Rome Must Fall

Claudius was originally a top noble in Rome. When he ignored the traditional rules, acted as the leader of hooligans, and disrupted the political arena with violence, the senators had no way to deal with him.

Only Pompey, who had a grudge against Claudius, supported the new tribune to form his own gang of thugs, and used violence to fight against Claudius's people.

From time to time, the teams of both sides had large-scale fights in Rome, causing considerable casualties. The order of the entire city of Rome was gone, and even the safety of the senators and nobles was threatened.

So the Senate passed a bill to recall Cicero back to Rome, and Pompey was quite active in the process.

In return, Cicero proposed to the Senate: Give Pompey special command rights to better solve the problem of grain imports in Italy.

Many conservative senators expressed their support.

So, Pompey, who had been idle for a few years, once again had power.

But soon after, Claudius was also elected as a municipal official. He soon prosecuted the former tribune Milo (who formed a mob with Pompey's support to fight against Claudius's men) for "political violence". Pompey and Cicero defended him. The two sides clashed fiercely at the assembly and even threatened each other.

The deepening hatred between Pompey and Claudius also increasingly affected his relationship with Crassus, because although Crassus had not been prominent in the political arena in recent years, in fact, many people knew that he was quietly supporting Claudius.

Therefore, Pompey believed that Crassus was deliberately targeting him, and the conservative elders headed by Cicero began to show goodwill to him, which made him begin to consider whether it was worthwhile to continue to maintain the triumvirate.

Cicero and others were keen to discover this change, so they asked people to In the Senate, it was proposed that since Caesar had successfully conquered Gaul, there was no need to stay in Gaul for five years and he could be recalled in advance.

Another senator who had a good chance of becoming consul next year, Domitius (his ancestors had conquered Transalpine Gaul on elephants and his family had many connections with Gaul) publicly stated that he hoped to replace Caesar and become the governor of Gaul after leaving office.

Pompey did not completely oppose this proposal, but Crassus said nothing.

The triumvirate was on the verge of disintegration.

Caesar in the north had been paying attention to the political situation in Rome. After discovering this situation, he immediately took action and invited Pompey and Crassus to the city of Lucca in his province for talks. Through his outstanding mediation and planning skills, the three reached a new agreement.

In this new agreement: Pompey and Crassus Pompey and Crassus once again joined forces to jointly run for the consulship of the next year (i.e. 55 BC) to prevent the election of Caesar's mortal enemy Domitius. After the two consuls left office, Pompey served as the governor of Spain for five years, Crassus served as the governor of Syria for five years, and Caesar continued to serve as the governor of Gaul for another five years on the basis of the previous agreement.

It can be said that this agreement satisfied all three of them, especially Crassus.

When Pompey conquered the East, the huge amount of wealth he obtained exceeded Crassus. Later, Caesar's military achievements in Gaul also overshadowed him, making him the least prominent one in the trio, and he was inevitably unbalanced.

The current agreement allows him to have an army and formal ruling power in the next few years. He ambitiously set his sights on Parthia east of Syria. If he can conquer this ancient Eastern empire, then If so, his achievements will surpass Caesar, and he will also earn a huge amount of wealth from this wealthy land.

The Triumvirate was re-established.

When the news spread, the Senate was shocked, but Cicero quickly accepted this reality. Perhaps he had learned a lesson from his previous exile, which made him choose to compromise in the face of the powerful forces of the three giants.

So he gave a speech in the Senate, opposing the proposal of Caesar's political enemies (that is, to remove Caesar from the post of governor of Gaul), and praising Caesar's victory in Gaul.

With the joint support of him, Pompey and Crassus, Caesar's command in Gaul was confirmed, and the treasury would pay for the additional legions recruited by Caesar himself.

However, on the issue of running for the consul next year, the conservatives were unwilling to compromise, and even Pompey and Crassus had a lot of trouble to qualify for the election.

Before the election day, Caesar specially asked a large number of his soldiers to return to Rome to vote, including Crassus's son Publius.

As a result, violent clashes broke out on the election day. One of the candidates, Amityus, was injured and one of his attendants was killed. Pompey and Crassus became the winners.

Afterwards, the forces of the Triumvirate also intimidated Cato the Younger, so that he failed to be elected as a magistrate.

In the election of the municipal officials, there was a very fierce fight, so that Pompey was also splashed with other people's blood. When he returned home, his pregnant wife Junia saw the blood on his body and was frightened and miscarried.

