Nota bene :  Ut videas explanationem orthographiæ hujus paginæ (ex. gr., « quum » = conjunctio, sed « cum » = præpositio), vide http://brennus.bluedomino.com/latinweb/Main/Main.htm

DE CATILINA


Marcus Tullius CICERO

ORATIONES  IN  LUCIUM  CATILINAM

  1 PRIMA
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  2 SECUNDA
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  3 TERTIA
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  4 QUARTA
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Gaius  SALLUSTIUS  Crispus

BELLUM  CATILINÆ

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Chronology of Catiline’s Conspiracy


Nota bene :
« 
quum » = conjunctio
« cum » = præpositio

ORATIO  IN  LUCIUM  CATILINAM  PRIMA
IN SENATU HABITA  (63 B.C., November 7)

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[1]I.  Quo usque tandem abutēre, Catilina, patientia nostra ?  Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet ?  Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia ?  Nihilne te nocturnum præsidium Palatii, nihil urbis vigiliæ, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi Senatus locus, nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt ?1  Patere tua consilia non sentis, constrictam jam horum omnium scientia teneri conjurationem tuam non vides ?  Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris,2 ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris ? Just how long, Catiline, are you going to abuse our patience?  How long is that madness of your going to mock us?  To what end will your unbridled audacity toss itself about?  Does the garrison of the Palatine mean nothing to you, the wakefulness of the city nothing, the fear of the people nothing, the meeting of all good men nothing, convening the Senate in this most fortified place nothing, the faces and expressions of these men nothing?  Do you not sense your plans laid bare?  Do you not see that your conspiracy is held in restraint by the knowledge of all these men?  Which of us do you think is ignorant of what you did last night, the night before last, where you were, whom you convoked, at what plan you arrived?
  1. Nihilne te nocturnum… nihil urbis… nihil timor… nihil concursus…nihil hic munitissimus… nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt is anaphora, the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
  2. Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris is zeugma, a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others of which it semantically suits only one.  Thus Quid proxima (nocte egeris), quid superiore nocte egeris = “What you did last night, what you did the night before last.”  (In fact, proxima and superiore may actually both refer to the same night, the last one, rather than to two different nights, in which case superiore nocte would best be translated with “last evening.”)
[2]O tempora, O mores !  Senatus hæc intellegit.  Consul videt ;  hic tamen vivit.  Vivit ?  Immo vero etiam in Senatum venit, fit publici consilii particeps, notat et designat oculis ad cædem unum quemque nostrum.  Nos autem fortes viri satis facere Rei Publicæ videmur, si istius furorem ac tela vitemus.  Ad mortem te, Catilina, duci jussu consulis jampridem oportebat, in te conferri pestem, quam tu in nos omnes jam diu machinaris. O the times, O the morals!  The Senate knows these things, the Consul sees them — yet this man lives.  He lives?  Not just that:  he even comes into the Senate ;  he becomes a participant in our public council and with his gaze notes and marks every one of us for death. But we brave men, on the other hand, give the impression we are doing enough for the Commonwealth if we avoid this man’s sword and fury.  Long since, Catiline, you ought to have been led to your death by order of the consul — with that plague that you have long been engineering against all of us inflicted on you.
[3]An vero vir amplissimus, Publius Scipio, pontifex maximus, Tiberium Gracchum mediocriter labefactantem statum Rei Publicæ privatus interfecit ;  Catilinam orbem terræ cæde atque incendiis vastare cupientem nos consules perferemus ?  Nam illa nimis antiqua prætereo, quod Gajus Servilius Ahala Spurium Mælium novis rebus studentem manu sua occidit.  Fuit, fuit ista quondam in hac Re Publica virtus ut viri fortes acrioribus suppliciis civem perniciosum quam acerbissimum hostem coërcerent.  Habemus Senatus Consultum in te, Catilina, vehemens et grave ;  non deest Rei Publicæ consilium neque auctoritas hujus ordinis ;  nos, nos, dico aperte, consules desumus. Isn’t it a fact that a private citizen, the most distinguished pontiff, Publius Scipio, killed Tiberius Gracchus who was moderately weakening the Commonwealth?  We consuls are going to tolerate Catiline desiring to lay waste to the whole world with murder and arson?  I pass over for now those very ancient things, the fact that with his own hand Gajus Servius Ahala murdered Spurius Mælius, a man intent on revolution.  Gone, gone in this Commonwealth is that erstwhile patriotism such that brave men restrained a pernicious citizen by a more severe punishment than the most ardent enemy.  We have a decree of the Senate against you Catiline, one forceful and grave;  neither the decision of the Commonwealth nor the authority of this body is lacking;  we, we — I say openly —we consuls are lacking.
[4]II.  Decrevit quondam Senatus ut Lucius Opimius consul videret, ne quid Res Publica detrimenti caperet3 ;  nox nulla intercessit ;  interfectus est propter quasdam seditionum suspiciones Gajus Gracchus, clarissimo patre, avo, majoribus ;  occisus est cum liberis Marcus Fulvius consularis.  Simili Senatus Consulto Gajo Mario et Lucio Valerio consulibus est permissa4 Res Publica :  num unum diem postea Lucium Saturninum tribunum plebis et Gajum Servilium prætorem mors ac Rei Publicæ pœna remorata est ?  At vero nos vicesimum jam diem patimur hebescere aciem horum auctoritatis.  Habemus enim ejus modi Senatus Consultum, verum inclusum in tabulis tanquam in vagina reconditum, quo ex Senatus Consulto confestim te interfectum esse, Catilina, convenit.  Vivis, et vivis non ad deponendam sed ad confirmandam audaciam.  Cupio, Patres Conscripti, me esse clementem,5 cupio in tantis Rei Publicæ periculis me non dissolutum videri, sed jam me ipse inertiæ nequitiæque condemno. The Senate once decreed that Lucius Opimus, Consul, should see that the Commonwealth should suffer no harm.  Not a single night intervened:  Gajus Gracchus, from a most distinguished father, grandfather, and forefathers was killed on account of suspicion of a certain sedition.  Marcus Fulvius, ex-Consul, was killed along with his children.  The Commonwealth entrusted a similar decree of the Senate to the consuls Gajus Marius and Lucius Valerio.  Indeed, did death and the penalty of the Commonwealth linger a single day for Lucius Saturninum, Tribune of the People, and Gajus Servilius, Prætor?  Yet truly, for the twentieth day now we have been allowing the edge of their authority to grow blunt.  For indeed we have a decree of the Senate of this kind, but one buried in the records as though in a sheath, whereby, on account of decree by the Senate, you, Catiline ought to have been quickly killed.  You live, and you live not to lay aside your recklessness but to strengthen it.  I wish, Conscript Fathers, to be merciful;  I do not want to appear negligent in such great perils to the Commonwealth;  but I now condemn myself for laziness and worthlessness.
  1. ne… detrimenti caperet is a Subjective Genitive.  Thus :  « lest (the Commonwealth) should accept any harm. »
  2. est permissa is anastrophe (inversion of the usual order of words or clauses) for permissa est.
  3. esse clementem is similarly anastrophe for clementem esse.
[5]Castra sunt in Italia contra populum Romanum in Etruriæ faucibus collocata ;  crescit in dies singulos hostium numerus ;  eorum autem castrorum imperatorem ducemque hostium intra mœnia atque adeo in Senatu videtis intestinam aliquam cotidie perniciem Rei Publicæ molientem.  Si te jam, Catilina, comprehendi, si interfici jussero, credo, erit verendum mihi, ne non hoc potius omnes boni serius a me quam quisquam crudelius factum esse dicat.  Verum ego hoc quod jampridem factum esse oportuit certa de causa nondum adducor ut faciam.  Tum denique interficiere, quum6 jam nemo tam improbus, tam perditus, tam tui similis inveniri poterit, qui id non jure factum esse fateatur. A military camp in the passes of Eturia, in Italy, is deployed against the Roman people;  the number of enemies grows by the day.  You see, however, the commander of their camp and leader of the enemy within the city walls — and indeed you see him in the Senate daily plotting some disaster of the nation from within.  Now, Catiline, if I were to order you to be arrested, if to be executed, I suppose I would have to fear that all good men would say it had hardly been done by me too tardily rather than that someone might say it had been done too cruelly.  But indeed, there is a definite reason why I have not been brought to doing what ought to have been done long ago.  In the end you will be executed when no one so unprincipled, so depraved, so much like you can be found who will not admit it was done justly.
  1. quum is quum temporale :  “when no one … will have been able to be found ….”  (poterit is future perfect indicative, not present perfect subjunctive.)  English “can” is a defective verb and cannot render the Latin exactly.
[6]Quamdiu quisquam erit, qui te defendere audeat, vives, et vives ita ut vivis, multis meis et firmis præsidiis obsessus, ne commovere te contra Rem Publicam possis.  Multorum te etiam oculi et aures non sentientem, sicut adhuc fecerunt, speculabuntur atque custodient.

Etenim quid est, Catilina, quod jam amplius exspectes, si neque nox tenebris obscurare cœtus nefarios nec privata domus parietibus continere voces conjurationis tuæ potest, si illustrantur, si erumpunt omnia ?  Muta jam istam mentem, mihi crede, obliviscere cædis atque incendiorum.  Teneris undique ;  luce sunt clariora nobis tua consilia omnia ;  quæ jam mecum licet recognoscas.

As long as there will be anyone who might dare to defend you, you will live, and you will live as you are living, surrounded by my many and strong guards, lest you be able to move against the Commonwealth:  without your knowing it, the eyes and ears of many will still spy on and watch you, as they have done hitherto.

Moreover, what is it, Catiline, that you are still waiting for, if neither the night with its darkness can hide your evil meetings nor a private house with its walls the words of your conspiracy when they are exposed to daylight, when they all break out into the open?  Change that mind of yours, take my advice:  forget the slaughter and the torchings.  You are held fast on all sides;  all your plans are clearer than day to us;  let yourself review them with me now.

[7]Meministine me ante diem XII Kalendas Novembres dicere in Senatu fore in armis certo die, qui dies futurus esset ante diem VI Kal. Novembres, Gajum Manlium, audaciæ satellitem atque administrum tuæ ?  Num me fefellit, Catilina, non modo res tanta, tam atrox tamque incredibilis, verum, id quod multo magis est admirandum, dies ?  Dixi ego īdem in Senatu cædem te optimatium contulisse in ante diem V Kalendas Novembres, tum quum7 multi principes civitatis Roma non tam sui conservandi quam tuorum consiliorum reprimendorum causa profugerunt.  Num infitiari potes te illo ipso die meis præsidiis, mea diligentia circumclusum, commovere te contra Rem Publicam non potuisse — quum8 tu discessu ceterorum, nostra9 tamen qui remansissemus cæde te contentum esse dicebas ? Do you remember my saying in the Senate, on the 21st of October, that your henchman and accomplice in audacity, Gajus Manlius, would be under arms on a specific day, which was to be the 28th of October?  Was I wrong about not only such an enormous, hideous and incredible crime but — what is all the more amazing — its very day?  I also said in the Senate that you had fixed the massacre of the nobles for the 28th of October, when many chief men of the Senate had fled from Rome, not so much for the sake of saving themselves as of nullifying your designs.  Can you deny that on that very day you were so hemmed in by my guards and my vigilance, that you were unable to stir one finger against the Commonwealth — when you went on saying that, notwithstanding the departure of the rest, you would be content with with the slaughter of us who remained?
  1. quum is quum temporale :  “at the time when … (the leaders) had fled ….”  profugerunt is perfect indicative.  English pluperfect here is a better translation of the Latin perfect.
  2. quum is here likewise quum temporale :  “when, at the time when;  at the same time that.”  This quum merely introduces the time of Catiline’s “saying” (dicebas) for the sake of contrast with Cicero’s frustration of his murderous plans.  It does not imply any causal or other connection between the two actions.  Hence the indicative rather than the subjunctive.
  3. nostra (“our”) = “my,” i.e., of Cicero himself.
[8]Quid ?  Quum10 te Præneste Kalendis ipsis Novembribus occupaturum nocturno impetu esse confideres, sensistine illam coloniam meo jussu meis præsidiis, custodiis, vigiliis esse munitam ?  Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas quod non ego non modo audiam, sed etiam videam planeque sentiam.

Recognosce tandem mecum noctem illam superiorem ;  jam intelleges multo me vigilare acrius ad salutem quam te ad perniciem Rei Publicæ.  Dico te priore nocte venisse inter falcarios — non agam obscure — in Marci Læcæ domum ;  convenisse eodem complures ejusdem amentiæ scelerisque socios.  Num negare audes ?  Quid taces ?  Convincam, si negas.  Video enim esse hic in Senatu quosdam qui tecum una fuerunt.

What?  When you were confident of seizing Praeneste on the first of November by a nocturnal attack, did you not realize that that colony was fortified by my order, by my guards, by my watchfulness and night watchmen?  You do nothing, plan nothing, think of nothing which I not only do not hear, but even see and know all about.

Finally, recall with me that night before last;  you will then understand that I am far more intent on the salvation of the Commonwealth than are you on its destruction.  I say that the night before last you went to the Scythemakers’ district — I will not be vague:  to the house of Marcus Læcus —, that many accomplices of the same madness and criminality assembled in the same place.  You don’t dare deny it, do you?  Why are you silent?  I will prove it if you deny it.  For I see here in the Senate some who were together with you.

  1. quum is quum narrativum/historicum (“[on the very day] when”) :  confideres is imperfect subjunctive due to the fact that it denotes Catiline’s false confidence which caused him to be blind to the military facts.
[9]O dii immortales !  Ubinam gentium sumus ?  Quam Rem Publicam habemus ?  In qua urbe vivimus ?  Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, Patres Conscripti, in hoc orbis terræ sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de hujus urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent !  Hos ego video consul et de Re Publica sententiam rogo et, quos ferro trucidari oportebat, eos nondum voce vulnero !

Fuisti igitur apud Læcam illa nocte, Catilina, distribuisti partes Italiæ, statuisti quo quemque proficisci placeret, delegisti quos Romæ relinqueres, quos tecum educeres, descripsisti urbis partes ad incendia, confirmasti te ipsum jam esse exiturum, dixisti paulum tibi esse etiam nunc moræ, quod ego viverem.  Reperti sunt duo equites Romani, qui te ista cura liberarent et se illa ipsa nocte paulo ante lucem me in meo lectulo interfecturos esse pollicerentur.

O immortal gods!  Where on earth are we?  What Commonwealth do we have?  In what city are we living?  Here, here in our number, Conscript Fathers, in this most august and important council of the earth, are those who are contemplating the destruction of us all, the doom of this city and even of the world!  Seeing them, I, the consul, request their vote on the Commonwealth and I do not yet wound even vocally those who should be cut down with the sword!

So you were at Læca’s place that night, Catiline:  you divided up the sections of Italy;  you decided who should go where, you chose which ones you would leave in Rome, which ones you would take along with you;  you designated parts of the city for torching, you gave assurance that you yourself would soon leave — you said there was still a little delay for you because I was alive.  Two Roman knights were found who would free you of that care and promised that on that very night a little before dawn they would kill me in my bed.

[10]Hæc ego omnia vixdum etiam cœtu vestro dimisso comperi ;  domum meam majoribus præsidiis munivi atque firmavi ;  exclusi eos quos tu ad me salutatum mane miseras quum11 illi ipsi venissent quos ego jam multis ac summis viris ad me id temporis venturos esse prædixeram.

Quæ quum12 ita sint, Catilina, perge quo cœpisti, egredere aliquando ex urbe ;  patent portæ — proficiscere !  Nimium diu te imperatorem tua illa Manliana castra13 desiderant.  Educ tecum etiam omnes tuos, si minus, quam plurimos ;  purga urbem.  Magno me metu liberabis, modo inter me atque te murus intersit.  Nobiscum versari jam diutius non potes ;  non feram, non patiar, non sinam.

I learned of all these things when your meeting had hardly ended;  I secured and fortified my house with a greater guard;  I shut out those whom you had sent to greet me in the morning when those selfsame men came, whom I had already foretold to many eminent men would come to me at that time.

Since this is the case, Catiline, go on to where you have begun;  get out of the city at last;  the gates are open — go!  That camp of Manlius has been in need of you, its commander, for too long.  Also take with you all your men, at least as many as possible;  cleanse the city.  You will free me of great fear as long as there is a wall between you and me.  You can now no longer stay with us;  I will not bear it, suffer it, allow it.

  1. quum is here quum narrativum/historicum (“[at the moment/hour] when”).  Describes the would-be assassins’ arrival preceding (and resulting in) their being blocked from making a morning call on Cicero.  Typical of the description of “one thing leading to another” common in narratives.
  2. quum here is quum causale (“since, because”) :  sint is present subjunctive.
  3. tua illa Manliana castra = tua Manliana … illa castra, interlocked order of words in which the attribute of one pair comes between those of another (“synchysis,” cf. Allen & Greenough, 598h.).
[11]Magna dis immortalibus habenda est atque huic ipsi Jovi Statori, antiquissimo custodi hujus urbis, gratia, quod hanc tam tætram, tam horribilem tamque infestam Rei Publicæ pestem totiens jam effugimus.

Non est sæpius in uno homine summa salus periclitanda Rei Publicæ.  Quam diu mihi consuli designato, Catilina, insidiatus es, non publico me præsidio sed privata diligentia defendi.  Quum14 proximis comitiis consularibus me consulem in Campo et competitores tuos interficere voluisti, compressi conatus tuos nefarios amicorum præsidio et copiis, nullo tumultu publice concitato.  Denique, quotienscunque me petisti, per me tibi obstiti, quanquam videbam perniciem meam cum magna calamitate Rei Publicæ esse conjunctam.

Profound thanks are due to the immortal gods and in particular to Jupiter the Stayer here, the most ancient custodian of this city, for the fact that we have so often now escaped such a hateful, such a horrible plague, and one so hostile to the state.

The supreme safety of the Commonwealth must not be repeatedly endangered in a single man.  As long as Catiline plotted to waylay me as consul elect, I defended myself not with a public guard but with private precautions.  When you wanted to kill me and your rivals at the most recent consular elections on the Campus [Martius], I suppressed your evil efforts by means of a guard and forces of friends, without causing any public upheaval.  Finally, as often as you attacked me, I blocked you by myself, even though I saw my own destruction linked to a great catastrophe for the Commonwealth.

  1. Quum is here quum temporale (“at the time of, when”).  Only the temporal condition is adverted to here, not a causal event;  voluisti is therefore perfect indicative.
[12]Nunc jam aperte Rem Publicam universam petis, templa deorum immortalium, tecta urbis, vitam omnium civium, Italiam denique totam ad exitium et vastitatem vocas.  Quare, quoniam id quod est primum et quod hujus imperii disciplinæque majorum proprium est, facere nondum audeo, faciam id quod est ad severitatem lenius et ad communem salutem utilius.  Nam si te interfici jussero, residebit in Re Publica reliqua conjuratorum manus ;  sin tu, quod te jam dudum hortor, exieris, exhaurietur ex urbe tuorum comitum magna et perniciosa sentina Rei Publicæ. Now you are openly going after the entire Commonwealth — the temples of the immortal gods, the abodes of the city, the lives of all the citizens:  you are, in the end, calling all Italy to its doom and devastation.  Wherefore, because I do not yet dare to do that which is primary and what is in accordance with this magistracy and the ethics of our ancestors, I will do that which is milder in severity and more useful for the common welfare.  For if I order you killed, the rest of the band of conspirators will remain in the Commonwealth.  But if — as I have already long been urging you — you leave, the massive and lethal bilge of your comrades in the Commonwealth will be drained from the city.
[13]Quid est, Catilina ?  Num dubitas id me imperante facere quod jam tua sponte faciebas ?  Exire ex urbe jubet consul hostem.  Interrogas me, num in exilium ?  Non jubeo sed, si me consulis, suadeo.

Quid est enim, Catilina, quod te jam in hac urbe delectare possit ?  In qua nemo est extra istam conjurationem perditorum hominum qui te non metuat, nemo qui non oderit.

Quæ nota domesticæ turpitudinis non inusta vitæ tuæ est ?  Quod privatarum rerum dedecus non hæret in fama ?  Quæ libido ab oculis, quod facinus a manibus unquam tuis, quod flagitium a toto corpore afuit ?  Cui tu adulescentulo, quem corruptelarum illecebris irretisses, non aut ad audaciam ferrum aut ad libidinem facem prætulisti ?

What about it, Catiline?  Given my order, you aren’t really hesitating to do what you were doing on you own, are you?  The consul orders the enemy to leave the city.  You ask me whether it should be into exile;  I do not command it but, if you ask my advice, I urge it.

For what is there, Catiline, that could any longer delight you in this city — in which there is no one outside of that conspiracy of depraved men who does not fear you, no one who does not hate you?

What brand of personal baseness is not branded into your life?  What disgrace of private affairs does not cling to your reputation?  What lust was ever absent from your eyes, what crime from your hands, what shameful deed from your whole body?  Before what youth whom you had ensnared with corrupt enticements have you not borne either a sword for aggression or a torch for licentiousness?

[14]Quid vero ?  Nuper quum15 morte superioris uxoris novis nuptiis domum vacuefecisses, nonne etiam alio incredibili scelere hoc scelus cumulasti ?  Quod ego prætermitto et facile patior sileri, ne in hac civitate tanti facinoris immanitas aut exstitisse aut non vindicata esse videatur.  Prætermitto ruinas fortunarum tuarum quas omnes impendēre tibi proximis Idibus senties ;  ad illa venio quæ non ad privatam ignominiam vitiorum tuorum, non ad domesticam tuam difficultatem ac turpitudinem, sed ad summam Rem Publicam atque ad omnium nostrum vitam salutemque pertinent. What then ?  When recently you cleared out your house for a new wedding by the death of your last wife, did you not crown that crime with yet another incredible crime?  I pass that over and easily allow it to be left unsaid, so that in this city the enormity of such a crime might not seem either to have happened or gone unpunished.  I pass over the bankruptcies of your fortune — all of which you will find looming over you on the coming Ides.  I come to the things that pertain not to the private disgrace of your debaucheries, not to your personal difficulty and shamefulness, but to the entire Commonwealth and to the lives and safety of us all.
  1. quum is here quum narrativum/historicum (“[at the time] when”).  The “emptying out” (vacuefecisses) of Catiline’s house through his previous wife’s death (suspected as being a murder followed by a second murder of his own son with that wife) for a new marriage was tantamount (hence the subjunctive) to piling (cumulasti) another crime on top of the first one.
[15]Potestne tibi hæc lux, Catilina, aut hujus cæli spiritus esse jucundus, quum16 scias esse horum neminem qui nesciat te, pridie Kalendas Januarias, Lepido et Tullo consulibus, stetisse in comitio cum telo, manum consulum et principum civitatis interficiendorum causa paravisse, sceleri ac furori tuo non mentem aliquam aut timorem tuum sed fortunam populi Romani obstitisse ?

Ac jam illa omitto (neque enim sunt aut obscura aut non multa commissa postea);  quotiens tu me designatum, quotiens vero consulem interficere conatus es !  Quot ego tuas petitiones, ita conjectas ut vitari posse non viderentur, parva quadam declinatione et, ut ajunt, corpore effugi !  Nihil agis, nihil assequeris — neque tamen conari ac velle desistis.

Can this daylight, Catiline, or the breath of this atmosphere be pleasant for you when you know that there is none of these men who does not know that on the eve of the Calends of January, with Lepidus and Tullus as consuls, you stood in the election area with a weapon;  that you had readied a gang for the sake of murdering the consuls and the leading men of the citizenry;  that not any consideration or fear on your part blocked your criminality and madness, but the fortune of the Roman people?

But I pass over those things, for they are neither unknown nor, following them, have the crimes been few.  How many times did you try to kill me as consul elect, how many times as consul!  How many of your thrusts, launched so that they seemed unable to be avoided, did I escape with, as they say, a mere dodge of the body?  You do nothing, you achieve nothing, you manage nothing, but still you do not stop trying and wanting.

  1. quum here is quum causale (“since, because;  given that”).  It gives the reason for Cicero’s question about whether the light of day or the breath of the air can afford any pleasure to Catiline.  Hence the subjunctive scias.
[16]Quotiens tibi jam extorta est ista sica de manibus, quotiens vero excidit casu aliquo et elapsa est !  Tamen ea carere diutius non potes ;  quæ quidem quibus abs te initiata sacris ac devota sit nescio, quod eam necesse putas esse in consulis corpore defigere.

Nunc vero quæ tua est ista vita ?  Sic enim jam tecum loquar, non ut odio permotus esse videar, quo debeo, sed ut misericordia, quæ tibi nulla debetur.  Venisti paulo ante in Senatum.  Quis te ex hac tanta frequentia, tot ex tuis amicis ac necessariis salutavit ?  Si hoc post hominum memoriam contigit nemini, vocis exspectas contumeliam, quum17 sis gravissimo judicio taciturnitatis oppressus ?  Quid, quod adventu tuo ista subsellia vacuefacta sunt, quod omnes consulares, qui tibi persæpe ad cædem constituti fuerunt, simul atque assedisti, partem istam subselliorum nudam atque inanem reliquerunt — quo tandem animo hoc tibi ferendum putas ?

How many times now has that dagger of your been wrenched from your hands !  Indeed, how many times has it by some chance or other fallen and slipped away !  Nonetheless you cannot do without it for any length of time ;  I have no idea to what sacred rites it has been consecrated by you, that you deem it necessary to plunge it into the body of the consul.

What indeed is that life of yours now ?  For I speak with you in this way now, not so that I may seem shaken by the hatred which I owe you, but by pity, of which none is owed to you.  You came into the Senate a little while ago.  Out of such a great crowd as this, and out of so many of your friends and acquaintances, who has greeted you ?  If this has happened to no one in human memory, are you waiting for insults by voice when you have been overwhelmed by the extremely weighty judgement of silence ?  What are you thinking ?  What of the fact that at your arrival those benches were vacated because all the ex-consuls who were so often designated for murder by you, as soon as you sat down, left that part of the benches bare and empty — with what kind of attitude, consequently, do you think you should take that?

  1. Quum is here quum adversativum (“while, whereas”) :  sis … oppressus is therefore perfect subjunctive, since the action of being “overwhelmed” by silence occurred before Catiline is able to “wait for” (exspectas) insults which are non-silent.  The opposition of silence and (non-silent) voice make quum adversative.
[17]Servi mehercule mei si me isto pacto metuerent ut te metuunt omnes cives tui, domum meam relinquendam putarem ;  tu tibi urbem non arbitraris ?  Et, si me meis civibus — injuriā — suspectum tam graviter atque offensum viderem, carere me aspectu civium quam infestis omnium oculis conspici mallem ;  tu quum18 conscientia scelerum tuorum agnoscas odium omnium justum et jam diu tibi debitum, dubitas quorum mentes sensusque vulneras, eorum aspectum præsentiamque vitare ?  Si te parentes timerent atque odissent tui neque eos ratione ulla placare posses, ut opinor, ab eorum oculis aliquo concederes.  Nunc te patria, quæ communis est parens omnium nostrum, odit ac metuit et jam diu nihil te judicat nisi de parricidio suo cogitare ;  hujus tu neque auctoritatem verēbere nec judicium sequēre nec vim pertimēscēs ? By Hercules, if my slaves feared me in the way that all your citizens fear you, I would think I would have to leave my house.  You do not think you should leave the city?  And if I saw myself — wrongly — so gravely suspect and offensive in the view of my fellow citizens, I would prefer to absent myself from the sight of the citizenry rather than to be looked at by the hostile eyes of everyone.  And you, despite the fact that with your awareness of your own crimes you acknowledge everyone’s hatred, just and long owed you, do you hesitate to avoid the sight and presence of those whose minds and feelings you are wounding?  If your own parents feared and hated you and you could not placate them by any means, I would think, you would go someplace away from their eyes.  Now our fatherland, which is the common parent of us all, hates and fears you and has long since concluded that you have been thinking about nothing but its own parricide.  And you will neither hold its authority in awe nor follow its judgement nor fear its power?
  1. Quum is here quum concessivum (“[even] though, although, in spite of the fact that”) :  agnoscas is present subjunctive.
[18]Quæ tecum, Catilina, sic agit et quodammodo tacita loquitur :  « Nullum jam aliquot annis facinus exstitit nisi per te, nullum flagitium sine te ;  tibi uni multorum civium neces, tibi vexatio direptioque sociorum impunita fuit ac libera ;  tu non solum ad neglegendas leges et quæstiones, verum etiam ad evertendas perfringendasque valuisti.  Superiora illa, quanquam ferenda non fuerunt, tamen, ut potui, tuli ;  nunc vero me totam esse in metu propter unum te, quicquid increpuerit, Catilinam timeri, nullum videri contra me consilium iniri posse, quod a tuo scelere abhorreat, non est ferendum.  Quam ob rem discede atque hunc mihi timorem eripe ;  si est verus, ne opprimar, sin falsus, ut tandem aliquando timere desinam. » It reacts thus, Catiline and, being silent, in a way speaks with you, “For some years now, no crime has happened except through you, no shameful deed without you;  yours alone have been the murders of many citizens, yours the unpunished and free harassment and plundering of allies;  you have been forceful not only in disregarding laws and investigations, but also in overturning and breaking them.  Your previous actions, although they were intolerable, I nonetheless tolerated as well as I could;  but now that my whole being is in fear because of you alone — that at whatever makes a noise Catiline is to be feared, that it seems no consultation can be engaged in against me that is unconnected with your criminality —, it cannot be tolerated.  So leave and free me from this fear — if it is real, so that I might not be crushed;  but if false, so that at length I might finally cease to fear.”
[19]Hæc si tecum, ita ut dixi, patria loquatur, nonne impetrare debeat, etiamsi vim adhibere non possit ?  Quid, quod tu te ipse in custodiam dedisti, quod vitandæ suspicionis causa ad Manium Lepidum te habitare velle dixisti ?  A quo non receptus etiam ad me venire ausus es atque ut domi meæ te asservarem rogasti.  Quum19 a me quoque id responsum tulisses, me nullo modo posse eisdem parietibus tuto esse tecum, qui magno in periculo essem quod eisdem mœnibus contineremur, ad Quintum Metellum prætorem venisti.  A quo repudiatus ad sodalem tuum, virum optimum, Marcum Metellum, demigrasti, quem tu videlicet et ad custodiendum diligentissimum et ad suspicandum sagacissimum et ad vindicandum fortissimum fore putasti.  Sed quam longe videtur a carcere atque a vinculis abesse debere, qui se ipse jam dignum custodia judicarit ? If the fatherland said these things to you in the way I have said, should it not obtain them even if it could not use force?  What about the fact that you yourself surrendered yourself into custody, that you said you were willing to live with Manius Lepidus for the sake of avoiding suspicion?  And not being accepted by him, you had the audacity to come even to me and asked whether I would keep you in my house.  After having received from me the answer that I, who was in great danger because we were confined together within the same city-walls, could in no way exist safely within the same house-walls with you, you went to the prætor, Quintus Metellus.  Rejected by him, you went on down to your comrade, an excellent man, Marcus Metellus who, you thought, would of course be most diligent in guarding and most sagacious in suspecting and extremely rigorous in punishing you.  But how far away from prison and chains does it seem a man should really be who has already judged himself deserving of custody?
  1. Quum is here quum narrativum (“when”;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”) :  tulisses is pluperfect subjunctive.  The conjunction borders on being quum causale, since Catiline’s going to Metellus (the prætor) can be interpreted as a consequence of Cicero’s rejection.
[20]Quæ quum20 ita sint, Catilina, dubitas, si emori æquo animo non potes, abire in aliquas terras et vitam istam multis suppliciis justis debitisque ereptam fugæ solitudinique mandare ?  « Refer » inquis « ad Senatum » ;  id enim postulas et, si hic ordo sibi placere decreverit te ire in exilium, obtemperaturum te esse dicis.  Non referam, id quod abhorret a meis moribus, et tamen faciam ut intellegas quid hi de te sentiant.  Egredere ex urbe, Catilina, libera Rem Publicam metu, in exilium, si hanc vocem exspectas, proficiscere.  Quid est, Catilina ?  Ecquid attendis, ecquid animadvertis horum silentium ?  Patiuntur, tacent.  Quid exspectas auctoritatem loquentium, quorum voluntatem tacitorum perspicis ? Since these things are so, Catiline, do you hesitate, if you cannot die away quietly, to go off to some land and commit your life, snatched from many just and deserved tortures, to flight and solitude?  “Bring it,” you say, ”before the Senate.”  You demand that and say that, if this body decides for you to go into exile, you will obey.  I will not do what is contrary to my ways, and yet I will do, so that you may know, what these men think of you.  Get out of the city, Catiline;  free the Commonwealth from fear;  go into exile — if you are waiting for that word.  What about it, Catiline?  Do you not see anything whatsoever, not notice the silence of these men at all?  They are suffering;  they are silent.  Why are you awaiting the authority of speakers — of silent men whose will you see?
  1. quum here is quum causale (“since, because”) :  sint is present subjunctive.
[21]At si hoc idem huic adulescenti optimo, Publio Sestio, si fortissimo viro, Marco Marcello, dixissem, jam mihi consuli hoc ipso in templo jure optimo Senatus vim et manus intulisset.  De te autem, Catilina, quum21 quiescunt, probant, quum21 patiuntur, decernunt, quum21 tacent, clamant, neque hi solum, quorum tibi auctoritas est videlicet cara, vita vilissima, sed etiam illi equites Romani, honestissimi atque optimi viri, ceterique fortissimi cives qui circumstant Senatum, quorum tu et frequentiam videre et studia perspicere et voces paulo ante exaudire potuisti.  Quorum ego vix abs te jam diu manus ac tela contineo, eosdem facile adducam, ut te hæc quæ vastare jampridem studes relinquentem usque ad portas prosequantur. But if I had said this same thing to this most excellent young man, Publius Sestius, if to the most courageous man, Marcus Marcellus, with the best of rights the Senate would right now have laid violent hands on me, the consul, here in this very temple.  But regarding you, Catiline, by being quiet, they approve;  by enduring it, they make their decision;  by being silent, they are crying out — and not just these whose authority is clearly important to you, their lives being extremely cheap, but also those Roman knights, most respectable and illustrious men, and other powerful citizens surrounding the Senate, whose crowd you could see and aims you could recognize and voices you could hear a little while ago.  These men, whose hands and weapons I have for a long time now barely kept away from you, I would easily bring to accompany you, on your leaving these things that you have long wanted to destroy, all the way to the gates.
  1. quum used triply here is quum explicativum or coincidens (or “identicum”“by …-ing, when, while, because ;  in the case where ;  through the action of” :  quiescuntpatiunturtacent are present indicative.  Explicativum interprets one action as being like, or in effect, another.  The quum verbs are in the same tense as those (probantdecernuntclamant) of the main clause.
[22]Quanquam quid loquor ?  Te ut ulla res frangat, tu ut unquam te colligas, tu ut ullam fugam meditere, tu ut ullum exilium cogites ?  Utinam tibi istam mentem dii immortales duint !  Tametsi video, si mea voce perterritus ire in exilium animum induxeris quanta tempestas invidiæ nobis, si minus in præsens tempus recenti memoria scelerum tuorum, at in posteritatem impendeat.  Sed est tanti, dummodo tua ista sit privata calamitas et a Rei Publicæ periculis sejungatur.  Sed tu ut vitiis tuis commoveare, ut legum pœnas pertimescas, ut temporibus Rei Publicæ cedas, non est postulandum.  Neque enim is es, Catilina, ut te aut pudor a turpitudine aut metus a periculo aut ratio a furore revocarit. And yet why am I speaking?  So that anything might deflect you?  So that you might ever come to your senses?  So that you might think about any flight?  So that you might consider any exile?  Would that the gods might give you that idea!  And yet, if, terrified by my words, you assumed the intention to go into exile, what a storm of hatred would loom over us, if not at the present time, with the recent memory of your crimes, then later.  But it is worth it, provided only that it be a private catastrophe and separated from the dangers to the Commonwealth.  But it is not to be asked that you be shaken by your vices, that you should fear the penalties of the laws, that you give in to the circumstances of the Commonwealth.  For you are not such, Catiline, that either shame might ever restrain you from filth or fear from danger or reason from madness.
[23]Quam ob rem, ut sæpe jam dixi, proficiscere ac, si mihi inimico, ut prædicas, tuo conflare vis invidiam, recta perge in exilium ;  vix feram sermones hominum, si id feceris, vix molem istius invidiæ, si in exilium jussu consulis ieris, sustinebo.  Sin autem servire meæ laudi et gloriæ mavis, egredere cum importuna sceleratorum manu, confer te ad Manlium, concita perditos cives, secerne te a bonis, infer patriæ bellum, exsulta impio latrocinio, ut a me non ejectus ad alienos, sed invitatus ad tuos isse videaris. Hence, as I have already often said, leave and, if you want, as you have openly declared, to inflame hatred toward me, your enemy, go straight into exile;  I will barely endure the talk of men if you do that, I will barely sustain the the burden of that disfavor if you go into exile at the command of the consul.  But if you prefer to serve my praise and glory, leave with your insolent band of criminals, betake yourself to Manlius, stir up the depraved citizens, separate yourself from the good ones, wage war against the fatherland, exult in wanton brigandage, so that you may seem not to have been thrown out by me to foreigners, but to have gone invited to your own.
[24]Quanquam quid ego te invitem, a quo jam sciam esse præmissos qui tibi ad Forum Aurelium præstolarentur armati, a quo sciam pactam et constitutam cum Manlio diem, a quo etiam aquilam illam argenteam — quam tibi ac tuis omnibus confido perniciosam ac funestam futuram, cui domi tuæ sacrarium constitutum fuit — sciam esse præmissam ?  Tu ut22 illa carere diutius possis quam venerari ad cædem proficiscens solebas, a cujus altaribus sæpe istam impiam dexteram ad necem civium transtulisti ? And yet why should I invite you, by whom I know men have been sent ahead who, armed, await you at the Forum Aurelium, you to whom I know a day has already been agreed upon and fixed with Manlius, you by whom that silver eagle — which, I trust, will be deadly and lethal for you and all your men, you to whom a shrine {of your crimes} had been set up in your house —, I know, has been sent ahead?  Is it possible that you can any longer do without the thing that you were accustomed to venerate when going out for murdering, from whose altars you have often transferred that sacrilegious right hand to the killing of citizens?
  1. ut is used here with the subjunctive to express an incredulous question:  Is it possible that …?  Am I to suppose that …?  When ut is used thus without an introductory main clause, the introduction is understood, and the ut clause may be taken as an exclamatory question introduced by some such expression as potestne fieri.
[25]Ibis tandem aliquando, quo te jampridem ista tua cupiditas effrenata ac furiosa rapiebat ;  neque enim tibi hæc res affert dolorem, sed quandam incredibilem voluptatem.  Ad hanc te amentiam natura peperit, voluntas exercuit, fortuna servavit.  Nunquam tu non modo otium, sed ne bellum quidem nisi nefarium concupisti.  Nactus es ex perditis atque ab omni non modo fortuna, verum etiam spe derelictis conflatam improborum manum. At long last you will go to where that unbridled and mad lust of yours has been tearing you away.  And this condition does not affect you with pain but with a certain scarcely believable pleasure.  It was for this madness that nature gave birth to you, your will has trained itself, fortune has preserved you.  Never have you desired not just leisure, but not even a war other than an unjust one.  You have assembled a band of anti-patriots welded together out of derelict characters and men abandoned not just by all fortune but even by hope.
[26]Hīc tu qua lætitia perfruēre, quibus gaudiis exultabis, quanta in voluptate bacchabĕre, quum in tanto numero tuorum neque audies virum bonum quemquam neque videbis !  Ad hujus vitæ studium meditati illi sunt qui feruntur labores tui :  jacere humi non solum ad obsidendum stuprum, verum etiam ad facinus obeundum ;  vigilare non solum insidiantem somno maritorum, verum etiam bonis otiosorum.  Habes, ubi23 ostentes tuam illam præclaram patientiam famis, frigoris, inopiæ rerum omnium, quibus te brevi tempore confectum esse senties. What delight will you enjoy there, with what happiness will you exult, with how much pleasure will you run wild when, amongst such a great number of your own, you will neither hear nor see any good man!  It is for the pursuit of this life that that celebrated stamina of yours has been honed:  lying on the ground not just on the lookout for unchastity, but also to commit crime;  staying awake not just to lie in wait for husbands’ sleep, but for the goods of peaceloving citizens.  You have the chance to show off that renowned endurance of yours of hunger, cold and want of everything through which you will shortly experience yourself as having been wiped out.
  1. ubi is here used in the sense of “(locum) in quo.”  The sense is, “You have an opportunity to display.”  ubi is here a relative (not interrogative) adverb, and ostentes is therefore subjunctive not of indirect questions but of characteristic.
[27]Tantum profeci tum, quum24 te a consulatu reppuli, ut exsul potius temptare quam consul vexare Rem Publicam posses, atque ut id quod esset a te scelerate susceptum latrocinium potius quam bellum nominaretur.

