productions of Cæsar which remain to us. Several ancient writers speak of
his _Ephemeris_, or Diary; but it has been doubted whether the work, so
termed by Plutarch, Servius, Symmachus, and several others, be the same
book as the Commentaries, or a totally different production. The former
opinion is adopted by Fabricius, who thinks that _Ephemeris_, or
_Ephemerides_, is only another name for the Commentaries, which in fact
may be considered as having been written in the manner and form of a
diary. He acknowledges, that several passages, cited by Servius, as taken
from these _Ephemerides_, are not now to be found in the Commentaries; but
then he maintains that there are evidently defects (_lacunæ_) in the
latter work; and he conjectures that the words quoted by Servius are part
of the lost passages of the Commentaries. This opinion is followed by
Vossius, who cites a sort of Colophon at the end of one of the oldest MSS.
of the Commentaries which he thinks decisive of the question, as it shows
that the term _Ephemeris_ was currently applied to them.—“C. J. Cæsaris,
P. M. Ephemeris rerum Gestarum Belli Gallici, Lib. VIII. explicit
feliciter.”
Bayle, in his Dictionary, has supported the opposite theory. He believes
the _Ephemeris_ to have been a journal of the author’s life. He admits,
that a passage which Plutarch quotes as from the _Ephemeris_, occurs also
in the fourth book of the Commentaries; but then he maintains, that it was
impossible for Cæsar not to have frequently mentioned the same thing in
his Commentaries and Journal, and he thinks, that had Plutarch meant to
allude to the former, he would have called them, not _Ephemeris_, but
ὑπομνηματα as Strabo has termed them. Besides, Polyænus mentions divers
warlike stratagems, as recorded by Cæsar, which are not contained in the
Commentaries, and which, therefore, could have been explained only in the
separate work _Ephemeris_.
There are still some fragments remaining of the letters which Cæsar
addressed to the Senate and his friends, and also of his orations, which
were considered as inferior only to those of Cicero. Of his rhetorical
talents, something may be hereafter said. It appears that his qualities as
an orator and historian, were very different, since vehemence and the
power of exciting emotion, (concitatio,) are mentioned as the
characteristics of his harangues. Some of them were delivered in behalf of
clients, and on real business, in the Forum; but the two orations entitled
_Anticatones_ were merely written in the form and manner of accusations
before a judicial tribunal. These rhetorical declamations, which were
composed about the time of the battle of Munda, were intended as an answer
to the laudatory work of Cicero, called _Laus Catonis_. The author
particularly considered in them the last act of Cato at Utica, and has
raked up all the vices and defects of his character, whether real or
imputed, public or private,—his ambition, affectation of singularity,
churlishness, and avarice; but as the _Anticatones_ were seasoned with
lavish commendations of Cicero, whose panegyric on Cato they were intended
to confute, the orator felt much flattered with the dictatorial incense,
and greatly admired the performances in which it was offered,—“Collegit
vitia Catonis, sed cum maximis laudibus meis(205).”
These two rival works were much celebrated at Rome; and both of them had
their several admirers, as different parties and interests disposed men to
favour the subject, or the author of each. It seems also certain, that
they were the principal cause of establishing and promoting that
veneration which posterity has since paid to the memory of Cato; for his
name being thrown into controversy in that critical period of the fate of
Rome, by the patron of liberty on one side, and its oppressor on the
other, it became a kind of political test to all succeeding ages, and a
perpetual argument of dispute between the friends of freedom, and the
flatterers of power(206). The controversy was taken up by Brutus, the
nephew, and Fabius Gallus, an admirer of Cato: it was renewed by Augustus,
who naturally espoused the royal side of the question, and by Thraseas
Pætus, who ventured on this dangerous topic during the darkest days of
imperial despotism.
Cæsar’s situation as Pontifex Maximus probably led him to write the
_Auguralia_ and _Libri Auspiciorum_, which, as their names import, were
books explaining the different auguries and presages derived from the
flight of birds. To the same circumstance we may attribute his work on the
motions of the stars, _De Motu Siderum_, which explains what he had
learned in Egypt on that subject from Sosigenes, a peripatetic philosopher
of Alexandria, and in which, if we may credit the elder Pliny, he
prognosticated his own death on the ides of March(207).
