Background to the Bellum Civile

60 - so-called first 'triumvirate' formed (an informal agreement between Caesar, Pompey and Crassus)

59 - Lex Vatinia gives Caesar provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum for 5 years, until Mar. 1, 54; senate later adds Transalpine Gaul

56 - conference at Luca reconfirms the triumviral alliance

55 - Pompey and Crassus become consuls; then receive 5-yr. commands in Spain and Syria respectively

Lex Licinia Pompeia, promulgated by Pompey and Crassus, prolongs Caesar's command in Gaul an additional 5 yrs., through 50 (apparently no specific date set, unlike in previous Lex Vatinia)

54 - death of Julia, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife

53 - death of Crassus; because of anarchy in Rome caused by murder of Clodius in January, Pompey leaves his province of Spain and returns to Rome; called upon to accept a consulship to resolve the situation

Law of Ten Tribunes passed permitting Caesar to stand for consulship in absentia

advantages: 1) allowed him to avoid becoming, for a short time, a private citizen and therefore liable to prosecution for earlier offences

2) allowed Caesar to continue the campaigning season uninterrupted and thereby enjoy the full tenure of his command through 50 (otherwise, he would have had to return to Rome a year early to canvass)

52 - Pompey marries daughter of Q. Metellus Scipio, thereby signalling his abandonment of Caesar

Pompey passes Lex Pompeia de provinciis, requiring a 5 year interval between magistracy and promagistracy (it used to be that consuls immediately went out as proconsuls) and requiring that governors be chosen from among consulars and praetors. This gave the senate the power....

1) to replace existing governors whenever they wished.

2) not to have to designate provinces in advance

[Previously, the Senate would have had to first designate Gaul as a province to which the next year's consul would proceed. So there would have been a period of over a year and a half before Caesar could expect to be replaced. But the new law gave the Senate the power to replace him forthwith -- and in effect force him to run for the consulship as a private citizen and well as force him (perhaps) to wait a longer period of time to run, because in theory there had to be a 10 year period between consulships, though this had been frequently violated in recent years.]

51-49: various pro-Caesarian tribunes veto any efforts to name a successor to Gaul

51: Dec. 1 - Curio moves that both Pompey and Caesar should give up their armies, but C. Marcellus dismisses motion and does not implement motion. Marc. entrusts Pompey with protection of city

49: Jan. 7 - consul Lentulus overrides vetos of Antony and Cassius, declares state of emergency, appoints new provincial governors -- including a successor to Caesar.

This gave Caesar a pretext: they had ignored the tribunician veto

Jan. 11 or 12: Caesar crosses Rubicon