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a silver eagle used by Marius in the war against the Cimbri (see
Cat
. 1.24, 2.13; Sal.
Cat
. 59.3) would suggest that he appealed more to the third group, dispossessed Marians, than to the second: Cicero would then have exaggerated, in order to increase Catiline’s unpopularity, the extent to which he relied on Sullan veterans (a group with whom few probably had much sympathy). But on the other hand, Catiline’s ally Manlius was a Sullan veteran; so there must havebeen at least an element of the second group among his following. (See further W. V. Harris,
Rome in Etruria and Umbria
(Oxford, 1971), 289–94.)
    The difficulties faced by these groups were considerable. Italian agriculture was still suffering as a result of Sulla’s civil war, confiscations, and settlements (82–81), and as a result of Spartacus’ revolt (73–71). Up and down Italy, the men who had had their land taken away by Sulla and the men to whom he had given it lived in close proximity: there must have been a great deal of localized violence and unrest. Moreover, during the previous decade the Third Mithridatic War (73–63) and the pirates (to 67) had prevented Roman financiers lending money abroad, and they had instead lent it in Italy. But with Pompey’s defeat of Mithridates in 63 and his settlement of the eastern provinces, there was a rush to lend money overseas. (The situation became so serious that the senate this year banned the export of gold and silver from Rome; Cicero took steps to enforce the ban.) At home, creditors immediately called in their loans. This spelled ruin for the urban plebs and for heavily indebted members of the upper class alike. To many, their only hope appeared to be a one-off cancellation of debts (
novae tabulae
): at the end of his life, in 44, Cicero was to remark that pressure for this had never been greater than in his consulship (
Off
. 2.84). For the upper class, unprecedented political and social competition caused by Sulla’s rigid ‘sequence of offices’ (
cursus honorum
), with its ever decreasing number of positions available at each stage in a senator’s career, had led to an explosion of bribery and indebtedness. Aediles, for instance, were required to put on games at their own expense: the games would need to be more spendid than the previous ones if the magistrate were to rise higher, but even so he would have no guarantee that he would ever gain the provincial governorship which would allow him to recoup his outlay. After Caesar gave his aedilician games in 65 he was allegedly in debt for 25 million sesterces; the sum was not paid off until he had conquered Gaul. (See further Z. Yavetz,
Historia
, 12 (1963), 485–99; and on debt in this period, M. W. Frederiksen,
JRS
56 (1966), 128–41.)
    Prior to his last attempt at the consulship, Catiline appears to have shown no interest in addressing Rome’s social problems; but the plight of so many of his contemporaries now presented him with an opportunity. During his campaign he was escorted by a large group of supporters from Arretium and Faesulae in northern Etruria, one of the areas that had suffered most from Sulla’s confiscations and settlements. This group, led by Gaius Manlius, a former Sullan centurion, consisted mainly of discontented Sullan colonists, but also included a number of the dispossessed. (That is what Cicero says at
Mur
. 49; but it is possible, as we have seen, that the Sullan colonists were in fact in the minority. Manlius’ presence in Rome is attested by Plutarch (
Cic
. 14.2).) To these men andhis other supporters, Catiline offered the policy they longed for—cancellation of debts. It was precisely the policy to win him the support of the desperate from all ranks of society—and one that no respectable politician was prepared to offer.
    Once the content of Catiline’s election address at his house had been reported to Cicero, Cicero persuaded the senate to postpone the elections in order that they could discuss the