[.ca] Caesar: De Bello Gallico VI (ISBN 0862920884)

caesar the historian:
Caesar's Gallic War (the literary work, not the actual war) is an interesting exercise in a politician attempting to justify and explain his conquest of Gaul to ordinary Romans while also trying to show his breadth of learned-ness - quite a task, really. He pretty much pulls it off, too...but that is another matter altogether, more suited to Classics students' essay topics. This edition of the Sixth Book of De Bello Gallico is, as are most BCP texts, best for students - at times some of the most self-evident phrases are 'helpfully' translated. The vocab at the back is helpful if a little narrow in interpreting the nuances of words; it's always quite nice to find you won't have to drag your Lewis & Short/Chambers & Murray out to translate or along to class... The introductory passages at the beginning of the edition are in general interesting, if a little dry and unspecific at times. The small glosses at the beginning of each chapter are almost too explanatory - it ends up taking half the surprise out of what might happen in the chapter...but I suppose it's all for the best and prevents you getting completely lost in the rare complex phrases of Caesar, or totally getting the wrong idea due to mistranslating one word. In general, this edition is helpful and suits undergraduate language students (though the series is apparently aimed at 'A' and 'O' level students!) though perhaps the more learned out there will sniff at the simplicities...