The Conspiracy of Catiline

Contents — 61 sections

1. Chapter intro
2. Chapter 1
3. Chapter 2
4. Chapter 3
5. Chapter 4
6. Chapter 5
7. Chapter 6
8. Chapter 7
9. Chapter 8
10. Chapter 9
11. Chapter 10
12. Chapter 11
13. Chapter 12
14. Chapter 13
15. Chapter 14
16. Chapter 15
17. Chapter 16
18. Chapter 17
19. Chapter 18
20. Chapter 19
21. Chapter 20
22. Chapter 21
23. Chapter 22
24. Chapter 23
25. Chapter 24
26. Chapter 25
27. Chapter 26
28. Chapter 27
29. Chapter 28
30. Chapter 29
31. Chapter 30
32. Chapter 31
33. Chapter 32
34. Chapter 33
35. Chapter 34
36. Chapter 36
37. Chapter 37
38. Chapter 38
39. Chapter 39
40. Chapter 40
41. Chapter 41
42. Chapter 42
43. Chapter 43
44. Chapter 44
45. Chapter 45
46. Chapter 46
47. Chapter 47
48. Chapter 48
49. Chapter 49
50. Chapter 50
51. Chapter 51
52. Chapter 52
53. Chapter 53
54. Chapter 54
55. Chapter 55
56. Chapter 56
57. Chapter 58
58. Chapter 59
59. Chapter 60
60. Chapter 61
61. Chapter chronology

Chapter intro

SALLUST was born at Amiternum, a town in the Sabine territory, on the first of October, in the year six hundred and sixty-six from the foundation of Rome, eighty-seven years before Christ, and in the seventh consulship of Marius.

The name of his father was Caius Sallustius; that of his mother is unknown. His family was thought by Crinitus, and some others, to have been patrician, but by Gerlach, and most of the later critics, is pronounced to have been plebeian, because he held the office of tribune of the people, because he makes observations unfavorable to the nobility in his writings, and because his grandson, according to Tacitus, was only of equestrian rank.

The ingenuity of criticism has been exercised in determining whether his name should be written with a double or single l. Jerome Wolfius, and Gerlach, are in favor of the single letter, depending chiefly on inscriptions, and on the presumption that the name is derived from salus or sal. But inscriptions vary; the etymology of the word is uncertain, and to derive it from sal would authorize either mode of spelling. All the Latin authors, both in prose and poetry, have the name with the double letter, and it seems better, as Vossius remarks, to adhere to their practice. Among the Greeks, Dion and Eusebius have the single letter; in some other writers it is found doubled.

Another question raised respecting his name, is whether he should be called Sallustius Crispus or Crispus Sallustius. The latter mode is adopted by Le Clerc, Cortius, Havercamp, and some other critics; but De Brosses argues conclusively in favor of the former method; as Sallustius, from its termination, is evidently the name of the family or gens; and Crispus, which denotes quelque habitude du corps, only a surname to distinguish one of its branches. Crispus Sallustius is found, indeed, in manuscripts; and, according to Cortius, in the best; but on what reasonable grounds can it be justified? It was perhaps adopted by some copyist front the ode of Horace addressed to Sallist's nephew, and inconsiderately continued by his successors.

He was removed early in life to Rome, that he might be educated under Atteius Prætextatus, a celebrated grammarian of that age, who styled himself Philologus, and who was afterward tutor to Asinius Pollio. Atteius treated Sallust with very great distinction.

He may be supposed to have soon grown conscious of his powers; and appears at an early period of his life to have devoted himself to study, with an intention to distinguish himself in history.

His devotion to literature, however, was not so great as to detain him from indulgence in pleasure; for he became, if we allow any credit to the old declaimer, infamous, ætatis tirocinio, for debauchery and extravagance. He took possession of his father's house in his father's lifetime, and sold it; an act by which he brought his father to the grave; and he was twice, for some misconduct, arraigned before the magistrates, and escaped on both occasions only through the perjury of his judges.

When we cite this rhetorician, we must not forget that we cite an anonymous reviler, yet we must suppose with Gerlach, and with Meisner, the German translator of Sallust, that we quote a writer who grounded his invectives on reports and opinions current at the time in which he lived.

Sallust next thought of aspiring to political distinction; but "the usual method of attaining notice," says De Brosses, "which was to secure friends and clients by pleading the causes of individuals at the bar, he seems not to have adopted;" since, as is known, no orations spoken' by him are in existence, and, as is thought, no mention is made of such orations in any other author.

Mention, however, is made of orations of Sallust, at whatever time delivered, in the well-known passage of Seneca the rhetorician. When Seneca inquired of Cassius Severus, why he, who was so eminent in pleading important causes, displayed so little talent in pronouncing fictitious declamations, the orator replied, Quod in me miraris, pene omnibus evenit, etc. Orationes Sallustii in honorem historiarum leguntur. "What you think extraordinary in me, is common to all men of ability. The greatest geniuses, to whom I am conscious of my great inferiority, have generally excelled only in one species of composition. The felicity of Virgil in poetry deserted him in prose; the eloquence of Cicero's orations is not to be found in his verses; and the speeches of Sallust are read only as a foil to his histories." The speeches which are here meant, are not, as has been generally imagined, those inserted in the histories, but others, which Sallust had spoken. This view of the passage was first taken by Antonius Augustinus, and communicated by him to Schottus, who mentioned it in his annotations on Seneca.

But by whatever means he secured support, he had at length sufficient interest to obtain a quæstorship; the tenure of which gave him admission into the senate. It would appear that he was about thirty-one years of age when he attained this honor.

It must have been about this period that his adventure with Fausta, the daughter of Sylla and wife of Milo, occurred, of which a short account is given by Aulus Gellius in an extract from Varro. The English reader may take it in the version of Beloe : "Marcus Varro, a man of great authority and weight in his writings and life, in his publication entitled 'Pius,' or 'De Pace,' records that Caius Sallust, the author of that grave and serious composition (seriæ illius et severæ orationis), in which he has exercised the severity of the censorial office, in taking cognizance of crimes, being taken by Annæus Milo in adultery, was well scourged, and, after paying a sum of money, dismissed." The same story is told, on the authority of Asconius Pedianus the biographer of Sallust, by Acro and Porphyrio, the scholiasts on Horace, who, they think, had it in his mind when he wrote the words, Ille flagellis ad mortem cæsus. Servius, also, in his note on Quique ob adulterium cæsi, in the sixth book of the Æneid, tells a like tale, adding that Sallust entered the house in the habit of a slave, and was caught in that disguise by Milo.

Such being the case, it is not wonderful that when Sallust entered on his tribuneship of the people, to which lie was elected in the year of the city seven hundred, he seized an opportunity which occurred of being revenged on Milo, who had shortly before killed Clodius. He joined with his colleagues, Pompeins Rufus and Plancus, in inflaming the populace, and charging Milo with premeditated hostility. They intimidated Cicero, Milo's advocate, insinuating that he had planned the assassination; and the matter ended in Milo's banishment. During the progress of the trial, however, it is said that Sallust abated his hostility to Milo and Cicero, and even became friendly with them. How this reconciliation was effected, does not appear; but it seems certain that Cicero, when he attacked Plancus, Sallust's colleague, for exciting the populace to turbulence, left Sallust himself unmolested.

Unmolested, however, lie did not long remain; for in the year of the city seven hundred and four, in the censorship of Appius Claudius Pulcher, and Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Appius, actuated by two motives, one of which was to serve Pompey, by excluding from the senate such as were hostile to him, and the other to throw into the shade his own private irregularities by an ostentatious discharge of his public duties, expelled Sallust from the senate on pretence that he was a flagrantly immoral character.

But Appius, by this proceeding, instead of serving Pompey, served Cæsar; for many who had previously been favorable to Pompey, or had continued neutral, betook themselves immediately to Cæsar's camp; in the number of whom was Sallust.

His attendance on Cæsar did not go unrewarded; for when Cæsar returned from Spain, after his victory over Afranius and Petreius, he restored Sallust, with others under similar circumstances, to his seat in the senate; and as it was not usual for a senator, who had been degraded from his rank, to be reinstated in it without being at the same time elected to an office, he was again made quæstor, or, as Dion thinks, prætor.

He was then intrusted with some military command, and sent into Illyria, where, as Orosius states, he was one of those that were defeated by the Pomnpeian leaders Octavius and Libo.

Afterward, when the war in Egypt and Asia was finished, but while the remains of Pompey's army, headed by Scipio and Cato, were still menacing hostilities in Africa, Sallust, with the title of prætor, was directed to conduct against them a body of troops from Campania. But Sallust was intrusted with more than he was able to perform. The soldiers mutinied on the coast, compelled him to flee, and hurried away to Rome, putting to death two senators in their way., It was on this occasion that Cæsar humbled them by addressing them as Quirites instead of commilitones.

Sallust was then reinstated in command, and was sent, during the African war, to the island of Cercina, to bring off a quantity of corn that had been deposited there by the enemy; a commission which he successfully executed.

Whether he performed any other service for Cæsar in this war, we have no account; but Cæsar, when it was ended, thought him a person of such consequence, that he gave him the government of Numidia, with the title of pro-consul. "He received the province from Cæsar," says Dion, "nominally to govern it, but in reality to ravage and plunder it." Whether such was Cæsar's intention or not, it is generally believed that he enriched himself by the spoil of it to the greatest possible extent.

When his term of office, which seems to have been only a year, was expired, he "appeared at Rome," says the declaimer, "like a man enriched in a dream." But the Numidians followed him, and accused him of extortion; a charge front which he was only acquitted through the interposition of Cæsar, to whom he is said to have presented a bribe.

The trial had not been long concluded when Cæsar was assassinated, and Sallust, being thus deprived of his patron, seems to have withdrawn entirely from public life. He purchased a large tract of ground on the Quirinal hill, where he erected a splendid mansion, and laid out those magnificent gardens of which so much has been related. Their extent must have been vast, if De Brosses, who visited the spot in 1739, obtained any just notion of it. But some have thought them much smaller. He had also a country-house at Tibur, which had belonged to Julius Cæsar.

It was during this period of retirement, as is supposed, that he married Terentia, the divorced wife of Cicero, if, indeed, he married her at all; for their union rests on no very strong testimony.

It was at this time, too, it would appear, that he commenced the composition of history, with a view to the perpetuation of his name; for he entered on it, lie says, when his mind was free from "hope, fear, or political partisanship;" and to no other time of his life are such expressions applicable. Dion seems to have supposed that he appeared as a historian before he went to Numidia, but is in all probability mistaken.

Sallust died on the thirteenth of May, in the year of the city seven hundred and eighteen, in the fifty-second year of his age, leaving his grand-nephew, Gains Sallustius Crispus, whom want of children had induced him to adopt, heir to all his possessions. His gardens, some years after his death, became imperial property.

Such were the events, as far as we learn, of the life of Sallust; and such is the notion which the voice of antiquity teaches us to form of his moral character. In modern times, some attempts have been made to prove that he was less vicious than he was anciently represented.

Among those who have attempted to clear him of the charges usually brought against hin, are Miller, Wieland, and Roos; who are strenuously opposed by Gerlach and Loebell. The points on which his champions chiefly endeavor to defend him, are the adventure with Fausta, and the spoliation of Numidia. Of the three, Miller is the most enterprising. With regard to the affair of Fausta, he sets himself boldly to impugn the authority of Varro or Gellius, on which it chiefly rests; and his reasoning is as follows: That such writers as Gellius are not always to be trusted; that Gellius often quoted from memory; that he cites old authors on the testimony of later authors; that he speaks of Varro, fide homo multâ et gravis, as if he were a cotemporary that needed commendation, not the well-known Varro whose character was established; that the Varro of Gellius may therefore be a later Varro, whose book, "Pius," or "De Pace," may have been about Antoninus Pius, under whom Gellius lived, and who may have been utterly mistaken in what he said of Sallust; and that, consequently, the passage in Gellius is to be suspected. Respecting the plunder of Numidia, his arguments are, that the province was given to Sallust to spoil, not for himself, but for Cæsar; that of the money obtained from it, the chief part was given to Cæsar; and that, consequently, Cæsar, not Sallust, is to bear the blame for what was done.

But such conjectures produce no more impression on the mind of a reader than Walpole's " Historic Doubts" concerning Richard the Third. They suggest something that may have been, but bring no proof of what actually was; they may be allowed to be ingenious, but the general voice of history is still believed. To all Müller's suggestions Gerlach exclaims, Credat Judæus! Were there, in the pages of antiquity, a single record or remark favorable to the moral character of Sallust, there would then be a point d'appui from which to commence an attack on what is said against him; but the case, alas! is exactly the reverse; wherever Sallust is characterized as a man, he is characterized unfavorably.

His writings consisted of his narratives of the Conspiracy of Catiline and the War with Jugurtha, and of a History of Rome in five books, extending from the death of Sylla to the beginning of the Mithridatic war. The Catiline and Jugurtha have reached us entire; but of the History there now remain only four speeches, two letters, and a number of smaller fragments preserved among the grammarians. That he was not the author of the Epistles to Cæsar, the reader will find satisfactorily shown in the remarks prefixed to the translation of them in the present volume.

Sallust is supposed to have formed his style on that of Thucydides; but he has far excelled his model, if not in energy, certainly in conciseness and perspicuity, of expression. "The speeches of Thucydides," says Cicero, "contain so many dark and intricate passages, that they are scarcely understood." No such complaint can be made of any part of the writings of Sallust. "From any sentence in Thucydides," says Seneca the rhetorician, "however remarkable for its conciseness, if a word or two be taken away, the sense will remain, if not equally ornate, yet equally entire; but from the periods of Sallust nothing can be deducted without detriment to the meaning." Apud eruditas aures, says Quintilian, nihil potest esse perfectius.

The defects of his style are, that he wants the flumen orationis so much admired in Livy and Herodotus; that his transitions are often abrupt; and that he too much affects antique phraseology. But no writer can combine qualities that are incompatible. He is justly preferred by Quintilian to Livy, and well merits the praise given him by Tacitus and Martial, of being rerum Romanarum florentissimus auctor, and Romanâ primus in historiâ.

Of the numerous editions of Sallust, that of Cortius, which appeared at Leipsic in 1724, and has been often reprinted, long indisputably held the first rank. But Cortius, as an editor, was somewhat too fond of expelling from his text all words that he could possibly pronounce superfluous; and succeeding editors, as Gerlach (Basil. 1823), Kritz (Leipsic, 1834), and Dietsch (Leipsic, 1846), have judiciously restored many words that he had discarded, and produced texts more acceptable in many respects to the generality of students.

Sallust has been many times translated into English. The versions most deserving notice are those of Gordon (1744), Rose (1751), Murphy (1809), and Peacock (1845.) Gordon has vigor, but wants polish; Rose is close and faithful but often dry and hard; Murphy is sprightly, but verbose and licentious, qualities in which his admirer, Sir Henry Steuart (1806), went audaciously beyond him; Mr. Peacock's translation is equally faithful with that of Rose, and far exceeds it in general ease and agreeableness of style.

Chapter 1

IT becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals, to strive, to the utmost of their power, not to pass through life in obscurity, like the beasts of the field, which nature has formed groveling and subservient to appetite.

All our power is situate in the mind and in the body. Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the service. The one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.

Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before beginning to act, and, after planning, to act with promptitude and vigor.' Thus, each being insufficient of itself, the one requires the assistance of the other."

Chapter 2

In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways; some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however, the life of man was passed without covetousness every one was satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia and the Lacedæmonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at length discovered, by proof and experience, that mental power has the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed, if the intellectual ability of kings and magistrates were exerted to the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from hand to hand, and things universally changed and confused. For dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is always transferred from the less to the more deserving.

Even in agriculture, in navigation, and in architecture, whatever man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, resigned to sensuality and indolence, uninstructed and unimproved, have passed through life like travelers in a strange country; to whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation; for silence is maintained concerning both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling enterprise, or honorable pursuit.

But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different paths to different individuals.

Chapter 3

To act well for the Commonwealth is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit. Both in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it yet seems in the highest degeee difficult to write the history of great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately represented by words; and next, because most readers consider that whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence only that which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own conception he regards as fictitious and incredible.

I myself, however, when a young man, was at first led by inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs; but in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity, there prevailed shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and infected by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, which disquieted others, disquieted myself.

Chapter 4

When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting ; but, returning to those studies from which, at their commencement, a corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detatched portions, the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the man.

Chapter 5

LUCIUS CATILINE was a man of noble birth, and of eminent mental and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition. His delight, from his youth, had been in civil commotions, bloodshed, robbery, and sedition; and in such scenes he had spent his early years. His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished. He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He had abundance of eloquence, though but little wisdom. His insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, and unattainable.

Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship, a strong desire of seizing the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he secured power for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly depraved, furnished him with additional incentives to action.

Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to describe the conduct of our ancestors in peace and war; how they managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious and depraved.

Chapter 6

Of the city of Rome, as I understand, the founders and earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of Æneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines, a savage race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control. How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met within the same walls, is almost incredible. But when their state, from an accession of population and territory, and an improved condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, prepared with alacrity for their defense. They encouraged one another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by bestowing favors than by receiving them.

They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS. But afterward, when the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest, had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, and appointed two magistrates, with power only annual; for they conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely to grow overbearing for want of control.

Chapter 7

At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was secured, it is almost incredible how much the state strengthened itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they were able to bear the toil of war, acquired military skill by actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility. They were covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault.

Chapter 8

But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very great and glorious, something inferior to what fame has represented them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in their writings.

But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers; for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability chose to act rather than narrate, and was more desirous that his own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should record theirs.

Chapter 9

Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy. Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, and steady in their friendships.

By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war, punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their standards, or, when pressed by the enemy, to abandon their posts; and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to pardon than to revenge it.

Chapter 10

But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war; when barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue; to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable.

Chapter 11

At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, that influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind. It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by abundance nor by want.

But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government by force of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious termination, all became robbers and plunderers; some set their affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the forces which he had commanded in Asia, had treated them, contrary to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public edifices and private dwellings; to spoil temples; and to cast off respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would those of debauched habits use victory with moderation.

Chapter 12

When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature. From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off all consideration and self-restraint.

It furnishes much matter for reflection, after viewing our modern mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the contrary, the basest of mankind, have even wrested from their allies, with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of power were to inflict injury.

Chapter 13

For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices, by many private citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth, since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have enjoyed with honor.

But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all kinds of luxury, had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold, or fatigue, but anticipated them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance.

Chapter 14

In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by gaming, luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all assassins or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from other causes than from any evidence of the fact.

Chapter 15

Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal connections, with a virgin of noble birth, with a priestess of Vesta, and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion for Aurelia Orestilla, in whom no good man, at any time of her life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a grown-up step-son, he cleared the house for their nuptials by putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his tortured spirit. His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look.

Chapter 16

The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among them he furnished false witnesses, and forgers of signatures; and he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property, and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to circumvent and murder inoffensive persons, just as if they had injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel.

Depending on such accomplices and adherents, and knowing that the load of debt was every where great, and that the veterans of Sylla, having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the design of overthrowing the government. There was no army in Italy; Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world; he himself had great hopes of obtaining the consulship; the senate was wholly off its guard ; every thing was quiet and tranquil; and all these circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline.

Chapter 17

Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of Lucius Cæsar and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and informed them of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent, and whose spirits were the most daring, to a general conference.

At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank, Publius Lentulus Sura, Publius Autronius, Lucius Cassius Longinus, Caius Cethegus, Publius and Servius Sylla the sons of Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius Quintus Annius, Marcus Porcius Læca, Lucius Bestia, Quintus Curius; and, of the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, Lucius Statilius, Publius Gabinius Capito, Caius Cornelius ; with many from the colonies and municipal towns, persons of consequence in their own localities. There were many others, too, among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly; men whom the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted to join in the affair. But most of the young men, and especially the sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. There were some, also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus was not unacquainted with the conspiracy; because Cneius Pompey, whom he hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the power of any one whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey's influence; trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the conspirators.

Chapter 18

But previously to this period, a small number of persons, among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the state: of which affair I shall here give as accurate account as I am able.

Under the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla, having been tried for bribery under the laws against it, had paid the penalty of the offense. Shortly after Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion, had been prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of days. There was at that time, too, a young patrician of the most daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Cneius Piso, whom poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the government. Catiline and Autronius, having concerted measures with this Piso, prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, in the Capitol, on the first of January, when they, having seized on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the two Spains. But their design being discovered, they postponed the assassination to the fifth of February; when they meditated the destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the senate. And had not Catiline, who was in front of the senate-house, been too hasty to give the singal to his associates, there would that day have been perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was founded. But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design.

Chapter 19

Some time afterward, Piso was sent as quæstor, with Prætorian authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. Nor were the senate, indeed, unwilling to grant him the province; for they wished so infamous a character to be removed from the seat of government; and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then becoming formidable. But this Piso, on his march toward his province, was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army. These barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at his instigation; since the Spaniards, they observed, had never before committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe commands. This question we shall leave undecided. Of the first conspiracy enough has been said.

Chapter 20

When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned, assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the following effect:

" If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, this favorable opportunity would have occurred to no purpose; mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp; nor should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue contingencies instead of certainties. But as I have, on many remarkable occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. I am aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same affect me; and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is assuredly a firm bond of friendship.

"What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. But my ardor for action is daily more and more excited, when I consider what our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our claims to liberty. For since the government has fallen under the power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes have constantly been their tributaries; nations and states have paid them taxes; but all the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and subject to those, to whom, if the state were in a sound condition, we should be a terror. Hence, all influence, power, honor, and wealth, are in their hands, or where they dispose of them; to us they have left only insults, dangers, persecutions, and poverty. To such indignities, O bravest of men, how long will you submit? Is it not better to die in a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men's insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy?

"But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands. Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken; among our oppressors, on the contrary, through age and wealth a general debility has been produced. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of events will accomplish the rest.

"Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure that they should have a superfluity of riches, to squander in building over seas and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting to us even for the necessaries of life; that they should join together two houses or more, and and that we should not have a hearth to call our own ? They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate ; though they pull down new buildings and erect others, and lavish and abuse their wealth in every possible method, yet can not, with the utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. But for us there is poverty at home, debts abroad; our present circumstances are bad, our prospects much worse; and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence ?

"Will you not, then, awake to action? Behold that liberty, that liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor, and glory, are set before your eyes. All these prizes fortune offers to the victorious. Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, animate you far more than my words. Use me either as your leader or your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to you. These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the character of consul; unless, iudeed, my expectation deceives me, and you prefer to be slaves rather than masters."

Chapter 21

When these men, surrounded with numberless evils, but without any resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to engage in the contest; what benefits they were to expect from taking up arms; and what support and encouragement they had, and in what quarters. Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts; a proscription of the wealthy citizens; offices, sacerdotal dignities, plunder, and all other gratifications which war, and the license of conquerors, can afford. He added that Piso was in Hither Spain, and Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were privy to his plans; that Caius Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was intimate, and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments; and that, in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence operations. He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of his poverty, another of his ruling passion, several others of their danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by the victory of Sylla. When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, and dismissed the assembly.

Chapter 22

There were some, at that time, who said that Catiline, having ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they asserted that he did this, in order that they might be the more closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such an atrocity. But so some thought that this report, and many others, were invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to its magnitude.

Chapter 23

Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius, a man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the censors had ignominiously expelled from the senate. In this person there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret what he heard, nor conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless what he said or what he did. He had long had a criminal intercourse with Fulvia, a woman of high birth; but growing less acceptable to her, because, in his reduced circumstances, he had less means of being liberal, he began, on a sudden, to boast, and to promise her seas and mountains; threatening her, at times, with the sword, if she were not submissive to his will; and acting, in his general conduct, with greater arrogance than ever. Fulvia, having learned the cause of his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the state a secret; but, without naming her informant, communicated to several persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning Catiline's conspiracy. This intelligence it was that incited the feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius Cicero. For before this period, most of the nobility were moved with jealousy, and thought the consulship in some degree sullied, if a man of no family, however meritorious, obtained it. But when danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside.

Chapter 24

Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius Antonius were declared consuls; an event which gave the first shock to the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he deposited arms, in convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money borrowed on his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius, at Fæsulæ, who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had contracted heavy debts. By the influence of these females, Catiline hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives.

Chapter 25

In the number of those ladies was Sempronia, a woman who had committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would have been difficult to decide. Her desires were so ardent that she oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation. She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagance and poverty. But her abilities were by no means despicable; she could compose verses, jest, and join in conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In a word, she was distinguished by much refinement of wit, and much grace of expression.

Chapter 26

Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for the consulship for the following year; hoping that, if he should be elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure. Nor did he, in the mean time remain inactive, but devised schemes, in every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill or policy to guard against them. For, at the very beginning of his consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret information of Catiline's proceedings. He had also persuaded his colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces, to entertain no sentiment of disaffection toward the state; and he kept around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and dependents.

When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline's efforts for the consulship, nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius, were attended with success, he determined to proceed to war, and resort to the utmost extremities, since what he had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.

Chapter 27

He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Fæsulæ, and the adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Camerinum, into the Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable. He himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his numerous projects succeeded, he again, with the aid of Marcus Porcius Læca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures.

Chapter 28

While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay, to the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him, and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed.

In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other property), were eager for a revolution. He also attached to himself all sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of Sylla's colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted their enormous plunder.

Chapter 29

When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of . the army of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as is usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE IT THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is granted by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at home and in the field; rights which, without an order of the people, the consul is not permitted to exercise.

Chapter 30

A few days afterward, Lucius Sænius, a senator, read to the senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Fæsulæ, and in which it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken the field by the 27th of October. Others at the same time, as is not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex was dispatched, by a decree of the senate, to Fæsulæ, and Quintus Metellus Creticus into Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of commanders, were waiting near the city, having been prevented from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The prætors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a complete pardon and two hundred sestertia. They further appointed that the schools of gladiators should be distributed in Capua and other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the inferior magistrates should have the charge.

Chapter 31

By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that extreme gayety and dissipation, to which long tranquillity had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their country.

Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian law. At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he went into the senatehouse. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the republic, which he afterward wrote and published.

When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome, was eager to preserve it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor. Being thus exasperated, " Since I am encompassed by enemies," he exclaimed, "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the flame kindled around me in a general ruin."

Chapter 32

He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a large army.

During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, with directions to address him to the following effect:

Chapter 33

"We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in want, have been deprived, most of us, of our homes, and all of us of our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our ancestors, to have the benefit of the law, or, when our property was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the usurers and of the prætor.

"Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at Rome, relieved their distress by decrees ; and very lately, within our, own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass.

"Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, which the injustice of the prætor has taken from us; and not to lay on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to avenge our blood."

Chapter 34

To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the kindness and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none had ever asked help of them in vain."

Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself."

Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in he name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy:

XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your eminent integrity, known to me by experience, gives a pleasing confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense with regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious of no guilt, to offer you some explanation, which, on my word of honor, you may receive as true. Provoked by injuries and indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, I did not obtain the post of honor due to me, I have undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts contracted on my own security ; while the generosity of Orestilla, out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed on groundless suspicion, I have for this very reason, adopted a course, amply justifiable in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla to your protection ; intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury. Farewell."

Chapter 36

Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Caius Flaminius Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium, while he was supplying the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, marched with his fasces, and -other ensigns of authority, to join Manlius in his camp.

When this was known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius enemies to the state, and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, before which they might lay down their arms with impunity, except such as had been convicted of capital offenses. They also decreed that the consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city.

At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an extremely deplorable condition ; for though every nation, from the rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two decrees of the senate, not one individual, out of so vast a number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline. So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded the minds of most of the citizens.

Chapter 37

Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline. This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character; for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class, and endeavor to exalt the factious ; they dislike the established condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety, since poverty does not easily suffer loss.

As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected from various causes. In the first place, such as every where took the lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general receptacle of impurity. In the next place, many, who thought of the success of Sylla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers into senators, and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they should once take up arms. In addition to this, the youth, who, in the country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to unwelcome toil in the field. To these, and all others of similar character, public disorders would furnish subsistence. It is not at all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their own. Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sylla, had been proscribed, whose property had been confiscated, and whose civil rights had been curtailed, looked forward to the event of a war with precisely the same feelings.

All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that they themselves should be out of power. This was an evil, which, after many years, had returned upon the community to the extent to which it now prevailed.

Chapter 38

For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored, certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that high office, began to stir up the populace by inveighing against the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they became popular and powerful. On the other hand, the most of the nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost; under pretense, indeed, of supporting the senate, but in reality for their own aggrandizement. For, to state the truth in few words, whatever parties, during that period, disturbed the republic under plausible pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to make the authority of the senate as great as possible, all, though affecting concern for the public good, contended every one for his own interest. In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit; each party made a merciless use of its successes.

Chapter 39

After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic wars, the power of the people was diminished, and the influence of the few increased. These few kept all public offices, the administration of the provinces, and every thing else, in their own hands; they themselves lived free from harm, in flourishing circumstances, and without apprehension; overawing others, at the same time, with threats of impeachment, so that, when in office, they might be less inclined to inflame the people. But as soon as a prospect of change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the old spirit of contention awakened their passions; and had Catiline, in his first battle, come off victorious, or left the struggle undecided, great distress and calamity must certainly have fallen upon the state, nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendency, have been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted.

There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. Among these was Aulus Fulvius, the son of a senator, whom, being arrested on his journey, his father ordered to be put to death. In Rome, at the same time, Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline's directions, was endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to promote an insurrection; and not citizens only, but every description of men who could be of any service in war.

Chapter 40

He accordingly commissioned one Publius Umbrenus to apply to certain deputies of the Allobroges, and to lead them, if he could, to a participation in the war; supposing that as they were nationally and individually involved in debt, and as the Gauls were naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise. Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently, without loss of time, as soon as he noticed the deputies in the Forum, he asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, " what termination they expected to such calamities?" When he found that they complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only remedy for their sufferings, "Yet I," said he, "if you will but act as men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing difficulties." When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from debt. He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus, which was close to the Forum, and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome. In order, too, to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius, and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy, and mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many other persons, of every sort, who were guiltless of it, for the purpose of inspiring the embassadors with greater confidence. At length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart.

Chapter 41

Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should adopt. On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war, and great advantages to be expected from victory ; on the other, superior resources, safe plans, and certain rewards instead of uncertain expectations. As they were balancing these considerations, the good fortune of the state at length prevailed. They accordingly disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus Fabius Sanga, to whose patronage their state was very greatly indebted. Cicero, being apprized of the matter by Sanga, directed the deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as possible.

Chapter 42

Much about the same time there were commotions in Hither and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories, and in Apulia. For those, whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts, had begun, without consideration, and seemingly with madness, to attempt every thing at once; and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing armor and weapons from place to place, and by hurrying and confusing every thing, had created more alarm than danger. Of these, Quintus Metellus Celer, the prætor, having brought several to trial, under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had also Caius Muræna in Further Gaul, who governed that province in quality of legate.

Chapter 43

But at Rome, in the mean time, Lentulus, with the other leaders of the conspiracy, having secured what they thought a large force, had arranged, that as soon as Catiline should reach the neighborhood of Fæsulæ, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an assembly, should complain of the proceedings of Cicero, and lay the odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul ; and that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should, on the following night, proceed to execute their respective parts.

These parts are said to have been thus distributed. Statilius and Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve. places of the city, convenient for their purpose, at the same time; in order that, during the consequent tumult, an easier access might be obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline.

While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates; observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation and delay; that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of deliberation, but of action; and that he himself, if a few would support him, would storm the senatehouse while the others remained inactive. Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he thought that success depended on rapidity of execution.

Chapter 44

The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators; and from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, they demanded an oath, which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair. To this the others consented without suspicion; but Cassius promised them soon to visit their country, and, indeed, left the city a little before the deputies.

In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which the following is a copy:

"Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you. Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and remember that you are a man. Consider what your views demand, and seek aid from all, even the lowest." In addition, he gave him this verbal message: "Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves ? That, in the city, every thing which he had directed was arranged; and that he should not delay to make nearer approaches to it."

Chapter 45

Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made acquainted with every thing, directed the prætors, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the Allobroges, by laying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge ; he gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were sent, and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. Being military men, they placed a force, as had been directed, without disturbance, and secretly invested the bridge; when the deputies, with Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side of the bridge, the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, surrendered themselves immediately to the prætors. Volturcius, at first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers with his sword; but afterward, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered himself to the prætors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies.

Chapter 46

The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Great anxiety, and great joy, affected him at the same moment. He rejoiced that, by the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger; but he was doubtful how he ought to act, when citizens of such eminence were detected in treason so atrocious. He saw that their punishment would be a weight upon himself, and their escape the destruction of the Commonwealth. Having, however, formed his resolution, he ordered Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and one Quintus Cæparius of Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to raise the slaves, to be summoned before him. The others came without delay; but Cæparius, having left his house a little before, and heard of the discovery of the conspiracy, had fled from the city. The consul himself conducted Lentulus, as he was prætor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard. Here he assembled the senate, and in a very full attendance of that body, introduced Volturcius with the deputies. Hither also he ordered Valerius Flaccus, the prætor, to bring the box with the letters which he had taken from the deputies.

