The prosecution spoke first, where Atratinus attacked Caelius ’ character and morals, Clodius described the charges in detail, and Balbus spoke against Caelius ’ behavior and morality.

Bruun also concludes that Cicero, who remained the legal defender of Caelius, ultimately used the conceptual phrase aqua inceste uterere in “ referring to the commonly known possession of a water supply by some brothels in Rome, while at the same time implying that Clodia was a prostitute .” The body of Bruun ’ s Water for Roman Brothels is subdivided into multiple different subtopics ; the first one devoted to Cicero ’ s personification of Appius Claudius Caecus.

His once great house which housed Caelius first, no longer existed after Clodia.

Coelius ( or Caelius, both styles of praenomen of doubtful authenticity ) Sedulius, was a Christian poet of the first half of the 5th century.

Throughout the speech, Cicero did not try to completely disprove the allegations that Clodia had brought against Caelius, but instead aimed to disprove her through destroying her reputation with the domus imagery.

Catullus writes about a former friend named Rufus who betrayed him in an unspecified way, perhaps referring to the affair with Clodia ( usually identified with the loved then reviled " Lesbia " of Catullus's poetry ), the alleged attempt of Caelius to poison her, or subsequent attacks on her through Cicero.

" According to Leigh, Geffcken identifies Cicero with “ the wiles and verbal ingenuity of the comic hero ” and in effect “ the jury becomes complicit in his successful bid to talk his young associate Caelius out of a distinctly tricky situation .” Leigh postulates that Cicero in Pro Caelio attempts to make the jury study what he claims to be the central issues in the case, as if they were watching a comedy.

Yet, Caelius still wanted to make a name for himself in Rome, and in April 59 BC, he brought prosecution against Gaius Antonius Hybrida, Cicero ’ s colleague in the consulship of 63 BC, for extortion.

If Caelius was convicted, he would no longer be able to proceed with his prosecution against Bestia.

" According to Leigh, the jury at Caelius ’ prosecution would have recognized “ both stock types familiar from the comic stage ," meaning both Caelius and Clodia.

In fact, Herennius stated that the case against Caelius would not have been made if it had not been for the prosecution against Bestia.

Dorey claimed that the prosecution of Caelius was an attempt at delaying the second charge against Caelius and was caused by his new attack against the family of Bestia and Atratinus.

Dorey claimed that this cannot be believed, however, because an orator and a historian in Ancient Rome were not the same ; an orator ’ s job was “ to win his case ” and a historian ’ s was to tell “ the truth .” In the article, Dorey claimed that the prosecution ’ s aim was that “ even if Caelius were acquitted, there was the chance of his emerging so discredited as seriously to jeopardize his prospects of success in his renewed action against Bestia .” In order to do this, the prosecution charged him with two attempted murders.

In 59 BC, Hybrida was accused in Rome, by Marcus Caelius Rufus, both of having taken part in the Catilinarian conspiracy and of extortion in his province.

The charges made against Caelius were all linked to the attempt of King Ptolemy Auletes of Egypt to recover his throne after being deposed in 59 BC.

But in 48 BC, guards holding bladed fasces guided Vatia Isauricus to the tribunal of Marcus Caelius, and Vatia Isauricus used one to destroy Caelius's magisterial chair ( sella curulis ).

* Marcus Caelius Rufus, Roman orator and politician ( d. 48 BC )

* Marcus Caelius Rufus ( 87 – 48 BC ), orator, correspondent with Cicero

After the relationship with Caelius was over in 56 BC, Clodia publicly accused him of attempted poisoning.

* The Venus Throw ( 1995 ), featuring the poet Catullus, is set during the trial of Marcus Caelius in 56 BC for the murder of Dio of Alexandria.

In the trial of Marcus Caelius Rufus in 56 BC, the prominent socialite Clodia was described by the defense as living the life of a harlot in Rome and in the " crowded resort of Baiae ", indulging in beach parties and drinking sessions.

Marcus Tullius Cicero gave the speech, Pro Caelio, on April 4, 56 BC, in defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus.

