4 When, therefore,
my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and trials, and I had determined to
pass the remainder of my days unconnected with public life, it was not my
intention to waste my valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or,
engaging in servile occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting;
but, returning to those studies from which, at their commencement, a corrupt
ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached portions, the
transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence should seem worthy of
mention; an undertaking to which I was the rather inclined, as my mind was
uninfluenced by hope, fear, or political partisanship. I shall accordingly give
a brief account with as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for
I think it an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature
both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my narrative, I
must give a short description of the character of the man.
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