Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/70



CHAPTER III.

CICERO AS AN ADVOCATE. ATTICUS. CICERO'S FAMILY.

71-67 B.C.

OMPEY and Crassus were not good friends, but a common interest now drew them together. Pompey claimed a triumph for his victories in Spain. The claim was irregular. Pompey had never been consul or praetor. He had therefore no legitimate "auspices" to hallows his success, and so was not properly qualified for the religious ceremonial of the triumph. In former days the great Scipio himself had asked in vain for a triumph under similar circumstances. But Pompey had already a precedent in his own case, and it was short-sighted pedantry on the part of the Senate to refuse what even Sulla had been obliged to concede. Pompey likewise demanded that the privilege should

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