Julius Caesar- Fame and Fate Part Eight

A further gift was that the consulships of Appius and Domitius had ended with the two men accused of taking bribes to fix the upcoming consular elections. The corruption seemed to be endemic. The four candidates standing for election had all been indicted. The elections were postponed for six months. Particularly embarrassed was Domitius-who had supposedly exemplified senatorial respectability. Cicero said of Domitius' consular colleague Appius, that he didn't even have a reputation to lose. The crisis deepened to the point that citizens all over the Republic began saying Pompey should be made dictator. Cato was enraged by the very thought of this and Pompey made a show of turning down the offer. However, the tension and the murmurings would not die down. This was a godsend to Pompey who could make a show of looking modest and waiting for the right moment. Cato wanted a strong contender for consul who could stem the tide of pro-Pompey support. He made the decision to support a once ardent partisan of Pompey that was now disaffected after being jettisoned by his former patron. This unfortunately reignited a vicious blood feud between Milo-Cato's man and Pompey's former protege and a man from a wealthy and extemely aristocratic family named Publius Clodius.

The two men had been involved in gang warfare with each other in 58 BC, when Milo had indicted Clodius for employing violence when he had been in office as a tribune. Anarchy was closing in on Rome as 53 BC ended. For the third time in four years elections were postponed. When Milo and Clodius-along with their heavies-met on the Appian Way on 18 January 52 BC, the anarchy worsened. This was because Clodius had been killed in the violence. Before and during his year as a tribune of the people Clodius had played the role of "defender" of the poor to the hilt, which was nothing more than a political stunt. It was a stunt that had worked very well though, and as news of his death spread to the slums wails of grief could be heard. The violence kept on escalating and the Senate House was burned to the ground and once again the Forum was lit an ominous red color. The fire from the Senate had spread and destroyed a neighboring monument-the Basilica Porcia. This is where Rome's first permanent law court had been built by an ancestor of Cato. Now Pompey's time had come. As much as Cato loathed the idea, his thoughts were that any type of government was better than the savagery of the anarchy that was spreading. Cato had proposed a compromise that stopped short of making Pompey an actual dictator. This idea would have Pompey instead serving as sole consul for a year. The Senate met in Pompey's theater and asked him to save the Republic.

The legions of Pompey restored order to Rome in less than a month and Milo was sent into exile. Cato himself acknowledged that Pompey had done a good job, although with his usual gruff manner. Caesar must have been glad he had yet another familial marriage proposal to make, this time to his great-niece Octavia. This time however, Pompey declined the offer. He didn't do this to end his alliance with Caesar but to show that he couldn't be taken for granted. Also, now that Pompey had senatorial respect there were offers that could provide him with more prestige than any connections of Julius Caesar. When Publius Crassus had died with his father at Carrhae, he left behind his beautiful and cultured wife Cornelia. Cornelia was also intimately connected with a great number of patrician families and she was a descendent of Scipio-the general who had defeated Hannibal and captured Carthage. When the two married Pompey was connected to the very heart of the aristocracy. There was also a little bit of revenge for Pompey in the marriage pact. Cato, who had once decided he was unworthy of his nieces hand, had himself been jilted by Cornelia's mother! Pompey was finally able to bask in what Cicero described as his "abilities and good fortune, which have enabled him to achieve what nobody else could have ever done." The question was-how long would this newfound peace last?

The image is a statue of Cato contemplating suicide in the Louvre museum. The statue was started by one artist and completed by another. Sometimes having insomnia helps in that there is always work to do for my blogs! I hope to have the next post here very soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Younger