The value of the consulship lies in…

The value of the consulship lies in the lucrative provincial governorship to which it would normally lead.

On the eve of the consular elections for 59, the Senate seeks to allot to the two future consuls for 59, as their proconsular provinces, the unprofitable supervision of forests and cattle trails in Italy.

The Senate also secures by massive bribery the election of an anti-Caesarean, the conservative Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, but they fail to prevent Caesar's election as the other consul.

The election is sordid—even Cato, with his reputation for incorruptibility, is said to have resorted to bribery in favor of one of Caesar's opponents.

Caesar invites Cicero to be the fourth member of his existing secret partnership with Pompey and Crassus, an assembly that will eventually be called the First Triumvirate.

Cicero refuses the invitation because he suspects it will undermine the Republic.