250-484: Publius Clodius Pulcher ( c. 92 – 18 January 52 BC) was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero , he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cicero's exile from the city. Leader of one of the political mobs in the 50s, his political tactics – combining connections throughout the oligarchy with mass support from
500-492: A praetorship in 53. Whether Clodius actually sought the praetorship of 53 is unclear and debated, though many scholars side with Badian's belief that a delay actually occurred. The ongoing censorship, which included many hearings for junior senators the censors wanted removed, cemented among the pedarii the fruits of Clodius' tribunate. Clodius was then involved in a series of trials against Gaius Cato and Marcus Nonius Sufenas, previous Clodian allies during their tribunates. While
750-471: A tyrant , which allowed the Caesarians to have lawful support and kept Caesar's reforms and policies intact. In April 43 BC, "diehard republicans" may have revived the ancient position of princeps senatus (leader of the senate) for Cicero. This position had been very prestigious until the constitutional reforms of Sulla in 82–80 BC, which removed most of its importance. On the other side, Antony
1000-462: A Parthian invasion, causing unrest in Syria and Cilicia. Cicero restored calm by his mild system of government. He discovered that a great amount of public property had been embezzled by corrupt previous governors and members of their staff, and did his utmost to restore it. Thus he greatly improved the condition of the cities. He retained the civil rights of, and exempted from penalties, the men who gave
1250-493: A Roman ally. Mithridates, still in Asia, was faced with local uprisings against his rule. Adding to his challenges was Lucullus' fleet, reinforced by Rhodian allies. When Flaccus' consular army marched through Macedonia towards Thrace, his command was usurped by his legate Gaius Flavius Fimbria , who had Flaccus killed before chasing Mithridates with his army into Asia itself. Faced with Fimbria's army in Asia, Lucullus' fleet off
1500-522: A Roman citizen without a trial. Cicero, having executed members of the Catiline conspiracy four years previously without formal trial, was clearly the intended target. Furthermore, many believed that Clodius acted in concert with the triumvirate who feared that Cicero would seek to abolish many of Caesar's accomplishments while consul the year before. Cicero argued that the senatus consultum ultimum indemnified him from punishment, and he attempted to gain
1750-407: A bill to upset Pompey's favour to Deiotarus , tetrarch of Galatia, who Pompey had appointed high priest at Pessinus; removing Deiotarus from the priest, Clodius instead elevated Brogitarus – Deiotarus' son-in-law and ruler of a separate Galatian kingdom – while also declaring Brogitarus a Roman ally. This intervention did not reshape Roman policy in the east, which would have been unacceptable for such
2000-409: A citizen without trial, along with senators who so advised a magistrate, with exile. The latter law, the lex Clodia de capite civis Romani , was clearly targeted at Cicero. Cicero and his ally Ninnius responded by adopting mourning dress ; the senate soon decreed such dress as well. The consuls, however, ignored the decree, prohibited equestrian allies of Cicero from addressing the senate, and supported
2250-462: A cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. The famous family names of Fabius , Lentulus , and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils, and peas, respectively. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this deprecatory name when he entered politics, but refused, saying that he would make Cicero more glorious than Scaurus ("Swollen-ankled") and Catulus ("Puppy"). At
2500-516: A command in Italy to suppress Catiline's revolt – indicates that he was likely an opponent of the conspirators. The next year, in 62 BC, Clodius stood successfully for the quaestorship . Up to this point, Clodius' career was largely conventional. Prior, however, to his taking office, he was involved in a scandal where some time in December 62 BC he infiltrated the female-only secret rites of
2750-628: A comprehensive account of Greek philosophy for a Roman audience, including creating a philosophical vocabulary in Latin. In 87 BC, Philo of Larissa , the head of the Platonic Academy that had been founded by Plato in Athens about 300 years earlier, arrived in Rome. Cicero, "inspired by an extraordinary zeal for philosophy", sat enthusiastically at his feet and absorbed Carneades ' Academic Skeptic philosophy. According to Plutarch, Cicero
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#17327904463213000-688: A conspiracy led by Lucius Sergius Catilina to overthrow the Roman Republic with the help of foreign armed forces. Cicero procured a senatus consultum ultimum (a recommendation from the senate attempting to legitimise the use of force) and drove Catiline from the city with four vehement speeches (the Catilinarian orations ), which remain outstanding examples of his rhetorical style. The Orations listed Catiline and his followers' debaucheries, and denounced Catiline's senatorial sympathizers as roguish and dissolute debtors clinging to Catiline as
3250-469: A consul in 30 BC, avenged his father's death, to a certain extent, when he announced to the Senate Mark Antony's naval defeat at Actium in 31 BC by Octavian. Octavian is reported to have praised Cicero as a patriot and a scholar of meaning in later times, within the circle of his family. However, it was Octavian's acquiescence that had allowed Cicero to be killed, as Cicero was condemned by
3500-607: A cowed Cicero concentrated on his literary works. It is uncertain whether he was directly involved in politics for the following few years. His legal work largely consisted of defending allies of the ruling triumvirs and his own personal friends and allies; he defended his former pupil Marcus Caelius Rufus against a charge of murder in 56. Under the influence of the triumvirs, he had also defended his former enemies Publius Vatinius (in August 54 BCE), Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (between July and September) and Gnaeus Plancius (with
3750-499: A few months earlier during the Catilinarian conspiracy, those supporting the bill eventually accepted selection by lot. Two motions dividing the matters in the senate – first whether a tribunal should be established and second whether it should have its jury appointed by the praetor – were brought. The first motion passed; the second was defeated; and a new bill, brought by tribune Fufius with the jury selected by lot, then passed in
4000-1126: A fight. Sulla's arrival in Brundisium induced defections from the Senate in Rome: Marcus Licinius Crassus , who had already fled from the Cinnan regime, raised an army in Spain, and departed for Africa to join with Metellus Pius (who also joined the Sullans), joined Sulla even before his landing in Italy. Pompey , the son of Pompey Strabo , raised a legion from his clients in Picenum and also joined Sulla; Sulla treated him with great respect and addressed him as imperator before dispatching him to raise more troops. Even those whom Sulla had quarrelled with (including Publius Cornelius Cethegus , whom Sulla had outlawed in 88 BC) defected to join his side. The general feeling in Italy, however,
4250-491: A final and desperate hope. Cicero demanded that Catiline and his followers leave the city. At the conclusion of Cicero's first speech (which was made in the Temple of Jupiter Stator ), Catiline hurriedly left the Senate. In his following speeches, Cicero did not directly address Catiline. He delivered the second and third orations before the people, and the last one again before the Senate. By these speeches, Cicero wanted to prepare
4500-429: A friend among the tribunes, Gaius Porcius Cato . The issue of trying Clodius was forcibly dropped around the same time: the quaestors resigned without replacement on 4 December; because they appointed the jury, there could no trial. When Marcellinus, Lucius Marcius Philippus (also consul-elect in 57 BC), and Cicero attempted to have the senate direct the praetor to appoint the jury instead, Clodius' gangs disrupted
4750-412: A hearing. This limited the possibility that censors strip tribunes of their seats in the senate as a weapon against them. Moreover, due to the lenient census in 61 BC, there were likely fears among junior members of the senate – especially those who never held senior magistracies, the pedarii , – that censors might want to trim the senatorial rolls. This legislation, although exaggerated by Cicero into
5000-399: A junior magistrate to do. But the senate was happy to see Pompey's decisions unsettled; nor was a veto forthcoming from a tribune would be unable to find support to deny constituents their own popular sovereignty. Clodius also kidnapped a princely hostage that Pompey had taken to Rome. The prince , the homonymous son of Tigranes II of Armenia , was taken by Clodius from the house of one of
5250-415: A large amount of Latin philosophical vocabulary via lexical innovation (e.g. neologisms such as evidentia , generator , humanitas , infinitio , qualitas , quantitas ), almost 150 of which were the result of translating Greek philosophical terms . Though he was an accomplished orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. It
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#17327904463215500-514: A legal commander. Sulla moved to intercept Flaccus' army in Thessaly, but turned around when Pontic forces reoccupied Boetia. Turning south, he engaged the Pontic army – allegedly 90,000 – on the plain of Orchomenus. His troops prepared the ground by starting to dig a series of three trenches, which successfully contained Pontic cavalry. When the Pontic cavalry attacked to interrupt the earthworks,
5750-660: A legate in Macedonia. Sulla's ability to use military force against his own countrymen was "in many ways a continuation of the Social War... a civil war between former allies and friends developed into a civil war between citizens... what was eroded in the process was the fundamental distinction between Romans and foreign enemies". Political violence in Rome continued even in Sulla's absence. Cinna violently quarrelled with his co-consul, Gnaeus Octavius . After Octavius induced
6000-569: A legislative requirement enacted by Pompey in 52 BC specifying an interval of five years between a consulship or praetorship and a provincial command . He served as proconsul of Cilicia from May 51 BC, arriving in the provinces three months later around August. In 53 BC Marcus Licinius Crassus had been defeated by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae . This opened the Roman East for
6250-456: A lifeline from Caesar, who offered to appoint him as one of his legates and thereby give him immunity from prosecution, Cicero withdrew from the city into exile; Clodius immediately passed a lex Clodia de exsilio Ciceronis which exiled the orator, confiscated his house on the Palatine hill to be turned into a shrine to the goddess Libertas , and prohibited the senate or people from recalling
6500-451: A long trip spanning most of 79 through 77 BC. Returning to Rome in 77 BC, Cicero again busied himself with legal defence. In 76 BC, at the quaestorian elections, Cicero was elected at the minimum age required – 30 years – in the first returns from the comitia tributa , to the post of quaestor . Ex officio, he also became a member of the Senate . In the quaestorian lot, he
6750-640: A mission to support the Roman client king of Syria, Philip II Philoromaeus , but was unsuccessful. Exploiting his familial connections to put himself in military positions, his military career was broadly unsuccessful. However, this proved of little consequence politically as Romans usually believed that aristocrats were inherently competent at military affairs. On Clodius' return to Rome, in 65 BC, he started an unsuccessful prosecution of Lucius Sergius Catilina . While Clodius' bête noire Cicero later claimed that Clodius cooperated with Catiline to make an incompetent prosecution (a crime called praevaricatio ), there
7000-450: A mob led by Clodius' ally Gaius Scribonius Curio , Piso and his supporters seized the voting stalls and then handed out only negative ballots. After a motion in the senate to repeal the decree to establish the tribunal, brought by Curio's homonymous father (who had been consul in 76 BC), failed 400–15, Clodius and his allies took to the streets. Amid orations connecting the senate's tribunal to Cicero's illegal execution of citizens just
7250-454: A months-long veto on the consular elections (and thus also elections for all the junior magistracies) as part of a ploy to secure the consulship of 55 BC for Pompey and Crassus. The protection of Clodius' gangs was necessary for Gaius Cato, who was repeatedly menaced for the outrageous obstructionism. Amid these extreme political tactics, Pompey and Crassus were able by violence to secure the election of interreges in early 55 and drive, with
7500-555: A normal education for his class, grounded in ancient Greek and Latin classics. Sallust declares him well-read, intelligent, and he was fluent in Greek. Regardless, by the standards of the Roman political class, Sulla was a very poor man. His first wife was called either Ilia or Julia. If the latter, he may have married into the Julii Caesares. He had one child from this union, before his first wife's death. He married again, with
7750-435: A pamphlet titled On Invention relating to rhetorical argumentation and studying philosophy with Greek academics who had fled the ongoing First Mithridatic War . During this period in Roman history, Greek language and cultural studies were highly valued by the elite classes. Cicero was therefore educated in the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers , poets and historians ; as he obtained much of his understanding of
