Caesar his influence as a political manipulator. United they were irresistible-the only opposition they feared came from Cato and Cicero. They silenced Cato by sending him to Cyprus on government business. They made every effort to win Cicero's support, and, when this had failed, to secure his silence and neutrality. They tried to induce him to accom- 64 pany Caesar into Gaul as legatus on his staff, then to go abroad at public expense (libera legatio) as if on public business, and finally to preside over the board of twenty senators appointed to distribute lands in Campania-all with a view to getting him out of Italy, or at least out of Rome. Cicero declined all these offers. Even his unreasoning admiration for Pompey could not reconcile him to the desertion of the conservatives. His refusal to be silenced cost him dearly. Unable to cajole him, the regents resolved to coerce him, and employed as their tool for this purpose Clodius, who had now returned to Rome.

Clodius' Revenge.-Eager to wreak his vengeance upon 65 Cicero, Clodius had sought to arm himself with the formidable power of the tribunate. For this purpose it was necessary that he, patrician born, should be adopted into a plebeian family, a proceeding violently resisted by the conservatives, and accomplished only by Caesar's help. Clodius entered upon his new office on the 10th of December, 59, and proceeded, by various proposals, to attach to himself men of all parties, especially Cicero's personal or political enemies. As 66 soon as he had thus secured a following upon which he could rely he came forward early in 58, in the consulship of L. Calpurnius Piso and Aulus Gabinius, with a bill providing that any person who had caused a Roman citizen to be put to death without a formal trial should be punished with banishment. Cicero's name was not mentioned, but it was easy to see that the law was aimed at the proceedings of the 5th of December, 63. Cicero seemed at once to lose all his wonted resolution. Without awaiting the progress of events, while

it was yet uncertain that the bill would pass, he put off his senatorial dress, assumed that of a knight, and, in deep mourning, went about appealing for sympathy and assistance as if already accused. There was no lack of sympathy: 20,000 citizens, knights and senators put on mourning too, although the consuls by edict forced the senate to resume its usual dress. L. Ninnius, a tribune, and L. Lamia, a knight, were 67 especially active in Cicero's behalf, until Clodius prevented the former from addressing the people, and Gabinius banished the latter from the city. Cicero's friends were harassed also at all times by Clodius' hired bullies. Opinions differed as to what Cicero ought to do. Some advised him to remain until a direct attack was made upon him; L. Lucullus in particular was eager to resort to force in his behalf, knowing that the great mass of moderate and peaceful citizens, especially those in the country towns, were devoted to him. But others, among them many of his sincerest friends, counseled temporary submission, encouraging him to hope for an immediate recall. To these Cicero yielded, and, accompanied by crowds of those who loved and honored him, he left the city about the end of March, 58; into exile itself he was afterwards followed by clients, freedmen and slaves.

Cicero's Banishment.-No sooner had he gone than 68 Clodius proposed his formal banishment, and the people voted it. He was forbidden the use of fire and water within 400 miles of Rome, all who sheltered him within these limits were threatened with punishment, and the senate and people were forbidden to agitate for his recall. Not a night was suffered to pass before his property was seized by his unrelenting enemies. His house on the Palatine was reduced to ashes, and on a part of its site a temple was consecrated by Clodius to the goddess Libertas. His villas at Formiae and Tusculum were pillaged and destroyed, and the consuls appropriated a good deal of the spoil. Nor was his family spared. Cicero tells us that his children were sought that they might

be murdered. His wife, Terentia, fled to her half-sister Fabia, a vestal, and was dragged from Vesta's temple to a bank to give security for paying over Cicero's ready money to his enemies. The news of these outrages reached him before he left Italy, and he already regretted not having followed the advice of Lucullus. He had left Rome uncertain as to his 69 destination. He repaired at first to Vibo, in Bruttium, where he had a friend named Sicca, and there he first heard of the enactment of the law and of the limits fixed in it. He was refused an asylum in Sicily by the praetor, C. Vergilius, who feared the dominant party in Rome, although Cicero's services to the Sicilians would have insured a kindly reception by the provincials. He went, therefore, to Dyrrachium, declining an invitation to the estate of Atticus and avoiding Greece for fear of meeting some Catilinarians who were living there in exile. In Macedonia he found a devoted friend in the quaestor, Cn. Plancius, who had hurried to meet him at Dyrrachium and offered his hospitality. At his house, not far from Thessalonica, Cicero lived in security but in deep dejection. He apprehended that his brother Quintus, then returning from his administration of Asia, might be persecuted for his sake, suspected false dealings on the part of Hortensius and others, and was tormented by fears for his wife and children.

