Pompey was another object of his hatred, for he knew perfectly well that without his consent his great enemy would not have been restored.  Cicero gives a lively picture of a scene in the Senate, in which this hatred was vigorously expressed.  “Pompey spoke, or rather wished to speak; for, as soon as he rose, Clodius’ hired ruffians shouted at him.  All through his speech it was the same; he was interrupted not only by shouts but by abuse and curses.  When he came to an end—­and it must be allowed that he showed courage; nothing frightened him:  he said his say and sometimes even obtained silence—­then Clodius rose.  He was met with such an uproar from our side (for we had determined to give him back as good as he had given) that he could not collect his thoughts, control his speech, or command his countenance.  This went on from three o’clock, when Pompey had only just finished his speech, till five.  Meanwhile every kind of abuse, even to ribald verses, were shouted out against Clodius and his sister.  Pale with fury he turned to his followers, and in the midst of the uproar asked them, ’Who is it that is killing the people with hunger?’ ‘Pompey,’ they answered.  ‘Who wants to go to Alexandria?’ ‘Pompey,’ they answered again.  ‘And whom do you want to go?’ ‘Crassus,’ they said.  About six o’clock the party of Clodius began, at some given signal, it seemed, to spit at our side.  Our rage now burst out.  They tried to drive us from our place, and we made a charge.  The partisans of Clodius fled.  He was thrust down from the hustings.  I then made my escape, lest any thing worse should happen.”

A third enemy, and one whom Clodius was destined to find more dangerous than either Cicero or Pompey, was Annius Milo.  Milo was on the mother’s side of an old Latin family.  The name by which he was commonly known was probably a nickname given him, it may be, in joking allusion to the Milo of Crotona, the famous wrestler, who carried an ox on his shoulders and ate it in a single day.  For Milo was a great fighting man, a well-born gladiator, one who was for cutting all political knots with the sword.  He was ambitious, and aspired to the consulship; but the dignity was scarcely within his reach.  His family was not of the highest; he was deeply in debt; he had neither eloquence nor ability.  His best chance, therefore, was to attach himself to some powerful friend whose gratitude he might earn.  Just such a friend he seemed to find in Cicero.  He saw the great orator’s fortunes were very low, but they would probably rise again, and he would be grateful to those who helped him in his adversity.  Hence Milo’s exertions to bring him back from banishment and hence the quarrel with Clodius.  The two men had their bands of hired, or rather purchased, ruffians about the city, and came into frequent collisions.  Each indicted the other for murderous assault.  Each publicly declared that he should take the earliest chance of putting his I enemy to death.  What was probably a chance collision brought matters to a crisis.