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The Commentaries
Julius Caesar wrote his exciting Commentaries during some of the most grueling campaigns ever undertaken by a Roman army. The Gallic Wars and The Civil Wars constitute the greatest series of military dispatches ever written. As literature, they are representative of the finest expressions of Latin prose in its "golden" age, a benchmark of elegant style and masculine brevity imitated by young schoolboys for centuries.
One of the most daring and brilliant generals of all time, Julius Caesar combined the elements of tactical genius with the shrewdness of a master politician. He was an astute judge of men's character - their strengths and weaknesses. Whenever possible, he exercised restraint and mercy even when his worst enemies were in his power. But he also knew when and how to mete out stern punishment and his swift retaliations became a hallmark of his career. With his charismatic leadership, his powerful intellect and his magnetic personal charm, Julius Caesar became the idol of men and women everywhere. The fanatic loyalty of his troops and the adulation of the Roman public propelled him to the pinnacle of power. Historian Will Durant called him "the most complete man that antiquity produced."
Follow along in this recording as Julius Caesar in 50 B.C. undertakes the awesome enterprise of subduing savage Gaul, an area roughly the size of Texas. That task was barely completed before his enemies in Rome struck, igniting the bloody Civil War that engulfed most of the Roman Empire and afterward left Caesar in supreme power.
One of the most daring and brilliant generals of all time, Julius Caesar combined the elements of tactical genius with the shrewdness of a master politician. He was an astute judge of men's character - their strengths and weaknesses. Whenever possible, he exercised restraint and mercy even when his worst enemies were in his power. But he also knew when and how to mete out stern punishment and his swift retaliations became a hallmark of his career. With his charismatic leadership, his powerful intellect and his magnetic personal charm, Julius Caesar became the idol of men and women everywhere. The fanatic loyalty of his troops and the adulation of the Roman public propelled him to the pinnacle of power. Historian Will Durant called him "the most complete man that antiquity produced."
Follow along in this recording as Julius Caesar in 50 B.C. undertakes the awesome enterprise of subduing savage Gaul, an area roughly the size of Texas. That task was barely completed before his enemies in Rome struck, igniting the bloody Civil War that engulfed most of the Roman Empire and afterward left Caesar in supreme power.
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Published June 16, 2009
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About the author
Gaius Julius Caesar
2,021 books548 followersborn 12 July 100 BC
died 15 March 44 BC
Statesman and historian Julius Caesar, fully named Gaius Julius Caesar, general, invaded Britain in 55 BC, crushed the army of the politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 48 BC, pursued other enemies to Egypt, installed Cleopatra as queen in 47 BC, and returned to Rome, and the people in 45 BC gave him a mandate to rule as dictator for life; Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus feared that he intended to establish a monarchy and led a group of republicans, who on 15 March 44 BC murdered him.
Marcus Licinius Crassus joined Caesar and Pompey in the first triumvirate to challenge the power of the senate in 60 BC.
Pompey with Caesar and Crassus formed a ruling triumvirate from 60 BC to 53 BC, but Caesar later defeated Pompey.
Caesar conquered Iberian peoples of Aquitania in 56 BC.
Cassius led members of the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar.
Brutus conspired to assassinate Caesar.
After his assassination, Gaius Octavius, his grandnephew, in 44 BC took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, to whom English texts often refer simply as Octavian.
He notably authored Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events to the demise and the rise of the empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus formed an alliance that dominated for several years. Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Marcus Tullius Cicero among the Optimates within the senate opposed their attempts to amass power as Populares.
Victories of Caesar in the Gallic wars, completed before 51 BC, extended territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar first then built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the channel.
After the death of Crassus in 53 BC, his rival realigned with the senate, but these achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing. With the Gallic wars concluded, the senate ordered Caesar to step from his military.
Caesar refused the order and instead crossed the Rubicon with the thirteenth legion, left his province, and illegally entered Italy under arms to mark his defiance in 49 BC. Civil war resulted, and victory put Caesar him in an unrivalled position of power and influence.
Julius Caesar assumed control of government and afterward began a program of social reforms, including the creation of the calendar. He centralized the bureaucracy, and proclamation "in perpetuity" eventually gave him additional authority. Nevertheless, people resolved not the underlying conflicts, and on the ides, 15 March 44 BC, rebellious senators assassinated Caesar.
We know much from own accounts of military campaigns of Caesar and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the writings of Gaius Sallustius Crispus. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus and Mestrius Plutarchus wrote the later biographies, also major sources. Many people consider supreme military greatness of Caesar.
People regarded Caesar during his time of the best orators and prose authors in Latin; even Cicero spoke highly of his rhetoric and style. Only war commentaries of Caesar survived. From other works, other authors quote a few sentences. He wrote his funeral oration for Julia, his paternal aunt, among his lost works. Cicero published praise; in response, he wrote Anticato , a document, to defame Cato. Ancient sources also mention poems of Julius Caesar.