Nunc, ut a me, Patres Conscripti, quandam prope justam patriæ querimoniam detester ac deprecer, percipite, quæso, diligenter quæ dicam et ea penitus animis vestris mentibusque mandate.  Etenim, si mecum patria, quæ mihi vita mea multo est carior, si cuncta Italia, si omnis Res Publica loquatur :

« Marce Tulli, quid agis ?  Tune eum, quem esse hostem comperisti, quem ducem belli futurum vides, quem exspectari imperatorem in castris hostium sentis, auctorem sceleris, principem conjurationis, evocatorem servorum et civium perditorum, exire patiēre, ut abs te non emissus ex urbe, sed immissus in urbem esse videatur ?  Nonne hunc in vincla duci, non ad mortem rapi, non summo supplicio mactari imperabis ? »

At the time when I repulsed you from the consulate, I at least succeeded in achieving that you would be able to go after the Commonwealth as an exile instead of harrassing it as consul, and that what had been criminally undertaken by you would be called brigandage rather than war.

XI.  Now, o Conscript Fathers, so that I might avert and deflect a certain almost just complaint of the fatherland from myself, listen carefully, please, to what I will say, and commit it thoroughly to your hearts and minds.  For indeed, if the fatherland, which is much dearer to me than my own life — if the whole of Italy, if the entire Commonwealth —, said to me,

“Mark Tully, what are you doing?  Are you going to let this man leave — him whom you have found to be an enemy, whom you see will be a warlord, whom you realize is awaited in the enemy camp, an author of crime, the head of a conspiracy, an enlister of slaves and dissolute citizens —, so that he may appear not as having been ejected from the city but as sent against it by you?  Are you not going to order him to be led off in chains, to be whisked off to death, to be slain in capital punishment?

  1. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when;  at that time that”):  the only reference is to the time of the contemporaneous action;  there is no other connection, hence reppuli is (perfect) indicative.
[28]« Quid tandem te impedit ?  Mosne majorum ?  At persæpe etiam privati in hac Re Publica perniciosos cives morte multarunt.  An leges quæ de civium Romanorum supplicio rogatæ sunt ?  At nunquam in hac urbe, qui a Re Publica defecerunt, civium jura tenuerunt.  An invidiam posteritatis times ?  Præclaram vero populo Romano refers gratiam qui te, hominem per te cognitum, nulla commendatione majorum tam mature ad summum imperium per omnes honorum gradus extulit, si propter invidiam aut alicujus periculi metum salutem civium tuorum neglegis. What, then, is stopping you?  The custom of your ancestors?  But in this Commonwealth private individuals have quite often punished dangerous citizens with death.  Or the laws that have been passed regarding the execution of Roman citizens?  But in this city those who have deserted the Commonwealth have never retained the rights of citizens.  Or do you fear the disfavor of posterity?  You render wonderful thanks to the Roman people who have at such a young age raised you, a man known through yourself alone, through no commendation of ancestry, through all the degrees of office to the highest magistracy if, because of disfavor or the fear of some danger, you neglect the safety of your citizens.
[29]« Sed, si quis est invidiæ metus, non est vehementius severitatis ac fortitudinis invidia quam inertiæ ac nequitiæ pertimescenda.  An, quum25 bello vastabitur Italia, vexabuntur urbes, tecta ardebunt — tum te non existimas invidiæ incendio conflagraturum ? »

His ego sanctissimis Rei Publicæ vocibus et eorum hominum qui hoc idem sentiunt mentibus, pauca respondebo.  Ego si hoc optimum factu judicarem, Patres Conscripti, Catilinam morte multari, unius usuram horæ gladiatori isti ad vivendum non dedissem.  Etenim si summi viri et clarissimi cives Saturnini et Gracchorum et Flacci et superiorum complurium sanguine non modo se non contaminarunt, sed etiam honestarunt, certe verendum mihi non erat ne quid, hoc parricida civium interfecto, invidiæ in posteritatem redundaret.  Quodsi26 ea mihi maxime impenderet, tamen hoc animo fui semper, ut invidiam virtute partam gloriam, non invidiam, putarem.

But if any fear of disfavor does exist, the disfavor due to severity and sternness is not stronger than that to be feared from sloth and negligence.  But when Italy is being laid waste by war, the cities are being harrassed, the houses are burning — do you think you will not then be burning in the flame of disfavor?”

To these august words of the Commonwealth and to the thinking of those men who feel the same way, I will answer with a few words.  If I thought it the best thing to do, Conscript Fathers, to punish Catiline with death, I would not have given that gladiator the use of a single hour to live.  For indeed, if the best men and most renowned citizens not only did not pollute themselves with the blood of Saturninus and the Gracchi and Flaccus and many ancients, but even ennobled themselves, certainly I would not fear that, with the killing of this parricide, any disfavor would redound to me in future generations.  But if it did greatly hang over me, nonetheless I have always been of the mindset that I would consider disfavor produced by valor to be glory, not disfavor.

  1. quum is here quum temporale (“when [it happens that]”):  its only association is with the time (not the cause) of the contemporaneous action (which in this case is in the future);  the action of the main clause tum … existimas is otherwise independent of it, hence in the subordinate clause, vastabiturvexabunturardebunt are (future) indicative.
  2. Quodsi … ut … introduce contrary-to-fact conditions.  It is implied that the disfavor is not looming over Cicero.  Both the if (protasis, dependent) and the main (apodosis) clauses refer to present time, and their verbs are therefore in the imperfect subjunctive (impenderet [protasis] and putarem [apodosis]).
[30]Quanquam nonnulli sunt in hoc ordine qui aut ea quæ imminent non videant aut ea quæ vident dissimulent ;  qui spem Catilinæ mollibus sententiis aluerunt conjurationemque nascentem non credendo corroboraverunt ;  quorum auctoritate secuti multi non solum improbi verum etiam imperiti, si in hunc animadvertissem, crudeliter et regie factum esse dicerent.  Nunc intellego, si iste quo intendit, in Manliana castra pervenerit, neminem tam stultum fore qui non videat conjurationem esse factam, neminem tam improbum qui non fateatur.  Hoc autem uno interfecto intellego hanc Rei Publicæ pestem paulisper reprimi, non in perpetuum comprimi posse.  Quodsi27 se ejecerit secunque suos eduxerit et eodem ceteros undique collectos naufragos aggregarit, exstinguetur atque delebitur non modo hæc tam adulta Rei Publicæ pestis, verum etiam stirps ac semen malorum omnium. Although there are some in this class who either do not see what is impending or pretend not to see what they do see — people who feed Catiline’s hopes with mild interpretations and strengthen his developing conspiracy by not believing it — people whose authority many men, not just the devious but also the unknowledgeable, would say I had acted cruelly and dictatorially if I had this man executed.  Now I understand that if this man goes to the Manlian camp where he is aiming, there will be no one so stupid who will not see that a conspiracy has been produced, no one so devious that he will not admit it.  With this one man killed, I recognize that this plague to the Commonwealth will be repressed, yet not permanently suppressed.  But if he should eject himself and draw his men with him and gather together other castaways collected from all about to the same place, not only will that fully mature plague of the Commonwealth be extinguished and eliminated, but the stem and seed of all its evils will as well.
  1. Quodsi :  a future conditional sentence :  future perfect indicative (ejecerit … eduxerit … aggregarit) in the protasis, future indicative (exstinguetur … delebitur) in the apodosis.
[31]Etenim jam diu, Patres Conscripti, in his periculis conjurationis insidiisque versamur, sed nescio quo pacto omnium scelerum ac veteris furoris et audaciæ maturitas in nostri consulatus tempus erupit.  Hīc si ex tanto latrocinio iste unus tolletur, videbimur fortasse ad breve quoddam tempus cura et metu esse relevati, periculum autem residebit et erit inclusum penitus in venis atque in visceribus Rei Publicæ.  Ut sæpe homines ægri morbo gravi cum æstu febrique jactantur, si aquam gelidam biberunt, primo relevari videntur, deinde multo gravius vehementiusque afflictantur, sic hic morbus qui est in Re Publica, relevatus istius pœna, vehementius, reliquis vivis, ingravescet. For indeed, Conscript Fathers, for a long time now we have been engaged in these dangers of a conspiracy and in ambushes;  but somehow the culmination of all crimes and of the old madness and audacity has erupted in the period of our consulate.  Now if this one man is removed from such a huge criminal gang, we will perhaps seem to have been relieved of worry and fear for some short time;  but the danger will remain and be closeted deep in the veins and entrails of the Commonwealth.  As often men sick with a serious illness are tossed about by heat and fever, if they drink ice water, at first seem to be relieved, then are afflicted much more seriously and violently, so this disease that is in the Commonwealth, alleviated through the punishment of this man, will, with the others living, grow more violently serious.
[32]Quare secedant improbi, secernant se a bonis, unum in locum congregentur, muro denique, quod sæpe jam dixi, secernantur a nobis ;  desinant insidiari domi suæ consuli, circumstare tribunal prætoris urbani, obsidere cum gladiis curiam, malleolos et faces ad inflammandam urbem comparare.  Sit denique inscriptum in fronte uniuscujusque, quid de Re Publica sentiat.  Polliceor vobis hoc, Patres Conscripti, tantam in nobis consulibus fore diligentiam, tantam in vobis auctoritatem, tantam in equitibus Romanis virtutem, tantam in omnibus bonis consensionem, ut Catilinæ profectione omnia patefacta, illustrata, oppressa, vindicata esse videatis. So let the evil men go, let them separate themselves from good me, gather in one place, separate themselves from us — as I have already often said — with a city wall;  let them cease to lie in wait for the consul at his home, surround the tribunal of the urban prætor, besiege the Senate House with swords, amass firebrands and torches to set fire to the city;  finally, let it be written on everyone’s forehead what he thinks of the Commonwealth.  I promise you, Conscript Fathers, that there will be such diligence in us consuls, so great an authority in you, so much valor in Roman knights, such solidarity among all good men, that with Catiline’s departure you will see everything exposed, brought to light, avenged.
[33]Hisce ominibus, Catilina, cum summa Rei Publicæ salute, cum tua peste ac pernicie cumque eorum exitio, qui se tecum omni scelere parricidioque junxerunt, proficiscere ad impium bellum ac nefarium.  Tu, Juppiter, qui eisdem quibus hæc urbs auspiciis a Romulo es constitutus, quem Statorem hujus urbis atque imperii vere nominamus, socios a tuis ceterisque templis, a tectis urbis ac mœnibus, a vita fortunisque civium omnium arcebis, et homines bonorum inimicos, hostes patriæ, latrones Italiæ, scelerum fœdere inter se ac nefaria societate conjunctos æternis suppliciis vivos mortuosque mactabis. Given these omens, Catiline, for the supreme welfare of the Commonwealth, to your own demise and destruction and to the downfall of those who have united with you for every crime and parricide, leave for your treasonous and evil war.  Thou, O Jupiter, who was established with the same auspices with which this city was founded by Romulus, thou whom we call in truth the Stayer of this city and empire, wilt ward this man and his allies off from thy altars and the other temples, from the homes and walls of the city, from the life and fortunes of all its citizens, and wilt punish the living and dead enemies of good men, the enemies of the fatherland, the brigands of Italy, joined together in a confederation of criminality and evil alliance, with eternal punishments.

ORATIO  IN  LUCIUM  CATILINAM  SECUNDA
HABITA AD POPULUM  (63 B.C., November 8)

