Commentaries by Julius Caesar

First transcribed: 52-51 b.c.e., 45 b.c.e.; includes Commentarii de bello Gallico, 52-51 b.c.e.; Commentarii de bello civili, 45 b.c.e. (English translation, 1609)

Type of work: History

Principal personages

• Julius Caesar, the Roman governor and general in Gaul
• Vercingetorix, the rebel leader of the Gauls
• Ariovistus, a chieftain of the Germanic tribes

The Work:

In 59 b.c.e., after the Roman Empire had expanded north and west into the area now known as France and Germany, Julius Caesar, already famous as a general and administrator, was appointed to govern the Roman territories inhabited by the Gauls. Here a strong, active government was required, and from the start Caesar kept records of the events of his governorship. The record eventually came to be known as Caesar’s Commentaries and to be regarded as an important record for posterity. Indeed, scholars and general readers have wished that Caesar had left a more complete record than he did. To expect a detailed history in the Commentaries is, however, to misunderstand the writer’s purpose. His intention was not to write a definitive history of the period of the Gallic Wars but rather to put down in writing what he, the Roman general and administrator, considered most important.

No one can understand the Commentaries without having some concept of the flux of migration and its consequent pressures in Europe during the first century before Christ. The Gallic peoples were under pressure from the Germanic peoples across the Rhine River who coveted the rich lands of the Gauls and were, in their turn, under pressure from migrations still farther to the east. Rome faced a double threat from the Germanic tribes: They were pressing constantly southward (and would eventually invade and dismember the Roman Empire), and they threatened Rome indirectly by the unrest they created in Gaul. Being a man of action and a clear analyst of the situation confronting Rome, Caesar took war into the German territory.

In his Commentaries, he gives a chronological account of his activities in Gaul from the time of his succession to the governorship of Gallia Narbonensis in 59 b.c.e. to the end of the Gallic revolt led by Vercingetorix late in the same decade. During those years, Caesar and his Roman legions confronted first one group of tribes, then another. Most of the sections of the book carry such headings as “Campaign Against Ariovistus,” “Expedition Against the Unelli,” “First Expedition into Germany,” and “Siege and Sack of Avaricum.” Only two sections, the first section of book 1 and the second section of book 6, are not about actual battle operations or preparations. The former is a description of Gaul and its inhabitants; the latter is an account of customs of the Gauls and Germans.

In his comments about the Gauls, Caesar stirs the imagination and stimulates curiosity by giving only enough information to make the reader wish more had been written. An account of the druids’ place in Gallic culture, for example, and of the religious rites at which the druids officiated would have been welcome. In other cases, however, Caesar taxes credulity, as in reporting certain kinds of animals as existing in the Hyrcanian Forest. One such animal, according to Caesar, was an elk captured by partly cutting trees against which the elk leaned to rest; because the animal had no joints in its legs, it could not rise once it was down. Caesar also reports a fabulous ox with but one horn growing from the middle of the forehead. Such reports resemble other natural histories of the period and do not detract from the value of the Commentaries, for in Caesar’s time such reports were generally taken seriously.

Caesar’s account of the Gallic Wars is a reminder that war has been a continual factor in human affairs. As one example of the fury and effectiveness of war in ancient times, Caesar comments at the end of his account of the battle with the Nervii:

This battle being ended, and the name and nation of the Nervii almost reduced to annihilation, their old men, together with the boys and women whom we have stated had been collected together in the inlets and the marshes, when this battle had been reported to them, convinced that nothing was an obstacle to the conquerors, and nothing safe to the conquered, sent ambassadors to Caesar with the consent of all who survived, and surrendered themselves to him; and in recounting the calamity of their state, they said that their senators were reduced from six hundred to three; that of sixty thousand men who could bear arms, scarcely five hundred remained.

Another example of the character of these ancient wars is the siege of Avaricum, at which, according to Caesar, scarcely eight hundred people of all ages and both genders escaped the city when it was taken, out of a population of forty thousand; the rest were killed.

