Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

DE CATILINAE CONIVRATIONE

THE

CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE

AS RELATED BY

SALLUST

=

EDITED BY J. H. AND W. F. ALLEN AND J. B. GREENOUGH

BOSTON, U.S. A. :

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY.

1889.

597582

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by

J. H. AND W. F. ALLEN AND J. B. GREENOUGH,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

[ocr errors][merged small]

THIS edition follows strictly the text of the fourth edition of DIETSCH, with a few slight changes to secure a consistent orthography. It is one of a series of classics prepared under the same joint editorship with the select Orations of Cicero, published in June, 1873.

CAMBRIDGE, January 1, 1874.

INTRODUCTION.

LUCIUS SERGIUS CATILINA was an old soldier and partisan of Sulla, a man of profligate character, broken fortunes, and headstrong ambition. About twelve years after Sulla's death, he formed a scheme to better his estate by political adventure. His confederates were, some of them, men of good family and high official standing; the larger number, probably, needy and reckless fortune-hunters. His plan was to get himself into power in the ordinary way of popular elections; then, by the spoils and chances of office, to secure his own predominance, and reward the service of his adherents. Probably his plans did not differ much from those of most political soldiers of fortune. They seem to have been ripened as early as B. c. 66. Two years later, he was defeated in a close race for the consulship by Cicero and Caius Antonius. Renewing his attempt at the next elections, he was again defeated, and, when driven from the city by the invective of Cicero, he raised the standard of open insurrection. His confederates in the city were seized and put to death, and in the following January, a month later, he was beaten in battle, and his armed force completely annihilated.

[ocr errors]

The Conspiracy of Catiline, so called, was the principal political event in Rome from the dictatorship of Sulla down to that of Julius Cæsar; and, in point of time, was almost exactly half way between the two. It was not what the name generally means a conspiracy to overthrow the existing government. It was a scheme, on the part of a few needy and desperate politicians, to get themselves elected

[ocr errors]
« IndietroContinua »