Ron Toland
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  • The Conquest of Gaul, by Julius Caesar

    Not what I expected. Written in plain language, as if he wanted to sound trustworthy, so the reader wouldn’t notice the (non-glorious) things he skips over.

    Fascinating to read now, after I know more about both what happened to Caesar afterwards and the Gauls he attacked.

    Three things I learned:

    • Caesar’s mercy started during the Gaul campaign, when he’d often pardon former enemies that were willing to bend the knee.
    • Caesar justified his attacks on the rest of Gaul and Germany on a domino theory: if the Germans prospered in Gaul, he said, they’d eventually march on Rome itself.
    • The Pullo and Vorenus from HBO’s Rome were based on real people, that Caesar wrote about by name (!)
    → 9:00 AM, Dec 18
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