A young (and unshaven) Julius Caesar (Museum of Corinth)
I’ve made several small additions to the Livius website during the Pentecost weekend. In the first place, I put online an article I wrote about a year ago on Caesar‘s literary aims in his Gallic Wars. It was originally published in Ancient Warfare. As you already guessed, the Roman general tried to cover up what went wrong and to broadcast what went right. Still, there may be some interesting notes about lesser known topics, like the way he presents the topography of Gaul. The article is here, but of course it is also possible to subscribe to Ancient Warfare – here.
Other additions are a brief article on ostraca and the photos of Taucheira, which have moved to another location, which is here.
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New at LacusCurtius & Livius 
Did Caesar really try to appoint Gauls to the Senate?
The only source I could find on this is Suetonius, and a lot of credible historians say to take Suetonius’ work with a grain of salt because he was a notorious gossip-monger, and he was born over 100 years after Caesar died.
Are there any other ancient sources that tell about Caesar trying to add Gauls to the Senate?
The idea seems crazy, but Caesar had a propensity for turning crazy ideas into reality.
There were Gauls living on the plains of the river Po. They had been part of the Roman empire since about 220 BCE, and already served in the legions. They were fully romanized. V Alaudae and VI Ferrata, conscripted in 52 BCE, were made up from these people. I see no reason why Caesar would not include them in the Senate.
Thank you. I just finished watching the HBO series Rome, and the Gauls depicted in the Senate on that series are of cliche “barbarian” stock, with the long greasy hair and bushy beards.
This must have been simply for dramatic effect… at a glance, the average viewer might not see the difference between a Roman and a romanized Gaul accurately depicted.