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[1]Tandem aliquando, Quirites, Lucium Catilinam furentem audacia, scelus anhelantem, pestem patriæ nefarie molientem, vobis atque huic urbi ferro flammaque minitantem ex urbe vel ejecimus vel emisimus vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus.  Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit.  Nulla jam pernicies a monstro illo atque prodigio mœnibus ipsis intra mœnia comparabitur.  Atque hunc quidem unum hujus belli domestici ducem sine controversia vicimus.  Non enim jam inter latera nostra sica illa versabitur ;  non in campo, non in foro, non in curia, non denique intra domesticos parietes pertimescemus.  Loco ille motus est, quum28 est ex urbe depulsus.  Palam jam cum hoste nullo impediente bellum justum geremus.  Sine dubio perdidimus hominem magnificeque vicimus, quum29 illum ex occultis insidiis in apertum latrocinium conjecimus. Now finally, O Quirites, we have thrown Lucius Catiline — out of his mind with audacity, snorting crime, a plague working against the fatherland, threatening you and this city with fire and the sword — out of the city, or sent him out, or verbally followed him out as he himself was going out.  He has gone away, gone out, escaped, broken out.  No devastation will now be readied inside the walls against the walls themselves by that monster and enormity.  Moreover, we have uncontroversially won out over that sole general of this civil war.  For no longer will that dagger be turned against our sides;  we will not have to be afraid — not in the Campus Martius, not in the forum, not in the Senate House — not, finally, within the walls of our house.  He was removed from his position when he was forced out of the city.  We will now be waging war openly with the enemy, with no one in the way.  When we threw the man out of his hidden lairs into open brigandage, we clearly devastated him and won a magnificent victory.
  1. quum is here quum temporale (“[at the moment] when”):  the only association between the main clause and the quum clause is temporal, not causative.  Hence the main verb (depulsus … est) is (passive perfect) indicative.  Loco moveri is a military term in which locus means position, status or rank.  To be cast out of one’s position (de gradu dejici) is to lose the advantage of position.  Hence when an enemy is “moved from his position,” victory over him is certain.
  2. This quum is quum explicativum (“by …-ing, in …-ing;  through the action of …-ing”), sometimes also called “quum incidens” or “quum identicum”;  the subordinate (“hypotactic”) verb (conjecimus) is accordingly (active perfect) indicative.
[2]Quod vero non cruentum mucronem ut voluit extulit, quod vivis nobis egressus est, quod ei ferrum e manibus extorsimus, quod incolumes cives, quod stantem urbem reliquit, quanto tandem illum mærore esse afflictum et profligatum putatis ?  Jacet ille nunc prostratus, Quirites, et se perculsum atque abjectum esse sentit et retorquet oculos profecto sæpe ad hanc urbem quam e suis faucibus ereptam esse luget.  Quæ quidem mihi lætari videtur, quod tantam pestem evomuerit forasque projecerit. By how great grief now, do you imagine him to be afflicted and downcast, due to the fact that he did not carry out a bloody dagger the way he wanted, that he left with us still alive, that we twisted the sword out of his hands, that he left unscathed citizens, a city standing?  That man now lies prostrate, Quirites, and feels himself stricken and despondent, and certainly often turns his eyes back to this city, which he mourns as having been snatched from his jaws;  the city seems to me to be rejoicing because it has vomited out such a plague and thrown it outside.
[3]Ac si quis est talis — quales esse omnes oportebat — qui in hoc ipso in quo exsultat et triumphat oratio mea, me vehementer accuset, quod tam capitalem hostem non comprehenderim potius quam emiserim, non est ista mea culpa, Quirites, sed temporum.  Interfectum esse Lucium Catilinam et gravissimo supplicio affectum jampridem oportebat — idque a me et mos majorum et hujus imperii severitas et Rei Publicæ utilitas postulabat.  Sed quam multos fuisse putatis qui quæ ego deferrem non crederent, quam multos qui etiam defenderent, quam multos qui propter stultitiam conjurationem factam non putarent, quam multos qui propter improbitatem faverent ?  Ac si illo sublato depelli a vobis omne periculum judicarem, jampridem ego Lucium Catilinam non modo invidiæ meæ, verum etiam vitæ periculo sustulissem. But if there is anyone of such a nature — as everyone should be — who, in the very issue in which my speech exults and triumphs, should strongly accuse me of not having arrested such a deadly enemy rather than having sent him out, it is not my fault, Quirites, but those of the times.  It has long been called for for Lucius Catilina to have been executed and punished with the most severe punishment — and something which the customs of our forefathers and the gravity of this office and the interests of the Commonwealth have demanded of me.  But how many do you think there have been who would disbelieve the things I have reported, how many who would even defend him, how many who out of stupidity would not believe a conspiracy has been formed, how many who, due to their own depravity, would favor him!  Indeed, if I had thought that all danger would be warded off from you with his elimination, I would have eliminated him long ago, not just to my own disfavor, but even at the risk of my own life.
[4]Sed quum30 viderem, ne vobis quidem omnibus etiam tum re probata si illum, ut erat meritus, morte multassem, fore ut ejus socios invidia oppressus persequi non possem, rem huc deduxi ut tum palam pugnare possetis, quum31 hostem aperte videretis.  Quem quidem ego hostem, Quirites, quam vehementer foris esse timendum putem, licet hinc intellegatis, quod etiam illud moleste fero quod ex urbe parum comitatus exierit.  Utinam ille omnes secum suas copias eduxisset !  Tongilium mihi eduxit, quem amare in prætexta cœperat, Publicium et Minucium, quorum æs alienum contractum in popina nullum Rei Publicæ motum afferre poterat ;  reliquit quos viros, quanto ære alieno, quam valentes, quam nobiles ! But when I saw that, without the matter even then having been proved even to all of you, if I had punished him with death as he deserved, it would have happened that, being hindered by animosity, I would not have been able to pursue his accomplices, I brought the issue to this point so that you would be able to combat it publicly when you saw the enemy openly.  How greatly I myself believe this enemy, Quirites, is to be feared outside, you can understand from the fact that I am disturbed that he has left the city accompanied by too few.  Would that he had taken all of his forces out with him!  He took along Tongilius, whom he had begun to sodomize in boyhood dress;  Publicus and Minucius, whose debts, contracted in saloons, could not cause any disruption to the Commonwealth;  the men he left — with what debts, how powerful, how noble!
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  Cicero is here giving the reason why he did not punish the traitors.
  2. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when;  at the same time that”).  This normally takes the indicative, but is here subordinate to the conjunction ut (“so that”), which requires the subjunctive both in the tum clause (“possetis”) and the quum clause (“videretis”).  There is also something of a causal relationship between the quum and tum clauses here, which would also required the subjunctive after quum.
[5]Itaque ego illum exercitum præ Gallicanis legionibus et hoc dilectu quem in agro Piceno et Gallico Quintus Metellus habuit, et præ his copiis quæ a nobis cotidie comparantur, magno opere contemno collectum ex senibus desperatis, ex agresti luxuria, ex rusticis decoctoribus, ex eis qui vadimonia deserere quam illum exercitum maluerunt ;  quibus ego non modo si aciem exercitus nostri verum etiam si edictum prætoris ostendero, concident.  Hos, quos video volitare in foro, quos stare ad Curiam, quos etiam in Senatum venire, qui nitent unguentis, qui fulgent purpura, mallem secum suos milites eduxisset ;  qui si hic permanent, mementote non tam exercitum illum esse nobis quam hos qui exercitum deseruerunt pertimescendos.  Atque hoc etiam sunt timendi magis, quod quid cogitent me scire sentiunt, neque tamen permoventur. So quite aside from the Gallic legions and those recruits which Quintus Metellus has in the Picene and Gallic territories, and these forces which are daily being readied by us, I myself greatly despise the collection of desperate old men, of rural luxury, of rustic bankrupts, of those who have preferred to desert their court appointments rather than that army ;  not just if I show them the battle line of our army, but only the edict of the prætor, they will collapse.  I would prefer that he had led out along with himself those soldiers of his whom I see running around the forum, standing next to the Senate Building, even coming into the Senate, who glisten with ointments, shine with purple — those who, if they remain here, remember, are the ones we need to fear :  not so much that army as those who have deserted the army.  And they are to be feared even more than this because they are aware that I know what they are thinking, and yet are not stirred.
[6]Video, cui sit Apulia attributa, quis habeat Etruriam, quis agrum Picenum, quis Gallicum, quis sibi has urbanas insidias cædis atque incendiorum depoposcerit.  Omnia superioris noctis consilia ad me perlata esse sentiunt ;  patefeci in Senatu hesterno die ;  Catilina ipse pertimuit, profugit ;  hi quid exspectant ?  Ne illi vehementer errant, si illam meam pristinam lenitatem perpetuam sperant futuram.  Quod exspectavi jam sum assecutus, ut vos omnes factam esse aperte conjurationem contra Rem Publicam videretis ;  nisi vero si quis est qui Catilinæ similes cum Catilina sentire non putet.  Non est jam lenitati locus ;  severitatem res ipsa flagitat.  Unum etiam nunc concedam :  exeant, proficiscantur, ne patiantur desiderio sui Catilinam miserum tabescere.  Demonstrabo iter :  Aurelia via profectus est ;  si accelerare volent, ad vesperam consequentur. I see to whom Apulia has been allotted, who has Etruria, who the Picene territory, who the Gallic, who has demanded for himself these urban onslaughts of murder and arson.  They are aware that all these plans of the night before last have been reported to me;  I revealed them yesterday in the Senate;  Catiline himself was struck with fear;  he has fled;  what are these men waiting for?  They are most certainly wrong if they hope that that former leniency of mine will be unending.  I have now achieved what I was waiting for — so that all of you might see that an open conspiracy had been set up against the Commonwealth; — unless, of course, there is someone who does not believe that those like Catiline concur with Catiline.  There is now no room for leniency;  the conditions themselves require severity.  Yet I will now concede one thing:  let them leave, let them go forth, let them not allow poor Catiline to languish from his desire for them.  I will show the route:  he left by the Aurelian Way;  if they will want to make haste, they will catch up to him by nightfall.
[7]O fortunatam Rem Publicam, si quidem hanc sentinam urbis ejecerit !  Uno mehercule Catilina exhausto, levata mihi et recreata Res Publica videtur.  Quid enim mali aut sceleris fingi aut cogitari potest, quod non ille conceperit ?  Quis tota Italia veneficus, quis gladiator, quis latro, quis sicarius, quis parricida, quis testamentorum subjector, quis circumscriptor, quis ganeo, quis nepos, quis adulter, quæ mulier infamis, quis corruptor juventutis, quis corruptus, quis perditus inveniri potest qui se cum Catilina non familiarissime vixisse fateatur ?  Quæ cædes per hosce annos sine illo facta est, quod nefarium stuprum non per illum ? O lucky Commonwealth, if it has indeed thrown this bilge out of the city!  Good gods, with Catiline alone cast out, the Commonwealth seems to me to be relieved and refreshed.  For what evil or crime can be invented or thought up that he did not conceive?  What poisoner in all Italy, what gladiator, brigand, assassin, parricide, counterfeiter of wills, swindler, debauchee, spendthrift, adulterer, wanton woman, corruptor of youth, what corrupted man, what degenerate can be found who would not confess having lived with Catiline on most familiar terms?  What murder has been committed during these years without him;  what unspeakable sexual act not through his mediation?
[8]Jam vero quæ tanta unquam in ullo juventutis illecebra fuit quanta in illo ?  Qui alios ipse amabat turpissime, aliorum amori flagitiosissime serviebat, aliis fructum libidinum, aliis mortem parentum non modo impellendo verum etiam adjuvando pollicebatur.  Nunc vero quam subito non solum ex urbe verum etiam ex agris ingentem numerum perditorum hominum collegerat !  Nemo non modo Romæ sed ne in uno quidem angulo totius Italiæ oppressus ære alieno fuit quem non ad hoc incredibile sceleris fœdus asciverit. Indeed, what such enticements to youth have ever existed in any man as in him?  He himself made love to other men in the foulest manner;  he assisted the lust of others in the most degrading way;  to some he promised the fruit of their desires — to others, the murder of their parents, not only urging them to it but even helping them in it.  But now, how suddenly had he gathered, not just out of the city but even from the countryside, an enormous number of profligate men!  There has been no debt-swamped man, not only in Rome but not even in any corner of all Italy, whom he has not summoned to this unbelievable alliance of criminality.
[9]Atque ut ejus diversa studia in dissimili ratione perspicere possitis, nemo est in ludo gladiatorio paulo ad facinus audacior qui se non intimum Catilinæ esse fateatur, nemo in scæna lĕvior et nequior qui se non ejusdem prope sodalem fuisse commemoret.  Atque idem tamen stuprorum et scelerum exercitatione assuefactus frigore et fame et siti et vigiliis perferundis, fortis ab istis prædicabatur, quum32 industriæ subsidia atque instrumenta virtutis in libidine audaciaque consumeret. And so that you may really see his different pursuits in dissimilar ways:  there is no one in the gladiatorial schools little bolder in crimes who would not confess himself to be an intimate of Catiline, no one in the theater more irresponsible and worthless who would not speak of himself as having been almost an associate of his.  And yet that same man, conditioned by the practice of disgrace and criminality to enduring cold and hunger and thirst and staying awake, was praised by them as strong, while he squandered his resources of diligence and powers of virtue in lust and audacity.
  1. quum is here quum adversativum (“whereas ;  while”).  The subordinate clause introduces an implied contrast with what Catiline should have done.
[10]Hunc vero si secuti erunt sui comites, si ex urbe exierint desperatorum hominum flagitiosi greges, o nos beatos, o Rem Publicam fortunatam, o præclaram laudem consulatus mei !  Non enim jam sunt mediocres hominum libidines, non humanæ ac tolerandæ audaciæ.  Nihil cogitant nisi cædem, nisi incendia, nisi rapinas.  Patrimonia sua profuderunt, fortunas suas obligaverunt ;  res eos jampridem, fides nuper deficere cœpit ;  eadem tamen illa, quæ erat in abundantia, libido permanet.  Quodsi in vino et alea comissationes solum et scorta quærerent, essent illi quidem desperandi, sed tamen essent ferendi ;  hoc vero quis ferre possit, inertes homines fortissimis viris insidiari, stultissimos prudentissimis, ebriosos sobriis, dormientes vigilantibus ?  Qui mihi, accubantes in conviviis, complexi mulieres impudicas, vino languidi, conferti cibo, sertis redimiti, unguentis oblĭti, debilitati stupris, eructant sermonibus suis cædem bonorum atque urbis incendia. But if his comrades go ahead and follow him, if those vile gangs of desperate men leave the city — O how gratified we shall be, O how fortunate the Commonwealth, O what brilliant praise for my consulate!  For these are not now the moderate desires of men, not human and tolerable aggressiveness.  They think of nothing but murder, arson, pillage.  They have dissipated their inheritances, mortgaged their fortunes, their assets have long since deserted them, their credit has recently begun to fail;  still, that same desire that was theirs during their abundance, remains.  But if in their wine and gambling they were looking only for orgies and whores, those men would admittedly be beyond hope, but would nonetheless be tolerable.  But who can tolerate having cowardly men lie in ambush against the bravest, the dullest against the most intelligent, drunkards aginst the sober, sleepers against the waking?  Men who, reclining at their banquets, embracing shameless women, languid with wine, stuffed with food, wreathed with garlands, smeared with ointments, enervated by debauchery, with their talk belch out to me about murdering good men and firing the city.
[11]Quibus ego confido impendēre fatum aliquod et pœnam jam diu improbitati, nequitiæ, sceleri, libidini debitam aut instare jam plane aut certe appropinquare.  Quos si meus consulatus — quoniam sanare non potest — sustulerit, non breve nescio quod tempus, sed multa sæcula propagarit Rei Publicæ.  Nulla est enim natio quam pertimescamus, nullus rex qui bellum populo Romano facere possit :  omnia sunt externa unius33 virtute terra marique pacata.  Domesticum bellum manet, intus insidiæ sunt, intus inclusum periculum est, intus est hostis :  cum luxuria nobis, cum amentia, cum scelere certandum est.  Huic ego me bello ducem profiteor, Quirites ;  suscipio inimicitias hominum perditorum ;  quæ sanari poterunt, quacunque ratione sanabo ;  quæ resecanda erunt, non patiar ad perniciem civitatis manere.  Proinde aut exeant aut quiescant aut, si et in urbe et in eadem mente permanent, ea quæ merentur exspectent. I am confident that some doom is impending over them, and a punishment now long due for their depravity, wickedness, criminality and lust is either now clearly looming before them or definitely approaching.  If my consulate removes those men whom it cannot heal, it will have added to the Commonwealth not some short time, but many centuries.  For there is no nation whom we might fear, no king who could make war on the Roman people.  Everything abroad has been pacified on land and sea by the power of a single man30;  domestic war is left, the ambushes are within, the danger is enclosed inside, the enemy is inside.  We must fight with prodigality, with madness, with crime.  I offer myself, Romans, as the leader in this war.  I am taking on the enmity of depraved men.  The things that can be cured, I will cure by whatever means;  the things that have to be excised, I will not allow to remain to the destruction of the state.  Consequently, let them leave or keep quiet or, if they remain both in the city and in the same mindset, let them look forward to what they have been meriting.
  1. Gnæus Pompejus Magnus
[12]At etiam sunt, qui dicant, Quirites, a me ejectum in exilium esse Catilinam.  Quod ego si verbo assequi possem, istos ipsos ejicerem, qui hæc loquuntur.  Homo enim videlicet timidus aut etiam permodestus vocem consulis ferre non potuit ;  simul atque ire in exilium jussus est, paruit.  Qui ut …. —  Hesterno die, Quirites, quum34 domi meæ pæne interfectus essem, Senatum in ædem Jovis Statoris convocavi, rem omnem ad patres conscriptos detuli.  Quo quum35 Catilina venisset, quis eum Senator appellavit, quis salutavit, quis denique ita aspexit ut perditum civem — ac non potius ut importunissimum hostem ?  Quin etiam principes ejus ordinis partem illam subselliorum ad quam ille accesserat nudam atque inanem reliquerunt. But, Romans, there are even those who say Catilina was thrown out into exile by me.  If with a word I could achieve that, I would eject those same men that say that.  For no doubt the apprehensive or even extremely modest man could not bear the voice of the consul;  as soon as he was ordered to go into exile, he obeyed.  So that he …. — Yesterday, Romans, after having almost been murdered in my own home, I convoked the Senate in the temple of Jupiter the Stayer;  I reported the whole thing to the Conscript Fathers.  After Catilina had arrived there, what Senator addressed him, who greeted him ?  Finally, who looked on him thus as a wasted citizen — and not, rather, as an extremely insolent enemy?  Indeed, the leaders of that order left that part of the benches to which he went, bare and empty.
  1. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum (“when ;  after … -ing”) and to a certain extent causale (“since ;  given that”).  It describes both the circumstances of the Senate’s convocation and also the reason for it.
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum (“when ;  after … -ing”)  This clause introduces the connection between Catiline’s arrival in the Senate and the Senators’ hostility, negatively expressed.  (When he arrived) “Who saluted him civilly?” = (In reaction to his arrival) “They all spurned him.”
[13]Hīc ego, vehemens ille consul qui verbo cives in exilium ejicio, quæsivi a Catilina, in nocturno conventu apud Marcum Læcam fuisset necne.  Quum36 ille homo audacissimus conscientia convictus primo reticuisset, patefeci cetera ;  quid ea nocte egisset, ubi fuisset, quid in proximam constituisset, quem ad modum esset ei ratio totius belli descripta, edocui.  Quum37 hæsitaret, quum37 teneretur, quæsivi quid dubitaret proficisci eo quo jampridem pararet, quum38 arma, quum38 secures, quum38 fasces, quum38 tubas, quum38 signa militaria, quum38 aquilam illam argenteam cui ille etiam sacrarium domi suæ fecerat, scirem esse præmissam. At this point I, that fierce consul who with a word throw citizens into exile, asked of Catiline whether he had been in a night meeting at Marcus Léca’s place or not.  Given that that extremely audacious man, convicted by his own awareness, was at first silent, I revealed the rest;  I detailed what he had done that night, where he had been, what he had decided for the next day, how the operation of the whole war had been laid out by him.  When he paused, when he faltered, I asked why he hesitated to leave to where he had long been preparing things when I knew that the arms, the axes, the rod-bundles, the trumpets, the military standards, that silver eagle to which he had built a shrine in his own home, had been sent on ahead.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  I.e., in response to the fact that Catiline did not answer.
  2. quum is here likewise quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  Catiline’s hesitation is given as the reason for Cicero’s further questions.
  3. quum here again quum causale.  “Because I knew (scirem) all these things … ” (he should have left, so why did he not?)
[14]In exilium ejiciebam quem jam ingressum esse in bellum videbam ?  Etenim, credo, Manlius iste centurio qui in agro Fæsulano castra posuit, bellum populo Romano suo nomine indixit, et illa castra nunc non Catilinam ducem exspectant, et ille ejectus in exilium se Massiliam, ut ajunt, non in hæc castra conferet.  O condicionem miseram non modo administrandæ, verum etiam conservandæ Rei Publicæ !  Nunc si Lucius Catilina consiliis, laboribus, periculis meis circumclusus ac debilitatus subito pertimuerit, sententiam mutaverit, deseruerit suos, consilium belli faciendi abjecerit et, ex hoc cursu sceleris ac belli, iter ad fugam atque in exilium converterit, non ille a me spoliatus armis audaciæ, non obstupefactus ac perterritus mea diligentia, non de spe conatuque depulsus, sed indemnatus innocens in exilium ejectus a consule vi et minis esse dicetur39 ;  et erunt qui illum, si hoc fecerit, non improbum sed miserum, me non diligentissimum consulem sed crudelissimum tyrannum existimari velint ! Was I throwing into exile the man that I saw had already launched into war?  After all, I suppose, Manlius, that centurion who set up camp in the Fæsulan fields, declared war on the Roman people in his own name, and now that camp is not waiting for Catiline as its general;  and he, driven into exile, was betaking himself, according to what they say, to Marseilles, not to that camp.  O what a hard role not just of governing, but also of preserving the Commonwealth !  If now Lucius Catilina, hemmed in and weakened by my strategies, labors and perils, were suddenly to take fright, change his mind, desert his men, abandon his plan of making war and switch his path from that trajectory of crime and war to flight and into exile, he will not be said to have been stripped by me of his weapons of audacity, not transfixed and terrified by my careful work, not driven off of his hopes and attempts, but uncondemned, innocent, cast into exile by the consul through force and threats;  and there are those who, if he did that, would not want to consider him evil, but to be pitied, and me not a highly conscientious consul, but an extremely cruel tyrant!
  1. Note that dīcētur is here passive.  While dīcere in active voice in introducing indirect discourse usually takes the Accusativus cum Infinitivo (AcI), in the passive it frequently takes a Nominativus cum Infinitivo (NcI).  Cf. Hermann Menge, Lehrbuch der lateinischen Syntax und Semantik, Völlig neu bearbeitet von Thorsten Burkard und Markus Schauer (Darmstadt:  Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2000), § 491 „Der NcI bei den Passivformen der Verba dicendi et sentiendi:  (1) Häufig findet sich der NcI bei den Passivformen folgender Verba dicendi et sentiendi, die im Aktiv mit dem AcI (vgl. § 491,2a-b.e) verbunden werden:  dicor ;  negor ;  putor ;  existimor ;  judicor ;  audior ….”  See also op. cit., §§ 488-492 on NcI in general.
[15]Est mihi tanti, Quirites, hujus invidiæ falsæ atque iniquæ tempestatem subire, dummodo a vobis hujus horribilis belli ac nefarii periculum depellatur.  Dicatur40 sane ejectus esse a me, dummodo eat in exilium.  Sed, mihi credite, non est iturus.  Nunquam ego a dis immortalibus optabo, Quirites, invidiæ meæ levandæ causa ut Lucium Catilinam ducere exercitum hostium atque in armis volitare audiatis, sed triduo tamen audietis ;  multoque magis illud timeo ne mihi sit invidiosum aliquando quod illum emiserim potius quam quod ejecerim.  Sed quum41 sint homines qui illum, quum42 profectus sit, ejectum esse dicant, iidem, si interfectus esset, quid dicerent ? It is worth my while, O Romans, to undergo the storm of this false and unjust antagonism, as long as the peril of this horrible and sacrilegious war can be averted from you.  Let him be said to have been cast out by me, as long as he goes into exile.  But believe me, he is not about to go.  Never will I pray of the immortal gods, O Romans, for the sake of relieving my unpopularity, that you should hear that Lucius Catiline is leading an army of enemies and running around under arms — but in three days you will hear it nonetheless.  And I fear much more that at some point it will be to my infamy that I have let him slip out free rather than exiled him.  But when there are men who, when he has departed, say he was exiled, what would those same ones say if he had been executed?
  1. Dicatur is subjunctive of command (concessive-optative subjunctive).  Dicatur sane = “By all means let him be said.”
  2. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  As it is, the unnamed homines claim Catiline was hounded out unjustly because he left on his own.
  3. quum is again quum causale (“in the case where ;  due to a situation in which”).  Parallel to the last quum-clause, but intensified:  “What would they say as a result of a much more drastic (because capital) punishment?”
[16]Quanquam isti, qui Catilinam Massiliam ire dictitant non tam hoc queruntur quam verentur.  Nemo est istorum tam misericors qui illum non ad Manlium quam ad Massilienses ire malit.  Ille autem, si mehercule hoc quod agit nunquam antea cogitasset, tamen latrocinantem se interfici mallet quam exulem vivere.  Nunc vero, quum43 ei nihil adhuc præter ipsius voluntatem cogitationemque acciderit (nisi quod vivis nobis Roma profectus est), optemus potius, ut eat in exilium quam queramur. On the other hand, those who keep saying that Catiline is going to Marseille not so much complain it that as fear it.  None of them is so merciful that he would not prefer him to go to Manlius rather than to Marseilles.  But if, by Hercules, he had never before thought about what he is doing, he would still prefer to be killed marauding than to live as an exile.  But now, since hitherto nothing has happened to him besides his own will and intention (except that he has left Rome with us still alive), let us, instead of complaining, hope that he goes into exile.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  The clause gives the reason for hoping for Catiline’s self-exile.
[17]Sed cur tam diu de uno hoste loquimur et de eo hoste qui jam fatetur se esse hostem et quem, quia, quod semper volui, murus interest, non timeo ;  de his, qui dissimulant, qui Romæ remanent, qui nobiscum sunt, nihil dicimus ?  Quos quidem ego, si ullo modo fieri possit, non tam ulcisci studeo quam sanare sibi ipsos, placare Rei Publicæ, neque, id quare fieri non possit, si me audire volent, intellego.  Exponam enim vobis, Quirites, ex quibus generibus hominum istæ copiæ comparentur ;  deinde singulis medicinam consilii atque orationis meæ, si quam potero, afferam. But why do we talk so much about a single enemy, and about that enemy who has already confessed that he is an enemy and whom, since — as I have always wanted — a wall is between us, I do not fear?  Are we saying nothing about those who are dissembling, who remain in Rome, who are with us?  These same men I am striving, if it is in any way possible, not so much to punish as to restore to themselves, to reconcile to the Commonwealth — nor do I understand why it should not be possible to do that if they should want to listen to me.  I will explain to you, O Romans, of what types of men those troops are made;  then I will proffer — if so far as possible I am able — the medicine of my advice and speech for each of them.
[18]Unum genus est eorum qui, magno in ære alieno, majores etiam possessiones habent, quarum amore adducti dissolvi nullo modo possunt.  Horum hominum species est honestissima (sunt enim locupletes), voluntas vero et causa impudentissima.  Tu agris, tu ædificiis, tu argento, tu familia, tu rebus omnibus ornatus et copiosus sis — et dubites de possessione detrahere, acquirere ad fidem ?  Quid enim exspectas ?  Bellum ?  Quid ergo ?  In vastatione omnium tuas possessiones sacrosanctas futuras putas ?  An tabulas novas ?  Errant, qui istas a Catilina exspectant ;  meo beneficio tabulæ novæ proferentur, verum auctionariæ ;  neque enim isti qui possessiones habent alia ratione ulla salvi esse possunt.  Quod si maturius facere voluissent neque — id quod stultissimum est — certare cum usuris fructibus prædiorum, et locupletioribus his et melioribus civibus uteremur.  Sed hosce homines minime puto pertimescendos, quod aut deduci de sententia possunt aut, si permanebunt, magis mihi videntur vota facturi contra Rem Publicam quam arma laturi. One class is of those who, in great debt, have larger possessions, attracted by the love of which they can in no way be extricated.  The appearance of these men is quite honorable (for they are rich), but their intentions and motive shameless.  You are endowed with and rich in landed property, buildings, silver plate, retinues of slaves — everything :  and you hesitate to take away from your assets — to increase your financial credit?  So what are you waiting for?  War?  What, therefore?  You think that amidst the devastation of everything your possessions will be inviolable?  Or the cancellation of your debts?  Those who expect that of Catiline are mistaken:  through my kindness debt cancellation will be brought about alright, but on the auction block.  Nor can those who have possessions be saved by any other means.  If they had been willing to do this earlier and not — what is extremely foolish — struggle with the interest by using the income from their estates, we would be dealing with them as richer and better citizens.  But I think these men hardly to be feared, because they can either be led away from their intentions or, if they persist, they seem to me more to likely to make adjurations against the Commonwealth than to bear arms against it.
[19]Alterum genus est eorum qui, quanquam premuntur ære alieno, dominationem tamen exspectant, rerum potiri volunt, honores quos quieta Re Publica desperant, perturbata se consequi posse arbitrantur.  Quibus hoc præcipiendum videtur, unum scilicet et idem quod reliquis omnibus, ut desperent se id quod conantur consequi posse ;  primum omnium me ipsum vigilare, adesse, providere Rei Publicæ ;  deinde magnos animos esse in bonis viris, magnam concordiam maxima in multitudine, magnas præterea militum copias ;  deos denique immortales huic invicto populo, clarissimo imperio, pulcherrimæ urbi contra tantam vim sceleris, præsentes auxilium esse laturos.  Quodsi jam sint id quod summo furore cupiunt adepti, num illi — in cinere urbis et in sanguine civium, quæ mente conscelerata ac nefaria concupiverunt — consules se aut dictatores aut etiam reges sperant futuros ?  Non vident id se cupere, quod si adepti sint, fugitivo alicui aut gladiatori concedi sit necesse ? There is a second class of them who, although they are swamped by debt, are nonetheless looking for domination;  they want to gain control;  they think that the honors which they despair of in a peaceful Commonwealth, they can achieve in a chaotic one.  It seems that this admonition — namely the one and same thing as to everyone else — should be given to these men:  that they should give up hope of being able to achieve what they are striving for ;  first of all, that I myself am watching, am present and looking out for the Commonwealth;  then that there is great courage in our good men, great concord, a great multitude of them and, besides, great numbers of soldiers;  finally, that the immortal gods, being present, will lend aid to this unconquered people, its glorious empire, this most beautiful city, against such a force of criminality.  But if they were to achieve what they in their consummate madness desire, are those men hoping — in the ashes of the city and the blood of its citizens which they lust after with their criminal and evil minds — to become consuls or dictators or even kings?  Do they not see that they are desiring what, if they gain it, must of necessity be yielded to some fugitive slave or gladiator?
[20]Tertium genus est ætate jam affectum sed tamen exercitatione robustum ;  quo ex genere iste est Manlius cui nunc Catilina succedit.  Hi sunt homines ex eis coloniis quas Sulla constituit.  Quas ego universas civium esse optimorum et fortissimorum virorum sentio, sed tamen hi sunt coloni qui se in insperatis ac repentinis pecuniis sumptuosius insolentiusque jactarunt.  Hi — dum ædificant tanquam beati, dum rædis, lecticis, familiis magnis, conviviis apparatis delectantur — in tantum æs alienum inciderunt ut, si salvi esse velint, Sulla sit eis ab inferis excitandus ;  qui etiam non nullos agrestes homines tenues atque egentes in eandem illam spem rapinarum veterum impulerunt.  Quos ego utrosque in eodem genere prædatorum direptorumque pono, sed eos hoc moneo :  desinant furere ac proscriptiones et dictaturas cogitare.  Tantus enim illorum temporum dolor inustus est huic civitati, ut jam ista non modo homines, sed ne pecudes quidem mihi passuræ esse videantur. The third type is already somewhat advanced in age, but nonetheless strong by dint of exercise.  To this class belongs Manlius himself, whom Catiline is now taking over from.  These are men from those colonies that Sulla set up, which I feel are on the whole of the finest and bravest men.  Nonetheless there are those colonists who too extravagantly and insolently go to excess in their unexpected and sudden riches.  These men — while they build like wealthy men, while they enjoy stagecoaches, litters, large retinues of slaves, elaborate banquets — have fallen into such debt that, if they would like to be debt-free, Sulla would have to be raised from the grave for them.  They have even pushed some rustics, impoverished and needy, to that same hope of pillage of bygone days.  Both of these I place in the same class of pillagers and plunderers, but I warn them:  they should cease their raving and thinking about proscriptions and dictatorships.  For the pain of those times was branded into the state to such an extent, that now not just humans, but not even the very cattle would seem to me to endure them.
[21]Quartum genus est sane varium et mixtum et turbulentum.  Qui jampridem premuntur, qui nunquam emergunt, qui partim inertia, partim male gerendo negotio, partim etiam sumptibus in vetere ære alieno vacillant, qui vadimoniis, judiciis, proscriptione bonorum defetigati permulti et ex urbe et ex agris se in illa castra conferre dicuntur.  Hosce ego non tam milites acres quam infitiatores lentos esse arbitror.  Qui homines quam primum, si stare non possunt, corruant — sed ita ut non modo civitas sed ne vicini quidem proximi sentiant.  Nam illud non intellego quam ob rem, si vivere honeste non possunt, perire turpiter velint aut cur minore dolore perituros se cum multis quam si soli pereant arbitrentur. The fourth class, of course, is varied and mixed and heterogenous:  they have long been pressed under, they never get up to the surface;  they flounder in debt of long standing partly through laziness, partly by badly managing their affairs, partly also by prodigality.  Worn out with bail bonds, verdicts, property confiscation, a great many both from the city and the countryside are said to be flowing to that camp.  I think these are not so much energetic soldiers as lazy shirkers.  If these men cannot stand, let them fall as soon as possible, but in such a way that not only the Commonwealth but not even those nearest them feel it.  For I do not understand how, if they cannot live honorably, they would wish to perish disgracefully, or why they might think they will perish with less suffering with many than if they perish alone.
[22]Quintum genus est parricidarum, sicariorum, denique omnium facinerosorum.  Quos ego a Catilina non revoco ;  nam neque ab eo divelli possunt et pereant sane in latrocinio, quoniam sunt ita multi ut eos carcer capere non possit. The fifth class is that of parricides, daggermen and, finally, of all criminals.  I am not recalling them from Catiline, both since can they not be torn away from him and they should by all means perish in their brigandage because there are so many that the prison cannot contain them.
Postremum autem genus est non solum numero verum etiam genere ipso atque vita quod proprium Catiliæ est, de ejus dilectu, immo vero de complexu ejus ac sinu ;  quos pexo capillo nitidos aut imberbes aut bene barbatos videtis, manicatis et talaribus tunicis, velis amictos, non togis ;  quorum omnis industria vitæ et vigilandi labor in antelucanis cenis expromitur. The last class is so not only in sequence but also by its very nature and lifestyle is one that is Catiline’s own, of his choosing, indeed of his embrace and bosom;  whom you see elegant with their combed hair, or beardless or prettily bearded, dressed in sleeved and ankle-length tunics — drapes, not togas;  whose whole activity of life and waking labor is taken up with banquets lasting to pre-dawn.
[23]In his gregibus omnes aleatores, omnes adulteri, omnes impuri impudicique versantur.  Hi pueri tam lepidi ac delicati non solum amare et amari, neque saltare et cantare sed etiam sicas vibrare et spargere venena didicerunt.  Qui nisi exeunt, nisi pereunt, etiamsi Catilina perierit, scitote hoc in Re Publica seminarium Catilinarum futurum.  Verum tamen quid sibi isti miseri volunt ?  Num suas secum mulierculas sunt in castra ducturi ?  Quem ad modum autem illis carere poterunt, his præsertim jam noctibus ?  Quo autem pacto illi Appenninum atque illas pruinas ac nives perferent ?  Nisi idcirco se facilius hiemem toleraturos putant, quod nudi in conviviis saltare didicerunt. All of the gamblers, all of the adulterers, all of the impure and shameless ones are concentrated in these groups.  These boys, so dainty and delicate, have learned not only to make love as well as dance and sing, but also to brandish daggers and sprinkle poison.  Realize that, unless they leave, unless they perish, even if Catiline will have died, this will be a seedbed for Catilines in the Commonwealth.  Indeed, what do these wretches want anyway?  They aren’t really going to drag their mistresses with them into the camp, are they?  But how can they do without them, especially now, in these nights?  Moreover. how are those people going to endure the Appenines and those frosts and snows?  Unless they think that they will more easily tolerate the wintertime as a result of the fact that they have learned to dance nude in their parties.
[24]O bellum magno opere pertimescendum, quum44 hanc sit habiturus Catilina scortorum cohortem prætoriam !  Instruite nunc, Quirites, contra has tam præclaras Catilinæ copias, vestra præsidia vestrosque exercitus.  Et primum gladiatori illi confecto et saucio consules imperatoresque vestros opponite ;  deinde contra illam naufragorum ejectam ac debilitatam manum florem totius Italiæ ac robur educite.  Jam vero urbes coloniarum ac municipiorum respondebunt Catilinæ tumulis silvestribus.  Neque ego ceteras copias, ornamenta, præsidia vestra cum illius latronis inopia atque egestate conferre debeo. O war greatly to be feared, since Catiline will have this pretorian guard of whores!  Now, O Romans, line up your defense forces and your armies against such magnificent troops of Catiline as these.  And, firstly, oppose your consuls and generals to that spent and wounded gladiator;  then lead out the elite and strength of all Italy against that castaway and debilitated band of shipwrecked men.  Unquestionably, the cities of the colonies and municipalities will offset Catiline’s forested hills next.  And I do not have to compare your other troops, equipment, defenses with that robber’s deficiency and poverty.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  The “pretorian guard” of whores is sarcastically given as the reason for fearing the war.
[25]Sed si, omissis his rebus quibus nos suppeditamur, eget ille — Senatu, equitibus Romanis, populo Romano, urbe, ærario, vectigalibus, cuncta Italia, provinciis omnibus, exteris nationibus —, si, his rebus omissis, causas ipsas, quæ inter se confligunt, contendere velimus, ex eo ipso quam valde illi jaceant intellegere possumus.  Ex hac enim parte pudor pugnat, illinc petulantia ;  hinc pudicitia, illinc stuprum ;  hinc fides, illinc fraudatio ;  hinc pietas, illinc scelus ;  hinc constantia, illinc furor ;  hinc honestas, illinc turpitudo ;  hinc continentia, illinc libido ;  hinc denique æquitas, temperantia, fortitudo, prudentia, virtutes omnes certant cum iniquitate, luxuria, ignavia, temeritate, cum vitiis omnibus ;  postremo copia cum egestate, bona ratio cum perdita, mens sana cum amentia — bona denique spes cum omnium rerum desperatione confligit.  In ejus modi certamine ac prœlio nonne, etiam si hominum studia deficiant, di ipsi immortales cogant45 ab his præclarissimis virtutibus tot et tanta vitia superari ? But if, dropping those things in which we are well supplied, but he in want of — the Senate, Roman knights, the city, the treasury, taxes, all Italy, all the provinces, foreign nations —, if, aside from these things, we wish to compare the causes themselves which are opposed to one another, we can understand from that fact itself how very prostrate they are.  For on this side modesty fights, on that side wantonness;  here chastity, there unchastity;  here probity, there fraud;  here dutiful respect, there heinousness;  here self-control, there frenzy;  here high character, there disgrace;  here continence, there lust;  finally, fairness, temperance, bravery, foresight — all virtues — compete with injustice, dissipation, cowardice, rashness, with all vices;  lastly, abundance fights with want, good reasoning with perverse, the sane mind with madness — in short, good hope with despair of everything.  In this kind of struggle and battle, if the efforts of men were deficient, would not the immortal gods themselves force so many and such great vices to be overcome by these splended virtues?
  1. cogant is here the subjunctive in apodosis of a less vivid future condition (the protasis being « si hominum studia deficiant »).  It approximates a deliberative subjunctive in a rhetorical question.
[26]Quæ quum46 ita sint, Quirites, vos, quem ad modum jam antea dixi, vestra tecta custodiis vigiliisque defendite ;  mihi, ut urbi sine vestro motu ac sine ullo tumultu satis esset præsidii, consultum atque provisum est.  Coloni omnes municipesque vestri, certiores a me facti de hac nocturna excursione Catilinæ, facile urbes suas finesque defendent ;  gladiatores, quam sibi ille manum certissimam fore putavit, quanquam animo meliore sunt quam pars patriciorum, potestate tamen nostra continebuntur.  Quintus Metellus, quem ego hoc prospiciens in agrum Gallicum Picenumque præmisi, aut opprimet hominem aut ejus omnes motus conatusque prohibebit.  Reliquis autem de rebus constituendis, maturandis, agendis, jam ad Senatum referemus, quem vocari videtis. Since this is the case, Romans, as I have said before, defend your houses with guards and watchmen;  things have been planned and organized by me so that without disruption on your part and without any upheaval, there might be enough protection.  All your colonist and municipalitan fellow citizens, alerted by me of this departure of Catiline by night, will easily defend their cities and territories;  the gladiators, whom he thought would be the firmest group for him, although they are of better courage than some of the patricians, will nonetheless be held in check by our power.  Quintus Metellus, whom I, foreseeing this, sent ahead to the Gallic and Picene territory, will either overwhelm the man or block all of his maneuvers and thrusts.  As regards deciding, expediting, performing the rest, we will next report to the Senate, which you see being called in.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  “Since these things are so…,” “Given [all] this….”  A frequently occurring phrase which introduces a logical consequence.
[27]Nunc illos qui in urbe remanserunt — atque adeo qui contra urbis salutem omniumque vestrum in urbe a Catilina relicti sunt —, quanquam sunt hostes, tamen, quia nati sunt cives, monitos etiam atque etiam volo.  Mea lenitas adhuc si cui solutior visa est, hoc exspectavit ut id quod latebat erumperet.  Quod reliquum est, jam non possum oblivisci meam hanc esse patriam, me horum esse consulem, mihi aut cum his vivendum aut pro his esse moriendum.  Nullus est portis custos, nullus insidiator viæ ;  si qui exire volunt, conivere possum ;  qui vero se in urbe commoverit, cujus ego non modo factum, sed vel inceptum ullum conatumve contra patriam deprehendero, sentiet in hac urbe esse consules vigilantes, esse egregios magistratus, esse fortem Senatum, esse arma, esse carcerem quem vindicem nefariorum ac manifestorum scelerum majores nostri esse voluerunt. Now I want those who have remained in the city — or rather, who have been left in the city by Catiline against the safety of the city and of all of you —, even though they are enemies, nonetheless, because they were born as citizens, to have been warned again and again.  My leniency hitherto, if to anyone it has seemed more remiss, has waited only for this:  that that which has been lying in hiding should break out.  As for the future, I can no longer forget that this is my fatherland, I am consul of these people, that I must either live with them or die for them.  There is no guard at the gates, no ambusher on the road;  if anyone wishes to leave, I can look the other way;  but he who takes action in the city, of whom I should detect not just the deed, but any initiation or attempt against the fatherland, will discover that in this city there are vigilant consuls, excellent magistrates, a powerful Senate, weapons, an execution chamber which our ancestors intended to be as punishment for wicked and manifest crimes.
[28]Atque hæc omnia sic agentur ut maximæ res minimo motu, pericula summa nullo tumultu, bellum intestinum ac domesticum post hominum memoriam crudelissimum et maximum, me uno togato duce et imperatore sedetur.  Quod ego sic administrabo, Quirites, ut, si ullo modo fieri poterit, ne improbus quidem quisquam in hac urbe pœnam sui sceleris sufferat.  Sed si vis manifestæ audaciæ, si impendens patriæ periculum me necessario de hac animi lenitate deduxerit, illud profecto perficiam quod in tanto et tam insidioso bello vix optandum47 videtur, ut neque bonus quisquam intereat paucorumque pœna vos omnes salvi esse possitis. And all these things will be done in such a manner, O Romans, that extremely grave things will be settled with the least disturbance, the greatest perils with no upheaval — a civil and domestic war, the cruelest and greatest in human memory with me alone, in civilian clothes, as leader and general.  I will arrange it so, O Romans, that, if it can in any way be, not even any malefactor in this city will suffer the punishment for his crime.  But if the force of open audacity, if a looming danger to the fatherland should necessarily force me from this temperamental leniency, I will most definitely see to what in such a great and treacherous war hardly seems wishable — that no good man at all may perish and, through the punishment of a few, all of you may be safe.
  1. vix optandum (”hardly to be hoped for,“ “hardly wishable”):  the gerundive participle in -ndus/-nda/-ndum in classical prose signifies possibility only when joined with the particle vix.
[29]Quæ quidem ego neque mea prudentia neque humanis consiliis fretus polliceor vobis, Quirites, sed multis et non dubiis deorum immortalium significationibus quibus ego ducibus in hanc spem sententiamque sum ingressus.  Qui jam non procul, ut quondam solebant, ab externo hoste atque longinquo, sed hic præsentes suo numine atque auxilio sua templa atque urbis tecta defendunt.  Quos vos, Quirites, precari, venerari, implorare debetis ut, quam urbem pulcherrimam, florentissimam, potentissimamque esse voluerunt, hanc omnibus hostium copiis terra marique superatis a perditissimorum civium nefario scelere defendant. Indeed I promise you these things, Romans, relying not on my own wisdom nor on human advice, but on the many and unmistakable signs of the immortal gods, with whom as guides I have embarked upon this hope and purpose;  they are now not defending their temples and houses of the city from afar, as formerly they used to, from an external and distant enemy, but in being here present with their power and assistance.  You, O Romans, need to pray to them, venerate them, implore them to defend this city which they have willed to be the most beautiful and flourishing one, with all enemy forces on land and sea having been overcome, from the unspeakable criminality of utterly depraved citizens.

ORATIO  IN  LUCIUM  CATILINAM  TERTIA
HABITA AD POPULUM  (63 B.C., December 3)

