CAT'ILINE (Luctu S SERIOUS CATILINA ) (c.l0S-62 n.c.). A Roman noble celebrated as the leader of a conspiracy against the Republic. During his youth he attached himself to the party of Sulla. His bodily constitution, which was capable of enduring any amount of labor, fa tigue. and hardship, allied to a mind which could stoop to every baseness and feared no crime, fit ted him to take the lead in the conspiracy which has made his name infamous to all ages. In the year n.c. (iS he was elected pretor; in B.C. 67, Governor of Africa; and in B.C. 66 be was a candidate for the consulship. but was disquali fied on account of the accusations brought against him of maladministration in his prov ince. Disappointed thus in his ambition, and burdened with many and heavy debts, he saw no hope for himself but in the chances of a political revolution. and therefore entered into a con spiracy, including many other young Roman no bles, in morals and circumstances greatly like himself. The plot, however, was revealed to Cicero. then consul, by Fulvia, mistress of one of the conspirators. Operations were to commence with the assassination of Cicero in the Campus Martins. but the latter was kept aware of every step of the conspiracy, and contrived to frustrate the whole design. In the night of November 6, Ise. 63. Catiline assembled his confederates, and explained to them a new plan for assassinating Cicero: for bringing up the Tuscan Army (which he had seduced from its allegiance), under Man lius, from the encampment at Ffesube (Fiesole) for setting fire to Rome. and putting to death the hostile senators and citizens. In the course of a few hours everything was made known to Cicero. Accordingly, when the chosen assassins came to the house of the consul, on pretense of a visit, they were immediately repulsed. On November S Catiline audaciously appeared in the Senate, when Cicero—who had received in telligence that the insurrection had already broken out in Etruria—eommenced the cele brated invective beginning: Quousque tandem abutcre, yatientia nostra? ("How long now, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?") The accused was abashed, not by the keenness of Cicero's attack, but by the minute knowledge he displayed of the eonspiraey. His attempt at
a reply was miserable, and was drowned in cries of execration. With curses on his lips, he abruptly loft the Senate, and escaped from Rome during the night. Catiline and Manlius were now denounced as traitors, and an M111:1' under the consul. Antonius, was sent against them. The conspirators who remained in Mime, the chief of whom was Lentulus, were arrested, tried, condemned, and executed, December 5. The in surrections in several parts of Italy were mean while suppressed; many who had resorted to Catiline's camp in Etruria deserted when they heard what had taken place in 'Rome, and his intention to proceed into Gaul was frustrated. In the beginning of January, 62, he returned by Pistoria (now Pistoja) into Etruria, where he encountered the forces under Antonius, and, after a desperate battle, in which he displayed almost superhuman courage and enthusiasm, was defeated and slain. The appearance of Catiline was in harmony with his character. He had a daring and reckless look: his face was haggard with a sense of crime; his eyes were wild and bloodshot, and his step unsteady, from nightly debauchery. The history of the conspiracy of Catiline is given by Sallust in a remarkably concise and interesting style, though the speeches contained in it are probably of the author's own composition, and by Cicero himself in the four Orations Against ('utilinc, Consult: the arti cles "Cmsar," and "Cicero," in Plutarch. Lit-es: and Mommsen. Rihnisehe Grsehiehte (6th ed., Berlin, 1874-75), translated by Dickson.