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Publius Clodius (c. 93-52 B.C.). The Reader's Biographical Encyclopaedia. 1922

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Publius Clodius (c. 93-52 B.C.). The Reader's Biographical Encyclopaedia. 1922 Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Bibliographic Record Hugh Chisholm, et al., eds.  The Reader’s Biographical Encyclopædia.  1922.
17,000 Articles from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th & 12th eds. Publius Clodius (c. 93–52 B.C.) [surnamed Pulcher 1].  Roman politician. He took part in the third Mithradatic war under his brother-in-law Lucius Licinius Lucullus, but considering himself treated with insufficient respect, he stirred up a revolt; another brother-in-law, Q. Marcius Rex, governor of Cilicia, gave him the command of his fleet, but he was captured by pirates. On his release he repaired to Syria, where he nearly lost his life during a mutiny instigated by himself. Returning to Rome in 65, he prosecuted Catiline for extortion, but was bribed by him to procure acquittal. There seems no reason to believe that Clodius was implicated in the Catilinarian conspiracy; indeed, according to Plutarch (Cicero, 29), he rendered Cicero every assistance and acted as one of his body-guard. The affair of the mysteries of the Bona Dea, however, caused a breach between Clodius and Cicero in December 62. Clodius, dressed as a woman (men were not admitted to the mysteries), entered the house of Cæsar, where the mysteries were being celebrated, in order to carry on an intrigue with Cæsar’s wife. He was detected and brought to trial, but escaped condemnation by bribing the jury. Cicero’s violent attacks on this occasion inspired Clodius with the desire for revenge. On his return from Sicily (where he had been quaestor in 61) he renounced his patrician rank, and, having with the connivance of Cæsar been adopted by a certain P. Fonteius, was elected tribune of the people (Dec. 10, 59). His first act was to bring forward certain laws calculated to secure him the popular favour. Corn, instead of being sold at a low rate, was to be distributed gratuitously once a month; the right of taking the omens on a fixed day and (if they were declared unfavourable) of preventing the assembly of the comitia, possessed by every magistrate by the terms of the Lex Aelia Fufia, was abolished; the old clubs or gilds of workmen were re-established; the censors were forbidden to exclude any citizen from the senate or inflict any punishment upon him unless he had been publicly accused and condemned. He then contrived to get rid of Cicero and the younger Cato, who was sent to Cyprus as praetor to take possession of the island and the royal treasures. Cicero’s property was confiscated by order of Clodius, his house on the Palatine burned down, and its site put up to auction. It was purchased by Clodius himself, who, not wishing to appear in the matter, put up some one to bid for him. After the departure of Cæsar for Gaul, Clodius became practically master of Rome with the aid of armed ruffians and a system of secret societies. In 57 one of the tribunes proposed the recall of Cicero, and Clodius resorted to force to prevent the passing of the decree, but was foiled by Titus Annius Milo, who brought up an armed band sufficiently strong to hold him in check. Clodius subsequently attacked the workmen who were rebuilding Cicero’s house at the public cost, assaulted Cicero himself in the street, and set fire to the house of Q. Cicero. In 56, when curule aedile, he impeached Milo for public violence (de vi), when defending his house against the attacks of Clodius, and also charged him with keeping armed bands in his service. Judicial proceedings were hindered by outbreaks of disturbance, and the matter was finally dropped. In 53, when Milo was a candidate for the consulship, and Clodius for the praetorship, the rivals collected armed bands and fights took place in the streets of Rome, and on the 20th of January 52 Clodius was slain near Bovillae.

1   His sister, Clodia, wife of Q. Caecilius Metellus Celer, was notorious for her numerous love affairs. It is now generally admitted that she was the Lesbia of Catullus (Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit., Eng. tr., 214, 3). For her intrigue with M. Caelius Rufus, whom she afterwards pursued with unrelenting hatred and accused of attempting to poison her, see Cicero, Pro Caelio, where she is represented as a woman of abandoned character.

2   AUTHORITIES.—Cicero, Letters (ed. Tyrrell and Purser), Pro Caelio, pro Sestio, pro Milone, pro Domo sua, de Haruspicum Responsis, in Pisonem; Plutarch, Lucullus, Pompey, Cicero, Cæsar; Dio Cassius xxxvi. 16, 19, xxxvii. 45, 46, 51, xxxviii. 12–14, xxxix. 6, 11, xl. 48. See also I. Gentile, Clodio e Cicerone (Milan, 1876); E. S. Beesley, “Cicero and Clodius,” in Fortnightly Review, v.; G. Lacour-Gayet, De P. Clodio Pulchro (Paris, 1888), and in Revue historique (Sept. 1889); H. White, Cicero, Clodius and Milo (New York, 1900); G. Boissier, Cicero and his Friends (Eng. trans., 1897).

3 Footnotes

1. It is suggested (W. M. Lindsay, The Latin Language, p. 41) that he changed his name Claudius into the plebeian form Clodius, in order to gain the favour of the mob. [back]

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