Latin
Lines 1.30-1.31
Greek and Roman Historians, The Conspiracy of Catiline 1.30-31
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When the result of the elections was known, Catiline sent Manlius back to Faesulae in northern Etruria, despatched two subordinates to Picenum and Apulia and others to other areas to raise new levies of troops. For the moment he remained himself in Rome to allay suspicions and to further his plans in the capital. We have no detailed knowledge of what was happening in Rome during August and September, but the existence of an active conspiracy should be dated from these months.
On the night of the 18th of October Cicero was roused from his bed by Crassus and two other nobles, Marcus Marcellus and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, and was handed a bundle of letters which had been left at Crassus' house. Crassus had opened only that addressed to himself and had found that it warned him of impending massacre and urged him to flee Rome. Various theories about the origin of these letters are possible: that Cicero had forged them in order to check Crassus' reliability, that they were a device of Crassus himself to clear his name or that one of the conspirators was genuinely seeking to warn certain friends of their danger. No theory is susceptible of proof and none is entirely satisfactory, but the subsequent behavior of the conspirators suggests that the third theory is the most likely. On the following morning Cicero convened the Senate and the letters were read out. Again the Senate refused to make any decisive move, but the consuls were instructed to make further inquiries. Later the same day or on the 20th of October Quintus Arrius, an expraetor, brought Cicero more explicit information of events in Etruria, and Cicero convened the Senate once more on the 21st of October and at this meeting the Senatus Consultum Ultimum was passed.