A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 14

*Pompey and Cra.s.sus consuls.* Both Pompey and Cra.s.sus, flushed by their victories in Spain and in Italy, now demanded the right to stand for the consulship for 70 B. C. Both sought triumphs and under this pretext did not disband their armies. The Senate resisted their claims, for Pompey's candidature was clearly unconst.i.tutional, and since Cra.s.sus was praetor in 71 he was not eligible for the consulate in the following year.

Furthermore both were distrusted because of their ambitious natures. In view of this opposition Cra.s.sus, in spite of mutual jealousy between himself and Pompey, made overtures to the latter and they agreed to unite their forces. They also made a bid for the support of the _populares_ by promising to restore the tribunate to its former privileges and for that of the equestrians by promising to reinstate them in the jury courts. This combination overawed senatorial opposition, their candidatures were legalized by special bills and both were elected. In their consulate the tribunes were relieved of the restrictions which Sulla had placed upon their activities, and the jury courts were reorganized. However, the latter were not given over completely to the equestrians, but each panel of jurors was to consist of three equal sections, one drawn from the Senate, one from the _equites_, and one from the _tribuni aerarii_, the cla.s.s of citizens whose a.s.sessment was next to that of the _equites_. The Sullan regime was at an end, and in the tribunate emanc.i.p.ated from the Senate's control the ambitious general of the future was to find his most valuable ally.

*Trial of Verres.* In the same year, prior to the pa.s.sing of the Aurelian Law which reformed the juries, occurred the trial of Caius Verres, ex-propraetor of Sicily, a case notable because the prosecution was conducted by the young Marcus Tullius Cicero, whose accusation contained in his published _Orations against Caius Verres_ const.i.tutes a most illuminating commentary upon provincial misgovernment under the Sullan regime. The senatorial juries after 82 B. C., had protected the interests of the provinces no better than had the equestrian juries established by Caius Gracchus. They had shown themselves shamelessly venal, and a provincial governor who made judicious disburs.e.m.e.nts could be confident that he would be acquitted of any charges of extortion brought against him. Relying upon this Verres, who was propraetor of Sicily in 73, 72 and 71 B. C., had carried off from that province money and valuables estimated at 40,000,000 sesterces ($2,000,000). He had openly boasted that he intended the profits of one year for himself, those of the second for his friends and patrons, and those of the third for his jurors. At the opening of the year 70 B. C. the Sicilian cities sued Verres for rest.i.tution of damages and chose Cicero as their advocate. Cicero was a native of Arpinum, the birthplace of Marius, and was now in his thirty-sixth year.

His upright conduct as quaestor in western Sicily in 75 B. C. had earned him the confidence of the Sicilians, and his successful conduct of the defense in several previous trials had marked him as a pleader of exceptional ability. But Verres had entrusted his case to Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, regarded at the time as the foremost of Roman orators, and every conceivable device was resorted to in order to prevent the case from coming to trial. Another prosecutor appeared, who claimed to have a better right than Cicero to bring suit against Verres. This necessitated a trial to decide which could better claim to represent the Sicilians. Cicero was able to expose the falsity of the claims of his rival, who was acting in collusion with Verres. He then proceeded to Sicily where he gathered his evidence in fifty of the hundred and ten days allowed him for the purpose. Before the hearing the elections for the next year were held and Hortensius elected consul, but Cicero was returned as aedile in spite of all the efforts of his opponents to weaken his prestige by a defeat at the polls.

The trial was set for the fifth of August, and as there were fifty holidays for various festivals between that date and the end of the year, the defense hoped to drag out the trial until after January first, when a praetor friendly to Verres would preside over the court for extortion. But Cicero defeated their hopes by abstaining from any long formal speech of accusation and contenting himself with a brief statement of the obstacles the defense had placed in his way, a threat to punish in his capacity of aedile any attempts at corruption, and a short statement of the charge against Verres. He then called his witnesses. Hortensius found himself without any arguments to combat and could not refute the evidence. Before the hearing of the witnesses was concluded Verres went into exile. He was condemned in his absence and Cicero became the leading advocate of the day. However, it must be admitted that the condemnation of Verres was also partly due to the danger of the loss of their privileges which threatened the senatorial jurors.

