course, and to show
that Clodius had been the aggressor, having deliberately laid an ambush
for Milo, of whose meditated journey to Lanuvium he was of course aware.
Unfortunately for his client the case broke down. Milo had evidently
left Rome and the conflict had happened much earlier than was said,
because the body of the murdered man had reached the capital not later
than five o'clock in the afternoon. This disproved the assertion that
Clodius had loitered on his way back to Rome till the growing darkness
gave him an opportunity of attacking his adversaries. Then it came out
that Milo had had in his retinue, besides the women and boys, a number
of fighting men. Finally there was the damning fact, established, it
would seem, by competent witnesses, that Clodius had been dragged from
his hiding-place and put to death. Cicero too lost his presence of mind.
The sight of the city, in which all the shops were shut in expectation
of a riot, the presence of the soldiers in court, and the clamor of a
mob furiously hostile to the accused and his advocate, confounded him,
and he spoke feebly and hesitatingly. The admirable oration which has
come down to us, and professes to have been delivered on this occasion,
was really written afterwards. The jury, which was allowed by common
consent to have been one of the best ever assembled, gave a verdict of
guilty. Milo went into banishment at Marseilles--a punishment which he
seems to have borne very easily, if it is true that when Cicero excused
himself for the want of courage which had marred the effect of his
defense, he answered, "It was all for the best; if you had spoken
better I should never have tasted these admirable Marseilles mullets."

Naturally he tired of the mullets before long. When Caesar had made
himself master of Rome, he hoped to be recalled from banishment. But
Caesar did not want him, and preferred to have him where he was. Enraged
at this treatment, he came over to Italy and attempted to raise an
insurrection in favor of Pompey. The troops whom he endeavored to
corrupt refused to follow him. He retreated with his few followers into
the extreme south of the peninsula, and was there killed.

CHAPTER XII.

CATO, BRUTUS, AND PORCIA.

"From his earliest years," so runs the character that has come down to
us of Cato, "he was resolute to obstinacy. Flattery met with a rough
repulse, and threats with resistance. He never laughed, and his smile
was of the slig