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8000-465: A part of the property in order to extend his own house. After demolishing Cicero's house, Clodius had the land consecrated and symbolically erected a temple of Liberty ( aedes Libertatis ) on the vacant land. Cicero's exile caused him to fall into depression. He wrote to Atticus: "Your pleas have prevented me from committing suicide. But what is there to live for? Don't blame me for complaining. My afflictions surpass any you ever heard of earlier". After
8250-421: A ploy to remove Cato from the city and cause him to accept Clodius' adoption and tribunician laws, the traditional judgement among classicists. However, other classicists have instead seen the assignment as Clodius negotiating a deal or compromising with Cato and allies – signalling that Clodius had no ill-will against senators who had supported Cicero in 63 BC – therefore isolating Cicero. With Cicero rejecting
8500-422: A private citizen. Pompey's allies in the tribunate promptly proposed a bill to recall Cicero; eventually, all but two of the tribunes would support the bill. In January 57 BC, the two new consuls – Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos – announced in the senate that they supported or acceded to Cicero's return. Seeing the senate again support Cicero, one of Clodius allies in
8750-504: A promise that Sulla's life would be safe". Sulla then left for Capua before joining an army near Nola in southern Italy. He may have felt, after this political humiliation, that the only way to recover his career was to come back from the Mithridatic command victorious. With Sulpicius able to enact legislation without consular opposition, Sulla discovered that Marius had tricked him, for the first piece of legislation Sulpicius brought
9000-407: A prosecution in the senate but it was filibustered; Titus Milo responded by indicting Clodius and announcing that he would delay elections by obnuntiation until Clodius was prosecuted. The consul Metellus Nepos attempted to hold elections on 19 November, supported by Clodius' gangs, but Milo's gangs won the battle and elections were postponed. The next day, Metellus Nepos attempted to sneak past Milo to
9250-436: A quid pro quo, allowing Clodius to visit the eastern provinces and clients. One of the suspected destinations was Byzantium or the court of Brogitarus, who were expected to pay generously for Clodius' services in 58. Enjoying hospitality befitting a senatorial embassy and replenishing his monetary reserves in the east, Clodius was likely absent from Rome for the rest of 55. Clodius returned to Rome in 54 BC, possibly seeking
9500-507: A republican politician – included a pledge to redistribute freedmen from the four urban tribes into the 31 rural tribes, which would give them far more political power. A more poorly documented proposal, possibly to regulate the informal manumission of slaves, was also brought. For personal and political reasons, Clodius was part of the Pompeian effort to deny Titus Annius Milo, a candidate for 52 and friend of Marcus Porcius Cato , victory in
9750-415: A resident of the town Interamna , who swore that Clodius was not present in Rome during the rites. Cicero contradicted this alibi, which according to Valerius Maximus was Clodius' only defence ; this testimony under oath became the root of the enmity between Clodius and Cicero. Worried about violence against the jurors, the senate decreed their protection. However, after the jurors voted 31 to 25 to acquit,
10000-410: A rival set of urban mobs. Starting the year an opponent of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus , he and his family reconciled with them to form a political alliance. A few years later in 52 BC, amid renewed political violence and a campaign for the praetorship , Milo and Clodius encountered each other on the via Appia outside Rome, where Clodius was killed. His body, brought back to Rome, was brought to
10250-549: A secret deal with Marius, who had for years been coveting another military command, according to which Marius would support Sulpicius' Italian legislation in exchange for a law transferring Sulla's command to Marius. Sulpicius' attempts to push through the Italian legislation again brought him into violent urban conflict, although he "offered nothing to the urban plebs... so it continued to resist him". The consuls, fearful of intimidation of Sulpicius and his armed bodyguards, declared
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10500-402: A semi-invalid, he could not enter public life and studied extensively to compensate. Little is known about Cicero's mother Helvia, but Cicero's brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife. Cicero's cognomen , a hereditary nickname, comes from the Latin for chickpea , cicer . Plutarch explains that the name was originally given to one of Cicero's ancestors who had
10750-478: A senatorial decree that citizens should to assemble in Rome to vote for Cicero's recall. By the summer, with much of Italy supporting Cicero's recall, Clodius' last remaining tools to oppose the recall were food riots. When the senate voted on lifting Cicero's exile in July, the measure passed 416–1 with Clodius the lone dissenter. Against such overwhelming support, Clodius' allies in the tribunate became unwilling to veto
11000-496: A senior senator, courted Cicero's favor, but even so Cicero slipped out of Italy and traveled to Dyrrhachium where Pompey's staff was situated. Cicero traveled with the Pompeian forces to Pharsalus in Macedonia in 48 BC, though he was quickly losing faith in the competence and righteousness of the Pompeian side. Eventually, he provoked the hostility of his fellow senator Cato, who told him that he would have been of more use to
11250-495: A series of complex parliamentary manoeuvres from mid-January through to early February. Clodius, as aedile, also prosecuted Milo in February for public violence before a iudicium populi : a popular trial before the assembled people. Milo was defended in the trial by Cicero, Marcus Claudius Marcellus , and Pompey. When Pompey spoke on 7 February, the trial descended into disorder with Clodius' crowd chanting lewd slogans along with
11500-430: A serious corruption scandal that cut across all existing loyalties. Appius (a friend of the triumvirs) joined with Domitius (an enemy thereof) to support candidates Gaius Memmius (a friend thereof) and Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus (an enemy thereof) as the only nominees for the consulship of 53 in exchange for the two candidates procuring fabricated legal documents to grant the two consuls lucrative proconsular postings. When
11750-494: A set of relatively cordial peace terms which were then forwarded to Mithridates. Mithridates was to give Asia and Paphlagonia back to Rome. He was to return the kingdoms of Bithynia and Cappadocia to Nicomedes and Ariobarzanes , respectively. Mithridates would also equip Sulla with seventy or eighty ships and pay a war indemnity of two or three thousand talents. Sulla would ratify Mithridates' position in Pontus and have him declared
12000-455: A suspension of public business ( iustitium ) which led to Sulpicius and his mob forcing the consuls to flee. During the violence, Sulla was forced to shelter in Marius' nearby house (later denied in his memoirs). Marius arranged for Sulla to lift the iustitium and allow Sulpicius to bring proposals; Sulla, in a "desperately weak position... [received] little in return[,] perhaps no more than
12250-497: A time of civil unrest and war. Sulla's victory in the first of a series of civil wars led to a new constitutional framework that undermined libertas (liberty), the fundamental value of the Roman Republic. Nonetheless, Sulla's reforms strengthened the position of the equestrian class, contributing to that class's growing political power. Cicero was both an Italian eques and a novus homo , but more importantly he
12500-657: A town held by Sulla in violation of a ceasefire. The breakdown allowed Sulla to play the aggrieved party and place blame on his enemies for any further bloodshed. Scipio's army blamed him for the breakdown in negotiations and made it clear to the consul that they would not fight Sulla, who at this point appeared the peacemaker. Sulla, hearing this, feigned an attack while instructing his men to fraternise with Scipio's army. Scipio's men quickly abandoned him for Sulla; finding him almost alone in his camp, Sulla tried again to persuade Scipio to defect. When Scipio refused, Sulla let him go. Sulla attempted to open negotiations with Norbanus, who
12750-502: A tyranny over the city. Hind 1994 , p. 150 dismisses claims in Plutarch and Vellius Paterclus of Athens' being forced to cooperate with Mithridates as "very hollow" and "apologia". Rome defended Delos unsuccessfully from a joint invasion by Athens and Pontus. They were, however, successful in holding Macedonia , then governed by propraetor Gaius Sentius and his legate Quintus Bruttius Sura . Early in 87 BC, Sulla transited
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#173279044632113000-500: A valuable ally to many parties – including, at various times, Caesar , Cato , and Pompey – in the ad hoc factionalism of the late republic. The older view that Clodius acted as an agent of magnates, such as Caesar or Pompey, is now rejected by scholars; he is now seen as an opportunistic and independent politician. Later historians speculated that Clodius changed the spelling of his nomen from "Claudius" to "Clodius" to distance himself from his patrician family and curry favor with
13250-589: A woman called Aelia, of whom nothing is known other than her name. During these marriages, he engaged in an affair with the hetaira Nicopolis , who also was older than he. The means by which Sulla attained the fortune which later would enable him to ascend the ladder of Roman politics are not clear; Plutarch refers to two inheritances, one from his stepmother (who loved him dearly) and the other from his mistress Nicopolis. Keaveney 2005 , pp. 10–11 accepts these inheritances without much comment and places them around Sulla's turning thirty years of age. After meeting
13500-585: Is Quintus Asconius Pedianus ' commentary on Cicero's Pro Milone ; the evidence given in Cicero's speech itself is highly tendentious and should not be taken as a truthful accounting of events. The events as presented by Asconius are broadly as follows. While travelling back from Aricia, Clodius and Milo encountered each other some 13 miles (21 km) south of Rome on the via Appia near Clodius' villa in Bovillae on around 1:30 pm on 18 January 52 BC. Milo
13750-426: Is likely he did so in an attempt to induce members of Cato and Bibulus' group to support him in preventing Cicero's return. An event on 11 August 58 BC also saw one of Clodius' slaves confess to having been ordered to assassinate Pompey. Although it is not clear whether this attempt was real, Pompey, who was paranoid of attempts on his life, then shut himself in his villa. Clodius responded by having his gangs menace
14000-504: Is little contemporary evidence thereof. The more unbiased source Asconius , in commentaries on Cicero, dismissed the accusation; more recent historians have largely concurred. Catiline's acquittal is sufficiently explained by bribery and deference by the jury to his many consular allies. Around the same time, Clodius also threatened Lucullus with prosecution. Lucullus responded by divorcing his wife Clodia with humiliating public allegations that she engaged in incest with Clodius. The prosecution
14250-445: Is little evidence that Clodius intended his collegial law to produce urban mobs at his beck and call – but he quickly came to capitalise on this new tactic. In February, Clodius put forward two further bills. The first would assign to the current consuls, Piso and Gabinius, to the provinces of Macedonia and Syria respectively. The second would reaffirm citizen rights to provocatio and retroactively punish any magistrate who had killed
14500-421: Is no longer reasonable to conclude that all but a few... were made illegal" – were banned in 64 BC by a senatorial decree. These colleges were revived by Clodius' law and, by enrolment in a centralised recording of the whole city's colleges, sanctioned by the state. Reviving the colleges also allowed men like Clodius and his associate Sextus Cloelius to serve as financial patrons and cultivate connections with
14750-412: Is the case is doubted. Cicero, joined by Pompey and Crassus, spoke in defence of Sestius, which secured his acquittal. The attacks by Cicero on Caesar, however, triggered a new re-balancing: with the consul Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus opposing Caesar and the possibility of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus being elected consul in 55 also against Caesar, Clodius' elder brother went north to treat with
15000-572: The Pro Plancio ) in September, which weakened his prestige and sparked attacks on his integrity: Luca Grillo has suggested these cases as the source of the poet Catullus 's double-edged comment that Cicero was "the best defender of anybody". In 51 BC he reluctantly accepted a promagistracy (as proconsul) in Cilicia for the year; there were few other former consuls eligible as a result of
15250-573: The lex Plautia de vi but Clodius' allies in office – Metellus Nepos as consul, Appius Claudius Pulcher as praetor, and one of the tribunes (Sextus Atilius Serranus or Quintus Numerius Rufus) – made it impossible for Clodius to be tried by reserving all days in the calendar for other business. Clodius' tactical superiority in the streets was then lost when further violence against another tribune, Publius Sestius , saw multiple politicians assemble mobs to arm themselves. Pompey, supporting Cicero, canvassed for support across Italy and procured through Spinther
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#173279044632115500-402: The lex Titia , passed on 27 November 43 BC, which gave each triumvir a consular imperium for five years. The Triumvirate immediately began a proscription of their enemies, modeled after that of Sulla in 82 BC. Cicero and all of his contacts and supporters were numbered among the enemies of the state, even though Octavian argued for two days against Cicero being added to the list. Cicero
