XIII. These were the things worthy of commemoration in the consulship of Crassus. But his censorship[44] passed over altogether without results, and without any active measures; for he neither revised the senate, nor inspected the equites, nor made a census of the citizens, though he had for his colleague Lutatius Catulus, the mildest of the Romans. But it is said that Crassus designed a shameful and violent measure, to make Egypt tributary to the Romans, and that Catulus opposed him vigorously, on which a difference arising between them, they voluntarily laid down their office. In the affair of Catiline,[45] which was a serious matter, and one that came near overthrowing Rome, some suspicion, it is true, attached to Crassus, and a man came forward to name him as implicated in the conspiracy, but nobody believed him. However, Cicero, in one of his orations, evidently imputed to Crassus and Cæsar participation in the plot; but this oration was not published till after the death of both of them. But in the oration on his consulship, Cicero says that Crassus came to him by night and brought a letter[46] which contained information on the affair of Catiline, as if his object was to establish the truth of the conspiracy. Now Crassus always hated Cicero for this, but his son stood in the way of his doing Cicero any open injury. For Publius,[47] who was fond of oratory and of improving himself, was much attached to Cicero, and went so far as to change his dress when Cicero did at the time of his trial, and he induced the other young men to do the same. At last he prevailed upon his father, and reconciled him to Cicero.
XIV. When Cæsar returned from his province,[48] he made preparations to be a candidate for the consulship; but, observing that Crassus and Pompeius were again at enmity, he did not choose by applying to one of them for his help to have the other for his enemy, and he did not think that he could succeed if neither of them assisted him. Accordingly, he set about reconciling them, by continually urging upon them, and showing that by their attempts to ruin one another they would increase the power of the Ciceros, and Catuli, and Catos, who would lose all their influence if they would unite their friends and adherents, and so direct the administration with combined strength, and one purpose. By persuasion and effecting a reconciliation, he brought them together, and he formed out of the union of all three an irresistible power by which he put down the Roman senate and the people, though he did not make Pompeius and Crassus more powerful, one through the other, but by means of the two he made himself most powerful; for immediately on being supported by Pompeius and Crassus, he was elected consul by a great majority. While Cæsar was ably discharging the business of the consulship, Crassus and Pompeius, by procuring for him the command of armies, and by delivering Gaul into his hands, fixed him in a kind of acropolis, thinking that they should administer the rest of the State as they mutually agreed, after securing to Cæsar the authority which the lot had given him. Now Pompeius did all this through unbounded love of power; but to the old vice of Crassus, his avarice, there was now added a new passion, ambition for trophies and triumphs excited by the great exploits of Cæsar, since it was in this alone that he was Cæsar's inferior; for he had the superiority in everything else; and his passion remitted not nor diminished till it resulted in an inglorious death and public misfortunes. Cæsar had come down from Gaul to the city of Luca, and many of the Romans went to him there, and Pompeius and Crassus had private conferences with him, in which they agreed to take affairs in hand more vigorously, and to hold the whole power of the State at their disposal, to which end Cæsar was to remain in his military command, and Pompeius and Crassus were to have other provinces and armies. To this object there was only one road, which was to ask for a second consulship, and Cæsar was to assist them in their canvass by writing to his friends and sending many of his soldiers to support them at the comitia.
