The Age of Caesar: Five Roman Lives by Plutarch

Author:Plutarch
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2017-01-31T05:00:00+00:00

He begat children against Apollo’s wishes.96

When Marcus Gellius, who was thought to be the son of a slave, had read some letters to the Senate in a shrill, loud voice, Cicero said, “Don’t be surprised! He too is one of those who have called out their liberty.”97 When Faustus Sulla, the son of the dictator at Rome who had posted bills proscribing and condemning many people to death,98 had so squandered his estate and got into debt that he was forced to post bills for the sale of his household goods, Cicero said he liked these bills better than those of his father.

28. On this account he became disliked by many, and Clodius’ partisans joined forces against him on the following occasion. Clodius was a man of noble birth, young in years, but in spirit bold and audacious. This man, being in love with Caesar’s wife, stole into his house in secret, having donned the dress and ornaments of a lute-girl. The women were celebrating there that secret rite that men are not allowed to witness, and no man was present.99 But being still a beardless youth,100 Clodius hoped to reach Pompeia along with the other women without being detected.101 But since it was night when he entered the large house he lost his way in the corridors; and as he wandered about, a maidservant of Aurelia, Caesar’s mother, caught sight of him and asked him his name. Forced to speak, he said that he was looking for an attendant of Pompeia named Abra. At this the maid, perceiving that his voice was not a woman’s, shrieked out and called the women together. And they, after shutting the doors, searched everywhere, and eventually found Clodius, who had taken refuge in the room of the girl with whom he had come in.102 The incident having become notorious, Caesar divorced his wife, and one of the tribunes indicted Clodius for sacrilege.103

29. Cicero was at this time a friend of Clodius, and in the conspiracy of Catiline had found him useful as one of his readiest assistants and protectors. But when Clodius, in answering the charge against him, insisted that he had not even been in Rome at the time, but was staying at country places far away, Cicero testified that he had come to his house and conversed with him about various matters; which was true, though Cicero was thought to testify to it not so much for truth’s sake as to defend himself against the charges of his own wife, Terentia. For she bore a grudge against Clodius on account of his sister Clodia, whom Terentia thought wished to marry Cicero and was contriving this with the help of Tullus of Tarentum, a close friend of Cicero; and her husband’s frequent visits to Clodia, who lived in their neighborhood, and the attentions he paid her had made Terentia suspicious. Being a woman of harsh temper, and having the upper hand over Cicero, she urged him to join the attack upon Clodius and testify against him.

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