When the Senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of
Cato, the Consul, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was
coming on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval,
ordered the triumvirs to make such preparations as the execution of
the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary
guards, conducted Lentulus[63] to the prison; and the same office was
performed for the rest by the praetors.
There is a place in the prison, which is called the Tullian
dungeon,[64] and which, after a slight ascent to the left, is sunk
about twelve feet under ground. Walls secure it on every side, and
over it is a vaulted roof connected with stone arches; but its
appearance is disgusting and horrible, by reason of the filth,
darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been let down into this place,
certain men, to whom orders had been given, strangled him with a
cord. Thus this patrician who was of the illustrious family of the
Cornelii, and who had filled the office of Consul at Rome, met with an
end suited to his character and conduct. On Cethegus, Statilius,
Gabinius, and Coeparius, punishment was inflicted in a similar
manner.
During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire force
which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius had
previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts as
far as his numbers would allow; and afterward, as any volunteers, or
recruits from his confederates, arrived in his camp, he distributed
them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus filled up his legions,
in a short time, with their regular number of men, tho at first he had
not had more than two thousand. But, of his whole army, only about a
fourth part had the proper weapons of soldiers; the rest, as chance
had equipped them, carried darts, spears, or sharpened stakes.
As Antonius[65] approached with his army, Catiline directed his march
over the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at
another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting,
yet hoped himself shortly to find one, if his accomplices at Rome
should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast
numbers had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only
as depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it
impolitic to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates.
When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy had
been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest
whom I have named had been put to death, most of those whom the hope
of plunder or the love of change had led to join in the war fell away.
The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains and by forced
marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to escape
covertly, by crossroads, into Gaul.
But Quintus Metellus Celer, who, with a force of three legions, had,
at that time, his station at Picenum, suspected that Catiline, from
the difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course
which we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned
Catiline's route from some deserters, he immediately broke up his
camp, and took his post at the very foot of the hills, at the point
where Catiline's descent would be, in his hurried march into Gaul.[66]
Nor was Antonius far distant, as he was pursuing, tho with a large
army, yet through plainer ground, and with fewer hindrances, the enemy
in retreat.
Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by
hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful,
and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it
best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved
upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius....
When he had spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the signal for
battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular order, to
the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all the cavalry,
in order to increase the men's courage by making their danger equal,
he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to their numbers and
the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched between the mountains
on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he placed eight cohorts
in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in close order, in the
rear. From among these he removed all the ablest centurions, the
veterans, and the stoutest of the common soldiers that were regularly
armed into the foremost ranks. He ordered Caius Manlius to take the
command on the right, and a certain officer of Faesulae on the left;
while he himself, with his freedmen and the colonists, took his
station by the eagle, which Caius Marius was said to have had in his
army in the Cimbrian war.
On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame, was unable to be
present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus
Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius ranged the cohorts of
veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection, in
front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding
round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged
them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed
marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples,
and their homes. Being a military man, and having served with great
reputation for more than thirty years, as tribune, prefect,
lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their
honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused
the spirits of the men.
When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the
trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the
enemy followed his example; and when they had approached so near that
the action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides,
with a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge. They threw
aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans,
calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest
combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides
contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was
exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such
as were prest, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to
every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and
performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skilful
general.
When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking
him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the
center of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and
offering but partial resistance, he made great slaughter, and ordered,
at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the Faesulan,
sword in hand, were among the first that fell; and Catiline, when he
saw his army routed, and himself left with but few supporters,
remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the thickest of
the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last.
When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness and what
energy of spirit had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; for,
almost everywhere, every soldier, after yielding up his breath,
covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A
few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen
somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself
was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the
enemy; he still breathed, and exprest in his countenance the
fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his life. Of his whole
army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any free-born citizen
made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives no more than those
of the enemy.
Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless
victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle or
left the field severely wounded.
Of many who went from the camp to view the ground or plunder the
slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a
friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too,
recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy,
were variously felt throughout the whole army.