Falling Masts, Rising Masters: The Ethnography of Virtue in Caesar's Account of the Veneti
����� �� CAESAR’S ACCOUNT OF THE REVOLT of the Veneti and neighboring tribes along the northwest coast of Gaul (BGall. 3.8‐15) contains a clear assertion of Rome’s superiority in virtus over her foes. While the account of the Veneti has sparked considerable debate over Caesar’s political motivations and Venetic topography, 1 the passage’s literary themes merit study in their own right. This paper examines the respective roles of technology and virtus in Caesar’s presentation of the Venetic defeat. The first section establishes that Caesar conceived of the sea battle fought against the Veneti as a contest about virtus. The next section argues that the technology of enemy boat design detailed in an ethnographic passage is represented by Caesar as a source of Venetic strength in place of true fighting spirit. This naval ethnography, dismissed by several commentators as an afterthought awkwardly inserted into the text, 2 is, on the contrary, the cornerstone of a sophisticated exposition on the theme of native technological strength failing to compensate for a lack of virtus. Caesar’s presentation of the final defeat of the Veneti at sea, the subject of the third section, exposes native weakness in a remarkable scene wherein falling masts and sudden calm metaphorically cast enemy failure within a gendered opposition of hard and soft.
Livy: his historical aims and methods
Livy has been frequently underestimated as a writer. This study aims to explain Livy's aims and his historical and literary methods. It first sets the historian within his Augustan background and within the tradition of ancient historiography; then presents a detailed account of his religious and moral preocuupations, his use of sources and his Latinity; and finally examines the literary theories which underlie both narrative and speeches.
Kant's 'Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason'
Preface 1. Context 2. Overview of Themes 3. Reading the Text Prefaces to the First and Second Editions Part I of the Religion Part II of the Religion Part III of the Religion Part IV of the Religion 4. Reception and Influence 5. Guide for Further Reading Bibliography Index