Das responsum des Pontifikalkollegiums de domo Ciceronis

Abstract

During his exile, Cicero's estate on the Palatine hill had been confiscated and partly dedicated to the goddess Libertas by Clodius. From Cic. Att. 4.2.3 we can reconstruct the pontiffs' opinion on the restitution of the estate to Cicero after his return from exile. According to the pontiffs, the dedication is void and restitution is possible, only if neither of two alternative ways to authorize Clodius had been followed at the time. However, in his de domo sua Cicero had refered to an earlier, but corresponding pontiffs' opinion in another case, as if the two ways of authorization were not alternatives but cumulative requirements for a proper dedication. The article tries to examine the background of the pontiffs' distinction, as well as Cicero's hardly visible manipulations, their purpose and consequences.