36
TRIBUNESHIP OF CLODIUS.
tlɪe prospect of restoring Ptolemy Auletes to his throne. The
consuls accordingly assisted Clodius in his detestable rogations
which were directed against Cicero. Clodius then accused
Cicero of having put to death Boman citizens without a trial.®
I have already stated that the case of Catiline and his associates
was a manifestum delictum, that according to the old criminal law
no further trial was necessary, and that Cicero was undoubtedly
justified in putting them to death. But the leges Porciae, of
which there were three 7, the last of which had probably been
enacted by L. Porcius in the social war, had, it may be, intro-
duced a modification, according to which a Roman citizen
could not be put to death in all places. In former times a
person might evade the sentence of a popular court by with-
drawing to a municipium ; but since the Italicans had obtained
the franchise, a change in this respect had become necessary,
and in Cicero’s time we actually find that it was the current
opinion, that a true citizen could not legally suffer the penalty
of death. It was, therefore, according to the Porcian law,
either altogether illegal to put a citizen to death, or it was
commanded that, if absolutely necessary, he should be executed
on the spot. Hence, it might have been urged against Cicero,
quod civem Romanum necasset, but there would have been no
reason for adding Indemnatum ; for the crime was a manifestum
delictum. However, whether justly or unjustly, Clodius brought
forward the accusation.
Every body withdrew from Cicero. Pompey went into
the country, and kept aloof from all Cicero’s friends. Caesar
was absent in Gaul; and M. Crassus bore a deep grudge
against Cicero: he was implacable, because he had been
mentioned in connexion with the Catilinarian conspiracy8;
and it was a general opinion, not without foundation,
that Crassus had been an accomplice. Cicero himself had
not been guilty of any malice; for he had only repeated the
evidence of the witnesses, who stated what was true. It is
one of the beautiful features of Cicero’s great soul, that he loved
P. Crassus, the son of his enemy, without any regard to circum-
6 Veil. Paterc. ii. 45; Livy, Epit. 103; Dion Cassius, xxxviii. 14; Plutarch,
Cicero, 3, foil.
7 Cicero, DeRe Publlca, ii. 31 : très sunt trium Porciorum. Compare Orelli
Qnomast. Tullianum, iii. p. 251, foil.
8 Asconius, m Cie. in tog. cand. p. 83, ed. Orelli. Compare Sallust, Catil, 17.
CICERO’S EXILE AND RETURN.
37
stances; he heartily wished young Crassus to rise in the repub-
lic and become great. Cicero could not await the day of trial,
for he would have been irrecoverably lost. The concilia no
longer consisted of honest country people, but of the lowest
rabble, who allowed themselves to be driven by their leader in
whatever direction he pleased. Cicero was obliged to quit
Rome, in order to save his life. The senators, bad as they were
in other respects, shewed great sympathy for him, and encou-
raged one another. Cicero, however, was condemned; and
Clodius followed up his victory, because he saw that the gover-
ment had no power. He destroyed Cicero’s houses and villas, and
offered his property for sale, but no one would purchase. He
then dedicated a chapel of Liberty on the Palatine, on the site
of Cicero’s house9, which I have discovered; that is to say,
I know the place within about fifty feet, where the house must
have stood, and have often visited the spot. Clodius outlawed
not only Cicero, but all those who should afford him any pro-
tection. Cicero at first wished to go to Sicily, but the praetor
of that province, who had formerly been his friend, was too
cowardly; he therefore went to Macedonia, and lived with the
quaestor Plancius, who received and treated him like a brother.
Clodius kept the promise he had made to the consuls : Gabinius
obtained Syria, and Piso Macedonia.10 Clodius himself robbed
with the greatest impudence whatever he pleased. This lasted
as long as he was in office.
The year after, public opinion turned so much in favour of
Cicero, indignation was expressed so loudly, and so many peti-
tions were sent in from all quarters, that he was formally re-
called. His return was a triumph which comforted him for the
moment. He felt happier than ever ; but his happiness did not
last long : misfortune had made a deep impression upon him.
The speeches which he had delivered the year before his mis-
fortune, especially that for L. Flaccus, who was a man of too
different a turn of mind from his own to be his friend, but who
had assisted him in suppressing the Catilinarianconspiracy, are
as interesting as that for Murena. In the latter, we see Cicero’s
quiet satisfaction and happiness, the result of what he had ac-
complished; whereas the former is pervaded by a suppressed
9 Cicero, αd Atticum, iv. 2, pro Domo, 41, foil. In the reign of Claudius,
the house was restored, but was again destroyed in the fire of Nero. — N.
10 Cicero, in Pison. 16; Plutarch, Cicero, 30.