Page:Roman Constitutional History, 753-44 B.C..djvu/243

Rh priesthoods, and opportunities for robbery. He expected aid from Piso in Spain, and P. Sittius in Mauretania, but the former was slain and the latter proved untrustworthy.

Consular Election in 63. — In the first place Catiline directed his henchmen to support him with might and main in his renewed canvass for the consulship. He intended to remove Cicero by assassination and to make a tool of Antonius. But Cicero proved to be shrewd, courageous, and energetic, and was fully a match for his lawless enemy. He induced Antonius to keep aloof from the conspirators by promising him the rich province of Macedonia, and through one of the conspirators he secured prompt information about all the movements and projects of the conspiracy. As a result of the request of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the greatest jurist of his time, and now one of the consular candidates, Cicero and Antonius carried a more severe law on corrupt canvassing (lex Tullia de ambitu). Catiline was not discouraged, however, and decided to murder the other candidates and Cicero on the day of the election. Although Cicero received no satisfactory support from the senate, he provided for his own safety and baffled the efforts of the conspirators. Catiline again failed to secure an election.

Outbreak of the Insurrection. — After the election, which perhaps did not occur much later than usual, Catiline prepared for open revolt. He sent agents throughout Italy, and made Faesulae the centre of military operations. He placed Gaius Manlius, a former centurion of Sulla, in charge there, to collect soldiers and arms, and ordered him to raise the standard of the insurrection on October 27. On the 28th, he intended to massacre Cicero and the principal men of the nobility. Cicero, who was fully informed of these preparations, convened the senate on October 21, and obtained for the consuls extraordinary powers (through a senatus consultum