Caesar's Commentaries: On the Gallic War and on the Civil War

This complete edition of Caesars Commentaries contains all eight of Caesars books on the Gallic War as well as all three of his books on the Civil War masterfully translated into English by W. A. MacDevitt. Caesars Commentaries are an outstanding account of extraordinary events by one of the most exceptional men in the history of the world. Julius Caesar himself was one of the most eminent writers of the age in which he lived. His commentaries on the Gallic and Civil Wars are written with a purity precision and perspicuity which command approbation. They are elegant without affectation and beautiful without ornament. Of the two books which he composed on Analogy and those under the title of Anti-Cato scarcely any fragment is preserved; but we may be assured of the justness of the observations on language which were made by an author so much distinguished by the excellence of his own compositions. His poem entitled The Journey which was probably an entertaining narrative is likewise totally lost. All of Caesars works that remain intact are contained in this edition of his commentaries. It is to the honor of Caesar that when he had obtained the supreme power he exercised it with a degree of moderation beyond what was generally expected by those who had fought on the side of the Republic. His time was almost entirely occupied with public affairs in the management of which though he employed many agents he appears to have had none in the character of actual minister. Caesar deprecated a lingering death and wished that his own might be sudden and speedy. And the day before he died the conversation at supper in the house of Marcus Lepidus turning upon what was the most eligible way of dying he gave his opinion in favor of a death that is sudden and unexpected. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age and was ranked amongst the Gods.