However, Pompey and Crassus publicly supported Caesar ’ s bill, and the opposition to Bibulus was such, especially after he told the voters that he did not care about what they wanted that his Tribunes were unwilling to veto the bill.

After this in March 59, Bibulus stopped attending the meetings of the Senate, leaving Caesar with complete control over the consulship, although he occasionally issued complaints against Caesar and Pompey, which led to attacks on his house from Caesar and Pompey's supporters.

However, in August, Bibulus, alongside one of the consular candidates for 58, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus, were accused by Lucius Vettius of being involved in a plot to assassinate Pompey.

Bibulus responded by declaring that he had warned Pompey of the possibility of an assassination attempt on May 13.

Bibulus tried again to block Caesar ’ s five year appointment as governor of the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpine Gaul by declaring that no public business could be conducted whilst he observed the sky for omens, but was again rebuffed by Pompey and one of the consul-designates who supported Caesar ’ s appointment.

Throughout the 50s, Bibulus continued to attack Pompey in the Senate, blaming him for the fighting between Publius Clodius and Titus Annius Milo in 56 BC, to the point where Pompey was convinced that Bibulus was in league plotters who were intent on assassinating him.

As a result of a law passed by Pompey during his sole consulship, proscribing that governorships could not be held by persons who had served as praetor or consul within five years of leaving office, Bibulus was appointed governor of Syria in 51 BC.

Caesar however, when Bibulus refused to guarantee the safety of Caesar ’ s envoys to discuss a peaceful settlement with Pompey, realised it was a bluff and pulled out of negotiations.

His first marriage was to a Calpurnia, possibly the daughter of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, and from this first marriage, he had two children: a daughter called Valeria Messalina, who may have been the paternal grandmother of Roman Empress Statilia Messalina, and a son called Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, who was a Roman consul in 3 BC.

With him she may have had a son, Lucius Calpurnius Bibulus, although modern historians believe Porcia was too young to have mothered Lucius, and that he was Bibulus ' son by his previous marriage, as he was old enough to fight in the battle of Philippi in 42 BC.

Hortensius offered to marry her and then return her to Bibulus once she had given birth to an heir.

Entering into office, Bibulus began his term as consul by vetoing Caesar ’ s proposed bill to purchase land in order to discharge and settle Pompey's soldiers who had returned from the east some years previously.

The following day, Bibulus entered the Senate where he made a formal complaint about the treatment which he had suffered, and appealed to the Senate to annul the law, but this was not acted upon.

With the Parthian threat still present, Bibulus sent two of his sons to Egypt in 50 BC to demand the recall of the Roman soldiers who had settled there, but were killed by the soldiers who refused to march.

Although Bibulus was stationed near Corcyra, some 50 miles south of Palaeste, he had not sent out scouts and his ships were not ready to be put out to sea to intercept Caesar ’ s transports.

He then managed to prevent any further ships crossing to reinforce Caesar, but only succeeded in capturing one transport, which was charted by some private individuals and had refused to obey Bibulus ’ s orders.

From the first marriage he had three sons, including the later statesman Lucius Calpurnius Bibulus.

Bibulus died shortly after and command fell to Lucius Scribonius Libo.

Following the death of Bibulus he was given command of the Pompeian fleet.

In addition Pompey's fleet, commanded by Caesar's former junior consul Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, lay between Caesar and Greece.

Letting his guard down because winter was approaching and assuming that Caesar would not cross any time soon, Bibulus was caught by surprise when on the evening of November 6, 49 BC, Caesar and his fleet successfully crossed the Adriatic, landing at Palaeste.

Caesar ignored this, and set the date upon which the vote was to take place ; on the day of the vote, Bibulus and two of his tribunes mounted the steps of the Temple of Castor and attempted to denounce the bill, upon which the crowd broke his fasces, pushed him to the ground and dumped feces on him.

Getting up, Bibulus uncovered his neck and shouted to the crowd to kill him, but was persuaded by his fellow senators to leave and regroup at a nearby temple, as the assembly proceeded to pass the bill.

This move surprised Bibulus and the first wave of ships managed to run the blockade easily.

As it was winter Bibulus was unprepared and Caesar was able to sail through the blockade easily and form a beachhead at Epirus with the first half of his army.

Bibulus then proceeded to blockade all the harbors along the coast, hoping to prevent any further crossings from Italy, and leaving Caesar stranded in Epirus.

Determined to continue with the blockade, Bibulus pushed himself too hard ; he fell ill in early 48 BC and died near Corcyra before the end of winter.

Now prepared, Bibulus managed to prevent any further ships from crossing, but died soon afterwards.

Caesar won, along with conservative Marcus Bibulus.

At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Bibulus ( or, less frequently, year 695 Ab urbe condita ).

* Consuls: Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus ( known as " the consulship of Julius and Caesar " due to Bibulus ' withdrawal from public view to " consult the heavens " in an effort to invalidate Caesar's intended legislation ).

For example, the year we know as 59 BC would have been described as " the consulship of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Julius Caesar " ( although that specific year was known jocularly as " the consulship of Julius and Caesar " because of the insignificance of Caesar's counterpart ).

* Caesar and Bibulus are praetors.

Caesar, who needed to pass the bill before his co-consul, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, took possession of the fasces at the end of the month, immediately recognized Cato's intent and ordered the lictors to jail him for the rest of the day.

Bibulus and Cato attempted to oppose Caesar in the public votes but were harassed and publicly assaulted by Caesar's retainers.

Eventually, Bibulus confined himself to his home and pronounced unfavorable omens in an attempt to lay the legal groundwork for the later repeal of Caesar ’ s consular acts.

Both Cato and Bibulus allied with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus against Caesar.

Lentulus ' rise through the < i > cursus honorum </ i > of political office is not now known prior to his election, during the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus, as Praetor for 58 BCE.

A member of the plebeian Calpurnia clan, Bibulus served as Curule aedile alongside Julius Caesar in 65 BC, who proceeded to overshadow Bibulus throughout his year in office, particularly in the provision of the Ludi Romani.

Married as he was to the daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis, another implacable opponent of Caesar, Bibulus was firmly in the camp of the self described boni, politicians who believed that the traditional role of the Senate was being usurped by the Roman assemblies of the people for the benefit of a few power hungry individuals, and thus were against anyone who was determined to use the legislative assemblies to reform the state, of which Julius Caesar was a primary example.

Consequently, when Caesar nominated himself to stand for the consular elections of 59 BC, with the support of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, Cato and the rest of the boni, fearing him to be a radical who would destroy the Mos maiorum, bribed heavily in order to ensure that Bibulus would be his consular colleague.

After successfully delaying the passage of the bill in the Senate, Caesar was forced to take the bill to the Century Assembly, where Bibulus was able to secure the support of three Plebeian Tribunes in order to block the passage of the bill.