Capitol, after which Autronius and Catiline were to seize the fasces, and Piso was to be dispatched with an army to occupy the Spains. This extraordinary design is said to have been frustrated solely by the impatience of Catiline, who gave the signal prematurely before the whole of the armed agents had assembled. Encouraged rather than disheartened by a failure which had so nearly proved a triumph, Catiline was soon after left completely unfettered by his acquittal upon trial for extortion, a result secured by the liberal bribes administered to the accuser as well as to the jury. From this time he proceeded more systematically, and enlisted a more numerous body of supporters. In the course of B.C. 64 he had enrolled several Senators in his ranks, among others P. Cornelius Lentulus Sura, who had been Consul in B.C. 71, and C. Cornelius Cethegus, distinguished throughout by his impetuosity and sanguinary violence. He proposed that all debts should be canceled, that the most wealthy citizens should be proscribed, and that all offices of honor and emolument should be divided among his associates. He confidently anticipated that he should be elected Consul for the next year along with C. Antonius, having formed a coalition with him for the purpose of excluding Cicero. The orator, however, was supported, not only by the Equites and Pompey's friends, but even by the Senate, who, though disliking a New Man, were compelled to give him their support in order to exclude Catiline. The consequence was that Cicero and Antonius were returned, the former nearly unanimously, the latter by a small majority over Catiline. As soon as Cicero entered upon his Consulship he renounced his connection with the popular party, and became a stanch supporter of the aristocracy. He successfully opposed an agrarian law proposed by the Tribune Rullus, and defended C. Rabirius, who was now accused by the Tribune Labienus of having been concerned in the death of Saturninus nearly forty years before. Caesar took an active part in both these proceedings. But the attention of Cicero was mainly directed to Catiline's conspiracy. He gained over his colleague Antonius by resigning to him the province of Macedonia. Meantime he became acquainted with every detail of the plot through Fulvia, the mistress of Q. Curius, one of Catiline's intimate associates. Thus informed, Cicero called a meeting of the Senate on the 21st of October, when he openly denounced Catiline, charged him broadly with treason, and asserted that the 28th was the period fixed for the murder of the leading men in the Republic. The Senate thereupon invested the Consuls with dictatorial power. The Comitia for the election of the Consuls was now held. Catiline, again a candidate, was again rejected. Driven to despair by this fresh disappointment, he resolved at once to bring matters to a crisis. On the night of the 6th of November he summoned a meeting of the ringleaders at the house of M.