The composition of the works hitherto mentioned naturally enough suggested
itself to a high-priest, warrior, and politician, who was also fond of
literature, and had the same command of his pen as of his sword. But it
appears singular, that one so much occupied with war, and with political
schemes for the ruin of his country, should have seriously employed
himself in writing formal and elaborate treatises on grammar. There is no
doubt, however, that he composed a work, in two books, on the analogies of
the Latin tongue, which was addressed to Cicero, and was entitled, like
the preceding work of Varro on the same subject, _De Analogia_. It was
written, as we are informed by Suetonius, while crossing the Alps, on his
return to the army from Hither Gaul, where he had gone to attend the
assemblies of that province(208). In this book, the great principle
established by him was, that the proper choice of words formed the
foundation of eloquence(209); and he cautioned authors and public speakers
to avoid as a rock every unusual word or unwonted expression(210). His
declensions, however, of some nouns, appear, at least to us, not a little
strange—as _turbo_, _turbonis_, instead of _turbinis_(211); and likewise
his inflections of verbs,—as, _mordeo_, _memordi_; _pungo,_, _pepugi_;
_spondeo_, _spepondi_(212). He also treated of derivatives; as we are
informed, that he derived ens from the verb _sum_, _es_, _est_; and of
rules of grammar,—as that the dative and ablative singular of neuters in
_e_ are the same, as also of neuters in _ar_, except _far_ and _jubar_. It
appears that he even descended to the most minute consideration of
orthography and the formation of letters; Thus, he was of opinion, that
the letter V should be formed like an inverted F,—thus Ⅎ,—because it has
the force of the Æolic digamma. Cassiodorus farther mentions, that, in the
question with regard to the use of the _u_ or _i_ in such words as
_maxumus_ or _maximus_, Cæsar gave the preference to _i_; and, from such
high authority, this spelling was adopted in general practice.
It has been said, that Cæsar also made a collection of apophthegms and
anecdotes, in the style of our modern _Ana_; but Augustus prevented these
from being made public. That emperor likewise, in a letter to Pompeius
Macrus, to whom he had given the charge of arranging his library,
prohibited the publication of several poetical effusions of Cæsar’s youth.
These are said to have consisted of a tragedy on the subject of Œdipus,
and a poem in praise of Hercules(213). Another poem, entitled _Iter_ was
written by him in maturer age. It is said, by Suetonius, to have been
composed when he reached Farther Spain, on the twenty-fourth day after his
departure from Rome(214); and it may therefore be conjectured to have been
a poetical relation of the incidents which occurred during that journey,
embellished, perhaps, with descriptions of the most striking scenery
through which he passed. Two epigrams, which are still extant, have also
been frequently attributed to him; one on the dramatic character of
Terence, already quoted(215), and another on a Thracian boy, who, while
playing on the ice, fell into the river Hebrus,—
“Thrax puer, astricto glacie dum luderet Hebro,” &c.
But this last is, with more probability, supposed by many to have been the
production of Cæsar Germanicus.
There were also several useful and important works accomplished under the
eye and direction of Cæsar, such as the graphic survey of the whole Roman
empire. Extensive as their conquests had been, the Romans hitherto had
done almost nothing for geography, considered as a science. Their
knowledge was confined to the countries they had subdued, and them they
regarded only with a view to the levies they could furnish, and the
taxations they could endure. Cæsar was the first who formed more exalted
plans. Æthicus, a writer of the fourth century, informs us, in the preface
to his _Cosmographia_, that this great man obtained a _senatusconsultum_,
by which a geometrical survey and measurement of the whole Roman empire
was enjoined to three geometers. Xenodoxus was charged with the eastern,
Polycletus with the southern, and Theodotus with the northern provinces.
Their scientific labour was immediately commenced, but was not completed
till more than thirty years after the death of him with whom the
undertaking had originated. The information which Cæsar had received from
the astronomer Sosigenes in Egypt, enabled him to alter and amend the
Roman calendar. It would be foreign from my purpose to enter into an
examination of this system of the Julian year, but the computation he
adopted has been explained, as is well known, by Scaliger and
Gassendi(216); and it has been since maintained, with little farther
alteration than that introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. When we consider the
imperfection of all mathematical instruments in the time of Cæsar, and the
total want of telescopes, we cannot but view with admiration, not unmixed
with astonishment, that comprehensive genius, which, in the infancy of
science, could surmount such difficulties, and compute a system, that
experienced but a trifling derangement in the course of sixteen centuries.
Although Cæsar wrote with his own hand only seven books of the Gallic
campaigns, and the history of the civil wars till the death of his great
rival, it seems highly probable, that he revised the last or eighth book
of the Gallic war, and communicated information for the history of the
Alexandrian and African expeditions, which are now usually published along
with his own Commentaries, and may be considered as their supplement, or
continuation. The author of these works, which nearly complete the
interesting story of the campaigns of Cæsar, was Aulus Hirtius, one of his
most zealous followers, and most confidential friends. He had been
nominated Consul for the year following the death of his master; and,
after that event, having espoused the cause of freedom, he was slain in
the attack made by the forces of the republic on Antony’s camp, near
Modena.
