Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/331

52 B.C.]

Providence which made Clodius lay an ambush to attack so brave a man as Milo; but every one of you must breathe more freely now that this ruffian is removed from your path; will you then bless the deed and yet punish the doer?" The jurors appear to have argued differently. The two had held each other in check, but the survivor would be intolerable; Milo's occupation was gone, and they judged that he had better go too.

Cicero could not save Milo, but he procured the acquittal of Saufeius, Milo's comrade in the fight, and when he brought to the bar Munatius Bursa, who had taken a leading part in the riotous proceedings after Clodius' death, the jury convicted in spite of the efforts of Pompey on his behalf. "They were brave citizens," writes Cicero to his friend Marius, "who dared convict him against all the influence of the man who had selected them as jurors. They would not have done it, if they had not made my indignation their own."

Throughout the year 52, though still professedly acting as Cæsar's associate, Pompey was passing laws which were in reality framed to work against Cæsar's interests. It was of vital importance to Cæsar that he-should be able to hold on to his province and army until he should enter on a second consulship. Pompey and the Optimates, while granting all his specific demands, proceeded so to arrange the order of succession to the provincial governorships as to deprive him of his legitimate expectations. Thus the ground