Chapter 47

Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning his letter, and lastly, what object he had had in view, and from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate, and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was told to speak on the security of the public faith, he disclosed every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been admitted as an associate, a few days before, by Gabinius and Cæparius; that he knew no more than the deputies, only that he used to hear from Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. The Gauls made a similar confession, and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in the habit of making, "that the sovereignity of Rome, by the Sibylline books, was predestined to three Cornelii; that Cinna and Sylla had ruled already ; and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be to govern the city; and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the Capitol was burned; a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had often said would be stained with the blood of civil war."

The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously acknowledged their seals, decreed that Lentulus, being deprived of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private custody. Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius Lentulus Spinther, who was then ædile; Cethegus, to Quintus Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Cæsar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; and Cæparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to Cneius Terentius, a senator.

Chapter 48

The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore.

On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before the senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out to join Catiline. This person, having offered to give information of the conspiracy, if the public faith were pledged to him, and being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the senate nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens, and the approach of the enemy, adding that " he was sent by Marcus Crassus to assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus, and others of the conspirators, ought not to alarm him, but that he should hasten, with so much the more expedition to the city, in order to revive the courage of the rest, and to facilitate the escape of those in custody." When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, of very great wealth, and of vast influence, some, thinking the statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, judging that at such a crisis a man of such power was rather to be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, being under obligation to Crassus), exclaimed that he was " a false witness," and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote. Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full senate decreed " that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false; that he himself should be kept in prison; and that no further liberty of speaking should be granted him, unless he should name the person at whose instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny."

There were some, at that time, who thought that this affair was contrived by Publius Autronius, in order that the interest of Crassus, if he were accused, might, from participation in the danger, more readily screen the rest. Others said that Tarquinius was suborned by Cicero, that Crassus might not disturb the state, by taking upon him, as was his custom, the defense of the criminals. That this attack on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself assert.

Chapter 49

Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon Cicero to have Caius Cæsar falsely accused, either by means of the Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter enmity with Cæsar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Cæsar, who was then comparatively a youth. The opportunity, too, seemed favorable for such an accusation; for Cæsar, by extraordinary generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public, had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Cæsar with their swords as he went out of the senate-house.

Chapter 50

While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and slaves, in various directions throughout the city, to attempt his rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves and freedmen, men trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed body, and force a way into his place of confinement.

The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know " what they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, moved that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius Cæsar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero, had proposed that the guards should be increased, and that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Cæsar, when it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to the following effect:

Chapter 51

"It becomes all men, Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless.

"I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these instances in which our ancestors, in opposition to the impulse of passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy.

"In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us; yet, when the war was ended, and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, our forefathers left them unmolested lest any should say that war was made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of punishing their faithlessness. Throughout the Punic war, too, though the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspension of arms, were guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took occasion to retaliate, but considered rather what was worthy of themselves, than what might be justly inflicted on their enemies.

"Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have greater weight with you than your own dignity, and that you may not regard your indignation more than your character. If, indeed, a punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to extraordinary measures; but if the enormity of their crime exceeds whatever can be devised, I think that we should inflict only such penalties as the laws have provided.

"Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have deplored, in studied and impressive language, the sad fate that threatens the republic; they have recounted the barbarities of war, and the afflictions that would fallon the vanquished; they have told us that maidens would be dishonored, and youths abused; that children would be torn from the embraces of their parents; that matrons would be subjected to the pleasure of the conquerors; that temples and dwelling-houses would be plundered; that massacres and fires would follow; ane that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, blood, and lamentation. But to what end, in the name of the eternal gods! was such eloquence directed? Was it intended to render you indignant at the conspiracy? A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked! Far from it: for to no man does evil, directed against himself, appear a light matter; many, on the contrary, have felt it more seriously than was right.

"But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, commit any error, through excessive angel, few become aware of it, for their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and cruelty.

"I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of torture is inadequate to punish their crime; but the generality of mankind dwell on that which happens last, and, in the case of malefactors, forget their guilt, and talk only of their punishment, should that punishment have been inordinately severe. I feel assured, too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know to be his character, and such his discretion. Yet his proposal appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is directed against such characters?), but foreign to our policy. For assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, must have induced you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment. Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, when by the prompt activity of that distinguished man our consul, such numerous forces are under arms; and as to the punishment, we may say, what is indeed the truth, that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and not a torment; that it puts an end to all human woes; and that, beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy.

"But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be punished with the scourge? Was it because the Porcian law forbids it? But other laws forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of life, and allow them to go into exile. Or was it because scourging is a severer penalty than death? Yet what can be too severe, or too harsh, toward men convicted of such an offense? But if scourging be a milder punishment than death, how is it consistent to observe the law as to the smaller point, when you disregard it as to the greater?

"But who it may be asked, will blame any severity that shall be decreed against these parricides of their country? I answer that time, the course of events, and fortune, whose caprice governs nations, may blame it. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well what you resolve to inflict on others. All precedents productive of evil effects, have had their origin from what was good; but when a government passes into the hands of the ignorant or unprincipled, any new example of severity, inflicted on deserving and suitable objects, is extended to those that are improper and undeserving of it. The Lacedæmonians, when they had conquered the Athenians, appointed thirty men to govern their state. These thirty began their administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable; acts at which the people rejoiced, and extolled their justice. But afterward, when their lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, to kill the good and the bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy penalty for its imprudent exultation.

"Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sylla ordered Damasippus, and others of similar character, who had risen by distressing their country, to be put to death, who did not commend the proceeding? All exclaimed that wicked and factious men, who had troubled the state with their seditious practices, had justly forfeited their lives. Yet this proceeding was the commencement of great bloodshed. For whenever any one coveted the mansion or villa, or even the plate or apparel of another, he exerted his influence to have him numbered among the proscribed. Thus they, to whom the death of Damasippus had been a subject of joy, were soon after dragged to death themselves; nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sylla had glutted all his partisans with riches.

"Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these times. But in a large state there arise many men of various dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, like the present, may have an army at his command, some false accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury?

"Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in conduct or courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. Their armor, and weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites; their ensigns of authority, for the most part, from the Etrurians; and, in short, whatever appeared eligible to them, whether among allies or among enemies, they adopted at home with the greatest readiness, being more inclined to emulate merit than to be jealous of it. But at the same time, adopting a practice from Greece, they punished their citizens with the scourge, and inflicted capital punishment on such as were condemned. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. This lenity of our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, I regard as a very strong reason why we should not adopt any new measures of severity. For assuredly there was greater merit and wisdom in those, who raised so mighty an empire from humble means, than in us, who can scarcely preserve what they so honorably acquired. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should thus be increased? Far from it; my recommendation is, that their property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the expense; that no one hereafter bring their case before the senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act against the republic and the general safety."

Chapter 52

When Cæsar had ended his speech, the rest briefly expressed their assent, some to one speaker, and some to another, in support of their different proposals; but Marcius Porcius Cato, being asked his opinion, made a speech to the following purport:

"My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different, when I contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, and their homes; but the state of affairs warns us rather to secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to justice. When the city is taken, no power is left to the vanquished.

"But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, who have always valued your mansions and villas, your statues and pictures, at a higher price than the welfare of your country; if you wish to preserve those possessions, of whatever kind they are, to which you are attached; if you wish to secure quiet for the enjoyment of your pleasures, arouse yourselves, and act in defense of your country. We are not now debating on the revenues, or on injuries done to our allies, but our liberty and our life is at stake.

"Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of many. I, who never excused to myself, or to my own conscience, the commission of any fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct, or indulge the licentiousness, of others. But though you little regarded my remonstrances, yet the republic remained secure; its own strength was proof against your remissness. The question, however, at present under discussion, is not whether we live in a good or a bad state of morals; nor how great, or how splendid, the empire of the Roman people is; but whether these things around us, of whatever value they are, are to continue our own, or to fall, with ourselves, into the hands of the enemy.

"In such a case, does any one talk to me of gentleness and compassion? For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real name of things; for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced to the brink of ruin. But let those, who thus misname things; be liberal, since such is the practice, out of the property of our allies; let them be merciful to the robbers of the treasury; but let them not lavish our blood, and, while they spare a few criminals, bring destruction on all the guiltless.

"Caius CAæsar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, before this assembly, on the subject of life and death; considering as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead; that the bad, going a different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary, and full of horror. He accordingly proposed that the property of the conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in the municipal towns; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate were to be found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is less power to resist them. His proposal, therefore, if he fears any danger from them, is absurd; but if, amid such universal terror, he alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and myself.

"Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army of Catilihe, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will advance upon you with fury.

"Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, raised the republic to greatness merely by force of arms. If such had been the case, we should enjoy it in a most excellent condition; for of allies and citizens, as well as arms and horses, we have a much greater abundance than they had. But there were other things which made them great, but which among us have no existence; such as industry at home, equitable government abroad, and minds impartial in council, uninfluenced by any immoral or improper feeling. Instead of such virtues, we have luxury and avarice; public distress, and private superfluity; we extol wealth, and yield to indolence; no distinction is made between good men and bad; and ambition usurps the honors due to virtue. Nor is this wonderful; since you study each his individual interest, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure, and here to money or favor; and hence it happens that an attack is made on the defenseless state.

"But on these subjects I shall say no more. Certain citizens, of the highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon us; and do you hesitate, even in such circumstances, how to treat armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? I advise you to have mercy upon them they are young men who have been led astray by ambition; send them away, even with arms in their hands. But such mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will end in misery to yourselves. The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your country in the greatest dangers. But the protection of the gods is not obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. When you are once resigned to sloth and indolence, it is in vain that you implore the gods; for they are then indignant and threaten vengeance.

"In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had fought with an enemy contrary to orders. That noble youth suffered for excess of bravery; and do you hesitate what sentence to pass on the most inhuman of traitors? Perhaps their former life is at variance with their present crime. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods or for men. Pardon the youth of Cethegus, unless this be the second time that he has made war upon his country. As to Gabinius, Statilius, Cæparius, why should I make any remark upon them? Had they ever possessed the smallest share of discretion, they would never have engaged in such a plot against their country.

"In conclusion, Conscript Fathers, if there were time to amend an error, I might easily suffer you, since you disregard words, to be corrected by experience of consequences. But we are beset by dangers on all sides; Catiline, with his army, is ready to devour us; while there are other enemies within the walls, and in the heart of the city; nor can any measures be taken, or any plans arranged, without their knowledge. The more necessary is it, therefore, to act with promptitude. What I advise, then, is this: that since the state, by a treasonable combination of abandoned citizens, has been brought into the greatest peril; and since the conspirators have been convicted on the evidence of Titus Volturcius, and the deputies of the Allobroges, and on their own confession, of having concerted massacres, conflagrations, and other horrible and cruel outrages, against their fellow-citizens and their country, punishment be inflicted, according to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed their guilt, as on men convicted of capital crimes."

Chapter 53

When Cato had resumed his seat, all the senators of consular dignity, and a great part of the rest, applauded his opinion, and extolled his firmness of mind to the skies. With mutual reproaches, they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he had advised.

After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great foundation of such illustrious deeds. I knew that the Romans had frequently, with small bodies of men, encountered vast armies of the enemy; I was aware that they had carried on wars with limited forces against powerful sovereigns; that they had often sustained, too, the violence of adverse fortune; yet that, while the Greeks excelled them in eloquence, the Gauls surpassed them in military glory. After much reflection, I felt convinced that the eminent virtue of a few citizens had been the cause of all these successes; and hence it had happened that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over a multitude. And even in later times, when the state had become corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted, there was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen of eminent ability. Within my recollection, however, there arose two men of remarkable powers, though of very different character, Marcus Cato and Caius Cæsar, whom, since the subject has brought them before me, it is not my intention to pass in silence, but to describe, to the best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each.

Chapter 54

Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though attained by different means. Cæsar grew eminent by genesroity and munificence; Cato by the integrity of his life. Cæsar was esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given dignity to Cato. Cæsar acquired renown by giving, relieving, and pardoning; Cato by bestowing nothing. In Cæsar, there was a refuge for the unfortunate; in Cato, destruction for the bad. In Cæsar, his easiness of temper was admired; in Cato, his firmness. Cæsar, in fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent upon the interest of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war in which his talents might be displayed. But Cato's ambition was that of temperance, discretion, and, above all, of austerity; he did not contend in splendor with the rich, or in faction with the seditious, but with the brave in fortitude, with the modest in simplicity, with the temperate in abstinence; he was more desirous to be, than to appear, virtuous; and thus, the less he courted popularity, the more it pursued him.

Chapter 55

When the senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of Cato, the counsel, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was coring on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, ordered the triumvirs to make such preparations as the execution of the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison; and the same office was performed for the rest by the prætors.

There is a place in the prison, which is called the Tullian dungeon, and which, after a slight ascent to the left, is sunk about twelve feet under ground. Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vaulted roof connected with stone arches; but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, by reason of the filth, darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been given, strangled him with a cord. Thus this patrician, who was of the illustrious family of the Cornelli, and who filled the office of consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct. On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Cæparius, punishment was inflicted in a similar manner.

Chapter 56

During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts as far as his number would allow; and afterward, as any volunteers, or recruits from his confederates, arrived in his camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of men, though at first he had not more than two thousand. But, of his whole army, only about a fourth part had the proper weapons of soldiers; the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried darts, spears, or sharpened stakes.

As Antonius approached with his army, Catiline directed his march over the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting, yet hoped himself shortly to find one, if his accomplices at Rome should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it impolitic to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates.

LVII When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell away. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul.

But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, had at that time, his station in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course which we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned his route from some deserters, he immediately broke up his camp, and took his post at the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline's descent would be, in his hurried march into Gaul. Nor was Antonius far distant, as he was pursuing, though with a large army, yet through plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances, the enemy in retreat.

Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius. Having, therefore, assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following manner:

Chapter 58

"I am well aware, soldiers, that words can not inspire courage; and that a spiritless army can not be rendered active, or a timid army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Whatever courage is in the heart of a man, whether from nature or from habit, so much will be shown by him in the field; and on him whom neither glory nor danger can move, exhortation is bestowed in vain; for the terror in his breast stops his ears.

"I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course which I have adopted. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable to march into Gaul. In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as myself. Two armies of the enemy, one on the side of Rome, and the other on that of Gaul, oppose our progress; while the want of corn, and of other necessaries, prevents us from remaining, however strongly we may desire to remain, in our present position. Whithersoever we would go, we must open a passage with our swords. I conjure you, therefore, to maintain a brave and resolute spirit; and to remember, when you advance to battle, that on your own right hands depend riches, honor, and glory, with the enjoyment of your liberty and of your country. If we conquer, all will be safe; we shall have provisions in abundance; and the colonies and corporate towns will open their gates to us. But if we lose the victory through want of courage, those same places will turn against us; for neither place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected. Besides, soldiers, the same exigency does not press upon our adversaries, as presses upon us; we fight for our country, for our liberty, for our life; they contend for what but little concerns them, the power of a small party. Attack them, therefore, with so much the greater confidence, and call to mind your achievements of old.

"We might, with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our days in exile. Some of you, after losing your property, might have waited at Rome for assistance from others. But because such a life, to men of spirit, was disgusting and unendurable, you resolved upon your present course. If you wish to quit it, you must exert all your resolution, for none but conquerors have exchanged war for peace. To hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle, those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is equivalent to a rampart.

"When I contemplate you, soldiers, and when I consider your past exploits, a strong hope of victory animates me. Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me confidence; to say nothing of necessity, which makes even cowards brave. To prevent the numbers of the enemy from surrounding us, our confined situation is sufficient. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered like cattle, rather than, fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a bloody and mournful victory."

Chapter 59

When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the lest of his force, in close order, in the rear. From among these he removed all the ablest centurions, the veterans, and the stoutest of the common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost ranks. He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, and a certain officer of Fæsulæ on the left; while he himself, with his freedmen and the colonists, took his station by the eagle, which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the Cimbrian war.

On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame, was unable to be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection, in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, and their homes. Being a military man, and having served with great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, præfect, lieutenant, or prætor, he knew most of the soldiers and their honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused the spirits of the men.

Chapter 60

When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge. They threw aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans, calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful general.

When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking him with such impetuosity, he led his prætorian cohort against the centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and offering but partial resistance, he made great slaughter, and ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the Fæsulan, sword in hand, were among the first that fell; and Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last.

Chapter 61

When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath, covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A few, indeed, whom the prætorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the enemy; he was not quite breathless, and still expressed in his countenance the fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his life. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives no more than those of the enemy.

Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle, or left the field severely wounded.

Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, were variously felt throughout the whole army.

