Hello and welcome to another episode of Epox, where once again I shall be continuing my narrative

of the decline of fall of the Roman Republic.

If you remember last time, we left off where Crassus had got himself killed out in the east.

Julia had unfortunately died in childbirth, as had the baby, very sadly.

And so now the showdown boiling away between Pompey and Caesar, the final showdown.

So I'll let Appian continue the story.

He says this, quote,

Now that Pompey had completed the reforms which required aristocratic power,

he made Scipio his colleague for the rest of the year.

After this, others held the consulate authority, but Pompey exercised an undiminished degree of

supervision and control. See, that's the thing I've said before, haven't I, in a republic.

It's quite easy to subvert a republic. If you just have control of the leaders of the offices, then you don't need to

hold the office yourself. If they're in your pocket, one way or the other, if they're your creature,

then you don't even need to hold the office anymore. That is one of the problems with any real

democracy or any sort of open republic, anything like that. Unfortunately, that is a perennial

issue. Appian continues. Indeed, at that time,

he, Pompey, was the only person who mattered in Rome, as the Senate strongly favoured him,

both because it resented Caesar for ignoring it during his own consulship, and because he had promptly

tackled the unhealthy state of the Republic without being troublesome

or oppressive to any of its members. The exiles flocked to Caesar and advised him to beware

of Pompey because the law against bribery was particularly aimed at himself. So Rome really

beginning to fracture into two camps, just two factions. You're either with Pompey or you're with Caesar.

...