Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – 62 BC ) , known in English as Catiline , was a Roman Senator of the 1st century BC who is best known for the Catilinarian conspiracy , a supposed attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic , and in particular the power of the aristocratic Senate . Life . Family background . Catiline was born in 108 BC to one of the oldest patrician families in Rome , gens Sergia . Although his family was of consular heritage , they were then declining in both social and financial fortunes . Virgil later gave the family an ancestor , Sergestus , who had come with Aeneas to Italy , presumably because they were notably ancient ; but they had not been prominent for centuries . The last Sergius to be consul had been Gnaeus Sergius Fidenas Coxo in 380 BC . Later , these factors would dramatically shape Catiline ' s ambitions and goals as he would desire above all else to restore the political heritage of his family along with its financial power . Life Before The Conspiracy . An able commander , Catiline had a distinguished military career . He served in the Social War with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Cicero , under Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo in 89 BC . During Gaius Marius , Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo ' s regime , Catiline played no major role , but he remained politically secure . He later supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the civil war of 84 BC – 81 BC . It was during Sulla ' s proscriptions that he allegedly tortured , maimed and then killed and beheaded his brother - in - law , Marcus Marius Gratidianus , at the tomb of Catulus ; he then carried the head through the streets of Rome and deposited it at Sulla ' s feet at the Temple of Apollo . He is also accused of murdering his first wife and son so that he could marry the wealthy and beautiful Aurelia Orestilla , daughter of the Consul of 71 BC , Gnaeus Aufidius Orestes . In the early 70s BC he served abroad , possibly with Publius Servilius Vatia in Cilicia . In 73 BC , he was brought to trial for adultery with the Vestal Virgin , Fabia , who was a half - sister of Cicero ' s wife , Terentia , but Quintus Lutatius Catulus , the principal leader of the Optimates , testified in his favor , and eventually Catiline was acquitted . He was praetor in 68 BC , and for the following two years was the propraetorian governor for Africa . Upon his return home in 66 BC , he presented himself as a candidate for the consular elections , but a delegation from Africa appealing to the Senate , indicting him for abuses , prevented this as the incumbent consul , Lucius Volcatius Tullus , disallowed the candidacy . He was finally brought to trial in 65 BC , where he received the support of many distinguished men , including many consulars . Even one of the consuls for 65 BC , Lucius Manlius Torquatus , demonstrated his support for Catiline . Cicero also contemplated defending Catiline in court . Eventually , Catiline was acquitted . The author of Commentariolum Petitionis , possibly Cicero ' s brother , Quintus Cicero , suggests that Catiline was only acquitted by the fact that : " he left the court as poor as some of his judges had been before the trial , " implying that he bribed his judges . Intervening years . During 64 BC , Catiline was officially accepted as a candidate in the consular election for 63 BC . He ran alongside Gaius Antonius Hybrida , who some suspect may have been a fellow conspirator . Nevertheless , Catiline was defeated by Cicero and Antonius Hybrida in the consular election , largely because the Roman aristocracy feared Catiline and his economic plan . The Optimates were particularly repulsed because he promoted the plight of the urban plebs along with his economic policy of " tabulae novae " , the universal cancellation of debts . He was brought to trial later that same year , but this time it was for his role in the Sullan proscription s . At the insistence of Cato the Younger , then quaestor , all men who had profited during the proscriptions were brought to trial . For his involvement , Catiline was accused of killing his former brother - in - law Marcus Marius Gratidianus , carrying this man ’ s severed head through the streets of Rome and then having Sulla add him to the proscription to make it legal . Other allegations claimed that he murdered several other notable men . Despite this , Catiline was acquitted again , though some surmise that it was through the influence of Caesar , who presided over the court . Catiline chose to stand for the consulship again in the following year . However , by the time of the consular election for 62 BC , Catiline had lost much of the political support he had enjoyed during the previous year ' s election . He was defeated by two other candidates , Decimus Junius Silanus and Lucius Licinius Murena , ultimately crushing his political ambitions . The only remaining chance of attaining the consulship would be through an illegitimate means , conspiracy or revolution . Second Catilinarian Conspiracy . The Second Catilinarian Conspiracy was a plot , devised by Catiline with the help of a group of aristocrats and disaffected veterans , to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63 BC . Cicero exposed the plot , which forced Catiline to flee from Rome . Death . The failure of the conspiracy in Rome was a massive blow to Catiline . Upon hearing of the death of Lentulus and the others , many men deserted his army , reducing the size from about 10 , 000 to a mere 3 , 000 . He and his ill - equipped army began to march towards Gaul and then back towards Rome several times in vain attempts to avoid a battle . However , Catiline was forced to fight when Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer blocked him from the north with three legions . So , he chose to engage Antonius Hybrida ’ s army near Pistoria , hoping that he could defeat Antonius in the ensuing battle and dishearten the other Republican armies . Catiline also hoped that he might have an easier battle against Antonius who , he assumed , would fight less determinedly , as he had once been allied with Catiline . In fact , Catiline may have still believed that Antonius Hybrida was conspiring with him — which may have been true , as Antonius Hybrida claimed to be ill on the day of the battle . Catiline and all his troops fought bravely , with Catiline himself fighting on the front lines . In fact , once Catiline saw that there was no hope of victory , he threw himself into the thick of the fray . When the corpses were counted , all Catiline ’ s soldiers were found with frontal wounds , and his corpse was found far in front of his own lines . In " Catiline ' s War " , the first - century Roman historian Sallust gives the following account : Legacy . After Catiline ’ s death , many of the poor still regarded him with respect and did not view him as the traitor and villain that Cicero claimed he was . However , the aristocratic element of Rome certainly viewed him in a much darker light . Sallust wrote an account of the conspiracy that epitomized Catiline as representative of all of the evils festering in the declining Roman republic . In his account , Sallust attributes countless crimes and atrocities to Catiline , but even he refuses to heap some of the most outrageous claims on him , particularly a ritual that involved the drinking of blood of a sacrificed child . Later historians such as Florus and Dio Cassius , far removed from the original events , recorded the claims of Sallust and the aforementioned rumors as facts . Up until the modern era Catiline was equated , as Sallust described , to everything depraved and contrary to both the laws of the gods and men . Nevertheless , many Romans still viewed his character with a degree of respect . Well after Catiline ' s death and the end of the threat of the conspiracy , even Cicero reluctantly admitted that Catiline was an enigmatic man who possessed both the greatest of virtues and the most terrible of vices . He had many things about him which served to allure men to the gratification of their passions ; he had also many things which acted as incentives to industry and toil . The vices of lust raged in him ; but at the same time he was conspicuous for great energy and military skill . Nor do I believe that there ever existed so strange a prodigy upon the earth , made up in such a manner of the most various , and different and inconsistent studies and desires . From Cicero ' s " Pro Caelio " ( V ) Catiline spoke with an eloquence that demanded loyalty from his followers and strengthened the resolve of his friends . Without doubt Catiline possessed a degree of courage that few have , and he died a particularly honorable death in Roman society . Unlike most Roman generals of the late republic , Catiline offered himself to his followers both as a general and as soldier on the front lines . While history has viewed Catiline through the lenses of his enemies , some modern historians have reassessed Catiline , such as Michael Parenti , in " The Assassination of Julius Caesar " . To some extent Catiline ’ s name has been freed from many of its previous associations , and even to some the name of Catiline has undergone a transformation from a traitor and villain to a heroic agrarian reformer . Thus , some view Catiline as a reformer such as the Gracchi who met similar resistance from the government . However , many place him somewhere in between , a man who used the plight of the poor to suit his personal interests and a politician of the time no more corrupt than any other . Interestingly in parts of Italy up until the Middle Ages the legend of ' Catellina ' continued to exist and was favourable to him . Still other scholarly texts , such as H E Gould and J L Whietely ' s Macmillan edition of Cicero ' s " In Catilinam " , dismiss Catiline as a slightly deranged revolutionary , concerned more with the cancellation of his own debts , accrued in running for so many consulships , and in achieving the status he believed his by birthright due to his family name .