He was now playing for a higher stake, and
the oligarchy had occasion to be reminded of Sylla's prophecy. In carrying
out the proscription, Sylla had employed professional assassins, and
payments had been made out of the treasury to wretches who came to him
with bloody trophies in their hands to demand the promised fees. The time
had come when these doings were to be looked into; hundreds of men had
been murdered, their estates confiscated, and their families ruined, who
had not been even ostensibly guilty of any public crime. At Caesar's
instance an inquiry was ordered. He himself was appointed Judex
Quaestionis, or chairman of a committee of investigation; and Catiline,
among others, was called to answer for himself--a curious commentary on
Caesar's supposed connection with him.
[Sidenote: B.C. 63.]
Nor did the inquisition stop with Sylla. Titus Labienus, afterward so
famous and so infamous, was then tribune of the people. His father had
been killed at the side of Saturninus and Glaucia thirty-seven years
before, when the young lords of Rome had unroofed the senate-house, and
had pelted them and their companions to death with tiles. One of the
actors in the scene, Caius Rabirius, now a very old man, was still alive.
Labienus prosecuted him before Caesar. Rabirius was condemned, and
appealed to the people; and Cicero, who had just been made consul, spoke
in his defence.
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