La gens Sergia e gli antenati di Catilina

All the Sergii of the early Republic are presented by our sources in an unfavourable light: the first of them was a member of the infamous second college of Decemvirs; the following often quarrelled with their colleagues and were defeated in battle; when they were victorious, the Roman people paradoxically mourned for the fallen instead of cheering the victor; the only remarkable woman was protagonist of a conspiracy, aiming to poison the primores civitatis. On the other hand, the great-grandfather of Catiline, a hero of the Second Punic War, is barely mentioned by Livy. Even the mythical founder of the gens Sergia, as depicted by Vergil, seems to remind of Catiline’s bad temper. The events of 63 BC must have contributed to fixing the unfavourable picture of this gens, which was bound to ill-fated events of early Roman history.