Themes of Caesar's "Gallic War" Author(s): Paul R. Murphy Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Feb. - Mar., 1977), pp. 234-243 Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296899 . Accessed: 12/07/2011 06:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=camws. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Classical Association of the Middle West and South is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Classical Journal. http://www.jstor.org THEMES OF CAESAR'S GALLICWAR' JuliusCaesar so composed his Gallic Warthat his Romanreaders might "in imaginationlive through" the difficulties and the heroic deeds of Caesar and his men;2and even todayfor the reader"who will thinkand analyze . .. thereis suspenseand drama.' "" I have found thatthe action of individualportions of the Gallic War is defined by appropriateabstract themes;4 that for some portions there are single themes; for others, combinations of themes. Caesar often overmatches a quality of the Gauls with one of his own: "In Caesar all counteractionand action stem from the will of the commanderand governor alone. ... The enemy's plan, Caesar'sperception of it, energeticand adequate countermeasures-are all one follow this outline: "Books 1-3: .... ." I rapid preliminaryconquest; Book 4: probing expeditions into neighboringregions; Books 5-7: final pacification.'"6 I In Caesar's account in Book I of how, in the year 58 B.C., he thwartedthe migrationof the Helvetii, the main theme is persuasio.7 The mood of wily dealing is sustainedby examples of calliditas, "shrewdness, guile."'8 Meet the 'Essentiallythe presidentialaddress delivered at the annualmeeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, April 12, 1974, in New Orleans. 2MatthiasGelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman, trans. P. Needham (Cambridge, Mass. 1960), p. 172. 3JohnB. Titchener, "Caesar and the Teaching of Literature,"CJ, XLVI (1951), 236. 4Designationsof the campaigns:Helvetii (1.2-29), Ariovistus(1.31-54), Belgae (2.1-33), Galba (3.1-6), Veneti (3.9-10, 12-16), Sabinus vs. Unelli (3.17-19), Crassus (3.20-27), Morini (3.28- 29), Usipetes (4.6-9, 11-15), 1st Britain(4.20-36), 2nd Britain(5.2, 5; 8-11; 15-23), Sabinusand Cotta (5.26-37), Q. Cicero (5.39-45, 52), Labienusvs. Indutiomarus(5.55-58). Caesar's precau- tions (6.1-6), Labienus vs. Treveri (6.7-8), Ambiorix (6.29.4-44), Last revolt begins (7.1-5), Caesar'scounter measures (7.6-13), Avaricum(7.14-28), Aeduanrevolt (7.37-40, 42-43, 54-55), Gergovia (7.36, 41, 44-53), Labienusamong Parisii (7.57-62), Caesar's Germancavalry (7.64- 67), Alesia (7.68-89). 5Karl Biichner, Rimische Literaturgeschichte:Ihre Grundziigein interpretierenderDarstel- lung, 3rd. ed. (Stuttgart1963), p. 205. My trans. 6B. Mansperger, "Commentariide bello Gallico," Kindlers Literatur Lexikon, III (Zurich 1971), 2104. My trans. I cannottell whetherCaesar completed a book of his commentariiafter each year's campaigning or composed and publishedthe work as a whole after finishing his campaigns. But it seems likely thathe for each year wrote at least a preliminarydraft like the newer type ofcommentarius, having touches of human interest, ratherthan the older type, cold facts. 7The11. of text are those of the Teubnered. of Otto Seel (Leipzig 1968), from which all textual quotationsare also taken. Onlypersuadere (persuasio, suadere not found;dissuadere, 7.15.6): Helv., 7 exx.:496 11.= 1/71 (chs. 2-9, 7 exx.:133 11.=1/19); Sab. vs. Un., 1 ex.:61 11.;Lab. vs. Ind., 1 ex.:68 11.;Galba, 1 ex.:95 11.;Alesia, 0 ex.:390 11.Thatpersuasio is very importantin the backgroundof the Helv. migrationis est. by E. Wyss, StilistischeUntersuchungen zur Darstellung von Ereignissenin Caesars bellum Gallicum (diss. Bern 1930), pp. 13-14. 8For the affinity of persuasio for calliditas see below p. 235. 