This article will examine the role of the Roman Senate in the disintegration of the relationship between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great (Pompey). In 60 BC, Caesar and Pompey joined Marcus Crassus to form an alliance designed to combine their talents in order to take control of the senate and gain political control over Rome. The alliance, known as the First Triumvirate, depended on the three men's cooperation and mutual trust if they could bend the Senate to their will. In 59 BCE Pompey married Caesar's daughter Julia, thus further strengthening the bond between the two men. Only five years later, however, Caesar and Pompey were engaged in a bitter contest for power. The Senate, which the First Triumvirate had sought to manipulate, had succeeded in driving a wedge between the two men. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Pompey and Caesar had the same goal in life, to be the most powerful man in Rome, but they took different paths to establish that power. Pompey was born into a wealthy family and his father was a member of the Senate. At seventeen he served in the military under his father. When Pompey's father died, Pompey was only twenty years old, leaving Pompey a large amount of property and the loyalty of the men in his father's service. Pompey used the army he inherited to gain favor with Rome's powerful politicians. Julius Caesar was not born into a family that could offer him the same immediate advantages. The Julii were noble, but no longer had much political power. Caesar, like Pompey, also lost his father at an early age, but Caesar's father had no property or loyal soldiers to leave to his son. Caesar married Cornelia, whose father, Cinna, was consul for four years. Caesar saw marriage into a politically powerful family as a path to political glory. Both Caesar and Pompey eventually held senior political offices, and their armies became factors in the Senate's decision on who to support to bring peace to the streets of Rome. Rome had been involved in civil wars for many years before Pompey and Caesar went to war against each other. . One civil war in particular played an important role in shaping the lives of Pompey and Caesar: Sulla's Second Civil War. The war began in 83 BC The Roman Senate had two major parties that continually waged war on each other. Lucius Sulla was one of the leaders, he initially moved against his enemy Lucius Cinna, but was now at war with Gaius Marius the younger. Marius, they were known as the Populares, or the popular, often looked out for the best interests of the Roman plebeians. Sulla's side was known as the Causa Nobilitatis, or nobility. Sulla and his followers were the optimal senators, they were of the old school and preferred only changes that they thought would improve Rome for the nobles. Sulla had previously been defeated and exiled from Rome. Upon hearing the news of Cinna's death, he formed his own army and then obtained the help of Crassus and Pompey. Pompey had a legion of soldiers that he placed under Sulla's control, totaling nearly fifty thousand men. Sulla led the men towards Rome and met the opposing forces on Mount Tifata. Although the opposing side had a large number of soldiers, they were dispersed elsewhere at the time of the attack. Sulla and Pompey easily managed to win this battle, losing only seventy men, compared to six thousand deaths on Marius' side. At the end of the battle the Marians were forced to retreat further towards Capua. Sulla easily managed to capture Rome, without a fight, after the Marians fled when they heard he was coming. One ofpeople forced to flee was Julius Caesar, who had married the daughter of Lucius Cinna, a leading exponent of the Popolari at the time of his death. The Giuliana family was divided over which senatorial faction to support during previous civil wars. Some like Julius Caesar were supporters of the popular faction led by Marius. Other Julians supported the optimates and had been killed by Marius only a couple of years earlier. Having died shortly before, the new head of his house, his father Julius, could have claimed to be part of the Julians who supported the optimates led by Sulla, but rather he further limited himself to the part of the Popolari. He interrupted the marriage planned at birth, to marry Cornelia. Cornelia's father was Cinna, a respectable member of the people. Upon his return to Rome, Sulla published a list of names in the Forum. Any man whose name appeared on the list was seen as a threat by Sulla, who placed a bounty on their heads and declared their properties surrendered. Julius Caesar's name was not on the list, not important enough at the time to pose a threat, but Sulla knew who Caesar was. He summoned Cesare to a meeting with him and told him that he should not marry Cornelia