HI202 Roman History, October 29, 2004

The Catilinarian Conspiracy: A Case Study in Law and Morality

Class schema:

• 70-63 BCE: Crassus and Pompey’s legislation; the war against Mithridates; prelude to civil war (5 mins.)
• Preparation for debate #1 (10 mins.)
• Debate #1 (20 mins.)
• Debate #2 (20 mins.)

Debate #1:

Six factiones:

• Catilinarians: defend the decision to stage a revolt
• Ciceronians: defend Rome against her enemies
• The populus: defend the decision to support Catiline
• The optimates: defend the decision to support Cicero
• The Gauls: defend the decision first to support Catiline, and then Rome
• Iudices (sg. iudex, “judge”): interrogate the factiones

The question: from the perspective of your factio, what is the best course for Rome’s future? Iudices to decide.

Debate #2:

Two teams:

• The class
• Judges

The question: were Cicero’s actions appropriate?