death he deserved, and before you were all fully convinced of his guilt, I should have drawn upon myself such an odium, as would have rendered me unable to prosecute his accomplices; I brought the matter to this point, that you might then openlyand vigorously attack Cataline,when he was apparently become a public enemy. What kind of an enemy I judge him to be, and how formidable in his attempt, vou mav learn from hence, citizens, that I am only sorry he went off with so sew to attend him. 1 wish he had taken his whole forces 3long with him. He has carried off Tongillus indeed, the object of his criminal passion when a youth; he has likewise carried off Publicius and Munstius, whose tavern debts would never hive occasioned any commotions in the slate. But how important are the men he has left behind him? how oppressed with debt, how powerful, how illustrious by their descent?

When therefore I think of our Gallic legions, and the levies made by Metellus in Picenum and Lombardy, together with those troops we are daily raising; I hold in utter contempt that army of his, composed of wretched old men, of debauchees from the country, of rustic vagabonds, of such as have fled from their bail to take shelter in his camp: man ready to run aw2y not only at the sight of an army, but of the prætor's edict. I could wifn he had likewise carried with him thole whom I see fluttering in the forum, sauntering about the courts of justice, and even taking their places in the senate; men fleck with perfumes, and shining in purple. It these still remain here, mark what I fay, the deserters from the army arc more to be dreaded than the army itself; and the more so, because they know me to be informed of all their designs, yet arc not in the least moved by it. I behold the person to whom Apulia is allotted, to whom Ktruria, to whom the territory of Picenum, to whom Cifalpir.e Gaul. I fee the man who demanded the task of setting fire to the city, and filling it with slaughter. They know that I am acquainted with all the secrets of their last nocturnal meeting: 1 laid them open yesterday in the senate: Cataline himself was disheartened and fled: what then can these others mean? They are much mistaken if they tw.-gine I shall always use the same lenity.

I ave at last gained what I have hi

therto been waiting for, to make you all sensible that a conspiracy is openly formed against t!ie state: unless there be anv one who imngincs, that such as resemble C..taline mav yet refuse to enter into his designs. There is no»v therefore no more room for clemency, the cafe itself requires severity. Yet I will still grant them one thing; let them quit the city, let them follow Cataline, nor suffer their miserable leader to languish in their absence. Nay, I will even tell them the way; it is the Aurelian road: if they make haste, they may overtake him before night. O happy state, were it but once drained of this fink of wickedness! To me the absence of Cataline alone seems to have restored frclh beauty and vigour to the commonwealth. What villainy, what mischief can be devised or imagined, that has not entered into his thoughts? What prisoner is to be found in all Italy, what gladiator, what robber, what assassin, what parricide, what forger of wills, what sharper, what debauchee, what squanderer, what adulterer, what harlot, what corrupter of youth, what corrupted wretch, what abandoned criminal, who will not own an intimits familiarity with Cataline? What murder has been perpetrated of late years without him f What act of Iewdness speaks not him for its author? Was ever man possessed of such talents for corrupting youth? To some he prostitute! himself unnaturally; for others he indulged a criminal paslion. Many were allured by the prospect of unbounded enjoyment, many by tiie promise of their parents death; to which he not only incited them, but even contributed his assistance. What a prodigious number cf profligate wretches has he just now drawn together, not onlv from the city, but also from the country? There is not a person oppressed with debt, I will not fay in Rome, but in the remotest corner of all Italy, whom he has not engaged in this unparalleled confederacy sf guilt.

But to make vou acquainted with the variety of his talents, in all the different kinds of vice; there is not a gladiator in any of our public schools, remarkable for being audacious in mischief, wh> does not own an intimacy with Cataline; not a player ot" distinguished impudence and guilt, -me opcrrlv boasts of having b?cn hii companion. Yet this man, trained up in the continual exercise of Iewdness and villainy, while lie was wailing ia riot and debauT t chsry chery the means of virtue, and supplies of industry, was extolled by these his associates for his fortitude and patience in supporting cold, hunger, thirst, and watchings. Would his companions but follow him, would this profligate crew of desperate men but leave the city; how happy Would it be for us, how fortunate for the eommonwealth, how glorious for my consulship i It is not a moderate degree of depravity, a natural or supportable measure of guilt that now prevails. Nothing less than murders, rapines, and conflagrations employ their thoughts. They have squandered away their patrimonies, they lave wasted their fortunes in debauchery; they have long been without money, and now their credit begins to fail them; yet still they retain the fame desires, though deprived of the means of enjoyment. Did they, amidst their revels and gaming, affect no other pleasures than those of Iewdnese and feasting, however desperate their case must appear, it might still notwithstanding be borne with. But it is altogether insufferable, that the cowardly should pretend to plot against the brave, the foolish against the prudent, the drunken against the sober, the drowsy against the vigilant; who lolling at feasts, embracing mistresses, staggering with wine, stuffed with victuals, crowned with garlands,daubed with perfumes, wasted with intemperance, belch in their conversations of mastering the honest, and firing the sity. Over such, I trust, some dreadful fatality now hangs; and that the vengeance so long due to their villainy, baseness, guilt, and crimes, is either just breaking, or just ready to break upon their heads. If my consulship, since it cannot cure, should cut off all these, it would add no small period to the duration of the republic. For there is no nation, which we have reason to fear; no king, who can make war upon the Roman people. All disturbances abroad, both by land and sea, are quelled by the virtue of one man. But a domestic war still remains: the treason, the danger, the enemy is within. We are to combat with luxury, with madness, with villainy. In this war I profets myself your leader, and take upon myself all the animosity of the desperate. Whatever can possibly be healed, I will heal; but what ought to be cut off, I will never suffer to spread to the ruin of the city. Let them therefore depart, or be at rest; but if they are resolved both to remain in the

city, and continue, their wonted practices, let them look for the punishment they deserve.

