of the senate in December of the year 50 B.C. Appian
tells us the story:[136] "In the senate the opinion of each member was
asked, and Claudius craftily divided the question and took the votes
separately, thus: 'Shall Pompey be deprived of his command?' The majority
voted against the latter proposition, and it was decreed that successors
to Caesar should be sent. Then Curio put the question whether both should
lay down their commands, and twenty-two voted in the negative, while
three hundred and seventy went back to the opinion of Curio in order to
avoid civil discord. Then Claudius dismissed the senate, exclaiming:
'Enjoy your victory and have Caesar for a master!'" The senate's action was
vetoed, and therefore had no legal value, but it put Caesar and Curio in
the right and Pompey' s partisans in the wrong.

As a part of his policy of defending Caesar by calling attention to the
exceptional position and the extra-constitutional course of Pompey, Curio
offset the Conservative attacks on Caesar by public speeches fiercely
arraigning Pompey for what he had done during his consulship, five years
before. When we recall Curio's biting wit and sarcasm, and the
unpopularity of Pompey's high-handed methods of that year, we shall
appreciate the effectiveness of this flank attack.

Another weapon which he used freely was his unlimited right of veto as
tribune. As early as April Caelius appreciated how successful these tactics
would be, and he saw the dilemma in which they would put the
Conservatives, for he writes to Cicero: "This is what I have to tell you:
if they put pressure at every point on Curio, Caesar will defend his right
to exercise the veto; if, as seems likely, they shrink [from overruling
him], Caesar will stay [in his province] as long as he likes." The veto
power was the weapon which he used against the senate at the meeting of
that body on the first of December, to which reference has already been
made. The elections in July had gone against Caesar. Two Conservatives had
been returned as consuls. In the autumn the senate had found legal means
of depriving Caesar of two of his legions. Talk of a compromise was dying
down. Pompey, who had been desperately ill in the spring, had regained his
strength. He had been exasperated by the savage attacks of Curio.
Sensational stories of the movements of Caesar's troops in the North were
whispered in the forum, and increased the tension. In the autumn, for
instance, Caesar