| Author | Unknown |
|---|---|
| Language | Classical Latin |
| Subject | History, military history |
| Publisher | Unknown |
Publication date | approx. 40 BC |
| Preceded by | De Bello Alexandrino |
| Followed by | De Bello Hispaniensi |
De Bello Africo (alsoBellum Africum;On the African War) is aLatin work continuingJulius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns,De Bello Gallico andDe Bello Civili,[1] and its sequel by an unknown authorDe Bello Alexandrino. It details Caesar's campaigns against his Republican enemies in the province ofAfrica.
De Bello Africo is preceded byDe Bello Alexandrino and followed byDe Bello Hispaniensi. These three works end the Caesarean corpus relatingCaesar's Civil War. The historical narratives, though attributed to Caesar,[1] are assumed to have been written by three different anonymous authors around 40 BC.[2] Though normally collected and bound with Caesar's authentic writings, their authorship has been debated since antiquity. One very plausible theory favorsAulus Hirtius as the author ofDe Bello Alexandrino (see there for details). But due to considerable differences in style, scholarly consensus has agreed that neither Aulus Hirtius norJulius Caesar can be the author or authors of the two last parts. It has been suggested[3] that these were in fact rough drafts prepared at the request of Hirtius by two separate soldiers who fought in the respective campaign; and had he survived, Hirtius would have worked them up into more effective literary form. There are scholars who propose that he acted as editor to these historical narratives.[4] RegardingDe Bello Africo, A.G. Way ventures: "The careful chronology and the faithful record of the feelings of the troops suggests a soldier – possibly a junior officer – who was on the spot. That he was young and inexperienced; an ardent, but not always a balanced, partisan; a keen observer of all that went on around him, but without access to the inner counsels of his C.-in-C."[5]
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