Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/791

Rh CLAUDIUS. 26, 30, pro Mil. 27, 32.) He went so fiir a« to offend Pompey by aiding the escipe of Tigranes, son of the king of Armenia, whom Pompey had brought a prisoner to Rome. In this instance also his services were purchased. Pompey, however, did not feel himself strong enough to resent the insult. Clodius soon assailed him more openly. The consul Gabinius sided with Pompey. Fre- quent conflicts took place between the armed bands of the tribune and consul, in one of which Gabinius himself was wounded and his fasces broken. Clodius and the tribune Ninnius went through the farce of dedicating to the gods, the one the property of Gabinius, the other that of Clodius. An attempt was made by Clodius, through one of his slaves, upon the life of Pompey, who now with- drew to his own house, and kept there as long as his enemy was in office. Clodius stationed a body of men under his freedman Damis to watch him, and the praetor Flavins was repulsed in an attempt to drive them off. The attempts made before the end of this year to procure the recall of Cicero proved abortive. Next year (b. c. 57), Clodius, possessing no longer tribunitial power, was obliged to depend on his armed bands for preventing the people from pass- ing a decree to recall Cicero. On the twenty- fifth of January, when a rogation to that effect was brought forward by the tribune Fabricius, Clodius appeared with an anned body of slaves and gladia- tors ; Fabricius had also brouglit armed men to support him, and a bloody fight ensued, in which the party of Fabricius was worsted. Soon after- wards, Clodius with his men fell upon another of his opponents, the tribune Sextius, who nearly lost his life in the fray. He attacked the house of Milo, another of the tribunes, and threatened his life whenever he appeared. He set fire to the temple of the Nymphs, for the purpose of destroy- ing the censorial records ; interrupted the Apolli- narian games, which were being celebrated by the praetor L. Caecilius, and besieged him in his iiouse. Milo made an unsuccessful attempt to bring Clodius to trial for his acts of violence ; and finding his endeavours unsuccessful, resolved to repel force by force. Accordingly he collected an armed band of slaves and gladiators, and frequent contests took place in the streets between the op- posing parties. When the senate came to a resolution to propose to the comitia a decree for the restoration of Cicero, Clodius was the only one who opposed it ; and when, on the fourth of August, it was brought be- fore the people, Clodius spoke against it, but could do nothing more ; for Milo and the other friends of Cicero had brought to the place of meeting a force sufficiently powerful to deter him from at- tempting any violence, and the decree was passed. Clodius, however, was not stopped in his career of violence. On the occasion of the dearth which ensued immediately after Cicero's recall, the blame of which Clodius endeavoured to throw on him, he excited a disturbance ; and when, by the advice of Cicero, Pompey was invested with extraordinary powers to superintend the supplies, Clodius charged the former with betraying the senate. The decree by which Cicero was recalled, pro- vided also for the restitution of his property. Some difficulty, however, remained with respect to the house on the Palatine, the site of which had l)een consecrated by Clodius to the service of re- CLAUDIUS. 7/3 llgion. The matter was referred to the college of pontifices, but was not decided till the end of September, when Cicero defended his right before them. The pontifices returned an answer sufficient to satisfy all religious scruples, though Clodius chose to take it as favourable to himself, and the senate decreed the restoration of the site, and the pajTnent of a sum of money to Cicero for rebuild- ing his house. When the workmen began their operations in November, Clodius attacked and drove them off, pulled down the portico of C'atulus, which had been nearly rebuilt, and set fire to the house of Q. Cicero. Shortly afterwards he assault- ed Cicero himself in the street, and compelled him to take refuge in a neighbouring house. Next day he attacked the house of Milo, situated on the eminence called Germalus, but was driven off by Q. Fkccus. When Marcellinus proposed in the senate that Clodius should be brought to justice, the friends of the latter protracted the discussion, so that no decision was come to. Clodius was at this time a candidate for the aedileship, that, if successful, he might be screened from a prosecution ; and threatened the city with fire and sword if an assembly were not held for the election. Marcellinus proposed that the senate should decree that no election should take place till Clodius had been brought to trial ; Milo de- clared that he would prevent the consul Metellus from holding the comitia. Accordingly, whenever Metellus attempted to hold an assembly, he posted himself with a strong body of anned men on the place of meeting, and stopped the proceedings, by giving notice that he was observing the auspices. In tlie beginning of the following year, however (B.C. 56), when Milo was no longer in office, Clodius v/as elected without opposition ; for, not- withstanding his outrageous violence, as it was evident that his chief object was not power but revenge, he was supported and connived at by several who found his proceedings calculated to further their views. The optiraates rejoiced to see him insult and humble the triumvir, Pompey, and the latter to find that he was sufficiently powerful to make the senate afraid of him. Cicero had many foes and rivals, who openly or secretly encouraged so active an enemy of the object of their envy and dislike; while the disturbances which his proceedings occasioned in the city were exactly adapted to further Caesar's designs. Clo- dius almost immediately after his election im- peached Milo for public violence. Milo appeared on the second of February to answer the accusation, and the day passed without distiurbance. The next hearing was fixed for the ninth, and when Pompey stood up to defend him, Clodius' party attempted to put him down by raising a tumult Mile's party acted in a similar manner when Clodius spoke. A fray ensued, and the judicial proceed- ings were stopped for that day. The matter was put off by several adjournments to the beginning of May, from which time we hear nothing more of it. In April, Clodius celebrated the Megalesian games, and admitted such a number of slaves, that the free citizens were unable to find room. Shortly after this, the senate consulted the haruspices on some prodigies which had happened near Rome. They replied, that, among other things which had provoked the anger of the gods, was the desecration of sacred places. Clodius interpreted this as re- ferring to the restoration of Cicero's house, and