*g* Yes, I was being rather needlessly provocative. But the more I think about the debates in the Senate in the last months of 50, the more I think that there was a very strong pro-war party that had decided that the ONLY way to destroy Caesar completely was to beat him in war. Remember, they might have spread rumors about his crossing the Alps themselves. Caesar was negotiating literally down to the last moment, trying to avoid the very position he ultimately took. I don't personally think there's any choice but to be sure that Pompey was backed by the Boni as the great protector against Caesar - witness how long during that year's debates Curio insisted that, if Caesar cut down his legions, so must Pompey, and how constantly the Boni fought tooth and nail against disarming Pompey even if Caesar was disarmed. One thinks of Cato - long an opponent of Pompey, now embracing Pompey on the theory of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

But the fact remains - a vote clearly showed that the great majority of the Senate wanted a plaque on BOTH the houses of the two great warlords, and Claudius Marcellus, against the Senate's vote, offered command to Pompey; I still think that's one helluva lot of noive.