Editing Julius Caesar (section)

=== Praetorship ===
Caesar won his election to the praetorship in 63&nbsp;BC easily and, as one of the praetor-elects, spoke out that December in the Senate against executing certain citizens who had been arrested in the city conspiring with Gauls in furtherance of the conspiracy.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=85–86, 90}} Caesar's proposal at the time is not entirely clear. The earlier sources assert that he advocated life imprisonment without trial; the later sources assert he instead wanted the conspirators imprisoned pending trial. Most accounts agree that Caesar supported confiscation of the conspirators' property.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=92}}. Earlier sources being Cic. ''Cat.'', 4.8–10 and Sall. ''Cat.'', 51.42. Later sources include {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=7.9}} and {{harvnb|App. ''BCiv.''|loc=2.6}}.</ref> Caesar likely advocated the former, which was a compromise position that would place the Senate within the bounds of the {{lang|la|lex Sempronia de capite civis}}, and was initially successful in swaying the body; a later intervention by [[Cato the Younger|Cato]], however, swayed the Senate at the end for execution.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|pp=281–82}}

[[File:Cicero Denounces Catiline in the Roman Senate by Cesare Maccari.png|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Cicero]], consul in 63&nbsp;BC, depicted in an 1889 [[fresco]] denouncing Catiline and exposing his conspiracy before the Senate. When conspirators within the city were later arrested, Cicero referred their fate to the Senate, triggering a debate in which Caesar as praetor-elect participated.]]

During his year as praetor, Caesar first attempted to deprive his enemy Catulus of the honour of completing the rebuilt [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus]], accusing him of embezzling funds, and threatening to bring legislation to reassign it to Pompey. This proposal was quickly dropped amid near-universal opposition.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=102}} He then supported the attempt by plebeian tribune [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos (consul 57 BC)|Metellus Nepos]] to transfer the command against Catiline from the consul of 63, Gaius Antonius Hybrida, to Pompey. After a violent meeting of the [[comitia tributa]] in the forum, where Metellus came into fisticuffs with his tribunician colleagues Cato and [[Quintus Minucius Thermus (governor of Asia)|Quintus Minucius Thermus]],{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=102–04}} the Senate passed a decree against Metellus – Suetonius claims that both Nepos and Caesar were deposed from their magistracies; this would have been a constitutional impossibility<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=107|ps=, citing {{harnvb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=16}}.}} Dio reports a [[senatus consultum ultimum]]. {{harvnb|Broughton|1952|p=173|ps=, citing {{harvnb|Dio|loc=37.41}}.}}</ref> – which led Caesar to distance himself from the proposals: hopes for a provincial command and need to repair relations with the aristocracy took priority.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=109}} He also was engaged in the [[Bona Dea]] affair, where [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] sneaked into Caesar's house sacrilegiously during a female religious observance; Caesar avoided any part of the affair by divorcing his wife immediately – claiming that his wife needed to be "above suspicion"{{sfn|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=10.9}} – but there is no indication that Caesar supported Clodius in any way.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=110|ps=, adding in notes that the affair is usually interpreted as an attempt to destroy Clodius' career and that Caesar may have been a secondary target due to expectations that he would reject political pressure for a divorce.}}</ref>

[[File:Cato Volubilis bronze bust.jpg|thumb|Bronze bust of Cato, Caesar's principal opponent in the Catilinarian debate and also a personal enemy. Cato may have been responsible for the law requiring declarations of candidacy in person within the {{lang|la|[[pomerium]]}}.{{sfn|Drogula|2019|pp=97–98}}]]

After his praetorship, Caesar was appointed to govern [[Hispania Ulterior]] ''pro consule''.<ref>{{harvnb|Broughton|1952|pp=173, 180}}. Most sources give a proconsular dignity. After the Sullan era, all magistrates were prorogued ''pro consule''. {{cite web |last1=Badian |first1=Ernst |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |title=pro consule, pro praetore |website=Oxford Classical Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5337 |year=2016|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.5337 |isbn=978-0-19-938113-5 }}</ref> Deeply indebted from his campaigns for the praetorship and for the pontificate, Caesar required military victory beyond the normal provincial extortion to pay them off.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=109–10}} He campaigned against the [[Callaeci]] and [[Lusitanians|Lusitani]] and seized the Callaeci capital in northwestern Spain, bringing Roman troops to the Atlantic and seizing enough plunder to pay his debts.{{sfn|Broughton|1952|p=180}} Claiming to have completed the peninsula's conquest, he made for home after having been hailed {{lang|la|[[imperator]]}}.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=110–11}} When he arrived home in the summer of 60&nbsp;BC, he was then forced to choose between a triumph and election to the consulship: either he could remain outside the {{lang|la|[[pomerium]]}} (Rome's sacred boundary) awaiting a triumph or cross the boundary, giving up his command and triumph, to make a declaration of consular candidacy.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=111}} Attempts to waive the requirement for the declaration to be made in person were filibustered in the Senate by Caesar's enemy Cato, even though the Senate seemed to support the exception.{{sfn|Morstein-Marx|2021|pp=112–13}} Faced with the choice between a triumph and the consulship, Caesar chose the consulship.<ref>{{harvnb|Morstein-Marx|2021|p=114}}; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Caes.''|loc=13}}; {{harvnb|Suet. ''Iul.''|loc=18.2}}.</ref>