Conspiracy of Catiline [ca. 43-40 B.C.]
by Sallust [87-35 B.C.]

Reading notes--Adam Kissel

Secondary sources

[outline more or less following Ramsey and Syme 1964, 67 f.] [page numbers below are from Rolfe (Loeb edn.)]

Mind and body work together, 1.7; qualities of mind availed most in war, 2.2
Win and retain empire, 2.4; the better men rise to power, 2.6

Earlier men were content and did not covet, 2.1

History is important but difficult, and second to real action. 3.1-2
  readers of history may disbelieve. 3.2

Sallust began in public life, was trapped almost by ambition [defending himself against his earlier reputation], 3.3-5
  comes out as a historian, 4
  will write as briefly and as truthfully as possible, 4

Catiline had strong mind and body, misdirected, 5.1; disordered, 5.5
  Follower in the footsteps of Sulla, 5.6
  felt guilty, and this was intensified by the corruption of morals, 5.7-8
    "luxuria atque avaritia" causing Rome's downfall, 5.8
       5.8-13.4 on earlier Rome, to Sulla
          At first, "encouraged one another, went to meet the foe, and defended their liberty, their country, and their parents by arms" 6.5; gave rather than received favors. Constitutional monarchy, 6.6, minds over bodies.
          Struggle for glory to outdo one another in virtue, 7
          no time for history, 8, while the Athenians were slightly worse than the Romans because they did have historians [Rome is now sufficiently corrupt to have its own historians]
          bold in war and just in peace, 9
              evidence in war: more punishments for boldness than cowardice
              evidence in peace: prefer forgiveness to vengeance.
                 [problem for Caesar/Cato: are they at war or peace? Depends on whether planned-war equals war; akin to the body vs. soul dichotomy]
          Later, after beating Carthage, leisure and wealth become burden and curse, 10.1-2
          lust for money and power, 10.3, roots of evil; vices grow and overtake the government, 10.4-6
              ambition is a fault akin to virtue, 11.1: just gain of glory, honor, and power are fine, 11.2
              but money easily leads to vice, 11.3
          it all began with Sulla, 11.4-7, and his feminizing of his army--[stock theme of oriental looseness]
              soldiers learned to be greedy and to unjustly treat the vanquished, pillaging, 11.6-7
              our young men became thoughtless and reckless, 12.1-2
              to rule is made equivalent to being free to injure, 12.5
              today's mansions are overdone; one symptom of the self-indulgence that came forth, 13
                  when the young ran through their property, they turned to crime, 13.4

Catiline turned young people's and wretched people's desires into loyalty to himself, 14

Catiline very guilty over his misdeeds (he even killed his son); very bad conscience; pallid madman, 15

Plans to overthrow the government using his band of marauders (and Sulla's veterans), 16
  army was elsewhere; Senate was not alert, 16.4

Catiline had acted as ringleader, gathering support of individuals in low and high places (the latter seeking power more than riches), 17
  some rich young men preferred uncertainty to certainty, war to peace, 17.6
  Crassus perhaps even condoning, 17.7

Catiline's speech, 20--now he is acting like a general
  trusts his followers through experience (2-3) and friendship (3)
  need to free the many from the few powerful men (7, 11-13)
  better to die fighting (9) than not to fight, to remain slaves (17)
  freedom shall bring riches, honor, and glory (14-15)
  offers body and soul (16)
  Catiline then promises all kinds of spoils of war, claims followers abroad (including an army), 21.1-3
     also says that Antonius [Catiline is too] is running for consul (running in 64), and they might work revolution from within, 21.3
     not enough evidence to credit wilder stories of this meeting, 22

Catiline becomes furious after his defeat, making a multitude of plans: hoards arms, borrows money, gains more supporters of all conditions and both sexes, 24.2-4
   he will set fire to Rome [probably at the rich people's houses], 24.4

While running, kept laying plots against Cicero, who always escaped them, due to intelligence via Fulvia via Quintus Curius, 26.1-3; Cicero had also traded Macedonia for Gaul [so as to have strategic control rather than riches] with Antonius [who then had an interest in keeping the conspirators down], 26.4

Catiline defeated in 63, 26.5 [by Silanus and Murena]

C. dispatches Gaius Manlius et al. to make plans outside of Rome and prepare for war, while in Rome making even more plans, which continue to fail, 27.1-2 (Manlius in Etruria gaining the same kind of post-Sulla followers, 28.4)
  so he holds another general meeting explaining that the conspirators must dispose of Cicero and then make war, 27.3-4
     so a couple of guys try to kill him at home, but Curius via Fulvia gets the word to Cicero, and this plan fails too, 28.1-3 [this attempt actually follows the elections, on Nov. 7]

Catiline leaves to join Manlius, leaving others to fulfill his plans in Rome, 32.1-2

Catiline sends many letters pretending to go off to exile at Massilia, 34.2; a more truthful letter to Quintus Catulus, 34.3
   Catulus's letter read in the Senate [does Catulus get any of the reward offered at 30.6?]
      Catiline counts on his loyalty through experience and friendship [as above], 35.1
      Having failed to win a position of honor, "I followed my usual custom and took up the general cause of the unfortunate," 35.2-3
      Claims no fault, that the suspicions are "baseless," 35.3; his wife Orestilla is paying off his debts, too
      "I have adopted measures which are honourable enough considering my situation," 35.4

36-39 post-Sulla Romans corrupt; a terrible time for imperial Rome (36.4)

Nobody betrayed the conspiracy, even after all that the Senate did and the promises of amnesty and reward, 36.5
  nobody deserted Catiline's camp
  meanwhile, Rome really was rich and had been peaceful
  "the whole body of the commons through desire for change favoured the designs of Catiline," 37.1-3
    the city populace acted from desperation, having squandered their wealth or ruined their reputations, in Rome or elsewhere (then having come to Rome), 37.4-5; or from love of wealth, remembering Sulla's feasts, 37.6; or from idleness and hope of the dole, 37.7-8; or from love of power, remembering Sulla's in his own victory, 37.9, or wanting to overthrow the ruling party so as to gain power for their own party, 37.10

The young tribunes (after 70) had excited the commons by attacking the senate and offering promises, 38.1
  the nobles fought them--not really for the senate but for themselves, 38.2
    indeed nobody defended one side or the other, but themselves, 38.3-4
The power of the commons had decreased during the war against the pirates and Mithridates, 39.1-2
  But this merely kept a lid on their boiling; the hope of revolution greatly stirred them, 39.3
    indeed any sign that Catiline had a chance would have shown enough weakness in the ruling class that a stronger adversary (Rolfe says Crassus or Caesar, p. 67) would take power [as ultimately happened], 39.4-5
Lentulus, following Catiline in Rome, had continued to rouse revolutionaries, 39.6

Lentulus sends Publius Umbrenus to try to get the Allobroges (a Gallic people) into an offensive alliance, 40.1-3
  They are willing to do just about anything to get out of debt, 40.4
  Umbrenus takes envoys to house of D. Brutus (where Sempronia is) and makes the plot seem larger than it is, 40.5-6
  Allobroges choose the republic over the conspiracy, and tell Cicero via Sanga (Roman patron), who gets them to further entrap the conspirators, 41

Meanwhile, those being stirred up in Gaul and elsewhere are already revolting, causing annoyance more than danger, 42

The plot, 43: when C. is safe with Manlius's army, Bestia will denounce Cicero, the signal for mayhem to ensue the next night (e.g., a dozen fires in the city, and many victims in the nobility, plus Cicero); then those in Rome will rush out to join Catiline, 43.1-2
     Cethegus can hardly wait and wants no more planning but action, 43.3-4
     [but it is too late; the conspirators are caught before the plan is ready (Catiline delayed too long, couldn't get his army close enough into Gaul to set the plan in motion (53.4), for Antonius is already chasing him.)]

Allobroges are getting the conspirators on record, 44.1-2
Lentulus to send a letter to Catiline (via Volturicus, heading back with the Allobroges to Gaul): time to include even the slaves; Rome is ripe, 44.3-6
Volturicus and Allobroges stopped on the Mulvian Bridge; Allobroges desert V.; he surrenders, 45
Immediate summoning of the senate and arrest of the main conspirators, 46
Conspirators confronted and placed under house arrest, 47

The plebs were in for the booty but not the fires, so when they learned of the fires [via the Third Catilinarian] they changed allegiance from Catiline to Cicero, 48

Lentulus and Cethegus try to get their followers to free them from arrest, 50.1-2, which spurs Cicero to call for a speedy decision about what to do with the conspirators, 50.3

Silanus calls for the death penalty (though after Caesar speaks, he changes his mind), 50.4-5

Speech of Caesar: body vs. mind in making decisions, 51.1-5; precedent for showing mercy and not showing vengeance on enemies, 51.6-7; it's a matter of dignity, 51.7; follow the normal peacetime law, 51.8; not a matter of wartime emotion, 51.9-14; think of our reputation for kindness vs. cruelty, 51.12-18,25; we need not fear, having strong guards, 51.19; death is no penalty or punishment, for there is no afterlife, and chance for punishment in this life is lost, 51.20; citizens may be sent into exile but not killed, 51.21-24; may be right to kill now, but the precedent could get innocent people killed under a bad government, 51.26-36 (like what happened in Athens and under Sulla, 51.28-34); we have advanced beyond those days, and must be wary of abuse in this age of faction, 51.37-42 ["we can barely hold what they gloriously won" echoes Sallust at the beginning]; Bottom line: imprisonment for good, 51.43. [Caesar is applying peacetime law vs. wartime law--see ch. 9]

[Fourth C.: Cicero against Caesar's view; Cicero had advocated Catiline's death already in First C.]

