Publius Clodius Pulcher was one of the Tribunes
of the Plebs in 58 BCE, and we're going to talk about what he did during his year, but
first we have to set the stage a bit. Before 58, Clodius had been a minor player
in the Reform Faction. He was around for some of the events that
we've talked about already. Clodius, or, Claudius as he was known at this
time, served as one of Cicero's bodyguards during the Catiline Conspiracy in 63. Then, at the end of Cato's year as Tribune
of the Plebs in 62, Claudius was caught in a sex scandal. Here's the short version: a religious ceremony
was being held in Julius Caesar's home. This particular ceremony could only be performed
by women, so Caesar was gone and his wife Pompeia was leading it. For some stupid reason, Claudius dressed up
as a woman and snuck into the ceremony intent on seducing Caesar's wife. He was discovered. Obviously. As you can imagine, this was a juicy scandal,
and it would become the obsession of the political class. Caesar would end up divorcing his wife because
of this incident. Claudius was put on trial for committing a
sacrilege, and what followed became the trial of the century. Improbably, Caesar ended up as one of Claudius's
most vocal supporters. This seems weird to us, and it seemed weird
to people at the time, but these men were both Reformers, and apparently Caesar was
more interested in supporting his political ally than his own wife. Claudius's whole defense was that he wasn't
even in Rome on the day in question. Cicero was the only person willing to testify
that that wasn't true. Claudius saw this as a betrayal, and he wouldn't
forget it. Against all odds, Claudius was acquitted. Word is that both judge and jury benefited
from huge bribes from prominent Reformers. The ruling was just as scandalous as the crime
itself. Anyway, let's jump ahead. Claudius would go on to be elected Quaestor,
and would receive a lifetime appointment to the Senate as a result. During Caesar's year in 59 BCE, Claudius got
it into his head that he wanted to run for Tribune of the Plebs. Why? Here's my theory: the system for electing
Praetors and Consuls was heavily weighted towards the rich and powerful. These people hated Claudius's guts from the
whole sex scandal thing. He was still a few years away from being eligable
for Praetor, but he needed to beef up his resume if he wanted to stand a chance. Plus, we shouldn't overlook the fact that
Caesar's election in 59 was a big turning point for the Reform faction. They had been in the political wilderness
ever since the Catiline Conspiracy, and Claudius was eager to be a part Caesar's new populist
wave. But there was one catch: Claudius was part
of an old, patrician family, and was therefore ineligible to run for Tribune of the Plebs. The hint is in the name, the Tribune actually
had to be a plebeian. So with the help of Caesar and Pompey, Claudius
came up with a scheme to get around this restriction. He renounced his patrician status, and was
adopted into some random plebeian family, with Caesar as Rome's head priest conducting
the adoption ceremony. The whole thing was a farce - his new adoptive
father was younger than he was. To show off his new plebeian status, Claudius
changed his name to Clodius, and immediately threw his hat in the ring to become one of
next year's Tribunes of the Plebs. He won. I've mentioned this before, but Tribunes of
the Plebs started their terms in December, so he got to overlap a little bit with Caesar's
term as Consul. The first notable thing he did - and we can
now recognize the full importance of this act - was to veto Bibulus's final speech on
his last day as Consul. Clodius wanted to align himself publicly with
Caesar, and humiliating Bibulus was a great way to do just that. Clodius came in with a full slate of populist
reforms he wanted to pass. Very ambitious for a Tribune of the Plebs. First he proposed a bill that made the Grain
Dole not just heavily subsidized, but 100% free for all qualifying Romans. You can just imagine how this drove the Conservatives
crazy. Cato had radically expanded the Grain Dole
in an attempt to mollify the Reformers. I guess it didn't work. After Cato and Clodius expanded and deepened
the Grain Dole, it took up a significant portion of Rome's annual budget. Cicero raised objections to the high cost
of this bill, just like he did last time with Cato, but with two Reformers as Consuls, Cicero
didn't have enough support to halt the momentum of the populists. The bill passed. Clodius then introduced a bill further aligning
himself with Caesar. The bill would take away the Consul's ability
to shut down public business over "bad omens." This is one of the tools that Bibulus had
used when he attempted to undermine Caesar's year as Consul. With this bill, the message was clear. The Reformers intended to have electoral success
