[1] After allowing only a short time to pass and watching for an opportunity when Clodius was absent from the city, Cicero went up with a great company to the capitol, and there tore away and destroyed the tablets of the tribunes, in which were the records of their administration. When Clodius brought charges against him for this and Cicero argued that it was illegal for Clodius to pass from the ranks of the patricians into the tribunate,
1
and that therefore none of his acts was valid, Cato was indignant and spoke against Cicero;
[2] not that he approved of Clodius, nay, he was actually displeased at his political course, but he set forth that it was a strange and violent measure for the senate to vote the abrogation of so many acts and decrees, among which were those for his own administration in Cyprus and Byzantium. This led to an antagonism between him and Cicero which came to no open manifestation, but made their friendly treatment of one another less marked.
Cicero. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1919.
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