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[1]Rem publicam, Quirites, vitamque omnium vestrum, bona, fortunas, conjuges liberosque vestros atque hoc domicilium clarissimi imperii, fortunatissimam pulcherrimamque urbem, hodierno die, deorum immortalium summo erga vos amore, laboribus, consiliis, periculis meis, e flamma atque ferro ac pæne ex faucibus fati ereptam et vobis conservatam ac restitutam videtis. Today, Romans, through the supreme love of the immortal gods toward you, through my efforts, counsel and endangerment, you are witnessing the Commonwealth and the lives of all of you, your property, fortunes, spouses and children, and this capital of a most glorious empire, our extremely fortunate and beautiful city, snatched from the flames and swords and almost from the jaws of doom and preserved and restored to you.
[2]Et si non minus nobis jucundi atque illustres sunt ii dies quibus conservamur quam illi quibus nascimur — quod salutis certa lætitia est, nascendi incerta condicio et quod sine sensu nascimur, cum voluptate servamur —, profecto, quoniam illum qui hanc urbem condidit ad deos immortales benevolentia famaque sustulimus, esse apud vos posterosque vestros in honore debebit is qui eandem hanc urbem conditam amplificatamque servavit.  Nam toti urbi, templis, delubris, tectis ac mœnibus subjectos prope jam ignes circumdatosque restinximus, iidemque gladios in Rem Publicam destrictos rettudimus mucronesque eorum a jugulis vestris dejecimus. And if the days on which we are rescued are not less pleasant and bright than those on which we are born — because the joy of salvation is certain, the condition of being born uncertain, and because while we are born without consciousness, we are saved with pleasure —, then certainly, since with affection and by tradition we have exalted to the immortal gods the one who founded this city, he who saved this same city, one established and embellished, should held in honor among you and your descendants.  For we have quenched the fires already nearly thrown underneath and surrounding the entire city — the temples, shrines, houses and walls — and we also have blunted the swords drawn against the Commonwealth and thrown their daggers away from your throats.
[3]Quæ quoniam in Senatu illustrata, patefacta, comperta sunt per me, vobis jam exponam breviter, Quirites, ut et quanta et quam manifesta et qua ratione investigata et comprehensa sint, vos qui et ignoratis et exspectatis scire possitis.  Principio ut Catilina paucis ante diebus erupit ex urbe, quum48 sceleris sui socios — hujusce nefarii belli acerrimos duces —, Romæ reliquisset, semper vigilavi et providi, Quirites, quem ad modum in tantis et tam absconditis insidiis salvi esse possemus.  Nam tum quum49 ex urbe Catilinam ejiciebam (non enim jam vereor hujus verbi invidiam, quum50 illa magis sit timenda, quod vivus exierit) —, sed tum quum51 illum exterminari volebam, aut reliquam conjuratorum manum simul exituram aut eos qui restitissent infirmos sine illo ac debiles fore putabam. Because these things have been highlighted, exposed and fully ascertained by me, I will now briefly explain them to you, Romans, so that you who are unaware and waiting for it, might know both what important matters and how palpable they are and in what way they were tracked down and found out.  To begin with, ever since Catiline, after having left the accomplices of his crime — the extremely ardent leaders of this evil war — in Rome, burst out of the city, I have been continually alert and taking precautions, O Romans, as to how we could be safe in such great and such hidden treacheries.  For at the time when I was striving to throw Catiline out of the city (for I no longer fear that verb’s opprobrium, since such is much more to be feared from the fact that he should have exited alive) —, but at the time when I was endeavoring to expel him, I thought that either the remaining band of conspirators would leave at the same time or that those who had stayed behind would be weak and powerless without him.
  1. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when”;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”)  “After he [Catiline] had left his accomplices in Rome, he broke out of the city.”
  2. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when;  at the same time that”).  The indicative (ejiciebam) is used because only time is denoted here, and emphasized by the use of tum.  The imperfect denotes continued effort (“was trying to drive out”), the notion of effort being made still more distinct by the use of the word volebam further on, repeating the thought.
  3. quum is here quum causale  (“since ;  given that”).  The opprobrium (illa [sc. invidia]) resulting from Catiline’s live escape (vivus exierit) overshadows (magis sit timenda) any possible unpopularity due to Cicero’s hounding (ejiciebam).
  4. quum is here again quum temporale (“when, at the time when;  at the same time that”).  The indicative volebam, which recapitulates the previous indicative of ejiciebam and is coincident with putabam, is used for the same reason:  only time is denoted here.  The triplet sed tum quum is resumptive after a parenthesis.
[4]Atque ego ut vidi, quos maximo furore et scelere esse inflammatos sciebam, eos nobiscum esse et Romæ remansisse, in eo omnes dies noctesque consumpsi ut quid agerent, quid molirentur, sentirem ac viderem ut — quoniam auribus vestris propter incredibilem magnitudinem sceleris minorem fidem faceret oratio mea — rem ita comprehenderem ut tum demum animis saluti vestræ provideretis, quum oculis maleficium ipsum videretis. But as I myself saw that those whom I knew to be inflamed with greatest madness and criminality were with us and had remained in Rome, I spent every day and night in spiriting out and seeing what they were doing, what they were engineering, so that — because my speech would inspire less credence in your ears on account of the unbelievable magnitude of the crime — I might get such a complete grasp of the issue that you would mentally then finally look out for your own safety, when you saw the crime with your eyes.
 Itaque, ut comperi legatos Allobrogum, belli Transalpini et tumultus Gallici excitandi causa, a Publio Lentulo esse sollicitatos, eosque in Galliam ad suos cives eodemque itinere cum litteris mandatisque ad Catilinam esse missos, comitemque eis adjunctum esse Titum Volturcium atque huic esse ad Catilinam datas litteras, facultatem mihi oblatam putavi ut — quod erat difficillimum quodque ego semper optabam a dis immortalibus —, ut tota res non solum a me, sed etiam a Senatu et a vobis manifesto deprehenderetur. Thus, when I learned that legates of the Allobroges had been stirred up by Publius Lentulus for the sake of provoking a war beyond the Alps and a Gallic revolt, and that they had been sent to Gaul to their own citizens and by the same route with letters and instructions to Catiline, and that Titus Volturcius had been attached to them as an escort, with letters to Catiline given to him, I concluded that the opportunity had been offered to me so that — what was quite difficult and I had always wished for from the immortal gods — so that the entire matter would be clearly comprehended not just by me but also by the Senate and by you.
[5]Itaque hesterno die Lucium Flaccum et Gajum Pomptinum prætores, fortissimos atque amantissimos Rei Publicæ viros, ad me vocavi ;  rem exposui ;  quid fieri placeret, ostendi.  Illi autem, qui52 omnia de Re Publica præclara atque egregia sentirent, sine recusatione ac sine ulla mora negotium susceperunt et, quum53 advesperasceret, occulte ad pontem Mulvium pervenerunt atque ibi in proximis villis ita bipertito fuerunt, ut Tiberis inter eos et pons interesset.  Eodem autem et ipsi sine cujusquam suspicione multos fortes viros eduxerant, et ego ex præfectura Reatina complures delectos adulescentes quorum opera utor assidue in Rei Publicæ præsidio cum gladiis miseram. So yesterday I called the prætors Lucius Flaccus and Gajus Pomptinum, men firmly committed and patriotic toward the Commonwealth, to myself;  I explained the situation;  I laid out what I had decided was to be done.  They, who entertained all excellent and noble sentiments regarding the Commonwealth, accepted the business without refusal and without any delay and, when evening was coming on, they arrived under cover at the Mulvian bridge and were there in the closest villas in two sections, in such a way that the Tiber and the bridge were between them.  But in addition they themselves had led many strong men out to the same place without anyone’s suspicion, and I had sent, with swords, from the Reatine prefecture a great many elite youths whose services I constantly use in guarding the Commonwealth.
  1. qui … sentirent — a causal relative clause.  When a relative clause introduced by qui expresses a reason or cause of the action, state or event, and effectively stands for quum or quum is/ii (i.e., a quum causale), the relative pronoun usually takes the subjunctive, as sentirent here.  In this case, the prætors accepted the mission because they had noble patriotic sentiments.
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  often when introducing an imperfect subjunctive:  “as … was [just] -ing”).  This quum introduces the temporal environment of the narrative clause, requiring the subjunctive (advesperasceret).
 Interim, tertia fere vigilia exacta, quum54 jam pontem Mulvium magno comitatu legati Allobrogum ingredi inciperent unaque Volturcius, fit in eos impetus ;  educuntur et ab illis gladii et a nostris.  Res prætoribus erat nota solis, ignorabatur a ceteris.  Tum interventu Pomptini atque Flacci pugna quæ erat commissa sedatur.  Litteræ quæcumque erant in eo comitatu, integris signis, prætoribus traduntur ;  ipsi55 comprehensi ad me, quum56 jam dilucesceret, deducuntur.  Atque horum omnium scelerum improbissimum machinatorem, Cimbrum Gabinium, statim ad me nihil dum suspicantem, vocavi ;  deinde item arcessitus est Lucius Statilius, et post eum Gajus Cethegus ;  tardissime autem Lentulus venit — credo quod in litteris dandis præter consuetudinem proxima nocte vigilarat. Meanwhile, almost at the end of the third watch, when with a large retinue the legates of the Allobroges together with Volturcius were beginning to step onto the Mulvian bridge, an attack was made on them;  swords were drawn both by them and by our men.  The issue was known to the prætors alone;  it was unknown to the rest.  Then, with the intervention of Pomptinus and Flaccus, the fight that had been joined was quieted.  All the letters that were in the cortege, their seals unbroken, were handed over to the prætors.  Arrested, the men themselves were led off to me as it was just dawning.  And I immediately called to myself the most criminal engineer of all of these crimes, Cimber Gabinius, as yet suspecting nothing.  Then Lucius Statilius was likewise summoned, and after him Gajus Cethegus.  Lentulus came up last of all — I suppose because, contrary to his custom, he had stayed awake in composing the letters the previous night.
  1. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  often when introducing an imperfect subjunctive:  “as … was [just] -ing”).  inciperent describes the causal beginning of a chain of events, hence the subjunctive.
  2. ipsi refers to the Allobroges and Volturcius, the bearers of the letters.
  3. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  often when introducing an imperfect subjunctive:  “as … was [just] -ing”).  The subjunctive imperfect (dilucesceret) indicates an ongoing process (here, of dawning) as the critical setting for the main action.
[7]Quum57 summis et clarissimis hujus civitatis viris qui, audita re, frequentes ad me mane convenerant, litteras a me prius aperiri quam ad Senatum deferri placeret, ne, si nihil esset inventum, temere a me tantus tumultus injectus civitati videretur, negavi me esse facturum, ut — de periculo publico — non ad consilium publicum rem integram deferrem.  Etenim, Quirites, si ea quæ erant ad me delata reperta non essent, tamen ego non arbitrabar in tantis Rei Publicæ periculis esse mihi nimiam diligentiam pertimescendam.  Senatum frequentem celeriter, ut vidistis, coëgi. Although, having heard the news, the foremost and most distinguished men of this city who had convened at my place counseled that the letters be opened by me before being taken to the Senate lest, if nothing were found, it would seem that such a great alarm had been rashly thrust on the city by me, I said I would not do that, in order not — in regard to a national danger — to lay the matter untouched before the national council.  For even if, O Romans, the things that had been brought to me were not found, nonetheless I did not think that in such great dangers to the Commonwealth I should have to be very afraid about excessive diligence.  As you saw, I quickly convened a crowded Senate.
  1. quum is here quum concessivum  (“when;  although”)  The advice to open the letters beforehand (litteras a me prius aperiri quam ad Senatum deferri = the subject of placeret) given by the city nobles is admitted, but Cicero nonetheless decides otherwise because the national interest is at stake.  The opposition between the quum clause and the main clause also gives the former a touch of the quum adversativum (”whereas“).  Placere (“it seems best to, commends itself to [someone]”) as an impersonal verb takes the dative, hence summis et clarissimis hujus … viris.  English must convert the Latin indirect object into a subject, hence they “were of the opinion,” “counseled.”
[8]Atque interea statim, admonitu Allobrogum, Gajum Sulpicium prætorem, fortem virum, misi, qui58 ex ædibus Cethegi si quid telorum esset efferret ;  e quibus ille maximum sicarum numerum et gladiorum extulit.  Introduxi Volturcium sine Gallis ;  fidem publicam jussu Senatus dedi ;  hortatus sum ut ea quæ sciret sine timore indicaret.  Tum ille dixit, quum59 vix se ex magno timore recreasset, a Publio Lentulo se habere ad Catilinam mandata et litteras, ut servorum præsidio uteretur, ut ad urbem quam primum cum exercitu accederet ;  id autem eo consilio ut, quum60 urbem ex omnibus partibus, quem ad modum descriptum distributumque erat, incendissent cædemque infinitam civium fecissent, præsto esset ille qui61 et fugientes exciperet et se cum his urbanis ducibus conjungeret. And meanwhile, at the advice of the Allobroges, I immediately sent the prætor Gajus Sulpicius, a brave man, to bring any and all weapons out of Cethegus’ house.  He took an enormous number of daggers and swords out of it.  I brought in Volturcius without the Gauls;  by order of the Senate I gave him state immunity.  I urged him to reveal without fear the things he knew.  Then after having with difficulty recovered from his great fear, he said that he had instructions and letters from Publius Lentulus to Catiline to employ a phalanx of slaves to advance upon the city as soon as possible with an army — that, however, with the strategy that, when they had set fire to the city from all sides as had been mapped out and allotted, and had committed an endless slaughter of the citizenry, he might be at hand to intercept the refugees and join together with these city leaders.
  1. qui … efferret, a relative clause of purpose;  = “ut is efferret.”.
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”).  Volturcius’ confession (dixit) did not occur until after his recovery from fear (se … recreasset).
  3. quum is here likewise quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  “after … -ing”).  The plan was that Catiline should be present (præsto esset) after the widespread arson (incendissent) and massacres (cædemque infinitam … fecissent) to head off (exciperet) those fleeing and to connect up with (se … conjungeret) the rebel chiefs in the city.
  4. qui … exciperet et … conjungeret, a second relative clause of purpose;  = “ut is exciperet et conjungeret.”.
[9]Introducti autem Galli jusjurandum sibi et litteras a Lentulo, Cethego, Statilio ad suam gentem data esse dixerunt atque ita sibi ab his et a Lucio Cassio esse præscriptum ut equitatum in Italiam quam primum mitterent ;  pedestres sibi copias non defuturas ;  Lentulum autem sibi confirmasse ex fatis Sibyllinis haruspicunque responsis se esse tertium illum Cornelium, ad quem regnum hujus urbis atque imperium pervenire esset necesse ;  Cinnam ante se et Sullam fuisse ;  eundemque dixisse fatalem hunc annum esse ad interitum hujus urbis atque imperii qui esset annus decimus post virginum absolutionem, post Capitolii autem incensionem vicesimus. But the Gauls, having been brought in, said that an oath and letters had been handed to their people by Lentulus, Cethegus and Statilius, and that by these men and by Lucius Cassius it had been prescribed to them thus:  that they should send cavalry to Italy as soon as possible;  infantry forces would not be lacking.  Lentulus had assured them from the Sybilline oracles and the responses of the soothsayers that he was that third Cornelius to whom the control and domination of this city would of necessity pass — Cinna and Sulla had been prior to him.  And that same man had said that this year was destined for the downfall of this city and its empire, a year that was the tenth after the acquittal of the Vestals, the twentieth after the burning of the Capitol.
[10]Hanc autem Cethego cum ceteris controversiam fuisse dixerunt quod Lentulo et aliis Saturnalibus cædem fieri atque urbem incendi placeret, Cethego nimium id longum videretur.  Ac ne longum sit, Quirites, tabellas proferri jussimus quæ a quoque dicebantur datæ.  Primo ostendimus Cethego ;  signum cognovit.  Nos linum incidimus, legimus.  Erat scriptum ipsius manu Allobrogum Senatui et populo sese quæ eorum legatis confirmasset facturum esse ;  orare ut item illi facerent quæ sibi eorum legati recepissent.  Tum Cethegus, qui62 paulo ante aliquid tamen de gladiis ac sicis quæ apud ipsum erant deprehensa respondisset dixissetque se semper bonorum ferramentorum studiosum fuisse, recitatis litteris debilitatus atque abjectus conscientia repente conticuit.  Introductus est Statilius ;  cognovit et signum et manum suam.  Recitatæ sunt tabellæ in eandem fere sententiam ;  confessus est.  Tum ostendi tabellas Lentulo et quæsivi cognosceretne signum.  Annuit.  « Est vero », inquam, « notum quidem signum, imago avi tui, clarissimi viri, qui amavit unice patriam et cives suos ;  quæ quidem te a tanto scelere etiam muta revocare debuit. » But they said that there had been this controversy between Cethegus and the others:  that it had been decided by Lentulus and others that the massacres should occur and the city be burned during the Saturnalia, but that seemed to Cethegus to be too far off.  And to make a long story short, O Romans, we ordered the tablets to be brought forth which were said to have been given by each man.  We first showed them to Cethegus;  he acknowledged his seal.  We cut the string, we read them.  In his own hand it had been written that he would do for the Senate and people of the Allobroges what he had promised their embassadors;  he asked that they likewise do for him what their ambassadors had taken upon themselves.  Then Cethegus, who in spite of it all a little before had answered something about the swords and daggers which had been seized at his house, and said he had always been an aficionado of good ironware, drained and dejected in conscience at the reading of the letters, suddenly fell silent.  Statilius was brought in;  he acknowledged his seal and handwriting.  The tablets were read out to about the same import;  he confessed.  Then I showed the tablets to Lentulus and asked whether he acknowledged his seal or not.  He nodded assent.  “It is indeed,” I said, “a well-known seal, the image of your grandfather, a most renowned man who singularly loved his fatherland and his citizens — a seal which, even silent, should indeed have recalled you from such a great crime.”
  1. qui … respondisset dixissetque “although he …,” a concessive relative clause (equivalent to quum is, with the subjunctive, as quum concessivum “though, although, in spite of the fact that”).
[11]Leguntur eadem ratione ad Senatum Allobrogum populumque litteræ.  Si quid de his rebus dicere vellet,63 feci potestatem.  Atque ille primo quidem negavit ;  post autem aliquanto, toto jam indicio exposito atque edito, surrexit ;  quæsivit a Gallis quid sibi esset cum eis, quam ob rem domum suam venissent, itemque a Volturcio.  Qui quum64 illi breviter constanterque respondissent per quem ad eum quotiensque venissent, quæsissentque ab eo nihilne secum esset de fatis Sibyllinis locutus, tum ille, subito scelere demens, quanta conscientiæ vis esset ostendit.  Nam, quum65 id posset infitiari, repente præter opinionem omnium confessus est.  Ita eum non modo ingenium illud et dicendi exercitatio qua semper valuit, sed etiam propter vim sceleris manifesti atque deprehensi impudentia qua superabat omnes, improbitasque defecit. The letters to the Senate and people of the Allobroges to the same effect are read;  I granted him the opportunity if he wished to say anything about these things.  But at first he indeed refused.  But after a little while, with the entire charge revealed and set out, he arose;  he asked of the Gauls what he had to do with them, why they had come to his house, and the same thing of Volturcius.  When they had answered briefly and unwaveringly through whom and how often they had come, and asked of him whether he had said nothing of the Sibylline oracles, then he, suddenly delirious over the crime, revealed how great the power of conscience is.  For although he could have denied it, he suddenly confessed, contrary to everyone’s expectations.  Hence not only that genius and proficiency of speech in which he was always strong, but even, on account of the impact of a manifest and discovered crime, the shamelessness in which he surpassed everyone, and his insolence, failed him.
  1. si … vellet:  Subjunctive in oratio obliqua, reporting Cicero’s actual words, « si quid vis. »
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”;  when not the same, “after … had …” + perfect participle).  respondissent … quæsissentque merely describe the temporal conditions preceding the “at that point” (tum) and its succeeding action (of Lentulus’ showing the power of a bad conscience).
  3. quum is here quum concessivum “though, although, in spite of the fact that.”  “Despite the fact that he could have denied it ….”
[12]Volturcius vero subito litteras proferri atque aperiri jubet quas sibi a Lentulo ad Catilinam datas esse dicebat.  Atque ibi vehementissime perturbatus Lentulus tamen et signum et manum suam cognovit.  Erant autem sine nomine, sed ita :66

« Quis sim,67 scies ex eo quem ad te misi.  Cura ut vir sis, et cogita quem in locum sis progressus.  Et vide quid tibi jam sit necesse et cura ut omnium tibi auxilia adjungas, etiam infimorum. »

Gabinius deinde introductus, quum68 primo impudenter respondere cœpisset, ad extremum nihil ex eis quæ Galli insimulabant negavit.

But suddenly Volturicus ordered the letters brought forth and opened which, he was saying, had been given to him by Lentulus for Catiline.  And at that Lentulus, terribly agitated, nonetheless acknowledged his own seal and handwriting.  They were without a signature, but thus:

“Who I am you will know from him whom I have sent to you.  See to it that you are a man, and be aware of what point you have advanced to.  Provide for whatever is now necessary for yourself, and see to it that you associate to yourself the aid of everyone, even the lowest.”

Then Gabinius, having been brought in, although he had first begun to answer arrogantly, in the end denied nothing of the things that the Gauls had charged.

  1. This letter is also recorded by Sallust (Catilina, 44:5) in slightly different words:
    « Qui sim, ex eo quem ad te misi cognosces.  Fac cogites in quanta calamitate sis, et memineris te virum esse.  Consideres quid tuæ rationes postulent.  Auxilium petas ab omnibus, etiam ab infimis. »
  2. Quis sim:  an indirect question depending on scies.
  3. quum is here quum concessivum “though, although, in spite of the fact that.”  “Despite having begun by answering arrogantly ….”
[13]Ac mihi quidem, Quirites, quum69 illa certissima visa sunt argumenta atque indicia sceleris, tabellæ, signa, manus, denique unius cujusque confessio, tum multo certiora illa :  color, oculi, vultus, taciturnitas.  Sic enim obstupuerant, sic terram intuebantur, sic furtim non nunquam inter sese aspiciebant, ut non jam ab aliis indicari, sed indicare se ipsi viderentur.  Indiciis expositis atque editis, Quirites, Senatum consului de summa Re Publica quid fieri placeret.  Dictæ sunt a principibus acerrimæ ac fortissimæ sententiæ, quas Senatus sine ulla varietate est secutus.  Et quoniam nondum est perscriptum Senatus Consultum, ex memoria vobis, Quirites, quid Senatus censuerit, exponam. And to me, O Romans, not just the arguments and evidence of the crime — the tablets, the seals, the handwriting and, finally, the confession of each one — seemed extremely convincing, but much more convincing were these:  their color, their eyes, their faces, their silence.  For they had become so dumbfounded, they so looked at the ground, they sometimes looked stealthily at one another so, that they now seemed not to be accused by others, but to accuse themselves.  Having set forth and recorded this evidence, O Romans, I asked the Senate what it should decide should be done regarding the safety of the Commonwealth.  Extremely harsh and strong sentences were expressed by the leading men, sentences which the Senate followed without any change.  And because the Senate’s decree has not yet been published, O Romans, I will explain from memory what the Senate decided.
  1. quum … tum “not only … but even more;  although … but especially.”  I.e., not just the evidential facts convicted the accused, but even more their own body language.
[14]Primum mihi gratiæ verbis amplissimis aguntur, quod virtute, consilio, providentia mea Res Publica maximis periculis sit liberata.  Deinde Lucius Flaccus et Gajus Pomptinus prætores, quod eorum opera forti fidelique usus essem, merito ac jure laudantur. Firstly, in the most fulsome words thanks are given to me because the Commonwealth has been freed from the greatest danger through my drive, planning, and foresight.  Then the prætors Lucius Flaccus and Gajus Pomptinus are deservedly and rightly praised because I had employed their strong and faithful work.
[15]Atque etiam viro forti, collegæ meo, laus impertitur, quod eos qui hujus conjurationis participes fuissent a suis et a Rei Publicæ consiliis removisset.  Atque ita censuerunt ut Publius Lentulus, quum70 se prætura abdicasset, in custodiam traderetur ;  itemque uti Gajus Cethegus, Lucius Statilius, Publius Gabinius, qui omnes præsentes erant, in custodiam traderentur.  Atque idem hoc decretum est in Lucium Cassium, qui sibi procurationem incendendæ urbis depoposcerat, in Marcum Cæparium cui ad sollicitandos pastores Apuliam attributam esse erat indicatum, in Publius Furium qui est ex eis colonis quos Fæsulas Lucius Sulla deduxit, in Quintum Annium Chilonem, qui una cum hoc Furio semper erat in hac Allobrogum sollicitatione versatus, in Publium Umbrenum, libertinum hominem, a quo primum Gallos ad Gabinium perductos esse constabat.  Atque ea lenitate Senatus est usus, Quirites, ut ex tanta conjuratione tantaque hac multitudine domesticorum hostium, novem hominum perditissimorum pœna Re Publica conservata, reliquorum mentes sanari posse arbitraretur.  Atque etiam supplicatio dis immortalibus pro singulari eorum merito meo nomine decreta est quod mihi primum post hanc urbem conditam togato contigit, et his decreta verbis est :  « quod urbem incendiis, cæde cives, Italiam bello liberassem. » And praise is also conferred on that courageous man, my colleague, because he had removed from his own and the Commonwealth’s deliberations those who had been participants in this conspiracy.  And they decreed that Publius Lentulus, after he had abdicated from the prætorship, be delivered into custody, and that Gajus Cethegus, Lucius Statilius, and Publius Gabinius, who were all present, be likewise delivered into custody;  and the same thing was decreed against Lucius Cassius who had demanded for himself the task of firing the city;  against Marcus Ceparius to whom it had been revealed that Apulia had been allotted for stirring up the shepherds;  in Publius Furius who is of those colonists whom Lucius Sulla led to Fæsulæ; against Quintus Annius Chilo who had always been involved together with this Furius in the provocation of the Allobroges;  in Publius Umbrenus, a freedman by whom it is a fact that the Gauls were led to Gabinius.  And, Romans, the Senate exercized such leniency that out of so great a conspiracy and so great a multitude as this of domestic enemies, with the Commonwealth saved through the punishment of the nine most depraved men, it believed that the minds of the rest can be healed.  And, moreover, a thanksgiving was decreed in my name to the immortal gods for their extraordinary service, an action honoring a togaed civilian — me — for the first time since the founding of the city, and was decreed in these words:  “because I had freed the city from arson, the citizens from slaughter, Italy from war.”
  1. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when”;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”)  Lentulus could be legally delivered into custody (in custodiam traderetur) only after having abdicated his office (se prætura abdicasset).
 Quæ supplicatio si cum ceteris supplicationibus conferatur, hōc interest quod ceteræ bene gestā, hæc ună conservatā Re Publica constituta est.  Atque illud quod faciendum primum fuit, factum atque transactum est.  Nam Publius Lentulus, quanquam patefactis indiciis et confessionibus suis, judicio Senatus non modo prætoris jus verum etiam civis amiserat, tamen magistratu se abdicavit — ut, quæ religio Gajo Mario, clarissimo viro, non fuerat quominus Gajum Glauciam, de quo nihil nominatim erat decretum, prætorem occideret, ea nos religione in privato Publio Lentulo puniendo liberaremur. If this thanksgiving should be compared with other thanksgivings, it differs in that the others were authorized due to the Commonwealth having been well governed, this one alone due to its having been saved.  And that which was the first thing to be done was done and finished with.  For Publius Lentulus, although through revealed evidence, through his own confessions, by the verdict of the Senate, had lost not only the rights of a prætor, but even of a citizen, nonetheless he abdicated his magistracy — so that what had not been not an inhibition to Gajus Marius, a most famous man, in murdering the prætor Gajus Glaucius about whom nothing had been decreed by name, we ourselves are freed from that inhibition in punishing the private individual Publius Lentulus.
[16]Nunc quoniam, Quirites, consceleratissimi periculosissimique belli nefarios duces captos jam et comprehensos tenetis, existimare debetis omnes Catilinæ copias, omnes spes atque opes his depulsis urbis periculis concidisse.  Quem quidem ego quum71 ex urbe pellebam, hŏc providebam animo, Quirites, remoto Catilina non mihi esse Publii Lentuli somnum nec Lucii Cassii adipes nec Gaji Cethegi furiosam temeritatem pertimescendam.  Ille erat unus timendus ex istis omnibus, sed tam diu dum urbis mœnibus continebatur.  Omnia norat, omnium aditus tenebat ;  appellare, temptare, sollicitare poterat, audebat.  Erat ei consilium ad facinus aptum, consilio autem neque lingua neque manus deerat.  Jam ad certas res conficiendas certos homines delectos ac descriptos habebat.  Neque vero, quum72 aliquid mandarat, confectum putabat ;  nihil erat, quod non ipse obiret, occurreret, vigilaret, laboraret ;  frigus, sitim, famem ferre poterat. Because now, O Romans, you already hold the evil leaders of a most criminal and dangerous war captured and arrested, you should be confident that, with these dangers repulsed from the city, all of Catiline’s forces, all his hopes and resources have fallen apart.  Indeed, in pushing him out of the city, I mentally foresaw this, Romans:  that with Catiline removed I would have nothing to fear from the sleepiness of Publius Lentulus or the obesity of Lucius Cassius or the raging rashness of Gajus Cethegus.  He was the one to be feared out of all those men, but only so long as he was contained within the walls of the city.  He knew everything, had the key to everyone;  he was able to, he dared to, appeal, tempt, incite.  He had a genius suited to crime;  to the genius, moreover, neither hand nor tongue was lacking.  He already had particular men selected and designated for executing particular things.  In fact, when he had ordered something, he would not think it finished;  there was nothing that he did not personally go to, come to help with, watch over, work on;  he could endure cold, thirst, hunger.
  1. quum is here quum explicativum or coincidens (oridenticum)  “by …-ing, when, while, because ;  in the case where ;  through the action of”  pellebam is indicative here because it occurs at the same time as providebam and more or less combines the two actions into one.
  2. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when;  at the same time that”).  Only the time of Catiline’s giving orders is meant here, not any other influence therefrom.
[17]Hunc ego hominem tam acrem, tam audacem, tam paratum, tam callidum, tam in scelere vigilantem, tam in perditis rebus diligentem nisi ex domesticis insidiis in castrense latrocinium compulissem (dicam id, quod sentio, Quirites), non facile hanc tantam molem mali a cervicibus vestris depulissem.  Non ille nobis Saturnalia constituisset, neque tanto ante exitii ac fati diem Rei Publicæ denuntiavisset, neque commisisset ut signum, ut litteræ suæ testes manifesti sceleris deprehenderentur.  Quæ nunc, illo absente, sic gesta sunt ut nullum in privata domo furtum unquam sit tam palam inventum quam hæc tanta in Re Publica conjuratio manifesto inventa atque deprehensa est.  Quod si Catilina in urbe ad hanc diem remansisset, quanquam, quoad fuit, omnibus ejus consiliis occurri atque obstiti, tamen, ut levissime dicam, dimicandum nobis cum illo fuisset, neque nos unquam, quum73 ille in urbe hostis esset, tantis periculis Rem Publicam tanta pace, tanto otio, tanto silentio liberassemus. If I had not driven this man, so keen, so bold, so ready, so cunning, so watchful in crime, so industrious in perverted affairs, from domestic treacheries into military brigandage (I will say that which I feel, O Romans), I would not easily have forced such a great mass of evil as this from your necks.  He is not one who would have designated the Saturnalia holidays for us, or have announced so far ahead the day of the Commonwealth’s destruction and doom, so that his seal, so that his letters would be seized as witnesses of a manifest crime.  Things that now, with him absent, have been so managed, that no theft has ever been found so obviously in a private house as in our Commonwealth such a great conspiracy as this has been manifestly found and caught.  But if Catiline had remained in the city up to this day, even though, as long as he was, I confronted and blocked all of his plans, nonetheless, to put it quite mildly, we would have had to struggle with him, nor would we ever, while that enemy was in the city, have freed the Commonwealth from such dangers with such peace, such calm, such quiet.
  1. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when;  often when introducing an imperfect subjunctive:  “as … was [just] -ing;  “was continuing to … ”).  The subjunctive imperfect (esset) specifies the time during which it would have been impossible for Cicero quietly to save the city.
[18]Quanquam hæc omnia, Quirites, ita sunt a me administrata ut deorum immortalium nutu atque consilio et gesta et provisa esse videantur.  Idque quum74 conjectura consequi possumus, quod vix videtur humani consilii75 tantarum rerum gubernatio esse potuisse, tum vero ita præsentes his temporibus opem et auxilium nobis tulerunt ut eos pæne oculis videre possemus. And yet all these things, O Romans, were managed by me in such a way that they seem to have been conducted and prepared for by the assent and planning of the immortal gods.  And we may not only arrive at this through conjecture — because the guidance of such great events seems hardly to have been possible to be of human planning — but also being present at this time they rendered resources and aid to us, so they we could almost see them with our eyes.
  1. quum … tum …  (“both … and …”;  “indeed … but above all …”).  “And not only may we conjecture this, that the direction, &c., … but what is more, they have so obviously, &c.…”
  2. humani consilii … esse “To belong to human judgment.”  A predicate genitive of possession.
 Nam ut illa omittam — visas nocturno tempore ab occidente faces ardoremque cæli ;  ut fulminum jactus, ut terræ motus relinquam ;  ut omittam cetera quæ tam multa nobis consulibus facta sunt —, ut hæc quæ nunc fiunt, canere dii immortales viderentur —, hoc certe, Quirites, quod sum dicturus neque prætermittendum neque relinquendum est. For granted that I may omit those things — the torches seen in the west at nighttime and the blazing of the sky;  that I may ignore the thunderbolts, the earthquakes;  that I may omit the so many other things which have occurred to us consuls —, granted that the immortal gods may have been seeming to foretell these things which are happening now —, certainly that which I am about to relate must be neither overlooked nor kept silent about.
[19]Nam profecto memoria tenetis Cotta et Torquato consulibus complures in Capitolio res de cælo esse percussas, quum76 et simulacra deorum depulsa sunt et statuæ veterum hominum dejectæ et legum æra liquefacta et tactus etiam ille qui hanc urbem condidit, Romulus, quem inauratum in Capitolio parvum atque lactantem, uberibus lupinis inhiantem fuisse meministis.  Quo quidem tempore quum77 haruspices ex tota Etruria convenissent, cædes atque incendia et legum interitum et bellum civile ac domesticum et totius urbis atque imperii occasum appropinquare dixerunt, nisi dii immortales omni ratione placati suo numine prope fata ipsa flexissent. For indeed you remember, in the consulship of Cotta and Torquatus, a great many items having been struck in the Capitol, when both the images of the gods were knocked down and the statues of ancient men were thrown to the ground, and the bronze tablets of the laws melted, and even Romulus, him who founded this city, having been struck — him whom you remember gilded on the Capitol, small and gaping for the she-wolf’s teats.  At which time, indeed, after having gathered from all of Etruria, the soothsayers said that slaughter and conflagration and the downfall of the laws, and civil and domestic war, and the doom of the entire city and empire would approach if the immortal gods, placated in every way, did not with their divine power bend almost the fates themselves.
  1. quum is here quum temporale  (“when, at the time when;  at the same time that”)  Only the time of the allegedly supernatural events is indicated in these clauses, no logical connection to what follows.  Hence the indicative is used after this quum:  « depulsa sunt et … dejectæ et … liquefacta et tactus ».
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when”;  when introducing the perfect or pluperfect subjunctive and the subject of main and subordinate clauses is the same:  “after … -ing”).  The verb convenissent gives the occasion or circumstances of the main verb (dixerunt) and, by effectively making the “convened-ness” part of the “saying” (= “said unanimously”), joins the two words more closely than by merely establishing their simultaneity.
[20]Itaque illorum responsis tum et ludi per decem dies facti sunt, neque res ulla quæ ad placandos deos pertineret prætermissa est.  Iidemque jusserunt simulacrum Jovis facere majus et in excelso collocare et contra atque antea fuerat ad orientem convertere.  Ac se sperare dixerunt, si illud signum quod videtis solis ortum et forum curiamque conspiceret, fore ut ea consilia quæ clam essent inita contra salutem urbis atque imperii illustrarentur, ut a Senatu populoque Romano perspici possent.  Atque illud signum collocandum consules illi locaverunt ;  sed tanta fuit operis tarditas, ut neque superioribus consulibus neque nobis ante hodiernum diem collocaretur. So in accordance with their responses, both games were then held for ten days, and nothing was overlooked that might pertain to the appeasement of the gods.  And the same men ordered us to make a larger figure of Juppiter and place it on an elevation and to turn it to the east, opposite to what it had been before;  and they said they hoped, if that statue that you see were to look on the sunrise and the forum and the Senate house, that those plots which had arisen stealthily against the safety of the city and the empire would be illuminated so that they could be seen by the Senate and the Roman people;  and those consuls contracted for erecting that statue, but the slowness of the work was so great that it was erected neither during the time of the former consuls nor of us before today.
[21]Hīc quis potest esse, Quirites, tam aversus a vero, tam præceps, tam mente captus, qui neget hæc omnia quæ videmus — præcipueque hanc urbem — deorum immortalium nutu ac potestate administrari ?  Etenim, quum78 esset ita responsum, cædes, incendia, interitum Rei Publicæ comparari (et ea per cives!), quæ tum propter magnitudinem scelerum nonnullis incredibilia videbantur, ea non modo cogitata a nefariis civibus, verum etiam suscepta esse sensistis.  Illud vero nonne ita præsens est ut nutu Jovis Optimi Maximi factum esse videatur ut, quum79 hodierno die mane per forum meo jussu et conjurati et eorum indices in ædem Concordiæ ducerentur, eo ipso tempore signum statueretur ?  Quo collocato atque ad vos Senatumque converso, omnia et Senatus et vos quæ erant contra salutem omnium cogitata, illustrata et patefacta vidistis. At this point, O Romans, who can be so averse to the truth, so rash, so mindless, as to deny that all these things we see — and especially this city —, are governed by the will and the power of the immortal gods?  And the fact is, that although the oracular response had been that slaughter, arson, the downfall of the Commonwealth, were being prepared (and that, through citizens!) which, because of the magnitude of the crimes, seemed unbelievable to some, you recognized that those things had not only been concocted by evil citizens, but even commenced.  Is the fact not so obvious that it seems to have been brought about by the will of Best Greatest Jupiter that, as both the conspirators and their accusers were by my order being led through the forum to the Temple of Concord this morning, at that very same time His statue was being put into place?  Once it was in position and facing you and the Senate, the Senate and you saw everything that had been devised against the safety of everyone made clear and plain.
  1. quum is here quum concessivum  (“though, although, in spite of the fact that”).  This quum concedes the seeming incredibility (incredibilia videbantur) of the foregoing oracular response (esset ita responsum) and contrasts it with the subsequent recognition (sensistis) of that response’s veracity.
  2. quum is here quum narrativum or historicum  (“when, as”).  It stresses the simultaneity (eo ipso tempore) of the transfer (ducerentur) of the accused and accusers to the Temple of Concord and the erection (statueretur) of the statue.
[22]Quo etiam majore sunt isti odio supplicioque digni qui non solum vestris domiciliis atque tectis sed etiam deorum templis atque delubris sunt funestos ac nefarios ignes inferre conati.  Quibus ego si me restitisse dicam, nimium mihi sumam et non sim ferendus ;  ille, ille Juppiter restitit ;  ille Capitolium, ille hæc templa, ille cunctam urbem, ille vos omnes salvos esse voluit.  Dis ego immortalibus ducibus hanc mentem voluntatemque suscepi atque ad hæc tanta indicia perveni.  Jam vero a Lentulo ceterisque domesticis hostibus tam dementer tantæ res creditæ et ignotis et barbaris commissæque litteræ nunquam essent profecto, nisi a dis immortalibus huic tantæ audaciæ consilium esset ereptum.  Quid vero ?  Ut homines Galli e civitate male pacata, quæ gens una restat quæ bellum populo Romano facere et posse et non nolle videatur, spem imperii ac rerum maximarum ultro sibi a patriciis hominibus oblatam neglegerent vestramque salutem suis opibus anteponerent — id non divinitus esse factum putatis, præsertim qui nos non pugnando, sed tacendo superare potuerunt ? Hence those men, who have tried to set deadly and unholy fire not only to your abodes and houses, but even to the temples and shrines of the gods, are worthy of all the greater detestation and punishment.  If I were to say that I myself had withstood them, I would be arrogating too much to myself and would be intolerable.  Jupiter there — He, He opposed them;  it was He who wanted the Capitol, these temples to be safe, He who wanted the entire city to be safe, He who wanted all of you to be safe.  It was under the immortal gods as leaders, O Romans, that I gained this determination and will, and came upon such important evidence as this.  Now, indeed, such important things would certainly never have been so insanely entrusted, and letters delivered, to individuals both unknown and barbarian by Lentulus and the other domestic enemies, if rationality had not been wrested from such audacity of theirs as this.  What about the fact that Gallic nationals, from a society poorly subdued, the one people which remained that seemed both able to make war on the Roman people yet did not want to, neglected the hope of power and greatness spontaneously offered to them by patrician men, and placed your safety above their own affluence — do you not think that that happened by divine agency, especially given those who could have overcome us not by fighting but by remaining silent?
[23]Quam ob rem, Quirites, quoniam ad omnia pulvinaria supplicatio decreta est, celebratote illos dies cum conjugibus ac liberis vestris.  Nam multi sæpe honores dis immortalibus justi habiti sunt ac debiti, sed profecto justiores nunquam.  Erepti enim estis e crudelissimo ac miserrimo interitu, et erepti sine cæde, sine sanguine, sine exercitu, sine dimicatione :  togati me uno togato duce et imperatore vicistis. Wherefore, O Romans, because a propitiation has been decreed at all the deity-couches, celebrate those days with your spouses and children.  For many just honors have often been paid and owed to the immortal gods — but more just ones, by no means ever.  For you have been snatched from a most cruel and wretched apocalypse, and snatched without slaughter, without bloodsheed, without an army, without fighting;  you have conquered as civilians, with a civilian — me alone — as leader and general.
[24]Etenim recordamini, Quirites, omnes civiles dissensiones — non solum eas quas audistis, sed eas quas vosmet ipsi meministis atque vidistis.  Lucius Sulla Publium Sulpicium oppressit ;  Gajum Marium, custodem hujus urbis, multosque fortes viros partim ejecit e civitate, partim interemit.  Gnæus Octavius consul armis expulit ex urbe collegam ;  omnis hic locus acervis corporum et civium sanguine redundavit.  Superavit postea Cinna cum Mario ;  tum vero, clarissimis viris interfectis, lumina civitatis exstincta sunt.  Ultus est hujus victoriæ crudelitatem postea Sulla —  ne dici quidem opus est, quanta deminutione civium et quanta calamitate Rei Publicæ.  Dissensit Marcus Lepidus a clarissimo et fortissimo viro Quinto Catulo ;  attulit non tam ipsius interitus Rei Publicæ luctum quam ceterorum. And indeed, remember, O Romans, all the civil conflicts — not just those which you have heard about, but those which you yourselves remember and have seen.  Lucius Sulla slew Publius Sulpicius ;  he threw Gajus Marius, the protector of this city, and many brave men in part out of the polity, in part killed them.  The consul Gnæus Octavius expelled his colleague from the city;  this whole space abounded with heaps of bodies and the blood of citizens.  After that, Cinna, accompanied by Marius, won out;  but in truth at that time, with the most illustrious men slaughtered, the lights of the citizenry were extinguished.  Subsequently, Sulla avenged this victory’s cruelty — it need not even be said by what a diminution of citizens and catastrophe for the Commonwealth.  Disagreeing with Quintus Catulus, a most illustrious and brave man, was Marcus Lepidus;  it was not so much the downfall of the latter but of others that brought grief to the Commonwealth.
[25]Atque illæ tamen omnes dissensiones erant ejus modi quæ non ad delendam sed ad commutandam Rem Publicam pertinerent.  Non illi nullam esse Rem Publicam sed in ea quæ esset se esse principes, neque hanc urbem conflagrare, sed se in hac urbe florere voluerunt.  Atque illæ tamen omnes dissensiones, quarum nulla exitium Rei Publicæ quæsivit, ejus modi fuerunt, ut non reconciliatione concordiæ, sed internecione civium dijudicatæ sint.  In hoc autem uno post hominum memoriam maximo crudelissimoque bello, quale bellum nulla unquam barbaria cum sua gente gessit, quo in bello lex hæc fuit a Lentulo, Catilina, Cethego, Cassio constituta, ut omnes qui salva urbe salvi esse possent, in hostium numero ducerentur, ita me gessi, Quirites, ut salvi omnes conservaremini et, quum80 hostes vestri tantum civium superfuturum putassent quantum infinitæ cædi restitisset, tantum autem urbis quantum flamma obire non potuisset, et urbem et cives integros incolumesque servavi. But still, all of those disagreements were of such a kind that they were to aim not at annihilating, but at changing the Commonwealth.  Those men were not ones who wished there to be no Commonwealth;  they wanted instead to be the leaders in the one that existed;  nor did they want to burn down this city but to flourish in this city.  And yet all those disagreements — of which none sought the destruction of the Commonwealth — were of such a kind that they were decided not by the restoration of harmony but by the slaughter of citizens.  But in this single, in human memory greatest and cruelest war, a war such as no barbarian nation ever waged with its own people — a war in which by Lentulus, Catilina, Cethegus, Cassius this rule was established, that everyone who, given a city undestroyed, might be safe, would be counted in the number of the enemy —, I have comported myself in such a way, O Romans, that all of you would be kept safe and, although your enemies intended that only so much of the citizenry was to survive as might have withstood endless slaughter and, moreover, only so much of the city as the flames would not have been able to overtake, I have kept both the city and the citizens untouched and unhurt.
  1. quum is here quum concessivum  (“though, although, in spite of the fact that”).  Despite the lethal intent of the enemy, Cicero had saved the day.
[26]Quibus pro tantis rebus, Quirites, nullum ego a vobis præmium virtutis, nullum insigne honoris, nullum monumentum laudis postulabo præterquam hujus diei memoriam sempiternam.  In animis ego vestris omnes triumphos meos, omnia ornamenta honoris, monumenta gloriæ, laudis insignia condi et collocari volo.  Nihil me mutum potest delectare, nihil tacitum, nihil denique ejus modi, quod etiam minus digni assequi possint.  Memoria vestra, Quirites, nostræ res alentur, sermonibus crescent, litterarum monumentis inveterascent et corroborabuntur ;  eandemque diem intellego — quam spero æternam fore — propagatam esse et ad salutem urbis et ad memoriam consulatus mei, unoque tempore in hac Re Publica duos cives exstitisse quorum alter fines vestri imperii non terræ, sed cæli regionibus terminaret, alter ejusdem imperii domicilium sedesque servaret. For such great services as these, O Romans, I will request of you no reward of valor, no medal of honor, no monument of praise other than the perpetual remembrance of this day.  I myself wish to implant and place in your souls all my triumphal processions, all badges of honor, monuments of glory, distinctions of praise.  No voiceless thing can please me, nothing silent, in short nothing of that sort that less worthy men might also attain.  Our achievements will be fostered by your remembering, O Romans;  by your words they will grow, through your literary documents they will mature and be strengthened;  and I am confident that the same timespan  — which I hope will be forever — has been extended both for the safety of the city and the remembrance of my consulship, and that at that very same time two citizens have arisen in this Commonwealth, of whom the one has fixed the boundaries of your empire not at the limits of the earth, but of the sky, the other has secured the home and capital of the same empire.
[27]Sed quoniam earum rerum quas ego gessi non eadem est fortuna atque condicio quæ illorum qui externa bella gesserunt, quod mihi cum eis vivendum est quos vici ac subegi, illi hostes aut interfectos aut oppressos reliquerunt, vestrum est, Quirites, si ceteris facta sua recte prosunt, mihi mea ne quando obsint providere.  Mentes enim hominum audacissimorum sceleratæ ac nefariæ ne vobis nocere possent ego providi ;  ne mihi noceant, vestrum est providere.  Quanquam, Quirites, mihi quidem ipsi nihil ab istis jam noceri81 potest.  Magnum enim est in bonis præsidium quod mihi in perpetuum comparatum est, magna in Re Publica dignitas quæ me semper tacita defendet, magna vis conscientiæ quam qui neglegunt, quum82 me violare volent, se ipsi indicabunt. But because the fortune and circumstances of the things that I have accomplished is not the same as those of them who have waged foreign wars, because it is necessary for me to live with those whom I have overcome and subdued while they leave the enemy either slain or subjugated, it is up to you, O Romans, to see to it that, if their own deeds successfully benefit the others, mine do not disadvantage me at some time.  I have seen to it that the criminal and evil intentions of the most aggressive men cannot harm you;  it is up to you to see to it that they not harm me.  Although indeed, O Romans, no harm can now be done to me personally by those men.  For in good men there is great protection that has been afforded me in perpetuity;  in the Commonwealth there is great authority which, silent, will always defend me;  there is great force of conscience — those who ignore it when they will desire to harm me, will accuse themselves.
  1. noceri (“harm to be done to”) is impersonal in the passive, given that the active form, nocere (“to do harm to”), is normally intransitive and takes only a dative object, as mihi … ipsi here, while Nihil (“naught”) is Accusative of Extent in Degree, but for convenience is to be translated in English as part of the subject (“no harm”).
  2. quum is here quum modale (identicum, coincidens, explicativum)  (“when, while, because, by …-ing;  in the case where ;  through the action of”).  It designates the essential union (identity) of the subordinate clause of wanting/intending (volent, indicative future) with the superordinate one of accusing oneself (se ipsi indicabunt, indicative future).
[28]Est enim in nobis is animus, Quirites, ut non modo nullius audaciæ cedamus, sed etiam omnes improbos ultro semper lacessamus.  Quod si omnis impetus domesticorum hostium, depulsus a vobis, se in me unum converterit, vobis erit videndum, Quirites, qua condicione posthac eos esse velitis, qui se pro salute vestra obtulerint invidiæ periculisque omnibus ;  mihi quidem ipsi quid est quod jam ad vitæ fructum possit acquiri, quum83 præsertim neque in honore vestro neque in gloria virtutis quicquam videam altius quo mihi libeat ascendere ? For in us is the courage, O Romans, not only to yield to the audacity of no one, but also on our own always to provoke all malevolent men.  But if every attack of domestic enemies, driven off from you, should turn onto me, you, O Romans, must consider in what condition you might later want those men to be who, for the sake of your safety, might expose themselves to hatred and every danger.  What indeed is there for me personally that might now be gained for the enjoyment of life, especially since neither in respect of your high political offices nor in respect of the glory of great ability I might see anything higher by which it might please me to climb?
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that” ;  often “especially [since, seeing that, when]”).  Introduces the cause (neque … neque … videam) on account of which something (“quid est … quod … possit acquiri”) might take place or not.
[29]Illud perficiam profecto, Quirites, ut ea quæ gessi in consulatu, privatus tuear atque ornem ut, si qua est invidia in conservanda Re Publica suscepta, lædat invidos, mihi valeat ad gloriam.  Denique ita me in Re Publica tractabo ut meminerim semper quæ gesserim curemque ut ea virtute, non casu gesta esse videantur.  Vos, Quirites, quoniam jam est nox, venerati Jovem illum, custodem hujus urbis ac vestrum, in vestra tecta discedite et ea, quanquam jam est periculum depulsum, tamen æque ac priore nocte custodiis vigiliisque defendite.  Id ne vobis diutius faciendum sit atque ut in perpetua pace esse possitis providebo, Quirites. I will by all means bring it about, O Romans, that the things I have accomplished in my consulship I will defend and embellish so that, if any hostility has been incurred in the Commonwealth, it may injure the hostile, but avail me to my glory.  In short, I will conduct myself in the Commonwealth in such a way that I will always remember the things I have accomplished and so I may take care that they may be seen as having been done by determination, not chance.  You, O Romans, since it is now nighttime, after having honored Jupiter over there, the guard of this city and of each one of you, depart to your homes and, even though the danger has now been warded off, nonetheless defend them with the same vigilance and watchfulness as last night.  I will see to it that you will not have to do so any longer and that you may be able to be in lasting peace, O Romans.

