XXVIII.[509] Caesar had long ago resolved to put down Pompeius, as Pompeius also had fully resolved to do towards him.  For now that Crassus had lost his life among the Parthians, who kept a watch over both of them, it remained for one of them, in order to be the chief, to put down him who was, and to him who was the chief, to take off the man whom he feared, in order that this might not befall him.  But it had only recently occurred to Pompeius to take alarm, and hitherto he had despised Caesar, thinking it would be no difficult thing for the man whom he had elevated to be again depressed by him; but Caesar, who had formed his design from the beginning, like an athlete, removed himself to a distance from his antagonists, and exercised himself in the Celtic wars, and thus disciplined his troops and increased his reputation, being elevated by his exploits to an equality with the victories of Pompeius; also laying hold of pretexts, some furnished by the conduct of Pompeius himself, and others by the times and the disordered state of the administration at Rome, owing to which, those who were candidates for magistracies placed tables in public and shamelessly bribed the masses, and the people being hired went down to show their partisanship not with votes on behalf of their briber, but with bows and swords and slings.  And after polluting the Rostra with blood and dead bodies, they separated, leaving the city to anarchy, like a ship carried along without a pilot, so that sensible men were well content if matters should result in nothing worse than a monarchy after such madness and such tempest.  And there were many who even ventured to say publicly that the state of affairs could only be remedied by a monarchy, and that they ought to submit to this remedy when applied by the mildest of physicians, hinting at Pompeius.  But when Pompeius in what he said affected to decline the honour, though in fact he was more than anything else labouring to bring about his appointment as dictator, Cato, who saw through his intention, persuaded the Senate to appoint him sole consul, that he might not by violent means get himself made dictator, and might be contented with a mere constitutional monarchy.  They also decreed an additional period for his provinces:  and he had two, Iberia[510] and all Libya, which he administered by sending Legati and maintaining armies, for which he received out of the public treasury a thousand talents every year.

XXIX.  Upon this, Caesar began to canvass for a consulship by sending persons to Rome, and also for a prorogation of the government of his provinces.  At first Pompeius kept silent, but Marcellus[511] and Lentulus opposed his claim, for they hated Caesar on other grounds, and they added to what was necessary what was not necessary, to dishonour and insult him.  For they deprived of the citizenship the inhabitants of Novum Comum[512] a colony lately settled by Caesar in Gaul; and Marcellus, who was consul, punished with