UNIVERSITY °riyav,fhom, a BU& V S/////// ■ ////y//// , Q:i t ) r-wpenlrr. Old Bond SOrtt.Z CutiiM *■ Martin, Mi.UL- torn Ifotoorn , Jan* 7 *iSo 7 . THE WORKS OF SALLUST TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY THE LATE ARTHUR MURPHY, ESQ. author or , A TRANSLATION OF TACITUS, &c, OFTHK ^V^ =S=Smm li ' UNIVERSITY] PRINTED FOR JAMES CARPENTER, OLD BOND STSEETj AND J. CUTHELL AND P. MARTIN, MIDDLE RO\T. 1807. /or S. Gomel!, Printer, Little Queen Street. LIFE THE OF SALLUST: BY T. M. We so seldom find the talents which make men admirable, united with those qualities of the heart which render them amiable, that many have supposed such perfections to be, in some degree, incompatible ; have imagined, that re- finement in individuals, as well as nations, is generally purchased at the expense of purity and innocence, and that the sun of knowledge too often corrupts while it illuminates. It cannot be denied, that the union of virtue and genius is a phenomenon almost as rare as it is glorious ; and amply as human nature abounds in contrarieties, it does not produce a more degrading alloy, a more melancholy mixture, than that of talents with profligacy. We con- template a character of this kind, in which meanness is so blended with sublimity, as a traveller through Greece and Asia looks on those motley structures, in which broken mar- a 2 103960 IV THE LIFE OF SALIAJS*. bles and columns are found mixed among the* vilest rubbish, and the fragments of ancient splendour are converted to purposes of filth and wretchedness. Such is the mortifying spectacle which the life of Sallust presents :' al- ternately exciting our admiration and con- tempt ,by the vigour of his intellect and the corruption of his heart, he seems to have stu- died all that is excellent in theory, for the sole purpose of avoiding it in practice. He was born at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines, in the year of Rome 668. The family of the Sallustii was good but not illus- trious ; and it does not appear that, previous to the time of the historian, the name had ac- quired either rank or celebrity at Rome. He was in his eighth year, when Sylla, after a life of tyranny and faction, died with a composure of spirit which better men might emulate *. * When Sylla found that he was dying, he hastened to put a finishing touch to those memoirs of himself, from which some interesting traits are preserved to us. Among the many examples of a calm resignation of life, which the Pagan world has left for our instruction, there is none perhaps more gracefully firm than that which Tacitus has recorded of the polished voluptuary, Petronius. His death was indeed (as St. Evremont calls it) " la plus belle de i'antiquite." THE LIFE OP SALLUS?. V The honours which the Romans paid to the memory of this extraordinary person, afford a most striking example of the anomalies of the human mind. His government had been a series of murders and proscriptions ; ninety senators had fallen the victims of his cruelty, and near three thousand knights had been massacred or exiled. He had sacrificed to the rage of civil dissension the blood of one hun- dred thousand citizens ; and yet around the pile of this foe to her liberties, Rome did not blush to exhibit all the pageantry of grief * ; and the shower of rain which happened to fall after the burning of the body, was supposed by the infatuated people to be sent expressly by heaven at that moment, to cool the ashes of the tyrant, and give him, even in death, some proof of its interposition in his favour. As long as Sylla lived, notwithstanding his abdication of power, the influence of his name, * For the particulars of this splendid ceremony the reader must consult M. de Brosses, in his very skilful Supplement to the Remains of Sallust, torn. i. p. 3/7, He seems, in the following passage, to have imitated the pompous formula of the King's toast in Hamlet : " Le scnat repondoit aux trompetles par des acclamations lu- gubres : les chevaliers rcpondoient au scnat ; Tarmee aux chevaliers : toufe la populace & l'armce," a 3 VI THE LIFE OP SALLUST. and the terror of his presence, were sufficient to repress every thought of innovation. The man still remained, though the dictator was no more. But, as soon as he died, this calm of cowardice ceased, and the claims of the re- spective factions were renewed with all their former animosity. The £ause of the people was but little advanced ill the struggle, and the power of Pompey, which succeeded to that of Sylla, preserved to the nobles that high supe- riority which the aristocratic laws of the dictator had given them. The early pursuits of Sallust were such as might be expected from the discordant qualities of which his character was composed. While the learned philologer Atteius presided over his studies, and fed his mind with that pure attic eloquence which we find transfused so ad- mirably into his writings, the abandoned Nigi- dianus was the companion of his debaucheries ; and it is to be feared, that even Nature herself was not sufficiently respected in their orgies. With such dispositions we cannot wonder, that, when Sallust applied his attention to political affairs, he should adopt the popular faction as the more favourable to his views and character, and as opening a field for his ambition, while it flat- tered all his baser propensities. His first ap- THE LIFE OF SALLUST. Vll pearance in public life seems, however, to have been rather unsuccessful, and he thus complains of his failure in the History of Ca- tiline's Conspiracy : " I was induced, in my younger days, by my own inclination, and the example of others, to devote my time to the affairs of the republic; but the impedi- ments were numerous which I met with in this pursuit. Instead of modesty, temper- ance, and public spirit, I saw nothing around me but boldness, bribery, and rapacity ; and though my mind, as yet unaccustomed to cor- ruption, was struck with disgust at the depravity which it witnessed, yet, young and thoughtless in the midst of profligacy and temptation, I caught the infection of the times, and became the victim of cupidity and ambition *,"' * This passage recalls to our minds the account which , Lucian so feelingly gives, of the disgust with which he re*- tired from the profession of the law : Eyw yap ette*^ r#xir* %vviioov oVo xcu xXvcuivos i? tvdtov rivcc Xi[x'.voc la-'z'kwcroi.c, vjto croi px.z- sto/xevo? KalaCiwvai. — Piscator, sive Reviviscentes. " As soon .as I perceived the numberless inconveniences which necesr sarily attend the professors of the law ; as soon as I knew the deceit and falsehood, the effrontery, clamour, and djs* a4 VlU THE LIFE OF SALLUST. Ambition however was not the only feeling which occupied, at this time, the ardent spirit of Sallust. Fausta, the wife of Milo, and daughter of'Sylla*, one of those beautiful sension, which characterize them, I naturally fled with. disgust from the pursuit, and turning my mind to thy beau- ties, O Philosophy ! it was my wish beneath thy auspices to pass whatever yet remained of my existence, like one gliding into a peaceful harbour from all the inclemency of winds and waves." * Fausta. was one of those heathen ladies, whom a fa- ther of the church very elegantly styles " expolitae libi- dinis victimx." Her gallantries indeed were rather multi- farious 5 for time has preserved us the names of five of her lovers, and we may of course allow for a considerable number, who had either the discretion or the luck to lie concealed. Macrobius tells a lively witticism which was, suggested by the names of two of these favoured gentle- men : " Faustus, Syllae Alius, cum soror ejus eodem tem- pore duos mcechos haberet^ Fulvium Fullonem et Pom- peium Maculum : Miror, inquit, sororem meam habere maculam, cum fullonem habeat." Saturnal. 1. ii. 2. Un- fortunately the pun here is not translateable; but there is another ancient witticism upon a similar subject, which, though it has nothing to do with Fausta, deserves to be re- peated. When Porcius, son to Cato of Utica, was iq Cappadocin, he intrigued with the fair Psyche, who was wife to his friend Maphradates. " What close friends" (it was remarked) l( are Porcius and Maphradates ! they have but one soul between them."— q>i\oi Jw, \vx* ^t«.— It should perhaps have been premised, for the s$ke of some readers, that Psyche is the Greek for spul. '2 THE LIFE OF SALLUST. IX philanthropists, who study more to bless than to tantalize mankind, was wooed by the young Jhistorian, and did not distinguish him by a refusal. He seems, however, to have been as unlucky in love as in politics. The husband was officious enough to interrupt the lovers " dans un moment" (if we may believe the learned president De Brosses) " fort essentiel et tout-a-fait critique pour l'honneur du mari," and the gallant was dismissed after a chastise- ment so severe, and so degrading, that it disgusted him for ever with intrigues in con- sular families. Indeed so complete was the reformation which the lash of Milo produced, that Sallust is said to have declared some time after in the senate-house, upon being reproached with the immorality of his life, that '* he had given up women of rank, and taken to tliQ daughters of freedmen *." Libertinarum dico, Sallustius in quas Kon minus insanit quam qui moechatur. Horat. Sat.ii. Lib. 1. * ff Sallustius tanto ardore insanivisse in libertinos, quanto maechus in matrones : quod cum illi in senatu & censorious objectum esset, respondit : Se non matronarum sed libertinarum sectatorem esse," Schol. in Sat. Horat. JLib. i. Sat. ii. X THE LIFE OP SALLUST. We cannot ascertain the period of his life, when he first aspired to the honours of magis- tracy ; but as the quaestorship was a previous step to the other offices which he appears to have held, we may suppose that he obtained this situation soon after he had reached the age which the laws rendered necessary for its attainment. In the year 702 he was elected a tribune of the people, and it is less a subject of triumph to him than it is of disgrace to the times in which he lived, that Cato should have failed at a moment when Sallust was successful *. He had now an opportunity, however, of re- venging himself upon the husband of Fausta, whose trial for the murder of Clodius took place during the year of his tribuneship. The factious spirit of Clodius had long disturbed the com- monwealth. His animosity to Cicero, after the suppression of the conspiracy of Catiline, had been so actively exerted, that, notwithstanding * He alludes to this preference, with some degree of vanity, in the introductory part of the Jugurthine War, where he says, " When the juncture in which I succeeded to the magistracy is considered, as well as the respectability of i hose who were disappointed in the same pursuit," &c. — Castilioneus, however, is of opinion, that the praetorship was the object of rivalry to which the passage refers 5 and he is possibly correct. THE LIFE OF SALLUST. XI the influence of the senate., who regarded Cicero as their grandest bulwark, that great man, with, a timidity which was the blemish of his character, yielded to the popular clamour, and retired into voluntary banishment. A triumph so signal, and in some degree unexpected, was sufficient to intoxicate the party of Clodius; and their insolence was such as generally follows a mo- mentary advantage in civil dissensions. During these events the designing Cassar, whose mind never wandered from its mighty object, abetted the party of Clodius and the populace ; while Pompey, with a fluctuation which never yet characterized greatness^ aft£r abandoning Cicero to the persecutions of Clodius, assisted Milo in his hostility to the latter, and then attached himself again to the demagogue with the hope of supplanting the popularity of Caesar. The absence of Cicero was not protracted very long; the law for his recall was passed by acclamation, and the vanity of the orator was gratified by a kind of triumphal entry into Rome. Such were the transactions which preceded the year 702, when Sallust became a tribune of the people. The commotions of the former year were con- tinued with unabating fury ; and the first event which gave Sallust an opportunity of exerting bis talents and gratifying his revenge, was a XII THE LIFE OF SALLUST* violent struggle for the consulship between Milo, Hypsaeus, and Scipio. His ignominious exposure in the bed-chamber of Fausta still rankled in the heart of the historian, and he eagerly coalesced with Clodius in opposition to the author of his disgrace. The riots and massacres to which the contest gave rise were but a repetition of those barbarous scenes of blood by which Rome, the great theatre of the world, was so often stained and degraded. At length the murder of Clodius put a crown to these party excesses, and raised the indignation of the populace as high as their demagogues could desire. The particulars of the trial of Milo are, perhaps, better remembered by the scholar than any other detailed transaction of antiquity, from its haying given birth to the most polished piece of eloquence that ancient or modern genius has ever produced. But, un-r fortunately, the talent to write was not seconded by the courage to speak ; the muse of oratory trembled before the legions of Pompey ; and Milo, amidst the luxuries of his banishment at Marseilles, confessed himself indebted to the timidity of his advocate for the very delicate mullets to which it had been the means of in- troducing him. Sallust was one of the managers of this THB LIFE OF SALLUST. ' xiil memorable trial ; and even without reference to the authority of Pedianus*, we may imagine the degree of acrimony with which the prosecution was conducted. His enmity to Cicero, which had originated, perhaps, in their political dif- ferences, and was at length become a personal feeling, displayed itself upon this occasion openly and malignantly. Assisted by his colleagues, Rufus and Munacius, he endeavoured to im- plicate the orator in the guilt of Milo, and did not hesitate to say, in the course of his violent harangues, that " though the arm of Milo had struck the blow, the head of a greater man had planned it." The biographers of Sallust have supposed that soon after the termination of this affair, some * (C Inimicissimas condones de Milone habebant.** Ascon. Pedian. in Milon. Ciceron. — This seems to have been the only occasion (if we except his virtuous declaration before the senate) on which Sallust appeared as a public speaker. His habits of concise and elaborate composition were not very favourable to that ready flow of thought which is the first requisite to extemporaneous eloquence. It was said of Hortensius, the rival of Cicero, " dicebat melius quam scripsitj" and indeed the talents of writing and speaking have been very seldom united. An orator in some degree resembles an improvvisalore, and it is always with difficulty, and seldom with success, that either can submit to the trammels of regular composition. XIV THE LIFE OP SALLUST. pacific overtures were made by the parties to each other, and a kind of reconciliation esta- blished between the historian and Milo. It is 5 certainly, not difficult to believe that men so ambitious and profligate would readily assume any feeling, either of hatred or amity, which promised to promote the factious design of the moment ; for the heart has no share in the transactions of a true politician, and there is as little of principle in his enmity as there is of sincerity in his friendship. But we do not find a sufficient motive for this accommodation; and that Sallust did not cease to be obnoxious to the partizans of Milo appears by his subsequent expulsion from the senate, which may be safely attributed to their machinations. This signal degradation he suffered in the year 704, and it cannot be doubted that the licentiousness of his life concurred with the zealfeof his enemies in bringing him to such public debasement, and almost justified their hostility .*. The ignomi- nious retirement to which he was dismissed had scarcely lasted two years, when the return of * M. Le Clerc and others seem to think, that the censors inflicted this disgrace upon Sallust on account of his bonnes fortunes among the matrons of Rome -, but the passage in Dion Cassius, who is our only respectable authority for the story, does not warrant such a conclusion. THE LIFE OF SALLUST. XV his patron, Caesar, into Italy, after a long series of the most splendid victories, consoled his morti- fied spirit and gave a new spring to his ambition. It was at this period he is supposed to have writ- ten his first letter to Caesar on the regulation of the commonwealth * ; and if history and expe- rience did not amply teach us the hollowness of that zeal which demagogues profess for liberty, we should wonder at the apostacy which he exhibits throughout this extraordinary composition. No longer the advocate of free government, he looks to arbitrary power as the only hope of salvation to the state, and urges Caesar to assume the sovereignty with an earnestness, which we might respect, if we could but think it dis- interested. The adulation which breathes through this letter is equally unlike the republican character of the writer, and we-cannot imagine the female robe to have sat more awkwardly on the limbs of Achilles than the garb of flattery hangs about the nervous sentences of Sallust. This sacrifice of principle, however, was not left unrewarded, and the influence of Caesar procured his appointment to the quoestorship, by which, * This letter is the second as they stand in the common editions of Sallust, where their chronological order is evi- dently inverted. XVI TH£ LIFE OP SALLUSf • after two years of humiliation, he was restored to his senatorial! rank. During the period of his office, or a short time after, while Caesar was occupied in the siege of Alexandria, he composed his second political letter ; and as the object to which he had formerly directed the ambition of the conqueror, was in a great mea- sure secured by the blind devotion of the senate, who had lately united in the person of Caesar the three incompatible dignities of dictator, consul, and tribune of the people, the tenour of this address is more calm, enlightened, and dis- passionate ; and the luminous glimpse which he gives of the last dying moments of the republic is interesting and instructive. In the year 708, upon the return of Caesar to Rome, he was raised to the high situation of praetor, and about the same time became the husband of Terentia, whom Cicero had been obliged to divorce, ^after an experiment of more than thirty year s. It is difficult to account for this singular choice of the historian # , unless * After the death of Sallust, when Terentia must have been about fifty-six years of age, she was married to Messala Corvinus, another celebrated orator j which has led the pious St. Jerome to congratulate her upon having been put through such a course of orators. But THE LIFE OF SALLUST. Xvit we can suppose that it proceeded from his ani- mosity to Cicero, and that he was happy to receive a deserter from the hostile camp who could best betray to him the weakness of the enemy. In the mean time the wreck of Pompey's army was collected under Cato and Scipio in Africa, and began to assume an aspect of re- sistance, which, though not very formidable, called for the attention of Caesar. He ac- cordingly gave directions to Sallust, whom he had appointed one of his lieutenants, to march with a body of troops to the coast, and there embark immediately for Africa. But long and painful service had wearied these hardy veterans. As soon as they arrived at the place of embarka- tion, and found that they were destined to new dangers, a spirit of mutiny declared itself, and they refused to obey the orders of their lieu- this was not all : so late as the reign of Tiberius, Te- rentia still had charms to captivate the antiquarian Ru- fus, who married her after she had passed her hundredth year, and thought himself the happiest virtuoso in Rome to possess two such valuable antiques in his collection, as the chair of C;esar and the wife of Cicero. See Dion Casslus, lib. lvii. for some pleasant remarks upon this taste of Rums. XV1U THK LIFE OF SALLUST. tenant. In vain did he threaten and promise j their discontent soon kindled into fury, and he was forced at length to consult his own safety by flight, while the malcontents proceeded with the most furious menaces towards Rome, mur- dering, indiscriminately, all who were ill-fated enough to encounter them, Caesar, upon hearing of their approach, went forth to meet them alone, notwithstanding the representa- tions of his friends, who trembled at the dan- ger to which he exposed himself, and it was upon this occasion that by the single word " Quirites" he abashed a whole army of muti- neers, and had them all repentant at his feet, Such was the dominion which he held over the soldiers, and such must ever be the ascendency ©f those splendid qualities, which, like the shield of the magician in Ariosto^ dazzle men out of their liberties, E tolto per virtu dello splendore La libertate a loro. Cant. ii. Soon after the arrival of Caesar in Africa, there were some apprehensions entertained of a scarcity of provisions for the troops ; in con-* sequence of which a part of the fleet was de-* tached under the command of Sallust to take THE LIFE OP SALLUST. XIX ■ possession of the island of Cercina, in which a rich magazine had been formed by the enemy. " I do not pause to consider/' said Caesar, in giving orders to his lieutenant, " whether the service on which I send you is practicable or not ; the situation in which we are placed admits neither of delay nor disappointment *." The enterprise, however, succeeded without much difficulty. Decimius, who commanded at Cer- cina, upon seeing the approach of the squadron, escaped to sea in a skiff, and abandoned the island to Sallust, who, taking possession of the stores, had the corn all shipped aboard his transports, and returned with the welcome supply to Caesar. This is the only occurrence during the war, in which the historian appears to have been prominently concerned ; but either his services or his flattery recommended him so strongly to Caesar, that he was appointed, after the conquest of Niimldiflj to ij»e g overnment of the w hole African province, including Libya, Numidia, and Mauritania, and extending along the coast from * " It is not thus" (says De Brosses) fr that ordinary men are addressed} and when we recollect that it was Caesar who gave these orders, we cannot but think highly of the talents of Sallust who received them." A 2 « XX THE LIFE ©F SAIXUST. Carthage to the ocean *. If the wild irregula- rities of youth were all that could be objected to Sallust, his biographers would have lingered less harshly on his name, and the follies of the boy would have been forgotten in the greatness of the man -J~. But those cold vices of the heart, which time can neither soften nor eradi- cate, were, unhappily, his leading characteristics, and have left the darkest stain upon his memory. So active was the spirit of rapacity with which he plundered the subjects of his government, that in the course of a year he returned to Rome, sinking under the wealth which he had wrung from the unfortunate Numidians, An effort was made to brinjg him to an account for these extortions, but the fruits of his guilt enabled him to avert its punishment ; a bribe administered to Caesar was the spell which dis-r * ever appeared to me an arduous undertaking : first, because the style must be proportioned to the subject ; and, again, because the re- flections of the historian are in danger of being misconstrued. If he censures what is wrong, his objections are supposed to spring from envy and malevolence: if he describes a great and splendid virtue, and sets forth the glory of ho- nourable deeds, every man in that case makes himself the standard by which he judges; what he fancies within the reach of his own powers, he is willing to believe, and all beyond that compass he rejects as fiction. As to myself, I must acknowledge, that in my younger days I felt, like many others, a strong desire to enter on the career of civil employment, but many obstacles occurred to retard me in my progress. Instead of modesty, self-denial, and virtue, I saw boldness, cor- ruption, and rapacity, around me, A mind, like mine, as yet unpractised in wrong, was disgusted of course by this general depravity; but still entangled in the vices of the times, and young and ambitious,, I was hurried away by the torrent ; and, though my heart condemned the morals of those around me, I felt all the same aspiring impatience ; and the love of fame, with its sure attendant envy, haunted and dis- B 3 SALLUST. turbed me. At length, however, when, after va- rious conflicts, I escaped from all the dangers of my situation, and my spirits were restored t6 peace and tranquillity, I resolved to pass the rest of my life at a distance from the stage of public business * : but, in that retreat, it was by no means my intention to let the hours of leisure run to waste in listless indolence. I was not willing to pass my days in agriculture, hunting, or such degrading pursuits. On the contrary, recurring to those early studies, from which vain ambition had seduced me, I formed a resolution to compose a narrative of Roman affairs, selecting for that purpose such events as seemed worthy of the notice of posterity ; a task, in which I was the more willing to en- gage, as I could then bring to the work a mind uninfluenced by hope or fear, and perfectly free from party connexions. I shall therefore, with the strictest regard to truth, and with all possible brevity, relate the conspiracy of Catiline ; this event appearing to me to rank among the most memorable and interesting, whether we consider its singular atrocity or the novelty of the dan- gers which it menaced. Before, however, I enter upon my narrative, it will be proper to give some account of the manners and character of the man. * See Note A, at the end of Cicero' 6 Orations, Catiline's conspiracy. Lucius Catiline was the descendant of an illustrious family. The extraordinary vigour of his body was equalled by that of his rnind ; but his genius was fatally bent on mischief. Intestine discord, murder and massacre, plunder and civil wars, were the delight of his youth ; and in those scenes of commotion he exercised his earliest talents. His frame of body was such that he could endure hunger, cold, and watch- ing, with a patience altogether incredible. His spirit was bold and daring ; his genius subtle and various. Perfect in the arts of simulation and dissimulation ; greedy after the property of others, and prodigal of his own, whatever he desired, he desired with ardour. Possessed of sufficient eloquence, his portion of wisdom was but small. Fond of the vast, the immoderate, the incredible, his spirit aimed at projects far beyond his powers *. Such being the temper of the man, it is no wonder, that, having before his eyes the late example of Sylla's usurpation, he formed a design to make himself master of the commonwealth. The measures by which he pursued his object gave him no solicitude : to be the tyrant of his country by any means, was his ardent passion. His mind, naturally fierce and impetuous, was * See Note B. » 4 & SALLUSf. rendered still more so by the ruin of his for- tunes, and the goading reproaches of a guilty conscience ; evils, which the crimes of every day augmented. The general depravity of the times was a further incentive : he saw the people corrupt and profligate, hurried on in a wild career of luxury and avarice, vices which differ in their nature, but agree in the misery of their consequences. And here, since I have had occasion to mention the manners of the age, if I go back for a moment to review the practice of our ancestors, the digression, I trust, will not be deemed improper : it will serve to shew the spirit of the Roman government in war and peace ; the system of civil and military institu- tions ; the arts by which our ancestors founded the common wealth, and carried it to the highest grandeur. We shall at the §ame time see by what fatal steps the government declined, till it fell from the noblest height into its present depth of degeneracy, and from the best and most flourishing state has now become the most weak and flagitious, The city of Rome, as we collect from history, was founded and governed by the Trojans, who under the conduct of JEneas saved themselves from the destruction of their country, and wandered for some time from place to place in CATILINE fi CONSPIRACY. 9 quest of a settled habitation. They were soon joined by the Aborigines, or natives of Italy ; a race of men, who ran wild in the woods, and lived without any form of government, unchecked by laws, free and independent. The two nations agreed to coalesce: united within the same walls, it is wonderful how soon they became one un- distinguished people, notwithstanding the diver- sity of their origin, their language, and their manners. The new state went on increasing in population, extending its territory, and form- ing wholesome regulations, insomuch that it began to assume the appearance of an opulent and flourishing colony. From that time, accord- ing to the usual course of human affairs, their growing affluence provoked the jealousy of their neighbours. Contentions ensued, and wars with different princes. The new settlers obtained little or no assistance from their allies, while the rest, struck with terror, kept aloof from the perils of war. The Romans, in the mean time, neglected nothing; intent on their internal polity, and conducting the war with vigour, they planned their military operations with judgment; they executed with dispatch ; they animated one another ; they gave battle to the enemy, and by their courage were able to protect their liberty, their country, and their fellow-citizens. 10 SALLUST. Having at length surmounted all their diffi- culties, and by their valour delivered themselves from the calamities of war, they resolved to succour their allies ; and thus, by conferring benefits, not by receiving them, they enlarged the circle of their friends. They established a regular form of govern- ment, with the title of king. A select num- ber of the wisest citizens, men indeed im- paired by years, but still retaining the vigour of the mind, formed the great council of the state. They were distinguished by the title of fathers ; a name derived from their advanced age ; or, perhaps, from their paternal care of the commonwealth. In process of time, when the royal dignity, which was at first intended to protect the liberty of the subject, and promote the interests of the commonwealth, began to degenerate into pride and despotism, the con- stitution underwent a change, and two magis- trates were appointed to supply the office of king for the term of a year only. The policy of the measure was, that a mere annual au- thority would not be sufficient to inflame the minds of men w T ith pride and insolence. This was a period when every man stood forward in the service of his country, and when all who pos- sessed talents, discovered and exerted them. In Catiline's conspiracy. 11 despotic governments the able and the worthy are objects of more suspicion than the wicked and insignificant ; nothing is so formidable to a tyrant as virtue. Now civil liberty being established at Rome, the rapid progress with which the state enlarged its territory is almost incredible. The love of glory pervaded every breast. Young men, as soon as they were of age to carry arms, betook themselves to toil and labour in the camp, and in that school acquired the military art. To have burnished arms, and well-trained horses, was their pride ; loose women and convivial riots had no attraction. To soldiers so formed and exercised, no labour was fatiguing ; no place was rugged or difficult ; the face of the enemy struck no terror : their virtue towered above all obstructions. The struggle among themselves was for glory. To assault the foe, scale the walls, and to be seen while they per- formed such deeds, was their ambition. In that consisted their riches ; that was their highest glory ; that was their true nobility. Covetous of praise and lavish of money, they panted for glory, and were indifferent about riches ; a competence obtained with honour satisfied their wishes. I could here enumerate their military exploits ; could mention places where they had 11 SALLUST. defeated powerful armies with a very inferior force, and taken cities by assault which Nature herself had fortified ; but this recital would lead me too far from my original design. It may, however, be observed, that in the course of human affairs much is owing to chance and the circumstances of the times. Hence it happens, that the actions of men are often obscured or aggrandized, as caprice inspires, not as truth should dictate. For example, the transactions of the Athenians were, it must be acknowledged, great and noble ; but surely they fall short of the splendour with which they are represented. The fact is, Athens produced a race of eloquent writers, whose genius gave such a lustre to what they related, that the fame of their countrymen surpasses all the rest of the world ; and the virtue of the men who figured in those times, is now seen in all the colours of eloquence, carried by the writers as high as imagination could aspire. The Romans had not those advantages : their ablest men were employed in action. They exercised the body as well as the mind. To act, rather than speak, Was the ambition of eminent men, and they performed what others might praise, instead of praising what others had performed. But even that rude, unenlightened age pro- duced a system of the best and wisest institu- catiline's conspiracy, ii tions *. Sound morals were established in the city and the army. A spirit of union prevailed ; not a symptom of avarice was seen ; virtue and justice were secured as much by good inclina- tion as by the laws. Their strife, their quarrels, and their differences were all confined to the enemy ; with their fellow-citizens they knew no disunion ; to distinguish themselves by superior virtue, was the only struggle. Magnificent in their temples, they were economists in their homes ; and their fidelity in friendship was pure and exemplary. Their maxims for their own good and the welfare of the public were few and simple, namely, courage in war, and jus- tice in peace. As a proof of what has been advanced, it may be observed, that in the most active campaign they had more frequent occasion to punish the soldiers who attacked the enemy without orders, or continued the battle after the signal for retreat, than the men who deserted their colours or fled from their post. In time of peace, their rule was to secure obedience by rewards rather than by punish- ments ; and when they received an injury, they chose rather to forgive, than to revenge. By this wise system the republic rose to the highest pitch of grandeur ; great and opulent states were reduced to subjection ; powerful * See Note C. Ti SALLUST. kings were conquered ; Carthage, that formi- dable rivals was laid in ruins ; and Rome re- mained mistress by land and sea. It was then that fortune began to change the scene, and throw every thing into confusion. The people who had before that time endured hardship and labour, peril and adversity, began to relax ; and to them repose and riches, the great objects of other nations, became a burden that broke their spirit, and extinguished their virtue. A love of money, and a lust for power, took possession of every mind. These hateful passions were the source of innumerable evils. Good faith, integrity, and every virtuous principle, gave way to avarice ; and in the room of moral honesty, pride, cruelty, and contempt of the gods succeeded. Corruption and venality were introduced ; and every thing had its price. Such were the effects of avarice. Ambition was followed by an equal train of evils ; it taught men to be false and deceitful ; to think one thing, and to say another ; to make friend- ship or enmity a mere traffic for private advan- tage, and to set the features to a semblance of virtue, while malignity lay lurking in the heart. But at first these vices sapped their way by slow degrees, and were often checked in their pro- gress ; but spreading at length like an epidemic catiline's conspiracy. 15 contagion, morals and the liberal arts went to ruin ; and the government, which was before a model of justice, became the most profligate and oppressive. In this decline of all public virtue, ambition, and not avarice, was the passion that first pos- sessed the minds of men ; and this was natural. Ambition is a vice that borders on the confines of virtue ; it implies a love of glory, of power, and pre-eminence ; and those are objects that glitter alike in the eyes of the man of honour, and the most unprincipled: but the former pur- sues them by fair and honourable means, while the latter, who finds within himself no resources of talent, depends altogether upon intrigue and fallacy for his success. Avarice, on the other hand, aims at an accumulation of riches ; a passion unknown to liberal minds. It may be called a compound of poisonous ingredients ; it has power to enervate the body, and debauch the best understanding ; always unbounded ; never satisfied ; in plenty and in want equally craving and rapacious. At length, when Lucius Sylla had by force of arms restored the commonwealth (though unfor- tunately the issue of his enterprise did not pro- duce the consequences which his first intentions seemed to promise) ; in the commotions that l6 SALLUST. followed, his soldiers, flushed with conquest, thought of nothing but plunder and depredation. One aspired to have a splendid mansion ; another, to possess a landed estate : none were restrained within the bounds of moderation ; all gave a loose to their fury, and committed the most violent outrages on their fellow-citizens. There Was still another source of corruption : Sylla, in order to allure to his interest the minds of the army which he commanded in Asia, renounced the military system of our forefathers, and al- lowed his soldiers to riot in luxury ; the con- sequence of which was, that the softness of those delightful regions, and a life of indolence, made the men forget the discipline of their ancestors, and relaxed their native vigour. It was in Asia that the Roman soldiers first began to yield to the seductions of wine and women ; to admire statues, pictures, and sculpture ; to seize them for their own use in private houses and public buildings; to pillage the temples, and to lay violent hands on every thing sacred and profane without distinction. When soldiers, thus inured to licentiousness, were flushed with victory, it cannot be matter of wonder that they lefc no- thing to the vanquished. A series of prosperity is often too much even for the wisest and best disposed : that men corrupted should make a 4 CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 17 temperate use of their victory could not b§ expected. Riches became the epidemic passion ; and where honours, imperial sway, arid power, followed in their train, virtue lost her influence, poverty was deemed the meanest disgrace, and innocence was thought to be no better than a mark for malignity of heart. In this manner riches engendered luxury, avarice, and pride, ; and by those vices the Roman youth were Enslaved. Rapacity and profusion went on in- creasing ; regardless of their own property, and eager to seize that of their neighbours, all rushed forward without shame or remorse, confounding every thing sacred and profane, and scorning the restraint of moderation and justice. In order to form a just idea of ancient fruga- lity and modern luxury, let us first consider the magnificence of our buildings, our superb man- sions and villas, in extent and grandeur resem- bling large cities : it will then be matter of curio- sity to compare the temples raised by our ances- tors in honour of the gods ; the simplicity that appears in those venerable structures, plainly shews that our forefathers, a religious race of men, considered piety as the ornament best befitting places of worship, in the same manner as true glory was, in their estimation, the proper decora- tion of their houses. To those principles \re C 18 SALLUST. must ascribe their conduct on the day of victory : they took nothing from the vanquished but the power of renewing hostilities. Is that the practice of the present times ? Our victorious armies, with an abject spirit unworthy of soldiers, and with a ferocity that shocks humanity, plunder their allies, and rapaciously seize what the com- manders of former times left even to their ene- mies. We seem to think, that to commit acts of oppression is the true use of power. Need I mention, what to all but eye-witnesses would seem incredible? whole mountains levelled to the valley by the expense and labour of indi- viduals, and even the seas covered with magnifi- cent structures ! To such men riches seem to be a burden : what they might enjoy with credit and advantage to themselves, they seem in eager haste to squander away in idle ostentation. To these vices, that conspired against the commonwealth, many others may be added, such as prostitution, convivial debauchery, and all kinds of licentious pleasure. The men unsexed themselves, and the women made their persons venal. For the pleasures of the table, sea and land were ransacked ; the regular returns of thirst and hunger were anticipated ; the hour of sleep was left to caprice and accident ; cold was £ sensation not to be endured by delicate habits $ CATILINE^ S CONSPIRACY. 1Q luxury was the business of life, and by that every thing was governed. In this scene of general depravity, the extravagance of youth exhausted whatever was left of their patrimonial stock, and their necessities urged them on to the perpetra- tion of the most flagitious deeds. The mind, habituated to every vice, could not divest itself of passions that had taken root, and, by conse- quence, all were hurried down the stream of dissipation, eager to grasp whatever could ad- minister to inordinate and wild desires. In so vast, so populous, and so corrupt a city, which swarmed with hordes of the vile and profligate, Catiline had at his beck a band of desperate men, who served as a body-guard near his person. Whoever was thoroughly debauched, and rendered infamous by a long course of adultery; whoever by his gluttony, by gaming, by his headlong passions, his lawless pleasures, and festival carousals, had ruined his fortune ; whoever was overwhelmed with debts, contracted to pay the forfeit of his crimes; the whole gang of parricides, sacrilegious wretches, convicts, or men who lived in fear of conviction, together with the perjurer and assassin, who were nourished with the blood of their fellow- citizens ; and, in short, all who felt themselves distracted by their flagitious deeds, their poverty, C 2 20 SALLUST. or the horrors of conscience ; all of this descrip- tion lived with Catiline in friendship and the closest familiarity. If it happened that a person of unblemished character was drawn into {he vortex of Catiline and his crew, by the force of daily intercourse, and the baits thrown out to ensnare him, he soon became one of the same stamp, in nothing inferior to the rest. To allure the youth of Rome to his party, w r a* Catiline's main design : in the early season of life the tender mind, he well knew, was susceptible of the first impression, and consequently easily moulded,to his purposes. He watched the temper of his proselytes, and studied their predominant passions. He found concubines for some, and for others horses and dogs. He spared neither his purse nor his honour, in order by any means to increase the number of his followers. It has been said, and the story has gained credit, that the young men who frequented Qatiline's house, prostituted their persons in violation of the laws of nature : but that was no more than a sugges- tion, a mere report, that sprung from various causes, and never rested on any solid proof. He himself, indeed, had been in his youth guilty of flagitious acts of lewdness; he de- flowered the daughter of an illustrious family, and dishonoured a vestal virgin ; he committed Catiline's conspiracy. 21 a number of nefapimis crimes, in violation of all laws human and divine. To fill the measure of his guilt, he became at last violently enamoured of Aurelia Orestilla, a woman in whom no good man saw any thing to praise except her beauty. He had at that time by his first wife a son grown up to man's estate, and that circumstance made Orestilla unwilling to consent to the marriage. To remove the objection, Catiline put his son to death, and by that atrocious deed cleared his house to make way for his impious nuptials. Of this story no doubt can be entertained. To me it seems the grand motive that incited him to the execution of his dark design, A mind like his, guilty and self- condemned, at war with gods and men, lay on the rack of reflection, and knew no rest night or day. Hence his complexion pale and livid ; his eyes of a baleful hue ; his pace unequal, now slow and solemn, then hurried and precipitate. His air, his mien, his physiognomy, plainly spoke his inward distraction. As to the young men, whom, as already men- tioned, he had seduced to his interest, they were all trained in a course of vice, and fashioned to his will and pleasure. Some were taught to bear false witness ; to forge the signature to deeds ; to violate all good faith ; to squander their c 3 22 SALLUST* fortunes, and bid defiance . to every danger- When by shaking off all sense of shame, they had completely blasted their characters, he fouryd new work to exercise their talents, and urge them on to more daring steps in guilt. If there was no real cause to incite him to acts of violence, he chose in those moments, in order to discipline his troops, to make them lie in ambush, and without provocation murder innocent men. Without constant practice the hand of a ruffian might lose its cunning, or perhaps the better reason was, that the malignity of his nature would not allow him an interval to pause from guilt and horror. Such were the men on whom Catiline depended for support. He knew that they were all, no less than himself, overwhelmed by a load of debts contracted in every quarter ; he saw, moreover, that Sylla's soldiers had dissipated their ill-gotten wealth, and, in their present distress recollecting the sweets of plunder, wished for nothing so much as another civil war. Encouraged by these considerations, he resolved to overturn the government, and make himself master of the commonwealth. The circumstances of the time favoured his design : there was no army in Italy ; Pompey was waging war in distant climes ; pro- found tranquillity prevailed in Italy and the pro- Catiline's conspiracy, 23 vinces ; the senate had no object to excite their vigilance, and Catiline had sanguine hopes of obtaining the consular dignity. In this posture of affairs he thought that no time ought to be lost. Accordingly, on the calends of June, in the consulship of Lucius Caesar and Caius Figulus, he held a conference with his principal friends, having first sounded each in a private parley. He exhorted some, he tempted others ; he stated the vast resources in his power ; the un- prepared condition of the state, and the glorious, consequences of a sudden revolution. Having explored the sentiments and disposition of all, he called a meeting of such as he knew to be the most distressed and resolute. Among the conspirators who assembled on the occasion, there were several of senatorian rank ; namely, Publius Lentulus Sura, Publius Autro- nius, Lucius Cassius Longinus, Caius Cethegus, Publius and Servius Sylla (sons of Servius Sylla), Lucius Vargunteius, Quintus Annius, Marcus Portius Laeca, Lucius Bestia, and Quintus Cu- rius. Of the equestrian order, the persons that attended were, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, Lucius Statilius, Publius Gabinius Capito, and Caius Cornelius. To these were united great numbers Crom the colonies and municipal towns, all men C 4 24 SALLUST. of weight and consequence in their different parts of the country. Besides the foregoing list, there were several pf the leading men at Rome, who by dark and occult practices acted a part in the conspiracy. They were not, indeed, pressed by want, or any kind of embarrassment in their affairs, but the hope of rising to power inflamed a spirit of ambition. At the same time, the major part of the Roman youth, and particularly those of patrician rank, wished well to Catiline's interest: though possessed of the means to support a life of splendour, and even of luxury, they preferred future prospects to present certainty, and wished for war instead of peace. It was, moreover, reported at the* time,* and believed by many, that Marcus Licinius Crassus. was not a stranger to the conspiracy. For this opinion two reasons were assigned ; the first, because Pompey was at the head of a great and powerful army, and Crassus, from motives of ill-will and hatred, would gladly see any man rise ori the ruins of his rival. Secondly, because, if a revolution was brought about by Catiline, he had no doubt but he should be able to place; himself at the head of the conspirators. It is worthy of notice, that, before this time, a plot of a. similar nature had been formed by a Catiline's conspiracy. 1h Small number of malcontents under the auspices of Catiline. The particulars of that conspiracy Reserve a place in history, and shall be here re- lated with the strictest regard so truth. ^-^ In the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus JLepidus, Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla, the two consuls elect, were accused and punished according to the laws against bribery and corrup- tion. In a short time after, Catiline, convicted of extortion, was declared incapable of being a candidate for the consulship, as it was not then in his power to offer himself within the time prescribed by law. In the same juncture a fierce and turbulent spirit discovered itself in the person of Oneius Piso, a young man of patrician descent, bold and enterprising, ruined in his" fortune ; and to the depravity of his nature uniting the pressure of his wants^ he saw no remedy but that of raising convulsions in the state. With this man, on the nones of De- cember, Catiline and Autronius held a confer- ence, the result of which was, a resolution to murder the two consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, in the capitol, on the calends of January. Catiline and Autronius were to seize the ensigns of consular authority, and, thus invested with power, to dispatch Piso at the hew of an army to hold both the Spains i^ uA 26 SALLUST. subjection. The design transpired, and was, by consequence, deferred to a further day. On the nones of February they determined to execute the intended massacre, and, not content with the death of the consuls, they devoted to destruction a great part of the senate. But at the time ap- pointed, it happened that Catiline gave the signal with too much precipitation, before a sufficient number of his armed accomplices had invested the senate-house. By that rash act the plot was rendered abortive ; otherwise, on that day would have been executed the most horrible catastrophe that ever disgraced the annals of Rome. The conspiracy having thus miscarried, Piso, notwithstanding, was soon after sent to the Nether Spain, in the character of quaestor, with the additional authority of propraetor. That commission was procured for him by the in- fluence of Crassus, who was eager to promote the enemy of Pompey. The senate readily concurred in the measure, willing to remove a dangerous citizen to a distant province, and, at the same time, conceiving that Piso might be made a bulwark of the constitution against the overgrown power of Pompey, who filled the minds of men with gloomy apprehensions of innovation and tyranny. Piso set out to take upon him the government catiline's conspiracy. 27 of Spain; but on his march through the provinces was assassinated by a party of Spanish cavalry that followed in his train. The cause of this event cannot now be ascertained ; some ascribe it to the pride and arrogance of the man, who ruled the unhappy natives with an iron rod ; others will have it that the assassins, heretofore the friends and partisans of Pompey, committed the murder by order of that commander. For this suggestion there is undoubtedly some colour, it being a fact well known, that the people of Spain had never been guilty of so foul a deed ; but, on the contrary, had shewn a mild and passive spirit under the worst oppressions of government. As to myself, I leave the question undecided. Enough has been said concerning the first con- spiracy; I now pass to the second— The conspirators, who have been already ( mentioned, being assembled in convention, Catiline, though he had tampered with them * separately, thought it expedient to address them in a body, in order to inflame the minds of all with new ardour, and a spirit of union. For this purpose, he withdrew with the whole party to the most retired part of the house ; and, after due precaution to exclude spies and in- formers, he delivered the following harangue : " If I had not abundant reason to rely with IS sallust; confidence on your fidelity and undaunted va- lour, the opportunity that now presents itself would answer no useful end, and the prospect which we have of making a radical reform of the state, would be vain and fruitless. For myself, if I thought I had now to do with weak and ab- ject spirits, I should remain inactive, unwilling to exchange a safe and sure condition for the precarious prospect of future events. But I know you all ; I know your firmness, your un- shaken constancy in the worst of times. En- couraged by your fidelity and courage, I have planned a great, a glorious enterprise. Our hopes and fears are the same ; our interests are interwoven with each other ; the same good or evil awaits us all. We stand or fall together. Our desires and aversions are the same ; we have but one will, that is our bond of union ; to think alike of the commonwealth is the true source of lasting friendship. " The cause in which we are embarked has been explained to you all in separate confer- ences. I burn with impatience to strike the finishing blow. The ardour that expands my bosom, is kindled by your presence to a brighter flame ; but let me ask you, what must be our condition, if we have not the spirit to redress our grievances, and vindicate the rights of inen I a Catiline's conspiracy. 29 What I desire to know, is the true state of the commonwealth. A few imperious demagogues have seized all power into their own hands; to those usurpers, kings, princes, and tetrarchs, crouch in subjection ; they are tributary to our masters ; foreign nations pay taxes to them ; and as to us, wretched citizens ! in what light have we been considered ? The good, the vir- tuous, the noble, and ignoble, are all blended in one undistinguished mass ; a mere vulgar herd, without interest, without place or prefer- ment ; obliged, like slaves, to bend to those, who, if a thorough reform took place, and re- stored the government to its true principles, would shrink and tremble before the majesty of the people. At present, every thing is engrossed by a proud and insolent oligarchy ; power, riches, honours, are in the hands of the few, or scantily dealt out among their creatures, at their will and pleasure. To us they have left nothing but disgrace, contempt, and danger, the terror of prosecutions, and the pangs of griping po- verty. How long, ye brave and gallant men ! how long will you endure these vile indignities ? Let us rouse at once ; or, if we must fall, let us fall nobly in one brave attempt, rather than crawl on to our graves, dragging a miserable I 30 8ALLUST. existence under the scourge of insolent nobles, to die at last the victims of a lawless usurpation, " But the juncture is favourable : success, I call men and gods to witness ! success and vic- tory are in our hands. We are in the vigour of life ; our minds are strong and active ; while, on the other hand, our enemies, enervated by sloth and luxury, droop under their infirmities, and languish in decay. To begin the attack, is to conquer; events will direct and guide our future operations. " Is there a man, who feels the energy of his nature, who in these times can look tamely on, and see the senators and the patrician order riot in such heaps of wealth, that they are able with wild profusion to cover the seas with magnifi- cent buildings, and annihilate mountains, while we are left to pine in want and misery of heart ? Shall the nobles build their splendid porticos for the purpose of making a communication between two or more palaces ; and shall we in the mean time want a cottage for the reception of our household gods ? Behold your tyrants at an immense expense purchasing pictures^ statues, vases curiously wrought in gold and silver ; see them with sudden caprice pulling down their new-built mansions, erecting others more mag- nificent, and in short, dissipating their riches * catiline's conspiracy. 