*The crimes of Verres.* The evidence which had been brought out against Verres was afterwards used by Cicero in composing his _Second Pleading against Verres_ (_actio secunda in Verrem_) which was of course never delivered, but was a political pamphlet in the form of a fict.i.tious oration. From it we learn the devices of which the governor made use to ama.s.s a fortune at the expense of his province. By initiating false accusations, by rendering, or intimidating other judges to render unjust decisions, he secured the confiscation of property the value of which he diverted to his own pockets. He sold justice to the highest bidder. While saving himself expense by defrauding the collectors of port dues of the tax on his valuables shipped out of Sicily, he added to his profits by the sale of munic.i.p.al offices and priesthoods. He entered into partnership with the _dec.u.mani_ or collectors of the ten per cent produce tax, and ordered the cultivators to pay whatever the collectors demanded, and then, if dissatisfied, seek redress in his court, a redress which, needless to say, was never gained. He loaned public funds at usurious rates of interest, and either did not pay in full or paid nothing for corn purchased from the Sicilian communities for the Roman government, while charging the state the market price. At the same time he insisted upon the cities commuting into money payments at rates far above current prices the grain allotted for the upkeep of the governor's establishment. At times the demands made upon cultivators exceeded the total of their annual crop, and in despair they fled from their holdings. To the money gained by such methods Verres added a costly treasure of works of art, which he collected from both individuals and cities by theft, seizure and intimidation. Even the sacred ornaments of temples were not spared. All who resisted or denounced him, even Roman citizens, were subjected to illegal imprisonment, torture or execution. These iniquities were carried out in defiance of the provincial charter, but there was no power in his province to restrain him, and the Senate, which should have done so, remained indifferent to the complaints which were carried to Rome. The sad truth was that after all Verres was only more shameless and unscrupulous than the average provincial governor, and consequently the sympathies of the Senate were with him rather than with his victims-the provincials.

V. THE COMMANDS OF POMPEY AGAINST THE PIRATES AND IN THE EAST: 6762 B. C.

*The pirate scourge.* Both Pompey and Cra.s.sus had declined proconsular appointments at the close of 70 B. C., because there were no provinces open which promised an opportunity to augment their influence or military reputation. Accordingly they remained in Rome watching for some more favorable chance to employ their talents. Pompey found such an opportunity in the ravages of the Cilician pirates. After the failure of Marcus Antonius (7472 B. C.), Caecilius Metellus had been sent to Crete in 69 B. C. and in the course of the next two years reduced the island to subjection and made it a province. But his operations there did little to check the pirate plague. So bold had these robbers become that they did not hesitate to raid the coasts of Italy and to plunder Ostia. When finally their depredations interrupted the importation of grain for the supply of the city, a famine threatened, and decisive measures had to be taken against them.

*The Gabinian Law, 67 B. C.* The only way to deal with the question was to appoint a commander with power to operate against the pirates everywhere, and the obvious man for the position was Pompey. However, the Senate mistrusted him and in addition feared the consequences of creating such an extensive extraordinary command. But since 71 B. C. Pompey had stood on the side of the _populares_ and now, like Marius, he found in the tribunate an ally able to aid him in attaining his goal. In 67 B. C. the tribune Aulus Gabinius proposed a law for the appointment of a single commander of consular rank who should have command over the whole sea within the pillars of Hercules and all Roman territory to a distance of fifty miles inland. His appointment was to be for three years, he was to have the power to nominate senatorial _legati_, to raise money in addition to what he received from the quaestors, and recruit soldiers and sailors at discretion for his fleet. This command was modelled upon that of Antonius the praetor in 74 B. C., but conveyed higher authority and greater resources. The Senate bitterly resisted the pa.s.sage of the bill but it pa.s.sed and the Senate had to relinquish its prerogative of creating the extraordinary commands. Although no person had been nominated for this command in the law of Gabinius, the opinion of the voters had been so clearly expressed in a _contio_ that the Senate had to appoint Pompey. He received twenty-four _legati_ and a fleet of five hundred vessels.

