Cicero was naturally indignant at all this. In a speech, delivered in the Senate early in this year, 56 B.C.he upbraids the Nobles with the folly and indecency of their conduct. "I am not surprised at Clodius; he does after his kind. But I am astonished at those men of sense and character, first, that they listen so readily when they hear a great citizen and a noble servant of the commonwealth traduced by the tongue of a scoundrel; next, that they hold a doctrine most contrary to their own interests, that the glory and dignity of any man are at the mercy of the insults of a rascal, bankrupt in fortune and reputation; lastly, that they do not appreciate, though I fancy they must have some suspicion of it, that these same wild and whirling words may one day be directed against themselves. . . Can we believe it that worthy citizens have brooked to gather to their bosoms and hold as their darling this fanged and deadly adder? With what bait did he catch them? 'We wish,' they say, 'that there should be some one to speak against Pompey, and to cast reproach on Pompey.' What! does Clodius cast reproach on Pompey by abusing him? I hope that great man, to whom I owe so much, will take what I say in the spirit in which it is meant; at any rate, I will speak my mind. To me, I protest, it seems that some reproach was cast on his noble and honoured name; but it was on the occasion when Clodius praised him to the skies."[1]
The situation was yet further complicated by- ↑ De har. Resp., 24, 50.