Chapter chronology

EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. A.U.C. 685 Coss. L. CÆCILIUS METELLUS, Q. MARCIUS REX.—Catiline is Prætor. 686. —C. CALPURNIUS PISO, M. ACILIUS GLABRIO.—Catiline Governor of Africa. 687. —L. VOLCATIUS TULLUS, M. ÆMILIUS LEPIDUS.—Deputies from Africa accuse Catiline of extortion, through the agency of Clodius. He is obliged to desist from standing for the consulship, and forms the project of the first conspiracy. See Sall. Cat., c. 18. 688. —L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS, L. AURELIUS COTTA.—Jan. 1: Catiline's project of the first conspiracy becomes known, and he defers the execution of it to the 5th of February, when he makes an unsuccessful attempt to execute it. July 17: He is acquitted of extortion, and begins to canvass for the consulship for the year 690. 689. —L. JULIUS CÆSAR, C. MARCIUS FIGULUS THERMUS.—June 1: Catiline convokes the chiefs of the second conspiracy. He is disappointed in his views on the consulship. 690. —M. TULLIUS CICERO, C. ANTONIUS HYBRIDA.—Oct. 19: Cicero lays the affair of the conspiracy before the senate, who decree plenary powers to the consuls for defending the state. Oct. 21: Silanus and Muræna are elected consuls for the next year, Catiline, who was a candidate, being rejected. Oct. 22: Catiline is accused under the Plautian Law de vi. Sall. Cat., c. 31. Oct. 24: Manlius takes up arms in Etruria. Nov. 6: Catiline assembles the chief conspirators, by the agency of Porcius Læca. Sall. Cat., c. 27. Nov. 7: Vargunteius and Cornelius undertake to assassinate Cicero. Sall. Cat., c. 28. Nov. 8: Catiline appears in the senate; Cicero delivers his first Oration against him; he threatens to extinguish the flame raised around him in a general destruction, and quits Rome. Sall. Cat., c. 31. Nov. 9: Cicero delivers his second Oration against Catiline, before an assembly of the people, convoked by order of the senate. Nov. 20, or thereabouts: Catiline and Manlius are declared public enemies. Soon after this the conspirators attempt to secure the support of the Allobrogian deputies. Dec. 3: About two o'clock in the morning the Allobroges are apprehended. Toward evening Cicero delivers his third Oration against Catiline, before the people. Dec. 5. Cicero's fourth Oration against Catiline, before the senate. Soon after, the conspirators are condemned to death, and great honors are decreed by the senate to Cicero. 691. —D. JUNIUS SILANUS, L. LICINIUS MURÆNA.—Jan. 5: Battle of Pistoria, and death of Catiline.

The narrative of Sallust terminates with the account of the battle of Pistoria. There are a few other particulars connected with the history of the conspiracy, which, for the sake of the English reader, it may not be improper to add.

When the victory was gained, Antonius caused Catiline's head to be cut off, and sent it to Rome by the messengers who carried the news. Antonius himself was honored, by a public decree, with the title of Imperator, although he had done little to merit the distinction, and although the number of slain, which was three thousand, was less than that for which the title was generally given. See Dio Cass. xxxvii., 40, 41.

The remains of Catiline's army, after the death of their leader, continued to make efforts to raise another insurrection. In August, eight months after the battle, a party, under the command of Lucius Sergius, perhaps a relative or freedman of Catiline, still offered resistance to the forces of the government in Etruria. Reliquiæ conjuratorum, cum L. Sergio, tumultuantur in Hetruriâ. Fragm. Act. Diurn. The responsibility of watching these marauders was left to the proconsul Metellus Celer. After some petty encounters, in which the insurgents were generally worsted, Sergius, having collected his force at the foot of the Alps, attempted to penetrate into the country of the Allobroges, expecting to find them ready to take up arms; but Metellus, learning his intention, pre-occupied the passes, and then surrounded and destroyed him and his followers.

At Rome, in the mean time, great honors were paid to Cicero. A thanksgiving of thirty days was decreed in his name, an honor which had previously been granted to none but military men, and which was granted to him, to use his own words, because he had delivered the city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war. "If my thanks-giving," he also observes, "be compared with those of others, there will be found this difference, that theirs were granted them for having managed the interests of the republic successfully, but that mine was decreed to me for having preserved the republic from ruin." See Cic. Orat. iii., in Cat., c. 6. Pro, Syllâ, c. 30. In Pison. c. 3. Philipp. xiv., 8. Quintus Catulus, then princeps senatûs, and Marcus Cato styled him, several times, the father of his country. Roma parentem, Roma patrem patriæ Ciceronem libera dixit.

Of the inferior conspirators, who did not follow Sergius, and who were apprehended at Rome, or in other parts of Italy, after the death of the leaders in the plot, some were put to death, chiefly on the testimony of Lucius Vettius, one of their number, who turned informer against the rest. But many whom he accused were acquitted; others, supposed to be guilty, were allowed to escape.

Contents — 60 sections

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23
24. Chapter 24
25. Chapter 25
26. Chapter 26
27. Chapter 27
28. Chapter 28
29. Chapter 29
30. Chapter 30
31. Chapter 31
32. Chapter 32
33. Chapter 33
34. Chapter 34
35. Chapter 35
36. Chapter 36
37. Chapter 37
38. Chapter 38
39. Chapter 39
40. Chapter 40
41. Chapter 41
42. Chapter 42
43. Chapter 43
44. Chapter 44
45. Chapter 45
46. Chapter 46
47. Chapter 47
48. Chapter 48
49. Chapter 49
50. Chapter 50
51. Chapter 51
52. Chapter 52
53. Chapter 53
54. Chapter 55
55. Chapter 56
56. Chapter 57
57. Chapter 58
58. Chapter 59
59. Chapter 60
60. Chapter 61

Chapter 1

Omnis homines, qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus, summa ope niti decet, ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona atque ventri oboedientia finxit. sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est: animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur; alterum nobis cum dis, alterum cum beluis commune est. quo mihi rectius videtur ingeni quam virium opibus gloriam quaerere, et quoniam vita ipsa qua fruimur brevis est, memoriam nostri quam maxume longam efficere. nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaque habetur.

Sed diu magnum inter mortalis certamen fuit, vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. nam et prius quam incipias consulto et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est. ita utrumque per se indigens alterum alterius auxilio eget.

Chapter 2

igitur initio reges — nam in terris nomen imperi id primum fuit— divorsi pars ingenium, alii corpus exercebant: etiam tum vita hominum sine cupiditate agitabatur; sua quoique satis placebant. postea vero quam in Asia Cyrus, in Graecia Lacedaemonii et Athenienses coepere urbis atque nationes subigere, lubidinem dominandi causam belli habere, maxumam gloriam in maxumo imperio putare, tum demum periculo atque negotiis compertum est in bello plurumum ingenium posse. quod si regum atque imperatorum animi virtus in pace ita ut in bello valeret, aequabilius atque constantius sese res humanae haberent, neque aliud alio ferri neque mutari ac misceri omnia cerneres. nam imperium facile iis artibus retinetur, quibus initio partum est. verum ubi pro labore desidia, pro continentia et aequitate lubido atque superbia invasere, fortuna simul cum moribus inmutatur. ita imperium semper ad optumum quemque a minus bono transfertur.

Quae homines arant navigant aedificant, virtuti omnia parent. sed multi mortales, dediti ventri atque somno, indocti incultique vitam sicuti peregrinantes transiere; quibus profecto contra naturam corpus voluptati, anima oneri fuit. eorum ego vitam mortemque iuxta aestumo, quoniam de utraque siletur. verum enim vero is demum mihi vivere atque frui anima videtur, qui aliquo negotio intentus praeclari facinoris aut artis bonae famam quaerit.

Sed in magna copia rerum aliud alii natura iter ostendit.

Chapter 3

pulchrum est bene facere rei publicae, etiam bene dicere haud absurdum est; vel pace vel bello clarum fieri licet; et qui fecere et qui facta aliorum scripsere, multi laudantur. ac mihi quidem, tametsi haudquaquam par gloria sequitur scriptorem et auctorem rerum, tamen in primis arduom videtur res gestas scribere: primum quod facta dictis exaequanda sunt; dehinc quia plerique quae delicta reprehenderis malevolentia et invidia dicta putant, ubi de magna virtute atque gloria bonorum memores, quae sibi quisque facilia factu putat, aequo animo accipit, supra ea veluti ficta pro falsis ducit.

Sed ego adulescentulus initio sicuti plerique studio ad rem publicam latus sum, ibique mihi multa advorsa fuere. nam pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute audacia largitio avaritia vigebant. quae tametsi animus aspernabatur insolens malarum artium, tamen inter tanta vitia imbecilla aetas ambitione corrupta tenebatur; ac me, quom ab reliquorum malis moribus dissentirem, nihilo minus honoris cupido eadem qua ceteros fama atque invidia vexabat.

Chapter 4

igitur ubi animus ex multis miseriis atque periculis requievit et mihi reliquam aetatem a re publica procul habendam decrevi, non fuit consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conterere, neque vero agrum colundo aut venando, servilibus officiis, intentum aetatem agere; sed a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus statui res gestas populi Romani carptim, ut quaeque memoria digna videbantur, perscribere, eo magis quod mihi a spe metu partibus rei publicae animus liber erat.

Igitur de Catilinae coniuratione quam verissume potero paucis absolvam; nam id facinus in primis ego memorabile existumo sceleris atque periculi novitate. de quoius hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt, quam initium narrandi faciam.

Chapter 5

L. Catilina, nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis sed ingenio malo pravoque. huic ab adulescentia bella intestina caedes rapinae discordia civilis grata fuere, ibique iuventutem suam exercuit. corpus patiens inediae algoris vigiliae supra quam quoiquam credibile est. animus audax subdolus varius, quoius rei lubet simulator ac dissimulator, alieni adpetens sui profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum. vastus animus inmoderata incredibilia nimis alta semper cupiebat. hunc post dominationem L. Sullae lubido maxuma invaserat rei publicae capiundae; neque id quibus modis adsequeretur, dum sibi regnum pararet, quicquam pensi habebat. agitabatur magis magisque in dies animus ferox inopia rei familiaris et conscientia scelerum, quae utraque iis artibus auxerat, quas supra memoravi. incitabant praeterea corrupti civitatis mores, quos pessuma ac divorsa inter se mala, luxuria atque avaritia, vexabant.

Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere ac paucis instituta maiorum domi militiaeque, quo modo rem publicam habuerint quantamque reliquerint, ut paulatim inmutata ex pulcherruma atque optuma pessuma ac flagitiosissuma facta sit, disserere.

Chapter 6

Urbem Romam, sicuti ego accepi, condidere atque habuere initio Troiani, qui Aenea duce profugi sedibus incertis vagabantur, cumque iis Aborigines, genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum atque solutum. hi postquam in una moenia convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more viventes, incredibile memoratu est quam facile coaluerint: ita brevi multitudo dispersa atque vaga concordia civitas facta erat. sed postquam res eorum civibus moribus agris aucta satis prospera satisque pollens videbatur, sicuti pleraque mortalium habentur, invidia ex opulentia orta est. igitur reges populique finitumi bello temptare, pauci ex amicis auxilio esse: nam ceteri metu perculsi a periculis aberant. at Romani domi militiaeque intenti festinare, parare, alius alium hortari, hostibus obviam ire, libertatem patriam parentisque armis tegere. post ubi pericula virtute propulerant, sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant, magisque dandis quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant. imperium legitumum, nomen imperi regium habebant. delecti, quibus corpus annis infirmum, ingenium sapientia validum erat, rei publicae consultabant: hi vel aetate vel curae similitudine patres appellabantur. post ubi regium imperium quod initio conservandae libertatis atque augendae rei publicae fuerat, in superbiam dominationemque se convortit, inmutato more annua imperia binosque imperatores sibi fecere: eo modo minume posse putabant per licentiam insolescere animum humanum.

Chapter 7

Sed ea tempestate coepere se quisque magis extollere magisque ingenium in promptu habere. nam regibus boni quam mali suspectiores sunt, semperque iis aliena virtus formidulosa est. sed civitas incredibile memoratu est adepta libertate quantum brevi creverit: tanta cupido gloriae incesserat. iam primum iuventus, simul ac belli patiens erat, in castris per laborem usum militiae discebat, magisque in decoris armis et militaribus equis quam in scortis atque conviviis lubidinem habebant. igitur talibus viris non labor insolitus, non locus ullus asper aut arduos erat, non armatus hostis formidulosus: virtus omnia domuerat. sed gloriae maxumum certamen inter ipsos erat: se quisque hostem ferire, murum ascendere, conspici, dum tale facinus faceret, properabat. eas divitias, eam bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem putabant. laudis avidi, pecuniae liberales erant; gloriam ingentem, divitias honestas volebant. memorare possum, quibus in locis maxumas hostium copias populus Romanus parva manu fuderit, quas urbis natura munitas pugnando ceperit, ni ea res longius nos ab incepto traheret.

Chapter 8

Sed profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur; ea res cunctas ex lubidine magis quam ex vero celebrat obscuratque. Atheniensium res gestae, sicuti ego aestumo, satis amplae magnificaeque fuere, verum aliquanto minores tamen quam fama feruntur. sed quia provenere ibi scriptorum magna ingenia, per terrarum orbem Atheniensium facta pro maxumis celebrantur. ita eorum qui fecere virtus tanta habetur, quantum eam verbis potuere extollere praeclara ingenia. at populo Romano numquam ea copia fuit, quia prudentissumus quisque maxume negotiosus erat, ingenium nemo sine corpore exercebat, optumus quisque facere quam dicere, sua ab aliis bene facta laudari quam ipse aliorum narrare malebat.

Chapter 9

Igitur domi militiaeque boni mores colebantur; concordia maxuma, minuma avaritia erat; ius bonumque apud eos non legibus magis quam natura valebat. iurgia discordias simultates cum hostibus exercebant, cives cum civibus de virtute certabant. in suppliciis deorum magnifici, domi parci, in amicos fideles erant. duabus his artibus, audacia in bello, ubi pax evenerat aequitate, seque remque publicam curabant. quarum rerum ego maxuma documenta haec habeo, quod in bello saepius vindicatum est in eos, qui contra imperium in hostem pugnaverant quique tardius revocati proelio excesserant, quam qui signa relinquere aut pulsi loco cedere ausi erant; in pace vero quod beneficiis magis quam metu imperium agitabant et accepta iniuria ignoscere quam persequi malebant.

Chapter 10

Sed ubi labore atque iustitia res publica crevit, reges magni bello domiti, nationes ferae et populi ingentes vi subacti, Carthago aemula imperi Romani ab stirpe interiit, cuncta maria terraeque patebant, saevire fortuna ac miscere omnia coepit. qui labores, pericula, dubias atque asperas res facile toleraverant, iis otium divitiaeque, optanda alias, oneri miseriaeque fuere. igitur primo pecuniae, deinde imperi cupido crevit: ea quasi materies omnium malorum fuere. namque avaritia fidem probitatem ceterasque artis bonas subvortit; pro his superbiam, crudelitatem, deos neglegere, omnia venalia habere edocuit. ambitio multos mortalis falsos fieri subegit, aliud clausum in pectore aliud in lingua promptum habere, amicitias inimicitiasque non ex re sed ex commodo aestumare, magisque voltum quam ingenium bonum habere. haec primo paulatim crescere, interdum vindicari; post ubi contagio quasi pestilentia invasit, civitas inmutata, imperium ex iustissumo atque optumo crudele intolerandumque factum.

Chapter 11

Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum exercebat, quod tamen vitium propius virtutem erat. nam gloriam honorem imperium bonus et ignavos aeque sibi exoptant; sed ille vera via nititur, huic quia bonae artes desunt, dolis atque fallaciis contendit. avaritia pecuniae studium habet, quam nemo sapiens concupivit: ea quasi venenis malis inbuta corpus animumque virilem effeminat, semper infinita et insatiabilis est, neque copia neque inopia minuitur. sed postquam L. Sulla armis recepta re publica bonis initiis malos eventus habuit, rapere omnes omnes trahere, domum alius alius agros cupere, neque modum neque modestiam victores habere, foeda crudeliaque in civis facinora facere. huc adcedebat quod L. Sulla exercitum, quem in Asia ductaverat, quo sibi fidum faceret, contra morem maiorum luxuriose nimisque liberaliter habuerat. loca amoena voluptaria facile in otio ferocis militum animos molliverant: ibi primum insuevit exercitus populi Romani amare potare, signa tabulas pictas vasa caelata mirari, ea privatim et publice rapere, delubra spoliare, sacra profanaque omnia polluere. igitur ii milites, postquam victoriam adepti sunt, nihil reliqui victis fecere. quippe secundae res sapientium animos fatigant: ne illi corruptis moribus victoriae temperarent.

