Author:Marcus Tullius Cicero/61 BC

The letters of this year are much concerned with the sacrilege of P. Clodius, who, it was alleged, had been detected in disguise in the house of the Pontifex Maximus Iulius Caesar, when his wife was celebrating the mysteries of the Bona Dea, from which males were excluded. His trial was made the occasion of bitter party struggles, and by giving evidence in contradiction of Clodius's alibi Cicero incurred his enmity, and eventually, therefore, his own exile. Quintus is propraetor in Asia, Caesar in Spain. Pompey reached Rome early this year. The ordo equester is much irritated with the senate on the question of the contracts for the collection of the Asiatic taxes.

Letters

 * XVI: To Atticus in Epirus, from Rome, 1 January[[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XVII: To C. Antonius in Macedonia, from Rome, January [[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XVIII: To Atticus in Epirus, from Rome, 27 January [[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XIX: To Atticus in Epirus, from Rome, 13 February [[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XX: To Atticus in Epirus, from Rome, 15 March [[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XXI: To Atticus, from Rome, May [[Image:50%.svg]]
 * XXII: To Atticus in Epirus, from Rome, 5 December [[Image:50%.svg]]