15750-521: The Bona Dea in the house of the pontifex maximus , Julius Caesar . His motives for this are unclear and muddled by invective. The sacrilege was initially ignored. Around six months passed before a meeting of the senate in May forced the matter to be brought to the pontifices who declared it sacrilegious; the senate, following religious law, then dutifully set up a tribunal. To that end, the senate advised
16000-493: The College of Pontiffs to rule that the consecration of his land was invalid, thereby allowing him to regain his property and rebuild his house on the Palatine. Cicero tried to re-enter politics as an independent operator, but his attempts to attack portions of Caesar's legislation were unsuccessful and encouraged Caesar to re-solidify his political alliance with Pompey and Crassus. The conference at Luca in 56 BC left
16250-587: The Social War . He was awarded the Grass Crown for his bravery at the Battle of Nola. Sulla was closely associated with Venus , adopting the title Epaphroditos meaning favoured of Aphrodite/Venus. Sulla played an important role in the long political struggle between the optimates and populares factions at Rome. He was a leader of the optimates , who sought to maintain senatorial supremacy against
16500-420: The campus Martius so that Milo could not report obnuntiation in person; after Milo caught the consul sneaking on back streets and reported his bad omens, elections were again called off. When the new tribunes came into office on 10 December, Lucius Caninius Gallus promulgated a bill to transfer Spinther's command to Pompey. This placed Clodius' political usefulness back to the fore, especially when Clodius had
16750-550: The dictatorship . A gifted general, he achieved successes in wars against foreign and domestic opponents. Sulla rose to prominence during the war against the Numidian king Jugurtha , whom he captured as a result of Jugurtha's betrayal by the king's allies, although his superior Gaius Marius took credit for ending the war. He then fought successfully against Germanic tribes during the Cimbrian War , and Italian allies during
17000-401: The forum and then cremated in the senate house , causing its destruction by fire. His politics were advanced largely by his cultivation of urban mobs in Rome which, by exercising violent control of the places where the republic operated , furthered his political objectives. These violent tactics, however, were not his only sources of influence: his family connections and nobilitas made him
17250-474: The founding of the republic , with its ancestral patriarch Attus Clausus holding a consulship in 495 BC. The Claudii Pulchri, the branch of the family from which Clodius hailed, descended from Appius Claudius Caecus (censor in 312 BC). Clodius' father, Appius Claudius Pulcher , was consul in 79 BC and a supporter of Sulla . Shortly after he became proconsul of Macedonia in 77 BC, he died, leaving three sons. The youngest of these sons
17500-508: The grain dole (making it free rather than subsidised while also using those collegia as means for distribution), annex Cyprus to pay for the dole, clarify augural law on religious obstruction, make it more difficult for the censors to expel senators from the senate, and exile Cicero for the unlawful execution of conspirators during the Catilinarian conspiracy . When curule aedile in 56 BC, he feuded with and attempted to prosecute his political enemy, Titus Annius Milo , who controlled
17750-433: The plebeians ; however, there are no ancient sources that substantiate the idea that he changed his name, or that the two spellings signified patrician vs. plebeian status. Ancient contemporaries like Cicero referred to him as "Clodius" before his plebeian adoption, and Clodius's patrician sisters spelled the names with an O in correspondence throughout their lives. The O-spelling may have also been used by Clodius's uncle in
18000-534: The political alliance between Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus , Caesar and Pompey immediately arranged a session of the comitia curiata to approve Clodius' adoption and emancipation by one Publius Fonteius (a twenty-year-old man who was younger than Clodius). After this political stunt from Caesar and Pompey, Cicero, suitably intimidated, withdrew to his Italian villa. With religious objections nullified by Caesar and Pompey, who were respectively pontifex maximus and augur, Clodius became plebeian and shortly thereafter stood for
18250-462: The pomerium , to retain his promagisterial powers: either in expectation of a triumph or to retain his independent command authority in the coming civil war. The struggle between Pompey and Julius Caesar grew more intense in 50 BC. Cicero favored Pompey, seeing him as a defender of the senate and Republican tradition, but at that time avoided openly alienating Caesar. When Caesar invaded Italy in 49 BC, Cicero fled Rome. Caesar, seeking an endorsement by
18500-461: The proconsul of Cilicia, Quintus Marcius Rex , who was also Clodius' brother-in-law. In command of the fleet as a prefect, he was defeated and captured. Appealing to Ptolemy , the king of Cyprus, he was ransomed from the pirates or otherwise released as a gesture of good will shortly before Pompey's pan-Mediterranean anti-pirate campaign ; Clodius, after his release, reassumed command under Pompey though formally attached to Marcius. He also served in
18750-444: The quindecimviri sacris faciundis , helped interpret this omen. The priests announced an oracle which warned against supporting or opposing the king of Egypt while also prohibiting the king's restoration "with a crowd". The allies of Pompey and Spinther denounced the oracle as a fraud; the senators generally, however, accepted it since it precluded both men from military glory. The debate was eventually called off without settlement after
19000-438: The senatus consultum ultimum gave some legitimacy to the use of force against the conspirators, Cicero also argued that Catiline's conspiracy, by virtue of its treason, made the conspirators enemies of the state and forfeited the protections intrinsically possessed by Roman citizens. The consuls moved decisively. Antonius Hybrida was dispatched to defeat Catiline in battle that year, preventing Crassus or Pompey from exploiting
19250-408: The 'Old Academic' and initiator of Middle Platonism . In Asia Minor, he met the leading orators of the region and continued to study with them. Cicero then journeyed to Rhodes to meet his former teacher, Apollonius Molon, who had taught him in Rome. Molon helped Cicero hone the excesses in his style, as well as train his body and lungs for the demands of public speaking. Charting a middle path between
19500-465: The 90s BC, as well as by his elder brother Gaius, as documented by Cicero. W. Jeffrey Tatum, in the 1999 book The Patrician Tribune , also notes that Roman politicians did not benefit from reducing social distance between themselves and the plebs: rather, the plebs valued champions who were more noble because it made their causes seem more respectable. Clodius was born to the patrician gens Claudia . His branch traced its ancestry to shortly after
19750-516: The Adriatic for Thessaly with his five legions. Upon his arrival, Sulla had his quaestor Lucullus order Sura, who had vitally delayed Mithridates' advances into Greece, to retreat back into Macedonia. He separately besieged Athens and Piraeus (the Long Walls had since been demolished). Threatened by the Pontic navy, Sulla sent his quaestor Lucullus to scrounge about for allied naval forces. At
20000-569: The East, claims which were "surely false". The troops were willing to follow Sulla to Rome; his officers, however, realised Sulla's plans and deserted him (except his quaestor and kinsman, almost certainly Lucius Licinius Lucullus ). They then killed Marcus Gratidius, one of Marius' legates, when Gratidius attempted to effect the transfer of command. When the march on Rome started, the Senate and people were appalled. The Senate immediately sent an embassy demanding an explanation for his seeming march on
20250-720: The Egyptian throne. An official friend of Rome and massively in debt to many senators, Roman political and economic interests aligned to support such an expedition. Even after Ptolemy tried to have some delegates from the new Alexandrine regime assassinated, Roman support for him remained firm. The senate decreed in September 57 that the consul Spinther, who was shortly be proconsul of Cilicia and Cyprus, should restore Ptolemy; Spinther, supported publicly by Pompey and earnestly by Cicero, left in November to take up his province. The next month, however, saw renewed wrangling over who would lead
20500-647: The Gallic proconsul, eventually producing a reconciliation between the Clodii Pulchri and the renewed First Triumvirate . In the spring of 56, Clodius put on the Megalensian games amid food riots, which continued to embarrass Pompey's handling of the grain supply. But the reconciliation between the Claudii and the triumvirs included a marriage between Pompey's son and Appius' daughter (Clodius' niece): tact
20750-480: The Gauls, was able to seize letters that incriminated the five conspirators and forced them to confess in front of the Senate . The senate then deliberated upon the conspirators' punishment. As it was the dominant advisory body to the various legislative assemblies rather than a judicial body, there were limits to its power; however, martial law was in effect, and it was feared that simple house arrest or exile –
21000-618: The Germanic invaders, he was able to negotiate their defection from the Cimbri and Teutones. His prospects for advancement under Marius being stalled, however, Sulla started to complain "most unfairly" that Marius was withholding opportunities from him. Demanding transfer to Catulus' (Marius' consular colleague) army, he received it. In 102 BC, the invaders returned and moved to force the Alps. Catulus, with Sulla, moved to block their advance;
21250-460: The Italian countryside. Advancing on Capua, he met the two consuls of that year – Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus and Gaius Norbanus – who had dangerously divided their forces. He defeated Norbanus at the Battle of Mount Tifata , forcing the consul to withdraw. Continuing towards Scipio's position at Teanum Sidicinum, Sulla negotiated and was almost able to convince Scipio to defect. Negotiations broke down after one of Scipio's lieutenants seized
21500-585: The Italian peninsula. His severed hands and head (taken by order of Antony and displayed representing the repercussions of his anti-Antonian actions as a writer and as an orator, respectively) were then displayed on the Rostra . Petrarch 's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs , humanism , and classical Roman culture. According to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński , "the Renaissance
21750-486: The Mithridatic command. Sulla became embroiled in a political fight against one of the plebeian tribunes, Publius Sulpicius Rufus , on the matter of how the new Italian citizens were to be distributed into the Roman tribes for purposes of voting. Sulla and Pompeius Rufus opposed the bill, which Sulpicius took as a betrayal; Sulpicius, without the support of the consuls, looked elsewhere for political allies. This led him to
22000-660: The Numidian king. Jugurtha had fled to his father-in-law, King Bocchus I of Mauretania (a nearby kingdom); Marius invaded Mauretania, and after a pitched battle in which both Sulla and Marius played important roles in securing victory, Bocchus felt forced by Roman arms to betray Jugurtha. After the Senate approved negotiations with Bocchus, it delegated the talks to Marius, who appointed Sulla as envoy plenipotentiary. Winning Bocchus' friendship and making plain Rome's demands for Jugurtha's deliverance, Sulla successfully concluded negotiations and secured Bocchus' capture of Jugurtha and
22250-604: The Parthian ambassador, Orobazus, was executed upon his return to Parthia for allowing this humiliation, the Parthians ratified the treaty, establishing the Euphrates as a clear boundary between Parthia and Rome. At this meeting, Sulla was told by a Chaldean seer that he would die at the height of his fame and fortune. This prophecy was to have a powerful hold on Sulla throughout his lifetime. In 94 BC, Sulla repulsed
22500-515: The Roman forces followed a plan very similar to that of Metellus, capturing and garrisoning fortified positions in the African countryside. Sulla was popular with the men; charming and benign, he built up a healthy rapport while also winning popularity with other officers, including Marius. Ultimately, the Numidians were defeated in 106 BC, due in large part to Sulla's initiative in capturing
22750-454: The Roman response, with Pompey's name floated, probably at his covert insistence. Pompey's enemies in the senate therefore found new use for Clodius' anti-Pompeian agitation. Clodius' enemies, seeing that he would almost certainly win election as aedile and therefore imminently become immune from prosecution, sought to prosecute and convict him quickly for public violence. The consul-designate Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus tried to float
23000-598: The Romans almost broke; Sulla on foot personally rallied his men and stabilised the area. Roman forces then surrounded the Pontic camp. Archelaus tried to break out but was unsuccessful; Sulla then annihilated the Pontic army and captured its camp. Archelaus then hid in the nearby marshes before escaping to Chalcis. In the aftermath of the battle, Sulla was approached by Archelaus for terms. With Mithridates' armies in Europe almost entirely destroyed, Archelaus and Sulla negotiated