Caesar the Roman administrator is apparent throughout the Commentaries. He writes in an impersonal fashion, however, much as though he were preparing a favorable report to the Roman senate. Only rarely does an individual come through to the reader as a real personality. Even Caesar himself, whose name figures more largely than any other, remains an official and a general rather than emerging as a clearly visualized person. The Gallic and Germanic chieftains who oppose him are little more than names, and the same is true of the lieutenants who serve under him. The only outstanding exception to this general statement is the passage concerning Sextius Baculus, who, sick though he was, arose from his bed and saved the day for the Romans by rallying their forces when they were attacked in a camp at Aduatuca; he fought bravely until he was carried back to rest.

Of particular interest to English-speaking readers are those portions of the Commentaries that deal with Britain and Caesar’s invasions of Britain. Caesar’s account of the early history of that part of the world is the earliest of the Roman documents. Caesar tells of his first expedition, an abortive one, made in 55 b.c.e., and his second and more successful attempt the following year, an invasion that paved the way for the Roman occupation that lasted until the fifth century c.e. For his second invasion, he ordered a fleet of more than eight hundred vessels built and assembled, a logistical success noteworthy in any era of history. This fleet carried two thousand cavalrymen with their mounts and five Roman legions, each consisting at that time of about five thousand men.

Caesar was a remarkable man, one of the greatest in human history, in the sense that greatness may be defined as leaving an indelible mark on the pages of history. Few such men have lived; fewer still have left written records for posterity; and none has left a document to compare with Caesar’s Commentaries. The book occupies a unique place in the written records of the Western world. In addition to its value as history, it deserves to be read as an example of a concise report presented with an idiosyncratic style and flavor.

Bibliography

Adcock, Frank E. Caesar as a Man of Letters. Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1969. A brief biography that focuses exclusively on Caesar’s literary style. Valuable as a supplement to other historical works that deal primarily with Caesar’s military and political achievements.

Balsdon, John Percy Vyvian Dacre. Julius Caesar and Rome. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1971. A political biography by one of the twentieth century’s most influential Roman historians. Scholarly but accessible to the general reader, this work focuses more on Caesar’s triumphs than on his literary works, but it reveals much about the background and origin of the Commentaries.

Batstone, William W., and Cynthia Damon. Caesar’s Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Literary analysis of Caesar’s commentary on the civil war, discussing his selection of material for the work, literary techniques, characterization, and structure and placing the work within the context of Roman history. Includes maps, a time line of Caesar’s life and the events of the war, a glossary of technical terms, and a list of prominent Romans in Caesar’s time.

Gelzer, Matthias. Caesar: Politician and Statesman. Translated by Peter Needham. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003. Unquestionably the most comprehensive and scholarly biography of Caesar available in English. Contains copious notes and an analysis of nearly every detail of Caesar’s life and literary work.

Grant, Michael. Caesar. Chicago: Follett, 1975. An accurate account of Caesar and his Commentaries. Combines biographical information with literary analysis. Extensively illustrated and easy to read.

Kagan, Kimberly. The Eye of Command. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. A response to The Face of Battle (1976), in which military historian Sir John Keegan emphasized the importance of soldiers’ accounts of small-unit actions. Kagan refutes this theory, maintaining that the view of a commander offers more significant information about the major events of battle. She proves her thesis by analyzing Caesar’s account of the Gallic Wars and the work of Roman military leader Ammianus Marcellinus.

Kahn, Arthur David. The Education of Julius Caesar. Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 1993. Both a biography and a reconstruction of the educational forces that influenced Caesar’s life. Useful both for its background on the literary style of the Commentaries and for its information on pedagogical values of Roman society in the first century b.c.e.

Yavetz, Zvi. Julius Caesar and His Public Image. London: Thames and Hudson, 1983. A detailed account of Caesar’s use of propaganda, of which his published Commentaries were a major part.