INTRODUCTION

I.    CATILINE'S  ENVIRONMENT

The conspiracy of Catiline was a natural result of cer¬
tain evil conditions at Rome, which, during the last two
centuries of the Republic, grew rapidly worse until they
finally brought about disruption. Especially during the last
century of the Republic, in which Catiline lived and acted,
civil conflict, engendered by corruption in its worst forms
among all classes of society, was rife, and worked itself out
in disputes between the people, or the Democracy, and
the Senate, or the Aristocracy. Two of the most renowned
and successful leaders in this rivalry were Marius and
Sulla,, whose bloody wars and bloodier proscriptions threw
the whole world into unrest and cost Rome the lives of
thousands of her citizens. And when victory remained at
last with Sulla, property was confiscated; whole districts
were given to his soldiers; citizenship was bestowed upon
the slaves of his proscribed enemies.

In such an atmosphere Catiline was born and reared,
for he was thirty years old when Sulla died, and had been
his active partisan. Such surroundings could only in¬
crease the natural weakness of an unscrupulous ambition
such as Catiline and a number of others possessed. He
was no worse than many another of his time, only more
daring and more persistent. An aristocrat, naturally
clever and attractive, he was the center of all the younger
set who were in any way discontented; and who was not
discontented ?    No one was sure of his life.    The rivalry