Conspiracy of Catiline (59)

When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the lest of his force, in close order, in the rear.[*] From among these he removed all the ablest centurions,[*] the veterans,[*] and the stoutest of the

common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost ranks.[*] He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, and a certain officer of Fæsulæ[*] on the left; while he himself, with his freedmen[*] and the colonists,[*] took his station by the eagle,[*] which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the Cimbrian war.

On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame,[*] was unable to be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection,[*] in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, and their homes.[*] Being a military man, and having served with great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, præfect, lieutenant, or prætor, he knew most of the soldiers and their

honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused the spirits of the men.