ORATIO  IN  LUCIUM  CATILINAM  QUARTA
HABITA IN SENATU  (63 B.C., December 5)

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[1]Video, Patres Conscripti, in me omnium vestrum ora atque oculos esse conversos;  video vos non solum de vestro ac Rei Publicæ verum etiam, si id depulsum sit, de meo periculo esse sollicitos.  Est mihi jucunda in malis et grata in dolore vestra erga me voluntas, sed eam, per deos immortales, deponite atque obliti salutis meæ de vobis ac de vestris liberis cogitate.  Mihi si hæc condicio consulatus data est ut omnes acerbitates, omnes dolores cruciatusque perferrem, feram non solum fortiter verum etiam libenter, dummodo meis laboribus vobis populoque Romano dignitas salusque pariatur. Conscript Fathers, I see the faces and eyes of all of you turned toward me;  I see you worried not only about your own and the Commonwealth’s danger but also, if that has been repelled, about my own.  Your good will toward me is pleasant in hardships and welcome in suffering, but, by the immortal gods, allay it and, forgetting about my safety, think about yourselves and your children.  If this status of the consulship was given to me to endure all bitterness, all sufferings and agonies, I will bear it not only bravely but even gladly, provided only that through my travails sovereignty and safety might be granted to you and the Roman people.
[2]Ego sum ille consul, Patres Conscripti, cui non forum, in quo omnis æquitas continetur, non campus consularibus auspiciis consecratus, non curia, summum auxilium omnium gentium, non domus, commune perfugium, non lectus ad quietem datus, non denique hæc sella curulis, sedes honoris, unquam vacua mortis periculo atque insidiis fuit.  Ego multa tacui, multa pertuli, multa concessi, multa meo quodam dolore in vestro timore sanavi.  Nunc si hunc exitum consulatus mei dii immortales esse voluerunt ut vos populumque Romanum e cæde miserrima, conjuges liberosque vestros virginesque Vestales ex acerbissima vexatione, templa atque delubra, hanc pulcherrimam patriam omnium nostrum e fœdissima flamma, totam Italiam e bello et vastitate eriperem, quæcumque mihi uni proponetur fortuna subeatur.  Etenim si Publius Lentulus suum nomen inductus a vatibus fatale ad perniciem Rei Publicæ fore putavit, cur ego non læter meum consulatum ad salutem populi Romani prope fatalem exstitisse ? I am that consul, Conscript Fathers, for whom neither the forum in which all justice is contained, nor the Campus Martius, hallowed by consular auspices, nor the Senate House, the highest recourse of all peoples, nor a house, a common refuge, nor a bed given for rest, nor, finally, this curule chair, a seat of honor, has ever been free from the danger of death and ambushes.  I have kept quiet about many things, have conceded many things, have remedied many things amidst anxiety on your part, at the cost of a certain pain to myself.  Now, if the immortal gods have desired this end of my consulship to be that I should rescue you and the Roman people from the most wretched carnage, your spouses and children and the Vestal Virgins from the bitterest outrages, the temples and shrines, this most beautiful fatherland of us all from the most hideous flames, all Italy from war and devastation, whatever fortune might impose on me personally, let it be undergone.  For indeed, if Publius Lentulus, induced by soothsayers, thought his name would be destined for the destruction of the Commonwealth, why should I not rejoice that my consulship has become practically destined for the salvation of the Roman people?
[3]Quare, Patres Conscripti, consulite vobis, prospicite patriæ, conservate vos, conjuges, liberos fortunasque vestras, populi Romani nomen salutemque defendite ;  mihi parcere ac de me cogitare desinite.  Nam primum debeo sperare omnes deos qui huic urbi præsident pro eo mihi ac mereor relaturos esse gratiam ;  deinde, si quid obtigerit, æquo animo paratoque moriar.  Nam neque turpis mors forti viro potest accidere neque immatura consulari nec misera sapienti.  Nec tamen ego sum ille ferreus qui fratris carissimi atque amantissimi præsentis mærore non movear horumque omnium lacrimis a quibus me circumsessum videtis.  Neque meam mentem non domum sæpe revocat exanimata uxor et abjecta metu filia et parvulus filius, quem mihi videtur amplecti Res Publica tanquam obsidem consulatus mei, neque ille qui exspectans hujus exitum diei stat in conspectu meo gener.  Moveor his rebus omnibus, sed in eam partem uti salvi sint vobiscum omnes, etiamsi me vis aliqua oppresserit, potius quam et illi et nos una Rei Publicæ peste pereamus. Wherefore, Conscript Fathers, take care for yourselves, look out for the fatherland, keep yourselves, your wives, children and fortunes safe, defend the name and safety of the Roman people;  stop sparing me and thinking about me.  For, firstly, I must hope that all the gods who preside over this city will give me thanks according to what I deserve;  then, if something should occur, I will die with a resigned and prepared mind.  For neither can a dishonorable death happen to a brave man, nor a premature one to a consular nor a wretched one to a philosoher.  Nor, moreover, am I so iron-hearted a man that I may not be moved by the present grief of a most beloved and affectionate brother and by the tears of all those by whom you see me surrounded.  Nor does my fright-paralyzed wife not often call my mind back to my home, or my fear-stricken daughter or my little son whom the Commonwealth seems to embrace for me as a hostage of my consulship, and neither does that son-in-law who, awaiting this day’s outcome, is standing in my sight.  I am moved by all of these things, but to the end that, with you, they should all be safe even if some violence should destroy me, rather than that both they and we should perish through the one downfall of the Commonwealth.
[4]Quare, Patres Conscripti, incumbite ad salutem Rei Publicæ, circumspicite omnes procellas quæ impendent nisi providetis.  Non Tiberius Gracchus, quod iterum tribunus plebis fieri voluit, non Gajus Gracchus, quod agrarios concitare conatus est, non Lucius Saturninus quod Gajum Memmium occidit, in discrimen aliquod atque in vestræ severitatis judicium adducitur :  tenentur ii qui ad urbis incendium, ad vestram omnium cædem, ad Catilinam accipiendum Romæ restiterunt, tenentur litteræ, signa, manus, denique unius cujusque confessio ;  sollicitantur Allobroges, servitia excitantur, Catilina accersitur ;  id est initum consilium ut, interfectis omnibus, nemo ne ad deplorandum quidem populi Romani nomen atque ad lamentandam tanti imperii calamitatem relinquatur. Wherefore, Conscript Fathers, concentrate on the safety of the Commonwealth, look around at all the storms the loom if you do not exercise precautionary foresight.  Neither Tiberius Gracchus, because he wanted to become tribune of the people again, nor Gajus Gracchus, because he tried to whip up the agrarian Communists, nor Lucius Saturninus, because he killed Gajus Memmius, is being drawn into some prosecution and the verdict of your severity.  Those who have stayed behind for the burning of the city, for the slaughter of all of you, for the acceptance of Catiline in Rome are being held under arrest;  the seals, handwriting, lastly the confession of each one are held in our possession;  the Allobroges are being goaded, the slaves are being incited, Catiline is being summoned — this is the program designed so that, with everyone murdered, no one may be left even to weep over the name of the Roman people and lament the destruction of such a great empire.
[5]Hæc omnia indices detulerunt, rei confessi sunt, vos multis jam judiciis judicavistis, primum quod mihi gratias egistis singularibus verbis et mea virtute atque diligentia perditorum hominum conjurationem patefactam esse decrevistis, deinde quod Publium Lentulum se abdicare prætura coëgistis, tum quod eum et ceteros de quibus judicastis in custodiam dandos censuistis, maximeque quod meo nomine supplicationem decrevistis, qui honor togato habitus ante me est nemini ;  postremo hesterno die præmia legatis Allobrogum Titoque Volturcio dedistis amplissima.  Quæ sunt omnia ejus modi ut ii qui in custodiam nominatim dati sunt sine ulla dubitatione a vobis damnati esse videantur. The informants reported all of these things, the guilty men confessed it, you have already judged it with many judgments:  firstly, because you thanked me with extraordinary words and decreed that a conspiracy of debased men had been exposed by my industry and diligence;  next because you forced Publius Lentulus to abdicate the prætorship, then because you ordered that he and the others about whom you had passed judgment were to be committed to custody;  and above all because you decreed a thanksgiving in my name, an honor which has been conceded to no civilian before me;  finally, yesterday you gave most bountiful rewards to the envoys of the Allobroges and Titus Volturcius.  All of which are of the sort that those who have been consigned by name to custody appear without any hesitation to have been condemned by you.
[6]Sed ego institui referre ad vos, Patres Conscripti, tanquam integrum, et de facto quid judicetis et de pœna quid censeatis.  Illa prædīcam quæ sunt consulis.  Ego magnum in Re Publica versari furorem et nova quædam misceri et concitari mala jampridem videbam, sed hanc tantam, tam exitiosam haberi conjurationem a civibus nunquam putavi.  Nunc quicquid est, quocunque vestræ mentes inclinant atque sententiæ, statuendum vobis ante noctem est.  Quantum facinus ad vos delatum sit, videtis.  Huic si paucos putatis affines esse, vehementer erratis :  latius opinione disseminatum est hoc malum ;  manavit non solum per Italiam, verum etiam transcendit Alpes et, obscure serpens, multas jam provincias occupavit.  Id opprimi sustentando aut prolatando nullo pacto potest ;  quacunque ratione placet, celeriter vobis vindicandum est. But I have undertaken to put to you, Conscript Fathers, as a fresh case, both what you may decide about the deed and what opinion you may have about the punishment.  I will state in advance the things that are appropriate for a consul.  For a long time now I have been seeing great madness going on in the Commonwealth and certain novelties being concocted and whipped up, but never such a great and so deadly a conspiracy as this one being sustained by citizens.  Now, whatever it is, whichever way your minds and opinions are inclined, you should make a decision before nightfall.  You see how great a crime has been reported to you.  If you think that few men are involved in it, you are greatly mistaken.  This evil has been more broadly disseminated than expected;  it has percolated not just through Italy but has even crossed the Alps and, creeping darkly, has already taken over many provinces.  In no way can it be crushed by delaying or putting it off;  in whatever way it is to be decided, you must take action against it fast.
[7]Video duas adhuc esse sententias, unam Decimi Silani, qui censet eos qui hæc delere conati sunt morte esse multandos, alteram Gaji Cæsaris, qui mortis pœnam removet, ceterorum suppliciorum omnes acerbitates amplectitur.  Uterque et pro sua dignitate et pro rerum magnitudine in summa severitate versatur.  Alter eos qui nos omnes, qui populum Romanum vita privare conati sunt — qui delere imperium, qui populi Romani nomen exstinguere — punctum temporis frui vita et hoc communi spiritu non putat oportere atque hoc genus pœnæ sæpe in improbos cives in hac Re Publica esse usurpatum recordatur.  Alter intellegit mortem a dis immortalibus non esse supplicii causa constitutam, sed aut necessitatem naturæ aut laborum ac miseriarum quietem esse ;  itaque eam sapientes nunquam inviti, fortes sæpe etiam libenter oppetiverunt.  Vincula vero, et ea sempiterna, certe ad singularem pœnam nefarii sceleris inventa sunt.  Municipiis dispertiri jubet :  habere videtur ista res iniquitatem si imperare velis, difficultatem si rogare ;  decernatur tamen, si placet. I see there being two opinions hitherto:  the one of Decimus Silanus who thinks that those who have tried to annihilate these things should be punished by death, the other of Gajus Cæsar, who removes the death penalty, but includes all the sufferings of the other punishments.  Each proceeds in maximum severity in accordance both with his own dignity and with the importance of the issues.  The one does not believe that those who have tried to deprive all of us, the Roman people, of life — who tried to annihilate the empire, who tried to extinguish the name of the Roman people — should enjoy an instant of time and this common air, and is mindful of the fact that this kind of punishment has often been executed on villainous citizens in this Commonwealth.  The other understands that death was not established by the immortal gods for the sake of punishment, but is either a requirement of nature or a rest from labors and miseries.  Therefore philosophers never meet it unwillingly, brave men often even gladly.  But chains, and those permanent ones, were certainly invented for the extraordinary punishment of depraved crimes.  He bids the men be distributed among the semi-autonomous towns:  that matter seems to entail injustice if you should want to command it, difficulty if to ask for it;  nevertheless, let it be decreed if it is desired.
[8]Ego enim suscipiam et, ut spero, reperiam qui id quod salutis omnium causa statueritis non putent esse suæ dignitatis recusare.  Adjungit gravem pœnam municipiis, si quis eorum vincula ruperit ;  horribiles custodias circumdat et dignas scelere hominum perditorum.  Sancit ne quis eorum pœnam quos condemnat aut per Senatum aut per populum levare possit ;  eripit etiam spem, quæ sola homines in miseriis consolari solet.  Bona præterea publicari jubet, vitam solam relinquit nefariis hominibus ;  quam si eripuisset, multos una dolores animi atque corporis et omnes scelerum pœnas ademisset.  Itaque ut aliqua in vita formido improbis esset proposita, apud inferos ejus modi quædam illi antiqui supplicia impiis constituta esse voluerunt, quod videlicet intellegebant his remotis non esse mortem ipsam pertimescendam. For I myself will undertake it and, as I hope, will find people who will not think it proper to their dignity to refuse that which you should decide for the sake of everyone’s safety.  He adds a heavy penalty to the semi-autonomous towns if anyone should break their chains;  he places frightful guards round about, worthy of the crimes of evil men.  He ordains that no one should be able, either through the Senate or the people, to lighten the punishment of those whom it condemns;  he even removes hope, who alone is accustomed to console men in misery.  In addition he bids their goods be confiscated, leaves only life to the execrable men;  if he had snatched that away, he would have at the same time taken away many pains of mind and body and all the punishments of their crimes.  Thus, so that some fear might be held out to criminals in life, the ancients maintained that some tortures of this sort had been established for the wicked among the dead because, no doubt, they understood that, without these, death itself would not be something to be feared.
[9]Nunc, Patres Conscripti, ego meā video quid intersit.  Si eritis secuti sententiam Gaji Cæsaris, quoniam hanc is in Re Publica viam quæ popularis habetur secutus est, fortasse minus erunt hoc auctore et cognitore hujusce sententiæ mihi populares impetus pertimescendi ;  sin illam alteram, nescio an amplius mihi negotii contrahatur, sed tamen meorum periculorum rationes utilitas Rei Publicæ vincat.  Habemus enim a Cæsare, sicut ipsius dignitas et majorum ejus amplitudo postulabat, sententiam tanquam obsidem perpetuæ in Rem Publicam voluntatis.  Intellectum est quid interesset inter lĕvitatem contionatorum et animum vere popularem saluti populi consulentem. Now, Conscript Fathers, I see what is to my own advantage.  If you should follow the opinion of Gajus Cæsar, because he has followed this path in the Commonwealth which is considered to be of the Populist Party, perhaps with him as the proposer and advocate of this view, I will have to fear Populist assaults less;  but if the other one, perhaps greater problems may be put on me.  But nevertheless, the benefit to the Commonwealth nonetheless outweighs the calculations of my own dangers.  For from Cæsar, as his own prestige and the eminence of his ancestors requires, we have a proposition as a kind of hostage of his undying commitment to the Commonwealth.  Here we saw what the difference is between the shallowness of the demogogues and the truly Populist concern caring for the safety of the people.
[10]Video de istis, qui se populares haberi volunt abesse non neminem, ne de capite videlicet civium Romanorum sententiam ferat.  Is et nudius tertius in custodiam cives Romanos dedit et supplicationem mihi decrevit et indices hesterno die maximis præmiis affecit.  Jam hoc nemini dubium est, qui reo custodiam, quæsitori gratulationem, indici præmium decrerit, quid de tota re et causa judicarit.  At vero Gajus Cæsar intellegit legem Semproniam esse de civibus Romanis constitutam ;  qui autem Rei Publicæ sit hostis eum civem esse nullo modo posse ;  denique ipsum latorem Semproniæ legis jussu populi pœnas Rei Publicæ dependisse.  Īdem ipsum Lentulum largitorem et prodigum non putat, quum84 de pernicie populi Romani, exitio hujus urbis tam acerbe, tam crudeliter cogitarit, etiam appellari posse popularem.  Itaque homo mitissimus atque lenissimus non dubitat Publium Lentulum æternis tenebris vinculisque mandare et sancit in posterum ne quis hujus supplicio levando se jactare et in pernicie populi Romani posthac popularis esse possit.  Adjungit etiam publicationem bonorum, ut omnes animi cruciatus et corporis etiam egestas ac mendicitas consequatur. I see that, of those who want themselves to be considered Populist, a few are absent — lest, clearly, they register their vote about the death sentence of Roman citizens.  Yet the day before yesterday the same people committed Roman citizens to custody and voted for a thanksgiving for me, and yesterday recompensed the informants with the most ample rewards.  Now in no one is there any doubt about what he who has decreed custody for a guilty man, thanks to an investigator, rewards for an informant, may judge about the whole issue and case.  But indeed Gajus Cæsar understands the Sempronian law as having been set up regarding Roman citizens;  yet that he who is an enemy of the Commonwealth can in no way be a citizen;  finally, that the sponsor of the Sempronian law himself had by order of the people paid the penalty to the Commonwealth.  That same man does not think that the briber and spendthrift, Lentulus himself, since he was so harshly, so cruelly contemplating the destruction of the Roman people, the obliteration of this city, could still be called a Populist.  Therefore that most mild and gentle man does not hesitate to commit Publius Lentulus to permanent darkness and chains, and ordains that in the future no one should be able, by lightening the punishment of this man, to show himself off and afterwards, in the slaughter of the Roman people, be a Populist.  He also adds the confiscation of goods, so that poverty and beggary might accompany all the tortures of mind and body.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that” ;  often “especially [since, seeing that, when]”).  The lethal “strategizing” (cogitarit) of Publius Lentulus is the reason that Cæsar would not think (non putat) him able to be called a Populist (appellari posse popularem).
[11]Quam ob rem, sive hoc statueritis, dederitis mihi comitem ad contionem populo carum atque jucundum ;  sive Silani sententiam sequi malueritis, facile me atque vos crudelitatis vituperatione populus Romanus exsolvet atque obtinebo eam multo leniorem fuisse.  Quanquam, Patres Conscripti, quæ potest esse in tanti sceleris immanitate punienda crudelitas ?  Ego enim de meo sensu judico.  Nam ita mihi salva Re Publica vobiscum perfrui liceat ut ego — quod in hac causa vehementior sum — non atrocitate animi moveor (quis enim est me mitior ?), sed singulari quadam humanitate et misericordia.  Videor enim mihi videre hanc urbem, lucem orbis terrarum atque arcem omnium gentium, subito uno incendio concidentem ;  cerno animo sepulta in patria miseros atque insepultos acervos civium.  Versatur mihi ante oculos aspectus Cethegi et furor in vestra cæde bacchantis. For these reasons, if you decide on this, you will have given me a colleague in public assemblies dear and agreeable to the people;  or if you should prefer to follow the proposal of Silanus, the Roman people will easily absolve me and you of the charge of cruelty, and I will successfully maintain that this was by far more lenient.  Although, Conscript Fathers, What cruelty can there be in punishing the hideousness of so great a crime?  For I am judging in accordance with my own feelings.  Because as much as I hope to be permitted to me to enjoy an intact Commonwealth with you, to that same extent — granted that I am more severe in this case — I am motivated not by savagery of character (for who is milder than I?) but by a pronounced human feeling and mercy.  I seem to myself to see this city, the light of the world and the capital of all peoples, suddenly collapsing in a single conflagration;  in my mind I perceive the wretched piles of citizens, unburied in a buried fatherland.  Before my eyes hovers the visage of Cethegus and the madness of a man reveling in your slaughter.
[12]Quum85 vero mihi proposui regnantem Lentulum, sicut ipse se e fatis sperasse confessus est, purpuratum esse huic Gabinium, cum exercitu venisse Catilinam, tum lamentationem matrum familias, tum fugam virginum atque puerorum ac vexationem virginum Vestalium, perhorresco et, quia mihi vehementer hæc videntur misera atque miseranda, idcirco in eos qui ea perficere voluerunt me severum vehementemque præbebo.  Etenim quæro, si quis pater familias liberis suis a servo interfectis, uxore occisa, incensa domo supplicium de servo non quam acerbissimum sumpserit, utrum is clemens ac misericors an inhumanissimus et crudelissimus esse videatur.  Mihi vero importunus ac ferreus qui non dolore et cruciatu nocentis suum dolorem cruciatumque lenierit.  Sic nos in his hominibus qui nos, qui conjuges, qui liberos nostros trucidare voluerunt, qui singulas unius cujusque nostrum domos et hoc universum Rei Publicæ domicilium delere conati sunt, qui id egerunt, ut gentem Allobrogum in vestigiis hujus urbis atque in cinere deflagrati imperii collocarent, si vehementissimi fuerimus, misericordes habebimur ;  sin remissiores esse voluerimus, summæ nobis crudelitatis in patriæ civiumque pernicie fama subeunda est. But when I have pictured to myself Lentulus being king, as he himself confessed he had hoped from the books of fate, Gabinius as a purple-garbed courtier to him, Catiline having come with his army, at some times I shudder at the lamentation of mothers, at other times at the flight of virgins and boys and at the defilement of the Vestal virgins and, because these things seem unmercifully wretched and pitiable, I will therefore show myself severe and unmerciful toward those who wish to bring these things about.  For indeed I ask you:  if the father of a household, with his children murdered by a slave, his wife killed, his house burned, did not inflict the harshest possible punishment on the slave, would he appear to be mild and merciful or extremely savage and cruel?  Indeed, to me someone who did not alleviate his own pain and agony through the pain and agony of the perpetrator would be perverse and iron-hearted.  In the same way, if in the case of these men who have wanted to slaughter us, our wives, our children, who have tried to annihilate the homes of each one of us and this overall headquarters of the Commonwealth, who have worked to place the nation of the Allobroges on the traces of this city and the ashes of an incinerated empire, we are extremely severe, we will be merciful;  but if we want to be more negligent, we will have to endure the reputation of cruelty in the case of the destruction of the fatherland and its citizens.
  1. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when”).  The conjunction here describes Cicero’s mental pictures (proposui) as having left him in such a state that he thereafter feels he must proceed ruthlessly (me severum vehementemque præbebo) against the conspirators.  His imaginings are not historical reality and do not entail any actual retribution on his part, and therefore quum cannot be narrativum, historicum or causale, which would take the subjunctive.
[13]Nisi vero cuipiam Lucius Cæsar, vir fortissimus et amantissimus Rei Publicæ, crudelior nudius tertius visus est, quum86 sororis suæ, feminæ lectissimæ, virum præsentem et audientem vita privandum esse dixit — quum87 avum suum jussu consulis interfectum filiumque ejus impuberem legatum a patre missum in carcere necatum esse dixit :  quorum quod simile factum, quod initum delendæ Rei Publicæ consilium ?  Largitionis voluntas tum in Re Publica versata est et partium quædam contentio.  Atque illo tempore hujus avus Lentuli, vir clarissimus, armatus Gracchum est persecutus.  Ille etiam grave tum vulnus accepit, ne quid de summa Rei Publicæ minueretur ;  hic ad evertenda fundamenta Rei Publicæ Gallos accersit, servitia concitat, Catilinam vocat, attribuit nos trucidandos Cethego et ceteros cives interficiendos Gabinio, urbem inflammandam Cassio, totam Italiam vastandam diripiendamque Catilinæ.  Vereamini censeo ne in hoc scelere tam immani ac nefando aliquid severius statuisse videamini :  multo magis est verendum ne remissione pœnæ crudeles in patriam quam ne severitate animadversionis nimis vehementes in acerbissimos hostes fuisse videamur. Unless indeed Lucius Cæsar, a man most brave and zealous for the Commonwealth, was viewed as too cruel the day before last when he said that the present and listening husband of his sister, a most distinguished lady, ought to be deprived of his life — when by order of the consul his own grandfather had been executed and his minor son, a messenger sent by his father, had been killed in prison.  What act of theirs was similar?  What plan of annihilating the Commonwealth devised?  In those days there was a desire for subsidization in the Commonwealth, and a certain struggle of the factions.  And at that time the grandfather of this Lentulus, a most illustrious man, pursued Gracchus with weapons.  That man received grave wounds then so that nothing might be diminished in the full extent of the Commonwealth.  This man called in the Gauls to overturn the foundations of the Commonwealth;  he whipped up the slaves;  he called in Catiline;  he delivered us to Cethegus to be butchered and the other citizens to Gabinius to be massacred, the city to Cassius to be set aflame, all Italy to Catiline to be devastated and plundered.  You should fear, I suppose, that you might seem to have decided something too severe in such a hideous and evil crime as this?  Much rather to be feared is that by mitigation of their penalty we should seem to have been too cruel to the fatherland rather than by severity of the punishment too harsh against its bitterest enemies.
  1. quum is here quum temporale (“when, at the time when”).  The ironical question is whether at the time of Lucius Cæsar’s condemnatory statement (in the indicative, dixit) he had been viewed (visus est) as overly cruel.  The relationship between the two verbs is strictly temporal, not one of cause and effect.
  2. quum is here likewise quum temporale (“when, at the time when”).  It introduces the second and reinforcing statement (dixit, likewise indicative) about the precedent that his grandfather and uncle had been killed by order of a consul (jussu consulis), and likewise introduces temporal, not causative, background information.
[14]Sed ea quæ exaudio, Patres Conscripti, dissimulare non possum.  Jaciuntur enim voces quæ perveniunt ad aures meas eorum qui vereri videntur ut habeam satis præsidii ad ea quæ vos statueritis hodierno die transigenda.  Omnia et provisa et parata et constituta sunt, Patres Conscripti, quum88 mea summa cura atque diligentia tum multo etiam majore populi Romani ad summum imperium retinendum et ad communes fortunas conservandas voluntate.  Omnes assunt omnium ordinum homines, omnium generum, omnium denique ætatum :  plenum est forum, plena templa circum forum, pleni omnes aditus hujus templi ac loci.  Causa est enim post urbem conditam hæc inventa sola in qua omnes sentirent unum atque idem — præter eos qui, quum89 sibi viderent esse pereundum, cum omnibus potius quam soli perire voluerunt. But, Conscript Fathers, I cannot ignore the things that my hearing detects.  For coming through to my ears are remarks of those being tossed about who seem to fear that I do not have enough of a guard for the things that you will have decided today.  Everything, Conscript Fathers, has been foreseen and prepared and set up both through my own extreme care and vigilance as also even much more so by the wish of the Roman people for maintaining their dominion and preserving our common fortunes.  Present are all the people of all the classes, all the types, lastly of all ages;  the forum is full, the temples around the forum are full, all the entrances to this temple and location are full.  For this case is the only one found since the foundation of the city in which everyone feels one and the same thing— except those who, since they see they are about to perish, wish to perish with everyone rather than alone.
  1. quum here initiates the idiomatic doublet quum … tum … (“both … and … ;  indeed … but above all …”) which provides for a balanced structure emphasizing the second component highlighted by multo etiam majore.
  2. quum is here quum causale (“since;  given that ;  -ing”).  It introduces the fact of seeing their own extinction (sibi viderent esse pereundum) before their eyes (due to their insuperable debt — cf. 2 Catiline § 21, “sumptibus in vetere ære alieno vacillant”) as the reason for wanting to bring down everyone else at the same time.
[15]Hosce ego homines excipio et secerno libenter, neque in improborum civium sed in acerbissimorum hostium numero habendos puto.  Ceteri vero, dii immortales !  Qua frequentia, quo studio, qua virtute ad communem salutem dignitatemque consentiunt !  Quid ego hic equites Romanos commemorem ?  — qui vobis ita summam ordinis consiliique concedunt ut vobiscum de amore Rei Publicæ certent ;  quos ex multorum annorum dissensione hujus ordinis ad societatem concordiamque revocatos hodiernus dies vobiscum atque hæc causa conjungit.  Quam si conjunctionem in consulatu confirmatam meo perpetuam in Re Publica tenuerimus, confirmo vobis nullum posthac malum civile ac domesticum ad ullam Rei Publicæ partem esse venturum.  Pari studio defendendæ Rei Publicæ convenisse video tribunos ærarios, fortissimos viros ;  scribas item universos, quos quum90 casu hic dies ad ærarium frequentasset, video ab exspectatione sortis ad salutem communem esse conversos. These men I gladly exclude and separate out, and do not think they should be considered as in the number of bad citizens but in that of the bitterest enemies.  But the rest, O immortal gods!  In what numbers, with what zeal, with what manliness they have unified in agreement for our common safety and dignity!  Should I mention here the Roman knights — those who yield to you primacy of class and policymaking so that they may compete with you in love of the Commonwealth?  whom, reconciled to comradeship and concord after a rift with this class of many years, this day and this case reunites with you?  If in the Commonwealth we should keep this union, permanently strengthened in my consulate, I assure you that afterward no civil and domestic disorder will ever come to any part of the Commonwealth.  I see that the Treasury tribunes, men of valor, have with like enthusiasm come together to defend the Commonwealth;  I see all the secretaries likewise, whom even though this day had by chance convened at the Treasury, as having turned from awaiting their lots to the common safety.
  1. quum is here quum concessivum (“though, although, in spite of the fact that”).  It concedes that while that particular day had gathered (frequentasset) the secretaries (scribas) nearby for a different reason (to get their assignments, drawn by lot, for the coming year), they left that (ab exspectatione sortis … conversos) to listen to him (ad salutem communem).
[16]Omnis ingenuorum adest multitudo, etiam tenuissimorum.  Quis est enim cui non hæc templa, aspectus urbis, possessio libertatis, lux denique hæc ipsa et commune patriæ solum quum91 sit carum tum vero dulce atque jucundum ?  Operæ pretium est, Patres Conscripti, libertinorum hominum studia cognoscere qui sua virtute fortunam hujus civitatis consecuti vere hanc suam patriam esse judicant quam quidam hic nati — et summo nati loco —, non patriam suam sed urbem hostium esse judicaverunt.  Sed quid ego hosce homines ordinesque commemoro quos privatæ fortunæ, quos communis Res Publica, quos denique libertas ea quæ dulcissima est ad salutem patriæ defendendam excitavit ?  Servus est nemo, qui modo tolerabili condicione sit servitutis, qui non audaciam civium perhorrescat, qui non hæc stare cupiat, qui non, quantum audet et quantum potest, conferat ad communem salutem, voluntatis. The entire body of freemen is present, even of the poorest.  For who is there to whom these temples, the sight of the city, the possession of freedom, and finally this light itself and the common ground of the fatherland is not merely dear but indeed sweet and pleasant?  It is worthwhile, Conscript Fathers, to know the thinking of freedmen who, having acquired the benefit of this citizenship by their own merits, judge this to be their own fatherland which indeed those born here — and born in a high state — judge to be not their own fatherland but the city of enemies.  But why am I mentioning these men and classes whom private fortunes, whom the shared Commonwealth, whom, lastly, that freedom which is the sweetest, rouses to defend the safety of the fatherland?  There is no slave, provided only he be in a bearable condition of slavery, who does not shudder at the insolence of citizens, who does not want these things to continue to stand, who does not contribute as much of good-will as he dares and as much as he can to the common safety.
  1. quum here initiates the idiomatic doublet quum … tum … (“both … and … ;  indeed … but above all …”).  The “common soil” is not just dear (carum), but even more, it is sweet and delightful (dulce atque jucundum).
[17]Quare si quem vestrum forte commovet hoc quod auditum est, lenonem quendam Lentuli concursare circum tabernas, pretio sperare sollicitari posse animos egentium atque imperitorum — est id quidem cœptum atque temptatum.  Sed nulli sunt inventi tam aut fortunā miseri aut voluntate perditi qui non illum ipsum sellæ atque operis et quæstus cotidiani locum, qui non cubile ac lectulum suum, qui denique non cursum hunc otiosum vitæ suæ salvum esse velint.  Multo vero maxima pars eorum, qui in tabernis sunt, immo vero (id enim potius est dicendum) genus hoc universum, amantissimum est otii.  Etenim omne instrumentum, omnis opera atque quæstus frequentiā civium sustentatur, alitur otio ;  quorum si quæstus occlusis tabernis minui solet, quid tandem incensis futurum fuit ? Wherefore, if what has been heard about some pimp of Lentulus running to and fro around the kiosks hoping that the minds of the indigents and the unschooled can be stirred up by bribery should disturb anyone among you — that has indeed been started and attempted.  But none, either distressed by fortune or perverted by desire, have been found who would not want that very place of his workstool and work and daily business, would not want his own couch and bed, would not, lastly, want this placid course of his own life to be safe.  Indeed, by far the greatest part of those who are in the kiosks — or better (for it should rather be said), this whole class — is extremely enamored of tranquillity.  For indeed, all the equipment, all their labor and business is sustained by throngs of citizens, nourished by calm;  if their business is normally diminished by shut-down kiosks, what, in the end, would become of it with incinerated ones?
[18]Quæ quum92 ita sint, Patres Conscripti, vobis populi Romani præsidia non desunt ;  vos ne populo Romano deesse videamini, providete.  Habetis consulem e plurimis periculis et insidiis atque e media morte non ad vitam suam, sed ad salutem vestram reservatum.  Omnes ordines ad conservandam Rem Publicam mente, voluntate, studio, virtute, voce consentiunt.  Obsessa facibus et telis impiæ conjurationis vobis supplex manus tendit patria communis ;  vobis se, vobis vitam omnium civium, vobis arcem et Capitolium, vobis aras Penatium, vobis illum ignem Vestæ sempiternum, vobis omnium deorum templa atque delubra, vobis muros atque urbis tecta commendat.  Præterea de vestra vita, de conjugum vestrarum atque liberorum anima, de fortunis omnium, de sedibus, de focis vestris hodierno die vobis judicandum est. Because these things are so, Conscript Fathers, the protection of the Roman people is not lacking for you;  take care that you do not seem to be lacking to the Roman people.  You have a consul preserved from multiple dangers and ambushes and even from the jaws of death not for his own life, but for the safety of you.  All of the classes unite in mind, in will, in zeal, in courage, in their voices for preserving the Commonwealth.  Pleading, our common fatherland, beleaguered by the torches and weapons of an insolent conspiracy, stretches out its hands to you;  it commends itself to you, commends the lives of all the citizens to you, the citadel and the Capitol to you, the altars of the state gods to you, that yonder eternal fire of Vesta to you, the temples and shrines of all the gods to you, the walls and even the houses of the city to you.  Moreover you must today make a decision about your own lives, about the existence of your wives and especially children, about the fortunes of everyone, about your homesteads, about your own hearths.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  It introduces the reason why the Roman people are not failing to provide protection to the Senators, and the Senators should perform their duty to the Roman people.
[19]Habetis ducem memorem vestri, oblītum sui — quæ non semper facultas datur ;  habetis omnes ordines, omnes homines, universum populum Romanum, id quod in civili causa hodierno die primum videmus, unum atque idem sentientem.  Cogitate quantis laboribus fundatum imperium, quanta virtute stabilitam libertatem, quanta deorum benignitate auctas exaggeratasque fortunas una nox pæne delerit.  Id ne unquam posthac non modo confici, sed ne cogitari quidem possit a civibus, hodierno die providendum est.  Atque hæc, non ut vos — qui mihi studio pæne præcurritis — excitarem, locutus sum, sed ut mea vox, quæ debet esse in Re Publica princeps, officio functa consulari videretur. You have a leader concerned about you, forgetful of himself, an opportunity which is not always given;  you have all the classes, all men, the entire Roman people — something that you see in a civilian case today for the first time —, thinking one and the same thing.  Consider how a single night almost wiped out an empire established by so many travails, its freedom secured by so much courage, its fortunes increased and multiplied by such goodwill of the gods.  Precautions must be taken that, ever hereafter, this might be not just executed but indeed not even thought about by citizens.  And I have spoken these things not so that I may impassion you who in zeal almost outstrip me, but that my voice, which should be the leading one in the Commonwealth, may be seen to have fulfilled its consular duty.
[20]Nunc, antequam ad sententiam redeo, de me pauca dicam.  Ego, quanta manus est conjuratorum, quam videtis esse permagnam, tantam me inimicorum multitudinem suscepisse video ;  sed eam esse judico turpem et infirmam et contemptam et abjectam.  Quod si aliquando alicujus furore et scelere concitata manus ista plus valuerit quam vestra ac Rei Publicæ dignitas, me tamen meorum factorum atque consiliorum nunquam, Patres Conscripti, pænitebit.  Etenim mors, quam illi fortasse minitantur, omnibus est parata ;  vitæ tantam laudem, quanta vos me vestris decretis honestastis, nemo est assecutus.  Ceteris enim bene gestā, mihi uni conservatā Re Publica gratulationem decrevistis. Now before I return to the verdict, I will say a few things about myself.  I am well aware that I have taken on a mass of enemies as great as is the horde of conspirators, which you see is very large;  but I judge it to be base and weak and contemptible and sordid.  Yet if at any time that mass, whipped up by anyone’s rage and criminality, should predominate more than your dignity and that of the Commonwealth, I will nonetheless, Conscript Fathers, never regret my deeds and plans.  For indeed, death, which they are perhaps threatening, has been readied for everyone;  no one has attained such glory in life as you have bestowed on me with your decrees.  For to others you decreed a thanksgiving for a Commonwealth well managed;  to me alone for its having been saved.
[21]Sit Scipio clarus ille, cujus consilio atque virtute Hannibal in Africam redire atque Italia decedere coactus est ;  ornetur alter eximia laude Africanus, qui duas urbes huic imperio infestissimas, Carthaginem Numantiamque, delevit ;  habeatur vir egregius Paulus ille, cujus currum rex potentissimus quondam et nobilissimus Perses honestavit ;  sit æternā gloriā Marius, qui bis Italiam obsidione et metu servitutis liberavit ;  anteponatur omnibus Pompejus, cujus res gestæ atque virtutes eisdem quibus solis cursŭs regionibus ac terminis continentur :  erit profecto inter horum laudes aliquid loci nostræ gloriæ, nisi forte majus est patefacere nobis provincias quo exire possimus quam curare ut etiam illi qui absunt habeant, quo victores revertantur. Let the great Scipio be famous, by whose strategy and valor Hannibal was forced to return to Africa and leave Italy;  let the second Africanus be honored with high praise, the man who destroyed two cities extremely hostile to this empire, Carthage and Numantia;  let the great Paulus be held as a distinguished man whose chariot the once tremendously powerful and noble Perseus adorned;  let Marius be graced with eternal glory, the one who twice freed Italy from siege and the fear of slavery;  let Pompey be esteemed more highly than them all, a man whose exploits and valor are limited by the same boundaries and limits as the course of the sun;  certainly among the praises of these men there will be some space for our fame, unless perchance it is greater to open up provinces for us to which we might go out than to see to it that those who are away may have a place where they may return to as victors.
[22]Quanquam est uno loco condicio melior externæ victoriæ quam domesticæ, quod hostes alienigenæ aut oppressi serviunt aut recepti in amicitiam beneficio se obligatos putant ;  qui autem e numero civium dementiā aliquā depravati hostes patriæ semel esse cœperunt, eos quum93 a pernicie Rei Publicæ reppuleris, nec vi coërcere nec beneficio placare possis.  Quare mihi cum perditis civibus æternum bellum susceptum esse video.  Id ego vestro bonorumque omnium auxilio memoriaque tantorum periculorum, quæ non modo in hoc populo qui servatus est sed in omnium gentium sermonibus ac mentibus semper hærebit, a me atque a meis facile propulsari posse confido.  Neque ulla profecto tanta vis reperietur quæ conjunctionem vestram equitumque Romanorum et tantam conspirationem bonorum omnium confringere et labefactare possit. Although in one respect the issue of an external victory is better than that of a domestic one because foreign enemies either, crushed, serve as slaves or, admitted into friendship, consider themselves bound by the favor, while those who, out of the number of citizens, corrupted by some madness, have once begun to be enemies of the fatherland, even though you have driven them back from the destruction of the Commonwealth, you can neither restrain them by force nor placate them with benefits.  For this reason I see that an eternal war has been engaged in by me with depraved citizens.  With the help of you and of all good men and in the memory of such great dangers which will forever remain not only in this people which has been preserved but in the words and minds of all nations, I am confident that I will easily be able to fend it off from me and mine.  Nor, indeed, will any so great a force be found that might subvert and undermine the union of you and the Roman knights and so great a unanimity of all good men.
  1. quum is here quum concessivum (“though, although, in spite of the fact that”).  It stresses the fact that “even when” one has staved them off (reppulerīs) from the destruction of the nation, one may still not be able to restrain or placate (nec … coërcēre nec … plācāre possīs) them.
[23]Quæ quum94 ita sint:  pro imperio;  pro exercitu;  pro provincia quam neglexi;  pro triumpho ceterisque laudis insignibus quæ sunt a me propter urbis vestræque salutis custodiam repudiata;  pro clientelis hospitiisque provincialibus (quæ tamen urbanis opibus non minore labore tueor quam comparo) — pro his igitur omnibus rebus, pro meis in vos singularibus studiis, proque hac quam perspicitis ad conservandam Rem Publicam diligentia, nihil a vobis nisi hujus temporis totiusque mei consulatus memoriam postulo.  Quæ dum erit in vestris fixa mentibus, tutissimo me muro sæptum esse arbitrabor.  Quod si meam spem vis improborum fefellerit atque superaverit, commendo vobis parvum meum filium, cui profecto satis erit præsidii non solum ad salutem verum etiam ad dignitatem, si ejus qui hæc omnia suo solius periculo conservarit, illum filium esse memineritis. These things being so:  instead of a command;  instead of an army;  instead of the province that I gave up;  instead of a triumph and other tokens of praise that were refused by me on account of my guardianship of the safety of the city and of you;  instead of my clients and ties of hospitality in the provinces (which through my resources in the city I nevertheless maintain with no less painstakingness than I acquire them) — in sum, in return for all these things, for my own unparalleled exertions for you and for, as you see, this conscientiousness of mine in saving the Commonwealth, I ask nothing of you but the memory of this time and of my entire consulate.  As long as these things will be fixed in your minds, I will consider myself surrounded by an extremely safe rampart.  But if the violence of unprincipled men should deceive and overcome my hope, I commend to you my small son for whom, assuredly, it will be a sufficient safeguard not just for his safety, but his dignity, if you should remember him to be the son of him who saved all these things at the risk of himself alone.
  1. quum is here quum causale (“since ;  given that”).  It introduces the reason (i.e., because Cicero is engaged in an æternum bellum with evil men) why he needs to ask (postulo) for his audience to keep him and his services (propropro …) in mind, something he is sure will keep him safe (tutissimo me muro sæptum esse arbitrabor).
[24]Quapropter de summa salute vestra populique Romani, de vestris conjugibus ac liberis, de aris ac focis, de fanis atque templis, de totius urbis tectis ac sedibus, de imperio ac libertate, de salute Italiæ, de universa Re Publica decernite diligenter, ut instituistis, ac fortiter.  Habetis eum consulem qui et parere vestris decretis non dubitet, et ea quæ statueritis, quoad vivet, defendere et per se ipsum præstare possit. So as you have begun to, give your opinion conscientiously and courageously about your ultimate safety and that of the Roman people, about your wives and children, about your altars and hearths, about the shrines and temples, about the houses and households of the entire city, about the empire and freedom, about the saftey of Italy, about the entire Commonwealth.  You have as consul a man who will not hesitate to obey your decrees and can, as long as he lives, defend and, by himself personally, assume responsibility for the things you decide.