Chapter 12

Postquam divitiae honori esse coepere et eas gloria imperium potentia sequebatur, hebescere virtus, paupertas probro haberi, innocentia pro malevolentia duci coepit. igitur ex divitiis iuventutem luxuria atque avaritia cum superbia invasere: rapere consumere, sua parvi pendere aliena cupere, pudorem pudicitiam, divina atque humana promiscua, nihil pensi neque moderati habere. operae pretium est, quom domos atque villas cognoveris in urbium modum exaedificatas, visere templa deorum, quae nostri maiores religiosissumi mortales fecere. verum illi delubra deorum pietate, domos suas gloria decorabant, neque victis quicquam praeter iniuriae licentiam eripiebant. at hi contra, ignavissumi homines, per summum scelus omnia ea sociis adimere, quae fortissumi viri victores reliquerant: proinde quasi iniuriam facere id demum esset imperio uti.

Chapter 13

nam quid ea memorem, quae nisi iis qui videre nemini credibilia sunt, a privatis compluribus subvorsos montis, maria constrata esse? quibus mihi videntur ludibrio fuisse divitiae: quippe quas honeste habere licebat, abuti per turpitudinem properabant. sed lubido stupri ganeae ceterique cultus non minor incesserat: viri muliebria pati, mulieres pudicitiam in propatulo habere; vescendi causa terra marique omnia exquirere; dormire prius quam somni cupido esset; non famem aut sitim, neque frigus neque lassitudinem opperiri, sed ea omnia luxu antecapere. haec iuventutem, ubi familiares opes defecerant, ad facinora incendebant: animus inbutus malis artibus haud facile lubidinibus carebat; eo profusius omnibus modis quaestui atque sumptui deditus erat.

Chapter 14

In tanta tamque corrupta civitate Catilina, id quod factu facillumum erat, omnium flagitiorum atque facinorum circum se tamquam stipatorum catervas habebat. nam quicumque inpudicus adulter ganeo manu ventre pene bona patria laceraverat, quique alienum aes grande conflaverat, quo flagitium aut facinus redimeret, praeterea omnes undique parricidae sacrilegi convicti iudiciis aut pro factis iudicium timentes, ad hoc quos manus atque lingua periurio aut sanguine civili alebat, postremo omnes quos flagitium egestas conscius animus exagitabat, ii Catilinae proxumi familiaresque erant. quod si quis etiam a culpa vacuos in amicitiam eius inciderat, cottidiano usu atque illecebris facile par similisque ceteris efficiebatur. sed maxume adulescentium familiaritates adpetebat: eorum animi molles et aetate fluxi dolis haud difficulter capiebantur. nam ut quoiusque studium ex aetate flagrabat, aliis scorta praebere, aliis canes atque equos mercari; postremo neque sumptui neque modestiae suae parcere, dum illos obnoxios fidosque sibi faceret. scio fuisse nonnullos, qui ita existumarent iuventutem, quae domum Catilinae frequentabat, parum honeste pudicitiam habuisse; sed ex aliis rebus magis quam quod quoiquam id compertum foret haec fama valebat.

Chapter 15

Iam primum adulescens Catilina multa nefanda stupra fecerat, cum virgine nobili, cum sacerdote Vestae, alia huiusce modi contra ius fasque. postremo captus amore Aureliae Orestillae, quoius praeter formam nihil umquam bonus laudavit, quod ea nubere illi dubitabat timens privignum adulta aetate, pro certo creditur necato filio vacuam domum scelestis nuptiis fecisse. quae quidem res mihi in primis videtur causa fuisse facinus maturandi. namque animus inpurus, dis hominibusque infestus, neque vigiliis neque quietibus sedari poterat: ita conscientia mentem excitam vastabat. igitur colos ei exanguis, foedi oculi, citus modo modo tardus incessus: prorsus in facie voltuque vecordia inerat.

Chapter 16

Sed iuventutem, quam, ut supra diximus, illexerat, multis modis mala facinora edocebat. ex illis testis signatoresque falsos commodare; fidem fortunas pericula vilia habere; post ubi eorum famam atque pudorem adtriverat, maiora alia imperabat. si causa peccandi in praesens minus suppetebat, nihilo minus insontis sicuti sontis circumvenire iugulare: scilicet ne per otium torpescerent manus aut animus, gratuito potius malus atque crudelis erat.

His amicis sociisque confisus Catilina, simul quod aes alienum per omnis terras ingens erat et quod plerique Sullani milites, largius suo usi, rapinarum et victoriae veteris memores civile bellum exoptabant, opprimundae rei publicae consilium cepit. in Italia nullus exercitus, Cn. Pompeius in extremis terris bellum gerebat; ipsi consulatum petenti magna spes, senatus nihil sane intentus: tutae tranquillaeque res omnes, sed ea prorsus opportuna Catilinae.

Chapter 17

Igitur circiter kalendas Iunias L. Caesare et C. Figulo consulibus primo singulos appellare; hortari alios alios temptare; opes suas, inparatam rem publicam, magna praemia coniurationis docere. ubi satis explorata sunt quae voluit, in unum omnis convocat, quibus maxuma necessitudo et plurumum audaciae inerat. eo convenere senatorii ordinis P. Lentulus Sura, P. Autronius, L. Cassius Longinus, C. Cethegus, P. et Ser. Sullae Ser. filii, L. Vargunteius, Q. Annius, M. Porcius Laeca, L. Bestia, Q. Curius; praeterea ex equestri ordine M. Fulvius Nobilior, L. Statilius, P. Gabinius Capito, C. Cornelius; ad hoc multi ex coloniis et municipiis domi nobiles. erant praeterea complures paulo occultius consili huiusce participes nobiles, quos magis dominationis spes hortabatur quam inopia aut alia necessitudo. ceterum iuventus pleraque sed maxume nobilium Catilinae inceptis favebat: quibus in otio vel magnifice vel molliter vivere copia erat; incerta pro certis, bellum quam pacem malebant. fuere item ea tempestate qui crederent M. Licinium Crassum non ignarum eius consili fuisse: quia Cn. Pompeius, invisus ipsi, magnum exercitum ductabat, quoiusvis opes voluisse contra illius potentiam crescere, simul confisum, si coniuratio valuisset, facile apud illos principem se fore.

Chapter 18

Sed antea item coniuravere pauci contra rem publicam, in quibus Catilina fuit. de qua quam verissume potero dicam. L. Tullo et M'. Lepido consulibus P. Autronius et P. Sulla designati consules legibus ambitus interrogati poenas dederant. post paulo Catilina pecuniarum repetundarum reus prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitumos dies profiteri nequiverat. erat eodem tempore Cn. Piso, adulescens nobilis, summae audaciae, egens, factiosus, quem ad perturbandam rem publicam inopia atque mali mores stimulabant. cum hoc Catilina et Autronius circiter Nonas Decembris consilio communicato parabant in Capitolio Kalendis Ianuariis L. Cottam et L. Torquatum consules interficere, ipsi fascibus correptis Pisonem cum exercitu ad optinendas duas Hispanias mittere. ea re cognita rursus in Nonas Februarias consilium caedis transtulerant. iam tum non consulibus modo, sed plerisque senatoribus perniciem machinabantur. quod ni Catilina maturasset pro curia signum sociis dare, eo die post conditam urbem Romam pessumum facinus patratum foret. quia nondum frequentes armati convenerant, ea res consilium diremit.

Chapter 19

postea Piso in citeriorem Hispaniam quaestor pro praetore missus est adnitente Crasso, quod eum infestum inimicum Cn. Pompeio cognoverat. neque tamen senatus provinciam invitus dederat, quippe foedum hominem a re publica procul esse volebat, simul quia boni complures praesidium in eo putabant et iam tum potentia Pompei formidulosa erat. sed is Piso in provincia ab equitibus Hispanis, quos in exercitu ductabat, iter faciens occisus est. sunt qui ita dicant imperia eius iniusta superba crudelia barbaros nequivisse pati; alii autem, equites illos, Cn. Pompei veteres fidosque clientis, voluntate eius Pisonem aggressos: numquam Hispanos praeterea tale facinus fecisse, sed imperia saeva multa antea perpessos. nos eam rem in medio relinquemus. de superiore coniuratione satis dictum.

Chapter 20

Catilina ubi eos, quos paulo ante memoravi, convenisse videt, tametsi, cum singulis multa saepe egerat, tamen in rem fore credens univorsos appellare et cohortari, in abditam partem aedium secedit atque ibi omnibus arbitris procul amotis orationem huiusce modi habuit:

'Ni virtus fidesque vostra spectata mihi forent, nequiquam opportuna res cecidisset; spes magna, dominatio in manibus frustra fuissent, neque ego per ignaviam aut vana ingenia incerta pro certis captarem. sed quia multis et magnis tempestatibus vos cognovi fortis fidosque mihi, eo animus ausus est maxumum atque pulcherrumum facinus incipere, simul quia vobis eadem quae mihi bona malaque esse intellexi; nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est.

Sed ego quae mente agitavi, omnes iam antea divorsi audistis. ceterum mihi in dies magis animus accenditur, quom considero, quae condicio vitae futura sit, nisi nosmet ipsi vindicamus in libertatem. nam postquam res publica in paucorum potentium ius atque dicionem concessit, semper illis reges tetrarchae vectigales esse, populi nationes stipendia pendere; ceteri omnes, strenui boni, nobiles atque ignobiles, volgus fuimus sine gratia, sine auctoritate, iis obnoxii, quibus, si res publica valeret, formidini essemus. itaque omnis gratia potentia honos divitiae apud illos sunt aut ubi illi volunt; nobis reliquere pericula repulsas iudicia egestatem. quae quo usque tandem patiemini, o fortissumi viri? nonne emori per virtutem praestat quam vitam miseram atque inhonestam, ubi alienae superbiae ludibrio fueris, per dedecus amittere? verum enim vero, pro deum atque hominum fidem, victoria in manu nobis est, viget aetas, animus valet; contra illis annis atque divitiis omnia consenuerunt. tantummodo incepto opus est, cetera res expediet. etenim quis mortalium, quoi virile ingenium est, tolerare potest illis divitias superare, quas profundant in extruendo mari et montibus coaequandis, nobis rem familiarem etiam ad necessaria deesse? illos binas aut amplius domos continuare, nobis larem familiarem nusquam ullum esse? quom tabulas signa toreumata emunt, nova diruunt, alia aedificant, postremo omnibus modis pecuniam trahunt vexant, tamen summa lubidine divitias suas vincere nequeunt. at nobis est domi inopia, foris aes alienum, mala res, spes multo asperior: denique quid reliqui habemus praeter miseram animam?

Quin igitur expergiscimini? en illa, illa quam saepe optastis libertas, praeterea divitiae decus gloria in oculis sita sunt; fortuna omnia ea victoribus praemia posuit. res tempus pericula egestas belli spolia magnifica magis quam oratio mea vos hortantur. vel imperatore vel milite me utimini: neque animus neque corpus a vobis aberit. haec ipsa, ut spero, vobiscum una consul agam, nisi forte me animus fallit et vos servire magis quam imperare parati estis.'

Chapter 21

Postquam accepere ea homines, quibus mala abunde omnia erant, sed neque res neque spes bona ulla, tametsi illis quieta movere magna merces videbatur, tamen postulavere plerique, ut proponeret, quae condicio belli foret, quae praemia armis peterent, quid ubique opis aut spei haberent. tum Catilina polliceri tabulas novas, proscriptionem locupletium, magistratus, sacerdotia, rapinas, alia omnia, quae bellum atque lubido victorum fert; praeterea esse in Hispania citeriore Pisonem, in Mauretania cum exercitu P. Sittium Nucerinum, consili sui participes; petere consulatum C. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem et familiarem et omnibus necessitudinibus circumventum; cum eo se consulem initium agundi facturum. ad hoc maledictis increpabat omnis bonos, suorum unum quemque nominans laudare: admonebat alium egestatis, alium cupiditatis suae, compluris periculi aut ignominiae, multos victoriae Sullanae, quibus ea praedae fuerat. postquam omnium animos alacris videt, cohortatus, ut petitionem suam curae haberent, conventum dimisit.

Chapter 22

fuere ea tempestate qui dicerent Catilinam oratione habita, quom ad ius iurandum popularis sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis sanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtulisse: inde quom post execrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in sollemnibus sacris fieri consuevit, aperuisse consilium suom, atque eo ita fecisse, quo inter se fidi magis forent alius alii tanti facinoris conscii. nonnulli ficta et haec et multa praeterea existumabant ab iis, qui Ciceronis invidiam quae postea orta est leniri credebant atrocitate sceleris eorum, qui poenas dederant. nobis ea res pro magnitudine parum comperta est.

Chapter 23

Sed in ea coniuratione fuit Q. Curius, natus haud obscuro loco, flagitiis atque facinoribus coopertus, quem censores senatu probri gratia moverant. huic homini non minor vanitas inerat quam audacia: neque reticere quae audierat, neque suamet ipse scelera occultare, prorsus neque dicere neque facere quicquam pensi habebat. erat ei cum Fulvia, muliere nobili, stupri vetus consuetudo. quoi cum minus gratus esset, quia inopia minus largiri poterat, repente glorians maria montisque polliceri coepit et minari interdum ferro, ni sibi obnoxia foret, postremo ferocius agitare quam solitus erat. at Fulvia insolentiae Curi causa cognita tale periculum rei publicae haud occultum habuit, sed sublato auctore de Catilinae coniuratione quae quoque modo audierat compluribus narravit.

Ea res in primis studia hominum accendit ad consulatum mandandum M. Tullio Ciceroni. namque antea pleraque nobilitas invidia aestuabat, et quasi pollui consulatum credebant, si eum quamvis egregius homo novos adeptus foret. sed ubi periculum advenit, invidia atque superbia post fuere.

Chapter 24

igitur comitiis habitis consules declarantur M. Tullius et C. Antonius. quod factum primo popularis coniurationis concusserat. neque tamen Catilinae furor minuebatur, sed in dies plura agitare: arma per Italiam locis opportunis parare, pecuniam sua aut amicorum fide sumptam mutuam Faesulas ad Manlium quendam portare, qui postea princeps fuit belli faciundi. ea tempestate plurumos quoiusque generis homines adscivisse sibi dicitur, mulieres etiam aliquot, quae primo ingentis sumptus stupro corporis toleraverant, post ubi aetas tantummodo quaestui neque luxuriae modum fecerat, aes alienum grande conflaverant. per eas se Catilina credebat posse servitia urbana sollicitare, urbem incendere, viros earum vel adiungere sibi vel interficere.

Chapter 25

Sed in iis erat Sempronia, quae multa saepe virilis audaciae facinora commiserat. haec mulier genere atque forma, praeterea viro liberis satis fortunata fuit; litteris Graecis Latinis docta, psallere saltare elegantius quam necesse est probae, multa alia, quae instrumenta luxuriae sunt. sed ei cariora semper omnia quam decus atque pudicitia fuit; pecuniae an famae minus parceret, haud facile discerneres; lubido sic accensa, ut saepius peteret viros quam peteretur. sed ea saepe antehac fidem prodiderat, creditum abiuraverat, caedis conscia fuerat: luxuria atque inopia praeceps abierat. verum ingenium eius haud absurdum: posse versus facere, iocum movere, sermone uti vel modesto vel molli vel procaci; prorsus multae facetiae multusque lepos inerat.

Chapter 26

His rebus conparatis Catilina nihilo minus in proxumum annum consulatum petebat, sperans, si designatus foret, facile se ex voluntate Antonio usurum. neque interea quietus erat, sed omnibus modis insidias parabat Ciceroni. neque illi tamen ad cavendum dolus aut astutiae deerant. namque a principio' consulatus sui multa pollicendo per Fulviam effecerat, ut Q. Curius, de quo paulo ante memoravi, consilia Catilinae sibi proderet; ad hoc collegam suom Antonium pactione provinciae perpulerat, ne contra rem publicam sentiret; circum se praesidia amicorum atque clientium occulte habebat. postquam dies comitiorum venit et Catilinae neque petitio neque insidiae quas consulibus in campo fecerat prospere cessere, constituit bellum facere et extrema omnia experiri, quoniam quae occulte temptaverat aspera foedaque evenerant.

Chapter 27

Igitur C. Manlium Faesulas atque in eam partem Etruriae, Septimium quendam Camertem in agrum Picenum, C. Iulium in Apuliam dimisit, praeterea alium alio, quem ubique opportunum sibi fore credebat. interea Romae multa simul moliri: consulibus insidias tendere, parare incendia, opportuna loca armatis hominibus obsidere; ipse cum telo esse, item alios iubere, hortari uti semper intenti paratique essent; dies noctisque festinare, vigilare, neque insomniis neque labore fatigari. postremo, ubi multa agitanti nihil procedit, rursus intempesta nocte coniurationis principes convocat per M. Porcium Laecam, ibique multa de ignavia eorum questus docet se Manlium praemisisse ad eam multitudinem, quam ad capiunda arma paraverat, item alios in alia loca opportuna, qui initium belli facerent, seque ad exercitum proficisci cupere, si prius Ciceronem oppressisset: eum suis consiliis multum officere.