23250-553: The Samnites, and general Roman victory across Italy, Sulla stood for and was elected easily to the consulship of 88 BC; his colleague would be Quintus Pompeius Rufus . Sulla's election to the consulship, successful likely due to his military success in 89 BC, was not uncontested. Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo , merely an ex-aedile and one of Sulla's long-time enemies, had contested the top magistracy. Beyond personal enmity, Caesar Strabo may also have stood for office because it
23500-498: The Senate for the worst possible case; he also delivered more evidence, against Catiline. Catiline fled and left behind his followers to start the revolution from within while he himself assaulted the city with an army of "moral and financial bankrupts, or of honest fanatics and adventurers". It is alleged that Catiline had attempted to involve the Allobroges , a tribe of Transalpine Gaul , in their plot, but Cicero, working with
23750-497: The adoption of patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher into a plebeian family and had him elected as one of the ten tribunes of the plebs for 58 BC. Clodius used the triumvirate's backing to push through legislation that benefited them. He introduced several laws (the leges Clodiae ) that made him popular with the people, strengthening his power base, then he turned on Cicero. Clodius passed a law which made it illegal to offer "fire and water" (i.e. shelter or food) to anyone who executed
24000-476: The adoption to prevent Clodius' tribunician election but this carried no weight; senators, even including Cicero, were pleased to see Clodius – along with Clodius' friends Curio and Metellus Nepos – draw up against Caesar. Clodius also started to move against his bête noire Cicero, but Pompey, who still maintained good relations with Clodius, interceded on Cicero's behalf. At the tribunician elections of summer 59 BC (for terms from December 59 to 58), Clodius
24250-414: The aftermath of the trial, skilfully avoiding offending Clodius and ridding himself of the matter. Scholars are divided as to whether Clodius was involved in an affair with Pompeia: W Jeffrey Tatum rejects it as an unnecessary elaboration while John W Rich believes Caesar's divorce indicates uncertainty as to her complicity. The Bona Dea affair damaged Clodius' political aspirations. He expected to accompany
24500-612: The age of 15, in 90 BC, Cicero started serving under Pompey Strabo and later Sulla in the Social war between Rome and its Italian allies. When in Rome during the turbulent plebeian tribunate of Publius Sulpicius Rufus in 88 BC which saw a short bout of fighting between the Sulpicius and Sulla, who had been elected consul for that year, Cicero found himself greatly impressed by Sulpicius' oratory even if he disagreed with his politics. He continued his studies at Rome, writing
24750-506: The age of 36, Cicero launched his first high-profile prosecution against Verres, an emblem of the corrupt Sullan supporters who had risen in the chaos of the civil war. The prosecution of Gaius Verres was a great forensic success for Cicero. While Verres hired the prominent lawyer, Quintus Hortensius , after a lengthy period in Sicily collecting testimonials and evidence and persuading witnesses to come forward, Cicero returned to Rome and won
25000-447: The allies Roman citizenship over the decades had failed for various reasons, just as the allies also "became progressively more aware of the need to cease to be subjects and to share in the exercise of imperial power" by acquiring that citizenship. The Cimbric war also revived Italian solidarity, aided by Roman extension of corruption laws to allow allies to lodge extortion claims. When the pro-Italian plebeian tribune Marcus Livius Drusus
25250-487: The already expensive provisions of Marcus Porcius Cato 's enlarged grain dole in 62 BC. The colleges reestablished in Clodius' first law may have played a role in distributing this grain, since it enrolled people eligible to receive this grain into various districts in Rome. Regardless, the free food guaranteed by the law won Clodius enduring support among the urban poor. Its burdens on the treasury, however, were huge:
25500-506: The area, and local potentates. Adeptly balancing those responsibilities, he won their gratitude. He was also appreciated by local Syracusans for the rediscovery of the lost tomb of Archimedes , which he personally financed. Promising to lend the Sicilians his oratorical voice, he was called on a few years after his quaestorship to prosecute the Roman province's governor Gaius Verres , for abuse of power and corruption. In 70 BC, at
25750-594: The assembly. The prosecution at the trial was led by Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus – joined by other Cornelii Lentuli arrayed in an alliance against Clodius – and the main advocate for the defence was Curio's father who had been consul in 76 BC. While the trial is not well documented, Clodius is alleged to have obstructed interrogation of his slaves by selling them to his brother or moving them to Gaul. Character witnesses, including Lucullus, attacked Clodius' character. Julius Caesar's mother and sister ( Aurelia and Julia ) testified to Clodius' presence. Curio produced
26000-597: The banks of the Euphrates , where he was approached by an embassy from the Parthian Empire . Sulla was the first Roman magistrate to meet a Parthian ambassador. At the meeting, he took the seat between the Parthian ambassador, Orobazus , and Ariobarzanes, seeking to gain psychological advantage over the Parthian envoy by portraying the Parthians and the Cappadocians as equals, with Rome being superior. While
26250-479: The bill as it proceeded in the senate or the senate's later decree that anyone who blocked the bill would be declared public enemies. On 4 August 57 BC, Clodius attempted to disrupt a public meeting where Quintus Cicero, brought by Pompey, was to speak in favour of lifting his brother's exile. Unsuccessful, the bill passed later that day before the comitia centuriata amid a huge influx of Ciceronean supporters from across Italy. Pompey's victory in recalling Cicero
26500-448: The bill in public. Clodius put his mobs on Cicero and disrupted his rallies with violence, arousing concern among the senators at large. Clodius defanged this backlash, however, by reassigning the annexation of Cyprus and restoration of Byzantine exiles to Marcus Porcius Cato – who in 63 BC was one of the most forceful supporters of executing the Catilinarian conspirators – with the title pro quaestore pro praetore . Cicero saw this as
26750-421: The candidates withdrawing, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Marcus Valerius Messalla were elected months into the consular term and found themselves with the unenviable task for arranging elections in this disturbed political environment for 52 BC. Clodius now stood in the praetorian elections for 52 BC; letters from Cicero indicate his success was a foregone conclusion. His campaign – very uncommonly for
27000-400: The case in a series of dramatic court battles. His unique style of oratory set him apart from the flamboyant Hortensius. On the conclusion of this case, Cicero came to be considered the greatest orator in Rome. The view that Cicero may have taken the case for reasons of his own is viable. Hortensius was, at this point, known as the best lawyer in Rome; to beat him would guarantee much success and
27250-483: The cause of the optimates if he had stayed in Rome. After Caesar's victory at the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August, Cicero refused to take command of the Pompeian forces and continue the war. He returned to Rome, still as a promagistrate with his lictors , in 47 BC, and dismissed them upon his crossing the pomerium and renouncing his command. In a letter to Varro on c. 20 April 46 BC , Cicero outlined his strategy under Caesar's dictatorship. Cicero, however,
27500-410: The city and stripping the twelve outlaws of their Roman citizenship. Of the twelve outlaws, only Sulpicius was killed after being betrayed by a slave. Marius and his son, along with some others, escaped to Africa. Sulla then had Sulpicius' legislation invalidated on the grounds that all had been passed by force. According only to Appian, he then brought legislation to strengthen the Senate's position in
27750-535: The city's walls, Sulla then invested the town and for his efforts was awarded a grass crown , the highest Roman military honour. Pompeii was taken some time during the year, along with Stabiae and Aeclanum ; with the capture of Aeclanum, Sulla forced the Hirpini to surrender. He then attacked the Samnites and routed one of their armies near Aesernia before capturing the new Italian capital at Bovianum Undecimanorum . All of these victories would have been won before
28000-399: The claim that Clodius abolished the censors, was broadly popular among the numerous but individually-unimportant pedarii . At the beginning of the year, Cicero announced his opposition and found in one of the tribunes that year – Lucius Ninnius Quadratus – an ally. In Dio's version, Ninnius threatened a veto against all of Clodius' bills; given the impossibility of sustaining a veto against
28250-488: The claim that Crassus should be appointed to go to Alexandria instead of Pompey. The whole trial was then adjourned after the demonstrations became violent. The senate, in a meeting in the coming days, blamed Milo and Pompey for the disorder, which led Pompey to abandon the plan to commandeer the Egyptian expedition. Spinther, in Cilicia and warned by Cicero that consequences would be severe if he failed in restoring Ptolemy (as
28500-493: The close of the Social War, in 89 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus invaded Roman Asia . In the summer of 88, he reorganised the administration of the area before unsuccessfully besieging Rhodes. News of these conquests reached Rome in the autumn of 89 BC, leading the Senate and people to declare war; actual preparations for war were, however, delayed: after Sulla was given the command, it took him some eighteen months to organise five legions before setting off; Rome
28750-425: The coast, and internal unrest, Mithridates eventually met with Sulla at Dardanus in autumn 85 BC and accepted the terms negotiated by Archelaus. After peace was reached, Sulla advanced on Fimbria's forces, which deserted their upstart commander. Fimbria then committed suicide after a failed attempt on Sulla's life. Sulla then settled affairs – "reparations, rewards, administrative and financial arrangements for
29000-508: The command of Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo 's army. The law was vetoed by one of the tribunes, but when Quintus Pompeius Rufus went to Pompey Strabo's army to take command under the Senate's authority, he was promptly assassinated after his arrival and assumption of command, almost certainly on Strabo's orders. No action was taken against the troops nor any action taken to relieve Pompey Strabo of command. He then left Italy with his troops without delay, ignoring legal summons and taking over command from
29250-474: The competing Attic and Asiatic styles , Cicero would ultimately become considered second only to Demosthenes among history's orators. While Cicero had feared that the law courts would be closed forever, they were reopened in the aftermath of Sulla's civil war and the purging of Sulla's political opponents in the proscriptions . Many of the orators whom Cicero had admired in his youth were now dead from age or political violence. His first major appearance in
29500-472: The conspirators, began, "How I could wish that you had invited me to that most glorious banquet on the Ides of March!" Cicero became a popular leader during the period of instability following the assassination. He had no respect for Mark Antony, who was scheming to take revenge upon Caesar's murderers. In exchange for amnesty for the assassins, he arranged for the Senate to agree not to declare Caesar to have been
29750-601: The consul Lucius Porcius Cato . But after Cato's death in battle with the Marsi, Sulla was prorogued pro consule and placed in supreme command of the southern theatre. He brought Pompeii under siege. After one of the other legates was killed by his men, Sulla refused to discipline them except by issuing a proclamation imploring them to show more courage against the enemy. While besieging Pompeii, an Italian relief force came under Lucius Cluentius , which Sulla defeated and forced into flight towards Nola . Killing Cluentius before
30000-415: The consul Piso on the latter's proconsular governorship of Syria as quaestor ; the senate, showing its anger at Piso and Clodius, revoked Piso's assignment. Clodius eventually was assigned to a quaestorian post in Sicily under its propraetor, Gaius Vergilius Balbus, and he returned to Rome by June 60 BC after a short tour of duty. After the affair Clodius started plans to become a plebeian so to stand for
30250-522: The consul conducted offensive campaigning. Late in the year, Sulla cooperated with Marius (who was a legate in the northern theatre) in the northern part of southern Italy to defeat the Marsi: Marius defeated the Marsi, sending them headlong into Sulla's waiting forces. Sulla attempted also to assist Lucius' relief of the city of Aesernia , which was under siege, but both men were unsuccessful. The next year, 89 BC, Sulla served as legate under
30500-587: The consular elections in October 89. Political developments in Rome also started to bring an end to the war. In 89 BC, one of the tribunes of the plebs passed the lex Plautia Papiria , which granted citizenship to all of the allies (with exception for the Samnites and Lucanians still under arms). This had been preceded by the lex Julia , passed by Lucius Julius Caesar in October 90 BC, which had granted citizenship to those allies who remained loyal. Buttressed by success against Rome's traditional enemies,
30750-413: The consular elections. Clodius supported the other two candidates: Pompey's ally Publius Plautius Hypsaeus and the blue-blooded Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio . Clodius and Milo immediately came to fighting in the streets with their mobs: Clodius attempted to ambush Milo on the via Sacra forcing Milo to flee; Milo repulsed a violent Clodian attempt to seize the voting pens ; a young Mark Antony
