This had been easily carried, and in its wake Labienus had proposed that the law regarding the election to the priesthoods (which included the pontifex maximus) should be restored. The senate, which clearly had not seen the potential dangers of the issue, agreed to this.

It was common knowledge that Caesar was in debt on a vast scale, so when he made his almost impudent bid for the office, Catulus himself approached Caesar and made him an offer on condition of his withdrawing his candidacy. This was a blunder, for he had now let Caesar know how much money he and his supporters had to spend, and Caesar’s answer was to borrow even more and continue his steady bribery of the electorate. On the day of the elections the story goes that, as his mother was seeing him out of the house, he said to her: “Today you will either see me as High Priest or an exile.” (There is no doubt that had he failed his creditors would have made sure that prison awaited him unless he had first of all managed to escape to some safe and distant land.) He carried the day—and to such an extent that even in the political wards of his two rivals he secured more votes than they did.

The office which he now held had, before the founding of the republic, been reserved for the kings of Rome and was now tenable for life by the elected candidate. It carried immense prestige and influence. Caesar had gained not only the base from which he could begin to restore his financial position but immeasurably expand it, the patronage that could be extended by the holder of this once-regal office being practically unlimited. By cunning use of the tribune Labienus and by the lavish expenditure of money (much of it, no doubt, from Crassus) Caesar had moved to a dominant position on the center of the board.

 

 

 

7

 

A State of Crisis

 

IT was with some surprise that people heard that an aged senator Gaius Rabirius, a staunch Optimate, was to be tried for high treason at the instigation of the same Labienus who had helped Caesar to his new position. The surprise arose principally because the murder of which he was accused had taken place thirty-seven years before, when a tribune of the people, Saturninus, a noted radical, had been killed. This had been done under an emergency decree of the senate, which could be invoked whenever the senate saw fit to say that the state was in danger. These vague but sweeping powers were naturally anathema to Caesar and those of his persuasion, for they could one day be used against them.

To prosecute Rabirius was in effect to attack the power of the senate and in particular of the Sullan oligarchy. Caesar managed to get himself nominated as one of the judges in the case and passionately sought the condemnation of the old man. The death sentence was actually pronounced and might even have been carried out but for the intervention of Cicero. He had perceived Caesar’s real purpose—the attempt to weaken senatorial powers—and the assembly broke up. Caesar, acting through Labienus, tried yet again to have Rabirius brought to trial, although this time with the penalty reduced from death to a large fine. Once more Cicero moved to his defense and Caesar was thwarted. He had however clearly declared war on the old days of massive senatorial power. No one could doubt that the intention of the popular party was to see the authority of the senate significantly reduced.

The strange figure of Lucius Sergius Catilina—Catiline—now threatened to take over the forefront of the Roman stage. This debt-ridden aristocrat, who had already been defeated in the consular elections, once more put himself forward for the office. He had a considerable following among the many who had been ruined in the tumultuous wars of previous years, great charm and no scruples (the latter not so unusual in the Rome of the period). His social program drew many to him since he envisaged a cancellation of debts—something which would have been attractive to Caesar though not to Crassus, although there seems little doubt that he was in touch with both of them. Nothing, however, so serves to bring together in unity the moneyed and propertied classes as a program of social revolution such as was being outlined by Catiline and his followers, and both the principal orders of society, the senators and the knights, now closed ranks. Cicero, as consul and as leading spokesman for law and order, often proudly referred to this amalgamation of interests as the “Concord of the Orders.” Certainly Catiline soon realized that his quest for the consulship would make no headway against so powerful a block and he decided on revolutionary means.

In July 63 there took place the election for the offices of state for the following year. Caesar, pursuing the normal course on the rungs of power, was elected a praetor. This was the post of a magistrate performing some of the duties of a consul, and second only to the consulship itself in the offices of state. It carried the advantage that a provincial governorship usually followed the year of office, and it was in the great provinces that reputations could be made and fortunes acquired. At the same time Catiline was defeated in his election for the consulship. There can be little doubt that up until now both Crassus and Caesar had been in support of Catiline: he was their type of man. But a Catiline defeated in his second attempt could have no interest to them and, in any case, once his determination to seize power illegally was known, he became a liability. Crassus had his wealth to safe-guard him against most things, but Caesar had little more than the positions he had won for himself and, as High Priest and praetor, he was now well established on the formal route to the top. It seems most likely that at this point both men withdrew their support from the man who was already recruiting an army of revolution.

A conspiracy on this scale could hardly escape detection, especially in a city that swarmed with spies and informers, and Cicero as consul was naturally soon made aware of it.