Abstract

Caesar'sCommentariihave hardly been studied within the historiographical tradition – probably because of their generic difference fromhistoriaand, more generally, alleged overall sparseness, famously and influentially compared to nudity. While their relationship to Greek historians has received some haphazard attention, their possible debt to antecedent Roman historians is an even less explored question – admittedly compounded by the fragmentary state of early republican historiography. In the following pages, however, I will suggest that there is ample evidence of Caesar's familiarity with, and even imitation of, theHistoriaeby Lucius Cornelius Sisenna.