Commentarii de bello gallico (commentaries on the gallic war) is julius caesar's firsthand account of the gallic wars, written as a third-person narrative. in it caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine years he spent fighting local armies in gaul that opposed roman domination. the "gaul" that caesar refers to is sometimes all of gaul except for the roman province of gallia narbonensis (modern day provence), encompassing the rest of modern france, belgium and some of switzerland. on other occasions, he refers only to that territory inhabited by the celtic peoples known to the romans as gauls, from the english channel to lugdunum (lyon). the full work is split into eight sections, book 1 to book 8, with the last book written by aulus hirtius, after caesar's death.