Misplaced Pages

#294705

122-578: Milo was a praetor at the time who was attempting to gain the much-wanted post of consul . Clodius was a former tribune standing for the office of praetor . The charge was brought against Milo for the death of Clodius following a violent altercation on the Via Appia , outside Clodius' estate in Bovillae . After the initial brawl, it seems that Clodius was wounded during the fight that was started by both men's slaves. The sequence of events described by

244-675: A pretura (a court). The pretori are appointed by the canton's parliament . In the Star Trek franchise, Praetor is the usual title of the leader of the Romulan Empire . In the New Phyrexia expansion of the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game , the five Phyrexian rulers were labeled as praetors. In the sci-fi gaming franchise StarCraft , two of the major characters, Fenix and Artanis, hold

366-504: A "women's goddess" named Damia, which Georges Dumézil sees as an ancient misreading of Greek " Demeter ". In the late Imperial era, the neoplatonist author Macrobius identifies her as a universal earth-goddess, an epithet of Maia , Terra , or Cybele, worshiped under the names of Ops, Fauna and Fatua. The Christian author Lactantius , claiming the late Republican polymath Varro as his source, describes her as Faunus ' wife and sister, named " Fenta Fauna " or " Fenta Fatua " (Fenta "

488-528: A Praetor in either was as follows. In an actio , which was civil, the Praetor could either issue an interdictum (interdict) forbidding some circumstance or appoint a iudex ( judge ). Proceedings before the praetor were technically said to be in iure . At this stage, the Praetor would establish a formula directing the iudex as to the remedy to be given if he found that certain circumstances were satisfied; for instance, "Let X be iudex . If it appears that

610-536: A central figure in Latium 's aristocratic foundation myth, which was thus re-embroidered as a Roman moral fable. Several variants are known; Fauna is daughter, wife or sister of Faunus (also named Faunus Fatuus , meaning Faunus "the foolish", or seer). Faunus was son of Picus , and was the first king of the Latins, empowered with the gift of prophecy. In Roman religion he was a pastoral god and protector of flocks, with

732-510: A gold-brocaded hat ( skiadion ), a plain silk kabbadion tunic, and a plain, smooth wooden staff ( dikanikion ). Classical Latin Praetor became medieval Latin Pretor; Praetura, Pretura, etc. During the interwar period the 71 counties of Romania were divided into a various numbers of plăși (singular: plasă ), headed by a Pretor , appointed by the Prefect . The institution headed by

854-427: A magistrate, whose imperium did not expire with his term until crossing the pomerium or being stripped by the people, to continue in his assigned task or provincia . The elected praetor was a curule magistrate , exercised imperium , and consequently was one of the magistratus majores . He had the right to sit in the sella curulis and wear the toga praetexta . He was attended by six lictors . A praetor

976-515: A multitude of private leaders leading private armies. These early military leaders were eventually institutionalised into fixed magistrate bodies elected by the people with clear state control over military activities. This was also probably assisted by "the use of recuperatores to mediate disputes and fetial priests to control the declaration of war". The effect to make it more difficult for private individuals to start wars against Rome's neighbours. Reforms in 449 BC also may have required "for

1098-650: A praetor in Constantinople, as a high-ranking judge. He is possibly identical to the Palaiologan-era post of the praitōr tou demōu , whose holders are attested until 1355. According to the Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos , compiled around the same time, the praitōr tou demōu occupied the 38th place in the imperial hierarchy, between the megas tzaousios and the logothetēs tōn oikeiakōn , but held no official function. His court uniform consisted of

1220-468: A restraint that probably affected the overall presentation of his case. To convince the jury of Milo's innocence, Cicero used the fact that following Clodius death, a mob of Clodius' own supporters, led by the scribe Sextus Cloelius , carried his corpse into the Senate house ( curia ) and cremated it using the benches, platforms, tables and scribes' notebooks, as a pyre. In doing so, it also burnt down much of

1342-533: A shrine and oracle on the Aventine, sometimes identified with Inuus and later, with Greek Pan . As his female counterpart, Fauna had similar gifts, domains and powers in relation to women. In Plutarch's version of the myth, the mortal Fauna secretly gets drunk on wine, which is forbidden her. When Faunus finds out, he thrashes her with myrtle rods; in Lactantius 's version, Faunus thrashes her to death, regrets

SECTION 10

#1732772646295

1464-410: A sign of her healing and regenerative powers. This combination of snake and cornucopia are unique to Bona Dea. The literary record offers at least one variation on this type; Macrobius describes her cult statue as overhung by a "spreading vine", and bearing a sceptre in her left hand. Cicero makes no reference to any myth pertaining to Bona Dea. Later Roman scholars connected her to the goddess Fauna ,

1586-497: Is a Senate with two Praetors, one male and one female. In the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV , "The Praetorium " is a level 50 dungeon. In the 2022 game Elden Ring , one of the antagonists Rykard holds the title of Praetor among his fellow demi-gods in the Lands Between. Bona Dea Bona Dea ( Latin: [ˈbɔna ˈdɛ.a] ; 'Good Goddess') was a goddess in ancient Roman religion . She

1708-564: Is a name, an honorific title and a respectful pseudonym; the goddess' true or cult name is unknown. Her other, less common names or pseudonyms include Feminea Dea ("The Women's Goddess"), Laudanda ... Dea ("The Goddess who must be Praised"), and Sancta ("The Holy One"). She is a goddess of "no definable type", with several origins and a range of different characteristics and functions. Based on what little they knew of her rites and attributes, Roman historians speculated about her true name and identity. Festus describes her as identical with

1830-455: Is a point in the speech where Cicero claims that Milo neither knew about nor saw Clodius's murder. Cicero claims that the killing of Clodius was lawful and in self-defense. Cicero even goes as far as to suggest that the death of Clodius was in the best interests of the republic, as the tribune was a popularis leader of the restless plebeian mobs who had plagued the political scene of the late Roman Republic . Possibly Cicero's strongest argument

