The Conspiracy of Catiline

When he had said this, having delayed a little while, he orders the signals to sound and leads the drawn-up ranks down into a level place. Then, having removed the horses of everyone, in order that, the danger being made equal, the courage of the soldiers might be greater, he himself on foot draws up the army according to the nature of the ground and his forces. For, as there was a plain between the mountains on the left and a rugged cliff on the right, he stationed eight cohorts in the front, and places the standards of the remaining cohorts more closely in reserve. From these he draws off into the front line the centurions, all chosen men and veterans, and furthermore, every best armed man from the common soldiers. He orders Gaius Manlius to command on the right, and a certain man of Faesulae on the left. He himself, with his freedmen and colonists, takes his stand near the eagle, which Gaius Marius was said to have had in his army in the Cimbric war. But on the other side, Gaius Antonius, being ill in his feet so that he was unable to be present at the battle, entrusts the army to his lieutenant Marcus Petreius. He places the veteran cohorts, which he had enlisted on account of the emergency, in the front, and behind them the rest of the army in reserve. He himself, riding around on horseback, addresses each man by name, encourages them, and begs them to remember that they are fighting against unarmed robbers, on behalf of their country, their children, their altars, and their hearths. Being a military man, because he had been a tribune, prefect, lieutenant, or praetor in the army with great glory for more than thirty years, he knew most of them personally and their brave deeds; by mentioning these things, he fired the minds of the soldiers.

But when, all things having been explored, Petreius gives the signal with the trumpet, he orders the cohorts to advance slowly; the enemy’s army does the same. After they arrived at the point from which the battle could be joined by the light-armed troops, they charge with the greatest shout and with hostile standards; they cast aside their javelins, and the business is carried on with swords. The veterans, mindful of their former valor, press on fiercely hand to hand; the others resist without fear: they fight with the greatest force. Meanwhile Catiline was active in the front line with his light-armed men, helped those who were hard-pressed, brought up fresh men to replace the wounded, provided for everything, fought hard himself, often struck down the enemy: he performed at once the duties of an active soldier and a good general. When Petreius sees that Catiline, contrary to what he had expected, is exerting great effort, he leads his praetorian cohort into the midst of the enemy, and slays them in confusion and resisting some in one place, some in another. Then he attacks the rest on both flanks. Manlius and the Faesulan fall fighting among the first. Catiline, after he sees his forces routed and himself left with a few, mindful of his birth and his former dignity, rushes into the thickest of the enemy, and is there stabbed while fighting.

But when the battle was over, then indeed you might have perceived how great daring and how great strength of mind had been in the army of Catiline. For almost every man covered with his body, after his life was lost, the place which he had taken while alive in fighting. A few, however, whom the praetorian cohort had scattered in the center, had fallen a little more scattered, but all nevertheless with wounds in front. But Catiline was found far from his own men among the corpses of the enemy, still breathing a little, and retaining on his face the ferocity of mind which he had possessed while alive. Finally, out of the whole multitude, not a single free-born citizen was captured either in battle or in flight: so sparely had they all spared their own lives and those of the enemy. Nor, however, had the army of the Roman people obtained a joyful or bloodless victory. For every bravest man had either fallen in battle or departed severely wounded. Moreover, many who had gone out from the camp for the purpose of seeing or plundering, as they turned over the hostile corpses, found some a friend, others a guest or a relative; there were also some who recognized their personal enemies. Thus, in various ways, joy, sorrow, mourning, and exultation were felt throughout the entire army.