The Historians' History of the World 05

That very day Cicero sailed from Dyrrhachium, and the following day he landed at Brundusium. He advanced leisurely towards Rome, the people poured out from every town and village as he passed to congratulate him, and all ranks and orders at Rome received him at the Capena Gate (Sept. 4). Next day he returned thanks to the senate; and to prove his gratitude to Pompey, he was the proposer of a law giving him the superintendence of the corn trade for a term of five years, and Pompey in return made him his first legate. The senate decreed that Cicero’s house and villas should be rebuilt at the public expense. Cicero then asserted that as Clodius had become a plebeian in an illegal manner, all the acts of his tribunate were equally so, and should be annulled. But here he was opposed by Cato, whose vanity took alarm, and who feared lest he should lose the fame of the ability with which he had conducted the robbery of the king of Cyprus; and this produced a coolness between him and Cicero, who also was disgusted, and with reason, with the conduct of several of the other leaders of the aristocratic party, at which we need not be surprised when we find them, purely to annoy Pompey, aiding Clodius so effectually that he was chosen ædile without opposition (56). This pest of Rome immediately accused Milo of the very crime (de vi

) of which he had been accused himself. Pompey appeared and spoke for Milo, and it came to a regular engagement between their respective partisans, in which the Clodians were worsted and driven off the Forum. Pompey now saw that Crassus was at the bottom of all the insults offered him, and that Bibulus and others of the nobles were anxious to destroy his influence, and he resolved to unite himself more closely than ever with Cæsar in order to counteract their intrigues.

Cicero at this time abstained as much as he could from public affairs, attending entirely to the bar. To understand his conduct we must keep his known character in view, in which vanity and timidity were prominent; but he was also grateful, placable, and humane. He had all his life had a strong personal affection for Pompey, and he was now full of admiration for the exploits of Cæsar in Gaul, by whom he was moreover treated with the utmost consideration, while he was disgusted with the paltry conduct of the leading aristocrats. Hence we find him, at the request of Cæsar or Pompey, employing his eloquence in the defence of even his personal enemies, and doing things for which we sometimes must pity, sometimes despise him. It is pleasing, however, to behold the triumph of his eloquence in the defence of his friend Sextius, whom the Clodians had the audacity to prosecute de vi

, for not having died, we may suppose, of his wounds. Cicero also carried a motion in the senate, that as there was not money in the treasury to purchase the Campanian lands, which by Cæsar’s law were to be divided, the act itself should be reconsidered. Finding, however, that this was highly displeasing to Cæsar and Pompey, and that those who applauded him for it did it because they expected it would produce a breach between the latter and him, he thought it best to consult his interest, and therefore dropped it.[107]

SECOND CONSULATE OF POMPEY AND CRASSUS

[56-55 B.C.]