First Triumvirate

• 1. Origins And Formation

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  In 60 BC, three of Rome's most powerful men stood at a political impasse. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus had returned from the Third Mithridatic War two years earlier, seeking ratification of his eastern settlements and land for his veterans. Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of the wealthiest citizens in history, needed tax contracts renegotiated after publicani over-bid during the war. Gaius Julius Caesar, recently returning from Hispania Ulterior, faced a senate determined to block his consulship ambitions. Each man possessed enough influence to cause chaos but lacked the collective power to force through their specific goals against a gridlocked Senate.

  Cato the Younger and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer formed an obstructive coalition specifically to stop these three. They mobilized former allies like Lucullus to demand reviews of Pompey's eastern arrangements. This opposition forced Pompey to look elsewhere for support. He secured elections for allies like Lucius Afranius and Lucius Flavius, yet they too were stymied by religious scandals and procedural delays. The failure of individual attempts to pass legislation drove them together. Plutarch places the alliance before Caesar's election, while Cassius Dio suggests it formed afterward. A letter from Caesar to Cicero dated December 60 BC implies the pact was still being negotiated at that time. The alliance emerged as a secret understanding to use mutual influence to bypass constitutional vetoes.

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• 2. Caesars Consulship Of 59 Bc

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  The year began with Caesar proposing a lex agraria, an agrarian law designed to resettle veterans on public land in Campania. He published draft minutes of Senate debates and set the bill on the agenda, taking a conciliatory tone. The bill promised to repopulate desolate areas and distribute credit among twenty commissioners without including himself. Pompey pledged to provide shields if anyone raised swords against the bill. Yet Cato the Younger launched a filibuster arguing the people would be too gracious to Caesar.

  Caesar threatened to send Cato to the carcer, Rome's small jail, provoking mass indignation among senators. Realizing his mistake, he released Cato immediately. Moving to the forum, Caesar summoned Bibulus to explain his opposition. When Bibulus failed to articulate objections beyond claiming he would not permit innovation, Caesar exposed his alliance by summoning Pompey and Crassus. A mob assaulted Bibulus, throwing him from the rostra and breaking his fasces. The law passed despite this violence. The next day, Bibulus called a meeting to annul the law, but the Senate refused.

  Later that year, Caesar moved two further bills: one for a one-third write-down of tax bills owed by publicani for Crassus, and another ratifying Pompey's eastern settlement. Lucullus was forced into public humiliation when Caesar threatened prosecution over Pompey's settlements. In May, Caesar lifted the exemption of Campania from his agrarian bill. Pompey wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their bond. Publius Vatinius secured passage of a law granting Caesar provinces in Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul for five years.

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• 3. The Luca Conference Renewal

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  Over the summer of 56 BC, Caesar met with Crassus at Ravenna and Pompey at the town of Luca. Two hundred senators attended these meetings, seeking to ingratiate themselves with the three men. The conference renewed the pact and expanded it to include the Claudii Pulchri family, turning Clodius from an opponent to a supporter. Cicero, dependent on Pompey for his return from exile, lent rhetorical support to the alliance. They agreed to support Appius Claudius Pulcher in his goal of being elected consul for 54 BC.

  Political fortunes soured quickly after 55 BC when Pompey and Crassus assumed a joint consulship through violence. Elections were delayed until the following year using interreges and temporary extraordinary magistrates. Pompey and Crassus employed force to drive other candidates away and distributed bribes to ensure victory. They used their control over the electoral comitia to secure allies like Milo and Vatinius to the praetorship while excluding opponents like Cato. Gaius Trebonius brought forward legislation granting Crassus and Pompey provinces of Syria and Hispania for five years. Trebonius locked one tribune in the senate house and prevented another from entering the Forum to pass this bill.

  Crassus envisioned campaigns against Egypt or Parthia, while Pompey planned operations in the Spanish hinterlands. When Crassus left the city in November, escorted by Pompey, they announced bad omens and attempted to arrest him at the city's gate. The Senate voted twenty days of thanksgiving for Caesar's expedition beyond the Rhine to Britain. Yet opposition remained fierce. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Appius Claudius Pulcher won elections despite the alliance's intimidation tactics.

