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. WALTER DENNISON
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PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS







RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE
BY WALTER DENNISON
University of Michigan
A criterion of the interest manifested in an author is usually to be
found in the extent of the literature bearing on the study and inter-
pretation of his works. By this criterion the interest which the
immortal Commentaries of Caesar awaken is still unflagging; his
powerful personality still holds its wonted sway in the minds and
hearts of men.
Since 1901 no less than six new school editions of Caesar have
appeared in the United States. They are the following:
CAESAR’s CoMMENTARIES ON THE GALLIC WAR. With Introduc-
tion, Notes, and Vocabulary. By Albert Harkness and Charles H.
Forbes. New York: American Book Co., 1901. $1.25. (An edition
of Books I-IV is also published.)
CAESAR’s GALLIC WAR. With Introduction, Notes, and Vocabu-
lary. By J. H. Westcott. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1902.
$1.25. (An edition of Books I-IV is also published.)
CAESAR’s GALLIC WAR, Books I-IV. With Introduction, Notes,
and Vocabulary. By Charles E. Bennett. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon, 1903. $1.
CAESAR’s GALLIC WAR. With Introductions, Notes, Appendix,
and Vocabulary. By Harry F. Towle and Paul R. Jenks. New
York: University Publishing Co., 1903. $1.25.
CAESAR, EPISODES FROM THE GALLIC AND THE CIVIL WARs. With
an Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary. By Maurice W. Mather.
New York: American Book Co., 1905. $1.25.
CAESAR: THE GALLIC WAR. With Introduction, Notes, and Vocabu-
lary. By A. L. Hodges." New York: The Macmillan Co., 1906.
The publishers naturally claim for each of these editions some
feature of surpassing excellence, and the individual teacher must
* The reviewer has not examined this edition, since at the precise moment of
writing this article the book was just issuing from the press.
I31
I32 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
decide for himself which one he personally finds of most pedagogical
help. It would thus be useless for the reviewer to range these edi-
tions in order of excellence as he judges them, for the one with which
he might accomplish most in the classroom would prove entirely
inadequate for the purpose of another teacher. Professor Bennett's
edition contains merely the first four books, the only part of Caesar
of which many Latin pupils unfortunately ever have any knowl-
edge. This is a condition of things which an abbreviated edition
encourages, especially if it costs less than competing editions.
Professor Bennett's notes are always judicious and suggestive. The
characteristic feature of Professor Westcott’s edition is that it is
addressed in a simple, attractive manner to the struggling youth
whose taste for Latin and whose sense of literary style are likely to
be fundamentally formed or forever despaired of during this second
year of Latin study. The notes and introduction of this edition are
not coldly impersonal, couched merely in erudite and high-sounding
phrases, but the boy who reads them will feel that he is in touch with
the personality of the editor, that the editor is talking to him and in-
structing him. This is as it should be. A school edition of Caesar,
like any other schoolbook, should be edited for the pupil, not for the
teacher.
The Towle and Jenks edition differs from others in having a gram-
matical appendix containing the grammar which the pupil needs
in the preparation of his Caesar lesson. This innovation is based
on the supposition that the method of referring the pupil to a sepa-
rate grammar for grammatical constructions is a failure, and that
the pupil will not look up references unless he is compelled to do
so. The vocabulary of this edition cites the passages in the text
where a given word has a special meaning. This may save time and
mental effort for the pupil, but it is always open to the objection that
the pupil is in danger of getting either a wrong conception, or no con-
ception at all, of the real meaning of the word. The edition of Pro-
fessors Harkness and Forbes is an excellent one. The topographical
commentaries and maps, however, are not always based upon recent
discoveries, as, for example, the site of the battle with the Helvetians,
or the scene of Caesar's defeat of Ariovistus.
Especially worthy of commendation is the edition of selections
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE I.33
from the Gallic and Civil Wars by Dr. Mather. The most interest-
ing parts of both wars are included. The campaign against Ario-
vistus is omitted, as is the defeat of the Belgians, and some passages
in the last three books; but in the later books the two expeditions to
Britain, the interesting chapters on the customs of the Gauls and
Germans in the sixth book, and the engagements at Gergovia and
Alesia are retained. The recommendation to read parts of the Civil
War is timely and altogether worthy of approval. The Latin is not .
too difficult, and the student will have the satisfaction of reading a
document of great historical importance. The selections from the
Civil War are mostly from the third book, describing the dramatic
struggle between Caesar and Pompey. The notes with frequent
topographical references are unusually interesting, and the pages of
the text and introduction are brightened by appropriate illustra-
tions.
