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RICHTER, W., Caesar als Darsteller seiner Taten. Eine Einführung. Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg, 1977. 231p. Original blue gilt titled cloth. Errata leaflet loosely inserted. Series: Bibliothek der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaften, Neue Folge, R. Reihe, Band 61. Nice copy. 'Richter follows faithfully in the footsteps of Rambaud. His chief interest is, by minute examination of the text, to detect where Caesar has covered up his failures, misinterpreted his motives, and exaggerated his successes, in the hope of winning the voters os 51 B.C by a consummate work of literary propaganda. (…) A necessary part of his case is that the seven books were composed as a whole in 51 B.C. rather than individually year by year (pp.71 ff.). He argues forcefully that any evolution of style which can be traced between the books is due not to the passage of time but to developing artistry. (…) The question of the composition of the B.G. is a vital one but cannot, I think, on the evidence available to us be settled definitely. (…) The core of Richter’s book (…) is four specimen analyses (pp.102-140) in which he attempts to lay bare Caesar’s technique. (…) In these specimen analyses, Richter concentrates purely on the logic of the case, not on the style of their presentation. (…) The book contains much of incidental interest - useful accounts of the other works in the Caesarian ‘corpus’, linguistic differences between the B.G. and B.C, Caesar’s practice in quoting figures and casualties, and so on. But the over-all effect is depressing.' (R.M. OGILVIE in The Classical Review (New Series), 1979, pp.51-53). € 40.00 (Antiquarian)