and that he should divorce her. Caesar did not do this and began his life hiding from the optimates. Sulla never outlawed the young Caesar and in fact was impressed by the young man during their meeting. After Caesar fled, one of his uncles, an Optimate, convinced Sulla to spare him, Sulla said, “You may have his life, just keep in mind that one day this man may destroy the cause you and I support. This is why Cesare is worth six of Mario". Caesar knew he wanted political power and began the journey to find it. He joined the army hoping it was a way to increase his credibility and power. He went to Asia to fight under a Sulla-supporting governor. Caesar managed to quickly gain the trust and confidence of his commander and served as his emissary. After the siege of Mytilene, Caesar's commanding officer awarded him a civic crown, which was usually awarded to those who had saved the life of a Roman citizen. Sulla was short of senators at the time, due to deaths in the civil war. According to Livy, Sulla appointed all men who had been awarded a civic crown as senators. After Sulla's death in 78, Caesar returned to Rome and attended the trial of a provincial governor, a common occurrence for young Romans trying to rise through the ranks in politics. Caesar lost the case, but performed admirably and became known as one of Rome's greatest public orators. Under Sulla's constitution, priests were again given the responsibility of choosing members of the priesthood, Caesar was seen as a good choice because he had compromised with Sulla's decisions of the last ten years. Cesare was elected to the college of pontificals. Caesar quickly proved the members of the priesthood wrong by starting to promote the ideas of the popular senators. In 71 Caesar was a military tribune and had come into contact with Pompey, who was fresh from military successes in Spain and was one of the main candidates for the consulate. Caesar and Pompey had entered into one of the most powerful relationships in Roman history. The optimates had been able to maintain majority control of the Senate for many years after Sulla's conquest. Then Caesar and Pompey get involved and try to advance their agenda beyond that desired by the optimal senators. There were four leaders who the optimates considered popular. Two of these leaders were Caesar and Pompey. Pompey was the one the Optimates detested and feared the most. Pompey had used his loyal army to gain power before throughSilla and then with other military operations. Pompey became consul in the year 70, after his consulate the optimates tried to remove Pompey from the political sphere of influence. Pompey managed to maintain his interests in the Senate through his tribunes. By the year 66, Pompey had a leading member of the senate, Cicero, trying to gain his favor. Pompey had gained the favor of the knights in Asia, and Cicero gave Pompey military command against Mithridates. Pompey had so much power that he convinced Cicero to defend a popular man, Manilius. His high amount of power instilled fear in optimal senators. Unlike Pompey, Caesar had the pedigree of a popular man. He had a bond with the Marians that no other leader could boast. He pushed for popular laws glorifying Marius, of which his family was a supporter during Marius' life. Caesar managed to pass a bill allowing the public to elect priests again, this increased Caesar's popularity even more and he won the position of Pontifex Maximus. This victory humiliated the optimates. Together Caesar and Pompey managed to turn public opinion against that of the optimates. In 59 BCE, Caesar returned from his governorship in Spain, with a consulate in mind. He was held back by a law that required him to declare in person his desire to become consul. Caesar had to renounce his triumph, coming to Rome to announce his candidacy. He was a strong candidate and was likely to win. Caesar had the support of the Marians, Pompey and his men, as well as money with which to bribe the people. Caesar won the consulate together with an optimate, Bibulus. The optimates still had control of the Senate, leading to a partnership known as the First Triumvirate, between Caesar, Pompey, and another powerful man, Crassus. Caesar would introduce bills that would help him and the two men advance their agendas. The First Triumvirate would incorporate a strategy that involved Caesar making the law public, Crassus and Pompey would then publicly support the bill. If anyone in the Senate spoke against the bill, force was used, usually by Pompey's soldiers, to prevent it. The optimates tried everything they could to prevent Caesar from passing further laws, but together with Pompey they had too much power, often quickly passing bills with threats of violence. The only man who tried to stop Caesar was Cato, and Caesar