Caesar's Decision to Return to Rome

Pompey passed a law allowing for retroactive prosecution for bribery, putting the Senate on firm legal footing to go after Caesar when he returned. The Senate demanded that Caesar stand down his legions, now that, by his own admission, the war in Gaul was won. But as Pompey's army was slowly but surely transforming into the army of the Republic, the Senate refused to let Pompey agree to these terms. They demanded Caesar disband his army, or he would be declared an enemy of the state. Despite the best efforts of Cicero and the other moderates, the two sides had dug themselves in too deep.