[-18-] Clodius had now come to the office of aedile, in the year of Philippus and Marcellinus; being anxious to avoid the lawsuit he had got himself elected by a political combination.  He immediately instituted proceedings against Milo for procuring gladiators:  what he was doing himself and was likely to be brought to trial for he brought as a charge against his rival.  He did this not really in the expectation of convicting Milo,—­for the latter had many strong champions, among them Cicero and Pompey,—­but in order that under this pretext he might carry on a campaign against Milo and harass his helpers.  The following was one of his numerous devices. [-19-] He had instructed his clique that whenever he should ask them in the assemblies:  “Who was it that did or said so-and-so?” they should all cry out:  “Pompey!” Then on several occasions he would suddenly ask about everything that could be taken amiss in Pompey, either in physical peculiarities or any other respect, taking up various small topics, one at a time, as if he were not speaking of him particularly.  Thereupon, as usually happens in such cases, some would start off and others join in the refrain, saying “Pompey!” and there was considerable jeering.  The man attacked could not control himself and keep quiet nor would he stoop to a trick like Clodius’s, so that he grew exceedingly angry, yet could not stir:  thus nominally Milo was condemned, but in reality Pompey was convicted without even making a defence.  For Clodius went one step farther and would not allow the lex curiata to be brought up for discussion; and until that was enacted no other serious business could be transacted in the commonwealth or any suit introduced.

[-20-] For a season Milo served as a shield for their abuses and assassinations, but about this time some portents occurred.  In Albanum a small temple of Juno, set on a kind of table facing the east, was turned around to the west; a flash of light starting from the south shot across to the north; a wolf entered the city; an earthquake occurred; some of the citizens were killed by a thunderbolt; in Latin territory a subterranean tumult was distinctly heard:  and the soothsayers, being anxious to produce a remedy, said that some spirit was angry with them because of some temples or sites not inhabited for holy purposes.  Then Clodius substituted Cicero for Milo and attacked him vigorously in speeches because he had built upon the foundation of the house dedicated to Liberty; and once he went to it, with the apparent intention of razing it anew to the ground, though he did not do so, being prevented by Milo. [-21-] Cicero was angry at such treatment and kept making complaints, and finally with Milo and some tribunes as attendants he ascended the Capitol and took down the tablets set up by Clodius to commemorate his exile.  This time Clodius came up with his brother Gaius, a praetor, and took them away from him, but later he watched for a time when Clodius was out of town, ascended the