Gaĭus Sallustius Crispus :  De Conjuratione Catilinæ

Bilingual text collated by Roy Glashan and subsequently modified by Brian Regan.

PRODUCTION NOTE

The Latin text used as the basis for this digital edition of Sallust’s Bellum Catilinæ was downloaded from The Latin Library web site, then modified in orthography and in accordance with C. SALLVSTI CRISPI CATILINA, IVGVRTHA, HISTORIARUM FRAGMENTA SELECTA;  APPENDIX SALLVSTIANA, RECOGNOVIT BREVIQUE ADNOTATIONE CRITICA INSTRVXIT L.D. Reynolds (Oxonii:  E typographeo Clarendoniano, 1991).  Also consulted was Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae, 2nd Edition, Edited, with Introduction and Commentary by J.T. Ramsey (Oxford:  University Press, [1st ed. 1984] 2007). — Brian Regan, November 2014.

The general format is that posted by Roy Glashan in April 2014.  In his words, “The English text is that of the literal translation made by the Rev. John Selby Watson (1804-1884) and published by Harper & Brothers, New York, in 1867.  Section titles and a chronology of Cataline's conspiracy have been added.”

However, both Latin and English texts have been modified here:  the Latin, to accord with traditional “Ramist” spelling as found mostly in Lewis and Short’s A Latin Dictionary;  the English, to update the 19th-century style and verbiage of Watson, as well as to accord more closely to some of the Latin, especially where the works of Reynolds and Ramsey provide a text closer to the original Sallustian Vorlage.  However in the process, much of the “archaic” spelling of Sallust himself has been “normalized,” so that the chapters below are not published in the current academic or “diplomatic” manner (for which, see Reynolds, op. cit.), but in a form more easily recognized by students.  Formatting has also been adjusted for this presentation.

 From:  http://freeread.com.au/@RGLibrary/Sallust/BellumCatilinæ.html
 English translation:  http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/05/13/bellum.catilinae.13may08.pdf


