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$Title{Cicero's Orations
Part II}
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Title:       Cicero's Orations
Book:        In Defense Of Titus Annius Milo
Author:      Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Translation: Younge, C.D.

Part II

     XIV.  It remains for me now to urge his natural disposibion and his
habits of life in the defense of the one, and the very same things as an
accusation against the other.  Clodius, I suppose, had never done anything by
violence; Milo had done everything by violence.  What then shall I say, O
judges?  When, amid the grief of all of you, I departed from the city, was I
afraid of the result of a trial?  was I not afraid of slaves, and arms and
violence?  What, I pray you, was the first ground of my restoration, except
that I had been unjustly driven out?  Clodius, I suppose, had commenced a
formal prosecution against me; he had named a sum as damages; he had commenced
an action for high treason; and, I suppose too, I had cause to fear your
decision in a cause which was an unjust one, which was my own private cause,
not one which was a most righteous one, and which was, in reality, your cause,
and not mine?  No - I was unwilling that my fellow-citizens, who had been
saved by my prudence and by my own personal danger, should be exposed to the
arms of slaves and needy citizens and convicted malefactors.  For I saw - I
saw, I say, this very Quintus Hortensius, the light and ornament of the
republic, almost slain by the hand of slaves, while he was standing by me.  In
which crowd Caius Vibienus, a senator, a most excellent man, who was with
Hortensius, was so maltreated that he lost his life.

     When, then, was it that that assassin's dagger of his, which he had
received from Catiline, rested?  It was aimed at us; I would not allow you all
to be exposed to it for my sake.  It was prepared in treachery for Pompeius.
It stained with blood, through the murder of Papirius, the very Appian road,
the monument of his name; this, this same dagger, after a long interval was
again turned against me; lately, as you know, it nearly murdered me close to
the palace of Ancus.

     What is there of Milo's conduct like all this?  when all the violence
that he has ever displayed has amounted to this, that he wished to prevent
Publius Clodius (as he could not be brought to trial) from oppressing the city
by violence.  And if he wished to put him to death, what great, what repeated,
and what splendid opportunities he had of doing so!  Might he not have avenged
himself without violating the law when he was defending his own house and his
household gods from his attacks?  might he not have done so when that
illustrious citizen and most gallant man, Publius Sextius, his own colleague,
was wounded?  might he not have done so when that most excellent man, Quintus
Fabricius, while carrying a bill for my restoration, was driven away, and when
a most cruel slaughter was taking place in the forum?  might he not have done
so when the house of Lucius Caecilius, that most upright and fearless praetor,
was attacked?  might he not have done so on the day on which the law
concerning me was passed, and when that vast concourse of people from all
parts of Italy, whom a regard for my safety had roused up, would have gladly
recognized and adopted as its own the glory of that action?  so that, even if
Milo had performed it, the whole state would claim the praise of it as
belonging to itself?

     XV.  And what a time was it?  A most illustrious and fearless consul,
Publius Lentulus, an enemy to Clodius the avenger of his wickedness, the
bulwark of the senate, the defender of your inclinations, the patron of that
general unanimity, the restorer of my safety; seven praetors, eight tribunes
of the people, adversaries of him, defenders of me; Cnaeus Pompeius, the prime
mover of and chief agent in my return his open enemy; whose opinion respecting
my return, delivered in the most dignified and most complimentary language,
the whole senate adopted; he who exhorted the whole Roman people, and, when he
passed a decree concerning me at Capua, gave himself the signal to all Italy,
which was eager for it, and which was imploring his good faith, to join
together for the purpose of restoring me to Rome; in short, universal hatred
on the part of all the citizens, was excited against him, while their minds
were inflamed with as earnest a regret for me; so that if any one had slain
him at that time, people's thoughts would have been, not how to procure
impunity for such a man, but how to reward him sufficiently.

