A bust of Cicero, depicted at the age of around 60
Pro Caelio is a speech given on 4 April 56 BC, by the famed Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had once been Cicero's pupil but more recently had become estranged from him. Cicero's reasons for defending Caelius are uncertain, but one motive may have been his hatred of Publius Clodius Pulcher, who two years earlier had passed a law which had forced Cicero into exile, and whose sister Cicero attacks mercilessly in this speech.
The speech is regarded as one of Cicero's most brilliant and entertaining orations.[1] It was also famous in ancient times, being quoted by Petronius, Aulus Gellius, Fronto, Quintilian, and Jerome.[1] For modern readers it is of interest in that Clodia has been identified with some probability with the poet Catullus's Lesbia.
Caelius was charged with vis (political violence), one of the most serious crimes in Republican Rome. Caelius' prosecutors, Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, Publius Clodius (probably not Publius Clodius Pulcher, but more likely a relative),[2] and Lucius Herennius Balbus, charged him with the following crimes:[3]
Inciting civil disturbances at Naples;
Assault on the Alexandrians at Puteoli;
Damage to the property of Palla (little is known of this but it has been suggested that Palla was mother-in-law of Atratinus's adoptive sister);[4]
Involvement in the murder of Dio of Alexandria, using gold obtained from Clodia.
Preparing poison for use against Clodia.
Caelius spoke first in his own defense and asked Marcus Licinius Crassus to defend him during the trial. Cicero's speech was the last of the defense speeches, dealing with the last two charges. The magistrate Gnaeus Domitius presided over the trial.
ProCaelio is a speech given on 4 April 56 BC, by the famed Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in defence of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had once been Cicero's...
Pulcher; her conduct and motives are maligned in Cicero's extant speech ProCaelio, delivered in 56 BC. Lesbia is the subject of 25 of Catullus' 116 surviving...
jealousy, so I won't even mention what a betrayal it was." In Cicero's "ProCaelio" speech, he says to a prosecutor, "Obliviscor iam iniurias tuas, Clodia...
publica) in March 56 BC, when Cicero defended him in the extant speech ProCaelio, and as both recipient and author of some of the best-written letters...
(consul 79 BC), a woman whom Cicero attacks mercilessly in his speech ProCaelio. This identification, though not certain, is thought probable by modern...
another perspective on the action being described. For example, in Cicero's ProCaelio, Cicero speaks as Appius Claudius Caecus, a stern old man. This serves...
accords with the other hostile source on Clodia's behavior, Cicero's ProCaelio. In The Art of Love, Ovid goes a step further, adopting the genre of didactic...
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae, Post Reditum in Senatu, ProCaelio, Pro Cluentio, Pro Quinctio. Sextus Aurelius Propertius, Elegiae (Elegies). Quintus...
Familiares, In Pisonem, In Vatinium Testem, In Verrem, Philippicae, Pro Balbo, ProCaelio, Pro Murena, Tusculanae Quaestiones. Gaius Julius Caesar, (attributed)...
amusement. Euphuism Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1999). Stephen Ciraolo (ed.). ProCaelio (2 ed.). Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-86516-461-1. Baldwin...
fell upon Marcus Caelius. The defence of Caelius in April 56 BC, the ProCaelio, is considered one of Cicero's and indeed Rome's greatest orations. His...
Familiares, In Catilinam, In Verrem, Philippicae, ProCaelio, Pro Milone, Pro Scauro, Pro Sestio, Pro Sulla, Tusculanae Quaestiones. Gaius Sallustius Crispus...
Periochae, 14. Orosius, iv. 5 § 9. Livy, xxii. 57. Cicero, ProCaelio, (14).34. Cicero, Pro Fonteio (21).46–49 Aulus Gellius 1.12.2 T. R. S. Broughton...
remains vividly represented in popular culture. In Cicero's court case ProCaelio, the name Medea is mentioned several times, as a way to make fun of Clodia...
Anuradhapura in Aluhihare, Matale) Latin: Cicero: Catiline Orations, ProCaelio, Dream of Scipio Julius Caesar: Gallic Wars, Civil War Virgil: Eclogues...
question surrounding her husband's mysterious death in 59 BC: in his speech ProCaelio Cicero hints that he may have been poisoned. However, a sensitive and...
poison her. The trial ends with the defendant acquitted thanks to the ProCaelio speech of Cicero. There is no more reference to the formerly well-known...
XIII. ProCaelio. De Provinciis Consularibus. Pro Balbo L252) Volume XIV. Pro Milone. In Pisonem. Pro Scauro. Pro Fonteio. Pro Rabirio Postumo. Pro Marcello...
Philippicae Judicial Pro Quinctio Pro Roscio Amerino Divinatio in Caecilium In Verrem Pro Tullio Pro Caecina Pro Cluentio Pro Archia Poeta ProCaelio...
Philippicae Judicial Pro Quinctio Pro Roscio Amerino Divinatio in Caecilium In Verrem Pro Tullio Pro Caecina Pro Cluentio Pro Archia Poeta ProCaelio...
(56 BC) ProCaelio (In Defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus): English translation (56 BC) Pro Balbo (In Defense of Lucius Cornelius Balbus) (54 BC) Pro Plancio...
poison her. The trial ends with the defendant acquitted thanks to the ProCaelio speech of Cicero. There is no more reference to the formerly well-known...
Philippicae Judicial Pro Quinctio Pro Roscio Amerino Divinatio in Caecilium In Verrem Pro Tullio Pro Caecina Pro Cluentio Pro Archia Poeta ProCaelio...
Epistulae ad Familiares, Epistulae ad Familiares, In Pisonem, ProCaelio, Pro Milone, Pro Sestio. Quintus Asconius Pedianus, Commentarii, Caesar Giarratano...
Atticum, i. 18, 19. Asconius, Commentary on Pro Milone, p. 35 (ed. Orelli). Austin, R. G. (1960), Cicero: proCaelio, p. 156. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares...
of California Press. Leach, Eleanor Windsor (2007). "Claudia Quinta (ProCaelio 34) and an altar to Magna Mater". Dictynna (4). doi:10.4000/dictynna.157...
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