Many of the senators urged that the four guilty men should be put to death, but Julius Cæsar was more merciful.
‘Their crimes,’ he said, ‘deserve the severest punishment, but when the excitement is over, severity beyond the laws will be remembered, the crimes forgotten.’
He then proposed that the four men should be imprisoned for life, and that their property should be confiscated.
Cæsar’s words almost won the day. But Cato, the great-grandson of the Censor, spoke violently against mercy being shown to the conspirators.
Cato was one of the sternest of the Optimates, and his influence was great enough to sway the Senate. It now voted by a majority for the death of the prisoners, and the Consul at once ordered the four men to be strangled.
As Cicero left the Senate-house and hastened through the crowd in the Forum, he said to the people: ‘They are dead.’ The citizens seemed satisfied that their city would now be safe, while Cato and Catulus commended Cicero as the ‘Father of his country.’
Early in 62 B.C. Catiline tried to march into Gaul with the troops that had remained faithful to him. But the Roman army was watching for him. He was forced to fight, and nearly all his men were slain.
CHAPTER CV
JULIUS CÆSAR IS CAPTURED BY PIRATES
Julius Cæsar was born in 100 or 101 B.C., and belonged to one of the most illustrious patrician families of Rome.