Of these it was that Cicero said, in
an admirable image, that fools might think to improve on them, but that no
wise man would try it; they were _nudi omni ornatu orationis, tanquam
veste detracta_--bare of ornament, the dress of style dispensed with,
like an undraped human figure perfect in all its lines as nature made it.
In his composition, as in his actions, Caesar is entirely simple. He
indulges in no images, no labored descriptions, no conventional
reflections. His art is unconscious, as the highest art always is. The
actual fact of things stands out as it really was, not as mechanically
photographed, but interpreted by the calmest intelligence, and described
with unexaggerated feeling. No military narrative has approached the
excellence of the history of the war in Gaul. Nothing is written down
which could be dispensed with; nothing important is left untold; while the
incidents themselves are set off by delicate and just observations on
human character. The story is rendered attractive by complimentary
anecdotes of persons; while details of the character and customs of an
unknown and remarkable people show the attention which Caesar was always
at leisure to bestow on anything which was worthy of interest, even when
he was surrounded with danger and difficulty. The books on the civil war
have the same simplicity and clearness, but a vein runs through them of
strong if subdued emotion.
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