Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome, episode 41A, The Gallic Wars.

At the end of last week, Caesar had succeeded in immunizing himself from prosecution by securing

a pro-consult ship into this alpine gall for a period of five years.

Over the course of his career, he had ignored tradition, law, morality, and good taste,

and his enemies in the Senate were salivating of the opportunity to see him in court.

Caesar was guilty as sin of the charges that would be brought against him as soon as he left

public office, so for the sake of his career and possibly his life, it was imperative that

he never returned to Rome as a private citizen.

As we will see, it was this legal axe hanging over his head as much as anything else that

led him to cross the Rubicon in that fateful year of 49 BC.

But that was still a decade away.

Now, in the year 58 BC, Caesar took over the governorship of Gaul, setting the stage

for one of the most famous military campaigns in history.

And not to take anything away from the skill and daring Caesar displayed while in Gaul,

but the real reason the Gallic Wars are so famous is because Caesar wanted them to be famous.

The thing that really shines through, more than his tactical ability or engineering accomplishments

or strategic vision, was his brilliant flair for propaganda.

Caesar was the unparalleled master of self-promotion, that his commentaries on the war in Gaul

is still required reading for Latin language courses today, speaks for itself.

At the time Caesar took control of cis and trans-alpine Gaul, the land north of the Mediterranean

basin was, from the Roman perspective, an uncivilized land populated by barbaric tribes.

But civilized is a relative term, and though to Roman eyes the Gauls were quote uncivilized,

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