The Conspiracy of Catiline

After Cato sat down, all the consulars and likewise a great part of the senate praised his opinion, raised his mental virtue to the skies, and, reproaching one another, called them cowards. Cato was held to be illustrious and great; a decree of the senate was made, just as he had proposed. But to me, reading much and hearing much of the illustrious deeds which the Roman people performed at home and in the field, on sea and land, it happened by chance to please me to attend to what cause had especially sustained such great undertakings. I knew that they had often contended with a small band against great legions of enemies; I had learned that wars had been waged with small forces against wealthy kings, besides that they had often tolerated the violence of fortune, and that the Greeks were ahead of the Romans in eloquence, and the Gauls in the glory of war. And to me, reflecting on many things, it was clear that the extraordinary virtue of a few citizens had accomplished everything, and that it was due to this that poverty overcame wealth, and a few overcame a multitude. But after the state was corrupted by luxury and sloth, the republic, in turn, by its own greatness, sustained the vices of its commanders and magistrates, and, as if the strength of the parents were exhausted, for many ages there was hardly anyone at Rome great in virtue. But in my memory there were two men of huge virtue, though of diverse characters: Marcus Cato and Gaius Caesar. Since fortune had presented them, it was not my plan to pass them over in silence without opening the nature and manners of both as far as I am able with my talent. Therefore, their birth, age, and eloquence were almost equal, their greatness of mind was on a par, likewise their glory, but it was of a different kind for each. Caesar was held to be great by his benefits and munificence, Cato by the integrity of his life. The former became illustrious for his clemency and compassion; to the latter, severity had added dignity. Caesar acquired glory by giving, relieving, and forgiving; Cato by bestowing nothing. In the one, there was a refuge for the wretched; in the other, destruction for the wicked. The easy nature of the former and the constancy of the latter were praised. Finally, Caesar had resolved in his mind to labor, to watch; intent on the business of his friends, to neglect his own, and to deny nothing that was worthy of a gift; for himself, he desired a great command, an army, and a new war where his virtue could shine forth. But Cato had a zeal for moderation, decency, but most of all, for severity; he did not contend in wealth with the wealthy, nor in faction with the factious, but in virtue with the active, in modesty with the moderate, and in abstinence with the innocent; he preferred to be good rather than to seem so: thus, the less he sought glory, the more it followed him.

After the senate, as I said, divided in favor of Cato’s opinion, the consul, thinking it best to anticipate the night which was pressing on, lest anything should be innovated in that interval, ordered the triumvirs to prepare what was required for the execution. He himself, having posted guards, led Lentulus into the prison; the same was done for the others by the praetors. There is in the prison a place called the Tullianum, when you have ascended a little to the left, sunk about twelve feet into the ground; walls secure it on all sides, and above it, a vaulted roof joined with stone arches; but its appearance is foul and terrible from neglect, darkness, and stench. After Lentulus was let down into this place, the executioners of capital matters, who had been commanded, broke his neck with a noose. Thus that patrician from the most illustrious house of the Cornelii, who had held the consular command at Rome, found an end of his life worthy of his manners and deeds. Punishment was inflicted in the same manner on Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Caeparius.

While these things were being done at Rome, Catiline, from the whole force which he himself had brought and Manlius had held, formed two legions, and filled up the cohorts according to the number of soldiers. Then, as each volunteer or ally came into the camp, he distributed them equally, and in a short time had filled the legions with the number of men, although at the beginning he had not had more than two thousand. But of the whole force, about a fourth part was equipped with military weapons; the rest, as chance had armed each one, carried hunting-spears or lances, and others sharp-pointed stakes. But after Antonius was approaching with his army, Catiline made his march through the mountains, moved his camp now toward the city, now toward Gaul, and gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting. He hoped that he would soon have great forces, if his allies at Rome had accomplished their undertakings. Meanwhile, he rejected the slaves, of whom great numbers flocked to him at the beginning, relying on the resources of the conspiracy, and at the same time thinking it foreign to his interests to appear to have shared the cause of citizens with runaway slaves.