Caesar (C. Iulius, 102–44 BCE), statesman and soldier, defied the dictator Sulla; served in the Mithridatic wars and in Spain; pushed his way in Roman politics as a ’democrat’ against the senatorial government; was the real leader of the coalition with Pompey and Crassus; conquered all Gaul for Rome; attacked Britain twice; was forced into civil war; became master of the Roman world; and achieved wide-reaching reforms until his murder. We have his books of Commentarii (notes): eight on his wars in Gaul, 58–52 BC, including the two expeditions to Britain 55–54, and three on the civil war of 49–48. They are records of his own campaigns (with occasional digressions) in vigorous, direct, clear, unemotional style and in the third person, the account of the civil war being somewhat more impassioned.

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The history of the Roman Republic for the years 49-48 BCE centers on two striking personalities: Julius Caesar and Pompey. Caesar’s account of the war between them, from its outbreak to the decisive battle of Pharsalus in 48--in lucid and spare prose--is here well translated by Peskett.