Piso, however, did not allow this vote of the Senate to influence him. The discontent of the Popular party was increasing, and the public agitation, not in favour of Clodius, but against the law, was gathering force, being focussed on that particular provision which undoubtedly was the most dangerous, namely, the authority given to the Prætor to choose the judges from the panel of jurors instead of entrusting the choice to the fortune of the lot. The law, it is true, established this procedure only for the purposes of the action against Clodius. But was not the precedent a dangerous one? Would it not be possible, after this first experiment, to try to apply the same method to other cases? That would result in putting into the hands of the preponderant party a formidable weapon for the destruction of its adversaries: the giving to the Prætor in office the power to choose the judges who should be summoned to decide the numberless cases by means of which that party sought to deprive their rivals of their most influential leaders. So the struggle waxed fiercer and fiercer. Piso would not give way, and the Popular party supported him, never mentioning Clodius, but asserting that the law was unjust, dangerous, and deadly—that the death-blow would be given to the Republic on the day on which a magistrate, elected by, and bound by ties to, one party, was invested with the power to choose the judges for every law-suit. The Pietist party, supported by the majority of the Senate, and by the Sullan association, adopted the opposite tactics. It made light of the provisions of the law and the dangers anticipated and denounced by the Popular party. It protested that Clodius had committed a horrible sacrilege, and could not be allowed to go unpunished without compromising still further in the eyes of the disgusted and affrighted masses the waning authority of the State. Intrigues and plots thickened on this side and on that. Both sides endeavoured to influence public opinion, but in this attempt the Popular party was the more successful. For that party, by dint of dogged and dexterous efforts, and without paying any regard to the votes of the Senate, which was almost unanimously favourable to the opposite party, succeeded in persuading the public that the law was immoderate, tyrannical, and dangerous, especially in the matter of the powers entrusted to the Prætor.