Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/259

Rh consulship for that year while still in command. Crassus undertook to keep Clodius in check; and Pompeius, Cicero.

Caesar's Motives for Continuing the Triumvirate. — Caesar thus conceded to his confederates the provinces which next to his own were the most important from the military point of view. He surrendered his superior position as the only commander of a large army, and granted the military power which Pompeius desired. Still he retained the greatest army and the most central position. When Pompeius went to Spain, Caesar would be between him and the capital, and much nearer the scene of political action; Luca, for example, was only about one hundred and sixty-five miles distant from Rome. He had also a counterpoise to Pompeius in his old ally, Crassus. While the triumvirate lasted, party strife was likely to be less violent, but little force was needed to restrain the oligarchy, and he was probably sure of the real leadership on account of the political mediocrity and want of initiative of his associates. Nor did he necessarily contemplate a single executive at the head of the new government. In any case he had not completed the subjugation of Gaul, and he was scarcely as yet sufficiently the master of his eight legions to begin civil war without any plausible cause.

Submission of the Aristocracy. — The majority of the aristocrats, including Cicero, promptly submitted to the triumvirs. The senate decreed that the pay of the four legions which Caesar had levied on his own responsibility should be defrayed by the public treasury. It was considerate of the corrupt senators whom he had bribed, to reimburse him. Naturally, he retained his provinces.

With the assistance of two tribunes, Pompeius and Crassus prevented the holding of the consular election in 56, and the next year began with an interregnum. On the day