Nothing I've read from or of him has suggested that he ever felt other than that his action in the Catiline affair was the crowning moment of his public life. P

Nothing I've read from or of him has suggested that he ever felt other than that his action in the Catiline affair was the crowning moment of his public life. Perhaps he'd have changed his mind had he lived longer, but who can know? I struggle with the same question you raised in your other comment, and find it often difficult to credit ideals which even their own strongest proponents prove unable to uphold when it seems to matter most.