<P> When Cicero returned to Rome, he reconciled with Pompey . Food shortages caused popular unrest . The people threatened to kill the senators . Cicero persuaded them pass a law to elect Pompey as praefectus annonae (prefect of the provisions) in Italy and beyond for five years . This post was instituted at times of severe grain shortage to supervise the grain supply . Clodius alleged that the scarcity of rain had been engineered to propose a law that boosted Pompey's power, which had been decreasing . Plutarch noted that others said that it was a device by Lentulus Spinther to confine Pompey to an office so that he himself would be sent to Egypt to help king Ptolemy XII of Egypt with a rebellion he was facing instead of Pompey . A plebeian tribune had proposed a law to send Pompey to Egypt as a mediator without an army . The senate rejected it on the ground of fears about his safety . As praefectus annonae Pompey sent agents and fiends to various places and sailed to Sardinia, Sicily and the Roman province of Africa (the breadbaskets of the Roman empire) to collect grain . He collected it in such abundance that the markets were filled and there was also enough to supply foreign peoples . Both Plutarch and Cassius Dio thought that the law made Pompey' the master of all the land and sea under Roman possession' . Appian wrote that this success gave Pompey great reputation and power . Cassius Dio also wrote that Pompey faced some delays in the distribution of grain because many slaves had been freed prior to the distribution and Pompey wanted to take a census to ensure they received it in an orderly way . </P> <P> Having escaped prosecution, Clodius attained the aedileship for 57 BC . He then started proceedings against Milo for inciting violence, the same charge Milo had brought against him . He did not expect conviction as Milo had many powerful allies, including Cicero and Pompey . He used this to attack both his followers and Pompey . He got his supporters to taunt Pompey in the assemblies . Pompey could not do much about it . He also continued his attacks on Cicero . The latter claimed that his transitio ad plebem was illegal and so were the laws he had passed, including the one that sanctioned his exile . Clashes between the two factions continued . </P> <P> In 56 BC Caesar, who was fighting the Gallic Wars, crossed the Alps into Italy and wintered in Luca (Lucca, Tuscany). In the Life of Crassus, Plutarch wrote that a big crowd wanted to see him and 200 men of senatorial rank and various high officials went to see him . He met Pompey and Crassus and agreed that the two of them would stand for the consulship and that he would support them by sending soldiers to Rome to vote for them . They were then to secure the command of provinces and armies for themselves and confirm his provinces for a further five years . Therefore, he worked on putting the officials of the year under his obligation . In the Life of Pompey, Plutarch added that Caesar also wrote letters to his friends and that the three men were aiming at making themselves the masters of the state . Suetonius maintained that Caesar compelled Pompey and Crassus to meet him at Luca . This was because Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, one of the praetors, called for an inquiry into his conduct in the previous year . Caesar went to Rome and put the matter before the senate . This was not taken up and he returned to Gaul . He was also a target for prosecution by a plebeian tribune, but he was not brought to trial because he pleaded with the other tribunes not to prosecute him on the grounds of his absence from Rome . Lucius Domitius was now a candidate for the consulship and openly threatened to take up arms against him . Caesar prevailed on Pompey and Crassus to stand for the consulship against Lucius Domitius . He succeeded through their influence to have his term as governor of Gaul extended for five years . In Appian's account, too, 200 senators went to see Caesar . So did many incumbent officials, governors and commanders . They thanked him for gifts they received or asked for money or favours . Caesar, Pompey and Crassus agreed on the consulship of the latter two and the extension of Caesar's governorship . In this version Lucius Domitius presented his candidacy for the consulship after Luca and did so against Pompey . </P> <P> Cassius Dio, who wrote the most detailed account of the period, did not mention the Luca conference . In his version, instead, Pompey and Crassus agreed to stand for the consulship between themselves as a counterpoise to Caesar . Pompey was annoyed about the increasing admiration of Caesar due to his success in the Gallic Wars . He felt that this was overshadowing his own exploits . He tried to persuade the consuls not to read his reports from Gaul and to send someone to relieve his command . He was unable to achieve anything through the consuls and felt that Caesar no longer needed him . He thought that he was in a precarious situation . He begun to arm himself against Caesar and got closer to Crassus because he thought he could not challenge Caesar on his own . The two men decided to stand for the consulship so that they could be more than a match for Caesar . They gave up their pretence that they did not want to take the office and begun canvassing outside the legally specified period . The consuls said that there would not be any elections that year and that they would appoint an interrex to preside over the elections in the next year so that they would have to seek election in accordance with the law . There was a lot of wrangling in the senate and the senators left the session . Cato, who in that year was a plebeian tribune, called people from the forum into the senate house because voting was not allowed in the presence of non-senators . However, other plebeian tribunes prevented the outsiders from getting in . The decree was passed . Another decree was opposed by Cato . The senators left and went to the forum and one of them, Marcellinus, presented their complaints to the people . Clodius took Pompey's side again to get his support for his aims . He addressed the people, inveighing against Marcellinus and then went to the senate house . The senators prevented him from entering and he was nearly lynched . He called out for the people to help him and some people threatened to torch the senate house . Later Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls without any opposing candidates apart from Lucius Domitius . One of the slaves who was accompanying him in the forum was killed . This frightened him and he withdrew his candidacy . Publius Crassus, a son of Crassus who was one of Caesar's lieutenants, brought soldiers to Rome for intimidation . </P>

Who emerged victorious from the first roman triumvirate