---
title: "The Deified Julius · Divus Julius"
author: "Suetonius"
translator: "John C. Rolfe"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 55 of 89
url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/55/
cite: "Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe, The Deified Julius · Divus Julius, section 55. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/55/"
---

# The Deified Julius · Divus Julius

*Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe*

## 55. Chapter 55

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/55/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/55/#p-N

[¶0] In eloquence and in the art of war he either equalled or surpassed the fame of their most eminent representatives. After his accusation of Dolabella, he was without question numbered with the leading advocates. At all events when Cicero reviews the orators in his Brutus, he says that he does not see to whom Caesar ought to yield the palm, declaring that his style is elegant as well as brilliant, even grand and in a sense noble. Again in a letter to Cornelius Nepos he writes thus of Caesar:

> Latin: Eloquentia militariquemilitarique re, Lipsius; militari quare, Ω (G omits quare). re aut aequavit praestantissimorum gloriam aut excessit. Post accusationem Dolabellae haud dubie principibus patronis adnumeratus est. Certe Cicero ad Brutum oratores enumerans negat se videre, cui debeat Caesar cedere, aitque eum elegantem, splendidam quoque atque etiam magnificam et generosam quodam modo rationem dicendi tenere; et ad Cornelium Nepotem de eodem ita scripsit:

*Note: Cic. Brut. 261.*

[¶1] Come now, what orator would you rank above him of those who have devoted themselves to nothing else? Who has cleverer or more frequent epigrams? Who is either more picturesque or more choice in diction? He appears, at least in his youth, to have imitated the manner of Caesar Strabo, from whose speech entitled For the Sardinians he actually transferred some passages word for word to a trial address of his own. He is said to have delivered himself in a high-pitched voice with impassioned action and gestures, which were not without grace.

> Latin: Quid? oratorem quem huic antepones eorum, qui nihil aliud egerunt? Quis sententiis aut acutior aut crebrior? Quis verbis aut ornatior aut elegantior? Genus eloquentiae dumtaxat adulescens adhuc Strabonis Caesaris secutus videtur, cuius etiam ex oratione, quae inscribitur pro Sardis, ad verbum nonnulla transtulit in divinationem suam. Pronuntiasse autem dicitur voce acuta, ardenti motu gestuque, non sine venustate.

*Note: That is, a speech in which he competed with other advocates for the right to conduct a prosecution.*

[¶2] He left several speeches, including some which are attributed to him on insufficient evidence. Augustus had good reason to think that the speech For Quintus Metellus was rather taken down by shorthand writers who could not keep pace with his delivery, than published by Caesar himself; for in some copies I find that even the title is not For Metellus, but, Which he wrote for Metellus although the discourse purports to be from Caesar’s lips, defending Metellus and himself against the charges of their common detractors.

> Latin: Orationes aliquas reliquit, inter quas temere quaedam feruntur. Pro Quinto Metello non immerito Augustus existimat magis ab actuariis exceptam male subsequentibus verba dicentis, quam ab ipso editam; nam in quibusdam exemplaribus invenio ne inscriptam quidem pro Metello, sed quam scripsit Metello, cum ex persona Caesaris sermo sit Metellum seque adversus communium obtrectatorum criminationes purgantis.

[¶3] Augustus also questions the authenticity of the address To his Soldiers in Spain, although there are two versions of it: one purporting to have been spoken at the first battle, the other at the second, when Asinius Pollio writes that because of the sudden onslaught of the enemy he actually did not have time to make an harangue.

> Latin: Apud milites quoque in Hispania idem Augustus vix ipsius putat, quae tamen duplex fertur: una quasi priore habita proelio, altera posteriore, quo Asinius Pollio ne tempus quidem contionandi habuisse eum dicit subita hostium incursione.