1952-455: Is believed that the father changed himself into a serpent, however, and under this guise had intercourse with his daughter." This myth bears a marked similarity to the rape of Persephone, by her father Zeus in the form of a chthonic snake, in Orphic mythology . Macrobius refers the serpent's image at the goddess' rites to this mythical transformation, and to the live, harmless serpents who roamed

2074-625: Is the only known festival in which women could gather at night, drink strong, sacrificial-grade wine and perform a blood sacrifice. Although women were present at most public ceremonies and festivals, the religious authorities in Roman society were the male pontiffs and augurs , and women could not lawfully perform rites at night, unless "offered for the people in proper form". Women were allowed wine at these and other religious occasions. At other times, they might drink weak, sweetened, or diluted wine in moderation but Roman traditionalists believed that in

2196-473: The praefectus vigilum , who was hitherto responsible for security, by a praetor populi (in Greek πραίτωρ [τῶν] δήμων, praitōr [tōn] dēmōn ), with wide-ranging police powers. In the early 9th century, the praitōr was a junior administrative official in the themata , subordinate to the governing stratēgos . Gradually however, the civil functionaries assumed greater power, and by the late 10th century,

2318-532: The Pro Milone as "so perfectly written that it can rightly be considered his best". The speech is full of deceptively straightforward strategies. Throughout his speech, Cicero explicitly seems to follow his own rhetorical guidelines published in his earlier work De Inventione , but on occasion, he subtly breaks away from the stylistic norms to emphasise certain elements of his case and use the circumstances to his advantage. As example, he places his refutation of

2440-622: The Roman Republic , but it was later changed to 30 in the early Empire . The status of the praetor in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by the Sextian-Licinian Rogations in 367 BC, but it was well known both to Livy and other Romans in the late republic that the chief magistrates were first called praetor . For example, Festus "refers to 'the praetors, who are now consuls'". The form of

2562-620: The Vestal Virgin Licinia, with the gift of an altar, shrine and couch, was immediately annulled as unlawful by the Roman Senate ; Licinia herself was later charged with inchastity, and executed. By the Late Republic era, Bona Dea's May festival and Aventine temple could have fallen into official disuse, or official disrepute. The goddess also had a winter festival, attested on only two occasions (63 and 62 BC). It

SECTION 20

#1732772646295

2684-417: The plebeians , and one of them, Quintus Publilius Philo, won the office. Only in the 125 years after the election of three military leaders did a clear distinction emerge between what became the consuls and what became the praetors due to the "normal Roman practice to reserve one commander in or near the city for purposes of defence and (eventually) for civilian administration". The glory and prestige won by

2806-516: The praetor urbanus . In the absence of the consuls, he was the senior magistrate of the city, with the power to summon the Senate and to organize the defense of the city in the event of an attack. He was not allowed to leave the city for more than ten days at a time. He was therefore given appropriate duties in Rome. He superintended the Ludi Apollinares and was also the chief magistrate for

2928-400: The praetorium ius (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by the praetores (praetors). Praetorium , as a substantive , denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his castra , the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship. The minimum age for holding the praetorship was 39 during

3050-497: The praitores (or kritai , "judges") were placed at the head of the civil administration of a thema . This division of civil and military duties was often abandoned in the 12th century, when the posts of civil praitōr and military doux were frequently held in tandem. The provincial post fell out of use after the collapse of the Empire in 1204. According to Helene Ahrweiler , Emperor Nikephoros II (r. 963–969) reinstituted

3172-405: The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The phrase is integral to Cicero's argument. In the context of the Pro Milone the meaning behind the phrase remains the same as its use in contemporary society. Cicero was asserting that the killing of Clodius was admissible if it was an act of self-defence. The argument is that in extreme cases, when one's own life is immediately threatened, disregard of

3294-420: The Praetor and his assessors and friends, as opposed to the subsellia , the part occupied by the iudices (judges) and others who were present. In court, the Praetor was referred to as acting e tribunali or ex superiore loco (lit. from a raised platform or from a higher place) but he could also perform ministerial acts out of court, in which case he was said to be acting e plano or ex aequo loco (lit. from

3416-468: The Praetor would either hear the whole case in person or appoint a delegate (a iudex pedaneus ), taking steps for the enforcement of the decision; the formula was replaced by an informal system of pleadings . During the time of the Roman Republic , the Urban Praetor allegedly issued an annual edict , usually on the advice of jurists (since the Praetor himself was not necessarily educated in

3538-463: The Praetor's de facto legislative role was abolished. The Praetors also presided at the quaestiones perpetuae (which were criminal proceedings), so-called because they were of certain types, with a Praetor being assigned to one type on a permanent basis. The Praetors appointed judges who acted as jurors in voting for guilt or innocence. The verdict was either acquittal or condemnation. These quaestiones looked into crimina publica , "crimes against

3660-469: The Pretor was called Pretură . Currently, this office has survived only in the Republic of Moldova , where praetors are the heads of Chişinău 's five sectors. In Italy, until 1998, Praetor was a magistrate with particular duty (especially in civil branch). The Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino has pretori (singular: pretore ) which is the chief magistrate (civil branch) of a district, heading

3782-399: The Roman plebs, particularly the ingenui . The greatest number of all are from freedmen and slaves, male and female. An estimated one-third of all dedications are from men, one of whom, a provincial Greek, claims to be a priest of her cult. Others describe themselves as sacerdotes , magistri or ministri (priests and ministers) of the goddess. While almost all Roman literary sources present

