MAURICE W. MATHER, PH.D. FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN LATIN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY NEW YORK .:. CINCINNATI .:. CHICAGO PREFACE A BOOK of selections from Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic and the Civil Wars will be welcomed by many teachers. In most schools the reading of the whole of Caesar's extant writings is quite out of the question. A selection must be made, and the method of selection which is most likely to produce the best results with the pupil is to take from the different books those episodes which are of greatest interest and importance. It is still customary in many schools to limit the study of Caesar to the Gallic War, or even to the first four books of this work. Some of the most interesting portions of Caesar's writings are thus entirely neglected. The description of Britain and the Britons in the Fifth Book of the Gallic War and the comparison of the Gauls and the Germans in the Sixth Book are not only instructive, as the earliest sources of information on these peoples, but entertaining as well. No more amusing fairy tale can be found in any Latin serviceable for schools than Caesar's sober account of some of the animals in the Hercynian Forest. The failure at Gergovia - the only repulse suffered by Caesar's army in Gaul when led by him in person -and the successful siege of Alesia against an overwhelming force from without and a strong army from within, commanded by the intrepid Vercingetorix, greatest of all the Gauls, are episodes of the utmost interest. The Civil War is often altogether unknown to pupils. And yet no work of antiquity is of greater historical importance or merit, and few narratives are more interesting than the story in the Third Book of the struggle between Caesar and Pompey. Many teachers who would be glad to devote to the Civil War a part of the time spent on the study of Caesar have been deterred by the necessity of buying an additional text-book, an expense which they have felt to be unwarranted, owing to the short time during which it could be used. In this volume some of the most interesting and important parts of both the Gallic and the Civil War are presented. The selections from the Gallic War are equivalent in amount to the first four books. From the Civil War about two thirds as much is taken. To facilitate reference, all chapters are numbered as in complete editions of Caesar. The notes on the last three books of the Gallic War and on the Civil War are specially full, for the greater assistance of those who may find themselves, in these selections, on unfamiliar ground. The notes on the First and the Second Books of the Gallic War have been prepared with an eye to the needs of those classes which begin their study of Caesar with either book. Preceding the notes on each book is a summary of the entire book. The summaries of those parts not included in this volume are inclosed in brackets. The Latin text of the Gallic War is in the main that of Meusel's school edition (Berlin, 1894), and of the Civil War that of Ellger's revision of Paul (Leipzig, 1898). The principal variations from either of these authorities are in details of spelling. In the Civil War, 2, 29, Menge's reading iactaverant has been inserted to avoid a lacuna; and the conjectures accepted by Ellger in 3, 6, of iumenta for impedimenta of the Mss., and in 3, 97, of locis aequis for the usual reading iugis eius, have not been adopted. "Hidden quantities" are marked in accordance with the revised edition of Lane's Grammar. A decided advance has been made in this troublesome subject by the agreement which was reached in the marking of almost all words by the editors of the revised Lane, the new Allen and Greenough, and the Hale and Buck grammars, all of which appeared in 1903. It is believed that all teachers and pupils will welcome the innovation in the Vocabulary of printing in full the principal parts of verbs and the genitive of nouns, except in the first conjugation of verbs and in such nouns of the first, second, and fourth declensions as offer no possibility of mistake. For the long indirect quotations of the Gallic War, 1, 13, and 14, and for the more difficult passages earlier, the direct discourse has been given in the Notes; but this help has not been supplied in later passages, as it is desirable for the pupil to be thrown on his own resources a little even in the early stages of his study, and it is easily possible to make indirect discourse too much of a bugbear. On the Plan of the battle with the Nervii (B.G. 2, 18 ff.) the positions usually assigned to the xth and the Ixth legions have been reversed, so that the ixth shall be stationed on the extreme left. This harmonizes better with the statement in Chapter 21 that Caesar, when he first started out to encourage his troops, came by chance first to the xth legion; for we may assume that he had been engaged up to that moment about the site of the camp. It is also at least probable, from the order in which Caesar mentions the legions in Chapter 23 (namely, Ix and x, xi and VIII, XII and vii), that this was their arrangement in the line; for it is clear from Chapters 25 and 26 that the viith legion was on the extreme right (see Holmes, Caesar's Conquest of Gaul, p. 660). In the brief treatment of Caesar's army no attempt has been made at completeness. Only such information has been supplied as is needed to make the selections in this book intelligible. Probably not one in a hundred of the readers of Grant's Memoirs has even an elementary knowledge of army tactics. Why should it be considered any more necessary to be thoroughly posted in Roman military antiquities in order to read Caesar with appreciation and enjoyment? The sources of the illustrations are sufficiently indicated, for the most part, in the list, pp. 11 ff. Figures 8, 24, and 38 are |
