I. Exordium
[1] The court is surrounded by armed men, but the jurors need not fear: the guards are not hostile to Milo, and all good men are on his side: the jurors are free to maintain justice.
perturbetur de
,
is alarmed for.
171.5
novi judici
, i.e. the special tribunal established by vote of the people to try all cases arising out of the brawl between Milo and Clodius. On this occasion the court was surrounded, not by the usual throng of spectators, but by an armed guard (see Introd., p. 170 of text), — hence
nova forma.
171.7
requirunt
,
miss, seek in vain.
171.9
pro templis
: see plan of Forum. The guards held the entrances to these temples as important strategic points for defence against the mob.
non . . . non adferunt aliquid
,
do not fail to bring something (of terror or constraint).
171.11
ut . . . possimus
,
so that we cannot even be relieved of fear (
non timere )
without some fear .
foro
,
judicio
: such a display of arms in places especially devoted to occupations of peace must necessarily cause some uneasiness.
171.14
si . . . putarem
: Cicero artfully assumes throughout the oration that the authorities (including Pompey) are on the side of Milo.
171.16
me recreat
: to preserve the emphatic position we may change the voice, —
I am reassured; so
reficit
,
I am revived.
171.17
justitiae suae
: §
343
, c (214, d); cf. B. 198, 3; cf. G. 366; cf. H. 439 (401); H.-B. 340; 50
sapientiae in 1.19.
171.18
putaret
,
would not have thought: §
446
(311, a); B. 280, 4; G. 258; H. 552, 554, 2, 3 (485 and N.1); H.-B. 519, 2.
tradidisset
, subj. of integral part.
171.21
illa arma
, etc.: on the first day of the trial, when M. Marcellus began to cross-examine one of the witnesses against Milo, he was so terrified by the rush of the mob that he took refuge on the
praetor's bench. Pompey, alarmed by the same disturbance, came down next day with an armed guard, and the trial was allowed to proceed without interruption.
171.23
quieto
, etc.: i.e. not only to be undisturbed but to be greatly encouraged.
171.25
quae quidem est civium
,
so far at least as it consists of citizens (covertly suggesting that the supporters of Clodius were not citizens, but gladiators and the like).
171.26
neque . . . non
, etc.: notice the double negative, —
there is no one... who does not, etc.
171.30
decertari
(impersonal),
that the conflict is. Here Cicero suggests what one of the chief points of his defence is to be, — that Milo had always acted in defence of the state.
172.1
eorum
,
namely, of those: §
344
(214, e); B. 197; G. 368, a.; cf. H. 441 (397, I); H.-B. 349.
172.3
hesterna contione
,
yesterday's harangue. The day before, after the court adjourned, one T. Munatius Plancus (see sect.
12
) had harangued the crowd, urging them to be on hand next day and not suffer Milo to escape. On this day, the last of the trial, shops were closed throughout the city; Pompey posted guards in the Forum and all its approaches; he himself sat, as on the day before, in front of the Treasury, girt with a select body of troops. When Cicero began to speak, "he was received by an outcry of the party of Clodius, who could not be restrained even by fear of the surrounding soldiery."
172.4
judicaretis
: §
444
(268); B. 277; G. 259; H. 557 (486, ii); H.-B. 503.
172.6
retineatis
: the penalty for the offence with which Milo was charged was banishment, by which he would lose his rights as citizen.
172.11
locus
,
opportunity.
amplissimorum ordinum
: the court was made up of Senators,
equites, and
tribuni aerarii.
172.12
delectis
: the whole body of jurors (360) was selected, though the particular jury (of 51) was drawn by lot.
172.14
re et sententus
,
by act and verdict
[5] Unfortunate position of the defendant, whose efforts in behalf of the state have brought him before the Courts. Cicero declines t urge Milo's public services as a defence: he will rest the whole case on his ability to show that Clodius was the aggressor in the affray.
nobis duobus
,
than we two, i.e. the orator and his client. Cicero constantly associates himself with Milo in this fashion, thus not merely following the custom of advocates, but also representing Milo as engaged in the same kind of opposition to the dangerous elements in the state as that which had made his own consulship illustrious.
172.23
crudelissimorum
: exile was the worst that Milo had to fear. Here Cicero alludes to his own experience of it, which had resulted from his patriotic efforts against the Catilinarian conspirators.
172.24
ceteras
, etc.: it was to be expected that a politician should undergo abuse and even illegal violence in the stormy public life of the time, but such dangers were not to be anticipated in an impartial court.
172.27
ex cunctis ordinibus
: see note on
ordinum, sect.
4
(
p. 172, l. 11
).
172.29
salutem
, i.e. not his personal safety in the modern sense, but his political rights (see note on 1.23, above).
172.30
talis viros
: it was admitted, says Asconius, that no body of jurors had ever been more illustrious or just than those who composed this court.
173.1
quamquam
,
and yet (corrective).
tribunatu
: in the year
B.C. 57 Milo, as tribune, had materially assisted in procuring the recall of Cicero from banishment. It was partly gratitude for this service that led Cicero to undertake Milo's defence.
173.3
abutemur
,
take unfair advantage of Cicero declines to use Milo's services to the state as an argument in his favor, and boldly declares that he will put the case on the bare facts, contending that Milo acted in self-defence. But in the very act of declining to dwell on these services he subtly emphasizes them,
Commentary on Defense of Milo. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.
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