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Why did Cicero refuse to join the First Triumvirate?

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Marble bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, shown with short hair and draped clothing, displayed against a black background. — Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero, detail of a marble bust; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

At the end of 60 BCE, Cicero declined an invitation to join the political alliance of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Marcus Licinius Crassus—known as the First Triumvirate—primarily because he considered the compact to be unconstitutional.1

Cicero maintained a principled opposition to the group's political machinations, even attempting to estrange Pompey from Caesar to undermine the alliance. Despite his initial refusal, Cicero was later pressured by Pompey to align himself with the three leaders in 56 BCE, a commitment he formalized in writing and through his speech De provinciis consularibus (On the Consular Provinces).21