trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the
enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the
action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with
a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge.[301] They threw
aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans,
calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest
combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides
contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was
exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such
as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to
every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and
performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful
general.

When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking
him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the
centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and
offering but partial resistance,[302] he made great slaughter, and
ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the
Faesulan, sword in hand, were among the first[303] that fell; and
Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few
supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the
thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last.

LXI. When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and
what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline;
for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath,
covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A
few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen
somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself