Latin
Lines 1.26-1.29
Greek and Roman Historians, The Conspiracy of Catiline 1.26-29
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The leading individual supporters of the conspiracy were drawn from the misfits and failures of society. The most distinguished was Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura, a consular who had been expelled from the Senate in 70 B. C. By 63 B. C. he had rehabilitated himself and became praetor, and was thus with Catiline able to bring some standing to the revolutionary leaders. A man, however, who was naive enough to base his hopes of success upon oracles was in Cicero's view a man over whom no sleep need be lost. The most notable of the other senatorial supporters were Lucius Cassius Longinus, a corpulent rogue who had been one of the candidates at the consular elections in 64 B. C., and Gaius Cornelius Cethegus, a hot head with no judgment. There were also some knights involved, and men from the towns of Italy: Titus Volturcius from Croton, Marcus Ceparius from Terracina, and Publius Furius, a Sullan colonist from Faesulae. Freedmen, too, were among the members of the conspiracy, notably Publius Umbrenus who had been a businessman in Gaul; but Catiline in spite of the urging of his colleagues refused to the end to raise a slave revolt.
Such men, although a potentially dangerous combination, were not the making of a successful revolution. Their conduct during the conspiracy only serves to confirm the view that their own shortcomings drove them to join Catiline as the sole means of achieving a better place in society. The main redeeming feature of Catiline's followers was their loyalty to their leader.
THE COURSE OF THE CONSPIRACY
Catiline's conduct during his election campaign in July 63 B. C. gave cause for alarm to all right thinking citizens. Gaius Manlius, who had served as a centurion under Sulla, was enrolling men in Etruria, and Catiline himself was marching through the streets of Rome at the head of Sullan Veterans and of men dispossessed by Sulla in his proscriptions. It was also reported that in a private meeting Catiline had proclaimed himself the champion of the poor and oppressed and had stated his intention of assassinating Cicero at the forthcoming elections. He continued to attend the meetings of the Senate and there was a note of ruthless menace in his reply to Cato's threat of prosecution. As soon as Cicero heard of what had been said at the private meeting, he summoned the Senate, and his version of what transpired is recorded in the speech Pro Murena. After reporting what had taken place he moved that the elections which were due to be held the following day should be postponed so that the Senate might discuss his report. The Senate accepted his motion, but at the meeting on the next day took the view that there were no grounds for emergency measures, and Catiline stalked out of the House in triumph. Cicero, affirming that his life was threatened and seeing that he had failed to obtain official backing for his view that danger was imminent, formed a bodyguard of private citizens and entered the Campus Martius on the day of the poll surrounded by armed men and ostentatiously wearing a breastplate to overawe his enemies and to bring home to loyalists his own danger. His plan succeeded. Catiline and his followers made no move --if they had ever intended one --and Decimus Junius Silanus and Lucius Licinius Murena were elected.