qselby Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 I've been checking the sources and, aside from Caesar being backed by Piso and Pompey, can't find how they managed to give Caesar an extended five year term as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum (and then Transalpine Gaul). By law it was one year, right? I know this deal was pulled off again during the consulship of Crassus and Pompey. How was this pulled off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 I've been checking the sources and, aside from Caesar being backed by Piso and Pompey, can't find how they managed to give Caesar an extended five year term as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum (and then Transalpine Gaul). By law it was one year, right? I know this deal was pulled off again during the consulship of Crassus and Pompey. How was this pulled off? The Lex Vatinia (via the Tribune Vatinius) was passed through the people's assembly. Though the initial acts of the triumvirii were opposed in the Senate, laws passed through the assemblies were binding on everyone despite political resistance (and even the illegality of the initial proposition). The Lex Julia Agraria and the Lex Campania were two land laws which for all intensive purposes settled Pompey's eastern veterans on public land and distributed land to poor Plebes. These were the first of the triumvirii's several motions to be forced through the people's assemblies. While the Senate opposed these measures and attempted to thwart the triumvirs with various legal procedures (though they did not necessarily oppose the entire ideology of settling veterans, but rather the methodology and the detail of the bills) Caesar, along with Pompey and Crassus, went directly to the people and convinced the assemblies that these were necessary measures. Of course, having Pompey's threatening veterans around waiting for some sort of settlement probably didn't hurt their cause. Once the precedent was set and the method proved to be effective, Caesar didn't bother with traditional senatorial deliberation and simply ram-rodded his measures through the tribunate. It's obviously a bit more detailed and complicated than that, but it opens the door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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