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A few days afterward, Lucius Sænius, a senator, read to the senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Fæsulæ, and in which it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken the field by the 27th of October.1 Others at the same time, as is not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex2 was dispatched, by a decree of the senate, to Fæsulæ, and Quintus Metellus Creticus3 into Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of commanders,4 were waiting near the city, having been prevented from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The prætors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a complete pardon and two hundred sestertia5. They further appointed that the schools of gladiators6 should be distributed in Capua and other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the inferior magistrates7 should have the charge.
1 XXX. By the 27th of October] “Ante diem VI. Kalendas Novembres.” He means that they were in arms on or before that day.
2 Quintus Marcius Rex] He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and was expecting a triumph for his successes.
3 Quintus Metellus Creticus] He had obtained the surname of Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete.
4 Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc.] “Ii utrique ad urbem imperatores erant ; impediti ne triumpharent calumniâ paucorum, quibus omnia, honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos erat.” "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) a triumph, for which be was obliged to wait ad urbem, near the city, since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any military command. These imperatores had been debarred from their expected honor by a party who would sell any thing honorable, as a triumph, or any thing dishonorable, as a license to violate the laws.
5 A hundred sestertia--two hundred sestertia] A hundred sestertia were about 807l. 5s. 10d. of our money.
6 Schools of gladiators] “Gladiatoriæ familiæ.” Any number of gladiators under one teacher, or trainer (lanista), was called familia. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach.
7 The inferior magistrates] The ædiles, tribunes, qaæstors, and all others below the consuls, censors, and prætors. Aul. Gell., xiii. 15.
Conspiracy of Catiline. Sallust. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. New York and London. Harper & Brothers. 1899.
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