t Triumvirate was formed, and constitutional
government ceased to exist save in name.

The first prize which fell to Caesar was the consulship, to secure which he
forewent the triumph which he had earned in Spain. His colleague was M.
Bibulus, who belonged to the straitest sect of the senatorial oligarchy
and, together with [Sidenote: Coalition with Pompey and Crassus.] his
party, placed every form of constitutional obstruction in the path of
Caesar's legislation. Caesar, however, overrode all opposition, mustering
Pompey's veterans to drive his colleague from the forum. Bibulus became a
virtual prisoner in his own house, and Caesar placed himself outside the
pale of the free republic. Thus the programme of the coalition was carried
through. Pompey was satisfied by the ratification of his acts in Asia, and
by the assignment of the Campanian state domains to his veterans, the
capitalists (with whose interests Crassus was identified) had their bargain
for the farming of the Asiatic revenues cancelled, Ptolemy Auletes received
the confirmation of his title to the throne of Egypt (for a consideration
amounting to L1,500,000), and a fresh act was passed for preventing
extortion by provincial governors.

It was now all-important for Caesar to secure practical irresponsibility by
obtaining a military command. The senate, [Sidenote: Gallic wars.] in
virtue of its constitutional prerogative, had assigned as the _provincia_
of the consuls of 59 B.C. the supervision of roads and forests in Italy.
Caesar secured the passing of a legislative enactment conferring upon
himself the government of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria for five years, and
exacted from the terrorized senate the addition of Transalpine Gaul, where,
as he well knew, a storm was brewing which threatened to sweep away Roman
civilization beyond the Alps. The mutual jealousies of the Gallic tribes
had enabled German invaders first to gain a foothold on the left bank of
the Rhine, and then to obtain a predominant position in Central Gaul. In 60
B.C. the German king Ariovistus had defeated the Aedui, who were allies of
Rome, and had wrested from the Sequani a large portion of their territory.
Caesar must have seen that the Germans were preparing to dispute with Rome
the mastery of Gaul; but it was necessary to gain time, and in 59 B.C.
Ariovistus was inscribed on the roll of the friends of the Roman people. In
58 B.C. the Helvetii, a Celtic people inhabiting Switzerland, dete