Title of material

Pro Cluentio (Defense of Cluentius)

Author(s)

Course

EUH2000; WOH2012

Date (Original)

66 BC

Location

Italy/Roman Empire

Keywords

Gender History; Social History; Legal History

Description

Aulus Cluentius was a wealthy man who had accused his stepfather of trying to poison him (so that Aulus’s mother could inherit all his property). The trial was controversial because both sides probably tried to use bribes to secure favourable verdicts. A decade later, Cluentius’s mother Sassia and his step-brother accused Cluentius of poison, and Cicero defended him at his trial. Cicero probably did not believe Cluentius was innocent: he later boasted that he had pulled the wool over the judges' eyes in this case. This source can be used for gender history, considering the way Cicero portrays "good" versus "bad" women and "good" versus "bad" sons, among many other topics.

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