Chapter 28

igitur perterritis ac dubitantibus ceteris C. Cornelius eques Romanus operam suam pollicitus et cum eo L. Vargunteius senator constituere ea nocte paulo post cum armatis hominibus sicuti salutatum introire ad Ciceronem ac de inproviso domi suae inparatum confodere. Curius ubi intellegit, quantum periculum consuli inpendeat, propere per Fulviam Ciceroni dolum qui parabatur enuntiat. ita illi ianua prohibiti tantum facinus frustra susceperant.

Interea Manlius in Etruria plebem sollicitare, egestate simul ac dolore iniuriae novarum rerum cupidam, quod Sullae dominatione agros bonaque omnia amiserat, praeterea latrones quoiusque generis, quorum in ea regione magna copia erat, nonnullos ex Sullanis coloniis, quibus lubido atque luxuria ex magnis rapinis nihil reliqui fecerant.

Chapter 29

Ea cum Ciceroni nuntiarentur, ancipiti malo permotus, quod neque urbem ab insidiis privato consilio longius tueri poterat neque, exercitus Manli quantus aut quo consilio foret, satis compertum habebat, rem ad senatum refert, iam antea volgi rumoribus exagitatam. itaque, quod plerumque in atroci negotio solet, senatus decrevit, darent operam consules, ne quid res publica detrimenti caperet. ea potestas per senatum more Romano magistratui maxuma permittitur: exercitum parare, bellum gerere, coercere omnibus modis socios atque civis, domi militiaeque imperium atque iudicium summum habere; aliter sine populi iussu nullius earum rerum consuli ius est.

Chapter 30

Post paucos dies L. Saenius senator in senatu litteras recitavit, quas Faesulis adlatas sibi dicebat, in quibus scriptum erat C. Manlium arma cepisse cum magna multitudine ante diem VI Kalendas Novembris. simul, id quod in tali re solet, alii portenta atque prodigia nuntiabant, alii conventus fieri, arma portari, Capuae atque in Apulia servile bellum moveri. igitur senati decreto Q. Marcius Rex Faesulas, Q. Metellus Creticus in Apuliam circumque ea loca missi — hi utrique ad urbem imperatores erant, impediti ne triumpharent calumnia paucorum, quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos erat —, sed praetores Q. Pompeius Rufus Capuam, Q. Metellus Celer in agrum Picenum, iisque permissum, uti pro tempore atque periculo exercitum conpararent. ad hoc, si quis indicavisset de coniuratione, quae contra rem publicam facta erat, praemium servo libertatem et sestertia centum, libero inpunitatem eius rei et sestertia ducenta , itemque decrevere, uti gladiatoriae familiae Capuam et in cetera municipia distribuerentur pro quoiusque opibus, Romae per totam urbem vigiliae haberentur iisque minores magistratus praeessent.

Chapter 31

Quis rebus permota civitas atque inmutata urbis facies erat. ex summa laetitia atque lascivia, quae diuturna quies pepererat, repente omnis tristitia invasit: festinare, trepidare, neque loco neque homini quoiquam satis credere, neque bellum gerere neque pacem habere, suo quisque metu pericula metiri. ad hoc mulieres, quibus rei publicae magnitudine belli timor insolitus incesserat, adflictare sese, manus supplices ad caelum tendere, miserari parvos liberos, rogitare omnia, omni rumore pavere, adripere omnia superbia atque deliciis omissis, sibi patriaeque diffidere.

At Catilinae crudelis animus eadem illa movebat, tametsi praesidia parabantur et ipse lege Plautia interrogatus erat ab L. Paulo. postremo dissimulandi causa aut sui expurgandi, sicut iurgio lacessitus foret, in senatum venit. tum M. Tullius consul, sive praesentiam eius timens sive ira conmotus, orationem habuit luculentam atque utilem rei publicae, quam postea scriptam edidit. sed ubi ille adsedit, Catilina, ut erat paratus ad dissimulanda omnia, demisso voltu, voce supplici postulare a patribus coepit, ne quid de se temere crederent: ea familia ortum, ita se ab adulescentia vitam instituisse, ut omnia bona in spe haberet; ne existumarent sibi, patricio homini, quoius ipsius atque maiorum pluruma beneficia in plebem Romanam essent, perdita re publica opus esse, quom eam servaret M. Tullius, inquilinus civis urbis Romae. ad hoc male dicta alia quom adderet, obstrepere omnes, hostem atque parricidam vocare. tum ille furibundus 'quoniam quidem circumventus' inquit 'ab inimicis praeceps agor,

Chapter 32

incendium meum ruina restinguam.' deinde se ex curia domum proripuit. ibi multa ipse secum volvens, quod neque insidiae consuli procedebant et ab incendio intellegebat urbem vigiliis munitam, optumum factu credens exercitum augere ac, prius quam legiones scriberentur, multa antecapere, quae bello usui forent, nocte intempesta cum paucis in Manliana castra profectus est. sed Cethego atque Lentulo ceterisque, quorum cognoverat promptam audaciam, mandat, quibus rebus possent, opes factionis confirment, insidias consuli maturent, caedem incendia aliaque belli facinora parent: sese propediem cum magno exercitu ad urbem accessurum.

Dum haec Romae geruntur, C. Manlius ex suo numero legatos ad Marcium Regem mittit cum mandatis huiusce modi:

Chapter 33

'Deos hominesque testamur, imperator, nos arma neque contra patriam cepisse neque quo periculum aliis faceremus, sed uti corpora nostra ab iniuria tuta forent, qui miseri, egentes violentia atque crudelitate faeneratorum plerique patria, sed omnes fama atque fortunis expertes sumus. neque quoiquam nostrum licuit more maiorum lege uti neque amisso patrimonio liberum corpus habere: tanta saevitia faeneratorum atque praetoris fuit. saepe maiores vostrum, miseriti plebis Romanae, decretis suis inopiae eius opitulati sunt, ac novissume memoria nostra propter magnitudinem aeris alieni volentibus omnibus bonis argentum aere solutum est. saepe ipsa plebs, aut dominandi studio permota aut superbia magistratuum, armata a patribus secessit. at nos non imperium neque divitias petimus, quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortalis sunt, sed libertatem, quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit. te atque senatum obtestamur, consulatis miseris civibus, legis praesidium quod iniquitas praetoris eripuit restituatis, neve nobis eam neccessitudinem inponatis, ut quaeramus, quonam modo maxume ulti sanguinem nostrum pereamus.'

Chapter 34

Ad haec Q. Marcius respondit, si quid ab senatu petere vellent, ab armis discedant, Romam supplices proficiscantur: ea mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populi Romani semper fuisse, ut nemo umquam ab eo frustra auxilium petiverit.

At Catilina ex itinere plerisque consularibus, praeterea optumo quoique litteras mittit: se falsis criminibus circumventum, quoniam factioni inimicorum resistere nequiverit, fortunae cedere, Massiliam in exilium proficisci, non quo sibi tanti sceleris conscius esset, sed uti res publica quieta foret neve ex sua contentione seditio oreretur. ab his longe divorsas litteras Q. Catulus in senatu recitavit, quas sibi nomine Catilinae redditas dicebat. earum exemplum infra scriptum est.

Chapter 35

'L. Catilina Q. Catulo. Egregia tua fides, re cognita, grata mihi magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae tribuit. quam ob rem defensionem in novo consilio non statui parare: satisfactionem ex nulla conscientia de culpa proponere decrevi, quam me dius fidius veram licet cognoscas. iniuriis contumeliisque concitatus, quod fructu laboris industriaeque meae privatus statum dignitatis non obtinebam, publicam miserorum causam pro mea consuetudine suscepi, non quin aes alienum meis nominibus ex possessionibus solvere non possem — et alienis nominibus liberalitas Orestillae suis filiaeque copiis persolveret — sed quod non dignos homines honore honestatos videbam meque falsa suspicione alienatum esse sentiebam. hoc nomine satis honestas pro meo casu spes reliquae dignitatis conservandae sum secutus. plura quom scribere vellem, nuntiatum est vim mihi parari. nunc Orestillam commendo tuaeque fidei trado; eam ab iniuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus. haveto.'

Chapter 36

Sed ipse paucos dies conmoratus apud C. Flaminium in agro Arretino, dum vicinitatem antea sollicitatam armis exornat, cum fascibus atque aliis imperi insignibus in castra ad Manlium contendit. haec ubi Romae comperta sunt, senatus Catilinam et Manlium hostis iudicat, ceterae multitudini diem statuit, ante quam sine fraude liceret ab armis discedere praeter rerum capitalium condemnatis. praeterea decernit, uti consules dilectum habeant, Antonius cum exercitu Catilinam persequi maturet, Cicero urbi praesidio sit.

Ea tempestate mihi imperium populi Romani multo maxume miserabile visum est. quoi quom ad occasum ab ortu solis omnia domita armis parerent, domi otium atque divitiae, quae prima mortales putant, adfluerent, fuere tamen cives, qui seque remque publicam obstinatis animis perditum irent. namque duobus senati decretis ex tanta multitudine neque praemio inductus coniurationem patefecerat neque ex castris Catilinae quisquam omnium discesserat: tanta vis morbi atque uti tabes plerosque civium animos invaserat.

Chapter 37

neque solum illis aliena mens erat, qui conscii coniurationis fuerant, sed omnino cuncta plebes novarum rerum studio Catilinae incepta probabat. id adeo more suo videbatur facere. nam semper in civitate, quibus opes nullae sunt, bonis invident, malos extollunt, vetera odere, nova exoptant, odio suarum rerum mutari omnia student, turba atque seditionibus sine cura aluntur, quoniam egestas facile habetur sine damno. sed urbana plebes, ea vero praeceps erat de multis causis. primum omnium qui ubique probro atque petulantia maxume praestabant, item alii per dedecora patrimoniis amissis, postremo omnes quos flagitium aut facinus domo expulerat, ii Romam sicut in sentinam confluxerant. deinde multi memores Sullanae victoriae, quod ex gregariis militibus alios senatores videbant, alios ita divites, ut regio victu atque cultu aetatem agerent, sibi quisque, si in armis foret, ex victoria talia sperabat. praeterea iuventus, quae in agris manuum mercede inopiam toleraverat, privatis atque publicis largitionibus excita urbanum otium ingrato labori praetulerat. eos atque alios omnis malum publicum alebat. quo minus mirandum est homines egentis, malis moribus, maxuma spe rei publicae iuxta ac sibi consuluisse. praeterea, quorum victoria Sullae parentes proscripti, bona erepta, ius libertatis inminutum erat, haud sane alio animo belli eventum expectabant. ad hoc quicumque aliarum atque senatus partium erant, conturbari rem publicam quam minus valere ipsi malebant. id ad eo malum multos post annos in civitatem revorterat.

Chapter 38

nam postquam Cn. Pompeio et M. Crasso consulibus tribunicia postestas restituta est, homines adulescentes summam potestatem nacti, quibus aetas animusque ferox erat, coepere senatum criminando plebem exagitare, dein largiundo atque pollicitando magis incendere, ita ipsi clari potentesque fieri. contra eos summa ope nitebatur pleraque nobilitas senatus specie pro sua magnitudine. namque, uti paucis verum absolvam, post illa tempora quicumque rem publicam agitavere, honestis nominibus, alii sicuti populi iura defenderent, pars quo senatus auctoritas maxuma foret, bonum publicum simulantes pro sua quisque potentia certabant. neque illis modestia neque modus contentionis erat: utrique victoriam crudeliter exercebant.

Chapter 39

sed postquam Cn. Pompeius ad bellum maritumum atque Mithridaticum missus est, plebis opes inminutae, paucorum potentia crevit. ii magistratus, provincias aliaque omnia tenere; ipsi innoxii, florentes, sine metu aetatem agere ceterosque iudiciis terrere, quo plebem in magistratu placidius tractarent. sed ubi primum dubiis rebus novandi spes oblata est, vetus certamen animos eorum adrexit. quod si primo proelio Catilina superior aut aequa manu discessisset, profecto magna clades atque calamitas rem publicam oppressisset, neque illis, qui victoriam adepti forent, diutius ea uti licuisset, quin defessis et exanguibus qui plus posset imperium atque libertatem extorqueret. fuere tamen extra coniurationem complures, qui ad Catilinam initio profecti sunt. in iis erat Fulvius, senatoris filius, quem retractum ex itinere parens necari iussit.

Isdem temporibus Romae Lentulus, sicuti Catilina praeceperat, quoscumque moribus aut fortuna novis rebus idoneos credebat, aut per se aut per alios sollicitabat, neque solum civis sed quoiusque modi genus hominum, quod modo bello usui foret.

Chapter 40

igitur P. Umbreno quoidam negotium dat, uti legatos Allobrogum requirat eosque, si possit, inpellat ad societatem belli, existumans publice privatimque aere alieno oppresses, praeterea quod natura gens Gallica bellicosa esset, facile eos ad tale consilium adduci posse. Umbrenus quod in Gallia negotiatus erat, plerisque principibus civitatium notus erat atque eos noverat. itaque sine mora, ubi primum legatos in foro conspexit, percontatus pauca de statu civitatis et quasi dolens eius casum requirere coepit, quem exitum tantis malis sperarent. postquam illos videt queri de avaritia magistratuum, accusare senatum, quod in eo auxili nihil esset, miseriis suis remedium mortem expectare, 'at ego' inquit 'vobis, si modo viri esse voltis, rationem ostendam, qua tanta ista mala effugiatis'. haec ubi dixit, Allobroges in maxumam spem adducti Umbrenum orare, ut sui misereretur: nihil tam asperum neque tam difficile esse, quod non cupidissume facturi essent, dum ea res civitatem aere alieno liberaret. ille eos in domum D. Bruti perducit, quod foro propinqua erat neque aliena consili propter Semproniam; nam tum Brutus ab Roma aberat. praeterea Gabinium arcessit, quo maior auctoritas sermoni inesset. eo praesente coniurationem aperit, nominat socios, praeterea multos quoiusque generis innoxios, quo legatis animus amplior esset. deinde eos pollicitos operam suam domum dimittit.

Chapter 41

sed Allobroges diu in incerto habuere, quidnam consili caperent. in altera parte erat aes alienum, studium belli, magna merces in spe victoriae; at in altera maiores opes, tuta consilia, pro incerta spe certa praemia. haec illis volventibus tandem vicit fortuna rei publicae. itaque Q. Fabio Sangae, quoius patrocinio civitas plurumum utebatur, rem omnem, uti cognoverant, aperiunt. Cicero per Sangam consilio cognito legatis praecipit, ut studium coniurationis vehementer simulent, ceteros adeant, bene polliceantur dentque operam, uti eos quam maxume manufestos habeant.

Chapter 42

Isdem fere temporibus in Gallia citeriore atque ulteriore, item in agro Piceno, Bruttio, Apulia motus erat. namque illi, quos ante Catilina dimiserat, inconsulte ac veluti per dementiam cuncta simul agebant. nocturnis consiliis, armorum atque telorum portationibus, festinando, agitando omnia plus timoris quam periculi effecerant. ex eo numero compluris Q. Metellus Celer praetor ex senatus consulto causa cognita in vincula coniecerat, item in citeriore Gallia C. Murena, qui ei provinciae legatus praeerat.

Chapter 43

At Romae Lentulus cum ceteris, qui principes coniurationis erant, paratis ut videbatur magnis copiis constituerant, uti, quom Catilina in agrum Aefulanum cum exercitu venisset, L. Bestia tribunus plebis contione habita quereretur de actionibus Ciceronis bellique gravissumi invidiam optumo consuli inponeret: eo signo proxuma nocte cetera multitude coniurationis suom quisque negotium exequeretur. sed ea divisa hoc modo dicebantur: Statilius et Gabinius uti cum magna manu duodecim simul opportuna loca urbis incenderent, quo tumultu facilior aditus ad consulem ceterosque, quibus insidiae parabantur, fieret; Cethegus Ciceronis ianuam obsideret eumque vi aggrederetur; alius autem alium, sed filii familiarum, quorum ex nobilitate maxuma pars erat, parentis interficerent; simul caede et incendio perculsis omnibus ad Catilinam erumperent. inter haec parata atque decreta Cethegus semper querebatur de ignavia sociorum: illos dubitando et dies prolatando magnas opportunitates corrumpere; facto, non consulto in tali periculo opus esse, seque, si pauci adiuvarent, languentibus aliis impetum in curiam facturum. natura ferox, vehemens, manu promptus erat, maxumum bonum in celeritate putabat.