Pro Milone - Misplaced Pages Continue

3904-652: The Senior Vestal and the Pontifex Maximus . Their ritual obligations and religious integrity were central to the well being of the Roman state and all its citizens. The euphemistic naming of strong wine at this festival has been variously described as an actual substitution for milk and honey, relatively late in the cult's development; as a theological absurdity; and as an ingenious justification for behaviours that would be considered unacceptable outside this specific religious sphere. Fauna's myths illustrate

4026-474: The Vestals, whose presence and authority he conspicuously promoted. His wife Livia was a distant relative of the long-dead but still notorious Clodius; but also related to the unfortunate Vestal Licinia, whose attempted dedication of Bona Dea's Aventine Temple had been thwarted by the Senate. Livia restored the temple and revived its May 1 festival, perhaps drawing attention away from her disreputable kinsman and

4148-482: The account of later writer and Ciceronian commentator Asconius , the actual defense failed to secure an acquittal for Milo for three reasons: Milo was condemned for the murder by a margin of 38 votes to 13. Milo went into exile to the Gallic town of Massilia (Marseille). During his absence, Milo was prosecuted for bribery, unlawful association and violence, of all of which he was successfully convicted. As an example of

4270-454: The actual version delivered. The speech also contains the first known use of the legal axiom res ipsa loquitur but in the form res loquitur ipsa , (literally, "the thing itself speaks", but it is usually translated as "the facts speak for themselves"). The phrase was quoted in an 1863 judgment in the English case Byrne v Boadle and became the tag for a new common law doctrine. In

4392-431: The addition of praetors. Two were created in 227 BC, for the administration of Sicily and Sardinia , and two more when the two Hispanic provinces were formed in 197 BC. The dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla transferred administration of the provinces to former consuls and praetors , simultaneously increasing the number of praetors elected each year to eight, as part of his constitutional reforms . Julius Caesar raised

4514-555: The administration of justice and promulgated the Praetor's Edict . These Edicts were statements of praetor's policy as to judicial decisions to be made during his term of office. The praetor had substantial discretion regarding his Edict, but could not legislate. In a sense the continuing Edicts came to form a corpus of precedents. The development and improvement of Roman Law owes much to the wise use of this praetorial discretion. The expansion of Roman authority over other lands required

4636-786: The authority of the SPQR . Livy describes the assignments given to either consuls or praetors in some detail. As magistrates, they had standing duties to perform, especially of a religious nature. However, a consul or praetor could be taken away from his current duties at any time to head a task force, and there were many, especially military. Livy mentions that, among other tasks, these executive officers were told to lead troops against perceived threats (domestic or foreign), investigate possible subversion, raise troops, conduct special sacrifices, distribute windfall money, appoint commissioners and even exterminate locusts. Praetors could delegate at will. The one principle that limited what could be assigned to them

4758-408: The business in that department of the law had become considerable, but Titus reduced the number to one; and Nerva added a Praetor for the decision of matters between the fiscus ( treasury ) and individuals. Marcus Aurelius appointed a Praetor for matters relating to tutela ( guardianship ). Roman court cases fell into the two broad categories of civil or criminal trials. The involvement of

4880-634: The celestial Virgin, Great Mother of the gods, whom later Mariologists identify as prototype for the Virgin Mary in Christian theology. Christian writers present Bona Dea – or rather, Fauna, whom they clearly take her to be – as an example of the immorality and absurdity at the heart of traditional Roman religion; according to them, she is no prophetess, merely "foolish Fenta", daughter and wife to her incestuous father, and "good" (bona) only at drinking too much wine. The Temple of Bona Dea in Rome

5002-482: The city of Rome . One was held on May 1 at Bona Dea's Aventine temple. Its date connects her to Maia ; its location connects her to Rome's plebeian commoner class, whose tribunes and emergent aristocracy resisted patrician claims to rightful religious and political dominance. The festival and temple's foundation year is uncertain – Ovid credits it to Claudia Quinta (c. late 3rd century BC). The rites are inferred as some form of mystery, concealed from

Pro Milone - Misplaced Pages Continue

5124-639: The city of Rome were led by the Vestal Virgins and the Sacerdos Bonae Deae , and her provincial cults by virgin or matron priestesses. Surviving statuary shows her as a sedate Roman matron with a cornucopia and a snake. Personal dedications to her are attested among all classes, especially plebeians , freedmen and women , and slaves . Approximately one third of her dedications are from men, some of whom can be identified as acolytes and priests of her cult. Bona Dea ("The Good Goddess")

5246-411: The classical praetorship in its early years also was not viewed as being less than the consuls, as "it was common practice for men to hold the praetorship after a consulship... since [doing so] was simply a method of holding imperium for a second year". Livy reports that until 337 BC the praetor was chosen only from among the patricians . In that year, eligibility for the praetura was opened to

5368-575: The community. That allowed Cicero ample maneuvering room to include details of the fire in the curia as well as the attack on Marcus Lepidus' house and the Bona Dea incident. Milo, having read the later published speech whilst in exile, joked that if Cicero had spoken that well in court, the former would "not now be enjoying the delicious red mullet of Massilia". Praetor Praetor ( / ˈ p r iː t ər / PREE -tər , Classical Latin: [ˈprae̯tɔr] ), also pretor ,

5490-418: The concealment of inner cults or mysteries from non-initiates. There is evidence that at least some remained in use to the 4th century AD as cultic healing centres. Despite the exclusively female, aristocratic connections claimed by Cicero for her winter festival at Rome and her high status as a protecting deity of the Roman state, elite dedications to Bona Dea are far outnumbered by the personal dedications of

5612-424: The conclusion of both Asconius and Appian. Clodius is made out repeatedly in the Pro Milone to be a malevolent, invidious, effeminate character who craves power and organises the ambush on Milo. Cicero gives Clodius a motive for setting a trap: the realisation that Milo would easily secure the consulship and so stand in the way of Clodius' scheme to attain greater power and influence as a praetor. Fortunately, there

