robably
felt that, if he could carry the people with him, the College of Priests
would not hold the prey with grasping hands. The nineteen Consulares
would care little for the sanctity of the ground if they could be
brought to wish well to Cicero. He did his best. He wrote to Atticus
concerning it a few days after the speech was made, and declared that if
he had ever spoken well on any occasion he had done so then, so deep had
been his grief, and so great the importance of the occasion;[5] and he
at once informs his friend of the decision of the Bench, and of the
ground on which it was based. "If he who declares that he dedicated the
ground had not been appointed to that business by the people, nor had
been expressly commanded by the people to do it, then that spot of
ground can be restored without any breach of religion." Cicero asserts
that he was at once congratulated on having gained his cause, the world
knowing very well that no such authority had been conferred on Clodius.
In the present mood of Rome, all the priests, with the nineteen
Consulares, were no doubt willing that Cicero should have back his
ground. The Senate had to interpret the decision, and on the discussion
of the question among them Clodius endeavored to talk against time.
When, however, he had spoken for three hours, he allowed himself to be
coughed down. It may be seen that in some respects even Roman fortitude
has been excelled in our days.

In the first portion of this speech, Pro Domo Sua, Cicero devotes
himself to a matter which has no bearing on his house. Concomitant with
Cicero's return there had come a famine in Rome. Such a calamity was of
frequent occurrence, though I doubt whether their famines ever led to
mortality so frightful as that which desolated Ireland just before the
repeal of the Corn Laws. No records, as far as I am aware, have reached
us of men perishing in the streets; but scarcity was not uncommon, and
on such occasions complaints would become very loud. The feeding of the
people was a matter of great difficulty, and subject to various chances.
We do not at all know what was the number to be fed, including the free
and the slaves, but have been led by surmises to suppose that it was
under a million even in the time of Augustus. But even though the number
was no more than five hundred thousand at this time, the procuring of
food must have been a complicated and difficult matter. It was not
produced in the country. It was i