But the chief cause which delayed his journey west was the violation, in the House of the Pontifex Maximus, of the sacred mysteries of the Bona Dea by a young Quæstor-elect, Clodius, who was suspected of being the lover of Cæsar’s wife, Pompeia. A scandal involving the head of the state religion was a serious matter, and Cæsar lived up to the rôle assigned him by sententiously remarking that Cæsar’s wife ought not even to be suspected and by seizing this opportunity of divorcing her. The step satisfied public opinion at the time, but the dignity of the act is somewhat lessened in the eyes of later critics from the fact that the Pontifex Maximus himself was, even according to the flexible standards of Rome, notorious for his moral laxity.
When Clodius’ trial was held, Cæsar diplomatically denied that he had any certain knowledge of the case. Politics were so much involved in this trial that proscriptions might have been initiated. Clodius was a figure in the popular party, and, in the end, by the common method of bribing the judges, an acquittal was secured. Pompeius, in the midst of this exciting time, had arrived in Rome, thus giving Cæsar an opportunity of taking the measure of the over-praised Eastern conqueror. Before Cæsar left for Spain, mutual advances had taken place, and he felt sure that Pompeius would not ally himself with the senatorial party. Cæsar also continued to be on good terms with the millionaire Crassus, and before leaving Italy he borrowed from him eighteen hundred talents to satisfy the demands of creditors.
Of the period of Cæsar’s rule in Spain little is known; but his service there was valuable to him because, while contending with the hardy hill tribes, who were constantly in arms against the Romans, he received a training in war that afterwards stood him in good stead. He showed himself, too, an able and conscientious administrator, regardful of the condition of the provincials, who had suffered from the loss of property and from heavy taxation during the unintermitted war that took place while the government at Rome was destroying the home-rule system set up by Sertorius. The beneficent character of Cæsar’s administration showed itself in his friendly relation with the free city of Gades, where he was called in to reform the local laws and to settle factional disputes. The prosperity of the town in after years may reasonably be supposed to have dated from this period. Even Cicero speaks in glowing language of Cæsar’s supervision. The generous character of his treatment of the town is seen in its admission twelve years afterwards to the full Roman franchise. One of the most distinguished of the citizens of Gades, Balbus, became Cæsar’s confidential agent and secretary, serving in this capacity for many years without a break. After his master’s death, Balbus rose to be Prætor and Consul; he was the first enfranchised foreigner who held these highest offices in Rome.
All the affairs relating to his provincial government were set in order in the spring of 59 B.C., when Cæsar set out for Rome to be there in time for the consular elections, which were usually held in summer. He had two objects in view: one to secure the dignity of a triumph, the official stamp of a successful military commander; the other to present himself as a candidate for the consulship. It was impossible for him while holding a military command to appear within the walls and formally solicit the votes of his fellow-citizens. He therefore asked for permission to become a candidate without fulfilling the formal conditions, and this request the Senate refused to grant. Cæsar solved the difficulty by sacrificing the triumph; he resigned his command and entered the city as a private individual.
But now the opposition to him took another form. A determined aristocrat, M. Calpurnius Bibulus, who, apart from his political tenets, had a long-standing personal grudge against Cæsar, was put up by the senatorial party as his colleague for the consulship, and was elected by the lavish use of money. Cæsar’s next move in this game of political strategy was a master stroke of astuteness; he formed a close combination with Pompeius, whom the senatorial party had just irritated by vetoing all his pet schemes, among them an opportunity of a second consulship and a plan to reward his soldiers by a distribution of public lands. As a third member of the alliance Crassus was introduced, a valuable asset because of the great financial backing he could give. He saw a chance for promoting his political advancement with two such colleagues to help him. It was a frank system of give and take; there were no strong personal ties between any of the three members of the junta, but they had at least a common opponent, the senatorial party.
An effort was made, though it was unsuccessful, to detach Cicero from his friendly relations with the aristocratic majority in the Senate; as he declined the invitation, the new political machine became a triumvirate, the union of three influential persons to overcome opposition and to prevent the wheels of public business from being blocked by the endless methods of obstruction ever ready to be employed in the complicated system of Roman government, where the checks were more numerous than the balances. It simply meant that these three men, and not the reactionary senators, should decide on the distribution of provinces, on the candidates for offices, and on the command of armies. From the record of all three, it was clear that the technique of the constitutional system would not be treated with great reverence, for all were practical politicians and had definite personal ambitions to gratify.
As Consul, Cæsar began his year of magistracy with a policy of studied moderation. He tried to get on with Bibulus by showing him marked consideration in the way of official precedence, and his first reform of senatorial practice concerned a subject which might well have been taken as a non-controversial matter, the publication of the Senate’s proceedings. Cæsar proposed that a summary of each debate should be exposed to view in the Forum. It was an intimation to the senators that they must hold themselves responsible to public opinion.
The next proposal was to make some arrangement by which the veterans of Pompeius’ army should be supplied with public lands. These lands had to be acquired by the state from private owners, so the proceeds of the extensive conquests of Pompeius’ conquests in the East were to be applied to this purpose. The Senate refused to listen to any agrarian measure; the very name frightened them. Cato obstructed, trying to talk the scheme out in the Senate. Cæsar, who had as little respect for parliamentary procedure as Cromwell, put a stop to this copious oratory by placing the speaker under arrest. He was soon released, however, in deference to the pressure of his colleagues.
In the face of the hopeless opposition of the Senate to the Consul’s legislation, the only course left to pursue was for Cæsar to present his legislation directly to the popular assembly, without the authorization of the Senate. This method was extraordinary, but not absolutely illegal, and it had been employed by reformers since the time of Tiberius Gracchus. There were, of course, grave objections to it, for measures could be rushed through without proper discussion, and it is well known that hasty legislation is often dangerous, even for those who promote it. A specially drastic feature of the agrarian bill was the clause which compelled senators and all officers, to be elected in future, to swear to be faithful to its provisions.
In this way Cæsar hoped to secure his measure from being abrogated when the year of his magistracy was over. This clause was not, however, a new expedient, but it was now being used in a new way to prevent the claim that prerogatives of the Senate had been violated by passing legislation without consulting its wishes. Pompeius promised to support the bill by arms if violence were resorted to on the other side. A Tribune exercised his right to veto on the measure, when it was introduced in the popular assembly, but this old constitutional check was contemptuously disregarded. Also, when Bibulus, the conservative colleague of Cæsar, interfered by formally delaying action in the measure, he was forcibly removed from the Forum by some of Pompeius’ veterans. Bibulus was equally powerless when he invoked religious scruples of a technical kind, for Cæsar was Pontifex Maximus as well as Consul. Bibulus’ interpretations of signs and omens were ruled out as irregular. Even when the bill was passed by the people, he kept up opposition in the Senate and tried to induce the senators to declare the agrarian law null and void. They, however, were not prepared to join him in such a hazardous undertaking, so in disgust he withdrew for the rest of his term into private life. His retirement led the people to remark jokingly that the two Consuls for the year were Julius and Cæsar, not Cæsar and Bibulus.