31000-458: The consuls to pass a law to establish a special tribunal to prosecute Clodius for the crime of incestum ; the crime, which normally covered only incest and sexual relations with Vestal Virgins , was here extended to include Clodius' sacrilege in a loose analogy with an assault on the Vestal's chastity. To signal its importance, the senate also shut down public business until the people ratified
31250-511: The consulship and likely helped distribute bribes to voters in the comitia centuriata . At the ensuing trial of Murena that year, Cicero in Pro Murena may have defended Clodius' role in Murena's campaign and there is no evidence at all that Clodius was involved in the Catilinarian conspiracy that year. Clodius' support for Murena and his connection with Quintus Marcius Rex – who was assigned
31500-444: The consulship, Aulus Gabinius . But here, Clodius' gangs overreached when they fell on the consul's retinue and destroyed his fasces . With Clodius formally consecrating Gabinius' property to the plebeian goddess Ceres , he clearly approved of his attack on consular authority; this was unacceptable to the political class: "too severe a threat to public order"; "a step too far". Ninnius consecrated Clodius' property in retaliation and on
31750-407: The consulship. On the first day of his term as tribune, 10 December 59 BC, he announced four major pieces of legislation. Their extent and breadth indicated they had been workshopped for some time, probably starting in July 59 BC. They were the lex Clodia de collegiis , lex Clodia frumentaria , lex Clodia de obnuntiatione , and lex Clodia de censoria notione . They were to be put before
32000-444: The countryside again. Cassius and his legions followed them, harrying them wherever they went, eventually ambushing and defeating them near Antigonea. Another large troop of Parthian horsemen was defeated by Cicero's cavalry who happened to run into them while scouting ahead of the main army. Cicero next defeated some robbers who were based on Mount Amanus and was hailed as imperator by his troops. Afterwards he led his army against
32250-411: The courts was in 81 BC at the age of 26 when he delivered Pro Quinctio , a speech defending certain commercial transactions which Cicero had recorded and disseminated. His more famous speech defending Sextus Roscius of Ameria – Pro Roscio Amerino – on charges of parricide in 80 BC was his first appearance in criminal court. In this high-profile case, Cicero accused a freedman of
32500-569: The death penalty. Cicero had the conspirators taken to the Tullianum , the notorious Roman prison, where they were strangled. Cicero himself accompanied the former consul Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura , one of the conspirators, to the Tullianum. Cicero received the honorific " pater patriae " for his efforts to suppress the conspiracy, but lived thereafter in fear of trial or exile for having put Roman citizens to death without trial. While
32750-413: The decision was immediately condemned as a product of bribery. If bribes were paid, the monies were provided by Clodius, who Cicero later claimed had almost bankrupted himself in paying them. While Marcus Licinius Crassus has been suggested as bankrolling Clodius' bribes, many scholars believe there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove his involvement. Julius Caesar divorced his wife Pompeia in
33000-840: The dictator Sulla, Chrysogonus , of fabricating Roscius' father's proscription to obtain Roscius' family's property. Successful in his defence, Cicero tactfully avoided incriminating Sulla of any wrongdoing and developed a positive oratorical reputation for himself. While Plutarch claims that Cicero left Rome shortly thereafter out of fear of Sulla's response, according to Kathryn Tempest, "most scholars now dismiss this suggestion" because Cicero left Rome after Sulla resigned his dictatorship. Cicero, for his part, later claimed that he left Rome, headed for Asia, to develop his physique and develop his oratory. After marrying his wife, Terentia , in 80 BC, he eventually left for Asia Minor with his brother Quintus , his friend Titus Atticus , and others on
33250-557: The dictatorship of Julius Caesar , Cicero was a supporter of the Optimates faction. Following Caesar's death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches . He was proscribed as an enemy of the state by the Second Triumvirate and consequently executed by soldiers operating on their behalf in 43 BC, having been intercepted during an attempted flight from
33500-538: The east in 82 BC, marched on Rome again and crushed the populares and their Italian allies at the Battle of the Colline Gate . Sulla revived the office of dictator , which had been dormant since the Second Punic War , over a century before. He used his powers to purge his opponents , and reform Roman constitutional laws , to restore the primacy of the Senate and limit the power of the tribunes of
33750-433: The entire kingdom of Numidia in defiance of Roman decrees that divided it among several members of the royal family. After the massacre of a number of Italian traders who supported one of his rivals, indignation erupted as to Jugurtha's use of bribery to secure a favourable peace treaty; called to Rome to testify on bribery charges, he plotted successfully the assassination of another royal claimant before returning home. After
34000-404: The existing province of Cilicia: whoever would be appointed to that open proconsulship would find themselves with an extremely profitable remit. In the previous year, Caesar's consular colleague Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus withdrew to his house, probably in May, to obstruct Caesar's legislation by announcing observation of unfavourable auspices . Bibulus continuously announced that he was watching
34250-541: The fatherland, to which Sulla responded boldly, saying that he was freeing it from tyrants. Rome having no troops to defend itself, Sulla entered the city; once there, however, his men were pelted with stones from the rooftops by common people. Almost breaking before Marius' makeshift forces, Sulla then stationed troops all over the city before summoning the Senate and inducing it to outlaw Marius, Marius' son , Sulpicius, and nine others. He then reinforced this decision by legislation, retroactively justifying his illegal march on
34500-450: The first day of June brought a bill to recall Cicero from exile that was supported unanimously in the senate but promptly vetoed. Through other men, a movement grew over the next year to lift Cicero's exile, of which Pompey eventually took the head. Later in the year, Clodius also signalled his support for Cato's faction in its continuing fight against Caesar's legislation, arguing publicly that Caesar's laws in 59 were religiously invalid. It
34750-547: The forces of Tigranes the Great of Armenia from Cappadocia. He may have stayed in the east until 92 BC, when he returned to Rome; Keaveney places his departure in the year 93 BC. Sulla was regarded to have done well in the east: he had restored Ariobarzanes to the throne, been hailed imperator by his men, and was the first Roman to treat successfully with the Parthians. With military and diplomatic victory, his political fortunes seemed positive. However, his candidature
35000-399: The forum by force; Cicero's brother Quintus , attending to support his brother, narrowly escaped the fighting alive. Another tribune, Titus Annius Milo , had the gladiators arrested and procured confessions, but Serranus had them freed; Milo and Clodius from this point became rivals. The political class unified against the Clodius' violent tactics on 23 January. Milo prosecuted Clodius under
35250-417: The future" – in Asia, staying there until 84 BC. He then sailed for Italy at the head of 1,200 ships. The peace reached with Mithridates was condemned in ancient times as a betrayal of Roman interests in favour of Sulla's private interest in fighting and winning the coming civil war. Modern sources have been somewhat less damning, as the Mithridatic campaigns later showed that no quick victory over Pontus
35500-491: The help of soldiers on leave from Caesar, their enemies from the consular canvass. While it is not clear whether Clodius participated in the violence that year needed to win Pompey and Crassus their desired electoral outcomes as well as the lex Trebonia that gave them provincial commands, favours from the triumvirs followed. A senatorially-sponsored embassy to the east for Clodius was funded, with Cicero's objections sidelined by
35750-644: The historical record serving under Lucullus , his brother-in-law, during the Third Mithridatic War . T R S Broughton, in Magistrates of the Roman republic places him possibly as a legate under Lucullus in 68 BC. During that year, he encouraged soldiers to mutiny when wintering at Nisbis in Armenia . Per Plutarch, he likely acted on personal motives, rather than as part of a Pompeian plot. The next year, he transferred to serve under
36000-563: The independent Cilician mountain tribes, besieging their fortress of Pindenissum . It took him 47 days to reduce the place, which fell in December. On 30 July 50 BC Cicero left the province to his brother Quintus , who had accompanied him on his governorship as his legate . On his way back to Rome he stopped in Rhodes and then went to Athens, where he caught up with his old friend Titus Pomponius Atticus and met men of great learning. Cicero arrived in Rome on 4 January 49 BC. He stayed outside
36250-459: The intervention of recently elected tribune Titus Annius Milo , acting on the behalf of Pompey who wanted Cicero as a client , the Senate voted in favor of recalling Cicero from exile. Clodius cast the single vote against the decree. Cicero returned to Italy on 5 August 57 BC, landing at Brundisium . He was greeted by a cheering crowd, and, to his delight, his beloved daughter Tullia. In his Oratio De Domo Sua Ad Pontifices , Cicero convinced
36500-552: The kind of strong popular support expected for a grain bill, it is more likely Ninnius threatened only Clodius' collegial bill on the grounds that it overturned the considered decision of the senate in 64 BC. However, Clodius reached a deal with Cicero, agreeing not to pursue his feud if Cicero would call Ninnius off. This deal, reached with the support of the senatorial elite, allowed Clodius to push through his four laws on 4 January 58 BC. The extent of popular support behind Clodius first became visible when Clodius interceded in
36750-572: The king of the Parthians, had crossed the Euphrates , and was ravaging the Syrian countryside and had even besieged Cassius (the interim Roman commander in Syria) in Antioch . Cicero eventually marched with two understrength legions and a large contingent of auxiliary cavalry to Cassius's relief. Pacorus and his army had already given up on besieging Antioch and were heading south through Syria, ravaging
37000-519: The king's rendition to Marius' camp. The publicity attracted by this feat boosted Sulla's political career. Years later, in 91 BC, Bocchus paid for the erection of a gilded equestrian statue depicting Sulla's capture of Jugurtha. In 104 BC, the Cimbri and the Teutones , two Germanic tribes who had bested the Roman legions on several occasions, seemed again to be heading for Italy. Marius, in
37250-495: The last weeks of the year, Sulla married his daughter to one of his colleague Pompeius Rufus' sons. He also divorced his then-wife Cloelia and married Metella, widow of the recently-deceased Marcus Aemilius Scaurus . These marriages helped build political alliances with the influential Caecilii Metelli and the Pompeys. He was also assigned by the senate, probably with the support of his consular colleague, Quintus Pompeius Rufus ,
37500-533: The litter in a gladiatorial gesture to ease the task. By baring his neck and throat to the soldiers, he was indicating that he would not resist. According to Plutarch, Herennius first slew him, then cut off his head. On Antony's instructions his hands, which had penned the Philippics against Antony, were cut off as well; these were nailed along with his head on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum according to
37750-421: The meeting. Metellus Nepos also directed as consul that no praetor could constitute a jury without the quaestors, a bar at least until 31 December. Eventually, into the new year with the political threat of Pompey looming, the senate approved elections that returned Clodius as aedile in 56 BC. Elections for the aedilate of 56 BC were late, occurring on 20 January that year. Clodius, due to his popularity,
38000-404: The midst of this military crisis, sought and won repeated consulships, which upset aristocrats in the Senate; it is likely however that they acknowledged the indispensability of Marius' military capabilities in defeating the Germanic invaders. Amid a reorganisation of political alliances, the traditionalists in the Senate raised up Sulla – a patrician, even if a poor one – as a counterweight against
38250-417: The minimum age requirement of thirty, he stood for the quaestorship in 108 BC. Normally, candidates had to have first served for ten years in the military, but by Sulla's time, this had been superseded by an age requirement. He was then assigned by lot to serve under the consul Gaius Marius . The Jugurthine War had started in 112 BC when Jugurtha , grandson of Massinissa of Numidia , claimed
38500-485: The most important bodies of primary material for the writing and revision of Roman history , especially the last days of the Roman Republic . Marcus Tullius Cicero was born on 3 January 106 BC in Arpinum , a hill town 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Rome. He belonged to the tribus Cornelia. His father was a wealthy member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being
38750-432: The narrow question of whether Bibulus' announcement of unfavourable omens in absentia would be permissible, answering that question negatively. The possible precedent of permitting a magistrate to shut down the government through edicts issued from bed was seen by all, Bibulus' supporters included, as unacceptable: the senate rejected this position in 59 BC, did so again at a debate on Caesar's legislation early in 58, and
39000-492: The new triumvirate. Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix ( / ˈ s ʌ l ə / , Latin pronunciation: [ˈɫ̪uːkius̠ korˈneːlʲius̠ ˈs̠uɫːa ˈfeːlʲiːks̠] ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla , was a Roman general and statesman . He won the first major civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla held the office of consul twice and revived
39250-411: The newcomer Marius. Starting in 104 BC, Marius moved to reform the defeated Roman armies in southern Gaul. Sulla then served as legate under his former commander and, in that stead, successfully subdued a Gallic tribe which revolted in the aftermath of a previous Roman defeat. The next year, Sulla was elected military tribune and served under Marius, and assigned to treat with the Marsi, part of
39500-470: The nickname "Atticus", and whose sister married Cicero's brother) would become, in Cicero's own words, "as a second brother", with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. In 79 BC, Cicero left for Greece, Asia Minor and Rhodes . This was perhaps to avoid the potential wrath of Sulla , as Plutarch claims, though Cicero himself says it was to hone his skills and improve his physical fitness. In Athens he studied philosophy with Antiochus of Ascalon ,
39750-443: The orator. The success of Clodius' four laws provided him huge political support. This support, especially with his inadvertent discovery of mob power at the prosecution of Vatinius, made it possible for him to continue as an independent political agent. Setting himself against Pompey, Clodius moved to advance his support from the senators suspicious of the general. Setting his target on Pompey's eastern settlements, Clodius promulgated
40000-403: The other plebeian tribunes, likely on political or religious grounds. On his return to the city, Clodius then underwent a sacrorum detestatio on 24 May 60 BC, a poorly understood religious rite before the comitia calata. Clodius evidently believed that this rite was sufficient to render him a plebeian; Metellus Celer, the consul, disagreed strenuously and that consular opinion was ratified by
40250-441: The people in the new year, January 58 BC. As a whole, the legislation produced for Clodius a broadly popular base of support while also securing the support of many senators, especially the numerous but not-individually-influential pedarii . The senate had prohibited a number of colleges ( Latin : collegia ) which included both professional associations as well as religious organisations. A few of these organisations – "it
40500-444: The people too rejected it by passing this lex Clodia . However, the bill was specifically framed to sidestep the validity of Bibulus' obnuntiations in 59: it would only apply prospectively. Roman censors long had powers to remove someone from the senate by omitting that name from the list of senators. Clodius' lex de censoria notione required both censors to agree to remove someone from the senate and give cause with opportunity for
40750-417: The plain. According to the ancient sources, Archelaus commanded between 60,000 and 120,000 men; in the aftermath, he allegedly escaped with only 10,000. After the Battle of Chaeronea, Sulla learnt that Cinna's government had sent Lucius Valerius Flaccus to take over his command. Sulla had officially been declared an outlaw and in the eyes of the Cinnan regime, Flaccus was to take command of an army without
41000-457: The plebeian tribunate (patricians were ineligible). He attempted to effect the transfer through three serial schemes. The first was the passage of legislation in the centuriate assembly which would reassign him to the plebs. Two of his political allies brought legislation in 60 BC to that effect on his behalf: Gaius Herrenius, then plebeian tribune, and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer , then consul. However, both bills stalled under vetos from
41250-584: The plebeian tribunate. In the aftermath of the adoption, Clodius supported Caesar and Pompey. He spoke in favour of the lex Vatinia which appointed Caesar to his Gallic command in April; he also anticipated appointment either to Caesar's land commission or to an embassy to Ptolemy XII Auletes . When neither appointment was forthcoming, Clodius broke with his erstwhile benefactors. Seizing on their unpopularity due to their violent political tactics, Clodius declared his opposition to Caesar. Caesar attempted to rescind
41500-465: The plebs . Resigning his dictatorship in 79 BC, Sulla retired to private life and died the following year. Later political leaders such as Julius Caesar followed the precedent set by Sulla with his military coup to attain political power through force. Sulla, the son of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and the grandson of Publius Cornelius Sulla , was born into a branch of the patrician gens Cornelia , but his family had fallen to an impoverished condition at
41750-556: The plot became public, competing candidates Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and Marcus Valerius Messalla triggered a surge in interest rates as they borrowed to hand out bribes. Distancing himself from his brother who was at the same time helping prosecuting candidate Scaurus for corruption, Clodius defended Scaurus, which saw him speak in Scaurus' defence alongside his enemy Cicero. All four consular candidates were indicted for bribery and elections were delayed until July 53 BC. With none of
42000-471: The poor plebs – made him a central player in the politics of the era. Born to the influential patrician gens Claudia , he was embroiled early in his political career in a religious scandal which saw him develop a rivalry with the orator Cicero and become a plebeian in order to be eligible for the plebeian tribunate. He successfully stood as tribune of the plebs for 58 BC and passed six laws to restore Rome's collegia (private guilds and fraternities), expand
42250-400: The populist reforms advocated by the populares , headed by Marius. In a dispute over the command of the war against Mithridates , initially awarded to Sulla by the Senate but withdrawn as a result of Marius' intrigues, Sulla marched on Rome in an unprecedented act and defeated Marian forces in battle. The populares seized power once he left with his army to Asia . He returned victorious from
42500-452: The post-Sullan establishment, and the leaders of municipalities throughout post-Social War Italy. His co-consul for the year, Gaius Antonius Hybrida , played a minor role. He began his consular year by opposing a land bill proposed by a plebeian tribune which would have appointed commissioners with semi-permanent authority over land reform. Cicero was also active in the courts, defending Gaius Rabirius from accusations of participating in
42750-400: The praetors and put on a ship to Armenia. Driven back by a storm, a bloody clash between Clodius and the praetor's retinues occurred on the via Appia which saw the praetor's retinue defeated. After the clash, which resulted in at least one fatality, Pompey and Clodius broke politically. Pleased by Pompey's embarrassment, the senate did nothing. Pompey's response to Clodius relied on his ally in
43000-429: The praetorship again the next year and, promising he would pay for good shows, was elected praetor for 97 BC; he was assigned by lot to the urban praetorship. His term as praetor was largely uneventful, excepting a public dispute with Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo (possibly his brother-in-law) and his magnificent holding of the ludi Apollinares . The next year, 96 BC, he was assigned – "probably pro consule as
43250-412: The prestige that Cicero needed to start his career. Cicero's oratorical ability is shown in his character assassination of Verres and various other techniques of persuasion used on the jury. One such example is found in the speech In Verrem , where he states "with you on this bench, gentlemen, with Marcus Acilius Glabrio as your president, I do not understand what Verres can hope to achieve". Oratory
43500-418: The proconsul's tent. Everyone seemed to have abandoned Cicero. After Clodius passed a law to deny to Cicero fire and water (i.e. shelter) within four hundred miles of Rome, Cicero went into exile. He arrived at Thessalonica , on 23 May 58 BC. In his absence, Clodius, who lived next door to Cicero on the Palatine, arranged for Cicero's house to be confiscated by the state, and was even able to purchase
43750-415: The property back. Besides this, he was extremely frugal in his outlays for staff and private expenses during his governorship, and this made him highly popular among the natives. Besides his activity in ameliorating the hard pecuniary situation of the province, Cicero was also creditably active in the military sphere. Early in his governorship he received information that prince Pacorus , son of Orodes II
44000-489: The republic would be restored along with him. Shortly after completing his consulship, in late 62 BC, Cicero arranged the purchase of a large townhouse on the Palatine Hill previously owned by Rome's richest citizen, Marcus Licinius Crassus. To finance the purchase, Cicero borrowed some two million sesterces from Publius Cornelius Sulla , whom he had previously defended from court. Cicero boasted his house
44250-456: The same mistakes as his father. He attacked Antony in a series of speeches he called the Philippics , named after Demosthenes's denunciations of Philip II of Macedon . At the time, Cicero's popularity as a public figure was unrivalled. Cicero supported Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus as governor of Cisalpine Gaul ( Gallia Cisalpina ) and urged the Senate to name Antony an enemy of
44500-580: The same time, Mithridates attempted to force a land battle in northern Greece , and dispatched a large army across the Hellespont . These sieges lasted until spring of 86 BC. Discovering a weak point in the walls and popular discontent with the Athenian tyrant Aristion, Sulla stormed and captured Athens (except the Acropolis ) on 1 March 86 BC. The Acropolis was then besieged. Athens itself
44750-400: The senate after a debate in early June, ending this attempt as well. Clodius initially opposed the strategy of having himself adopted by a plebeian and then immediately liberated from his adoptive father. But the next year, 59 BC, during the consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus , an opportunity arose. After a forensic speech by Cicero which included attacks on
45000-457: The senate at the time dismissed these claims in multiple different debates but also that the lex Aelia et Fufia required that unfavourable omens be reported in person to the presiding official to have effect. Clodius' augural law is not well-developed in the ancient sources. It is, however, generally agreed that Clodius' law did not rise to Cicero's exaggerations, which claimed that the lex Aelia et Fufia were repealed. The law instead targeted
45250-672: The senate decreed a special minting of coins just to pay for that year's expenses. Clodius also found it possible to raise more money from the provinces, passing a law taking payment from Brogitarus of Galatia and certain Byzantine exiles to restore their statuses in their home countries; bills restoring these men would be passed through the year. More money was also to be raised from the Ptolemaic kingdom in Cyprus, which Clodius ordered seized and annexed. He initially had annexation assigned to
45500-470: The senate to outlaw Cinna, Cinna suborned the army besieging Nola and induced the Italians again to rise up. Marius, offering his services to Cinna, helped levy troops. By the end of 87 BC, Cinna and Marius had besieged Rome and taken the city, killed consul Gnaeus Octavius, massacred their political enemies, and declared Sulla an outlaw; they then had themselves elected consuls for 86 BC. During
45750-432: The site as well as harass Cicero, Milo, and others in the streets. Clodius' defeats were, however, largely momentary. He retained the support of eminent men such as Publius Sulla and Quintus Hortensius ; the ongoing political battle over the Egyptian command would again bring Clodius into political respectability. Ptolemy XII Auletes was deposed in 57 BC. He personally pled at Rome for intervention to restore him to
46000-405: The situation for their own political aims. After the suppression of the conspiracy, Cicero was proud of his accomplishment. Some of his political enemies argued that though the act gained Cicero popularity, he exaggerated the extent of his success. He overestimated his popularity again several years later after being exiled from Italy and then allowed back from exile. At this time, he claimed that
46250-408: The skies and then sent messages in absentia to other magistrates reporting unfavourable omens. Such unfavourable auspices if properly reported would have stopped the holding of an assembly; because such assemblies were held anyway, Bibulus and his supporters purported such results were invalid. The validity of these obstruction tactics, however, is mostly rejected by scholars, who emphasise not only that
46500-555: The sources are unclear as to whether Clodius participated in their defences, the three trials ended in acquittals. Amid further activities in the courts, Clodius won support from defendants and – according to Valerius Maximus – defended one of his prosecutors during the Bona Dea affair; these actions showed a sound mind suitable for court presidency, i.e. a praetor. 54 BC saw Clodius' elder brother Appius elected consul with Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus , only for them to be thrown into
