This illustration, made by Étienne Fessard (1714–1777) after the work of Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (1715–1790), re-creates the Roman statesman Cicero’s prosecution of Lucius Sergius Catilina, who led a militant conspiracy against the Roman Republic. Lucius Sergius Catilina, usually shortened to Catiline, was a former governor who competed and lost against Cicero in the consular election of 64 BCE. Catiline ran for consul again the next year (while Cicero was serving his term in office), but the former governor lost his election for a second time. Instead of running again and seeing if the third time would be the charm, Catiline decided to abandon the usual political process and plotted to seize power through the use of assassination and armed rebellion. Fortunately, Consul Cicero and the Roman government discovered the conspiracy around October of 63 BCE, and by November, indictments were issued against conspirators as the military was dispatched against Catiline’s rebel army (which had been secretly gathered by Catiline’s ally, the tribune Manlius). Come December, several conspirators had been arrested in Rome and five were controversially executed without an adequate trial—a detail that hounded Cicero’s reputation and legacy.
As the year was coming to a close, it was about time for Cicero to relinquish his position as a consul of the Roman Republic. Cicero, who lived for speeches, wanted to formally address the Roman masses regarding his efforts to overcome Catiline’s conspiracy. Yet, to the statesman’s frustration, this wish for a formal speech was blocked by the tribunes, Bestia and Nepos. In response, Cicero found a loophole by splicing portions of his intended speech into a customary assembly oath he was required to give at the end of his term. In his work, The Republic, Cicero recalled, “As I was retiring from the consulship, I swore in a public assembly that the state had been saved by my actions” (Cicero, The Republic, chapter 8). It is curious to note, however, that Catiline and his forces in the field had not yet been defeated at that time—Catiline’s rebels were not militarily destroyed until 62 BCE. Furthermore, Rome was given only the briefest of reprieves from political chaos, as Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great subsequently put the Roman government in a stranglehold with the First Triumvirate of 60 BCE, which eventually led to civil war and the age of the emperors.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- The Republic and the Laws, by Cicero and translated by Niall Rudd. Oxford University Press: 1998.
- Catiline’s Conspiracy, The Jugurthine War, Histories, by Sallust and translated by William W. Batstone. Oxford University Press: 2010.
- The Civil Wars, by Appian and translated by John Carter. Penguin Books: 1996.
- https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/188548