XV. As soon as Crassus and Pompeius[49] returned to Rome, suspicion was excited, and there was much talk through the whole city that their meeting had been held for no good. In the Senate Marcellinus and Domitius asked Pompeius if he intended to be a candidate for the consulship, to which Pompeius replied that perhaps he should, and perhaps he should not; being asked again, he said that he was a candidate for the votes of the good citizens, but not a candidate for the votes of the bad. It was considered that Pompeius had made a haughty and arrogant answer; but Crassus said, in a more modest tone, that he would be a candidate, if it was for the interest of the State; if it was not, he would decline. This encouraged certain persons to become candidates, among whom was Domitius. However, when Pompeius and Crassus had openly declared themselves candidates, the rest were afraid and withdrew; but Domitius was encouraged by Cato, who was his kinsman and friend, and stimulated and urged him to stick to his hopes, with the view of defending the common liberties; he said "it was not the consulship that Pompeius and Crassus wanted, but a tyranny; that their conduct showed they were not asking for the consulship, but aiming to seize on the provinces and the armies." By such arguments, which were also his real opinions, Cato, all but by force, brought Domitius to the Forum, and many sided with them. And those who were surprised at the canvassing of Pompeius and Crassus were no small number. "Why then do they want a second consulship? And why do they wish to be colleagues again? And why will they not have the consulship with other colleagues? There are many men among us who are surely not unworthy to be colleagues with Crassus and Pompeius." This alarmed the partizans of Pompeius, who now abstained from no proceeding, however disorderly and violent; but, in addition to all the rest, they placed a body of men to lie in wait and attack Domitius as he was going down to the Forum, while it was still dark, with his partizans, and they killed the man that held the light, and wounded many, among whom was Cato. After putting the party of Domitius to flight, and driving them back to the house,[50] Pompeius and Crassus were proclaimed consuls. Shortly after, they again surrounded the Senate-house with armed men, and, after driving Cato out of the Forum, and killing some persons who opposed them, they procured another five years[51] of administration to be added to Cæsar's term, and the two provinces of Syria and Iberia to be given to them. When the lots were cast, Crassus got Syria, and Pompeius had Iberia.
XVI. The result of the lot was not universally disliked; for the majority wished Pompeius not to be far from the city, and Pompeius, who was much attached to his wife,[52] intended to spend his time chiefly in Rome. Crassus showed by his joy, immediately on the falling out of the lot, that he considered no greater good fortune had ever befallen him, and he could scarcely keep quiet before strangers and in public; to his friends he uttered many foolish and puerile expressions quite inconsistent with his years and temper, for he had never before shown himself in the least degree a braggart or arrogant. But now, being mightily elated, and his head completely turned, he was not for making Syria or Palestine the limit of his victories; but, designing to make the exploits of Lucullus against Tigranes, and those of Pompeius against Mithridates appear mere child's play, he extended his hopes as far as to the Bactrians, and the Indians, and the external sea. And yet there was no mention of a Parthian war in the law[53] that was drawn up on this occasion. But everybody knew that Crassus was passionately bent on a Parthian war, and Cæsar wrote to him from Gaul, approving of his design, and urging him to it. When it was known that Ateius,[54] the tribune, intended to offer some opposition to his leaving the city, and many persons joined him who complained that Crassus was going to make war upon a people who were doing the Romans no wrong, and had a treaty with them, Crassus in alarm prayed Pompeius to accompany him, and escort him out of the city. Now, the reputation of Pompeius with the multitude was great, and, by showing himself in front of Crassus, with cheerful looks and countenance, he tranquillized a numerous body of people who were prepared to obstruct Crassus, and to raise a shout against him, so that they made way and let him pass through them quietly. But Ateius met Crassus, and, first of all, endeavoured to stop him by words, and he protested against his marching out: in the next place, he ordered his attendant to lay hold of Crassus, and to detain him; but, as the rest of the tribunes would not allow this, the attendant quitted his hold of Crassus, and Ateius running to the gate, placed there a burning brazier, and, as soon as Crassus arrived, he threw incense and poured libations upon it, and, at the same time, he denounced against Crassus curses, in themselves dreadful and terrific, and, in addition thereto, he uttered the names of certain awful and inauspicious deities. The Romans say that these mysterious and ancient curses have great efficacy, that no man can escape upon whom they are laid, and that he who utters them also has an unlucky end, and, accordingly, they are not denounced either on ordinary occasions, or by many persons. Ateius was blamed for letting loose such imprecations and religious fears upon a State, on behalf of which he was hostile to Crassus.