A plot for a mere
change of government, for the deposition of the aristocrats and the return
to power of the popular party, it might be impolitic, perhaps impossible,
severely to punish; but Catiline and his friends had planned the betrayal
of the State to the barbarians; and with persons who had committed
themselves to national treason there was no occasion to hesitate. Cicero
produced the list of those whom he considered guilty, and there were some
among his friends who thought the opportunity might be used to get rid of
dangerous enemies, after the fashion of Sylla, especially of Crassus and
Caesar. The name of Crassus was first mentioned, some said by secret
friends of Catiline, who hoped to alarm the Senate into inaction by
showing with whom they would have to deal. Crassus, it is possible, knew
more than he had told the consul. Catiline's success had, at one moment,
seemed assured; and great capitalists are apt to insure against
contingencies. But Cicero moved and carried a resolution that the charge
against him was a wicked invention. The attempt against Caesar was more
determined. Old Catulus, whom Caesar had defeated in the contest for the
pontificate, and Caius Calpurnius Piso,[15] a bitter aristocrat, whom
Caesar had prosecuted for misgovernment in Gaul, urged Cicero to include
his name.
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