Marcus Caelius Rufus was born in 88 or 87 BC, at Interamnia in Picenum, where his father was categorized as a member of the eques ( knight ) class, a wealthy middle-class placed just below the patrician upper class.

From 73 to 63 BC, Caelius served a political apprenticeship under Crassus and Cicero.

In 63 BC, Caelius turned his back on Cicero to support Catiline, who was running for consulship.

In late 57 or early 56 BC, Caelius broke from the Clodii for some unknown reason.

On February 11, 56 BC, Caelius charged Lucius Calpurnius Bestia with electoral malpractice in the praetorian elections of 57 BC.

However, Caelius would not admit defeat and made a second charge against Bestia, who was running for the praetorship once again in the elections of 56 BC.

Brunn provides Frontius ’ De aquaeductu Urbis Romae from AD 100 as an example of the “ various illegal uses to which public water in Rome was being diverted .” Christer Bruun suggests that as a recent find by a contemporary author, Caelius actually gave a speech in 50 BC when he was a curule aedile, ultimately proclaiming “ the worst misappropriation of public water in Rome ” which was due “ all the brothels, were enjoying an illegal supply of running water .” Furthermore, Bruun concludes that although these possible arguments can explain why Cicero attempted to connect Clodia to immorality and water, he simply used this argumentation to suggest Clodia ’ s case against Caelius was unfounded.

Marcus Caelius Rufus ( 28 May 82 BC – after 48 BC ) was an orator and politician in the late Roman Republic.

Sometime around 57 BC, Caelius and Clodia are believed to have had an affair which ended acrimoniously.

Caelius sided with Julius Caesar against Pompey in the civil war, and in 48 BC was rewarded with the office of praetor peregrinus (“ judge of suits involving foreigners ”).

The Emperor Claudius discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary who fought for Caelius Vibenna.

Cicero assumes the voice of Caecus in a scathing prosopopoeia, where Caecus is incensed at Clodia for associating with Caelius, a member of the middle equestrian class instead of the upper patrician class.

In 51 BCE he stood for election to the prestigious priestly board of fifteen men in charge of the Sibylline Books (< i > Quindecimviri sacris faciundis </ i >), but was defeated by Publius Cornelius Dolabella ( to the amusement of Cicero's correspondent, Marcus Caelius RufusM.

It is unclear whether or not Caelius supported Catiline after he lost the election and took up arms, but he was not among the people prosecuted for their involvement in the conspiracy.

Clodius and Clodia were determined to punish Caelius for leaving them.

However, after Cicero successfully defended him, Asicius was acquitted and Caelius was prosecuted for the murder.

Leigh suggests the focus of his thesis, remains not to identify the “ role comedy takes in the Pro Caelio as what it might mean for our understanding of rhetorical practice to state that comedy takes such a role .” Leigh further suggests that the role within his work is to answer “ what, in particular, is the relationship between comic morality and the locus as a unit of rhetorical argumentation, and what is the evidence for its historical development at Rome ?” Leigh ’ s analysis suggests that the comedic influence within Cicero ’ s defense speech remains focused on the distinction between the ill-fated young male lover ( Caelius ) and the assault generated at him by an immoral prostitute ( Clodia Pulcher ).

Leigh also provides historical and literary evidence for the comic construction of the relationship between the courtesan Clodia and her young lover Caelius, by referencing Plutarch ’ s discussion of this as erotic entertainment and its use as a rhetorical device.

Dorey argued in the article that Clodia ’ s involvement in the trial as “ vindictive spite and the desire to revenge herself on Caelius for casting her off ” was a part of Cicero ’ s strategy in his defense of Caelius.

In 56, Caelius was prosecuted for vis ( violence ), specifically for murdering an ambassador.

He was successfully defended by Crassus and, more famously, Cicero, whose speech Pro Caelio argued that the prosecutor, Atratinus, was being manipulated by Clodia to get revenge on Caelius for an affair gone wrong.

In this, he had to deal with the ambitions of Marcus Caelius Rufus, the Praetor peregrinus, who had turned against Caesar as he had been hoping for the post of Urban Praetor.

Epitaph for Marcus Caelius, primus pilus of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest | ill-fated Legio XVIII.