A N ARTICLE by JF Lazenby'rightly insists on the close connection between Roman politics and the Gallic campaigns of Julius Caesar. But in the same article the status and significance of the conference at Luca are questioned and some arguments are offered to suggest that the sources, with the notable exception of Dio, have given rise to an exaggerated picture, to the" Luca Legend" in fact. On the other hand, there were meetings between Caesar and Crassus at Ravenna and between Caesar and Pompey at Luca in mid-April 56. Hence there is a need to determine" what really happened" and, this being so, Lazenby proceeds to offer a hypothesis. 2 It will be the purpose of this paper to determine if such a hypothesis is actually needed. To assume that the sources other than Dio are unreliable in so important a matter as the politics of 56 BC is to raise a number of important problems, not the least of which is the question of how to interpret the position and actions of Pompey. The case made by Lazenby therefore requires close examination. It is a case directed for the most part against the ancient authorities. Hence consideration of the conference of Luca will be confined in this paper to the ancient texts only, and at the beginning it might be helpful to consider what they have to tell us before the arguments of Lazenby are themselves subjected to scrutiny.