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Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus

Consul in 59 BCE along co-consul Julius Caesar. Bibulus was assaulted on the eve of voting for Caesar's agrarian law which he opposed

🏛️ Career

  1. 65 BCE
    (aged 37)
    Aedile ·curule

    Broughton: Bibulus was overshadowed in office by Caesar (a), whose magnificent games won him considerable popularity (b). He [Caesar] restored the trophies of Marius (c), and supported the plan of Crassus to annex Egypt (d)

    Sources (4)
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Julius Caesar (3 years; raw 9.00, base 1.500, final 1.500): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor) , 59 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vergilius Balbus (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    Q. Tullius Cicero (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    C. Papirius Carbo (pr. 62) (1 year; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 62 BCE (Praetor)

    L. Licinius Murena (cos. 62) (2 years; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 65 BCE (Praetor) , 62 BCE (Consul)

  2. 62 BCE
    (aged 40)
    Praetor

    Broughton: Crushed Catilinarian sympathizers among the Paeligni (a), and in Rome stood in opposition to his colleague Caesar (b).

    Sources (2)
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Julius Caesar (3 years; raw 9.00, base 1.500, final 1.500): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor) , 59 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vergilius Balbus (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    Q. Tullius Cicero (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    C. Papirius Carbo (pr. 62) (1 year; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 62 BCE (Praetor)

    L. Licinius Murena (cos. 62) (2 years; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 65 BCE (Praetor) , 62 BCE (Consul)

  3. 59 BCE
    (aged 43)
    Consul · Co-consul: C. Julius Caesar

    Broughton: Bibulus, with the support of three Tribunes of the Plebs (see below, Tribunes of the Plebs), opposed Caesar's agrarian law, but when proved powerless against the combination of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, retired to his house, and by announcements that he was watching for omens kept Caesar's legislation technically invalid (a). Caesar carried a Lex Iulia Agraria(3) early in the year, Probably in January (b), and in May added another to distribute the Campanian land to needy citizens with families (c). He had the acts of Pompey in the East ratified in a single law (d), and satisfied Crassus by remitting one-third of the contracts to the tax farmers of Asia (e). In return for a huge sum he ratified the position of Ptolemy Auletes as king of Egypt (f). Besides minor measures such as the publication of the Acta of the Senate, with which he began his regime (g), and his revival of the custom of being followed by his lictors in the months when he did not hold the fasces (g), he carried an important Lex de repetundis which regulated the procedures and demands of provincial governors more closely than before (h). He received command of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum by the Vatinian law (see below, Tribunes of the Plebs), and with Pompey's support the Senate decreed him Transalpine Gaul in addition (i).

    Sources (10)
    • Broughton, MRR2
      • CIL 12.2.753, 918, and cf., on Caesar, 7542; Fast. Cap., Degrassi 56f., 131, 490f. (C. Iulius C. f. C. n. [-]); Suet. Iul. 19.2; Plut. Caes. 14.1; Gell. 4.10.5; Dio 38, Index; Chr. 354 (Caesare et Vivulo); Fast. Hyd. (Decio Caesare et Bibolo); Chr. Pasc. (#u); Eutrop. 6.17.1; Oros. 6.7.1; Cassiod.; Schol. Bob. 135 Stangl.
      • (a) Cic. Att. 2.4-24, passim; Vat. 22; Har. Resp. 48; Dom. 39-40; Planc. 35; Pam. 1.9.7 and 12; 13.4.2; Vell. 2.44; Suet. Iul. 19-20; Plut. Pomp. 47-48; Caes. 14; Cat. Min. 31-33; cf. Liv. Per. 103; Gell. 4.10.8; APP. BC 2.10-14; Dio 38.1-12; Eutrop. 6.17; Schol. Bob. 161f., 148f. Stangl (3) For full discussion and citations of sources for the history and the legislation of Caesar's consulship in 59, see D. -G. 3.180-202, and Motz, in RE 10. 196-201, who is less detailed. See also T. Rice Holmes, Roman Republic 1.312-327; and for recent interpretations, Gelzer, Julius Caesar (3rd. ed., 1941) 83-114; L. R. Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of Caesar 132-137; and "On the Chronology of Caesar's First Consulship," MPh 62 (1951) 254-268.
      • (b) Cic. Att. 2.3.3, and 16.2; Fam. 13.4.2; Suet. Iul. 20; Plut. Pomp. 47-48; Caes. 14.2-3; Cat. Min. 31.4-32.6; App. BC 2.10-12; Dio 38.1.1-7.2
      • (c) Cic. Att. 2.16.1, cf. 17.1, and 19.3; Fam. 1.9.7 and 12; QF 2.1.1, and 5.1, and 6.2; Vell. 2.44; Suet. Iul. 20.3; Plut. Cat. Min. 31.1, cf. Pomp. 47.3, and Caes. 14.1; App. BC 2.10; Dio 38.7.3; cf. Liv. Per. 103
      • (d) Bell. Alex. 68; cf. Cic. Att. 2.16.2; Vell. 2.44.2; Suet. Iul. 19.2; Plut. Pomp. 48.3; Cat. Min. 31.1; App. BC 2.9; Dio 38.7.5
      • (e) Cic. Att. 2.16.2; Planc. 35; Val. Max. 2.10.7; Suet. Iul. 20; App. BC 2.13; Dio 38.7.4; Schol. Bob. 157 and 159 Stangl
      • (f) Cic. Att. 2.16.2; Rab. Post. 6; Caes. BC 3.107; Plin. NH. 33.136; Suet. Iul. 54.3; Dio 39.12.1
      • (g) Suet. Iul. 20.1
      • (h) Cic. Sest. 135; Vat. 29; Rab. Post. 8 and 12; Pis. 37 and 50 and 90; Dom. 23; Prov. Cons. 7; Fam. 2.17.2; 5.20.2; 8.8.3, Att. 5.10.2, and 16.21; Val. Max. 8.1.10; Tac. Ann. 14.28; Hist. 1.77; Plin. Epist. 2.11.3, and 19.8; 4.9.9; 6.29.9; Paul. Sent. 5.28, FIRA 2.413; Dig. 48.11; C. Th. 9.27; C. 9.27; 4.18.11.1; Schol. Bob. 140, and 149 Stangl
      • (i) Suet. Iul. 22; cf. Cic. Att. 8.3.3
    Career-overlap (5) Magistrates with the closest career overlap; red font indicates family member

    C. Julius Caesar (3 years; raw 9.00, base 1.500, final 1.500): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor) , 59 BCE (Consul)

    C. Vergilius Balbus (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    Q. Tullius Cicero (2 years; raw 5.00, base 0.833, final 0.833): 65 BCE (Aedile) , 62 BCE (Praetor)

    C. Papirius Carbo (pr. 62) (1 year; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 62 BCE (Praetor)

    L. Licinius Murena (cos. 62) (2 years; raw 3.00, base 0.500, final 0.500): 65 BCE (Praetor) , 62 BCE (Consul)

🏺 Family

No family relations recorded.