Caesar was praetor in 62, held command in Spain

Earned title of Imperator -- triumphing Roman general

M. Porcius Cato the Younger, Optimates, party of good government, blocked Caesar’s bid to seek consulship in absentia. He also blocked legislation to obtain land and bounties for Pompey’s veterans, and blocked remission of tax revenues requested by Asian tax collectors supported by Crassus. Cato’s attempt to restore power to the oligarchy.

First Triumvirate, 59 BC, three men combined their influence to seize power at Rome; Mimes – the 3-headed monster; Pompey the tyrant

Caesar’s legislation of 59 BC:

1. Agrarian legislation (two packages) for veterans and urban poor. In Campania, 20,000 received land allotment

2. Pompey’s acts in the East were ratified

3. Asian tax contract remissions for Crassus and the publicans

How to preserve power –

A.Vatinius Tr. Pl. 59 secured an extraordinary command for Caesar in Gaul. Caesar obtained a 5 year grant of imperium in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum; the option to extend the command to Transalpine Gaul was added thereafter

2. Pompey married Caesar’s daughter Julia; Caesar married Calpurnia, the daughter of the newly elected consul L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus.

1. offices for the following year: P. Gabinius (author of the lex Gabinia) and L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (Caesar’s new father-in-law) were elected consuls for 58; P. Clodius was transferred to the plebeian order and elected tr. Pl. in 58; early attempts were made to prosecute Caesar and his quaestor before his departure for Gaul, but nothing came of it. Even though the consuls of 57 and 56 were less friendly to Caesar, he enjoyed the benefit of a command in Gaul far removed from Rome. Cicero initially thought he was immune to the threats of the Triumvirate and spoke out against it. He was even warned by Caesar not to do so and offered a role in the agrarian commission but declined. In the following year Cicero would be sent into exile by the tribune P. Clodius; Cato would be assigned duty of selling off the royal estate of the Ptolemies in Cyprus, removing him from Rome as well. Eventually, Clodius would turn on Pompey, forcing him to recruit a friend of Cicero named T, Anneius Milo to organize an anti-Clodian gang. Gang violence in Rome. But for now the Triumvirate was in charge. Caesar

CRUCIAL POINT: Attempts to block Caesar’s consular legislation through procedural and religious means of obstruction were simply overridden and/or ignored by Caesar and his supporters, who resorted to violence. His consular colleague, M. Calpurnius Bibulus, used his religious authority as augur to impose religious sanctions on every action of Caesar. In essence, Caesar’s consular tenure was “illegal,” but there was no way to stop him so long as he possessed imperium. His adversaries viewed all of his legislation as illegal.