c. 1.
In my twentieth year,2 acting upon my own judgment3 and at my own expense,4 I raised an army5 by means of which I restored to liberty the commonwealth which had been oppressed by the tyranny of a faction.6 On account of this the senate by laudatory decrees admitted me to its order,7 in the consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, and at the same time gave me consular rank in the expression of opinion,8 and gave me the imperium.9 It also voted that I as propraetor,10 together with the consuls, should see to it that the commonwealth suffered no harm.11 In the same year, moreover, when both consuls had perished in war, the people made me consul,12 and triumvir for organizing the commonwealth.13