ence and fame and
feared him as a dangerous radical. They had no hesitation in choosing
between Pompey and Caesar.

*Pompey's attack upon Caesar: 52 B. C.* The latter's immediate aim was to
secure the consulship for 48 B. C. and to retain his proconsular command
until the end of December, 49. He knew that he had reached a position
where his destruction was the desire of many, and that the moment he
surrendered his _imperium_ he would be open to prosecution by those
seeking to procure his ruin. But he had no intention of placing himself in
the power of his enemies. The consulship would not only save him from
prosecution but would enable him to confirm his arrangements in Gaul,
reward his army, and secure his own future by another proconsular
appointment. However, to secure his election, he had to be exempted from
presenting himself in person for his candidature in 49, and this
permission was accorded him by a tribunician law early in 52 B. C. So far
his position was strictly legal, but Pompey, whose own consulship was
unconstitutional, now broke openly with Caesar by passing legislation
which would undermine the latter's position. One of Pompey's laws
prohibited candidacies for office _in absentia_, and when Caesar's friends
protested, he added to the text of the law after it had passed a clause
exempting Caesar from its operation; a procedure of more than dubious
legality. A second law provided that in future provincial governorships
should not be filled by the city magistrates just completing their term of
office but by those whose terms had expired five years previously. This
latter law may have been intended to check the mad rivalry for provincial
appointments, but its immediate significance lay in the fact that it
permitted a successor to be appointed to take over Caesar's provinces on 1
March, 49 B. C. He would thus have to stand as a private citizen for the
consulship and would no longer enjoy immunity from legal attack. At the
same time Pompey had his own command in Spain extended for another five
years.

*Negotiations between Caesar, Pompey and the Senate, 51-50 B. C.* The
question of appointing a successor to Caesar's provinces filled the next
two years and was the immediate cause of civil war. Caesar claimed that
his position should not be affected by the Pompeian law, and pressed for
permission to hold his command until the close of 49 B. C. The extreme
conservatives sought to supersede him on March first of