Titus Annius Milo
Encyclopedia
Titus Annius Milo Papianus was a Roman
political agitator, the son of Gaius Papius Celsus, but adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus
. In 52 BC he probably murdered Publius Clodius Pulcher
and was later unsuccessfully defended by his friend Marcus Tullius Cicero in the Pro Milone
speech.
. Milo was tribune
of the plebs
in 57 BC. He took a prominent part in bringing about the recall of Cicero from exile, in spite of the opposition of Clodius.
On 23 January 57 BC, Clodius tried to use a force of gladiators to block a move to recall Cicero from exile, but Milo arrested Clodius' gladiators. He was subsequently attacked by Clodius' gangs and attempted to prosecute Clodius for violence. He was unsuccessful at doing so, and recruited gangs of his own. Later that year he tried to prosecute Clodius again, but Clodius escaped this by being elected aedile in 56, thus being immune from prosecution.
Milo became praetor
in 54 BC, and in that year married Cornelia Fausta, daughter of the dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
and ex-wife of Gaius Memmius
.
ship (against Quintus Metellus Scipio and Publius Plautius Hypsaeus
, nominees of Pompey
) and Clodius was standing for the praetorship. There was a break down of order at Rome and the rival factions rioted in the streets. The elections were void because of the excessive use of the tribunes' veto. Consequently 52 began with an interregnum. Crassus' death in 53 and the absence of Caesar in Gaul left Pompey as the only effective power in the state.
It was in these circumstances that the entourages of Milo and Clodius met on the Appian Way at Bovillae
(January 18, 52 BC) Clodius was killed by Milo's slaves during or after the resulting pitched battle. Milo was on the way to Lanuvium
in order to appoint a priest. Meanwhile Clodius was supposed to returning to Rome, after he had heard that Cyrus the architect had died, though Cicero, defending Milo, claimed that Clodius had, in fact, arranged an ambush.
It is generally agreed that Pompey intended the conviction of Milo. Apart from the fact that he may well have been guilty, Clodius' faction was nearly out of control and could hardly be appeased with less. The trial's jury was vetted by Pompey and the presiding magistrate, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
(consul 54 BC) was a loyal adherent.
The defence team consisted of the great Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus Caelius Rufus
and Marcus Marcellus. Cicero must have been motivated partly by gratitude for Milo's support in 57 BC in assisting his return from exile. Under Pompey's new procedural rules, the trial should have lasted five days, with the summing up for the defence and the verdict on the fifth. In the event, the trial collapsed on day one due to Clodian intimidation of Marcellus who was forced to ask for protection. From day two, Pompey's soldiers ringed the court, and preceedings were clearly very disorderly. Called on to give a speech (three hours were allocated) Cicero broke down. It is not clear how much of a speech he was able to give but the extant Pro Milone is an expanded form of the defence as Cicero would have liked to have given it.
Milo fled. He was condemned by 38 votes to 13 and went into exile at Massilia (today Marseille
), and his property was sold by auction. In his absence, he was subsequentlyconvicted on three different charges: of using bribery in his campaign for consulship under the lex Pompeia de ambitu, of malpractice under the law on illegal association (lex Licinia de sodaliciis) and of Clodius' murder under the ordinary violence law (lex Plautia de vi).
Cassius Dio states that when Cicero had finished writing up his speech, he sent a copy to Milo in exile. Milo wrote back that it was lucky for him that the same speech had not been made in court, because otherwise he would "not now be enjoying the delicious red mullet of Massilia". He joined Marcus Caelius Rufus
in 48 in his rising against Caesar, but he died at Compsa
, near Thurii
in Lucania
, killed by a stone thrown from the city walls.
' SPQR series
of novels. These historical mysteries are presented as memoirs of fictional Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger
; Milo is a trusted friend of Metellus.
Milo also appears as a character in A Murder on the Appian Way, Last Seen in Massilia and A Mist of Prophecies, in the Roma Sub Rosa
series of historical mystery novels by Steven Saylor
.
Milo appears in Conn Iggulden
's book The Field of Swords
, the third in the series Emperor, as a street gangster who wages a private war with Publius Clodius.
Milo is a character in Colleen McCollough's Caesar (novel)
.