31 with lavish extravagance, and yet, with all their folly, still unable to drain their coffers. And what is our case ? We have beggary at home, a load of debts abroad ; desolation before our eyes, and not the smallest hope of relief to assuage our misery. In a word, the breath we draw is all that is left us. " And shall we not in these circumstances rise as one man ? Behold, my friends, behold that c Jibert^Jbr which you long have panted ; behold riches, honours, and immortal glory, all within your reach : they glitter before your eyes ; they call you forth to action. These are the bright rewards which fortune has in store for valour. The situation of affairs, the time, the favourable juncture, the dangers that surround you, the hard hand of poverty that weighs you down, and the splendid spoils of war, that promise joy and affluence ; all these are now before you ; they are strong incentives, more powerful than all the arguments I can urge. Make your own use of me ; I am your general, if you will ; or if you choose it, your fellow-soldier. My heart is with you ; my powers of body and mind are devoted to your service. As matters stand at present, I am not without hopes of obtaining the con-; sulship, and in that high office I propose, in conjunction with you, to concert our future ) .32 SALLUST. "measures. When I say this, I rely on your generous ardour, persuaded that you are not so abject as to pine in slavey, when you have it in four power to be the legislators of your country." This speech was addressed to the passions of men who groaned under every kind of distress, without any means of support, and without a gleam of hope to comfort them. To such minds a convulsion in the state was an inviting prospect, the bright reward of all their labours. The majority, however, desired to be informed upon what terms they were to embark in so bold an enterprise ; what was to be the recompense of their fidelity ; what were their resources, and where they were to look for friends to support their cause ? Catiline promised to cancel all their debts, a proscription of the rich, the honours- of the magistracy, sacerdotal dignities, plunder, rapine, with all the usual perquisites of war, and whatever the insolence of victory could extort from the vanquished. He further added, that Pi so, who commanded in Spain, and Publius Sitius Nucerinus, who was at the head of the army in Mauritania, were both friends to the enterprise. He stated, as a further advantage, that Caius Antonius, a man involved in various difficulties, was a candidate for the consulship, and he wished for nothing so much Catiline's conspiracy. 33 as to have him for his colleague in that important office. With such a friend, as soon as he suc- ceeded in the election, it was his intention to throw off the mask, and carry his grand design into execution. He then proceeded to pour forth a torrent of invective against the best men in Rome ; ho mentioned his most zealous partisans' by name, and expatiated in their praise; he addressed each individual ; to some he represented their urgent necessities ; he talked to others of their lewd intrigues and their voluptuous passions ; to the greater number he painted, in the deepest co- lours, the distresses that surrounded them, and the ruin that hung over their heads ready to crush them. Nor did he omit the consequences of Sylla's victory, with the plunder that enriched the soldiers. Perceiving at length, that by these and such-like topics he had inflamed the minds of all, he requested their support at the approaching election of consuls, and dismissed the assembly. A report prevailed at that time, and was re- ceived' by many, that Catiline, at the close of his harangue, proceeded to bind his accomplices by an oath of fidelity ; and, to give it the most solemn sanction, sent round the room bowls of human blood mixed with wine. When, after dreadful imprecations, all had swallowed the 34 SALLUST. unnatural beverage, as if it was a libation used in religious sacrifices, he took the opportunity to open the secrets of his heart. He gave the assembly to understand, that by the ceremony he had introduced, his intention was to bind them to each other by the most sacred obligation, in the presence of numbers engaged in a great and glorious enterprise. It was thought, however, by men of reflection, that this anecdote, with many others of a similar nature, was invented by certain politicians, who imagined that they could throw the most odious colours on such of the conspirators as were afterwards put to death, and by that artifice appease the resentment that blazed out against Cicero for the part he acted on that occasion. But a fact of that magnitude requires the strongest^ o o% and flone has come to myluiowTecIge-. t^^Quintus Curius has been mentioned in the I Est of conspirators; a man of no mean extraction, but charged with a load of crimes, and on that account degraded by the censor from his sena- torian rank. To a bold, pragmatical, and auda- cious spirit, he united an equal mixture of frivolous vanity ; hence that eternal loquacity that discovered all he knew. He was sure to reveal whatever he heard, and with the same Catiline's conspiracy. 35 indiscretion he betrayed bimseif, about his words and actions equally indifferent. This man had; been for a considerable time connected in a criminal commerce with a woman of rank, of the name of Fulvia ; but his fortune being reduced, and, by consequence, his gene- rosity diminished, he began to find that his visits were received with cold reluctance. To restore himself to favour, he assumed a new style and manner. He addressed his mistress in magnifi- cent terms, and promised the wealth of the seas and mountains of gold. He approached her at times with an air of ferocity, and to force her to his will threatened her life. In a word, forgetting his former manners, he behaved with a fierce and brutal insolence. The cause of this alteration was not long unknown to Fulvia ; she saw the com- monwealth in danger, and resolved not to con- ceal a secret of such importance. She thought fit, however, to suppress the name of the per- son from whom she gained intelligence ; but the rest, with all the particulars of Catiline's plot, she discovered to her acquaintance, in form and circumstance as the same reached her know- ledge. The alarm excited by this discovery] made such an impression, that from that mo- ment numbers espoused the interest of Cicero, declaring aloud, that of all the candidates he 30 SALLUST. was most worthy of the consular dignity. Be- fore that juncture, the patrician families heard of Cicero's pretensions with indignation. The honour of the highest office in the state, they said, would be impaired and tarnished, if a new man, however distinguished by extraordinary merit, should be able to raise himself to that pre-eminence. But a storm was gathering, and pride and jealousy yielded to the occasion. The election soon after followed, and in a full assembly of the people Cicero and Antonius were declared consuls for the year. This event was a blow that staggered the con- spirators ; but Catiline, still fierce and determined, abated nothing from the violence of his temper. He continued his exertions ; he strained every nerve, and provided arms at proper stations throughout Italy. The money which he was able to raise by his own credit, or that of his friends, he conveyed to the city of Faesulae, to be there deposited in the hands of Manlius, the man who was afterwards the first that reared the standard of rebellion. Even in this situation of his affairs, Catiline, we are told, still had the address to gain over to his cause a number of proselytes, and among them several women, who in the prime of life had gained large sums of money by setting a 5 % catiline's conspiracy. 37 price on their beauty, but in more advanced years, when the decline of their charms reduced their profits, but left their passion for luxury still in force, they continued to live in the same course of unbounded expense, and consequently contracted a load of debt. By the arts of these women, Catiline flattered himself that he should be able to cause an insurrection of the slaves, and with their assistance he resolved to set fire to the city. He had still a further use to make of his female friends : by their influence he hoped to draw their husbands into the con- spiracy, or, if they refused to comply, he had no doubt but he could contrive to get them put to death. In the number of Catiline's profligate women, Serjp^irjaniaj, a celebrated courtezan, claims parti- cular notice. The bold and masculine spirit with which she committed the most flagitious deeds, had signalized her name. She was of a good extraction ; distinguished by her form and beauty, and happy in her husband and her children. Well skilled in Greek and Roman literature, she sung and danced with more elegance than the modesty of her sex required. She had besides, many of those nameless graces that serve to prompt desire. Virtue and honour were not worthy of her attention. She was prodigal 3£ SALLUST. of her money and reputation to such a degree, that which she regarded least you would not be able to say. She loved with such a rage, that, without waiting to be solicited, she invited the men to her embraces. Notorious for repeated violations of truth and plighted faith, she was known to forswear her debts, and by perjury to colour a breach of trust. It must be added, that her hands were not free from blood ; she was an accomplice in several murders; and, in short, her rage for the pleasures of life conspired with her distressed circumstances to make her a lit instrument in every scene of iniquity. With all these evil qualities, she was not destitute of genius : she had a pleasing vein of wit, and a turn for poetry. She sparkled in company, and by raillery and sprightly talents could enliven conversation. She had the art of passing with wonderful celerity from the most serious to the lightest topics, from a grave and modest strain Xo the gay, the airy, and the tender. In a word, vivacity and elegant accomplishments were hers in an eminent degree. Though Catiline had thus prepared his mea- sures, he did not lose sight of the consulship. He declared himself a candidate for the following year, still conceiving, if he succeeded, that Antonius would be an instrument in his hands, catiline's conspiracy. 3Q Determined, in the mean time, not to remain inactive, he made it his business to lay snares for Cicero. The consul was never off his guard, but with consummate address was able to counteract the schemes of a wily adversary. He had no sooner entered on the consulship, than he took care to secure Fulvia in his interest. and through her he gained, by the force of promises, such an influence on Quintus Curius, who has been already mentioned, that the machinations of Catiline were discovered to him without delay. V Besides this advantage, Cicero had the precaution to detach Antonious from the conspiracy. He promised by his weight and management to procure for his colleague the administration of an opulent province; and, by that prospect of preferment, engaged him to take no part with the enemies of the common- wealth. In the mean time Cicero took care to have, without parade, a number of his friends and clients near at hand to protect his person. The day on which, according to custom, the consuls elect were declared, by the suffrage of the people, Catiline had the mortification of seeing all his hopes utterly defeated. His various efforts against the life of Cicero were likewise unsuccessful. In that distress, when all his secret machinations ended in confusion and disgrace, he D 4 40 SALLUST. resolved, without further hesitation, to have recourse to open arms. For that purpose, he Ordered Caius Manlius to his post at Faesulas, to overawe that part of Etruria ; to the territory of Picenum he sent a man of the name of Septimius, a native of the city of Camertes, and at the same time dispatched Caius Julius to guard the passes of Apulia : several others were commissioned to seize the most advantageous posts in every quar- ter. He himself remained at Rome, exerting his utmost industry, and concerting plans of mischief. He was still envenomed against Cicero, and never ceased to lay snares for his life. He resolved to set fire to the city, and in every quarter stationed a band of assassins. He went constantly armed, and exhorted his followers to hold themselves in readiness op the first alarm. He never rested day or night ; a stranger to repose, unsubdued by toil, and never fatigued by midnight vigils. Perceiving at length that all his labours were still ineffectual, he directed Portius Laecca to call the chiefs of the conspiracy to a meeting in the dead of night. He there expostulated with his partisans, and after severe reproaches for their want of zeal, he gave them to understand, that he had commissioned Manlius to take upon him the command of an armed force, which was CATILINE S CONSPIRACY, 41 already mustered; and that various other officers had been dispatched to proper stations, with orders to begin the war. He added, that he wished for nothing so much as to put himself at the head of his army ; but Cicero by his counsels, his activity and vigilance, continued to frustrate all his measures. To cut off the consul was; therefore, a point of the greatest moment. The assembly remained mute, and covered with consternation, when Caius Cornelius, a Roman knight, offered to bear the murderer's poniard ; and Lucius Vargunteius, a senator, declared himself ready to join in the same horrible design. They resolved that very night to collect a band of ruffians, and at the dawn of day, under pretence of paying an early visit, to proceed to the consul's house, and dispatch him on the spot, unguarded and unsuspecting. Curius took the alarm ; he shuddered at the danger that threatened Cicero's life, and dis- covered the plot to Fulvia, who took care to give immediate intelligence to the consul. The assassins kept their appointed hour, but gained no admittance ; their design proved abortive. Manlius, in the mean time, exerted himself with his utmost vigour to raise an insurrection in Etruria. The people in that part of the country •sere ripe for a revolt; extreme poverty, and the 42 SALLUST. sense of injuries under Sylla's usurpation, exaspe- rated the public mind ; the wretched inhabitants had been deprived of their lands, and plundered of their property ; resentment fostered in every breast, and all were loud for a revolution. The country abounded with freebooters, and all of that description the rebel chief collected in a body. At the same time he made it his business to enlist the soldiers whom Sylla had planted in different colonies ; a licentious crew, who had dissipated the spoils of war in riotous expense, and were now reduced to extreme poverty. Cicero was regularly informed of all that passed, but found himself much embarrassed by the magnitude of the danger : apprehending that it would not be in his power to traverse the machinations of the conspirators by his own private diligence, and not being sufficiently apprized of the numbers and designs of Manlius, he resolved to open the whole affair to the senate. Public report had spread a general alarm, but the particulars were not sufficiently known. The senate, as was usual in cases of urgent necessity, ordained by a decree, " That the consuls should take care that the state suffered no detriment. ,, By this law, which was founded on ancient policy, and the institutions of our ancestors, the consuls were invested with ex* CATILIx\*fs CONSPIRACY. 43 traordinary powers. They were authorized to raise new levies, and lead the armies of the republic to the field ; by coercion to restrain the citizens of Rome and the allies, within due bounds ; and to exercise supreme jurisdiction at home as well as in the camp. When no such act has passed, the consular authority is limited by law. The acts of power above-mentioned were never known to be exercised, unless sanc- tioned by a declaratory law. In the course of a few days after the decree of the fathers, Lucius Senius, a member of the senate, produced in that assembly a letter, which he said was brought to him from the city of Faesulae, importing that Manlius, about the sixth of the calends of November, had taken the field at the head of a numerous army. The account was swelled, as is usual on such occa- sions, with a number of prodigies and reports from various quarters ; with an account of con- ventions held in -different places ; that large quantities of arms were provided ; and that a servile war was ready to break out in Capua and Apulia. The senate ordered by a decree, that Quintus Marcius Rex should proceed to Faesula?, and Quintus Metellus Creticus to Apulia, in order to secure those parts of the country. Those 44 SALLUST. two generals had been for some time waiting on the outside of the city walls, in expectation of a triumphal entry, but that honour was withheld from them by the contrivance of artful men, whose practice it was on all occasions, just or unjust, to put every thing up to sale. By the same decree of the senate, the praetor, Quintus Pompeius, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were ordered to repair to their posts ; the former to command at Capua, the latter at Picenum. Both had it in commission to levy forces with all the expedition that the times required. The senate, at the same time, passed another decree, " by which rewards were promised to whoever should give information touching the conspiracy : if a slave, he was to have his free- dom, and one hundred thousand sisterces ; if a freeman, double that sum, and a full indemnity." It was further ordered, that whole families of gladiators should be stationed at Capua and other municipal towns, in proportion to the strength and importance of the places. Rome was guarded by a night-watch placed at convenient posts throughout the city, under the command of the inferior magistrates. ¥ These preparations spread a general alarm through the city. The face of things was en- tirely changed. To -scenes of joy and festivity* CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 45 the consequence of a long peace, dismay and terror succeeded. Hurry, bustle, and distraction, were seen in every quarter ; no place was safe ; distrust prevailed ; no confidence among neigh- bours ; a medley of peace and war prevailed ; all were covered with confusion, and each individual formed his idea of the danger according to his doubts and fears. The panic that seized the women was still more alarming. They had till then lived secure under a great and flourishing empire, and now the horror of an approaching war threw them into consternation. In despair they raised their hands to Heaven ; they wept over their infant children ;. they ran wild through the streets inquiring for news ; they trembled at every report ; they forgot their taste for pleasure, their pride and luxury, anxious only for their own lives, and the safety of their country ^h^ Meanwhile Catiline abated nothing from the ferocity of his nature ; he persisted in his dark designs, still meditating scenes of destruction. The vigorous measures of the senate were not sufficient to control a mind like his. He even knew that he was impeached by Lucius Paulus for an offence against the Plautian law, and he still remained unshaken and undaunted. At length, in order to varnish his character, and throw a veil over his traitorous intentions, he had 46 SALLUST. the hardiness to take his seat in the senate. It was on that occasion that the consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero, apprehending, perhaps, some dangerous consequence from the presence of such a man, or else fired with indignation at the audacity of a detected traitor, delivered that noble oration, which he afterwards reduced to writing, and published to the world. AAs soon as Cicero closed his speech, Catiline, who went prepared with all his arts of dissimula- tion, rose with a modest and dejected air, and in a softened tone implored the fathers not to give credit to false suggestions against a man descended from an illustrious family. Following the example of his ancestors, he said that on many occasions he had deserved well of the commonwealth; and from his early youth had so regulated his conduct, as to entitle himself to fair and honourable expectations. Was it pro- bable that he, of an illustrious patrician rank, could wish to see the government overturned ? or that Cicero, a new man, lately transplanted from a municipal town, could have the interest of the state more at heart than himself? He went on in a strain of bitter invective against the consul, when he was interrupted by a general clamour. The fathers with one voice pro- nounced him an enemy to his country, a traitor* CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 47 and a parricide. By this treatment Catiline was transported beyond all bounds : he broke out with rage and fury, and " Since/' he said, " I am thus encompassed by my enemies, and by this outrage driven to the last extremity, the flame which I find kindled round me, shall be extinguished in the general ruin." ^f Having uttered that furious menace, he rushed out of the senate, and retired to his own house. He then fell into deep reflection ; he saw that Cicero was not to be assailed by stratagem, and that the midnight guards prevented his intended conflagration. In the agitation of his mind, he judged that the best step he could take, would be to augment his army, and, before the legions could be called into the field, to anticipate the measures of his enemies. Having formed this resolution, he set out in the dead of the night with a few attendants, and made the best of his way to the Manlian camp. He left directions with Lentulus, Cethegus, and such of his ac- complices as he knew to be men of prompt and daring resolution, to strengthen their faction by every method in their power ; if possible, to cut off the consul \ and hold themselves in readiness to lay a scene of blood and massacre, to kindle a general conflagration, and involve the commonwealth in all the horrors of a de- 48 SALLtJST* structive war. They might rely upon his firm- ness, and in a short time would find him at the gates of Rome with a powerful army. During these transactions at Rome^ Caius Manlius sent a deputation to Quintus Marcius Rex, with instructions to the following effect : " We ( take this opportunity, general, to inform you, and we call gods and men to witness for us ! that our motive for taking up arms is neither to injure our country, nor to involve others in the calamities of war. To shield ourselves from oppression is all we have in view. Indigent and distressed as we are, our country has driven us forth like outcasts, all undone and ruined in our fortunes by the hard hand of inhuman usurers. The protection of the laws which our ancestors enjoyed, has been refused to us : at present the man who surrenders his all, is not- allowed the privilege of personal liberty. The unrelenting temper of our insatiable creditors, and the harsh decisions of the praetor, have reduced us to the lowest depth of sordid misery. In ancient times the humanity of government was extended to the distresses of the people ; and, within our own memory, the pressure of debts was so great, that, with the consent of all good men, the creditor was obliged to receive a composition in full of his demands. We CATILINE'S CONSPIRACY* 4Q learn from history, that the Roman people, in order to curb the overbearing spirit of the magistrates, and to be governed by their own laws, seceded in open revolt from the authority of the senate. " Our enterprise has no such object in view; we have neither ambition nor avarice, the two grand springs of human actions, the constant cause of all the strife, and all the wars that disturb the world. We demand % a reform of the laws ; we stand for the rights of man, and equal liberty ; that liberty, which no good man will resign but with life itself. We conjure you and the senate to take our case into con- sideration ; we claim the protection of the laws, which the praetorian tribunals have wrested from us. Deliver us from the sad necessity, in which the brave and honest will only think how they may sell their lives at the dearest rate, and In their fall secure a great and just revenge." Quintus Marcius returned an answer in a calm, laconic style: he told them, " if they expected any favour from the senate, they must lay down their arms, and proceed to Rome, there to present their petition in a suppliant style. They then would find, that humanity and moderation were the attributes of the fa- thers, and the people of Rome, insomuch, that 50 SALLUSX. of all who sued to them for protection, no one ever sued in vain." Catiline, who was at that time on his march to the camp, sent dispatches to several men of consular rank, and to others distinguished by their worth and honour. The substance of his letters was, that & being unjustly charged with constructive crimes, and unable to cope with a powerful faction, he yielded to the impending storm, and chose a voluntary exile at Mar- seilles. A strained and fabricated treason was laid to his charge; but, though he was con- scious of his innocence, he chose that retreat, that he might not, by a public contest with his enemies, be the unhappy cause of tumult and seditious insurrections." It happened, however, that Quintus Catulus was able to produce a letter, which he averred to have been sent to him by Catiline. The tenour of it was very different from what has been stated. Catulus read it to the fathers. The following is an authentic copy : Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, greeting. ec The firm and constant friendship which I have experienced from you on many trying oc- casions, and which I must ever remember with gratitude, encourages me to address you in the 4 catiline's conspiracy.. 51 present juncture. It is not my intention to trouble you with a defence of the part I am now to act : conscious of no guilt, I will not waste the time in an unnecessary proof of my innocence ; a fair state of the facts will be suf- ficient, and I have no doubt but you will be convinced of the truth. (C Oppressed by my enemies, and pursued by inveterate calumny ; not suffered to reap the fruit of my labours and unwearied industry ; and, moreover, deprived of the advantages and honours annexed to my rank ; I was naturally led upon this, as upon other occasions, to stand forth in the cause of my fellow-citizens. The debts which I have incurred must not be reckoned among the motives that direct my conduct. I have effects and possessions sufficient fo answer all the obligations contracted on my own account ; and as to the engagements in which I am bound for others, Aurelia Orestilla is willing, with her own and her daughter's fortunes, to discharge all demands. " Would you know the motive that rouses me to action ? I saw men of no consideration rising to honours, while I was proscribed, dis- graced, and rejected, for unjust and groundless suspicions. In order, therefore, to preserve the poor remains of honour which my enemies have H 2 52 SALLUST. left me, I resolved to pursue such measures as my present situation will justify. " I could add more on this subject ; but I learn this very moment, that violent measures are to be pursued against me. I recommend Orestilla to your protection : I leave her in your care. Shield her from oppression ; I conjure you by the tender regard you have for your own children. Farewell." Having dispatched this letter, Catiline passed a few days with Caius Flaminius in the territory of Reate, and during that time distributed arms to the. insurgents whom he had allured to his party. From that place he proceeded with the forces, and all the pomp of a consular general, to join Manlius in his camp. That step being known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius public enemies, and by a decree promised a free pardon to such of the rebels as were not condemned for capital crimes, provided they laid down their arms within a time limited. Power was also given to the consuls to muster new levies ; Antonius had orders to proceed at the head of his army in quest of Catiline, and the good order of the city was committed to the vigilance of Cicero. We are now at the point of time when the commonwealth was reduced to the most humi- Catiline's conspiracy. _ 53 Hating condition. She had carried her victorious arms from the rising to the setting sun: the city of Rome flourished in peace and affluence, the- two great comforts of human life ; and yet, in that very period, she harboured in her bosom a crew of desperate incendiaries ; men deter- mined with fatal obstinacy to overwhelm them- selves, and their country in one promiscuous ruin. It is worthy of notice, that after two decrees, one offering a reward to informers, and the other a free pardon to such as revolted, not a man was found to .make a discovery, nor was there a single deserter from the enemy. Such was the malignity of the times ; it spread like a conta- gion, and envenomed the minds of men against their country. Nor was this dangerous spirit confined to the conspirators and their accomplices jj it pervaded the lower class of citizens ; and the rabble, with their usual levity, wished for a convulsion in the state. Nor is this to be received as matter of wonder: it is natural to men who have no means of subsistence, to view the opulent with an eye of envy ; lavish of their encomiums on the leaders of faction, they traduce tliegood and x wor thy with envenomed rancour ; they hate the established system, and pant for innovation; they are weary of their own condition, and hope to find relief in E 3 54 SALJLUST. the distractions of their country. Tumult and se- dition are to such men the season of plenty, and, in all events, poverty has nothing at stake. There were, besides, various causes that con^ spired in that juncture to inflame the popular discontent In the first place, all who had sig- nalized themselves by their crimes ; who by pro- fusion had dissipated their substance ; who were forced by their enormities to fly their country ; and, in short, all the loose and abandoned, crowded in one general conflux to the city of Rorne, as to the centre of corruption, ,To these were added the whole tribe that remembered SylJa's victory, and could name the common soldiers who rose to the dignity of senators, with a list of others who acquired immoderate riches, and lived in all the splendour of royal magnifi- cence. All these were ready to take up arms, expecting to enrich themselves with the plunder pf a civil war. Besides these pests of society, there was at Rome a number of young men, who had been used in the country to earn a livelihood by their daily labour, but being attracted to the city by the frequency of public and private largesses, they preferred an id}e life to the unprofitable la- bours of the field. These, and all of their stamp, hoped to find their account in public catiline's conspiracy. 55 commotions. . That men like these, reduced to indigence, and void of morals, yet flushed with hopes of a reform in the senate, should make the interest of the state subservient to their own private views, was a natural consequence. There was still another party, composed of those whose fathers had been ruined by Sylla's proscriptions, and lost the rights of citizens. Their descendants hoped to find in the calami- ties of war a redress of grievances, and wished for nothing so much as an opportunity to assert their rights. The city, moreover, was divided into factions, and they who did not take part with the senate, could not bear to see their country in a more flourishing condition than themselves. Dissen- sions between the populace and the senate had been the old inveterate canker of the common- wealth, subdued, indeed, for a considerable time ; but, after an interval of many years, re- vived with all the violence of former rancour. The renewal of this m ischief may be traced to the consulship of To^pe^-ani Crassus. tJnder their administration, the tribunes of the people recovered their ancient rights, and all the powers annexed to their office. That magistracy, in a short time, fell to the lot of young men of fierce and turbulent dispositions, who began to disturb £ 4 50* SALLUST. the proceedings of the senate, and by their con- tentions to inflame the people against the con- stituted authority of the state. To strengthen their influence, they distributed largesses with unbounded generosity, and by adding liberal promises, seduced the multitude into a league against the constitution. The tribunes were elate with success, they triumphed over all op- position, and were the first men in the state. The nobles exerted themselves to stem the tor- rent, with pretended zeal for the dignity of the senate, but in fact to promote their own gran- deur. The truth is, the men who in those times appeared on the stage of public business, had the address to gloss their designs with specious colours, some pretending to be the friends of the people ; others to maintain the rights of the senate. The public good was the ostensible motive of every faction, while ambition and the love of power were the secret springs that set the whole in motion. The contention between the parties was carried on with animosity ; jus- tice and moderation were discarded, and the si le that occasionally prevailed, exulted with all the pride and insolence of victory. At length, when Pompey was sent to command against the Pyrates, and afterwards to conduct j the Mithridatic war, the popular party was no Catiline's conspiracy. 57 longer able to make head against the nobles. The reins of government were seized by a few leading men, who engrossed the honours of the magistracy, the administration of provinces, and preferment of every kind. Superior to their fellow-citizens, and above control, they lived in splendour and security, by the terror of pro- secutions restraining all who presumed to take a part in public business, and, by consequence, leaving the people without a leader. In process of time, when the scene of affairs was changed, and men began to think a revolution not im- practicable, the old dissension broke out with redoubled violence. The discontents of the po- pulace rose to such a pitch, that if Catiline gained the first victory, or even left the fortune * of the day undecided, the commonwealth would have been reduced to the brink of danger. The war would have continued with alternate vicissi- tudes, without a decisive blow to end the con- flict, till both sides, enfeebled and exhausted by repeated losses, would have fallen an easy prey to some ambitious chief who stood prepared in such a crisis to usurp the supreme power, to the utter rum of public liberty. There were numbers in the city of Rome, who for some time stood aloof from the conspiracy, but at last threw aside the mask, when they saw 58 SALLUST. the standard of rebellion actually raised, and went over to Catiline. Among these was Aulus Sulvius, the son of a senator. He was taken on his way to the camp, and conveyed back to Rome, where he suffered death by order of his father. Lentulus, in the mean time, attentive to the instructions left by Catiline, made it his busi- ness, either by his own management, or the ad- dress of his agents, to engage in his faction all who by their dissolute life, or the ruin of their affairs, were fit to be employed in the grand un- dertaking. The citizens of Rome were not the only objects of his choice. He enlisted foreigners of every nation, whom he found capable of car- rying arms. With this view, he employed a man of the name of Publius Umbranus to tam- per with the deputies from the state of the Al- lobrogians, and, if possible, to draw them into a league with Catiline. In this negotiation he had no doubt of success, when he considered that the Allobrogian state was encumbered with a vast load of public debt, and that the inhabit- ants groaned under the same distress. The turbulent and warlike genius of the people, which resembled the rest of Gaul, he judged would be an additional motive to make the am- bassadors enter into the plot. Umbranus had Catiline's conspiracy. 59 been a trader in Gaul, and in the course of his transactions had become acquainted with the principal men in various parts of that nation, and therefore, without hesitation, undertook the business. He met the Allobrogians in the fo- rum, and immediately entered into conversation. He inquired about the situation of their affairs, and seeming to be much affected by their mis- fortunes, desired to know what prospect they had of an end of all their difficulties. The de- puties stated their sufferings under the magis- trates sent to govern them, and, in bitterness of heart, accused the senate of .being deaf to their remonstrances. They had no hopes of relief. Death, they said, and death Only, could end their misery. Umbranus made answer, H If you find a spirit within you, and are de- termined to act like men, I can shew you the way to redress your grievances," Roused by those animating words, the Allobrogians soli* cited the friendship of Umbranus, declaring that there was no enterprise so bold and arduous, that they were not ready to undertake, pro- vided it tended to deliver their country from the pressure of its debts. Umbranus led them to the house of Decius Brutus, who at that time was absent from Rome. The place was every way fit for a dark transaction : it bordered on GO SALLUST. the forum* and Sempronia, who was privy to the conspiracy, took care to accommodate her friends with an apartment proper for so deep a consultation. To give importance to the solem- nity of the meeting, Umbranus called in the assistance of Gabinius, and in his presence laid open the secrets of the plot. He mentioned the principal conspirators by name, and, to ani- mate the deputies, added a number of others, all of eminent rank, but no way implicated in the business. The deputies promised their as- sistance, and Umbranus adjourned the meeting. The Allobrogians retired to their lodgings, and there began to waver. Having weighed all circumstances, they were in doubt what part to act. They felt the oppression of their debts ; with the spirit of their country they were fond of war, and the advantages of victory dazzled their imaginations. On the other hand, they saw superior strength on the side of the senate, a regular plan of well-concerted councils, and in the place of deceitful promises, a bright and certain recompense. They continued for some time fluctuating between hope and fear, when the good genius of the commonwealth gained the ascendant. They applied to Quintus Fabius Sanga, the patron of their country, and gave him a detail of all that came to their knowledge. catiline's conspiracy. 6l The whole was communicated to Cicero. That minister directed the deputies to act the part of men firm and ardent in the cause of rebellion. He desired that they might hold frequent inter- views with the conspirators, and, by amusing them with a show of zeal, gain their confidence ; and, by that artifice, obtain full proof against them all. During these transactions, violent commo- tions broke out in the Nether and Ulterior Gaul, and likewise in the territory of Picenum, in Bruttium, and Apulia. The agents whom Ca- tiline had sent into those parts, conducted them- selves with headlong violence, and like frantic men threw every thing into confusion. They held nocturnal meetings ; they ordered arms to be distributed, and by hurry and constant bustle spread a general alarm, when, in fact, there was no real danger. The praetor, Quintus Metellus Celer, seized a number of the most active incendiaries, and loaded them with irons. The same step was taken by Caius Muraena, who commanded in Cisalpine Gaul, in the cha- racter of lieutenant-general. Meanwhile Lentulus, in conjunction with the chiefs that remained at Rome, concluding that the party was in sufficient force, came to a re- solution, that, as soon as Catiline entered the 62 SALLUST. territory of Faesulae at the head of his army, Lucius Bestia, one of the tribunes, should call an assembly of the people, and after declaiming with virulence against Cicero, should arraign that most excellent consul as the author and sole cause of an unprovoked and dangerous war. This invective was to be a signal to the conspi- rators, as soon as night came on, to begin their work, and execute what had been committed to their charge. The parts in this horrible tragedy were cast as follows : Statilius and Gabinius, with a crew of their accomplices, were to set fire to the city in twelve convenient quarters. In the hurry of a general conflagration, they concluded that it would not be difficult to reach the consul with an assassin's dagger, with many others of rank, who were devoted to destruction. The attack on Cicero's house was committed to Cethegus : he was to force an entrance, and imbrue his hands in the blood of the consul. Others in different parts of the city were to add to the horrors of the scene. There was besides a num- ber of young men, the sons of illustrious fami- lies, who had it in charge to turn parricides, and cut the throats of their fathers. The incen- diaries, as soon as they carried fire and sword through all quarters of the city, were to rush catiline's conspiracy. 63 forth at once, and rally round the standard in, Catiline's camp. While these measures were in agitation, Ce- thegus shewed the most violent impatience. He complained that he was embarked with men who gave no proofs of zeal and ardour in the cause. By their cold delay, he said, the best opportunities were lost. In a daring enterprise the surest way is to act, and not linger in de- bate. For his part, he- was ready, at the head of a few brave and gallant men, to unsheath the sword, and make the senate-house a theatre of blood. Cethegus was by nature fierce and de- termined ; a bold and active hand in the hour of danger. Dispatch, and not deliberation, was his favourite measure. In this state of affairs, the Allobrogians, as directed by Cicero, contrived, through the ma- nagement of Gabinius, to have an interview with the chiefs of the conspiracy. At that meeting, Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius being present, the deputies demanded a solemn obli- gation, under the sanction of an oath, duly signed and sealed, that they might carry it with them as an authentic document to their native city. Without such a deed, they said it would not be in their power to engage their .country men in a project of that importance. 04 SALLUST. The three conspirators first mentioned above, having no suspicion of a snare, agreed to the proposals. Cassius thought it sufficient to as- sure the Gallic agents, that in a short time he should be present in person among their coun- trymen ; and in fact he departed from Rome while the deputies still remained. Lentulus thought it of moment that the treaty with the Al- lobrogians should be ratified by new obligations between them and Catiline, and, with that in- tent, he appointed Titus Vulturcius, a man born at Crotona, to accompany the Allobrogian deputies to the rebel army. By the same mes- senger he sent a letter to Catiline, of which the following is a copy : fc You will learn from the bearer, who it is that now writes to you. Remember the danger you have incurred, and never forget what is worthy of a man. Neglect nothing that the crisis of your affairs demands ; avail yourself of all that can be enlisted, and do not reject the assistance of the meanest." With this letter he sent a verbal message, the substance of which was, that since Catiline was declared a public enemy, there could be no good reason for not causing an insurrection of the slaves. All things, he added, were in readiness at Rome, according to Catiline's own directions, catiline's conspiracy. 65 and it would now behove him to urge on by rapid marches to the walls of Rome. Matters being thus arranged, and the night fixed for the departure of the Allobrogian de- puties, Cicero, to whom they had imparted every circumstance, ordered the praetors, Lu- cius Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomptinus, to place themselves in ambush near the Milvian bridge, in order to seize the whole party. He explained to the two prsetors the nature and cause of their commission, and left them to act as exigencies might require. In conformity to those orders, a military guard, without noise or parade, invested the bridge. As soon as the Allobrogians, with Volturcius, their guide, ar- rived at the place, a shout was set up on both sides. The Gallic agents, aware of the scheme, surrendered to the praetors without hesitation. Volturcius stood on his defence, exhorting his followers, and for some time determined to cut his way sword in hand ; but perceiving himself deserted by his party, he endeavoured to make terms with Pomptinus, to whom he was well known ; but finding that his supplications had no effect, and thinking his life in danger, he surrendered at discretion. Intelligence was immediately conveyed to Ci- cero. The consul heard the detail with trans- 66 SALLUST. ports of joy, but a joy mingled with anxiety. To see the conspiracy detected with the clearest evidence, and the commonwealth rescued from destruction, was undoubtedly matter of triumph ; but how to proceed against so many of the first eminence, who had proved themselves traitors to their country, was a consideration big with doubt and perplexity. If lie acted with all the rigour due to such atrocious crimes, he plainly saw a storm of the bitterest resentment already ga- thering over his head ; and, on the other hand, should guilt of that magnitude be treated with lenity, it w r ere on his part nothing short of con- niving at the public ruin. Having weighed all circumstances, he summoned up his resolution, and ordered Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Gabinius, to be brought before him. At the same time he sent for Ceparius of Terracina, who was preparing to set out with intent to raise an insurrection of the slaves in Apulia, The four who had been first mentioned, ap- peared without delay, but it happened that Ce- parius was not to be found at his own house. In Iiis walk he heard that the conspiracy was brought to light, and thereupon made his escape. Lentulus being at that time invested with the character of praetor, Cicero took him by the hand, and walked with him to the Temple of catiline's conspiracy. 67 Concord, where he had convened the senate. The other conspirators were conducted under a strong guard. A full meeting of the Fathers being assembled, the consul ordered Volturcius and the Allobrogians to be called in. Flaccus, the praetor, attended with the packet of letters which had been delivered to him at the Milvian bridge. Volturcius was interrogated concerning his intended journey, the papers in his possession, the nature of his undertaking, and the motives on which he acted. His answers were evasive. He endeavoured, under various pretences, to cloak his design, disclaiming all knowledge of the conspiracy. Being told, that under the sanction of the public faith he might speak with impunity, he gave an account of the whole, in regular order, exactly as things happened. It was, he said, but a few days since he was ap- prized of the conspiracy : Gabinius and Cepa- rius were the men that seduced him : he knew no more of the general plan than the Allobro- gian deputies, except one particular circum- stance : he had been frequently told by Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylia, and Lu- cius Vargunteius, with a number of others, were involved in the same guilt. The Gallic deputies confirmed the evidence of 08 SALLUST. Volturcius. Lentulus pleaded ignorance of the whole, but his letters were evidence against him.; and by the testimony of the ambassadors it ap- peared, that in common discourse his constant topic was a prediction of the Sibylline books, " by which the sovereignty of Rome was pro- mised to three of the name of Cornelius ; that the prophecy was verified in the persons of Cinna and Sylla, and now remained to be fultilled in himself, the third predestined master of Rome." It was moreover proved, that Len- tulus was in the habit of boasting, « rebellion ? If the guilt of these men is not of itself sufficient to fire us with resentment, is it in the power of words to do it ? I answer, No : resentment is implanted in our hearts by the hand of nature ; every man is sensible of in- jury and oppression ; many are apt to feel too intensely. But we know, conscript Fathers, that resentment does npt operate alike in all the ranks of life : he who dwells in obscurity, may commit an act of violence, but the consequence is confined to a small circle. The fame of the offender, like Kis fortune, makes no noise in the world. It is otherwise with those who figure in exalted stations ; the eyes of mankind are upon them ; and the wrong they do is consi- dered as an abuseyof power. Moderation is the virtue of superior rank.* In that pre-emi- nence no apology is allowed for the injustice that proceeds from partiality, v « from anger, aver- 78 SALLUST. sion, or animosity. The injury committed in the lower classes of life, is called the impulse of sudden passion ; in the higher stations, it takes the name of pride and cruelty. " I am willing, conscript Fathers, to admit that the keenest torments are in no proportion to the guilt of the conspirators. But let it be remembered, that in all cases of punishment, it is the catastrophe that makes the deepest im- pression on the minds of the people. Is the criminal treated with severity ? his crimes are forgotten, and his sufferings become the general topic. What has been proposed to you by De- cius Silanus, sprung, I am persuaded, from his patriot zeal ; I know the character of the man ; integrity and honour are the principles that di- rect his conduct. Neither partiality, nor pri- vate resentment, can govern his opinion. But what he has proposed, appears to me, I will not say cruel, (for in the case of such malefactors, what can be cruel ?) but I am free to declare, that it is contrary to the laws established by our ancestors. " But let me ask you, Silanus, had your fears for the public no influence on your judgment ? or was it the enormitv of the crime that roused your indignation ? Our fears may now subside : the vigilance of a great and enlightened consul CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. *J§ has provided against every danger : the guards, properly stationed by his orders, afford us ample security. " With regard to capital punishment, it is a truth well known, that to the man who lives in distress and anguish of heart, death is not an evil ; it is a release from pain and misery ; it puts an end to the calamities of life ; and after the dissolution of the body, all is peace ; neither care nor joy can then intrude. But tell me, Siianus, in the name of the immortal gods I ask you ! why did you not add, that, before the mortal stroke, the prisoners should suffer pain and torment under the scourge of the exe- cutioner ? Those penalties, you will say, are forbidden by the Porcian law: and have we not laws, in express terms declaring, that the life of a Roman citizen shall remain inviolable, and that banishment is the only sentence that can be enforced ? Shall it be said that the lictor's rod is worse than death ? be it so ; and what can be too severe in the case of men con- victed of the most horrible crimes ? If, on the other hand, stripes and lashes are the slightest punishment, with what colour of reason are we to respect a prohibitory law on a point of no importance, and yet violate it in a matter of the greatest moment ? 3 80 SALLUST. " It may be said, who will object to a decree against the enemies of their country? The an- swer is obvious : time may engender discon- tent ; a future day may condemn the proceed- ing ; unforeseen events, and even chance, that with wild caprice perplexes human affairs, may give us reason to repent. The punishment of traitors, however severe, cannot be more than their flagitious deeds deserve ; but it behoves us, conscript Fathers, to weigh well the conse- quences before we proceed to judgment. Acts of state, that sprung from policy, and were per- haps expedient on the spur of the occasion, have grown into precedents often found to be of evil tendency. The administration may fall into the hands of ignorance and incapacity ; and in that case, the measure, which at first was just and proper, becomes by misapplication to other men and other times, the rule of bad po- licy and injustice. H Of this truth, the Lacedaemonians have left us a striking example ; they conquered the Athe- nians, and, having established a supreme coun- cil of thirty, introduced a new form of govern- ment. Those magistrates began their career by seizing the loose and profligate, and, without a regular trial, sending them to immediate ex- ecution. The people beheld the scene with CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 81 exultation, and applauded the proceeding. But arbitrary power, thus established, knew no bounds : honest men were seized without dis- tinction, and put to death with the vile and in- famous. The city of Athens was covered with consternation, and the people had reason to re- pent of their folly, in not foreseeing that discre- tion is the law of tyrants. cc At Rome, within our own memory, the vic- torious Sylla ordered Damasippus^ and others of the same stamp, who had enriched them- selves by the spoils of the commonwealth, to be strangled in prison : who at that time did not consider the measure as an act of justice ? all ranks of men proclaimed with one voice, that a set of incendiaries, who by their seditious practices had embroiled the state, had justly paid the forfeit of their crimes. What was the consequence ? a general massacre followed. Whoever coveted his neighbour's house in the city, or his villa in the country ; whoever ' panted for a well- wrought vase, a splendid gar- ment, or any other valuable effects ; his strata- gem was to insert the owner in the list of the proscribed. It followed by consequence, that the very men who applauded the execution of Damasippus, perished afterwards by the same G 6 2 SALLUST. violence. Nor did the carnage cease, till Syfla satisfied the rapacity of his followers. • " It must be admitted, that, in times like the present, when Marcus Tullius Cicero con- ducts the administration, scenes of that tragic nature are not to be apprehended. But in a large populous city, when the minds of men are ever in agitation, a variety of jarring opi- nions must prevail.. At a future day, and un- der another consul, who may have an army at his back, falsehood may appear in the garb of truth, and gain universal credit. In such a juncture, should the consul, encouraged by our example, and armed ■ with power by the decree of the senate, think proper to un sheath the sword, who shall stop him in his career? who will be able to appease his vengeance ? " Our ancestors 1 __con script F athers, never wanfecrwIsHomor courage ; nor were they ever so elate with pride, as to be above imitating the wholesome institutions of other nations. They borrowed the make of their arms, and the use of them, from the Samnites ; from the Tus- cans they adopted the robes and ensigns of the magistracy ; and in short, whatever they saw proper and useful among their allies, and even their enemies, that they were sure to transplant for their own advantage.. They wished to inv CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. S3 prove by good example, and they were above the little passion of envy. " In that early period, and with that generous disposition, they looked towards Greece, and from that nation imported the custom of pu- nishing some offences by the lictor's rod, and in capital cases they pronounced judgment of death. In process of time, when the state rose to power and grandeur, and the people, as will always he the case in prodigious multitudes, were divided into contending factions, innocent men were often oppressed, and grievances in- creased and multiplied ; it was then that the Porcian law, and others of a similar nature, re- pealed the power of inflicting capital punish- ment, and left to the condemned the privilege of going into exile. " By these examples, and this train of reason- ing, I am led to this conclusion : consult your own dignity, conscript Fathers, and beware of innovation. I believe I may assume, without fear of being contradicted, that the eminent men of a former day, who from small begin- nings raised this mighty empire, possessed a larger portion of wisdom and virtue than has fallen to the lot of their descendants. What our ancestors obtained with glory, we of the present G 2 84 SALLUST. day find too much for our decayed abilities ; we sink under the weight. " But you will say, what is the scope of this long argument ? Shall the conspirators be dis- charged," and suffered to strengthen Catiline's army ? Far from it : my advice is this ; let their estate and effects be confiscated ; detain their persons in separate prisons, and for that purpose choose the strongest of the municipal towns ; declare, by a positive law, that no motion in their favour shall be brought forward in the se- nate, and that no appeal shall be made to the people. Add to your decree, that whoever shall presume to espouse the cause of the guilty > shall be deemed an enemy to the common- wealth *." As soon as Caesar closed his speech, the sena- tors appeared to be variously inclined. Some freely spoke their minds ; others were content by different ways to signify their sentiments, and opposite opinions seemed to prevail. At length Marcus Cato was called upon in his turn. The substance of his speech was as follows : " Upon the question now before you, con- script Fathers, I feel myself affected by different * See Note D. / catiune's conspiracy. 