*The pirates crushed.* Pompey set to work energetically and systematically. In forty days he swept the pirates from the western Mediterranean. In forty-nine more he cornered them in Cilicia, where he forced the surrender of their strongholds. His victory was hastened by the mildness shown to those who surrendered. They received their lives and freedom, and in many cases were used as colonists to revive cities with a declining population. Within three months he had brought the pirate war to a triumphant conclusion, but his _imperium_ would not terminate for three years and he was anxious to gather fresh laurels.

*The Manilian Law, 66 B. C.* It so happened that Pompey's success coincided with the temporary check to the Roman arms in Pontus, owing to the disaffection of the troops of Lucullus and the machinations of the latter's enemies in Rome. Pompey now sought to have the command of Lucullus added to his own, and in this he had the support of the equestrian order. Early in 66 B. C. one of the tribunes, Caius Manilius, proposed a law transferring to Pompey the provinces of Bithynia and Cilicia and the conduct of the war against Mithradates and Tigranes.

Cicero, then a praetor, supported the measure in his speech, _For the Manilian Law_. His support was probably dictated by the fact that he was a man without family backing and consequently had to have the friendship of an influential personage if he was to secure the political advancement which he desired. The Senate strongly opposed any extension of Pompey's military authority, but the bill was pa.s.sed and he took over the command of Lucullus. He was clothed with power to make peace or war with whom he chose, and enjoyed an unexampled concentration of authority in his hands.

*The campaigns of Pompey in the East.* Pompey at once advanced into Pontus and attacked Mithradates. The latter was forced to withdraw into Lesser Armenia where he was overtaken and his army scattered by Pompey. The king fled to the neighborhood of the Sea of Asov. Upon the defeat of Mithradates, Tigranes deserted his cause and submitted to Pompey. He was permitted to retain his kingdom as a Roman ally. In the following year, 65 B. C., Pompey reduced to submission the peoples situated south of the Caucasus, between the Black and the Caspian Seas, who had been in alliance with Mithradates, and so completed the subjugation of Pontus, which he made into a province (64 B. C.).

In 64 B. C. he turned his attention to Syria, where a state of chaos had reigned since Lucullus had wrested it from Tigranes and where a scion of the Seleucids had failed to find recognition. Pompey decided to treat Syria as a Roman conquest and incorporate it within the empire. He then interfered in a dynastic struggle in the kingdom of Judaea. After a brief struggle, in which the temple of Jerusalem was stormed by the Romans, he installed his nominee as High Priest at the head of the local government.

Judaea was then annexed to the province of Syria (63 B. C.).

While Pompey was in Judaea the death of Mithradates occurred. Deserted by the Greek cities of the northern Euxine, he formed the plan of joining the Celtic peoples of the Danube valley and invading Italy. But his army deserted him for his son Pharnaces, who revolted against his father, and Mithradates committed suicide. Thereupon Pharnaces made peace with Pompey.

The Mithradatic war was finally over and Pompey, after organizing affairs in Asia Minor and the adjoining countries, started on a triumphal return to Italy with his victorious army and rich spoils of war (62 B. C.).

