The Catilinarian conspiracy was a plot by the patrician senator Lucius Sergius Catilina (English: Catiline) to overthrow the Roman republic. He started this plot in 63 BC after being repulsed at elections for consul for the third time; after failing to be elected to the consulships of 65, 63, and 62 BC.[6] The conspirators included various disaffected groups. The aristocrats who joined were largely men who were similarly unsuccessful in elections for high office or were otherwise bankrupt.[7] They were joined by many disaffected Italian farmers – concentrated in Etruria – in two broad groups: farmers dispossessed by Sulla's proscriptions and colonisation programmes as well as Sulla's veterans who had fallen on debt after poor harvests.[8]
The first indications of a plot in 63 BC were in autumn, handed over by Marcus Licinius Crassus on 18 or 19 October.[9] Crassus' letters were corroborated by reports of armed men gathering in support of the conspiracy.[10][11] In response, the senate passed a decree declaring a tumultus (a state of emergency) and, after receipt of the reports of armed men gathering in Etruria, carried the senatus consultum ultimum instructing the consuls to do whatever it took to respond to the crisis.[12] By 27 October, the senate had received reports that Gaius Manlius, a former centurion and leader of an army there, had taken up arms near Faesulae.[13]
Catiline remained in the city. While named in the anonymous letters sent to Crassus, this was insufficient evidence for incrimination.[14] But after messages from Etruria connected him directly to the uprising, he was indicted under the lex Plautia de vi (public violence) in early November.[15] The conspirators met, probably on 6 November, and found two volunteers to make an attempt on Cicero's life. After the attempts on Cicero's life failed on 7 November 63 BC, he assembled the senate and delivered the First Catilinarian, revealing Catiline's involvement in the plot; Catiline promptly left the city and joined Manlius' men in Etruria shortly thereafter.[16]
At this time, Cicero then discovered a plot led by one of the sitting praetors, to bring in the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe, to support the Catilinarians. Using the Allobroges' envoys as double agents, Cicero used them to identify conspirators in the city.[17] After intercepting incriminating letters between the conspirators and the Allobroges, five conspirators were arrested on 2 or 3 December. With the Gallic envoys divulging all they knew and confessions from the five men, there was no doubt of their guilt.[18] After an attempt to rescue the five men from house arrest, the senate debated their fate on 5 December.[19] After a prolonged debate, the Senate, after momentarily being convinced to sentence the men to life imprisonment without trial by Julius Caesar, advised Cicero to have the urban conspirators summarily executed.[20] After the execution of the urban conspirators, most of Catiline's forces melted away; Catiline was eventually defeated and killed in early January 62 BC at the Battle of Pistoria.[21][22]
At the close of the consular year, Cicero's valedictory speech was vetoed by two tribunes of the plebs.[23] One of the tribunes, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, also sought to bring Cicero up on charges for executing citizens without trial.[24] Although popular among large portions of the people for having taken decisive action to avoid civil war and suppress the coup attempt, Cicero's legal position came under attack in the coming years. In response, Cicero attempted to shore up his reputation and justify his actions by publishing his consular speeches: the Catilinarian orations were published after some editing in 60 BC as part of this effort.[1]
