Editing First Triumvirate (section)

=== Fraying of the pact, 59–55&nbsp;BC ===
During the Caesar's consulship, the success of Cato and Bibulus' tactics at discrediting Caesar and Pompey made the two greatly unpopular during and after the summer: "[Caesar and Pompey's] public appearances were received coldly or with open antagonism... Bibulus, far from being a pitiable figure, had never enjoyed such wide repute".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=92}} Cato and Bibulus, for their part, mobilised a large propaganda campaign seeking to brand Caesar a tyrant, with "dire warnings of the impending overthrow of the republican government" that discredited the alliance and forced senators to re-evaluate their tacit support.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=143}} Crassus revelled in Pompey's discomfitures before the people; this unpopularity frayed at the alliance between the three men, which was meant only to secure for them aims which they could not achieve by themselves.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=93}}

Upon the conclusion of Caesar's consulship, he left after a few months for his provincial assignment to Gaul. His legislative activity, however, came under immediate attack from Domitius and Memmius, who had been elected as praetors during Caesar's electoral ''[[comitia]]'' the last year, claiming that Caesar had passed the legislation against the auspices.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=182}} These efforts were utterly unsuccessful – the pro-triumviral consuls allowed debate on the topic for three days – and the senate rejected the claims.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=183}} In later years, Caesar's laws were accepted writ large (perhaps with the exception of Bibulus), disregarding any technical religious objections: "If Cicero and Cato both went along with the laws of Vatinius and Caesar, we can fairly assume the rest of the senators did so as well... For Bibulus, it was something of a personal campaign to seek to undermine... Caesar's legislation... but his protests in 59 and later hardly 'kept [it] technically invalid'".{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=186}}

==== At Rome ====
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;"
|+Consular results from 59–55 BC{{efn|Name ordering as provided in {{harvnb|Broughton|1952}}. }}
! rowspan="2" |Year
! colspan="2" |Consul
|-
!Prior
!Posterior
|-
|59 BC
|[[Julius Caesar|C Julius Caesar]]<br /><small>Triumviral</small>
|[[Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus|M Calpurnius Bibulus]]<br /><small>Anti-triumviral</small>
|-
|58 BC
|[[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (consul 58 BC)|L Calpurnius Piso]]<br /><small>Caesarian (mild), anti-Pompeian<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=145|ps=. "Piso had the support of Caesar... more important, he was a man of substance in the oligarchy, regarded not a Caesarian, but as a leader of the ''boni''... [Piso] encouraged Clodius' attacks and relished Pompey's difficulties".}}</ref></small>
|[[Aulus Gabinius|A Gabinius]]<br /><small>Pompeian<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=144|ps=, noting Gabinius defended Pompey from Clodius.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mouritsen|2017|p=157|ps=, describing Gabinius as "Pompey's man".}}</ref></small>
|-
|57 BC
|[[Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther|P Cornelius Lentulus Spinther]]<br /><small>Pompeian (defected)<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|pp=144–45|ps=. "Spinther seemed safe and reliable... [however] the hitherto pliable Lentulus Spinther proved to have ambitions of his own... he and others had managed the thwart the aims of Pompey".}}</ref></small>
|[[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos (consul 57 BC)|Q Caecilius Metellus Nepos]]<br /><small>Anti-Pompeian<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=145|ps=, opposing Pompey due to divorce of Mucia.}}</ref></small>
|-
|56 BC
|[[Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus|Cn Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus]]<br /><small>Anti-Caesarian, anti-Pompeian<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=146|ps=, specifying opposition to Caesar and Pompey "with unrestrained vehemence".}}</ref></small>
|[[Lucius Marcius Philippus (consul 56 BC)|L Marcius Philippus]]<br /><small>Anti-Caesarian, anti-Pompeian<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=146|ps=. "[Marcellinus'] colleague, Philippus, was more subdued and less conspicuous. He preferred to follow the lead of Marcellinus".}}</ref></small>
|-
|55 BC
|[[Pompey|Cn Pompeius Magnus]]<br /><small>Triumviral</small>
|[[Marcus Licinius Crassus|M Licinius Crassus]]<br /><small>Triumviral</small>
|}

Pompey had the most to lose. After alienating the Metelli by divorcing Mucia, Pompey's alliance with Caesar and Crassus alienated some former allies in the 60s as well, including the Cornelii Lentuli.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=93–94}} The triple alliance also led to other formerly rivalrous families mending their relationships. The Luculli and Servilii, who had been rivals for decades, "combined to withstand the triumvirs".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=94}} Similarly, the Scibonii Curiones, Cornelii Sullae, and Memmii switched from supporting Pompey into opposing him and Caesar.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=94}} In general, "there can be no coincidence in the fact that, in almost every case, former ''amici'' of Pompey are first seen to be ranged with the opposition in the year 59... by maintaining a consciously moral posture, driving the triumvirs to extreme measures, and parading their own martyrdom, Cato and his associates ruined triumviral credit among the people and assembled aristocratic collaboration in resistance".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=95}}

Early in 59&nbsp;BC, Caesar and Pompey had ratified the adoption of [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] into a plebeian clan.{{sfn|Gruen|1966|pp=122–23}} Clodius was an independent agent who was adept at playing political enemies off of each other.<ref>{{harvnb|Gruen|1995|p=98|ps=. "It should no longer be necessary to refute the older notion that Clodius acted as agent or tool of the triumvirate".}}</ref> Soon after Clodius' adoption was ratified, he, against Caesar's wishes, successfully stood for a tribunate for 58&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Gruen|1966|p=124}} After some slights from Caesar and Pompey relating to assignment of a foreign mission, he broke with them.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=373}} At the start of his tribunate, Clodius pushed forward four popular bills to expand grain imports, provide free grain to Roman citizens in the city, restore the {{lang|la|collegia}} (professional organisations), regulate the use of auspices as obstructive tactics, and regulate the power of the [[Roman censor|censors]] to remove senators.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|pp=377–78}} He also moved agitating against [[Cicero]]'s illegal execution of the Catilinarian conspirators during his consulship in 63&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Gruen|1966|p=125}} While Cicero had secured some promises of protection from Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, and the consuls for 58&nbsp;BC, "the promised assistance... never materialised" because Clodius had quickly gained a powerful popular following which the fraying alliance was unwilling to oppose.{{sfn|Gruen|1966|p=125–27}} He also quickly won over the consuls of that year by promising them the plum provincial assignments they needed to avoid bankruptcy.{{sfnm|Gruen|1966|1p=127|Wiseman|1992|2p=380}}

Later in the year 58, Clodius started to openly criticise the triumvirs, especially Pompey, forcing him into self-seclusion in his home. He also attacked Caesar's legislation on religious grounds.{{sfn|Gruen|1966|p=128}} Pompey was somewhat successful in checking Clodius' influence when he formed a coalition to overturn Cicero's banishment, but Clodius' attacks continued, tacitly supported by Crassus and one Gaius Porcius Cato (a relative of Cato the Younger).{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=100}} Pompey also responded by supporting [[Titus Annius Milo]] and [[Publius Sestius]], who raised their own urban mobs to contest the streets from Clodius' mobs,{{sfn|Tatum|2006|p=202}}{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=145}} and, with the returned Cicero's support, was able to secure a prestigious command over Rome's grain supply in September 57&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Tatum|2006|p=202}}{{sfn|Gruen|1969|p=79}}

