.

CLUENTIUS HABITUS, AULUS, of Larinum in Samnium, the hero of a Roman
_cause celebre_. In 74 B.C. he accused his stepfather Statius Albius
Oppianicus of an attempt to poison him; had it been successful, the
property of Cluentius would have fallen to his mother Sassia. Oppianicus
and two others were condemned, and some years later Oppianicus died in
exile. But the verdict was looked upon with suspicion, and it was known
for a fact that one of the jurymen had received a large sum of money for
distribution amongst his colleagues. The result was the degradation of
Cluentius himself and several of the jurymen. In 66, Sassia induced her
stepson Oppianicus to charge Cluentius with having caused the elder
Oppianicus to be poisoned while in exile. On this occasion the defence
was undertaken by Cicero in the extant speech _Pro Cluentio_. In the end
Cluentius was acquitted. Cicero afterwards boasted openly that he had
thrown dust in the eyes of the jury (Quintilian, _Instit._ ii. 17. 21,
who quotes this speech more than any other). His efforts are chiefly
devoted to proving that the condemnation of the elder Oppianicus was
just and in no way the result of the jury having been bribed by
Cluentius; only a small portion of the end of the speech deals with the
specific charge. It was generally believed that the verdict in the
former trial was an unfair one; and this opinion was most prejudicial to
Cluentius. But even if it could be shown that Cluentius had bribed the
jurymen, this did not prove that he had poisoned Oppianicus, although it
supplied a sufficient reason for wishing to get him out of the way. The
speech delivered by Cicero on this occasion is considered one of his
best.

Editions of the speech by W. Y. Fausset (1887), W. Ramsay (1883); see
also H. Nettleship, _Lectures and Essays_ (1885).

CLUMP, a word common to Teutonic languages, meaning a mass, lump, group
or cluster of indefinite form, as a clump of grass or trees. The word is
used of a wooden and clumsy shoe, made out of one piece of wood, worn by
German peasants, and by transference is applied to the thick extra sole
added to heavy boots for rough wear. Shoemakers speak of "clumping" a
boot when it is mended by having a new sole fastened by nails and not
sewn by hand to the old sole.

CLUNES, a borough of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia, 97-1/2 m. by rail
N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 2426. It is the centre of an
agricultural, pastor