5734-427: The consulship". Furthermore, a fully-formed praetorship without colleague, as Livy's account implies, would be a "tremendous violation of Roman practice in which all regular magistracies were created in colleges consisting of at least two". "Scholars increasingly view the [rogations] as establishing a college of three (and only three) praetors, two of whom eventually developed into the historical consuls". What became

5856-572: The consulship. There were two reasons for this: to relieve the weight of judicial business and to give the Republic a magistrate with imperium who could field an army in an emergency when both consuls were fighting a far-off war. By the end of the First Punic War , a fourth magistrate entitled to hold imperium appears, the praetor qui inter peregrinos ius dicit ("the praetor who administers justice among foreigners"). Although in

5978-405: The cremation of Clodius' corpse, was prosecuted for the burning down of the curia and was convicted by an overwhelming majority of 46 votes. Following the trial, violence raged unchecked in the city between supporters of Clodius and Milo. Pompey had been made sole consul in Rome during the violent troubled times after the murder but before the legal proceedings against Milo had begun. He quelled

6100-459: The crime as well as its revolutionary repercussions (the case had special resonance with the Roman people as a symbol of the clash between the populares and the optimates ) made Pompey set up a handpicked panel of judges. Thus, he avoided the corruption, rife in the political scene of the late Roman Republic . In addition, armed guards were stationed around the law courts to placate the violent mobs of both sides' supporters. The first four days of

6222-419: The cults of Aesculapius , Demeter and Ceres . Some Romans kept live, harmless snakes as household pets, and credited them with similarly beneficial functions. Images of the goddess show her enthroned, clad in chiton and mantle. On her left arm she holds a cornucopia , a sign of her abundant generosity and fruitfulness. In her right hand, she holds a bowl, which feeds a serpent coiled around her right arm:

SECTION 50

#1732772646295

6344-422: The curia; Clodius' supporters also launched an attack on the house of the then interrex , Marcus Lepidus. Pompey thus ordered a special inquest to investigate that as well as the murder of Clodius. Cicero refers to this incident throughout the Pro Milone by implying that there was greater general indignation and uproar at the burning of the curia than there was at the murder of Clodius. The violent nature of

6466-459: The decline of the other traditional Roman offices such as that of tribune , the praetorship remained an important portal through which aristocrats could gain access to either the Western or Eastern senates. The praetorship was a costly position to hold as praetors were expected to possess a treasury from which they could draw funds for their municipal duties. Like many other Roman institutions,

6588-613: The deed and deifies her. Servius derives the names Faunus and Fauna, collectively the Fatui, from fari (to prophesy): they "are also called Fatui because they utter divine prophecy in a state of stupor". Macrobius writes that Bona Dea is "the same as Fauna, Ops or Fatua ... It is said too that she was the daughter of Faunus, and that she resisted the amorous advances of her father who had fallen in love with her, so that he even beat her with myrtle twigs because she did not yield to his desires though she had been made drunk by him on wine. It

6710-447: The defendant ought to pay 10,000 sesterces to the plaintiff, let the iudex condemn the defendant to pay 10,000 sesterces to the plaintiff. If it does not so appear, let the plaintiff absolve him." After they were handed over to the iudex , they were no longer in iure before the Praetor, but apud iudicem . The iudicium of the iudex was binding. By the time of Diocletian , however, this two-stage process had largely disappeared, and

6832-737: The exclusion of men as an official and absolute rule of her cult, this is more likely a ritualised element of her annual festival, at least in Cicero's account of the same, than an everyday prohibition or an aspect of mystes vitiated by Clodius' unlawful presence. Inscriptions of the Imperial era show her appeal as a personal or saviour-goddess, extolled as Augusta and Domina ; or as an all-goddess, titled as Regina Triumphalis (Triumphal Queen), or Terrae marisque Dominatrici (Mistress of sea and land). Private and public dedications associate her with agricultural deities such as Ceres , Silvanus , and

6954-445: The fact that the jury indeed convicted Milo, that it felt that although Milo may not have been aware of Clodius's initial injury, his ordering of Clodius' butchering warranted punishment. When initially questioned about the circumstances of Clodius' death, Milo responded with the excuse of self-defense and that it was Clodius who laid a trap for Milo to kill him. Cicero had to fashion his speech to be congruent with Milo's initial excuse,

7076-434: The fertility nature-goddess Fauna , who could prophesy the fates of women. The goddess had two main annual festivals. One was held at her Aventine temple , for the benefit of the Roman people; the other was hosted by the wife of a Roman senior annual magistrate for an invited group of elite matrons and female attendants. The latter festival came to scandalous prominence in 62 BC, when the politician Publius Clodius Pulcher

7198-409: The festival at Lanuvium, and Cicero only implies their presence). Clodius, however, was on horseback not with a carriage, his wife or his usual retinue but with a band of armed brigands and slaves. If Cicero could convince the judges that Clodius had laid a trap for Milo, he could postulate that Clodius had been killed in self-defense. Cicero never even mentions the possibility that the two met by chance,

7320-470: The fickle crowds of the forum he controlled, with his malevolent goading. The early part of the refutation of the opposition's arguments ( refutatio ), contains the first known exposition of the phrase silent enim leges inter arma ("in times of war, the laws fall silent"). It has since been rephrased as inter arma enim silent leges , and was most recently used by the American media in the aftermath of

7442-399: The first time that all military commanders be confirmed by a popular assembly [representing] the Roman people". The emergence of the classical praetorship was a long process that had been underway by 367 BC. This was when the Sextian-Licinian Rogations were passed, giving the Roman people substantially more power over the selection of their military commanders. While Livy claims that