VI. THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE, 63 B. C.

*The situation in Rome.* While Pompey was adding to his military reputation in the East he was regarded with jealous and anxious eyes not only by the Senate but also by the other champions of the popular party, Cra.s.sus who found his wealth no match for Pompey's military achievements, and Caius Julius Caesar who was rapidly coming to be one of the leading figures in Roman public life. Caesar was born in 100 B. C., of the patrician _gens_ of the Julii, but since his aunt was the wife of Marius, and he himself had married the daughter of Cinna, his lot was cast with the Populares. As a young man he had distinguished himself by refusing to divorce his wife at Sulla's behest, whereat Sulla was with difficulty induced to spare his life, saying that he saw in him many a Marius. For the time being Caesar judged it prudent to withdraw from Rome to Rhodes.

While in the East he was captured by pirates, and after being ransomed, fulfilled his threat to avenge himself by taking and executing his captors. After the death of Sulla, Caesar returned to Rome and devoted his more than average oratorical abilities to the cause of the Marians. In 69 or 68 B. C. he was quaestor in Farther Spain, and shortly afterwards he became closely a.s.sociated with Cra.s.sus in the attempt to develop a counterpoise to Pompey's influence. While aedile in 65 B. C. he curried favor with the populace by the extraordinary lavishness with which he celebrated the public festivals, by the restoration of the public monuments of the campaign of Marius and by supporting the prosecution of agents in the Sullan proscriptions. The splendor of his shows had obliged Caesar to contract heavy debts, and Cra.s.sus was in all probability his chief creditor. Both were therefore interested in securing for Caesar a position in which he could secure the wealth to meet his obligations.

The unrest in Rome was heightened by the presence there of a number of men of ruined fortunes, both Marians dispossessed by Sulla and those of the opposite party who had squandered their resources or had been excluded from the Senate by the censors of 70 B. C. This element was ready to resort to any means, however desperate, to win wealth or office. Foremost among them was Lucius Sergius Catilina, a patrician who enjoyed an evil repute for his share in the Sullan proscriptions and the viciousness of his private life. Symptomatic of the weakening of the public authority was the organization of partizan gangs to terrorize opposition and control the a.s.sembly.

*Cicero elected consul, 64 B. C.* In the year 64 B. C. three candidates presented themselves for the consulship, Catiline, Caius Antonius, a n.o.ble of the same type as Catiline, and Cicero. The first two were supported by Caesar and Cra.s.sus who hoped to use them for their own ends. Cicero, as a _novus h.o.m.o_, was distasteful to the Optimates, but since they felt that Catiline must be defeated at all costs they supported the orator, who was elected with Antonius. From that time Cicero ranged himself on the side of the Optimates, and his political watchword was the "harmony of the orders," that is, of the senators and the equestrians. Of the consular provinces Cicero received by lot Macedonia and Antonius Cisalpine Gaul. As the latter was dissatisfied Cicero resigned Macedonia to him, in return for his public a.s.surance of abstaining from opposing Cicero's acts during their year of office.

*The land bill of Rullus, 63 B. C.* On the first day of his consulate Cicero delivered a speech in which he scathingly criticized a land bill proposed by the tribune Servilius Rullus. This bill aimed to create a land commission of ten members of praetorian rank, elected in a special _comitia_ of seventeen tribes, which Rullus was to choose by lot. These commissioners were to be vested with extraordinary powers for five years, including the right to sell the public land in Italy and in Pompey's recent conquests, to exercise judicial authority, to confiscate lands, to found colonies, and to enroll and maintain troops. The bill would have placed in the hands of the commissioners extraordinary military authority both in Italy and in the provinces, guaranteed by the income derived from the sale of land. Pompey was excluded from the commission by a clause requiring the personal appearance of candidates. Everyone was aware that the measure was devised in the interests of Caesar and Cra.s.sus and that they would dominate the commission. However, the attack upon the Senate's control of the public land and the general mistrust of the purposes of a bill of this sort caused such strong opposition that its sponsors did not bring the matter to a vote.

*Caesar, **Pontifex** Maximus.* But Caesar could console himself with victory in another sphere. The position of Pontifex Maximus had become vacant, and by a tribunician bill the _lex Domitia_, revoked by Sulla, was again brought into effect and election to the priesthood entrusted to a _comitia_ of seventeen tribes. In the ensuing election Caesar was victorious.

