§56reliquit et rerum suarum commentarios Gallici ciuilisque belli Pompeiani.
He also left memoirs of his own deeds, of the Gallic War and of the Civil War with Pompey.
nam Alexandrini Africique et Hispaniensis incertus auctor est: alii Oppium putant, alii Hirtium, qui etiam Gallici belli nouissimum imperfectumque librum suppleuerit.
For the author of the Alexandrian, African, and Spanish wars is uncertain: some think it was Oppius, others Hirtius, who also completed the last and unfinished book of the Gallic War.
de commentariis Caesaris Cicero in eodem Bruto sic refert:
'commentarios scripsit ualde quidem probandos: nudi sunt, recti et uenusti, omni ornatu orationis tamquam ueste detracta; sed dum uoluit alios habere parata, unde sumerent qui uellent scribere historiam, ineptis gratum fortasse fecit, qui illa uolent calamistris inurere, sanos quidem homines a scribendo deterruit. '
de isdem commentariis Hirtius ita praedicat: 'adeo probantur omnium iudicio, ut praerepta, non praebita facultas scriptoribus uideatur.
Concerning Caesar's memoirs, Cicero reports as follows in the same Brutus: 'He wrote memoirs that are indeed highly to be approved: they are bare, straight, and graceful, with all rhetorical ornament stripped away like a garment; but while he wished to have materials ready from which those who wanted to write history might draw, he perhaps did a favor to foolish people who will want to apply curling irons to them, but he deterred sane men from writing.' Of the same memoirs Hirtius declares thus: 'They are so approved by the judgment of all, that the opportunity seems to have been snatched from writers, not offered to them.
cuius tamen rei maior nostra quam reliquorum est admiratio; ceteri enim, quam bene atque emendate, nos etiam, quam facile atque celeriter eos perscripserit, scimus. '
Pollio Asinius parum diligenter parumque integra ueritate compositos putat, cum Caesar pleraque et quae per alios erant gesta temere crediderit et quae per se, uel consulto uel etiam memoria lapsus perperam ediderit; existimatque rescripturum et correcturum fuisse.
Yet our admiration of this is greater than that of others; for while others know how well and faultlessly, we also know how easily and rapidly he completed them.' Asinius Pollio thinks they were composed with too little care and with less than whole truth, since Caesar rashly believed many things done by others and published incorrectly what was done by himself, either on purpose or through a lapse of memory; and he thinks he would have rewritten and corrected them.
reliquit et 'de analogia' duos libros et 'Anticatones' totidem ac praeterea poema quod inscribitur Iter.
He also left two books 'On Analogy', the same number of 'Anticatones', and besides a poem entitled 'The Journey'.
quorum librorum primos in transitu Alpium, cum ex citeriore Gallia conuentibus peractis ad exercitum rediret, sequentes sub tempus Mundensis proelii fecit; nouissimum, dum ab urbe in Hispaniam ulteriorem quarto et uicensimo die peruenit.
Of these books, he composed the first during his passage of the Alps, when he was returning to his army from Nearer Gaul after holding assemblies; the next around the time of the Battle of Munda; and the last while he reached Further Spain from the city in twenty-four days.
epistulae quoque eius ad senatum extant, quas primum uidetur ad paginas et formam memorialis libelli conuertisse, cum antea consules et duces non nisi transuersa charta scriptas mitterent.
His letters to the senate are also extant, which he seems to have been the first to turn into pages and the form of a memorial notebook, whereas previously consuls and generals sent them only written on sheets across.
extant et ad Ciceronem, item ad familiares domesticis de rebus, in quibus, si qua occultius perferenda erant, per notas scripsit, id est sic structo litterarum ordine, ut nullum uerbum effici posset: quae si qui inuestigare et persequi uelit, quartam elementorum litteram, id est D pro A et perinde reliquas commutet.