SECTION 60

#1732772646295

7564-402: The first; the impeccably patrician Clodius, Cicero's social superior by birth, is presented as an innately impious, low-class oaf, and his popularist policies as threats to Rome's moral and religious security. After two years of legal wrangling, Clodius was acquitted – which Cicero put down to jury-fixing and other backroom dealings – but his reputation was damaged. The scandalous revelations at

7686-408: The flat ground or from an equal or level place). For instance, he could in certain cases give validity to the act of manumission when he was out-of-doors, such as on his way to the bath or to the theatre. By 395 AD, the praetors' responsibilities had been reduced to a purely municipal role. Their sole duty was to manage the spending of money on the exhibition of games or on public works. However, with

7808-549: The goddess' cult as native to Rome, coeval with its foundation. In the middle Republican era, the temple may have fallen into disrepair, or its cult into official disfavour. In 123 BC the Vestal Licinia gave the temple an altar , small shrine and couch for the goddess, but they were removed as unlawful by the pontifex maximus P. Scaevola . The temple's use and status at the time of the Bona Dea scandal are unknown. It

7930-583: The goddess' rites continued to circulate. Well over a century after the Clodius scandal, Juvenal describes Bona Dea's festival as an opportunity for women of all classes, most shamefully those of the upper class – and men in drag ("which altars do not have their Clodius these days?") – to get drunk and cavort indiscriminately in a sexual free-for-all. From the late 2nd century, an increasing religious syncretism in Rome's traditional religions presents Bona Dea as one of many aspects of Virgo Caelestis,

8052-413: The goddess' temple precincts. Varro explains the exclusion of men from Bona Dea's cult as a consequence of her great modesty; no man but her husband had ever seen her, or heard her name. For Servius , this makes her the paragon of chaste womanhood. Most likely, once Fauna's mythology seemed to offer an explanation for Bona Dea's mysterious cult, the myth developed circumstantially, to fit what little

8174-477: The goddess, or, according to Ovid, could enter the precincts "if bidden by the goddess". Most provincial sanctuaries and temples to Bona Dea are too decayed, despoiled or fragmentary to offer firm evidence of structure and layout, but the remains of four are consistent with the sparse descriptions of her Aventine temple. In each, a perimeter wall surrounds a dense compound of annexes, in which some rooms show possible use as dispensaries. The layout would have allowed

8296-463: The guards posted around the courts by Pompey in the special inquisition (the very first sentence of the speech contains the word vereor – "I fear"). However, Cicero ends his speech fearless, becomes more emotive with each argument and finishes by the beseeching of his audience with tears to acquit Milo. Irony is omnipresent in the speech, along with continual appearances of humour and constant appeals to traditional Roman virtues and prejudices, all of

8418-527: The intruder; but as the rites had been vitiated , the Vestals were obliged to repeat them, and after further inquiry by the senate and pontifices , Clodius was charged with desecration, which carried a death sentence. Cicero , whose wife Terentia had hosted the previous year's rites, testified for the prosecution. Caesar publicly distanced himself from the affair as much as possible – and certainly from Pompeia, whom he divorced because "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion". He had been correctly absent from

8540-426: The later Empire the office was titled praetor inter cives et peregrinos ("among citizens and foreigners", that is, having jurisdiction in disputes between citizens and noncitizens), by the time of the 3rd century BC, Rome's territorial annexations and foreign populations were unlikely to require a new office dedicated solely to this task. T. Corey Brennan , in his two-volume study of the praetorship, argues that during

8662-458: The law is justifiable. Indeed, Cicero goes as far as to say that such behaviour is instinctive ( nata lex : "an inborn law") to all living creatures ( non instituti, sed imbuti sumus : "we are not taught [self-defence] through instruction, but through natural intuition"). The argument of the murder of Clodius being in the public interest is only presented in the written version of the Pro Milone , as, according to Asconius, Cicero did not mention it in

8784-471: The law), setting out the circumstances under which he would grant remedies. The legal provisions arising from the Praetor's Edict were known as ius honorarium ; in theory the Praetor did not have power to alter the law, but in practice the Edict altered the rights and duties of individuals and was effectively a legislative document. In the reign of Hadrian , however, the terms of the Edict were made permanent and

8906-593: The military crisis of the 240s the second praetorship was created to make another holder of imperium available for command and provincial administration inter peregrinos . During the Hannibalic War , the praetor peregrinus was frequently absent from Rome on special missions. The urban praetor more often remained in the city to administer the judicial system. The praetor urbanus presided in civil cases between citizens. The Senate required that some senior officer remain in Rome at all times. This duty now fell to

9028-408: The more distant and virtuous past, this was forbidden, "for fear that they might lapse into some disgraceful act. For it is only a step from the intemperance of Liber pater to the forbidden things of Venus". Some ancient sources infer that women were banned from offering blood-and-wine sacrifice in their own right; even banned from handling such materials; both claims are questionable. Nevertheless,

9150-508: The new praetor Justinianus of Thrace, with authority over all the former Thracian provinces except for Lower Moesia and Scythia Minor , which became part of the quaestura exercitus . Similarly, the governors of Pisidia and Lycaonia , as well as Paphlagonia (enlarged by merging it with Honorias ) were upgraded to praetores Justiniani , and received the rank of vir spectabilis . In addition, in Constantinople he replaced

9272-570: The new Imperial ideology. An imperial cult centre in Aquileia honours an Augusta Bona Dea Cereria , probably in connection with the corn dole . Other state cults to the goddess are found at Ostia and Portus . As the Vestals seldom went beyond Rome's city boundary, these cults would have been led by leading women of local elites, whether virgin or matron. Livia's best efforts to restore Bona Dea's reputation had only moderate success in some circles, where scurrilous and titillating stories of