*The Catilinarian conspiracy: 63 B. C.* In July, 63 B. C., occurred the consular elections for the next year. Catiline was again a compet.i.tor, but now he lacked the support of Cra.s.sus and Caesar and appealed directly to all needy and desperate characters throughout Italy, who hoped to enrich themselves by violent means. He was bitterly opposed by Cicero and the Optimates and was defeated. Thereupon he and his followers conspired to overthrow the government by armed force. Cicero, who was on the watch, got news of the conspiracy and induced the Senate to pa.s.s the "last decree"

empowering him to use any means to save the state. Catiline then left the city to join the bands his supporters had raised in Etruria. He was declared a public enemy and a force under the consul Antonius dispatched against him. December seventeenth was the day set for a rising in Rome, when the city was to be fired, the consuls and others murdered, and a reign of terror inst.i.tuted. But the plan was betrayed by a delegation of the Gallic Allobroges who happened to be in Rome and whom the conspirators endeavored to enlist on their side. The leading Catilinarians in Rome were arrested, and, in accordance with a decree of the Senate, put to death.

Caesar had argued for a milder sentence, but the firm stand of the young Marcus Porcius Cato, a man of uncompromising uprightness and loyalty to the const.i.tution, sealed the fate of the plotters. Upon the failure of his plans in Rome, Catiline endeavored to make his way with his army into Cisalpine Gaul, but was overtaken and forced to give battle to the forces of Antonius at Pistoria. He and most of his followers died sword in hand.

The suppression of the conspiracy added to Cicero's reputation and greatly strengthened the position of the Senate and the Optimates.

But the whole episode bears testimony to the general weakness of the government and the danger of the absence of a regular police force for the maintenance of the public peace.

VII. THE COALITION OF POMPEY, CAESAR AND CRa.s.sUS: 60 B. C.

*Pompey's return.* Towards the close of the year 62 B. C. Pompey landed in Italy and, contrary to the expectations of those who feared that he would prove a second Sulla, disbanded his army. The following September (61) he celebrated a memorable triumph. He was exceedingly anxious to crown his achievements by having the Senate ratify his eastern arrangements and securing land grants for his veterans. However, since the dismissal of his troops he was no longer feared by the Senate, which insisted on examining his acts in detail and not ratifying them _en bloc_ as he demanded. Thus the Optimates lost the opportunity of binding Pompey to their side, and at the same time they fell out with the equestrians over the demand made by the _publicani_ who had contracted for the taxes of Asia for a modification of the terms of their contract on the ground of poor harvests in the province.

*The coalition of 60 B. C.* No settlement had been reached when Caesar returned to Rome in 60 B. C. He had been praetor in 62 and for the following year governor of Further Spain, where he waged successful border wars, conciliated the provincials and yet contrived to find the means to satisfy his creditors. He now requested a triumph and the privilege of standing for the consulate while waiting outside the city for the former honor. However, when the Senate delayed its decision he gave up the triumph and became a candidate for the consulate. He now succeeded in reconciling Pompey and Cra.s.sus and the three formed a secret coalition to secure the election of Caesar and the satisfaction of their particular aims. This unofficial coalition is known as the First Triumvirate. Through the influence of his supporters Caesar was easily elected but his colleague was Calpurnius Bibulus, the nominee of the Optimates.

CHAPTER XIV

THE RIVALRY OF POMPEY AND CAESAR: CAESAR'S DICTATORSHIP; 5944 B. C.

I. CAESAR CONSUL: 59 B. C.

*A rule of force.* At the beginning of his consulship Caesar tried to induce the Senate to approve his measures, but, when they failed to do so, he carried them directly to the a.s.sembly. And when Bibulus and Cato essayed to obstruct legislation in the Comitia he crushed all opposition by the aid of Pompey's veterans. Bibulus, protesting against the illegality of Caesar's proceedings, shut himself up in his own house. Thus Caesar carried two land laws for the benefit of the soldiers of Pompey, induced the Senate to ratify the latter's eastern settlement, and secured for the equestrians, whose cause was championed by Cra.s.sus, the remission of one third of the contract price for the revenues of Asia.

