilius iis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur

He more easily persuaded them of this, because the Helvetii are secured on every side by the nature of (their) position.

[What is the significance of having both words together id hoc? hoc alone would have a different tone or meaning?

Is loci translated correctly here?]

una ex parte flumine Rheno

On the one side partly by the river Rhine

[My dictionary gives "on the other hand" for ex altera parte, so I could guess that una ex parte is "on the one hand". How would I know that it meant "on the one side" without peeking at the Perseus Project translation?]

qua ex parte homines

For which reason men

[Another ex parte. Is this just idiomatic or should I be able to figure out its meaning?]

 

[Imprecator]

Id hoc facilius iis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur [...] What is the significance of having both words together id hoc? hoc alone would have a different tone or meaning?

"He persuaded it to them more easily on account of this, because the Helvetii, by nature of their location, are surrounded on all sides."

As you can see, hoc & id have separate roles.

una ex parte flumine Rheno [...] On the one side partly by the river Rhine."

"On one side by the Rhine..." (altera ex parte = "on the other side")

qua ex parte

This is a completely different construction from the other two, which you translated correctly ("for which reason").

My dictionary gives "on the other hand" for ex altera parte, so I could guess that una ex parte is "on the one hand". How would I know that it meant "on the one side" without peeking at the Perseus Project translation?

Latin is full of multifaceted words and phrases; use the context, and a dictionary, to decide which one is appropriate, and, after enough practice, you'll be able to figure it out by yourself.

 

[Damoetas]

Just to add a few things to what Imprecator has already said....

In your first sentence, recognize that hoc is ablative, with a long ō: hōc. So that's why it means, "by means of / because of this."

As Imprecator notes, the Helvetii are not so much "secured" as "hemmed in, surrounded" by the nature of their location. You can translate locus as simply "place, location."

It seems that a lot of your problems had to do with uses of pars, partis. As you continue reading Caesar, you'll see that pars often means a geographical "area," or "region." It can also mean "side" or "direction." So, in these sentences, the word usually has its literal and basic meaning. The thing in the dictionary about ex altera parte is a metaphorical or extended meaning, i.e., when you're talking about another side in an argument.

 

[Tactixian]

I understand the text now, thanks to you guys, but one thing still bothers me. Yes, I suppose I could have understood from context una ex parte to mean "on the one side" but qua ex parte would require knowledge of the idiom, right?

 

[Damoetas]

qua ex parte would require knowledge of the idiom, right?

Oh - yes, that's one of the more metaphorical senses that would be harder to figure out without looking it up. I think you mentioned using the New College Dictionary, right? (The small paperback one, revised edition, by Traupman?) That's a really good one - I especially like it because the English definitions have been updated, and they're not in extreme archaic language like some dictionaries. If you find that it doesn't explain something as fully as you need, you can search Lewis & Short online under Perseus (perhaps you already know about it): http://perseus.uchicago.edu/Reference/l ... short.html