1But still it is not stated where the poison came from or how it was prepared. 1They say that it was given to this Publius Licinius, a modest and good young man, a friend of Caelius; 1that an arrangement was made with the slaves that they should come to the Senian baths; 1that Licinius would come to the same place and hand over to them a box of poison. 1Here I first ask this: what was the point of having it brought to that appointed place, why those slaves did not come to Caelius at his house. 1If that great intimacy of Caelius, that great familiarity with Clodia still remained, what suspicion would there have been if a slave of the woman's had been seen at Caelius' house?
1But if a quarrel was now brewing beneath the surface, if the intimacy had been extinguished, if a rupture had come about, 'hence those tears', no doubt, and this is the cause of all these crimes and charges. 62'No,' he says, 'when the slaves had reported the whole affair and Caelius' wicked plan to their mistress, the clever woman instructed them to promise Caelius everything; 62but so that the poison could be caught red-handed as it was being handed over by Licinius, she ordered the Senian baths to be fixed as the place, so that she could send friends there to hide, and then, suddenly, when Licinius had come and was handing over the poison, they should leap out and seize the man.'