85 sentiments. When I view the circumstances of the times, and the dangers that surround us, I see reason to be alarmed ; when I consider what has been said by some who have gone before me, their arguments appear to me ill-timed, and of little weight. The reasoning of those senators was altogether confined to the degree of punish- ment due to men who have conspired to levy war against their country, their parents, their altars, and their gods. But the true point in debate should be, before we think of pains and penalties, what measures ought to be pursued in order to avert calamity and ruin. Crimes of a different nature from the present are tried and condemned after the commission of the fact ; at present our business is to ward off the im- pending danger. Suffer the incendiaries to ex- ecute their purpose, and the tribunals of justice must be silent. When the city is taken by as- sault, nothing is left to the vanquished. " To you, who have always set the highest value on your splendid mansions and magnifi- cent villas ; who have been delighted with your pictures and your statues; who have had your pleasures more at heart than the interest of your country ; to you I now address myself. If you still cherish your possessions ; if, what- ever their value may be, you still wish to enjoy g 3 86 SALLUST. them, I conjure you by the immortal gods ! awake from your lethargy, and stand forward in the cause of your country. We are not now in a debate about the revenue ; the complaints and grievances of our allies are not the subject of our inquiry ; our lives and liberties are at stake ; all that is dear to us is in danger. " I have often had occasion, conscript Fathers, to deliver my sentiments in this assembly : I have often remonstrated against luxury and ava- rice, those darling passions of the time ; and by speaking my mind with freedom, I know that I have given umbrage to many. But how was I to act ? in my own conduct I have been a rigid censor of myself ; and could it be expected that I should see the transgressions of others without reproof? It is true, that my sentiments made no impression ; but the commonwealth was not in danger ; it subsisted by its own inter- nal vigour. The flourishing state of our affairs made an apology for the weakness of govern- ment. The debate at present is not about good or evil manners ; the grandeur of the Roman empire is not part of our inquiry : the question is, whether the state, such as it is, shall remain in our hands, or fall with ourselves in one com- mon ruin, a prey to our enemies ? " In such a juncture, are we to hear of mercy Catiline's conspieacy. 87 and moderation ? We have lost, for a long time have lost, the true names of things : to be lavish of the property of others, is called liberality ; to be daring in guilt, is fortitude ; and by the^e steps we are led to the brink of ruin. " Let those who approve of the reigning man- ners, pursue their error ; let them be merciful to the plunderers of the revenue ; but let them spare the effusion of our blood, and let them not, by extending mercy to a set of aban- doned culprits, involve honest men in sure de- struction. " Caesar has delivered his sentiments concern- ing life and death, and he treated the subject with force and elegance. He, it should seem, considers all we have heard about a state of fu- ture existence, as a vulgar error ; ' the places assigned to good and evil spirits are to him a mere fable ; gloomy, waste, and dreary regions, the abode of guilt and sorrow, are no part of his creed. His opinion, therefore, is, that the effects of the malefactors should be confiscated, and they themselves confined in the jails of dif- ferent municipal towns ; and this measure he re- commends, as I conceive, from an apprehension, that, if detained at Rome, they may be rescued by their accomplices, or by a mob hired for the purpose. But let me ask, is Rome the only G 4 88 SALLUST. place that harbours traitors and incendiaries ? Are not men of that stamp to be found all over Italy ? Is not the place where the authority of government is least in force, the most likely to be disturbed by tumults and insurrections ? " From these premises it follows, that Caesar's advice, if he believes that a conspiracy has been actually formed, is feeble and ineffectual : on the other hand, if, amidst the general conster- nation, he alone sees nothing to fear, that very circumstance is to me a new cause of alarm : I fear for myself, and my fellow-citizens. " For these reasons, conscript Fathers, when we pronounce sentence on Lentulus, and the rest of his faction, let us remember, that we decide the fate of Catiline and his followers. Act with vigour, and the enemy shrinks back dismayed. If you remain languid, and do not adopt the most vigorous measures, the rebels will advance upon us with redoubled fury. " jQu rancestors, it is well known, raised an infant state to a vast and flourishing empire ; but let us not imagine that this great work was accomplished by the mere force of arms. If a warlike spirit was the sole cause of our grandeur, the state at this day would be more secure and flourishing than ever. We have a larger body of citizens ; our allies are more numerous, and CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 80 our store of arms, our horses, and military pre- parations, exceed all that was known in former times. But there were other causes of their success and grandeur, and those causes exist no longer. Our ancestors were distinguished by industry at home; they administered justice abroad ; they brought with them to public de- bate firm integrity, and minds free from vice, unbiassed by passion. " What has the present age to boast of? Lux- ury and avarice form the characteristic of the times ; we have private wealth and public po- verty ; we idolize riches, and sink down in torpid indolence ; between good and bad men no distinction is made ; the rewards of virtue are the quarry of ambition. Nor can this be matter of wonder ; each individual thinks for himself only ; self-interest is the spring of his actions : at home, he leads a life of voluptuous pleasure, and in the senate, corruption and private influence warp and disgrace his con- duct. Of all this what is the consequence ? We are lulled to sleep, while our enemies are busy, active, and vigilant, to involve us all in ruin. j* " But I wave these complaints, and pass to what presses more : a conspiracy has been formed by men of illustrious rank, to lay waste gO SALLUST. the city with fire and sword. The Gauls, a people ever hostile to the Roman name, have been invited to join the league ; the rebel chief at the head of his army is near at hand, and hovers over his prey. Yet we sit here in tame debate, uncertain what course to take with par- ricides who have been seized in the heart of the city. 66 Is this a time for compassion ? indulge it, if you will ; grant a free pardon to the traitors ; they are young men, led astray by false am- bition ; release them from confinement ; let them issue forth to rally round the standard of rebellion. But let me entreat you, pause for a moment : it were false compassion, and ine- vitable ruin will be the consequence. We are now in a crisis big with danger ; and would you persuade me that you are free from appre- hension ? I know the contrary : you are all alarmed^ and yet, fluctuating in doubt, you watch each other's motions with effeminate weakness, unwilling to decide for yourselves. " You rely, perhaps, on the immortal gods, for that protection which they have extended to the commonwealth in the hour of danger. But do not deceive yourselves : the favour of Pro- vidence is not obtained by occasional vows and womanish lamentation; it is by vigilance, by the CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. Qi wisdom of councils, and by vigorous measures, that the efforts of men are crowned with suc- cess. The supplications of sloth and indolence are offered up in vain : the gods look down with indignation. u In an early period of our history, when the Gauls carried on a fierce and bloody war against the state,_Aulus Manlius Torquatus condemned his own son to death for having presumed to attac k the enemy wit hout orders. That excel- lent young man died for his excess of valour ; and in a time like this, when the guilt of un- natural traitors calls aloud for vengeance, will you linger here in doubt, undecided, wavering, and irresolute ? n Am I to be told, that the former conduct of these unhappy men pleads in their favour ? If that is your opinion, spare the dignity of Len- tulus : I consent, if he ever spared his charac- ter, his honour, or his fame ; if in any one in- stance he ever shewed the least regard for gods or men. Extend your mercy to Cethegus ; excuse the rashness of youth, if this is not the second time of his being in arms against his country. What shall I say of Gabinius, Sta- fcilius, and Ceparius ? no more than this : had they ever listened to the dictates of truth and Q2 SALLUST. honour, the crime of treason would not now be laid to their charge. cc Let me now assure you, conscript Fathers, that if I saw you in danger of nothing more than a simple error, I should willingly leave it to time to correct your judgment. But we are beset on every side ; the danger presses ; the enemy draws near ; Catiline is at your gates ; traitors lurk in the heart of the city ; you can- not deliberate in private ; your measures are known abroad ; and for all those reasons you have no time to lose. " To conclude ; since by the pernicious prac- tices of abandoned men the commonwealth is involved in danger ; since the agents in this scene of iniquity stand detected by the evidence of Titus Volturcius and the Allobrogian depu- ties, as well as their own confession ; and since it is now in proof, that they were all engaged in a black conspiracy to lay a scene of blood, of massacre, and a general conflagration, my settled opinion is, that, in conformity to ancient usage, the several malefactors, like criminals ca- pitally convicted; should be condemned to suf- fer death. M# voice is for their immediate ex- ecution." As soon as Cato concluded, all of consular rank, and, indeed, the majority of the Fathers, Catiline's conspiracy. 93 went over to his opinion. They extolled his spi- rit and greatness of soul with the warmest ap- plause*; they fell into mutual reproaches, and accused one another of pusillanimity. The house resounded with the praises of Cato, and a decree s was passed in form and substance as he proposed. — -^"K reflection occurs in this place, which may claim some attention. Thebrave exploits and upright policy of the Romans have filled the page of history. After studying that page with dili- gence, and attending to the observations of others, I was led by curiosity to inquire what were the resources of the commonwealth, and what the principles that contributed to raise and support so vast a fabric. I was aware, that with inferior armies Rome had often made head against great and powerful nations ; I knew that mighty monarchs had been obliged to yield to -the superior valour of well-disciplined forces, and- that the Roman legions were not to be sub- dued by adverse fortune. The Greeks had made the palm of eloquence their own, and the Gauls were at one time famous for a more war- like spirit. The result of my inquiries was, that the Ro- man name owes all its lustre to the patriot spirit oj La few great and eminent men, who by their virtue enabled poverty to cope with the wealth 94 SALLUST. of nations, and inferior numbers to triumph over numerous armies. But when, after a long series of success, luxury diffused its baneful influence, and the minds of men grew torpid in ease and indolence, the commonwealth by its own inward energy was still able to stand on a solid basis, firm and unshaken by the vices of her commanders abroad, and the intrigues of her magistrates at home. But the season of public virtue has declined, and for several years Rome, like a superannuated matron, did not produce one great and eminent character. Of late indeed, we have seen flourishing among us two illustrious citizens, both of the first order, adorned with superior talents, but different in their manners. The persons whom I have in view, are Marcus Cato and Caius Julius Caesar. Two such characters ought not to be passed by in silence. They naturally present themselves to the historian's observation, and since the op- portunity is so fair, I shall here endeavour, with all the skill I am master x>f, to give the pro- minent features of each *. In point of birth, age, and eloquence, they were nearly equal. Greatness of soul was the characteristic of both. They attained the sum- * See Note E. catiline's conspiracy. 95 mit of glory, but by different means. Caesar came upon mankind by acts of friendship and public munificence : Cato stood distinguished by his moral conduct, and the integrity of his life. Humanity and benevolence were the virtues of Caesar : severity of manners added dignity to the name of Cato. The former gained the affec- tions of mankind by liberal donations, by gene- rosity to his friends, and by forgiving his ene- mies ; the latter distributed no favours, and on that reserved temper founded his glory. One was the protector of the unhappy ; the other, the scourge of bad men. Caesar was admired for the facility of his manners ; Cato for his unshaken constancy. In a word, Caesar entered on a career of vigilance, of active industry, and laborious application ; he devoted his time to the interest of his friends, regardless of his own; whatever he possessed worthy of acceptance, he gave as a present ; ambition was his ruling pas- sion ; he aimed at prodigious things ; he de- sired to have the command of armies ; he con- sidered war as his element, and panted for some bright occasion, which might lay open to him the field of glory. Cato, on the other hand, was careful to observe the rules of moderation, of regular conduct, and, above all, an inflexible severity of manners. In point of riches he vied 96 SALLUST. with no man ; with the factious he entered into no competition ; an honest emulation inspired his soul ; the constant rival of the good and worthy, he struggled for the palm of courage with the brave ; in simplicity of life he con- tended with the modest, and in a constant course of virtue, with the most pure and innocent. To be, and not to seem, was his settled prin- ciple. He disregarded popularity, and his glory rose the higher. As soon as the senate concurred, as has been mentioned, with the sentiments of Cato, the con- sul thought that no time ought to be lost, and accordingly, to prevent seditious attempts during the night, which was then approaching, he or- dered the triumvirs to prepare for the immediate execution of the condemned malefactors ; he himself, having first disposed his guards at proper stations, conducted Lentulus to the prison. The praetors attended the rest of the conspirators. In the jail, as you ascend on the left hand, there is a place called the Tullian dungeon, sunk about twelve feet under ground, enclosed on all sides with strong walls, and covered over with a stone arch ; a dark and dismal vault, ex- haling a fetid stench, the last stage of guilt and misery. Lentulus was conducted to that hi- CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. Q7 tleous cavern, and there strangled by the officers of justice. Such was the dismal catastrophe of a man de- scended from an illustrious branch of the Corne- lian family, who had been invested with the con- sular dignity. He closed his days by an igno- minious death, the just retribution due to his crimes. Cethegus, Statilias, Gabinius, andCe- parius, suffered in like manner. While these transactions passed at Rome, Ca- tiline, with the forces which he had collected, and those that listed under Manlius, was able to form two legions. He allotted to each cohort as many soldiers as his numbers would allow. Afterwards, when volunteers arrived, and re- cruits were sent to the camp by his various agents, he distributed his new levies in equal proportions, and by degrees his legions had their full complement. His whole number at first did not' exceed two thousand. When his army was reinforced, not more than a fourth part was supplied with military weapons ; the rest were armed with what chance threw in their way ; some with darts, others with spears, and the rest with stakes sharpened to a point. Antonius advanced at the head of his army; but Catiline, declining an engagement, wheeled off towards the mountains, at times directing hia H 08 SALLUST. march towards Rome, and soon after shifting his route, as if determined to penetrate into Gaul. To force him to a decisive action was impossible. He flattered himself, if his adherents at Rome succeeded in their machinations, that he should soon receive a strong reinforcement. Flushed with these expectations, he resolved to reject the slaves, who from the first crowded to his standard. For this conduct he had political rea- sons : the war, he pretended, was undertaken to reform the senate, and restore the rights of the people: the cause of freedom, he thought, ought not to be dishonoured by an alliance with men of the lowest rank in society. It was not long before intelligence from Rome reached the camp. It was there known that the conspiracy was detected, and that Lent ulus, with Cethegus and the rest, had suffered death. The consequence was, that Catiline soon found him- self abandoned by a number of those ready tools of rebellion, whom the love of innovation, and a passion for plunder, had induced to follow his banners. In that posture of affairs, he thought it advisable to lead his army, by forced marches, over craggy mountains into the territory of Pis- toriurn ; and thence his plan was to wind through the defiles of the country, and find a passage into Cisalpine Gaul. catiline'S conspiracy. gg It happened^ however, that Quintus Metellus Celer,with three legions under his command, was stationed in the country near Picenum. The dif- ficulties to which Catiline was reduced, made it probable that he would endeavour to elude the Roman general. Accordingly, Metellus, in- formed by the deserters, of the march of the re- bels, moved forward without delay, and pitched his camp at the foot of the mountains, in a si- tuation that commanded the passage into Gaul. At the same time Antonius, at the head of a large army, having an open country before him, pursued by rapid marches, and hung upon the rear of the enemy. In that crisis of his affairs, Catiline found him- self enclosed, on one side by inaccessible moun- tains, and on the other hemmed in by the le- gions. He knew that his partisans were un T done, and executed at Rome ; no way for flight and no hope for succour remaining, he resolved to stand the hazard of a battle with Antonius. His plan thus settled, he drew out his army, and, to inflame their ardour, addressed them in the following manner : " lam not now to learn, my fellow- soldiers, that true courage and heroic fortitude can never be inspired by the power of words: if an army Js void of spirit ; if the men do not feel a ge- H 2 100 SALLUST. nerous impulse in their own hearts, no speech that a general can make, will rouse them to deeds of valour. Courage is the gift of nature. When it burns like an inward fire, and expands the breast, it is sure to blaze out in the field of battle. He whom neither danger nor glory can excite, will never be roused by exhortations. His fears have made him deaf to the call of honour. It is for a different purpose that I have now assembled you : I mean to give you my best instructions, and open to you the rea- sons that incline me to vigorous and decisive measures. " You have heard what a dreadful disaster the temper of Lentulus has brought upon him- self, and our glorious cause ; you know, that, being amused with hopes of a reinforcement from Rome, I lost the opportunity of marching into Gaul. I need not say any thing of our pre- sent situation ; the posture of afFairs is visible to you all. Two hostile armies are at hand ; one holds us in check on the side of Rome ; the other obstructs our march into Gaul ; to tarry longer in our present situation, even if we wished it, is not in our power. Provisions to support an army cannot be procured. Turn which way you will, you must open a passage sword in hand. CATILINE S CONSPIRACY. 101 5 rose to eminence through the several gradations of tribune, praefect, lieutenant-general, and prae- tor, having served during all the time with the highest honour. In the several stations through which he passed, he had a fair opportunity of knowing most of the veterans ; he called to mind their former conduct, and by holding to view their acts of valour, inspired them with a resolution to act in a manner worthy of them- selves. Having arranged his measures, Petreius or- dered the trumpets to sound to battle. The co- horts advanced with a slow pace in regular or- der. Catiline's soldiers did the same. As soon as the two armies drew so near, that the light-armed troops could begin the onset by a volley of darts, both sides set up a warlike shout, and rushed on to the attack. A close engagement followed. None relied on their missive wea- pons ; they fought sword in hand. The vete- rans, eager to preserve their renown in arms, advanced into the heat of the action. The re- bels received them with a steady countenance. A fierce and obstinate conflict ensued. Catiline, at the head of his light-armed infantry, shewed himself in the front of the lines ; he fought in the thickest ranks ; he succoured all that gave ground i he supplied the place of the wounded 100 SALLUS1*. with fresh soldiers; wherever the enemy pressed, he was ready to support the ranks ; he charged in person, and enacted prodigies of valour, a't once a gallant soldier and an able general. Petreius, seeing that Catiline disputed the field with more obstinacy than he at first expected, led his praetorian cohort into the thick of the battle. The rebels were thrown into disorder, and a dreadful slaughter followed. All who re- sisted were put to the sword. The Roman wings, at the same time, attacked the enemy in flank. Manlius, and the commander from Faesulae, both fighting bravely, fell in the first onset. Catiline saw his troops routed on every side, and nothing but desolation round him. Having only a handful of his followers left, he was still determined not to forget his illustrious birth, and the dignity of his rank. He rushed among the closest ranks, and, exerting himself with fury and brave despair, fell under repeated wounds. When the battle was ended, the fierce and obstinate spirit that animated Catiline's army, appeared manifest to view. The spot on which the soldier took his stand during the action, was covered with his body when he expired. A few, whom the praetorian cohort overpowered, were driven from their post, but they fell under ho- nourable wounds. Catiline was found at a dis~ Catiline's conspiracy. 107 lance from his men, amidst heaps of slain. His breath had not quite left him : the same fero- city that distinguished him when living, was still visible in his countenance. It may be further observed, that in his whole army not one free citizen was taken prisoner, . either during the battle, or after the defeat. De- termined to give no quarter, they were prodigal of their own lives. Nor could the army of the commonwealth boast of having gained a cheap victory. They paid the price of their blood. The bravest among them were either slain in the action, or carried from the field covered with wounds. Numbers went from the camp to survey the field of battle, led either by curio- sity, or in search of plunder. Employed in moving the dead bodies, they found among the slain a friend, a relative, or an intimate compa- nion. Some discovered their particular enemies stretched on the ground. The impressions made by this melancholy scene were various : mixed emotions of joy and sorrow, regret and congra- tulation, prevailed throughout the army. N THE O RATIONS OF CICERO AGAINST CATILINE. T flfc m FIRST ORATION OF CICERO AGAINST CATILINE. SPOKEN IN THE SENATE, 8TH. NOVEMBER, A. U. C. 69O *. How long, Catiline, will you dare to abuse our patience ? how long are we to be the sport of your frantic fury ? to what extremity do you mean to carry your unbridled insolence ? has the guard stationed every night on Mount Pala- tine made no impression on you ? does the watch that patroles the streets of Rome excite no alarm ? The people are covered with consterna- tion ; all honest men are of one mind ; they unite against you in every quarter : and are you not struck with terror ? not struck by this awful meeting of the Fathers, assembled, as you see, jn this place of strength and security ? behold * See Note F. 112 FIRST ORATION OP CICERO their countenances; observe the looks with which they view you : and does not your heart shrink within you ? do you not feel that your guilt is detected ? that your designs stand mani- fest to view ? that your conspiracy is defeated ? do you imagine that in this assembly there is a single person who is not aware of your proceed- ings ? who does not know what you did last nighty or on the night preceding ; where you held your convention ; who were your asso- ciates ; and what measures you concerted ? But, O degenerate times ! the senate is informed ; the consul knows every circumstance, and yet the traitor lives ! Lives, did I say ? he comes into the house ; he takes his seat among us ; he throws his eyes around, and marks every one of us for destruction : while we, brave men ! sit here in tame debate, conceiving, if we ward off the danger from ourselves, that w r e discharge our duty to our country. Your fate, Catiline, has been too long de- ferred : before this time you ought to have suf- fered death by order of the consul. The ruin which you have planned, ought long before this day to have fallen on your own head. Could that eminent Roman, Publius Scipio, when he was no more than chief pontiff, by his own pri- vate authority cut off Tiberius Gracchus, an AGAINST CATILINE* 113 enemy, indeed, to the state, but still a man who wished to alter, not to overturn the govern- ment ; and shall we, the chief magistrates, the consuls of Rome, tamely suffer the machinations of a traitor, who means with sword and fire to lay waste the Roman world ? I will not go back for ancient precedents ; I omit the example of Quintus Servilius Ahala, who with his own right arm put to death Spurius Melius, a man charged with meditating innovations in the state. There was in ancient times that energy of mind, yes, in this republic there was that patriot spirit, that could punish a domestic traitor with a weight of vengeance never inflicted on the most inve- terate foreign enemy. Even at this time we have against you, Catiline, a just and awful decree of the senate : the commonwealth is defended by prudent counsel, and in this august assembly there is ample authority ; but we, the consuls, I speak my mind with freedom, we, the consuls, are deficient in our duty. In a former period of our history, the senate ordained by a decree, that Lucius Opimius, the consul, should take care that the commonwealth received no injury. Not a single night inter- vened, when Caius Gracchus was put to death for seditious practices; that very Gracchus, who was descended from a father of distinguished 114 FIRST ORATION OF CICERO merit, from a grandfather of eminent character, and a line of illustrious ancestors. Marcus Ful- vius, a man of consular dignity, suffered in like manner: his two sons perished with him. By a similar decree, the commonwealth was committed to the two consuls, Caius Marius and Lucius Valerius : on that occasion, was the pu- nishment of Lucius Saturninus, a tribune of the people, and Caius Servilius, then one of the prae- tors, deferred for a single day : they both fell a sacrifice to the justice of their country. And yet, during the last twenty days, we, the con- suls, have suffered the authority of this assem- bly to languish in our hands. We are armed with a similar decree ; but it is with us a mere matter of record, like a sword enclosed in the scabbard. By that authority you, Catiline, have been long since condemned to death. Yon live, notwithstanding, but you live, not to re- pent of your crimes, but to cherish them in your heart, and add to your iniquity. To administer justice with mercy, conscript Fathers, is the propensity of my heart ; but in this dangerous crisis I am not willing to appear remiss ; but still, it must be acknowledged, I have remained inactive; my conscience upbraids me for it. An army has been levied: the rebels are encamped in the defiles of Etruria : their AGAINST CATILINE. H5 numbers increase every day. The commander of that army, the chief of that hostile crew, walks at large among us. We see him in the senate, bent on mischief, and meditating scenes of blood and massacre. Should I this moment, Catiline, order you to be seized, and hurried away to exe- cution, good men, I fear, would still pronounce me slow and tardy in the discharge of my duty : none would think me rigorous or vindictive. But this act of justice, which ought to have been long since performed, I choose for weighty reasons to defer for the present. You shall then be sent to execution, when there cannot be found a man so vile and profligate, so like yourself, as not to acknowledge that you deserved your fate. As long as there breathes a man hardy enough to defend your cause, I will allow you to live ; but you shall live, as you now do, encompassed by a numerous guard, whose watchful care will not suffer you to move or stir against your coun- try. The eyes of men, when you little suspect it, will be fixed upon you, and their ears will be ready to catch each treasonable word that you shall dare to utter. Thus situated, Catiline, what have you to ex- pect ? The gloom of night cannot conceal your fell designs ; the walls of your own house are not thick enough to enclose the voice of treason ; i 2 J l6 FIRST ORATION OF CICERO every syllable is heard ; your dark complottings. all transpire. Then take my advice ; renounce your frantic projects ; think no more of massacre and ruin. You are hemmed in on every side ; your designs are seen in open daylight. To con- vince you, I will give you a detail of the whole : You may remember what passed in the senate on the twelfth before the calends of November : on that occasion, I declared aloud, that on a certain day the standard of rebellion would be reared. I even named the day, the '27 th of Oc- tober : I gave notice, that on that day, Caius Manlius, your accomplice, your general officer, would be in open arms. Was I a false pro- phet ?. did I not foretell that horrible event ? what is more, did I not fix the very day ? But this is not all : I declared to the Fathers, that the 28th of the same month was the day fixed by yourself for a general massacre of the most eminent citizens : Rome was to be made a theatre of blood and horror. On that day, a considerable number of the most illustrious men withdrew from the city, not so much to avoid your band of assassins, as to defeat your execrable project. Can you deny, that on that day you was closely besieged by a guard under my direction ? that by my vigilance all your measures were defeated ? When you found that numbers had withdrawn AGAINST CATILINE. 117 from the reach of your poniards, what was your declaration ? the men, you said, who made their escape, were of no consequence, provided that I, who kept my post in the city, fell a vic- tim to your fury. Nay more ; your design against Praeneste was to be carried into execu- tion on the calends of November ; in the dead o( night that fortress was to be- taken by as- sault ; but you found all your measures counter- acted. By my orders the garrison secured the colony. You do nothing, you form no plan, you harbour no design, but I hear, I see, I dis- cover all. Let us now review the transactions of last night. A true state of the facts will convince you, that I am more active to save the common- wealth, than you to destroy it. Where was you last night ? I will tell you, and I will name the place : you were at the house of Marcus Lecca, in consultation with your accomplices. Do you deny it? why that sullen silence? the proof is in my power : I now see in this assembly men of senatorian rank, who are leagued with you in your frantic schemes ; they attended your mid- night council. Immortal, gods ! where are we ? in what city do we reside ? of what republic are we members ? Here, conscript Fathers, here in this very house, I 3 ll& 'first oration op cicjkro in this great council of the commonwealth, in this august assembly, the most venerable on the" face of the globe, here in a Roman senate, we have among us a lurking band of traitors, who have resolved on the murder of your consul ; who have conspired against you all ; who have planned the ruin of this city, and, by conse- quence, of the Roman world, I see the men now before me ; in the character of consul I be- hold them ; I am to collect their votes in this debate; and, when I ought to send them to the sword of justice, I forbear to mention their names. But my business, Catiline, is with you : you were last night at the house of Lecca ; you fixed your stations in different parts of Italy ; you or- dered your emissaries to their several posts ; you selected some to be left at Rome, and others to attend you to the camp ; you marked out the quarter of the city where the conflagration was to begin ; you declared your intention to join your army, but your journey was to be deferred, because I was still alive. In that moment it was found that there existed two Roman knights ready to bear the assassin's dagger. They un- dertook to relieve you from your anxiety ; they promised before the dawn of day to poniard me in my bed. Your assembly was scarce dissolved AGAINST CATILINE. *'. 119 when I was informed of all. I strengthened my guards ; I secured my house ; your assassins came, and were refused admittance. They were the very men whose names I had mentioned to several illustrious citizens, with all the particu- lars of their insidious visit, and the very hour when their black design was to be executed. Things standing thus, what hinders you, Ca- tiline, from pursuing your original plan ? pro- ceed as you intended ; leave the city ; the gates are open to you; begin your journey. The Man lian camp has been too long held in suspense; your soldiers expect their general ; take with you your whole band of conspirators ; if not all, take the greatest part, and let Rome disgorge the cankers of her peace : you will deliver me from my fears ; a wall between us will be a suf- ficient safeguard. You cannot remain among us ; I will not bear it ; I will not suffer it ; I will not allow it. Immortal gods ! the thanks of a whole people are due to you ; and chiefly to thee, Jupiter Stator, in whose temple we now are : to thee, thou ancient guardian of the state, our vows and supplications ought now to ascend ; to thee we owe it, that on so many occasions we have escaped the fury of this worst of enemies, this most pernicious citizen, this monster of iniquity. I 4 120 FIRST ORATION OP CICERO But it is now time to close this scene of terror. The commonwealth must not be for ever ex- posed to the machinations of one desperate traitor. . Before I entered on the high office which I hold ; when I was no more than consul elect, I was well aware, Catiline, of your designs against my life ; but I was able by my own vigilance, without calling on the public for protection, to ward off every danger. At the last election of consuls for the ensuing year, I was doomed, with the candidates that opposed you, to bleed in the field of Mars ; but even then I raised no alarm ; the assistance of my friends was sufficient to de- feat your horrid purpose. In a word, as often as your poniard was aimed at me, I stood alone in opposition to your fury, though I clearly saw that my life was interwoven with the public safety. Your blow at present is levelled at the vitals of the commonwealth ; the temples of our gods, the mansions of the people, and the lives of our fellow-citizens, are doomed to destruc- tion ; all Italy is to be laid waste, and the whole country to be a scene of desolation. And yet even now, in- this awful crisis, I am not willing to enforce the laws established by ancient usage, and the spirit of the constitution. Another expedient presents itself, less severe AGAINST CATILINE. 12V to the criminal, but more conducive to the pub- lic safety. Were I to pronounce judgment of death, the execution of one man would not re- move the rest of the traitors, who still continue to lurk among us. If you, Catiline, proceed on your intended journey, the whole crew of your adherents will issue forth, and purge the city. Do you hesitate ? can you refuse to exe- cute by my orders what was your own precon- certed plan ? the consul commands an enemy to retire ; you ask me, must you go into banish- ment ? I do not order it ; but, if you want to know my opinion, I advise it. What attraction can you find at present ? what allurement can detain you in this city ? If we ex- cept your own abandoned followers, is there to be found a man who does not live in dread of you ? who does not behold you with detestation ? is there a vice with which you are not branded ? no new note of infamy can be added to your name ; your eyes are deformed by libidinous passions ; your hands are red with murder ; your body is stained with pollution. In the number of young men whom your seducing arts have added to your train, is there one whose hand you have not armed with a dagger ? is there one whose passions you have not inflamed, and pan- dered for his lust ? i*22 FIRST ORATIOX OF CICERO J$ay more ; when lately, upon the death of your former wife, you cleared your house to mate way for a second bride, did you not add to that foul proceeding a crime of the most atro- cious dye, and fill the measure of your guilt ? but I draw a veil over that transaction : I am willing to consign it to oblivion, lest it should be known hereafter that so horrible a deed was perpetrated in this city, or, being perpetrated, that it passed with impunity. I say nothing of your ruined fortunes ; the ensuing ides will crush you with a load of debt. I pass over the infamy of your private life, your enormous vices^ your flagitious practices : I proceed to what is of more importance, the public safety, the in- terest of all good men, and the very existence of the commonwealth. For let me ask you, can you within the walls of Rome enjoy the light of the sun ? can you with pleasure breathe the vital air, when you re- fleet that there is not one among us who does not know, that on the last day of December, when Lepidus and Tullus were on the eve of closing their consulship, you carried with you to an assembly of the people a concealed dagger ; that you were attended by a band of rufHans, ready by your orders to imbrue their hands in the blood of the consuls and the first men in AGAINST CATILINE. 123 Rome ? It is true, that this execrable plot mis- carried, not because you repented; not be- cause you was capable of fear or remorse : the guardian genius of Rome prevented a general massacre. I will not dwell on this subject : the facts are well known, and there are others of a recent date. How often have your snares be!en laid for me, not only when I was consul elect, but since I entered on the magistracy ? your poniard has been often aimed at me in a direction that seemed inevitable, but I escaped the danger by shifting my ground, or, in the gladiator's phrase, by a new posture. There is nothing you can plan, nothing you can undertake, no- thing you can attempt, that does not come di- rectly to my knowledge ; and yet your invention is not exhausted, your courage is not alarmed, your obstinacy is not fatigued. How often has your dagger been wrested out of your hand ; how often has it fallen useless to the ground ? and yet you are not disarmed : to what infernal god, and by what rites, you have dedicated your poniard, I do not know ; but you cherish it as a consecrated weapon, never to be laid aside till you have sheathed it in the heart of a consul. In your present condition, is yours a life that any man would choose to lead ? I now address 3 24 FIRST ORATION OP CICERO you, not in the tone of indignation, which your guilt has provoked, but in the language of com- passion, to which you have forfeited every claim. You chose this day to shew yourself in the. se- nate. When you entered the house, who in this assembly acknowledged you ? who among your numerous friends and relations rose to sa- lute you ? If such a reception is without a pre- cedent ; if in the memory of man no instance of the kind has happened, need I exalt my voice, when the awful silence of the Fathers has more emphatically condemned you ? When you came forward, those benches were deserted ; when you took your seat, the senators of consular rank, for whose blood your dagger had long been thirsting, all rose at once, and left a void on that side of the house. What are now the sen- sations of your heart? By heaven, if my do- mestic slaves had as good reason to fear me, as every honest man has to hold you in detestation, I should abandon my house ; and will you pre- sume to remain in the city ? Let me tell you more : were it my misfortune, even without just cause, to be abhorred by my fellow-citizens, I should remove to a distant scene, rather than stay among them, to bear the glance of re- sentment, and the scowling eye of suspicion. And will you, whose conscience in bitter ac- AGAINST CATILINE. 125 cents tells you that you have incurred the public hatred ; will you, I say, remain at Rome ? will you by your presence wound the eyes of men, whose indignation your crimes have already pro- voked ? If your parents lived in dread of you ; if they beheld you with a degree of aversion, which, no- thing could appease, you would in that case, I have no doubt, retire and shun their sight. At present your country, the common parent of us all, fears and detests you ; she considers you as the worst of parricides, a pernicious traitor, who have long been brooding over scenes of blood and desolation : and will you not respect her au- thority ? not submit to her judgment ? not yield to her lawful power ? Her very silence is eloquent, and thus she reasons with you : " There has not been for several- years a crime or a flagitious deed committed without your participation : yours was the head to plan, or yours the hand to execute. Your sword has been glutted with the blood of Roman citizens ; the provinces have been plundered by your ra- pacity ; and yet all, all has passed without so much as an inquiry into your conduct ; as if you had a privilege to be a villain with impu- nity. By you the tribunals of justice have been 12(3 .FIRST ORATION OP CICERO silenced ; by you the laws have been abolished. Those grievances called aloud for redress, and yet I endured them all. But to be for ever in dread of your horrible designs ; in every sudden commotion to start and tremble at the name of Catiline ; in every treason to find you the grand contriver of all; it is more than I can bear; ihese repeated alarms are insupportable. I command you, therefore, to retire ; depart from the city, and appease my fears ; if they are well founded, that I may avoid calamity and ruin ; if false, that I may cease to live in misery." Such is the language of your country : and ought not her sacred voice, even if she had not power to enforce it, to have due weight with you ; with you, who have offered to surrender yourself a voluntary prisoner ? To remove all cause of suspicion, you were willing to commit yourself to the custody of Marcus Lepidus ; re- jected by him, - you had the hardiness to address yourself to me ; you petitioned to be a prisoner in my house : and what was my answer ? I told you, that not thinking myself safe within the walls of the same city, I would not live under one roof with you. You then applied to Quin- tus Metellus, the praetor, and, meeting with a repulse, you had recourse to your friend Mar- cus Marcellus, persuaded, as we may suppose,. AGAINST CATILINE. 1^7 that he would have vigilance to watch your mo- tions, sagacity to discover your secret machina- tions, and resolution to oppose your projects. And now I desire to know, when a man has confessed that he ought not to be suffered to go at large, is it not high time to send him loaded with fetters to a dungeon ? This, Catiline, is the state to which you have reduced yourself: and since you cannot with any degree of comfort reside any longer among us, will it not be prudent to seek some foreign land, where you may hide your head in solitude, and protract a life, which has been long since for- feited to the justice of your country ? To this you answer, " Move the question ; put it to the vote of the Fathers ; and if they order you into banishment, you are ready to obey their decree.'* I will make no such motion ; it is contrary to my way of thinking. But still you shall know the sentiments of this assembly : " Go, Catiline, withdraw from the city of Rome ; go, an^ deliver us from our fears ; depart at once, and, if you expect the word, go into banishment" How ! do you hesitate ? Observe the solemn taciturnity of this august assembly ; the Fathers hear me ; they are silent ; they acquiesce. Do you expect the form of words ? their consent emphatically condemns you. - 4 128 FIRST ORATION OF CICERO Were my discourse directed in the same strain to that excellent youth, Publius Sextius, or to that illustrious citizen, Marcus Marcellus, the Fathers would revolt against such presumption, and even in this temple, forgetting the sanctity of the place, rise in a body against their consul. With regard to you, Catiline, they are impressed with very different sentiments ; while they re- main quiet, they approve ; while they hear me with patience, they decree ; while they are si- lent, they proclaim aloud. You perceive the sentiments of this illustrious order, whose authority you affect to reverence, while your poniard thirsts for their blood. But it is not here alone that you stand condemned : the Roman knights, a brave and generous band, and those worthy citizens who guard the avenues of the temple, are all of one mind. You have seen their numbers, and their ardour in the cause of their country : you heard their ac- clamations. . It is with difficulty that I have re- strained them from an act of immediate j ustice ; but they are still under my influence ; leave the city, and I will answer that they shall conduct you to the gates. But wherefore do I thus expostulate with you ? -That you should change your purpose, and retire to solitude, is more than I have reason to AGAINST CATILINE. 12Q expect. May the gods inspire you with such a resolution ! As to myself, should you take my advice, and go into voluntary exile, I know that a storm of ill-will and calumny will be ready to burst upon me ; not, perhaps, in the present juncture, while the public mind still glows with indignation, but in some future period, when no sense of danger remaining, resentment shall have spent its force. Be the consequence what it may, let the constitution stand, I am pre- pared for the worst calamity. But that your conscience should reproach you ; that you should bend to the authority of the laws ; that you should relent in favour of your country ; these are things foreign to your heart. You are not the man whom a sense of honour can reform, whom danger can deter, whom reason can re- claim from madness. • And yet I repeat my advice ; go forth, and quit the city. If I am r as you frequently de- clare, your implacable enemy, go into voluntary exile, and by that step revenge your cause. If you comply, a load of obloquy will fall on me ; when the public are informed, that the consul drove yon into banishment, the clamour will be loud and violent. But if you rather choose to add new glory to my name, go with the dregs and refuse of your desperate gang ; proceed to 3 30 FIRST ORATION OP CfCERO the Manlian camp ; muster all your forces ; re- nounce the society of honest men ; declare an impious war against your country ; let Italy be deluged with blood, and shew yourself in your true colours, not as a man cast out by the con- sul, but a rebel chief invited by his crew of in- cendiaries. But wherefore do I recommend this measure ? you have already taken your resolution ; you have sent forward an armed force to meet you at the village called Forum Aurelium. I know that you have fixed your day with Manlius ; I know that you have sent forward your silver eagle, which, I trust, will prove fatal to you and yours ; that boasted eagle, to which you raised, an altar, and offered impious rites in your sacri- legious chapel. Follow it ; you cannot live without it ; it was the idol of your superstitious worship as often as you went on a desperate en- terprise. The same hand that offered incense to your new divinity, was in a short time red with the blood of your fellow-citizens. I know you will pursue your intended plan ; you will go where your frantic fury leads the way : you leave nothing here to regret ; your enterprise will be the delight of your heart. Wild commotion is your element ; your nature formed you for it ; your inclination trained you AGAINST CATILItfE. 131 to it ; your fate has reserved you for it. Neither repose, nor even war, could minister to your pleasure, unless they were both endeared by a mixture of guilt and horror. At length your utmost wish is gratified ; you have an army made up of the scum of Rome and Italy ; a set of wretches reduced to beggary, and destitute of hope. What a scene of delight for a mind like yours ! In that society you may exult with joy and rapture, unmolested by the appearance of a single virtue, without so much as one honest man to grate your ear ; not one to shock your sight. The labours of your life, those fa- mous labours for which your name is so much celebrated, have prepared and hardened you for your present undertaking. You have been in the habit of lying on the bare ground, some- times to commit a rape, at others to wait in am- bush for your prey, to take advantage of an unsuspecting husband, or to plunder your neighbour. Your present enterprise will call forth all your boasted vigour ; your patience of cold, of hunger, and want of every kind. But your fortitude, I trust, will soon be conquered. The victory which I gained, by defeating your hopes of the consulship, has this advantage ; in the character of consul you will not be able to oppress your country ; your project must be the K 1 132 FIRST ORATION OP CICERO frantic effort of a man proscribed. It cannot be called a war; it will be the desperate attempt of a robber and a murderer. Permit me now, conscript Fathers, to obviate the complaints which may be urged against me. I request your serious attention ; hear my senti- ments, and give them a place in your memory. I will suppose my country, which I hold dearer than my life ; I will suppose all Italy and the commonwealth, all with one voice accosting me in terms like these : " Review your conduct, Marcus Tullius, and consider well the part you now are acting. You have before you a man, whom you know to be a public enemy ; who is preparing to take the field at the head of hostile numbers ; who is hourly expected in the camp to take upon him the command ; a man who planned the black conspiracy ; who designs to raise an insurrection of the slaves, and invites a crew of abandoned citizens to his standard : and will you permit the traitor to go forth unmolested, not as if ex- pelled from the city, but sent to return in force, and take it by assault ? will you not rather seize his person, load him with irons, and order him to instant execution, a victim to the justice of his country ? Say, what is your motive ? what restrains you ? you cannot plead ancient AGAINST CATILINE. 133 usage ; traitors, it is well known, have been often put to death, even by private citizens, without the sanction of public authority. The laws, that regulate the punishment of Roman citizens, afford you no apology ; a traitor has no rights ; he is no longer a citizen. Do you dread the reproaches of posterity ? that excuse will ill become a new man, who brought with him no credentials from his ancestors, but by his own genius forced himself into notice ; who has passed with a rapid progress through the gradations of the magistracy, and by" the suf- frages of the people has been raised to the highest office in the state. And will you, after so many favours conferred upon you, will you now shrink from the cause of your country ? shall the fear of censure, or of danger, alienate your heart from the commonwealth ? it were the worst in- gratitude. If fear is to operate, which do you think is most to be dreaded, reproach for cowardice, or censure for magnanimity ? When Italy is laid waste ; when her cities are taken by storm ; when her temples and mansions are wrapt in flames ; it is then your danger will be- gin ; it is then that the clamours of mankind will be loud against you." To those complaints of my country,- to her sacred voice, and to all who reason in the same k 3 134 FIRST ORATION OF CIGERO way, my answer shall be short. If I could per- suade myself, conscript Fathers, that the death of Catiline would close the scene, that impious gladiator should not live an hour. If the illus- trious characters of a former day were not dis- graced, but, on the contrary, honoured and ennobled for the spirit that dared to shed the blood of Saturninus, of Flaccus, and the Gracchi, with many others recorded in history ; with that precedent before me, I could have no reason to fear, that for the execution of a traitor and a parricide I should stand condemned by the voice of posterity. But let me add, were the severest censure to be the certain consequence, it has ever been my settled opinion, that reproach, when earned by virtue, is not reproach, but the truest glory. Yet even now, in this very assembly, there are senators, and those not a few, who do not see the impending danger ; or, seeing it, think proper to disguise their sentiments. By specious moderation they have pampered the hopes of Catiline, and, affecting to think my fears no more than a false alarm, they favoured the con- spiracy in its birth. By their example numbers have been influenced ; the evil-minded raised a spirit of discontent, and the weak joined in the clamour. All of that description would be ready AGAINST CATILINE. 135 to pronounce the death of Catiline the act of a violent and arbitrary consul. But, should the traitor pursue his design, and join Manlius in his camp, it will then be evident that treason has been at work. There will be none so blind as not to perceive it ; no man so profligate as not to acknowledge it. Were I to pronounce judgment of death, what advantage could accrue to the state ? by that measure the conspiracy would be suppressed, not radically cured. But now, should Catiline rush into open war ; should he order his crew of ad- herents to follow in his train ; should he draw to his camp a general conflux of the vile and profligate, we shall be able in that case, not only to crush his frantic insurrection, but the very roots of discord will be torn up ; the seed* plots of rebellion will be destroyed. The conspiracy, conscript Fathers, has grown by degrees to its present maturity ; but by what fatality the whole collected force of guilt, and rage, and madness, has been reserved for my consulship, it is impossible for me to decide. This, however, is certain ; were ^he leading traitor cut off from that detestable league, our wounds might seem to be bound up, but they w r ould be bound up to open again, and bleed afresh. The poison would be left ranging in K 4 136 FIRST ORATION OP CICERO the vitals of the commonwealth. As men in a fever seem by a draught of water to allay the violence of their disorder, but soon find it more inflamed than ever ; so the danger that threatens the state might subside for a short interval, soon to break out again with redoubled fury. For these reasons, conscript Fathers, let the evil-minded depart at once ; let them separate themselves from honest men ; let them appear in open arms ; let the walls of Rome divide us ; let them cease to besiege your consul in his own house ; to surround the tribunals of jus- tice with a band of ruffians ; let them no longer invest the senate with their armed assassins, and prepare their combustibles for a general confla- gration ; in a word, let the public mind be known, and let the sentiments and wishes of all upright citizens be legible in their countenances. Thus much, conscript Fathers, I will venture to promise ; you may rely upon the vigilance of your consuls : with the authority of this order, with the zeal and activity of the Roman knights, v/ith the spirit of union that pervades and ani- mates all honest men, I here undertake, that, as soon as Catiline shall retire, the whole of his impious project shall be laid open, exposed to public view, confounded, and duly punished. Fpr these reasons, Catiline, I once more warn AGAINST CATILINE. ] 37 you to withdraw ; go with these sure presages of public peace and security ; with these omens of ruin to your cause, and the total overthrow of your desperate partisans; go forth at once, proceed to your camp, and wage an impious war against your country. And thou, O Jupiter ! whose religious rites were established by Romulus, coeval with the foundation of Rome ; thou, whom we truly call Stator, the prop and preserver of the constitu- tion ; thou, our guardian deity ! thou wilt drive this traitor from thy sacred altars ; from the temples of the gods ; from the walls of Rome ; from the lives and fortunes of the people ; and let thy awful justice fall on the enemies of all good men, on the plunderers of Italy, on the detestable crew who are now combined in an im- pious league against their country ; exterminate the whole race, and in this world and the next pursue them with eternal vengeance. THE SECOND ORATION OF CICERO AGAINST CATILINE. DELIVERED BEFORE AN ASSEMBLY OF THE PEOPLE, 9TH NOVEMBER, A. U. C. 6Q0 *• At length, my fellow-citizens, Lucius Cati- line, that nefarious traitor, burning with frantic fury, breathing vengeance and destruction ; that public enemy, who meditated the ruin of his country, and threatened this city with sword and fire ; that monster of iniquity, has sounded his retreat. We have expelled him, or dis- # missed him, or with the language of indignation have pursued him to the gates. He is gone ; he is fled ; he has escaped ; he has disappeared. That prodigy of wickedness is no longer har- boured within .the walls which he meant to level with the ground. The ringleader of rebellion * See Note G. SECOND ORATION OP CICERO. 