Lustrum

told you there'd be trouble. Nepos says that if the rebels in Etruria are as serious as we make out, Pompey himself should be brought home to deal with them.'
    'But we haven't the time to wait for Pompey and his army to travel a thousand miles back to Rome. We'll all be slaughtered in our beds long before he gets here.'
    'So
you
say, but Catilina swears he means no threat to the state, and insists those letters have nothing to do with him.'
    'You've spoken to him?'
    'He came to see me just after you left the senate. To prove his peaceful intentions he's offered to surrender himself into my personal custody for as long as I wish.'
    'Ha! What a rogue! You sent him away with a flea in his ear, I trust?'
    'No, I've brought him here to see you.'
    '
Here
? He's in my
house
?'
    'No, he's waiting in the street. I think you should talk to him. He's alone and unarmed – I'll vouch for him.'
    'Even if he is, what possible good can come of talking to him?'
    'He's a Sergius, Consul,' said Celer icily, 'descended from the Trojans. He deserves some respect for his blood, if nothing else.'
    Cicero glanced at the Sextus brothers. Titus shrugged. 'If he's on his own, Consul, we can handle him.'
    'Fetch him in then, Celer,' said Cicero, 'and I'll hear what he has to say. But I promise you, we're wasting our time.'
    I was horrified that Cicero would take such a risk, and while Celer went off to get Catilina, I actually dared to remonstrate with him. But he cut me off. 'It will show good faith on mypart if I can announce in the senate that at least I was willing to receive the villain. Who knows, anyway? Perhaps he's come to apologise.'
    He forced a smile, but I could tell that this unexpected development had strained his nerves. As for me, I felt like one of the condemned men in the Games, when the tiger is let into the arena, for that was how Catilina came prowling into that room – wild and wary, full of barely suppressed fury: I half expected him to spring at Cicero's throat. The Sextus brothers stepped in close behind him as he came to a halt a couple of paces in front of Cicero. He raised his hand in mock salute. 'Consul.'
    'Say your piece, Senator, and then get out.'
    'I hear you've been spreading lies about me again.'
    'You see?' said Cicero, turning to Celer. 'What did I tell you? This is pointless.'
    'Just hear him out,' said Celer.
    'Lies,' repeated Catilina. 'I don't know a damned thing about these letters people are saying I sent last night. I'd have to be a rare fool to dispatch such messages all across the city.'
    'I'm willing to believe that you personally didn't send them,' replied Cicero, 'but there are plenty of men around you stupid enough to do such a thing.'
    'Balls! They're blatant forgeries. D'you know what I think? I think you wrote them yourself.'
    'You'd do better to direct your suspicions towards Crassus – he's the one who's used them as an excuse to turn his back on you.'
    'Old Baldhead is playing his own game, the same as he always does.'
    'And the rebels in Etruria? Are they nothing to do with you either?'
    'They're poor and starving wretches, driven to desperate lengths by the moneylenders – they have my sympathy, but I'm not their leader. I'll make the same offer to you I've made to Celer. I'll surrender myself into your custody and live in this house where you and your guards can keep an eye on me, and then you can see how innocent I am.'
    'That is not an offer but a joke! If I don't feel safe living in the same city as you, I'll hardly feel safe under the same roof.'
    'So there's nothing I can do that will satisfy you?'
    'Yes. Remove yourself from Rome and Italy entirely. Go into exile. Never return.'
    Catilina's eyes glittered and his large hands contracted into fists. 'My first ancestor was Sergestus, companion of Aeneas, the founder of our city – and
you
dare to tell
me
to leave?'
    'Oh, spare us the family folklore! Mine at least is a serious offer. If you go into exile, I'll see to it that no harm befalls your wife and children. Your sons won't suffer the shame of having a father who is condemned – because you will be condemned, Catilina, be in no doubt about that. You'll also escape your creditors, which I'd have thought was another consideration.'
    'And what about my friends? How long will they be subjected to your dictatorship?'
    'My dictatorship, as you call it, is only in force to protect us all against
you
. Once you're gone it won't be needed, and I for one would be pleased to start