aediles for
69, and of praetors for 66 (_in Pis._ 2); as praetor he presided over
the court for the trial of cases of _repetundae_ (_pro Clu._ 147). His
canvass for the consulship of 63 began as early as July 65 (_ad Att._
i. 1, 1); he was returned with C. Antonius as his colleague (_in Pis._
3). His services to the State in 63 in the crushing of the
Catilinarian conspiracy need not be dwelt on here: his activity as an
orator in that year was great, and he passed a law against undue
influence by candidates, 'Lex Tullia de ambitu' (_in Vat._ 37). He
waived his right to a province, allowing Metellus Celer to take Gaul.

In 58 the hostility of P. Clodius effected Cicero's banishment, on the
ground that he had put the Catilinarian conspirators to death without
trial. Retiring at first to Vibo, in Lucania, he moved successively to
Sicily, Thurii, Tarentum, Brundisium, Dyrrhachium, Thessalonica, and
Athens. At Dyrrhachium he resided from November 58 to August 57, when,
after several unsuccessful efforts by his friends, a law was passed
for his recall.

In 53 he was chosen augur in succession to the younger Crassus (Plut.
_Cic._ 36), and two years later was appointed proconsul of Cilicia,
under the new arrangement providing for an interval of five years
between office in Rome and the government of a province. There he
carried on a petty warfare with the mountaineers, and captured the
fort of Pindenissus (a success for which the Senate decreed a
_supplicatio_), occupying the winter with judicial business in the
towns. His absence from the centre of affairs, though it lasted only a
year, was most distasteful to him; cf. _ad Att._ v. 11, 1, 'Ne
provincia nobis prorogetur, per fortunas! dum ades, quidquid provideri
potest, provide: non dici potest quam flagrem desiderio urbis, quam
vix harum rerum insulsitatem feram.' For his just dealing with the
provincials, cf. _ad Att._ v. 21, 5.

In November, 50, Cicero returned to Italy, to find a crisis imminent,
and finally cast in his lot with the senatorial party. He left Rome
with the consuls and the leading _optimates_, and for some time had
charge of the district of Capua (_ad Fam._ xvi. 11, 3, 'nos Capuam
sumpsimus'). On 7th June, B.C. 49, he embarked to join Pompey in
Epirus, though far from enthusiastic for his leadership (_ad Fam._
vii. 3, 2, 'mei facti poenituit... Nihil boni praeter causam.') The
chiefs of the party looked upon him with suspicion, and he was not
present at