24 Accordingly, when
the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius Antonius were declared consuls;
an event which gave the first shock to the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline,
however, was not at all diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he
deposited arms, in convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money,
borrowed on his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius, at
Faesulae, who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. At this
period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great numbers of men of
all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier days, supported an
expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, when age had lessened
their gains but not their extravagance, had contracted heavy debts. By the
influence of these females, Catiline hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set
on fire, and either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their
lives.
|