Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various
places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[146] He
himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at
Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning
the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly
armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted
them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active
and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by
sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his
numerous projects succeeded,[147] he again, with the aid of Marcus
Porcius Laeca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of
night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them
that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had
prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other
eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he
himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut
off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures.

XXVIII. While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius
Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius
Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an
armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay,[148] to
the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him,
and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own
residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that
threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of
Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in
consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had
undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed.