s----"

"Rotten, by Venus!"--interposed Caeparius, swearing the harlot's oath;
"Rotten, and in the lap of Lamia!"

"But heard ye not," asked Cataline, "or hearing, did ye not accept the
omen!--in whose first Consulship this same Falernian jar was sealed?"

"Marius! By Hercules! an omen! oh, may it turn out well!" exclaimed the
superstitious Lentulus.

"Sayest thou, my Sura? well! drink we to the omen, and may we to the
valour and the principles of Marius unite the fortunes of his rival--of
all-triumphant Sylla!"

A burst of acclamations replied to the happy hit, and seeing now his aim
entirely accomplished, Cataline checked the revel; their blood was up; no
fear of chilling counsels!

"Now then," he said, "before we drink like boon companions, let us consult
like men; there is need now of counsel; that once finished"----

"Fulvia awaits me," interrupted Cassius, "Fulvia, worth fifty revels!"

"And me Sempronia," lisped the younger and more beautiful of the twin
Sylla.

"Meanwhile," exclaimed Autronius, "let us comprehend, so shall we need no
farther meetings--each of which risks the awakening of suspicion, and it
may well be of discovery. Let us now comprehend, that, when the time
comes, we may all perform our duty. Speak to us, therefore, Sergius."

No farther exhortation was required; for coolly the conspirator arose to
set before his desperate companions, the plans which he had laid so
deeply, that it seemed scarcely possible that they should fail; and not a
breath or whisper interrupted him as he proceeded.

"Were I not certain of the men," he said, "to whom I speak, I could say
many things that should arouse you, so that you should catch with fiery
eagerness at aught that promised a more tolerable position. I could
recount the luxuries of wealth which you once knew; the agonies of poverty
beneath which, to no purpose, you lie groaning. I could point out your
actual inability to live, however basely--deprived of character and
credit--devoid of any relics of your fortunes! weighed to the very earth by
debts, the interest alone of which has swallowed up your patrimonies, and
gapes even yet for more! fettered by bail-bonds, to fly which is infamy,
and to abide them ruin! shunned, scorned, despised, and hated, if not
feared by all men. I could paint, to your very eyes, ourselves in rags or
fetters! our enemies in robes of office, seated on curule chairs, swaying
the fate of nations, dispensing by a nod the w