CLUENTIUS HABITUS, AULUS, of Larinum in Sam nium, the hero of a Roman cause celebre. In 74 B.C. he accused his step-father Statius Albius Oppianicus of an attempt to poison him, and Oppianicus was condemned. But there had been bribery; Cluentius was degraded, and in 66 charged with having caused his step-father to be poisoned. Cicero defended Cluentius, who was acquitted. The speech is considered one of Cicero's best, and is more quoted by Quintilian than any other.
See Quintilian, Inst. ii. 17, 21. Editions of the speech by W. Y Fausset (1887) , W. Ramsay (1883) ; see also H. Nettleship, Lectures and Essays (1885) .