Cicero's
correspondent, Marcus Caelius, had thrown himself eagerly on Caesar's side
at the beginning of the war. He had been left as praetor at Rome when
Caesar went to Greece. He in his wisdom conceived that the wind was
changing, and that it was time for him to earn his pardon from Pompey. He
told the mob that Caesar would do nothing for them, that Caesar cared only
for his capitalists. He wrote privately to Cicero that he was bringing
them over to Pompey,[3] and he was doing it in the way in which
pretended revolutionists so often play into the hands of reactionaries. He
proposed a law in the Assembly in the spirit of Jack Cade, that no debts
should be paid in Rome for six years, and that every tenant should occupy
his house for two years free of rent. The administrators of the government
treated him as a madman, and deposed him from office. He left the city
pretending that he was going to Caesar. The once notorious Milo, who had
been in exile since his trial for the murder of Clodius, privately joined
him; and together they raised a band of gladiators in Campania, professing
to have a commission from Pompey. Milo was killed. Caelius fled to Thurii,
where he tried to seduce Caesar's garrison, and was put to death for his
treachery. The familiar actors in the drama were beginning to drop.
Bibulus was gone, and now Caelius and Milo.
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