The Bona Dea Scandal and the Creation of a Lifelong Foe. Guest Author: Josiah Osgood. Despite his careful rise to power, Cicero made a significant error during the aftermath of the Catiline conspiracy. He arrested five high-ranking collaborators who had r

The Bona Dea Scandal and the Creation of a Lifelong Foe. Guest Author: Josiah Osgood. Despite his careful rise to power, Cicero made a significant error during the aftermath of the Catiline conspiracy. He arrested five high-ranking collaborators who had remained in Rome to facilitate a coup. Cicero, feeling invincible after his recent successes, pushed for these men to be executed as traitors to the republic. He argued that by conspiring against Rome, they had forfeited their rights as citizens and should be treated as public enemies. However, executing Roman citizens without a trial was a major legal taboo. Julius Caesar, then a rising politician, offered a more prudent alternative: life imprisonment. Cicero ignored this advice and moved forward with the executions, a decision that the Senate endorsed but for which Cicero bore ultimate responsibility. While he initially gloated about his actions, the move eventually aroused populist opposition and made him a political target. This mistake was followed by the Bona Dea scandal of 62 BCE, where Cicero testified against Publius Clodius Pulcher, breaking his alibi and turning the young aristocrat into a dangerous, lifelong enemy. 5
1910 CARTHAGE