Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/265

58 B.C.] were the triumvirs and Cæsar's army. After Cicero had been restored from exile by aid of the Three, he was obliged to speak with reserve of the part they had taken in banishing him. Nevertheless he indicates pretty clearly that Clodius was little more than their instrument. What disturbed him, he says, was Clodius' declaration "that his measures had the approval of these three and that he could command their help in carrying them through. Now one of these three had a powerful army in Italy; the other two, though private men, could raise an army if they chose; and this he said that they would do. He threatened me, not with the judgment of the People, not with any prosecution or trial or answer to the law, but with violence, with arms, with troops and generals and camps."

Cicero constantly complains of the "silence" of the Three when Clodius maintained that he was their agent, and indeed both their silence and their utterances left him no doubt that for once Clodius was telling the truth. Clodius held a meeting outside the gates that Cæsar might be present, and he publicly questioned the proconsul as to his opinion on the execution of Lentulus. Cæsar replied, "that in his judgment Cicero had acted illegally, but that he should prefer to let by-gones be by-gones and advised them not to persecute Cicero further." This reply, as it stood, was certainly hypocritical, for Cæsar could have stopped Clodius' action by raising his finger; but we may perhaps find a better excuse