Conspiracy of Catiline (27)

He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Fæsulæ, and the adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Camerinum,[*] into the Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[*] He himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning the city; he

occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his numerous projects succeeded,[*] he again, with the aid of Marcus Porcius Læca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures.