There was talk of giving him what seemed to be a very unlucrative and unprecitious job in italy. But Gaul offered much more opportunity of glory. And its its glory is what an awful lot of this is about. Catherine mentioned the celtic troop movements, of a late second century b c. This is now the helveti er on the move, coming across, coming across gaul, coming across france. It ends in one of the bloodiest afternoons in history.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life, work and reputation of Julius Caesar. Famously assassinated as he entered the Roman senate on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Caesar was an inspirational general who conquered much of Europe. He was a ruthless and canny politician who became dictator of Rome, and wrote The Gallic Wars, one of the most admired and studied works of Latin literature. Shakespeare is one of many later writers to have been fascinated by the figure of Julius Caesar.
With:
Christopher Pelling
Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford
Catherine Steel
Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow
Maria Wyke
Professor of Latin at University College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.