Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar
Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar is Caesar’s recounting of the wars and battles fought in Gaul by the Romans from 58 B.C. to 50 B.C. to bring the area under Roman submission. Gaul roughly comprised what is now France, Belgium, and parts of Holland and Switzerland. The Gallic War is written from a third person perspective, but one that is clearly Roman. Caesar even refers to himself in the third person.
The copy that I read only contained Books I through VII. There was a summary of Book VIII, but it was not included in this anthology because unlike the first seven books Book VIII was not written by Julius Caesar himself.
Like histories from all eras, The Gallic War is not all-encompassing. Caesar chose to focus on the events that he took part or had a hand in. Battles are what make up the meat of the text, but there are also descriptions of the different Gallic, German, and British peoples as they were seen through the eyes of the Romans, and political events in Gaul are by no means absent from the book.
Everything comes to the reader through Roman eyes, thus Caesar’s own prejudices against barbarian, or non-Roman, people is on clear display. It is important to keep this in mind, but it does furnish the reader with a look into the Roman mindset, which can be an equally valuable piece of history. There are also outright biases and omissions in the favor of Rome.
Some things are not Roman in origin though. While Caesar avoids outright praising himself the books never paint him in a negative light. It does not take a historian to read between the lines to see Julius Caesar building up his own political and military ethos. That aside, Caesar does deserve some credit. For right or wrong Caesar did conquer Gaul for Rome, and as the events in The Gallic War show that was no minor feat.
One thing that caught my attention, and that I have noticed in a few other Roman histories that I have read, is that the people the Romans are fighting are often more empathetic and laudable than the Romans themselves. The numerous tribes of Gaul are recorded as fighting for their freedom and sovereignty from the conquering legions of Rome. On the whole the Gauls tend have more noble motives for fighting than the Romans, including Caesar, do.
Both sides commit evils though. Slavery and the slaughtering of civilians are presented as matter of fact things for everyone involved. While disturbing this is nothing new to the historical record, and the Gauls and Roman were not exceptions.
When the Gauls are recorded as making speeches for the cause of freedom from oppression I found myself rooting for them. When the text was focused on the activities of the Roman legionaries I found myself feeling drawn towards them. Caesar did have the ability to make his reader feel a range of often conflicting emotions. The silence that Caesar has about the cause of Gallic freedom is hard to wrap my head around. On the one hand it is good that he included it at all, but on the other had he is freely admitting to be a conqueror, and seems to expect his reader to disregard things like liberty and independence in favor of national and personal glory.
Commentaries on the Gallic War is valuable for the look it provides into the events of history, and perhaps even more so for the glimpse it gives us into the Roman mindset in the waning days of the Roman Republic.
