Piso knew nothing--neither law, nor
rhetoric, nor war, nor his fellow-men. "His face was the face of some
half-human brute." "He was like a negro, a thing [_negotium_] without
sense or savor, a Cappadocian picked out of a drove in the
slave-market." [9]
Cicero was not taking the best means to regain his influence in the Senate
by stooping to vulgar brutality. He cannot be excused by the manners of
the age; his violence was the violence of a fluent orator whose temper ran
away with him, and who never resisted the temptation to insult an
opponent. It did not answer with him; he thought he was to be chief of the
Senate, and the most honored person in the State again; he found that he
had been allowed to return only to be surrounded by mosquitoes whose
delight was to sting him, while the Senate listened with indifference or
secret amusement. He had been promised the restoration of his property;
but he had a suit to prosecute before he could get it. Clodius had thought
to make sure of his Roman palace by dedicating it to "Liberty." Cicero
challenged the consecration. It was referred to the College of Priests,
and the College returned a judgment in Cicero's favor. The Senate voted
for the restoration. They voted sums for the rebuilding both of the palace
on the Palatine Hill and of the other villas, at the public expense.
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