cember, and that in the year of his birth September 23 itself coincided with the 5th of December?

But after all, with respect to this particular statement of the business which was engaging the attention of the senate on the morning of the birth of Augustus, it is exceedingly probable that it might have had something to do with the proceedings of Catiline, and yet not with his conspiracy properly so called. It is agreed that this conspiracy did not begin until after the consular comitia, U.C. 691 B. C. 63; and that the principal motive to it on the part of Catiline himself was the irritation produced by the disappointment of his hopes of the consulship, a second time, at those comitia". And though the actual time of these comitia is not known, it may be inferred from various allusions in Cicero w, and from the concurrent representations of the rise and progress of the conspiracy given by all our authorities, that it must have been some time in the month of October, Roman; between the date at least of the birth of Augustus, viii Kal. Octobres, and the first date which occurs in terms in connection with the conspiracy, xii Kalendas Novembres *.

Now the desperation and recklessness of Catiline were well known; and from as far back as the comitia U. C. 689 B. C. 65 y. The life of Cicero and the public peace had been often in danger from that cause alone long before the comitia U. C. 691 B. C. 63. The comitia had been once at least if not oftener deferred on that very account; and on the morning of the election itself it was necessary for Cicero, in self-defence, to descend to the Campus wearing a coat of mail under his Toga. The seditious movements of Catiline. therefore might often have engaged the attention of the senate during the Petitio Consulatus, and long before the point of time at which Sallust begins his history of the conspiracy; viz. after the comitia of the year, and with the mission of Manlius by Catiline into Etruria a.

u Sallust, Bell, Cat. 17-25: 26: 27. Dio, xxxvii. 29: 30. Appian, B. C. ii. 2. Plutarch, Cicero, x. xi. Livy, cii. w Cf. also Dio, xxxvii. 29: 30.

In Catilinam, i. 3, 7: cf. xxiii. Pro Murena, 25, 51. 52.

y Cf. ad Ann. supra, 329.

z xxiii. Pro Murena, 24-26: cf. 1 :

xix. In Catilin. i. 5, 11: xxv. Pro P. Sulla, 5. Plutarch, Cicero, xiv. xv. Dio, xxxvii. 29. 30.

Xxx. xxxi.

a Cap. xxviii: cf. xxv. xxxii. Dio, xxxvii. 30. 31. Appian, B. C. ii. 2. 3. Cicero. xix. In Catilin. i. 3, 7.5, 10. ii. 3, 6. 6, 14. 9, 20. xxiii. Pro Murena, 17, 36.

We have already observed that the first date in this history which occurs in terms is xii Kalendas Novembres, October 21 Roman, U. C. 691 Jan. 1 B. C. 62b: Meministine me ante diem xii Kalendas Novembres dicere in senatu certo die fore in armis (qui dies futurus esset ante diem vi Kalendas Novembris) Cn. Manlium audacia satellitem atque administrum tux? And this too must have been the day when the senate passed the decree so often alluded to by Cicero: Habemus senatus consultum in te Catilina vehemens et grave - Habemus enim hujusmodi senatus consultum ...... quo ex senatus consulto confestim interfectum te esse Catilina convenit: a decree which Salluste seems to have thought was passed on the same day in the morning of which two of the conspirators, C. Cornelius and L. Vargunteius, were to have executed the design against the life of Cicero, which had been concerted the evening before f. But this morning was that of the day before that on which Cicero delivered the first of his extant orations In Catilinam, in the senate; as appears from various allusions in it and in the rest of the same orations g: and that oration was followed by the flight of Catiline either the same evening or early the next morning h; and he himself dates this oration on the twentieth day since the passing of the decree in question: At nos vicesimum jam diem patimur hebescere aciem horum auctoritatis. habemus enim hujusmodi senatus consultum, verum inclusum in tabulis, tanquam gladium in vagina reconditum i.

The actual date of this oration indeed has always been considered a doubtful point. There are however only two days. between which opinions appear to have varied; the viii Idus and the vi Idus Novembres. In Asconius' opinion the true date was this last; for he reckons the entire interval from the passing of the decree to the delivery of this speech, (which Cicero makes to be twenty days,) only at eighteen days: Idem (sc. Cicero), in ea quoque quam habuit in Catilinam in senatu, cum octavus decimus dies esset postquam factum S. C. ut viderent consules ne quid Respublica detrimenti caperet, dixit

Vigesimum jam diem, &c.. Now 18 is the exact interval from xii Kal. Nov. (October 21 Roman) to vi Idus Nov. (Nov. 8 Roman). In assuming then that this was the actual date of the speech which drove away Catiline we should have the authority of Asconius. Cicero's own calculation of the interval from the passing of the decree to this day is to be explained by his peculiar mode of reckoning in such cases m according to which, as the date of the decree was xii Kal. Novembres and that of the speech vi Idus Novembres, he reckoned twelve days to October, and eight to November; twenty in all from the decree to the speech.

