I have the mind of a juvenile, so I occassion the virtual pages of Cracked magazine. One of my favorite writers there is a bemohawked (orange, no less) enthusiast of comic books, various fighting sports, and truly awful literature. He had an article out today on one of the terrible magazines that apparently used to exist. You can see it here. After stepping through the article, I began to get an image in my head. I know of something that so resembles this drivel from years past. Only now, instead of the production values associated with a niche publication, a modern global corporation runs this material with no expense spared to present it as actual journalism rather than what it is. The misogyny, racism, obsession with violence, fear-mongering, and sensationalist headlines are all hallmarks of the Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Yes, Fox is the trashy dime-store “men’s magazine” of the 21st Century.
Year: 2012 (Page 22 of 24)
The Commentaries
The Commentaries
The Gallic Wars and The Civil War
by Julius Caesar
Read by Charlton Griffin
13 hours, 54 minutes
Audio Connoisseur, 2009
As I often do, I took a multimedia approach to this book. When driving, I listened to the audiobook, but when able, I read the kindle version. This approach worked well in that the kindle version offered up maps that made clear some of the locations in the narrative. As well, the kindle version proffered some information I thought should have been made clear in the audiobook. I opted to review the audio version, as I did listen to it in its entirety (not skipping parts I had actually read), where I skipped parts in the kindle to which I had already listened. The original was written in the third person, where Griffin’s performance is in the first person. Also, I thought that the translator should have been named in the audio presentation as it was in the kindle version.
Beginning with a brief biography by Henry Stuart Jones, the narrator’s baritone voice gives the gravitas and dignity merited an ancient classic. It is a little surprising that so much is known about Julius Caesar. This portion gives a fair rendering of the great leader, neither praising nor damning him. I hadn’t realized before this how little I knew of Caesar.
Caesar begins with what seems a fairly small operation to subdue certain Gallic tribes that were causing trouble for other tribes designated as Friends of Rome. As he puts out one fire, he finds others around him. He describes the conditions and tactics with reasonably good detail up to the end of the first season. It seems warfare of the First Century B.C.E. was such that it only took place between Spring and Fall. In this manner of each chapter representing a year, he will break up the entire book. After the initial actions, Caesar thought it worthwhile to give some context. During pertinent parts of the book, he described the peoples of Gaul, Germany, or Britain. He went into detail of individual tribes when customs and other cultural knowledge were necessary for the reader’s understanding of motivations.
What had begun as a small regional disturbance would rapidly (rapidly for the time, that is) spread into a general uprising of the Gauls. Over the course of the series of campaigns, war would spread as far as Germany and Britain. As Caesar describes the progress of each campaign, he takes pains to acknowledge individuals and units on both sides for their courage, perseverance, or other such laudable traits. Similarly, he accuses those he deems unworthy when appropriate. Throughout the first work (The Gallic Wars), he attempts to write as a disinterested party. This lends an air of credibility to all that he writes. While he does not dwell, he does make a point to accept his own mistakes or failures. Based on this work, I would say that Caesar could be considered a great historian in his own right. The last campaigns in Gaul were competently documented as Chapter 8 by legate Aulus Hirtius after the death of Caesar.
The stunning success in Gaul gave many in Rome cause to fear Caesar’s power. At the beginning of The Civil War, Caesar describes the political situation. In this work, he does not go as far as to appear disinterested. The reader will notice hints of apologia in this portion. Here we also see that Caesar often details his own fairness and the treachery of others. As with the previous work, Caesar goes into detail about the logistics that betrays a keen understanding of long-term strategy beyond his adversaries. He does not mention the occasional genocide in the provinces during this war the way he did in Gaul. I wonder if there actually was a restraint or simply reflected how he wanted to be seen on returning to Italy. The Civil War is still a good narrative, but not as generally informative as The Gallic Wars.
The Gallic Wars and The Civil War are a surprisingly interesting read, but I think a map is very nearly necessary for complete understanding. This should be required reading in Western civilization or European history class. Only now do I appreciate the context of my favorite Shakespearean play, Julius Caesar. After I get a detailed map of First Century Europe (probably at my local ancient maps store), I will definitely read this book again.
Aside: Is it odd that the English speaking world seems to prefer the classics be presented in an English accent?
I was watching my child get ready for bed. He placed his stuffed animals in a deliberate order. As I watched him stalling (he often does), I wondered about the role of playing. the more I thought about it, the more I wondered the extent to which it is actually a simulation. Not particularly this, but rather all playing.Of course, the next thought was of young mammals fighting and chasing one another around in the cute ways that make Animal Planet so popular. We have countless times heard this referred to in terms of developing coordination and dexterity that will be needed to make one’s own way in the adult world. What does this mean, though? For what it’s worth, this interpretation is accurate, but in the broader context it is unnecessarily limiting. Consider this play as the conduct of simulations. Suppose a child is playing with cars. How closely to the movements of the cars reflect reality? Perhaps the cars travel in slow motion. Children will address concepts that are almost entirely foreign to them. What six year old understands gravity? Yet they know enough that the jumping car will decelerate as it rises and decelerate as it falls. As well, the arc of the vehicle through the air is a reasonably good facsimile of a parabola. Listen to the conversations between action figures. The child tends to change the dialogue even for similar imagined situations. Note in particular how much better the child’s dialogues improve over time. Certainly much of this improvement is due to the intellectual growth and experience of the child. Nevertheless, I suspect the hours of playtime simulation have almost certainly contributed significantly. I wonder if anyone has ever really addressed this idea.
A few nights ago, my wife and I hitched up the wagons and headed in to the big city to pick up the in-laws at the airport. On the way back, she was complaining about the lack of crappy 80s hair metal on my iPod. We started naming off as many crappy 80s hair metal bands and their crappy songs as we could. After a while, I had one song painfully stuck in my head: Kix’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes.” We dropped off her parents. As we approached our own house, I said, “That stupid song is playing at home right this very moment.” As soon as I walked in the door, I turned on the TV and looked for the appropriate channel.
The screeching of “Don’t Close Your Eyes” immediately sounded through the living room. On the one hand, it was somehow like victory. On the other hand, it sort of bugged me. I can readily see how some people would look at this as something more than a funny coincidence. In this case, it was something of no consequence whatsoever. If it had been some “intuition” of great consequence, this sort of thing could make someone a believer in the paranormal. Worse, it could reinforce the already deluded. Of course, if I had the time, I could run through the stats: How many iconic songs are there in each little niche genre? How are the playlists made for those music channels on DirecTV? Would we still call it a “hit” if it had come up as the next song, rather than the first? I think the combination of these could give us a double digit percentage probability.
It all comes down to one truth, though.
Weird stuff happens.
The Spanish Inquisitor had up a recent picture of Newt. With that expression, I got it stuck in my head that he looked a lot like Uncle Arthur from the 60s TV show “Bewitched.”
For some reason, I wasn’t able to find an Uncle Arthur (actor Paul Lynde, by the way) picture with just that expression.
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