A Most Excellent Design, Too Violently Pursued: The Catiline Conspiracy, Part I

Disclaimer: Originally written as a submission to the 2026 ACX book review contest. I decided to post it on my personal Substack, but it was too long for one post, so I split it up and edited it a bit. The translations of Bellum Catilinae are mine, and I am an amateur Latinist at best. There may be some errors.Cicero denounces Catiline in the Senate, Cesare MaccariWhy Do Roman Historians Make Their Villains So Persuasive?Imagine you’re watching Mulan, the Disney movie. The movie proceeds as usual: a Hun invasion, some musical numbers, the devastation of the Chinese peasantry, et cetera. Then comes the first meeting between Mulan and Shanyu on the snowy slopes of Tung Shao Pass. Imagine, however, that instead of growling and playing up the barbarian angle, Shanyu gives a speech to Mulan. A long one, like five solid minutes.He was provoked, he says. The Chinese built their wall straight through his people’s ancestral pastureland. The Chinese army fortified the good grass and drove his…