9394-447: The number to ten, then fourteen, and finally to sixteen. Augustus made changes that were designed to reduce the Praetor to being an imperial administrator rather than a magistrate. The electoral body was changed to the Senate, which was now an instrument of imperial ratification. To take a very simplistic view, the establishment of the principate can be seen as the restoration of monarchy under another name. The Emperor therefore assumed

9516-403: The opposition's arguments ( refutatio ) far earlier in the speech than is usual, and he pounces on the opportunity for a fast disproval of the plethora of evidence collected over the first four days of the trial. His arguments are interwoven with one another and coalesce during the conclusion ( peroratio ). There is heavy use of pathos throughout the speech, starting with his assertion of fear for

9638-423: The other hand, is perpetually depicted as a 'saviour of Rome' by his virtuous actions and political career up until then. Cicero even goes as far as to paint an amicable relationship with Pompey . Asconius, as he does with many other parts of the Pro Milone , disputes that by claiming that Pompey was in fact "afraid" of Milo "or else pretended to be afraid", and he slept outside on the highest part of his property in

9760-432: The political and social turmoil of the Late Republic, Rome's misfortunes were taken as signs of divine anger against the personal ambition, religious negligence and outright impiety of her leading politicians. Clodius' prosecution was at least partly driven by politics. In an otherwise seemingly thorough account, Cicero makes no mention of Bona Dea's May festival, and claims the goddess' cult as an aristocratic privilege from

9882-414: The possession of her true name. Given that male authors had limited knowledge of her rites and attributes, ancient speculations about her identity abound, among them that she was an aspect of Terra , Ops , Cybele , or Ceres , or a Latin form of a Greek goddess, "Damia" (perhaps Demeter ). Most often, she was identified as the wife, sister, or daughter of the god Faunus , thus an equivalent or aspect of

10004-512: The potential of wine as an agent of sexual transgression; wine was thought to be an invention of Liber-Dionysus, who was present as the male principle in certain "soft fruits", including semen and grapes; and ordinary wine was produced under the divine patronage of Venus , the goddess of love and sexual desire. Its aphrodisiac effects were well known. For Staples, the euphemisms are agents of transformation. The designation of wine as "milk" conceives it as an entirely female product, dissociated from

10126-527: The powers once held by the kings, but he used the apparatus of the republic to exercise them. For example, the emperor presided over the highest courts of appeal. The need for administrators remained just as acute. After several changes, Augustus fixed the number at twelve. Under Tiberius , there were sixteen. As imperial administrators, their duties extended to matters that the republic would have considered minima . Two praetors were appointed by Claudius for matters relating to Fideicommissa ( trusts ), when

10248-526: The praetor ( Greek : πραίτωρ , praitōr ) survived in the Eastern Roman Empire . Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) undertook a major administrative reform beginning in 535, which involved the reunification of civil and military authority in the hands of the governor in certain provinces, and the abolition of the dioceses . The Diocese of Thrace had already been abolished by the end of the 5th century by Anastasius, and its vicarius became

10370-480: The praetors fighting foreign wars, then still in Italy, is what led to the higher prestige of the consulship. Only in 180 BC with the passage of the lex Villia annalis was holding the praetorship after the consulship prohibited. Even after the consulship emerged from the praetorship with higher prestige and desirability, praetorian imperium was still not legally distinct (or inferior to consular imperium ) until

10492-674: The prophetess " or Fenta " the foolish "). The known features of Bona Dea's cults recall those of various earth and fertility goddesses of the Graeco-Roman world , especially the Thesmophoria festival to Demeter. They included nocturnal rites conducted by predominantly or exclusively female initiates and female priestesses, music, dance and wine, and sacrifice of a sow. During the Roman Republican era, two such cults to Bona Dea were held at different times and locations in

10614-429: The prosecution and the commentary of Asconius Pedianus (c. 100 AD), an ancient commentator who analyzed several of Cicero's speeches and had access to various documents that no longer exist, was this: the absence of a summary of the chain of events in Cicero's speech may be attributed to their incriminating evidence against Milo. Presumably, Cicero correctly realised that to be the primary weakness. It can be assumed, from

10736-545: The public gaze and, according to most later Roman literary sources, entirely forbidden to men. In the Republican era, Bona Dea's Aventine festivals were probably distinctly plebeian affairs, open to all classes of women and in some limited fashion, to men. Control of her Aventine cult seems to have been contested at various times during the Mid Republican era; a dedication or rededication of the temple in 123 BC by

10858-479: The public", such as were worthy of the attention of a Praetor. The penalty on conviction was usually death, but sometimes other severe penalties were used. In the late Republic, the public crimes were: The last three were added by the Dictator Sulla in the early 1st century BC. When the Praetor administered justice in a tribunal , he sat on a sella curulis , which was that part of the court reserved for

10980-412: The pure and lawful sexual potency of virgins and matrons in a context that focused on female lust, instead of the lust of men. According to Cicero, any unauthorized man who caught even a glimpse of the rites could be punished by blinding, but he offers no example of this. Later Roman writers assume that apart from their different dates and locations, Bona Dea's December and May 1 festivals were essentially

11102-527: The republic changed substantially over its history and the accounts of the republic's development in the early imperial period are marred with anachronisms projecting then-current practices into the past. In the earliest periods of the republic, praetor "may not have meant anything more than leader in the most basic sense", deriving from praeire (to proceed) or praeesse (to be preeminent). These early praetors may have simply been clan leaders leading "military forces privately and free from state control" with

11224-444: The riots following this string of controversial cases with brutal military efficiency, temporarily regaining stability in Rome. The Pro Milone text that survives now is a rewritten version, published by Cicero after the trial. Despite its failure to secure an acquittal, the surviving rewrite is considered to be one of Cicero's best works and is thought by many to be the magnum opus of his rhetorical repertoire. Asconius describes