Besides these new volumes, the Allen and Greenough edition was
entirely re-edited in 1904, and in the following year Professor Kelsey's
widely used Caesar passed into its fifteenth edition. The revision
in 1905 by Francis H. Lee of Professor Stuart's edition of Caesar's
Gallic War, Books I–VII (Hinds, Noble, & Eldredge), can not be
recommended. The notes are scanty and perfunctory, with no topo-
graphical references and only a few arid allusions to the life and con-
ditions of the times. The full-page illustrations (for example, the
Mausoleum of Hadrian, and the Claudian aqueduct), while clear and
interesting, are manifestly inappropriate.
C. IULI CAESARIs CoMMENTARIORUM; Pars Prior qua continentur
Libri VII De Bello Gallico cum A. Hirti Supplemento; Pars Pos-
terior qua continentur Libri III De Bello Civili cum Libris Incer-
torum Auctorum De Bello Alexandrino Africo Hispaniensi. Rec.
R. Du Pontet. 2 vols. Oxford, 1901. (Scriptorum Classicorum
Bibliotheca Oxoniensis.)
This is the latest critical edition of Caesar. In his valuation of the
manuscripts Du Pontet holds that those of the a-class are superior
to the 8-manuscripts. He thus returns to the position of Nipperdey.
CAESAR’s CoNQUEST of GAUL. By T. Rice Holmes. London and
New York: Macmillan & Co., 1899. $6 net.
I34 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
This book is a mine of information on the interpretation of the
Gallic War, and a copy of it should be in the library of every secondary
school throughout the land, to be used diligently by both teacher and
pupil. It is written by a man of military training and experience,
whose examination of all important Caesarian literature has been
thorough and intelligent, whose criticism is fair-minded, and whose
judgment is sound. Mr. Holmes was convinced from his own expe-
rience that Caesar's text is not generally taught as it should be; that
the Gallic War does not leave with the average boy or girl the impres-
sion of what it really is—a masterpiece of terse, vigorous writing, an
historical document of first rank. His object, therefore, is
to relieve the weariness of the school boys, whose lot it is to flounder in ceaseless
conflict with the ablative absolute through the pages of the Commentaries; to
help them to realize that those pages were not written for the purpose of inflicting
mental torture, but were the story of events which really did happen, and many
of which rival in interest the exploits of Cortes or of Clive.
The book, therefore, embodies the true spirit of the times. The
author's style is delightfully entertaining. This is no dry summary
of facts merely, but from the first word of the preface to the end of the
last excursus on the spelling of Celtic names, more than 800 pages,
the reader's attention is held with unfailing interest. Without ques-
tion this work is the most important contribution to the interpreta-
tion of Caesar's Gallic War that has appeared since Napoleon's
Julius Caesar.
The contents are subdivided into two parts, the first summarizing
the narrative of the Gallic campaigns, the second providing an ex-
haustive commentary, textual, ethnological, geographical, social, poli-
tical, religious, military, and topographical. The first part is not a
translation of the Commentaries, but rather a paraphrase, a detailed
account of those stirring events that mark the dawn of history in
northern Europe. It is based mainly on Caesar's own words, of
course; but whatever light, dim though it is, is shed upon the period
by Plutarch or Suetonius, by Dion Cassius or Florus or Orosius, is
utilized. The whole, as described by Mr. Holmes's facile pen, is
as absorbingly interesting as any novel, and I wish that every high-
school pupil might read it before preparing his lesson in the original.
I should have no fear that such a summary would give him undue
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE I35
assistance; rather it would stimulate his interest and make the charac-
ters of Caesar and Labienus, of Ariovistus and Dumnorix and Divi-
ciacus, living characters, and he would begin to see sense in it all.
