this past week or so, there has been a very interesting thread running on the Classics L list serv on Caesar's prose and translations of same. Here's an excerpt:

For amusement and comment: Latin first, then me, then three others, with word counts from two more at the end.

[175 words] Quieta Gallia Caesar, ut constituerat, in Italiam ad conventus agendos proficiscitur. Ibi cognoscit de Clodii caede [de] senatusque consulto certior factus, ut omnes iuniores Italiae coniurarent, delectum tota provincia habere instituit. Eae res in Galliam Transalpinam celeriter perferuntur. Addunt ipsi et ad fingunt rumoribus Galli, quod res poscere videbatur, retineri urbano motu Caesarem neque in tantis dissensionibus ad exercitum venire posse. Hac impulsi occasione, qui iam ante se populi Romani imperio subiectos dolerent liberius atque audacius de bello consilia inire incipiunt. Indictis inter se principes Galliae conciliis silvestribus ac remotis locis queruntur de Acconis morte; posse hunc casum ad ipsos recidere demonstrant: miserantur communem Galliae fortunam: omnibus pollicitationibus ac praemius deposcunt qui belli initium faciant et sui capitis periculo Galliam in libertatem vindicent. In primis rationem esse habendam dicunt, priusquam eorum clandestina consilia efferantur, ut Caesar ab exercitu intercludatur. Id esse facile, quod neque legiones audeant absente imperatore ex hibernis egredi, neque imperator sine praesidio ad legiones pervenire possit. Postremo in acie praestare interfici quam non veterem belli gloriam libertatemque quam a maioribus acceperint recuperare.

(jo'd [poster on the thread] 196 words) Gaul was quiet. Caesar went on to Italy, as planned, to hold court. There he heard Clodius had been murdered and that the senate had declared universal conscription. He decided to levy troops all across Lombardy and Provence. News carried quickly back to Gaul, picking up rumors – some spontaneous, some connived – along the way. Caesar could not leave Rome to rejoin his troops, for the city was in an uproar, they said. Men who hated Roman rule saw their chance and began to talk of insurrection. In woods and wilds the leaders of Gaul met, grumbling over the death of Acco and foretelling their own fate in his. They bemoaned Gaul's misfortune and promised every reward for the men who would start a new war and risked their own necks to avenge Gaul and claim her liberty. First thing, they said, before their plans could leak, they must keep Caesar from his troops. Easy to do, because his troops wouldn't break winter camp without him and he couldn't reach them without a protective garrison. Better, they concluded, to be killed in battle than to surrender war's glory and the liberty they had inherited from their elders.

7.1 (Loeb: 296 words), When Gaul was quiet Caesar set out for Italy, as he had determined, to hold the assizes. There he heard of the murder of Clodius; and having been informed of the Senate's decree that all the younger man of military age in Italy should be sworn in, he decided to hold a levy throughout his province. These events were speedily reported to Transalpine Gauol. The Gauls added to the reports a circumstance of their own invention, which the occasion seemed to require, that Caesar was detained by the commotion at Rome and, in view of discords so serious, could not come to the army. Such an opportunity served as a stimulus to those who even before were chafing at their subjection to the sovereignty of Rome, and they began with greater freedom and audacity to make plans for a campaign. The chiefs of Gaul summoned conventions by mutual arrangement in remote forest spots and complained of the death of Acco. They pointed out that his fate might fall next upon themselves: they expressed pity for the common lot of Gaul; by all manner of promises and rewards they called for men to start the campaign and at the risk of their own life to champion the liberty of Gaul. First and foremost, they said, they must devise means, before ever their secret designs got abroad, to shut Caesar off from the army. It was an easy task, because the legions would not dare to march out of cantonments in the absence of the commnander-in-chief, nor could the latter without a strong escort reach the legions. Finally, it was better, they urged, to be slain in battle than to fail of recovering their old renown in war and the liberty which they had received from their forefathers.

(Wiseman [who says the third person style is "unnecessarily mannered"]: 299 words) Since Gaul was quiet, I set out as usual for Italy to hold the assizes. When I arrived in Italy, I learned of the assassination of Publius Clodius and was told of the decree of the Senate ordering all Italians of military age to be sworn in. I therefore set about conscripting recruits throughout the Cisalpine province. These events were quickly reported across the Alps, and the Gauls themselves added to them, inventing stories that seemed not inconsistent with the facts. They made out that I was being detained there by the troubles in Rome, which were so acute that I could not rejoin the army. The Gauls already resented being subject to the sovereignty of Rome: they now thought their chance had come, and it spurred them on to start planning more boldly and openly for war. Meetings were arranged in remote places in the forests, and at these their leading men complained about the death of Acco, pointing out that they themselves could well suffer the same fate. They lamented the conditi0on of their whole country and promised all kinds of rewards to any who would make the first moves in a war and be prepared to risk their own lives to set Gaul free. The most important thing, they said, was to work out how I could be cut off from my army before their secret plans could leak out. This would be easy to do because the legions would not dare to leave their winter camps in the absence of their commander-in-chief, and he would not be able to reach them without a strong escort. Besides, they declared, it was better to be killed in battle than to fail to recover their ancient glory in war and the freedom they had inherited from their ancestors.

[Bohn 292 words]; Gaul being tranquil, Caesar, as he had determined, sets out for Italy to hold the provincial assizes. There he receives intelligence of the death of Clodius; informed of the decree of the senate, [to the effect] that all the youth of Italy should take the military oath, he determined to hold a levy throughout the entire province. Report of these events is rapidly borne into Transalpine Gaul. The Gauls themselves add to the report, and invent, what the case seemed to require, [namely] that* Caesar was detained by commotions in the city, and could not, amidst so violent dissensions, come to his army. Animated by this opportunity, they who already, previously to this occurrence, were indignant that they were reduced beneath the dominion of Rome, begin to organize their plans for war more openly and daringly. The leading men of Gaul, having convened councils among themselves in the woods, and retired places, complain of the death of Acco: they point out that this fate may fall in turn on themselves: they bewail the unhappy fate of Gaul; and by every sort of promises and rewards, they earnestly solicit some to begin the war, and assert the freedom of Gaul at the hazard of their lives. They say that special care should be paid to this, that Caesar should be cut off from his army, before their secret plans should be divulged. That this was easy, because neither would the legions, in the absence of their general, dare to leave their winter quarters, nor could the general reach his army without a guard : finally, that it was better to be slain in battle, than not to recover their ancient glory in war, and that freedom which they had received from their forefathers.

Other I could see and count on web and not copy: Carolyn Hammond, Oxford World's Classics (1999), 275 words. S.A. Handford (Penguin 1983 or earlier), 280 words.