     Nevertheless, Milo restrained himself, and twice summoned Publius Clodius
before the court, but never once invited him to a trial of strength in scenes
of violence.  What do I say?  while Milo was a private individual, and on his
trial before the people, on the accusation of Publius Clodius, when an attack
was made on Cnaeus Pompeius, while speaking in defense of Milo, was there not
then not only an admirable opportunity of, but even a reasonable pretext for
slaying him?  And lately, when Marcus Antonius had inspired all virtuous men
with the very greatest hope of safety, and when he, being a most noble young
man, had with the greatest gallantry espoused the cause of the republic, and
had that beast almost in his toils in spite of his avoiding the snares of the
law; what an opportunity, what a time and place was there, O ye immortal gods!
And when Clodius had fled and hidden himself in the darkness of the stairs,
there was a fine opportunity for Milo to slay him without incurring the
slightest odium himself, and to load Antonius at the same time with the
greatest glory!  What?  How repeatedly had he a similar chance in the comitia!
when he had broken into the voting booth, and contrived to have swords drawn
and stones thrown, and then on a sudden, terrified at the look of Milo, fled
towards the Tiber, and you and all virtuous men prayed to heaven that Milo
might take it into his head to give full scope to his valor.

     XVI.  If then he did not choose to slay him, when he might have done so
with the gratitude of every one, is it likely that he should have chosen to do
so when some people were sure to complain of it?  If he did not venture to do
it when he might have done so lawfully, when he had both place and time in his
favor, when he might have done so with impunity, can we believe that he did
not hesitate to slay him unjustly at a time and place which supplied him with
no excuse for the deed, when it was at the hazard of his life?  especially, O
judges, when the day of contest for the greatest distinction of the state, and
the day of the comitia, was at hand.  At which time, (for I know what a
nervous thing ambition is, how vehement and how anxious is the desire for the
consulship,) we are afraid of everything, not only of those things which can
be openly found fault with, but even of whatever can be secretly thought; we
shudder at every rumor, at every idle and empty story; we look anxiously at
every one's countenance, at every one's eye.  For there is nothing so soft, so
tender, so frail, so flexible, as the inclinations and feelings of our
fellow-citizens towards us; for they are not only angry at any impropriety in
the conduct of candidates, but they often even take a disgust at our virtuous
actions.

     Did Milo then, keeping in view this long hoped-for and wished-for day of
the Campus Martius, propose to himself to come to those venerable auspices of
the centuries with bloody hands, owing and confessing a wickedness and a
crime?  How perfectly incredible is such conduct in such a man!  At the same
time, how undoubted is it in the case of Clodius, who thought that he should
be a king as soon as Milo was slain.  What shall I say more?  This is the very
mainspring of audacity, O judges, for who is there who does not know that the
greatest temptation of all to do wrong is the hope of impunity?  Now, in which
of the two did this exist?  In Milo? who is even now on his trial for an
action which I contend was an illustrious one, but which was at all events a
necessary one; or in Clodius?  who had shown such contempt for courts of
justice and punishment, that he took no pleasure in anything which was not
either impious, from its disregard of the prohibition of nature, or illegal,
from its violation of law.

     But what am I arguing about?  why do I keep on disputing at greater
length?  I appeal to you, O Quintus Petillius, a most virtuous and fearless
citizen; I call you to witness, O Marcus Cato; whom some heavenly
interposition has given me for judges.  You have heard from Marcus Favonius,
and you heard it too while Clodius was alive, that he, Clodius, had said to
him that Milo would die within three days, - and on the third day the deed
which he had mentioned was put in execution.  When he did not hesitate to
reveal what he was thinking of, can you have any doubt what he did?

     XVII.  How then was it, that he was so correct in the day?  I told you
that just now.  There was no great difficulty in knowing the regular days of
sacrifice for the dictator of Lanuvium.  He saw that it was necessary for Milo
to go to Lanuvium on the very day in which he did go, - therefore, he
anticipated him.  But on what day?  Why, on the day on which, as I have said
before, there was a most furious assembly of the people, stirred up by the
tribune of the people whom he had in his pay - a day, and an assembly, and an
uproar which he would never have missed if he had not been hastening to some
premeditated crime.  Therefore, he had not only no reason for going on a
journey, but he had even a reason for stopping at home.  Milo had no
possibility of stopping at home, and he had not only a reason, but a positive
necessity for going on a journey.  What more?  Suppose, while he knew that
Milo must go on the road on that day, so, on the other hand, Milo could not
even suspect that Clodius would? For, first of all, I ask, how could Milo know
it?  a question which you cannot ask respecting Clodius.  For even if he had
not asked any one beyond his own intimate friend Titus Patina, he could have
ascertained from him that on that particular day a priest must absolutely be
appointed at Lanuvium by Milo as the dictator there.  But there were plenty
more people from whom he could easily learn that; for instance, all the people
of Lanuvium.  Of whom did Milo make any inquiry about the return of Clodius?
Grant that he did make inquiry; see what large allowances I am making you:
grant even that he bribed his slave, as my good friend Quintus Arrius said. -
Read the evidence of your own witnesses.

