( ATI I.I N A, LUCIUS 8KBOID8. 



CATO. 



ISO 



the edJne* awl the brillbat Qualities of Hanri IV. to reaooe it from 

 total ruta. Cathanae had only one redeeming quality her love for 

 the arle and literature, which awns to have been hereditary in 

 the family of MedbL She eoUaHad valuable manuwripte, aba en- 

 arofed artbfe, aad she began the pekoe of the Tuibrba. She was 



i in debt. (D* Thou, Sully, 



oandedllronVan lUustrioui 



CATIU'MA, LD-CIU8 8E-HOIUS, descended 



i born about n-c 109. Catiline was quarter about 

 erved as legato* to Seribonius Curio, pro- 

 I of Macedonia, a,c. 7i. He was pnrtor at Rome, KC. 67. At 

 i expiration of hb pnrtorahip, be obtained the province of Africa, 

 ikhhe bft tocaavaas for the eoneubhip; but be was obliged to 

 give op hb laaiaai m sonnqaenns of hang soouesd of malversation 

 fat hb province. During thb year. BX. 65, he formed a conspiracy 

 with Co. Pbo and P. Autrooins to SBMariiuti the consul, and part of 

 the sanata. Ooaliailas atjri that Ctoear and M. Craeius were engaged 

 ID thb plot, aad eitea a* hb authoritba Tanmiua Ocminus, the edicts 

 W Bibuloa. the oratione of the elder Curio, and Actorius Xaso. (See 

 ako Cb. hi 'Catil.' 4.) The plot was frustrated at first by the back- 

 wardness of Craasoa and Cajoar, and a second time by the hastiness of 

 Having procured an acquittal on hb trial (B.C. 65) for 

 ation in Africa by bribing the judioas, and, it is laid, 

 r, P. Clodiua, ako, he was a candidate for the consulship 

 with' Cicero for the year B.C. 6J. During the contest he wai tried 

 with many others for the murders which be had committed during 

 the priiaarlptioB of Sulla, to whose party Catiline belonged, and etpe- 

 eitllv for that of Mario. Ontidbnus, uncle to Cicero, but, through 

 the tnauance of the "~*-" t *- senators, he was acquitted. According 

 to aosM, thb murder, whioh was committed many yean before, in 

 addition to the imputed seduction of Fabia, Cicero's sister in-law, 

 kid the foundation for that animosity with which Cicero afterwards 

 iimaasil Catiline. Tat Cicero says ('Ad. Alt' i. 2) that he hod some 

 thought! of defending him on hit trial for malvertation. 

