es of office, and went
home. Two days afterward a reaction occurred. A mass of the populace
came together to his house, and offered their assistance to restore his
rights and vindicate his honor. Caesar, however, contrary to what every
one would have expected of him, exerted his influence to calm and quiet
the mob, and then sent them away, remaining himself in private as
before. The Senate had been alarmed at the first outbreak of the tumult,
and a meeting had been suddenly convened to consider what measures to
adopt in such a crisis. When, however, they found that Caesar had
himself interposed, and by his own personal influence had saved the city
from the danger which threatened it, they were so strongly impressed
with a sense of his forbearance and generosity, that they sent for him
to come to the senate house, and, after formally expressing their
thanks, they canceled their former vote, and restored him to his office
again. This change in the action of the Senate does not, however,
necessarily indicate so great a change of individual sentiment as one
might at first imagine. There was, undoubtedly, a large minority who
were averse to his being deposed in the first instance but, being
outvoted, the decree of deposition was passed. Others were, perhaps,
more or less doubtful. Caesar's generous forbearance in refusing the
offered aid of the populace carried over a number of these sufficient to
shift the majority, and thus the action of the body was reversed. It is
in this way that the sudden and apparently total changes in the action
of deliberative assemblies which often take place, and which would
otherwise, in some cases, be almost incredible, are to be explained.

[Sidenote: Caesar implicated in Catiline's conspiracy.]
[Sidenote: He arrests Vettius.]

After this, Caesar became involved in another difficulty, in consequence
of the appearance of some definite and positive evidence that he was
connected with Catiline in his famous conspiracy. One of the senators
said that Catiline himself had informed him that Caesar was one of the
accomplices of the plot. Another witness, named Vettius, laid an
information against Caesar before a Roman magistrate, and offered to
produce Caesar's handwriting in proof of his participation in the
conspirator's designs Caesar was very much incensed, and his manner of
vindicating himself from these serious charges was as singular as many
of his other deeds. He arrested Vettius, and sentenc