History of Julius Cæsar, Vol. 2 of 2

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                                HISTORY

                                  OF

                             JULIUS CÆSAR.

                       [Illustration: colophon]

                               VOL. II.

                           THE WARS IN GAUL.

                               NEW YORK:
                    HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
                           FRANKLIN SQUARE.
                                 1866.




PUBLISHER’S NOTE.


It is, perhaps, not without interest, in publishing the second volume of
the History of Julius Cæsar, written by the Emperor Napoleon III., to
call to memory the names of Sovereigns and Princes who have employed
themselves upon the same subject.

_The King of France, Charles VIII._, showed an especial admiration for
the _Commentaries_ of Cæsar, and the celebrated monk, Robert Gaguin,
presented to him, in 1480, the translation he had made in French of the
eight books of the War in Gaul. We are informed of this in the edition
of the _translation_ by the learned monk, printed in 1500. This edition,
in large 4to, is from the press of Antoine Verard. (See J. Ch. Brunet,
_Manuel du Libraire et de l’Amateur de Livres_, fourth edition, tom. I.,
p. 518, and the _Biographie Universelle_, article _Charles VIII._)

_Charles V._, who professed a great admiration for Cæsar, left a copy of
the _Commentaries_ filled with marginal notes, written with his own
hand. It was at his instigation that the Viceroy of Sicily, Ferdinand
Gonzaga, sent a scientific mission into France to study Cæsar’s
campaigns on the localities. The forty plans which were made by the
members of this commission, and among which that of Alise is found, were
published in 1575, in the edition of James Strada.

_The Sultan Soliman II._, contemporary of Charles V., whom he had taken
for his model, sent through all Europe to procure as many copies of
Cæsar’s _Commentaries_ as could be found, which he ordered to be
collated, and caused a translation to be made into the Turkish language
for his own daily reading.

_The King of France, Henri IV._, translated the two first books of
Cæsar’s _Commentaries_. The manuscript of this translation was deposited
in the Bibliothèque du Roi, and M. des Noyers took it thence to deliver
it to Louis XIII., who, in his turn, translated the two last books of
the _Commentaries_. These two translations were joined together, and
printed at the Louvre in 1630.

_Louis XIV._ translated the first book of the _Commentaries_. His
translation was printed at Paris in 1651, in folio, with figures. This
work has not been reprinted; it is now very rare. The reader may consult
on this subject the _Méthode d’étudier l’Histoire_ of the Abbé
Lenglet-Dufresnoy, tom. II., p. 481; and J. Ch. Brunet, _Manuel du
Libraire et de l’Amateur de Livres_, fourth edition, tom. I., p. 519.

_The great Condé_, who had studied with care the campaigns of Cæsar,
encouraged the translation of the _Commentaries_ undertaken by Nicolas
Perrot d’Ablancourt; it was the translation most esteemed and the most
in vogue during the last century.

_Christina, Queen of Sweden_, had composed _Reflections on the Life and
Actions of Cæsar_, as we are informed by J. Arckenholz in his work
entitled _Mémoires concernant Christine, Reine de Suède_, Amsterdam,
1751-1760, tom. IV., No. 6, p. 4.

_Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans_, surnamed _Egalité_, was a great
reader of the _Commentaries_. He caused a map of Cæsar’s campaigns in
Gaul to be made.

Lastly, _the Emperor Napoleon I._, at St. Helena, dictated a _Précis des
Guerres de César_ to Comte Marchand, who published it in Paris in 1836,
in 8vo.




CONTENTS.

BOOK III.

THE WARS IN GAUL, AFTER THE “COMMENTARIES.”


CHAPTER I.

POLITICAL CAUSES OF THE GALLIC WAR.
                                                                    PAGE

I. ENTERPRISING CHARACTER OF THE GAULS.                                1

II. WARS OF THE ROMANS BEYOND THE ALPS.                                3

III. CONTINUAL PRE-OCCUPATION OF THE ROMANS IN REGARD TO THE
GAULS.                                                                 7

IV. PLAN FOLLOWED IN THE RELATION OF THE WAR IN GAUL.                 13


CHAPTER II.

STATE OF GAUL IN THE TIME OF CÆSAR.

I. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. (_See Plate 1._)                         15

II. POLITICAL DIVISIONS. (_See Plate 2._)                             22

III. MANNERS.                                                         32

IV. INSTITUTIONS.                                                     41


CHAPTER III.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE HELVETII.

(Year of Rome 696.)

(BOOK I.