Bowing to pressure from the coalition, Cicero defended A. Gabinius, consul when Cicero went into exile, on charges of extortion, as well as C. Rabirius on trial for recovery of tainted money. On January 18, 52, when Milo and Clodius encountered by chance at Bovillae, eleven miles southeast of Rome, a fight erupted, and Clodius was killed. Milo was convicted in spite of Cicero’s defense. The published speech is brilliant but flawed because it must ignore too many of the facts. Around this time, Cicero was elected to the prestigious board of augurs. Cicero’s mature reflections on the Roman state and the statesman’s role are contained in the dialogue On the Commonwealth. A companion dialogue, On Laws, was begun at this time but never published. On the Commonwealth appeared just before Cicero’s departure for Cilicia, where he was required to serve as governor under a new law enacted by Pompey.

Cicero was elected consul together with Antonius, whose cooperation he won by conceding him the lucrative province of Macedonia, which had been allotted to him for the year after his consulate. Cicero began his term of office by delivering a series of speeches in opposition to an agrarian reform bill proposed by the plebeian tribune Servilius Rullus. He also defended C. Rabirius in court on a charge of treason. In general, he followed optimate policies, opposing restoration of political rights to the children of those who had been proscribed by Sulla. In addition, he quieted an angry mob at the games of Apollo and enabled the noble L. Lucullus to celebrate a triumph for his command against Mithridates. He also presided over the election for next year’s consuls, in which Catiline, once again, was defeated.