y party--Catiline, Autronius and others--designed to
assassinate the consuls on the 1st of January 65, and make Crassus
dictator, with Caesar as master of the horse. We are also told that a
public proposal was made to confer upon him an extraordinary military
command in Egypt, not without a legitimate king and nominally under the
protection of Rome. An equally abortive attempt to create a counterpoise to
Pompey's power was made by the tribune Rullus at the close of 64 B.C. He
proposed to create a land commission with very wide powers, which would in
effect have been wielded by Caesar and Crassus. The bill was defeated by
Cicero, consul in 63 B.C. In the same year the conspiracy associated with
the name of Catiline came to a head. The charge of complicity was freely
levelled at Caesar, and indeed was hinted at by Cato in the great debate in
the senate. But Caesar, for party reasons, was bound to oppose the
execution of the conspirators; while Crassus, who shared in the accusation,
was the richest man in Rome and the least likely to further anarchist
plots. Both, however, doubtless knew as much and as little as suited their
convenience of the doings of the left wing of their party, which served to
aggravate the embarrassments of the government.

As praetor (62 B.C.) Caesar supported proposals in Pompey's favour which
brought him into violent collision with the senate. This was a
master-stroke of tactics, as Pompey's return was imminent. Thus when Pompey
landed in Italy and disbanded his army he found in Caesar a natural ally.
After some delay, said to have been caused by the exigencies of his
creditors, which were met by a loan of L200,000 from Crassus, Caesar left
Rome for his province of Further Spain, where he was able to retrieve his
financial position, and to lay the foundations of a military reputation. He
returned to Rome in 60 B.C. to find that the senate had sacrificed the
support of the capitalists (which Cicero had worked so hard to secure), and
had finally alienated Pompey by refusing to ratify his acts and grant lands
to his soldiers. Caesar at once approached both Pompey and Crassus, who
alike detested the existing system of government but were personally at
variance, and succeeded in persuading them to forget their quarrel and join
him in a coalition which should put an end to the rule of the oligarchy. He
even made a generous, though unsuccessful, endeavour to enlist the support
of Cicero. The so-called Firs