petere consulatum G. Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem
et familiarem et omnibus necessitudinibus circumventum; cum eo se
consulem[124] initium agendi facturum. Ad hoc maledictis increpat omnes
bonos, suorum unum quemque nominans laudare; admonebat alium egestatis,
alium cupiditatis suae, complures periculi aut ignominiae,[125] multos
victoriae Sullanae, quibus ea praedae fuerat. Postquam omnium animos
alacres videt, cohortatus, ut petitionem suam curae haberent, conventum
dimisit.

[123] _Tabulae novae_ are literally 'new registers of debts;' that is, a
change or reduction of debts, when, for example, the interest
already paid was deducted from the principal, or when the amount of
debts was reduced by one-half, or even by three-fourths. Such
regulations of debts in favour of debtors were often resorted to in
the revolutions of the ancient republics.
[124] 'If he should be consul with him, he would begin to carry the
matter into effect.'
[125] _Ignominia_, 'disgrace' which a person incurs, either because
he has been condemned in a court of law, or with which he has been
branded by the censors.

22. Fuere ea tempestate qui dicerent, Catilinam, oratione habita, quum ad
jusjurandum populares[126] sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis
sanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtulisse; inde quum post
execrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in sollemnibus sacris fieri
consuevit, aperuisse consilium suum, atque eo dictitare[127] fecisse, quo
inter se magis fidi forent, alius alii tanti facinoris conscii. Nonnulli
ficta et haec et multa praeterea existimabant ab iis, qui Ciceronis
invidiam, quae postea orta est, leniri credebant atrocitate sceleris
eorum, qui poenas dederant. Nobis ea res pro magnitudine parum comperta