How and why was Pompey Made Sole Consul in 52 BC?

Author: Ramsey, John T.
Title: How and why was Pompey Made Sole Consul in 52 BC?
Review/Collection: "Historia", 65, 3
Year edition: 2016
Pages: 298-324
Keywords: Histoire - Storia - History, Politique - Politica - Politics
Description: [Abstract dell’autore]  Part one of this paper demonstrates that Pompey was made consul in 52 BC in the normal fashion, by a vote taken in the comitia centuriata, not anomalously by a senatorial decree tout court, the version of many ancient and modern accounts. Part two discusses why the optimates authorized a sole consulship for Pompey. The aim was not, as commonly supposed, to forestall Pompey from being named dictator or taking Caesar as his consular colleague. Instead, it was to resolve an impasse caused by political forces blocking the elections in order to prevent Milo from becoming consul and thereby immune to prosecution for Clodius’ murder.
Author initials: Ramsey 2016