Caesar's De Bello Gallico (No spoiler alerts because it's history)

De Bello Gallico, written in the time of the consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar, is about his conquests in Gaul (modern day france and bits of Germany), as wel as ventures into Britain, and his political strife with the local leaders of the barbarians. It gives step by step accounts of every battle he fought while in Gaul, along with propagandistic reasoning as to why and the position the Romans stood in each one. I was written with semi-third person narration. While Caesar (usually) refers to himself in the third person, he uses “our” and “us” when speaking about the Roman military or the ill-fated republic. This creates a very us-versus-them mentality, which was particularly needed, because much of the information in De Bello is actually false. While the Gauls were frequently referred to as “barbari”(barbarians), they were not so at all. They had clearly organized walled towns, political factions, nobility, and were not nomadic. In fact, they were quite worthy opponents for the Romans, happened to be rather wealthy, and sitting on very good, easily protected, and fertile land.

De Bello opens with the famous line “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres”.  The first book begins to expand on the Helvetii tribe in northern Gaul, who are planning to uproot themselves and march through the Roman province, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake, and take over the other Gallic tribes, maybe even uniting them against a common enemy: The Romans. This poses a serious threat. The book continues to explain the geography and political history of the various Gallic tribes, especially on the relationship of a king, Orgetorix and Caesar. It is, as it turns out, quite complicated and strained.  

Then the Aedui enter (as usual) several serious battles with their surrounding provinces. However, the decide to bring in German mercenaries, true barbarians. Soon more and more germans are continuously migrating into Gaul, led by Ariovistus, and this poses a serious problem. Luckily for them, the Aedui are friends of Rome, so Caesar and his legions step in to help. Soon the Romans and Germans are in an all out war, and the Germans are crushed.

Starting in chapter XXII of book IV, Caesar  begins an assault on Britain. Although the infantry manage across the English Channel (simply called Oceanus by the Romans), the cavalry cannot. After much strategy and engineering, Caesar finally manages to put forth an attack on the Britons. Finally, with the Britons having been defeated (ablative absolutely!), they send their men back to fields. There is peace for a short time. However, a storm heavily damages Caesar’s war and cargo ships.  Vulnerable, the Britons assemble and attack, however they are finally routed by the Romans. We leave of at book IV with preparations being made to return to the main continent.

Caesar had many reason for starting his war in the first place. Although he explains some of them to us, threats to Rome and the like, he was also desperately wanting for money, and successful war brings in lots of it. In his term as consul, he spent almost all of it on elections and gaining the favour of the people. Now he needed more before he returned to Rome. As history knows, when Caesar returns he incites despicable and lamentable (according to Eutropius) civil war, which tears apart the country and ultimately brings the republic of Rome to and end.

THE AENEID BOOK I (read in Latin) ***spoiler alert, although they will really only make sense if you have already read the book***

     The Aeneid of Virgil, written during the rule of Augustus, was based primarily off of the Iliad and the Odyssey, following traditional epic style and following the adventures of a character who showed up in Homer's Iliad, Aeneas, and his son Ascanius, also called Iulus, which if taken for history was meant to propagate the idea that the Julian-Claudian empire of Rome was meant to be.
     The first line is immensely famous- Arma virumque cano- I sing of arms and man. Whereas traditionally epics have begun with an Invocation to the Muse, particularly in Homer,  Virgil does not introduce that until many lines later. Furthermore, when most epic poems credit the Muse for their story and art, Virgil, by saying cano, I sing, takes credit for his work, something completely revolutionary at the time. This makes Virgil the narrator of a story of which parts were probably passed down orally for decades or even centuries beforehand.
     Another thing that is interested is that at first the main character Aeneas, pious with a sense of duty, a king and great leader, his first words, are not exactly leader-like. He is wishing that he had died on the fields of Troy, rather than die during a great storm that Juno has stirred up with the help of king Aeolus. The Greeks and Romans believed that if a body was not buried properly, its soul would wander forever above ground rather than going down to live in the underworld. By dying on the bloody fields of Troy, he would have had a decent burial. By dying in a shipwreck, he is deprived of both a glorious death and a correct burial procedure. Fortunately, Aeneas is fated to go on to found a new city, so he is spared despite the wrath of mindful Juno.
     The next time Aeneas speaks, however, he is brave, bold, and tells his comrades to banish fear from their hearts. He pretends to be confident and sure, and, missing much of his fleet, goes to the top of a hill to scan the waters for their ships. there he kills seven stags to feed his men, one for each remaining ship. Aeneas, despite all his struggles and fear and weariness, is thinking of his men.
     The pace of the book is slow and fast, varying with the content. The best way to determine in the pace is the scansion. Since it is an epic, it is written in Dactylic Hexameter. This consists of spondees and dactyls. A line composed primarily of dactyls will be incredibly fast, whereas a line composed primarily of spondees will be slower, meandering.
     There is so much within the book it would be impossible to thoroughly analyze it, especially for an audience with no previous knowledge. Every literary device, every word, line, epithet, and adjective has a deep meaning that furthers the reader into this world. It is amazing how even today, hundred upon hundred of years later, I can still read this book, and find meaning, relate to its characters, appreciate its history, and ultimately love it the same way an ancient Roman would be able to. This connection to the past that  feel when reading The Aeneid, especially in the original language, this ability to produce the same feeling an unknown person from a lost time would have, if a gift. Virgil has truly created a piece of art.