Catiline, according to Cicero and Sallust, was indeed an extraordinary being, endowed with all the qualities of a great man in such times: he was of unequalled bravery and daring, and of giant strength of body and mind; yet so thoroughly Satanic a creature, that his like is hardly to be found in history, even though his oath, in taking which he drank the blood of a child mixed with wine, and caused his conspirators to do the same, may be but an idle tale. He had been a soldier of Sylla, and had greatly distinguished himself in his days: he therefore found himself in the same condition as the _Terroristes_ and the _Septembriseurs_ were under the consulship, after the eighteenth of Brumaire. After terrible civil wars, there remains for many persons who have allowed themselves the greatest excesses, nothing but to return to bloodshed, even though they have nothing particular to gain by it. It is altogether a doubtful question, and one concerning which I have not been able to form any positive opinion, what Catiline had in view. If we suppose that he had a definite purpose, to attain which his crimes were only as means, his object cannot be made out; but if crime itself was his object, then we may understand his character. We have only to represent to ourselves clearly the utter demoralization of that age: the anarchy of Athens which is so much spoken of, was nothing in comparison to that of Rome; it had settled down into forms of its own, and Athens was but a small state. But in Rome there were some hundreds, or at most some thousands of men, who were the masters of the world: these were divided among themselves, recognising no law, no order, and striving by hook or by crook to get their own ends, whilst the republic was a mere name and no one paid any regard to the existing laws. There were, for instance, heavy penalties denounced against bribery at elections, which moreover had often been re-enacted and increased; and yet every body knew that, except in extraordinary cases, as in that of Cicero, no one could be consul at Rome unless he spent huge sums. The _Romani rustici_ had no weight whatever: besides the men of rank, the rabble alone had still some importance left; and it was employed by the leading citizens to fight their battles against each other. In such times, even a man like Catiline might in the eyes of very ambitious people seem to be a useful tool; and the accusation against Crassus, a man of most middling abilities, that he wanted to use him for his own ends, is to me not at all unlikely, although Catiline, had he been successful, would have certainly trampled him under his feet. If Catiline had any object at all, it was perhaps to become a second Sylla, a perpetual dictator with absolute power; and then he would not have troubled himself for anything more. Two years before Cicero’s consulship, he had already intended to murder those who were consuls at that time, and to make himself master of the republic.