her troops which were properly his own, thus evincing a
degree of indifference in respect to the amount of the force retained
under his command which seemed wholly inconsistent with the idea that he
contemplated any resistance to the authority of the government at Rome.

[Sidenote: Caesar demands to be made consul.]
[Sidenote: Excitement in consequence.]

In the mean time, the struggle at Rome between the partisans of Caesar
and Pompey grew more and more violent and alarming. Caesar through his
friends in the city, demanded to be elected consul. The other side
insisted that he must first, if that was his wish, resign the command of
his army, come to Rome, and present himself as a candidate in the
character of a private citizen. This the constitution of the state very
properly required. In answer to this requisition, Caesar rejoined, that,
if Pompey would lay down his military commands, he would do so too; if
not, it was unjust to require it of him. The services, he added, which
he had performed for his country, demanded some recompense, which,
moreover, they ought to be willing to award, even if, in order to do it,
it were necessary to relax somewhat in his favor the strictness of
ordinary rules. To a large part of the people of the city these demands
of Caesar appeared reasonable. They were clamorous to have them allowed.
The partisans of Pompey, with the stern and inflexible Cato at their
head, deemed them wholly inadmissible, and contended with the most
determined violence against them. The whole city was filled with the
excitement of this struggle, into which all the active and turbulent
spirits of the capital plunged with the most furious zeal, while the
more considerate and thoughtful of the population, remembering the days
of Marius and Sylla, trembled at the impending danger. Pompey himself
had no fear. He urged the Senate to resist to the utmost all of Caesar's
claims, saying, if Caesar should be so presumptuous as to attempt to
march to Rome, he could raise troops enough by stamping with his foot to
put him down.

[Sidenote: Debates in the Senate.]
[Sidenote: Tumult and confusion.]
[Sidenote: Panic at Rome.]

It would require a volume to contain a full account of the disputes and
tumults, the maneuvers and debates, the votes and decrees which marked
the successive stages of this quarrel. Pompey himself was all the time
without the city. He was in command of an army there, and no general,
while in command,