Per idem tempus P. Clodius, homo nobilis, disertus, audax, quique dicendi neque faciendi ullum nisi quem vellet nosset modum, malorum propositorum exsecutor acerrimus, cum graves inimicitias cum M. Cicerone exerceret (quid enim inter tam {5} dissimilis amicum esse poterat?) et a patribus ad plebem transisset, legem in tribunatu tulit, qui civem Romanum non damnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur: cuius verbis etsi non nominabatur Cicero, tamen solus petebatur. Ita vir optime {10} meritus de re publica conservatae patriae pretium calamitatem exili tulit. Non caruerunt suspicione oppressi Ciceronis Caesar et Pompeius. Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod inter xx viros dividendo agro Campano esse noluisset. Idem intra {15} biennium sera Cn. Pompei cura, verum ut coepit intenta, votisque Italiae ac decretis senatus, virtute atque actione Anni Milonis tribuni pl. dignitati patriaeque restitutus est. Neque post Numidici exilium ac reditum quisquam aut expulsus invidiosius {20} aut receptus est laetius: cuius domus quam infeste a Clodio disiecta erat, tam speciose a senatu restituta est. VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, ii. 45. [Linenotes: 6-7. +a patribus ... transisset.+ When Cicero refused to throw in his lot with the Triumvirs, Publius Clodius was (by the aid of Caesar as Pontifex Maximus) hurriedly transferred from a patrician to a plebeian gens, and then chosen a tribune of the people for the year 58 B.C. Clodius was thus enabled to satisfy his private hatred of Cicero, and Caesar was enabled to get rid of the man who persisted in opposing him. 7-8. +qui ... interemisset:+ aimed at Cicero for his share in the summary execution of the Catilinarians 63 B.C. Mommsen calls it a judicial murder. Undoubtedly the Senate had not the power of sentencing _citizens_ to death. But Cicero argues that the legal effect of the _Senatus consultum ultimum_ was to _disenfranchise_ Lentulus and his associates, and to place them in the position of _outlaws_. 12-13. +Non caruerunt ... Pompeius:+ Caesar having in vain tried to win him over abandoned him to his fate, and Pompeius basely deserted him. 15. +dividendo agro Campano+, i.e. by Caesar’s Agrarian Law of 59 B.C., to provide for Pompey’s veterans. 18. +Anni Milonis:+ the bravoes of Milo protected from disturbance the voters engaged in sanctioning the decree for the recall of Cicero. 19. +Numidici+, i.e. Q. Caecilius Metellus, general against Jugurtha, superseded by Marius and forced to retire to Rhodes.] B45 CICERO IN EXILE, MARCH 58 B.C.-AUGUST 57 B.C. (2) _His Return._