Pro Caelio

Pro Caelio is a speech given on April 4, 56 BC, by the famed Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero in defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus, who had once been Cicero's student but more recently was a political rival. Cicero's reasons for defending Caelius are uncertain though various theories have been postulated. The Pro Caelio is regarded as one of the best examples of Roman oratory known, and has been so regarded throughout history. It is noteworthy as a prime example of Ciceronian oratorical technique.

Caelius was charged with vis (political violence), one of the most serious crimes in Republican Rome. Caelius' prosecutors, Lucius Sempronius Atratinus, Publius Clodius (though it has been suggested that this is Publius Clodius Pulcher, it was more likely a freedman or relative), and Lucius Herennius Balbus, charged him with the following: