3. Pro Planc. 5.) At
the time when Catulus entered upon office, the utmost consternation reigned at Rome. The
Cimbri, who in their great migration westward had been joined by the Teutoni, the Ambrones,
the Tigurini, and MARIUS.] Meanwhile the campaign of his
colleague had been less glorious. Catulus, fearing to weaken his force by attempting to guard
the passes, took up a position on the Adige (Athesis) where it begins to emerge from the rocky
gorges which confine its waters near their source, and having thrown a bridge across the
stream and erected forts on both sides, resolved there to await an attack. The Cimbri, pouring
down from the higher ground along the left bank, attacked the Roman works with such fury, that
the soldiers, dispirited probably by the timid defensive tactics of their general, were seized
with a panic, abandoned their camp, and fled in confusion. Had it not been for the gallantry
of the detachment who defended a redoubt which served as a téte du
pont, the bridge would have at once been won, and the whole Roman army might have been
destroyed. Catulus on this occasion, according to the construction which Plutarch thinks fit
to put upon his conduct, like an able and excellent general, preferred the glory of his
fellow-citizens to his own. For when he found himself unable to prevail upon his men to keep
their ground, choosing that the dishonour should fall upon his own head, he ordered a retreat,
and placing himself in front of the fugitives, fell back behind the Po, thus abandoning the
whole of Transpadane Gaul to the ravages of the enemy. As soon as the news of this disaster,
which happened in the spring of 101, reached Rome, Marius, who had recently returned to the
city, instantly set forth to the assistance of his late colleague. The united armies of the
consul and proconsul crossed the Po, and hastened in search of the Cimbri, whom they found to
the westward of Milan, near Vercelli (Vercellae), searching, it would appear, for the Teutoni,
of whose destruction they had not yet received intelligence. The account of the engagement,
which was fought on the 30th of July, transmitted to us by Plutarch, savours not a little of
the marvellous. The Roman forces amounted to about fifty thousand men, of whom twenty thousand
under Catulus occupied the centre, while the remainder, commanded by Marius, were posted on
the wings. When the battle was joined, a prodigious dust arose which hid the combatants from
each other. Marius missed the enemy, and having passed beyond, wandered about seeking them in
vain, while the chief brunt of the conflict fell upon Catulus, and to him therefore belonged
the honour of the decisive victory which was gained. It must be remarked that this version of
the story is confessedly derived from the commentaries of Sulla, and probably also from the
historical work of Catulus himself, and since both of these authorities were not only inclined
to make the most of their own exploits, but were also stimulated by violent hatred towards
Marius, we cannot receive their testimony with any confidence. It is certain that great
jealousy existed between the two armies; it is certain also that at Rome the whole merit of
having saved his country was given to Marius, and, that the same feeling existed to a certain
degree nearly two centuries afterwards is proved by the well-known line of Juvenal (8.253),
Catulus was one of those who took an active share in the death of Saturninus; he served with distinction in the Social war, and having eagerly espoused the cause of Sulla in the civil strife which followed, his name was included among the list of victims in the great proscription of 87. As escape was impossible, he shut himself up in a newly-plastered chamber, kindled a (charcoal) fire, and was quickly suffocated by the vapours.
Catulus was a highly educated and generally accomplished man, deeply versed in Greek
literature, and especially famed for the extreme grace and purity with which he spoke and
wrote his own language. (Brut. 35.) He was the author of several orations, of an historical work on his own
Consulship and the Cimbric war, composed in the style of Xenophon, and of poems ; but the
whole of these have perished with the exception of a couple of epigrams, not remarkable for
any peculiar ease or felicity of expression, one of which is given by Cicero (de Nat. Deor. 1.28), and the other by A. Gellius (
Two edifices in Rome are spoken of by ancient writers as " Monumenta Catuli"--the temple of
" Fortune hujusce diei," vowed at the battle of Vercelli, and the " Porticus Catuli" on the
Palatine, built with the proceeds of the Cimbric spoils. A portion of the latter edifice was
destroyed by Clodius when he razed the house of Cicero. (The passages of Cicero referring to
Catulus are given in Orelli, Onom. Tull. ii. p. 366, &c.; Plut. Mar. Sull. ; Appian, CAESAR, Nos. 8, 10.]