Aulus Cluentius Habitus, a wealthy citizen of Larinum in Samnium, and subject of a Roman '' cause célèbre''. In 74 BC, he accused his stepfather Statius Albius Oppianicus of an attempt to

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

him; had it been successful, the property of Cluentius would have fallen to his mother Sassia. Oppianicus was found guilty. This further references: * Editions of Cicero's speech by

William Yorke Fausset William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

(1887),

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(1883) * Henry Nettleship, ''Lectures and Essays'' (1885). It is almost certain that both sides attempted to bribe the jury.Cicero, ''In Verrem'' II The case became notorious as an example of a prosecutor obtaining a guilty verdict through his money. In 66 BC, Sassia induced her stepson Oppianicus to charge Cluentius with having poisoned the elder Oppianicus. The prosecutor in the trial was Titus Accius. The defense was undertaken by Cicero; his extant speech ''

Pro Cluentio ''Pro Cluentio'' is a speech by the Roman orator Cicero given in defense of a man named Aulus Cluentius Habitus Minor. Cluentius, from Larinum in Samnium, was accused in 69 BC by his mother Sassia of having poisoned his stepfather, Statius Abbiu ...

'', written up after the trial, is regarded as a model of oratory and Latin prose. Cluentius was acquitted and Cicero subsequently boasted that he had thrown dust in the eyes of the jury "...se tenebras iudicibus offudisse in causa Cluenti gloriatus est". This was reported by

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...

, ''Instit.'' ii. 17. 21, who quotes this speech more than any other.

Pro Cluentio

The trial of 66 BC took place before the court of poisonings but the precise legal position is unclear. Most of Cicero's speech concerns the earlier trial and supposed prejudice surrounding it he word "''invidia''" is constantly repeated Cicero claims this is strictly irrelevant to his case. He presents Oppianicus as a monster who killed many members of his own family, Sassia as a stock figure of female wickedness. He then declares that either Cluentius or Oppianicus bribed the earlier court; and having proven that Oppianicus did so, claims that Cluentius was innocent of bribery. The judges who voted for Oppianicus's condemnation did so because they thought he was not going to fulfil his promise to pay them. Cicero deals at length with earlier verdicts quoted against Cluentius, offers a fairly brief rebuttal of the charge of poisoning and finishes with a rousing

peroration Dispositio is the system used for the organization of arguments in the context of Western classical rhetoric. The word is Latin, and can be translated as "organization" or "arrangement". It is the second of five canons of classical rhetoric (the ...

. Throughout, Cluentius is represented as a paragon of honesty and virtue; there is every reason to doubt this.

References

{{Authority control 1st-century BC Romans Cluentius Cluentii