Caesar had returned from Spain in the middle of this year. He had been in that province for one year as Propraetor, during which time he displayed that military ability which was soon to be exhibited on a still more conspicuous field. He subdued the mountainous tribes of Lusitania, took the town of Brigantium in the country of the Gallaeci, and gained many other advantages over the enemy. His troops saluted him as Imperator, and the Senate honored him by a public thanksgiving. He now laid claim to a triumph, and at the same time wished to become a candidate for the Consulship. For the latter purpose his presence in the city was necessary; but, as he could not enter the city without relinquishing his triumph, he applied to the Senate to be exempted from the usual law, and to become a candidate in his absence. As this was refused, he at once relinquished his triumph, entered the city, and became a candidate for the Consulship. He was elected without difficulty, but the aristocracy succeeded in associating with him in the Consulship M. Bibulus, who belonged to the opposite party, and who had likewise been his colleague in the AEdileship and Praetorship. Caesar now represented to Pompey the importance of detaching from the aristocracy M. Crassus, who, by his connections and immense wealth, possessed great political influence. Pompey and Crassus had for a long time past been deadly enemies, but they were now reconciled, and the three entered into an agreement to divide the power between themselves. This first Triumvirate, as it is called, was therefore merely a private arrangement between the three most powerful men at Rome, which remained a secret till the proceedings of Caesar in his Consulship showed that he was supported by a power against which it was in vain for his enemies to struggle. As soon as Caesar had entered upon his Consulship he proposed an agrarian law for the division of the rich Campanian land. The execution of the law was to be intrusted to a board of twenty commissioners. The opposition of the aristocratical party was in vain. Porapey and Crassus spoke in favor of the law; and the former declared that he would bring both sword and buckler against those who used the sword. On the day on which it was put to the vote, Bibulus and the other members of the aristocracy were driven out of the forum by force of arms: the law was carried, the commissioners appointed, and about 20,000 citizens, comprising, of course, a great number of Pompey's veterans, received allotments subsequently. Bibulus, despairing of being able to offer any farther resistance to Caesar, shut himself up in his own house, and did not appear again in public till the expiration of his Consulship.