The Gallic War: Seven Commentaries on The Gallic War with an Eighth Commentary by Aulus Hirtius (Oxford World's Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Julius Caesar
Creator: Carolyn Hammond
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $5.56
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 82324
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0199540268
Dewey Decimal Number: 936.402
EAN: 9780199540266
ASIN: 0199540268
Publication Date: June 15, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Gallic War, published on the eve of the civil war which led to the end of the Roman Republic, is an autobiographical account written by one of the most famous figures of European history. This new translation reflects the purity of Caesar's Latin while preserving the pace and flow of his momentous narrative of the conquest of Gaul and the first Roman invasions of Britain and Germany. Detailed notes, maps, a table of dates, and glossary make this the most useful edition available.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Sparkling brilliance over the gulf of time March 14, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I can't speak for the translation, but the economy and clarity of Caesar's writing inspired me when I first read him. Even translated, Cicero's writing makes me suspicious of him; while Plutarch's speaks wise reflection and common sense.
Reading Caesar, you feel his vitality. An intelligent man of action whose letters must have made his countrymen in Rome take notice.
It's interesting to speculate how these communications were received in Rome. The effortless confidence and commanding tone must have inspired as much fear as respect.
I know if one of my managers in the field started sending me emails like this, I'd wonder whether he had designs on my job. Is it inspired competance in the writing that causes a feeling of inferiority, or is it naked ambition on a subliminal level that puts one on his guard? Whatever the answer, this is powerful stuff.
 Translating Snegg October 3, 2005
3 out of 13 found this review helpful
I was privileged to read the review in the original Latin (directly from the original Amazon's mouth) and there were numerous errors in translation of this controversial work. "Catapult" is a pumice-like substance Romans used as litter in their feline pet's "bathrooms." A ballista is a large sausage made from bundles (fasces) of shredded pork. Caesar actually ran away from the battle in question but he ran backward (baculus)--hence the confusion. "Speculatoria navigia" are Roman reading glasses used to navigate Pliny. "Levitas" is what's sometimes needed to keep our buns from burning.
As far as translations go, this one reads a lot better for me than the original written in a language I can't understand.
Correcting the correction February 24, 2005
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Mark Snegg's correction about Baculus would seem incorrect-- to judge from the "Search Inside" feature. Type in "Baculus," go to the first link, and there at 2.25 is Caesar, not Baculus, charging into the fray.
But I picked up the book in Borders last night, and the copy I looked at had Baculus, not Caesar, as Mr. Snegg found.
Where is Amazon getting the texts it's scanning?
UPDATE: Contacted Oxford & got this reply:
The passage to which you refer did contain a significant error - the substitution of Baculus for Caesar - but it was corrected at least three years ago. The passage on Amazon reflects the current state of the text, and the copy you saw in Borders must have been an old impression; we have reprinted several times since the correction was made.
Great book and regarding another reviewer's comments January 8, 2003
7 out of 15 found this review helpful
The Gallic War is a wonderful resource that I first read in junior high (I'm a history nut) and I found that it really instilled in me the idea that the more things change, the more things stay the same. Policitians were as ambitious and arrogant, War as brutal, and Armies as powerful 2,000 years ago as they are today.While I have not read this edition, and the factual errors that Mark Snegg pointed out in his review are inexcusable, Mr. Snegg should check his facts before criticizing the error of others. A catapult is a fieldpiece that uses counterweight, pulleys and lever action to hurl a large rock of pot of greek fire at the enemy. A weapon which hurls a large bolt or arrow with pulley action is a ballista.
 A poor translation of a famous book March 25, 2002
41 out of 48 found this review helpful
This is an unexpectedly poor translation of Caesar's great work, especially for an Oxford Classics edition. I found several obvious mistranslations, including at least one major error. The English is often awkward and unnatural, and fails to convey the lucid elegance of Caesar's Latin. Strangely enough, the book doesn't have a map of the whole of Gaul. There are a few larger scale maps, but it's not particularly clear how they fit together or even which parts of Gaul are being shown. The notes are at the back of the book, rather than in footnotes, so that the reader has to constantly flip back and forth to read them.The worst error I came across was in the translation of the well-known incident in 2.25 where Caesar grabs a shield and personally runs forward into the front line of battle, saving a critical situation. Hammond's translation has the chief centurion Baculus doing this, rather than Caesar. Since Baculus is described only two lines earlier as being so seriously wounded that he is unable to stand, this reading defies not only Latin grammar, but also common sense. No justification is offered for this weird interpretation. Throughout the book there is a certain lack of insight in translating military words. For example, in 4.25 Hammond twice translates 'tormenta' as 'missiles', although in fact it means 'catapults' (that is, bolt-firing machines like large crossbows). In the next paragraph 'speculatoria navigia' is translated as 'spy vessels', when 'scout ships' would be both more accurate and more natural English. These examples are just the very tip of the iceberg. In general this translation is feeble and riddled with inaccuracies. Most of it is is very stilted English. The publisher's blurb about how it reflects the purity of Caesar's Latin is completely untrue.
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