For when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the pursuit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey turned upon him again, and in effect bade him be quiet.
Opposition research is as old as politics itself—Cicero's orations against Catiline, a dodgy candidate for the Roman consulship in 63BC, were notably well-informed.
Marius would hold the consulship a record-breaking seven times before becoming embroiled in a bitter civil war against another popular general named Sulla.
Because opposition to monarchy had become a Roman core value, the Romans believed that politicians should rise up a ladder of offices to the highest office or consulship.