[
25]
Pompey, as though he had completed the reforms that made the one-man power
necessary, now made Scipio his colleague in the consulship for the remainder
of the year. At the expiration of his term, however, although others were
invested with the consulship, he was none the less the supervisor, and
ruler, and all-in-all in Rome. He enjoyed the good-will of the Senate,
particularly because they were jealous of Cæsar, who did not
consult the Senate during his consulship, and because Pompey had so speedily
restored the sick commonwealth, and had not made himself troublesome or
offensive to any of them during his term of office. The banished ones went
to Cæsar in crowds and advised him to beware of Pompey, saying
that his law about bribery was especially directed against himself.
Cæsar cheered them up and spoke well of Pompey. He also induced
the tribunes to bring in a law to enable himself to stand for the consulship
a second time while absent, and this was enacted while Pompey was still
consul and without opposition from him. Cæsar suspected that the
Senate would resist this project and feared lest he should be reduced to the
condition of a private citizen and exposed
to his enemies. So he tried to retain his
power
until he should be elected consul, and asked the
Senate to grant him a little more time in his present command of Gaul, or of
a part of it. Marcellus, who succeeded Pompey as consul, forbade it. They
say that when this was announced to Cæsar, he clapped his hand on
his sword-hilt and exclaimed, "This shall give it to me."
1
