54.4
Consequently, Bibulus, who was an enemy of Pompey, was first to propose in the senate that Pompey be chosen sole consul; for thus, he said, the city would either be set free from the prevailing disorder, or would become the slave of its strongest man. The proposal seemed strange, considering the man who made it; but Cato rose, leading everybody to think that he was going to speak against it, and when silence was made, said that he himself would not have introduced the proposed measure, but that since it had been introduced by another, he urged its adoption, because he preferred any government whatever to no government at all, and thought that no one would govern better than Pompey in a time of such disorder.
54.5
The senate accepted the measure, and decreed that Pompey, if elected consul, should govern alone, but that if he himself desired a colleague, he might choose whom he thought fit after two months had fully expired. Having in this way been made consulIn 52 B.C. and so declared by Sulpicius, the Interrex,One who held supreme power in the absence of regularly elected consuls. Pompey addressed himself in a friendly manner to Cato, acknowledging that he was much indebted to him, and inviting him to give advice in a private capacity on the conduct of the government.
