Yet, in the end, the Principate has to be accepted, for the Principate, while abolishing political freedom, averts civil war and preserves the non political classes. […] Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, were not strong political men. […] The nature of the political crisis is less obscure. […] The political dynast Crassus used Catilina as his agent. […] Whence came his adherents and his political funds?