the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as
well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him."
_Bernouf_. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to
Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero,
says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the
senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to
listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of
Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration
against Catiline, says that Catiline _could not endure his voice_,
but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," _obeyed
and submitted in silence_. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, "That
most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the
senate, was dumb."

[164] XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.--_Cum mandatis
hujuscemodi_. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an
epistle, but a verbal message.

[165] XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law--_Lege uti_. The law
here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to
the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in
prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his
person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the
occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one
of the strongest bonds of credit.

[166] The praetor--The _praetor urbanus_, or city praetor, who
decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors.

[167] Relieved their distress by decrees--_Decretis suis inopiae