CICERO
14 IN CLODIUM ET CURIONEM
This was an invective that Cicero composed, probably in the summer of 61, based on a speech delivered in the senate on May 15 (the “Ides of May”: T 1), 61, in the aftermath of Clodius’ acquittal on the charge of sacrilege (TLRR 236). Like the Second Philippic, it is “staged” as a speech delivered in the senate, with direct address of the senators (F 1; cf. *F 33, an excerpt of the delivered speech). Cicero took pen in hand because Curio, who had been Clodius’ advocate at the trial, had published a pamphlet attacking him. Cicero changed his mind about publishing it, however, and though he thought he had thoroughly suppressed the work, it somehow leaked to the public during his exile in 58 (had it perhaps been found among his papers when some of his houses were pillaged and demolished?). He feared in particular the repercussions of the attacks on Curio, whose support he wanted to have as he sought to procure his recall, and he considered trying to deny
14 T 1 Cic. Att. 1.16[16].9 (. . . = *F 33)
Nam ut Idibus Maiis in senatum convenimus, rogatus ego sententiam multa dixi de summa re publica, atque ille locus inductus a me est divinitus, ne una plaga accepta
14 AGAINST CLODIUS AND CURIO
14 AGAINST CLODIUS AND CURIO (summer 61 bc)
authorship (T 2–3). Though the extant fragments include several references to Curio (F 7, 18, 20), the vast majority of them excoriate Clodius. As usual, Cicero is at pains to establish an ethos for himself as a temperate and serious statesman (F 1 and *33). The speech reflects banter with Clodius in the senate about Cicero’s Arpinate origin but possession of a property at Baiae (F 19–20; cf. Att. 1.16[16].10; Malaspina 1997b, 136–37). The topics of invective include Clodius’ impecuniousness both before and after the trial (F 6, 8–10, and possibly 32) and his general unreliability in financial dealings (F 16–17, 26), but above all his invasion of the rites of the Good Goddess, with emphasis on his feminine disguise (F 21–24) and his alleged goal, an affair with Caesar’s wife Pompeia (F 27–28). See further Tatum 1991, 370; Higbie 2017, 159–60; on the subsequent fate of the speech, La Bua 2019, 87.
14 T 1 Cicero, Letters to Atticus (. . . = *F 33)
The senate being convened on the Ides of May, when called upon to express my opinion, I spoke at length about general affairs of state, and I deftly introduced the topic