The eighth book of the Gallic war contains the account of the renewal of
the contest by the states of Gaul, after the surrender of Alesia, and of
the different battles which ensued, at most of which Hirtius was
personally present, till the final pacification, when Cæsar, learning the
designs which were forming against him at Rome, set out for Italy.
Cæsar, in the conclusion of the third book of the Civil War, mentions the
commencement of the Alexandrian war. Hirtius was not personally present at
the succeeding events of this Egyptian contest, in which Cæsar was
involved with the generals of Ptolemy, nor during his rapid campaigns in
Pontus against Pharnaces, and against the remains of the Pompeian party in
Africa, where they had assembled under Scipio, and being supported by
Juba, still presented a formidable appearance. He collected, however, the
leading events from the conversation of Cæsar(217), and the officers who
were engaged in these campaigns. He has obviously imitated the style of
his master; and the resemblance which he has happily attained, has given
an appearance of unity and consistence to the whole series of these
well-written and authentic memoirs. It appears that Hirtius carried down
the history even to the death of Cæsar, for in his preface addressed to
Balbus, he says, that he had brought down what was left imperfect from the
transactions at Alexandria, to the end, not of the civil dissensions, to a
termination of which there was no prospect, but of the life of Cæsar(218).
This latter part, however, of the Commentaries of Hirtius, has been lost,
as it seems now to be generally acknowledged that he was not the author of
the book _De Bello Hispanico_, which relates Cæsar’s second campaign in
Spain, undertaken against young Cneius Pompey, who, having assembled, in
the ulterior province of that country, those of his father’s party who had
survived the disasters in Thessaly and Africa, and being joined by some of
the native states, presented a formidable resistance to the power of
Cæsar, till his hopes were terminated by the decisive battle of Munda.
Dodwell, indeed, in a Dissertation on this subject, maintains, that it was
originally written by Hirtius, but was interpolated by Julius Celsus, a
Constantinopolitan writer of the 6th or 7th century. Vossius, however,
whose opinion is that more commonly received, attributes it to Caius
Oppius(219), who wrote the Lives of Illustrious Captains, and also a book
to prove that the Ægyptian Cæsario was not the son of Cæsar. Oppius was
Cæsar’s confidential friend, and companion in many of his enterprizes; and
it was to him, as we are informed by Suetonius, that Cæsar gave up the
only apartment at an inn, while they were travelling in Gaul, and lay
himself on the ground, and in the open air(220).
A fragment has been added at the end of this book, on the Spanish war, by
Jungerman, from a MS. of Petavius. Vossius thinks that this fragment was
taken from the Commentaries, called those of Julius Celsus, on the Life of
Cæsar, published in 1473. These Commentaries, however, were the work of a
Christian writer; but Julius Celsus, a Constantinopolitan of the 6th
century, already mentioned, having revised the Commentaries of Cæsar, the
work on his life came, (from the confusion of names, or perhaps from a
fiction devised, to give the stamp of authority,) to be attributed to
Julius Celsus, who was contemporary with Cæsar, and was reported to have
written a history of his campaigns; just in the same way as a fabulous
life of Alexander, produced in the middle ages, passes to this day under
the name of Callisthenes, the historiographer of the Macedonian monarch.
There is no other historian of the period on which we are now engaged, of
whose works even any fragments have descended to us. Atticus, however,
wrote Memoirs of Rome from the earliest periods, and also memoirs of its
principal families, as the Junian, Cornelian, and Fabian,—tracing their
origin, enumerating their honours, and recording their exploits. At the
same time Lucceius composed Histories of the Social War, and of the Civil
Wars of Sylla, which were so highly esteemed by Cicero, that he urges him
in one of his letters to undertake a history of his consulship, in which
he discovered and suppressed the conspiracy of Catiline(221). From a
subsequent letter to Atticus we learn that Lucceius had promised to
accomplish the task suggested to him(222). It is probable, however, that
it never was completed,—his labour having been interrupted by the civil
wars, in which he followed the fortunes of Pompey, and was indeed one of
his chief advisers in adopting the fatal resolution of quitting Italy.
The Annals of Procilius, which appeared at this period, may be conjectured
to have comprehended the whole series of Roman history, from the building
of the city to his own time; since Varro quotes him for the account of
Curtius throwing himself into the gulf(223) and Pliny refers to him for
some remarks with regard to the elephants which appeared at Pompey’s
African triumph(224).
Brutus is also said to have written epitomes of the meagre and barren
histories of Fannius and Antipater. That he should have thought of
abridging narratives so proverbially dry and jejune, seems altogether
inexplicable.
