public humiliation on his knees before Caesar" when the consul threatened prosecution. When Cicero, defending his former co-consul Gaius Antonius Hybrida, made an off-hand remark complaining about the political situation, his "deadly enemy P. Clodius [had] his long-obstructed 'transition' to the plebs rushed through by Caesar... in good time to stand for the tribunate". Caesar then moved to lift the exemption of Campania from his agrarian bill some time in May; its passage may have proved the last straw for Bibulus, who then withdrew to his house. Pompey, shortly thereafter, also wed Caesar's daughter Julia to seal their alliance. An ally of Caesar's, Publius Vatinius (then-plebeian tribune), also secured the passage of a law granting to Caesar the provinces of Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul for five years. Doing so replaced Caesar's assigned province of the woods and paths of Italy with Gaul; this was in response to growing tensions between the republic and the recent victors of a power struggle in Gaul, which had destabilised the geopolitical situation in the region. After the death of the governor of Transalpine Gaul – one of Cato's allies – the senate was persuaded also to assign to Caesar that province as well. Both bills were met with little resistance, likely due to Cato and his allies' boycotting of public business. Popular opinion turns By the summer, however, popular opinion had started to turn against Caesar's methods. Pompey also was distancing himself from Caesar. This was in part due to the success to Cato and Bibulus' campaign: Bibulus' choice to confine himself to his home "presented the image of the city dominated by one man's sole power, unchecked by a colleague". Pompey and Caesar attempted public protests against Bibulus' edicts and seclusion, respectively, to little response from the people. By then, the popular fervour of the agrarian bills had died down and the public likely desired a return to normal politics. The ancient sources claimed that for most of the year, the senate was not called and that the people and senators were intimidated and cowed into passing whatever the three allies put before them. These claims are incompatible with the attested events of that year. For example, in that year, Caesar's ally Vatinius was defeated in an election to the augurate and later elections for the magistracies returned Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Memmius, both opponents of Pompey and Caesar, as praetors. He