The melancholy story of the Helvetians moving westward—men,
women, and children—to leave their cramped quarters and settle
on the fertile plains of the Charente, should have a new meaning
to thinking boys and girls who read Caesar for the first time; for it
would paint for them, if only in outline, a picture of those ceaseless
western migrations which were going on long before history began to
be written; while the scene of Ariovistus and Caesar standing upon
the hill of Plettig holding the first recorded interview between
Roman and Teuton; or the account, the first one in history, of
the Roman army crossing the British Channel and landing on
the shores whence sprang our own ancestors; the story of Caesar's
experiences in a land where English-speaking people now wield
authority—all these things should fill a young student’s mind with
a living, throbbing interest that would go far to solve the problem
which the study of the classics now has to face. This is no imprac-
tical dream of the “specialist,” but it is a result even now realized
in many schools where inspiring, practical teachers strive to do
something more than draw a salary. Unfortunately, there are many
more schools where the Commentaries of Caesar are rarely used in
education, and where they serve as a “mere whetstone for gerund-
grinders.” But Mr. Holmes's book will help to counteract this ten-
dency. Throughout the first part, as elsewhere, the author calls
to his aid his valuable experience in modern military warfare. The
result is that his descriptions read like those of an eyewitness; they
seem to detail as happening yesterday events that occurred nearly
twenty centuries ago.
The narrative is provided with seven double-page maps. While
this number is not large, it includes all the important battle-sites.
These plans are clear, contain sufficient modern topography, and
show the heights in meters above sea-level. Thus the topographical
and tactic features of the campaigns receive due emphasis. I am
convinced that if carefully made, neat plans are put upon the black-
board from day to day, with the opposing forces indicated by dif-
ferent-colored chalk (red, for example, to mark the position of the
136 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
Romans and yellow for the Gauls), and if the teacher will himself
study the strategy of each engagement, and reveal to his class the
meaning of movements and counter-movements like a game on a
checker-board, there will be no end of interest in ancient tactics
of war. Many significant parallels may be drawn by the way be-
tween modern and ancient warfare, and many points of dissimilarity
between ancient and present-day methods of fighting may be pointed
out, such as the artillery, the improvement in transportation facilities,
the commissariat, and the use of the spy-glass. This study of the
strategy of the Gallic War is a chief means of awakening and sustain-
ing interest in Latin at a very critical period. Many lessons in life
may incidentally be inculcated in the course of such a study, as,
for example, making the most of one's resources, caution, or the
value of a defensive attitude. Other sides of Caesarian study also
should receive attention of course, in primis the literary value of the
Commentaries as a piece of masterly description, and the person-
ality of the great leader who introduced Roman civilization to the
northern nations. The objection should not be raised that one
can not do all this and teach the language, the syntax, and the inflec-
tions. I believe that it can be done better in this way; for the pupil
will thus read more intelligently, and if he reads intelligently, he will
read faster and with more appreciation. What is needed, after all,
is well-trained and appreciative teachers.
In Part II many questions are answered that relate to the text of
Caesar, and to the peoples and towns mentioned in the various cam-
paigns—just such questions as any high-school boy might ask. For
example, the first note is: “When did Caesar write the Commen-
taries on the Gallic War, and when were they published P” A great
deal has been written about the credibility of Caesar's narrative,
some critics charging Caesar with a desire to put the best construction
upon unconstitutional or unrighteous acts, to magnify his own ex-
ploits, and to conceal everything that might injuriously affect his
reputation as a general. Nearly seventy pages are devoted to a
consideration and refutation of these charges.
The ethnology of Gaul, a discussion of the races living in Gaul,
occupies another eighty pages. A large section (nearly two hundred
pages) is devoted to geographical and topographical considerations.
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE I37
Here the teacher or student may find information on the identifica-
tion of the sites of Alesia or Bibracte; of Itius Portus, Gergovia,
Aduatuca, Cenabum, Avaricum; of the location of the Nervii, the
Tigurini, the Treveri, and the Aedui. A vast amount has been
written on these subjects. To gather together this voluminous
literature, to sift it, and to summarize it so that it reads entertainingly
is, indeed, a great service. Everywhere throughout the book copious
footnotes are given, so that he who wishes may test the fairness of
Mr. Holmes's summaries.
A section follows dealing with social, political, and religious aspects
of Gallic civilization, with excursuses on such subjects as the Gallic
nobiles, the Druids, and democracy in Gaul. Military antiquities
are treated fully. Does the teacher wish to know the proof for our
knowledge of the numerical strength of the legions, or who were the
centurions of the first rank, or to understand the composition of Caesar's
cavalry, the rations, the fortification of the camp, the agger ? He will
find such information here stated concisely and interestingly.