11346-451: The rites but as a paterfamilias he was responsible for their piety. As pontifex maximus , he was responsible for the ritual purity and piety of public and private religion. He had the responsibility to ensure that the Vestals had acted correctly, then chair the inquiry into what were essentially his own household affairs. Worse, the place of the alleged offense was the state property lent to every pontifex maximus for his tenure of office. It

11468-409: The rogations created the praetorship in 367 BC to relieve the consuls of their judicial responsibilities, "few modern historians would accept [this] account as written". Beyond the ancient knowledge that a title of praetor dated to the beginning of the republic, what became the classical praetorship was initially a military office with imperium and "virtually identical in authority and capacity to

11590-475: The same. The Winter festival rites of 62 BC were hosted by Pompeia , wife of Julius Caesar , senior magistrate in residence and pontifex maximus . Publius Clodius Pulcher , a popularist politician and ally of Caesar, was said to have intruded, dressed as a woman and intent on the hostess's seduction. According to Plutarch, Caesar's mother, Aurelia concealed the cult objects of the Goddess's mysteries from

11712-502: The scandalous events of 62 BC. Thereafter, Bona Dea's December festival may have continued quietly, or could simply have lapsed, its reputation irreparably damaged. There is no evidence of its abolition. Livia's name did not and could not appear in the official religious calendars, but Ovid's Fasti associates her with May 1, and presents her as the ideal wife and "paragon of female Roman virtue". Most of Bona Dea's provincial and municipal sanctuaries were founded around this time, to propagate

11834-434: The sexually and morally complex realms of Venus and Liber. Likewise, the wine jar described as a "honey jar" refers to bees, which in Roman lore are sexually abstinent, virtuous females who will desert an adulterous household. Myrtle, as the sign of Venus, Faunus' lust and Fauna's unjust punishment, is simply banned; or as Versnel puts it, "Wine in, Myrtle out". The vine-leaf bowers and the profusion of plants – any and all but

11956-498: The strong, sacrificial grade wine used in the rites to Bona Dea was normally reserved for Roman gods, and Roman men. The unusual permissions implicit at these rites probably derived from the presence and religious authority of the Vestals. They were exceptional and revered persons; virgins, but not subject to their fathers' authority; and matrons, but independent of any husband. They held forms of privilege and authority otherwise associated only with Roman men, and were answerable only to

12078-484: The suburbs and had a constant body of troops to keep guard. His fear was attributed to a series of public assemblies in which Titus Munatius Plancus, a fervent supporter of Clodius, stirred up the crowd against Milo and Cicero and cast suspicion on Milo by shouting that he was preparing a force to destroy him. However, in the view of Plutarch , a 1st-century AD writer and biographer of notable Roman men, Clodius had also stirred up enmity between Pompey and himself along with

12200-433: The tactics designed solely to involve and persuade his jury. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the case were apposite for Cicero, forcing him back to his own oratorical foundations. The charge of vis (violence) against Milo not only suited a logical and analytical legal framework, with evidence indicating a specific time, date, place and cast for the murder itself, but also generally concerned actions that affected

12322-496: The title of Praetor. In the 2016 game Doom , the armor worn by the protagonist is called the Praetor suit. In the 2017 game Xenoblade Chronicles 2 , one of the central antagonists Amalthus holds the title of Praetor in the Praetorium of Indol. In the 2020 game Deep Rock Galactic , one of the common enemies is called a Glyphid Praetorian. In the popular book series by Rick Riordan , The Heroes of Olympus , there

12444-548: The trial also undermined the sacred dignity and authority of the Vestals, the festival, the goddess, office of the pontifex maximus and, by association, Caesar and Rome itself. Some fifty years later, Caesar's heir Octavian, later the princeps Augustus , had to deal with its repercussions. Octavian presented himself as restorer of Rome's traditional religion and social values, and as peacemaker between its hitherto warring factions. In 12 BC he became pontifex maximus, which gave him authority over Rome's religious affairs, and over

12566-487: The trial were dedicated to opposition argument and the testimony of witnesses. On the first day, Gaius Causinius Schola appeared as a witness against Milo and described the deed in such a way as to portray Milo as a coldblooded murderer. That worked up Clodius' supporters, who terrified the advocate on Milo's side, Marcus Marcellus. As he began his questioning of the witnesses, the crowd drowned out his voice and surrounded him. The action taken by Pompey prevented much furore from

12688-410: The vehemently anti-Milo crowds for the rest of the case. On the second day of the trial, the armed cohorts were introduced by Pompey. On the fifth and final day, Cicero delivered Pro Milone in the hope of reversing the damning evidence, accrued over the previous days. Throughout the duration of his speech, Cicero does not even attempt to convince the judges that Milo did not kill Clodius. However there

12810-491: The very end of the republic. Starting in 241 BC, praetors started to be prorogued, allowing former praetors to act in the place of a praetor (ie pro praetore ) with power only "to conduct war in his assigned provincia [with] no other concerns or duties". Prorogation, in effect, granted private individuals a legally fictitious power to act in the place of the normal magistrates, allowing them to continue to act within their assigned task ( provincia ). Prorogation allowed

12932-522: The virgin goddess Diana . She is also named in some dedications of public works, such as the restoration of the Claudian Aqueduct . Most inscriptions to Bona Dea are simple and unadorned but some show serpents, often paired. Cumont (1932) remarks their similarity to the serpents featured in domestic shrines ( lararia ) at Pompei ; serpents are associated with many earth-deities, and had protective, fertilising and regenerating functions, as in

13054-449: The volatile, contradictory and confusing political atmosphere of the time, the superintendent of Milo's slaves, one Marcus Saufeius, was also prosecuted for the murder of Clodius shortly after the conviction of Milo. The team of Cicero and Marcus Caelius Rufus defended him and managed to acquit Saufeius by a margin of one vote. Furthermore, Clodius' supporters did not all escape unscathed. Clodius' associate, Sextus Cloelius, who supervised