13Q has yielded without resistance. In the field of Mars, in the forum, in the senate, his dagger will be no longer pointed at our breasts. We shall now be safe in our houses. When he left the city, he fled from his post. We are now at open war with him. When we drove him from his secret machinations, we ruined the man, and obtained a complete victory. What think you are his reflections now ? he is gone in misery of heart, lamenting that he did not carry with him a poniard stained with blood ; that we were able to wrest his sword out of his hand ; that he had not time to execute a general massacre, and leave the city smoking on the ground. These were the thoughts that distracted him. His cause is ruined ; his hopes are blasted ; he looks back to the city of Rome, and with a malignant eye surveys the walls which he hoped to level in the dust. But the city has discharged a pestilence, and now enjoys her triumph. If in this great audience there is a man, who feels, as I hope all do, the love of his country warm at his heart, and if that person condemns my conduct as too remiss, convinced in his own mind, that, instead of conniving at the escape of a traitor, I ought to have secured his person ; my answer is, the measure I pursued is not to be imputed to me, but to the times. It is true, 140 SECOND ORATION OP CICERO that such atrocious guilt deserved the severest sentence ; the practice of our ancestors, the spirit of the laws, and the interests of the com- monwealth, called aloud for vengeance ; but if Catiline had suffered death, how many do you think would have been ready to declare him in- nocent ? how many through weakness would have espoused his cause ; how many through wickedness, and with the worst motives, would have stood forth to vindicate his character, and pronounce him an injured man ? Believe me, my fellow-citizens, that if I had reason to think that by Catiline's death I could extinguish the flame of civil discord, the traitor should not have survived to disturb the com- monwealth. Neither the fear of censure, nor a regard for my own life, should have restrained the hand of justice. In your cause I was will- ing to hazard all. But had I acted with due rigour, what would have been the consequence? The proofs of Catiline's guilt were not before you, and, in that case, the malice of my ene- mies would have put it out of my power to ar- raign his accomplices. At present, things are brought to this issue : your enemy has reared his standard, and you now may meet him at the Jiead of his lines. In his present situation, he is not in force to AGAINST CATILINE. l4l give us any kind of alarm ; so far from it, that nothing grieves me so much as the slender train of followers that attended him. Would he had taken with him his whole crew of incendiaries 1 he has indeed released me from Tongillus, who in his youth was the favourite object of his master's unnatural passions; he has removed Publicius and Munatius, two profligate men, whose tavern -bills would have overwhelmed them both in ruin. "Without disturbing the public peace, they might have passed away : but who are the men whom he has left in the heart of the city ? they are oppressed with a load of debts ; and yet how great their influence ! how strong their party, and how powerful their con- nexions ! But, my fellow-citizens, when I consider the legions from Gaul, and the levies raised by Quin- tus Metellus in the territory of Picenum and the adjacent country, the force of the rebels dwindles into nothing. Their army consists of men droop- ing in years, and driven to despair ; of peasants ruined by idleness and debauchery ; of a wretched crew of bankrupts, who would rather fly from their bail than from the camp. To put them to the rout, the sword of the Roman legions is by no means necessary ; shew them the praetor's 142 SECOND ORATION OF CiCE&O Warrant, and that object of terror will disperse them all. Catiline has taken with him the dregs and re- fuse of his party : I wish he had selected the men who figure in the forum ; who gather in crowds round the senate- house, and even enter that au- gust assembly ; who anoint their persons with rich perfumes, and flutter about in purple pride ; I wish he had led forth all of that description. Should they remain here, it is not in the Man- Iian camp that we are to look for our most dan- gerous enemies ; they are here at Rome, in the heart of the city ; the deserters from the army are the traitors to be dreaded, and the more so, because they know that I am apprised of all their motions, and yet abate nothing of their auda- city. I perfectly well know their posts and sta- tions ; I know who is to command in Apulia ; to whom Etruria is allotted ; who is to act in the territory of Picenum ; who in Cisalpine Gaul; and who are commissioned to lay waste the city. These men are aware that I have learned by sure intelligence all that passed at their last nocturnal meeting. Yesterday I laid open the whole conspiracy to the senate : Catiline was struck with terror ; he betook himself to flight. Why do his accomplices linger here ? what hope can they entertain ? what do they expect ? if AGAINST CATILINE. 143 they imagine that the lenity which I have hi- therto shewn, is to govern my future conduct, they will find themselves in a fatal error. One main object I had in view, and in that I have succeeded : it is now evident thajt I have not raised a false alarm ; it is evident that a conspi- racy was actually formed ; it is evident that the men who are linked with Catiline in every vice, are also leagued with him in his treasonable practices. There is now no room for gentle measures; the time demands the utmost rigour. One concession, and one only, I am willing to grant to the traitors still lurking among us ; let them follow their leader ; let them issue forth at once, and not leave their chief to mourn the absence of his friends. I will point out the way they are to take : their master has chosen the Aurelian road ; if they travel with expedition, they will overtake him before night. When the city has vomited forth that horde of traitors, I shall think the commonwealth re- generated : by the expulsion of Catiline alone she seemed to recover health and vigour. For let me ask, is there a vile flagitious deed of which he was not capable ? can the heart of man conceive a crime that has not been familiar to a mind like his ? is there in Italy a villain prac- tised in the trade of poison ; is there a gladiator, 144 SECOND ORATION OF CICERO a robber, or a murderer ; is there a parricide^ & forger of deeds, a notorious cheat, a lewd adul- terer, a ruffian, or an assassin, with whom that monster has not lived in the closest intimacy ? Is there an abandoned strumpet, a corrupter of youth, a felon, or a profligate wretch of any kind, who has not been his bosom friend ? What murder has been committed without his assistance ? what rape, in which he was not either principal or accessary ? who has ever had such various talents, so many arts of seduction ? He gratified his own unnatural passions, and he pimped for his favourites. He inveigled some young men by the baits of pleasure, and some by the murder of their parents j ever ready with a head to conceive, and a hand to execute any mischief Hence the number of desperate ad- venturers, whom in a short time he has mustered together, not only from Rome, but from every part of Italy. There is not a bankrupt in this great city, or throughout the country, whom he has not drawn into the vortex of his desperate politics. There never was a character composed of such various elements, such opposite and almost in-* compatible qualities. Choose in the schools and public spectacles a gladiator of a bold and daring spirit : he is Catiline's intimate friend. Is there 2 AGAINST CATILINE. 145 on the public stage a comedian of loose and profligate manners ? his vices have recommended him to the esteem of Catiline. Though dis- solved in luxury amidst his scenes of pleasure and voluptuous riot, this same man, with won- derful patience, could endure hunger and thirst, and cold, and midnight vigils. For this bodily vigour he has been celebrated by his adherents. The truth is, Catiline abused the gifts of na- ture : he possessed the powers that lead to in- dustry and virtue, but he devoted them to vice and infamy. If his whole crew had followed him, if Rome had disembogued the whole gang, I should then have been able to pronounce you free from danger, and to enjoy the glory of a fortunate consulship. , But vice has gone on with giant strides ; the passions of men know no bounds ; their crimes are monstrous, and no longer to be endured. They think of nothing but rapine, murder, and desolation. They have consumed their patri- mony ; their fortunes are wasted ; they have neither money nor credit ; and yet, when the means have failed, they still retain a rage for riot and debauchery. But if debauchery and the gratification of inordinate desires had been their only object, they might still deserve some 146 SECOND ORATION OF CICERO lenity ; their gaming-tables, their banquets, and their harlots might be in some degree forgiven : the men, it is true, would have been lost to every virtue, but the commonwealth would have been safe. The case is now very different : that cowards should lie in ambush for the brave; that fools should lay snares for the wise and good ; that sots and drunkards should plot against the sober, and sluggards combine against the vigi- lant ; this who can bear ? And it is by such des- picable traitors that the city is thrown into con- sternation; by a set of abandoned wretches, loll- ing at ease on their convivial couches, caressing their strumpets, intoxicated with liquor, crowned with garlands, sweetened with perfumes, and enervated by their vicious pleasures. Men of that description take upon them to reform the state ; over their cups they disgorge their trea- sonable designs, and in bitter execrations devote us all to destruction. But their own fate, I trust, is now approach- ng : their hour draws nigh, and they will shortly pay the forfeit of their crimes. Though my con- sulship has not the power to work a reformation, yet by exterminating the whole seditious crew I shall be able to heal our wounds ; and from that asra the commonwealth will be revived, not for a short interval, but for ages to come. A prospect AGAINST CATILINE. 147 of uninterrupted tranquillity lies before us : no foreign nation gives us jealousy ; nor is there a king who can venture to stand the hazard of a war. By the virtue and warlike genius of one commander, peace is established by sea and land. Our only danger is at home ; treason lurks within our walls ; the enemy is in the heart of the city. Luxury, viliany, and madness, are the foes we are to encounter. In such a war, my fellow- citizens, I offer to be your leader. The ma- lice of desperate men has no terror for me. Whatever admits a remedy, my care shall heal it. What is unsound shall be cut away, not suffered to rankle in the veins of the common- wealth. Let our enemies, therefore, depart in time ; or, if they will remain among us, let them remain in peace. By wilful obstinacy they are sure to provoke the vengeance due to their crimes. It has been said, and you no doubt have heard, that Catiline is banished by my order. My an- swer is, if a word from me could bring about such an event, I should, without hesitation, banish the authors of that report. According to them, Catiline is a man of timid modesty ; the consul's voice was too much for his tender, frame ; he heard the word of command, and obeyed it. But how stands the fact ? Yesterday l 2 148 SECOND OBATION OF CICERO morning, having narrowly escaped the danger of the assassins, who came to murder me in my bed, I convened the senate in the temple of Ju- piter Stator, and before that august assembly laid open the whole conspiracy. Catiline came to the meeting : not one senator rose to salute him. All eyes were fixed upon him ; all beheld him, I will not say, as a bad citizen, but as a public enemy, and the worst of traitors. As he advanced to take his seat, the principal senators rose at once, and left the benches empty. In that moment I rose to speak my sentiments. The cruel and overbearing consul, who" by a single word can send a Roman citizen into exile, addressed himself to Catiline. I asked him, whether he had not held a midnight meeting at the house of Marcus Lecca ? Intrepid as he is, his courage failed him ; the power of conscience was too great ; he made no answer. I proceeded to give the Fathers a detail of the facts ; I stated the transactions of that night, the places he vi- sited, the business reserved for the following night, and the whole plan of his warlike prepa- rations. He was abashed, confounded, unable to utter a word. I desired to know what de- tained him from the place to which he had long since resolved to go ? I told him that I knew every circumstance ; I knew that he had sent AGAINST CATILINE. 149 forward a quantity of arms, the axis, the fasces, trumpets, colours, and standards, with that silver eagle, to which, as to a divinity, he had con- secrated a place of worship in his house. And am I now to be told, that the man who was going to put himself at the head of his rash levied numbers, was banished by my order ? Are we to believe that Manlius, the centurion, who has pitched his camp near Fesulae *, has presumed in his own name to declare war against the Roman people ? are we to believe that Cati- line is not expected in the camp ? are we to sup- pose, that, being driven into banishment, the unhappy man intends to retire to Marseilles, and there fix his place of residence ? In this medley of reports, what a weight of care falls to the lot of him who undertakes to con- duct your affairs ! how hard the task not only of guiding the helm, but, what is more, of pre- venting a total wreck ! Should Catiline, finding himself disabled by my diligence, my councils, my unremitting labours, be struck with sudden terror, and in that state of mind change his purpose, abandon his accomplices, and renounce his frantic purpose; should he turn from the road that leads to the camp, and seek a quiet * Fesulae, now Fiesoli, a city in Tuscany. S. 3 150 SECOND ORATION OP CICERO retreat in some distant place ; what will then be my situation ? what will be the cry of the day ? not that he was disarmed, defeated, driven to despair by my vigilance, my unceasing labours, but that an innocent man, unheard and uncon- demned, was hurried into banishment by the ar- bitrary will of an imperious consul. Numbers will be ready to espouse his cause ; to declare that there was no conspiracy; to pronounce Ca- tiline an innocent, an oppressed, an injured man, and the consul a cruel and implacable tyrant. I am prepared, my fellow-citizens, to meet this load of calumny ; I can bear it all, if at that price I deliver you from the impending danger. Let it be reported that by my authority he was driven into exile : if he goes thither, I am satis- fied. But believe me, he has no such design. For the sake of justifying my conduct, I am in- capable of forming a wish that you may hear of him at the head of a rebel army : and yet within three days that news will reach you. It will then be no longer matter of obloquy, that he was banished by my order : men will change their tone, and the reproach will be, that I suf- fered him to escape. But since there are those, who in the present state of things make an outcry about banish- 4 AGAINST CATILINE. 151 ment, what would be their language had Catiline been put to death ? When they tell us that he is gone to seek a retreat at Marseilles, they do not believe the story. They speak their fears, and not their wishes. In the whole number of those who treat his name with so much tender- ness, there is not one that would be glad to shelter him in safety at Marseilles ; they hope to hear of him in the Manlian camp. Even he himself, if he had not set out with a premedi- tated design, would scorn to lead a quiet and inglorious life : he would rather die in his vo- cation, and perish as a robber and a traitor. As matters stand at present, all his projects, ex- cept that of general massacre, have succeeded to his wish : then why complain that he is banished ? that event were the best that could happen. But enough has been said of a single enemy ; an enemy who avows his treason ; an enemy whom I no longer dread, for there is a wall be- tween us. There are other enemies who de - mand our attention : the concealed enemies, who act in disguise, who still lurk in the city, who mix in our public meetings ; what shall be said of them ? To bring them to condign punish- ment were an act of justice ; but I wish rather to reclaim them from their madness : I would, h 4 152 SECOND ORATION OP CICERO if possible, recall them to a sense of their duty. If they will take my advice, they still may see their error. To this end, my fellow-citizens, I will give you in the truest colours a picture of the men who compose their faction. When they have all passed in review before you, I will then point out the cure of their frenzy, and, to en- force it, will exert my best endeavours. The first class consists of men who are encum- bered with debts, but still have vast possessions. To exonerate themselves, they are not willing to sell any part of their lands ; such is the vanity of having a large estate. In the whole body of dis- affected citizens, these are the men who make the most specious appearance ; they are rich, but void of principle ; they are seditious, and their motive is infamous. Deluded men ! you have extensive lands, magnificent villas, a splendid display of plate, a grand retinue, with all the elegancies of life ; and will you not sell a part, in order to add to your credit ? What are your hopes ? what do you expect ? you pant for war and civil commotions r and do you imagine, that, in a scene of carnage and devastation, your pos- sessions will stand secure ? Perhaps a spunge to wipe away all debts, is what you want ; that you will never obtain from Catiline. A law to re- gulate matters between debtor and creditor will AGAINST CATILINE. J 53 probably be enacted at my recommendation, but it will be with a clause, directing a sale by auc- tion of part of your estates, in order to satisfy your creditors. By this expedient, and this only, the men of great possessions will be saved from ruin. Had they adopted this plan in time, instead of struggling to support a load of incum- brances, they would now be richer men and better citizens. But, in fact, the danger from that quarter gives me no alarm ; they may see reason to be reconciled to their country ; if not, their treason will evaporate in wishes for the success of our enemies : they will never venture to ap- pear in arms. The second class consists of men of ruined fortunes, and, at the same time, vast ambition. They aim at power, and vainly hope, amidst the distractions of their country, to rise to dignities, which in quiet times are out of their reach. The advice which I give to all, is the best these men. can follow : let them desist from their vain pur- suit : their wishes will never be accomplished. My care, my vigilance, my exertions, will frus- trate their dark designs. The number of up- right citizens now in Rome is a tower of strength ; all honest men are combined against them ; one mind pervades them all ; they are ready to stand forth in the cause of their country— one head, 154 SECOND ORATION OF CICERO one heart, one hand. We have numerous ar- mies in the field, and the gods are on our side. The gods, I trust, the immortal gods will look down propitious on this victorious na- tion, this flourishing empire, this magnificent city, the capital of the world. And after all, if the rebels could carry their point, what do these men propose to themselves ? Do they hope, from the ashes of the city, and a scene of blood and carnage, to spring up consuls, dictators, or kings ? Have they not the sense to see, that, in a convulsion of the state, the su- preme authority must vest at last in some up- start slave or some abandoned gladiator ? A third class is composed of men advanced in years, but inured to hardship, and still retaining the vigour of robust constitutions. Such is Manlius, who now resigns the command of his army to Catiline. The colonies, which Sylla planted at Fesulas, are the founders of this race ©f malcontents ; a race, I verily believe, com- posed at first of worthy citizens, who were un- happily undone by prosperity. They found themselves enriched beyond their hopes, and soon exhausted their substance in vice and prodigality. In their day of wealth and gran- deur they had a taste for building; they adorned their villas ; they enlarged their domains ; they AGAINST CATILINE. 155 made a figure with their train of servants, with their splendid equipages, and their carousing banquets. By this course of life they involved themselves in debt, and now, to relieve their wants, they must recall Sylla from his grave. These men hope to renew their scenes of plun- der, and by magnificent promises have drawn over to their party a poor and ignorant rabble of deluded peasants. But I warn them not to think of dictators and proscriptions. The days of Sylla will return no more. In those dis- tracted times the commonwealth bled at every vein ; her wounds are not yet closed ; and such is the impression on the public mind, that an attempt to recall those scenes of horror would rouse the indignation of all honest men. The very beasts of the field, I am bold to say, would not endure it. The fourth class is a motley crew of turbulent men, long since undone beyond the reach of redemption ; men, who by their folly, by inat- tention to their business, and by their extra- vagance, involved themselves in deep distress, and now, grown weary of suits at law, of judg- ments and executions, fly from the city, and all quarters of the country, to find a sanctuary in the rebel camp. I cannot call them soldiers ; they are bankrupts who have fled from their 156 SECOND ORATION OF CICERO bail. If they cannot maintain themselves, let them fall victims to their own folly ; but let them fall in silence, unknown to the public, unfelt by their neighbours. If they cannot live in splendour, why should they choose to die with infamy ? Why should they think it less painful to perish amidst heaps of their slaugh- tered countrymen, than to die alone, obscure and unlamented ? In the fifth class may be reckoned the whole tribe of parricides, assassins, common stabbers, and villains of every denomination. I do ncf^ wish to recall them from Catiline's banners ; they are too closely connected. Let them perish in their desperate enterprise : our prisons are not large enough to contain them. I come in the sixth place to Catiline's fa- vourite friends,, his select companions. They are the last in my list, and for their vices the last of mankind. The whole class is easily known ; you see them fluttering with their hair in ringlets, and their beards, if any they have, neatly trimmed ; with sleeves to their tunics, and, instead of the Roman gown, with robes almost transparent. Their lives are spent in luxurious indolence ; the only fatigue they know, is that of sitting up all night in con- vivial riot. In this society are included the AGAINST CATILINE. 157 whole race of gamblers, sharpers, lewd adul- terers, and the profligate of every description. Delicate as they are, to love and be loved; to dance and sing, is not their only accomplish- ment : they know the use of the poniard, and they can drug the bowl. If this whole crew is not exterminated, Catiline will fall in vain; there will be still at Rome a Catilinian seminary. But what do these men intend ? do they mean to conduct their harlots to the camp ? In these bleak and dreary nights their ladies may be necessary : without their company the frost and snow of the Appenines may be too much for delicate constitutions. But, perhaps, they think themselves able to endure the rigour of the season : they have danced naked at their ca- rousing festivals, and by that exercise their bodies may be hardened. The war, it must be acknowledged, has a formidable appearance, when with such men the commander in chief has formed his praetorian band. And now, my fellow-citizens, since we see the strength of the enemy, let us review the forces of the commonwealth, and the garrisons and armies which she has ready to take the field against Catiline and his gallant troops. In the first place, oppose your consuls and your gene- rals to a maimed, a worn-out, a superannuated 158 SECOND ORATION OP CICERO gladiator. Draw forth your hardy veterans, and the flower of Italy, against a wretched crew of miserable debtors. You have strong holds and fortified municipal towns, while Catiline must take shelter behind his woods, and ramparts of sod thrown up in a tumultuary manner. But why should I compare your legions and your vast resources with the rash levies of a desperate adventurer ? We have on our side, the senate, the Roman knights, the people of Rome, the treasury, the revenues of the state, the hearts and hands of all Italy, the provinces, and all foreign nations : but, waving all these advan- tages, let us attend to the motives that animate both parties, and we shall clearly see the abject condition of the enemy, and our own supe- riority. We have on our side virtue and mo- desty ; in the adverse camp they have folly and indolence ; here is purity of manners, there the vilest profligacy ; here integrity and good faith, there fraud and villany ; here piety, there every kind of guilt ; here constancy and unshaken courage, there rage and madness ; on this side honour, on that the basest infamy ; here mo- deration, there unbridled fury ; here equity, temperance, fortitude, every virtue, against ini- quity, luxury, rashness, and every crime. In a word, wealth is at war with poverty ; reason AGAINST CATILINE. J5() with madness ; wisdom with folly, and well- founded hope with deep despair. In such a contest, even if the zeal of man should fail, the immortal gods will interpose, and by their awful dispensation grant to so many virtues a decided victory over such a collection of the most detestable vices. In this situation of affairs, all that remains on your part, my fellow-citizens, is, as I have al- ready told you, to watch and guard your own habitations. For the peace and good order of the city effectual measures have been already taken. The colonies and municipal towns are, by my direction, informed of Catiline's flight, and consequently will be on their guard against any sudden attack. The gladiators, whom Ca- tiline considered as his best soldiers, and firmly attached to his interest, shall not be allowed to join him. They are honester men, and better affected than some patricians whom I could name ; but still I think it right to watch them with a jealous eye. Foreseeing many events that have occurred, I concerted my measures in time, and sent Quintus Metellus to take upon him the command in the territory of Picenum and Cisalpine Gaul. Every thing will be secured in that quarter : that officer will be able either to give the traitor a total overthrow, l60 SECOND ORATION OF CICEIIO or to watch his motions, and to counteract all his attempts. And now, in order to. arrange and expedite whatever may be necessary, I am going to confer with the conscript Fathers, who, as you perceive, are already assembling. With regard to the men whom Catiline has left behind him, charged with the execution of his horrid purpose, though they are now per- nicious traitors, yet since they were born citi- zens of Rome, they have been hitherto treated with lenity. I have given them my best ad- vice, and am still willing to repeat it. The moderation with which I have acted, I know has been censured as weakness on my part ; but I would have those men understand, that what may have seemed remissness, was policy in dis- guise, and had for its object a full discovery of the whole conspiracy. But there is now no time to be lost ; I neither can nor will forget that this is my country ; that I am your con- sul, and that I must either live with you, my fellow-citizens, or perish in your cause. No sentinel is stationed at the gates ; no guard is placed in ambush on the high roads ; all who choose to withdraw themselves may go unmo- lested : but if I find the smallest stir in the city ; if an attempt is made against the public peace ; the author of the first commotion shall AGAINST CATILINE. lgj know to his cost that Rome is provided with vigilant and active consuls ; with upright ma- gistrates ; with a firm and vigorous senate : it shall then be known, that we have a sufficient force under arms, and a jail provided by our ancestors for the punishment of detected guilt. In the conduct of this business, rely, my fellow-citizens, upon my care : no tumult, no alarm, shall be excited. The most important measures shall be executed with perfect tran- quillity ; the greatest dangers shall be repelled without noise or uproar; an intestine war 3 the most horrible that ever happened in the me- mory of man, shall be ended by a city magis- trate, by your consul in his gown. I will far- ther add, that if I am able to accomplish my own design, not one of the guilty shall suffer, within the precinct of the city, the punishment due to his crimes. But should any man be hardy enough to provoke his fate ; should the magnitude of the danger press 'too strongly, I shall then renounce all lenient measures ; but I still promise you, however difficult it may be in a conspiracy so foul and dangerous, that not one honest citizen shall be injured. By the punishment of a few, all shall be saved from destruction. When I make these ample promises, I do M l6'2 SECOND ORATION OF CICERO. not rely on the prudence of my own adminis-^ tration, nor on the wisdom of human councils ; I rely on the protection of the immortal gods, who, by unerring signals, have declared their awful dispensations. Their gracious providence has guided all my measures, and now inspires me with becoming confidence. The gods assist us, not, as formerly, at a distance, when we were engaged with foreign enemies ; they are present ; they watch over the city ; they hover over their temples ; they protect your buildings and your houses. It is therefore now your duty, my fellow-ci- tizens, to offer up your homage, and with prayers and humble supplications to implore the holy powers above, since it was their will to make Rome the most grand and flourishing city in the known world ; since they have ena- bled us to subdue our enemies by land and sea, that they may now protect their own holy work from the sacrilegious hands of cruel and unna^ tural citizens. THE THIRD ORATION OF CICERO AGAINST CATILINE. ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE, 3D DECEMBER, A. U. C. 69O *. Ihis day, my fellow-citizens, this very day beholds you all in a state of perfect safety : this day beholds the commomveafth, your lives and liberties, your houses and your effects, your wives and children, delivered from im- pending ruin. This flourishing city, the seat of empire, snatched, as I may say, from sword and fire, is now restored to you by the special protection of the immortal gods, and, under their guardian care, by the labours, the vigi- lance, arid the councils, which, at the peril of my life, I have exerted in your service. Prom this event you will reckon as from a * See Note H. M 2 u THIRD ORATION OF CICERO new sera ; for it is undoubtedly true, that the day on which we are rescued from calamity, is more dear and precious than the day of our birth : we feel our preservation with joy and gratitude, but we come into the world upon precarious and uncertain terms ; we are born without any sense of the advantage, but we are saved when we know the value of the bless- ing ; we enjoy it, we reflect upon it with delight and rapture. Our ancestors, acting from mo- tives of love and gratitude, assigned to Romu- lus, the founder of the city, a place among the immortal gods ; and will it be too much, if I presume to hope, that he who saved that city in all its pride and grandeur, may be honoured with applause, by the present age, and remem- bered with gratitude by posterity ? The flames that threatened to involve in one general con- flagration the domes and temples, the walls and buildings of this imperial city, I can say with truth, have been extinguished by me ; the swords that were drawn against the common- wealth, have b.een wrested from the hands of desperate men ; and the dagger that was pointed at your throats is now blunt Wd useless. The particulars of this horrible conspiracy have been laid before the senate. It is now fit that I explain to you how the plo\t was brought AGAINST CATILINE. ] 05 to light, and by what proofs established beyond the possibility of a doubt. Your impatience to know the whole is natural : I will endeavour, therefore, to give you a succinct but full detail. You will then be able to judge of the mag- nitude of the danger, and the evidence that lays open, a scene of the blackest villariy. In the first place, when I compelled Catiline to leave the city (I say compelled him, for I am not now afraid of using the expression ; I am more afraid of censure for having suffered him to depart alive) — but I repeat my words, when I compelled him to leave the city, I had no doubt but his confederates would follow him ; or, if they remained behind, I was sure that, in the absence of their chief, their efforts would be weak and ineffectual. I was in some sort disappointed ; the worst and vilest of his train continued to lurk among us. The time was big with danger : I remained like a sentinel at his post ; I watched the motions of the con- spirators, and night and day exerted my utmost efforts to gain sure intelligence of their actions, and to unravel their dark designs. Without proof of their guilt, I knew that all I could say would make no impression ; the magnitude of the crime surpassed all belief; but the trea- son is now unmasked ; it is detected ; it is con- M 3 1(56 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO firmed by undoubted evidence ; the danger is manifest, and to provide against it is your bu- siness and your duty. The steps that led to a full discovery were these : being informed that Lentulus had been tampering with the Allobrogian deputies *, in order to excite commotions in Gaul, and in- volve us in a Transalpine war ; and having fur- ther learned, that those deputies, on their way to their own country, were to have a confer- ence with Catiline, in order to ratify the treaty; and that Volturcius, a man intrusted with let- ters and instructions for Catiline, was to conduct them to the meeting: I then conceived that what I had often devoutly requested of the gods was at length in my power, I seized the opportunity to collect such undeniable facts, as would not only satisfy myself, but also place the conspiracy in the clearest light before the senate and the people of Rome, With that intent I yesterday sent for the praetors, Lucius Flaccus and Caius Pomptinus, two excellent citizens ; both distinguished by their courage and their zeal in the cause of their country. I held a conference with them ; I explained my design; they undertook to execute * See Note J, AGAINST CATILINE. 1 6? it Towards the close of day they set out with secrecy for the Milvian bridge *. At that place they divided their force, and placed their men in ambush on each side of the Tiber. They had with them a strong and resolute party: they were reinforced, by my orders, from the district of Reate, by a band of brave young men, whom I have often employed in sudden exigencies. About the end of the third watch> the Allobrogian deputies, with a train of attend- ants, appeared on the bridge. Volturcius was their guide. They were attacked without de- lay ; swords were drawn on both sides, and a conflict began, when the two praetors, who alone were intrusted with the secret, shewed themselves at the head of their men. The combat ceased ; the letters, with the seals un- broken, were delivered to Flaccus and Pompti- nus ; the deputies were seized, and at the dawn of day conducted to my house. As soon as they arrived, I sent to Gabinius, that busy agent in this scene of iniquity, and desired to see him, ignorant and unsuspecting, before he could hear what had happened. I likewise invited Lucius Statilius, Cethegus, and Lentulus. The two first came without delay, * See Note K. M 1 J08 * THIRD ORATION OF CICERO but Lentulns was slow and lazy ; most probably, because he had been up the greater part of the night, not indeed engaged in his usual manner, but busy in writing letters and sending dispatches to his friends. In a short time afterwards, several eminent and illustrious citizens, who had heard the news, paid me a morning visit. They were all of opinion that it would be right to open the let- ters, and be sure of the contents, before I produced them to the senate. If nothing of moment appeared, they thought the city ought not to be alarmed. I did not comply with their advice. In a crisis of public danger, it appeared to me that all documents ought to be, in the first instance, examined by the great council of the state. Should my intelligence want con- firmation, even in that case I saw no reason to apprehend, that care and diligence in such a conjuncture would be liable to reproach. I de- termined, therefore, to convene the senate. The Fathers, as you might observe, came to a full meeting. In the mean time, by the advice of the deputies from Gaul, I sent that excellent man, Caius Sulpicius, the praetor, to search the house of Cethegus, and bring away all the arms he could find. He seized a quantity of swords and daggers. AGAINST CATILINE. ] 69 Volturcius was the first witness whom I cited to the bar of the senate. The Gauls were not then called in. By order of the Fathers, I in- formed Volturcius that he might rely on the public faith, and with perfect security disclose all he knew. The man was covered with con- fusion ; but as soon as he was able to collect himself, he confessed that he had letters from Lentulus to Catiline, and also verbal instruc- tions, urging the rebel chief to arm the slaves, and advance by rapid marches to the gates of the city, to the end, that when the conflagra- tion and a general massacre began, according to the plan that had been settled, he might be on the spot to intercept all who endeavoured to save themselves by flight, and co-operate with his brave associates within the walls of Rome. The Gauls were then introduced and ex- amined. They informed the house, that Len- tulus, Cethegus, and Statilius bound themselves by an oath to perform their engagement, and at the same time charged them with letters to the Allobrogian state. They added, that the three conspirators already mentioned, with the concurrence of Lucius Cassius, their associate, required a body of cavalry to be sent without de- lay into Italy, where they would find the in- fantry in force to support them. Lentulus, 1?0 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO they further told us, confiding in certain Sibyl- line predictions, and the responses of augurs *, did not scruple to assure them, that he was the third Cornelius destined to be the sovereign of Rome, the prophecy being already verified in the persons of Cornelius Cinna and Cornelius Sylla. They added, thatLentulus declared that this year, the tenth from the acquittal of the vestal virgins, and the twentieth from the burn- ing of the capitol, would be the last of the commonwealth. It appeared by the testimony of the same witnesses, that there had been a difference of opinion between the conspirators, about fixing a day for the execution of their horrible design : Lentulus and his partisans de- clared for the Saturnalian festival ; but to the impatient spirit of Cethegus the interval seemed to be loss of time, and cold delay/ And now, my fellow-citizens, to avoid too minute a detail, I ordered the letters to be pro- duced in regular order, as they were delivered by the respective writers. To Cethegus I shewed bis own seal ; he acknowledged it, I opened the packet, and read the letter., It was in his own hand-writing, directed to the senate and people of the Allobrogian state, assuring * See Note L. AGAINST CATILINE, 1JT1 them that he would faithfully perform all his engagements, and, in return, requesting that they would carry into execution what had been promised by their deputies. This made an im- pression on Cethegus : he had endeavoured at first to varnish over the affair of the daggers found in his house : his answer was, that he had been always curious in the article of good blades and well-wrought weapons. Upon hearing his letter read, he looked abashed, confounded, and dejected ; his conscience reproached him in- wardly ; his heart failed him ; he was not able %o utter a word. Statilius was the next that appeared : he ac- knowledged his hand-writing and his seal. His letter was read, in substance the same as the former : he confessed the whole. I then addressed myself to Lentulus:. I shewed him his packet, and asked him if he knew the seal ? He owned it to be his. You may well acknowledge it, I told him ; it is a well-known seal, the head of your grandfather, that illus- trious Roman, whose ruling passion was the love of his country. That image, mute as it is, ought to have deterred you from so black a crime. His letter to the Transalpine state was then read : I asked him what he had to say in his (Jefence ? He insisted on his innocence ; but 3 72 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO finding himself pressed by the weight of evi- dence, he rose on a sudden, and asked the Al- Iobrogians, what concern he had with them ? and, what business brought them to his house ? He put the same question to Volturcius. The deputies, in a tone of firmness, told him at whose request, and on what business, they had been frequently at his house. In their turn, they desired to know, whether he, had not boasted of his vast expectations from the pro- mise of the Sibylline Oracle ? That question touched him to the quick ; and then was seen the power of conscience over a guilty mind ; he might have denied the charge, but, to the sur- prise of the whole assembly, he acknowledged it. His talents, and his usual flow of words, deserted him at his utmost need. Even his usual effron- tery, unequalled as it was, afforded him * no relief: he sunk under the weight of detected guilt. Volturcius, in that moment, called for the letter which he had received from Lentulus to be delivered to Catiline, and desired that it might be read. Lentulus seemed thunderstruck by this unexpected demand, and in his confusion owned both his hand-writing and his seal. No name was subscribed : the letter was in these words :-— " Who I am' that now write to you y AGAINST CATILINE. 173 you will know from tlue bearer. Remember that your affairs are now brought to a crisis, and never forget ivhat becomes a man of valour. Consider well your resources ; avail yourself of all whom you can allure to your standard, and do not despise the assistance of the meanest" Gabinius was the last in order : he set out with undaunted assurance, but in the end con- firmed all that had been stated by the Alio- brogians. And thus, my fellow-citizens, the proofs against these men rise to demonstration ; their letters, their . hand-writing, their seals, their own confession, all things conspire to establish their guilt : and yet to my apprehension there were circumstances still more convincing : the looks of the men, their change of colour, the cast of their eyes, their air and mien, and their sullen silence, deposed against them. Their eyes were ri vetted to the ground, except when raised at intervals to survey each other with the stolen glance of natural guilt. Under all those manifest symptoms, they had not the appear- ance of men brought to their trial on the testi- mony of others ; they looked like traitors to themselves. The facts being thus laid open, and clearly proved, I thought it time to move the Fathers 4 17& THIRD ORATION OF CICEKO to take the state of the commonwealth into con- sideration, and form a resolution suited to so dangerous a crisis. The principal senators spoke their minds with a degree of energy that did them honour. They recommended vigorous measures, and their advice, without variation or amendment, was unanimously adopted. The decree is not yet drawn up in form, but from my memory I will undertake to state it with precision. In the first place, they passed a vote of thanks, in terms highly flattering, to the consul, who by his diligence, his counsels, and his public virtue, saved* the commonwealth from ruin. Honourable mention was also made of the two praetors, Flaccus and Pomptinus, who executed their commission with alacrity and vi- gour. Antonius, my colleague in office, was also commended for the service he had done, by removing from his presence, and from the public councils, all suspected persons. The de- cree further enacts, that Lentulus, after abdi- cating the office of praetor, should be committed to safe custody ; and that the like care should be taken of Cethegus, Statilius, and Gabinius, who were all three present at the debate. The same sentence was pronounced against Lucius Cassius, whose madness prompted him to so- licit and undertake the charge of setting fire to AGAINST CATILINE. J 75 the city; against Marcus Caeparius, who was commissioned to raise an insurrection in Apulia; against PubliusFurius, one of the colony planted by Sylla at Faesulae ; against Quintus Manlius Chilo, who, in concert with Furius, had nego- tiated with the Gauls ; and finally, against Pub- lius Umbranus, an enfranchised slave, who, as appeared in evidence, was the person that brought the Gallic deputies to their first inter- view with Gabinius. In the whole of these pro- ceedings, the lenity of the senate is remarkable. The Fathers knew that the number of our in- ternal enemies is great, but they were willing to hope, by letting their weight fall on no more than nine, that the example may operate on the minds of the rest, and by consequence extin- guish the rebellion. To all these salutary regulations the Fathers added a clause, ordaining public vows and thanks to the immortal gods for their gracious care of the commonwealth. Upon this occasion they did me particular honour ; an honour, I believe, before this time granted to none but military commanders, and never to a civil magistrate in his gown. The words of the decree are, " That a public supplication shall be offered to the gods in my name, because I had rescued the city from devouring fiames, the citizens from a general J 76 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO massacre, and Italy from the calamities of war" It will occur to you, my fellow-citizens, that this distinguished honour was, on former occa- sions, conferred on men, who with virtue and integrity had governed the state ; at present it is granted for saving it. The next care of the senate was, to take a preliminary step, which appeared to be necessary, and to require their immediate attention. Ac- cordingly, Lentulus, who, on full proof and his own confession, was adjudged to have forfeited the prsetorship and the rights of a Roman citi- zen, was obliged to abdicate his office. The point and spirit of this proceeding was, to shew that the Fathers acted with more caution than Caius Marius, who did not scruple to destroy Caius Glaucia, the praetor, though neither a decree nor a judicial sentence had been pro- nounced against him. Marius punished a Ro- man magistrate : Lentulus is reduced to the condition of a private man, and we have no legal objection to embarrass us. And now, my fellow- citizens, since the leaders in this horrible treason are in safe custody, we may rest assured that the danger is over, and that Catiline will shortly find all his resources cut off, and all his hopes utterly defeated. This was the grand object of all my labours. I AGAINST CATILINE. 177 concluded, that,, as soon as Catiline was exter- minated, I should then have nothing to fear from the lethargic torpor of Lentulus, the un- wieldy corpulence of Cassius, or the headlong rashness of Cethegus. Their chief indeed was to be dreaded. Of all his crew, he, and he only, could keep us in a constant alarm ; but that only while he remained within our walls : he knew every thing that passed ; he had access to all descriptions of men ; he could tempt, in- vite, solicit, and inveigle, all whom he thought fit for his purposes ; and what he could he dared ; he had a head to contrive, a tongue to per- suade, and a hand to execute. He had the exact measure of every man's abilities, and could assign to each his proper station. He thought nothing done, because he had given his orders ; he was sure to follow his blow ; he acted in per- son ; he watched, he laboured, he saw every thing executed ; active, vigilant, indefatigable, and, to a degree almost incredible, patient of cold, and thirst, and hunger. Such was the man : and if, with all his va- rious talents, his subtle craft, his active spirit, and his genius for mischief, he has not been driven from his post, and forced into open re- bellion, I do not think (I speak my mind with freedom) that I should have been able to avert J 73 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO the impending storm : I should, at least, have found it a difficult task. Catiline would not have deferred the execution of his plot to so dis- tant a time as the Saturnalia ; his fatal day would not have been known so long beforehand ; his seal would not, have been produced ; nor would he have suffered letters in his own hand-writing to give evidence against him. In his absence all this had been effected : no robbery in a pri- vate house was ever brought to light upon such clear, such convincing evidence as this detest- able conspiracy. Had Catiline remained at Rome till this day, though it is true that I have been able, even while he staid among us, to make head against him, and to counteract his measures, yet I can- not help saying, tha,t the struggle would have been attended with difficulties almost insur- mountable. The commonwealth, in that case, would have harboured a bosom-traitor, and the convulsion that threatened the state would not have been prevented with so much ease and tranquillity as we now enjoy. But the merit of these transactions is not to be ascribed to me. The immortal gods directed all my ways : I was an instrument in their hands. In a crisis big with danger, human wisdom was not ecjual to the task. A special Providence in- 4 AGAINST CATILINE, IjQ terposed in our favour, and with such manifest signs, that the gods have been almost visible to mortal eyes. To say nothing of streams of lightHfi the west, of the broad effulgence of the heavens, of the thunder that shook the firma- ment, and the earthquake that followed, with all the prodigies that happened during my con- sulship, as if they were the voice of the immor- tal gods revealing with awful denunciation the whole train of recent events ; I say, my fellow- citizens, though I omit these wonderful occur- rences, there is still a fact, which demands your serious attention. You may remember, during the consulship of Cotta and Torquatus, the towers of the capitol struck down by lightning, the images of the gods dashed on the ground, the statues of an- cient worthies hurled from their base, and the brazen tables, on which the laws were engraved, reduced to a state of liquefaction. At the same time, the statue of Romulus, the founder of our city, was touched by celestial fire. That statue, as we all remember, stood in the capi- tol : it represented our ancient hero in the atti- tude of drawing nourishment from the dugs of a wolf. Upon that occasion the soothsayers were summoned from Etruria. According to them, the several prodigies denounced fire and slaugh- n 2 i 180 THIRD ORATION OP CICERO ter, the total overthrow of the laws, civil dis- cord, and all the calamities of war, with the utter ruin of the commonwealth, unless the gods, appeased by prayer and public devotion, should be graciously pleased to extend their mercy to the Roman empire, and suspend the decrees of fate. In obedience to the augurs, solemn games were instituted for the space of ten days successively. No religious ceremony was omitted. The same interpreters of the will of Heaven gave directions, that a statue of Ju- piter, of a larger size than the former, should be erected in some conspicuous place, in a po- sition contrary to the last, with its face turned towards the east ; and if it was so situated, that it might at once behold the rising sun, the fo- rum, and the senate-house, they further de- clared, that the machinations of internal enemies would be laid open to the Fathers, and the whole body of the people. In conformity to this ad- vice, the consuls of that period gave orders to have the statue prepared ; but the work pro- ceeded by such slow degrees, that it was not erected till this very day. And now let me ask, is there a man so deaf to reason, so blind to truth, so obstinate in er-, ror, as not to acknowledge, that this universal frame, and, in particular, this magnificent city^ AGAINST CATILI&E. 181 are not under the special care and the moral government of the gods ? For let it be observed, that when the Etrurian soothsayers denounced conflagration and massacre, it Was not believed that there existed Roman citizens capable of so vile a treason. The enormity of the crime ren- dered the prediction altogether incredible. But now, what shall we say, when we see the plot not only formed, but well nigh accomplished ? when we reflect, that this morning, as the pri- soners passed over the forum in their way to the Temple of Concord, the new statue was erected in that very moment ? The hand of Jupiter, supreme of gods, is manifest in this transaction. The prophecy was then fulfilled ; the statue surveyed the forum and the senate-house, and, that being accomplished, the conspirators were arraigned, convicted, and ordered into custody. Things standing thus, what punishment can be too heavy for the unnatural traitors, who combined in an impious league to deluge the city with blood, and set fire to the domes and temples of the immortal gods ? As to myself, can I claim the glory of this astonishing dis- covery ? No, my fellow-citizens, it were the height of presumption. It was the all-govern- ing Mind, it was Jupiter himself, that brought about this wonderful event. He saved the ca- N 3 182 THrRD ORATION 0$ CICERO pito! ; he defended his own altars and temples ; he protected this great and flourishing city ; he shielded us all from ruin and destruction. It was the divine will that guided all my counsels, inspired me with resolution, and furnished me with decisive evidence against the malefactors. If we attend for a moment to the negotiation with the deputies from Gaul, the finger of Pro- vidence is visible in all that has happened : for, if Lentulus and his faction had not been by a visitation from the gods deprived of all sense and reason, is it in the nature of things, that, in a business of such importance, they would have committed themselves to strangers and barba- rians ? would they have hazarded their letters in such hands ? And again, what could induce those foreign delegates, the subjects of a dis- affected nation, of the only state that has the power, and, perhaps, the inclination to declare war against us ; what, I say, could prevail on them to change their minds so suddenly ? What could induce them to prefer the safety of Rome to the promise of liberty and independence, with which they were flattered by men of patrician rank ? This was the immediate influence of the gods. To conquer the commonwealth, the Al- lobrogians had no occasion to undertake a war : their silence would have ruined us. AGAINST CATILINE. 