Sallustii :  BELLUM CATILINÆ

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Chronology of Catiline’s Conspiracy
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Introduction
[I] Omnes homines qui sese student præstare ceteris animalibus, summa ope niti decet, ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora quæ natura prona atque ventri obœdientia finxit.  Sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est :  animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur ;  alterum nobis cum dis, alterum cum beluis commune est.  Quo mihi rectius [esse] videtur ingenii quam virium opibus gloriam quærere et, quoniam vita ipsa qua fruimur brevis est, memoriam nostri quam maxime longam efficere.  Nam divitiarum et formæ gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara æternaque habetur. [I] It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals, to strive to the utmost of their power not to pass through life in obscurity, like the beasts of the field which nature has formed groveling and subservient to appetite.  All our power is situated in the mind and in the body.  Of the mind we rather employ the government;  of the body, the service.  The one is common to us with the gods;  the other with the brutes.  It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable to pursue glory by means of the intellect than of bodily strength and, since the life which we enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible.  For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable;  that of intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.
Sed diu magnum inter mortales certamen fuit, vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet.  Nam et, priusquam incipias, consulto et, ubi consuluerīs, mature facto opus est.  Ita utrumque per se indigens alterum alterius auxilio eget. Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind whether military efforts were more advanced by strength of body or by force of intellect.  For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before beginning to act and, after planning, to act with promptitude and vigor.  Thus, each being insufficient of itself, the one requires the assistance of the other.
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[II] Igitur initio reges — nam in terris nomen imperii id primum fuit — diversi pars ingenium, alii corpus exercebant.  Etiam tum vita hominum sine cupiditate agitabatur ;  sua cuique satis placebant.  Postea vero quam in Asia Cyrus, in Græcia Lacedæmonii et Athenienses cœpere urbes atque nationes subigere, libidinem dominandi causam belli habere, maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putare, tum demum periculo atque negotiis compertum est in bello plurimum ingenium posse.  Quod si regum atque imperatorum animi virtus in pace ita ut in bello valeret, æquabilius atque constantius sese res humanæ haberent, neque aliud alio ferri neque mutari ac misceri omnia cerneres.  Nam imperium facile eis artibus retinetur quibus initio partum est ;  verum ubi pro labore desidia, pro continentia et æquitate libido atque superbia invasere, fortuna simul cum moribus immutatur.  Ita imperium semper ad optimum quemque a minus bono transfertur. [II] In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;  some exercised the mind, others the body.  At that period, however, the life of man was passed without covetousness;  every one was satisfied with his own.  But after Cyrus in Asia, and the Lacedæmonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war and to imagine the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at length discovered, by proof and experience, that mental power had the greatest effect in military operations.  And indeed, if the intellectual ability of kings and magistrates were exerted to the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more orderly and settled and you would not see governments shifted from hand to hand, and things universally changed and confused.  For dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first obtained.  But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune of a state is altered together with its morals;  and thus authority is always transferred from the less to the more deserving.
Quæ homines arant, navigant, ædificant, virtuti omnia parent.  Sed multi mortales, dediti ventri atque somno, indocti incultique vitam sicuti peregrinantes transiere ;  quibus profecto contra naturam corpus voluptati, anima oneri fuit.  Eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta æstimo, quoniam de utraque siletur.  Verum enim vero is demum mihi vivere atque frui anima videtur qui aliquo negotio intentus præclari facinoris aut artis bonæ famam quærit. Even in agriculture, in navigation and in architecture, whatever man performs owns the dominion of intellect.  Yet many human beings, resigned to sensuality and indolence, uninstructed and unimproved, have passed through life like travelers in a strange country;  to whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a gratification and the mind a burden.  Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimations, for silence is maintained concerning both.  But he only, indeed, seems to me to live and to enjoy life who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling enterprise or honorable pursuit.
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[III] Sed in magna copia rerum aliud alii natura iter ostendit.  Pulchrum est bene facere Rei Publicæ, etiam bene dicere haud absurdum est ;  vel pace vel bello clarum fieri licet ;  et qui fecere et qui facta aliorum scripsere, multi laudantur.  Ac mihi quidem, tametsi haudquaquam par gloria sequitur scriptorem et auctorem rerum, tamen imprimis arduum videtur res gestas scribere :  primum, quod facta dictis exæquanda sunt ;  dehinc, quia plerique quæ delicta reprehenderīs malevolentia et invidia dicta putant, ubi de magna virtute atque gloria bonorum memores, quæ sibi quisque facilia factu putat, æquo animo accipit, supra ea veluti ficta pro falsis ducit. [III] But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different paths to different individuals.  To act well for the Commonwealth is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merits.  Both in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity;  many who have acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their tribute of praise.  And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal glory attends the narrator and the engineer of illustrious deeds, it yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of great exploits;  first, because deeds must be adequately represented by words;  and next, because most readers consider that whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through malevolence and envy;  while, when you speak of the great virtue and glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence only that which he himself thinks easy to be performed;  all beyond his own conception he regards as fictitious and incredible.
Sed ego adulescentulus initio, sicuti plerique, studio ad Rem Publicam latus sum, ibique mihi multa adversa fuere.  Nam pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant.  Quæ tametsi animus aspernabatur insolens malarum artium, tamen inter tanta vitia imbecilla ætas ambitione corrupta tenebatur ;  ac me, quum a reliquorum malis moribus dissentirem, nihilominus honoris cupido eadem qua ceteros fama atque invidia vexabat. I myself, however, when a young man, was at first led by inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs;  but in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me;  for, instead of modesty, temperance and integrity, there prevailed shamelessness, corruption and rapacity.  And although my mind, inexperienced in dishonest practice, detested these vices, yet, in the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was ensnared and infected by ambition;  and though I shrunk from the vicious principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, which disquieted others, disquieted me.
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[IV] Igitur ubi animus e multis miseriis atque periculis requievit et mihi reliquam ætatem a Re Publica procul habendam decrevi, non fuit consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conterere, neque vero agrum colendo aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum ætatem agere ;  sed a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus statui res gestas populi Romani carptim, ut quæque memoria digna videbantur, perscribere, eo magis quod mihi a spe, metu, partibus Rei Publicæ animus liber erat.  Igitur de Catilinæ conjuratione quam verissime potero paucis absolvam ;  nam id facinus imprimis ego memorabile existimo sceleris atque periculi novitate.  De cujus hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt quam initium narrandi faciam. [IV] When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity or, engaging in servile occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting;  but, returning to those studies from which, at their commencement, a corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached portions, the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence should seem worthy of mention;  an undertaking to which I was the rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or political partisanship.  I shall accordingly give a brief account with as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline;  for I think it an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature both of its guilt and of its perils.  But before I enter upon my narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the man.
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The Character of Catiline
[V] Lucius Catilina, nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis, sed ingenio malo pravoque.  Huic ab adulescentia bella intestina, cædes, rapinæ, discordia civilis grata fuere, ibique juventutem suam exercuit.  Corpus patiens inediæ, algoris, vigiliæ supra quam cuiquam credibile est.  Animus audax, subdolus, varius, cujus rei libet simulator ac dissimulator ;  alieni appetens, sui profusus ;  ardens in cupiditatibus ;  satis eloquentiæ, sapientiæ parum.  Vastus animus immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta semper cupiebat. [V] Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth and of eminent mental and personal endowments, but of a vicious and depraved disposition.  His delight, from his youth, had been in civil commotions, bloodshed, robbery and sedition;  and in such scenes he had spent his early years.  His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and cold, to a degree surpassing belief.  His mind was daring, subtle and versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.  He was covetous of other men’s property and prodigal of his own.  He had abundance of eloquence, though but little wisdom.  His insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic and unattainable.
Hunc post dominationem Lucii Sullæ libido maxima invaserat Rei Publicæ capiendæ ;  neque id quibus modis assequeretur, dum sibi regnum pararet, quicquam pensi habebat.  Agitabatur magis magisque in dies animus ferox inopia rei familiaris et conscientia scelerum, quæ utraque eis artibus auxerat quas supra memoravi.  Incitabant præterea corrupti civitatis mores, quos pessima ac diversa inter se mala, luxuria atque avaritia, vexabant. Since the time of Sulla’s dictatorship, a strong desire of seizing the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he secured power for himself, by what means he might arrive at it.  His violent character was daily more and more hurried on by the diminution of his patrimony and by his consciousness of guilt;  both which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned above.  The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly depraved, furnished him with additional incentives to action.
Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere ac paucis instituta majorum domi militiæque, quo modo Rem Publicam habuerint quantamque reliquerint, ut paulatim immutata e pulcherrima <atque optima> pessima ac flagitiosissima facta sit, disserere. Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the subject itself seems to call upon me to look back and briefly to describe the conduct of our ancestors in peace and war;  how they managed the state, and how powerful they left it;  and how, by gradual alteration, it became, from being the most beautiful and best, the worst and most depraved.
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Virtues of the Ancient Romans
[VI] Urbem Romam, sicuti ego accepi, condidere atque habuere initio Trojani qui Ænea duce profugi sedibus incertis vagabantur, cumque eis Aborigines, genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum atque solutum.  Hi postquam in una mœnia convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more viventes, incredibile memoratu est quam facile coaluerint :  ita brevi multitudo diversa atque vaga concordia civitas facta erat. [VI] Of the city of Rome, as I understand, the founders and earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of Æneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any settled abode;  and with them were joined the Aborigines, a savage race of men, without laws or government, free and owning no control.  How easily these two tribes, though migrant and of different origin, dissimilar language and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met within the same walls, is almost incredible.
Sed postquam res eorum civibus, moribus, agris aucta satis prospera satisque pollens videbatur, sicuti pleraque mortalium habentur, invidia ex opulentia orta est.  Igitur reges populique finitimi bello temptare, pauci ex amicis auxilio esse ;  nam ceteri metu perculsi a periculis aberant.  At Romani domi militiæque intenti festinare, parare, alius alium hortari, hostibus obviam ire, libertatem, patriam parentesque armis tegere.  Post, ubi pericula virtute propulerant, sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant magisque dandis quam accipiendis beneficiis amicitias parabant. But when their state, from an accession of population and territory, and an improved condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, envy, as is generally the case m human affairs, was the consequence of its prosperity.  The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to their support;  for the rest, struck with alarm, shrank from sharing their dangers.  But the Romans, active at home and in the field, prepared with alacrity for their defense.  They encouraged one another and hurried to meet the enemy.  They protected with their arms, their liberty, their fatherland and their parents.  And when they had at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by bestowing favors than by receiving them.
Imperium legitimum, nomen imperii regium habebant.  Delecti, quibus corpus annis infirmum, ingenium sapientia validum erat, Rei Publicæ consultabant :  ii vel ætate vel curæ similitudine patres appellabantur.  Post, ubi regium imperium, quod initio conservandæ libertatis atque augendæ Rei Publicæ fuerat, in superbiam dominationemque se convertit, immutato more annua imperia binosque imperatores sibi fecere :  eo modo minime posse putabant per licentiam insolescere animum humanum. They had a government regulated by laws.  The denomination of their government was monarchy.  Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the council of the Commonwealth;  and these, whether from their age, or from the similarity of their duty, were called fathers .  But afterwards, when the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the protection of liberty and for the promotion of the Commonwealth, had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, and appointed two magistrates, with power only annual;  for they conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely to grow overbearing through want of control.
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[VII] Sed ea tempestate cœpere se quisque magis extollere magisque ingenium in promptu habere.  Nam regibus boni quam mali suspectiores sunt semperque eis aliena virtus formidulosa est.  Sed civitas incredibile memoratu est adepta libertate quantum brevi creverit :  tanta cupido gloriæ incesserat.  Jam primum juventus, simul ac belli patiens erat, in castris per laborem usum militiæ discebat magisque in decōris armis et militaribus equis quam in scortis atque conviviis libidinem habebant.  Igitur talibus viris non labor insolitus, non locus ullus asper aut arduus erat, non armatus hostis formidulosus :  virtus omnia domuerat.  Sed gloriæ maximum certamen inter ipsos erat :  se quisque hostem ferire, murum ascendere, conspici dum tale facinus faceret, properabat.  Eas divitias, eam bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem putabant.  Laudis avidi, pecuniæ liberales erant ;  gloriam ingentem, divitias honestas volebant.  Memorare possum quibus in locis maximas hostium copias populus Romanus parva manu fuderit, quas urbes natura munitas pugnando ceperit, ni ea res longius nos ab incepto traheret. [VII] At this period every citizen began to seek distinction and to display his talents with greater freedom;  for, with princes, the meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and to them the worth of others is a source of alarm.  But when liberty was secured, it is almost incredible how much the state strengthened itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction had pervaded it.  Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they were able to bear the toils of war, acquired military skill by actual service in the camp and took pleasure rather in splendid arms and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial indulgence.  To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable;  their valor had overcome everything.  But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory;  each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall and to be noticed while performing such an exploit.  Distinction such as this they regarded as wealth, honor and true nobility.  They were covetous of praise, but liberal of money;  they desired competent riches, but boundless glory.  I could mention, but that the account would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy;  and cities which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault.
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[VIII] Sed profecto fortuna in omni re dominatur ;  ea res cunctas e libidine magis quam e vero celebrat obscuratque.  Atheniensium res gestæ, sicuti ego æstimo, satis amplæ magnificæque fuere, verum aliquanto minores tamen quam fama feruntur.  Sed quia provenere ibi scriptorum magna ingenia, per terrarum orbem Atheniensium facta pro maximis celebrantur.  Ita eorum qui fecere virtus tanta habetur, quantum eam verbis potuere extollere præclara ingenia. [VIII] But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things.  She makes everything famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with truth.  The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very great and glorious, yet something inferior to what fame has represented them.  But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid of achievements.  Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in their writings.
At populo Romano nunquam ea copia fuit, quia prudentissimus quisque maxime negotiosus erat :  ingenium nemo sine corpore exercebat, optimus quisque facere quam dicere, sua ab aliis benefacta laudari quam ipse aliorum narrare malebat. But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers ;  for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed.  No one exercised the mind independently of the body;  every man of ability chose to act rather than narrate, and was more desirous that his own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should record theirs.
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[IX] Igitur domi militiæque boni mores colebantur ;  concordia maxima, minima avaritia erat ;  jus bonumque apud eos non legibus magis quam natura valebat.  Jurgia, discordias, simultates cum hostibus exercebant, cives cum civibus de virtute certabant.  In suppliciis deorum magnifici, domi parci, in amicos fideles erant. [IX] Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the camp.  There was the greatest possible concord and the least possible avarice.  Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination.  They displayed animosity, enmity and resentment only against the enemy.  Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor.  They were magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, and steady in their friendships.
Duabus his artibus, audacia in bello, ubi pax evenerat æquitate, seque Remque Publicam curabant.  Quarum rerum ego maxima documenta hæc habeo, quod in bello sæpius vindicatum est in eos qui contra imperium in hostem pugnaverant quique tardius revocati prœlio excesserant quam qui signa relinquere aut pulsi loco cedere ausi erant ;  in pace vero, quod beneficiis quam metu imperium agitabant et accepta injuria ignoscere quam persequi malebant. By these two virtues, intrepidity in war and equity in peace, they maintained themselves and their Commonwealth.  Of their exercise of which virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs;  that, in war, punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy contrary to orders and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their standards or, when pressed by the enemy, to abandon their posts;  and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by exciting terror and, when they received an injury, chose rather to pardon than to revenge it.
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Degeneracy of Their Posterity
[X] Sed ubi labore atque justitia Res Publica crevit, reges magni bello domiti, nationes feræ et populi ingentes vi subacti, Carthago, æmula imperii Romani, a stirpe interiit, cuncta maria terræque patebant, sævire fortuna ac miscere omnia cœpit.  Qui labores, pericula, dubias atque asperas res facile toleraverant, eis otium divitiæque, optanda alias, oneri miseriæque fuere.  Igitur primo pecuniæ, deinde imperii cupido crevit :  ea quasi materies omnium malorum fuere.  Namque avaritia fidem, probitatem ceterasque artes bonas subvertit ;  pro his superbiam, crudelitatem, deos neglegere, omnia venalia habere edocuit.  Ambitio multos mortales falsos fieri subegit, aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum habere, amicitias inimicitiasque non e re, sed e commodo æstimare, magisque vultum quam ingenium bonum habere.  Hæc primo paulatim crescere, interdum vindicari ;  post, ubi contagio quasi pestilentia invasit, civitas immutata, imperium e justissimo atque optimo crudele intolerandumque factum. [X] But when, by perseverance and integrity, the Commonwealth had increased its power;  when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;  when barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection;  when Carthage, the rival of Rome’s dominion, had been utterly destroyed, and sea and land lay everywhere open to her sway, Fortune then began to exercise her tyranny and to introduce universal innovation.  To those who had easily endured toils, dangers and doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of desire to others, became a burden and a trouble.  At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil.  For avarice subverted honesty, integrity and other honorable principles and, in their stead, inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion and general venality.  Ambition prompted many to become deceitful;  to keep one thing concealed in the breast and another ready on the tongue;  to estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according to interest;  and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest heart.  These vices at first advanced but slowly and were sometimes restrained by correction;  but afterwards, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable.
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[XI] Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum exercebat, quod tamen vitium propius virtutem erat.  Nam gloriam, honorem, imperium bonus et ignavus æque sibi exoptant ;  sed ille vera via nititur, huic quia bonæ artes desunt, dolis atque fallaciis contendit.  Avaritia pecuniæ studium habet, quam nemo sapiens concupivit :  ea quasi venenis malis imbuta corpus animumque virilem effeminat, semper infinita, insatiabilis est, neque copia neque inopia minuitur. [XI] At first, however, it was ambition rather than avarice that influenced the minds of men;  a vice which approaches nearer to virtue than the other.  For of glory, honor and power, the worthy is as desirous as the worthless;  but the one pursues them by just methods;  the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud and deceit.  But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise man has ever immoderately desired.  It is a vice which, as if imbued with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.  It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by abundance nor by want.
Sed postquam Lucius Sulla, armis recepta Re Publica, bonis initiis malos eventus habuit, rapere omnes, trahere, domum alius, alius agros cupere, neque modum neque modestiam victores habere, fœda crudeliaque in cives facinora facere.  Huc accedebat quod Lucius Sulla exercitum quem in Asia ductaverat, quo sibi fidum faceret, contra morem majorum luxuriose nimisque liberaliter habuerat.  Loca amœna, voluptaria facile in otio feroces militum animos molliverant.  Ibi primum insuevit exercitus populi Romani amare, potare, signa, tabulas pictas, vasa cælata mirari, ea privatim et publice rapere, delubra spoliare, sacra profanaque omnia polluere.  Igitur ii milites, postquam victoriam adepti sunt, nihil reliqui victis fecere.  Quippe secundæ res sapientium animos fatigant :  ne illi corruptis moribus victoriæ temperarent. But after Lucius Sulla, having recovered the Commonwealth by force of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious termination, all became robbers and plunderers;  some set their affections on houses, others on lands;  his victorious troops knew neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens disgraceful and inhuman outrages.  Their rapacity was increased by the circumstance that Sulla, in order to secure the attachment of the forces which he had commanded in Asia, had treated them, contrary to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence and exemption from discipline;  and pleasant and luxurious quarters had easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the soldiery.  Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated to licentiousness and intemperance and began to admire statues, pictures and sculptured vases;  to seize such objects alike in public edifices and private dwellings;  to despoil temples;  and to cast off respect for everything, sacred and profane.  Such troops, accordingly, when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to the vanquished.  Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would those of debauched habits use victory with moderation.
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[XII] Postquam divitiæ honori esse cœpere et eas gloria, imperium, potentia sequebatur, hebescere virtus, paupertas probro haberi, innocentia pro malevolentia duci cœpit.  Igitur e divitiis juventutem luxuria atque avaritia cum superbia invasere :  rapere, consumere, sua parvi pendere, aliena cupere, pudorem, pudicitiam, divina atque humana promiscua, nihil pensi neque moderati habere. [XII] When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature.  From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, avarice and pride prevailed among the youth;  they grew at once rapacious and prodigal;  they undervalued what was their own and coveted what was another’s;  they set at naught modesty and continence;  they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off all consideration and self-restraint.
Operæ pretium est, quum domos atque villas cognoverīs in urbium modum exædificatas, visere templa deorum quæ nostri majores, religiosissimi mortales, fecere.  Verum illi delubra deorum pietate, domos suas gloria decorabant, neque victis quicquam præter injuriæ licentiam eripiebant.  At hi contra, ignavissimi homines, per summum scelus omnia ea sociis adimere quæ fortissimi viri victores reliquerant :  proinde quasi injuriam facere id demum esset imperio uti. It furnishes much matter for reflection, after viewing our modern mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the Gods.  But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom they conquered but the power of doing harm;  their descendants, on the contrary, the basest of mankind have even wrested from their allies, with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies — as if the only use of power were to inflict injury.
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[XIII] Nam quid ea memorem quæ nisi eis qui videre nemini credibilia sunt :  a privatis compluribus subversos montes, maria constrata esse ?  Quibus mihi videntur ludibrio fuisse divitiæ :  quippe quas honeste habere licebat, abuti per turpitudinem properabant. [XIII] For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which can be believed by none but those who have seen them;  as that mountains have been leveled and seas covered with edifices, by many private citizens;  men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth, since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have enjoyed with honor.
Sed libido stupri, ganeæ ceterique cultus non minor incesserat :  viri muliebria pati, mulieres pudicitiam in propatulo habere ;  vescendi causa terra marique omnia exquirere ;  dormire prius quam somni cupido esset ;  non famem aut sitim, neque frigus neque lassitudinem opperiri, sed ea omnia luxu antecapere.  Hæc juventutem, ubi familiares opes defecerant, ad facinora incendebant :  animus imbutus malis artibus haud facile libidinibus carebat ;  eo profusius omnibus modis quæstui atque sumptui deditus erat. But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery and all kinds of luxury, had spread abroad with no less force.  Men forgot their sex;  women threw off all the restraints of modesty.  To gratify appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea;  they slept before there was any inclination for sleep;  they no longer waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold, or fatigue, but forestalled them all by luxurious indulgence.  Such propensities drove the youth, when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices;  for their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain from gratifying their passions and were thus the more inordinately devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance.
Catiline’s Associates and Supporters, and the Arts by Which He Collected Them.
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[XIV] In tanta tamque corrupta civitate Catilina, id quod factu facillimum erat, omnium flagitiorum atque facinorum circum se tanquam stipatorum catervas habebat.  Nam quicunque [impudicus, adulter, ganeo,] manu, ventre, pene bona patria laceraverat, quique alienum æs grande conflaverat quo flagitium aut facinus redimeret, præterea omnes undique parricidæ, sacrilegi, convicti judiciis aut pro factis judicium timentes, ad hoc quos manus atque lingua perjurio aut sanguine civili alebat, postremo omnes quos flagitium, egestas, conscius animus exagitabat, ii Catilinæ proximi familiaresque erant.  Quod si quis etiam a culpa vacuus in amicitiam ejus inciderat, cotidiano usu atque illecebris facile par similisque ceteris efficiebatur.  Sed maxime adulescentium familiaritates appetebat :  eorum animi molles etiam et fluxi dolis haud difficulter capiebantur.  Nam ut cujusque studium ex ætate flagrabat, aliis scorta præbere, aliis canes atque equos mercari, postremo neque sumptui neque modestiæ suæ parcere dum illos obnoxios fidosque sibi faceret.  Scio fuisse nonnullos qui ita existimarent, juventutem quæ domum Catilinæ frequentabat parum honeste pudicitiam habuisse ;  sed ex aliis rebus magis quam quod cuiquam id compertum foret hæc fama valebat. [XIV] In so populous and so corrupt a polity, Catiline, as it was very easy to do, kept about him, like a bodyguard, crowds of the unprincipled and desperate.  For all those shameless, libertine, and profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by gambling, carousing and lechery ;  all who had contracted heavy debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses;  all assassins or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or dreading conviction for their evil deeds;  all, besides, whom their tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed;  all, in short, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline.  And if any one, as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and equal to the rest.  But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly courted;  as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were easily ensnared by his stratagems.  For as the passions of each, according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished prostitutes to some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his devoted and trustworthy supporters.  There were some, I know, who thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were guilty of crimes against nature;  but this report arose rather from other causes than from any evidence of the fact.
Catiline’s Crimes and Wretchedness.
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[XV] Jam primum adulescens Catilina multa nefanda stupra fecerat, cum virgine nobili, cum sacerdote Vestæ, alia hujuscemodi contra jus fasque.  Postremo captus amore Aureliæ Orestillæ, cujus præter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit, quod ea nubere illi dubitabat, timens privignum adulta ætate, pro certo creditur necato filio vacuam domum scelestis nuptiis fecisse.  Quæ quidem res mihi imprimis videtur causa fuisse facinus maturandi.  Namque animus impurus, dis hominibusque infestus, neque vigiliis neque quietibus sedari poterat :  ita conscientia mentem excitam vastabat.  Igitur color exsanguis, fœdi oculi, citus modo, modo tardus incessus :  prorsus in facie vultuque vecordia inerat. [XV] Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal connections, with a virgin of noble birth, with a priestess of Vesta, and of many other offenses of this nature in defiance alike of law and religion.  At last, when he was smitten with a passion for Aurelia Orestilla, in whom no good man, at any time of her life, commended anything but her beauty, it is confidently believed that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a grown-up step-son, he cleared the house for their nuptials by putting his son to death.  And this crime appears to me to have been the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy.  For his guilty mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either waking or sleeping;  so effectually did conscience desolate his tortured spirit.  His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look.
Catiline’s Tuition of his Accomplices, and Resolution to Subvert the Government.
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[XVI] Sed juventutem quam, ut supra diximus, illexerat, multis modis mala facinora edocebat.  Ex illis testes signatoresque falsos commodare ;  fidem, fortunas, pericula vilia habere, post, ubi eorum famam atque pudorem attriverat, majora alia imperabat.  Si causa peccandi in præsens minus suppetebat, nihilominus insontes sicuti sontes circumvenire, jugulare :  scilicet ne per otium torpescerent manus aut animus, gratuito potius malus atque crudelis erat. [XVI] The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices.  From among them he furnished false witnesses and forgers of signatures ;  and he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property and danger.  At length, when he had stripped them of all character and shame, he led them to other and greater enormities.  If a motive for crime did not readily occur, he invited them, nevertheless, to circumvent and murder inoffensive persons, just as if they had injured him;  for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel.
His amicis sociisque confisus Catilina, simul quod æs alienum per omnes terras ingens erat et quod plerique Sullani milites, largius suo usi, rapinarum et victoriæ veteris memores civile bellum exoptabant, opprimendæ Rei Publicæ consilium cepit.  In Italia nullus exercitus, Gnæus Pompejus in extremis terris bellum gerebat ;  ipsi consulatum petenti magna spes, Senatus nihil sane intentus ;  tutæ tranquillæque res omnes ;  sed ea prorsus opportuna Catilinæ. Depending on such accomplices and adherents and, knowing that the load of debt was everywhere great, and that the veterans of Sulla, having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the design of overthrowing the Commonwealth.  There was no army in Italy;  Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world;  he himself had great hopes of obtaining the consulship;  the Senate was wholly off its guard;  everything was quiet and tranquil, and all these circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline.
Catiline’s Convocation of the Conspirators and Their Names.
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[XVII] Igitur circiter Kalendas Junias Lucio Cæsare et Gaĭo Figulo consulibus primo singulos appellare, hortari alios, alios temptare ;  opes suas, imparatum Rem Publicam, magna præmia conjurationis docere.  Ubi satis explorata sunt quæ voluit, in unum omnes convocat quibus maxima necessitudo et plurimum audaciæ inerat.  Eo convenere senatorii ordinis Publius Lentulus Sura, Publius Autronius, Lucius Cassius Longinus, Gaĭus Cethegus, Publius et Servius Sullæ, Servii filii, Lucius Varguntejus, Quintus Annius, Marcus Porcius Læca, Lucius Bestia, Quintus Curius ;  præterea ex equestri ordine Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, Lucius Statilius, Publius Gabinius Capito, Gaĭus Cornelius ;  ad hoc multi e coloniis et municipiis, domi nobiles.  Erant præterea complures paulo occultius consilii hujusce participes nobiles, quos magis dominationis spes hortabatur quam inopia aut alia necessitudo.  Ceterum juventus pleraque, sed maxime nobilium, Catilinæ inceptis favebat ;  quibus in otio vel magnifice vel molliter vivere copia erat, incerta pro certis, bellum quam pacem malebant.  Fuere item ea tempestate qui crederent Marcum Licinium Crassum non ignarum ejus consilii fuisse :  quia Gnæus Pompejus, invisus ipsi, magnum exercitum ductabat, cujusvis opes voluisse contra illius potentiam crescere, simul confisum, si conjuratio valuisset, facile apud illos principem se fore. [XVII] Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of Lucius Cæsar and Gaĭus Figulus, he at first addressed each of his accomplices separately, encouraged some and sounded others, and informed them of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of the Commonwealth, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy.  When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent and whose spirits were the most daring, to a general conference.  At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank:  Publius Lentulus Sura, Publius Autronius, Lucius Cassius Longinus, Gaĭus Cethegus, Publius and Servius Sulla, the sons of Servius Sulla, Lucius Varguntejus, Quintus Annius, Marcus Porcius Læca, Lucius Bestia, Quintus Curius ;  and of the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, Lucius Statilius, Publius Gabinius Capito, Gaĭus Cornelius;  with many from the colonies and municipal towns, persons of consequence in their own localities.  There were many others, too, among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly;  men whom the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted to join in the affair.  But most of the young men, and especially the sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline;  they who had abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace.  There were some, also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus was not unacquainted with the conspiracy;  because Gnæus Pompey, whom he hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the power of anyone whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey’s influence;  trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the conspirators.
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Catiline’s Concern in a Former Conspiracy.
[XVIII] Sed antea item conjuravere pauci contra Rem Publicam, in quibus Catilina fuit.  De qua quam verissime potero dicam. [XVIII] But previously to this period, a small number of persons, among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the Commonwealth;  of which affair I shall here give as accurate an account as I am able.
Lucio Tullo et Manio Lepido consulibus, Publius Autronius et Publius Sulla, designati consules, legibus ambitus interrogati, pœnas dederant.  Post paulo Catilina pecuniarum repetundarum reus prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitimos dies profiteri nequiverat.  Erat eodem tempore Gnæus Piso, adulescens nobilis, summæ audaciæ, egens, factiosus, quem ad perturbandam Rem Publicam inopia atque mali mores stimulabant.  Cum hoc Catilina et Autronius circiter Nonas Decembres consilio communicato parabant in Capitolio Kalendis Januariis Lucium Cottam et Lucium Torquatum consules interficere, ipsi fascibus correptis Pisonem cum exercitu ad obtinendas duas Hispanias mittere.  Ea re cognita rursus in Nonas Februarias consilium cædis transtulerant.  Jam tum non consulibus modo, sed plerisque senatoribus perniciem machinabantur.  Quod ni Catilina maturasset pro curia signum sociis dare, eo die post conditam urbem Romam pessimum facinus patratum foret.  Quia nondum frequentes armati convenerant, ea res consilium diremit. Under the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius and Publius Sulla, having been tried for bribery under the laws against it, had paid the penalty of the offense.  Shortly after Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion, had been prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of days.  There was at that time, too, a young nobleman of the most daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Gnæus Piso, whom poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the Commonwealth.  Catiline and Autronius, having concerted measures with this Piso, prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, in the Capitol, on the first of February, when they, having seized on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the two Spains.  But their design being discovered, they postponed the assassination to the fifth of February;  when they meditated the destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the Senate.  And had not Catiline, who was in front of the Senate-house, been too hasty to give the signal to his associates, there would that day have been perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was founded.  But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design.
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[XIX] Postea Piso in citeriorem Hispaniam quæstor pro prætore missus est annitente Crasso, quod eum infestum inimicum Gnæo Pompejo cognoverat.  Neque tamen Senatus provinciam invitus dederat, quippe fœdum hominem a Re Publica procul esse volebat, simul quia boni complures præsidium in eo putabant et jam tum potentia Pompei formidulosa erat.  Sed is Piso in provincia ab equitibus Hispanis quos in exercitu ductabat, iter faciens occisus est.  Sunt qui ita dicant, imperia ejus injusta, superba, crudelia barbaros nequivisse pati ;  alii autem equites illos, Gnæi Pompeji veteres fidosque clientes, voluntate ejus Pisonem aggressos ;  nunquam Hispanos præterea tale facinus fecisse, sed imperia sæva multa antea perpessos.  Nos eam rem in medio relinquemus.  De superiore conjuratione satis dictum. [XIX] Some time afterwards, Piso was sent as quæstor, with Prætorian authority, into Hither Spain;  Crassus promoting the appointment, because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Gnæus Pompey.  Nor were the Senate, indeed, unwilling to grant him the province;  for they wished so infamous a character to be removed from the Commonwealth;  and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then becoming formidable.  But this Piso, on his march towards his province, was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army.  These barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, haughty and cruel orders;  but others assert that this body of cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at his instigation, since the Spaniards, they observe, had never before committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe commands.  This question we shall leave undecided.  Of the first conspiracy enough has been said.
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Catiline’s Speech to the Conspirators.
[XX] Catilina ubi eos quos paulo ante memoravi convenisse videt, tametsi cum singulis multa sæpe egerat, tamen in rem fore credens universos appellare et cohortari, in abditam partem ædium secedit atque ibi, omnibus arbitris procul amotis, orationem hujuscemodi habuit : [XX] When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned, assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the following effect:
« Ni virtus fidesque vestra satis spectata mihi forent, nequiquam opportuna res cecidisset ;  spes magna, dominatio in manibus frustra fuissent, neque ego per ignaviam aut vana ingenia incerta pro certis captarem.  Sed quia multis et magnis tempestatibus vos cognovi fortes fidosque mihi, eo animus ausus est maximum atque pulcherrimum facinus incipere, simul quia vobis eadem quæ mihi bona malaque esse intellexi ;  nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est. “If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, this favorable opportunity would have occurred to no purpose;  mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp;  nor should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue contingencies instead of certainties.  But as I have, on many remarkable occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise.  I am aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same affect me, and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is assuredly a firm bond of friendship.
« Sed ego quæ mente agitavi omnes jam antea diversi audistis.  Ceterum mihi in dies magis animus accenditur, quum considero quæ condicio vitæ futura sit, nisi nosmet ipsi vindicamus in libertatem.  Nam postquam Res Publica in paucorum potentium jus atque dicionem concessit, semper illis reges, tetrarchæ vectigales esse, populi, nationes stipendia pendĕre ;  ceteri omnes, strenui, boni, nobiles atque ignobiles, vulgus fuimus, sine gratia, sine auctoritate, eis obnoxii quibus, si Res Publica valeret, formidini essemus.  Itaque omnis gratia, potentia, honor, divitiæ apud illos sunt aut ubi illi volunt ;  nobis reliquere pericula, repulsas, judicia, egestatem.  Quæ quousque tandem patiemini, o fortissimi viri ?  Nonne emori per virtutem præstat quam vitam miseram atque inhonestam, ubi alienæ superbiæ ludibrio fueris, per dedecus amittere ? “What I have been meditating you have already heard separately.  But my ardor for action is daily more and more excited when I consider what our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our claims to liberty.  For since the Commonwealth has fallen under the power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes have constantly been their tributaries;  nations and states have paid them taxes;  but all the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and subject to those to whom, if the Commonwealth were in a sound condition, we should be a terror.  Hence, all influence, power, honor and wealth, are in their hands, or where they dispose of them;  to us they have left only insults, dangers, prosecutions and poverty.  To such indignities, bravest of men, how long will you submit?  Is it not better to die in a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men’s insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy?
« Verum enim vero, pro deum atque hominum fidem, victoria in manu nobis est :  viget ætas, animus valet ;  contra illis annis atque divitiis omnia consenuerunt.  Tantum modo incepto opus est, cetera res expediet.  Etenim quis mortalium, cui virile ingenium est, tolerare potest illis divitias superare quas profundant in exstruendo mari et montibus coæquandis, nobis rem familiarem etiam ad necessaria deesse ?  Illos binas aut amplius domos continuare, nobis larem familiarem nusquam ullum esse ?  Quum tabulas, signa, toreumata emunt, nova diruunt, alia ædificant, postremo omnibus modis pecuniam trahunt, vexant, tamen summa libidine divitias suas vincere nequeunt.  At nobis est domi inopia, foris æs alienum, mala res, spes multo asperior :  denique quid reliqui habemus præter miseram animam ? “But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands.  Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken;  among our oppressors, on the contrary, through age and wealth, a general debility has been produced.  We have therefore only to make a beginning;  the course of events will accomplish the rest.  Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure that they should have a superfluity of riches to squander in building over seas and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting to us even for the necessaries of life, that they should join together two houses or more, and that we should not have a hearth to call our own?  They, though they purchase pictures, statues and embossed plate;  though they pull down new buildings and erect others, and lavish and abase their wealth in every possible method, yet cannot, with the utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it.  But for us there is poverty at home, debts abroad;  our present circumstances are bad, our prospects much worse;  and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence?
« Quin igitur expergiscimini ?  En illa, illa quam sæpe optastis libertas, præterea divitiæ, decus, gloria, in oculis sita sunt ;  fortuna omnia ea victoribus præmia posuit.  Res, tempus, pericula, egestas, belli spolia magnifica magis quam oratio mea vos hortantur.  Vel imperatore vel milite me utimini !  Neque animus neque corpus a vobis aberit.  Hæc ipsa, ut spero, vobiscum una consul agam — nisi forte me animus fallit et vos servire magis quam imperare parati estis. » “Will you not, then awake to action?  Behold that liberty, that liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor and glory, are set before your eves.  All these prizes fortune offers to the victorious.  Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, animate you far more than my words.  Use me either as your leader or your fellow-soldier;  neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to you.  These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the character of consul;  unless, indeed, my expectation deceives me, and you prefer to be slaves rather than masters.”
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Catiline’s Promises to the Conspirators.
[XXI] Postquam accepere ea homines quibus mala abunde omnia erant, sed neque res neque spes bona ulla, tametsi illis quieta movere magna merces videbatur, tamen postulavere plerique ut proponeret quæ condicio belli foret, quæ præmia armis peterent, quid ubique opis aut spei haberent.  Tum Catilina polliceri tabulas novas, proscriptionem locupletium, magistratus, sacerdotia, rapinas, alia omnia quæ bellum atque libido victorum fert.  Præterea esse in Hispania citeriore Pisonem, in Mauretania cum exercitu Publium Sittium Nucerinum, consilii sui participes ;  petere consulatum Gaĭum Antonium, quem sibi collegam fore speraret, hominem et familiarem et omnibus necessitudinibus circumventum ;  cum eo se consulem initium agendi facturum.  Ad hoc maledictis increpabat omnes bonos, suorum unumquemque nominans laudare ;  admonebat alium egestatis, alium cupiditatis suæ, complures periculi aut ignominiæ, multos victoriæ Sullanæ, quibus ea prædæ fuerat.  Postquam omnium animos alacres videt, cohortatus ut petitionem suam curæ haberent, conventum dimisit. [XXI] When these men, surrounded with numberless evils but without any resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to engage in the contest;  what benefits they were to expect from taking up arms;  and what support or encouragement they had and in what quarters.  Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts;  a proscription of the wealthy citizens;  offices, sacerdotal duties, plunder and all other gratifications which war, and the license of conquerors, can afford.  He added that Piso was in Hither Spain and Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were privy to his plans;  that Gaĭus Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was intimate and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments;  and that, in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence operations.  He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of his poverty, another of his ruling passion, several others of their danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by the victory of Sulla.  When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, and dismissed the assembly.
{ 22 }
Catiline’s Supposed Ceremony to Unite the Conspirators.
[XXII] Fuere ea tempestate qui dicerent Catilinam, oratione habita, quum ad jus jurandum populares sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis sanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtulisse ;  inde quum post exsecrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in sollemnibus sacris fieri consuevit, aperuisse consilium suum [atque eo dictitare fecisse] quo inter se fidi magis forent, alius alii tanti facinoris conscii.  Nonnulli ficta et hæc et multa præterea existimabant ab eis qui Ciceronis invidiam, quæ postea orta est, leniri credebant atrocitate sceleris eorum qui pœnas dederant.  Nobis ea res pro magnitudine parum comperta est. [XXII] There were some, at that time, who said that Catiline, having ended his speech and, wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an oath, handed round among them in goblets, the blood of a human body mixed with wine;  and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design;  and they asserted that he did this, in order that they might be the more closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such an atrocity.  But some thought that this report, and many others, were invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which afterwards arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to the conspirators who had paid the penalty of death.  The evidence which I have obtained in support of this charge is not at all in proportion to its magnitude.
{ 23 }
Catiline’s Designs Discovered by Fulvia.
[XXIII] Sed in ea conjuratione fuit Quintus Curius, natus haud obscuro loco, flagitiis atque facinoribus coopertus, quem censores Senatu probri gratia moverant.  Huic homini non minor vanitas inerat quam audacia :  neque reticere quæ audierat neque suamet ipse scelera occultare, prorsus neque dicere neque facere quicquam pensi habebat.  Erat ei cum Fulvia, muliere nobili, stupri vetus consuetudo ;  cui quum minus gratus esset quia inopia minus largiri poterat, repente glorians maria montesque polliceri cœpit et minari interdum ferro, ni sibi obnoxia foret, postremo ferocius agitare quam solitus erat.  At Fulvia, insolentiæ Curii causa cognita, tale periculum Rei Publicæ haud occultum habuit sed, sublato auctore, de Catilinæ conjuratione quæ quōque modo audierat compluribus narravit.  Ea res imprimis studia hominum accendit ad consulatum mandandum Marco Tullio Ciceroni.  Namque antea pleraque nobilitas invidiā æstuabat et, quasi pollui consulatum credebant si eum, quamvis egregius, homo novus adeptus foret ;  sed ubi periculum advenit, invidia atque superbia post fuere. [XXIII] Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius, a man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the censors had ignominiously expelled from the Senate.  In this person there was not less levity than impudence;  he could neither keep secret what he heard, nor conceal his own crimes;  he was altogether heedless what he said or what he did.  He had long had a adulterous intercourse with Fulvia, a woman of high birth, but growing less acceptable to her, because in his reduced circumstances he had less means of being liberal, he began on a sudden to boast and to promise her seas and mountains — threatening her at times with the sword, if she were not submissive to his will;  and acting, in his general conduct, with greater arrogance than ever.  Fulvia, having learned the cause of his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the Commonwealth a secret but, without naming her informant, communicated to several persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning Catiline’s conspiracy.  This intelligence it was that incited the feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius Cicero.  For before this period, most of the nobility were moved with jealousy and thought the consulship in some degree sullied if a man of no family, however meritorious, obtained it.  But when danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside.
{ 24 }
Catiline’s Alarm on the Election of Cicero to the Consulship and His Design in Engaging Women in His Cause.
[XXIV] Igitur, comitiis habitis, consules declarantur Marcus Tullius et Gaĭus Antonius ;  quod factum primo populares conjurationis concusserat.  Neque tamen Catilinæ furor minuebatur, sed in dies plura agitare, arma per Italiam locis opportunis parare, pecuniam sua aut amicorum fide sumptam mutuam Fæsulas ad Manlium quendam portare qui postea princeps fuit belli faciendi.  Ea tempestate plurimos cujusque generis homines ascivisse sibi dicitur — mulieres etiam aliquot, quæ primo ingentes sumptus stupro corporis toleraverant, post, ubi ætas tantummodo quæstui neque luxuriæ modum fecerat, æs alienum grande conflaverant.  Per eas se Catilina credebat posse servitia urbana sollicitare, urbem incendere, viros earum vel adjungere sibi vel interficere. [XXIV] Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Gaĭus Antonius were declared consuls;  an event which gave the first shock to the accomplices of the conspiracy.  The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all diminished;  he formed every day new schemes;  he deposited arms, in convenient places, throughout Italy;  he sent sums of money, borrowed on his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius, at Fæsulæ, who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities.  At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great numbers of men of all classes, and some women who had in their earlier days supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty but who, when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had contracted heavy debts.  By the influence of these females, Catiline hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives.
{ 25 }
Catiline’s Accomplice, Sempronia, Characterized.
[XXV] Sed in eis erat Sempronia, quæ multa sæpe virilis audaciæ facinora commiserat.  Hæc mulier genere atque forma, præterea viro atque liberis satis fortunata fuit ;  litteris Græcis [et] Latinis docta, psallere [et] saltare elegantius quam necesse est probæ, multa alia quæ instrumenta luxuriæ sunt.  Sed ei cariora semper omnia quam decus atque pudicitia fuit ;  pecuniæ an famæ minus parceret, haud facile discerneres ;  libido sic accensa ut sæpius peteret viros quam peteretur.  Sed ea sæpe antehac fidem prodiderat, creditum abjuraverat, cædis conscia fuerat ;  luxuria atque inopia præceps abierat.  Verum ingenium ejus haud absurdum :  posse versus facere, jocum movere, sermone uti vel modesto vel molli vel procaci ;  prorsus multæ facetiæ multusque lepos inerat. [XXV] In the number of these ladies was Sempronia, a woman who had committed many crimes with the daring of a man.  In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate;  she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature;  she could sing, play and dance with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions.  But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity.  Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would have been difficult to decide.  Her desires were so ardent that she oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation.  She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder and hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagance and poverty.  But her abilities were by no means uncouth;  she could compose verses, jest and join in conversation either modest, tender, or licentious.  In a word, she was distinguished by much refinement of wit and much grace of expression.
{ 26 }
Catiline’s Ambition of the Consulship, His Plot to Assassinate Cicero and His Disappointment in Both.
[XXVI] His rebus comparatis, Catilina nihilominus in proximum annum consulatum petebat, sperans, si designatus foret, facile se e voluntate Antonio usurum.  Neque interea quietus erat, sed omnibus modis insidias parabat Ciceroni.  Neque illi tamen ad cavendum dolus aut astutiæ deerant.  Namque a principio consulatus sui, multa pollicendo per Fulviam, effecerat ut Quintus Curius (de quo paulo ante memoravi) consilia Catilinæ sibi proderet ;  ad hoc collegam suum Antonium păctione provinciæ perpulerat, ne contra Rem Publicam sentiret ;  circum se præsidia amicorum atque clientium occulte habebat. [XXVI] Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for the consulship for the following year;  hoping that, if he should be elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure.  Nor did he, in the mean time, remain inactive, but devised schemes, in every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, was not in want of skill or policy to guard against them.  For from the very beginning of his consulship he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to betray Catiline’s plans to him.  He had also persuaded his colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces, not to entertain designs against the Commonwealth;  and he kept around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and dependents.
Postquam dies comitiorum venit et Catilinæ neque petitio neque insidiæ quas consulibus in Campo fecerat prospere cessere, constituit bellum facere et extrema omnia experiri, quoniam quæ occulte temptaverat aspera fœdaque evenerant. When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline’s efforts for the consulship nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius, were attended with success, he determined to proceed to war and to resort to the utmost extremities, since what he had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.
{ 27 }
Catiline’s Mission of Manlius into Etruria and His Second Convention of the Conspirators.
[XXVII] Igitur Gaĭum Manlium Fæsulas atque in eam partem Etruriæ, Septimium quendam Camertem in agrum Picenum, Gaĭum Julium in Apuliam dimisit, præterea alium alio quem ubique opportunum sibi fore credebat. [XXVII] He accordingly dispatched Gaĭus Manlius to Fæsulæ and the adjacent parts of Etruria;  one Septimius, of Camerinum, into the Picenian territory;  Gaĭus Julius into Apulia;  and others to various places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.

