lla,
starving peasants who had been dispossessed of their farms, and outlaws
of every description. The conspirators were divided into two parties;
those outside of the city, headed by Marcus Manlius, whose head-quarters
were at Faesulae (Fiesole), where was gathered an army of trained
soldiers; and those inside of the city, headed by Catiline. Here secret
meetings were held, the purpose of which was to excite an uprising, kill
the magistrates, seize the government, and then unite with the army in
Etruria. Cicero was informed of these meetings by spies, and just
before the plans for the uprising were matured, he disclosed them to the
Senate.

Catiline fled from Rome; but his accomplices, of whom Lentulus and
Cethegus were the most prominent, were arrested in the city. A serious
difficulty now arose as to the disposition of the prisoners. Lentulus
was at that time Praetor, and the persons of public officers were
sacred. The Sempronian Law of Gracchus forbade the executing of any
Roman citizen without giving him a right of appeal to the Assembly. Too
many were implicated in the conspiracy for this to be safe.

In the debate in the Senate, the principal speakers were Caesar, Cato,
and Cicero.

Cato and Cicero advocated immediate death; Caesar, imprisonment for
life. The motives of the men are so characteristic that they form a
complete key to their several public careers. Cicero, vain and selfish,
weak in council, and distrustful of the temper of the people and of
his own ability to rule their factions, feared that they would become
dangerous enemies to himself; Cato, desiring the reformation of the
state, would make an example and warning for the future. The one,
forgetful of the state, was overcome by personal fears; the other,
unmindful of self, would have purity at any cost.

Caesar, on the other hand, wished everything done in strict accordance
with the laws; as a bold and wise statesman, he urged that nothing was
more impolitic than lawless violence on the part of the rulers. Cicero
was the timid magistrate; Cato, the injudicious reformer; but Caesar,
with his keener knowledge and stronger hand, was the safer guide.

A sentence of death was voted; and Cicero, with unseemly haste, caused
the conspirators to be strangled that same night (December 5, 63). The
suppression of the conspiracy in the city was followed by the defeat
of the army in Etruria. Thither Catiline had fled, and there he fell
fighting with desper