Caesar, Julius; Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
The reader may remember a certain youth named Clodius, who had been
with Lucullus in Asia, and had been a chief instigator of the mutiny in
his army. He was Lucullus's brother-in-law, a member of the Claudian
family, a patrician of the patricians, and connected by blood and
marriage with the proudest members of the Senate. If Cicero is to be
believed, he had graduated even while a boy in every form of vice,
natural and unnatural. He was bold, clever, unprincipled, and
unscrupulous, with a slender diminutive figure and a delicate woman's
face. His name was Clodius Pulcher. Cicero played upon it and called
him Pulchellus Puer, "the pretty boy." Between this promising young man
and Caesar's wife Pompeia there had sprung up an acquaintance, which
Clodius was anxious to press to further extremes. Pompeia was difficult
of access, her mother-in-law Aurelia keeping a strict watch over her;
and Clodius, who was afraid of nothing, took advantage of the Bona Dea
festival to make his way into Caesar's house dressed as a woman.
Unfortunately for him, his disguise was detected. The insulted Vestals
and the other ladies who were present flew upon him like the dogs of
Actaeon, tore his borrowed garments from him, and drove him into the
street naked and wounded. The adventure became known. It was mentioned
in the Senate, and the College of Priests was ordered to hold an
inquiry. The college found that Clodius had committed sacrilege, and
the regular course in such cases was to send the offender to trial.
There was general unwillingness, however, to treat this matter
seriously. Clodius had many friends in the house, and even Cicero, who
was inclined at first to be severe, took on reflection a more lenient
view. Clodius had a sister, a light lady who, weary of her conquests
over her fashionable admirers, had tried her fascinations on the great
orator. He had escaped complete subjugation, but he had been flattered
by the attention of the seductive beauty, and was ready to help her
brother out of his difficulty. Clodius was not yet the dangerous
desperado which he afterward became; and immorality, though seasoned
with impiety, might easily, it was thought, be made too much of. Caesar
himself did not press for punishment. As president of the college, he
had acquiesced in their decision, and he divorced the unfortunate
Pompeia; but he expressed no opinion as to the extent of her
criminality, and he gave as his reason for separating from her, not
that she was guilty, but that Caesar's wife must be above suspicion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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