Criticism > Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism > Julius Caesar - C. E. Stevens (lecture date 1951)

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C. E. Stevens (lecture date 1951)

SOURCE: “The Bellum Gallicum as a Work of Propaganda,” in Latomus, Vol. 11, 1952, pp. 2-18.

[In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1951, Stevens examines instances in De Bello Gallico in which Caesar conceals the truth or interprets events self-servingly.]

It is not possible to consider the Bellum Gallicum as a work of propaganda unless a position can be taken up on the date of its composition. We know from external evidence only that it was published not later than 46 b. c.¹, but the fact that the story of the campaign of 51 b. c. is written by another hand would lead us to suspect that Caesars's own books of the commentaries were written, as has long been the general belief of scholars², in the winter of 52-51 b. c. The campaign of 52 b. c., though not the end (and realised by Caesar, as his legionary dispositions and his...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. C. E. Stevens (lecture date 1951)
   2. F. E. Adcock (essay date 1956)
   3. John H. Collins (essay date 1959)
   4. Zwi Yavetz (essay date 1979)
   5. C. B. R. Pelling (essay date 1981)
   6. Christian Meier (essay date 1982)
   7. Cynthia Damon (essay date 1994)
   8. John Henderson (essay date 1996)
   9. J. E. Lendon (essay date 1999)
   10. Andreola Rossi (essay date 2000)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. Julius Caesar