Julius Caesar is one of the most famous figures of the ancient Roman world. A skilful general and leading politician of the late Roman Republic, he secured a 10-year proconsular command in the province of Gaul, during which he accumulated both wealth and power. A core text in the teaching of Latin in schools, The Gallic War gives a unique insight into this remarkable man, as well as military strategy and practice of the day. Seven of the work's eight books were written by Caesar himself. They paint an unsurprisingly flattering self-portrait as he campaigns against both the Germans and the Gauls. This recording features Carolyn Hammond's well-paced recent translation, published by Oxford University Press.
Caesar's history of his campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and Britain, while not colorless--it includes political strife, battles, ambushes, and acts of heroism--is brisk and dry. David Timson's sonorous voice and rounded tones don't mirror the spareness of Caesar's account, but instead enrich it, making it more approachable and easier to take in. He tends to turn groups of sentences into rhetorical per
