Pro Milone - Events Surrounding The Case

Events Surrounding The Case

Milo was a praetor at the time, attempting to gain the much-vaunted post of consul; Clodius was a former tribune standing for the office of praetor. The charge was brought against Milo for the death of Clodius following a violent altercation on the Via Appia outside Clodius' estate in Bovillae. After the initial brawl, it seems that Clodius was wounded during the fight started by his own slaves as well as those of Milo.

This was the sequence of events described by the prosecution and the commentary of Asconius, an ancient commentator who analyzed several of Cicero's speeches and had access to various ancient documents which are no longer extant. The absence of a summary of the chain of events in Cicero’s speech may be attributed to their incriminating evidence against Milo. Presumably, Cicero realized that this was the primary weakness, and as the trial unfolded it turned out to be so. We can assume from the fact that the jury did indeed convict Milo, that they felt that although Milo may not have been aware of Clodius's initial injury, his ordering of Clodius’s butchering warranted punishment.

When initially questioned about the circumstances of Clodius’s death, Milo responded with the excuse of self-defense, that it was Clodius who laid a trap for Milo in which he might kill him. Cicero had to fashion his speech to be congruent with Milo's initial excuse, restraint which probably affected the overall presentation of his case. In order to convince the jury of Milo’s innocence, Cicero used the fact that following Clodius's death, a mob of his own supporters, led by the scribe Sextus Cloelius, carried his corpse into the Senate house (curia) and cremated it using the benches, platforms, tables and scribes' notebooks as a pyre. In doing so they also burnt down much of the curia; the Clodian supporters in their fury also launched an attack on the house of the then interrex, Marcus Lepidus; and therefore Pompey ordered a special inquest to investigate this as well as the murder of Clodius. Cicero refers to this incident throughout the Pro Milone, implying that there was greater general indignation and uproar at the burning of the curia than there was at the murder of Clodius.

Due to the violent nature of the crime as well as its revolutionary repercussions (the case had special resonance with the Roman people as a symbol of the clash between the populares and the optimates), the special inquest set up by Pompey included a hand-picked panel of judges. This was in order to avoid the corruption that was rife in the political scene of the late Roman Republic. In addition, armed guards were stationed around the law courts to placate the violent mobs of each side's supporters.

The first four days of Milo’s trial were dedicated to opposition argument and the testimony of witnesses. On the first day Gaius Causinius Schola appeared as a witness against Milo and described the deed in such a way as to portray Milo as a cold-blooded murderer. This worked up the Clodian crowd who in turn terrified the advocate on Milo's side, Marcus Marcellus. As he began his questioning of the witnesses, the Clodian crowd drowned out his voice and surrounded him. This action taken by Pompey prevented too much furore from the vehemently anti-Milonian crowds for the rest of the case. On the second day of the trial the armed cohorts were introduced by Pompey. On the 5th and final day, Cicero delivered the Pro Milone in the hope of reversing the damning evidence accrued over the previous days.