Efforts for His Recall. Meanwhile, his friends in 70 Rome had not been idle. The conservatives felt bound to secure the recall of the man through whose exile their weakness had been so exposed. As early as the 1st of June the tribune L. Ninnius had proposed his recall before the senate, and, while the measure did not pass, it at least nerved the senate from this time to devote all its energies to Cicero's cause. On the 27th of October all the tribunes except Clodius and Aelius Ligus repeated the proposition. So long, however, as Clodius was in office nothing could be accomplished; besides Caesar, who from Gaul exercised great influ

ence on affairs at Rome, had not yet declared for Cicero, and Pompey, to whom Cicero had written in May, also failed him. At last Clodius quarreled with Pompey, and the latter determined, out of spite, to recall the former's arch-enemy Cicero. On the 1st of January, 57, two new consuls entered office, P. Lentulus Spinther and Q. Metellus Nepos. Lentulus was a devoted friend of Cicero, and Metellus gave up his enmity at the instance of Pompey. It was determined to 71 recall Cicero not by a decree of the senate but by a vote of the tribes, and the 25th of January was fixed for the attempt. Although Clodius was now out of office he was still as active and unscrupulous as ever in his opposition, and sought to make up for his loss of power by the use of force and arms. With a band of gladiators he took possession of the forum early in the morning of the appointed day, drove away the friends of Cicero, and spread terror through the streets. The tribunes Sestius and Milo, on the other side, adopted like tactics, and for weeks the city was the battle-ground of the two factions. Finally, as the tribes could not meet for the transaction of business, the senate determined to put an end to the struggle by a vote of the centuries, and summoned to Rome citizens from all parts of Italy. Pompey visited in person the towns and colonies, and exerted all his influence for Cicero. So, on the 4th of August, the resolution for his recall was finally passed by an assembly that the Campus Martius could scarcely contain and Clodius could not daunt. The news filled the city with indescribable joy. Cicero's Return.-Cicero had not waited in Macedonia 72 for the decree to pass. Having learned from his friends that his recall was merely a question of time, he had returned in November, 58, to Dyrrachium, where he waited and watched the progress of events. He sailed for Brundisium as it chanced on the very day that the people authorized his return, and reached Italy on the 5th of August, 57, after an absence of about sixteen months. At Brundisium his daughter

Tullia met him-the 5th of August happened to be her birthday and here on the 8th he learned finally that his banishment was at an end. His return to Rome was a triumphal march. Crowds attended him; deputations from all over Italy met and welcomed him; no sign of joy or mark of honor was omitted on the way, and in the city itself the demonstrations were on the grandest scale (Ep. 12).

During the remainder of the year 57 Cicero was employed 73 in recovering the remnants of his property and getting his affairs in order. The site of his town residence was restored to him, and damages paid for the destruction of his house and villas. In 56 he was busy as an advocate, taking but an insignificant part in affairs of state. The rival factions were employing the courts to annoy each other; suits and counter-suits were brought in rapid succession, and Cicero had ample opportunity to defend his friends and assail his enemies.

Among the events of the next few years may be men-74 tioned Caesar's conquest of Gaul; the renewal of the agreement among the triumvirs (56); the defeat and death of Crassus in the east (53); the death of Julia, daughter of Caesar and wife of Pompey (54), and the consequent estrangement of the two great rivals; the death of Clodius at the hands of Milo, and Cicero's defense of the latter when brought to trial (52). During the absence of Caesar in Gaul and Crassus in the east Pompey was in Rome, and everything pointed to his supremacy. As proconsul of Spain and as commissioner of the grain supply he was invested with the highest military authority, and by remaining at Rome he made his influence promptly felt.

In 51 Cicero was made proconsul governing Cilicia, and 75 was absent from Italy for about eighteen months, May, 51, to November, 50, and from the city a little longer. To this period belong some of his most interesting letters, one of which is given in this volume (Ep. 13). He professed and perhaps felt reluctance to accept the appointment, but enjoyed