Finally a long section (two hundred pages) discusses troublesome
points in the interpretation—the routes open to the Helvetii, the
length of Caesar's march from Vesontio against Ariovistus, the
battle with the Nervii, the place of Caesar's first bridge over the
Rhine and its mode of construction, the Gallic wall, and seventy-
five other essays, some short, some long, but all exhaustive. An
interesting letter is printed in the introduction detailing methods
of excavations employed by Colonel Stoffel, who investigated many
Caesarian sites. Inquiring minds may wish to know how, after a
lapse of two thousand years, it is possible now to identify unques-
tionably the site of one of Caesar's camps. This letter supplies the
information.
This, then, is the plan of the book. It is a vade mecum for every
teacher of Caesar, and while there are conclusions on which scholars
will not agree with Mr. Holmes, points so detailed that we could
hardly enter into a discussion of them here, the volume may be
recommended as reliable and inspiring.
HELPs FoR THE TEACHING OF CAESAR. By G. Lodge, H. H. Hub-
bell, and W. F. Little. Teachers College Record III (May and
September, 1902), pp. I–I41.
138 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
This may justly be regarded as a worthy supplement to the work
of Mr. Holmes, since it deals with the stylistic and syntactical aspects
of Caesar's writings—a subject which lies outside the province of the
latter book. The “Helps” are presented in four sections. The
first is introductory. It reviews the attitude of teachers in recent
years toward the selection of reading-matter for second-year Latin.
The writer (Professor Lodge) favors the retention of Caesar. He
also advises against beginning with the easier books of Caesar—as,
for example, with the second book—on the ground that a break in the
continuity of narrative is fatal to sustained interest. He discusses
the qualifications of secondary Latin teachers, their often inade-
quate preparation, and the books with which they should be familiar
(Mommsen, Merivale, Fowler, Froude, Boissier, Napoleon, Holmes,
Dodge).
The second section, “Studies in the Vocabulary of Caesar,” will
be of practical help to a teacher in determining what words a pupil
should know at the close of the second year. Lists of words are pre-
pared, classified as to parts of speech, and so arranged as to show
their comparative frequency in the Commentaries. It appears from
this study that there are about 2,600 different words in the Bellum
Gallicum, of which 788 are used but once, and 614 occur but two or
three times. Caesar's actual working vocabulary was between 1,200
and 1,300 words only. His vocabulary is shown to be concrete
rather than abstract; verbs abound, as might be expected in a narra-
tive so full of action. Then follow studies in the syntax of Caesar.”
This is an attempt to gather together in groups the prominent fea-
tures of Caesar's syntactical usage. The writer is able thus to point
out the uses of the genitive, of the ablative, of the subjunctive, which
occur most frequently in Caesar. The teacher can, therefore, see
what he should emphasize in the daily recitation. It is not worth
while to burden the pupil’s mind with constructions which are met
with once or twice only in the entire seven books of the Gallic War.
Finally Professor Lodge closes this useful pamphlet with some
interesting and pointed remarks on the literary interpretation of
Caesar. He calls attention to Professor Bennett’s indefensible
* A brief comparative study in syntax is made by J. Lebreton, Caesariana syn-
taxis, quatenus a Ciceroniana differat (Paris, 1901).
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE 139
charge (Teaching of Latin, pp. 112 ft.) of a lack of interest in the
narrative of Caesar. Later (p. 117) Professor Bennett effectively,
though candidly, controverts his own position by saying that many
pupils find Caesar possessed of a positive human interest per se.
Professor Lodge points to the pictorial and imaginative element in
Caesar, the rapid description and character-sketching, which en-
liven and embellish many pages of the Commentaries. Numerous
illustrations are given.
PoRTRAITUREs of JULIUS CAESAR: A MonoGRAPH. By Frank J.
Scott. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1903. $5 net.
Although possessing great human interest, the study of ancient
portraits is most elusive because of the difficulty of absolute identifi-
cation. There are comparatively few men of antiquity, barring
the Roman emperors, whose features we are able to identify beyond
all question in existing portraits. Our sources of information con-
sist chiefly in coins, occasionally also in inscriptions, mosaics, histori-
cal groups, and descriptions in extant literature.