A new series of civil wars broke, and people never restored the constitutional government. Octavian, adopted heir of Gaius Julius Caesar, defeated his opponents in the civil war and afterward rose to sole power as Augustus. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the empire began.
died 15 March 44 BC
Statesman and historian Julius Caesar, fully named Gaius Julius Caesar, general, invaded Britain in 55 BC, crushed the army of the politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 48 BC, pursued other enemies to Egypt, installed Cleopatra as queen in 47 BC, and returned to Rome, and the people in 45 BC gave him a mandate to rule as dictator for life; Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus feared that he intended to establish a monarchy and led a group of republicans, who on 15 March 44 BC murdered him.
Marcus Licinius Crassus joined Caesar and Pompey in the first triumvirate to challenge the power of the senate in 60 BC.
Pompey with Caesar and Crassus formed a ruling triumvirate from 60 BC to 53 BC, but Caesar later defeated Pompey.
Caesar conquered Iberian peoples of Aquitania in 56 BC.
Cassius led members of the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar.
Brutus conspired to assassinate Caesar.
After his assassination, Gaius Octavius, his grandnephew, in 44 BC took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, to whom English texts often refer simply as Octavian.
He notably authored Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events to the demise and the rise of the empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus formed an alliance that dominated for several years. Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Marcus Tullius Cicero among the Optimates within the senate opposed their attempts to amass power as Populares.
Victories of Caesar in the Gallic wars, completed before 51 BC, extended territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar first then built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the channel.
After the death of Crassus in 53 BC, his rival realigned with the senate, but these achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing. With the Gallic wars concluded, the senate ordered Caesar to step from his military.
Caesar refused the order and instead crossed the Rubicon with the thirteenth legion, left his province, and illegally entered Italy under arms to mark his defiance in 49 BC. Civil war resulted, and victory put Caesar him in an unrivalled position of power and influence.
Julius Caesar assumed control of government and afterward began a program of social reforms, including the creation of the calendar. He centralized the bureaucracy, and proclamation "in perpetuity" eventually gave him additional authority. Nevertheless, people resolved not the underlying conflicts, and on the ides, 15 March 44 BC, rebellious senators assassinated Caesar.
We know much from own accounts of military campaigns of Caesar and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the writings of Gaius Sallustius Crispus. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus and Mestrius Plutarchus wrote the later biographies, also major sources. Many people consider supreme military greatness of Caesar.
People regarded Caesar during his time of the best orators and prose authors in Latin; even Cicero spoke highly of his rhetoric and style. Only war commentaries of Caesar survived. From other works, other authors quote a few sentences. He wrote his funeral oration for Julia, his paternal aunt, among his lost works. Cicero published praise; in response, he wrote Anticato , a document, to defame Cato. Ancient sources also mention poems of Julius Caesar.
A new series of civil wars broke, and people never restored the constitutional government. Octavian, adopted heir of Gaius Julius Caesar, defeated his opponents in the civil war and afterward rose to sole power as Augustus. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the empire began.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 13, 2016
My dudes killed 69200 people... Probably mostly noncombatants including women and children. But it was a long day, the seige was hard, I mean, it happens, right? Besides like 800 managed to make it to the next camp over so it's not like we killed ALL of them. Upshot? Next town over the women stood over the ramparts and flashed us while begging us not to kill them like we had the others. It was like a Roman flavored Mardi Gras. No beads though..." - J Caesizzle, sometime prior to the Battle of Alesia
I once argued with someone smarter than me. This is not new. This is in fact a currency of my existence. It is my happiness, the greatest and most longed for memory of my collegiate career.
But I digress.
Worse than arguing with someone smarter than me, I was arguing against a classicist. That's right, I, the purveyor of simple creative endeavors was arguing with the vein of human being whose greatest passion was not only the foundation of Western thought, but of logic as well.
And I had dissed the Commentaries of Julius Cesear.
You may ask yourself, how did that argument go?
I don't remember. What I do remember is the shame, self doubt, and anxious heat buckling across my seat as the professor walked in and our Norse Literature lecture began.
So after many years I have decided to try again. Things went about as could be expected.
At first it was tedious. Much of it was but as I read further the more a painting slowly came to be recognizable. A landscape scratched through time, stone, and translation and my cynicism shed to something different: fascination.
A started filling in the holes forcing the human interactions that Julius cared nothing for and by empathy I made myself settle into the words on the page.
Sometimes. Just as suddenly as I grew comfortable I would feel suddenly drawn back to gnawing tedium.
There are issues. Dozens to me. Things that irritate me like a rash caught in foreign land but it is a rare journey to not catch something while traveling back in time.