had him arrested. Caesar only let Cato go because the spectators did not support Cato's arrest and it became clear that Cato would not appeal the arrest. The Optima-led Senate had passed a bill requiring consuls to accept insignificant roles after their consulship, Caesar was able to pass a bill amending this through one of his tribunes. Caesar received a five-year command in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum. Shortly afterwards Pompey even managed to force the Senate to grant Transalpine Gaul to Caesar. Pompey convinced the Senate that action in Gaul was likely because of the Helvetti. Pompey told the Senate that it would be better to have one man as governor of Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul, rather than find another man to rule Transalpine Gaul and try to collaborate with Caesar. Caesar continued to meddle in political affairs in early 58 BC, until it seemed likely that the Roman people would turn against him, so he moved to Gaul. In Gaul, Caesar would have been able to obtain a powerful personal army. He would also remain close enough to Rome to influence political affairs if necessary. Almost immediately, when Caesarhe went to Gaul, he was given the opportunity to show his power and his army. Caesar trained two new legions of Cisalpine men and destroyed the bridge that the Helvetti had to cross to migrate. He defeated the Helvetti in battle and they became allies of the Romans. During his time in Gaul, Caesar showed his military ambition and prowess. He attempted to invade Britain, an area the Romans had never controlled before, although Caesar was unsuccessful due to a poor harvest. He managed to control some lands in the south for a time before the winter. Caesar also faced the unrest of the Germanic tribes several times during his stay in Gaul, each time he managed to repel their advance and bring the area back to contentment. Caesar was growing in popularity in Rome during this period, he sent the spoils of his victories back to Rome. This wealth was used to grow his army and to bribe important members of Rome. This was also an excellent practice for perfecting the growing army. While Caesar was in Gaul, Pompey remained in Rome and found himself collaborating with some optimates. Senators often made suggestions to Pompey trying to align themselves with him. Some suggested that he broke his relationship with Caesar, while in Gaul, by divorcing Caesar's daughter Julia. However, Pompey does not join those senators, rather he joins another group of senators, who are pushing to end Cicero's exile. Pompey had previously collaborated with Cicero and therefore thought it a good idea to help him return to Rome. Pompey and a large force of his soldiers attended the forum accompanying Cicero's brother and managed to pass the law calling for Cicero's return. Cicero was able to use his relationship with Pompey to repair Pompey's relationship with the Senate. Pompey was then put in charge of all ports and trading centers. This position gave him the power to choose the distribution of food. Pompey and Crassus would meet with Caesar in Luke to discuss Pompey and Crassus becoming consuls in 55 BC Caesar agreed to send a large number of his men to Rome to vote for them, on the understanding that, once elected, Pompey and Crassus would extended his command over Gaul and Illyria for another five years. The leaders of Rome were not happy about this, but once again only Cato was willing to rise up and challenge him. Through force and intimidation, Crassus and Pompey became consuls by 55 BC. They awarded Caesar his extension in Gaul and gave themselves command of the provinces. Crassus went to Syria where he would die and Pompey got Africa and Spain. Pompey did not go to his provinces and spent his time in Rome with his wife. Not long after, Pompey lost his wife Julia during childbirth. This broke the bond between Caesar and Pompey. In the following years Rome would become increasingly violent and would be on the brink of civil war. In 53 BC it was suggested that Pompey become sole consul with a dictator-like role to restore peace. This did not happen that year, but the following year, in 52, war came close to breaking out when a man, Milo, running for consul had his opponent Clodius killed. Pompey would later become the sole consul of Rome, with the help of a former enemy Cato at his side. Pompey took advantage of being sole consul and passed laws that gave him more power and money for the soldiers of his province. This angered some, who were in support of Caesar. They argued that Caesar also fought for the empire and deserved the same rewards and payments as Pompey. Caesar managed to stay close to Rome and sent his soldiers to vote for him, and he bribed several members of the senate. Caesar desired a consulate or.