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• 4. Death Of Crassus

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  In early 53 BC, news arrived that Crassus had launched his invasion of Syria. Months later, reports reached Rome of a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Carrhae. Crassus and much of his army were killed by the Parthians. This disaster marked the conversion of a balanced three-person alliance into a dyadic rivalry between Caesar and Pompey. While Caesar and Pompey remained on friendly terms initially, the death of their mutual partner shattered the balance of power within the group.

  Caesar praised Pompey for lending a Spanish legion to help against Gauls, a private military arrangement Cato criticized as usurping senatorial prerogatives. The consuls prepared to hold elections for 52 BC but were injured by stones thrown by crowds. For the first eighteen days of the year, tribunes interposed vetoes against election of an interrex. Clodius was killed in a brawl near a suburb outside Rome, leading mobs to storm the senate house and burn it down during his funeral pyre.

  The Senate elected an interrex and passed a senatus consultum ultimum calling for Pompey to raise troops and restore order. After eleven failed attempts to elect magistrates, the twelfth interrex held elections. Pompey became consul without a colleague. He marched soldiers into the city and imposed order by force. Pompey prosecuted Milo for public violence, securing a conviction that forced Milo into exile. Yet the political landscape had shifted irrevocably with Crassus's death.

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• 5. Deterioration And Civil War

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  Pompey married Cornelia Metella, daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, in 52 BC. This union did not immediately break ties with Caesar, though it indicated willingness to build alliances with formerly closed-off groups. Cato stood for the consulship of 51 BC but lost to Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Servius Sulpicius Rufus. Marcellus raised the question of stripping Caesar of his command in Gaul, arguing his task was complete after victory at Alesia. Pompey objected, arguing removal before summer would disrespect Caesar's dignity.

  By late 51 BC, the coming showdown became clearer. Caesar induced tribunes to veto discussion of his replacement while Cato sought to enlist Pompey to defend against threats. Pompey needed Caesar's support to secure a possible command against Parthia following Crassus' defeat. In March 50 BC, Consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus raised Caesar's command again. Curio vetoed this, leading consuls to put a hold on all provincial discussions. Caesar rejected a senatorial compromise requiring him to stand for consulship without giving up commands or armies.

  Trust evaporated as two legions transferred from Caesar's Gallic armies to Italy under the pretext of use against Parthia. When Pompey fell ill in early summer, prayers for his health triggered spontaneous support if he were to engage in civil conflict. By January 49 BC, spiraling mistrust led to open rebellion. Neither side wanted concessions fearing the other would not reciprocate. The Senate delayed elections to hold inquiries into bribery scandals involving Domitius and Appius Claudius.

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• 6. Modern Nomenclature Debate

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  The term First Triumvirate appears nowhere in any ancient source and refers to no official position. Cicero contemporaneously wrote of three men exercising regnum, while Marcus Terentius Varro called it a three-headed monster. Later historians like Suetonius and Livy referred to the alliance as societas or conspiratio. The allies themselves presumably called it amicitia. Modern scholars regularly avoid the term because it is misleading when equating the position of the 50s with the official triumvirate of Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian.

  Usage of the term emerged only during the 18th century, first attested in 1681. Knowledge that the term was a modern coinage remained unknown until revealed in 1807. By the 19th century, usage became regular mostly in English and French sources. Harriet Flower writes in Roman Republics that the phrase is misleading. Books by Andrew Lintott and Richard Billows have avoided invocation of First Triumvirate entirely. Robert Morstein-Marx in Julius Caesar and the Roman People states it is almost impossible to use the phrase without adopting views of conspiracy against the republic.

  Classicists writing for general audiences also shied away from the traditional nomenclature. Mary Beard uses Gang of Three in her 2015 book SPQR. Adrian Goldsworthy stays with traditional terms while explaining their inaccuracy. The fourth edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary says the coalition formed between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in 60 BCE was wholly unofficial and never described at the time as a triumvirate.

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