     Caius Cassinius Schola, a man of Interamna, gave his evidence, - a most
intimate friend of Publius Clodius, and more, a companion of his at the very
time; according to whose testimony, Publius Clodius was at Interamna and at
Rome at the very same time.  Well, he said, that Publius Clodius had intended
to remain that day at his Alban villa; but that on a sudden news was brought
to him, that Cyrus his architect was dead; and, therefore, that he determined
to proceed to Rome immediately.  Caius Clodius, who was also a companion of
Publius Clodius, said the same.

     XVII.  Take notice, O judges, what the real effect of this evidence must
be.  First of all, Milo is certainly acquitted of having set out with the
express intention of waylaying Clodius on his road; this must be, since there
was apparently no chance whatever of his meeting him.  In the next place, (for
I see no reason why I should not do something for myself at the same time,)
you know, O judges, that there have been men found to say, while urging on
this bill against Milo, that the murder was committed by the hand indeed of
Milo, but by the plan of some one of more importance than he.  Those abject
and profligate men, forsooth, pointed me out as a robber and assassin.  Now
they lie convicted by their own witnesses, who say that Clodius would not have
returned to Rome that day if he had not heard the news about Cyrus.  I
breathed again; I was delivered; I am not any longer afraid of being supposed
to have contemplated an action which I could not possibly have suspected.

     Now I will examine the other point.  For this expression occurs in their
speech: "Therefore, Clodius never even thought of the plot against Milo, since
he intended to remain in his Alban villa." Yes, he meant to remain there, if
he did not rather intend to go out and commit a murder. For I see that the
messenger who is said to have brought him news of Cyrus' death did not
announce that to him, but told him that Milo was at hand.  For why should he
bring any news about Cyrus, whom Clodius had left at Rome on his deathbed?  I
was with him; I signed his will as a witness together with Clodius; and he had
openly made his will, and had left him and me his heirs.  When he had left him
the day before, at the third hour, at the very point of death, was news sent
express to him the next day, at the tenth hour, that he was at last dead?

     XIX.  Well, be it so; what reason had he for hastening to Rome? for
starting at nightfall?  Why should the fact of his being his heir cause him to
make so much haste?  In the first place, there was no reason why there should
be need of any haste; secondly, even if there was, still what was there which
he could obtain that night, but which he would lose if he arrived at Rome
early the next morning?  And as an arrival in the city by night was rather to
be avoided by him that to be desired, so it was just suited for Milo to lie in
ambush and wait for him, as he was a plotter of that sort, if he knew that he
was likely to come to the city by night.  He would have slain him by night, in
a place calculated for an ambush and full of robbers; no one would have
refused to believe him if he denied it, when now all men wish to save him even
when he confesses it.  The brunt of the blame would have fallen on the place
itself, so well suited to receive and conceal robbers, while neither the
voiceless solitude would have informed against, nor the dark night discovered
Milo; secondly, the numbers of men who had been insulted by Clodius, or
plundered by him, or stripped of all their property by him, many, too, who
were in constant fear of such misfortunes, would have fallen under suspicion;
in short, the whole of Etruria would have been impeached in people's opinion.

     And certainly on that day Clodius returning from Aricia did turn aside to
his Alban villa.  But although Milo knew that he was at Aricia, still he ought
to have suspected that he, even if he was desirous to return to Rome that day,
would turn aside to his own villa, the grounds of which skirted the road.
Why, then, did he not meet him before, and prevent his going to his villa?
nor wait in that place where he would certainly arrive by night?