183 For these reasons, my fellow-citizens, since vows and supplications are by a decree of the senate to be offered np at all the shrines and altars of the city, go with your wives and chil- dren to the several temples, and with becoming ardour celebrate your present felicity. Your homage has been often due to the gods, but never so justly as in the present juncture. You have been saved miraculously, without an army, without bloodshed, and without a battle. You have had no occasion to change your gowns for the military dress ; you have had no general but your consul in his robes of peace ; and yet you have triumphed over your enemies. The danger from which you have been rescued will be seen in its true colours, if we compare it with former civil commotions. I will not dwell on those which happened before your time; but let us call to mind the troubles which we all have seen, and have reason to remember. Lucius Sylla cut ofFPublius Sulpicius ; he exter- minated Caius Marius, who had been the pro- tector of the city ; and by his orders numbers of eminent men were either massacred or driven into banishment. Cneius Octavius, the consul, was at the head of a powerful faction. He ex- pelled his colleague, Cornelius Cmna, by force of arms. In that dreadful commotion, the N 4 184 THIRD ORATION OF CICERO place where we now are assembled, was deluged with blood, and covered with mangled bodies. Cinna, supported by Marius, conquered in his turn. The best blood in Rome was spilt on that occasion, and the first ornaments of the city fell in the general carnage. Sylla, in a short time afterwards, gained a complete vic- tory, and had his measure of revenge. The horrors of those times may be passed by in si- lence; they need no description. Fierce dissen- sions broke out between Marcus Lepidus and that illustrious Roman, Quintus Catulus. The former was defeated : he was a man that might be spared ; but his friends who perished with him were a public loss. In all these convulsions, what was the object of the contending factions ? They wished to alter the government, not to destroy it. It was by no means the principle of the leading men that there should be no constitution ; they aspired to be at the head of the state, the rulers of the commonwealth. They had no design to fire the city ; they desired to be masters of it. In all those distracted times, it is remarkable, that the contest was never ended by a compromise between the parties ; it was decided sword in hand by the blood and slaughter of the people. The present war cannot be paralleled in the an- AGAINST CATILINE. 185 rials of the world ; it is horrible in its nature, and even among barbarians never equalled. In this war Catiline, Lentulus, Cassius, and Cethe- gus, act on a new principle ; they mean to be guided by their own laws ; and by their laws, all good citizens who wished well to the constitu- tion of their country, were to be deemed ene- mies, and put to the sword. In this war, none but those who escaped from the assassin's dag- ger, were to be left alive ; no part of Rome, ex- cept what was not devoured by the raging fire, was to be left standing ; and yet against such a combination of enemies it has been my good fortune to protect the city of Rome, and to save you, your wives and children, from de- struction. For these services, the only favour I request of you, my fellow-citizens, is, that this day may stand recorded in your memory. I ask no other honour ; that to me will be the best reward, the brightest recompense of virtue, the truest monu- ment of glory. Your hearts are the temples in which I wish to erect all my titles of honour, all my ensigns of triumph, all my trophies of vic- tory. 1 want no silent statues, no inanimate figures : those vain memorials, which are often obtained, and not always deserved, I resign to others. Mute and insensible matter has no 186 THIRD ORATION OP CICERO charms for me. Your kind remembrance will give a lustre to my actions ; your discourse will be the voice of fame; your annals will consign my name to the latest posterity. One and the same day will make the^iloman people and my consulship immortal. Ages yet unborn will hear with pleasure, that the commonwealth had, at one period, two contemporary citizens ; one of them destined to make the circuit of the sun the boundary of empire ; the other, to pre- serve the capitol of the Roman world. It remains to be observed to you, that the part which I have acted in quelling this intestine war, is very difFerent from the lot of the general who commands your armies abroad. When a foreign war is ended, the officer leaves his ene- mies either slain or subdued : I must live in the thick of those whose dark designs I have defeat- ed. Your generals reap the fruit of their con- quest ; that I may not suffer by the victory I have obtained, it will be yours, my fellow-citi- zens, to provide by your esteem and benevo- lence. By my unwearied diligence your enemies are crushed ; that their malice may never re- vive against me, you, I trust, will take sufficient care. But the danger is not great: the friendship of good and honourable men is a certain shield^ AGAINST CATILINE. 187 and with that I am provided. The authority of government will be on my side. Even the wors£ and most abandoned men are under the con- trol of their own inward conscience ; if, bent on mischief, they endeavour to emancipate them- selves, and aim their blow at me, they will find to their cost that they are their own enemies. Besides this, I have resources in my own breast : the courage that inspires, animates, and invigo- rates my conduct, will never shrink from the me- naces of desperate men ; on the contrary, I am willing to be at open war with the whole race of pernicious citizens. But after all, should the malice of traitors, whom I have encountered in your just defence, collect its scattered spirit, and fall with united force on me alone, it will then be for you, my fellow-citizens, to consider what must be the condition of the generous patriot w 7 ho may hereafter expose himself to danger on your account. For myself, what further advantage in life can I now expect or desire ? There is no promo- tion, no dignity, no reward of virtue to exalt me above the glory of this day. My ambition is satisfied. All that remains on my part, is to take due care that the rest of my life may corre- spond with the whole tenour of my consulship. 188 THIRD ORATIOtf OP CICERO. If the honour acquired by saving my country should hereafter give umbrage to ill-designing men, their envenomed rancour will disgrace themselves, and add new lustre to my name. As a private citizen, I shall remember the con- duct I have held ; and it shall be the study of my life to prove, that my actions did not spring from chance, but flowed from an inward source of virtue and public spirit. And now, my fellow-citizens, since the day is closing fast, it will become you to offer up your grateful homage to Jupiter, the guardian god of this splendid city. As soon as you have per- formed that act of piety, retire to your respec- tive dwellings, and there, though the danger is now averted, keep guard, and watch with as much diligence as you did on the preceding night. That the same fatigue may be no longer necessary, and that you may for the future live in perfect security, shall be my unceasing care. THE FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO AGAINST CATILINE. SPOKEN IN THE SENATE, 5TH DECEMBER, A. U. C. 6p0* v I see, conscript Fathers, all your looks directed this way, and every eye fixed on me. I see the deep concern which you all feel for the state of your country, and, even when the danger shall be removed, I read in all your countenances the kind anxiety with which you are impressed on my account. Your generous friendship touches me nearly, and, in this important moment, ad- ministers the most pleasing consolation. But I conjure you, waste not a thought on me ; for- get my interest, and think only for yourselves, your wives and children. As to myself, if the terms on which I hold * See Note M, 1Q0 FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO the consular dignity, require that I should drink the cup of bitterness ; if I am doomed to undergo toil and vexation, pain and peril, I am prepared to meet the worst adversity that can befal me. In your defence I am ready to en- dure the worst distress, not only with courage, but with alacrity and pleasure ; and if by my unwearied labours I am able to restore the dig- nity of the commonwealth, and the safety of the people, I desire no other recompense. In me, conscript Fathers, you behold a con- sul, who in the whole course of his administra- tion has known no place of rest : not even the forum, surrounded as it is by the tribunals of justice ; not the field of Mars, though conse- crated by religious auspices ; not the senate, where all nations meet with protection ; not my own house, which in common with others ought to be a safe retreat, nor even my bed, the refuge of weary nature ; in a word, not this curule chair, the seat of the highest civil ho- nour, has been free from insidious designs against my life. In that whole time, I have persevered with patience and with firmness : I have concealed a great deal ; I have made concessions to many ; I have found a lenitive for your afflictions, and none for my own. But I am satisfied ; and \ AGAINST CATILINE. igi should the gods allow to my consulship the glory of redeeming you and the Roman people from fire and devastation, your wives and chil- dren, and the vestal virgins, from the hands of barbarians ; the shrines and temples of this flou- rishing city from devouring flames, and all Italy from the horrors of a civil war ; I say, conscript Fathers, should the gods grant me that special favour, let adverse fortune try me with afflic- tion ; I am prepared to bear it all. If Lentu- lus, relying on the predictions of soothsayers, could presume to boast that his name, by some fatality, was designed to be disastrous to the commonwealth, may not I, in my turn, be al- lowed to flatter myself, that my consulship, by a contrary destiny, was pre-ordained to save my country from destruction ? In this crisis, conscript Fathers, your own safety demands your care. Defend yourselves and your families ; protect your fortunes from rapacious hands ; preserve the commonwealth, and the dignity of the Roman name. Be no longer alarmed on my account. The gods, I trust, the guardian gods of Rome, will requite my services. If I am doomed to fall a sacrifice in your cause, I am resigned to my fate. To a well-prepared spirit death can never be disho- nourabje; to a consul never premature ; to a wise 1Q2 FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO man it never can be an evil. When I say this, let me not be thought insensible of the touch of nature. I am not so far divested of humanity, as not to be affected by the grief of a beloved and most affectionate brother. The tears of my friends, whom I see mourning round me, are enough to unman me. I turn my thoughts to my family, and there I see a tender wife over- whelmed with sorrow; a daughter pierced with anguish ; and an infant son, whom I consider as an early hostage for my integrity in the hands of the commonwealth. My son-in-law stands here before you, waiting with anxiety the result of this day's debate. All these objects present themselves at once, and weigh upon my heart ; but the wish, the ardent wish which they excite, is, whatever shall be my lot, that they may live and flourish long among you, and not be doomed to perish with us all in one general wreck. The conjuncture, conscript Fathers, calls for your utmost vigour : exert your vigilance, to avert the storm that gathers round us. You have not now before you a Tiberius Gracchus, who aspired a second time to make himself tri- bune of the people ; you have not a Caius Grac- chus, who endeavoured by seditious insurrec- tions to enforce his Agrarian laws ; nor a Lucius Sat urn in us, by whose order Caius Mem mi us was AGAINST CATILINE, J 03 put to death ; no, conscript Fathers ; you are now to pronounce judgment on the insidious traitors who chose to remain at Rome with a fell design to cut all your throats, to reduce the city to ashes, and open the gates to Catiline. Their letters, their hand-writing, their seals, their own confession, all are evidence against them. They tampered with the Gauls ; they forced the slaves to rise in arms ; they resolved to sheath a dagger in every honest heart, and never to let destruction cease, while a man sur- vived to weep over the ruins of a mighty em- pire, or lament the utter extinction of the Ro- man name. These are the facts now in proof before you : the malefactors are condemned by the judgment you have pronounced ; they are traitors on re- cord. When you honoured me with a vote of thanks for the part I have acted ; when you or- dered Lentulus to abdicate his office ; when you committed him and his accomplices to safe custody ; and, above all, when by a decree you appointed a supplication to the gods to be ce- lebrated in my name, and thereby conferred on me a public distinction, never before this time granted to any but military men ; and finally, when yesterday you granted ample rewards to the Allobrogian deputies, and also to Voltur- J 94 FOURTH ORATION" OP CICERO cius ; in all those instances you avowed your sentiments, and, in fact, decided against the malefactors now in custody. But it is my intention to reconsider the whole business, and to state it as anew question, that you may rejudge the fact, and determine the measure of punishment. In doing this, allow me to premise what has occurred to myself, and to lay before you the sentiments, which, in the character of consul, I think it my duty to sub- mit to your consideration. That the seeds of discontent have been laid by ill-designing men, and that a spirit of inno- vation has been working in the minds of many, I have perceived for a long time past ; but that the latent sparks would rise to a flame like the present, is what I could not foresee. As mat- ters stand at present, you have no time to lose : whatever your resolution may be, pronounce it without delay. Before the night comes on, you must finally determine. The guilt of the con- spirators is before you in all its horror ; but if you imagine that it extends only to a few, you are greatly deceived. It has spread like a con- tagion through all Italy ; it has passed the Alps, and by imperceptible degrees is now sapping its way through the provinces. Delay and tempo- rizing measures will not suppress the mischief. AGAINST CATILINE, 1Q5 The treason calls aloud for vengeance: form your resolution, and pronounce it. Two different opinions have been proposed ; one by Decius Silanus, who thinks that the men who combined in a league to overturn our frame of government, and give the citizens of Rome to the sword, ought to be sent to immediate execution ; the other, by Julius Caesar, who ob- jects to capital punishment, but adjudges the criminals to the severest pains and penalties. They both delivered their sentiments in a style worthy of their rank and dignity. Silanus con- tends, that the unnatural traitors, who intended to destroy this august assembly, to massacre the people, and annihilate the Roman name, ought not to be allowed a single hour to breathe the vital air. This sentence, he has told you, is founded on the usage of our ancestors, who, as it appears by a number of cases and prece- dents, proceeded with due deliberation, and pro- nounced judgment of death against all pernicious citizens. Cassar, on the other hand, considers death not as a punishment, but as the natural condition of human life, a relief from pain and misery. Hence it follows, that the wise die contented, and the brave, by their own voluntary act, throw the burden from them. Chains and perpetual o 2 1Q6 first ORATION OF CICERO imprisonment appear to him the proper mode of civil policy for the punishment of enormous crimes. He therefore concludes, that tbe state prisoners should be confined in separate dun- geons in the municipal towns. But this propo- sition seems to be attended with some difficulty: 'if by your authority you oblige the municipa- lities to receive trie 'prisoners, you impose a hardship ; if you make it your request, are we sure that they will comply ? Should that, how- ever, be the sense of the house, declare it by a decree, I will undertake to carry your com- mands into execution, and men, 1 trust, will be found, ready to perform what you think neces- sary for the public safety. Caesar adds a clause, imposing a severe fine on the municipal towns, if any of the prisoners should be suffered to escape. He condemns the male- factors' to the horrors or a dungeon, and by va- rious sanctions, severe it must be allowed, but in such a case highly expedient, he forbids any motion to be made in their favour, either in the senate or before the people. By this measure he takes from the guilty every gleam of hope, that only balm of afflicted minds. He orders their estates to be confiscated, and leaves them nothing but life, convinced, as it should seem, thaf if he condemned them to execution,' he AGAINST CATILINE. 1Q7 should by that stroke of justice put an end to all bodily pain, to agony of mind, and the pangs of a guilty conscience. It was for this reason, he says, that legislators, in the first ages of the world, inculcated the notion of rewards and pu- nishments in a future state, conceiving that, without those impressions, death would lose its terror. Between these opposite opinions, I see on which side my interest lies. Caesar has taken what is supposed to be the popular part. Should I accede to his doctrine, the public voice will not condemn a decision of which he is known to be the author. If, on the other hand, I throw my mite into the opposite scale, I fore- see that a storm may gather round me ; but the public welfare outweighs all other consi- derations. Caesar, it must be acknowledged, has deli- vered his sentiments in a vein of eloquence worthy of himself, and the dignity of his an- cestors : his speech may be considered as a pledge and earnest of his future zeal for the good of his country. In him we see the dif- ference between the frothy declaimer, who ha- rangues his circular audience in the forum, and the real orator, who aims at a popular character o 3 iQS FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO by the means that deserve it ; by being the true friend of the people. The men who at all events court popularity are well known : one of them, I perceive, is ab- sent on this occasion. I look round for him in vain : by affecting to be tender on a question of life and death, he hopes to be thought incapable of voting against a Roman citizen, and thereby gain the applause of the populace. And yet this very person, two days ago, concurred in a vote for committing the malefactors to safe custody ; lie voted supplications to the gods in my name ; and even yesterday he agreed to reward the wit- nesses in the most ample manner. It is now too late for him to retract.. In the former pro- ceedings he took a decided part, and, by conse^ quence > his sentiments are fully known. Caesar deals more openly with us : he fairly tells us, that he founds his opinion on the au- thority of the Sempronian law, which favours the life of a Roman citizen. To this the an- swer is obvious : the man who conspires against his country, no longer retains the rights of a Roman citizen. And further - y the Sempronian law did not protect the author of it ;. he suffered death by order of the people. Would Caesar insinuate, that Lentulus^ by the means of bribes and largesses, acquired AGAINST CATILINE. ^QQ popular character ? would he have us imagine, that the man who now stands convicted of the most enormous crime, is still to be deemed a Roman citizen ? Caesar does not think it : dis- tinguished as he is by the virtues of moderation and humanity, he does not hesitate to send that very Lentulus to finish his days in a dungeon. Nay more ; he provides, by the express sanctions of law, that no man shall, by a motion, to mi- tigate the punishment, make a vain parade of lenity, and curry favour with the multi- tude, while in fact he is undermining his coun- try. Nor is this all : Lentulus is to have no- thing that he can call his own ; his effects are to be confiscated ; he is to be left to the torture of the mind, with want and the utmost distress to aggravate his misery. But, conscript Fathers, let Caesar's motion, if it be the sense of the house, pass into a law. I am willing to state it to the people, and I can do it with confidence, as I shall have a popular orator to support me. On the other hand, if you adopt the advice of Silanus, it will not be difficult to repel the charge of cruelty that may be urged against the sentence. Caesar's argu- ment will enable me to prove that death is the m/ildest punishment. But to speak without reserve ; in a case so o 4 '200 FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO black and flagitious as the present, what pu- nishment can be deemed severe ? I have al- ready disclosed the sentiments of my heart, perhaps with a degree of warmth, but, certainly, without a tincture of cruelty. Cruelty, I may venture to say, is no part of my character. If in giving my opinion I have appeared to you to speak with animation, it is the animation which compassion and humanity inspire. For what are the objects that crowd upon my imagination? they are terrible indeed. I see this city, the pride and ornament of the world, the asylum of the nations round us, involved in flames, and smoking on the ground. I see my countrymen in mangled heaps stretched on the bare earth, unburied, weltering in their gore. Cethegus, with rage and fury in his countenance, and a reeking poniard m his hand, at this moment glares before my eyes. I see Lentulus seated on the throne which the Fates prepared for him ; I behold Gabinius in purple state; and even now Catiline advances at the head of • his" army ; the shrieks of dying matrons, the cries of their wretched children, and the lamentations of vio- lated vestal virgins, sound in my ears, and strike my soul with horror. The scene is truly de- plorable : and shall your mercy 'be extended" to the man who r planned this tragic spectacle ? 4 Let ... AGAltfST CATILINE. £01 me suppose a case : if the master of a family had the misfortune to find his wife destroyed, his children butchered, and his house burnt to the ground by the treachery of a slave, would it not be natural to execute instant vengeance on the perpetrator of a deed so vile and horrible? Should the master forbear to strike, what would be said of him? would he pass for a man of a mild disposition, and not rather for a person divested of all the tender visitings of nature ? To me he would appear an unfeeling monster, who could behold so horrible a crime, and not sacrifice the author of it to his just resentment. .We are now, conscript Fathers, in that very predicament : we are to pronounce judgment on the unnatural traitors,^ who intended to drench their poniards in the blood of our wives and children ; who conspired to make this flourish- ing city a heap of ruins ; who intended to place the Allohrogians at the head of this great em- pire : these are the men whose fate we are now to decide. If we act with vigour, vengeance in such a ease will be justice and humanity to our fellow-citizens ; on the contrary, if we are not fired with indignation; if we spare the .guilty, the charge of being tame and spiritless in our country's cause will lie heavy on us all. We know .that Lucius Caesar, the brother-in- 102 FOURTH ORA.TION OP CICERO law of Lentulus, declared the other day, that so foul a traitor, though married to his sister, de- served to suffer death. Is that a cruel sentence ? No ; it proceeded from a true patriot spirit : he pronounced it in the hearing of Lentulus, and to give it weight and authority, he cited the case of Fulvius, his grandfather, who, with his son, a youth in the prime of life, was by order of the consul strangled in prison ; and what was the crime for which they suffered ? The son was sent to address the senate ; that was the whole of his offence. As to Fulvius the father, what was al- leged against him ? He had not meditated the destruction of his country. Agrarian laws and other acts in favour of the people were at that time in agitation ; the measure met with oppo- sition, and the conflict of parties was carried on with animosity. In that scene of contention, the illustrious grandfather of this very Lentulus acted a distinguished part. Determined to vin- dicate the constituted authority of the state, he went forth to meet Gracchus sword in hand, and in the fray received a dangerous wound. In the present juncture, what is the conduct of our modern Lentulus ? He invited the Gauls to join in an impious league against the common- weath ; he roused the slaves to an insurrection ; he pressed Catiline to return at the head of his AGAINST CATILINE. 203 army ; he gave the whole senate to be butchered by Cethegus and his band of assassins ; he as- signed the general massacre to Gabinius ; he or- dered Cassius to set fire to the city, and left all Italy to be laid waste with fire and sword by the rebel army. These are the exploits of Len- tulus : and are we to linger in debate ? are we afraid to draw the sword of justice ? Believe me, we have more reason to fear, that by ill-timed lenity we may bring upon ourselves the imputa- tion of cruelty to the commonwealth. Candour, conscript Fathers, requires that I conceal nothing from you. A report is in cir- culation, and has reached my ears, that the consuls are not armed with sufficient force to carry your decree into execution. This you may be assured is an idle rumour. I have concerted every thing with due precaution, and the people, determined to act with spirit, and support the honour of government, have seconded all my endeavours with the most prompt alacrity. All degrees and ranks of men declare for their coun- try ; all ages and conditions are united ; the forum and the temples round it are crowded with honest citizens ; and the avenues to this house are filled by the friends of the constitution. A spirit of \inion prevails, such as was never known since the foundation of the city. All 204 FOURTH ORATION OP CICERO are of one. mind, except, indeed, ^ those, desperate wretches who _felt their inability to subsist in quiet times, and rather than perish alone, wished to bury themselves under the ruins of their country. All of that description I am willing to except ; I separate them from the class of honest men. To say that the conspirators are degenerate citizens, were to give them too high a title ; they are the vilest traitors, the most pernicious enemies. In every other quarter, what ardent zeal ! what unanimity ! what a spirit of emulation ! Need I mention the Roman knights ? they acknowledge your authority ; they submit to your decisions ; they vie with you in zeal and ardour for the common cause, and they know no other contention. After a dissension of many- years, they now^forget all animosity ; they re- nounce all party distinctions ; they are recon- ciled to the great council of the state ; this day unites them to you in , ties of the firmest con- cord. That .-this, coalition was formed in my consulship, is an ^ event that I feel with pride and pleasure ; and rif the good temper of the .times shall render it perpetual, the state, I ven- ture to say, will ney^r again be rent and torn by party divisions^. ,r The tribunes of the treasury have stood for- AGAINST CATILINE. 205 ward to manifest their zeal ; and the clerks in office have followed their example. The busi- ness of the day required their attendance for the purpose of certain arrangements among them- selves; but, laying aside all thoughts of pri- vate interest^ they are now assembled in a body, resolved to vindicate the rights of their fellow- citizens. The whole number of free-boiri Ro- mans, even those of the meanest condition, are ready to arm in the cause of their country. For, in fact, is there to be found an honest man, who does riot feel the love of liberty warm a; his heart ? to whom these temples, this mag- nificent city, this parent soil, and this fair day- light, which we enjoy, are not objects of affec- tion and delight ? The conduct even of the emancipated slaves is worthy of our notice. Those men, by their industry and merit, have been able to obtain the privilege of citizens, and they now consider Rome as their native place. They are ready to stand forth in defence of the commonwealth, while others, born among us, the descendants of illustrious families, have acted, not as if they were in their mother-country, but in a city be- longing to the enemy. By why should I speak of men who have joined to protect their lives and liberties ? There 206 FOURTH ORATION OP CICERO is not to be found a single slave, possessed in a moderate degree of the comforts of life, who does not see with horror the frantic efforts of unnatural traitors ; who does not wish to pre- serve this flourishing city ; who is not willing to the utmost of his power to be an assertor of the public weal . For these reasons, if any of you have heard, that an infamous agent of Lentulus, a notorious pander for his pleasures, is busily employed in running from shop to shop, by the force of bribes to raise an insurrection in favour of hib master, let the report make no impression on your minds. The fact is true, but it has failed of success. None have been found so desperate in their circumstances, none so abandoned in their morals, as to engage in such an attempt. There is not a man, however needy, v no is not pleased with the possession of his shed ; who does not value his trade, and the working tools by which he earns his bread ; who does not love his cottage and his humble bed ; who does not prefer the homely littleness of a quiet life to scenes of distraction, blood, and massacre. In a word, the greater part, I might say the whole body of shopkeepers, are fond of peace and good order. Their manufactures, their ware- houses, and the profits of their industry, depend AGAINST CATILINE. 20/ on the numbers of society and the tranquillity of the times. If their gain is diminished when their shops are shut, what must be the case when they are burnt to the ground ? This, conscript Fathers, is the present condi- tion of the city : the people are listed on your side ; shew by your conduct that you have not deserted the people. You have a consul who has escaped the snares of insidious enemies, and still lives, not for himself, but for your pre- servation. All ranks and orders of men are united ; one mind, one opinion, one principle prevails in every quarter of the city; in the cause of the commonwealth all are agreed ; one voice, one heart, one hand. To you, conscript Fa- thers, your country, encompassed round with firebrands, and beset by vile incendiaries, raises her suppliant voice ; to you she lifts her hands ; to your care she recommends herself, her nu- merous progeny, and the lives of all her citizens; to you she dedicates the capitol, her household gods, her domes and temples, the eternal vestal fire, and the walls and ramparts of Rome. The moment is great and awful. You are this day to decide your own fate, and that of your wives and children ; you are now to pronounce a judg- ment, on which will depend the rights, the for- tune, and the liberties of a whole people. You 208 FOURTH ORATION' OP CICERO have, what does not often happen^ a leader zeal- ous for your interest, and regardless of him- self. You have on your side all honest men ; the whoi-e body of the people, all of one mind, one sentiment. The mighty fabric of this great empire, raised by the labour of ages; the plan of laws established by the virtue of your ances- tors ; this glorious city, so long protected by the immortal gods ; all, in the course of one night, were in danger of being utterly destroyed. That so horrible a treason may never be at- tempted ; that it may not so much as enter the heart of man, it is yours this day to provide by a just and firm decree. In all that I have said, conscript Fathers, it was not my intention to inflame your minds with zeal for the public : that I know is unne r cessary ; I know that your indignation rises above ,the feeble emotions that animate my inferior powers ; but in a business of such vast im- portance, the consul ought not to be silent. And now, before I proceed to put the question, may I be allowed .to say a few words concerning myself ? I am a\vare that the conspirators, whose numbers are by no means contemptible, will be to a man, my implacable enemies ; but as mat- ters stand, they are a detected, a ruined faction. Should they revive hereafter, and under some 4 AGAINST CATILINE. 209 popular demagogue make head against your au- thority, I shall never repent? of the part I have acted. Assassination is their trade: they may threaten me with death ; but death is the lot of man ; it awaits us all, and, come when it may, it can. never extinguish the glory of my life, established as it is by your decrees. Honours have been bestowed on others for having ren- dered services to their country ; I have been dis- r tinguished for saving it. May the name of Scipio, that great commander, who drove Han- nibal out of Italy, and forced him to seek a re- treat in Africa, stand for ever recorded in the rolls of fame ! May the second Scipio African us, who destroyed Carthage and Numantia, those two hostile cities, be crowned, as he deserved, with immortal glory ! Let Paulus iEmilius, who led Perses, a great and powerful monarch, a captive at his chariot- wheels, receive the ho- mage of posterity. Let the name of Marius, who twice delivered his country from the fierce invasion of barbarians, never fall into oblivion ; and, above all, let Pompey, whose great ex- ploits have no other bounds than those that limit the course of the sun, be celebrated with the applause of all succeeding ages. In the temple of Fame, where they must all be placed, my name may find a niche. Perhaps it will not be p 210 FCURfH ORATION 6¥ CICEHO contended, that to open a way t6 distant pro~ vinces, is more meritorious than to take care that our victorious general* may have a city to which they may return to enjoy their triumph. Foreign conquest, it is evident, has an advan- tage over domestic success. If distant nations ate subdued, they are reduced to obedience ; if received as allies, they retain a sense of the obligation. The case is different when we quell intestine commotions : the treason may be defeated, but the conspirators still retain their malignant spirit, uncontrolled by force and unreclaimed by moderation. The conse- quence is, that an eternal warfare with the ene- mies of the constitution must be my lot ; but I am not alarmed. I neither fear for myself nor my family. I rely with confidence on your pro- tection, and that of all honest men. The dan- gers which we have escaped, will leave a lasting impression on the minds of a people rescued from destruction; they will stand recorded in your memory, and be the theme of foreign na- tions. As to my enemies, I would have them know, that the coalition this dav formed be- tween the senate and the Roman knights, sup- ported as it is by the approbation of all the good and worthy, "will be an impregnable bulwark against the machinations of perfidious men. AGAINST CATILINE. .. . 211 Upon the whole, conscript Fathers, I have but little to request of you. I have resigned the command of an army, and with it all the hopes of a triumph ; I have given up a rich and flourishing province that fell to my lot ; I have sacrificed all views of private advantage; and in return for these disinterested apts, and all my exertions in your service, the only recompense I crave at your hands, is your generous reinem- brance of a period big with danger, and the tenour of my administration. While a sense of these times retains a place in your affections, I shall think myself covered by an impenetrable shield. * But if, contrary to all expectation, the rage of faction should recover strength, and be once more able to cope with the authority of this august assembly, all that remains for me is, to recommend my infant son to your protection. Bear in mind that he is descended from a con-, sul, who, in his country's cause, exposed him- self to the assassin's dagger : that reflection will not only shield my son from danger, but under your kind patronage lead him forward in the ca- reer of honours. Proceed, therefore, conscript Fathers, with the vigour which you have already displayed, and determine with firmness. Remember that your p 2 212 FOURTH ORATION OF CICERO. own existence, your wives and children, the temples of the gods, their shrines and altars, are now in your power. The very being of the commonwealth, this imperial city, your rights and liberties, and the peace of all Italy, depend Upon your voice. The time calls for vigour ; weigh every circumstance, and decide with dig- nity. In me you have a consul, who, while he lives, will neither want inclination to obey your commands, nor power to carry them into execution. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTE A, Page 6. The preface in which Sallust introduces an account of himself, has been variously praised and censured by the critics. All agree that the sentiments are just, and that the composition is elegant ; but, on the other hand, many of the commentators have pro- nounced it a detached essay, altogether foreign to the "body of the work. It should, however, be remem- bered, that this was at that time the mode adopted by the Roman authors. We find that Cicero had in his commonplace-book a variety of dissertations on different subjects, and, when he chose to publish a philosophical tract, his custom was to select from that store some favourite piece to serve as an introduction to his work, though, in fact, it had no connexion with his main design. This, is clearly stated to At- ticus, Epist. 6 : Cicero there tells his friend, that he had, through inadvertence, prefixed to his treatise De Gloria, the preface which he had given with hi* 2 J 4 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. Academical Questions. Being, he says, at his Tuscu* lum, when he prepared the former work, it escaped his memory that he had already made use of the in- troduction. The pieces at the head of his treatise De Finilms, his Tusculan Questions, and his first book De Legibus, clearly shew that prefaces relating to the main work, and of a colour with it, were not established by any settled rule of criticism. It may be added, that Sallust undertook a narrative of a single, but remarkable occurrence. Had his subject been a general history, we should, most probably, have been favoured with a grave and dignified preface, such as Ltvy has prefixed to his work. Sallust, as it seems, considered himself as writing, what we now call, a political pamphlet, and on that occasion thought he might be allowed to talk of himself. He makes an apology for his 'own conduct in his pursuit of civil honours. He had been tribune of the people, and also discharged the office of quaestor, but with no honour to himself, since we read, that the censor, Appius Claudius tulcher, deprived him of his seat In the senate. His ambition being thus severely check- ed, he resolved to enter on the career of literature. _ NOTE B, Page 7. We have here the picture of a daring conspirator? dra'wn by the masterly hand of a great historian. It may be worth while to see the same features delineated by the pencil 'of the great Roman orator, in his oration Pro Gaelio. Doctor Middleton has translated the pas- NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. '215 sage, and the reader shall have it in his words : " He had in him many, though not express images, yet sketches of the greatest virtues ; was acquainted with a great number of wicked men, yet a pretended ad- mirer of the virtuous. His house was furnished with a variety of temptations to lust and lewdness, yet with several incitements to industry and labour: it was a scene of vicious pleasures, yet a school of martial txercises. There never was such a monster on earth compounded of passions so contrary and opposite. Who was ever more agreeable at one time to the best citizens ? who more intimate at another with the worst ? who a man of better principles ? who a fouler enemy to this city ? who more intemperate in plea- sure? who more patient in labour? who more rapa- cious in plundering? wjio more profuse in squander- ing ? He had a wonderful faculty of engaging men to his friendship, and obliging them by his observ- ance; sharing with them in common whatever he was master of; serving them with his money, his in- terest, his pains, and, when there was occasion, by the most daring acts of villany, moulding his nature to his purposes, and bending it every way to his will. With the morose, he could live severely; with the free, gaily ; with the old, gravely ; with the young, cheerfully; with the enterprising, audaciously; with the vipious, luxuriously. By a temper so various and pliable, he gathered about him the profligate and rash from all countries, yet held attached to him at the same time many brave and worthy men, by the spa- cious show of a pretended virtue." p 4 2i6 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS* NOTE C, Page 13. The same thing happened in the rude ages of this country. Our Saxon ancestors brought a spirit of liberty from the woods of Germany : but before they planted themselves in Britain, they had experienced in their own country the disadvantages that naturally result from letting the people in a mass be the legisla- tors and governors of the state. The IVittenagemot was accordingly established. From that institution parliaments derived their origin, and have continued to this day the great council of the nation. NOTE D, Page 84. Sallust has left us reason to conclude that Cras- sus, with views of ambition, favoured the conspiracy : with regard to Caesar, he is not so explicit. That Caesar was suspected, appears beyond a doubt, and the artful speech which he made in favour of the conspirators, gives colour to the charge. He wished to save the lives of Roman citizens : this was the popular side, and he embraced it. His design, perhaps, lay deeper. If, pursuant to his advice, the malefactors had been committed to different prisons, a public clamour would have been the consequence, and their partisans would have been at work to rescue them. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 217 NOTE E, Page 94. Sallust in this place takes his opportunity to pay his court by a studied encomium on two of his favourite characters, viz. Cato and Julius C^saji. His de- sign, it seems, lay deeper : by passing by in silence the great man of that age, Marcus Tullius Cicero, his idea probably was, that he should sink into ob- scurity the great consul, whom he held in detesta- tion. His praise of Julius Caesar is gross flattery to the man who overturned the constitution of his coun- try : allowing him all the praise Sallust bestows upon him, we still may say, " Curse on his virtues, tlwy 've undone his country.'' Sallust knew this, and yet chose to offer incense to the usurper. With regard to Cato, the historian has done him justice. The light in which Dr. Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, has placed the character of Cato, may be proper in this place, that the reader may compare it with Sal- » lust. " Fixed in stoic principles, Cato entered into public life, and acted in it, as Cicero says, as if he had lived in the polity of Plato, not in the dregs of Romulus. He made no distinction of times or thing's ; no allowance for the weakness of the republic, and the power of those who oppressed it: it was his maxim to combat all power, not built upon the laws, and to defy it at least, if he could not control it ; he knew no way to this end but the direct; and whatever obstructions he met with, resolved still to rush on, and either to surmount them, or perish in the attempt, taking it for a baseness, and a confession OF THE "A 21$ NOTES AN© ILLUSTRATIONS. of being conquered, to decline a tittle from the true r^ad. In an age therefore of the utmost libertinism, when the public discipline was lost, and the govern- ment itself tottering, he struggle^ with the same zeal against all .corruption, and waged a perpetual war with a superior force ; whilst the rigour of his principles tended rather to alienate friends, than reconcile ene- mies, and by provoking the power he could not subdue, helped to hasten that ruin, which he was striving to avert: so that after a perpetual course of disappoint- ments and repulses, finding himself unable to pursue his old way any further, instead of taking a new one, he was driven by his philosophy to put an end to his life." The reader may compare Dr. Middleton with Sallust, and judge which has given the truest picture of the man. For Cicero's conduct and character, since Sallust chose to consign as far as he was able that great orator and patriot to oblivion, the reader may gratify his curiosity and taste, by a perusal of Dr. Middleton's most excellent Life of Cicero, The great, orator's own works have not only defeated the malice of Sallust, but placed his name among the first and ablest writers of antiquity, to be admired as long as ■nhilosophy and true genius shall enrich the world. NOTE F, Page iu, It was thought proper to annex to the foregoing narrative the four Orations of Cicero, that the -reader may "have the pleasure of comparing the historic irian* WOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS* 219 ner with the style of a great orator. They both re- late the same facts, and in the main corroborate each other. Sallust informs the understanding of his reader, assists his judgment, and paints to the ima- gination : Cicero employs all the colours of eloquence, and through the imagination makes his way to the passions. The oration now before us was spoken be- fore the senate on the 8th of November, a. u. c. 690. Catiline had the hardiness to attend the meeting, and to take his seat among the Fathers. Cicero rose, and, in a burst of indignation, poured forth the tor- rent of his eloquenee. The speech, of course, was unprepared, but, as Sallust observes, it was afterwards reduced to writing, and published to the world. It has not the same methodical arrangement that we ge- nerally find in Cicero's orations : and yet method is by no means neglected. It has two objects in view : 1. To convince Catiline, that, alj his dark machina- tions being discovered, he ought forthwith to- retire from a city where he was known to be a public enemy. 2. To explain to the Fathers, that, though in the character of consul and chief magistrate he was armed with a decree by which he might order Cati- line to instant execution, he was still unwilling to put the law in force, conceiving, for various reasons, that it was more advisable to let him withdraw from the city of Rome. To enforce those two points is the main drift of the first oration. 220 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTE G, Page 138. In the course of the night, after Cicero had delU vered his first flaming oration, Catiline (as related by Sallust, p. 47) rushed out of Rome to join Manlius in his carnp. On the following day, Cicero called the people together in the forum, in order to give them an account of all that passed in the senate. This harangue proceeds on three principal points : 1. That Catiline's flight was an event of the highest advantage to the state. 2. That the commonwealth had nothing to fear from the forces of Catiline. 3. That such of his accomplices as stilt remained in the city, would do well to return to a sense of the duty they owed to their country; but, if they per- sisted in their hostile intentions, they would be sure to feel the weight and vengeance of the law. This speech was delivered on the 9th of November, A. u. c. 690. NOTE H, Page 163. Between the speaking of the second oration and the third, on which we are entering, an interval of rnore than three w«ei:s elapsed. The former was delivered on the 9th November; the latter on the 3d Decem- ber. Cicero, in the mean time, exerted his utmost vigilance, and obtained complete proof against the chiefs of the conspiracy, who remained at Rome, NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 221 Sallust relates (see page 66) the particulars that passed in the senate, when the several malefactors were ex- amined. Jt does not appear that Cicero, on that oc- casion, felt himself called upon to make a set speech ; but on the following day he thought proper to give the people a detail of all circumstances, however minute. The following oration states, 1. The evidence which he brought forward in the senate, and the means by which he gained full in- formation. 2. The measures of the senate against the con- spirators. 3. That the discovery of the plot was in itself so wonderful, that it was to be ascribed altogether to the interposition of the gods. NOTE I, Page 166. The Allobrogians inhabited the country now called Dauphin^ and the duchy of Savoy , with part of Piedmont. As they were situated in Transalpine Gaul, Cicero sometimes calls them Gauls, and sometimes Allobrogians* — • NOTE K, Page 167. . The Milvian bridge, now Ponte Molle, was about two miles distant from Rome. 222 NOTES ANP ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTE L, Page 170. The Romans were at all times deeply tinged with, superstition; hence the number of portents and pro- digies recounted by their historians. Cicero observes (De Divinatione> Yib. ii. sect. 27) that times- of danger always teemed with prophecies : in that productive season, the minds of men, alarmed and terrified, were prone to believe, and enthusiasts seized the opportu- nity to forge their vile prognostics. Accedit Mud etiam, quod in metu et periculo, cum creduntur faci- lius* turn finguntur impunius. In the history of Rome, no extraordinary event took place without 3ome wonderful phenomenon. Lentulus knew this disposition of his countrymen, and, in order to make an impression on the populace, called the Sibylline predictions to his aid. NOTE M, Page 18^. The fourth oration, which is now before us, was delivered in the senate on fhe 5th December, two days after the third harangue before the people. The question to be debated was., u What punishment ought to be decreed against the conspirators ?" Two opposite opinions were proposed ; one, for sentence of death ; the other, instead of capital punishment, that the prisoners should be condemned to perpetual imprisonment. The last was the motion of Julius Caesar. Sallust has given the speech, or probably, NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 223 the sifbstanoe of it, in his own style. The historian, who certainly was not amicable to Cicero, takes no notice of this fourth oration, but tells us that Cato, in answer to Caesar, declared for immediate execu- tion, and thereupon the senate decreed accordingly. It must, however, be presumed, that Cicero's speech had great weight in the decision. It proceeds on two propositions : 1. That sentence of death, according to the opinion of Decius Silanus, was suited to the exigence of the times, and worthy of a Roman senate. 2. That, though the immediate execution of the malefactors would draw on himself a train of evil con- sequences, he was determined to encounter every danger in the service of bis country. . ♦ THE WAR AGAINST JUGURT H A, a •1 * THS WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. t. It is without any colour of reason that man- kind complain of their nature, unjustly calling it a weak and short-lived state, subject for the most part to the caprice of chance, and rarely guided by virtue. The reverse, upon reflec- tion, will appear to be the truth; for, if we make a fair estimate, we shall find nothing more noble, nothing superior to the dignity of man, and instead of accusing Nature of stinting him in point of time and abilities, he ought rather to blame his own indolence and sluggish neg- lect of the powers implanted in his constitution. The soul sets all the human faculties in motion, imposes and directs the conduct of man. While he chooses virtue as his road to glory, he feels no want of vigour or spirit, but rises to cele~ a 2 228 SALLT7ST. brity without the aid of that Fortune whose power does not extend to probity, industry, and the liberal arts; who can neither bestow those accomplishments nor resume them at her pleasure* But if the mind, enslaved by vicious passions, degenerates into sloth and a course of sensual gratifications, the relish of voluptuous pleasures proves the bane of every virtue ; her internal vigour dies, the day is wasted in effe- minacy, and the powers of genius are extin- guished. In that falling, wretched state, the infirmity of nature is accused, and life itself is unjustly blamed for what those who abuse its blessings are guilty of. Yet how different would be their condition, if they engaged in laudable designs with as much vigour as they do in pursuit of things irrelevant, unprofitable, and even pernicious ! The power of fortune would then be at an end, and man, instead of being the slave of chance, would learn at length to control chance itself, and in time attain such a point of perfection as would be a recom- pense for the shortness of life, and raise him from this mortal state to an eternity of glory. ii. As the human frame consists of soul and body, it follows that all the actions, and all the works of man, must have relation either to his spiritual or his corporeal part. Accordingly we THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 12Q see that the graces of the outward form, riches, bodily vigour, with. all external things, are of a perishable nature, while, on the other hand, the productions of the mind, like the soul that inspires them, are immortal. It may be then observed, that all the advantage of external forms, together with riches and the other gifts of fortune, have both a beginning and an end. All things that rise, but rise to fall; and what- ever has the seeds of increase has also the principle of decay. The soul, on the con- trary, knows no corruption ; it is immortal and eternal ; it governs the whole human race ; it comprehends all, yet is itself incomprehensible. With these considerations in our mind, we cannot but wonder at their depraved negligence, who, sunk in debauchery and sensual pleasures, pass their days in sloth, and leave the mind, the glory of their nature, to droop in indolence and stupid inactivity. And this neglect is the more unpardonable, as we have such internal re- sources, and such various intellectual powers, as, by due exertion, would enable us to attain the highest summit of glory* m* Among the objects to which men may aspire, the high offices of state and magistracy and all the employments connected with public affairs, appear to me at present pursuits by no q 3 230 SALLl/ST. means eligible. Public honours are no longer the reward of virtue ; they are obtained by per- nicious arts, and the men who engross them find themselves neither safe nor respectable. To govern our country or our friends by force, even though we produce reform by the coer- cion, is at best but an invidious and troublesome pre-eminence. Innovations in the state are ge- nerally attended with the effusion of blood, the flight of citizens, and all the horrors which civil commotion inflicts. To aim at power of this kind, without succeeding in the pursuit, and to gain nothing by the struggle but public detestation, is the utmost extreme of infatua- tion and madness, unless we can suppose that there exists a man so lost to all sense of shame as to resign his liberty and his honour to the ty- ranny of a few ambitious masters. iv. There are various other arts that exer- cise the genius of man, and are of a milder cast: among these, the writers who preserve the me- mory of past events, claim a rank of decided eminence. To enlarge on the utility of this employment were superfluous, as other authors have been ample in its praise ; and it particu- larly becomes me to be silent on the subject, lest I should be supposed to over- rate the merits of my own undertaking. At the same time,, I fciUE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 231 am aware that I shall not escape the censure of many, who, because I have resolved to retire from all further business, will be apt to call my present employment, though arduous in itself, and useful to mankind, a state of relaxation and dull repose. But the quarter from whence this language may be expected, will be that of men who make it the business of their lives to pay their court to the people, and by bribery and treating to obtain their suffrages » But if they, who argue in this manner, will call to mind the conjuncture in which I was raised to the magistracy, and the characters of those who failed in the attempt ; and further, if they will consider what sort of men have since intruded themselves into the senate, they will see that it was with good reason, and 1104 from an indolent disposition^ that I changed my plan of -life* I may add, that greater benefit will redound to the commonwealth from what they call my state of idleness^ than from the intrigues of turbulent and ambitious citizens. I say this with a degree of confidence, because I have been often told that Quintus Maximus and Publius Scipio, not to mention other emi- nent Roman citizens, were in the habit of say- ing that when they beheld the images of their ancestors^ they felt their mind inflamed with a 4 231 - SALLUST. virtuous emulation. Did this proceed from the form of the wax, or the colours of the pic-* ture ? Certainly not : it was the recollection of the glorious deeds of their forefathers that kindled in the breasts of those exalted charac- ters that spirit of emulation which nothing could extinguish till their virtue reached the summit of immortal glory. Is that the case at present ? Who in these times contends with his ancestors in the paths of virtue and honourable deeds ? The whole struggle is to outshine all that went before them, by the splendour of riches and the gran- deur of expensel~eveiTthe men, who rise from obscurity, do not now, as was formerly the custom, endeavour to surpass the nobles by su- perior merit, but, on the contrary, they aim at honours and places of trust, by dark intrigues, by fraud and rapine; "not by"1aif~an4 honour- able deeds : as_ i£ the praetorian and the consu- lar rank, with the other offices of state, were of themselves the fountain of honour, and did not derive all their lustre from the upright con- duct of the persons who exercised those civil duties. Bat I have wandered too far : the manners of the age have roused my indigna- tion, and led me into a long digression. I now proceed to the business in hand. