Poems by

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

are mentioned by several sources in antiquity. None are extant.

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

says that verse compositions were among the entertainments Caesar offered the Cilician pirates who captured him as a young man in 75 BC. Pliny places "the divine Julius" on his list of serious men who wrote not-so-serious poems. Caesar's ''Dicta Collectanea'', a collection of his memorable quotations, is assumed to have contained quotations from his verse as well as prose works. The titles of two works Caesar wrote as a young man are known, a ''Laudes Herculis'' ("Praises of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

") and the verse tragedy '' Oedipus''; their planned publication by the librarian Pompeius Macer was squelched by a "short and simple" — or perhaps "curt and direct" — letter from Caesar's heir

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

as incompatible with his program of deification. A third title, ''Iter'' ("The Journey"), dates from 46 BC, composed during a 24-day trip from Rome to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

during the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. This verse travelogue may have been modeled after Lucilius's poem about a trip to

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. Caesar's choice of writing as a pastime in prelude to the decisive and brutal Battle of Munda illustrates the dual preoccupations of the Late Republican aristocrat, with militarism and political power-plays balanced by elite intellectual and aesthetic aspirations.

Surviving texts

A single incomplete line survives that might come from the ''Iter'', quoted by

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

in discussing the word ''unguentum,'' "ointment": The quoted phrase ''corpusque suaui telino unguimus'' is part of a scazon or iambic trimeter. Its author has also been identified as C. Iulius Caesar Strabo, the dictator's uncle. In his ''Life of

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

'',

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...

preserves six lines of dactylic hexameter by Caesar praising the Roman playwright, along with a more lukewarm assessment by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

. These two verse passages, with their similarity of purpose and wording, may have resulted from a school assignment, since both men studied with the teacher and grammarian Gnipho. As such, Caesar's lines are probably not to be taken too seriously as literary criticism, but his notice of Terence as "lover of a pure conversational style" points toward Caesar's own stylistic predilections and linguistic nationalism.

Reception

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

considered their loss a happy accident for the dictator's literary reputation:Unless otherwise noted, citations of primary sources and general overview from Edward Courtney, ''The Fragmentary Latin Poets'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), pp. 153–155 and 187–188.

References

Bibliography

*Courtney, Edward. ''The Fragmentary Latin Poets''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

External links

{{Authority control Caesar Caesar Works by Julius Caesar Lost works of art Caesar