     I see that all things up to this point are plain and consistent. That it
was even desirable for Milo that Clodius should live; that for Clodius the
death of Milo was the most advantageous thing possible, with reference to
those objects on which he had set his heart; that he bore him the most bitter
hatred, but that Milo had no such feelings towards him; that the one lived in
a perpetual round of violence, that the other's habits were limited to
repelling it; that Milo had been threatened by him with death; and that his
death had been openly predicted by him; that no such expression had ever been
heard from Milo; that the day of Milo's journey was well known to Clodius, but
that Clodius' return was unknown to Milo; that the journey of the one was
inevitable, and that of the other was even inconvenient to himself; that the
one had openly declared that on that day he should set out from Rome, that the
other had concealed the fact of his intending to return on that day; that the
one had in no respect whatever changed his intention, that the other had
invented a false pretense for changing his mind; that the one, if he were
plotting, would naturally wish night to come on when he was near the city,
while an arrival at the city by night was to be feared by the other, even if
he had no apprehension of danger from this man.

     XX.  Let us now consider this, which is the main point of all; for which
of the two the identical spot where they did meet was the best suited for
planting an ambush.  But is that, O judges, a matter about which one can
possibly doubt or think seriously for a moment?  In front of Clodius' farm, -
that farm on which, on account of those absurd erections and excavations for
foundations of his, there were pretty well a thousand vigorous men employed, -
on that high and raised ground belonging to his adversary, did Milo think that
he should get the better in the contest, and had he with that view selected
that spot above all others?  Or was he rather waited for in that place by a
man who had conceived the idea of attacking, because of the hopes that that
particular spot suggested to him?  The facts, O judges, speak for themselves;
facts, which are always of the greatest weight in a cause.  If you were not
hearing of this transaction, but were looking at a picture of it, still it
would be quite visible which of the two was the plotter, which was thinking no
evil, when one of the two was driving in a chariot wrapped up in a mantle,
with his wife sitting by his side.  It is hard to say which was the greatest
hindrance to him, his dress, or his carriage, or his wife.  How could a man be
less ready for battle than when he was entangled in a mantle as in a net,
hampered with a carriage, and fettered as it were by his wife clinging to him?
Look on the other hand, at Clodius, first setting out from his villa; all on a
sudden: why?  It was evening.  Why was he forced to set out at such a time?
Going slowly.  What was the object of that, especially at that time of night.
He turns aside to the villa of Pompeius.  To see Pompeius?  He knew that he
was near Alsium.  To see the villa?  He had been in it a thousand times.
What, then, was his object? Delay; he wanted to waste the time.  He did not
choose to leave the spot till Milo arrived.

     XXI.  Come now, compare the journey of this unencumbered bandit with all
the hindrances which beset Milo.  Before this time he always used to travel
with his wife; now he was without her.  He invariably went in a carriage; now
he was on horseback.  His train were a lot of Greeklings wherever he was
going; even when he was hastening to the camp in Etruria; ^10 but this time
there were no triflers in his retinue.  Milo, who was never in the habit of
doing so, did by chance have with him some musical slaves belonging to his
wife, and troops of maid servants.  The other man, who was always carrying
with him prostitutes, worn-out debauchees both men and women, this time had no
one with him except such a band that you might have thought every one of them
picked men.  Why, then, was he defeated?  Because the traveler is not always
murdered by the robber; sometimes the robber is killed by the traveler;
because, although Clodius in a state of perfect preparation was attacking men
wholly unprepared, still it was the case of a woman falling upon men.  And,
indeed, Milo was never so utterly unprepared for his violence, as not to be
nearly sufficiently prepared.  He was always aware how greatly it concerned
the interest of Publius Clodius that he should be slain, how greatly he hated
him, and how great was his daring.  Wherefore, he never exposed his life to
danger without some sort of protection and guard, knowing that it was
threatened, and that a large price, as it were, was set upon it.

[Footnote 10: That is, to Manlius' camp in Etruria at the time of Catiline's
conspiracy in which, in all probability, Clodius was implicated.]

