Meanwhile the conspirators left behind in Rome had been busy.  One of the tribes of Gaul had sent deputies to the Capitol to obtain redress for injuries of which they complained.  The men had effected little or nothing.  The Senate neglected them.  The help of officials could only be purchased by heavy bribes.  They were now heavily in debt both on their own account and on account of their state, and Lentulus conceived the idea of taking advantage of their needs.  One of his freedmen, who had been a trader in Gaul, could speak the language, and knew several of the deputies, opened negotiations with them by his patron’s desire.  They told him the tale of their wrongs.  They could see, they said, no way out of their difficulties.  “Behave like men,” he answered, “and I will show you a way.”  He then revealed to them the existence of the conspiracy, explained its objects, and enlarged upon the hopes of success.  While he and his friends were busy at Rome, they were to return to Gaul and rouse their fellow-tribesmen to revolt.  There was something tempting in the offer, and the deputies doubted long whether they should not accept it.  In the end prudence prevailed.  To join the conspiracy and to rebel would be to run a terrible risk for very doubtful advantages.  On the other hand they might make sure of a speedy reward by telling all they knew to the authorities.  This was the course on which they resolved, and they went without loss of time to a Roman noble who was the hereditary “patron” of their tribe.  The patron in his turn communicated the intelligence to Cicero.  Cicero’s instructions were that the deputies should pretend to agree to the proposals which had been made to them, and should ask for a written agreement which they might show to their countrymen at home.  An agreement was drawn up, signed by Lentulus and two of his fellow-conspirators, and handed over to the Gauls, who now made preparations to return to their country.  Cicero himself tells us in the speech which he delivered next day in the Forum the story of what followed.

“I summoned to my presence two of the praetors on whose courage I knew I could rely, put the whole matter before them, and unfolded my own plans.  As it grew dusk they made their way unobserved to the Mulvian Bridge, and posted themselves with their attendants (they had some trusty followers of their own, and I had sent a number of picked swordsmen from my own body-guard), in two divisions in houses on either side of the bridge.  About two o’clock in the morning the Gauls and their train, which was very numerous, began to cross the bridge.  Our men charged them; swords were drawn on both sides; but before any blood was shed the praetors appeared on the scene, and all was quiet.  The Gauls handed over to them the letters which they had upon them with their seals unbroken.  These and the deputies themselves were brought to my house.  The day was now beginning to dawn.  Immediately I sent for the four men whom