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''De Bello Hispaniensi'' (also ''Bellum Hispaniense''; ''On the Hispanic War''; ''On the Spanish War'') is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
work continuing
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 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 a civil war, and ...
's commentaries, ''
De Bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...
'' and ''
De Bello Civili'', and its sequels by two different unknown authors ''
De Bello Alexandrino
''De Bello Alexandrino'' (also ''Bellum Alexandrinum''; ''On the Alexandrine War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's commentaries, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili''. It details Caesar's campaigns in Alexandria and Asia.
A ...
'' and ''
De Bello Africo
''De Bello Africo'' (also ''Bellum Africum''; ''On the African War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili'', and its sequel by an unknown author '' De Bello Alexandri ...
''. It details Caesar's campaigns on the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, ending with the
Battle of Munda
The Battle of Munda (17 March 45 BC), in southern Hispania Ulterior, was the final battle of Caesar's civil war against the leaders of the Optimates. With the military victory at Munda and the deaths of Titus Labienus and Gnaeus Pompeius (elde ...
.
Authorship
''De Bello Hispaniensi'' is preceded by ''
De Bello Alexandrino
''De Bello Alexandrino'' (also ''Bellum Alexandrinum''; ''On the Alexandrine War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's commentaries, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili''. It details Caesar's campaigns in Alexandria and Asia.
A ...
'' and ''
De Bello Africo
''De Bello Africo'' (also ''Bellum Africum''; ''On the African War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili'', and its sequel by an unknown author '' De Bello Alexandri ...
''. These three works end the Caesarean corpus relating
Caesar's civil war
Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...
. Though normally collected and bound with Caesar's authentic writings, their authorship has been debated since antiquity. One very plausible theory favors
Hirtius
Aulus Hirtius (; – 43 BC) was consul of the Roman Republic in 43 BC and a writer on military subjects. He was killed during his consulship in battle against Mark Antony at the Battle of Mutina.
Biography
He was a legate of Julius Caesar's st ...
as the author of
De Bello Alexandrino
''De Bello Alexandrino'' (also ''Bellum Alexandrinum''; ''On the Alexandrine War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's commentaries, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili''. It details Caesar's campaigns in Alexandria and Asia.
A ...
(see there for details). But due to considerable differences in style, scholarly consensus has ruled out Hirtius or
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 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 a civil war, and ...
as the authors of the two last parts. It has been suggested that these were in fact rough drafts prepared at the request of Hirtius by two separate soldiers who fought in the respective campaign; and had he survived, Hirtius would have worked them up into more effective literary form.
Regarding ''De Bello Hispaniensi''
T. Rice Holmes
Thomas Rice Edward Holmes, FBA (24 May 1855 – 4 August 1933), who usually published his works under the names T. Rice Holmes or T.R.E. Holmes, was a scholar best known for his extensive and "fundamental" work on Julius Caesar and his Gall ...
writes: "''Bellum Hispaniense'' is the worst book in Latin literature; and its text is the most deplorable. The language is generally ungrammatical and often unintelligible. The copyists performed their tasks so ill that in the forty-two paragraphs there are twenty-one gaps and six hundred corrupt passages, which
Mommsen and lesser men have striven with an industry worthy of a better cause to restore."
About the author, A.G. Way ventures that "Macaulay's guess that he was some 'sturdy old centurion who fought better than he wrote' is possibly not far off the truth".
Van Hooff (1974), however, disagrees; in his view the author is more likely to have been a politician such as one of Caesar's legates
Quintus Pedius
Quintus Pedius ( – late 43 BC) was a Roman politician and general who lived during the late Republic. He served as a military officer under Julius Caesar for most of his career. Serving with Caesar during the civil war, he was elected praetor i ...
or
Quintus Fabius Maximus rather than a professional soldier, although not necessarily either of these, since the writer shows experience of African customs and so had probably visited Africa. At any rate, the work is interesting for the fact that it gives a contemporary view of Caesar not written by Caesar himself.
[Von Hooff (1974), p.125.]
Storch (1977) also disagrees. In his view the author was almost certainly a cavalry officer present in the war. He points out that "the writer of the ''Bellum Hispaniense'' had an unusual interest in cavalry. The most obvious examples relate to his continued reporting of cavalry skirmishes even when of ridiculously minor importance." In this the book is markedly different from Caesar's own commentaries and the
de Bello Alexandrino
''De Bello Alexandrino'' (also ''Bellum Alexandrinum''; ''On the Alexandrine War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's commentaries, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili''. It details Caesar's campaigns in Alexandria and Asia.
A ...
, in which details of cavalry numbers and actions are few. From the detailed descriptions of topography, the information about the weather, and the numbers of casualties recorded even when very small, it is clear that he was also an eye-witness to the events described.
A recent computer-assisted stylistic analysis by Zhang and others (2018) of the five works in the Caesarian corpus confirms that books 1–7 of the Gallic War and 1–3 of the Civil War were written by the same author (presumably Caesar himself), but book 8 of the Gallic War, and the Alexandrian, African, and Spanish War commentaries appear to differ in style not only from Caesar's own works but also from each other.
See also
*
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it Ca ...
*
Commentarii de Bello Civili
''Commentarii de Bello Civili'' ''(Commentaries on the Civil War)'', or ''Bellum Civile'', is an account written by Julius Caesar of his war against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Roman Senate. It consists of three books covering the events of 49–4 ...
*
De Bello Alexandrino
''De Bello Alexandrino'' (also ''Bellum Alexandrinum''; ''On the Alexandrine War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's commentaries, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili''. It details Caesar's campaigns in Alexandria and Asia.
A ...
*
De Bello Africo
''De Bello Africo'' (also ''Bellum Africum''; ''On the African War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili'', and its sequel by an unknown author '' De Bello Alexandri ...
*
Caesar's civil war
Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...
for an account of the campaign
Further reading
*Storch, R. H. (1977)
"The Author of the ''de Bello Hispansiensi'': A Cavalry Officer?" ''Acta Classica'', Vol. 20 (1977), pp. 201–204.
*Van Hooff, Anton J. L. (1974)
"The Caesar of the ''Bellum Hispaniense''" ''Mnemosyne'', Fourth Series, Vol. 27, Fasc. 2 (1974), pp. 123–138. (JSTOR)
*Zhang, Olivia R., Trevor Cohen & Scott McGill. “Did Gaius Julius Caesar Write ''De Bello Hispaniensi''? A Computational Study of Latin Classics Authorship”. HUMAN IT 14.1 (2018): 28–58
References
External links
{{Authority control
Latin histories
History books about Spain
Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula
History books about Portugal
Depictions of Julius Caesar in literature