All the wise and prudent men, even Cicero, held themselves in reserve, keeping an eye on the progress of events without compromising themselves too far; so that Cicero, writing at the end of January, 61, to Atticus, could give him to understand between the lines that the law would never be passed, and that the whole business would be brought to a stand-still by the fizzing away of the public anger. For the rest, this was the secret wish of all level-headed citizens, who, like Cicero, feared dreadful calamities, if the business were allowed to assume more serious proportions. But all the wiseacres reckoned without Cato and the Pietist party, and without the obstinacy of Messala, who, irritated by the stolid opposition of his colleague, countered it with a determined effort to get the law passed. Between them all, they worked and spoke with such effect that they succeeded in obtaining the support of Pompey, and in bringing the law before the _comitia_ in the first fortnight of February. Piso, however, was no less resolutely determined than Messala that the law he had proposed should not be passed, and, as it was his turn to preside over the meeting, he had recourse that day to every sort of subtle device to prevent the law being passed. He even went so far as to distribute to the voters only that tablet which they would use in rejecting the law. When the heads of the Conservative party, Cato, Hortensius, and Favonius, heard of this extraordinary intrigue, they hurried to the _comitia_ and began to address the people. Cato distinguished himself by a virulent attack on Piso. The speeches were effectual in preventing the law from being put to the vote, and therefore from being, as it assuredly would have been, rejected. They could not, however, procure its approval, which, from Clodius’s point of view, and for the moment at any rate, came to much the same thing. Men’s passions began to get the better of them. The _amour propre_ of the two small factions came more prominently into play the more the case assumed a political aspect. Inasmuch as the opposition of one of the two Consuls who had proposed the law was the greatest impediment to the approval of the law, means must be found for getting rid of Piso. The Pietists thought of exerting pressure upon him by means of the Senate. They summoned a meeting of the Senate on urgent business, and proposed a motion inviting the Consuls once more to join in recommending the law to the popular vote; in other words, intimating to Piso that he had better abandon his attitude of obstruction. A lively discussion ensued. The friends of Clodius opposed the motion with great energy; but it was carried by four hundred votes to fifteen. A truly crushing majority! Clodius’s act was so offensive to the public that few Senators dared openly to side with him, even though they were conscious that the law which was meant to bring him to book was fraught with danger.