Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (c. 102 – 48 BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was a conservative and upholder of the established social order who served in several magisterial positions alongside Julius Caesar and conceived a lifelong enmity towards him. In 59 BC, he was consul alongside Julius Caesar. Their partnership was contentious to the extent that Caesar's supporters assaulted Bibulus in Rome's main forum on the eve of an important vote. Bibulus withdrew from public politics for the rest of his term.

Between 51 and 50 BC, he was governor of Syria, where he was effective but alienated the army by taking too much personal credit for the repulse of the Parthians. In 49, after Caesar's civil war broke out, Bibulus aligned himself with Pompey and was in charge of the fleet tasked with preventing Caesar from shipping his army across the Adriatic. He failed to stop Caesar's first fleet but was successful in delaying Caesarian reinforcements from landing in Greece. While in command of the blockade in 48 BC, he died of illness.

Bibulus was a member of the plebeian gens Calpurnia. His branch of the family was likely descended from the Calpurnii Pisones. Although he is the first person with his name as consul, the extent of his connections in the republican aristocracy and possible descent from the Pisones precludes his status as a novus homo. The cognomen Bibulus may be a joke, in Latin the word bibulus refers to one who enjoys drinking.

Born probably around the time of his exact contemporary Gaius Julius Caesar, c. 102 BC, he married probably in his twenties to an unknown first wife. Little is known of his life before he became curule aedile in 65 BC. That year, he served with his later praetorian and consular colleague, Caesar. According to Suetonius and Dio, his term was overshadowed by Caesar, who spent extravagantly to put on the Megalensian games, winning him considerable acclaim and popularity. A few years later, in 62 BC, Bibulus served a praetorship, also alongside Caesar. Bibulus' activities were focused a military campaign suppressing remnants of the Catilinarian conspiracy among the Paeligni in northern Italy. He also opposed Caesar's agitation that year.

Some time after his aedilate, he married the daughter of the younger Cato and his first wife Atilia, cementing a strong political alliance. Aligned with Cato, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Marcus Favonius, and Publius Servilius Isauricus, Bibulus was part of a cohesive and powerful political faction which jockeyed for power alongside other groupings such as those of Lucullus, the Metelli, the Claudii, Pompey, and Caesar. Like many of their contemporaries, Bibulus' group opposed the ascendency of overweening generals such as Pompey and Caesar, whom they feared would overthrow senatorial government. Bibulus and Cato also both nursed personal grudges against Caesar, with Bibulus' hatred likely stemming from Caesar's monopolisation of the credit of their joint aedilate.

Bibulus stood in 60 for the consulship of 59 BC. it was well known by this point that Caesar would almost certainly be one of the victors. Caesar campaigned with a Lucius Lucceius, who bankrolled huge sums spent to buy votes. With substantial effort, including bribes of their own and more licit canvassing, Bibulus and his faction were able to have him returned as Caesar's colleague. His presence as consul was expected to counterbalance Caesar with his consular veto. The creation of the so-called First Triumvirate between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in the aftermath of the elections also led to a reorganisation of Roman politics to counterbalance the powerful new alliance around Caesar.

Bibulus took a leading role in this conflict. When Caesar started the year bringing a promised agrarian bill which would settle urban Romans and veterans on lands to be purchased by the state for distribution. Opposition centred mainly not on the ends they sought but rather the popularity and prestige which they, and especially Caesar as consul, would accrue from passage. Nor did the opposition necessarily have a majority in the senate – also having the support of Pompey and Crassus as influential former consuls] – but Cato's filibuster forestalled a vote. At a public meeting (Latin: contio) presenting the bill, Caesar summoned Bibulus to offer his own reasons to object. He gave none, exclaiming only that he would not permit any reforms during his consulship and that he would not permit even a unanimous people to enact the bill. When Caesar moved a vote on the bill anyway, Bibulus and three allied tribunes came to the Forum: Bibulus sought to obnuntiate the proceedings, making them religiously invalid, and the tribunes sought to exercise their vetos. However, Bibulus and his friends were attacked by the crowd as they voiced their opposition, driving them from the Forum, with his fasces broken to symbolise the crowd's repudiation of his magistracy. In their forceful absence, the law was then passed.

The next day Bibulus summoned the Senate to meet and asked it to annul the law, arguing it had been carried by violence (per vim lata) and contrary to the auspices. However, the Senate refused to do so, either because it believed the law to be legitimately an expression of the people or because it was intimidated by Caesar's mobs. Further legislation was then brought at Pompey's insistence, probably in May, to distribute the lands around Campania secured during the Second Punic War and hitherto untouched. The opposition to Caesar, at an ebb, changed tact. Instead of opposing Caesar directly, Bibulus conspicuously shut himself in his house, claiming that Caesar was threatening his life. While shut in his house, Bibulus also issued edicts attacking Caesar and messages announcing bad omens to throw up procedural objections to Caesar's continued legislation. This strategy of boycott over the year greatly eroded the popularity of the three allies, presenting Caesar as a tyrannical figure unchecked by his colleague. Indeed it also expanded, with three other tribunes and some senators joining in the boycott, all signalling that Caesar and his allies' tactics were trampling on the dignity and liberty embodied in the people's other magistrates.