The desired second consulship was at once and bluntly refused.

The very first request which the returning general addressed to the senate, that the election of the consuls for 693 might be put off till after his entry into the capital, had been rejected; much less was there any likelihood of obtaining from the senate the necessary dispensation from the law of Sulla as to re-election.( 3) As to the arrangements which he had made in the eastern provinces, Pompeius naturally asked their confirmation as a whole; Lucullus carried a proposal thatevery ordinance should be separately discussed and voted upon, which opened the door for endless annoyances and a multitude of defeats in detail.

The promise of a grant of land to the soldiers of the Asiatic army was ratified indeed in general by the senate, but was at the same time extended to the Cretan legions of Metellus; and--what was worse--it was not executed, because the public chest was empty and the senate was not disposed to meddle with the domains for this purpose.

Pompeius, in despair of mastering the persistent and spiteful opposition of the senate, turned to the burgesses.
But he understood still less how to conduct his movements on this field.

The democratic leaders, although they did not openly oppose him, had no cause at all to make his interests their own, and so kept aloof.