"And the die is cast!" was the proverbial statement Caesar made as he crossed the Rubicon, thus formally declaring hostilities against the Pompeiian camp and turning the Roman Republic to its final chapter. Although there are many translations of this work available on the market, there are few publications that offer Caesar's work in its original Latin as well as with its English translation in one single text. Over the last century, Loeb publishers have been unique in providing their readers with the original text and the translated version side-by-side for every reader to view. Furthermore, these works were translated by some of the best classical scholars of the day in a fluid style that has stood the test of time. I strongly recommend Loeb's publication of Caesar's Civil War over that of other publishers: there's simply no comparison.

As for Caesar's Civil War specifically, it is one of the only texts we have whose author was a political statesman from the late republic (Cicero and Sallust being the others.) It is commonly agreed by most modern scholars that the works were dictated by Caesar and written by one or more of his subordinates during his campaigns. The style is therefore clear, succint, and unadorned. The work offers a detailed look at the final years of the Roman Republic: its politics, armies, culture, and the great conflict that would ultimately destroy it to make way for a future empire that would last over 500 years. These Commentaries cover the events that would eventually lead to the final battle of Pharsallus in which Pompey was defeated after which he fled to Egypt encountering a treacherous death as described in the 'Alexandrian Wars.'

It is also important to understand that Caesar's Commentaries were rhetorical and had a political agenda. Caesar dictated (he always liked dictating) his Commentataries on the Civil War to win political favor and secure a continuation of his political career. These bulletins won him support in the Senate and in the Forum with the people allowing him to secure his grip on Rome's politics as a benevolent dictator until the fateful Ides of March in 44 B.C.

Again, I cannot recommend this version enough as one of the best available today. As for the work itself, it is a direct account from one of the greatest military and political leaders in human history: a man whose fateful crossing of the Rubicon over 2000 years ago changed the face of the world like a collossus until this day; a man whose military startegies are still taught today in virtually every military academy. It is a priceless work that all should read at least once in their life.

Caesar's writing style may be a bit dry at times, and many translations feel stilted due to the literary conventions of the time in which the translations were made, but Caesar's eye for the significant detail always shines through; for example, his description of the immediate aftermath of Pharsalus, the battle that made him the Master of the Western World:

"LXXVIII. On entering Pompey's camp, we found tables ready-covered, sideboards loaded with plate, and tents adorned with branches of myrtle; that of L. Lentulus, with some others, was shaded with ivy. Every thing gave proofs of the highest luxury, and an assured expectation of victory; whence it was easy to see, that they little dreamed of the issue of that day, since, intent only on voluptuous refinements, they pretended, with troops immersed in luxury, to oppose Caesar's army accustomed to fatigue, and inured to the want of necessaries."

Amazing. He's just won the most important battle in the history of Republican Rome, and he takes the time to notice that some of the Pompeians (one Lentulus in particular) have decorated their tents with ivy! One can easily imagine the jokes Caesar's veterans made on discovering just how effete their opponents could be. Caesar could have bored us with a catalog listing of everything in the camp, or given us a terse "we took Pompey's camp which was loaded with luxuries" but instead gives us a specific detail to illustrate the difference between his men and Pompey's. This is why Caesar is still read and enjoyed and relied upon as a source over 2000 years later.

RstJ
Albany, Oregon.