However, Pompey's very success renewed the coalition against him: a coalition of the Claudii, including Clodius, the Lentuli, and the Catonians – with little meaningful opposition from Caesar and Crassus – were able to shut off any hope of Pompey being granted a new military command in Egypt to restore [[Ptolemy XII Auletes]] to the throne.{{sfnm|Tatum|2006|1p=202|Gruen|1995|2p=100|Wiseman|1992|3p=391}} In a clash of mutually exclusive proposals raised by different factions in January 56&nbsp;BC,{{efn|{{harvnb|Wiseman|1992|p=392}}, explaining the senate debate on 13 January 56&nbsp;BC:
* The senate voted overwhelmingly against use of military force.
* [[Publius Servilius Isauricus]] proposed not restoring Ptolemy XII.
* Bibulus proposed sending three senators without ''imperium'' to mediate (thereby excluding Pompey).
* Crassus proposed sending three senators with ''imperium'' to mediate.
* [[Quintus Hortensius]], Cicero, and [[Marcus Lucullus]] proposed sending Lentulus Spinther.
* [[Lucius Volcatius Tullus (consul 66 BC)|Lucius Volcacius Tullus]], supported by [[Lucius Afranius (consul)|Lucius Afranius]] and Pompey's allies, proposed sending Pompey.
Bibulus' proposal was defeated. Hortensius' proposal was vetoed. The decision was then delayed. One tribune proposed recalling Spinther (then governor in Cilicia); another tribune proposed sending Pompey; Clodius' supporters then proposed sending Crassus. One of the consuls put all tribunician proposals on hold by declaring holidays; one tribune responded by threatening to veto the elections. Eventually, Isauricus' proposal passed, but was itself vetoed.}} all proposals were unacceptable to at least one party, leading to nothing being done about Egypt.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=392}} At the same time, Pompey's grain command had not produced reduced prices, further reducing his popularity; under attack by Clodius, whom Pompey suspected Crassus was supporting, the conservatives around Bibulus and Curio watched.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=393}}

All the consuls of 57 and 56&nbsp;BC were, if not opponents of, indifferent to both Caesar and Pompey; the failure to maintain their political influence put the alliance into a "shambles".{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=146}} Cicero, describing Pompey's plight, mentions the ''contio''-goers estranged, the nobility hostile, and the senate unfair.<ref>{{harnvb|Mouritsen|2017|p=77|ps=, citing, Cic. ''QFr.'' 2.3.4.}}</ref> Without the ability to make allies with the rest of the aristocracy, who had closed ranks against him, Pompey had to double down with his existing allies.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=100}}

==== In Gaul ====
{{Main|Gallic Wars}}

Through this whole period, Caesar was fighting in the [[Gallic Wars]]. By early 56&nbsp;BC, he had won enormous popularity both with the senate and the people: in 57, Caesar requested thanksgivings for his victory over the [[Belgae]] and, at a motion of Cicero, received fifteen days of ''supplicationes'', a new record. In his narrative of his campaign, ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'', by 57, Caesar reported pacification of the whole region.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=219–20, 221 (pacification)}} These military achievements had undercut any political will to undermine Caesar's ''acta'' from his first consulship, and during 56 itself, Caesar received a series of favourable senatorial decrees to provide more funds for his troops in Gaul – above Cicero's objections that Caesar could have paid for them out of his spoils – and granted his request to have ten legates ({{lang|la|decem legati}}) sent to aid in administration and senatorial settlement of the region's affairs.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=220–21}}

Caesar's successes at this point had made him extremely popular among the people and in general across the political class; Cicero, who had been sullen during Caesar's consulship, sang his praises, saying "If perhaps Gaius Caesar was too contentious in any matter, if the greatness of the struggle, his zeal for glory, if his irrepressible spirit and high nobility drove him on [that] should be tolerated in the case of a man of his quality".{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=225}} This popularity, however, did not translate into political victories for his political allies: none of the magistrates for 57 were friendly; in the elections of 57 (for magistrates in 56) his allies were repulsed from both the aedileship and the praetorship, while his political enemies won two praetorships.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=228}} Caesar's political support in Rome was largely dependent on Pompey and Crassus, rather than his own legates or allies.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=229}}

By 56&nbsp;BC, Caesar's enemies were mobilising against him: a tribune attempted to recall him for trial – which was vetoed, as he Caesar was legitimately on government business, – while Domitius only "declared his intention to terminate Caesar's command as soon as possible".{{sfn|Tatum|2006|p=202}} Furthermore, Caesar's land bills were under attack by a tribune – perhaps under Pompey's influence – who wanted to deny Caesar's veterans from receiving land under his ''lex Julia agraria'' upon their retirement.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=175}} And in the summer, fighting started back up, with campaigns against a [[Veneti (Gaul)|Veneti]] uprising in northwestern Gaul.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=222}} These campaigns led Caesar to seek a five-year extension of his command; to do this, he too would need the support of his allies once more.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=176}}