MILO, T. ANNIUS PAPIANUS, son of C. Papius Celsus, was born at Lanuvium. Little is known of his life till the year 57 B.C., when he became tribune of the people, and attached himself to the party of Pompey. The object of this party, at that time, was to procure the restoration of Cicero from exile; and this measure did not fail to bring down upon Milo the hostility of Clodius, who had formerly, as tribune, been the chief supporter of the law which exiled Cicero. Both Clodius and Milo surrounded themselves with bands of armed gladiators, and frequent and bloody were the conflicts between these two factious demagogues. These riots were not allayed by the return of Cicero; for that orator and Pompey were the objects of repeated attacks from Clodius and his partizans, while Milo and his followers stood up in their defence. Both thus rendered themselves liable to prosecution for assault, and each was ready to accuse the other; but Clodius succeeded in protecting himself by obtaining the office of curule ædile for 56 B.C., and Milo was secured from danger by the influence of Pompey. In the year 53 B.C., when Milo became a candidate for the consulship, and Clodius for the prætorship, their former animosities were renewed with increasing violence; and Milo, on being attacked by Clodius in the senate on account of the debts with which he was loaded, was defended by Cicero in a speech of which some fragments have been preserved. In the beginning of the next year, as Milo with his usual escort of armed gladiators was journeying from Rome to Lanuvium, he was met near Bovillæ by Clodius, attended by a similar body-guard. After the two leaders had passed each other in quietness, a dispute arose between some of their followers, and in the fray which ensued, Clodius, whose party was inferior in strength, was dragged from a house in which he had taken refuge, and slain by the followers of Milo. For this act Milo was brought to trial by the nephews of the deceased; and, though defended by Cicero, the turbulence of the crowds who collected to witness the trial, and the soldiers with whom Pompey had caused the forum to be lined, so intimidated the orator that he was unable to deliver the speech he had prepared for the occasion. Milo was accordingly condemned and sentenced to exile, in terms of the law passed by Pompey with special reference to this case. He then retired to Marseilles; and when Cicero sent him an improved copy of the speech he should have delivered in his favour, Milo replied that it was well he had not spoken thus, "For if so," said he, "I should not now be enjoying the excellent fish of Marseilles." He remained at Mar-
Milo
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seilles till 48 B.C., when he returned to Italy at the invitation of M. Cælius, who, having been expelled from the senate, was raising a rebellion in the south of Italy. Milo joined him; but their enterprise was not successful, and Milo was slain before a small fort near Thurii.