# The Conspiracy of Catiline 1.1-3

Greek and Roman Historians, The Conspiracy of Catiline, Lines 1.1-1.3. Latin.

Canonical: https://interlinea.aeterna-institute.org/library/latin/greek-and-roman-historians/the-conspiracy-of-catiline/1.1

Lucius Sergius Catilina was a patrician member of a noble family which had not provided Rome with a consul for more than three hundred years and whose decayed fortunes he was determined to revive. Endowed with military talents of distinction, he was a member of the staff of the consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo in 89 B.C. at the siege of the rebel town of Asculum. We have no evidence that he played any very active role during the 80's but he certainly remained secured under the Cinnan government. Indeed, he may have had family ties with Marians because a fragment of Sallust's Histories suggest that his wife was Gratidia, a sister of Marcus Marius Gratidianus, and his Marian connections were doubtless severed when expediency dictated the transfer of his decayed patrician family, and with the oligarchy established by him, that Catiline sought to restore his own family to fame. Early in the 70's he saw service abroad, possibly in Cilicia with Publius Servilius Vatia, who was proconsul there from 78 B.C. until 74 B.C.
In 73 B.C. he was accused of adultery with the Vestal Virgin, Fabia, who was a half-sister of Cicero's wife. Among those who testified in his favor was Quintus Lutatius Catulus, the consul of 78 B.C. and now the principal leader of the Optimates. Catiline was acquitted.
Elected praetor in 68 B.C., he was propraetorian governor of Africa in 67-66 B.C., but while he was still in the province an embassy appeared before the Senate with complaints about his conduct in office. On his return home he presented himself as a candidate in the consular elections for 65 B.C., but he was prevented from running in this election by the consul Lucius Volcanius Tullus. The complaints of the provincials had led to his indictment for extortion, and the case finally came before the court in 65 B.C. After a hearing in which he received the support of many consulares, he was acquitted, but not in time for him to stand in the consular elections for 64 B.C.

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Greek and Roman Historians, The Conspiracy of Catiline. Text: The Latin Library (thelatinlibrary.com), used with permission. Changes: HTML markup removed and the text divided into reading sections by Interlinea.
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