The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Caesar, Gaius Julius
Caesar, Gaius
Julius
(
102/100
–
44
BC
), Roman politician who in his middle forties surfaced as a general of genius. Victor in the factional struggles that destroyed the republic, and eventually dictator, he prepared the ground for six centuries of imperial rule. He was also a writer of exceptional ability and has left a lucid account of his campaigns in his Commentaries. Since he cuts an attractive figure in the correspondence of
Cicero
(the principal contemporary source for the events of his lifetime) and is praised by the biographers and historians who served his imperial successors, and since he had a love affair with
Cleopatra
, the most fascinating woman of his day, later ages came to look upon him as a superman. The Commentaries on the Gallic War were translated in part by
A.
Golding
(
1565
) and C. Edmondes (
1600
), but they were read in the original by every English schoolboy, and mentions of...
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