DBG 1.1: vergit/spectant ad (septentriones, etc.)

[Quintus Sertorius]

Salvete, omnes!
Long-time observer, first-time poster here.
My apologies if this is an obtuse question, but what does Caesar mean when he writes that territories "look to/face/are situated to" a certain direction, especially after he has just described their borders? Is he referring to the orientation of the area of land, or some other quality?
"pars...vergit ad septentriōnēs."
"Belgae...spectant in septentriōnēs et orientem sōlem"
"Aquītānia...spectat inter occāsum sōlis et septentriōnēs"

 

[Matthaeus]

It means that those places/regions point in a certain direction.

 

[Dumnorix]

Not really an answer to your question, but some scholars have questioned whether Caesar himself wrote those lines. They have suggested that they were added later by someone else (who for some reason wanted to bolster the geographical information), as some of the phrasing seems inconsistent with Caesar’s writing style.

 

[Quintus Sertorius]

some scholars have questioned whether Caesar himself wrote those lines.

Ah, that’s very interesting! I was just wondering why the remarks were thought to be a necessary inclusion, especially since Caesar had already outlined the borders of the territories. Maybe I was just reading too much into it though.
Can you think of a source off the top of your head by the scholars you mentioned?

 

[Dumnorix]

T. Rice Holmes discussed this question and cited Meusel and Klotz. Some American high school texts either omit it or bracket it with a note as to the question of whether Caesar wrote it.

 

[AoM]

Searching for Holmes on jstor, it’s always entertaining to read the arguments these guys would have lol.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3288555