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In the first half of this year, most of the tribes in Gaul surrendered to Caesar and handed him hostages, and the entire Gaul region seemed to have restored peace.

Caesar had begun to turn his attention to the east and consider the possibility of marching into Nyx and Dacia, but the subsequent changes in the Roman political arena forced him to urgently invite Pompey and Crassus to Lucca for negotiations.

After the new agreement was reached, something went wrong in Gaul again.

Veneti and other coastal tribes detained Roman officers who were sent to these tribes to prepare military provisions, and demanded the return of their hostages, otherwise they would not release these officers.

Caesar certainly would not agree, so the war started again.

Finally, after Caesar defeated the Veneti, he severely punished them. Not only did he massacre the entire council of the Veneti, but he also sold the captured and surrendered tribesmen as slaves - he wanted to use such brutal means to warn other Gallic tribes not to betray.

Because during the war, Caesar found that the Gallic coastal tribes that were hostile to him had received military assistance from the British tribes, so he made up his mind to cross the sea to Britain.

It was undoubtedly difficult to cross the sea to attack a completely unfamiliar area. The first attack did not achieve great results, but Caesar therefore mastered more information about Britain.

Soon, he planned a second expedition, and this time he was more fully prepared.

However, when he won more glory and earned more wealth in Britain, Caesar's only child, Pompey's wife Junia, died of dystocia in August 50 BC, and his mother Aurelia also died in the same year.

Within a year, Caesar lost two of his closest family members.

Although he was very sad, there was a very urgent problem that he needed to solve as soon as possible-Julia's death made the closest bond between Pompey and Caesar disappear.

So he proposed that Pompey marry his great-niece Octavia, and he married Pompey's daughter Pompeia, which required Caesar, Octavia and Pompeia to divorce their current spouses respectively.

Pompey rejected this proposal and did not show the idea of ​​remarrying for a while, which should be out of mourning for his deceased wife Julia. Although their initial union was due to political considerations, the old man and young wife have always been very affectionate, and people often criticized him for always staying in the manor with his wife to enjoy themselves instead of dealing with the affairs of the republic, and he never cheated during this marriage.

In fact, after Pompey stepped down as consul this year, he should have gone to Spain to take over the position of governor, but he was already 51 years old and did not intend to return to the battlefield. Instead, he stayed in the manor outside Rome to take care of his pregnant wife Julia, and appointed the legion commander to govern the Spanish province and command the Roman army there.

Pompey's practice was illegal. No Roman governor had done this before, but he was Pompey who always liked to break Roman traditions, and the Senate did not blame him for this.

Crassus, who was almost 60 years old, was very eager to take office as the governor of Syria. During his tenure as consul, his plan to conquer Parthia was known to the public. Some senators publicly protested that he would involve Rome in a meaningless and unjust war.

As soon as his term as consul ended, Crassus hurried to the East with a large entourage.

When he was young, he fought bravely for Sulla, but felt that he did not get the recognition he deserved; when Spartacus launched a rebellion, he turned the tide, but after the war, the people forgot the danger at that time and only regarded the war as an action to suppress slaves; so this time he wanted to fully demonstrate his military talents in the process of conquering Parthia, so that the Roman people would cheer for his great achievements.

From this year on, the members of the Triumvirate were not in Rome (Pompey, as the governor of the province, was not allowed to enter Rome according to regulations, so he could only stay in the suburbs outside Rome), and the new consuls were Caesar's mortal enemy Domitius and Claudius's brother Appius, who was difficult to control, and Cato also became a legal officer.

However, the agents of the Triumvirate were very active in Rome, so they could still control the Roman political arena, and it was difficult for the conservative senators to make any actions that were not conducive to the Triumvirate.

Even in order to get the position of tribune for one of his retainers, Appius had to go north to Ravenna to visit Caesar to obtain permission.

Although Caesar had been paying attention to the Roman political scene, he spent most of his energy on continuous fighting during this year, and had little leisure time.

After returning from the British campaign, he did not even go home to hold a funeral, but hurriedly convened the leaders of the Gaul tribes to hold a meeting.

The reason was that the agricultural harvest in Gaul was very poor this year. The explanation given by the leaders of the Gaul tribes was that this summer was particularly dry, but in fact, Caesar's battles in Gaul in recent years greatly disrupted the farming of the Gaul tribes, and during his expedition to Britain, he also levied labor and collected food and grass from the Gauls to meet the logistical supply of the army, which undoubtedly increased the burden on the Gaul tribes.