Caesar's Bibracte Narrative and the Aims of Caesarian Style

Abstract

The distinctive characteristics of Caesarian prose style are widely if imperfectly known, but Caesar's merits as a stylist are still argued. Paradoxically, much of the debate has as its origin the domination of our standards of good Latinity and good prose style by Cicero, who himself praised the style of Caesar's commentarii in a well-known passage from the Brutus (§262). Whether Cicero is being disingenuous in this passage is debatable,1 but the fact remains that Cicero commended the prose style of the political enemy over whose assassination he later gloated unashamedly. The Brutus passage does not seem to be ironic;2 and the fact that Cicero's praise of Caesarian style does not appear to follow from the dictates he lays down regarding good historical style may be attributed to the generic differences between history and commentarii,3 Until recently Caesarian prose style has fared less well at the hands of modern critics than it did at the hands of Caesar's contemporary enemies. For example, Nettleship prefaces his harsh condemnation of