Luca Grillo (Department of Classics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Intertextuality in the works of Julius Caesar has been understudied, partly because so much of previous Roman historians are lost for us and partly because scholars have been more interested in reading the Commentarii vis-à-vis the political context of Caesar's time. This paper analyzes, first, the episode of Cotta and Sabinus (bell. Gall. 5), especially in its relation to another episode in bell. Gall. 3, where Sabinus also plays a major role. I then consider the episode’s relation to another literary model, arguing that intertextuality with Polybius helps Caesar narrate the defeat of Sabinus while also demonstrating that Caesar was engaged both with the literary tradition and with previous historians.