going forward, and these little procedural tricks weren't going to fly anymore. What Bibulus did was still very unpopular
with the public, so the bill passed easily. Cato had made Caesar's life a living hell
during his year, and Clodius wanted to eliminate him as a potential threat. His plan was a little complicated, but here
it goes: Clodius argued that in the East, the island of Cyprus, which was an autonomous
region under Egypt's influence, rightfully belonged to Rome. Remember: Egypt had been left in a will to
the Roman Republic, and Rome hadn't done anything about it, so Caesar had settled the issue
by accepting huge bribes and renouncing Rome's claim. Clodius introduced legislation arguing that
this deal didn't extend to Cyprus, since it wasn't technically part of Egypt. Was Clodius right? In a strictly legal sense, maybe, but it seems
clear to me that the spirit of Caesar's deal with Ptolemy was that Rome would leave Egypt
alone. After only a year, Rome was beginning to chip
away at that agreement. After that bill passed, he followed it up
with another one saying that Cato should officially oversee Rome's annexation of Cyprus. This was just a ploy to get Cato out of the
way by sending him overseas to do a job that any nameless bureaucrat could do, but Cato
felt honour bound to obey the will of the Senate, so he went. Clodius was a busy lad, but it was all building
to a purpose. He introduced another piece of legislation,
taking away the provinces that had been assigned to the sitting Consuls, and giving them more
prestigious and wealthy ones instead. Clodius was doing two things here: he was
signaling to the Reformers that "we take care of our own," and he was basically bribing
the Consuls for what was to come next. Now the stage was set. All of Clodius's machinations so far were
building to this. He introduced a bill that would make it retroactively
illegal for any public official to execute any citizen without trial. Key word: retroactively. There was no mistaking who this bill was targeting. The only living person it applied to was Cicero,
who had executed the ringleaders of the Catiline Conspiracy in his year. He had done so with the approval of the Senate,
but it didn't matter, this bill would make it illegal anyway. The two sitting Consuls, being sympathetic
Reformers and sufficiently bribed, backed the bill. It's a testament to the strong populist energy
in the air that Cicero's personal popularity in the Senate wasn't enough to stop this from
happening. The bill passed. Finally, Clodius would have his revenge. He officially charged Cicero for the executions
of the prisoners during the Catiline Conspiracy. When they went to trial, Clodius seemed to
be getting a lot of support from the people. At times the audience in attendance could
get pretty rowdy, and at the end of each day, when Cicero would walk home, a group would
follow him, shouting insults and pelting him with stones. Cicero began to fear for his life. After several days of this, he made the difficult
decision to flee the city. Clodius jumped all over this. As soon as he found out, he introduced another
bill formally banishing Cicero and seizing all of his property. The trial showed how much influence Clodius
was gaining out on the streets, and the Senate didn't have the courage to stand against him. The bill passed, and Cicero would spend the
next year of his life in exile. Like the rest of the Senate, Pompey had stayed
quiet during the debate to banish Cicero. But Pompey liked Cicero, and more importantly
he liked his politics. He began working behind the scenes to gather
the support from other Senators to overturn Cicero's banishment. Clodius caught wind of this, and ordered his
growing gang out on the streets to focus their attention on Pompey. They gave him the same treatment they gave
Cicero, and it got so bad that Pompey didn't feel safe leaving his home. They may not have realized it at the time,
but Clodius had effectively seized control of the government. Rome's politics were broken. But Clodius's opponents had one more trick
up their sleeve, and it's the oldest political trick in the book. They just decided buckle down and wait him
out. Eight of the ten Tribunes of the Plebs joined
forces and blocked all significant legislation from everybody. Pompey and other Senators started lobbying
next year's Consuls to overturn Cicero's banishment after Clodius was out of office. It would take months and months of hard work,
but in time the Senate would get Cicero home. Clodius's year may have ended with gridlock,
but he would go down as the most consequential Tribune of the Plebs in more than 60 years. And in the years to follow, his influence
would only grow.
