Texts

Commentarii de bello Gallico ‘Commentaries on the Gallic wars’

Julius Caesar

Classical Latin
prose
Ancient Roman texts

Author

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

(died 44 BC)

Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman statesman, general and consul

Gaius Julius Caesar

Manuscripts

The earliest extant manuscripts of the text belong to the Middle Ages. These manuscripts are usually divided into two families, a class α and a class β, which in one way or another, derive ultimately from a common exemplar:⁽³⁾^{n. 3} The following is based on Ryce, xii-xiii. This list focuses on the earliest witnesses, but note that Virginia Brown has listed well over 200 manuscripts of later date.

Class α:

γ

A =

Amsterdam, University Library, MS xv G 1

Codex Amstelodamensis 73 [s. ix/x], previously listed as no. 81 and also known as the Codex Bongarsianus.

Q =

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 5056

ff. 90r–130v

Codex Moysiacensis [s. xi/xii].

φ

B: =

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 5763

Codex Parisinus I [s. ix].

Leiden, University Library, MS VLQ 53

Codex Leidensis Vossianus Q. 53 [s. xi], from MS B; = Siglum b in Du Pontet, preface.

L =

London, British Library, MS Additional 10084

M =

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Rom. Vat.. 3864

Codex Romanus Vaticanus 3864 [s. x] = MS R in Du Pontet, preface.

S =

Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS R 33

Codex Ashburnhamianus [s. x] = MS D in Du Pontet, preface.

Class β (expanded):

π

a =

Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS lat. 5764

Codex Parisanus II [s. xi] = MS T in Du Pontet, preface.

f =

Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS 95

Codex Vindobonensis [s. xii].

ρ

h =

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 3324

Codex Ursinianus [s. xii] = U in Du Pontet, preface.

l =

Florence, Bibl. Richardianus, MS 541 [s. xi/xii].

Language

Classical Latin

Form

prose (primary)

Classification

Ancient Roman textsAncient Roman texts
...

Sources

Notes

^1.

C in Du Pontet, preface

^2.

Du Pontet, preface

^3.

The following is based on Ryce, xii-xiii.

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Hering, W. [ed.], C. Iuli Caesaris commentarii, I: Commentarii belli gallici, Leipzig, Stuttgart: Teubner, 1987.

[ed.] Du Pontet, R. L. A. [ed.], C. Iuli Caesaris Commentariorum I: Libri VII de bello Gallico cum A. Hirti supplemento, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1900.

comments: Reprinted in the Oxford Classical Texts series (e.g. in 1968).

Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>

[ed.] Holmes, T. Rice [ed.], C. Julii Caesaris Commentarii rerum in Gallia gestarum VII. A. Hirti Commentarius VIII, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1914.

Perseus Digital Library: <link> Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: <link> Internet Archive: <link>

[ed.] [tr.] Edwards, H. J. [ed. and tr.], Caesar: The Gallic War, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1917.

Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>

Individual books

[ed.] Ewan, Colin [ed.], De Bello Gallico I, revised ed., Bristol Classical Press, London, 1993.

Reprints since 1957: London, 1957; Bristol, 1985.

[ed.] Kennedy, E. C. [ed.], De bello Gallico II, Palatine Classics, London: University Tutorial Press, 1967.

Reprinted: Bristol, 1983.

[ed.] Rambaud, Michel [ed.], De bello Gallico secundus tertiusque libri, Érasme: collection de textes latins commentés, 12, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1965.

Books 2 and 3.

[ed.] Kennedy, E. C. [ed.], De bello Gallico III, Cambridge Elementary Classics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959.

[ed.] Rambaud, Michel [ed.], Bellum Gallicum. Liber 4, Érasme: collection de textes latins commentés, 19, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1967.

Book 4.

[ed.] Carrington, R. C. [ed.], Caesar. De bello Gallico V, Bristol: Bristol Classical Press, 1984.

[ed.] Rambaud, Michel [ed.], Bellum Gallicum. Liber 5, Érasme: collection de textes latins commentés, 29, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1974.

Book 5.

[ed.] Kennedy, E. C. [ed.], De bello Gallico VI, Bristol Classical Press, Bristol, 1969.

Reprinted: New Rochelle, New York, 1971.

[ed.] Kennedy, E. C. [ed.], De bello Gallico VII, Cambridge Elementary Classics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959.

[tr.] Hammond, Carolyn [tr.], Julius Caesar. The Gallic war: seven commentaries on the Gallic war with an eighth commentary by Aulus Hirtius, Oxford Classical Texts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

[tr.] McDevitte, W. A., and W. S. Bohn [tr.], Commentaries on the Gallic War, Harper's New Classical Library, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869.

Perseus Digital Library: <link> Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: <link>

[tr.] Hunink, Vincent, Gaius Julius Caesar, Oorlog in Gallië, en Aulus Hirtius, Aanvulling op Caesars 'Oorlog in Gallië', Amsterdam: Polak & Van Gennep, 1997.

Dutch translation, with commentary.

Dutch translation, with commentary

Secondary sources (select)

Brown, Virginia, “Latin manuscripts of Caesar’s Gallic war”, in: Scuola di Archivisti di Roma (ed.), Paleographica diplomatica et archivistica: studi in onore di Giulio Battell, 139-140, Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1979. Vol. 1: 105–157.

Hering, Wolfgang, Die Recensio der Caesarhandschriften, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Schriften der Sektion für Altertumswissenschaft, 41, Berlin, 1963.

1960 Habilitationsschrift reworked for publication.