Chapter 44

Sed Allobroges ex praecepto Ciceronis per Gabinium ceteros conveniunt. ab Lentulo, Cethego, Statilio, item Cassio postulant ius iurandum, quod signatum ad civis perferant: aliter haud facile eos ad tantum negotium inpelli posse. ceteri nihil suspicantes dant, Cassius semet eo brevi venturum pollicetur ac paulo ante legatos ex urbe proficiscitur. Lentulus cum iis T. Volturcium quendam Crotoniensem mittit, ut Allobroges, prius quam domum pergerent, cum Catilina data atque accepta fide societatem confirmarent. ipse Volturcio litteras ad Catilinam dat, quarum exemplum infra scriptum est.

'Qui sim, ex eo, quem ad te misi, cognosces. fac cogites, in quanta calamitate sis, et memineris te virum esse. consideres, quid tuae rationes postulent. auxilium petas ab omnibus, etiam ab infumis.'

Ad hoc mandata verbis dat: quom ab senatu hostis iudicatus sit, quo consilio servitia repudiet? in urbe parata esse quae iusserit.: ne cunctetur ipse propius adcedere.

Chapter 45

his rebus ita actis, constituta nocte qua proficiscerentur Cicero per legatos cuncta edoctus L. Valerio Flacco et C. Pomptino praetoribus imperat, ut in ponte Mulvio per insidias Allobrogum comitatus deprehendant. rem omnem aperit, quoius gratia mittebantur; cetera, uti facto opus sit, ita agant permittit. illi, homines militares, sine tumultu praesidiis conlocatis, sicuti praeceptum erat, occulte pontem obsidunt. postquam ad id loci legati cum Volturcio venerunt et simul utrimque clamor exortus est, Galli cito cognito consilio sine mora praetoribus se tradunt, Volturcius primo cohortatus ceteros gladio se a multitudine defendit, deinde, ubi a legatis desertus est, multa prius de salute sua Pomptinum obtestatus, quod ei notus erat, postremo timidus ac vitae diffidens velut hostibus sese praetoribus dedit.

Chapter 46

Quibus rebus confectis omnia propere per nuntios consuli declarantur. at illum ingens cura atque laetitia simul occupavere. nam laetabatur intellegens coniuratione patefacta civitatem periculis ereptam esse; porro autem anxius erat dubitans, in maxumo scelere tantis civibus deprehensis quid facto opus esset: poenam illorum sibi oneri,inpunitatem perdundae rei publicae fore credebat. igitur confirmato animo vocari ad sese iubet Lentulum,Cethegum, Statilium, Gabinium itemque Caeparium Terracinensem, qui in Apuliam ad concitanda servitia proficisci parabat. ceteri sine mora veniunt; Caeparius, paulo ante domo egressus, cognito indicio ex urbe profugerat. consul Lentulum, quod praetor erat, ipse manu tenens in senatum perducit, reliquos cum custodibus in aedem Concordiae venire iubet. eo senatum advocat magnaque frequentia eius ordinis Volturcium cum legatis introducit, Flaccum praetorem scrinium cum litteris, quas a legatis acceperat, eodem adferre iubet.

Chapter 47

Volturcius interrogatus de itinere, de litteris, postremo quid aut qua de causa consili habuisset, primo fingere alia, dissimulare de coniuratione; post ubi fide publica dicere iussus est, omnia, uti gesta erant, aperit docetque se paucis ante diebus a Gabinio et Caepario socium adscitum nihil amplius scire quam legatos, tantummodo audire solitum ex Gabinio P. Autronium, Ser. Sullam, L. Vargunteium, multos praeterea in ea coniuratione esse. eadem Galli fatentur ac Lentulum dissimulantem coarguunt praeter litteras sermonibus, quos ille habere solitus erat: ex libris Sibyllinis regnum Romae tribus Corneliis portendi; Cinnam atque Sullam antea, se tertium esse, quoi fatum foret urbis potiri; praeterea ab incenso Capitolio illum esse vigesumum annum, quem saepe ex prodigiis haruspices respondissent bello civili cruentum fore. igitur perlectis litteris, quom prius omnes signa sua cognovissent, senatus decernit, uti abdicato magistratu Lentulus itemque ceteri in liberis custodiis habeantur. itaque Lentulus P. Lentulo Spintheri, qui tum aedilis erat, Cethegus Q. Cornificio, Statilius C. Caesari, Gabinius M. Crasso, Caeparius — nam is paulo ante ex fuga retractus erat — Cn. Terentio senatori traduntur.

Chapter 48

Interea plebs coniuratione patefacta, quae primo cupida rerum novarum nimis bello favebat, mutata mente Catilinae consilia execrari, Ciceronem ad caelum tollere: veluti ex servitute erepta gaudium atque laetitiam agitabat. namque alia belli facinora praedae magis quam detrimento fore, incendium vero crudele, inmoderatum ac sibi maxume calamitosum putabat, quippe quoi omnes copiae in usu cottidiano et cultu corporis erant.

Post eum diem quidam L. Tarquinius ad senatum adductus erat, quem ad Catilinam proficiscentem ex itinere retractum aiebant. is quom se diceret indicaturum de coniuratione, si fides publica data esset, iussus a consule quae sciret edicere, eadem fere quae Volturcius de paratis incendiis, de caede bonorum, de itinere hostium senatum docet: praeterea se missum a M. Crasso, qui Catilinae nuntiaret, ne eum Lentulus et Cethegus aliique ex coniuratione deprehensi terrerent, eoque magis properaret ad urbem adcedere, quo et ceterorum animos reficeret et illi facilius e periculo eriperentur. sed ubi Tarquinius Crassum nominavit, hominem nobilem, maxumis divitiis, summa potentia, alii rem incredibilem rati, pars tametsi verum existumabant tamen quia in tali tempore tanta vis hominis magis leniunda quam exagitanda videbatur, plerique Crasso ex negotiis privatis obnoxii, conclamant indicem falsum esse, deque ea re postulant uti referatur. itaque consulente Cicerone frequens senatus decernit Tarquini indicium falsum videri eumque in vinculis retinendum neque amplius potestatem faciundam, nisi de eo indicaret, quoius consilio tantam rem esset mentitus. erant eo tempore qui existumarent indicium illud a P. Autronio machinatum, quo facilius appellato Crasso per societatem periculi reliquos illius potentia tegeret. alii Tarquinium a Cicerone inmissum aiebant, ne Crassus more suo suscepto malorum patrocinio rem publicam conturbaret. ipsum Crassum ego postea praedicantem audivi tantam illam contumeliam sibi ab Cicerone inpositam.

Chapter 49

Sed isdem temporibus Q. Catulus et C. Piso neque pretio neque gratia Ciceronem inpellere potuere, uti per Allobroges aut alium indicem C. Caesar falso nominaretur. nam uterque cum illo gravis inimicitias exercebat: Piso oppugnatus in iudicio pecuniarum repetundarum propter quoiusdam Transpadani supplicium iniustum, Catulus ex petitione pontificatus odio incensus, quod extrema aetate, maxumis honoribus usus, ab adulescentulo Caesare victus discesserat. res autem opportuna videbatur, quod is privatim egregia liberalitate, publice maxumis muneribus grandem pecuniam debebat. sed ubi consulem ad tantum facinus inpellere nequeunt, ipsi singillatim circumeundo atque ementiundo, quae se ex Volturcio aut Allobrogibus audisse dicerent, magnam illi invidiam conflaverant, usque eo ut nonnulli equites Romani, qui praesidi causa cum telis erant circum aedem Concordiae, seu periculi magnitudine seu animi mobilitate inpulsi, quo studium suom in rem publicam clarius esset, egredienti ex senatu Caesari gladio minitarentur.

Chapter 50

Dum haec in senatu aguntur et dum legatis Allobrogum et T. Volturcio, conprobato eorum indicio, praemia decernuntur, liberti et pauci ex clientibus Lentuli divorsis itineribus opifices atque servitia in vicis ad eum eripiundum sollicitabant, partim exquirebant duces multitudinum, qui pretio rem publicam vexare soliti erant. Cethegus autem per nuntios familiam atque libertos suos, lectos et exercitatos, orabat , ut grege facto cum telis ad sese inrumperent. consul ubi ea parari cognovit, dispositis praesidiis, ut res atque tempus monebat, convocato senatu refert, quid de iis fieri placeat, qui in custodiam traditi erant. sed eos paulo ante frequens senatus iudicaverat contra rem publicam fecisse. tum D. Iunius Silanus primus sententiam rogatus, quod eo tempore consul designatus erat, de iis, qui in custodiis tenebantur, et praeterea de L. Cassio, P. Furio, P. Umbreno, Q. Annio, si deprehensi forent, supplicium sumundum decreverat; isque postea permotus oratione C. Caesaris pedibus in sententiam Ti. Neronis iturum se dixit, quod de ea re praesidiis additis referundum censuerat. sed Caesar, ubi ad eum ventum est, rogatus sententiam a consule huiusce modi verba locutus est:

Chapter 51

'Omnis homines, patres conscripti, qui de rebus dubiis consultant, ab odio, amicitia, ira atque misericordia vacuos esse decet. haud facile animus verum providet, ubi illa officiunt, neque quisquam omnium lubidini simul et usui paruit. ubi intenderis ingenium, valet; si lubido possidet, ea dominatur, animus nihil valet. magna mihi copia est memorandi, patres conscripti, quae reges atque populi ira aut misericordia inpulsi male consuluerint. sed ea malo dicere, quae maiores nostri contra lubidinem animi sui recte atque ordine fecere. bello Macedonico, quod cum rege Perse gessimus, Rhodiorum civitas magna atque magnifica, quae populi Romani opibus creverat, infida et advorsa nobis fuit. sed postquam bello confecto de Rhodiis consultum est, maiores nostri, ne quis divitiarum magis quam iniuriae causa bellum inceptum diceret, inpunitos eos dimisere. item bellis Punicis omnibus, quom saepe Carthaginienses et in pace et per indutias multa nefaria facinora fecissent, numquam ipsi per occasionem talia fecere: magis quid se dignum foret, quam quid in illos iure fieri posset, quaerebant. hoc item vobis providendum est, patres conscripti, ne plus apud vos valeat P. Lentuli et ceterorum scelus quam vostra dignitas, neu magis irae vostrae quam famae consulatis. nam si digna poena pro factis eorum reperitur, novom consilium adprobo; sin magnitudo sceleris omnium ingenia exuperat, his utendum censeo, quae legibus conparata sunt.

Plerique eorum, qui ante me sententias dixerunt, conposite atque magnifice casum rei publicae miserati sunt. quae belli saevitia esset, quae victis acciderent, enumeravere: rapi virgines, pueros; divelli liberos a parentum conplexu; matres familiarum pati quae victoribus conlubuissent; fana atque domos spoliari; caedem, incendia fieri; postremo armis, cadaveribus, cruore atque luctu omnia conpleri. sed, per deos inmortalis, quo illa oratio pertinuit? an uti vos infestos coniurationi faceret? scilicet, quem res tanta et tam atrox non permovit, eum oratio accendet. non ita est, neque quoiquam mortalium iniuriae suae parvae videntur, multi eas gravius aequo habuere. sed alia aliis licentia est, patres conscripti. qui demissi in obscuro vitam habent, si quid iracundia deliquere, pauci sciunt, fama atque fortuna eorum pares sunt; qui magno imperio praediti in excelso aetatem agunt, eorum facta cuncti mortales novere. ita in maxuma fortuna minuma licentia est; neque studere neque odisse, sed minume irasci decet; quae apud alios iracundia dicitur, ea in imperio superbia atque crudelitas appellatur. equidem ego sic existumo, patres conscripti. omnis cruciatus minores quam facinora illorum esse. sed plerique mortales postrema meminere et in hominibus inpiis sceleris eorum obliti de poena disserunt, si ea paulo severior fuit.

D. Silanum, virum fortem atque strenuom, certo scio quae dixerit studio rei publicae dixisse, neque illum in tanta re gratiam aut inimicitias exercere: eos mores eamque modestiam viri cognovi. verum sententia eius mihi non crudelis — quid enim in talis homines crudele fieri potest? — sed aliena a re publica nostra videtur. nam profecto aut metus aut iniuria te subegit, Silane, consulem designatum genus poenae novom decernere. de timore supervacuaneum est disserere, quom praesertim diligentia clarissumi viri consulis tanta praesidia sint in armis. de poena possum equidem dicere, id quod res habet, in luctu atque miseriis mortem aerumnarum requiem, non cruciatum esse; eam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere; ultra neque curae neque gaudio locum esse. sed, per deos inmortalis, quam ob rem in sententiam non addidisti, uti prius verberibus in eos animadvorteretur? an quia lex Porcia vetat? at aliae leges item condemnatis civibus non animam eripi, sed exilium permitti iubent. an quia gravius est verberari quam necari? quid autem acerbum aut nimis grave est in homines tanti facinoris convictos? sin quia levius est, qui convenit in minore negotio legem timere, quon eam in maiore neglexeris?

At enim quis reprehendet quod in parricidas rei publicae decretum erit? tempus dies fortuna, quoius lubido gentibus moderatur. illis merito accidet quicquid evenerit; ceterum vos, patres conscripti, quid in alios statuatis, considerate. omnia mala exempla ex rebus bonis orta sunt. sed ubi imperium ad ignaros eius aut minus bonos pervenit, novom illud exemplum ab dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transfertur. Lacedaemonii devictis Atheniensibus triginta viros inposuere, qui rem publicam eorum tractarent. ii primo coepere pessumum quemque et omnibus invisum indemnatum necare: ea populus laetari et merito dicere fieri. post ubi paulatim licentia crevit, iuxta bonos et malos lubidinose interficere, ceteros metu terrere: ita civitas servitute oppressa stultae laetitiae gravis poenas dedit. nostra memoria victor Sulla quom Damasippum et alios eius modi, qui malo rei publicae creverant, iugulari iussit, quis non factum eius laudabat? homines scelestos et factiosos, qui seditionibus rem publicam exagitaverant, merito necatos aiebant. sed ea res magnae initium cladis fuit. nam uti quisque domum aut villam, postremo vas aut vestimentum aliquoius concupiverat, dabat operam, uti is in proscriptorum numero esset. ita illi, quibus Damasippi mors laetitiae fuerat, paulo post ipsi trahebantur, neque prius finis iugulandi fuit, quam Sulla omnis suos divitiis explevit. atque ego haec non in M. Tullio neque his temporibus vereor, sed in magna civitate multa et varia ingenia sunt. potest alio tempore, alio consule, quoi item exercitus in manu sit, falsum aliquid pro vero credi. ubi hoc exemplo per senatus decretum consul gladium eduxerit, quis illi finem statuet aut quis moderabitur?

Maiores nostri, patres conscripti, neque consili neque audaciae umquam eguere; neque illis superbia obstabat, quo minus aliena instituta, si modo proba erant, mitarentur. arma atque tela militaria ab Samnitibus, insignia magistratuum ab Tuscis pleraque sumpserunt. postremo, quod ubique apud socios aut hostis idoneum videbatur, cum summo studio domi exequebantur: imitari quam invidere bonis malebant. sed eodem illo tempore Graeciae morem imitati verberibus animadvortebant in civis, de condemnatis summum supplicium sumebant. postquam res publica adolevit et multitudine civium factiones valuere, circumveniri innocentes, alia huiusce modi fieri coepere, tum lex Porcia aliaeque leges paratae sunt, quibus legibus exilium damnatis permissum est. ego hanc causam, patres conscripti, quo minus novom consilium capiamus, in primis magnam puto. profecto virtus atque sapientia maior illis fuit, qui ex parvis opibus tantum imperium fecere, quam in nobis, qui ea bene parta vix retinemus.

Placet igitur eos dimitti et augeri exercitum Catilinae? minume. sed ita censeo: publicandas eorum pecunias, ipsos in vinculis habendos per municipia, quae maxume opibus valent; neu quis de iis postea ad senatum referat neve cum populo agat; qui aliter fecerit, senatum existumare eum contra rem publicam et salutem omnium facturum.'

Chapter 52

Postquam Caesar dicundi finem fecit, ceteri verbo alius alii varie adsentiebantur. at M. Porcius Cato rogatus sententiam huiusce modi orationem habuit:

'Longe alia mihi mens est, patres conscripti, quom res atque pericula nostra considero, et quom sententias nonnullorum ipse mecum reputo. illi mihi disseruisse videntur de poena eorum, qui patriae, parentibus, aris atque focis suis bellum paravere; res autem monet cavere ab illis magis quam quid in illos statuamus consultare. nam cetera maleficia tum persequare, ubi facta sunt; hoc nisi provideris ne accidat, ubi evenit, frustra iudicia inplores: capta urbe nihil fit reliqui victis. sed, per deos inmortalis, vos ego appello, qui semper domos, villas, signa, tabulas vostras pluris quam rem publicam fecistis: si ista, quoiuscumque modi sunt quae amplexamini, retinere, si voluptatibus vostris otium praebere voltis, expergiscimini aliquando et capessite rem publicam. non agitur de vectigalibus neque de sociorum iniuriis: libertas et anima nostra in dubio est.

