Post-Prototype

There were plenty of useful comments about the website itself, as well as its content.

There are two main theses:

First, Caesar had to be diplomatic in order to keep himself in Gaul, and to position himself so he could be successful militarily.  His need to be diplomatic lessens greatly over time, which corresponds with how many legions he had at a time.  Something I ought to add is how being diplomatic involves the attempt to avoid battle.

Second, there are some theories about how and when the books were written.  Either they were done each winter in camp, or published together around 51 B.C.  There is even a theory that both happened, which was plausible because of the rift between Caesar and the men in the Senate.  By using the graphs, I think that it is more likely that they were written within a particular context during the year, which would explain why on earth there is a section in the middle of Book 6 which talks about the cultural differences between the Gauls and Germans.
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It was also mentioned that I could use my map for each page to show where Caesar was in that particular book.  Such will be simple, and should work out.

I had some comments about the website being both too wordy and not enough.  If this thing is to exist on the internet, I think that being as efficient as possible with any writing is paramount.  Get the point across, show the evidence, move on.  This is supposed to be scholarly and public, and the public doesn't have the attention span needed, so I'll work on a balance of these things.

It still feels strange, going through all of these books and articles, since I still haven't found any source with a particular emphasis on diplomacy in Gaul.

So, the goal currently is to get the other pages up, Secundus through Octavus, then work on the introduction page, and also a conclusion page.  Convenience for the website will come later.

Cheers,
Dominic Martyne