At its heart this book is not for me. I don't care for tactics, I don't care for war. I understand them, but to linger on them, to lose ones self in writing description is to lose me as well. This book rightfully has its place in history, it doesn't have a place in mine. For no other reason than that the reasons I read, the reasons I write, lay in this book like lone raindrops cast over a desert stained with blood.
I once argued with someone smarter than me. This is not new. This is in fact a currency of my existence. It is my happiness, the greatest and most longed for memory of my collegiate career.
But I digress.
Worse than arguing with someone smarter than me, I was arguing against a classicist. That's right, I, the purveyor of simple creative endeavors was arguing with the vein of human being whose greatest passion was not only the foundation of Western thought, but of logic as well.
And I had dissed the Commentaries of Julius Cesear.
You may ask yourself, how did that argument go?
I don't remember. What I do remember is the shame, self doubt, and anxious heat buckling across my seat as the professor walked in and our Norse Literature lecture began.
So after many years I have decided to try again. Things went about as could be expected.
At first it was tedious. Much of it was but as I read further the more a painting slowly came to be recognizable. A landscape scratched through time, stone, and translation and my cynicism shed to something different: fascination.
A started filling in the holes forcing the human interactions that Julius cared nothing for and by empathy I made myself settle into the words on the page.
Sometimes. Just as suddenly as I grew comfortable I would feel suddenly drawn back to gnawing tedium.
There are issues. Dozens to me. Things that irritate me like a rash caught in foreign land but it is a rare journey to not catch something while traveling back in time.
At its heart this book is not for me. I don't care for tactics, I don't care for war. I understand them, but to linger on them, to lose ones self in writing description is to lose me as well. This book rightfully has its place in history, it doesn't have a place in mine. For no other reason than that the reasons I read, the reasons I write, lay in this book like lone raindrops cast over a desert stained with blood.
June 20, 2025
Great Red Rising prequel
May 1, 2017
This was a very hard book to get through. Hundreds of thousands would die and amount to only a line, thousands of women and children made slaves and they were just numbers, entire battalions would be culled and it'd be a battlefield tactic. As I said, difficult to get through but get through I did. Because you see, it is easy for us to judge a general from so many centuries ago from our armchairs. The rules of power were different in those days, you either killed or died on the way up the ladder of power. So, I suspended retrospective judgement and saw what the memoir for what it as worth. Just another person's diary, a gory one, but a diary nevertheless.
Please read this book. Not because Caesar was great but to know that even ordinary men are only a sword and a reason away from killing one another. End of the day, Caesar, when stripped of the hero image and his halo of invincibility dimmed down was just another guy with a sword and a reason to kill.
Marking this book for a five star only because that if it weren't for him recording his notes, we wouldn't know what to do when the next Caesar of our century showed up.
Please read this book. Not because Caesar was great but to know that even ordinary men are only a sword and a reason away from killing one another. End of the day, Caesar, when stripped of the hero image and his halo of invincibility dimmed down was just another guy with a sword and a reason to kill.
Marking this book for a five star only because that if it weren't for him recording his notes, we wouldn't know what to do when the next Caesar of our century showed up.
December 19, 2014
Leaps off the page, showcasing Caesar's insightful narrative abilities.
April 30, 2016
I was impressed when Caesar was willing to give credit to others for his victories. I thought this only covered the Gaulic campaign but he covers the civil war with Pompeii as well.
February 27, 2020
Glad I finally got around to this.
The translation was pretty straightforward and clear to understand. Shoutout to my boys Titus Pullo & Lucius Vorenus :P
The translation was pretty straightforward and clear to understand. Shoutout to my boys Titus Pullo & Lucius Vorenus :P
March 20, 2022
Insane mf, but I really enjoyed the campaign
February 1, 2023
Caesar's writing style is crisp, direct, matter-of-fact, and organized. While I am confident some of the details are embellished and biased, Caesar's writing style is strong.
July 14, 2025
"Veni, vidi, vici"
March 24, 2022
I didn't finish. I thought it would be translated from Caesar the man himself into English but it was the author's words after they read the original work. It is their commentaries not Caesars. I wanted to hear what Julius Caesar said!
October 7, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this first hand account and was impressed by the spare, descriptive prose which rarely sought to glorify the author - though certainly written in part for political gain. He was clearly an articulate and thoughtful person. As a student of the author and history in general it is very interesting to hear him describe the people he encountered (Germans have bad diets, but are chaste for instance) and the decisions he made during battle or peace negotiations.
I didn't really like the translation I read in that it was overly semantic - bringing the prose directly into mid 20th century English. It seems there could be a better line drawn between word for word and this so that more of the original character were maintained.
I didn't really like the translation I read in that it was overly semantic - bringing the prose directly into mid 20th century English. It seems there could be a better line drawn between word for word and this so that more of the original character were maintained.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews