event
the Catilinarian conspiracy (63 BC)
the conspiracy
also: coniuratio, the conspiracy
The plot of L. Sergius Catilina against the consular government in 63 BC, exposed and crushed during Cicero's consulship. In Fam 5.6 Cicero calls himself "the avenger of conspiracy" (vindex coniurationis).
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 5.6 §2 the avenger of conspiracy
Cicero as vindex coniurationis, the man who crushed Catiline's plot during his consulship of 63 BC. He jokes that creditors who hate him for it will not lend, while others assume the savior of the moneylenders cannot be short of cash.
- For Lucius Flaccus §95 Funeral rites have been performed for Catiline
Cicero frames the trial as an attack on the suppressors of the Catilinarian conspiracy: C. Antonius already condemned, now Flaccus prosecuted, in revenge for the execution of Lentulus and Cethegus.
- For Publius Sulla §11 Two conspiracies
Cicero distinguishes the so-called "first conspiracy" of 66/65 BC (a murky alleged plot in the consulship of Lepidus and Volcatius) from the full Catilinarian conspiracy of 63. Sulla was charged with being party to both.
- For Publius Sulla §33 five men seized and confessed
The five ringleaders arrested at Rome in December 63 (Lentulus, Cethegus, and three others) and executed without trial after the senate's debate. Cicero made this summary execution of citizens the centrepiece of his consular self-defence.