But some there are, Romans, who assert, that I have driven Cataline into banishment. And indeed, could words compass it, I would not scruple to drive them, into exile too. Cataline, to be sure, was so very timorous and models, that he could not stand the words of the consul; but being ordered into banishment, immediately acquiesced and obeyed. Yesterday, when I ran so great a hazard of being murdered in my own house, I assembled the senate in the temple of Jupiter Stator, and laid the whole affair before the conscript fathers. When Cataline came thither, did so much as one senator accost or salute him? In fine, did they regard him only as a desperate citizen, and nor rather as an outrageous enemy? Nay, the coasular senators quitted that part of the house where he sat, and left the whole bench clear to him. Here ir that violent consul, who by a single word drive citizens into banishment, demanded os Catali nc, whether he had not been at the nocturnal meeting in the house of M. Lecca. And when he, the most audacious of men, struck dumb by self-conviction, returned no answer, I laid open the whole Go the senate; acquainting them with the transactions of that night; where he had been, what was reserved for the next, and how he had settled the whole plan of the war. As he appeared disconcerted and speechless, I asked what hindered his going upon an expedition, which he had so long prepared for; when I knew that he had already fens before him arms, axes, rods, trumpets, military ensigns, and that stiver eagle, to which he had raised an impious altar in his own house. Can I be said to have driven into banishment a man who had alreadycommenced hostilities against his country? Or is it credible that Manlius, an obscure centurion, who has pitched his camp upon the plains of Fesulæ, would declare war against the Roman people in his owtr name: that the forces under him do not now expect Cataline for their general: or that he, submitting to a voluntary banishment, has, as some pretend, repaired to Marseilles, and not to the before-mentioned camp)

O wretched condition! not only of governing, but even of preserving the state. For should Cataline, discouraged and disconcerted by my counsels, vigilance, and

strenuous Irrenuous care of the republic, be seired with a sudden dread, change his resolution, desert his party, quit his hostile designs, and alter his course of war and guilt, into that of flight and banishment; it will not then be said, that 1 have wrested out of his hands the weapons of insolence, that I hare astonished and confounded him by my diligence, and that I have driven him from all his hopes and schemes: but he will be considered as a man innocent and nncondemned, who has been forced into banishment by the threats and violence of the consul. Nay there are, who in this event, would think him not wicked, but unhappy; and me not a vigilant consul, bat a cruel tyrant. But I little regard this storm of bitter and undeserved censure, provided I can screen you from the danger of this dreadful and impious war. Let him only go into banishment and I am content it be ascribed to my threats. But believe me, he has no design to go. My desire of avoiding public envy, Romans, (hall never induce me to wish you nay hear of Cataliue's being at the head of an army, and traversing, in a hostile manner, the territories of the republic. But assuredly you will hear it in three days; and I have much greater reason to fear being censured for letting him escape, than that I forced him to quit the city. But if men are so perverse zs to complain of his being driven away, what would they have said if he had been put to death? Yet there is not one of those who talk of bis going to Marseilles, but would be sorry for it if it was true; and with all the concern they express for him, they had much rather hear of his being in Manlius's camp. As for himself, had he never before thought of the project he is now engaged in, yet such is his particular turn of mind, that he would rather fall as a robber, than live as an exile. But now, as nothing has happened contrary to his expectation and desire, except that I was left alive when he quitted Rome; let us rather with he may go into banishment, than complain of it.

Bat why do I speak so much about one tnemy r An enemy too, who has openly proclaimed himself such; and whom I no longer dread, since, as I always wished, there is now a wall between us. Shall I fay nothing of those who dissemble their treason, who continue at Rome, and mingle in our assemblies f With regard to thtfe, indeed, I am lets intent upon ven

geance, than to reclaim them, if possible, from their errors, and reconcile them to the republic. Nor do I perceive any difficulty in the undertaking, if they will but listen to my advice. For first I will (hew you, citizens, of what different forts of men their forces consist, and then apply to each, as far as I am able, the most powerful remedies of persuasion and eloquence. The first sort consists of those, who having great debts, but still greater possessions, are so passionately fond of the latter, that they cannot bear the thought of infringing them. This, in appearance, is the most honourable class, for they are rich: but their intention and aim is the most infamous of all. Art thou distinguished by the possession of an estate, houses, money, (laves, and all the conveniences and superfluities of life; and dost thou scruple to take from thy possessions, in order to add to thy credit f For what i> it'thou expectest? Is it war? and dolt thou hope thy possessions will remain Up violated, amidst an universal invasion os property? Is it new regulations about debts, thou hast in view? 'Tis an error to expect this from Cataline. New regulations (hall indeed be proffered by my means, but attended with public auctions, which is the only method to preserve those who have estates from ruin. And had they consented to this expedient sooner, nor foolilhly run out their estates in mortgages, they would have b;en at this day both richer men, and better citizens. But I have no great dread of this class of men, as believing they may be easily disengaged from the conspiracy; or, sliould they persist, they seem more likely to have recourse to imprecations than arms.

The next class consists of those, who though oppressed with debt, yet hope for power, and aspire at the chief management of public affairs; imagining they (hall obtain those honours by throwing the state into confusion, which they despair of during its tranquillity. To these I (hall give the same advice as to the rest which is, to quit all hope of succeeding in their attempts. For first, I myself am watchful, active, and attentive to the interest of the republic: then there is on the fide of the honest party, great courage, great unanimity, a vast multitude of citizens, and very numerous forces: in fine, the immortal gods themselves will not fail to interpose in behalf of this unconquered people, this illustrious empire, this fair

T t a city,