ship of Curio,
to which Paullus had at first belonged, and Q. Caepio (I mean
Brutus[274]) and Lentulus, son of the flamen, with the privity of his
father: that afterwards C. Septimius, secretary to Bibulus, had brought
him a dagger from Bibulus. That made the whole thing ridiculous, as
though Vettius would have been at a loss for a dagger unless the consul
had given him one; and it was all the more scouted because on the 5th of
May Bibulus had told Pompey to be on his guard against plots; on which
occasion Pompey had thanked him. Young Curio, being brought into the
senate, spoke in answer to the allegations of Vettius; and on this
particular occasion the strongest thing against Vettius was his having
said that the plan of the young men was to attack Pompey in the forum,
with the help of Gabinius's gladiators,[275] and that in this the
ring-leader was Paullus, who was ascertained to have been in Macedonia
at that time. A decree of the senate is passed that "Vettius, having
confessed to having 'worn a dagger,'[276] should be cast into prison;
that anyone releasing him would be guilty of treason to the state." The
opinion generally held is that the whole affair had been arranged.
Vettius was to be caught in the forum with a dagger, and his slaves also
with weapons, and he was then to offer to lay an information; and this
would have been carried out, had not the Curios given Pompey previous
information. Presently the decree of the senate was read in public
assembly. Next day, however, Caesar--the man who formerly as praetor had
bidden Q. Catulus[277] speak on the ground below--now brought Vettius on
to the rostra, and placed him on an elevation to which Bibulus, though
consul, was prevented from aspiring. Here that fellow said exactly what
he chose about public affairs, and, having come there primed and
instructed, first struck Caepio's name out of his speech, though he had
named him most emphatically in the senate, so that it was easy to see
that a night and a nocturnal intercession[278] had intervened: next he
named certain men on whom he had not cast even the slightest suspicion
in the senate: L. Lucullus, by whom he said that C. Fannius was usually
sent to him--the man who on a former occasion had backed a prosecution
of Clodius; L. Domitius, whose house had been agreed on as the
headquarters of the conspirators. Me he did not _name_, but he said that
"an eloquent consular, who lived near the consul, had said to him that