Read more
Zusatztext William W. Batstone and Cynthia Damon have put Caesar's writings back on the map with Caesar's Civil War, showing how odd it is that Caesar's writing are consigned to Beginner's Latin when he is on everyone's short list of three smartest Romans. Klappentext Caesar's Civil War! the story of the general's contest with the Pompeian party through nineteen months of civil war! is an unfinished masterpiece. The author abandoned it when he found himself living in a different world than that which saw its commencement. The narrative ends after Pompey'sdeath! amidst the preliminaries to the Alexandrian war that initiated the next phase of the fight for primacy of Rome. The work shows the brilliance for which Caesar's oratory! like his generalship! was known: it was a political judgment! not a literary one! that relegated the Civil War to the filedrawer. The primary topics covered in this introductory book are the generic background of Caesar's commentarii or notebooks; his selection of material; the contemporary context of the civil war; the literary techniques that carry the story; and the work's characterization and structure. Generalaids to the reader include maps to accompany the particular narrative events discussed! a timeline of Caesar's life and the civil war! explanations of technical terms of Roman history! and a section on Roman names and prominent persons of Caesar's time. Zusammenfassung Caesar's Civil War is an unfinished masterpiece. It was abandoned by an author who found himself living in a different world than that which saw its commencement. A snapshot of the late republic, it offers a vivid and detailed account of the troubled Roman empire near the turn to the common era. In it, Caesar recounts his break with the Senate and general Pompey and narrates the events of the nineteen months of civil war that followed. It ends after general Pompey's death, amidst the lead up to the Alexandrian war that initiated the next phase of the fight for Rome. The work shows the brilliance for which Caesar's oratory, like his generalship, was known. The primary topics covered in this introduction to Caesar's gripping history are the generic background of Caesar's commentarii or "Notebooks," his criteria for selection of material, the contemporary context of the civil war, the literary techniques employed, and the work's characterization and structure. General aids to the reader include maps to accompany the particular events discussed, a timeline of the civil war and of Caesar's life, explanation of technical terms, and a glossary....