*The Vatinian Law.* A lucky chance enabled Caesar to secure his own future by an extended military command. The Senate had taken pains to render him harmless by a.s.signing as the consular provinces for 58 the care of forests and country roads in Italy, but in February, 59, the death of Metellus Celer, proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul, left vacant a post of considerable importance in view of the imminent danger of war breaking out in Transalpine Gaul. Accordingly a law proposed by the tribune Vatinius transferred to Caesar the command of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyric.u.m, with a garrison of three legions, for a term of five years beginning 1 March, 59.

To this the Senate, at the suggestion of Pompey, added Transalpine Gaul and another legion.

*The banishment of Cicero, 58 B. C.* Caesar's consulship had been an open defiance of const.i.tutional precedent, and had revealed the fact that the triumvirate was stronger than the established organs of government, and that the Roman Empire was really controlled by three men. Well might Cato say that the coalition was the beginning of the end of the Republic.

Within the triumvirate itself Pompey was the dominant figure owing to his military renown and the influence of his veterans. Caesar appeared as his agent, yet displayed far greater political insight and succeeded in creating for himself a position which would enable him to play a more independent role in the future. The coalition did not break up at the end of Caesar's consulship; its members determined to retain their control of the state policy, and to this end secured for 58 B. C. the election of two consuls in whom they had confidence. To cement the alliance Pompey married Caesar's daughter Julia, and Caesar married the daughter of Piso, one of the consuls-elect. To secure themselves from attack they felt it necessary to remove from the city their two ablest opponents, Cato and Cicero. The latter had refused all proposals to join their side, and had sharply criticized them on several public occasions. His banishment was secured through the agency of the tribune Clodius, whose transfer from patrician to plebeian status Caesar had facilitated. Clodius was a man of ill repute who hated Cicero because the latter had testified against him when he was on trial for sacrilege. Early in 58 B. C. Clodius carried a bill which outlawed any person who had put to death Roman citizens without regular judicial proceedings. This law was aimed at Cicero for his share in the execution of the Catalinarian conspirators. Finding that he could not rely upon the support of his friends, Cicero went into exile without awaiting trial. He was formally banished, his property was confiscated, and he himself sought refuge in Thessalonica, where the governor of Macedonia offered him protection. Cato was entrusted with a special mission to accomplish the incorporation of Cyprus, then ruled by one of the Egyptian Ptolemies, into the Roman Empire, and his Stoic conception of duty prevented him from refusing the appointment. Caesar remained with his army in the vicinity of Rome until after Cicero's banishment and then set out for his province.

II. CAESAR'S CONQUEST OF GAUL: 5851 B. C.

*The defeat of the Helvetii and Ariovistus: 58 B. C.* In 58 B. C., when Caesar entered upon his Gallic command, the Roman province in Transalpine Gaul (_Gallia __Narbonensis_) embraced the coast districts from the Alps to the borders of Spain and the land between the Alps and the Rhone as far north as Lake Geneva. The country which stretched from the Pyrenees to the Rhine, and from the Rhone to the ocean was called _Gallia comata_ or "long-haired Gaul," and was occupied by a large number of peoples of varying importance. These were usually regarded as falling into three groups, (1) those of Aquitania, between the Pyrenees and the Loire, where there was a large Iberian element, (2) those called Celts, in a narrow sense of the word, stretching from the Loire to the Seine and the Marne, and (3) the Belgian Gauls, dwelling between these rivers and the Rhine.

