56. Dum ea Romae geruntur, Catilina ex omni copia,[318] quam et ipse adduxerat et Manlius habuerat, duas legiones instituit, cohortes pro numero militum complet,[319] deinde, ut quisque voluntarius aut ex sociis in castra venerat, aequaliter distribuerat, ac brevi spatio legiones numero hominum expleverat, quum initio non amplius duobus milibus[320] habuisset. Sed ex omni copia circiter pars quarta erat militaribus armis instructa; ceteri, ut quemque casus armaverat, sparos aut lanceas,[321] alii praeacutas sudes portabant. Sed postquam Antonius[322] cum exercitu adventabat, Catilina per montes iter facere, modo ad urbem, modo in Galliam versus castra movere, hostibus occasionem pugnandi non dare; sperabat propediem magnas copias sese habiturum, si Romae socii incepta patravissent. Interea servitia repudiabat, cujus[323] initio ad eum magnae copiae concurrebant, opibus conjurationis fretus, simul alienum suis rationibus existimans, videri[324] causam civium cum servis fugitivis communicavisse. [318] A regular military force is more commonly called _copiae_, but the singular, _copia_, also occurs in the sense of 'army,' especially when it consists of an irregular mass of troops. [319] _Cohortes complet_ cannot mean in this passage, 'he makes the cohorts complete,' for such a completeness (consisting of at least 420 men) is incompatible with the addition _pro numero militum_, 'according to the number of his soldiers' in each cohort was not the usual number of a complete cohort. _Complet_ refers to the number of cohorts, ten of which made a legion. Translate therefore, 'he makes the full number of cohorts.' [320] _Duobus milibus_, Sallust might have said _duo milia_, with the ellipsis of _quam_ so customary with _plus_, _amplius_, and _minus_. See Zumpt, S 485. [321] _Sparus_ is said to be a wooden kind of weapon, resembling a shepherd's staff, turned at the top; and _lancea_ a spear with a handle in the middle. Both these weapons were not used by Roman soldiers, for the latter, besides the short and broad _gladius_, used the _pilum_, as long as a man is high, and as thick as a fist, the upper end of which was strongly provided with iron, and sometimes the _hasta_, which was still longer, and had an iron point. [322] _L. Antonius_, the colleague of Cicero in the consulship, B.C. 63. [323] _Servitia, cujus magnae copiae_; a singular construction, which cannot be explained otherwise than by taking _cujus_ as a neuter, 'slaves, _of which_ large numbers flocked to him.' This explanation, however, is supported by the consideration that slaves were regarded as things, and were designated by names of the neuter gender, as _servitia_, _mancipia_. In ordinary language, we should say _cujus generis_, 'of which class of men.' [324] _Videri_ for _se videri_, 'he thought it contrary to his interest to appear to have maintained the cause of citizens with the aid of