Saepenumero, patres conscripti, multa verba in hoc ordine feci, saepe de luxuria atque avaritia nostrorum civium questus sum, multosque mortalis ea causa advorsos habeo. qui mihi atque animo meo nullius umquam delicti gratiam fecissem, haud facile alterius lubidini male facta condonabam. sed ea tametsi vos parvi pendebatis, tamen res publica firma erat, opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat. nunc vero non id agitur, bonisne an malis moribus vivamus, neque quantum aut quam magnificum imperium populi Romani sit, sed haec, quoiuscumque modi videntur, nostra an nobiscum una hostium futura sint. hic mihi quisquam mansuetudinem et misericordiam nominat. iam pridem equidem nos vera vocabula rerum amisimus: quia bona aliena largiri liberalitas, malarum rerum audacia fortitudo vocatur, eo res publica in extremo sita est. sint sane, quoniam ita se mores habent, liberales ex sociorum fortunis, sint misericordes in furibus aerari: ne illi sanguinem nostrum largiantur et, dum paucis sceleratis parcunt, bonos omnis perditum eant.

Bene et conposite C. Caesar paulo ante in hoc ordine de vita et morte disseruit, credo falsa existumans ea, quae de inferis memorantur: divorso itinere malos a bonis loca taetra, inculta, foeda atque formidulosa habere. itaque censuit pecunias eorum publicandas, ipsos per municipia in custodiis habendos, videlicet timens, ne, si Romae sint, aut a popularibus coniurationis aut a multitudine conducta per vim eripiantur; quasi vero mali atque scelesti tantummodo in urbe et non per totam Italiam sint, aut non ibi plus possit audacia, ubi ad defendundum opes minores sunt. quare vanum equidem hoc consilium est, si periculum ex illis metuit; si in tanto omnium metu solus non timet, eo magis refert me mihi atque vobis timere. qua re quom de P. Lentulo ceterisque statuetis, pro certo habetote vos simul de exercitu Catilinae et de omnibus coniuratis decernere. quanto vos attentius ea agetis, tanto illis animus infirmior erit; si paulum modo vos languere viderint, iam omnes feroces aderunt.

Nolite existumare maiores nostros armis rem publicam ex parva magnam fecisse. si ita esset, multo pulcherrumam eam nos haberemus: quippe sociorum atque civium, praeterea armorum atque equorum maior copia nobis quam illis est. sed alia fuere, quae illos magnos fecere, quae nobis nulla sunt: domi industria, foris iustum imperium, animus in consulundo liber, neque delicto neque lubidini obnoxius. pro his nos habemus luxuriam atque avaritiam, publice egestatem, privatim opulentiam. laudamus divitias, sequimur inertiam. inter bonos et malos discrimen nullum, omnia virtutis praemia ambitio possidet. neque mirum: ubi vos separatim sibi quisque consilium capitis, ubi domi voluptatibus, hic pecuniae aut gratiae servitis, eo fit, ut impetus fiat in vacuam rem publicam.

Sed ego haec omitto. coniuravere nobilissumi cives patriam incendere, Gallorum gentem infestissumam nomini Romano ad bellum arcessunt, dux hostium cum exercitu supra caput est; vos cunctamini etiam nunc et dubitatis, quid intra moenia deprensis hostibus faciatis? misereamini censeo — deliquere homines adulescentuli per ambitionem — atque etiam armatos dimittatis: ne ista vobis mansuetudo et misericordia, si illi arma ceperint, in miseriam convortat. scilicet res ipsa aspera est, sed vos non timetis eam. immo vero maxume. sed inertia et mollitia animi alius alium expectantes cunctamini, videlicet dis inmortalibus confisi, qui hanc rem publicam saepe in maxumis periculis servavere. non votis neque suppliciis muliebribus auxilia deorum parantur; vigilando, agundo, bene consulundo prospera omnia cedunt. ubi socordiae te atque ignaviae tradideris, nequiquam deos inplores: irati infestique sunt. apud maiores nostros A. Manlius Torquatus bello Gallico filium suom, quod is contra imperium in hostem pugnaverat, necari iussit, atque ille egregius adulescens inmoderatae fortitudinis morte poenas dedit; vos de crudelissumis parricidis quid statuatis, cunctamini? videlicet cetera vita eorum huic sceleri obstat. verum parcite dignitati Lentuli, si ipse pudicitiae, si famae suae, si dis aut hominibus umquam ullis pepercit. ignoscite Cethegi adulescentiae, nisi iterum patriae bellum fecit. nam quid ego de Gabinio, Statilio, Caepario loquar? quibus si quicquam umquam pensi fuisset, non ea consilia de re publica habuissent. postremo, patres conscripti, si mehercule peccato locus esset, facile paterer vos ipsa re corrigi, quoniam verba contemnitis. sed undique circumventi sumus. Catilina cum exercitu faucibus urget; alii intra moenia atque in sinu urbis sunt hostes; neque parari neque consuli quicquam potest occulte: quo magis properandum est.

Quare ego ita censeo, quom nefario consilio sceleratorum civium res publica in maxuma pericula venerit, iique indicio T. Volturci et legatorum Allobrogum convicti confessique sint caedem, incendia aliaque se foeda atque crudelia facinora in civis patriamque paravisse, de confessis, sicuti de manufestis rerum capitalium, more maiorum supplicium sumundum.'

Chapter 53

Postquam Cato adsedit, consulares omnes itemque senatus magna pars sententiam eius laudant, virtutem animi ad caelum ferunt, alii alios increpantes timidos vocant. Cato clarus atque magnus habetur; senati decretum fit, sicuti ille censuerat.

Sed mihi multa legenti, multa audienti, quae populus Romanus domi militiaeque, mari atque terra praeclara facinora fecit, forte lubuit attendere, quae res maxume tanta negotia sustinuisset. sciebam saepenumero parva manu cum magnis legionibus hostium contendisse; cognoveram parvis copiis bella gesta cum opulentis regibus, ad hoc saepe fortunae violentiam toleravisse, facundia Graecos, gloria belli Gallos ante Romanos fuisse. ac mihi multa agitanti constabat paucorum civium egregiam virtutem cuncta patravisse, eoque factum, uti divitias paupertas, multitudinem paucitas superaret. sed postquam luxu atque desidia civitas corrupta est, rursus res publica magnitudine sua imperatorum atque magistratuum vitia sustentabat ac, sicuti effeta parentum ui, multis tempestatibus haud sane quisquam Romae virtute magnus fuit. sed memoria mea ingenti virtute, divorsis moribus fuere viri duo, M. Cato et C. Caesar. quos quoniam res obtulerat, silentio praeterire non fuit consilium, quin utriusque naturam et mores, quantum ingenio possum, aperirem. igitur iis genus aetas eloquentia prope aequalia fuere, magnitudo animi par, item gloria, sed alia alii. Caesar beneficiis ac munificentia magnus habebatur, integritate vitae Cato. ille mansuetudine et misericordia clarus factus, huic severitas dignitatem addiderat. Caesar dando sublevando ignoscundo, Cato nihil largiundo gloriam adeptus est. in altero miseris perfugium erat, in altero malis pernicies. illius facilitas, huius constantia laudabatur. postremo Caesar in animum induxerat laborare, vigilare; negotiis amicorum intentus sua neglegere, nihil denegare quod dono dignum esset; sibi magnum imperium, exercitum, bellum novom exoptabat, ubi virtus enitescere posset. at Catoni studium modestiae, decoris, sed maxume severitatis erat; non divitiis cum divite neque factione cum factioso, sed cum strenuo virtute, cum modesto pudore, cum innocente abstinentia certabat; esse quam videri bonus malebat: ita, quo minus petebat gloriam, eo magis illum sequebatur.

Chapter 55

Postquam, ut dixi, senatus in Catonis sententiam discessit, consul optumum factu ratus noctem quae instabat antecapere, ne quid eo spatio novaretur, tresviros quae ad supplicium postulabantur parare iubet. ipse praesidiis dispositis Lentulum in carcerem deducit; idem fit ceteris per praetores. est in carcere locus, quod Tullianum appellatur, ubi paululum ascenderis ad laevam, circiter duodecim pedes humi depressus; eum muniunt undique parietes atque insuper camera lapideis fornicibus iuncta; sed incultu tenebris odore foeda atque terribilis eius facies est. in eum locum postquam demissus est Lentulus, vindices rerum capitalium, quibus praeceptum erat, laqueo gulam fregere. ita ille patricius ex gente clarissuma Corneliorum, qui consulare imperium Romae habuerat, dignum moribus factisque suis exitium vitae invenit. de Cethego, Statilio, Gabinio, Caepario eodem modo supplicium sumptum est.

Chapter 56

Dum ea Romae geruntur, Catilina ex omni copia, quam et ipse adduxerat et Manlius habuerat, duas legiones instituit, cohortis pro numero militum conplet. deinde, ut quisque voluntarius aut ex sociis in castra venerat, aequaliter distribuerat, ac brevi spatio legiones numero hominum expleverat, quom initio non amplius duobus milibus habuisset. sed ex omni copia circiter pars quarta erat militaribus armis instructa; ceteri, ut quemque casus armaverat, sparos aut lanceas, alii praeacutas sudis portabant. sed postquam Antonius cum exercitu adventabat, Catilina per montis iter facere, modo ad urbem, modo Galliam vorsus castra movere, hostibus occasionem pugnandi non dare. sperabat propediem magnas copias sese habiturum, si Romae socii incepta patravissent. interea servitia repudiabat, quoius initio ad eum magnae copiae concurrebant, opibus coniurationis fretus, simul alienum suis rationibus existumans videri causam civium cum servis fugitivis communicavisse.

Chapter 57

Sed postquam in castra nuntius pervenit Romae coniurationem patefactam, de Lentulo et Cethego ceterisque, quos supra memoravi, supplicium sumptum, plerique, quos ad bellum spes rapinarum aut novarum rerum studium illexerat, dilabuntur; reliquos Catilina per montis asperos magnis itineribus in agrum Pistoriensem abducit eo consilio, uti per tramites occulte perfugeret in Galliam Transalpinam. at Q. Metellus Celer cum tribus legionibus in agro Piceno praesidebat, ex difficultate rerum eadem illa existumans quae supra diximus Catilinam agitare. igitur ubi iter eius ex perfugis cognovit, castra propere movit ac sub ipsis radicibus montium consedit, qua illi descensus erat in Galliam properanti. neque tamen Antonius procul aberat, utpote qui magno exercitu locis aequioribus expeditus in fuga sequeretur. sed Catilina postquam videt montibus atqie copiis hostium sese clausum, in urbe res advorsas, neque fugae neque praesidi ullam spem, optumum factu ratus in tali re fortunam belli temptare, statuit cum Antonio quam primum confligere. itaque contione advocata huiusce modi orationem habuit:

Chapter 58

'Compertum ego habeo, milites, verba virtutem non addere, neque ex ignavo strenuom neque fortem ex timido exercitum oratione imperatoris fieri. quanta quoiusque animo audacia natura aut moribus inest, tanta in bello patere solet. quem neque gloria neque pericula excitant, nequiquam hortere: timor animi auribus officit. sed ego vos, quo pauca monerem, advocavi, simul uti causam mei consili aperirem.

Scitis equidem, milites, socordia atque ignavia Lentuli quantam ipsi nobisque cladem attulerit, quoque modo, dum ex urbe praesidia opperior, in Galliam proficisci nequiverim. nunc vero quo loco res nostrae sint, iuxta mecum omnes intellegitis. exercitus hostium duo, unus ab urbe, alter a Gallia obstant; diutius in his locis esse, si maxume animus ferat, frumenti atque aliarum rerum egestas prohibet; quocumque ire placet, ferro iter aperiundum est. quapropter vos moneo, uti forti atque parato animo sitis et, quom proelium inibitis, memineritis vos divitias, decus, gloriam, praeterea libertatem atque patriam in dextris vostris portare. si vincimus, omnia nobis tuta erunt: commeatus abunde, municipia atque coloniae patebunt; si metu cesserimus, eadem illa advorsa fient, neque locus neque amicus quisquam teget quem arma non texerint. praeterea, milites, non eadem nobis et illis necessitudo inpendet: nos pro patria, pro libertate, pro vita certamus; illis supervacuaneum est pugnare pro potentia paucorum. quo audacius aggredimini memores pristinae virtutis. licuit vobis cum summa turpitudine in exilio aetatem agere, potuistis nonnulli Romae amissis bonis alienas opes expectare: quia illa foeda atque intoleranda viris videbantur, haec sequi decrevistis. si haec relinquere voltis, audacia opus est: nemo nisi victor pace bellum mutavit. nam in fuga salutem sperare, quom arma, quibus corpus tegitur, ab hostibus avorteris, ea vero dementia est. semper in proelio iis maxumum est periculum, qui maxume timent: audacia pro muro habetur.

Quom vos considero, milites, et quom facta vostra aestumo, magna me spes victoriae tenet. animus aetas virtus vostra me hortantur, praeterea necessitudo, quae etiam timidos fortis facit. nam multitudo hostium ne circumvenire queat, prohibent angustiae loci. quod si virtuti vostrae fortuna inviderit, cavete inulti animam amittatis, neu capti potius sicuti pecora trucidemini, quam virorum more pugnantes cruentam atque luctuosam victoriam hostibus relinquatis.'

Chapter 59

Haec ubi dixit, paululum conmoratus signa canere iubet atque instructos ordines in locum aequom deducit. dein remotis omnium equis, quo militibus exaequato periculo animus amplior esset, ipse pedes exercitum pro loco atque copiis instruit. nam, uti planities erat inter sinistros montis et ab dextra rupe aspera, octo cohortis in fronte constituit, reliquarum signa in subsidio artius conlocat. ab iis centuriones, omnis lectos et evocatos, praeterea ex gregariis militibus optumum quemque armatum in primam aciem subducit. C. Manlium in dextra, Faesulanum quendam in sinistra parte curare iubet. ipse cum libertis et colonis propter aquilam adsistit, quam bello Cimbrico C. Marius in exercitu habuisse dicebatur. at ex altera parte C. Antonius, pedibus aeger quod proelio adesse nequibat, M. Petreio legato exercitum permittit. ille cohortis veteranas, quas tumulti causa conscripserat, in fronte, post eas ceterum exercitum in subsidiis locat. ipse equo circumiens unum quemque nominans appellat, hortatur, rogat, ut meminerint se contra latrones inermis pro patria, pro liberis, pro aris atque focis suis certare. homo militaris, quod amplius annos triginta tribunus aut praefectus aut legatus aut praetor cum magna gloria in exercitu fuerat, plerosque ipsos factaque eorum fortia noverat: ea conmemorando militum animos accendebat.

Chapter 60

Sed ubi omnibus rebus exploratis Petreius tuba signum dat, cohortis paulatim incedere iubet; idem facit hostium exercitus. postquam eo ventum est, unde a ferentariis proelium conmitti posset, maxumo clamore cum infestis signis concurrunt; pila omittunt, gladiis res geritur. veterani pristinae virtutis memores comminus acriter instare, illi haud timidi resistunt: maxuma vi certatur. interea Catilina cum expeditis in prima acie vorsari, laborantibus succurrere, integros pro sauciis arcessere, omnia providere, multum ipse pugnare, saepe hostem ferire: strenui militis et boni imperatoris officia simul exequebatur. Petreius ubi videt Catilinam, contra ac ratus erat, magna vi tendere, cohortem praetoriam in medios hostis inducit eosque perturbatos atque alios alibi resistentis interficit. deinde utrimque ex lateribus ceteros aggreditur. Manlius et Faesulanus in primis pugnantes cadunt. Catilina postquam fusas copias seque cum paucis relictum videt, memor generis atque pristinae suae dignitatis in confertissumos hostis incurrit ibique pugnans confoditur.

Chapter 61

Sed confecto proelio, tum vero cerneres, quanta audacia quantaque animi vis fuisset in exercitu Catilinae. nam fere quem quisque vivos pugnando locum ceperat, eum amissa anima corpore tegebat. pauci autem, quos medios cohors praetoria disiecerat, paulo divorsius, sed omnes tamen advorsis volneribus conciderant. Catilina vero longe a suis inter hostium cadavera repertus est, paululum etiam spirans ferociamque animi, quam habuerat vivos, in voltu retinens. postremo ex omni copia neque in proelio neque in fuga quisquam civis ingenuos captus est: ita cuncti suae hostiumque vitae iuxta pepercerant. neque tamen exercitus populi Romani laetam aut incruentam victoriam adeptus erat. nam strenuissumus quisque aut occiderat in proelio aut graviter volneratus discesserat. multi autem, qui e castris visundi aut spoliandi gratia processerant, volventes hostilia cadavera amicum alii, pars hospitem aut cognatum reperiebant; fuere item qui inimicos suos cognoscerent. ita varie per omnem exercitum laetitia, maeror, luctus atque gaudia agitabantur.