After Pompey had concluded fighting in the East against Mithridates, and had reorganised the provinces in the East to Rome's advantage, he returned to Rome with his armies, and many suspected he would follow Sulla in imposing a Dictatorship. This Pompey did not do - he disbanded his forces, and returned to Rome to ask (and, presumably he thought, get as his right) land in which he could settle his men; some have speculated that Pompey thought he was now effectively 'beyond' the need for force.
This fell completely flat, with the Senate cutting Pompey dead and refusing any dispensing of land to Pompey's veterans. The story from beyond here is effectively the rise of Caesar, with Pompey never really assuming the grip he had previously.
But let's assume that Pompey goes ahead and presses the matter with force. If he does become Dictator, what happens then? Pompey was not particularly politically astute, and did not spend much time nursing political relationships and fostering support in the Senate - it seems unlikely he would have been able to make much of a go of governing, still less implement a stable and perpetual autocracy. Would he have gone the same way as Caesar in OTL?
This fell completely flat, with the Senate cutting Pompey dead and refusing any dispensing of land to Pompey's veterans. The story from beyond here is effectively the rise of Caesar, with Pompey never really assuming the grip he had previously.
But let's assume that Pompey goes ahead and presses the matter with force. If he does become Dictator, what happens then? Pompey was not particularly politically astute, and did not spend much time nursing political relationships and fostering support in the Senate - it seems unlikely he would have been able to make much of a go of governing, still less implement a stable and perpetual autocracy. Would he have gone the same way as Caesar in OTL?