[44]
All these men had a reason,—not an adequate one, indeed, (for no
one can have an adequate reason for proving a bad citizen to the republic,)
but still they had a serious reason, and one connected with some indignation
of mind not unbecoming to a man. Publius Clodius came out as a popular
character from saffron gowns and turbans, and woman's slippers, and purple
bands, and stomachers, and singing, and iniquity, and adultery. If the women
had not caught him in this dress, if he had not been allowed to escape by
the indulgence of the maid servants, from a place which it was impious for
him to enter, the Roman people would have lost their devoted friend, the
republic would have been deprived of so energetic a citizen. It is in
consequence of this insane conduct, amid our dissensions, for which we are
by these recent prodigies admonished by the immortal gods, that one of the
patricians has been taken from their number to be made a tribune of the
people, in direct violation of the laws.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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