At the ninth hour on that very same day, you, Clodius, were accepted as a Plebeian." Caesar, having been given to understand that Cicero had been making himself disagreeable, was determined not to put up with it.

Suetonius tells the same story with admirable simplicity.

Of Suetonius it must be said that, if he had no sympathy for a patriot such as Cicero, neither had he any desire to represent in rosy colors the despotism of a Caesar.

He tells his stories simply as he has heard them.

"Cicero," says Suetonius,[242] "having at some trial complained of the state of the times, Caesar, on the very same day, at the ninth hour, passed Clodius over from the Patrician to the Plebeian rank, in accordance with his own desire." How did it come to pass that Caesar, who, though Consul at the time, had no recognized power of that nature, was efficacious for any such work as this?
Because the Republic had come to the condition which the German historian has described.