Julius Caesar Gallic Siege Essay

Both excerpts illustrate the Gallic siege of the Roman camp, but from two different perspectives: the first from the perspective of the Romans, and the second from the perspective of the Gauls. While Caesar portrays the Romans as hardworking and well prepared for the siege, he portrays the Gauls as ignorant and savage. Caesar portrays the persistent nature of the Romans while they are preparing for the Gallic siege of their camp. He uses “working” verbs such as “instituitur” (line 6), “contabulantur” (line 7), and “attexuntur” (line 7.) The Romans were preparing, setting up, weaving, and getting ready for the siege. Caesar uses these verbs to emphasize how diligent the Romans are. He then uses anaphora, repeating “non, aegrīs, non vulneratīs facultas quietis datur” (lines 3, 4.) Not even sickness or wounds would stop the Romans from preparing. Caesar even uses Cicero as an example, stating
Caesar uses anaphora repeating “cognoverant (line 13) and “cognosci” (line 17), which means to learn. He states that the Gauls were learning from the “captivos” (line 13), the Roman captives. The Roman captives had to teach the Gauls how to build the “vallo” and the “fossā” (line 11.) Caesar emphasizes the idea that the Roman captives had to teach the Gauls how to build the rampart and the trench to portray how ignorant and savage they are. He does this to contrast the Romans with the Gauls, illustrating how the Romans are civilized and intelligent while the Gauls are barbaric and do not know how to complete simple military works. Caesar’s portrayal of the Romans and Gauls furthers his agenda. Caesar wishes to convince the Roman people that he is justified in fighting a war to conquer these people. By portraying them as ignorant, savage, and barbaric, it helps persuade the Roman people into believing that Caesar needs to conquer the Gauls in order to make them more civilized, like the