Latin
Lines 1.54-1.55
Greek and Roman Historians, The Conspiracy of Catiline 1.54-55
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Things had gone no better for Catiline outside the city after his departure for Rome. The risings in the Italian countryside had rapidly been rendered ineffectual. In the Apennines Metellus Celer and in Cisalpine Gaul Gaius Licinius Murena kept the situation under control. The conspirators at Capua were dealt with by the quaestor, Publius Sestius, and by December he was free to move north in support of Antonius who had been assigned to Etruria, the only area in which there was sustained opposition. Catiline succeeded in increasing his forces there from the two thousand men raised by Manlius to a total of ten thousand, but of these only a quarter was properly armed. He could easily have increased this total by enlisting the slaves who fled to his camp -Lentulus urged this course upon him -but he refused to do this for fear of the effect that it might have on citizens whom he hoped to attach to his cause. Any benefit, however, that he might have secured from restraint was nullified by the lurid picture that Cicero was able to paint of Gallic hordes invited to join in the sack of Rome.
When the news of the execution of the conspirators at Rome reached Catiline's camp, those who had joined his forces solely in the hope of booty deserted and left him even more heavily outnumbered. He therefore abandoned his plans upon Italy or Rome and set out across the Apennines enroute for Transalpine Gaul. After an arduous march with the remains of his army, he reached the vicinity of Pistoria where he found the route blocked by Quintus Metellus Celer and three legions, and the forces of Antonius were by now not far away.