Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Despite his meticulous attention to matters of diction and style, it is surprisingly difficult to write an explication de texte of a section of Caesar's commentarii. His vocabulary is limited and, on the whole, unmarked; the architectonics, on the level of both sentence and chapter, seem matter of fact; and there are few figures of speech or thought. No passage in either Gallic or Civil War shows the kind of poetic density that a speech of Cato or Sallust does, or a chapter of Livian or Tacitean narrative. This is, of course, deliberate: the impression Caesar seems to have courted was - to use one common metaphor of ancient literary criticism - that of a body without decoration (e.g., Cic. Brut. 262). Yet close analysis of patterns of Caesarian diction consistently bears interpretive fruit; the “natural” appearance of his plots, and their parts, is often deceptive; and the finely crafted whole exhibits its own distinctive poesis. The unadorned body is revealed to be clothed: and Caesarian prose engaged in an elaborate, and elaborated, dance of innumerable veils.This particular analysis will focus on the interaction of style and historiographical meaning in Caesar's narrative of the sea-battles and siege of Massilia (bc 1.34–2.22). An outline of the episode might look like this:1.34–36.4 Caesar arrives at Massilia; failed negotiations; Domitius' preparations (3 chapters).1.36.5–55 ... log in or subscribe to read full text