The authority for the identification of the likenesses of Julius
Caesar consists chiefly in coins. Guided by these and by literary
accounts of the dictator's personal appearance, scholars have fixed
upon certain portraits which they suppose to represent him. In the
work before us Mr. Scott has gathered together over eighty portraits.
It is practically certain that they do not all portray the great com-
mander," but the author of the book has rendered a service in present-
ing within two covers a list and description of so many supposed
copies. An especially interesting exhibition is the view (Plate XII)
showing fifteen of the notable busts of Caesar ranged side by side, so
that one may compare striking physiognomic peculiarities. The
book, which is illustrated with thirty-eight full-page plates and forty-
nine cuts in the text, will appeal to the general reader, and may
possibly be used to advantage in the schoolroom. While an artist and
possessing a correct sense of proportion, Mr. Scott is not always
* An interesting iconographic study is made by Professor Jesse B. Carter in the
Princeton University Bulletin XIV (1903), pp. 55, 56. The conjecture is there
offered that the well-known basalt head (Berlin Museum, No. 291, figured in Mr. Scott's
book, Plate XXV), supposed by some to represent Caesar, is in reality a portrait of
Virgil.
I4O THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
scholarly in his methods or conclusions, and there are frequent slips
in diction and fact that will shock and grieve the classicist. Those
interested will find an article also on “The Likenesses of Julius
Caesar,” by John C. Ropes, in Scribner's Magazine for February,
1887, which is subject to a similar criticism.
5
In an article entitled “Caesar's Rhine Bridge,” in the Classical
Review XVI (1902), pp. 29–34, J. H. Taylor advocates a simple and
natural mode of construction, one which follows Caesar's explicit
directions for the building of the famous bridge. Most critics have
reconstructed it as they thought Caesar might or could have built it,
not as he actually says he did. Nearly every detail is noticed by
Mr. Taylor. The fibulae, he supposes, were poles six or seven feet
in length placed in the acute angles between the up-stream tigma
bina and trabes, and in the obtuse angles between the down-
stream tigma bina and trabes; the ends of each pair of fibulae which
projected beyond the tigma on either side of the trabs were then firmly
lashed together. With this arrangement it would be true that “as the
force of the current waxed stronger, the timbers of the bridge were
more firmly bound together.” Other notes on the reconstruction of the
bridge will be found in Classical Review XIII (1899), pp. 407-9
and 462.
The best and fullest commentary on the events of the Seventh
book and their political significance is to be found in
VERCINGETORIX. By Camille Jullian. 2d ed., 406 pp. Paris, 1902.
This work treats in a most entertaining manner of the country,
people, religion, and government of the Arverni, of the personal
character and career of Vercingetorix, of the events at Gergovia and
Alesia, and of the final subjugation and Romanizing of Gaul. Ten
plates illumine the text. A companion volume is
GALLIA: Tableau de la Gaule sous la domination romaine. By
Camille Jullian. Paris, 1902.
There is a revival of interest in the Gallic sites which figured in
Caesar's Commentaries. Alesia, it is reported, is to be completely
excavated. On the east end of the plateau of Gergovia and in a public
square of the neighboring city of Clermont-Ferrand local pride has
lately erected monuments to the memory of the first great Gallic
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE 141
leader, Vercingetorix. An interesting guide-book recently written
for Bibracte (modern Mont Beuvray) is
L’OPPIDUM DE BIBRACTE: Guide du touriste et de l'archéologue. By
J. Déchelette. 79 pp., with I map, I plan, and 27 cuts. Paris,
I904.
This is a brief history of the excavations carried on by M. Bulliot in
1867–95, while in the following,
LEs FouillEs DU MonT BEUVRAY DE 1897 A 1901. By J. Déche-
lette. 189 pp., with 26 plates. Paris, 1904,
we have an account of the excavations made since M. Bulliot's activ-
ity. It contains descriptions of the iron-molder's shop, the bathing
establishment, houses, coins found from 1867 to 1898, and other inter-
esting remains. Gallic coins to the number of 1,033, and 84 Roman
coins, were discovered. Of the latter 54 were of the time of Augus-
tus. With these books should be associated the delightful volume,
THE MoUNT AND THE CITY OF AUTUN. By P. G. Hamerton. Lon-
don, 1897.
