Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

by Tom Holland

Courage came easily to Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. In his case it was indistinguishable from an arrogance so pronounced as to verge on stupidity. Obscenely rich, obscenely well bred, he was a man described by Cicero, who was sensitive to such things, as having been born a consul-designate. In that spring of 56, Domitius prepared to claim his birthright. As Domitius was a brother-in-law of Cato and a blood enemy of Pompey, who had executed Domitius’s brother in the dark days of the civil war, there could be no doubting where his loyalties would lie. In announcing that he would stand for the consulship, he openly declared that, if elected, he would have Caesar’s command declared invalid. As a replacement, naturally, he proposed himself. Transalpine Gaul had been conquered by his grandfather, and he regarded it as his by hereditary right. At his back the establishment bayed its approval. First Pompey; now Caesar—surely the over-reachers, the would-be tyrants, were doomed?