<P> With respect to the aristocratic circles of the optimates who wanted the supremacy of the senate over Roman politics, Pompey was an outsider . He built his political career as a military commander . He raised three legions in his native Picemun (in central Italy) to support Lucius Cornelius Sulla in retaking Rome, which had been seized by his Marian (the supporters of Gaius Marius) opponents prior to Sulla's second civil war (83--82 BC). Sulla then sent him to Sicily (82 BC) and Africa (81 BC) against the Marians who had fled there . He defeated them and gained military glory and distinction, particularly in Africa . Pompey then fought the rebellion by Quintus Sertorius in Hispania from 76 BC to 71 BC during the Sertorian War (80--71 BC). He played a part in the suppression of slave revolt led by Spartacus (the Third Servile War, 72--70 BC). The latter two earned him the award of a consulship in 70 BC even though he was below the age of eligibility to this office and he had not climbed the cursus honorum, the political career ladder from the lowest office of state to the highest one required to reach the consulship . Pompey was also given the command of a large task force to fight piracy in the Mediterranean Sea by the Gabinian law (74 BC), which gave him extraordinary powers over the whole of this sea and lands within 50 miles from its coasts . In 66 BC the Manilian law handed the command of the last phase of the Third Mithridatic War over to Pompey, who brought it to a victorious conclusion . </P> <P> The political power of Pompey--who spent half of his career up to 63 BC fighting outside Rome--lay outside the conservative aristocratic circles of the optimates . It was based on his popularity as a military commander, political patronage, purchase of votes for his supporters or himself, and the support of his war veterans: "Prestige, wealth, clients, and loyal, grateful veterans who could be readily mobilised--these were the opes which could guarantee (Pompey's) brand of (power)." The opposition of the optimates to the acts of his settlements in the east and the agrarian bill he sponsored were not just due to jealousy as suggested by Appian . The optimates were also weary of the personal political clout of Pompey . They saw him as a potential challenge to the supremacy of the senate, which they largely controlled and which had been questioned with criticism of summary executions during the Catilinarian conspiracy . They saw a politically strong man as a potential tyrant who might overthrow the republic . Pompey remained aloof with regard to the controversies between optimates and populares that raged in Rome at the time when he returned to Rome from the Third Mithridatic War in 62 BC . Whilst he did not endorse the populares, he refused to side with the senate. he made vague speeches that recognised the authority of the senate, but did not acknowledge the principle of senatorial supremacy advocated by Cicero and the optimates . </P> <P> The opposition to and defeat of the agrarian law sponsored by Pompey was more than just opposition to Pompey . Nor was the law exclusively about allotting land for the settlement of Pompey's veterans . Pompey did want to allocate plots of land to his veterans . Soldiers had been expecting to be allocated land to farm after having fought in a war since Sulla had granted his soldiers land in 80 BC . Pompey wanted to fulfill this obligation . However, the law was framed in a way that the land would be distributed to the landless urban poor as well . This would help to relieve the problem of the mass of the landless unemployed or underemployed poor in Rome, which relied on the provision of a grain dole by the state to survive . It would also make Pompey popular among the plebeians . Populares politicians had been proposing this kind land reform since the introduction of the agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC . These were always strongly opposed by the optimates . This issue had led to the murder of Tiberius Gracchus . Attempts to introduce such agrarian laws since then were defeated by the optimates . Thus, the opposition to the bill sponsored by Pompey came within this wider historical context of optimate resistance to reform as well as the optimates being suspicious of Pompey . A crucial element in the defeat of the bill sponsored by Pompey was the fact what the optimates had a strong consul in Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer who vehemently and successfully resisted its enactment, while the consul sponsored by Pompey, Lucius Afrianius was ineffective . He was of no assistance . The lack of effective consular assistance had been a weakness for Pompey . As already mentioned above, Plutarch wrote that the defeat of the bill forced Pompey to seek the support of plebeian tribunes, and thus of the populares . With the return of Caesar from his governorship in Hispania, Pompey found politician who would have the strength and clout to push the bill through if he became a consul . </P> <P> Crassus and Pompey shared a consulship in 70 BC . Plutarch regarded this as having being dull and uneventful because it was marred by continuous disagreement between the two men . He wrote that they "differed on almost every measure, and by their contentiousness rendered their consulship barren politically and without achievement, except that Crassus made a great sacrifice in honour of Hercules and gave the people a great feast and an allowance of grain for three months ." The deep enmity during this consulship was also noted by Appian . Plutarch also wrote that Pompey gave the people back their tribunate . This was a reference to the repeal of laws introduced by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (an optimate) in 81 BC that had emasculated the power of the plebeian tribunes, the representatives of the plebeians (the commoners). Sulla had curbed the power of this tribunate by banning it from presenting bills to the vote of the plebeian council and from vetoing the actions of the officers of state and the senatus consulta . He also forbade those who had held this tribunate from running for public offices . Sulla had done this because these tribunes had challenged the supremacy of the patrician - controlled senate and he wanted to strengthen the power of the latter . Since these tribunes were the representatives of the majority of the citizens, the people were unhappy with this . Plutarch attributed this repeal to Pompey alone . However, it is very likely that the optimates would have opposed this in the senate . Therefore, it is unlikely that this measure could have been passed if the two consuls had disagreed and opposed each other on this issue . They must have been united in getting this motion passed . Livy's Periochae (a short summary of Livy's work) recorded that "Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey were made consuls...and reconstituted the tribunician powers ." Similarly, Suetonius wrote that when Caesar was a military tribune, "he ardently supported the leaders in the attempt to re-establish the authority of the tribunes of the commons (the plebeians), the extent of which Sulla had curtailed ." The two leaders must obviously have been the two consuls, Crassus and Pompey . Therefore, on this issue there must have been unity of purpose between these three men . This was an issue of great importance to the populares . </P>

Which of the following statements describe the family role of a man during the roman republic