# Caesar, de bello Gallico aliam / alteram



## Ben Jamin

Hello,
There are two versions of the beginning line of the Caesar's "De bello Gallico" to be found in published texts:

1. Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, *aliam *Aquitani, ...
2. Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, *alteram *Aquitani, ...

Which one is correct? If both are correct, which of them is the original?


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## CryTogether

Hello

I have *aliam* in two versions of this text. Therefore, I think this is the correct one. I have never seen alteram for this text.


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## CapnPrep

Ben Jamin said:


> Which one is correct? If both are correct, which of them is the original?


Both are correct grammatically. _Alteram_ would perhaps be the expected form, but all manuscripts have _aliam_ here (see e.g. the critical editions by Seel 1968 and Hering 1987).


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## Scholiast

salvete omnes


CapnPrep said:


> Both are correct grammatically. _Alteram_ would perhaps be the expected form, but all manuscripts have _aliam_ here (see e.g. the critical editions by Seel 1968 and Hering 1987).


Quite so (cf. also the older edd. of du Pontet and Rice Holmes). I am moved to wonder where Bin Jamin found _alteram_.
Σ


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## Ben Jamin

Scholiast said:


> salvete omnes
> 
> Quite so (cf. also the older edd. of du Pontet and Rice Holmes). I am moved to wonder where Bin Jamin found _alteram_.
> Σ


I remember 'alteram' from my school textbook (50 years ago). I have also found 280 quotations on the web. I suppose that the original manuscript has never been found, so we'll never know what Caesar wrote himself.


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## Scholiast

savete de novo


Ben Jamin said:


> I remember 'alteram' from my school textbook (50 years ago). I have also found 280 quotations on the web.


One would like to know which textbook, and indeed which sites, preserve this unusual reading. There appears to have been some superfetation of error.
Σ


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## Ben Jamin

Scholiast said:


> savete de novo
> 
> One would like to know which textbook, and indeed which sites, preserve this unusual reading. There appears to have been some superfetation of error.
> Σ


It was a textbook with short excerpts of classical writings compiled for the school use. The book itself has been lost from time immemorial, and I don't think any sources were given.

And here are some of the web findings:
Source 1

source 2

source 3


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## Pugnator

Google"alteram+aquitani"&oq="alteram+aquitani"&gs_l=serp.3...5991.5991.0.6124.1.1.0.0.0.0.112.112.0j1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.serp..0.0.0.ztwibBsVjmw 
With a simple research I discoverd that most of older source (some even from 1600') have alteram when more recent have aliam. I've also discovered that an Italian schoolbook (called maiorum lingua a ) has this form.


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## CapnPrep

Ben Jamin said:


> source 3


This one is not a link to Caesar's Commentaries, although the passage is clearly inspired by those famous opening lines.


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