The Rare Aldine Works of Julius Caesar
Published in Venice in 1569 - An Early Octavo Edition
Beautifully Illustrated
Caesar, Gaius Julius. [OPERE]. COMMENTARIORUM. De bello Gallico Libri VIII. Be bello civili pompeiano. Lib. III. De bello Alexandrino. Lib. I. De bello Africano. Lib. I. De bello Hispaniensi. Lib. I. Galliae, Hispaniae, locorum'q, insignium pictura. Nomina tum uetera, tum recentia, explanata. Var. lect. ex uetustiss. ccodice manuscrip. libellus. CUM SCHOLIIS ERRICI GLAREANI. [With,] IN C. IULII CAESARIS Clariss. Rom. Imperatoris Commentarios de bello Gallico, ac Ciuili, Henrici Glareani, Poetae laureati, ANNOTATIONES. (Venetiis (Venice): Aldus, Ex Bibliotheca Aldina, 1569) First Giunta Edition and one of the earliest 8vo editions of Caesar. Beautifully illustrated with 2 double-page woodcut maps of France and Spain, and of Europe north of the Mediterranean and east into Germania and 5 fine full-page woodcut plates. Engraved Aldine device on the verso of the last leaf and on the title-page. 8vo, bound in old vellum over antique blue boards, the spine lettered in gilt. (12ff), 397 leaves, (1 ff with device mounted on verso). A well preserved copy, the binding strong and tight, the text-block and illustrations also well preserved, occasional Latin notes in a contemporary hand.
RARE. AN ELUSIVE PRINTING OF THE IMPORTANT ALDINE EDITION OF THIS GREAT HISTORICAL MASTERWORK. Despite the fact that Julius Caesar remains one of the most illustrious men in history, only a handful of his extensive writings survive to the present day. This "Opera" contains his primary works, "Commentaries on the Gallic War" and the three books of the Civil Wars in Rome with Pompey, as well as his further works.
Julius Caesar was anxious to establish his own record of his successful campaigns in Gaul from 58 to 52 B.C., which includes the less successful invasion of Britain. To answer those who accused him of purely personal ambition, he wished to appear as a straightforward soldier, fighting wars that were essential to Rome. Fascinating for its insights into a man who shaped the history of the western world, his first-hand account of the Gallic Wars is a crucial source for the history of Britain and Germany as well as Gaul. Books I[VII were probably written year by year, when events were fresh in Caesar's mind and issued together in 51 B.C. Book VII ends with the defeat of Cercingetorix so that Aulus Hirtius (d. 43 B.C.) Caesar's lieutenant in Gaul, took up the narrative in Book VII with th ensuing uprisings and the beginnings of Caesar's disputes with the authorities in Rome.
The "Commentaries" was written not to suggest a history, but rather as a bald record of events. Caesar wished to create an impression that he was just a simple soldier fighting for the good of Rome. It is unique as a contemporary account of a drawn out (nine years) foreign war written by a Roman general, and he has written it in lucid and unrhetorical Latin. The work was probably first published in 51 BC. The books on the Civil War are rather more obviously political, the theme being that his enemies forced the war upon him. The narrative is greatly relieved however by touches of humility and humor. Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 BC. |