46750-488: The standard options – would not remove the threat to the state. At first Decimus Junius Silanus spoke for the "extreme penalty"; but during the debate many were swayed by Julius Caesar, who decried the precedent it would set and argued in favor of life imprisonment in various Italian towns. Cato the Younger then rose in defense of the death penalty and the Senate finally agreed on the matter, and came down in support of
47000-588: The start of the war, there were largely two theatres: a northern theatre from Picenum to the Fucine Lake and a southern theatre including Samnium. Sulla served as one of the legates in the southern theatre assigned to consul Lucius Julius Caesar . In the first year of fighting, Roman strategy was largely one of containment, attempting to stop the revolting allies from spreading their rebellion into Roman-controlled territory. Sulla, in southern Italy, operated largely defensively on Lucius Julius Caesar's flank while
47250-479: The state and weaken the plebeian tribunes by eliminating the comitia tributa as a legislative body and requiring that tribunes first receive senatorial approval for legislation; some scholars, however, reject Appian's account as mere retrojection of legislation passed during Sulla's dictatorship. He sent his army back to Capua and then conducted the elections for that year, which yielded a resounding rejection of him and his allies. His enemy, Lucius Cornelius Cinna ,
47500-546: The state. The speech of Lucius Piso , Caesar's father-in-law, delayed proceedings against Antony. Antony was later declared an enemy of the state when he refused to lift the siege of Mutina , which was in the hands of Decimus Brutus. Cicero's plan to drive out Antony failed. Antony and Octavian reconciled and allied with Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate after the successive battles of Forum Gallorum and Mutina . The alliance came into official existence with
47750-445: The support of Milo and one of the tribunes, removed and possibly destroyed the tablets recording Clodius' legislation. This, however, was a step too far: in a meeting of the senate shortly after Cato's return from Cyprus, few were willing to accept (especially the influential beneficiary Cato), Cicero's position that Clodius' adoption and thus entire tribunate were invalid. The year closed with Gaius Cato, supported by Clodius, sustaining
48000-446: The support of the senators and consuls, especially of Pompey. Cicero grew out his hair, dressed in mourning and toured the streets. Clodius' gangs dogged him, hurling abuse, stones and even excrement. Hortensius, trying to rally to his old rival's support, was almost lynched. The Senate and the consuls were cowed. Caesar, who was still encamped near Rome, was apologetic but said he could do nothing when Cicero brought himself to grovel in
48250-427: The theory and practice of rhetoric from the Greek poet Archias . Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite. Cicero's interest in philosophy figured heavily in his later career and led to him providing
48500-594: The three-man alliance in domination of the republic's politics; this forced Cicero to recant and support the triumvirate out of fear from being entirely excluded from public life. After the conference, Cicero lavishly praised Caesar's achievements, got the Senate to vote a thanksgiving for Caesar's victories, and grant money to pay his troops. He also delivered a speech 'On the consular provinces' ( Latin : de provinciis consularibus ) which checked an attempt by Caesar's enemies to strip him of his provinces in Gaul. After this,
48750-617: The time Sulla reached adulthood, Sulla found himself impoverished. He might have been disinherited, though it was "more likely" that his father simply had nothing to bequeath. Lacking ready money, Sulla spent his youth among Rome’s comedians, actors, lute players, and dancers. During these times on the stage, after initially only singing, he started writing plays, Atellan farces , a kind of crude comedy. Plutarch mentions that during his last marriage to Valeria , he still kept company with "actresses, musicians, and dancers, drinking with them on couches night and day". Sulla almost certainly received
49000-441: The time of his birth. Publius Cornelius Rufinus , one of Sulla's ancestors and also the last member of his family to be consul, was banished from the Senate after having been caught possessing more than 10 pounds of silver plate. Sulla's family thereafter did not reach the highest offices of the state until Sulla himself. His father may have served as praetor, but details are unclear; his father married twice and Sulla's stepmother
49250-543: The tradition of Marius and Sulla, both of whom had displayed the heads of their enemies in the Forum. Cicero was the only victim of the proscriptions who was displayed in that manner. According to Cassius Dio , in a story often mistakenly attributed to Plutarch, Antony's wife Fulvia took Cicero's head, pulled out his tongue, and jabbed it repeatedly with her hairpin in final revenge against Cicero's power of speech. Cicero's son, Marcus Tullius Cicero Minor, during his year as
49500-412: The trial of Publius Vatinius , a Caesarian ally in 59 BC and legate recently returned from Gaul. Making his intercession evident, Clodius summoned a mob which entirely disrupted the prosecutorial proceedings, overturned the praetor's benches, and smashed the jury's voting urns. This first instance of popular violence and the role of the colleges in organising may have been a surprise to Clodius – there
49750-428: The tribunal. Clodius had two allies: one of the consuls, Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi Calpurnianus , and one of the plebeian tribunes, Quintus Fufius Calenus . They argued that the law, by appointing jurors via the urban praetor rather than by lot, violated due process and constituted an illegal senatorial usurpation of the jurors' roles. Piso, as the formal proposer, opposed his own law in speeches and by shenanigans: with
50000-407: The tribunate – Sextus Atilius Serranus Gavianus – exercised a veto in the senate which continued through January. When the bill to lift Cicero's exile came to a vote on 23 January 57 BC, two tribunes – Quintus Fabricius and Marcus Cispius – occupied the forum to prevent a veto from being raised. Clodius' gangs, strengthened by gladiators borrowed from his brother, then drove the tribunes from
50250-473: The two men likely cooperated well. But Catulus' army was defeated in the eastern Alps and withdrew from Venetia and thence to the southern side of the river Po . At the same time, Marius had annihilated the Cimbri's allies, the Teutones, at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae . Marius, elected again to the consulship of 101, came to Catulus' aid; Sulla, in charge of supporting army provisioning, did so competently and
50500-541: The unlawful killing of plebeian tribune Lucius Appuleius Saturninus in 100 BC. The prosecution occurred before the comita centuriata and threatened to reopen conflict between the Marian and Sullan factions at Rome. Cicero defended the use of force as being authorised by a senatus consultum ultimum , which would prove similar to his own use of force under such conditions. Most famously – in part because of his own publicity – he thwarted
50750-426: The urban masses. Clodius also used the opportunity to greatly expand the grain dole. Instead of importing corn and selling it at a subsidised rate, as introduced by Gaius Gracchus , the ration of five modii would now be free for citizens at Rome. The responsibility of getting this grain to Rome was largely delegated to provincial magistrates and the expense of it imposed a heavy burden on state finances, expanding on
51000-455: The villa for the rest of the year. The opposition to Clodius, led by Pompey and Cicero's friends with their leaders either shut in at home or shut out abroad, yet continued to gain ground through the year. Eight of the ten tribunes in October brought a bill to recall Cicero together – it was again vetoed – and eventually the opposition decided to wait Clodius out since his term ended in December. On 10 December 58 BC, Clodius returned to being
51250-409: The war started, several Roman commanders were bribed ( Bestia and Spurius ); and one ( Aulus Postumius Albinus ) was defeated. In 109, Rome sent Quintus Caecilius Metellus to continue the war. Gaius Marius , a lieutenant of Metellus, returned to Rome to stand for the consulship in 107 BC. Marius was elected consul and, through assignment by tribunician legislation, took over the campaign. Sulla
51500-428: The youngest possible age: quaestor in 75 BC (age 30), aedile in 69 BC (age 36), and praetor in 66 BC (age 39), when he served as president of the "Reclamation" (or extortion) Court. He was then elected consul at age 42. Cicero, seizing the opportunity offered by optimate fear of reform, was elected consul for the year 63 BC; he was elected with the support of every unit of the centuriate assembly , rival members of
51750-606: Was "in conspectu prope totius urbis" ("in sight of nearly the whole city"), only a short walk from the Roman Forum . In 60 BC, Julius Caesar invited Cicero to be the fourth member of his existing partnership with Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus, an assembly that would eventually be called the First Triumvirate . Cicero refused the invitation because he suspected it would undermine the Republic, and because he
52000-451: Was Publius Clodius; his two elder brothers were Appius and Gaius. He also had three sisters all named Clodia: the eldest was the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer ; the second daughter wed Lucius Licinius Lucullus ; the third wed Quintus Marcius Rex . The identity of Clodius' mother is disputed, as is the precise relationship between the sons of father Appius and the two Metelli ( Celer and Nepos ). Clodius first concretely enters
52250-501: Was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, writer and Academic skeptic , who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire . His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric , philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero
52500-426: Was a Roman constitutionalist . His social class and loyalty to the Republic ensured that he would "command the support and confidence of the people as well as the Italian middle classes". The optimates faction never truly accepted Cicero, and this undermined his efforts to reform the Republic while preserving the constitution. Nevertheless, he successfully ascended the cursus honorum, holding each magistracy at or near
52750-407: Was a law transferring the command against Mithridates to Marius. Thus, Sulla was presented with a choice. He could acknowledge the law as valid. To do so would mean total humiliation at the hands of his opponents, the end of his political career, and perhaps even further danger to his life. Or he could attempt to reverse it and regain his command. He can hardly have been in any doubt. Like Caesar, he
53000-534: Was able to feed both armies. The two armies then crossed the Po and attacked the Cimbri. After the failure of negotiations, the Romans and Cimbri engaged in the Battle of the Raudian Field in which the Cimbri were routed and destroyed. Victorious, Marius and Catulus were both granted triumphs as the commanding generals. Refusing to stand for an aedileship (which, due to its involvement in hosting public games,
53250-463: Was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity ." The peak of Cicero's authority and prestige came during the 18th-century Enlightenment , and his impact on leading Enlightenment thinkers and political theorists such as John Locke , David Hume , Montesquieu , and Edmund Burke was substantial. His works rank among the most influential in global culture, and today still constitute one of
53500-582: Was also severely strained financially. While Rome was preparing to move against Pontus, Mithridates arranged the massacre of some eighty thousand Roman and Italian expatriates and their families – known today as the Asiatic vespers – and confiscated their properties. Mithridates' successes against the Romans incited a revolt by the Athenians against Roman rule. The Athenian politician Aristion had himself elected as strategos epi ton hoplon and established
53750-461: Was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola . Cicero's fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus (who became a famous lawyer, one of the few whom Cicero considered superior to himself in legal matters), and Titus Pomponius . The latter two became Cicero's friends for life, and Pomponius (who later received
54000-475: Was an outsider in politics, totally self-centred in pursuit of his ambitions, always ready to break the rules of the political game to achieve his objective... If Sulla hesitated it can only have been because he was not sure how his army would react. Speaking to the men, Sulla complained to them of the outrageous behaviour of Marius and Sulpicius. He hinted to them that Marius would find other men to fight Mithridates, forcing them to give up opportunities to plunder
54250-403: Was assassinated in 91 BC while trying again to pass a bill extending Roman citizenship, the Italians revolted. The same year, Bocchus paid for the erection of a statue depicting Sulla's capture of Jugurtha. This may have been related to Sulla's campaign for the consulship. Regardless, if he had immediate plans for a consulship, they were forced into the background at the outbreak of war. At
54500-404: Was assigned by lot to his staff. When Marius took over the war, he entrusted Sulla to organise cavalry forces in Italy needed to pursue the mobile Numidians into the desert. If Sulla had married one of the Julii Caesares, this could explain Marius' willingness to entrust such an important task to a young man with no military experience, as Marius too had married into that family. Under Marius,
54750-401: Was assigned to Sicily for 75 BC. The post, which was largely one related to financial administration in support of the state or provincial governors, proved for Cicero an important place where he could gain clients in the provinces. His time in Sicily saw him balance his duties – largely in terms of sending more grain back to Rome – with his support for the provincials, Roman businessmen in
