Caesar: Gallia Divisa Est
Read the famous opening of Caesar's Gallic Wars: "Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres." Analyze the grammar and translate.
A lesson of Latin A1 — Beginner, in Reading Latin, about 10 minutes.
By the end of this lesson, you will read and analyze the opening sentence of Caesar's Gallic Wars — the most famous sentence in Latin literature.
The Text
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur.
This is the opening of De Bello Gallico (On the Gallic War), written by Julius Caesar around 58–49 BC. It is the first sentence almost every student of Latin eventually reads.
Background: Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and writer. He wrote his Gallic Wars as military dispatches sent to Rome during his campaigns in Gaul (modern France, Belgium, and parts of Germany).
His prose is famous for being clear, direct, and precise — deliberately written to be read quickly and understood easily. This makes Caesar ideal for beginning Latin students.
The Gallic Wars spans seven books. The opening sentence establishes the geography of Gaul by dividing it into three parts — a move that immediately signals Caesar's methodical mind.
Word-by-Word Analysis
Clause 1: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres
| Latin | Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Gallia | nom. sg. f. (1st decl.) | Gaul / subject |
| est | 3rd sg. of esse | is |
| omnis | nom. sg. f. (adj.) | all, as a whole |
| divisa | nom. sg. f. (past participle) | divided |
| in | preposition + accusative | into |
| partes | acc. pl. f. (3rd decl.) | parts |
| tres | acc. pl. f. (numeral) | three |
Translation of clause 1: "All Gaul is divided into three parts."
The phrase est divisa is a perfect passive construction (is/has been divided). You have not yet studied the perfect passive formally, but you can recognize it: esse + past participle.