Among the latter were peoples of Germanic origin. Although conscious of a general unity of language, race and customs, the Gauls had not developed a national state, owing to the mutual jealousy of the individual peoples, and each tribe was perpetually divided into rival factions supporting different chiefs. Rome had sought to protect the province of Narbonensis by establishing friendly relations with some of these Gallic peoples and had long before (c. 121 B. C.) made an alliance with the Aedui. About 70 B. C. conditions in _Gallia comata_ had been disturbed by an invasion of Germanic Suevi, from across the Rhine, under their King Ariovistus. He united with the rivals of the Aedui, the Sequani, and after a number of years reduced the former to submission. In 59 B. C. he reached an agreement with Rome, became a "friend" of the Roman people, and, while abstaining from further aggression, remained firmly established in what is now Alsace. For some time the Roman province had been alarmed by the threat of a migration of the Helvetii, then settled in western Switzerland, and in March, 58 B. C., this people started in search of new abodes. Caesar reached Gaul in time to prevent their crossing the upper Rhone, and followed them as they turned westward into the lands of the Sequani and Aedui. Defeated in two battles, they were forced to return to their home and to become allies of Rome. The movement of the Helvetii had given Caesar the opportunity for intervention in _Gallia comata_, and a pretext for extending his influence there was found in the hostility of some of the Gauls to Ariovistus, and the knowledge that a band of Suevi was expected soon to cross the Rhine to reinforce the latter. To frustrate a German occupation of Gaul now became Caesar's object. Ariovistus rejected the demands of Caesar, who thereupon attacked him, defeated him in the vicinity of Stra.s.sburg and drove him across the Rhine. Caesar was now the dominant power in Gaul, and many of the leading tribes entered into alliance with Rome. Of the Belgae, however, only the Remi came over to the side of Rome.

*The conquest of the Belgae, Veneti, and Aquitanians, 5756 B. C.* In the next year, 57 B. C., Caesar marched against the united forces of the Belgae, defeated them, and subdued many tribes, chief of whom were the Nervii. At the same time his legates received the submission of the peoples of Normandy and Brittany. In the course of the following winter some of these, led by the Veneti, broke off their alliance and attacked Caesar's garrisons. Thereupon he set to work to build a fleet, with which in the course of the next summer the fleet of the Veneti was destroyed and their strongholds on the coast taken (56 B. C.). The same year witnessed the submission of the Aquitanians, which brought practically the whole of Gaul under Roman sway.

*Events in Rome, 5855 B. C.* Meanwhile important changes had taken place in the situation at Rome. Pompey had broken with Clodius, and supported the tribune t.i.tus Annius Milo who pressed for Cicero's recall. A law of the a.s.sembly withdrew his sentence of outlawry, his property was restored, and the orator returned in September, 57 B. C., to enjoy a warm reception both in the munic.i.p.al towns and at the capital. For the moment Pompey and the Optimates were on friendly terms, and the former made use of a grain famine in the city to secure for himself an appointment as curator of the grain supply (_curator annonae_) for a period of five years. This appointment carried with it proconsular _imperium_ within and without Italy, and the control of the ports, markets and traffic in grain within the Roman dominions. It was really an extraordinary military command.

Pompey relieved the situation but could do nothing to allay the disorders in Rome, where Clodius and Milo with their armed gangs set law and order at defiance. The news of Caesar's victories and the influence which he was acquiring in the city by a judicious distribution of the spoils of war fired the ambitions of Pompey and Cra.s.sus who were no longer on good terms with one another. Furthermore, the return of Cato in 56 B. C. had again given the Optimates an energetic leader. Consequently Caesar felt it necessary for the coalition to reach a new agreement. Accordingly while spending the winter in Cisalpine Gaul he arranged a conference at Luca in April, 56, where the three settled their differences and laid plans for the future. They agreed that Pompey and Cra.s.sus should be consuls in 55 B. C., that the former should be given the Spanish provinces and Libya for five years, that Cra.s.sus should have Syria for an equal period, and that Caesar's command in Gaul should be prolonged for another five year term to run from 1 March, 54.(12)