Translation - Frans-Engels - Si César était vivant, tu serais enchaîné à une rame.

It makes sense to me; in his day, slaves would be chained to oars in the bottom of ships and forced to row and were whipped. What seemed wrong to you?

If Caesar was...

Oops! Hi Goncin, both 'was' and 'were' are correct.

Really?

Yep!

@ellasevia, that's cruel!

Lilian, it may be cruel, but it is very true (look it up if you don't believe me).

Goncin, "were" is correct because it is in the past subjunctive. In fact, "was" would not be correct in this situation, although many people would still say "if Caesar was alive."

ellasevia, both are acceptable for subjunctive. A British English speaker would probably use "was".