     Add to this consideration all the chances; add the always uncertain
result of a battle, and the common fortune of Mars, who often overthrows the
man who is already exulting and stripping his enemy, and strikes him to the
ground by some mean agent; add the blundering conduct of a leader who had
dined and drank, and who was yawning and drowsy; who, when he had left his
enemy cut off in the rear, never thought of his companions on the outskirts of
his train; and then when he fell among them inflamed with anger, and
despairing of saving the life of their master he fell on that punishment which
the faithful slaves inflicted on him as a retribution for their master's
death.  Why, then, has Milo emancipated them?  He was afraid, I suppose, lest
they should give information against him; lest they should be unable to bear
pain; lest they should be compelled by tortures to confess that Publius
Clodius was slain in the Appian road by the slaves of Milo.

     What need is there of any torturer?  What do you want to know? whether he
was slain?  He was slain.  Whether he was slain lawfully or unlawfully?  That
is beyond the province of the torturer.  For the rack can only inquire into
the fact; it is the bench of judges that must decide on the law.

     XXII.  Let us then here confine out attention to what must be
investigated in this trial.  All that you can want to find out by tortures we
admit.  But if you prefer asking why he emancipated his slaves, rather than
why he gave them inadequate rewards, you are but a bungling hand at finding
fault with an enemy.  For Marcus Cato, who says everything with great wisdom,
and consistency, and courage, said the same thing; and he said, too, in a very
turbulent assembly of the people, which, however, was pacified by his
authority, that those slaves were worthy not only of liberty, but even of
every sort of reward possible, who had defended the life of their master.  For
what reward can be sufficiently great for such well-affected, such virtuous,
such faithful slaves, owing to whom it is that he is still alive?  Although
even that is not putting it so strongly as to say, that it is owing to those
very men that he did not glut the eyes and mind of his most cruel enemy with
his blood and wounds.  And if he had not emancipated them, then those
preservers of their master, those avengers of wickedness, those defenders of
their master from death, must have even been surrendered to torture.  But in
all these misfortunes the most comfortable reflection which Milo has is, that,
even if anything should happen to himself, still he has given them the reward
which they deserved.

     But now the examinations which have just been conducted in the hall of
liberty, are said to pfess against Milo.  Who are the slaves who have been
examined?  Do you ask?  The slaves of Publius Clodius.  Who demanded that they
should be examined?  Appius.  Who produced them?  Appius.  Where were they
brought from?  From the house of Appius.  O ye good gods, what can be done
with more animosity?  There is no law which authorizes slaves to be examined
as witnesses against their master, except on accusations of impiety, as was
the case in the prosecution instituted against Clodius. Clodius has been
raised nearly to the gods, more nearly than even when he penetrated into their
sanctuary, when an investigation into the circumstances of his death is
carried on like one into a profanation of sacred ceremonies.  But still, our
ancestors did not think it right that slaves should be examined as witnesses
against their masters, not because the truth could not be discovered, but
because it seemed a scandalous thing to do, and more oppressive to the masters
than even death itself. Well, then, when the slaves of the prosecutor are
examined as witnesses against the defendant, can the truth be found out?

     Come, however, what was the examination; and how was it conducted?
Holloa, you Rufio, (that name will do as well as another,) take care you tell
the truth.  Did Clodius lay a plot against Milo?  "He did." He is sure to be
crucified for saying so.  "Certainly not." He has hopes of obtaining his
liberty.  What can be more certain than this mode of examination?  The men are
suddenly carried off to be examined; they are separated from all the rest, and
put into cells that no one may be able to speak to them.  Then, when they have
been kept a hundred days in the power of the prosecutor, they are produced as
witnesses, by the prosecutor himself.  What can be imagined more upright than
this sort of examination? What can be more free from all suspicion of
corruption?

