If he would live quietly at his Antian or Tusculan villa, amid his books and writings, he should be treated with all respect; he should be borne with, even though he talked so much of his own Consulate.

But if he would interfere with the politics of the day, and would not come into the net, then he must be dealt with.

Caesar seems to have respected Cicero always, and even to have liked him; but he was not minded to put up with a "friend" in Rome who from day to day abused all his projects.
In defending Antony, the Macedonian Proconsul who was condemned, Cicero made some unpleasant remarks on the then condition of things.

Caesar, we are told, when he heard of this, on the very spur of the moment, caused Clodius to be accepted as a Plebeian.
In all this we are reminded of the absolute truth of Mommsen's verdict on Rome, which I have already quoted more than once: "On the Roman oligarchy of this period no judgment can be passed, save one of inexorable and remorseless condemnation." How had it come to pass that Caesar had the power of suddenly causing an edict to become law, whether for good or for evil?
Cicero's description of what took place is as follows:[241] "About the sixth hour of the day, when I was defending my colleague Antony in court, I took occasion to complain of certain things which were being done in the Republic, and which I thought to be injurious to my poor client.

Some dishonest persons carried my words to men in power"-- meaning Caesar and Pompey--"not, indeed, my own words, but words very different from mine.