In the speech pro P. Sullan the night of the meeting at the house of Lecca (M. Porcius Læca, as Sallust styles him "), when the scheme was concocted for the assassination of Cicero at his own home the next morning, is described as Nox ea quæ consecuta est posterum diem Nonarum Novembrium; and as the most critical and dangerous period of the conspiracy. The day after the Nones could be only the viii Idus. This plot therefore was formed on the night of viii Idus, Nov. 6 Roman, Jan. 17 Julian B. C. 62. The attempt to execute it was made the next morning, vii Idus, Nov. 7 Roman, Jan. 18 Julian. The first oration In Catilinam, followed by his departure from the city the same night or the next morning, was delivered the day after, vi Idus; Nov. 8 Roman January 19 Julian P. Sallust has consequently made a mistake in dating the senatusconsult, Viderent consules, &c. on this day unless it was renewed on this day. It must have been passed 20 days before, as Cicero supposes, 18 as Asconius; and it might be inferred even from Sallust himself that it had been already passed before the arrival of the news of the rising of Manlius at Fæsulæ 9, vi Kalendas Novembres.

:

There were two meetings of the conspirators, before the delivery of this first oration; each by night: one on the night of the viii Idus, which Cicero calls the Nox superior, or Nox prior; the other on that of the vii Idus, which he terms

the Nox proxima": and on the morning after this latter he delivered the oration in the senate, which expelled Catiline".

If there is any thing to object to this conclusion, it seems to be from the second oration t, which was certainly delivered to the people of Rome on the day of the escape of Catiline "; and in this both the convocation of the senate after the attempt on the life of Cicero and the attempt itself apparently are dated on the same day, the day before the speech: Hesterno die cum domi meæ pæne interfectus essem senatum in ædem Jovis Statoris vocavi". It is sufficient however to explain this language that the senate was called together the day before and in consequence of that attempt. It is not of necessity implied by it that the attempt was made the day before; and other allusions to it shew that it was in reality made the day but one before *.

The earliest date then, in reference to this conspiracy of Catiline's, which occurs in terms, is xii Kalendas Novembresy, October 21 Roman U. C. 691, Jan. 1 B. C. 62. Manlius had already been sent into Etruria before that day; and the time concerted for his rising in arms there was vi Kalendas Novembres, six days later, October 27 Roman, January 7 Julian.

On the v Kalendas Novembres, the day after this, October 28 Roman, January 8 Julian, (a Nundinal day, as our calendar shews, and very probably for that reason selected,) Catiline had projected a general massacre of the Optimates at Romey.

On the Kalends of November, Jan. 12 B. C. 62, Præneste was to have been occupiedz: after which, we meet with no more dates in terms, except one, (which comes in on the day of the delivery of the first oration, the vi Idus Novembres,) an allusion to the Idus Proxima a, when Catiline is reminded that his debts would become due, and he would find himself a total bankrupt. This must mean the Ides of November next in course, January 24.

The dates of all the orations In Catilinam, after the first, are easily to be determined.

The day of the execution of the conspirators, at last, it is well known, was the Nones of December b U. C. 691 Feb. 14 B. C. 62. The fourth oration was delivered on that day, on occasion of the debate previously held respecting their treat

ment c.

The third oration was delivered two days before, iii Nonas Decembres, Dec. 3 Roman February 12 Julian; on the day when the conspirators (who had been arrested the same morning) were first examined before the senated: but towards night, or the end of the day e. Vulturcius, the bearer of the letters of Catiline's accomplices at Rome which they were sending to him, had been arrested that morning on the Pons Mulvius; and Cicero has defined the precise time of his arrest, Tertia fere vigilia exactaf: the parties then apprehended being brought before him in person, Cum jam dilucesceret 5. These allusions imply that there was no moon at the time. Nor could there be any February 12 B. C. 62; for the moon was new February 8.

The second oration was delivered to the people in public the day after the escape of Catiline h: v Idus Novembres, Nov. 9 Roman, January 20 Julian: from which it may be inferred that the actual time of his departure was not the morning of January 20 but the evening of January 19; as indeed it appears from Sallust was the case: for he tells us he left Rome Nocte intempesta. There would be moonlight on that evening for the moon was then only three or four days distant from the full*.

* The day fixed upon by the conspirators for the rising in the city, and the rest of the proceedings consequent upon it which they were medi

b Cf. Ad Atticum, i. 19: ii. 1 : x. 1 ; xii. 21 xvi. 14: Ad Fam. i. 9: Ad Brutum, 17: Oratio iv. in Catilin. 7: 8: 9, 18: 19: Oratio xxiv. Pro L. Flacco, 40, 102 xxviii. Post Reditum, 5, 12: xxxi. Pro Plancio, 37, 90: xxxvii. In

Pison. 2, 5. Plutarch, Cicero, xx

xxii: Cato Min. xxiii. Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, xiv. Sallust, Bell. Cat. 1— lviii. Dio, xxxvii. 30: 36. Appian, B. C. ii. 4-6. Vell. Pat. ii. 34: 35.

e Oratio iv in Catilin. 4, 7: 5,9:

xxv. Pro P. Sulla, 11, 33: Ad Attic. ii. 1. Sallust, Bell. Cat. xlix-lviii. Suetonius, Julius Cæsar, xiv.

d Oratio iii. I, 1: 2,5: 3, 8: 6, 14: 9, 21: iv. 3, 5: 5, 10: 6, 13. Dio, xxxvii. 35. Appian, B. C. ii. 4—6. e iii. 12, 29. f Ibid. 2, 6.. Ibid. 3, 6: 2, 6. Cf. Sallust, xlix -lviii.

hii. 1, 1:3, 6: 4, 6: 6, 12: Ad Atticum, ii. 1. Appian, B. C. ii. 3. Bell. Cat. xxxiii.