Leader of Roman
nobility who tried to block Julius
Caesar's rise to political power. As Caesar's
co-consul in 59 BCE,
Bibulus vetoed Caesar's bill designed to distribute land south
of Rome to Pompey's
troops. The popular Assembly reacted with mob violence,
symbolically driving Bibulus from office & leaving Caesar's
edicts unchecked for the rest of his term.
Bibulus was
eventually able to avenge that disgrace, as the rivalry between
Pompey & Caesar deepened. After the murder of Pompey's
co-consul [Publius Clodius] in 52 BCE,
Bibulus persuaded the Senate to allow Pompey to complete his
term without choosing a peer. The following year he was rewarded with appointment
as governor of Syria. Other than some
tension between Roman troops in Syria and their new commander,
who claimed credit for the legions' victories over the Parthians
under his predecessor [Cassius],
Bibulus' term in this post passed without major incident--in
dramatic contrast to the political turbulence elsewhere in the
Mediterranean at this time.
Early in 48 BCE
he succeeded in stranding Caesar's forces in Epirus [modern
Albania] by capturing his transport ships in the Adriatic.
But this minor victory was erased a few months later by Caesar's
crushing defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus, an event Bibulus had the
misfortune of living just long enough to witness.
References:
Suetonius, Twelve
Caesars: Julius Caesar 9-10, 19-21.
Cassius Dio, Roman
History
37.8; 38.4,
6, 8; 40.30.
Livy,
History of Rome [summary
108].
Appian, Roman
History: Civil Wars 2.9-12,
49; 5.10.
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