The Bona Dea Scandal – Juvenile Recklessness or Deliberate Intrigue? An Analytical Exam-ination of Clodius’ Motives Based on the Sources of Plutarch and Cicero

This article examines the Bona Dea scandal of 62 BCE, during which Publius Clodius Pulcher, disguised in female attire, illicitly entered a cultic festival strictly reserved for women. This transgression appears not only to have triggered his enduring enmity with Marcus Tullius Cice-ro, but also to have constituted a decisive tactical moment in the shifting political landscape of the late Roman Republic. The analysis centres on the question of Clodius’ underlying motiva-tion: was his action prompted by youthful indiscretion and personal motives, or rather by de-liberate political calculation? To explore this, the study undertakes a systematic analysis of primary sources, focusing on Cicero’s Epistulae ad Atticum and Plutarch’s Vitae Parallelae, and supplements this with a critical review of current scholarship. Methodologically, it adopts a source-critical and argumentatively comparative approach to various interpretative models. The findings suggest that Clodius’ conduct was not an impulsive or private act, but a political-ly motivated intervention aimed at deepening factional divides, weakening Cicero, and mobi-lising popular support. Both the socio-political context and the symbolic significance of the Bona Dea festival are shown to have played a crucial role. Clodius’ actions are thus interpret-ed as a calculated provocation within the broader power struggles at the close of the Republic.