Titus Annius Milo

2025-06-13T20:17:21Z

2A0A:EF40:980:E801:40DB:9ADA:82CE:D8DD: Milo was a politician, who had achieved all offices on the cursus honorem, and was running for consul for 52.

{{Short description|Ancient Roman politician and agitator (d. 48 BCE)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Titus Annius Milo
| spouse = [[Fausta Cornelia]]
| death_date = 48 BC
| death_place = [[Compsa]]
| death_cause = Stone to the head
| nationality = Roman
| occupation = Statesman
| known_for = Gang violence
| office = [[Cursus honorum]] up to [[praetor]] (including tribune of the plebs)
| party = [[Optimates]]
}}

'''Titus Annius Milo''' (died 48 BC) was a [[Roman Republic|Roman]] politician and agitator. The son of Gaius Papius Celsus, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus. In 52 BC, he was prosecuted for the murder of [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] and exiled from Rome. He was unsuccessfully defended by his friend, [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]], in the speech ''[[Pro Milone]]''.

==Career==
Milo was an ally of [[Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus|Pompey]] and of the [[Optimates]]. He organized bands of armed slaves, hired thugs and gladiators in opposition to Clodius, who supported Pompey's rival, [[Julius Caesar]], and the [[Populares]]. The two opposing factions clashed in the streets of Rome between 57 BC and 52 BC.

===Cursus honorum===
Milo was [[tribune of the plebs]] in 57 BC. He took a prominent role in recalling Cicero from exile after Clodius had arranged for his exile the previous year.

In 56 BC, Milo was charged with illegal violence by Clodius. He was defended by Cicero and Pompey (among others). The trial led to riots between Milo's and Clodius's supporters in the [[Forum Romanum|Forum]]. Pompey's opponents supported Clodius; they wanted to weaken Pompey. Eventually, Milo was acquitted.<ref>John Leach, ''Pompey the Great'', pp. 138–141; Cic.Q. F. [https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_to_his_brother_Quintus/2.3 II. 3. 2 ff].</ref>

On 23 January 57 BC, Clodius tried to use a force of gladiators to block a move to recall Cicero from exile, but Milo arrested Clodius' gladiators. Milo was subsequently attacked by Clodius' gangs. Milo attempted to prosecute Clodius for carrying out this violence but was unsuccessful. Later that year he tried to prosecute Clodius again, but Clodius escaped by being elected aedile in 56 BC and so was immune from prosecution.

Milo became [[praetor]] in 54 BC, and in that year, he married [[Fausta Cornelia]], daughter of the [[Roman dictator|dictator]] [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]], and the ex-wife of [[Gaius Memmius (poet)|Gaius Memmius]].

In 53 BC, Milo made a bid for one of the [[Consulship|consulships]] of the following year (he ran against [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica|Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio]] and [[Publius Plautius Hypsaeus]], nominees of [[Pompey]], who were running together) while Clodius was standing for the praetorship. Milo was a strong candidate for he had won popular support through largesse and the promotion of extravagant games, and he enjoyed the support of the Optimates. Pompey, however, gave his support to Milo's opponents. Plautius was an old [[quaestor]] of his and Scipio was his father-in-law. Meanwhile, Clodius feared he would achieve little as praetor if Milo were to become consul. Milo's and Clodius's supporters clashed in the streets of Rome leading to a breakdown of order. The elections were declared void because of the excessive use of the tribunes' vetoes which meant that 52 BC began with an interregnum.<ref>Cicero, ''Atticus'', II 21. 3 ff.</ref>

===Death of Clodius===
On 18 January 52 BC, Milo and Clodius, each with an armed retinue, met on the [[Appian Way]] near [[Bovillae]]. Milo was on his way to [[Lanuvium]] to appoint a priest. Conflicting stories claim that Clodius was either peacefully heading to Rome after receiving news a friend had died or lying in wait for Milo. Whatever the reason, a scuffle led to a fight between the two parties, with Clodius being wounded by one of Milo's men (an ex-gladiator called Birria). Clodius fled to an inn, from which he was extracted on Milo's orders and murdered.<ref>John Leach, ''Pompey the Great'', p. 155.</ref>

===Trial===
The followers of Clodius carried his body to the Senate House, the [[Curia Hostilia]], and set fire to it. Milo returned to Rome and, with the aid of the tribune [[Marcus Caelius Rufus]], he tried to swing popular opinion round to his side again. On 22 January Milo tried to obtain an interview with Pompey at his house on the Pincian, apparently with a positive suggestion to improve the situation by withdrawing his candidature. Pompey refused to even see him. The Senate took action and passed the ''consultum ultimum'' (the ultimate decree), urging the [[interrex]], the tribunes and Pompey to take steps to protect the Republic. In the ensuing unrest, the Senate called on Pompey to become sole consul. He levied troops and set about restoring order, partly by force but also by the legal means now at his disposal. He passed a law regarding both electoral bribery and violence and charged Milo under the new law. Pompey's actions may have been designed to placate Clodius's supporters, who would not be soothed even after they had set fire to the Curia. Pompey hand-picked Milo's jury, and the presiding magistrate, [[Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 54 BC)|Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus]], was Pompey's client.

