Cicero and Malta

Abstract

58 B.C was certainly not the happiest year in Cicero's eventful life. His arch enemy Clodius, on being elected Tribune in October of the preceding year, proceeded to take vengeance on the Orator for having given evidence against him in 61 B.C. Clodius, however, was merely an instrument in the hands of Caesar who wanted Cicero removed from Rome so that he could move safely to his Transalpine Province. In the first months of 58 B.C Clodius carried a general resolution, a plebiscitum, to the effect that anyone who had put Roman citizens to death without trial should be 'forbidden fire and water', i.e. exiled. Cicero, who during his consulship in 63B.C. had had the Catalinarian conspirators executed without trial, recognized .the meaning of the resolution. Towards the end of March, on the advice of his friends, he left Rome and headed for Vibo in Bruttium, where his friend Sicca had an estate.