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 233 v. I propose to give a narrative of the war which the Roman people carried on against Jugurtha, king of~Numidia. I have chosen that portion of history, in the first place, on account of its magnitude, and of the ferocity and alternate vicissitudes of fortune with which it was carried on ; and secondly, because in that period a stand was forthe-ik-st time made against the overbearing pride of the nobility. ; The struggle between the contending factions * wa$ fierce and obstinate ; nothing was safe ; things divine and human were thrown into one pro- miscuous ruin, and party rage was kindled to such a height of madness, that nothing could allay its fury, till a civil war broke out, and covered all Italy with desolation. But before I enter upon the subject, it will be proper to review some past transactions, which, rightly understood, will give order and perspicuity to all that follows. In the course of the second Punic war, in which Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, gave a more terrible blow to the power of Rome than had been felt by that republic since the first * The civil war between Marius and Sylla, in which the former took the part of the people and the latter of the nobility. 234 . SALLUST. foundation of its grandeur, Masinissa, king of the Numidians, was received with open arms by Publius Scipio, who, for his great military talents, was afterwards honoured with the name of Africanus. Admitted to that alliance, Ma- sinissa distinguished himself by his valour and marry brave exploits, for which he received ample proofs of Roman generosity. When the Carthaginians were defeated, and Syphax, who possessed an extensive empire in Africa, was taken prisoner, the subdued cities and all the conquered territories were ceded to Masi- nissa ; in return, the prince continued attached to the cause of Rome, a firm and honourable ally, till the hand of death put a period to his reign. His son Micipsa (both his brothers Manastabal and Gulussa having paid their debt to Nature) succeeded to the vacant throne. The new monarch had two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and at the same time retained and educated in his family the son of his brother Manastabal, by name Jugurtha, whom, as issue of a concubine, Masinissa had left without mark or distinction * ; but, notwithstanding this, Micipsa made no difference between him and his own legitimate children. * See Note A, at the end of the Jugurthine war. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 235 vi. Jugurtha, as he grew towards manhood, displayed a strong constitution, grace and sym- metry in his person, and further, was a youth of uncommon talents. He neither suffered himself to be corrupted by luxury, nor relaxed by idle- ness. In compliance with the manners of his country, it was his pride to acquire skill in horsemanship, to throw the javelin with dexterity, and to be foremost in the races : in these several exercises he shewed himself superior to his com- panions, and yet was universally beloved : the pleasures of the chase were his favourite diver- sion ; he was generally the first, or among the first, to pierce the savage beasts, or rivet the lion to the ground: he performed the noblest ex- ploits, but, with a modest reserve, said nothing of himself. Micipsa at first saw scenes of happiness open- ing before him, and from the good qualities of Jugurtha promised himself great advantage to his kingdom : but when he considered his own ad- vanced age, the tender years of his two sons, and the rising reputation of Jugurtha, he saw with anxiety a storm gathering in the political hori- zon, and a thousand reflections presented them- selves to his mind. He knew the nature of the human heart, ever 236 SALLtfST. eager to grasp at power, and hurried away by the vehemence of inordinate passions ; he saw that his own infirmities at his time of life, and the feeble state of his children, would afford an op- portunity for ambitious projects, such as might tempt even minds of calm and moderate tem- perament. Micipsa saw, moreover, the affections of his people fixed on Jugurtha : to cut off such a man by clandestine arts would be attended with danger : a general insurrection and a civil war might be the consequence. vn. In this situation, seeing nothing but diffi- culties on every side, he concluded that to put an end by force or stratagem to the life of a young man so highly popular would be an impolitic mea- sure : observing however that Jugurtha shewed a warlike genius, and an impatient love of military glory, he resolved to expose him to the field of battle, and try whether the fortune of war might not prove favourable to his wishes. With this de- sign, being engaged to send a supply of horse and foot to the Roman army, at that time laying siege to Numantia, he gave the command to Jugurtha, and sent him at the head of the auxiliary forces into Spain, flattering himself with hopes that the young officer, hurried on by his own spirit of enterprise, or from the ferocity of the enemy, THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 237 would be sure to meet his fate. The event did not answer his expectation . Jugurtha, possessed of a quick and penetrating genius, made it his business to study the character of Publius Scipio > who commanded the Roman army, and also to understand the manners of the enemy : thus pre- pared, he in a short time distinguished himself by his good conduct and his valour. He obey- ed the orders of his general with the most exact subordination, and often displayed such prompti- tude in facing danger, that he became a favourite throughout the Roman army, and a terror to the enemy. To courage in the field he joined sa- gacity in council ; two qualities which are sel- dom united at so early a period. The prudence that foresees, is apt to occasion a degree of timi- dity, and undaunted courage is often no better than rashness. Scipio saw the character of Ju* gurtha, and accordingly singled him out for the most arduous enterprises: he ranked him among his chosen friends, and seeing that the young officer never failed either in his advice, or the execution of his projects, he united him to him- self in the closest ties of affection. To these ex- cellent qualities Jugurtha added a generosity of mind and such admirable address, that he insinu- ated himself into the friendship of many in the Roman army. 23S SALLUST. vni. There were at that time in the army numbers of high rank, and several new men lately advanced to honours, in whose estimation riches were of more value than truth and virtue ; men who were at the head of factions, of power- ful influence at Rome, and more respected by our allies for their splendid appearance than for uprightness and integrity. The language which they held with Jugurtha was of a tendency to fire with ambition a mind of itself bold and aspiring : they told him, after the demise of Micipsa, the kingdom of Numidia would all fall to his lot ; his very superior merit would open the way; and at Rome every thing was venal. Numantia was razed to the ground ; when Sci- pio, on the point of dismissing the auxiliary forces, with intent to return to Rome, in a public harangue, at the head of the lines, bestowed the highest encomium on the merit of Jugurtha, and honoured him with magnificent presents. Af- ter this, he retired to his pavilion, having direct- ed Jugurtha to attend him, and there in secret warned him by wholesome advice to court the friendship of the Roman people by due respect to the whole body, not by indirect and secret practices with individuals ; private largesses would be ineffectual bribery., as what belonged to THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 13Q the state could not be purchased from a few ; and the attempt would be attended with danger. His true way would be to persevere in the exer- tion of his admirable talents, and he might assure himself that glory and empire would be his bright reward ; but if he meant by the influence of money to accelerate his elevation, that very money would precipitate his ruin. ix. Having given this wholesome advice, Sci- pio dismissed him with a letter to Micipsa, the tenour of which was as follows : u Jugurtha,your relation, has displayed uncommon abilities during the siege of Numantia ; this intelligence I per- suade myself will give you the greatest pleasure. His merit has endeared him to me, and it shall be my earnest care that he may stand as high in the esteem of the senate and Roman people. With the sincerest friendship, I most heartily wish you joy : you have in Jugurtha a young man worthy of you, and his grandfather Masinissa." The king now saw the report of common fame con- firmed by the Roman general's letter : the merit ot his nephew touched him nearly; he was pleas- ed to see him so high in favour with Scipio, and a new train of sentiments took possession of his heart. He changed his purposes, and now re- solved by acts of benevolence to win the affec- 240 SALLUST. tions of Jugurtha. He made him his own son by adoption, and in his will declared him joint heir with his two legitimate sons. In a few yg ar afterward s, finding himself decline inTHe vale of years, reduced by illness and near his dissolution, he called Jugurtha to his presence, and in the hearing of his sons Adherbal and Hi- empsal, and a circle of friends and relations, Jie is said to have delivered himself to the follow- ing effect : x. u You were of tender years, Jugurtha, when you lost your father. In that helpless state, deserted by fortune and destitute of hope, I took you under my protection, in full confi- dence that gratitude would render me as dear to you, as natural affection would to my own chil- dren, if I should be blessed with any. Nor have my hopes deceived me. Not to mention your former merit, your return from Numantia has crowned me and my kingdom with immortal glory. The Romans were united with me in friendship ; your valour has bound those ties closer than ever. In Spain you have revived the name of our family in all its splendour. To sum up all, you have accomplished the greatest difficulty in human affairs, you have raised glory above the reach of envy itself. At present, as na~ THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 241 ture is ready to close my days, I entreat you by this right hand, I conjure you by the good faith you owe to the whole kingdom, embrace and cherish these young princes, your relations by birth, and, by my good will to you, your brothers. J warn you not to prefer to them a connexion with strangers ; our kindred are the first objects of our regard. " Armies and riches are by no means the strength of kingdoms ; friends are their best support ; and friends can neither be compelled by force of arms, nor bought with gold : good faith and generous actions are the only source of real friendship. What tie can be so binding as that between brother and brother ? and who can rely on the professions of a stranger, when he has shewn himself false to his near relations? " For my own part, I shall leave to you a kingdom strong and powerful, if you live in harmony and virtue ; weak and tottering to its fall, if you differ among yourselves. By con- cord the smallest establishments increase, while by discord the greatest are brought to their ruin. It will be your duty, Jugurtha, your immediate care, since you are superior in age and expe- rience to these two young men, so to conduct all your measures as to prevent the possibility of internal divisions. You may lay this down R >242 SALLUST. as a certain rule, that in all cases the most opulent, even though he has reason to com- plain, is considered as the aggressor, merely because the power is in his hands. As to you, Adherbal and Hiempsal, it will be your duty to esteem and honour this excellent young prince ; imitate his virtues ; let it be the grand endea- vour of your lives not to let men say, that I was happier in the choice I made by adoption than in my own legitimate issue." xi. During the whole of this discourse, Jr- gurtha, though he knew that the king spoke the language of dissimulation, and that, for his own part, he harboured designs of a very different kind, yet still he gave a plausible an- swer, and such as suited the occasion. Micipsa, in a few days after, breathed his last. The young princes celebrated his funeral honours with the magnificence due to the royal state, and in a short time met in council to deliberate on the affairs of the kingdom. Upon this oc- casion Hiempsal, the youngest of the three, by nature proud and fierce, and in the habit of despising Jugurtha for the meanness of his birth by the maternal side, took his seat on the right hand of Adherbal, with intent that Ju- gurtha should not have the middle station, which is considered by the Numidians as the I THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 243 post of honour. His brother, however, took pains to convince him, that he owed a defe- rence to superior age ; and Hiempsal, upon being overruled by these remonstrances, re- moved, though with great reluctance, to the further side. In the course of their various debates about the administration of the govern^ ment, Jugurtha, amidst a variety of matter, held it expedient to repeal all the laws and or- dinances that passed in the course of the last five years ; alleging, that during that whole time Micipsa was superannuated, and his fa- culties, by consequence, were impaired. Hiemp- sal declared himself of the same opinion, and said that he approved of the measure, because it was within the last three^yjears that Jugurtha was raised by adoption to a share in the go- vernment. A reply so keen penetrated to the very heart of Jugurtha, and there took deeper root than could be supposed at the time. Fear and indignation rankled in his breast, insomuch that from that moment all his thoughts, all his schemes, all his stratagems, had nothing in view but the 'destruction of Hiempsal ; hut his measures not proceeding with sufficient rapidity, while his revengeful spirit raged with unabating fury, he resolved, by the most expeditious means, to execute his purpose. r 2 244 SALLUST. xii. The dissensions that occurred between the princes in their first interview already men- tioned, made them come to a resolution, that the public treasure should be divided between them ; and that each should have a separate province of the empire, with the boundaries correctly ascertained. Proper times were fixed for this partition ; but the money was to be first distributed. From the meeting the three young monarchs withdrew to such places as lay contiguous to the spot where Micipsa deposited his treasure. It happened that Hiempsal re- turned to the city of Thormida, and there fixed his residence in the house of a man who was Jugurtha's chief lictor, and always high in fa- vour with his master. Jugurtha saw that he had now by chance a fit tool for the blackest iniquity. He loaded him with ample promises, and persuaded him to go, under a pretence of seeing his own house, and to procure false keys to the locks, as the genuine were always de- livered to Hiempsal : he further added, that in good time he himself would visit the place, accompanied by a considerable force. The Nu- midian lost no time ; he executed his commis- sion with celerity ; and, in obedience to further direction, in the dead of night, introduced a band of soldiers into the house. The ruffians, THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 246 as soon as they were in possession, rushed to every place in quest of the young king : they murdered several in their sleep ; they put to the sword all who came to oppose them ; they searched every place of secrecy ; broke open the doors that were shut against them., and filled the house with rage and consternation. At length Hiempsal was detected lurking in the room of a servant-maid, to which, in the be- ginning of the uproar, he fled for shelter, not knowing a safer part of the house. The mur- derers cut off his head, according to their or- ders, and conveyed it to Jugurtha. xiii. The report of this horrid murder soon resounded through all Africa ; Adherbal was struck with terror, and all who had been the subjects of Micipsa were covered with con- sternation. The Numidians were divided into parties ; the majority took the side of Adherbal ; but the most warlike adhered to Jugurtha, who, therefore, began to collect a numerous army. He reduced several cities by force, and prevailed on others to submit to his obedience. To be sole monarch of Numidia was now the object of his ambition. Adherbal dispatched his mes- sengers to Rome, with an account of the tragic fate of his brother, and the distress to which he himself was reduced ; but, in the mean r 3 246 SALLUST. time, relying on the number of his forces, he re- solved to prepare for war. He hazarded a battle, and, victory declaring against him, he fled for shelter to one of our provinces, and thence made ihe best of his way to Rome. Meantime Jugurtha, having carried all his schemes into execution, and become the master of Numidia, began to reflect upon his crimes, and to feel the reproaches of conscience : he dreaded the indignation of the Romans, and saw no way to elude their vengeance but by resorting to the avarice of the nobles, and to an ample use of the money which he had at command. Accordingly, in a few days, he sent ambassadors to Rome well provided with quan- tities of gold and silver, with directions to make handsome presents to his old friends, to allure others by large donations, and, in short, to stop at no price ; but by bribery to draw pver as many as possible to his interest. The ambassadors, on their arrival at Rome, lost no time, but, in compliance with the king's instructions, distributed sums of money among his friends, and others who were of weight and influence in the senate. In consequence of this corruption, such a change of sentiment took place in the minds of men, that Jugurtha, in- stead of being an object of detestation, rose THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 247 high in favour with the nobles ; those who had sold themselves, and others, who hoped to make good their market, tampered in private with the senators, to hinder that assembly from coming to any harsh resolution against Jugurtha. As soon as the ambassadors had ar- ranged all matters, and were confident of suc- cess, a day was appointed for hearing the cause, and both parties were admitted to the bar of the senate. Upon that occasion AdhH^,, we, are told, delivered a speech to the following effect : xiv. " Micipsa, the late king, conscript Fa- thers, enjoined me on his death -bed to consider myself as invested with the administration only of the kingdom of Numidia, the right of go- verning and giving laws being centred in you. He further added, that it would be my duty, both in peace and war, to 4 e vote myself to the service of Rome, and to consider you as my real kindred, my best allies. By that con- duct I should be at all times sure of protection : your friendship, he said, would be to me armies, riches, and the support of my kingdom. In conformity to those directions I was planning all my measures, when Jugurtha, the worst and most nefarious of men, in defiance of your authority, expelled me from my dominions ; R 4 \ 248 SALLUST. expelled the grandson of Masinissa ; me, who from my birth derived a title to the friendship and alliance of Rome; he drove me forth a wan- derer from my own territories, and robbed and plundered me of all I was worth. " And now, reduced as I am, and forced to undergo so severe a destiny, it is the wish of my heart, conscript Fathers, that it had been in my power, on account of some merit of my own, instead of the services which you expe- rienced from my ancestors, to apply to you for protection. I wish, most sincerely wish, that I had been able to lay you under obligations without the necessity of expecting a return ; or, in my present situation, that I had some claim to the assistance which I am forced to beg. But integrity alone is no bulwark against violence and oppression ; nor was it in my power to mould the mind of Jugurtha to principles of moderation. J come therefore, conscript Fa- thers, to throw myself under your protection ; and, believe me, it is no small part of my af- fliction, that I am obliged to crave your as- sistance before I have deserved it. ie Kings there are whom you conquered first, and then admitted into your alliance ; others, who in their day of distress sent to you for protection: but that was not the case of my 3 THE WAR AGAINST JUGUIITHA. 249 forefathers ; they espoused your cause when you were involved in war with Carthage, a period when the honour of the Roman name was of more consequence than its success in war. w You see before you, conscript Fathers, a lineal descendant from that illustrious line ; you see the grandson of Masinissa, and will you suffer him to sue in vain ? The deplorable situ- ation to which I am reduced, will, I persuade myself, be a sufficient recommendation of my unhappy case without any other plea in my fa- vour. A sad reverse of fortune has been my lot ; I was but lately a flourishing king, illus- trious by my birth, of high renown, with a numerous army at my command, and now, what is my lot ? fallen from that happy state, forlorn and destitute, covered with wretched- ness, I am an humble petitioner for your as- sistance. In addition to all this misery, let me ask you, will it become the majesty of the Ro- man name to see innocence groaning under oppression, and to let a vile usurper aggrandize himself by guilt ? " There are still other reasons to rouse your indignation : I have been driven from the terri- tory, which was the gift of the Roman people to my ancestors; from that very territory, which 250 SALLUST. my father and grandfather, In a league with the Roman arms, conquered from Syphax and the Carthaginians. Your generous present, con- script Fathers, your bounty is torn from me ; in my person you are insulted. % Wretch that I am ! and, O my Fathers ! is this the result of all your goodness, of all your generosity to a man, whom you raised to an equality with your own children ? Shall he, whom you made joint-heir to your kingdom, shall that ungrateful monster be the murderer of all your race ? Shall our unhappy family never know the sweets of peace ? Must carnage and destruction be our constant lot ? " While the Carthaginians were able to maintain their power we had nothing to expect but the calamities of war : the enemy was near at hand, you were at a distance, and all our hope was centred in the force of arms. From that plague Africa was at length delivered ; from that time we enjoyed the halcyon days of peace ; we knew no enemies but yours ; if not called out by you, we had no war to wage. But now, behold ! Jugurtha, on a sudden inflamed with pride and insolence, breathing rage and fury, rushes forth the disturber of the world, murders my brother, though his own relation, and usurps his dominions as the lawful THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 251 prize of an assassin. After that exploit he laid snares for me; and not being able to accomplish his fell design, in the hour of profound peace, when I had no reason to expect war and open violence, he marched against me with all his forces, attacked me in your kingdom, drove me from my palace, reduced me to want and mi- sery, and, as you see, sent me/or L *V r s Vretched wanderer, to seek a place of safety in any part of the world, rather than in my own dominions, " Micipsa, conscript Fathers, was often heard to say, and I cordially agreed with him, that they who in earnest sought your alliance under-, took an arduous task, but pursued the sure road to safety and protection from injury. My family, to their utmost, have been faithful to you and yours, and now it is in your power to confer tranquillity upon their descendants. The deceased king, conscript Fathers, left two legitimate sons, and when by adoption he made Jugurtha a third, he conceived that gratitude would bind him to us in the closest connexion ; my brother has already fahen a victim, while J have with difficulty escaped the dagger of thp assassin. " What now remains for me? Whither must I fly ? where seek a shelter from calamity and ruin ? The strength of my family is extiiv. 252 SALLUST. guished ; my father has paid his debt to nature ; my brother is no more ; the hand that should have protected him put an end to his life ; all who were connected with me, my friends, my relations, my allies, all, all have fallen victims to the tyrant's power : a different catastrophe has heen their lot ; some have perished on the cross 7 othef^kave, been devoured by wild beasts ; and the few whom his vengeance has spared are thrown into dungeons, there to groan in misery of heart, and linger in pangs worse than death. " As to myself, conscript Fathers, if my condition remained unaltered, if my friends still adhered to me, and Fortune continued to smile upon me, I should still, in any sudden emergency, rely on your friendship, on your generous support ; on you, conscript Fathers, who are masters of the world, the friends of justice, and, as becomes your dignity, the ene- mies of oppression. At present, banished from my native land, an exile from my palace, aban- doned by my friends, stripped of every thing, a naked wanderer, which way shall I fly for refuge ? of whom can I seek assistance ? what nations can I visit ? what kings can I implore ? They are all against me, all inveterate enemies. Our family were the firm allies of Rome, and on this account the nations have conspired THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 253 against us. Is there a country that I can safely enter ? None, conscript Fathers, there is none : in every land there are monuments of the va- lour exerted by my family in league with you ; and can it be expected, that they who waged war against you will now forget all hostility, and feel compassion for me ? " Permit me to add, conscript Fathers, that we were educated by Masinissa in a fixed re- solution to cultivate your friendship, and yours only ; to make no other connexions, no other treaty of alliance, but to place all our confidence in the Roman people ; and, should Fortune at any time declare against you, that we should stand prepared to share your fate, or bravely fall in one general ruin. But now, by your own valour, and the blessing of the gods, you have a great and flourishing empire ; you enjoy a course of uninterrupted prosperity ; the world is at your command, and it is now in your power to vindicate the cause of your allies : I foresee but one obstacle to my wishes ; Jugurtha I know has connexions among you, and, as his character is not seen in its true light, his friends, I fear, will too easily be prejudiced against me ; they are, as I am informed, already at work ; they exert their best efforts in his favour ; they tamper with individuals ; they canvass for your 254 SALLUST. votes ; they pray, solicit, and importune all in general, not to decide before the cause is heard, and to frame no decree against Jugurtha in his absence. Their pretext is, that by false colours I endeavour to impose upon you, and represent myself as a banished man ; whereas I might have continued on my throne in perfect safety. " Would that my mortal enemy were pre- sent ! would that I could hear the author of my misfortunes attempt to set up such a defence of his outrageous conduct ! and, above all, I could wish that the management of human affairs was assumed either by you, conscript Fathers, or by the immortal gods: in that case, the man who now enjoys his conquests, and triumphs in his guilt, would be brought to pu- nishment, and, in agony of the severest torture, be made to suffer for his base ingratitude to my father, for the murder of my brother, and the calamities heaped on me. " And, O my brother! whose memory I shall ever cherish, though you have been prematurely cut off, and that by the very hand that ought to have protected you, I feel myself inclined rather to congratulate with you than to deplore your fate. It is true you lost your kingdom in the prime of life, but you have been delivered from flight, from exile, from want and beg- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 253 gary, and all the horrors with which I am over- whelmed. Fallen from a throne, and sunk to the lowest of distress and misery, I live to ex- hibit a mournful spectacle of the vicissitudes of human life. What now remains for me ? what course can I pursue ? Shall I undertake to re- venge your barbarous murder ? Alas ! I am in want of every thing : must I think of reco- vering my kingdom ? Wretch that I am ! my life or death is in the hands of others. I could wish that it were honourable to close my mis- fortunes by death, and throw off at once tha disgrace of living under oppression ; but since I can neither live without pain, nor die without infamy, I conjure you, conscript Fathers, I implore you, by the regard you owe to your- selves, by your children, by your ancestors, by the majesty of the Roman empire, extend your protection to a man wretched and oppressed ; shew the world that you are the avengers of injury to the weak ; that you will not look tamely on, and suffer your own kingdom of Numidia to be the reward of villany and blood, and to sink under the ruins of our family." xv. As soon as Ad herbal closed his speech, Jugurtha's agents, relying more upon the per- suasive power of gold than their own eloquence, or the justice of their cause, replied with re- i 256 SALLUST. markabe. brevity: " Hiempsal," they said, *'f was put to death by his own subjects on ac- count of his cruelty ; and as to Adherbal, he, without provocation, had recourse to open war; and now, being defeated, had come to com- plain that he was not suffered to carry his mad projects into execution. All that Jugurtha prayed, was that the senate would believe him to be still the same man whom they knew at Nu- mantia ; that they would judge him by his actions, and not by the malice of his enemy." After this both parties withdrew. The Fa- thers went into a debate. The partisans of Ju- gurtha, and those who acted under the samB corrupt influence, paid no regard to Adherbal's eloquence ; they treated his reasoning with cold indifference ; they were loud in praise of Ju- gurtha's magnanimity ; and by all their art, by all their influence, by the energy of their voice^ by every exertion in their power, they con- tended and harangued in favour of guilt and treachery, with as much ardour as they could have shewn in defence of their own reputation. Theopposition formed a small party, consisting of men of honour, whose principles were not to be shaken by the power of money. That Adherbal ought to be supported, and due ven- geance executed on the murderer of Hiempsal, THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 267 was their decided opinion. Of this number iEmilius Scaur us was the distinguished leader, a_man of noble rank and ardent spirit ; factious, and eager to grasp at power, honours, and riches, yet at the same time endued with skill. to disguise all these propensities. He saw the shameful and undisguised profusion with which Jugurtha's money was distributed ; and as he was aware that such open corruption might, as generally happens, excite the indignation of the public, he had the address to lay a restraint on his usual rapacity. xvi. The question, at length, was carried by the venaf^party, to whom money was of more value than truth and justice. The senate passed a decree, empowering ten commissioners to divtde the whole kingdom, lately subject to Micipsa, between Adherbal and Jugurtha. The person at the head of this embassy was Lucius Opimius, a man of high reputation, and at that time of great sway in the- senate, having, in the year of his consulship *, put to death Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, and ob- tained for the nobility a complete victory over the encroachments of the people. Jugurtha^ * See Note B. S r 258 SALLUST. had experienced the friendship of Opimius at Rome ; but was not, on that account, less as- siduous in paying his court to him on his ar- rival. He plied him with presents and pro- mises so effectually, that the commissioner sold himself, his honour, and all that could be deaf to him, to the ambitious views of the prince. The other commissioners were assailed by the same arts, and the majority fell into the snare. There were some, and those but few, whose zeal for justice was superior to avarice. The result was, that in the partition that was made, the provinces that lay contiguous to Mauritania, arid were the richest and most populous part of the kingdom, were assigned to Jugurtha : the remaining territory, which had the advantage of convenient harbours, and was adorned with beautiful, buildings, but which boasted more of elegance than real use, fell to the lot of Adherbal. xvn. Here my subject seems to call for a concise description of Africa, and at the same time some account of those states with which Rome has been engaged, either in war or treaties of alliance. In performing this task, I shall say nothing of those remote parts of the coun- l try, or those distant nations, which the heat of THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. loQ the climate, the difficulty of the roads, and vast unbounded deserts, have rendered inac- cessible; I shall merely state what is well known, and that with all possible brevity. In the division of the globe, geographers in general have agreed to consider Africa as the third part of the world ; while others, though few in number, allow no more than the two grand divisions of Asia and Europe, contending, that Africa is part of Europe. Be that as it may, Africa is bounded on the west by the narrow strait which opens a communication between the Mediterranean sea and the ocean j and on the eastern side by an immense valley, which ex- tends to a prodigious length in one uninterrupted declivity, called by the natives Catabathmos. The African sea is rough and tempestuous, and there are no harbours on the coast. The soil produces grain in abundance, affords good pas- ture for cattle, but is unkind to the growth of trees. The want of rain and of land-springs occasions a penury of water. The natives are a robust and healthy race, remarkably swift, hardy, and patient of labour : in general, if they escape the sword, or the beasts of prey, they die of old age, for mortality by sickness is seldom known. The country, however, is s % 166 SALLUST. infested by an abundance of poisonous ani- mals. Who were the first inhabitants of Africa, what people, in process of time, incorporated with them, and how they formed their civil union, are questions of some difficulty, which I shall here attempt to answer ; and though the account which I have to offer is different from the received opinion, yet, as it is extracted from^hoofc s. -un^Jthe Punic language (the pro- perty, as I am told, of king Hiempsal), and has been translated for my use, I shall here, as concisely as possible, submit it to the reader, the more willingly, as I am informed that it agrees with the received opinion of the inha- bitants. The Jruth must rest on the authority of the original authors. xviii. The first inhabitants of Africa were the Getulians and Libyans, an untutored, savage people, who knew no food but the flesh of wild animals, or the grass of the field, which they ate like the herds of cattle ; a people without laws, without forms of government, without any authority over them ; a race of wandering vagabonds, who had no settled habitation, but, when night came on, lay down to rest where ehance directed them. At last, when Hercules THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 26l died (as the Africans think) in Spain, his army, composed of various nations, did not long hold together. Their leader being lost, a number pf ambitious rivals aspired to the command, and in that contention the whole was soon dis^ persed. The Medes, the Persians, and Arme- nians, crossed over into Africa, and possessed themselves of the lands that lie contiguous to* the Mediterranean ; the Persians indeed pene- trated farther towards the west, and settled near the Atlantic ocean ; where, having laid their ships upside down, they made them serve as cottages. This expedient was necessary, as there were in the country no materials for the struc- ture of edifices, and from Spain none could be imported. The passage from the ocean was. too long, and the circumstance of their lan- guage being unintelligible to the people of Spain, made commerce between them altogether impracticable. In process of time they inter- married and mingled with the Getulians ; and as they led a roving life in quest of fertile soil, they took the name of Numidians. In fact, to this very day, the huts of the peasantry, which are by them called map alia, preserve the form of inverted ships, being all of considerable length, raised in the middle, and sloping to? wards the ends. s 3 262 SALLUST. The Medes and Armenians were in a short time incorporated with the Libyans, who oc- cupied the country that bordered on the African sea. The Getulians were advanced higher up the country, nearer to the south, and almost under the burning sun. The Libyans were divided from Spain by a narrow strait, and, having a short passage, they began to enter into trade and commerce with that country. Their name in time was corrupted by the Libyans, who called them, in their barbarous language, Mauri or Moors, instead of Medes. The Persians, however, soon found themselves in a flourish- ing condition, and population increased with such rapidity, that numbers of their issue, still calling themselves Numidians^ emigrated from their families, and established themselves in the country which lies contiguous to Car- thage, and goes by the name of Numidia. Having formed a close union among themselves, they were in a short time able, with their com- bined force, to subjugate their neighbours ; or, by the terror of their name, to reduce them to submission. In this manner they acquired an extensive reputation ; but none were so famous as those who made advances along the coast nearest to Rome, The Libyans who inhabited THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. ?63 those parts of the country were not so warlike as the Getulians, and, for that reason, were easily subdued. In consequence of these ad- vantages, almost the whole of lower Africa fell under the dominion of the Numidians. The conquerors and the conquered held the same name, and formed one people. xix. The Phoenicians were the next adven- turers on the coast of Africa. Their migration was partly occasioned by a desire to relieve their country from an overflow of numbers, and partly by the ambition of some, who aspired to supreme command, and who drew into their design the common people, and such as were fond of innovation. They built the cities of Hippo, Adrumetum, Leptis, and other maritime towns. These several places soon increased in strength, and in process of time were either a strong support, or an honour to their mo- ther-country. Of Carthage I say nothing : to observe a total silence on such a subject, seems to me better than to say but little. My attention is now called to a different object. I return to the plains of Catabathmos, which form the boundary between Africa and Egypt* As we trace the margin of the sea, the first city that occurs on the coast is Cyrene, found by a s 4 264c SALLUST. colony from the isle of Theza. The two Syrtes are the next in succession. The city of Leptis stands between them, and not far from that place we find the altars of the Phileni, which terminate the Carthaginian state on the side of Egypt. There are on the coast some other Punic cities. The whole country from thence, as far as Mauritania, is subject to the Nurni- dians. The lands nearer to Spain are occupied by the Moors. Beyond Numidia the Getulians are said to hold a large territory in their pos- session. Some of the inhabitants, we are told, dwell in cottages, and the rest, leading a more savage life, roam about without any settled ha- bitations. ^Ethiopia is the next country, and beyond it are tracts parched up by the torrid sun. In the war with Jugurtha, Rome, by her. own magistrates, administered law in most of the Punic cities, and through the territory held till lately by the Carthaginians. The greater part of the country of the Getulians, and also of the Numidians, as far as the river Mulucha, was in the hands of Jugurtha. Mauritania was under the dominion of Bocchus, a king to whom the Romans were known by name only, and who had not hitherto distinguished himself either in peace or war. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 265 What I have said of Africa and its inhabit- ants, will be sufficient to illustrate the following history. xx. Having made a division of Numidia, the commissioners returned to Rome. Upon that occasion, Jugurtha, rinding that, instead of being punished for all his enormities, he was, contrary to his expectations, crowned with re- wards and honours, could not help reflecting on what his friends had told him at Numantia, namely, that alLj Mnzs were bo ught a rid sold at Rome. Convinced of this truth, and further encouraged by the promises of the venal crew on whom he had lavished his bounty, he now began to conceive a deep design against Adherbal and his kingdom. He had great advantages on his side ; bold, fierce, and warlike, he was op- posed to a prince whose spirit was mild, and whose disposition was pacific ; who exposed himself to his adversaries with the most simple openness, who feared every thing, and was to be feared in nothing. Jugurtha therefore, without loss of time, having collected a considerable force, made an irruption into Adherbal's terri- tory, took a number of prisoners, seized a quan- tity of cattle and other booty; set fire to the buildings, and, at the head of his cavalry, ra r 20(3 SALLUST. vaged and laid waste the country. After this exploit he recalled his troops,, and marched back to his own dominions. What he had done he conceived would be sufficient to pro- voke Adherbal to make reprisals, and, of course, light up the flames of war. Adherbal, sensible of his inferiority, and pla- cing his confidence more in the Romans than his own subjects, contented himself with sending ambassadors to state his grievances, and expos- tulate with Jugurtha. The deputies received violent and contumacious answers, and returned to their master, who still retained his pacific sen- timents. He had already tried the fortune of war without success, and was now determined to bear every insult, rather than have recourse to arms. Jugurtha however still persisted in his design : his ambition never once relented, and he had al- ready in imagination overrun and conquered the whole of Adherbal's kingdom. He now resolved to change his measures, and not, as before, with a predatory band, but at the head of a powerful army, to make open war, with the avowed inten- tion of rendering himself sole monarch of Numi- dia. Wherever he marched, his way was mark- ed with ruin : cities were sacked and plunder- THE WAR AGAINST JUGUHTHA. 26j ed ; the country was laid waste, and immense plunder seized in every quarter : he omitted no- thing to inflame the spirit of his men, and cover the enemy with consternation. xxi. Adherbal, in this distressful situation, seeing that he must either abdicate his kingdom, or retain it by arms, took the alternative of col- lecting his forces and marching against Jugurtha. The two armies encamped in sight of each other, at a small distance from the sea, near the city of Cirta. The day being far advanced, no en- gagement happened. The greater part of the night being spent, and the dawn of day approach- ing, Jugurtha's soldiers, on a signal given, rushed with fury into the enemy's camp. Some were, half asleep, others were snatching up their arms ; and, in this confusion, they were either put to the sword, or compelled to fly. Adherbal, with a small band of cavalry, fled to the city of Cirta, so closely pursued, that if a body of Romans had not repulsed the Numidians from the walls, the war between the two kings would have been be- gun and ended in a single day. Jugurtha invested the place. He advanced his towers, his covered galleries, and battering engines of every kind, and pressed the siege with all his vigour, in hopes of forcing the garrison to surrender, before the deputies, who he knew 2t>8 SALLUST. had been dispatched by Adherbal before the battle, could be able to reach the city of Rome. Eutthesenate had received intelligence, and, find- ing the war was actually commenced, they sent a deputation of three young men, with directions to see both kings, and inform them, in the name of the senate and Roman people, that they were required forthwith to lay down their arms, and refer their differences to the decision of law and justice, rather than to the force of arms ; such conduct being most conformable to the dignity of Rome and the honour of the Numidian princes. xxn. The deputies without loss of time ar- rived in Africa. They used the utmost expedi- tion, because, before their departure, the late battle and the siege of Cirta were a topic of con- versation at Rome. The particulars, however, were not authenticated. The deputies opened their commission : Jugurtha told them in re- ply, " that nothing was greater, nothing dearer to him than the authority of the senate : from his earliest youth it had been the study of his life to merit the esteem of all good men. It was by virtuous, not by disingenuous actions, that he was admitted to the friendship of that illus- trious character, Publius Scipio : by persevering in the same conduct he obtained the favour of THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 2&) Micipsa, who made him his heir, not for the want of children of his own, but on account of the merit which he observed in him. The more he felt this consciousness of his own deserts, the less he was inclined to bow to the injustice of others. Adherbal was the aggressor : he forme4 a dark design against Jugurtha's life, and, the plot being discovered, measures w r ere taken to counteract him. The Roman people would neither act a part consistent with their own ho- nour, nor with the public good, if they debarred him from the due exercise of the law of nations. Upon the whole, he was determined, with all possible dispatch, to send deputies to Rome, with a full and clear account of all transactions." In this manner was closed the negotiation of the Roman ambassadors. They had no interview with Adherbal. xxiii. Jugurtha, when he had reason to be- lieve that the agents of Rome had sailed from Africa, began to see that Cirta was so strong by nature, that it could not be taken by storm. He therefore formed a close blockade ; he made lines of circumvallation, sunk trenches round the walls, advanced high towers, and placed in each of them a strong military force : he continued indefatigable day and night, exerting all the ef- forts of force and of stratagem ; at one time he 2/0 SALLUST. endeavoured to corrupt the garrison by bribes ; at anotherhe tried to reduce them by the strength of his arms. By promises, by warm exhortations, he did every thing to animate the valour of his men, and, in short, left nothing untried for his purpose. Adherbal was now reduced to the last extremity ; his mortal enemy was pressing on every side ; he saw no hope of relief; provi- sions were failing, and there was no possibility of carrying on the war. In this distress he se- lected two of his followers, the most bold and daring of those who had accompanied him in his flight, and thrown themselves into the town of Cirta. He represented his case to these two men ; he excited their compassion, and, by add- ing liberal promises, prevailed upon them to find their way in the dead of night through the en- trenchments of the enemy to the sea-side, and sail from thence to Rome. The two Numi- dians in a few days succeeded in their undertak- ing. Adherbal's letter was read in the senate, and was in substance as follows : xxiv. " That I resort to you so often, con- script Fathers, and trouble you with repeated solicitations, is not a fault to be imputed to me. The violence of Jugurtha is the cause. Bent on my destruction, he regards neither your autho- rity, nor the vengeance of the immortal gods. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 17 \ Nothing but my blood can appease his fury. It is now almost five months since I, the friend and ally of the Roman people, have been a pri- soner close besieged. He forgets the favours con- ferred upon him by my father Micipsa. Your decrees he sets at defiance. I am pressed by fa- mine and the sword, and which to dread most, I cannot say. Of Jugurtha I will add no more at present ; my own wretched condition will not allow me to multiply complaints, and, besides, I know by experience that the language of misery is not always believed. It will be proper to ob- serve, that this aspiring man aims at something more than my destruction. Can he hope to pos- sess my kingdom, and at the same time to enjoy your friendship ? Both are incompatible ; which of the two is the object of his wishes, is too plain to admit of a doubt. His first exploit was the murder of my brother Hiempsal. Since that, I have been driven by him from my paternal do- minions. But these are private injuries, in which you have no concern : there are others which af- fect you nearly : he has taken possession of a kingdom that belongs to you : you raised me to the throne of Numidia, and he keeps me close besieged. How much regard he paid to the deputies who delivered your orders, my dis- tresses too plainly shew. What remedy is left > 272 SALLUST. It is for you to have recourse to arms : nothing else can make an impression on him. As to myself, I most sincerely wish, that what I now write, and what I urged in person at the bar of the senate, were a mere fiction, instead of being verified by the misery I endure. But since it is my unhappy lot to be made by Jugurtha a public spectacle of calamity, it is not to be delivered from death and misfortune that I now implore you : no ; rescue me from the hands of the inhu- man tyrant ; let me not be his prisoner ; save me from the torments which his barbarity has pre- pared. I ask no more. The kingdom of Numi- dia belongs to you ; dispose of it as you think proper ; but snatch me from the power of that barbarian: this is my humble supplication. I conjure you by the majesty of Rome, by the good faith of friendship, and the alliance I have had with you ; and by the services of my grandfather Masinissa, if yet his virtues have a place in your memory." xxv. This letter being read, a motion was made by some of the senators, that an army should be sent into Africa, in order to give im- mediate relief to Adherbal : in the mean time, they proposed that Jugurtha's want of deference to the Roman ambassadors should be taken into consideration. This was opposed by Jugurtha's THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 273 party : they exerted themselves to prevent such a decree, and sacrificed, as is too frequently the case, public good to private intrigue. It was, however^ resolved to send ambassadors into Africa ; and for this purpose they appointed a set of men, of high rank, who had been long versed in business, and had passed through the highest offices of the magistracy. At the head of them was Marcus Scaurus, who has been already mentioned. He was at that time of consular rank, and of the senate. These new commissioners, finding that the popular voice was loud against Jugurtha, and being strongly urged by the Numidian deputies, embarked in the space of three days. They had a short pas- sage to Utica. From that place they sent a dispatch to Jugurtha, summoning him to attend them in the Roman province, and receive the orders which they brought with them from the senate. Jugurtha was informed that the commission- ers, who were sent to counteract his designs, were men of high rank and consequence at Rome. The news alarmed him ; he felt him- self torn by conflicting passions : the conse- quence of disobeying the orders of the senate was before his eyes ; but a heart inflamed with rage for power, prompted him to persist in the 274 SALLUST. evil which he had begun. Fear at length yielded to ambition, which, in a heart like his, was irresistible. He drew up his forces round the town, with tntent to carry it by a general assault, as, by compelling the besieged to divide their attention to different quarters, he con- ceived that he might be able, by force or strata- gem, to make himself master of. the place. His attempt not meeting with success, he saw the impossibility of gratifying his wish of get- ting Adherbal into his power, before he went to an interview with the Roman deputies ; and fearing that delay might give offence to Scaurus, whose resentment he dreaded most, he pro- ceeded with a small party of cavalry into the Roman province. He there was told, in a tone of menace, the high indignation with which the senate heard that he had not yet abandoned the siege. A long debate ensued, and in the end, the commissioners, without effecting any thing, returned to Rome. xxvi. As soon as these transactions were known at Cirta, the adventurers from Italy, who were- there in garrison, and had hitherto defended the place, began to consider that, protected by the majesty of Rome, they might safely surrender, without any danger to their persons. In this persuasion, they gave it as THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 275 their opinion to Adherbal that he would do well to yield himself and the town to Jugurtha, without any terms of capitulation, except the safety of his own person. For the rest, he might rely on the care of the senate. Adher- bal was convinced that any expedient would be safer than the plighted faith of Jugurtha ; but reflecting, at the same time, that it was in the power of those who proposed the measure to carry it into execution, in spite of all resistance on his part, he thought it best to comply, and accordingly submitted to the conqueror. Ju- gurtha seized him without delay, and put him to death, under the most excruciating torments. After this exploit, he gave to the sword all the young Numidian soldiers, and with them all the foreign traders, in one promiscuous carnage. xxvii. As soon as this horrid massacre was known at Rome, the senate took it into consi- deration. In that assembly Jugurtha still had friends, who, by interrupting the speakers, by exerting all their influence, by protracting the v debate, did all that was in their power to varnish thejb err or ■ e£Jajs crimes . Certain it is, that if(Caius Memmiusj, tribune elect, a man of who stood firm in opposition * See Note C. T 2 276 SALLUST. to the pride of the nobles *, had not made it his business to inform the people at large, that a party in the senate were playing a game to serve the cause of Jugurtha, all resentment would have evaporated in frivolous debates, and that monster's guilt would have passed with impu- nity ; such w r as the influence of party, and the power of Numidian money ! But the senate, alarmed by the clamour of the people, felt a remorse of conscience, and, in conformity to the Sempronian law, proceeded to appoint go- vernors of the provinces. Numidia and Italy were assigned to Publius Scipio Nasica, and Lucius Bestia Calphurnius, both consuls elect. Numidia fell to the lot of Calphurnius, and Italy to that of Scipio. Measures for raising an army, to be sent into Africa, were imme- diately taken ; and a fund provided for the pay of the soldiers, and all the expense of the war. xxvni. Jugurtha received an account of these proceedings, which were altogether con- trary to his expectations. It was still his fixed opinion that Rome was a scene of venality ; and accordingly he dispatched his son, with two confidential friends, on an embassy to the * See Note D. