ABSTRACT
Schoolchildren and students who learn the Latin language invariably, once they have learned enough of the basics of grammar, syntax and sentence structure to be let loose on actual passages of Latin prose, find themselves confronted with a paragraph of Caesar’s writings, usually from his de Bello Gallico (On the Gallic War); or at any rate that used to be the case until recently. There are good reasons for this, as we shall see, but the effect has not exactly been to make Caesar a popular writer, even among those who enjoy reading Latin literature. The struggles of fledgling Latinists to make sense of Caesar’s condensed prose too often give them a dislike of a writer who is actually the most readable and engaging of Latin prose authors. It is of course exactly that readability that makes Caesar the favoured author to confront beginners with. Unfortunately, that reputation as an author suited to beginners has tended to disguise the enormous influence Caesar had on the development of Latin prose style, arguably second only to Cicero. Caesar’s lifetime was not only characterized by profound conflict over political and social issues: there was also a less violent but hardly less passionately argued conflict over the Latin language, how it should be spoken and written, and Caesar was one of the protagonists in this conflict.
