consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten
in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city.

At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an
extremely deplorable condition;[187] for though every nation, from the
rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and
though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest
blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her
citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge
themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two
decrees of the senate,[188] not one individual, out of so vast a
number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the
conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline.
So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded
the minds of most of the citizens.

XXXVII. Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were
actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common
people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline.
This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character;
for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class,
and endeavor to exalt the factious;[189] they dislike the established
condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented
with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they
can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety,
since poverty does not easily suffer loss.[190]

As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected[191] from
various causes. In the first place,[192] such as every where took the
lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their