Editing Catiline (section)

=== Consular elections ===
[[File:Cato and Catilina propaganda cups.jpg|thumb|right|Bowls containing food distributed in electoral canvasses. The bowl to the right was commissioned by [[Lucius Cassius Longinus (praetor 66 BC)|Lucius Cassius Longinus]] and distributed, filled with food, in support of Catiline's consular candidacy in 63&nbsp;BC. The bowl on the left was distributed by [[Cato the Younger|Marcus Porcius Cato]] in a coeval campaign for the plebeian tribunate. Giving food to voters was common as a means to build up goodwill.{{sfn|Berry|2020|pp=21–25}}]]

The events of the year 63&nbsp;BC were not amenable for civil harmony, no matter how much [[Cicero]] as consul had been preaching it to the people. Early in the year, a proposal came before the plebs to redistribute lands; it was a proposal that would have alleviated great hardship in a time of economic hardship.{{sfnm|Gruen|1995|1p=426|Beard|2015|2pp=45–47}} Cicero spoke out against it, warning of tyrannical land commissioners and painting the project as selling out the people to the beneficiaries of the Sullan proscriptions.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=351}} The failure of the land proposal contributed to the conspiracy's support among the people in the coming months.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=425}}

A trial that year for one [[Gaius Rabirius (senator)|Gaius Rabirius]] for the murder of [[Lucius Appuleius Saturninus]] in 100&nbsp;BC, almost forty years earlier, was possibly a signal from Caesar to the senate against use of the ''[[senatus consultum ultimum]]'' (a declaration of emergency which gave the consuls political cover to break laws in suppressing civil unrest).{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=352}} Rabirius was convicted by Caesar ("not an impartial judge") by means of an archaic procedure before appealing and then being acquitted by a similarly archaic loophole.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=352}} A later proposal to overturn Sulla's civil disabilities for the sons of the victims of the proscriptions also was defeated with Cicero's help; Cicero argued that repeal would cause political upheaval. This failure "drove some of the men concerned into supporting Catiline" in his conspiracy.{{sfn|Wiseman|1992|p=353}}

That summer, Catiline stood again for the consulship for 62&nbsp;BC; his candidacy was accepted by Cicero. Against him were three other major candidates: [[Decimus Junius Silanus (consul)|Decimus Junius Silanus]], [[Lucius Licinius Murena (consul 62 BC)|Lucius Licinius Murena]], and [[Servius Sulpicius Rufus]]. Cicero supported Sulpicius' bid as a friend and fellow lawyer, which directly harmed Catiline's chances, since both men were patricians and therefore were legally barred from both holding the consulship.{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=21}} Bribery was again rampant, after the senate moved again to pass legislation to stamp it out, Cicero and Antonius as consuls were successful in moving the ''lex Tullia'' increasing penalties and enumerating forbidden electoral practices.{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=25}} 

Just before the elections, Cicero alleges Catiline engaged in demagoguery and attempted to build up his [[bona fides]] with the poor and dispossessed men of Rome and Italy, including himself among their number,{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=26}} advocating the wholesale abolition of all existing debts ({{lang|la|tabulae novae}}).{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=29}}

At the electoral ''[[Citizens' assemblies of the Roman Republic |comitia]]'', Cicero presided, surrounded by a bodyguard and wearing an ostentatious [[cuirass]], to signal his belief that Catiline posed a threat to his person and public safety.{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=31}} Sallust reports that Catiline promised his supporters that he would kill the rich, but this supposed promise is likely ahistorical.{{sfn|Berry|2020|p=30}} No contemporary source indicates that Catiline supported land reform.{{sfn|Gruen|1995|p=429 n. 110}} The ''comitia'' returned as consuls-designate Decimus Junius Silanus and Lucius Licinius Murena.{{sfn|Broughton|1952|p=172}} After his second defeat, Catiline seems to have run out of money and must have been abandoned by his former supporters such as Crassus and Caesar.{{sfn|Berry|2020|pp=26, 30}}