55000-484: Was at Capua, but Norbanus refused to treat and withdrew to Praeneste as Sulla advanced. While Sulla was moving in the south, Scipio fought Pompey in Picenum but was defeated when his troops again deserted. For 82 BC, the consular elections returned Gnaeus Papirius Carbo , in his third consulship, with the younger Gaius Marius , the son of the seven-time consul, who was then twenty-six. The remainder of 83 BC
55250-412: Was both necessary to ensure the survival of his army and also to relieve a brigade of six thousand men cut off in Thessaly. He declined battle with Pontus at the hill Philoboetus near Chaeronea before manoeuvring to capture higher ground and build earthworks. After some days, both sides engaged in battle. The Romans neutralised a Pontic charge of scythed chariots before pushing the Pontic phalanx back across
55500-619: Was carried to roadside inn, but when Milo heard that Clodius had been wounded, Milo ordered his lieutenant Marcus Saufeius to kill Clodius: Clodius was dragged out of the inn and stabbed to death. The body was discovered by a senator also travelling on the via Appia , Sextus Teidius, who had it sent to Rome; arriving at Rome around 4:30 pm, the body was brought before Clodius' widow Fulvia . Cicero People Events Places Marcus Tullius Cicero ( / ˈ s ɪ s ə r oʊ / SISS -ə-roh ; Latin: [ˈmaːrkʊs ˈtʊlli.ʊs ˈkɪkɛroː] ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC)
55750-403: Was considered a great art in ancient Rome and an important tool for disseminating knowledge and promoting oneself in elections, in part because there were no regular newspapers or mass media. Cicero was neither a patrician nor a plebeian noble ; his rise to political office despite his relatively humble origins has traditionally been attributed to his brilliance as an orator. Cicero grew up in
56000-476: Was consul and leader of the Caesarian faction, and unofficial executor of Caesar's public will. Relations between the two were never friendly and worsened after Cicero claimed that Antony was taking liberties in interpreting Caesar's wishes and intentions. Octavian was Caesar's adopted son and heir. After he returned to Italy, Cicero began to play him against Antony. He praised Octavian, declaring he would not make
56250-424: Was customary when all magistrates abdicated without replacement. Their appointment too was vetoed, on Pompey's initiative, as Milo's victory was clearly foreseeable. Clodius' campaign for the praetorship continued into the new year, as did the campaigns of the other candidates. Part of his campaign included a visit to Aricia , a town on the via Appia , south of Rome. The main source for information on Clodius' death
56500-864: Was customary" – to Cilicia in Asia Minor . While governing Cilicia, Sulla received orders from the Senate to restore Ariobarzanes to the throne of Cappadocia . Ariobarzanes had been driven out by Mithridates VI of Pontus , who wanted to install one of his own sons ( Ariarathes ) on the Cappadocian throne. Despite initial difficulties, Sulla was successful with minimal resources and preparation; with few Roman troops, he hastily levied allied soldiers and advanced quickly into rugged terrain before routing superior enemy forces. His troops were sufficiently impressed by his leadership that they hailed him imperator . Sulla's campaign in Cappadocia had led him to
56750-551: Was dealt a blow when he was brought up on charges of extorting Ariobarzanes. Even though the prosecutor declined to show up on the day of the trial, leading to Sulla's victory by default, Sulla's ambitions were frustrated. Relations between Rome and its allies (the socii ), had deteriorated over the years up to 91 BC. From 133 BC and the start of Tiberius Gracchus ' land reforms, Italian communities were displaced from de jure Roman public lands over which no title had been enforced for generations. Various proposals to give
57000-411: Was decidedly anti-Sullan; many people feared Sulla's wrath and still held memories of his extremely unpopular occupation of Rome during his consulship. The Senate moved the senatus consultum ultimum against him and was successful in levying large amount of men and materiel from the Italians. Sulla, buoyed by his previous looting in Asia, was able to advance quickly and largely without the ransacking of
57250-457: Was during his consulship that the Catiline conspiracy attempted to overthrow the government through an attack on the city by outside forces, and Cicero (by his own account) suppressed the revolt by summarily and controversially executing five conspirators without trial, an act which would later lead to his exile. During the chaotic middle period of the first century BC, marked by civil wars and
57500-497: Was easily successful. Between the election and the start of his term in December, the Vettius affair saw an estrangement between Pompey and Cicero; the later consular elections also saw the election of two consuls: Lucius Calpurnius Piso , Caesar's father-in-law, and Aulus Gabinius , a longtime friend of Pompey. Clodius responded by changing tact again and, in support of Caesar and Pompey, vetoed Bibulus' customary speech when leaving
57750-445: Was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order , and served as consul in 63 BC. He greatly influenced both ancient and modern reception of the Latin language. A substantial percentage of his work has survived, and he was admired by both ancient and modern authors alike. Cicero adapted the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy in Latin and created
58000-407: Was elected consul for 87 BC in place of his candidate; his nephew was rejected as plebeian tribune while Marius' nephew was successful. Cinna, even before the election, said he would prosecute Sulla at the conclusion of the latter's consular term. After the elections, Sulla forced the consuls designate to swear to uphold his laws. And for his consular colleague, he attempted to transfer to him
58250-434: Was elected first. While many expected Clodius to repeat his largesse from his tribunician term, his financial resources seemed to have been largely exhausted, with his term seeing only the customary games and public works. The early months of 56 were again consumed by the question of the Egyptian command. Early in the same year a religious sign came when lightning hit the statue of Jupiter on the Alban mount. Clodius, as one of
58500-442: Was evident that Rome's relations with the Pontic king, Mithridates VI Eupator , were deteriorating and that the consuls of 88 would be assigned an extremely lucrative and glorious command against Pontus. Pompey Strabo may have coveted a second consulship for similar reasons. The question as to whom to send against Mithridates would be one of the sources of the following domestic crisis. Shortly after Sulla's election, probably in
58750-415: Was extremely expensive), Sulla became a candidate for the praetorship in 99 BC. He was, however, defeated. In memoirs related via Plutarch, he claimed this was because the people demanded that he first stand for the aedilate so – due to his friendship with Bocchus, a rich foreign monarch, – he might spend money on games. Whether this story of Sulla's defeat is true is unclear. Regardless, Sulla stood for
59000-479: Was fought in early summer around the same time the Athenian Acropolis was taken. The later battle of Orchomenus was fought in high summer but before the start of the autumn rains. The Pontic casualties given in Plutarch and Appian, the main sources for the battles, are exaggerated; Sulla's report that he suffered merely fifteen losses is not credible. Sulla decamped his army from Attica toward central Greece. Having exhausted available provisions near Athens, doing so
59250-459: Was given away by Philologus, a freedman of his brother Quintus Cicero. As reported by Seneca the Elder , according to the historian Aufidius Bassus , Cicero's last words are said to have been: Ego vero consisto. Accede, veterane, et, si hoc saltim potes recte facere, incide cervicem. I go no further: approach, veteran soldier, and, if you can at least do so much properly, sever this neck. He bowed to his captors, leaning his head out of
59500-407: Was his still-valid directive from August 57), chose inaction. The senate also decreed legislation should be enacted against sodalitates , a form of political organisation which Clodius' collegia evidently were not, on 10 February 56 BC. The same day, a prosecution was started by one Marcus Tullius against Clodius' enemy Publius Sestius, which Cicero and others attributed to Clodius; whether that
59750-471: Was made more complete when the senate, at Cicero's motion, gave Pompey a command to bring food to Rome to stop the riots. Clodius and Cicero again opposed each other over Cicero's attempt to have his Palatine house restored. Before a pontifical hearing, Clodius and Cicero spoke, with Clodius arguing that removing the shrine to liberty would offend the gods. Cicero argued successfully that Clodius' law to take his house, in failing to explicitly authorise dedication,
60000-485: Was null and void. After Cicero's victory before the pontiffs, Clodius first attempted to convince the public that the decree was actually in his favour before attempting to filibuster a senatorial debate on Cicero's house. When the senatorial resolution was vetoed by Serranus after passing almost unanimously, the overwhelming senatorial response convinced Serranus to withdraw his veto. Unsuccessful lawfully, Clodius responded by mobilising his mobs to disrupt construction work on
60250-416: Was of considerable wealth, which certainly helped the young Sulla's ambitions. One story, "as false as it is charming", relates that when Sulla was a baby, his nurse was carrying him around the streets, until a strange woman walked up to her and said, " Puer tibi et reipublicae tuae felix ", which can be translated as, "The boy will be a source of luck to you and your state". After his father's death, around
60500-492: Was one of the most viciously and doggedly hunted among the proscribed. He was viewed with sympathy by a large segment of the public and many people refused to report that they had seen him. He was caught on 7 December 43 BC leaving his villa in Formiae in a litter heading to the seaside, where he hoped to embark on a ship destined for Macedonia. When his killers – Herennius (a Centurion) and Popilius (a Tribune) – arrived, Cicero's own slaves said they had not seen him, but he
60750-463: Was possible as long as Mithridates survived. However, this and Sulla's delay in Asia are "not enough to absolve him of the charge of being more concerned with revenge on opponents in Italy than with Mithridates". The extra time spent in Asia, moreover, equipped him with forces and money later put to good use in Italy. Sulla crossed the Adriatic for Brundisium in spring of 83 BC with five legions of Mithridatic veterans, capturing Brundisium without
61000-419: Was quickly changed to reflect this new relationship. Attacks on Cicero, however, did not end. After a series of prodigies forced the senate to consult haruspices, Clodius with his authority as a quindecimvir sacris faciundis gave speeches blaming the deconsecration of Clodius' shrine to Libertas (Cicero's house) for divine displeasure. Cicero responded by blaming Clodius instead. In a political pause, Cicero with
61250-419: Was rumoured to have volunteered to assassinate Clodius to restore order. The chaos of the street fighting, along with a persistent tribunician veto on elections from one of Pompey's tribunician allies ( Titus Munatius Plancus ), made it impossible to hold elections in 53: the two consuls, entering into office seven months late, abdicated on the last day of their terms without replacement. Appointment of interreges
61500-406: Was shortly thereafter dropped. Clodius was possibly elected as military tribune for 64 BC. Whether military tribune or not, he served that year on the staff of then-praetor Lucius Licnius Murena who was proconsul of Transalpine Gaul in 64 BC. Nothing concrete is known of Clodius' activities there. When the two returned to Rome in 63 BC, Clodius was involved in Murena's campaign for
61750-457: Was spared total destruction "in recognition of [its] glorious past" but the city was sacked. In need of resources, Sulla sacked the temples of Epidaurus , Delphi , and Olympia ; after a battle with the Pontic general Archelaus outside Piraeus, Sulla's forces forced the Pontic garrison to withdraw by sea. Capturing the city, Sulla had it destroyed. In the summer of 86 BC, two major battles were fought in Boeotia . The Battle of Chaeronea
62000-410: Was strongly opposed to anything unconstitutional that limited the powers of the consuls and replaced them with non-elected officials. During Caesar's consulship of 59 BC, the triumvirate had achieved many of their goals of land reform, publicani debt forgiveness, ratification of Pompeian conquests, etc. With Caesar leaving for his provinces, they wished to maintain their hold on politics. They engineered
62250-404: Was taken by surprise when the Liberatores assassinated Caesar on the ides of March , 44 BC. Cicero was not included in the conspiracy, even though the conspirators were sure of his sympathy. Marcus Junius Brutus called out Cicero's name, asking him to restore the republic when he lifted his bloodstained dagger after the assassination. A letter Cicero wrote in February 43 BC to Trebonius , one of
62500-412: Was travelling toward Lanuvium , where he was to install a priest. Both men travelled with armed entourages, but Clodius' entourage was smaller: some 26 men to Milo's 300. After the two groups passed in silence, a fight broke out between Clodius and one of the last men in Milo's entourage, leading to Clodius being hit in the shoulder with a javelin. In the resulting fight, Clodius' men were defeated. Clodius
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