he trial, no dread of the arms which were used openly against Milo,
could hinder him from going on with the defence, although it was within
his power to avoid the quarrel with the people and to renew his
friendship for Pompey by abstaining from it." Domitius AEnobarbus was
chosen as President, and the others elected as judges were, we are told,
equally good men. Milo was accused both of violence and bribery, but was
able to arrange that the former case should be tried first. The method
of the trial is explained. Fifty-one judges or jurymen were at last
chosen. Schola was the first witness examined, and he exaggerated as
best he could the horror of the murder. When Marcellus, as advocate for
Milo, began to examine Schola, the people were so violent that the
President was forced to protect Marcellus by taking him within the
barrier of the judges' seats. Milo also was obliged to demand protection
within the court. Pompey, then sitting at the Treasury, and frightened
by the clamor, declared that he himself would come down with troops on
the next day. After the hearing of the evidence the Tribune Munatius
Plancus harangued the people, and begged them to come in great numbers
on the morrow so that Milo might not be allowed to escape. On the
following day, which was the 11th of April, all the taverns were shut.
Pompey filled the Forum and every approach to it with his soldiers. He
himself remained seated at the Treasury as before, surrounded by a
picked body of men. At the trial on this day, when three of the
advocates against Milo had spoken--Appius, Marc Antony, and Valerius
Nepos--Cicero stood up to defend the criminal. Brutus had prepared an
oration declaring that the killing of Clodius was in itself a good deed,
and praiseworthy on behalf of the Republic; but to this speech Cicero
refused his consent, arguing that a man could not legally be killed
simply because his death was to be desired, and Brutus's speech was not
spoken. Witnesses had declared that Milo had lain in wait for Clodius.
This Cicero alleged to be false, contending that Clodius had lain in
wait for Milo, and he endeavored to make this point and no other. "But
it is proved," says Asconius, "that neither of the men had any design of
violence on that day; that they met by chance, and that the killing of
Clodius had come from the quarrelling of the slaves. It was well known
that each had often threatened the death of the other. Milo's slaves had
no doubt been mu