The works of an historian called Cæcina have also perished, and if we may
trust to his own account of them, their loss is not greatly to be
deplored. In one of his letters to Cicero he says, “From much have I been
compelled to refrain, many things I have been forced to pass over lightly,
many to curtail, and very many absolutely to omit. Thus circumscribed,
restricted, and broken as it is, what pleasure or what useful information
can be expected from the recital(225)?”
We have thus traced the progress of historical composition among the
Romans, from its commencement to the time of Augustus. There is no history
so distinguished and adorned as the Roman, by illustrious characters; and
the circumstances which it records produced the greatest as well as most
permanent empire that ever existed on earth. The interest of the early
events, and the value of the conclusions to be drawn from them, are much
diminished by their uncertainty. Subsequently, however, to the second
Punic war, the Roman historians were, for the most part, themselves
engaged in the affairs of which they treat, and had therefore, at least,
the most perfect _means_ of communicating accurate information. But this
advantage, which, in one point of view, is so prodigious, was attended
with concomitant evils. Lucian, in his treatise, How History ought to be
Written, says, that the author of this species of composition should be
abstracted from all connection with the persons and things which are its
subjects; that he should be of no country and no party; that he should be
free from all passion, and unconcerned who is pleased or offended with
what he writes. Now, the Roman historians of the era on which we are
engaged were the slaves of party or the heads of factions; and even when
superior to all petty interests or prejudices, they still show plainly
that they are Romans. None of them stood impartially aloof from their
subject, or supplied the want of historians of Carthage and of Gaul, by
whom their narratives might be corrected, and their colouring softened.
Of all the arts next to war, Eloquence was of most importance in Rome;
since, if the former led to the conquest of foreign states, the latter
opened to each individual a path to empire and dominion over the minds of
his fellow citizens(226). Without this art, wisdom itself, in the
estimation of Cicero, could be of little avail for the advantage or glory
of the commonwealth(227).
During the existence of the monarchy, and in the early age of the
republic, law proceedings were not numerous. Many civil suits were
prevented by the absolute dominion which a Roman father exercised over his
family; and the rigour of the decemviral laws, in which all the
proceedings were extreme, frequently concussed parties into an
accommodation; while, at the same time, the purity of ancient manners had
not yet given rise to those criminal questions of bribery and peculation
at home, or of oppression and extortion in the provinces, which disgraced
the closing periods of the commonwealth, and furnished themes for the
glowing invective of Cicero and Hortensius. Hence there was little room
for the exercise of legal oratory; and whatever eloquence may have shone
forth in the early ages of Rome, was probably of a political description,
and exerted on affairs of state.
From the earliest times of the republic, history records the wonderful
effects which Junius Brutus, Publicola, and Appius Claudius, produced by
their harangues, in allaying seditions, and thwarting pernicious counsels.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives us a formal speech, which Romulus, by
direction of his grandfather, made to the people after the building of the
city, on the subject of the government to be established(228). There are
also long orations of Servius Tullius; and great part of the Antiquities
of Dionysius is occupied with senatorial debates during the early ages of
the republic. But though the orations of these fathers of Roman eloquence
were doubtless delivered with order, gravity, and judgment, and may have
possessed a masculine vigour, well calculated to animate the courage of
the soldier, and protect the interests of the state, we must not form our
opinion of them from the long speeches in Dionysius and Livy, or suppose
that they were adorned with any of that rhetoric art with which they have
been invested by these historians. A nation of outlaws, destined from
their cradle to the profession of arms,—taught only to hurl the spear or
javelin, and inure their bodies to other martial exercises,—with souls
breathing only conquest,—and regarded as the enemies of every state till
they had become its masters, could have possessed but few topics of
illustration or embellishment, and were not likely to cultivate any
species of rhetorical refinement. To convince by solid arguments when
their cause was good, and to fill their fellow-citizens with passions
corresponding to those with which they were themselves animated, would be
the great objects of an eloquence supplied by nature and unimproved by
study. Quintilian accordingly informs us, that though there appeared in
the ancient orations some traces of original genius, and much force of
argument, they bore, in their rugged and unpolished periods, the signs of
the times in which they were delivered.
With exception of the speech of Appius Claudius to oppose a peace with
Pyrrhus, there are no harangues mentioned by the Latin critics or
historians as possessing any charms of oratory, previously to the time of
Cornelius Cethegus, who flourished during the second Punic war, and was
Consul about the year 550. Cethegus was particularly distinguished for his
admirable sweetness of elocution and powers of persuasion, whence he is
thus characterized by Ennius, a contemporary poet, in the 9th book of his
_Annals_:
“Additur orator Cornelius suaviloquenti
Ore Cethegus Marcus, Tuditano collega;
Flos delibatus populi, suadæque medulla.”