during a mutiny instigated by himself. Returning
to Rome in 65, he prosecuted Catiline for extortion, but was bribed by
him to procure acquittal. There seems no reason to believe that Clodius
was implicated in the Catilinarian conspiracy; indeed, according to
Plutarch (_Cicero_, 29), he rendered Cicero every assistance and acted
as one of his body-guard. The affair of the mysteries of the Bona Dea,
however, caused a breach between Clodius and Cicero in December 62.
Clodius, dressed as a woman (men were not admitted to the mysteries),
entered the house of Caesar, where the mysteries were being celebrated,
in order to carry on an intrigue with Caesar's wife. He was detected and
brought to trial, but escaped condemnation by bribing the jury. Cicero's
violent attacks on this occasion inspired Clodius with the desire for
revenge. On his return from Sicily (where he had been quaestor in 61) he
renounced his patrician rank, and, having with the connivance of Caesar
been adopted by a certain P. Fonteius, was elected tribune of the people
(10th of December 59). His first act was to bring forward certain laws
calculated to secure him the popular favour. Corn, instead of being sold
at a low rate, was to be distributed gratuitously once a month; the
right of taking the omens on a fixed day and (if they were declared
unfavourable) of preventing the assembly of the comitia, possessed by
every magistrate by the terms of the Lex Aelia Fufia, was abolished; the
old clubs or gilds of workmen were re-established; the censors were
forbidden to exclude any citizen from the senate or inflict any
punishment upon him unless he had been publicly accused and condemned.
He then contrived to get rid of Cicero (q.v.) and the younger Cato
(q.v.), who was sent to Cyprus as praetor to take possession of the
island and the royal treasures. Cicero's property was confiscated by
order of Clodius, his house on the Palatine burned down, and its site
put up to auction. It was purchased by Clodius himself, who, not wishing
to appear in the matter, put up some one to bid for him. After the
departure of Caesar for Gaul, Clodius became practically master of Rome
with the aid of armed ruffians and a system of secret societies. In 57
one of the tribunes proposed the recall of Cicero, and Clodius resorted
to force to prevent the passing of the decree, but was foiled by Titus
Annius Milo (q.v.), who brought up an armed band sufficiently strong to
hold him in check. Cl