Cicero and the 1st triumvirate

• Pompey’s success against the Mithridates:
• Pompey’s achievements


  • Annexed the kingdom of Mithridates and the Seleucid dynasty
  • Brought in 480 million sesterces into the Roman treasury
  • Increased tax revenue from 200 million to 340 million sesterces each year through organisation of the Roman territory in the East
• Pompey was hugely popular in Rome
• On his return, Pompey wanted to celebrate the triumph and become consul for the 2nd time
• The Senate, led by the optimates, refused to allow Pompey's land bill for veterans and his treaties to be ratified
• There was little Cicero could do because he didn’t want to alienate himself from the optimates even though the dignitas of his friend was being insulted
• Cicero was involved with the prosecution of Clodius in the Bona Dea scandal
• The first triumvirate in 60BC went against Cicero's belief in Concordia ordinum and undermined the republic
• In 58BC, Cicero was exiled from Rome
• In 57BC, Pompey wanted Cicero recalled, but Rome was suff
• He had to be 400 miles away from Rome


  xiled
• xiled


  He went to Thessaloniki in Macedonia and then to Dyrrachium on the Adriatic coast
• Clodius was no longer tribune

  57BC
• 8/10 of the new tribunes were Pompey supporters as was 1 of the 2 new consuls


  Clodius was no longer tribune
• Pompey wanted Cicero recalled

  • Rome was suffering from huge gang violence which meant votes weren’t happening
  • Violence was orchestrated by Clodius
• Pompey used 2 supportive tribunes to guard a senate meeting on whether to recall Cicero


  • The vote was passed almost unanimously (only Clodius voted against it)
  • Pompey then had guards outside the centuriate assembly for the bill to be passed
• Cicero returned home to crowds of people filling the streets welcoming him back


  Only evidence from Cicero
• The political situation was changing because cracks were starting to show in the Triumvirate

  Cicero realised this
• • Cicero bought up for debate Caesar’s unpopular Campanian law
  • Land to veterans
  • Made in 59BC

  56BC
• Pompey and popular opinion were behind Cicero in debating Caesar’s Campanian law


  He could weaken Caesar in his absence by doing so
• Before Cicero could debate Caesar’s Campanian law, he found out about the reaffirmation of the first triumvirate in Luca


  • It seemed that the senate had ratified this
  • Almost 200 senators had gone to Luca
• For the next few years, Cicero spent his time defending people he hated on behalf of the triumvirate


  Quote: “Since the powerless do not want to be my friends I must make sure that the powerful are!… But now it is high time for me to be friend with myself and my own interests, since I cannot be with the other lot” - Att. 4.5
• • Hortensius, one of the Opimates, supported Cicero for the important religious position of augur
  • Cicero defended Milo who had been charged with the murder of Clodius


  52BC
• Cicero lost the case defending Milo, but Milo was pleased with his efforts


  This showed Rome where Cicero stood
• Pompey took control in Rome and appointed his father-in-law as co-consul


  This showed Pompey’s move away from Caesar and towards the optimates
• • In mid 51BC, Cicero was appointed governor of the province Cilicia
  • Southern coast of Turkey and Cyprus


  51-50BC
• Cicero was a good governor as he sorted out debts and financial problems left by his predecessor

  • He had prosecuted Verres for corruption almost 20 years earlier
  • He had a successful military command in the second half of 51BC pushing back hostile tribes into Syria
  • He was hailed ‘imperator’ by his troops which might entitle him to a triumph
• The senate voted to allow Cicero a triumph almost unanimously


  Cato voted against, describing it as ‘empty honours’
• While returning from Cilicia, Cicero received a letter from his friend
• Had a successful military command pushing back hostile tribes into Syria


  Second half of 51BC
• He was hailed ‘imperator’ by his troops which might entitle him to a triumph
• The senate voted almost unanimously to allow him a triumph
• Cato: 'Describing the triumph as ‘empty honours’'
• War was imminent between Caesar and Pompey


  Cicero received a letter from Caelius saying he would support Caesar
• Cicero was still in charge of his army

  Couldn't enter Rome, which allowed him to wait, avoid senatorial debates, work with Pompey and Caesar separately, broker a compromise, and avoid civil war
• Cicero supported Pompey


  Due to his principles and love for the republic
• Cicero: '”He [Pompey] developed Caesar, then he suddenly began to fear him; he rejected all offers of peace; he made no preparations for war; he left Rome; he was to blame for the loss of Piceum; he confined himself in Apulia; he went to Greece; leaving us all without a word, or letting us in on his extraordinary plan upon which so much depended… Suddenly… it seemed to me to be as though the light of honour flashed from Pompey’s eyes… But Pompey bids a long goodbye to honour, and proceeds for Brundisium… Oh what a terrible business!”'
• Cicero: '”I know whom to flee, but I know not whom to follow”'
• Cicero wrote to Atticus from his villa at Formiae, explaining philosophical dilemmas resented by his political principles

  March 12th 49BC
• Cicero wrote to Caesar, expressing his belief that his honour and the republic were at stake and that he should be preserved as the most appropriate agent for restoring harmony


  March 19th 49BC