in nothing more evident, than that this age gave birth to the most
horrible conspiracy which occurs in the annals of humankind, viz. that of
Catiline. This was not the project of a few desperate and abandoned
individuals, but of a number of men of the most illustrious rank in the
state; and it appears beyond doubt, that Julius Caesar was accessary to
the design, which was no less than to extirpate the Senate, divide
amongst themselves both the public and private treasures, and set Rome on
fire. The causes which prompted to this tremendous project, it is
generally admitted, were luxury, prodigality, irreligion, a total
corruption of manners, and above all, as the immediate cause, the
pressing necessity in which the conspirators were involved by their
extreme dissipation.

The enormous debt in which Caesar himself was early involved,
countenances an opinion that his anxiety to procure the province of Gaul
proceeded chiefly from this cause. But during nine years in which he
held that province, he acquired such riches as must have rendered him,
without competition, the most opulent person in the state. If nothing
more, therefore, than a (58) splendid establishment had been the object
of his pursuit, he had attained to the summit of his wishes. But when we
find him persevering in a plan of aggrandizement beyond this period of
his fortunes, we can ascribe his conduct to no other motive than that of
outrageous ambition. He projected the building of a new Forum at Rome,
for the ground only of which he was to pay 800,000 pounds; he raised
legions in Gaul at his own charges: he promised such entertainments to
the people as had never been known at Rome from the foundation of the
city. All these circumstances evince some latent design of procuring
such a popularity as might give him an uncontrolled influence in the
management of public affairs. Pompey, we are told, was wont to say, that
Caesar not being able, with all his riches, to fulfil the promises which