Julius Caesar by Ernle Bradford

concessions for the tax-farmers that Crassus had wanted and—despite fierce opposition from Cato—this was again achieved by taking the matter to the people. In the first six months of his consulship Caesar had succeeded in welding the triumvirate into an unbreakable chain against which the senate was powerless. He had also very naturally promoted his own interests, for he had endeared himself to the soldiers by his agrarian bill and, by his concessions to the tax-farmers, secured the approval of the knightly order (as well as almost certainly making money for himself). He now proceeded to extend the alliance by marrying Calpurnia, the daughter of a certain Piso. He was a friend of Clodius, had been involved in the Catiline conspiracy, and has been described as “an unprincipled debauchee and a cruel and corrupt magistrate.” Certainly he had considerable wealth and was to amass even more during a governship of Macedonia in which he plundered the province even beyond the limits that were normally considered tolerable in Rome.
    Calpurnia was to be Caesar’s last wife and, although he continued as openly unfaithful to her as to his previous wives, she seems to have genuinely cared for him: he remained irresistible to women. At almost the same time another marriage also took place—one that again was of the greatest advantage to Caesar. The forty-seven-year-old Pompey married Caesar’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Julia, thus binding these two members of the triumvirate even closer together. Despite the considerable age difference, this too seems to have been a happy marriage. Indeed from now on the influence of Crassus, although only very slowly, seems to decline. Pompey had the money and power, Caesar’s finances had improved through his own manipulations and by marriage, while Crassus could in no way match Caesar in political ability.
    Further violence ensued when the agrarian law was extended to include Campania, but yet again there was little or nothing that those opposed to the triumvirate could do since Caesar had the backing of the people while the other consul, Bibulus, had more or less abandoned his duties. Meanwhile the triumvirs had their eyes on Egypt, particularly Caesar because of his previous interest and Pompey because he regarded the whole East as very much his concern. Earlier, the annexation of the kingdom had been urged on the grounds of the reported will of the late Ptolemy. The reigning king, Ptolemy Auletes, father of the famous Cleopatra, was eager enough to retain control of his wealthy kingdom but he found that the Romans demanded an enormous price for their support. Yet he needed official recognition and support from Rome to shore up his very shaky hold upon the throne. Caesar, as consul, was the man to secure this, and he spoke on the King’s behalf before both senate and people urging an official confirmation of the royal title as well as an alliance of the republic with Egypt. The confirmation of Ptolemy’s title meant little to the Romans, but all could see that to guarantee the King’s position by an alliance was halfway to laying their hands on his country. The innocent (and one sometimes wonders how many there can have been in that city) might even see Caesar and Pompey as benefactors of Rome—as indeed they were. But they had not done it for nothing, and the sum they received from the King in return for their help was so vast that even the wealthy Ptolemy had to borrow from Roman financiers to meet it. Caesar was now certainly tasting the fruits of office, but still he needed to look ahead and make plans for the proconsulship that would follow next year.
    The only way to effect a change from the ignominious appointments was to secure one of the tribunes as an ally (well-compensated, of course) to introduce a motion before the people’s assembly appointing Caesar to a real command for the following year in a province that was worthy of his attention. He found his man in a certain