Editing Roman Republic (section)

====First Triumvirate====
{{Ancient Rome and the fall of the Republic}}
{{Main|First Triumvirate}}

Pompey returned from the [[Third Mithridatic War]] at the end of 62&nbsp;BC. In the interim, before his return to Italy, the senate had successfully suppressed a [[Catilinarian conspiracy|conspiracy and insurrection]] led by a senator, [[Lucius Sergius Catilina]], to overthrow that year's consuls.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=422–425 (supporters), 429–431 (goals and failure) }} In the aftermath of the conspiracy, which was abetted by popular discontent, the Senate moved legislation to temper unrest in Italy: expanding the grain dole and implementing other reforms.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=432–433}} Pompey, landing in [[Brundisium]], publicly dismissed his troops, indicating that he had no desire to follow Sulla's example and dominate the republic by force, as some conservative senators had feared.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|pp=360–361}} He attempted to have his eastern settlements passed by the Senate; ratification was not forthcoming, due to the opposition of Lucullus, [[Crassus]], and [[Cato the Younger]].{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=364}}

After Julius Caesar's election as one of the consuls of 59&nbsp;BC, Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus engaged in a political alliance (traditionally dubbed by scholars as the [[First Triumvirate]]).{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=120}} The alliance greatly benefited the three men: Caesar passed legislation to distribute state lands as poor relief while also providing land for Pompey's veterans; he also had Pompey's eastern settlements ratified; for Crassus, he secured relief for tax farmers and a place on agrarian commission.{{sfnm|Gruen|1995|1p=90|Wiseman|1992|2p=364}} Caesar won for himself the political support needed to acquire a profitable provincial command in Gaul and secure his political future.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=89}}

Attempting first to pass portions of his programme through the Senate, Caesar found the curia obstinate. He thus unveiled his alliance with Pompey and Crassus and moved his legislation before the people instead.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=91}} Political opposition to the allies was immense.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=92}}

Caesar also facilitated the election of the former patrician [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] to the tribunate for 58. Clodius set about depriving Caesar's senatorial enemies of two of their more obstinate leaders in [[Cato the Younger|Cato]] and Cicero. Clodius attempted to try Cicero for executing citizens without a trial during the Catiline conspiracy, resulting in Cicero going into self-imposed exile. Clodius also passed a bill that forced Cato to lead the invasion of Cyprus, which would keep him away from Rome for some years. Clodius also passed a law to expand the previous partial grain subsidy to a fully free grain dole for citizens.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=113}}

[[File:Caesar campaigns gaul-en.svg|right|thumb|Map of the Gallic Wars]]
{{Campaignbox Gallic Wars}}
After his term as consul in 59, Caesar was appointed to a five-year term as the proconsular Governor of Cisalpine Gaul (part of current northern Italy), Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria (part of the modern Balkans).{{sfn|Santosuosso|2008|p=58}} Caesar sought cause to invade Gaul (modern France and Belgium), which would give him the dramatic military success he sought. When two local tribes began to migrate on a route that would take them near (not into) the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul, Caesar had the barely sufficient excuse he needed for his [[Gallic Wars]], fought between 58 and 49.

Caesar defeated large armies at major battles 58 and 57. In 55 and 54 he made [[Caesar's invasions of Britain|two expeditions into Britain]], the first Roman to do so. Caesar then defeated a union of Gauls at the [[Battle of Alesia]],{{sfn|Santosuosso|2008|p=62}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=212}} completing the Roman conquest of Transalpine Gaul. By 50, all of Gaul lay in Roman hands.

Clodius formed armed gangs that terrorised the city and eventually began to attack Pompey's followers, who in response funded counter-gangs formed by [[Titus Annius Milo]]. The political alliance of the triumvirate was crumbling. Domitius [[Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 54 BC)|Ahenobarbus]] ran for the consulship in 55, promising to take Caesar's command from him. Eventually, the triumvirate was renewed at Lucca. Pompey and Crassus were promised the consulship in 55, and Caesar's term as governor was extended for five years. Beginning in the summer of 54, a wave of political corruption and violence swept Rome.{{sfn|Abbott|2001|p=114}} This chaos reached a climax in January of 52, when Milo murdered Clodius in a gang war.

In 53, Crassus launched a Roman invasion of the Parthian Empire (modern Iraq and Iran). After initial successes,{{sfn|Matyszak|2004|p=133}} his army was cut off deep in enemy territory, surrounded and slaughtered at the [[Battle of Carrhae]], in which Crassus himself perished. Crassus's death destabilised the Triumvirate. While Caesar was fighting in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for Rome that revealed that he was at best ambivalent towards Caesar.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2016|p=214}} Pompey's wife, Julia, who was Caesar's daughter, died in childbirth. This event severed the last remaining bond between Pompey and Caesar. In 51, some Roman senators demanded that Caesar not be permitted to stand for consul unless he turned over control of his armies to the state. Caesar chose civil war over laying down his command and facing trial.