- Printed source
- Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico 6.28. English: Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars, Literally Translated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872), pp. 154–155.
Julius Caesar
De bello Gallico
Julius CaesarImage & authority record ↗
English translation
6.28 · English translationThere is a third kind, consisting of those animals which are called uri. These are a little below the elephant in size1, and of the appearance, color, and shape of a bull. Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. These the Germans take with much pains in pits and kill them. The young men harden themselves with this exercise, and practice themselves in this kind of hunting, and those who have slain the greatest number of them, having produced the horns in public, to serve as evidence, receive great praise. But not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed. The size, shape, and appearance of their horns differ much from the horns of our oxen. These they anxiously seek after, and bind at the tips with silver, and use as cups at their most sumptuous entertainments.
Edition
Further reading
- 01Mieczysław Rokosz, “History of the aurochs (Bos taurus primigenius) in Poland” (1995), Animal Genetic Resources Information 16: 5–12. ↗
Royal documents, chronicles and illustrations concerning the last aurochs at Jaktorów.
Cite this source
Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico 6.28. English: Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars, Literally Translated (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872), pp. 154–155.