nd C. Cornelius Cethegus, distinguished throughout
by his impetuosity and sanguinary violence. He proposed that all debts
should be canceled, that the most wealthy citizens should be proscribed,
and that all offices of honor and emolument should be divided among his
associates. He confidently anticipated that he should be elected Consul
for the next year along with C. Antonius, having formed a coalition with
him for the purpose of excluding Cicero. The orator, however, was
supported, not only by the Equites and Pompey's friends, but even by the
Senate, who, though disliking a New Man, were compelled to give him
their support in order to exclude Catiline. The consequence was that
Cicero and Antonius were returned, the former nearly unanimously, the
latter by a small majority over Catiline. As soon as Cicero entered upon
his Consulship he renounced his connection with the popular party, and
became a stanch supporter of the aristocracy. He successfully opposed an
agrarian law proposed by the Tribune Rullus, and defended C. Rabirius,
who was now accused by the Tribune Labienus of having been concerned in
the death of Saturninus nearly forty years before. Caesar took an active
part in both these proceedings. But the attention of Cicero was mainly
directed to Catiline's conspiracy. He gained over his colleague Antonius
by resigning to him the province of Macedonia. Meantime he became
acquainted with every detail of the plot through Fulvia, the mistress of
Q. Curius, one of Catiline's intimate associates. Thus informed, Cicero
called a meeting of the Senate on the 21st of October, when he openly
denounced Catiline, charged him broadly with treason, and asserted that
the 28th was the period fixed for the murder of the leading men in the
Republic. The Senate thereupon invested the Consuls with dictatorial
power. The Comitia for the election of the Consuls was now held.
Catiline, again a candidate, was again rejected. Driven to despair by
this fresh disappointment, he resolved at once to bring matters to a
crisis. On the night of the 6th of November he summoned a meeting of the
ringleaders at the house of M. Porcius Laeca, and made arrangements for
an immediate outbreak. Cicero, being immediately informed of what took
place, summoned, on the 8th of November, a meeting of the Senate in the
Temple of Jupiter Stator, and there delivered the first of his
celebrated orations against Catiline. Catiline, who upon his entrance
had been avo