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
political agitator, the son of Gaius Papius Celsus, but adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus
Titus Annius Luscus
Titus Annius Luscus was the name of some members of the Roman plebeian family of the Annii:*Titus Annius Luscus allegedly brought together with two other envoys the Roman demands to the Macedonian king Perseus ....
. In 52 BC he probably murdered Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...
and was later unsuccessfully defended by his friend Marcus Tullius Cicero in the Pro Milone
Pro Milone
The Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio is a speech made by Marcus Tullius Cicero on behalf of his friend Titus Annius Milo. Milo was accused of murdering his political enemy Publius Clodius Pulcher on the Via Appia...
speech.
Political life
He joined the Pompeian party, and organized bands of armed slaves and gladiators to support the cause by public violence in opposition to Clodius, who gave similar support to the popularesPopulares
Populares were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who relied on the people's assemblies and tribunate to acquire political power. They are regarded in modern scholarship as in opposition to the optimates, who are identified with the conservative interests of a senatorial elite...
. Milo was tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
of the plebs
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
in 57 BC. He took a prominent part in bringing about the recall of Cicero from exile, in spite of the opposition of Clodius.
On 23 January 57 BC, Clodius tried to use a force of gladiators to block a move to recall Cicero from exile, but Milo arrested Clodius' gladiators. He was subsequently attacked by Clodius' gangs and attempted to prosecute Clodius for violence. He was unsuccessful at doing so, and recruited gangs of his own. Later that year he tried to prosecute Clodius again, but Clodius escaped this by being elected aedile in 56, thus being immune from prosecution.
Milo became praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
in 54 BC, and in that year married Cornelia Fausta, daughter of the dictator
Roman dictator
In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
and ex-wife of Gaius Memmius
Gaius Memmius
Gaius Memmius may refer to:*Gaius Memmius , the poet, orator, tribune of the people in 66 BC, and believed to be the dedicatee of Lucretius' On the Nature of Things...
.
Murder of Clodius
In 53 BC, Milo was candidate for the consulConsul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
ship (against Quintus Metellus Scipio and Publius Plautius Hypsaeus
Publius Plautius Hypsaeus
Publius Plautius Hupsaeus was a politician of the Roman Republic.Praetor and ally of Pompey, Hypsaeus was later tried under Pompey's retroactive laws on violence and corruption for bribery....
, nominees of Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
) and Clodius was standing for the praetorship. There was a break down of order at Rome and the rival factions rioted in the streets. The elections were void because of the excessive use of the tribunes' veto. Consequently 52 began with an interregnum. Crassus' death in 53 and the absence of Caesar in Gaul left Pompey as the only effective power in the state.
It was in these circumstances that the entourages of Milo and Clodius met on the Appian Way at Bovillae
Bovillae
Bovillae was an ancient town in Lazio, central Italy, currently part of the Frattocchie frazione in the municipality of Marino.It was a station on the Via Appia , located c. 18 km SE of Rome. It was a colony of Alba Longa, and appears as one of the thirty cities of the Latin league...
(January 18, 52 BC) Clodius was killed by Milo's slaves during or after the resulting pitched battle. Milo was on the way to Lanuvium
Lanuvium
Lanuvium is an ancient city of Latium , some 32 km southeast of Rome, a little southwest of the Via Appia....
in order to appoint a priest. Meanwhile Clodius was supposed to returning to Rome, after he had heard that Cyrus the architect had died, though Cicero, defending Milo, claimed that Clodius had, in fact, arranged an ambush.
Trial and death
The body of Clodius was burnt in the Curia Hostilia by his followers. The Senate called on Pompey to become 'sole consul'. He set about restoring order partly by force but also by the legal means now at his disposal. He passed a new Lex Pompeia de ambitu and another de vi, that is, concerning electoral bribery and violence. Milo, who had returned to Rome, ventured abroad, and proceeded with his canvass, was soon charged under the latter of these laws. The case was, by Pompey's order to proceed extra ordinem, that is to say, that it would skip the queue.It is generally agreed that Pompey intended the conviction of Milo. Apart from the fact that he may well have been guilty, Clodius' faction was nearly out of control and could hardly be appeased with less. The trial's jury was vetted by Pompey and the presiding magistrate, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was the son and only child of consul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Aemilia Lepida. His mother was a paternal relative of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus...
(consul 54 BC) was a loyal adherent.
