Gallus oder Römische Scenen aus der Zeit Augusts—such is the German title of Professor Becker's work—was published at Leipsic in 1838. The novelty of its conception; the comparatively fresh ground it broke in the field of Roman Antiquities, and the exceeding erudition brought to bear on the subject, at once arrested the attention of German scholars, and it has ever since been considered, what its author ventured to hope it would be, ‘a desirable repertory of whatever is most worth knowing about the private life of the Romans.’ Soon after its publication, a very lengthened and eulogistic critique appeared in the Times London newspaper; and as it seldom happens that that Journal can find space in its columns for notices of this description, no little weight was attached to the circumstance, and a proportionate interest created in the work. Proposals were immediately made for publishing it in an English dress, and the book was advertised accordingly; but unforeseen difficulties intervened, arising from the peculiar nature of the work, and the plan was ultimately abandoned.

In fact, in order to render the book successful in England, it was absolutely necessary that it should be somehow divested of its very German appearance, which, how palatable soever it might be to the author's own countrymen, would have been caviare to the generality of English readers.