Late republican society and the Catiline conspiracy

This thesis looks at the social and economic forces at play in the 60s argues the peace of 60s under Pompey's Imperium masked a great deal of underlying social and economic instability, culminating in the Catiline conspiracy, itself indicative of the underlying instability that would lead the renewed violence of the 50s and the final breakdown of the Republican system of government. The thesis also argues that it is unlikely that Crassus or Caesar had any serious involvement in the conspiracy.