ed in regular adoptions--so that, on the
first proposal, it seemed too extravagant to be treated seriously, and
would soon have been hissed off with scorn, had it not been concerted
and privately supported by persons of much more weight than Clodius.
Caesar was at the bottom of it, and Pompey secretly favored it--not that
they intended to ruin Cicero, but to keep him only under the lash--and
if they could not draw him into their measures, to make him at least sit
quiet, and let Clodius loose upon him."[240]

This, no doubt, was the intention of the political leaders in Rome at
this conjunction of affairs. It had been found impossible to draw Cicero
gently into the net, so that he should become one of them. If he would
live quietly at his Antian or Tusculan villa, amid his books and
writings, he should be treated with all respect; he should be borne
with, even though he talked so much of his own Consulate. But if he
would interfere with the politics of the day, and would not come into
the net, then he must be dealt with. Caesar seems to have respected
Cicero always, and even to have liked him; but he was not minded to put
up with a "friend" in Rome who from day to day abused all his projects.
In defending Antony, the Macedonian Proconsul who was condemned, Cicero
made some unpleasant remarks on the then condition of things. Caesar, we
are told, when he heard of this, on the very spur of the moment, caused
Clodius to be accepted as a Plebeian.

In all this we are reminded of the absolute truth of Mommsen's verdict
on Rome, which I have already quoted more than once: "On the Roman
oligarchy of this period no judgment can be passed, save one of
inexorable and remorseless condemnation." How had it come to pass that
Caesar had the power of suddenly causing an edict to become law, whether
for good or for evil? Cicero's description of what took place is as
follows:[241] "About the sixth hour of the day, when I was defending my
colleague Antony in court, I took occasion to complain of certain things
which were being done in the Republic, and which I thought to be
injurious to my poor client. Some dishonest persons carried my words to
men in power"--meaning Caesar and Pompey--"not, indeed, my own words, but
words very different from mine. At the ninth hour on that very same day,
you, Clodius, were accepted as a Plebeian." Caesar, having been given to
understand that Cicero had been making himself disagreeable, was
determined not