So hostile were these two great officers to each other that the one attempted to undo whatever the other did.

Bibulus was elected by bribery, on behalf of the Senate, in order that he might be a counterpoise to Caesar.

But Caesar now was not only Caesar: he was Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus united, with all their dependents, all their clients, all their greedy hangers-on.

To give this compact something of the strength of family union, Pompey, who was now nearly fifty years of age, took in marriage Caesar's daughter Julia, who was a quarter of a century his junior.

But Pompey was a man who could endear himself to women, and the opinion seems to be general that had not Julia died in childbirth the friendship between the men would have been more lasting.