again brought into effect and election to the priesthood entrusted to a
_comitia_ of seventeen tribes. In the ensuing election Caesar was
victorious.

*The Catilinarian conspiracy: 63 B. C.* In July, 63 B. C., occurred the
consular elections for the next year. Catiline was again a competitor, but
now he lacked the support of Crassus and Caesar and appealed directly to
all needy and desperate characters throughout Italy, who hoped to enrich
themselves by violent means. He was bitterly opposed by Cicero and the
Optimates and was defeated. Thereupon he and his followers conspired to
overthrow the government by armed force. Cicero, who was on the watch, got
news of the conspiracy and induced the Senate to pass the "last decree"
empowering him to use any means to save the state. Catiline then left the
city to join the bands his supporters had raised in Etruria. He was
declared a public enemy and a force under the consul Antonius dispatched
against him. December seventeenth was the day set for a rising in Rome,
when the city was to be fired, the consuls and others murdered, and a
reign of terror instituted. But the plan was betrayed by a delegation of
the Gallic Allobroges who happened to be in Rome and whom the conspirators
endeavored to enlist on their side. The leading Catilinarians in Rome were
arrested, and, in accordance with a decree of the Senate, put to death.
Caesar had argued for a milder sentence, but the firm stand of the young
Marcus Porcius Cato, a man of uncompromising uprightness and loyalty to
the constitution, sealed the fate of the plotters. Upon the failure of his
plans in Rome, Catiline endeavored to make his way with his army into
Cisalpine Gaul, but was overtaken and forced to give battle to the forces
of Antonius at Pistoria. He and most of his followers died sword in hand.
The suppression of the conspiracy added to Cicero's reputation and greatly
strengthened the position of the Senate and the Optimates.

But the whole episode bears testimony to the general weakness of the
government and the danger of the absence of a regular police force for the
maintenance of the public peace.

VII. THE COALITION OF POMPEY, CAESAR AND CRASSUS: 60 B. C.

*Pompey's return.* Towards the close of the year 62 B. C. Pompey landed in
Italy and, contrary to the expectations of those who feared that he would
prove a second Sulla, disbanded his army. The following September (61) he
celebrated a memorable tr