Julius Caesar's Justification Of War Essay

Within the confines of history, much has been debated upon the different themes are rhetorical strategies utilized by Julius Caesar and Vergil in their writings: De Bello Gallico and The Aeneid. In their writings, they each encompass their views on controversial and debatable topics that are still discussed today. Both authors represent their ideals and goals within their books, and it is important for them to get their point across to complete their own agenda by which their books were written upon. In both books, the points of war are spread out across the time period that they include to come to one distinct fact: that war in the ancient world is a commonality and is something that is a part of everyday life for the citizens of war. What this does is help to emphasize and help the people of the Roman Empire to deal with war in their everyday lives, and the writings aid in the government’s justification of war. As far as war in itself, the books do their job, portraying war as an honorable and necessary part of life in the empire, with the culmination of thoughts influencing everyone. In their respective stories, both authors portray the act of war in separable ways, with Caesar writing a gritty and dirty nature of war, compared to Vergil’s writing of a more graceful, drawn out version. It is seen in Caesar’s writings that he …show more content…
With all that said, Caesar’s version of war is one of pain and suffering for all parties involved, where innocent people are going to be caught in the crossfire and driven from their homes. With this portrayal of war, exemplified by this excerpt in chapter 5 of book 1, “frumentum omne, praeter quod secum portaturi erant, comburunt, ut domum reditionis spe sublata paratiores ad omnia pericula subeunda essent,” which is translated, “They