his station with a strong reserve force at the door of the treasury of Saturn which overlooked the court. These precautions seem to have been absolutely necessary to preserve order, and we cannot fairly accuse Pompey, though his own wishes were against the prisoner, of attempting to coerce the jury. Cicero, who had throughout been unremitting in his exertions, and who owed Milo a debt of gratitude for many deeds of faithful partisanship, was sole counsel for the defence. It must have been a bitter disappointment to him that this speech was a failure. His nerve broke down in the presence of the drawn swords of the soldiers, and of the intense excitement of the by-standers. Perhaps likewise his great anxiety for success on this supreme occasion defeated its own object. Asconius tells us that the speech which he actually delivered was taken down by shorthand writers, and that it differed widely from the magnificent oration which he afterwards wrote out and published. When Cicero sent a copy to Milo in his exile, Milo is reported[1] to have said: "It is just as well that Cicero did not succeed in delivering this speech, or I should never have known the taste of these excellent mullets of Massilia."
Milo's name lives in those splendid pages; but probably Rome was well rid of him, as well as of Clodius. Cicero, to prove that Milo had no interest in killing Clodius, urges that while he lived Milo was a necessary man. Now he is dead, Milo's importance is diminished. "The killing was unintentional," he says, "and we can only thank the
- ↑ Dio Cassius, xl., 54.