In the monograph,
BIBRACTE: EINE KRIEGSGESCHICHTLICHE STUDIE. By H. Bircher,
28 pp., with 3 plates. Aarau, 1904,
sixteen pages are devoted to an interesting account of Bibracte as
revealed by the excavations. This is followed by a new explanation
of the movement of forces at the battle between the Romans and
Helvetians (Bell. Gall. i. 24–27). In order to explain the trouble-
some latere aperto (see Holmes 614–17), Bircher supposes that when
the Helvetians, vulneribus defessi (chap. 25), began to retreat, they did
not flee northward, but toward the southwest; that is, that the mons
in question was not the elevation on which Montmort is located, but
the slope south of the Auzon. By this plan, when the Romans pur-
sued the Helvetians, the Boii and Tulingi, advancing straight eastward,
attacked the enemy on the right (unprotected) flank. This would
seem an easy explanation, if it were not for Caesar's descriptive
circumvenere. This can be taken in a literal sense only, and can mean
nothing with Bircher's plan. Stoffel's arrangement fits the condi-
tions better, and better accords with the topography of the place.
As the Romans followed the fleeing Helvetians northward, the for-
I42 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
mer's unprotected side was toward the east. The Boii and Tulingi,
therefore, in order to attack them latere aperto, were compelled to
pass around the Romans’ rear.
Another work which discusses the same battle topographically
and defends Caesar's credibility is
DIE GLAUBWüRDIGKEIT CAESARS IN SEINEM BERICHT iſBER DEM
FELDZUG GEGEN DIE HELVETIER. By Fr. Fröhlich. 39 pp.,
with 4 maps. Aarau, 1903.
A new theory for the location of the battle described in Bell.
Gall. viii. 57–62 is advanced in “La Bataille de Paris,” by H. Siegler-
schmidt, in the Revue archéologique, 1905, pp. 257-71. The Gallic
camp is placed at St. Cloud and the Roman camp exactly opposite
on the other side of the river. See Holmes's map, facing p. 129.
The famous silver vase which was discovered in 1862 in one of
the trenches of circumvallation at Alesia is now adequately pub-
lished in Monuments et mémoires (Foundation Piot) IX (1903),
pp. 179–188, Plate XVI. It is figured also in Kelsey's Caesar (fif-
teenth edition), p. 246.
An effective means in the hands of a well-informed teacher, of
increasing pleasure and profit in reading Caesar, is to be found in a
series of excellent photographs of Caesarian sites, taken by Principal
George R. Swain, of Bay City, Mich. In the summer of 1899 Mr.
Swain visited all the most important localities mentioned in the Com-
mentaries and took representative views of each, keeping constantly in
mind the needs and interests of high-school pupils. About two hundred
and fifty photographs were taken. In a recent catalogue, which anyone
may obtain by applying to Mr. Swain, these views are classified by sec-
tions of the Gallic War. For example, chaps. 21–29 of the first book
are illustrated by twenty-four views. Four of these show Mont Beu-
vray from almost every side. Others show the place where the Hel-
vetians encamped, the slope down which Caesar drove them, and the
site of the final struggle around the baggage. In other interesting
views we see the hill of Plettig, where Caesar met Ariovistus for the
conference; a panorama of the battlefield where Roman met Teuton;
the site of the conflict with the Belgians, and the bridge at Berry-au-
Bac; high hedges in the territory of the Nervii; the Rhine where Caesar
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE I43
probably crossed; the chalk cliffs of Dover; Gergovia and vicinity
from many points of view; Alesia and surrounding country. Any
pupil must be dull, indeed, who fails to respond with enthusiasm
to the teacher who shows and explains these photographs intelli-
gently. They will quicken interest in the study of Caesar. Much,
however, depends upon the instructor in charge. It is not enough
for him to say merely, “This is Bibracte.” He must also interpret
it in its ancient and modern relations. The successful use of these
photographs, as of other illustrative material, will cause many teach-
ers to inform themselves on an interesting phase of their subject,
the topographical phase, which doubtless they have not had opportu-
nity to study. Most schools will not find it difficult to acquire a rep-
resentative selection at least of Mr. Swain's views. Schools possess-
ing a stereopticon lantern may secure slides also. Apropos of this,
the teacher's attention is directed to “The Stereopticon in Secondary
Teaching,” by George R. Swain, in School Review X (1902), pp. 146–
53; “In the Footsteps of Caesar in Gaul,” by George R. Swain,
ibid., pp. 392–94, and XI (1903), pp. 416, 417; and “A Visit to the
Battlefields of Caesar,” by Walter Dennison, ibid. XIII (1905),
pp. I39-49.