There are also extant letters to Cicero, and likewise to his intimates on domestic affairs, in which, if anything was to be conveyed secretly, he wrote in cipher, that is, with the order of letters so arranged that no word could be formed: if anyone wishes to investigate and follow these, he must substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet, that is, D for A and so with the rest.
feruntur et †aituero ab adulescentulo quaedam scripta, ut 'Laudes Herculis,' tragoedia 'Oedipus,' item 'Dicta collectanea': quos omnis libellos uetuit Augustus publicari in epistula, quam breuem admodum ac simplicem ad Pompeium Macrum, cui ordinandas bibliothecas delegauerat, misit.
There are also carried about some things written as a youth, such as 'The Praises of Hercules', the tragedy 'Oedipus', and also 'Collected Sayings': all of which notebooks Augustus forbade to be published in a letter, which was very brief and simple, sent to Pompeius Macer, to whom he had delegated the organizing of the libraries.
§57Armorum et equitandi peritissimus, laboris ultra fidem patiens erat.
He was highly skilled in arms and horsemanship, and patient of labor beyond belief.
in agmine nonnumquam equo, sae pius pedibus anteibat, capite detecto, seu sol seu imber esset; longissimas uias incredibili celeritate confecit, expeditus, meritoria raeda, centena passuum milia in singulos dies; si flumina morarentur, nando traiciens uel innixus inflatis utribus, ut persaepe nuntios de se praeuenerit.
On the march he went ahead sometimes on horseback, more often on foot, with his head bare, whether there was sun or rain; he completed very long journeys with incredible speed, unencumbered, in a hired carriage, covering a hundred miles in a single day; if rivers delayed him, crossing by swimming or supported on inflated skins, so that he very often anticipated messengers about himself.
§58in obeundis expeditionibus dubium cautior an audentior, exercitum neque per insidiosa itinera duxit umquam nisi perspeculatus locorum situs, neque in Britanniam transuexit, nisi ante per se portus et nauigationem et accessum ad insulam explorasset.
In conducting expeditions, it is doubtful whether he was more cautious or more daring; he never led his army through treacherous routes unless he had thoroughly reconnoitered the geography of the places, nor did he cross to Britain unless he had first explored in person the harbors, the navigation, and the approach to the island.
at idem obsessione castrorum in Germania nuntiata per stationes hostium Gallico habitu penetrauit ad suos.
Yet the same man, when the blockade of a camp in Germany was reported, penetrated to his men through the enemy's sentries in Gallic dress.
a Brundisio Dyrrachium inter oppositas classes hieme transmisit cessantibusque copiis, quas subsequi iusserat, cum ad accersendas frustra saepe misisset, nouissime ipse clam noctu paruulum nauigium solus obuoluto capite conscendit, neque aut quis esset ante detexit aut gubernatorem cedere aduersae tempestati passus est quam paene obrutus fluctibus.
From Brundisium to Dyrrachium he crossed in winter between opposing fleets, and when the troops he had ordered to follow delayed, though he had often sent in vain to summon them, at last he himself secretly by night boarded a small vessel alone with his head wrapped up, nor did he reveal who he was or permit the pilot to yield to the adverse gale until he was almost overwhelmed by the waves.
§59ne religione quidem ulla a quoquam incepto absterritus umquam uel retardatus est.
He was never deterred or delayed from any undertaking by any superstition.
cum immolanti aufugisset hostia, profectionem aduersus Scipionem et Iubam non distulit.
When the victim escaped from him as he was sacrificing, he did not postpone his departure against Scipio and Juba.
prolapsus etiam in egressu nauis uerso ad melius omine: 'teneo te,' inquit, 'Africa. ' ad eludendas autem uaticinationes, quibus felix et inuictum in ea prouincia fataliter Scipionum nomen ferebatur, despectissimum quendam ex Corneliorum genere, cui ad opprobrium uitae Saluitoni cognomen erat, in castris secum habuit.
Having also slipped and fallen on stepping out of his ship, he turned the omen to a better meaning, saying, 'I hold you fast, Africa.' Moreover, to elude the prophecies by which the name of the Scipios was said to be fatally lucky and invincible in that province, he kept with him in camp a most despised man of the Cornelian family, who had the surname Saluito as a reproach to his life.