“Who is better qualified to be the standard-bearer of the desperate,” the insurgent Catiline asked his massed followers, “than a man who is bold and desperate himself?”
Well, Catiline. You make a good point there.
His army waited out past the walls of Rome, ready to pounce. His supporters waited inside the city, ready to set fires to stuff and purge their enemies.
Ambitious young Gaius Julius Caesar waited to see which way the wind was blowing, looking for an advantage.
One of the only men standing against them was Cato the Younger.
Cato and Cicero
He had his work cut out for him - prevent Catiline's insurrection from succeeding (and keep Rome from falling into another bloody dictatorship). Keep Julius Caesar at bay, and do everything he could to preserve the institutions and traditions of the Roman Republic for as long as he could.
Good luck, Cato.
Sources
Beard, Mary. “SPQR.” Profile Books, 2015.
Britannica.com. “Catiline: Roman Politician.” Retrieved 1/1/2022 from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Catiline-Roman-politician
Duncan, Mike. “The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic.” Public Affairs, 2017.
Goodman, Rob and Soni, Jimmy. “Rome’s Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.” St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
Penn State University. “The Catilinarian Conspiracy.” Retrieved 1/1/2022 from https://sites.psu.edu/conspofcatiline/
Wikipedia, “Cicero.” Retrieved December 2, 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero
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