Speech of Cato: it's not about punishment, but precautions to protect lives and liberty, 52.1-6; we did not take precautions before, 52.7-9; gentleness and mercy actually squander the goods we are trying to preserve, 52.10-12; Caesar's denial of an afterlife is ludicrous, 52.13; Caesar's idea of imprisonment is impractical, 52.14-15; Caesar trusts too much in the guards and is alone in not fearing, 52.16; any sign of weakness will be capitalized upon by Catiline [and, Sallust has said, the plebs, though it may be too late for Catiline to get their support], 52.17-18; a country ultimately does not live by arms but by [what Sallust would call] qualities of mind: efficiency, just rule, "in counsel an independent spirit free from guilt [one of Catiline's motivations] or passion [what Sallust and Caesar both had warned against]," 52.19-21--instead, we have arms but idleness, not merit but wealth and ambition [cf. Sallust], 52.22; "the natural result is an attack upon the defenseless republic," 52.23; do not hesitate, for that brings offense to the gods, rather kill these wartime enemies, for indeed there are good precedents for such killing, 52.24-36 [Cato is applying wartime law--see ch. 9. An old question easily answered: "let those who have confessed be treated as though they had been caught red-handed in capital offences," 52.36; i.e., planned war equals war]

Senate agrees with Cato, 53.1

Sallust reflects on the greatness of Rome: "After long reflection I became convinced that it had all been accomplished by the eminent merit of a few citizens; that it was due to them that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over a multitude," 53.4; afterward, the state chugged along degenerating, 53.5. But there are two men of "towering merit," Cato and Caesar, from the past generation, 53.6.

52: Caesar: generous; Cato upright; one gentleness and compassion, the other austere; one giving kindly, the other never bribing; one merciful, the other unyielding; Caesar looking for a field to show merit; Cato looking for self-control and cultivating austerity--vies "with the active in good works, with the self-restrained in moderation, with the blameless in integrity. He preferred to be, rather than to seem, virtuous"--thus fame accrued without seeking [Caesar as the Homeric hero and Cato as the Stoic or Aristotelian one]

55 execution. Lentulus led personally to the dungeon/jail by Cicero, and all are strangled.

56 - Meanwhile, war with Catiline. Antonius chasing him, but he continues to refuse to enroll slaves--[keeping up appearance that it is "a citizens' cause," 56.5]

57 - news of the executions in Rome reaches Catiline's army; heavy desertions; C. tries to escape into Transalpine Gaul, but Celer in the Picene district blocks his path. Shut in, Catiline decides to fight Antonius.

Speech of Catiline to his army: courage, not words, cause great actions, 58.1-3; winning means security and freedom, whereas the opponents are fighting not for themselves but for their few leaders, and fear means losing and servitude, 58.4-20; "fighting like heroes, leave the enemy a bloody and tearful victory," 58.21.

59 - C. sends away the horses and sets up for battle; Antonius is ill and lets Petreius be in charge (Rolfe says that Cassius Dio believes the illness was feigned to Antonius would not have to fight his old associate; doesn't seem likely to be the reason, to me--Antonius wants to get back to his rich province of Macedonia in one piece). Petreius a man of long experience, and knows how to be a general.

60 - the fight; Catiline performs "the duties of a valiant soldier and of a skilful leader" [so why does he seem like such a madman to Sallust, earlier? (adrenaline now?)] Petreius sees Catiline's success and fights harder; Manlius falls and C's army is routed; Catiline chooses to die fighting and leaps into the thick of the enemy.

61 - "it became evidenct what boldness and resolution had pervaded Catiline's army" (61.1), since none had deserted his position. Catiline found "breathing slightly" with "indomitable spirit" showing on his face, 62.4.
     Rome gains a sad victory, given so many of its own casualties, 62.7-9.

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from The War with Jugurtha
  on "institution of parties and factions" after the destruction of Carthage, XLI-XLII (Rolfe 223-27)
     cf. speech of Marius, LXXIV-LXXXV (Rolfe 309-21)

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Crassus at fault?
  Some think he was in on the conspiracy, 17.7 (vs. Gnaeus Pompeius, his rival)
     (they had been consuls together in 70, 38.1)
  L. Tarquinius directly implicates him, but without corroboration or further evidence, 48.3 ff.
     Tarquinius doesn't seem to know more than common knowledge