The defence team consisted of the great Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus Caelius Rufus
Marcus Caelius Rufus
Marcus Caelius Rufus was an orator and politician in the late Roman Republic. He was born into a wealthy equestrian family from Interamnia Praetuttiorum , on the central east coast of Italy...
and Marcus Marcellus. Cicero must have been motivated partly by gratitude for Milo's support in 57 BC in assisting his return from exile. Under Pompey's new procedural rules, the trial should have lasted five days, with the summing up for the defence and the verdict on the fifth. In the event, the trial collapsed on day one due to Clodian intimidation of Marcellus who was forced to ask for protection. From day two, Pompey's soldiers ringed the court, and preceedings were clearly very disorderly. Called on to give a speech (three hours were allocated) Cicero broke down. It is not clear how much of a speech he was able to give but the extant Pro Milone is an expanded form of the defence as Cicero would have liked to have given it.
Milo fled. He was condemned by 38 votes to 13 and went into exile at Massilia (today Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
), and his property was sold by auction. In his absence, he was subsequentlyconvicted on three different charges: of using bribery in his campaign for consulship under the lex Pompeia de ambitu, of malpractice under the law on illegal association (lex Licinia de sodaliciis) and of Clodius' murder under the ordinary violence law (lex Plautia de vi).
Cassius Dio states that when Cicero had finished writing up his speech, he sent a copy to Milo in exile. Milo wrote back that it was lucky for him that the same speech had not been made in court, because otherwise he would "not now be enjoying the delicious red mullet of Massilia". He joined Marcus Caelius Rufus
Marcus Caelius Rufus
Marcus Caelius Rufus was an orator and politician in the late Roman Republic. He was born into a wealthy equestrian family from Interamnia Praetuttiorum , on the central east coast of Italy...
in 48 in his rising against Caesar, but he died at Compsa
Compsa
Compsa was an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania and not far from that of Apulia, on a ridge 609 m above sea level....
, near Thurii
Thurii
Thurii , called also by some Latin writers Thurium , for a time also Copia and Copiae, was a city of Magna Graecia, situated on the Tarentine gulf, within a short distance of the site of Sybaris, whose place it may be considered as having taken...
in Lucania
Lucania
Lucania was an ancient district of southern Italy, extending from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. To the north it adjoined Campania, Samnium and Apulia, and to the south it was separated by a narrow isthmus from the district of Bruttium...
, killed by a stone thrown from the city walls.
In popular culture
Titus Annius Milo appears as a recurring character in John Maddox RobertsJohn Maddox Roberts
John Maddox Roberts is an author who has written many science fiction and fantasy novels, including his successful historical fiction, such as the SPQR series and Hannibal's Children....
' SPQR series
SPQR series
The SPQR series is a collection of detective stories by John Maddox Roberts set in the time of the Roman Republic. SPQR is a Latin initialism for Senatus Populusque Romanus , the official name of the Republic.The stories are told in first-person form by Senator Decius...
of novels. These historical mysteries are presented as memoirs of fictional Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger
Decius Metellus
Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is a fictional character created by author John Maddox Roberts, the protagonist of Roberts's SPQR series...
; Milo is a trusted friend of Metellus.
Milo also appears as a character in A Murder on the Appian Way, Last Seen in Massilia and A Mist of Prophecies, in the Roma Sub Rosa
Roma Sub Rosa
Roma Sub Rosa is the title of the series of mystery novels by Steven Saylor set in, and populated by, noteworthy denizens of ancient Rome. The series is noted for its historical authenticity. The phrase "Roma Sub Rosa" means, in Latin, "Rome under the rose"...
series of historical mystery novels by Steven Saylor
Steven Saylor
Steven Saylor is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and Classics....
.
Milo appears in Conn Iggulden
Conn Iggulden
Conn Iggulden is a British author who mainly writes historical fiction. He also co-authored The Dangerous Book for Boys.-Background:...
's book The Field of Swords
The Field of Swords
The Field of Swords is the third novel in the Emperor series, written by British author Conn Iggulden. The series is historical fiction following the life of Julius Caesar....
, the third in the series Emperor, as a street gangster who wages a private war with Publius Clodius.
Milo is a character in Colleen McCollough's Caesar (novel)
Caesar (novel)
Caesar: Let the Dice Fly is the fifth historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.-Plot summary:The novel opens in 54 BC, with Caesar in the middle of his epochal Gallic campaigns, having just invaded Britannia...
.