The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Cæsar's Commentaries

CÆSAR'S COMMENTARIES. This great work contains the narrative of Cæsar's military operations in Gaul, Germany and Britain. It was given to the world in the year 51 B.C. Every victory won by Cæsar had only served to increase the alarm and hostility of his enemies at Rome, and doubt and suspicion were beginning to spread among the plebeians, on whom he chiefly relied for help in carrying out his designs. When public opinion was evidently taking the side of the Gauls and Germans the time had come for Caesar to act on public opinion. Hence the 'Commentaries,' a hasty compilation made from notes jotted down in his tent or during a journey. As to its truthfulness we cannot decide absolutely, the Gauls not having written their commentaries. But if Cæsar sinned in this respect, it was probably by omission, not by commission. Things the Romans might not like he does not mention: the sole aim of the book is to gain their suffrage. There is no allusion to the enormous fortune Cæsar acquired by plunder. On the other hand, he speaks of his cruelties—for instance, the killing in cold blood of 20,000 or 100,000 prisoners—with a calmness that to us is horrible, but which the Romans would deem natural and proper. The 'editio princeps' or first edition was printed at Rome (1449).