     XXIII.  And if you do not yet see with sufficient clearness, (though the
transaction is evident of itself by so many and such irresistible arguments
and proofs,) that Milo was returning to Rome with a pure and guiltless
intention, with no taint of wickedness, under no apprehension, without any
consciousness of crime to disquiet him; recollect, I implore you, in the name
of the immortal gods, how rapid his speed while returning was; how he entered
the forum while the senate-house was all on fire with eagerness; how great was
the magnanimity which he displayed; how he looked, and what he said.  Nor did
he trust himself to the people only, but also to the senate; nor to the senate
only, but also to the public guards and their arms; nor to them only, but also
to the power of that man to whom the senate had already entrusted ^11 the
whole republic, all the youth of Italy, and all the arms of the Roman people.
And surely he never would have put himself in his power, if he had not been
confident in the justice of his cause; especially as he was one who heard
everything, and feared great danger, and suspected many things, and even
believed some. The power of conscience is very great, O judges, and is of
great weight on both sides: so that they fear nothing who have done no wrong,
and they, on other hand, who have done wrong think that punishment is always
hanging over them.

[Footnote 11: The disturbances on the death of Clodius arose to such a height,
that the senate at last passed a resolution that Marcus Lepidus the Interrex,
assisted by the tribunes of the people and Pompeius, should take care that the
republic received no injury.  And at last the senate appointed Pompeius consul
without a colleague, who immediately published several new laws, and among
them the one under which this trial was conducted, (see note con c. 1,) and he
now limited the duration of trials, allowing only three days for the
examination of witnesses, and on the fourth day the accuser was only allowed
two hours to enforce the accusation, and the defendant three hours to speak in
his defense. Coelius endeavored to arrest these laws by his veto as tribune,
declaring that they were framed solely with a view to crush Milo, whom
Pompeius certainly desired to get rid of; to effect which he even descended to
the artifice of pretending to believe that Milo had laid a plot to assassinate
him.]

     Nor, indeed, is it without good reason that Milo's cause has always been
approved of by the senate.  For these wisest of men took into their
consideration the whole circumstances of the case; Milo's presence of mind,
and vigor in defending himself.  Have you forgotten, O judges, when the news
of Clodius' death was still recent, the opinions and the language which was
held, not only by Milo's enemies, but also by other ignorant people?  They
said that he would not return to Rome at all.  For if he had committed the
deed in a passionate and excited mood, so that he had slain his enemy while
under the influence of strong hatred, they thought that he would consider the
death of Publius Clodius an event of such importance, that he would bear being
deprived of his country with equanimity, as he had sated his hatred in the
blood of his enemy; or, if he had deliberately intended to deliver his country
by the slaughter of Clodius, then they thought that he, as a brave man, would
not hesitate, after having brought safety to his country at his own risk, to
submit with equanimity to the laws, to carry off with himself everlasting
renown, and to leave those things to us to enjoy which he had preserved for us
himself.

     Many also spoke of Catiline and the monsters of his train.  "We shall
have another Catiline breaking out.  He will occupy some strong place; he will
make war on his country." Wretched sometimes is the fate of those citizens who
have faithfully served the republic!  when men not only forget the illustrious
exploits which they have performed, but even suspect them of the most
nefarious designs!  Therefore, all those things were false, which would
certainly have turned out true if Milo had committed any action which he could
not defend with honor and with truth.

     XXIV.  What shall I say of the charges which were afterwards heaped upon
him?  which would have crushed any one who was conscious of even trifling
offenses.  How nobly did he support them?  O ye immortal gods, do I say
support them?  Say rather, how did he despise them, and treat them as nothing!
Charges which no guilty man, were he ever so high minded, and, indeed, no
innocent man, unless he were also a most fearless man, could possibly have
disregarded.  I was said that a vast collection of shields, swords, bridles,
lances, and javelins had been seized.  They said that there was no street, no
alley in the whole city, in which there was not a house hired for Milo; that
arms had been carried down the Tiber to his villa at Oriculum; that his house
on the Capitoline Hill was full of shields; that every place was full of fire
brands prepared for the burning of the city.  These things were not only
reported, but were almost believed, and were not rejected till they had been
thoroughly investigated.  I praised, indeed, the incredible diligence of
Cnaeus Pompeius; but still I will say what I really think, O judges.

