on an episode illustrating his affectionate care of
Curio during Curio's youth. The elder Curio lies upon a couch, prostrate
with grief at the wreck which his son has brought on the house by his
dissolute life and his extravagance. The younger Curio throws himself at
Cicero's feet in tears. Like a foster-father, Cicero induces the young
man to break off his evil habits, and persuades the father to forgive him
and pay his debts. This scene which he describes here, reminds us of
Curio's first appearance in Cicero's correspondence, where, with Curio's
wild life in mind, he is spoken of as _filiola Curionis_.[121]

It is an appropriate thing that a man destined to lead so stormy a life as
Curio did, should come on the stage as a leader in the wild turmoil of the
Clodian affair. What brought the two Curios to the front in this matter as
champions of Cicero's future enemy Clodius, it is not easy to say. It is
interesting to notice in passing, however, that our Curio enters politics
as a Democrat. He was the leader, in fact, of the younger element in that
party, of the "Catilinarian crowd," as Cicero styles them, and arrayed
himself against Lucullus, Hortensius, Messala, and other prominent
Conservatives. What the methods were which Curio and his followers
adopted, Cicero graphically describes.[122] They blocked up the entrances
to the polling places with professional rowdies, and allowed only one kind
of ballots to be distributed to the voters. This was in 61 B.C., when
Curio can scarcely have been more than twenty-three years old.

In the following year Caesar was back in Rome from his successful
propraetorship in Spain, and found little difficulty in persuading Pompey
and Crassus to join him in forming that political compact which controlled
the fortunes of Rome for the next ten years. As a part of the agreement,
Caesar was made consul in 59 B.C., and forced his radical legislation
through the popular assembly in spite of the violent opposition of the
Conservatives. This is the year, too, of the candidacy of Clodius for the
tribunate. Toward both these movements the attitude of Curio is puzzling.
He reports to Cicero[123] that Clodius's main object in running for the
tribunate is to repeal the legislation of Caesar. It is strange that a man
who had been in the counsels of Clodius, and was so shrewd on other
occasions in interpreting political motives, can have been so deceived. We
can hardly believe that he was double-faced