Pro Milone

The Pro Tito Annio Milone ad iudicem oratio (Pro Milone) 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. Cicero wrote the speech in 52 BCE.

Events surrounding the case

Milo was a praetor at the time, attempting to gain the much-vaunted post of consul; Clodius was a former tribune standing for the office of praetor. The charge was brought against Milo for the death of Clodius following a violent altercation on the Via Appia outside Clodius' estate in Bovillae. After the initial brawl, it seems that Clodius was wounded during the fight started by his own slaves as well as those of Milo.

This was the sequence of events described by the prosecution and the commentary of Asconius, an ancient commentator who analyzed several of Cicero's speeches and had access to various documents that no longer exist. The absence of a summary of the chain of events in Cicero’s speech may be attributed to their incriminating evidence against Milo. Presumably, Cicero realized that this was the primary weakness, and as the trial unfolded it turned out to be so. We can assume from the fact that the jury did indeed convict Milo, that they felt that although Milo may not have been aware of Clodius's initial injury, his ordering of Clodius’s butchering warranted punishment.