     Those men are compelled to listen to too many statements; indeed, they
cannot do otherwise, who have the whole republic entrusted to them. It was
necessary even to listen to that eating-house keeper Licinius, if that was his
name, a fellow out of the Circus Maximus, who said that Milo's slaves had got
drunk in his house, - that they had confessed to him that they were engaged in
a conspiracy to assassinate Cnaeus Pompeius, and that he himself was
afterwards stabbed by one of them to prevent him from giving information.  He
went to Pompeius' villa to tell him this.  I am sent for among the first.  By
the advice of his friends, Pompeius reports the affair to the senate.  It was
impossible for me to be otherwise than frightened almost to death at the bare
suspicion of such danger to one who was the protector both of me and of my
country; but still I wondered that an eating-house keeper should be at once
believed, - that the confession of the slaves should be listened to, and that
a wound in the side, which looked like the prick of a needle, should be
admitted to be a wound inflicted by a gladiator.  But, as I take the fact to
have been, Pompeius was rather taking precautions than feeling any actual
alarm, guarding not only against those things which it was reasonable to fear,
but also against everything which could possibly disquiet you.

     The house of Caius Caesar, that most illustrious and gallant man, was
beseiged, as was reported, during many hours of the night.  No one in that
frequented part of the city had either seen or heard of any such thing. Still
such a report was spread about.  I could not possibly suspect Cnaeus Pompeius,
a man of the most admirable valor, of being timid, and I thought no diligence
could be over-strained in a man who had undertaken the management and
protection of the whole of the republic.  In a very full meeting of the
senate, lately held in the Capitol, a senator was found to say that Milo had a
weapon about him.  He threw back his garments in that most sacred temple,
that, since the life of so good a citizen and so good a man could not procure
him credit, the facts themselves might speak for him, while he held his peace.

     XXV.  Every word was ascertained to be a false and treacherous invention.
And if people are even now afraid of Milo, we are not now under apprehension
because of the charge respecting Clodius, but we are shuddering at your
suspicions, - at yours, I say, O Cnaeus Pompeius (for I address you yourself,
and I speak loudly so that you may be able to hear me).  If you are afraid of
Milo, - if you believe that he either now cherishes wicked designs against
your life, or that he ever has entertained such; if the levying of troops
throughout Italy, as some of your recruiting-sergeants pretend, - if these
arms, - if these cohorts in the Capitol, - if these watchmen, these sentinels,
- if this picked body of youths, which is the guard of your person and your
house, is all armed against an attack on the part of Milo; and if all these
measures have been arranged, and prepared, and aimed against him alone, - then
certainly he must be a man of great power, of incredible courage; surely it
must be more than the power and resources of one single man which are
attributed to him, if the most eminent of our generals is invested with a
command, and all Italy is armed against this one man.  But who is there who
does not understand that all the diseased and feeble parts of the republic
were entrusted to you, O Pompeius, that you might heal and strengthen them
with your arms?  And if an opportunity had been afforded to Milo, he would,
doubtless, have proved to you yourself that no man was ever more dear to
another than you are to him; that he had never shunned any danger which might
be of service in promoting your dignity; that he had often contended against
that most foul pest on behalf of your glory; that his conduct in his
tribuneship had been entirely regulated by your counsels for the protection of
my safety, which was an object very dear to you; that he afterwards had been
defended by you when in danger of his life, ^12 and had been assisted by you
when he was a candidate for the praetorship; and that he had always believed
that the two firmest friends whom he had were you and I, - you, as shown by
the kindness of your behavior to him, and I, secured to him by the services
which he himself had done me.  And if he could not convince you of this, - if
that suspicion had sunk so deep in your mind that it could not possibly be
eradicated; if, in short, Italy was never to have any rest from those levies,
nor the city from arms, till Milo was ruined, - then no doubt he, without
hesitation, would have departed from his country, a man born to make such
sacrifices and accustomed to make them; but still he would have cited you, O
Magnus, as a witness in his favor, as he now does.

[Footnote 12: When Clodius was aedile, he instituted a prosecution against
Milo for violence.  Pompeius, Crassus and Cicero appeared for him; and though
Clodius' mob raised a great uproar, and endeavored to prevent Pompeius from
being heard, he made a long speech, lasting three hours, in his defense.  The
trial was adjourned from February till May, and does not appear to have ever
been brought to a regular termination.]