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Updated: May 22, 2025
Catiline, impatient of further delay, resolved himself to break forth and go to Manlius; but he commanded Marcius and Cethegus to take their swords and go early in the morning to Cicero's gates, as if only intending to salute him, and then to fall upon him and slay him. A noble lady, Fulvia, coming by night, discovered this to Cicero, bidding him beware of Cethegus and Marcius.
The locks of this noble looking personage, though not arranged in that effeminate fashion, which has been mentioned as characteristic of Cethegus and some others, were closely curled about his brow—for he, as yet, exhibited no tendency to that baldness, for which in after years he was remarkable—and reeked with the choicest perfumes.
The elections were held by the dictator; the consuls elected were Marcus Cornelius Cethegus and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, who was absent, being engaged in his province of Greece. The praetors were then elected: Titus Claudius Nero, Marcus Marcius Ralla, Lucius Scribonius Libo, Marcus Pomponius Matho. On the conclusion of the elections, the dictator abdicated his office.
A more than equivocal character, Publius Cethegus, formerly one of the most zealous Marians, afterwards as a deserter received into favour by Sulla, acted a most influential part in the political doings of this period unrivalled as a cunning tale-bearer and mediator between the sections of the senate, and as having a statesman's acquaintance with the secrets of all cabals: at times the appointment to the most important posts of command was decided by a word from his mistress Praecia.
His friends, Lentulus, Cethegus, and the others, were to remain and be ready for fire and slaughter as soon as Catiline with his army should appear before the walls. He went, and Cicero had been so far successful.
A tribune was to give the signal by calling an assembly of the people; in the following night Cethegus was to despatch the consul Cicero; Gabinius and Statilius were to set the city simultaneously on fire at twelve places; and a communication was to be established as speedily as possible with the army of Catilina, which should have meanwhile advanced.
Drusus knew no other term to conjure up a like abode of horrors the ancient prison of the city, a mere chamber sunk in the ground, and beneath that a dungeon, accessible only by an opening in the floor above where the luckless Jugurtha had perished of cold and starvation, and where Lentulus Sura, Cethegus, and the other lieutenants of Catilina had been garroted, in defiance of all their legal rights, by the arbitrary decree of a rancorous Senate!
But these men, Lentulus, Cethegus, and the other Senators, though they had not dared to sit near Catiline in the Senate, or to speak a word to him, went about their work zealously when evening had come. A report was spread among the people that the Consul had taken upon himself to drive a citizen into exile.
The consul, Sextus Aelius, coming home from Gaul to Rome to hold the elections, elected consuls, Caius Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Minucius Rufus. Two days after was held the election of praetors; and this year, for the first time, six praetors were appointed, in consequence of the increase of the provinces, and the extension of the bounds of the empire.
Catiline waited for a signal from his friends in the city, and Lentulus, Cethegus, Autronius, and the rest of the leaders waited for Catiline to arrive. Conspirators never think that they have taken precautions enough or have gained allies enough; and in endeavoring to secure fresh support they made a fatal mistake.
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