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43The ensuing year the Romans had two sets of magistrates, contrary to custom, and a mighty battle was fought. The people of the city had chosen as consuls Caesar and Publius Servilius, along with praetors and all the other officers required by law. Those in Thessalonica had made no such appointments, 2although they had by some accounts about two hundred of the senate and also the consuls with them and had appropriated a small piece of land for the auguries, in order that these might seem to take place under some form of law, so that they regarded the people and the whole city as present there. 3They had not appointed new magistrates for the reason that the consuls had not proposed the lex curiata; but instead they employed the same officials as before, merely changing their names and calling some proconsuls, others propraetors, and others proquaestors. 4For they were very careful about precedents, even though they had taken up arms against their country and abandoned it, and they were anxious that the acts rendered necessary by the exigencies of the situation should not all be in violation of the strict requirement of the ordinances. 5Nevertheless, these men mentioned were the magistrates of the two parties in name only, while in reality it was Pompey and Caesar who were supreme; for the sake of good repute they bore the legal titles of proconsul and consul respectively, yet their acts were not those which these offices permitted, but whatever they themselves pleased.
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