which it was within the scope
of the orator to make the jury believe that Clodius had in truth
prepared an ambuscade, that Clodius was of all Romans the worst, and
that Milo was loyal and true, and, in spite of a certain fierceness of
disposition, a good citizen at heart. We agree with Milo, who declared,
when banished, that he would never have been able to enjoy the fish of
Marseilles had Cicero spoken in the Forum the speech which he afterward
composed.

"I would not remind you," he says, "of Milo's Tribuneship, nor of all
his service to the State, unless I could make plain to you as daylight
the ambush which on that day was laid for him by his enemy. I will not
pray you to forgive a crime simply because Milo has been a good citizen;
nor, because the death of Clodius has been a blessing to us all, will I
therefore ask you to regard it as a deed worthy of praise. But if the
fact of the ambush be absolutely made evident, then I beseech you at any
rate to grant that a man may lawfully defend himself from the arrogance
and from the arms of his enemies."[57] From this may be seen the nature
of the arguments used. For the language the reader must turn to the
original. That it will be worth his while to do so he has the evidence
of all critics--especially that of Milo when he was eating sardines in
his exile, and of Quintilian when he was preparing his lessons on
rhetoric. It seems that Cicero had been twitted with using something of
a dominating tyranny in the Senate--which would hardly have been true,
as the prevailing influence of the moment was that of Pompey--but he
throws aside the insinuation very grandly. "Call it tyranny if you
please--if you think it that, rather than some little authority which
has grown from my services to the State, or some favor among good men
because of my rank. Call it what you will, while I am able to use it for
the defence of the good against the violence of the evil-minded."[58]
Then he describes the fashion in which these two men travelled on the
occasion--the fashion of travelling as it suited him to describe it. "If
you did not hear the details of the story, but could see simply a
picture of all that occurred, would it not appear which of them had
planned the attack, which of them was ignorant of all evil? One of them
was seated in his carriage, clad in his cloak, and with his wife beside
him. His garments, his clients, his companions all show how little
prepared he was for fighting. Th