There were still difficulties, however. Cicero, smarting from wrath and
mortification, was more angry with the aristocrats, who had deserted him,
than with his open enemies. His most intimate companions, he bitterly
said, had been false to him. He was looking regretfully on Caesar's
offers,[4] and cursing his folly for having rejected them. The people,
too, would not sacrifice their convictions at the first bidding for the
convenience of their leaders; and had neither forgotten nor forgiven the
killing of the Catiline conspirators; while Cicero, aware of the efforts
which were being made, had looked for new allies in an imprudent quarter.
His chosen friend on the conservative side was now Annius Milo, one of the
new tribunes, a man as disreputable as Clodius himself; deep in debt and
looking for a province to indemnify himself--famous hitherto in the
schools of gladiators, in whose arts he was a proficient, and whose
services were at his disposal for any lawless purpose.
[Sidenote: B.C. 57.]
A decree of banishment could only be recalled by the people who had
pronounced it. Clodius, though no longer in office, was still the idol of
the mob; and two of the tribunes, who were at first well inclined to
Cicero, had been gained over by him. As early as possible, on the first
day of the new year, Lentulus Spinther brought Cicero's case before the
Senate.
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