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CLODIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 554 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLODIUS ,1 PUBLIUS (c. 93-52 B.C.), surnamed PULCHER, See also:

Roman politician. He took See also:part in the third Mithradatic See also:war under his See also:brother-in-See also:law See also:Lucius See also:Licinius See also:Lucullus, but considering himself treated with insufficient respect, he stirred up a revolt; another brother-in-law, Q. Marcius Rex, See also:governor of See also:Cilicia, gave him the command of his See also:fleet, but he was captured by pirates. On his See also:release he repaired to See also:Syria, where he nearly lost his See also:life during a See also:mutiny instigated by himself. Returning to See also:Rome in 65, he prosecuted See also:Catiline for See also:extortion, but was bribed by him to procure acquittal. There seems no See also:reason to believe that Clodius was implicated in the Catilinarian See also:conspiracy; indeed, according to See also:Plutarch (See also:Cicero, 29), he rendered Cicero every assistance and acted as one of his See also:body-guard. The affair of the mysteries of the See also:Bona Dea, however, caused a See also:breach between Clodius and Cicero in See also:December 62. Clodius, dressed as a woman (men were not admitted to the mysteries), entered the See also:house of See also:Caesar, where the mysteries were being celebrated, in See also:order to carry on an intrigue with Caesar's wife. He was detected and brought to trial, but escaped condemnation by bribing the See also:jury. Cicero's violent attacks on this occasion inspired Clodius with the See also:desire for revenge. On his return from See also:Sicily (where he had been See also:quaestor in 6r) he renounced his patrician See also:rank, and, having with the connivance of Caesar been adopted by a certain P.

Fonteius, was elected See also:

tribune of the See also:people (loth of December 59). His first See also:act was to'bring forward certain See also:laws calculated to secure him the popular favour. See also:Corn, instead of being sold at a See also:low See also:rate, was to be distributed gratuitously once a See also:month; the right of taking the omens on a fixed See also:day and (if they were declared unfavourable) of preventing the See also:assembly of the See also:comitia, possessed by every See also:magistrate by the terms of the Lex Aelia Fufia, was abolished; the old clubs or See also:gilds of workmen were re-established; the censors were forbidden to exclude any See also:citizen from the See also:senate or inflict any See also:punishment upon him unless he had°been publicly accused and condemned. He then contrived to get rid of Cicero (q.v.) and the younger See also:Cato (q.v.), who was sent to See also:Cyprus as See also:praetor to take See also:possession of the See also:island and the royal treasures. Cicero's See also:property was confiscated by order of Clodius, his house on the See also:Palatine burned down, and its site put up to See also:auction. It was See also:purchased by Clodius himself, who, not wishing to appear in the See also:matter, put up some one to bid for him. After the departure of Caesar for See also:Gaul, Clodius became practically See also:master of Rome with the aid of armed ruffians and a See also:system of See also:secret See also:societies. In 57 one of the tribunes proposed the recall of Cicero, and Clodius resorted to force to prevent the passing of the See also:decree, but was foiled by See also:Titus Annius See also:Milo (q.v.), who brought up an armed See also: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 See also:street, and set See also:fire to the house of Q. Cicero. In 56, when See also:curule See also: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 See also:

candidate for the consulship, and Clodius for the praetorship, the rivals collected armed bands and fights took See also:place in the streets of Rome, and on the loth of See also:January 52 Clodius was slain near See also:Bovillae. His See also:sister, See also:CLODIA, wife of Q. See also:Caecilius See also:Metellus Celer, was notorious for her numerous love affairs. It is now generally admitted that she was the Lesbia of See also:Catullus (See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Lit., Eng. tr., 214, 3). For her intrigue with M. Caelius See also:Rufus, whom she afterwards pursued with unrelenting 1 It is suggested (W. M. See also:Lindsay, The Latin See also:Language, p. 41) that he changed his name See also:Claudius into the plebeian See also:form Clodius, in order to gain the favour of the See also:mob. hatred and accused of attempting to See also:poison her, see Cicero, See also:Pro Caelio, where she is represented as a woman of abandoned See also:character.

End of Article: CLODIUS

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