including Raimu. . The card game scene is a reference to "Marius" and the pétanque scene to "Fanny". Reacting to this affectionate parody, Pagnol said, "Now I know that my work will be immortal...because it's appeared in Astérix!" After Asterix and Obelix sink the pirates' ship, Pegleg quotes Lucan in The Pharsalia: "Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa catoni." ("The victorious cause was pleasing to the gods, but the lost cause was pleasing to Cato.") Notes On the cover of the album, the sack is coloured incorrectly (green with a yellow patch). In the original French version, the camp centurion in this story (Gracchus Nenjetépus) is the same as that of the previous volume, Asterix the Gladiator — the only time a centurion appears in more than one album. However, in all major translations, he is given a different name in this volume (in the English version, he is named Gracchus Armisurplus in Asterix the Gladiator, and Lotuseatus in this album). Dogmatix is introduced in this book. He is first seen outside the pork butcher's shop in Lutetia. He follows Asterix and Obelix (who do not notice him during the entire journey) all across Gaul back to their village. Obelix notices him before the victory feast because he barks for the very first time and is rewarded with a bone. Dogmatix was originally supposed to be a literal running gag for this story alone. However, the authors decided he should stay in the series as a mascot, thus violating Goscinny's original no-pets rule. In the first version, the tour was supposed to go the other way around. In another initial version, other towns were considered but eliminated for lack of space: Cæsarodunum (Tours): rillettes Vesunna (Périgueux): foie gras Bæterræ (Béziers): wine Arelate (Arles): sausage Cabello (Cavaillon): melons Cularo (Grenoble): walnuts (in French, "Grenoble nuts") Genabum (Orléans): aromatic vinegar Suindinum (Le Mans): chicken. This marks the introduction of the running gag of Obelix vehemently protesting the implication that he is fat; while he had referred to himself as 'medium' in size in Asterix and the Goths, in Asterix the Gladiator Asterix informed him that he was too fat to pose as a lion to infiltrate the Circus and Obelix merely commented that he wished he had known that, while here he shows evident anger at anyone who calls him fat or even indirectly refers to him as 'the fat man', claiming