THE GALLIC WAR

Caesar's history of his campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and Britain, while not colorless--it includes political strife, battles, ambushes, and acts of heroism--is brisk and dry. David Timson's sonorous voice and rounded tones don't mirror the spareness of Caesar's account, but instead enrich it, making it more approachable and easier to take in. He tends to turn groups of sentences into rhetorical periods, which sometimes, in the pattern of their rise and fall, may be repetitive, but the effect is pleasantly listenable. The precision of his pronunciation and delivery, and his adherence to the sense and tone of the text, keeps the narration crisp. Timson's performance, giving flesh to Caesar's bare-bones account, enhances the pleasure of this classic work of military history. W.M. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2023]