Notwithstanding, after Pompey and Crassus had been elected consuls, they differed on all points and “were constantly in collision.”10 These two men of great respect in Rome had their own niche areas to operate in and Pompey used his military prestige to appeal to the people which was a brilliant tactic because Pompey’s political expertise was rudimentary at best. In the Senate, Crassus had more weight; but among the people the power of Pompey was great. For he gave them back their tribunate, and suffered the courts of justice to be transferred again to the knights by law. But the most agreeable of all spectacles was that which he afforded the people when he appeared in person and solicited his discharge from military service.” 11 Plutarch explicitly states here that Pompey’s influence over the people due to his perceived moral character was a critical reason why Pompey became consul. Crassus was tasked with fighting Rome’s enemies and the Senate, while Pompey’s civil duties propelled him to greater fame and reputation. Upholding the justice of Rome and appealing to the whole populous garnered Pompey great favor. Both Cicero and Pompey were predominantly known for their characters exemplified through the office of the consul. On the opposite side of the spectrum of moral characters is that of possibly the most famous of all Romans: Gaius Julius Caesar. Caesar’s Consulship Of the most controversial and talked about characters in history, Julius Caesar’s long-debated decisions have been and will be commented on for many generations. As a candidate for the consulship, Caesar devised an ingenious plan. This policy was to reconcile Pompey and Crassus, the most influential men in the city. These men Caesar brought together in friendship after their quarrel, and by concentrating their united strength upon himself, succeeded, before men were aware of it, and by an act which could be called one of kindness, in changing the form of government. For it was not, as most men supposed, the quarrel between Caesar and Pompey that brought on the civil wars, but rather their friendship, since they worked together for the overthrow of the aristocracy in the first place, and then, when this had been accomplished, they quarreled with one another.12 Plutarch perfectly documented the spark that propelled Caesar to both consulship and dictatorship. Friendship with Pompey was the root of all the success and eventual problems that circulated around Caesar. The eventual civil war of Rome that resulted in the murder of Pompey by an Egyptian assassin solidified the fact that Caesar had absolute rule and authority within the dictatorship he
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