Editing First Triumvirate (section)

=== Pompey's sole consulship, 52&nbsp;BC ===

In spring of 53&nbsp;BC, while Rome dealt with its own political crisis, Crassus launched his invasion of Syria and Caesar was dealing with a military crisis as the Gauls rose up. From the perspective at Rome, news of ambushes against in Gaul arrived first: Caesar abandoned his civil functions in Cisalpine Gaul to rescue his legions wintering in the [[Eburones]]' territory (near modern Belgium).{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|pp=404–05}} A few months later, news of the disaster at the [[Battle of Carrhae]] arrived, reporting that Crassus and much of his army had been killed by the Parthians.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=404}}

Still at this point, Caesar and Pompey were on friendly terms. Caesar praised Pompey, for example, for lending one of Pompey's Spanish legions to help against the Gauls, a private military arrangement which Cato criticised in the senate for usurping senatorial prerogatives on legionary assignments.{{sfnm|Drogula|2019|1p=209|Wiseman|1992|2p=407}} The consuls immediately prepared to hold elections for 52&nbsp;BC, which proved impossible when they were injured by stones thrown by the crowd.{{sfnm|Gruen|1995|1p=152|Drogula|2019|2p=210}}

As the year 52&nbsp;BC started, the consuls stepped down without replacement. For the first 18 days of the year, tribunes continually interposed their vetoes against election of an ''interrex''. Standing for the consulship in this year were Milo (supported by Cato and others), [[Publius Plautius Hypsaeus]] (one of Pompey's former lieutenants), and [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio]].{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=299}} Clodius, still warring with Milo's street gangs, supported Milo's competitors.{{sfnm|Ramsey|2016|1p=300|Drogula|2019|2p=211}} Some ancient historians – including Plutarch, Livy, and Valerius Maximus – believed that this violence was all part of a plot to have Pompey appointed dictator.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=304}} That Pompey desired a dictatorship is unnecessary to explain his opposition to elections; Pompey may have opposed the elections merely because they would have been elections that Milo would have won.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=213}} On 18 January, at a chance counter between Clodius and Milo on a road near a [[Bovillae|suburb]] outside of Rome, Milo's henchmen killed Clodius after a short brawl between their two entourages.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=300}} The next day, his body was brought back to Rome, where a mob then stormed the senate house and burnt it down – along with the [[Basilica Porcia]] – as part of Clodius' funeral pyre.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=300}}

At the resulting senate meeting on the [[Palatine Hill|Palatine]], the senate elected an ''interrex''. This was in part because two of the men obstructing senatorial action – Pompey and one of the tribunes, [[Titus Munatius Plancus]], – were not present.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=301}} Shortly thereafter, the senate passed a ''[[senatus consultum ultimum]]'' which called for the ''interrex'' and Pompey, as proconsul, to raise troops and take them into the city to restore order.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=301}} The following eleven ''interreges'' were unable to hold elections.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|pp=303–04}} However, some fifty-eight days after Clodius' death, with a sufficient force in the city, the twelfth ''interrex'' was able to hold elections.{{sfn|Ramsey|2016|p=303}} At the direction of the senate on motion of Bibulus and supported by Cato, only Pompey's candidacy was accepted, and upon his election, he became consul without colleague.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=214}} The purpose of the decree was possibly to forestall a Pompeian dictatorship or as part of a compromise to restore normal government while also precluding Milo's likely election (allowing Milo to be brought to trial for Clodius' murder).{{sfnm|Drogula|2019|1p=215|Ramsey|2016|2p=313}}

Also around this time, Pompey had married the daughter of [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio]], who also was the widow of Crassus' son; this was part of an attempt to win over more allies.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|pp=211–12}} Metellus Pius' family was not part of Cato's coterie (they were personal enemies and Cato's allies had attempted to prosecute him in 60&nbsp;BC) and marrying Crassus' son's widow could win over some of the now-dead Crassus' supporters.{{sfnm|Drogula|2019|1p=212|Gruen|1995|2pp=152, 154}}

Pompey began his consulship by marching soldiers into the city and imposing order by force.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|p=218}} After passing legislation, he immediately prosecuted Milo for public violence, a move which Cato and Cicero opposed (for this trial, Cicero wrote [[Pro Milone]]). Pompey, however, was able to secure a conviction and forced Milo into exile.{{sfnm|Gruen|1995|1p=154|Drogula|2019|2pp=218–19}} Pompey and Cato also bumped heads on the "Law of the Ten Tribunes" – a bill proposed by all ten of the [[Tribune of the plebs|plebeian tribunes]] in the aftermath of news of Caesar's victory at [[Battle of Alesia|Alesia]] – which granted Caesar the right to stand for the consulship ''in absentia'': Pompey supported it; Cato opposed.{{sfnm|Drogula|2019|1pp=219–20|Wiseman|1992|2p=412}} Amid bribery scandals, Pompey also secured the passage of a law mooted the previous year, which required a delay of five years been magistracy and dispatch to a province. It was meant to break "the nexus of corruption between ambition for office and provincial extortion". Pompey, however, sought and secured exception from his own law, assuming a five year command in Spain immediately.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=413}}