A recent topographical contribution, not mentioned by Holmes,
IS
CAESAR’s RHEINFESTUNG. By H. Nissen und C. Koenen. With
9 plates and I plan in the text. Bonn, 1899.
This monograph gives an account of the convincing results of exca-
vations carried on from October, 1898, to March, 1899, just below
Urmitz, on the left bank of the Rhine. This town is about half-
way between Coblenz and Andernach. The excavations prove
almost conclusively that this was the point at which Caesar built
his second bridge across the Rhine in 53 B. c. Two kinds of con-
struction are identified, one of smaller extent, the remains of a fort
built by Drusus in the year 12 B. C., the other much larger and nearly
semicircular in shape, belonging to the camp which Caesar estab-
lished to defend the west end of the bridge. There are important
considerations which make this identification extremely probable,
and teachers may with confidence adopt this site. There is evidence
at hand that the first bridge was built about three-quarters of a mile
I44 THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL
below, just above the island of Thurmer Werth. Those who do
not have access to the work of Nissen and Koenen can form an idea
of its value from a review in the Nation LXXII (May 30, 1901),
PP. 439, 440.
Inexpensive illustrative material is provided by
ANSCHAUUNGSTAFELN zu CAESARS BELLUM GALLICUM. By L. Gur-
litt. I, Castra Romana; II, Alesia; III, Caesaris cum Ariovisto
colloquium; IV, Vercingetorix cum nonnullis principibus Gallo-
rum; V, Exercitus Caesaris in Brittaniam exponitur; VI, Avaricum
a Caesare oppugnatum. Gotha: Perthes, 1898 and 1901. These
plates are about 24×36 inches, are accompanied by a leaf of
explanatory text, and cost about 60 cents each.
In the past five years many articles have appeared in American and
English periodicals, some of which for lack of space may not even
be mentioned here. Interesting is “Caesar's Account of the
Animals in the Hercynian Forest (De bello Gallico vi. 25–28),”
by Grace G. Begle, in the School Review VIII (1900), pp. 457–65,
written in defense of Caesar's descriptions of these curious crea-
tures. It is shown that the story is not at all absurd, when viewed
in the light of early and contemporary knowledge. Teachers will
read also with profit “Caesar's Conception of Fortuna,” by W. W.
Fowler, in Classical Review XVII (1903), pp. 153–56. Of a peda-
gogical nature and worthy of careful reading also are: “Caesar as a
Text-Book,” by F. H. Howard, in School Review V (1897), pp. 561–
87, summarizing an important article in German on the propriety of
retaining Caesar in the secondary school; “Caesar, or Substitutes
for Caesar,” by F. O. Bates, ibid. VIII (1900), pp. 324–30, in which
the view is held that Caesar should not be abolished, but a con-
siderable amount of easy Latin should precede; “The Reading of
Second-Year Latin,” by H. W. Johnston, ibid. X (1902), pp. 69–76,
ascribing the lack of success in the second year to the failure of the
teacher so to assign the lessons and conduct the recitation that the
pupil may make adequate preparation, as he does for a lesson in
algebra; and “The Nature of Culture Studies,” by R. M. Wenley,
ibid. XIII (1905), pp. 441-57–a common-sense statement by a
professor of philosophy of the disciplinary value of classical study.
This article is especially recommended to secondary teachers of
RECENT CAESAR LITERATURE I45
Latin for prayerful perusal. It will help to answer many questions
put to them by solicitous but uninformed parents with reference to
the advisability of their children studying Latin and Greek.
Of a general nature is “Extracts from a Teacher's Note Book,”
by John C. Rolfe, in the Latin Leaflet, 1905, Nos. 112–16, and “How Is
the Classical Course to Be Made More Attractive to High-School
Students P” in School Review XII (1904), pp. 365–70.
Teachers are also recommended to put in the hands of their pupils
the interesting novel, A Friend of Caesar, by W. S. Davis (New York:
The Macmillan Co., 1900). The story presents a faithful picture
of the Imperator. It emphasizes his personal qualities, and will be
read with delight and profit. -
UNIVERSITY OF MICH|GAN
iii.
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