Hello Everyone,
My 15 year old son is studying Latin at school and is interested in reading a copy of Caesar’s Gallic Wars. He was hoping for an edition that has both Latin and English Text, maps and commentaries on the text itself by scholars and is not too large so it can fit into a school backpack.
Would anyone be able to recommend a good version with some or all of these traits that we could look for?
Thank you.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Caesar’s Gallic War has the Latin text with a facing English translation. I haven’t seen this particular volume personally, but the Loeb website indicates that it has maps and appendices on the Roman army and Britain. Typically the volumes in this series have little in the way of explanatory notes. Also, this edition is 100+ years old,. and the English translation will likely be somewhat old-fashioned. The format is compact enough for a backpack.
https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL072/1917/volume.xml
Available on Amazon:
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of editions of Greek and Latin authors with text and facing page English translation.
This inexpensive paperback translation in the Oxford World’s Classics series (no Latin text; I haven’t seen this edition myself, either but the volumes in this series that i have seen are generally outstanding) will likely have more explanatory notes and a more modern English translation:
You might think about getting both of these volumes – your son could carry the Loeb edition in his backpack and supplement it with the Oxford World’s Classics translation at home.
The Loeb is probably the only English/Latin language version. But as Hylander points out the English version is over a hundred years old.
James O’Donnell has made a new translation and I can thoroughly recommend it. There is a discussion here which unfortunately goes off the rails. http://discourse.textkit.com/t/how-to-read-caesar/17686/1
Is your son reading Caesar in class? Unless his latin is quite advanced he might find it a challenge. Although some passages are set for intermediate students, trying to read the whole thing is not easy. There is an excellent if rather old commentary here https://archive.org/details/CaesarsGallicWarKelsey/mode/2up by Kelsey. Its age is mitigated by the extensive notes and grammatical help. Your son might find the illustrations attractive. I still do!
Edit: this is a later version which has more grammatical help: https://archive.org/details/ciuliicaesarisco00caesrich/page/n7/mode/2up
Thanks Bill I will take a look at these 2 and it sounds like a good idea to get both to get a combined view of the text as you have outlined. I’ll let you know what we end up with.
Cheers.
Hi Seneca,
I didn’t realise till you and Bill mentioned that the only English/ Latin version is so old! I’d have thought someone else in the last 100 years would have thought to do an updated version that has both.
No they are not doing Caesar in class, they have looked at The Aeneid and will be doing some Ovid next year but as this is for first year high school students they are working on consolidating the basics, using the Oxford Latin series aimed at secondary students. His interest is in manuals of war as he’s just finished The Art of War and would like to read more on Roman treatises which combines Latin and manuals of war.
I’ll take a look at your recommendations but if in the meantime you come up with any other suggestions please do advise here on Textkit.
Cheers.