Writing Fighting War

Cicero, discussing Caesar’s Gallic Warcommentaries in a work on rhetoric and Latin style, made the general comment, “They really must be thought excellent. For they are naked and lovely, with every oratorical ornament stripped away like clothing. For in history nothing is sweeter than a pure and clear brevity” (Brutus262). In the preceding chapters we have seen Caesar’s style at work constructing arguments and offering an interpretation of people and events that served Caesar’s needs. Here we concentrate on features of Caesar’s style that facilitate his presentation. We will see that in the Civil War, at least, the general impression Caesar gives of an unornamented plainness is effective in itself and also serves as a foil that allows his occasional ornaments to shine. Everywhere Caesar shows both his “mastery of easy, everyday language” and his sensitivity to the effects produced by variation.

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Cicero · Clothing · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Literature · Nothing · Presentation (obstetrics) · Rhetoric · Style (visual arts) · Visual arts · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Philosophy