13176-431: Was a magistrate with imperium within his own sphere, subject only to the veto of the consuls (who outranked him). The potestas and imperium (power and authority) of the consuls and the praetors under the Republic should not be exaggerated. They did not use independent judgment in resolving matters of state. Unlike today's executive branches, they were assigned high-level tasks directly by senatorial decree under

13298-562: Was a high-profile, much-commented case. The rites remained officially secret, but many details emerged during and after the trial, and remained permanently in the public domain. They fueled theological speculation, as in Plutarch and Macrobius: and they fed the prurient male imagination – given their innate moral weakness, what might women do when given wine and left to their own devices? Such anxieties were nothing new, and underpinned Rome's traditional strictures against female autonomy. In

13420-581: Was associated with chastity and fertility among married Roman women , healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome . According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic , and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill . Her rites allowed women the use of strong wine and blood-sacrifice, things otherwise forbidden them by Roman tradition . Men were barred from some of her mysteries and only initiates were given

13542-654: Was held in December, at the home of a current senior annual Roman magistrate cum imperio , whether consul or praetor . It was hosted by the magistrate's wife and attended by respectable matrons of the Roman elite. This festival is not marked on any known religious calendar, but was dedicated to the public interest and supervised by the Vestals, and therefore must be considered official. Shortly after 62 BC, Cicero describes it as one of very few lawful nocturnal festivals allowed to women, privileged to those of aristocratic class, and coeval with Rome's earliest history. The house

13664-484: Was known of the practice. In turn, the cult practice may have changed to support the virtuous ideological message required of the myths, particularly during the Augustan religious reforms that identified Bona Dea with the empress Livia. Versnel (1992) notes the elements common to the Bona Dea festival, Fauna's myths, and Greek Demeter's Thesmophoria , as "wine, myrtle, serpents and female modesty blemished". Bona Dea's

13786-404: Was plentiful material for Cicero to build that profile, such as the Bona Dea incident in 62 BC; involving Clodius stealing into the abode of the Pontifex Maximus of the time, Julius Caesar , during the ritual festival of the Bona Dea to which only women were allowed. It is said that he dressed up as a woman to gain access and pursue an illicit affair with Pompeia , the wife of Caesar. Clodius

13908-553: Was prepared: the entrails ( exta ) of a sow, sacrificed to her on behalf of the Roman people ( pro populo Romano ), and a libation of sacrificial wine. The festival continued through the night, a banquet with female musicians, fun and games ( ludere ), and wine; the last was euphemistically referred to as "milk", and its container as a "honey jar". The rites sanctified the temporary removal of customary constraints imposed on Roman women of all classes by Roman tradition , and underlined

14030-503: Was restored in the Imperial era, once by the empress Livia , wife of Augustus, and perhaps again by Hadrian . It survived to at least the 4th century AD. Nothing is known of its architecture or appearance, save that unlike most Roman temples it was walled. It was an important centre of healing; it held a store of various medicinal herbs that could be dispensed at need by its priestesses. Harmless snakes roamed its precincts. Men were supposedly forbidden entry but could dedicate offerings to

14152-519: Was ritually cleansed of all unauthorized male persons. Then the magistrate's wife and her assistants made bowers of vine-leaves, and decorated the house's banqueting hall with "all manner of growing and blooming plants" except for myrtle , whose presence and naming were expressly forbidden. A banquet table was prepared, with a couch ( pulvinar ) for the goddess and the image of a snake. The Vestals brought Bona Dea's cult image from her temple and laid it upon her couch, as an honoured guest. The goddess' meal

14274-509: Was situated on a lower slope of the northeastern Aventine Hill , beneath the height known as Saxum, southeast of the Circus Maximus . Its foundation year is unknown but the Aventine was host to several foreign or imported cults. Dumezil claims that Festus' identification of Bona Dea with Damia infers a foundation date in or shortly after 272 BC, after Rome's capture of Tarentum . On the other hand Cicero , during Clodius' trial, claimed

14396-418: Was taken to the law courts for this act of great impiety but escaped the punishment of death by bribing the judges, most of whom had been poor, according to Cicero, who was the prosecutor during the case. Earlier in his career, Lucullus had accused Clodius of committing incest with his sister Claudia and then Lucullus's wife; this allegation is mentioned several times to blacken Clodius' reputation. Milo, on

14518-552: Was that of the circumstances of the assault: its convenient proximity to Clodius' villa and the fact that Milo was leaving Rome on official business: nominating a priest for election in Lanuvium . Clodius, on the other hand, had been distinctly absent from his usual rantings in the popular assemblies ( contiones ). Milo was encumbered in a coach, with his wife, a heavy riding cloak and a retinue of harmless slaves (but his retinue also included slaves and gladiators as well as revellers for

14640-409: Was that their duties must not concern them with minima , "little things". They were by definition doers of maxima . This principle of Roman law became a principle of later European law: Non curat minima praetor , that is, the details do not need to be legislated, they can be left up to the courts. A second praetorship was created around 241 BC, more clearly separating this office from that of

14762-435: Was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army , and (ii) as an elected magistratus (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the praetura (praetorship), are described by the adjective itself: the praetoria potestas (praetorian power), the praetorium imperium (praetorian authority), and

14884-442: Was tried for his sacrilegious intrusion on the rites, allegedly bent on the seduction of Julius Caesar 's wife, Pompeia . Clodius was found not guilty, but Caesar divorced Pompeia because " Caesar's wife must be above suspicion ". For his support of the prosecution, Cicero earned Clodius' undying hatred. The festival fertility rites remained a subject of male curiosity and speculation, both religious and prurient. Bona Dea's cults in

#294705