Publione, etc., i.e. whether his act (quod, what) was something he owed to Clodius, or a concession to the exigencies of the time, which demanded the investigation,
domi, etc.: the following are examples of assassination in which no extraordinary tribunal (commissioned for investigation) was established. They are cited in support of Cicero's contention that in establishing such a tribunal in the present case Pompey was not pre-judging the innocence of Clodius and consequent guilt of Milo, but merely yielding to the necessities of the public situation.
Catonis: M. Porcius Cato (the Younger); see note on Archias, sect. 22 (p. 164, l. 8).
Drusus: M. Livius Drusus (;on of Marcus) was murdered by some unknown person on returning home from an exciting political debate (B.C. 91).
Africano, i.e. Aemilianus. He was actively opposed to the plans of C. Gracchus for the division of the Latian lands; and, while the controversy was at its hottest, was found dead in his bed with marks (it was thought) of strangulation. His wife, sister of the tribune, and Gracchus himself lay under some suspicion of the crime, which was probably the act of Carbo (see note to sect. 8, p. 173, l. 27).
quem immortalem, etc.: Scipio was murdered at the age of fifty-six.