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 27* senate. His instructions to these deputies were the same as he had formerly given to them whom he sent after the murder of Hiempsal, namely, to make their approach to all men by bribery and corruption. While they were on their way to Rome, Bestia convoked the senate to deliberate whether the deputies should be re- ceived within the walls. The Fathers decreed, that, if they did not come to submit both Jugurtha and his kingdom to the authority of the senate, they should depart out of Italy in the space of ten days at farthest. This resolu- tion, by the order of the senate, was commu- nicated by the consul, and the Numidians re- turned home without any kind of success. Bestia in the mean time completed his levies, and, having formed the army, chose for his of- ficers men of rank and intrigue, whose authority he hoped would be a sanction to his misconduct. Scaurus, of whose disposition and character we have already given some idea, was one of the number. As to the consul himself, he had many excellent qualities both of body and mind ; but avarice was his ruling passion. He was pa- tient of fatigue, of an active spirit, great circum- spection, well versed in military affairs, firm in the moment of danger, and guarded against sur- T 3 2J$ SALLUST. prise. His new-raised legions marched through Italy to Rhegium, and having crossed over to Sicily, sailed from thence to Africa. The consul had taken care to be provided with all necessaries, and by consequence entered Numidia in such force, that he took a number of prisoners, and several cities, by the strength of his arms. xxix. Jugurtha made'*his approaches to the Roman general by offers of money, and took care, at the same time, to paint to him in the strongest colours all the difficulties of the impend- ing war. By these arts, a mind devoted to ava- rice was easily conquered : he chose, however, to act in concert with Scaurus, who, though he had in the beginning (when almost all of his faction sold themselves) taken a warm and violent part against the Numidian king, was now no longer proof against corruption, but received a vast sum of money, and forgot at once all principles of truth and honour. Jugurtha, at first, had nothing in view but a delay of hostilities, conceiving that in the mean time he should be able to gain friends, and strengthen his interest at Rome. But when he learned that Scaurus took an active part in the negotiation, he flattered himself with hopes of obtaining a settled peace, and therefore resolved THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 279 to meet his two friends, and to negotiate in per- son the terms of a general compromise. To en- courage him in this design, the consul, as a pledge for his security, sent Sextius the quaestor, to the city of Vacca, where Jugurtha had fixed his re- sidence. For this step the pretext was, that Sex- tius was to receive a quantity of corn, which Cal- phurnius had required of Jugurtha's deputies, in return for the suspension of arms, which was granted to their master, while the terms of his surrender were under consideration. Matters being thus arranged, Jugurtha, as he had propo- sed, entered the Roman camp. He addressed the council of officers, and, having in a short speech endeavoured to palliate his guilt, desired that his surrender might be accepted. For the rest, he settled his terms in a private conference with Bestia and Scaur us. On the following day, without further debate, and without the formality of collecting the votes, his surrender passed in the affirmative. At the same time the consul made an order, that thirty elephants, some cattle and a number of horses, with a moderate sum of money, should be delivered to the qusestor. Jugurtha complied with the terms. This busi- ness finished, Bestia set out for Rome, in order to preside as consul at the election of magis* T 4 280 SALLUST. trates. Numidia in the mean time, and the Roman army, remained in profound peace. xxx. The transactions in Africa, and the con- duct observed upon the occasion, being divulged at Rome, the consul and his administration en- gaged the attention of all classes of men. The people were loud and violent, and the senate in- volved in doubt and difficulty. Whether it were best to confirm a treaty so very base and disho- nourable, or to declare it null and void, was a ques- tion that held them in most fluctuating suspense. Of this hesitation the prime cause was Scaurus, who was known to have acted in conjunction with Bestia, and indeed to have been his principal ad- viser. The weight and influence of this man were such, that the Fathers were deterred from deciding with honour and integrity. In the midst of this weakness and irresolution of the senate, Caius Memmius,' whom we have already described as a person of undaunted spirit, and a determined enemy of the nobles, took every opportunity to harangue and inflame the populace : he exhorted them to assert their rights; he called upon them to stand firm in their country's cause, and not tamely to resign their liberty ; he painted forth in glaring colours the pride, the arrogance, and the inhuman conduct of the nobles ; and, in short, THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 281 omitted nothing that could stimulate the feelings of the multitude. As the eloquence of this man was at that time in great celebrity, and made a deep impression on the public mind, I have judged it not improper to select one speech out of a number that he made, as a specimen of his manner. I shall choose, in particular, that which he spoke to an assembly pf the people after the return of Bestia, and which ran as follows : L-— 4r xxxi . " A number of circumstances, O my fel- \ low-citizens! conspire to deter me from taking any part in public affairs ; but my zeal for the commonwealth is a motive that nothing can si- lence; not even the enormous power of the great, your tame submission, the utter ruin of all pub- lic justice, nor yet more strong the danger to which integrity is exposed, in times when to be honest is more perilous than profitable. I will not look back to your sufferings for fifteen years past ; I will not call to mind the insults you have experienced during that time from a domi- neering faction ; your best friends, the men who stood forth in your defence, have fallen a sacri- fice, unpitied and unrevenged. Even now your spirit is debased by sloth and indolence ; your enemies are defenceless, and you remain inactive * 282 SALLUST. and terrified, in awe of men who ought to shrink into nothing before you. "These, O Romans X are discouraging circum- stances ; but still to resist this imperious faction is the high and fixed resolution of my heart. Liberty is a blessing transmitted to me by my father, and it shall not lie idle in my hands. I am resolved to exert it ; but whether effectually or not, will be for you, O Romans! to decide. " Your ancestors, on many occasions, took up arms to redress their grievances, but thatisa mea- sure which in this juncture I do not desire you to adopt. There is no need of violence, no se- cession from the city is wanted ; your enemies are working their own ruin ; they must fall by their own misconduct. They murdered Tibe- rius Gracchus, alleging that he aspired to reign over you: and after that bloody catastrophe they fell with cruel prosecutions on the citizens of Rome. The tragical fate of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius followed in a few years after; for- mer horrors were renewed, and numbers of your order were strangled in prison. When at length the scene of blood was closed, it was not the au- thority of the law that sheathed the sword : your tyrants were on both occasions sated with re- venge; and then, only then, did the carnage cease. But let us suppose that to re-establish the rights THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 283 of the people is no better than an effort to grasp at sovereignty ; be it granted, that when other retribution is wanting, the shedding of Roman blood is a necessary sacrifice to justice: what 6hall we say of all that you have suffered for a series of years ? You have seen with silent indig- nation the treasury plundered ; you have seen kings and free nations paying tribute to a few avaricious nobles, whom you behold in posses- sion of all the riches and dignities of the state. They have done all this with impunity ; they tri- umph in their guilt ; and, to crown the whole, they now presume to sacrifice to your inveterate ene- mies the laws of the land, the majesty of empire, with all that is sacred to the gods, and dear to man. Amidst all these outrages, have they the grace to blush for their iniquity ? Far otherwise. They display their grandeur to the public eye, and exult in their pontifical robes, their consular honours, and triumphal decorations ; and all this pomp is exhibited as ostentatiously as if it were the reward of virtue, and not the fruit of rapine and usurpation. " Let me ask you, will the purchased slave obey the unjust commands of a master ? We know that he will not : and shall you, ye Ro- mans ! a people formed for empire, shall you tamely submit, and crouch under bondage^ 484 SALLUST. " Consider for a moment, who those usurp- ers are who have made themselves masters of the commonwealth : men of the most flagitious cha- racters, whose hands are stained with blood, and whose hearts are chilled by avarice ; who are perpetrators of every crime and arrogators of every honour ; who pay no regard to good faith, honour, virtue, or religion ; but carry all to market, and make justice as venal as injustice. " To what do these men owe their safety ? To the murder of your tribunes, to their harassing prosecution of yourselves, and to the blood of Roman citizens which their hands have shed. Their guilt is their protection ; and the most atro- cious are the most secure. Fear they have none ; your cowardice dispels it. They are all of one mind : they have the same desires, the same aversions, and the same fears ; and congeniality of feeling is their bond of union. But this sympa- thy, which between honest men deserves the name of friendship, is a faction among the wicked, a dangerous confederacy in guilt. " I may here observe, for it is a certain truth, that ff you were as eager to assert your liberties as your enemies are to establish their usurpation, we should not see, as we now do, the common- wealth rent in pieces ; and your favours, instead of being engrossed by a faction, would be the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 285 reward of merit only. Your ancestors, with a zeal for liberty, and the constitution of a regular government, made an armed secession on two different occasions to Mount Aventine; and shall you be wanting in defence of that liberty which has been so spiritedly preserved to you by your forefathers ? Your duty calls you to this splen- did task ; the more so, as it is more inglorious to lose what we possessed, than it would be never to have the spirit to demand it. " Here, you will ask, what step do I advise you to take ? To this I answer, Bring the men who have sold their country, to public justice ; punish the traitors ; but in doing it, use neither force nor violence : your enemies deserve the severest vengeance, but tumult and commotion are beneath the dignity of Roman citizens. Pro- ceed in due course of law, make a strict inquiry, and let Jugurtha himself be examined. If it be true that he has surrendered at discretion, he will obey your orders ; should he hesitate, and refuse to comply, you will see what sort of peace has been concluded, and what kind of submission has been admitted. You will see that the whole is a scene of fraud, by which Jugurtha and his crimes are to pass with impunity, the agents of corruption to receive enormous wealth, and the commonwealth to be disgraced and ruined. 286 SALLUST. " Can I suppose that you are not tired out by the tyranny of your masters ? Can I think for a moment that you look with pleasure to the times when kingdoms, provinces, law and justice, war and peace, and, in short, all things divine and human were submitted to the grasp of a few leading usurpers ? when you yourselves, that is, the Roman people,unconquered in war and mas- ters of the world, were satisfied with the privi- lege of being suffered to exist ? In that period was there a man among you bold enough to cast off the yoke ? Though in my mind there is no- thing so disgraceful as to let injuries pass unre- sented ; yet I might on this occasion tolerate your lenity to these traitors, because the wretches are your fellow-citizens, if such ill-timed compas- sion were not absolute ruin to yourselves. " Your oppressors are hardened in iniquity j generosity will make no impression on them ; they must be disarmed of all power, and made incapable of renewing their mischief. There is no alternative: redress your grievances at once, or a state of continual anxiety must be your lot ; you will find yourselves obliged to live in slavery, or in a perpetual struggle for the maintenance of your rights. " Between you and your declared enemies what hope is there of peace ? What concord can THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 28/ be established ? They want to be absolute, you desire to live in freedom ; their wish is to oppress, and yours to repel oppression. To sum up all, your allies are treated by them as enemies, and your enemies as their best allies. Amidst such jarring sentiments who can hope for peace or unanimity ? " My voice is therefore for bringing the de- linquents to punishment. The public treasury may have been pillaged, and sums of money ex- torted from your allies ; but they are no part of the present charge ; they are indeed enormous crimes, but so common, that they have now lost their name. The authority of the senate has been given up to an inveterate enemy, the Ro- man empire basely destroyed, and the common- wealth has been sold at home and abroad. These are the crimes that call aloud for venge- ance ; if they escape with impunity, if the ma- lefactors are not brought to public judgment, what remains for us ? what, but to be willing slaves under the despotic power of our oppress- ors, and crouch to them as kings, whose only law is, their will ? X Metellus, finding that Jugurtha still retained his former ferocity, began to consider the plan of his own future conduct. He saw that he had a war upon his hands, in which all his measures must depend on the motions of the wily Numi- dian, who had great advantage on his side, as his army suffered less by a defeat, than the Romans by a complete victory. He resolved, therefore, to change the plan of his operations, and carry on the war, not, as before, by regular attacks in the field of battle, but by art and stratagem. With this design, he made a forward movement into Numidia, penetrated into the most flourishing parts of the country, laid all waste before him, and took by storm a number of towns and cas- tles, which he found ill fortified, or without suffi- cient garrisons, and, to deprive Jugurtha of re- cruits, put all the young men to the sword. He allowed his soldiers full license to plunder, and then set fire to every place. By these vigorous exertions, terror and consternation were spread far and wide, insomuch that hostages were sent from all parts of the country ; corn and pro- visions were amply supplied, and garrisons admitted wherever he directed. By this new mode of waging war, Jugurtha was more disconcerted than by the late defeat of his army. He now perceived that he, who Y 3 326 SALLUST. had hitherto found his best resource in flying before the Romans, was at length obliged to pursue them on their march ; and, though un^ able to maintain his ground in situations chosen by himself, he found it necessary to seek the enemy in his most advantageous posts. And yet j in this distress, his genius was fertile in ex- pedients. Having formed his measures with the best judgment, he ordered the main body of his army to remain in their camp, while he himself, with a select party of cavalry, marching always in the night, through the most unfrequented ^roads, hung on the rear of the Roman army, Without any previous notice of his approach, he fell upon them by surprise, and numbers of the men, who were straggling about the country, without their arms, were either put to the sword or taken prisoners. Not a man escaped un- wounded. Having thus made a scene of slaughter, the Numidians did not wait till suc- cours could arrive from the Roman camp, but, according to the orders of Jugurtha, retreated to the neighbouring hills. lv. In the mean time, the conduct of Metel- lus being known at Rome, the whole city re^ sounded with acclamations of joy. The people were happy to be told that their general was a strict observer of ancient discipline, and taught THE WAR AGAINST /UGURTHA. 327 his army to conform to the same rules'; that, though the enemy had all the advantages of the ground, his undaunted courage surmounted every difficulty and obtained a complete victory, made himself master of the country, and by the progress of his arms had reduced Jugurtha, elated as he was by the infamous submission of Aulus, to seek his safety in solitary deserts, or to place all his hopes in flight. For these happy events, the senate, by a decree, ordered public thanks and oblations to the immortal gods. The gloom that lately hung over the minds of men was now dispersed, and joy and exultation filled the city. The praise of Metellus was the theme of every tongue. The general felt himself inspired with addi- tional ardour. A complete victory was now his aim ; and to that end he resolved to direct his most strenuous efforts. , Rapid in all motions, Pie proceeded with spirit and daring, but at the same time was upon his guard not to open any advantage to the enemy. He was aware that envy always follows on the rear of fame ; and therefore, seeing the space which he filled in the eyes of men, he acted with redoubled vigilance. Warned by the late incursions of Jugurtha, he no longer suffered his. men to plunder in separate divisions. When corn or other provisions were T 4 328 SALLUST. wanted, he ordered out some cohorts and the whole of his cavalry to protect the foraging par- ties. He kept one part of the army under his own command, and Marius marched at the head of the other. The country was laid waste, but the destruction was spread more by fire, than by plundering parties. The two generals pitched their separate camps at a small distance from each other. When the occasion required it, they acted with their com- bined force ; and at other times proceeded by different routes, in order to spread flight and consternation as wide as possible. In the mean time Jugurtha was not idle : he watched the motions of the Romans, and followed them on the ridge of hills, hoping in some happy moment to seize the advantage of the ground, and hazard a general action. When he gained intelligence of the intended march of the enemy, he took care to ruin the forage in that part of the coun- try, and to corrupt the few fountains that were to be found. He shewed himself in array, some- times to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius. After a sudden attack upon the rear, he would in an instant fly with precipitation to the hills : then, suddenly returning, he would seem to me- nace an assault at different points, intending all the time not to come to action, but still resolved THE WAR AGAINST JtJGURTHA, 32() to keep up a constant alarm, and by these means counteract and retard the designs of the enemy. lvi. The Roman general felt himself fa- tigued by these delays. He saw that he had to do with an artful enemy, who eluded occa- sions of coming to an engagement. Being tired by repeated stratagems, he now changed the plan of his operations, with intent to lay siege to a capital city known by the name of Zama, which in the part of the country where it was situated was the strong hold and bulwark of the kingdom. Metellus concluded, as was highly probable, that Jugurtha would march to the relief of the place, and, in that case, might be forced to hazard a battle. The Numidian had early intelligence of this design. He set forward directly, and, by forced marches, arri- ved at the city before Metellus could reach it. He entreated the inhabitants to make a vio;or- ous defence, and added to the garrison a body of deserters, whom he counted his best troops, as they would not dare to betray him. He assured the people that he would return at the head of a powerful army to raise the siege. Having thus arranged all matters, he withdrew into the most retired places he could find, and soon after learned that Marius was detached 3 330 SALLUST. with a few cohorts from the main body of the army, to collect a store of provisions from the town of Sicca, which, after his late defeat, was the first place that revolted to the Romans. He made another forced march in the night, at the head of a select party of horse, and arrived in time to attack the Romans as they were coming out of the gates. At the same time, in a load tone of voice, he exhorted the inhabitants to fall upon the rear of the Romans, and seize the glorious opportunity, now in their power, of restoring to their king the quiet enjoyment of his dominions, and of recovering theirown independent freedom. The effect of this speech was such, that, if Marius had not advanced his standards with expedition, and pressed forward to the outside of the walls, it is most probable that the inhabitants, or the greater part of them, would have taken up arms against him : such is the versatile temper of the Numidians. Jugurtha's troops, while they were animated by the valour of their king, fought with undaunted resolution, but finding themselves overpowered by the vigour of the Romans, they betook themselves to flight. The number slain in the action was inconsi- derable. lvii. Marius continued his march, and ar- rived before the walls of Zama. This city was si- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 331 iuated on an open plain, without any advantage from nature, but strongly fortified. It was pro- vided with all necessary stores, and had a nume- rous garrison. Metellus having made all arrangements suited to the occasion, formed his lines, and stationed his officers at their proper posts. He then in- vested the town, and gave the signal for a gene- ral assault. The Romans in that moment raised a terrible shout, at which the Numidians were by no means dismayed ; but, firm and resolute, awaited their approach. The attack began : the besiegers, according to the different genius of the men, shewed their valour in various shapes : some at a distance discharged vollies of slings and stones ; while others exhausted their vigour in the onset, and retired ; some advanced, and endeavourd to sap the walls, while others tried to mount them with scaling-ladders. To bring the enemy to a close encounter was the object of all. The besieged made an obstinate defence : they heaved down massy stones on the men un- der the walls ; they discharged stakes and jave- lins, and darted flaming torches^ and other com- bustibles steeped in pitch and sulphur: the con- sequence was, that such of the Romans as kept #t a distance to shun the danger, were not 332 SALLUST. protected by their caution ; as the weapons launched from the vigour of the arms, or dis- charged from battering-engines, laid numbers on the field. The coward and the brave were in equal danger, but did not act with equal glory. lviii. While Zama was thus attacked and thus defended, Jugurtha watched his opportu- nity to assault the Roman camp. He advanced at the head of a great body of troops, and sur- prised the men who were left there upon guard. Finding the soldiers relaxed, and without the least apprehension of an attack, he was able to make an irruption at one of the gates. The sudden alarm threw our men into confusion : they acted at the moment according to their different in- stincts; some fled, some seized their arms ; some were wounded, and many killed on the spot. A small number, in all not more than forty, still re- membering the glory of the Roman name, formed a compact body, and took possession of a rising ground ; from which post the Numidians, with all their efforts, were not able to dislodge them. The missive weapons which the assailants leveL led at them, they returned in a volley, and with some execution, as the numbers of the enemy presented a fair mark. If the Numidians dared to come to a close encounter, the courage of the tUK WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 333 little phalanx shewed itself with redoubled fury; they slaughtered the Numidians, threw them into confusion, and put them to flight. Metellus, in the mean time, pressed on the siege most vigorously ; but hearing, on a sud- den, the uproar of an enemy in his rear, he turn- ed his horse, and beheld a number of fugitives, whoin as they fled towards him he knew to be part of his own army. In the instant he dis- patched all his cavalry to the camp, and order- ed Marius to follow at the head of the auxiliary cohorts, addressing him at the same time in most affecting terms, conjuring him, with tears in his eyes, by their mutual friendship, by the love they bore to the commonwealth, not to suffer a victorious army to be brought to disgrace, nor the enemy to save themselves by flight. Marius marched with expedition, and executed his orders. Jugurtha found himself obstructed by the for- tifications of the camp. Some of his men threw themselves down from the top of the ramparts ; others, endeavouring to escape through the narrow passes, were embarrassed by their numbers ; and at length, the Numidian prince, after a great slaughter of his men, re- treated to his fastnesses. Metellus, finding that his operations against the city were ineffectual, 334 SALLUST. as night was coming on, withdrew with his army to the camp. lix. On the following day, the consul, before he returned to the siege, drew up his cavalry be- fore the lines of his camp, on the side where he expected Jugurtha would make an attempt. He assigned to the tribunes their several stations at the gates and various outworks, and, having made these arrangements, proceeded to the city with an intent to storm the works, as he had endeavoured to do on the preceding day. Jugurtha in the mean time did not remain in ambush, but seized his opportunity to make a sudden assault. The advanced guard was struck with surprise, and thrown into disorder, but speedy succours came to their support, and being now in force, they would have immedi- ately routed the Numidians, if the latter had not changed their mode of fighting. Their infantry Was now mixed with their horse, and did great execution. This was a new expedient : their cavalry had been always used to rush on with fury, and then to wheel about, and retire ; but now they pressed forward, and dared to engage horse to horse. By this new mode^of fighting they broke the ranks, and, when they had well nigh overpowered our men, left their foot-sol- diers to complete the work. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 335 lx. In the mean time the siege of Zama was pushed on with vigour. The officers of rank and the tribunes performed prodigies of valour, all exerting their own personal bravery, without depending on the assistance of their comrades. The besieged gave equal proofs of their valour; they opposed all assaults, and made a firm re- sistance in every quarter. The conflict was so violent, that no man thought of his own per- sonal safety ; while the annoyance of the enemy was the object and endeavour of all. Sounds of exhortation and joy, mingled with groans and shrieks, formed all together a strange and various uproar. The clash of arms was enough to rend the skies, and nothing was seen in the atmo- sphere but darts and missive weapons. The as- sault was not maintained in all quarters with equal vigour. The besieged, whenever they saw a cessation on the part of the Romans, em- ployed their time in looking at Jugurtha's ca- valry, which were at some distance hotly en- # gaged; and according as they succeeded, or were, repulsed, alternate sounds of joy and dismay were heard from the ramparts. You would have seen theinen as eagerly in motion, as if they could be heard or seen by their friends at a dis- tance ; they called aloud to them ; they en- couraged them to deeds of valour, thev made 336 &ALLUST. signs with their hands, and writhed and twisted their bodies in various contortions, as if they were either shrinking from a wound, or aiming their darts at the enemy. Marius conducted the attack on that side of the city. The scene that passed on the walls did not escape his observation, and he thought fit to relax his ardour, and to appear as if he despaired of success. He looked quietly on, while the Numidians were left at leisure to behold the con- flict in which Jugurtha was engaged, and seiz- ing the moment, when all eyes were fixed on the distant field, he advanced with sudden fury to storm the place. The Romans attacked with their usual spirit, and, applying their scaling-lad- ders, had almost gained the summit of the walls when the beleaguered citizens returned to the charge. They heaved down from the battle- ments huge massy stones, flaming brands, and a volley of missive weapons. The besiegers per- sisted with undaunted bravery, till some of their scaling-ladders gave way, and dashed the men headlong from the top. The assailants fled in confusion, each man eager to save himself, and the greater part covered with wounds : few out of the whole number escaped unhurt. Night coming on, the conflict ceased in every quarter. THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 337 lxi. Metellus now began to despair of his enterprise. He found the city impregnable, and saw no way of bringing on an engagement with Jugurtha, who would not fight except in those sudden attacks, when he could fall on the Ro- mans by surprise, or could seize an advantageous post. The consul therefore, the summer being at an end, resolved to raise the siege of Zama. He departed from before the city, and, after placing garrisons in such of the towns as had made a voluntary surrender, and were by nature or by art sufficiently strong, he marched his army into the part of the Roman province that lay contiguous to the frontiers of Numidia, and there settled his men in winter-quarters. He did not however think that his time, in this retreat, was to be sacrificed, according to the practice of others, to indolence, or voluptuous pleasures: he still employed his thoughts for the public ser- vice, and, being convinced that he could not end the war by force of arms, he changed his plan, and had recourse to art and stratagem : his scheme was to employ the king's friends against their master, and for the future to wage a war of treachery. For this purpose he fixed on Bo- milcar, Jthe man who had been at Rome with Ju- gurtha, and who having been charged with the murder of Massiva, gave sureties for his appeal*- 338 SALLUST* ance, and afterwards fled from justice. He stood high in the esteem of Jugurtha, and the confi- dence reposed in him by his master made him the fittest tool to strike a blow of perfidy. Me- tellus fixed on this favourite of the king, and al- lured him to a secret conference, where he bound himself by a solemn promise, to obtain for him from the senate a full pardon, and the entire pos- session of all his effects, upon condition that he should deliver up Jugurtha, living or dead. The Numidian readily embraced the offer. The ge- nius of his country led him to works of treachery, and the dread of being delivered up to execution in the event of peace with Rome co-operated with his natural disposition. jlxii. Bomilcar lay in wait for an opportunity to approach Jugurtha. He found him in a de- jected state of mind, desponding, and lamenting his condition, He addressed the king in pathe- tic terms, and, with tears in his eyes, besought him to think of his own safety, that of his children, and the public good of the Numidians, who had been hitherto so zealous in his service, He represented to him that defeat had attend- ed every action ; that the country was a scene of desolation; that numbers of his subjects had fallen in battle, or were made prisoners of war ; that the resources of the kingdom were exhaust- 4 THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 33$ ed ; that he had sufficiently tried the valour of his troops, and the fortune of the field ; and, finally, that if he neglected the public welfare, the people of Numidia might be roused to act for themselves. By these and similar remonstrances, Jugurtha was at length persuaded into submission. An embassy was instantly sent with instruc- tions to inform the Roman general that the Nu- midian prince was ready to comply with any terms that should be prescribed, and, without further stipulation for himself and his kingdom, to sur- render at discretion. The consul immediately summoned from their respective quarters all the officers of senatorian rank, and, with them and others of experience, proceeded to deliberate on the business. The result was, a decree of coun- cil, according to ancient usage, commanding Ju- gurtha to deliver to the Romans two hundred thou- sand weight of silver, his whole train of elephants, a certain number of horses, and a quantity of arms. Jugurtha complied without delay, and thereupon the consul required that all the deserters from his army should be sent to him bound in chains: this was also readily obeyed. They were all given up, excepting a small number, who, on the first report of a submission, fled to Bocchus, king of Mauritania, for protection. At length Jugurtha was summoned to surrender himself to s 2 340 SALLUST. the will of the conqueror at the city of Tisidium. This he considered as the crisis of his fate; and though he had resigned men, arms, and money, this last demand producedawavering in his mind, and he began to dread the punishment which his conscience told him he deserved. For several days he remained in suspense and agitation. Ha- rassed as he was by a train of disasters, he was, at times, inclined to think any terms, however harsh, were better than a renewal of the war ; but different reflections soon succeeding, the thought of falling from a throne to a state of bondage pierced to the inmost feeling of his heart, and without balancing any longer, though now in a reduced state, and stripped, by his late submission, of considerable resources, he resol- ved at all events to renew the war. At Rome, in the mean time, the senate met to appoint gover- nors of the different provinces, and Numidia was assigned to Metellus. lxiii. It happened in this juncture thatCaius Marius, being at Utica, and performing a propitiatory sacrifice to the gods, was told by the priest who presided at the ceremony, that the omens which appeared portended all that was great and wonderful ; that whatever undertaking he resolved in his mind, he might pursue with thorough reliance upon the gods, and might THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 341 try his fortune to the utmost risk, as success was sure to follow him throughout. The fact was, that, long hefore this time, Marius had con- ceived hopes of obtaining the^eonsmsnip : for that high honour he had every requisite, except a line of noble ancestors. Possessedof unre- mitting industry, distinguished by his probity/' • rcmlmrtT^ - daunted in the field of battle, he added to those public virtues the strictest domestic economy, and a mind superior to the allurements of wealth or pleasure. The love of glory was his ruling passion. He was born at Arpinum, and remained in that city during his tender years. As soon as he was capable of bearing arms, he entered into the service. The eloquence of Greece had no charms for him, and the elegant refinements of the city passed unheeded. The art of war engaged his whole attention ; and, by consequence, his natural genius soon displayed itself in full vigour. His early ambition made him aspire to the office of military tribune ; and though, when he became a candidate, the people did not know him even by sight, yet his charac- ter stood so high, that he succeeded by the una- nimous suffrage of all the tribes. From this be- ginning he opened his way to further advance- ment, and in every station discharged his duty z 3 342 SALLUST. with so much honour, that he was always deemed worthy of a higher post. And yet with all this honourable reputation (for at that period ambition had not yet sullied his virtues) Marius did not presume to offer himself a candidate for the consulship. All the other magistracies then depended on the elec- tion of the people, but the consular dignity was reserved by the nobles for men of their own rank; and no commoner, however distinguished for his glorious actions, was considered worthy of that elevation, or could do away the idea of pollution which prejudice attached to his birth. lxiv. In the present juncture Marius derived encouragement from the predictions of the sooth- sayer, which corresponded so exactly with his own ambition. He therefore applied toMetellus for leave of absence, that he might proceed to Rome and offer himself for the consulship. The com- mander in chief possessed a mind replete with every virtue, a true sense of honour, and every quality of a great man ; but still retained with all these excellencies, an alloy of that pride, that contemptuous haughtiness, which is the reign- ing vice of the nobility. He listened to the re- quest with astonishment ; he told Marius that he wondered how he could form so wild a project ; and; in the style of friendship, advised him to THE WAR AGAINST JUGUKTHA. 343 desist from such vain pretensions, and not aspire above his rank ; all things in the state were not fit for all ; Marius had every reason to be satis- fied with his present situation ; and, upon the whole, that he would do well not to solicit from the people such a favour as they would be perfectly justified in refusing him. Having urged these and similar arguments, without ma- king any impression on the mind of Marius, he. promised at last to comply with his wishes as soon as the state of things would permit him. Marius took every opportunity to urge his suit ; and the general, we are told, answered at last, that he had no occasion to be so eager to depart, as it would be time enough for him to solicit that office, when the consul's son would be of age to stand joint candidate with him. The young man, then serving under his father, was about twenty years of age. This answer, while it whet- ted the impatience of Marius, filled his heart with resentment against the consul. Rage and ambition, those worst of motives, became now the spring of all his actions. He stopped at no- thing, either in thought or action, that seemed conducive to his design. He relaxed his disci- pline, and allowed greater liberty than he had formerly done, to the troops under his command in the winter-quarters. He mixed with the z 4 344 SALLUST. merchants, of whom there was at Utica a large number, and talked of the war with no less ma- lignity towards the commander in chief, than os- tentation with regard to himself. He declared openly, that if he had the sole command of but half the army, Jugurtha would in a few days be his prisoner; whereas the consul, he said, protracted the war in order to gratify his own vanity and kingly pride, by continuing in the command. To the men in trade these suggestions appeared well founded ; the more so, as, in the course of a long war, they had impaired their fortunes ; and avarice is ever impatient in its pursuit. lxv. There was at this time a Numidian serv- ing in the Roman army, the son of Manastabal and grandson of Masinissa, who had been de- clared by Micipsa heir to the kingdom of Nu- midia, in default of the immediate successors ap- pointed by his will. The name of this prince was Gauda. He had been for some time the vic- tim of disease, and the vigour of his mind de- cayed with his constitution. This man had ex- pressed his desire to have a seat allowed to him next the consul, and a troop of Roman cavalry for his body-guard ; both of which petitions Me- tellus rejected : the seat, because it was an ho- nour granted to none but those whom the Ro- man people acknowledged to be kings ; and the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 345 body-guard, because the Roman cavalry would think it a disgrace to be assigned to a Nu- midian. Marius, perceiving that the prince was discon- tented, took advantage of the opportunity to in- spire him with revenge against Metellus, and promised to second him in all he should under- take. Gauda, as weak in intellect as in body, was easily, led to listen to these flattering speeches, and with pleasure heard himself styled a king, great personage, and grandson of Masi- nissa, who was sure of possessing the kingdom of Numidia, if Jugurtha was either slain, or taken prisoner; an event which he was taught to think would be the certain consequence of the appointment of Marius to the consulship and to the sole management of the war. By the intrigues of Marius, the Numidian, the Roman knights, the soldiers, and the merchants^ some induced by private solicitations, others by their hopes of peace, agreed to write to their friends at Rome an account of the war, to the disadvantage of Metellus, with ardent wishes to have Marius appointed commander in chief. In this manner the lieutenant-general found a number of friends, who seemed by honourable means to open his way to the consulship; and it must be further observed, that the people at that 346 SALLUST. time had obtained by the Mamilian law a victory over the nobles, which gave them the power of promoting new men to the highest offices ; so that all things conspired in favour of Marius. lx vi. During these transactions Jugurtha, who had changed his mind and resolved not to surrender, was busy in making preparations for a renewal of the war. He raised an army with the utmost expedition ; and exerted his utmost by the force of menaces, or bribery, to recover the cities that had revolted from him ; he forti- fied his strong holds, and bought a new stock of arms, or caused them to be made, in order to supply the loss of what he had given up ; he endeavoured to allure to his interest the Roman slaves, and tried by bribery to seduce the men stationed in various garrisons ; in short, he left nothing untried or unassailed, but threw all around him into hurry and agitation. ^ In consequence of these commotions, a con- spiracy took place in the city of Vacca, where, immediately upon the offer of Jugurtha to capi^ tulate, Metellus had placed a garrison. The principal inhabitants, pressed by the entreaties of their king, and in fact never wholly alienated from him, entered into the plot, ^hecommon people, as is the case in all countries, and particularly^ Numidia, were fogdjcxf innov^nol^^readylforin- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 34? sum3£iicn^~aQmy distinct from that of the king. Whenever it happened that Jugurtha found himself fatigued by a multiplicity of affairs, or was engaged in schemes that required his whole attention, Nab- dalsa conducted every thing, and by a fair dis r charge of his duty had acquired great wealth and popularity. * See Note E. 35'2 SALLUST. » He now entered into the plot with Bomilcar. The two conspirators consulted together, and fixed a day, on which they resolved to strike the blow, leaving all previous measures to be settled as the emergencies of the moment might require. From this meeting, Nabdalsa went to join his army, which, by the king's orders, he held in readiness near the Roman winter-quarters, to hinder our men from laying waste the country with impunity. In that situation, having lei- sure to reflect, the magnitude of a deed so atro- cious presented itself to him in all its horror, and under the influence of these fears he did not return on the day appointed, Bomilcar, impatient to execute his purpose, and at the same time fearful lest his colleague should abandon the enterprise, and adopt different measures, dispatched a letter to him by trusty messengers, in which he accused him of back- wardness and indolence ; appealed to the gods as witnesses of the oath by which he had bound himself; and cautioned him not to prefer certain ruin to the gracious offers made by Metellus : the destruction of Jugurtha, he said, was inevitable; the only remaining question was, whether it should be accomplished by the Roman general, or by. their undaunted bravery; and, upon the whole, he would do well to con- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 353 sider, which was most eligible, a splendid reward, or certain death upon the rack. lxxi. This letter, as chance would have it, was delivered to Nabdalsa at a moment when he had laid himself down upon his bed after much bodily fatigue. Bomilcar's style of reproach overwhelmed him with uneasy reflections, and, as is usual when the spirits are wearied, he fell into a profound sleep. A Numidian of tried fidelity was at that time Nabdalsa's confiden- tial scribe ; a man high in favour with his mas- ter, and admitted to all his most secret designs, with the exception solely of the plot then de- pending. The secretary, as soon as he heard that a letter had arrived, concluding that, ac- cording to custom on such occasions, his attend- ance would be necessary, went directly to his master's tent. He found him fast asleep, and, seeing a letter carelessly thrown on the pillow behind his head, he took it and read the con- tents. The conspiracy being thus detected, the Numidian made the best of his w r ay to the king. Nabdalsa waked in a short time. He looked in vain for the letter ; but from his guards, who were deserters from the Roman army, he gained intelligence of what had passed during his sleep. He instantly gave orders to have the spy pursued and seized. That expedient failing, he resolved A A 354 SALLUST. to throw himself at the feet of Jugurtha, and, if possible, to restore himself to favour. He stated the measures which he had meditated, and which he had intended to carry into execution, if the fraud of a treacherous domestic had not anticipated him. In a flood of tears he implored the king, by the friendship that had long sub- sisted between them, by the proofs he had given of strict fidelity, not to imagine him capable of such a crime. lxxii. The king, disguising his real senti- ments, returned a mild and generous answer. He had already put to death Bomilcar with several of his associates, and now thought it prudent to dissemble his resentment, lest the public tranquillity might be endangered by any further severities. From this period Jugurtha was a stranger to tranquillity of mind ; neither day nor night afforded him a moment of peace ; he never thought himself safe in any place, at any time, or with any man whatever: he dreaded his own subjects no less than his enemies ; he lived in constant alarm, always on the watch, frightened at every noise ; shifting in the night to different bedrooms, and often to places ill suited to the royal dignity. He sometimes started out of his sleep, and, jumping from his bed, seized his arms, and caused general con- A THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 355 sternation. In short, his terrors became so ex- cessive as to assume the air of madness. lxxiii. Metellus, having received from the deserters an account of the late conspiracy, and the death of Bomilcar, made preparations for the war, with as much vigour as if it was only then beginning. Wearied as he was by the re- peated importunity of Marius, he thought at length that an officer who served so reluctantly, - and who harboured such feelings of malice to- wards his general, was not fit to be trusted any longer, and therefore gave him the leave of ab- sence which he required. At Rome the popu- lace listened with eagerness to the letters that arrived concerning Metellus and Marius, and swallowed the different accounts according to the bias of their jarring inclinations. The noble rank of the commander in chief, which had hitherto given lustre to his name, was now made an objection to him, while the low ex- traction of his competitor placed him high in the favour of the multitude. The contest was warm, and carried on with all the violence of party spirit, without any attention to the real merits or defects of the two characters. The factious magistrates were not idle in this scene of contention, but added fuel to the fire ; - and in their public declarations did not hesitate A A 2 356 SALLUST. to accuse Metellus, while they extolled Marius to the skies. The frenzy among the common people rose to such a height, that the working mechanics, and the rustics in the field, who earned their bread by their daily labour, left off their work, and crowded about Marius, anxious for his elevation, and careless of themselves. The nobles were unable to withstand this tor- rent, and the consequence was, that the con- sulship was obtained by a commoner; a circum- stance unknown for a series of years. In a short time after, Manlius Mantinus, one of the tribunes, having demanded, in an assembly of the people, whom they would have to command in the war against Jugurtha, the full and una- nimous cry was for Marius. The senate had not long before assigned the province of Numidia to Metellus ; but that decree was now of course null and void. lxxiv. During these transactions at Rome, Ju- gurtha found himself reduced to a most helpless situation. He had cut off many of his friends, and the rest, in dread of a similar fate, had fled for refuge either to the Romans or to king Bocchus. Without the assistance of officers w r ar could not be carried on, and, after the treachery of old friends, to repose any confi- dence in new ones, seemed to him a very dan- ■ the war Against jugurtha. 357 gerous experiment. He was now therefore in the utmost doubt and perplexity ; no plan, no advice, no man could please him. He changed the course of his march, and appointed new lieutenants every day. At times he faced about to the enemy/ and then as suddenly would re- tire into the deserts : sometimes he resolved upon flight, and soon after shewed a disposition for engaging ; and which was the most preca- rious, the courage or fidelity of his people, was a problem which he could not solve. In this manner, on which side soever he turned, he saw nothing but distress and calamity. While he was still in this state of distraction Metellus shewed himself at the head of his army. Jugurtha made the best dispositions which the hurry and exigence of the moment would allow, and a battle ensued. In the quarter where the king exposed his person, the Numi- dians maintained their ground ; but the rest, on the first onset, were thrown into confusion, and betook themselves to flight. The Romans re- mained masters of their standards and arms; but the number of prisoners was very incon- siderable ; for it must be remembered, that in all engagements the Numidians owed their safety more to their feet than to their swords. a a 3 358 SALLUST. lxxv. Jugurtha by this defeat was more dis- heartened than ever ; he fled with a body of deserters, and part of his cavalry, to his safe places in the deserts, and from thence made his way to Thala, a great and opulent city, where his treasures chiefly lay, and where his sons were educated in a manner becoming their rank. Metellus no sooner received intelligence of all that passed, than he resolved to pursue the enemy notwithstanding the difficulties he had to encounter. He knew that between the river in his neighbourhood and the city of Thala there lay a tract of country, not less than fifty miles in length, through a parched and sandy desert ; and yet persuaded that the reduction of that place would put an end to the war, he resolved to encounter every hardship, and, if possible, to conquer even the difficulties which nature opposed to him. Determined on this enter- prise, he issued orders that the beasts of bur- den, instead of being loaded as usual, should only carry corn for ten days, with a parcel of leathern vessels and other vehicles for water. In addition to these preparations he collected together all the tame cattle that could be found in the country round him, and ordered them to be THE WAR AGAINST JUGUKTHA. 