Catiline and Cicero Reading Guide

History of Rome Reading Guide for Friday 3/16: For Friday, you’ll be reading about Cicero and the Catilinarian Conspiracy led by Catiline Catiline (note the spelling: Catiline [not Cataline]), was born Lucius Sergius Catilina, of a decayed patrician family. He fought in the Social War and for Sulla, and was deeply involved in the proscriptions. Praetor in 68, he served as governor of Africa, and was then prosecuted for extortion there. In 64 he stood for the consulship of 63, with the backing of Caesar and Crassus, but was defeated by Cicero. Defeated again in 63 for the consulship of 62, he organized a widespread conspiracy. In early November 63, with his first speech against Catiline, the consul Cicero scared Catiline into leaving Rome. In the meantime, some of the other leaders of the conspiracy where apprehended at Rome and imprisoned. The Senate met to debate the fate of the prisoners, and Caesar argued against the death penalty while Cato the Younger (desc. of the Cato you’ve already met) argues for them to be killed. Cato wins the debate, and Cicero has the prisoners killed without trial. Catiline himself was vanquished and killed in battle in early January 62, his name has ever afterward been blackened as the byword for a conspirator. Assignment: 1) Plutarch, MAKERS: Life of Cicero (until his return from exile) pp.323-359 (we’ll finish the life of Cicero in a few weeks) PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION to the narrative of the conspiracy from page 333-46. 2) Selections from the historian Sallust’s narrative of the Catilinarian Conspiracy (Uploaded as pdf on CMS page) Questions to guide your reading: 1. What were Catiline’s aims? How might he have justified them? 2. To what different elements of Roman society did he appeal or might he have appealed, and why? Was this indeed a dangerous conspiracy? 3. What is Sallust’s attitude toward Catiline, and how does he explain Catiline’s initial success? 4. Which side (Caesar or Cato) do you think made the better case in the senate debate over the fate of the prisoners? Was Cicero justified in executing them?