234 PAULR. MURPHY 235 Helvetian schemerOrgetorix: regni cupiditateinductus ... civitatipersuasit ut definibus suis ... exirent (2.1). Hefacilius iis persuasit (2.3) because of their narrow bounds. He persuaded (persuadet, 3.4) Casticus the Sequanianand (persuadet, 3.5) Dumnorixthe Aeduan to follow his lead in getting control of their own tribes. Laterthe Helvetii persuaded(persuadent, 5.4) others to join their migration.They hoped that they should persuadethe Allobroges to grant them passage (Allobrogibussese . persuasuros, 6.3), and that they could then go throughthe Roman province. But Caesar counteredwith calliditas, temporizingby telling the Helvetii that he would soon answertheir request for passage but then blocking their way with works (7.8). Unable to gain passage from the Sequani(his cum . persuadere non possent, 9.2), the Helvetii used the intriguing(9.3) Dumnorixas a go-between (deprecator, 9.2) and went on, only to have Caesar combine calliditas with vis in routing the Tigurini, who alone of the host had not yet crossed the Saine (12). Then Divico, chief Helvetian envoy to Caesar, scorned this victory on the groundthat it was won dolo ... insidiis (13.6) and alluded to his leadershipin crushinga Romanarmy fifty years before. Caesarreplied thatthe Helvetii had won thatvictory through deceit, and implied that the gods show calliditas in allowing the wicked to prosperfor a while so thatthe shock of their fall may be the greater(14.1-5). When Caesarlearned that Dumnorixwas guilty of serious breachesof faith (17-18), he was astute in not risking alienation of the Aedui by punishing Dumnorixbut in ratherdiscussing the matterwith his influentialAeduan friend Diviciacus, Dumnorix' brother.He made Diviciacus thinkCaesar was sparing Dumnorix for his sake, and let Dumnorix know that he was on his good behavior (19-20). When Publius Considius deceived himself, he nullified Caesar'scalliditas (21-22). But then the Romanswon a greatvictory; and when during subsequentparleying the people of one clan made for the Rhine in a pitiful attemptat guile (27), Caesar easily had them broughtback. Timor, "fear," is the theme of the rest of Book 1, the account of the campaign against Ariovistus.9 Conferring with Caesar, the Gallic leaders tearfully insisted that their words remain confidential, otherwise summumin cruciatum se venturos (31.2). The Sequani, having invited Ariovistus into Gaul, could now not complain lest they suffer omnes cruciatus (32.5), for absentis Ariovisticrudelitatem ... horrerent(32.4). Once in the field, Caesar, himself fearless, had to contend with a panic of his army at Besangon:in the twenty-seven lines of one chapter there are seven occurrences of words of fearing (39.1, 3, 5, 6 ter, 7). Caesar's story makes the drawing up of wills before battle appearcowardice (39.4). He asked his assembled tribunesand centurions quid tandem vererentur (40.4), reproachedfor presumptionany man who tried to hide suum timorem(40.10) by a pretenceof concern for the grain supply, and said that by moving against the enemy he should test utrum apud eos pudoratque officiuman timorplus valeret (40.14). His men repliedse neque umquam dubitasse neque timuisse (41.3). They constructed a camp despite forces sent to frightenthem (quae copiae nostros terrerent, 49.3). In a aEighteenwords of fear:Ariov., 17:537= 1/32 (chs. 39-42, 13:122= 1/9);Usip., 8:128= 1/16;Lab. vs. Ind., 4:68=1/17; Sab. vs. Un., 3:61=1/20; Amb., 12:270=1/23 (chs. 35-44, 11:125=1/11); Caes. counter., 5:126= 1/25; Lab. vs. Trev., 2:56= 1/28; Gerg., 5:200= 1/40; Lab. among Par., 1:101. 236 PAULR. MURPHY fierce battle, the Germanswere hamperedby fear of fighting before the new moon (50.4-5), but Caesar's men were fearless (52.5). The terror-stricken Germans,including the braggartAriovistus, broke and fled to the Rhine(53.1). The Suebi, on the east bankon theirway to join Ariovistus,turned back, andthe Rhenish tribes, quos [Suebos] ubi perterritos senserunt, magnum ex his numerumocciderunt (54. 1). In Book 2, in the year 57 B.C., furor, "madness," is the theme.10The Belgae, joining to avert Roman rule, were carriedaway byfuror (3.5). From the definition of furor in the Laws of the Twelve Tables as mentis ad omnia caecitatem (Cic. Tusc. 3.11) and from Livy's descriptionof attackersof city walls, velut repentino icti furore improvidi (5.21.7), one sees furor in the Belgae who in attack ignored showers of missiles and trod on their fallen (10.3). In continuedfuror ". the poor ... Belgians fall into inextricable confusion. They agreeto go home, each to his own country,and from thence to proceedto the defence of any tribe which Caesarmight attack(10.4).'"" Livy thus describesthe blind terrorof girls fleeing death:quae alienata mentesimul luctu metuquevelut captaefurore ... se proripuerunt(24.26.12).