359 loaded with vessels of various sorts, but chiefly those made of wood, such as were used by the Numidians in their cottages. That he might be sure of a sufficient supply, he moreover gave , it in command to the people of the country, who, after the late defeat of their king, had submitted to his arms, to provide a store of water, and have ifc ready for delivery at the time and place appointed. He took care, besides, to provide a large quantity of water from the river, which, though at some distance, as has been stated, was still the nearest to the place of his destination. Having taken these pre- cautions, he pursued his march to the city of Thala. Metellus, having reached the place to which he had ordered the Numidians to bring a supply of water, proceeded to pitch his camp ; and the works were scarcely finished, when, as we are told, there fell a torrent of rain sufficient for the whole army. There was besides, beyond all hope or expectation, an ample supply of pro- visions of every kind, brought in from all parts by the people of the country, who having I; surrendered, thought, as is generally the in sudden changes, that they could not dq too much to shew thejr zeal for their new To the Roman soldiers the flood that A A 4 M ^x 300 SALLUST. the heavens was more acceptable than any other water. Their choice proceeded from a fit of enthusiasm ; for they persuaded themselves that they were under the guardian care of a special Providence, and that notion inspired them with tenfold courage. On the following day, to the astonishment of Jugurtha, they appeared before the walls of Thala. The inhabitants, depending on the difficulty of the roads, and thinking their situation inaccessible, were astonished at a sight so unexpected ; but, notwithstanding this alarm, put themselves in a posture of defence, while the Romans, with equal vigour, prepared for the assault. lxxvi. Jugurtha began at length to think that nothing was insurmountable to Metellus. He saw that neither arms nor armies, neither an adverse climate, nor even Nature herself, that conquers every thing, could resist the activity of the Roman general. In despair, therefore, he contrived to escape under favour of the night, and fled from the city with his children, and a considerable part of his treasure. From that time he never rested more than a day or a night in one place ; assigning as an excuse, that his affairs called him away, while, in fact, it was owing to his dread of treachery, which he thought he might elude by this rapid change THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 36 L of residence. He knew that treasonous designs want but time and opportunity for their de- velopement. Metellus found he was engaged with a people determined on resistance. He saw that the city was strong both by nature and art, and he re- solved to enclose it by trenches and lines of circumvallation. He advanced a number of well- constructed machines, with mounds raised upon them and turrets on the top, at once to protect both his men and the works. The besieged, in the mean time, exerted themselves with de- termined spirit, and prepared their machines to oppose the engines of the enemy. The utmost vigour was exhibited on both sides. At length the Romans, exhausted by unre- mitting labour, after a siege of forty days, made themselves masters of the place. They found it empty, nor was any thing left for plunder. The deserters from the Roman army, as soon as they saw the battering engines advanced ta the walls, in a fit of despair conveyed to the king's palace the whole stock of gold and silver, with whatever else was valuable ; and, having there intoxicated themselves with wine, set fire to the royal mansion, destroyed the whole stock, and perished in the flames ; executing on themselves, in this manner, the vengeance 302 SALLXTST. which they had reason to expect from the con^ queror, lxxvij. Thala being thus reduced to sub* jection, Metellus received a deputation from the city of Leptis, requesting him to strengthen the place with a garrison under the command of a proper governor. The ambassadors stated, that a certain factious nobleman, Hamilcar, was employed in schemes of innovation, with the design of subverting the government ; and that neither the magistrates, nor the authority of the laws, were sufficient to check him in his career, A speedy succour, they said, was absolutely necessary, or a people well disposed, and faith- ful allies of Rome, would in a short time be in- volved in utter ruin. It is proper to observe, that the inhabitants of Leptis, on the first break- ing out of the war with Jugiirtha, applied to Bestia the consul, and soon after to the senate, desiring to be united in friendship and alliance with the Romans. Their request was granted, and from that time they gave every proof of their zeal and steady attachment. They re- ceived the orders of Bestia, Albinus, and Me- tellus, in regular succession, and on every oc- casion acted with prompt obedience. In con- sequence of such conduct their suit was granted by the general. He dispatched four Ligurian THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 363 cohorts to garrison the place, and gave the com- mand to Caius Annius. lxxviii. The city of Leptis was founded by the Sidonians ; a people who, as history informs us, fled from the civil wars that distracted their country, and after a prosperous voyage settled on the sea-coast, and there built their town in a situation between the two Syrtes, which owe their name to the phenomena observable at both places. The Syrtes are two gulfs near the extreme limits of Africa, of unequal size, but distinguished by the same qualities. The parts of those which are near the shore are always of considerable depth, while the rest is either deep or shallow, according as the sandy bottom hap- pens to be in motion : for when the billows begin to rise, and winds are high, the waves carry- along with them quantities of mud and sand as well as huge massy stones; so that the con- sequence is, that, according as the winds shift about, the whole appearance of the gulfs is altered. From this peculiarity they are called Syrtes. In consequence of intermarriages with the Numidians, the inhabitants of Leptis had let their native language fall into disuse ; but the Sidonian laws and customs still remained in force. Between these and the cultivated parts 3<34 SALLUST. of Numidki there were long tracts of wild and sandy deserts, and at such a distance the Nu- midian court had little or no influence. lxxix. And now, since I have been drawn by the affairs of Leptis into this part of the country, it will not, I trust, be deemed im- proper, if I deviate into a shortdigre^iorK. to relate a most noble and glorious action which was performed by two Carthaginians, and which the mention of the place recalls to my memory. At the time when Carthage held the greatest part of Africa in subjection, the Cyrenians were a flourishing and powerful people. Between the two states there lay a sandy country of vast extent, all flat and level, without a mountain or a river to serve as a boundary ; and this territory was the cause of never-ceasing hostilities be- tween them. The fleets and armies of the two nations had been alternately scattered and de- feated, till both sides, at length, felt their strength impaired, and began to fear that some fresh enemy m igr^t take advantage of their disabled condition, and attack both the victors and the vanquished. To prevent such a disaster they agreed to a suspension of arms, and, in that period, settled the terms of pacification. On a stated day, and at a certain hour, deputies were to set out from each state, and the place THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 365 where they should happen to meet was for the future to be the boundary of the two nations. The persons sent by the Carthaginians were two brothers, of the name of Philenus, who pur- sued their journey with wonderful activity. The deputies of Cyrene did not make an equal pro- gress. Whether it was from want of exertion or accident is not ascertained ; but in those re- gions, it is well known, that adverse winds are quite as productive of delays as at sea : for in those vast and naked plains, where there are no trees to afford the smallest shelter, a sudden tempest whirls up the sand, and fills the mouths and eyes of the traveller with such clouds of dust as make it impossible for him to pursue his journey. However it happened, the Cyrenians saw that their antagonists had gained a consi- derable advantage, and fearing the punishment that awaited them at home for their failure, they insisted that the Carthaginians had set out before the stipulated hour. They disputed, puzzled, quarrelled, and declared that they would do any thing rather than acquiesce. The Carthaginians expressed their willingness to end the controversy by any fair expedient, upon which the Cyrenians proposed the following terms ; that their antagonists should either consent to be buried alive on the spot, where S66 SALLUST. they desired to fix the limits of their republic, or that the agents of Cyrene should, on the same condition, be at liberty to pursue their progress to what point they should think proper. The Carthaginian brothers embraced the offer, and preferring the interest of their country to all selfish considerations, were buried alive on the spot which they had reached. The government of Carthage erected altars in this place to the memory of the two illustrious bro- thers, and instituted religious ceremonies to be observed in the city, in honour of so glorious a transaction. I now resume the thread of my history. lxxx. Jugurtha, dispirited by the loss of Thala, had no hopes of being able to make a stand against Metellus : he fled with a small band of his followers, and, after traversing vast plains and deserts, arrived in the country of the Gaetulians, a wild and barbarous people, at that time wholly ignorant of the Roman name. He contrived to draw together a large number of those savages, and in a short time taught them to keep their ranks, to follow the colours, to obey the word of command, and to perform all military duties. He addressed himself to the favourite courtiers of king Bocchus, and, by large bribes, and larger promises, allured them •THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 367 to espouse his cause. Through that channel he made his way to their master, and prevailed upon him to declare war against the Romans. The king of Mauritania was the more easily induced to adopt the measure, as he had for some time harboured a secret antipathy to the Romans : th£ fact was, in the very beginning of the war with Jugurtha he had sent an em- bassy to Rome, desiring to be admitted into friendship and alliance with the republic. His request, though highly advantageous in that juncture, was rejected by the intrigues of a few leading men, who, acting always under the in- fluence of avarice, were in the habits of selling their votes on every question, without any re- gard to public utility, or their own honour. It is proper to add, that, before this time, Boc- chus had married a daughter of Jugurtha ; but it must also be observed, that the marriage union does not form a tie of affection among the Moors and Numidians. A plurality of wives is the custom of the country, and every man has the number that suits him ; some marry ten, and others more, according as they possess the means of supporting them ; but their kings, of course, enjoy a multiplicity. The conse- quence is, that by such a variety the heart is distracted, and never fixe* its affections : no 368 SALLUST. one wife is the partner of her husband, but all alike are despised and ill-treated by him. lxxxi. The two kings, at the head of their armies, met at a place appointed, where they pledged their mutual faith, and entered into a solemn league. In order to inflame the mind of Bocchus, Jugurtha represented the Romans as the most cruel oppressors, as a race of men impelled by unbounded avarice, and the invete- rate enemies of all mankind : they had no more provocation, he said, to wage war against him-, self than they had against Bocchus, and other nations whom they attacked ; the lust of do- minion was their only motive, and this led them to consider all monarchies as hostile to them. Himself was now the object of their fury ; some time before it was the republic of Carthage, and Perses king of Macedon ; and, in short, it was by the power and opulence of any state that the enmity which it inspired in the Romans was to be estimated. After some more inflammatory suggestions of this kind, the two kings agreed to march to- wards the town of Cirta-, where Metellus had lodged all his booty, all his prisoners, and the baggage of his army. Jugurtha here had two grand objects in view : by reducing the city he should gain a most important point ; or, in the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 36g -event of the Romans advancing to raise the siege, he expected he should be able to bring on a general action : by which means the politic Numidian would involve Bocchus in an imme- diate war, and prevent the influence which delay and inactivity might have upon his resolutions. lxxxii. The Roman general was in time ap- prized of the league between the two kings, and now resolved to act with more caution than he had thought necessary against Jugurtha, whom he had so often defeated. Instead of of- fering battle upon all occasions, at the option of the enemy, he pitched his camp in the vi- cinity of Cirta, and there lay in wait for the ar- rival of the confederate powers. The Moors were a new enemy ; he therefore judged it ad- visable not to hazard an action, till he had some experience of, their genius and military cha- racter. In the mean time he received intelligence from Rome, that the province of Numidia was de- creed to Marius. New r s of his elevation to the consulship had reached him long before ; but the last account made a deep impression on his spirits. He felt it to an excess which was neither rational nor worthy of his character : he burst into tears, and, unable to check his indignation, gave vent to the most intemperate language. B B 370 SALLUST. Though distinguished upon all other occasions by manliness and fortitude, he yielded in this instance to the weakest effeminacy of grief. Various causes were assigned for this extreme sensibility ; some called it pride ; others ascribed it to a sense of injured merit ; and the greater part imputed it to a feeling of indignation at the victory of which he was so certain, being snatched out of his hands by another. My own opinion, and I have substantial reasons for it, is, that the honours conferred on Marius touched him more nearly than the injustice done to himself; and that if the province had been assigned to any other person, he would have been more willing to resign the command. lxxxiii. Provoked, and even chagrined, by the injustice which he had suffered, he thought no more of carrying on the war. To officiate for another at his own risk appeared to him the extreme of folly. He judged it proper, however, to send a deputation to king Bocchus, to remonstrate with him on the impropriety of declaring himself, without just cause, an enemy to the Roman people ; and representing to him that he had it in his power to enter into a treaty of friendship and alliance with the republic, which would be more advantageous than ope* hostility ; that whatever he might think of his THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 371 resources, yet to prefer chance and casualty to a state of certainty was by no means advisable. To begin a war was perfectly easy, but to end it a matter of considerable difficulty ; since he who might have its commencement in his power, could not in the same manner command its termination. A weak, and even a dastardly prince might begin a war, but peace depended on the will of the conqueror. His own interest, it was added, and the welfare of his kingdom, ought to be always his primary considerations. He should also reflect, that if he made common cause with the Numidians, it must be upon very unequal terms ; since he was at the head of a flourishing monarchy, and the affairs of Jugurtha were utterly ruined. To this remonstrance Bocchus replied in terms of moderation : Peace, he said, w r as what he had at heart ; but Jugurtha's misfortune touched him nearly : and if that prince were included in the treaty, the terms would be set- tled without much difficulty. In answer to this message, the Roman general sent his deputies with proper instructions. Bocchus agreed on some points, but returned a peremptory refusal to others. Frequent dispatches passed between them ; and thus the negotiation w r as tediously protracted, while hostilities in the mean time B B 2 372 SALLUST. ceased on both sides, and Metellus, agreeably to his wishes, had no occasion to renew the war. lxxxiv. At Rome, in the mean time, Marius towered above his enemies. He had been, as already mentioned, raised to the consulship^ amidst the acclamations of the people, and soon after, by the same popular ardour, obtained the province of Numidia. He now exulted beyond all bounds of moderation. Before this event he had been the avowed enemy of the nobility, but now, more inflamed than ever, he insulted them with pride, and even ferocity. Sometimes it was his delight to affront them individually, and sometimes he railed with fury against the whole order; boasting that the consulship, which he had extorted from them, was in his hands a, trophy gained from the vanquished ; and per- sisting, upon all occasions, and without modesty or mercy, in extolling himself and depreciating them. Amidst all this animosity, however, the con- duct of the war was the chief object of his atten- tion. He demanded recruits for the legions, and drew auxiliary troops from the states and kings in alliance with Rome. He collected out of Latium the bravest soldiers in the country, most of whom he had seen in . actual service ; while others were only known to him by their THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 37$ military reputation. His influence was so great, that numbers of the veterans, who had obtain- ed their dismission from the service, were indu- ced to resume their arms, and follow his stan- dard. The senate, though known to be in opposition to him, did not venture to counteract any of his measures ; on the contrary, the fathers, with an appearance of cordiality, passed a vote for recruits to reinforce the legions ; and in this they were the more ready to comply, from a persua- sion that their decree would be ill received by the multitude ; whose unwillingness to serve, it was hoped, would disgust them with Marius, or at least embarrass him in his means of carrying on the war. In both these expectations, however, the fathers were disappointed. To fight under Ma- rius was the prevailing passion of the people ; and all talked of returning to their homes crowned with laurels, and enriched with plunder ; so great were the expectations which his fame in- spired. The eloquence of Marius not a little increased this ardour. Having obtained the con- sent of the senate to all his demands, his next object was the raising of new levies : and to this end he convened a general assembly of the people, where, to animate their minds with zeal for the war, and at the same time to indulge his B E 3 $2-4 SALLUST. usual strain of invective against the nobility, he delivered a speech to the following effect : lxxxv. " I know, my fellow-citizens, that most arAbitious men assume a very different conduct, while they are candidates, from that which they afterwards exhibit, when in office. As suitors to you they are condescending, humble, and modest ; as magistrates, lazy, proud, and insolent. The reverse, in my judg- ment, ought to be the rule of their conduct. In as far as the commonwealth itself is superior to all ranks of office, to the consulship, and the praetorian dignity, in a proportionate degree should our care for the welfare of the common- wealth transcend our desire for objects of such secondary consideration. I am pot now to learn the great, the important duties of the station to which you have called me. To make due preparations for the conduct of the war, and at the same time to manage the treasury with economy ; to enlist in the service men, whom it is the interest of a general not to offend ; to pay due attention to the administration in all its branches both at home and abroad ; and to per- form so great a task, in a turbulent scene of party, faction, and cabal ; this, my fellow- citizens^ is an undertaking attended with diffi- culties almost insurmountable. The case of other THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 875 men too is different from mine : if they are guilty of neglect, their descent from an illus- trious family, the exploits of their ancestors, the Wealth and grandeur of their friends and rela- tions, with a numerous train of clients, are sufficient to repel the charge. But how is it with me? Depending on myself alone, virtue and innocence must be my only shield : I have no other resource. u I am conscious, O my friends, that at this juncture the eyes of all men are fixed upon me. The good and upright are willing to lend me their support, because they know that the prosperity of the commonwealth is the aim of all my actions ; while the nobles, on the contrary, but wait for an opportunity to ruin me. And this with me is an additional motive for exertion, that you may not be the dupes of those crafty politicians, and that their malice against me may prove pointless and unavailing. " From my earliest youth to this day, my life has been an habitual course of industry. What I have hitherto done in your service, I have done without the least remuneration : and the honourable reward which you have lately conferred on me is certainly not calculated to make me relax in my exertions. b b 4 3/6 SALLUST. " To men who have only pretended to be virtuous, in order to gain the object of their ambition, moderation in power is a most difficult task ; but to me, whose days have all been devoted to the observance of every ex- emplary duty, custom has made the practice of temperance easy ; and virtue, from being my habit, has become at length my nature. " It has been your pleasure to trust to me the conduct of the war against Jugurtha ; and that commission, so highly honourable, has given offence to the nobility. I now therefore request of you, to consider in time whether it may not be expedient to revoke your order, and give the command in Africa, or elsewhere, to one of their rank, some proud patrician, who plumes himself on a long line of ancestors, and is sur- rounded by the pictures of his family, but never once saw a campaign. Employ such a man, and what will be his situation ? Unacquainted with the military art, and alarmed on every occasion, he will tremble, hesitate, hurry, and bewilder himself, and at last choose a man of plebeian rank to teach him his duty. Such, most commonly, is the practice of your patrician officers : he to whom you give the command, requires a gene- ral of his own appointment over him. 0- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 37? xcvi. Sylla, on his arrival in Africa, when he joined Marius with his new-raised cavalry, had no experience in the art of war ; but such were his talents, that a short time made him a most distinguished officer. Familiar with the soldiers, and easy of access, he complied with the requests of such os applied to him, and with others did not wait to be solicited ; unwilling to lie under obligations of any kind, and, if incurred, mora eager to discharge them than a real debt, he expected no return for favour granted by himself, but by conferring benefits made it his study tQ 4 THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 403 enlarge the circle of his friends. Affable among the lowest ranks of the army, he was by turns jocose or serious, according to the occasion. He loved to mix with the common men, and. was often present at their works, on their marches, and their midnight guard. Superior to the little arts of low ambition, he scorned to undermine the character of the consul, or any man of real merit ; and was only anxious that none should surpass himself either in valour or in prudence, in the cabinet or in the. field. The consequence of this honourable conduct was, that he became the favourite of Marius, and the idol of the army. xcvu. Jugurtha, during this time having Jost the city of Capsa, and other strong holds of great importance, together with the treasure which he had amassed, turned his thoughts to Bocchus, and by frequent messages pressed him to march his army with all expedition into Nu- midia, as there was now, he said, a fair op- portunity to give battle to the Romans. Find- ing, however, that the Mauritanian prince ra- ther fluctuated between peace and war, he had recourse a second time to the favourites at the court of Bocchus ; and by bribery engaged them once more in his interest. To the king their master he offered the third part of Nu- d p 2 404 SALLTJST. midia, provided that the Romans were expelled out of Africa ; or that, by a treaty of peace, he retained the entire possession of his domi- nions. Tempted by these proposals, Bocchus, at the head of a numerous force, advanced to meet Jugurtha ; and the two armies formed a junction just as Marius was preparing to march into winter-quarters ; and as it was then near the close of day, the Numidian prince thought this a favourable moment for attack : because, if he met with a defeat, the night would be his protection ; and, if he gained a victory, it could prove no impediment to his men, as they knew all the turns and windings of the country ; and, on the other hand, darkness would in either case throw the Romans into confusion. xcviii. It was reported to Marius from va- rious quarters that the enemy were approaching; presently the enemy themselves appeared, and lost not a moment in making an attack, before the Romans could form their lines or secure their baggage, and before the signal, in any order, could be given to the troops. The ca- valry of the Moors and Gaetulians rushed on with impetuosity, not drawn up in order of battle, or any regular military arrangement, but in tumultuous bodies, as they happened to be combined by chance. The Romans, thus taken THE WAR AGAINST JUGERTHA. 405 by surprise, were thrown into the greatest con- fusion, but still resolved to act like men who were mindful of their glory : some snatched up their arms, and defended their comrades who were looking for theirs; while numbers mounted their horses and advanced to the attack. The conflict was violent, and presented no appear- ance of a military engagement, but looked rather like a quarrel among gangs of robbers. No standards to follow, no ranks in regular array, the cavalry and infantry on both sides met, as chance directed, in wild encounter* Some were mangled, others massacred, and numbers, while assaulting all before them, were felled to the ground by enemies behind their backs. Neither their valour* nor their arms were sufficient to protect the Roman soldiers, outnumbered as they were, and on every side surrounded by the enemy. At length the vete- rans, and with them the new levies, who had acquired great military skill, meeting in bodies, as chance or the nature of the ground di- rected, ranged themselves in circular order, and presenting a front on every side, were enabled to check the progress of the enemy. During all this distress, Marius remained firm and undaunted, nor lost for a moment his ac- customed fortitude, but at the head of his own v p d 3 406 SALLUST. troops which was composed of men selected for their valour, he was present every where, and faced every danger. Where he saw the men giving ground, he flew to their assistance, and penetrating through the thickest squadrons of the enemy, did all that the confusion of the moment would admit of, and made himself felt as a soldier, since he could not be heard as a gene- ral. By this time the day was closed, but the ardour of the barbarians did not subside ; on the contrary, by order of their king, who ex- pected every advantage from the darkness of the night, they persisted in the conflict with more fury than ever. Upon which Marius, considering all circumstances, adopted the plan which his situation suggested, and, in order to secure a safe retreat for his men, took pos- session of two hills that stood in the neigh- bourhood of each other : one of them was not large enough to afford room for a camp ; but it had the advantage of a copious spring of water. The other was a convenient situation, and from its height and steepness was difficult of access, and required few additional entrenchments. He ordered Sylla, at the head of the cavalry, to take post on the eminence that afforded water ; and having collected his forces, while the bar- THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 407 barians were in great confusion, made his retreat to the other hill. The kings, perceiving the difficulties which they had to encounter, desisted from the com- bat, but resolved not to draw off their forces. They invested both hills with a prodigious mul- titude, and pitched their tents on the adjoining plain. Fires were immediately kindled all around ; and the barbarians, according to cus- tom, passed the night in joy and revelry. The air resounded with songs and exultation. The monarchs themselves were elate with joy ; and because they had not fled, felt all the pride of conquerors. The Romans, under cover of the night, surveyed the whole scene from their eminence, and were not a little encouraged by this disorder and infatuation which they wit- nessed. xcix. Marius particularly derived confidence from the folly of the enemy. He commanded his men to observe the strictest silence ; and the guard was changed, contrary to custom, without the sound of trumpets. At the dawn of day, the barbarians having sunk to sleep, exhausted by the fatigues of their nocturnal riot, he or- dered the infantry, the troops of horse, and the legions, to sound all their instruments in one general clangor, while at the same moment D d A 408 SALLUST. the soldiers sallied oat, and, raising a general shout, rushed on to the attack. The Moors and Gaetulians started up, alarmed by an uproar so horrible and unexpected. In their confusion they could neither fight nor fly, and were incapable of doing or resolving upon any thing. Stunned by the horrid tumult, by the shouts, the clamour, and the furious onset of the Romans, and rinding no assistance what- ever from their comrades, they were seized with a kind of idiot stupor, and were at length routed or massacred on the spot. Their arms and standards were taken. The number slain upon this occasion exceeded all that fell in former engagements, as, surprised, and scarcely awake, they could not think of saving themselves by flight. c. Marius, as he had before determined, marched his army into winter-quarters. For that purpose he chose the maritime towns,where he was sure of being supplied with provisions. Far from being flushed with the pride of victory, he was still upon his guard, and continued to preserve the same cautious conduct, as if the enemy was always in view. He divided his army into a kind of a square. Sylla, at the head of the cavalry, commanded the column on the right ; Aulus Manlius, on the left, led on the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 40$} slingers and archers, with the Ligurian cohorts. In the front and rear he placed the light-armed infantry, under the conduct of the military tri- bunes. The deserters, whose lives were of little consequence, and who best knew the course of the country, he employed as scouts to watch the motions of the enemy. For himself,- in the mean time, he was as active and vigilant as if he had made no arrange- ments whatever. Visiting every quarter, he extolled or reprimanded the men, according as their merits or faults required it. As he made it a rule to be at all times armed, and prepared for action, he kept his men under the same regular discipline* In fortifying the camp, his circumspection was as great as if he was still on a march. The cohorts of the legions mounted guard at the gates ; the outside posts were as- signed to the auxiliary cavalry, and on the lines and ramparts he took care to station a sufficient force. He went the rounds in person, not so much from a suspicion that his orders might be neglected^, as for the purpose of inducing the men to undergo with cheerfulness the fa- tigue in which they saw their general take an equal share. This policy of Marius was not confined to the present juncture ; he pursued the same conduct to the end of the war ;. and 4 PH SALLUST. such was the impression on the minds of the soldiers, that they preserved good order more from a sense of honour, than the fear of punish- ment. For this conduct different reasons were assigned : some imputed it to ambition, and the love of popularity ; others were of opinion, that it sprung from the laborious life to which he was accustomed almost from his infancy, and in which incessant practice had so confirmed him, that w r hat others thought hardship beyond enduring, was to him become a pleasurable habit. In justice to the general it must be said, that by the lenity of his administration he rendered essential service to the state, perhaps with more reputation and real dignity than he could have done by more rigorous measures. ci. The army proceeded on their march, and on the fourth day, being arrived in the neigh- bourhood of the city Cirta, they were alarmed by the scouts, who shewed themselves in quick succession on every side. This was undoubted notice of the approach of the enemy ; and the messengers arrived from various quarters, all bearing the same intelligence. Marius was at first in doubt how to draw up his men ; but soon resolving not to alter the arrangement which he had made, gave orders to halt, and waited to receive the enemy. By this measure THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 411 Jugurtha saw his schemes defeated, as he had ranged his troops in four divisions, imagining that in some quarter they would be able to attack the Romans in the rear. The heat of the action fell to the lot of Sylla: that officer, after an animating speech to his men, advanced in close array at the head of some troops of horse, and made. a fierce attack on the Moors. The rest of the cavalry re- mained firm in their station, eluding the darts and missive weapons of the enemy, and occa- sionally doing execution on those who dared to approach. While our cavalry was thus engaged, Bocchus, with a body of infantry, whom his son Volux had brought to his assistance, entered into the action. This reinforcement was quite fresh, and not having marched with expedition, had not shared in the former action. The king of Mauritania placed himself at the head of these men, and fell upon the Romans in the rear. Marius, at this point of time, was busy in the front of the lines, as Jugurtha had appeared with a numerous force in that quarter. But the Nu- midian prince, as soon as he heard that Bocchus .was engaged, turned off privately with a few of his attendants, and joined the Mauritanian in- fantry ; where he exclaimed in a loud tone of 41$ SALLUST. voice, and in the Latin language (which he had learnt at Numantia), that the efforts of the Ro- mans were all in vain, for that Marius was no more ; and that he himself had given the mortal blow. As a proof of what he said, he bran- dished a sword tinged with the blood of a foot- soldier, whom he had slain with his own hand. Our troops, though they did not believe the story, were struck with horror at the very idea of such a calamity ; while the barbarians, en- couraged by the tale, fell with redoubled ardour upon the Romans, who, astonished and aghast, were just upon the point of giving way, when Sylla, having routed the troops to whom he had been opposed, came up at this critical juncture, and attacked the Moors in flank. Bocchus was instantly put to flight ; but Jugurtha, an- xious to retain the victory, which already ap- peared to be completely in his hands, still per- sisted in encouraging and supporting his sol- diers, till, surrounded by our cavalry on the right and left, and seeing his men all slaugh- tered about him, he cut his way alone, and escaped with difficulty amidst a volley of darts. In the mean time, Marius, having defeated the cavalry of the enemy, came up to the assistance of his troops, who had been, as he thought, THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 413 repulsed ; the contrary, however, was the case, and the enemy fled on all sides. The field of battle was now a scene of horror and blood. The enemy flying, and pursued in all directions, were some of them killed, and some taken prisoners. Men and horses lay stretched in one common massacre ; and those, who were wounded, and unable to fly, after a few faint struggles to raise themselves from the ground, fell back again and waited painfully for death. The whole field, as far as the eye could reach, was strewed with javelins and mangled carcases, and the ground, where it could be seen, was crimson with blood, cn> The consul, now beyond all question vic- torious, repaired, as he had originally intended, to the city of Cirta ; at which place also, about five days after the las,t defeat of the barbarians, ambassadors arrived from Bacchus, who re- quested that Marius would send to the king two persons on whom he could rely with confidence, to consult upon matters relative to the interests not only of Bocchus but of the Roman people. The consul accordingly appointed L. Sylla anc}, A. Manlius, who, although they went in con- sequence of the king's request, thought it politic to open the business themselves, for the pur- pose of conciliating Bocchus, if they saw that 4J4 SALLUST. he was hostilely inclined ; or of encouraging and confirming him in his sentiments, if tl|MJf they should appear to be friendly and pacific. With this intention Manlius, though senior to Sylla, gave him the precedence on account of his superior eloquence ; and the following were the terms in which he addressed himself to Bocchus : *f It is with much pleasure, king Bocchus, that we see so excellent a prince inclined, by the inspiration of heaven, to prefer peace to war : we are happy to find, that the virtues which you possess are no longer polluted by connexion with such a wretch as Jugurtha; and that we are thus relieved from the bitter neces- sity of including your error in the same punish- ment with his guiltr. It has always been the policy of the Roman people, even in the poor be- ginnings of their empire, to prefer friends to slaves, and to think there was more honourable safety in the obedience that flowed from inclina- tion, than in that which was extorted by coer- cion. To you our friendship is particularly ad- vantageous ; the distance between us precludes all dread of encroachment, and yet our amity towards you is as strong as if we were imme- diately in your neighbourhood. It is likewise to be considered, that jthe people attached to us THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 415 are numerous ; and that neither we, nor any one else, can ever have too many friends. Would to heaven that you had thought so from the beginning ! and by this time you would have received more benefits from the Romans, far more than you now have suffered injury and insult. But since fortune, who governs all hu- man affairs, has willed that you should feel our strength, as well as our kindness, avail your- self, without delay, of the opportunity which she now offers, and persevere in the friendly resolutions which you have adopted. It is in your power, by means which are many and practicable, to sink the memory of your fault in offices of good-will and alliance : we beg you to consider as an important truth, that the Ro- man people never allow themselves to be out- done in benefits ; what they can do in war, you already know by experience." Bocehus replied to this speech of Sylla in terms of gentleness and moderation, alleging, at the same time, in extenuation of his error^ that he had taken up arms by no means from a spirit of animosity, but merely with a view towards the defence of his own kingdom ; as that part of Numidia, from which he had ex- pelled Jugurtha, and which had become his own by right of conquest, was attacked and ravaged 4l6 SALLUST. by Marius in a manner which he could not pa- tiently submit to ; besides, he reminded them, that, when he sent ambassadors to Rome, his overtures of friendship were peremptorily re- pulsed. He was, however, willing to forget all causes of discontent, and, if Marius had no objection, he was ready to send a second depu- tation to the Roman senate. His offer was accepted : but the mind of the barbarian soon veered about : he abandoned the resolution he had taken by the advice of his favourite cour- tiers ; a set of men whom Jugurtha, alarmed by the negotiation with Sylla and Manlius, had by bribes and lavish presents allured to his interest. cm. Marius, in the mean time, disposed his army in winter-quarters. There was in the neighbourhood a royal tower, garrisoned, by Jugurtha's order, by the deserters from the Roman army. The consul resolved to lay siege to the place, and with that design marched through a dreary waste at the head of a detach- ment of light infantry and some troops of horse. While the siege was going on, Bocchus, moved by some happy impulse, changed his mind a second time. The disasters he had experienced in. two defeats made an impression on his spirits; or it might be, that he was over-ruled by such THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 417 of his court as had not sold themselves to Ju- gurtha. Returning to his former pacific dis- position, he selected, from his intimate and confidential friends, five men of eminence for their firm integrity and superior abilities. These he sent to Marius, and, if that general gave his consent, directed them to proceed to Rome, with full powers to negotiate on his part, and on any terms to conclude a treaty of peace. The deputies lost no time, but travelled with all possible expedition towards the winter-quar- ters of the Romans. On their way they fell in with a band of Gaetulian plunderers, and by those ruffians were robbed of all they had. After this misfortune they proceeded on their way with fear and trembling, and in a wretched plight gained access to Sylla, whom Marius, when he set out on his expedition, left commander in chief, with the character of propraetor. Sylla might have treated the deputies like so many wandering runagates, according to their appear- ance ; but, on the contrary, he gave them a gracious reception. This behaviour made such an impression on the minds of the Barbarians, that they no longer believed the reports they had heard of Roman avarice ; and Sylla' s benevo- lence was to them a clear proof that he was disposed to be their friend. The truth is, that, E E 41 6 SXLLUST. even in those days, n ambers were so simple -as not to suspect that presents were given with insidious views. Generosity was thought to proceed from the virtues of the heart, and was received with gratitude. The deputies, in full confidence, opened their commission to Sylla : they stated to him the orders they had received from Bocchus, and requested his protection and advice. They held forth in praise of Bocchus ; they extolled him for his principles of honour ; they talked in a magnificent style of his prodigious riches ; and omitted nothing, that they thought conducive to their purpose, or likely to gain the good- will of the propraetor. They were treated by him with all marks of condescension. He gave them his advice how to conduct themselves with Marius, and afterwards before the Roman senate. Tt happened, however^ that, with all these in- structions, they loitered in the same place not less than forty days. civ. Marius having met with no success in his enterprise, returned to Cirta : being there informed of the arrival of the ambassadors from Bocchus, he summoned them to a meeting, at which Sylla, Lucius Bellienus, the praetor at Utica, and all of senatorian rank round the country, were ordered to attend. In that THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 4J 9 assembly he heard what was offered on the part of Bocchus. He found that the Mauritanian king had commissioned his deputies to proceed to Rome, and to desire an armistice till their return. To these overtures Sylla, and the majority of the council, acceded ; the few who differed in opinion, were men of little or no experience, who did not consider the fluctuation of all human affairs, and the sudden revolutions that escape human foresight. This party pro- posed the violent measures. The Mauritanian deputies, having reason to be satisfied, settled their plan among themselves. Three of them, conducted by Corcins Octavius Rufo, who had been some time in Africa in the ■quality of quaestor, or paymaster of the army, took their departure for Rome, and two returned to king Bocchus, who heard with pleasure the account they gave him of all the proceedings, and- more particularly the generous conduct and the friendship of Sylla. The ambassadors at Rome did their best to varnish the conduct of their master ; they acknowledged his errors, but imputed them entirely to the iniquity of Jugurtha, and humbly prayed to be united in friendship and alliance with the Roman people, They' received the following answer : "It is th$ custom of the senate and the Roman people to ee 2 420 SALLUST. bear in mind all acts of friendship and hostility* As Bocchus declares, that he repents of his* conduct, they are willing to forgive him. The friendship and alliance which he solicits, will be granted when his merit proves him worthy of that distinction." cv. The Mauritanian prince, informed of this answer from Rome, sent letters to Marius r desiring that Sylla might be sent to his country, in order to adjust all matters that concerned their mutual interest. His request was granted. Sylla went forward, escorted by a detachment of foot and cavalry, and a number of slingers from the Balearic islands. They were accompanied by a body of archers, and a cohort from Pelignum, carrying, for the sake of expedition, the lightest arms, but sufficient for defence against the feeble darts of the enemy. On ths fifth day, as they were proceeding on their march, they perceived, on a sudden, Volux, the son of Bocchus, advancing on the open plain at the head of a thousand horse. As they observed no regular order, but spread themselves at random .over the plain, their number, in that confusion, appeared to be greater than in fact it was. Sylla, and his train of attendants, con- cluded that a ferocious enemy was coming down upon them* With this idea they prepared for 2 THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 421 tin im mediate action ; each man grasped his arms, and brandishing his darts and missive weapons, stood ready for the attack, not al- together exempt from fear, but still retaining the ardour natural to men who were conscious of former victories, and resolute against an enemy so often vanquished. While their minds were thus in agitation, the light-horsemen, who had been sent out to explore the country, returned to Sylla, with exact intelligence, and reported that all was quiet. cvi. In a short space of time, Volux advanced to the Roman lines, and addressing himself to Sylla, declared that he came by the order of his father Bocchus, to greet him on his march, and marshal him the rest of the way. Both parties formed a junction, and continued their march on that and the following day, without any kind of alarm. Towards the close of the next evening, when they had pitched their camp, the Mauritanian prince, alarmed and terrified, went with the utmost precipitation to inform Sylla, that, by the information of his scouts, Jugurtha was hovering on the borders of the eamp ; with earnest solicitation pressing the proprietor to make his escape under cover of the night. Sylla replied in a tone of unshaken firmness, that he feared no danger from an e e 3 422 SALLUST. enemy so often overthrown, but relied with confidence on the valour of his troops ; and, even if certain death awaited him, that he would boldly meet his fate, rather than desert the men under his command, and, by an ignominious flight, endeavour to preserve a life subject to various accidents, and, perhaps, in a short time, under some bodily disease to sink to silent dust. Volux still persisted to offer his advice : to march in the night he proposed as the wisest measure : Sylla adopted that opinion, and issued orders to his men, as soon as they finished their meal, to light up a number of fires, and be ready at the first night-watch, to decamp in regular order. The march was conducted without interruption till sunrise, when Sylla, finding his men worn down with fatigue, halted with intent to pitch his camp. While he was employed in that business, the Moorish horsemen brought in- telligence, that Jugurtha had with rapid speed made a forced march, and taken his station about two miles in front. The Romans, on hearing this information, were struck with terror and dismay : they thought themselves drawn into a snare, and that Volux was guilty of a stroke of perfidy. Some, more enraged than the rest, were for immediate vengeance on the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 425 Mauritanian prince, who after so foul a crime ought not to survive a moment. cvn. Sylla in his own mind drew from all appearances the same conclusion, but still re- strained the fury of his men. He animated them by exhortations ; he observed that the valour of a few had often made a glorious stand against superior numbers ; that the man who in battle is prodigal of life, is the most likely to preserve it ; while he has arms in hand, to trust to his naked heels, is treachery to himself; and when the danger presses in front, to shew a defenceless back to the enemy, is an act of folly, and ignominious cowardice. After this, turning to Volux, and, calling on Jupiter to witness the fraud and iniquity of Bocchus, he charged the young prince with hostile intentions, and ordered him to quit the camp. Volux, in a gush of tears, implored and beseeched Sylla not to think him capable of so black a crime ; he was innocent ; the whole was owing to the wily arts and active vigilance of Jugurtha, who was ever on the watch, and by his scouts had gained intelligence of all their motions. The Numidian, however, was not in strength ; he had with him a slender force, by no means numerous, and, as he depended entirely on the support of Bocchus, it was pot e e 4 424 SALLUST. probable that he would dare to hazard an attach, when the son of his protector must be an eye- witness of the transaction. Fpr this reason, it appeared to him, that the wisest measure would be to march in the most open manner through the Numidian camp. For himself, he was ready to send forward all his Moors, or to leave them in their present station, and singly and alone to follow Sylla's standard. In such a crisis there was no room for choice. The march began. Surprised by a movement so unexpected, Ju- gurtha had no time to prepare for action. He remained in doubt, wavering, and irresolute. Sylla pursued his way, without any kind qf- obstacle, and in a few days arrived at the place of their destination. cvin. There was, in that juncture, at the court of Bocchus, a certain Numidian, well received, and in high confidence with the king. The name of this man was Aspar ; he had been dispatched by Jugurtha, on the first notice of an intended interview with Sylla, with instruc- tions to manage for the Numidian prince, and penetrate into the secret designs of the Mauri- tanian court. There was on the spot, at the same time, another Numidian, of the name .of Dabar, a descendant of Masinissa, but of mixed bloody as his father, Massugrada^ was the son THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 423 of a concubine. Possessed of great talents, and many elegant qualities, he was in high favour at court. Bocchus had long known his firm attach- ment to the Romans, and now chose him for his deputy to Sylla ; with instructions to declare, .on his part, that he was ready to accede to any terms proposed by the senate, and left it to Sylla to appoint the place, the day, and the hour for an interview. He himself had formed no plan, but reserved every thing to be settled at the conference. An envoy from Jugurtha was to be admitted to the meeting ; but from that circumstance no jealousy could arise, as in his presence all matters would be finally adjusted, and in fact there was no other way to check the machinations of that politic and wily Nu- midian. J^ nH i llfT IOT " >r "P nr> A "* ; "n" lV,r this occasion: the reasons which he stated, carried an ostensible surface, but he acted with the duplicity of an African, amusing both the Romans and Numidians with a prospect of a general peace. He wavered for some time between both nations, debating with himself, whether he should deliver up Jugurtha to the Romans, or surrender Sylla to the Numidiart prince. In his heart he was inclined to treachery, A'lti SALLUS'f. but the terror of our arms put an end to his doubts. cix. To the message from the Moorish king, Sylla made answer, " That he should be short and sparing of words in the presence of Aspar, but would open himself more at large in a private meeting with Bocchus alone, or in a council attended by a small number.*' At the same time he communicated to Dabar, the envoy, the substance of the answer he expected to receive from the king. A conference was accordingly had in a few days. At that meeting Sylla shortly said, that he came commissioned by the consul to demand a categorical answer to his question, which was most agreeable to the Mauri tanian king, peace or war. Bocchus, in compliance with the rule prescribed, desired to adjourn for ten days, when he should be prepared to tell his fixed resolution, not having as yet determined with himself. The conference ended in this manner, and both parties withdrew to their respective camps. In the course of the night, Bocchus sent to Sylla, desiring to see him with all possible secrecy. Each party had a faithful interpreter, and no other person whatever was admitted, except Dabar, a man of an unblemished cha- racter : he was chosen as the confidential friend THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 427 of both parties, and was sworn in the form they prescribed. After this ceremony the king spoke- as follows : ex. " Seated as I am on the most splendid throne in this part of the world, and possessed of greater riches than all the princes round me, I never imagined that a time would come, when I should be indebted to the friendship of an individual. You, Sylla, are the first to whom I owe an obligation : before I came acquainted with you, I was in the habit of doing good ; I relieved numbers at their own request ; and to others, unasked, I was a voluntary friend': I wanted assistance from no man. My former lustre is now eclipsed ; but I do not, as others would do, repine at the change ; on the con- trary, I am delighted with it. I acknowledge with pleasure that I stand in need of your as- sistance, and I do not hesitate to declare, thai a mark of your friendship will always be dear to me. Put my sincerity to the test ; at your own discretion dispose of my arms, my forces, my finances, of every thing belonging to me. When you have converted all to your own use, I hope you will not imagine that I have closed the ac- count of the obligations I am under to you* A due sense of your goodness will at all times ^e next my heart. I shall be in your debt, not 428 SALLUST. you in mine. With your desires, as soon as I am properly informed, I shall ever be ready to comply. With me it is a settled maxim, that the prince who suffers himself to be surpassed in acts of generosity, is more inglorious than he who is conquered in the field of battle. " I am now to speak of the Roman republic. What I have to say shall be dispatched in a few words. You, Sylla, are sent to act for your country, and now hear my sentiments. I never made, nor wished to make, war against the Ro- man people : I took up arms to defend my frontiers, which were invaded. Since you desire it, I relinquished that design. Conduct your war against Jugurtha according to your own discretion. The river Muluccha divided Mi- cipsa's dominions from mine ; I shall never pass beyond that boundary, nor will I suffer Jugurtha to transgress it. To conclude, if you have any further demand, fair and reasonable to both parties, make it ; ' from me you will meet with no reluctance." cxi. Sylla made a gracious answer, as far as regarded himself, brief and modest ; but on the subject of the peace, and all matters in nego- tiation, more at large. He gave the king to understand, that " the senate and Roman people, knowing their own advantages in the THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 42Q course of the war, would not consider the neu- trality which he now offered as a mark of friend- ship or good-will. It would be convenient to himself, but no advantage to the conqueror. Some act demonstrated on his part, and con- ducive to the interests of the republic, would be expected. For this purpose the king had a fair opportunity ; Jugurtha was in his power, and he might strike a sudden blow. By delivering up the Numidian prince, Bocchus would confer an obligation on the Roman people, who, in return, would not hesitate to extend their friendship, to grant a treaty of alliance, together with the part of Numidia which he claimed as his right." Bocchus was at first unwilling to accede to these terms ; he pleaded the ties of blood, the rights of mutual friendship, and the stipulations of a solemn league. By a stroke of so much perfidy he must alienate the affections of his subjects, all attached to Jugurtha, and the avowed enemies of Rome. Sylla at length carried his points, The Moorish king, softened by repeated applications, yielded his consent, and promised to perform all that was required of him. It was then agreed, that a negotiation for peace should be osten- sibly carried on to amuse Jugurtha, who had 430 SALLVST. reason to be heartily tired of the war, and wished for nothing so much as a general pacifi- cation. These measures being settled, the king and Sylla took leave of each other. cxn. On the following day, the king sends for Aspar, the ambassador of Jugurtha, and tells him it had been communicated to him by Dabar, on the part of Sylla, that it was possible the war might be put an end to on certain conditions, and that he wished to know the sentiments of the king his master upon the subject. The ambassador, much gratified by the proposal, repaired immediately to the camp of Jugurtha; and having received his instructions, hastened back in the course of eight days to Bocchus, and told him iC that Jugurtha would do with promptitude whatever was enjoined him, but that his reliance on Marius was very faint, as he had often experienced the hollowness of conventions with Roman generals : that if, however, Bocchus wished sincerely to consult the interests of both parties, and have a peace ratified between them, he ought to endeavour to bring about a conference at which all should attend, for the ostensible purpose of discussing the terms of the peace, and then take that opportunity of delivering up Sylla to Jugurtha; ■as the possession of such an important person THE WAR AGAINST JUGURTHA. 431 would be the surest means of extorting a treaty from the senate and people of Rome, who neveij would suffer a man of his consequence to remain in a state of captivity, into which he had fallen, not from any error of his own, but from zeal in the service of his country." After much hesita- tion and reflection, Bocchus consented to this proposal. It is difficult to decide whether his reluctance was real or pretended ; but the in- clinations of kings are generally as fickle as they are ardent, and pass from one extreme to its opposite very rapidly. Some days after, when the time and place of conference were fixed, Bocchus gave audience in their turn to the ambassadors of Jugurtha and Sylla, and, by kind- ness and promises to each, sent them both away full of expectation. On the very night, however, which preceded the day of conference, having assembled his friends, and suddenly, as if alter- ing his resolution, having dismissed them again, he is said to have remained for a considerable time in a state of the most agitating perplexity, during which his countenance changed as rapidly as his mind, and betrayed, notwithstanding his silence, the internal conflict of all his sentiments. At length he came to the determination of send- ing for Sylla, and by his advice laid a snare for the capture of Jugurtha. As soon as it was 432 SALLUST. daylight, being informed of Jugurtha's tip-* proach, he mounted his horse, and, attended by some friends and our quaestor, went forward under the pretext of receiving him honourably, and waited for him on an eminence which the men he had set in .'-mbush could command. The Numidian accordingly arrived, and with him several of his friends, but they were all unarmed, as had been agreed upon with Boc- chus ; and as soon as the signal was given, the party who lay in wait rushed forward and sur- rounded them. The attendants were all slaugh- tered, and Jugurtha himself was delivered up a captive to Sylla, by whom he was conducted to Marius. About the same period our generals, Q. Caspio and M. Manlius, were unsuccessful in their efforts against the Gauls, and experienced some reverses which struck terror through all Italy. It was then the prevailing opinion of the Romans, and has continued the same to our own times, that no other nations could attempt to resist their valour, but that with the, Gauls they fought rather in self-defence than for glory. Upon the conclusion, however, of the war in Numidia, when it was known at Rome that Jugurtha was delivered up, Marius, though absent, was raised to the consulship, and ap- THE WAR AGAINST JtJGURTHA. 433 pointed to the government of the province of Gaul. On the kalends of January he was honoured with a splendid triumph, and thence- forward the hopes and the strength of the city were centred in him. F P ' N O T E S AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTE A, Page 234. In other copies this passage is read differently :