 In the t ^n b ~ l "t of June, B.C. 64, about a month before the con- 

 sular lection, urged by the rained state of his fortunes, Catiline held 

 the first mat ing of hb second conspiracy, eleven men of senatorian 

 rank and four of eqncatrian being prevent Some rumour of their 

 proceedings got abroad, and Catiline lost hb election ; while the 

 previous preparation, of Cicero prevented the execution of a design 

 which Catiline had formed to kill the consul and other senators on the 

 day of lection. Notwithstanding thb failure, Catiline still pushed 

 forward hb deigns with great vigour. Money and arms were col- 

 lected, aad Manliue, one of Sulks veterans, only waited Catiline's 

 ordan to take the field with a Urge body of his comrades, who, after 

 Balk's victorias, bad been fettled in different parts of Italy. Infor- 

 mation of all their proceedings was conveyed to Cicero, and by him 

 communicated to the senate, who, on the 21st of October, issued the 

 decree in the usual form (Uarent operam, Ac.), which gave dictatorial 

 power to the eonenb On the 6th of November, another meeting of 

 the onnapirotors wms held, at which arrangement, were made for firing 

 the town and nuaaaoraing the inhabitant., for the bringing up the 

 Tuscan army under Manilas, and for the murder of Cicero, all which 

 wae reported the same evening to Cicero. Catiline still kept up the 

 appearance of innocence, and though impeached by L. Paulus under 

 the fbutian bw, came down to the senate, which wai assembled by 

 Ciotro on the 6th of November. When Cicero concluded, Catiline, 

 fat aa hombk voice and manner, began to defend himself, but wai 

 Mempted by the senate calling out that " he was an enemy and a 

 traitor to hb country.- Catiline abiuptly left the senate-house, and 

 aet out the same night for the camp of Manlius, with the view of 

 Btakiac some decisive movement before the consuls could get an army 

 him. The senate immediately declared him and 

 i to the state, and ordered the consuls to raise new 

 troops, of which the command wai given to C. Antonius, the colleague 

 of Cicero. (J. Mardus Hex and Q. Metellui Creticut were at this 

 i waiting with their amirs outeide the gates for the honour of a 

 ah. It being reported that the skvee were arming in Apulia 

 . , MitrUu* wai despatched into Apulia, and Marcius to 

 .where Manlius wai encamped. A remonstrance, addreawd 

 to Mantua by Maouoa, setting forth their grievances, was answered 

 by a refenoc* to the senate, but it doe. not appear that any engage- 

 em* took place. Dp to thb time, Catiline made little progi-esVln 

 eoaasqaians of hb plans being regularly divulged, through the mistress 

 of one of the eoaapirators, to Cicero, and hi. designs were cotise- 

 '- thwarted; wbiU. on the other hand, the prospect of the 



cy Uing crashed seemed equally distent 



___k *7H whbh bad bam offered by the amate for information 

 imntsW the plot had. produced no evidence, aud it appears ce.Uin 

 that a large proportion of the population (Sallust lay. the whole of 

 ttfj '.." 5S U l"P or " J ' Catiline 1 ! doejgu; but how far they 

 o cbeBtBfv from tiM bopv of pluodcr. uid bow far from 



i. u _ ^ "^ *"* 8 OTW n n* f natorian 

 -i would be a difficult matter to determine. The senate 

 ily di i apptaj to Ihe people for support against a common 



draw into the plot the atahnsaadon of the Allobrogc*, at that time in 

 om, aad to obtain from them a body of horse, furnished the conn.l 



wan 



with evidence against the principal conspirators. Lentulus, Qabinius 

 Stetilius, and Cethegus were arrested. Fresh plots were now rumoured 

 to be hatching among the dependents of the conspirators for their 

 rescue ; aiid after a long debate in the senate on the 5th of December 

 (Noois Deombribus), in which Caesar argued against and (,'ato in favour 

 of the capital punishment of the conspirators, they were condemned to 

 death without the form of a trial, and executed accordingly. Catiline 

 now found himself hemmed in by Metellus Celer on the side of 

 Cisalpine Gaul, and by Antouius, now proconsul, with a superior force 

 among the Apennines. He made a desperate attack on the troops of 

 Antonius, whioh were under the command of M. Petreius, was defeated, 

 and fell among the thickest of the enemy, fighting bravely to the last, 

 u . M 



The history of Catiline's conspiracy U chiefly transmitted to us by 

 Cicero and Sallust, and we have only one side of the story. Though 

 there is doubtless great exaggeration in both these writers, and though 

 it seems impossible to penetrate the whole design of Catiline, there 

 is not much difficulty in forming a general opinion of this plot. The 

 civil wars of Marius and Sulla, which terminated in favour of Sulla, 

 led the way to an organised system of murder and plunder, of which 

 few histories present so frightful an example. The partUans of Sul! 

 were enriched by the proscription and robbery of their fellow-citizens. 

