C. IVLI CAESARIS DE BELLO GALLICO LIBRI VII CAESAR'S GALLIC WAR WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND VOCABULARY BY J. H. WESTCOTT PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CEN FOLIA NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY PREFACE IF Caesar is to be read with profit in schools, one thing at least is certain-the school edition should be as simple and elementary as it can be made. In the introduction, notes, and vocabulary of this volume I have tried to avoid all matter that is not strictly relevant at the stage of development which we may expect to find in the schoolboy at about fourteen years of age. I have not greatly emphasized the matter of indirect discourse, for if the boy is to regard that as anything else than an inscrutable mystery, the result will depend chiefly upon the intelligence of his teacher. On the other hand, I have in the notes to the earlier books laid great stress upon the ordinary noun and verb constructions, emphasizing them by frequent repetition of explanation and grammar reference, for I am oldfashioned enough to believe a good deal in the method of "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little," inculcated in a certain ancient book. In general I have tried to keep before the reader's mind the fact that the text is not merely an exercise in Latin, but an historical narrative of great events. This explains the large number of cross-references backward and forward in the story. The introduction aims to present Caesar as the greatest political person of antiquity, and to show his immense significance as the principal founder of modern civilization; and also to furnish enough information about the Roman military organization and operations to make the narrative intelligible. The text is that of Meusel, without changes, except some orthographic ones in conformity with ideas now prevalent in regard to the proper spelling of Latin in elementary text-books. PRINCETON, N. J. J. H. W. |