Is it George Julius Caesar Bush?

BBC2 has just aired an hour-long programme about Caesar's conquest of Gaul.

I saw only bits that fitted into the ads during Rosemary and Thyme – don't worry, I recorded the Caesar programme – but what I saw made me think hard about the USA and UK in Iraq.

Superior army versus a population that found unity through opposition to the invader. It sounds all too familiar. And the political aims of Caesar – and the need to become mega-rich.

Vercingetorix and Caesar each had an actor to represent him and his throughts, feelings and hopes. If a fairly run-of-the-mill TV programme based entirely on Caesar's De Bello Gallico can be so involving, why has Caesar as an author dropped so completely out of our syllabus?

Just a thought.

Livy comes out of the shadows

Having been given a nudge by a message from a student, I am transferring my translation and notes on Livy Book 30 from the password protected section to the open site. Unlike test papers, unseens and exam papers, these notes can safely be shared with all. Find the pages now at http://www.arlt.co.uk/dhtml/livy/livy3.php .

Notes have been written for a few chapters only, so far. I hope to finish them by the end of term.