 This was the school in which Catiline and many of his accomplices 

 were brought up. A body of profligate young men of rank, over- 

 whelmed with debt, whose only pursuit U pleasure, are the readiest 

 elements out of which to form a conspiracy. The conspiracy of 

 Catiline was a conspiracy of an aristocratic faction against the body 

 of which it formed a part a body that had its own interested 

 and exclusive objects, but preferred accomplishing them iu a more 

 politic aud less violent way. If the conspirators had succeeded they 

 would, as a matter of course, in following up the example of Sulla, 

 have crushed the whole arUtocratical party whose views were opposed 

 to their own. The possession of all the influence iu the state the 

 spoliation of their wealthy enemies would have been the reward of 

 the partizaus of Catiline ; but it is difficult to conceive that any one 

 useful result to the state would have followed ; and, in the absence <:' 

 better evidence as to the character and abilities of the conspirators, it 

 is impossible to conclude that Home would have been fortunate enough 

 to find among them a master who possessed the wisdom and moderation 

 of the dictator Cicsar. 



CATO, that is, the Wise, was a surname given to MARCUS FOR- 

 CIUS PUISCrs. This extraordinary man, commonly called 

 Censorius, or Cato Major, to distinguish him from his descendant who 

 fell on his sword at Utica, was born in the year B.C. 234. 1! 

 descended from a respectable family in Tusculum, and passed his earlier 

 years on a farm in the Sabine country, which he inherited from his 

 father. At the age of seventeen a Roman necessarily became a 

 soldier, and Cato's military career commenced in the very year when 

 Hannibal was laying waste the north of Italy after the battle of the 

 Trebia, B.C. 217. We find him afterwards serving under the command 

 of Fabius, at the capture of Tarentum, in B.C. 209 ; and two years after 

 he distinguished himself at the memorable battle on the bonks of the 

 Metaurus, which was fatal to the brother of Hannibal. In priv.it, 

 life be maintained the same character for hardiness, industry, and 

 sobriety which he had earned in the military profession. Occupvi- 

 a farm adjoining that which had once belonged to Curius Dentatun, 

 he seemed to take that old Roman for a model, and drew upon him 

 the attention of the neighbouring farmers, not more by the simplicity 

 of hU habits than by the plain good sense of the laconic maxima which 

 fell from his lips and became current in the neighbourhood. Hi 

 singular reputation obtained him the name of Cato, and at length 

 attracted the observation of a young Patrician, named L. Valerius 

 FUccus, who, looking upon him, to ute the language of Plutarch. 

 " as a plant that deserved a better soil," persuaded him to remove to 

 Rome, and to offer himself for the public magiatracien. With tin 

 friend, who thus introduced him to the Roman public, he afterwards 

 held the highest posts in the state, the consulship and the censorship. 

 The first step in the series of Roman offices wu the quicstorsbip. 

 This office he filled in ii.c. 204, aud was appointed to join the army in 

 Sicily, which Scipio was about to carry across into Africa ; but the 

 profuse expenditure of the general offended those notions of strict 

 economy which belonged to the character of Cato. The quecstor 

 returned to Koine, and taking his seat in the senate, to which he wax 

 entitled by right of his office, he denounced the conduct of Scipio as 

 fatal to the discipline of the army. Soon after we find him. according 

 to Nepos, acting an cjutcstor in the island of Sardinia, where he became 

 acquainted with Knuius. It is more probable that the acquaintance 

 with Knnius was formed when Cato was in Sardinia as pi. 'T. '!'! 

 errors of Nepos, or rather of the writer, whose works are ascribed to 

 him, are innumerable. Cato, with nil his rustic character, was a fri.-s: ' 

 to literature, and it was he who fimt brought the Calabriau poet to 

 Rome. After holding the plebeian icdilenhip and the protorship, i . 

 the latter of which he was the governor of Sardinia, ho finally arrived 

 at the consulate, which he filled in n.c. 195, the year of Terence' 

 l.iitb. having hi< friend Valerius for his colleague. At that period of 

 tho Roman commonwealth it was usual for the consuls to hold coin- 

 mandi at a distance from Rome. Cato was appointed governor or 

 Nearer Spain, where tho vigour of his arms nud the policy of I. in 