Milo was defended by [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]], [[Marcus Caelius Rufus]] and Marcus Marcellus. Under Pompey's new procedural rules, the trial should have lasted five days, with the summing up for the defence and the verdict on the fifth day. However, on the first day, Gaius Causinius Schola appeared as a witness against Milo and described the deed in such a way as to portray Milo as a cold-blooded murderer. That worked up the Clodian crowd, who, in turn, terrified the advocate on Milo's side, Marcus Marcellus. As he began his questioning of the witnesses, the Clodian crowd drowned out his voice and surrounded him. On subsequent days, Pompey brought in armed men to keep order.

On the final day of the trial, Cicero was to give a closing speech to try to prevent Milo from being condemned. Instead, he broke down after he was intimidated by the Clodian mob and either did not finish or did not present the speech well and in the style for which he was renowned. Milo was convicted by 38 votes to 13.<ref>[[Asconius Pedianus|Asconius]], ''Pro Milone'', [http://attalus.org/cicero/milo2.html#a53 53C]</ref>

==Exile==
Milo left Rome and went into exile at Massilia (today [[Marseille]]). His property was sold by auction. During his absence, Milo was prosecuted and convicted for bribery, unlawful association and violence.

[[Cassius Dio]] states that when Cicero had finished writing up his speech, he sent a copy to Milo in exile. Milo wrote back that it was lucky for him that the same speech had not been made in court because otherwise, he would "not now be enjoying the delicious [[red mullet]] of Massilia".<ref>[[Cassius Dio|Dio]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/40*.html#54 40.54.3]</ref>

==Death==
In 48 BC, Milo joined [[Marcus Caelius Rufus]] in the rebellion against Caesar, but he died at that year's siege of [[Compsa]], near [[Thurii]], in [[Lucania]].<ref name="Carluccio2002">{{cite book|author=Michele Carluccio|title=Conza della Campania. Il parco archeologico Compsa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3293PQAACAAJ|year=2002|publisher=De Angelis|isbn=978-88-86218-46-7}}</ref> He was killed by a stone thrown from the city walls.

==In popular culture==
Titus Annius Milo appears as a recurring character in [[John Maddox Roberts]]' ''[[SPQR series]]'' of novels. These historical mysteries are presented as memoirs of the fictional Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger; Milo is a trusted friend of Metellus.

Milo also appears as a character in ''[[A Murder on the Appian Way]]'', ''[[Last Seen in Massilia]]'' and ''[[A Mist of Prophecies]]'', in the ''[[Roma Sub Rosa]]'' series of historical mystery novels by [[Steven Saylor]]. Saylor’s fictional hero dislikes Milo.

Milo appears in [[Conn Iggulden]]'s book ''[[The Field of Swords]]'', the third in the series ''Emperor'', as a street gangster who wages a private war with Publius Clodius.

Milo is a character in [[Colleen McCullough]]'s novel ''[[Caesar (McCullough novel)|Caesar]].''

He also appears in the book ''Street Fighter: Son of Spartacus'' in a plot to assassinate Julius Caesar.

Milo features prominently in the 2015 novel ''[[Dictator (Harris novel)|Dictator]]'' by British novelist [[Robert Harris (novelist)|Robert Harris]].

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
* L. Fezzi, ''Il tribuno Clodio'', Roma-Bari 2008
* Uwe Homola: ''Untersuchungen zu Titus Annius Milo''. Diss. Mannheim 1997 (Microfiche).
* Ruebel, James S., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/284060 "The Trial of Milo in 52 B.C.: A Chronological Study"], ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'', Vol. 109, (1979), pp. 231–249, [[American Philological Association]].
* W.J. Tatum, ''The Patrician Tribune. Publius Clodius Pulcher'', Chapel Hill 1999.
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Milo, Titus Annius}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annius Milo, Titus}}
[[Category:1st-century BC Romans]]
[[Category:48 BC deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman exiles]]
[[Category:Annii|Milo, Titus]]
[[Category:Optimates]]
[[Category:Tribunes of the plebs]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Lanuvium]]

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Titus Annius Milo