Interea Romæ multa simul moliri :  consulibus insidias tendere, parare incendia, opportuna loca armatis hominibus obsidere ;  ipse cum telo esse, item alios jubere, hortari uti semper intenti paratique essent ;  dies noctesque festinare, vigilare, neque insomniis neque labore fatigari.  Postremo, ubi multa agitanti nihil procedit, rursus intempesta nocte conjurationis principes convocat per Marcum Porcium Læcam, ibique multa de ignavia eorum questus docet se Manlium præmisisse ad eam multitudinem quam ad capienda arma paraverat, item alios in alia loca opportuna qui initium belli facerent, seque ad exercitum proficisci cupere, si prius Ciceronem oppressisset — eum suis consiliis multum officere. He himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at Rome;  he laid plots for the consul;  he arranged schemes for burning the city;  he occupied suitable posts with armed men, he went constantly armed himself and ordered his followers to do the same;  he exhorted them to be always on their guard and prepared for action;  he was active and vigilant by day and by night and was exhausted neither by sleeplessness nor by toil.  At last, however, when none of his numerous projects succeeded, he again, with the aid of Marcus Porcius Læca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had prepared to take up arms;  and others of the confederates into other eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities;  and that he himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures.
{ 28 }
Catiline’s Second Attempt to Kill Cicero ;  His Directions to Manlius Well Observed.
[XXVIII] Igitur, perterritis ac dubitantibus ceteris, Gaĭus Cornelius eques Romanus operam suam pollicitus et cum eo Lucius Varguntejus senator constituere ea nocte paulo post cum armatis hominibus sicuti salutatum introire ad Ciceronem ac de improviso domi suæ imparatum confodere.  Curius, ubi intellegit quantum periculum consuli impendeat, propere per Fulviam Ciceroni dolum qui parabatur, enuntiat.  Ita illi, janua prohibiti, tantum facinus frustra susceperant. [XXVIII] While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Gaĭus Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services and Lucius Varguntejus, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an armed force on that very night, with but little delay, to the house of Cicero under pretence of paying their respects to him and to kill him unawares and unprepared for defense in his own residence.  But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated.  The assassins, in consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed.
Interea Manlius in Etruria plebem sollicitare, egestate simul ac dolore injuriæ, novarum rerum cupidam (quod Sullæ dominatione agros bonaque omnia amiserat), præterea latrones cujusque generis quorum in ea regione magna copia erat, nonnullos e Sullanis coloniis quibus libido atque luxuria e magnis rapinis nihil reliqui fecerat. In the meantime, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, under the tyranny of Sulla, they had lost their lands and other property), were eager for a revolution.  He also attached to himself all sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of Sulla’s colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted their enormous plunder.
{ 29 }
Catiline’s Machinations Induce the Senate to Confer Extraordinary Power on the Consuls.
[XXIX] Ea quum Ciceroni nuntiarentur, ancipiti malo permotus, quod neque urbem ab insidiis privato consilio longius tueri poterat, neque exercitūs Manlii quantus aut quo consilio foret satis compertum habebat, rem ad Senatum refert, jam antea vulgi rumoribus exagitatam.  Itaque, quod plerumque in atroci negotio solet, Senatus decrevit darent operam consules ne quid Res Publica detrimenti caperet.  Ea potestas per Senatum more Romano magistratui maxima permittitur :  exercitum parare, bellum gerere, coërcere omnibus modis socios atque cives, domi militiæque imperium atque judicium summum habere ;  aliter, sine populi jussu, nullius earum rerum consuli jus est. [XXIX] When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of the army of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion among the people, before the Senate.  The Senate, accordingly, as is usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that the consuls should make it their care that the commonwealth should receive no injury.  This is the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is granted by the Senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him to raise troops, to make war, to assume unlimited control over the allies and the citizens, to take the chief command and jurisdiction at home and in the field — rights which, without an order of the people, the consul is not permitted to exercise.
{ 30 }
Catiline’s Proceedings are Opposed by Various Precautions.
[XXX] Post paucos dies Lucius Sænius senator in Senatu litteras recitavit quas Fæsulis allatas sibi dicebat, in quibus scriptum erat Gaĭum Manlium arma cepisse cum magna multitudine ante diem VI. Kalendas Novembres.  Simul, id quod in tali re solet, alii portenta atque prodigia nuntiabant, alii conventus fieri, arma portari, Capuæ atque in Apulia servile bellum moveri. [XXX] A few days afterwards, Lucius Sænius, a senator, read to the Senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Fæsulæ, and in which it was stated that Gaĭus Manlius, with a large force, had taken the field by the 27th of October.  Others at the same time, as is not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies;  others of meetings being held, of arms being transported and of insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia.
Igitur Senati decreto Quintus Marcius Rex Fæsulas, Quintus Metellus Creticus in Apuliam circumque ea loca missi — ii utrique ad urbem imperatores erant, impediti ne triumpharent calumniā paucorum quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos erat — sed prætores Quintus Pompejus Rufus Capuam, Quintus Metellus Celer in agrum Picenum, eisque permissum uti pro tempore atque periculo exercitum compararent.  Ad hoc, si quis indicavisset de conjuratione quæ contra Rem Publicam facta erat, præmium servo libertatem et sestertia centum, libero impunitatem ejus rei et sestertia ducenta [milia] ;  itemque decrevere uti gladiatoriæ familiæ Capuam et in cetera municipia distribuerentur pro cujusque opibus, Romæ per totam urbem vigiliæ haberentur eisque minores magistratus præessent. In consequence of these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex was dispatched, by a decree of the Senate, to Fæsulæ, and Quintus Metellus Creticus into Apulia and the parts adjacent, both which officers, with the title of commanders, were waiting near the city, having been prevented from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom was to ask a price for everything, whether honorable or infamous.  The prætors, too, Quintus Pompejus Rufus and Quintus Metellus Celer, were sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger.  The Senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the conspiracy which had been formed against the Commonwealth, his reward should be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia [= 100,000 sesterces], if a freeman, a complete pardon and two hundred sestertia [= 200,000 sesterces].  They further appointed that the schools of gladiators should be distributed in Capua and other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each;  and that, at Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the inferior magistrates should have the charge.
{ 31 }
Catiline’s Effrontery in the Senate.
[XXXI] Quibus rebus permota civitas, atque immutata urbis facies erat.  E summa lætitia atque lascivia quæ diuturna quies pepererat, repente omnes tristitia invasit :  festinare, trepidare, neque loco neque homini cuiquam satis credere, neque bellum gerere neque pacem habere ;  suo quisque metu pericula metiri.  Ad hoc mulieres quibus Rei Publicæ magnitudine belli timor insolitus incesserat, afflictare sese, manus supplices ad cælum tendere, miserari parvos liberos, rogitare omnia, <omni rumore> pavere, <arripere omnia>, superbia atque deliciis omissis, sibi patriæque diffidere. [XXXI] By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with alarm and the appearance of the city was changed.  In place of that extreme gaiety and playfulness to which long tranquillity had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes;  they became anxious and agitated;  they felt secure neither in any place nor with any person;  they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace;  each measured the public danger by his own fear.  The women also, to whom, from the extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made constant inquiries, trembled <at every rumor>, <clutched at everything> and, forgetting their pride and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their country.
At Catilinæ crudelis animus eadem illa movebat, tametsi præsidia parabantur et ipse lege Plautia interrogatus erat a Lucio Paulo.  Postremo, dissimulandi causa aut sui expurgandi, sicut jurgio lacessitus foret, in Senatum venit.  Tum Marcus Tullius consul, sive præsentiam ejus timens sive ira commotus, orationem habuit luculentam atque utilem Rei Publicæ quam postea scriptam edidit. Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and though he himself had been interrogated by Lucius Paulus under the Plautian law.  At last, with a view to dissemble or under pretence of clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he walked into the Senate.  It was then that Marcus Tullius, the consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the Commonwealth, which he afterwards wrote and published.
Sed ubi ille assedit, Catilina, ut erat paratus ad dissimulanda omnia, demisso vultu, voce supplici postulare a patribus cœpit ne quid de se temere crederent :  ea familia ortum, ita se ab adulescentia vitam instituisse ut omnia bona in spe haberet ;  ne existimarent sibi, patricio homini, cujus ipsius atque majorum plurima beneficia in plebem Romanam essent, perdita Re Publica opus esse, quum eam servaret Marcus Tullius, inquilinus civis urbis Romæ.  Ad hoc maledicta alia quum adderet, obstrepere omnes, hostem atque parricidam vocare.  Tum ille furibundus :  « Quoniam quidem circumventus », inquit, « ab inimicis præceps agor, incendium meum ruina restinguam. » When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, that ‘the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe anything against him;’ saying ‘that he was sprung from such a family, and had so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in prospect;  and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, had been so numerous, should want to ruin the Commonwealth, where Marcus Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome, was eager to preserve it.’  When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised an outcry against him and called him an enemy and a traitor.  Being thus exasperated, “Since I am encompassed by enemies,” he exclaimed, “and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the flame kindled around me in a general ruin.”
{ 32 }
Catiline Sets Out for Etruria.
[XXXII] Deinde se e curia domum proripuit.  Ibi multa ipse secum volvens, quod neque insidiæ consuli procedebant et ab incendio intellegebat urbem vigiliis munitam, optimum factu credens exercitum augere ac, priusquam legiones scriberentur, multa antecapere quæ bello usui forent, nocte intempesta cum paucis in Manliana castra profectus est.  Sed Cethego atque Lentulo ceterisque quorum cognoverat promptam audaciam mandat, quibus rebus possent, opes factionis confirment, insidias consuli maturent, cædem, incendia aliaque belli facinora parent :  sese propediem cum magno exercitu ad urbem accessurum. [XXXII] He then hurried from the Senate to his own house;  and then, after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots against the consul had been unsuccessful and, as he knew the city to be secured from fire by the watchguards, his best course would be to augment his army and make provision for the war before the legions could be raised, he set out in the dead of night and with a few attendants, to the camp of Manlius.  But he left in charge Lentulus and Cethegus and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for arson and for other destructive operations of war;  promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a large army.
Dum hæc Romæ geruntur, Gaĭus Manlius e suo numero legatos ad Marcium Regem mittit cum mandatis hujusce modi: During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Gaĭus Manlius dispatched some of his followers as envoys to Quintus Marcius Rex, with directions to address him to the following effect:
{ 33 }
Catiline’s Accomplice, Manlius, Sends a Deputation to Marcius.
[XXXIII] « Deos hominesque testamur, imperator, nos arma neque contra patriam cepisse neque quo periculum aliis faceremus, sed uti corpora nostra ab injuria tuta forent qui miseri, egentes, violentia atque crudelitate feneratorum, plerique patriæ, sed omnes fama atque fortunis expertes sumus.  Neque cuiquam nostrum licuit more majorum lege uti, neque amisso patrimonio liberum corpus habere :  tanta sævitia feneratorum atque prætoris fuit. [XXXIII] “We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any one, but to defend our own persons from harm, who, wretched and in want, have been deprived, most of us, of our homes, and all of us of our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers;  nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our ancestors, to have the benefit of the law, or, when our property was lost, to keep our persons free.  Such has been the inhumanity of the usurers and of the prætor.
« Sæpe majores vestrum, miseriti plebis Romanæ, decretis suis inopiæ ejus opitulati sunt ;  ac novissime memoria nostra propter magnitudinem æris alieni volentibus omnibus bonis argentum ære solutum est. “Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at Rome, relieved their distress by decrees;  and very recently, within our own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt and with the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with copper.
« Sæpe ipsa plebs, aut dominandi studio permota aut superbia magistratuum, armata a patribus secessit.  At nos non imperium neque divitias petimus quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortales sunt, sed libertatem quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit.  Te atque Senatum obtestamur :  consulatis miseris civibus, legis præsidium quod iniquitas prætoris eripuit, restituatis, neve nobis eam necessitudinem imponatis ut quæramus, quonam modo maxime ulti sanguinem nostrum pereamus ! » “Often too, have the commonality themselves, driven by desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded under arms from the patricians.  But at power or wealth, for the sake of which wars and all kinds of strife arise among mankind, we do not aim;  we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes but with life.  We therefore conjure you and the Senate to befriend your unhappy fellow-citizens;  to restore us the protection of the law, which the injustice of the prætor has taken from us and not to lay on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so best to avenge our blood.”
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Catiline’s Representations to Various Respectable Characters.
[XXXIV] Ad hæc Quintus Marcius respondit, si quid a Senatu petere vellent, ab armis discedant, Romam supplices proficiscantur ;  ea mansuetudine atque misericordia Senatum populi Romani semper fuisse ut nemo unquam ab eo frustra auxilium petiverit. [XXXIV] To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, “if they wished to make any petition to the Senate, they must lay down their arms and proceed as suppliants to Rome;” adding, that “such had always been the kindness and humanity of the Roman Senate and people, that none had ever asked help of them in vain.”
At Catilina ex itinere plerisque consularibus, præterea optimo cuique litteras mittit :  se falsis criminibus circumventum, quoniam factioni inimicorum resistere nequiverit, fortunæ cedere, Massiliam in exilium proficisci, non quo sibi tanti sceleris conscius esset, sed uti Res Publica quieta foret neve e sua contentione seditio oreretur. Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that “as he was beset by false accusations and unable to resist the combination of his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune and going into exile at Marseilles;  not that he was guilty of the great wickedness laid to his charge, but that the Commonwealth might be undisturbed, and that no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself.”
Ab his longe diversas litteras Quintus Catulus in Senatu recitavit quas sibi nomine Catilinæ redditas dicebat.  Earum exemplum infra scriptum est: Quintus Catulus, however, read in the Senate a letter of a very different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy:
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Catiline’s Letter to Catulus.
[XXXV] « Lucius Catilina Quinto Catulo.  Egregia tua fides, re cognita, grata mihi magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meæ tribuit.  Quam ob rem defensionem in novo consilio non statui parare ;  satisfactionem e nulla conscientia de culpa proponere decrevi quam, me dius fidius, veram licet cognoscas.  Injuriis contumeliisque concitatus, quod, fructu laboris industriæque meæ privatus, statum dignitatis non obtinebam, publicam miserorum causam pro mea consuetudine suscepi — non quin æs alienum meis nominibus e possessionibus solvere possem (et alienis nominibus liberalitas Orestillæ, suis filiæque copiis, persolveret) —, sed quod non dignos homines honore honestatos videbam meque falsa suspicione alienatum esse sentiebam.  Hoc nomine satis honestas, pro meo casu, spes reliquæ dignitatis conservandæ sum secutus.  Plura quum scribere vellem, nuntiatum est vim mihi parari.  Nunc Orestillam commendo tuæque fidei trado ;  eam ab injuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus !  Haveto ! » [XXXV] “Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus.  Your eminent integrity, known to me by experience, gives a pleasing confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation.  I have determined therefore, to make no formal defense with regard to my new course of conduct;  yet I was resolved, though conscious of no guilt, to offer you some explanation, which, on my word of honor, you may receive as true.  Provoked by injuries and indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, I did not obtain the post of honor due to me, I have undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed.  Not that I could not have paid, out of my own property, the debts contracted on my own security (while the generosity of Orestilla, out of her own fortune and her daughter’s, would discharge those incurred on the security of others), but because I saw unworthy men ennobled with honors and myself proscribed on groundless suspicion.  I have, for this very reason, pursued the hopes, honorable in my situation, of preserving my remaining honor.  While I was proceeding to write more, it was reported that violence is being prepared against me.  I now commend and entrust Orestilla to your protection;  entreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury.  Farewell.”
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Catiline’s Arrival at Manlius’s Camp;  He Is Declared an Enemy by the Senate;  His Adherents Continue Faithful.
[XXXVI] Sed ipse, paucos dies commoratus apud Gaĭum Flaminium in agro Arretino, dum vicinitatem antea sollicitatam armis exornat, cum fascibus atque aliis imperii insignibus in castra ad Manlium contendit. [XXXVI] Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Gaĭus Flaminius Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium while he was supplying the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, marched with the fasces and other ensigns of authority, to join Manlius in his camp.
Hæc ubi Romæ comperta sunt, Senatus Catilinam et Manlium hostes judicat ;  ceteræ multitudini diem statuit, antequam sine fraude liceret ab armis discedere — præter rerum capitalium condemnatis.  Præterea decernit uti consules dilectum habeant, Antonius cum exercitu Catilinam persequi maturet, Cicero urbi præsidio sit. When this was known at Rome, the Senate declared Catiline and Manlius enemies to the state and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, before which they might lay down their arms with impunity except such as had been convicted of capital offenses.  They also decreed that the consuls should hold a levy, that Antonius, with an army, should hasten in pursuit of Catiline, and that Cicero should protect the city.
Ea tempestate mihi imperium populi Romani multo maxime miserabile visum est.  Cui quum ad occasum ab ortu solis omnia domita armis parerent, domi otium atque divitiæ quæ prima mortales putant, affluerent, fuere tamen cives qui seque Remque Publicam, obstinatis animis, perditum irent.  Namque duobus Senati decretis, e tanta multitudine neque præmio inductus conjurationem patefecerat neque e castris Catilinæ quisquam omnium discesserat :  tanta vis morbi atque uti tabes plerosque civium animos invaserat. At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an extremely deplorable condition;  for though every nation, from the rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her citizens, men who were bent, with obstinate determination, to plunge themselves and the Commonwealth into ruin;  for, notwithstanding the two decrees of the Senate, not one individual, out of so vast a number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the conspiracy;  nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline.  So strong a virulence of sickness had, like a pestilence, pervaded the minds of most of the citizens.
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The Discontent and Disaffection of the Populace in Rome.
[XXXVII] Neque solum illis aliena mens erat qui conscii conjurationis fuerant, sed omnino cuncta plebes, novarum rerum studio, Catilinæ incepta probabat.  Id adeo more suo videbatur facere.  Nam semper in civitate, quibus opes nullæ sunt, bonis invident, malos extollunt, vetera odere, nova exoptant, odio suarum rerum mutari omnia student ;  turbā atque seditionibus sine cura aluntur, quoniam egestas facile habetur sine damno. [XXXVII] Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were actually concerned in the conspiracy;  for the proletariat as a whole, out of a desire for revolution, favored the projects of Catiline.  This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character;  for, in every state, those lacking resources envy those of substance, exalt the factious, hate tradition and hope for something new;  out of discontent with their own affairs they strive to change everything;  they feed without a problem on turmoil and insurrection;  for poverty, in losing nothing, is easily borne.
Sed urbana plebes, ea vero præceps erat de multis causis.  Primum omnium qui ubique probro atque petulantia maxime præstabant, item alii per dedecŏra patrimoniis amissis, postremo omnes quos flagitium aut facinus domo expulerat, ii Romam sicut in sentinam confluxerant.  Deinde multi memores Sullanæ victoriæ, quod e gregariis militibus alios senatores videbant, alios ita divites ut regio victu atque cultu ætatem agerent, sibi quisque, si in armis foret, e victoria talia sperabat.  Præterea juventus quæ in agris manuum mercede inopiam toleraverat, privatis atque publicis largitionibus excita, urbanum otium ingrato labori prætulerat.  Eos atque alios omnes malum publicum alebat.  Quo minus mirandum est homines egentes, malis moribus, maxima spe, Rei Publicæ juxta ac sibi consuluisse.  Præterea, quorum victoriā Sullæ parentes proscripti, bona erepta, jus libertatis imminutum erat, haud sane alio animo belli eventum exspectabant. As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected from various causes.  In the first place, such as everywhere took the lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their fortunes in dissipation and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as though into bilgewater.  In the next place, many, who thought of the success of Sulla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers into senators and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they should once take up arms.  In addition to this, the youth, who, in the country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to unwelcome toil in the field.  To these and all others of similar character, public disorders would furnish subsistence.  It is not at all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute principles and extravagant expectations, should have been concerned just as little for the Commonwealth as for themselves.  Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sulla, had been proscribed, whose property had been confiscated and whose civil rights had been curtailed, looked forward to the event of a war with no different feelings.
Ad hoc, quicunque aliarum atque Senatus partium erant, conturbari Rem Publicam quam minus valere ipsi malebant.  Id adeo malum multos post annos in civitatem reverterat. All those, too, who were of any party other than that of the Senate were desirous rather that the Commonwealth should be embroiled, than that they themselves should be out of power.  This was an evil which, after many years, had returned upon the community to its now current extent.
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The Old Contentions Between the Patricians and Plebeians.
[XXXVIII] Nam postquam Gnæo Pompejo et Marco Crasso consulibus tribunicia potestas restituta est, homines adulescentes summam potestatem nacti quibus ætas animusque ferox erat, cœpere Senatum criminando plebem exagitare, dein largiendo atque pollicitando magis incendere, ita ipsi clari potentesque fieri.  Contra eos summa ope nitebatur pleraque nobilitas, Senatus specie, pro sua magnitudine.  Namque, uti paucis verum absolvam, post illa tempora quicunque Rem Publicam agitavere honestis nominibus, alii sicuti populi jura defenderent, pars quo Senatus auctoritas maxima foret, bonum publicum simulantes pro sua quisque potentia certabant.  Neque illis modestia neque modus contentionis erat :  utrique victoriam crudeliter exercebant. [XXXVIII] For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of Gnæus Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored, certain young men of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that high office, began to stir up the populace by inveighing against the Senate and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses and promises, to inflame them more and more;  by which methods they became popular and powerful.  On the other hand, the most of the nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost;  under pretence, indeed, of supporting the Senate, but in reality for their own aggrandizement.  For, to state the truth in few words whatever parties, during that period, disturbed the Commonwealth under plausible pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to make the authority of the Senate as great as possible, all, though affecting concern for the public good, contended everyone for his own interest.  In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit;  each party made a merciless use of its successes.
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The Effect Which a Victory of Catiline Would Have Produced.
[XXXIX] Sed postquam Gnæus Pompejus ad bellum maritimum atque Mithridaticum missus est, plebis opes imminutæ, paucorum potentia crevit.  Ii magistratus provincias aliaque omnia tenere ;  ipsi innoxii, florentes, sine metu ætatem agere, ceteros judiciis terrere, quo plebem in magistratu placidius tractarent.  Sed ubi primum dubiis rebus novandi spes oblata est, vetus certamen animos eorum arrexit.  Quod si primo prœlio Catilina superior aut æqua manu discessisset, profecto magna clades atque calamitas Rem Publicam oppressisset ;  neque illis qui victoriam adepti forent diutius ea uti licuisset, quin defessis et exsanguibus qui plus posset imperium atque libertatem extorqueret.  Fuere tamen extra conjurationem complures qui ad Catilinam initio profecti sunt.  In eis erat Fulvius, senatoris filius, quem retractum ex itinere parens necari jussit. [XXXIX] After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic wars, the power of the people was diminished and the influence of the few increased.  These few kept all public offices, the administration of the provinces, and everything else, in their own hands;  they themselves lived unmolested, in flourishing circumstances and without apprehension;  overawing others, at the same time, with threats of impeachment, so that, when in office, they might be less inclined to inflame the people.  But as soon as a prospect of change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the old spirit of contention awakened their passions;  and had Catiline, in his first battle, come off victorious or left the struggle undecided, great distress and calamity would certainly have fallen upon the Commonwealth, nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendancy, have been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted.  There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings.  Among these was {Aulus} Fulvius, a senator’s son whom, being arrested on his journey, his father ordered to be put to death.
Eisdem temporibus Romæ Lentulus, sicuti Catilina præceperat, quoscunque moribus aut fortuna novis rebus idoneos credebat aut per se aut per alios sollicitabat, neque solum cives, sed cujusquemodi genus hominum, quod modo bello usui foret. In Rome, at the same time Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline’s directions, was endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to promote an insurrection;  and not citizens only but every description of men who could be of any service in war.
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The Allobroges Are Solicited to Engage in the Conspiracy.
[XL] Igitur Publio Umbreno cuidam negotium dat uti legatos Allobrogum requirat eosque, si possit, impellat ad societatem belli, existimans publice privatimque ære alieno oppressos, præterea quod natura gens Gallica bellicosa esset, facile eos ad tale consilium adduci posse.  Umbrenus, quod in Gallia negotiatus erat, plerisque principibus civitatum notus erat atque eos noverat.  Itaque sine mora, ubi primum legatos in foro conspexit, percontatus pauca de statu civitatis et quasi dolens ejus casum requirere cœpit, quem exitum tantis malis sperarent.  Postquam illos videt queri de avaritia magistratuum, accusare Senatum quod in eo auxilii nihil esset, miseriis suis remedium mortem exspectare :  « At ego », inquit, « vobis, si modo viri esse vultis, rationem ostendam qua tanta ista mala effugiatis. »  Hæc ubi dixit, Allobroges in maximam spem adducti Umbrenum orare ut sui misereretur :  nihil tam asperum neque tam difficile esse quod non cupidissime facturi essent, dum ea res civitatem ære alieno liberaret.  Ille eos in domum Decimi Bruti perducit, quod foro propinqua erat neque aliena consilii propter Semproniam ;  nam tum Brutus <a> Roma aberat.  Præterea Gabinium arcessit, quo major auctoritas sermoni inesset.  Eo præsente conjurationem aperit, nominat socios, præterea multos cujusque generis innoxios, quo legatis animus amplior esset.  Deinde eos pollicitos operam suam domum dimittit. [XL] He accordingly gave to one Publius Umbrenus the task of inquiring among certain deputies of the Allobroges and of leading them, if he could, to a participation in the war, supposing that as they were nationally and individually involved in debt and, as the Gauls were naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise.  Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men there and personally acquainted with them;  and consequently without loss of time, as soon as he noticed the envoys in the Forum, he asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their country and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, what solution they expected to such calamities.  When he found that they complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, he inveighed against the Senate for not affording them relief and looked to death as the only remedy for their sufferings, “Yet I,” said he, “if you will but act as men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing difficulties.”  When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them, saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult which they would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from debt.  He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus which was close to the Forum and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome.  In order, too, to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy and mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many other persons of every sort who were guiltless of it, for the purpose of inspiring the ambassadors with greater confidence.  At length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart.
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They Reveal It to Cicero.
[XLI] Sed Allobroges diu in incerto habuere quidnam consilii caperent.  In altera parte erat æs alienum, studium belli, magna merces in spe victoriæ ;  at in altera majores opes, tuta consilia, pro incerta spe certa præmia.  Hæc illis volventibus tandem vicit fortuna Rei Publicæ.  Itaque Quinto Fabio Sangæ, cujus patrocinio civitas plurimum utebatur, rem omnem uti cognoverant aperiunt.  Cicero per Sangam consilio cognito legatis præcepit ut studium conjurationis vehementer simulent, ceteros adeant, bene polliceantur dentque operam uti eos quam maxime manifestos habeant. [XLI] Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should adopt.  On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war and great advantages to be expected from victory;  on the other, superior resources, safe plans and certain rewards instead of uncertain expectations.  As they were balancing these considerations, the good fortune of the Commonwealth at length prevailed.  They accordingly disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus Fabius Sanga, to whose patronage their state was very greatly indebted.  Cicero, being apprised of the matter by Sanga, directed the deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as possible.
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The Incaution of Catiline’s Accomplices in Gaul and Italy.
[XLII] Eisdem fere temporibus in Gallia citeriore atque ulteriore, item in agro Piceno, Bruttio, Apulia motus erat.  Namque illi quos ante Catilina dimiserat inconsulte ac veluti per dementiam cuncta simul agebant :  nocturnis consiliis, armorum atque telorum portationibus, festinando, agitando omnia plus timoris quam periculi effecerant.  Ex eo numero complures Quintus Metellus Celer prætor, e Senatus consulto causa cognita, in vincula conjecerat, item in citeriore Gallia Gaĭus Murena, qui ei provinciæ legatus præerat. [XLII] Much about the same time there were commotions in Hither and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories and in Apulia.  For those whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts had begun, without consideration and seemingly with madness, to attempt everything at once and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing armor and weapons from place to place and by hurrying and confusing everything, had created more alarm than danger.  Of these, Quintus Metellus Celer, the prætor, after a judicial investigation, under the decree of the Senate, had thrown them into prison, as had also Gaĭus Muræna in Further Gaul, who governed that province in quality of legate.
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The Plans of Catiline’s Adherents at Rome.
[XLIII] At Romæ Lentulus cum ceteris qui princeps conjurationis erant, paratis, ut videbatur, magnis copiis constituerant uti, quum Catilina in agrum Fæsulanum cum exercitu venisset, Lucius Bestia tribunus plebis, contione habita, quereretur de actionibus Ciceronis, bellique gravissimi invidiam optimo consuli imponeret ;  eo signo proxima nocte cetera multitudo conjurationis suum quisque negotium exsequeretur. [XLIII] But at Rome, in the meantime, Lentulus, with the other leaders of the conspiracy, with a large force seemingly readied, had arranged that as soon as Catiline had reached the neighborhood of Fæsulæ, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an assembly, would complain of Cicero’s measures and lay the odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul;  and that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should on the following night proceed to execute their respective parts.
Sed ea divisa hoc modo dicebantur :  Statilius et Gabinius uti cum magna manu duodecim simul opportuna loca urbis incenderent, quo tumultu facilior aditus ad consulem ceterosque quibus insidiæ parabantur, fieret ;  Cethegus Ciceronis januam obsideret eumque vi aggrederetur ;  alius autem alium, sed filii familiarum — quorum e nobilitate maxima pars erat — parentes interficerent ;  simul cæde et incendio perculsis omnibus ad Catilinam erumperent. These parts are said to have been thus distributed.  Statilius and Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose, at the same time;  in order that, during the consequent tumult, an easier access might be obtained to the consul and to the others whose destruction was intended;  Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero and attack him personally with violence;  others were to single out other victims;  while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to kill their fathers;  and, when all were simultaneously in shock at the massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline.
Inter hæc parata atque decreta Cethegus semper querebatur de ignavia sociorum :  illos dubitando et dies prolatando magnas opportunitates corrumpere ;  facto, non consulto in tali periculo opus esse, seque, si pauci adjuvarent, languentibus aliis, impetum in curiam facturum.  Natura ferox, vehemens, manu promptus erat, maximum bonum in celeritate putabat. While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates;  observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation and delay;  that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of deliberation, but of action and that he himself, if a few would support him, would storm the senate-house while the others remained inactive.  Being naturally bold, sanguine and prompt to act, he thought that success depended on rapidity of execution.
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The Allobroges Succeed in Obtaining Proofs of the Conspirators’ Guilt.
[XLIV] Sed Allobroges e præcepto Ciceronis per Gabinium ceteros conveniunt.  A Lentulo, Cethego, Statilio, item Cassio postulant jus jurandum quod signatum ad cives perferant ;  aliter haud facile eos ad tantum negotium impelli posse.  Ceteri nihil suspicantes dant ;  Cassius semet eo brevi venturum pollicetur ac paulo ante legatos ex urbe proficiscitur.  Lentulus cum eis Titum Volturcium quendam Crotoniensem mittit ut Allobroges, priusquam domum pergerent, cum Catilina data atque accepta fide societatem confirmarent.  Ipse Volturcio litteras ad Catilinam dat quarum exemplum infra scriptum est: [XLIV] The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators;  and from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius and likewise Cassius, they demanded an oath which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair.  To this the others consented without suspicion;  but Cassius promised them soon to visit their country and, indeed, left the city a little before the deputies.  In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which the following is a copy:
« Quis sim, ex eo quem ad te misi cognosces.  Fac cogites in quanta calamitate sis, et meminerīs te virum esse.  Consideres quid tuæ rationes postulent :  auxilium petas ab omnibus, etiam ab infimis !  » “Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you.  Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and remember that you are a man.  Consider what your views demand and seek aid from all, even the lowest.”
Ad hoc mandata verbis dat :  Quum a Senatu hostis judicatus sit, quo consilio servitia repudiet ?  In urbe parata esse quæ jusserit ;  ne cunctetur ipse propius accedere. In addition, he gave him this verbal message:  Since he was declared an enemy by the Senate, for what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves?  That, in the city, everything which he had directed was arranged and that he should not delay to make nearer approaches to it.
{ 45 }
The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested by the Contrivance of Cicero.
[XLV] His rebus ita actis, constituta nocte qua profiscerentur, Cicero, per legatos cuncta edoctus, Lucio Valerio Flacco et Gaĭo Pomptino prætoribus imperat ut in ponte Mulvio per insidias Allobrogum comitatūs deprehendant.  Rem omnem aperit cujus gratia mittebantur ;  cetera uti facto opus sit ita agant, permittit.  Illi, homines militares, sine tumultu præsidiis collocatis, sicuti præceptum erat, occulte pontem obsidunt.  Postquam ad id loci legati cum Volturcio venerunt et simul utrimque clamor exortus est, Galli cito cognito consilio sine mora prætoribus se tradunt ;  Volturcius primo, cohortatus ceteros, gladio se a multitudine defendit ;  deinde, ubi a legatis desertus est, multa prius de salute sua Pomptinum obtestatus, quod ei notus erat, postremo timidus ac vitæ diffidens velut hostibus sese prætoribus dedit. [XLV] Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made acquainted with everything, directed the prætors, Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Gaĭus Pomptinus, to arrest the retinue of the Allobroges, by lying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge;  he explained the entire issue for the sake of which they were being sent, and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require.  As had been ordered, the latter, military men, posting their forces without commotion, stealthily invested the bridge;  when the envoys, with Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side of the bridge, the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, surrendered themselves immediately to the prætors.  Volturcius, at first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against overwhelming numbers with his sword;  but afterwards, being deserted by the Allobroges, having firstly made many appeals for his own safety to Pomptinus to whom he was known, he at last, terrified and despairing of life, surrendered himself to the prætors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies.
{ 46 }
The Principal Conspirators at Rome Are Brought Before the Senate.
[XLVI] Quibus rebus confectis, omnia propere per nuntios consuli declarantur.  At illum ingens cura atque lætitia simul occupavere.  Nam lætabatur intellegens conjuratione patefacta civitatem periculis ereptam esse ;  porro autem anxius erat, dubitans, in maximo scelere tantis civibus deprehensis, quid facto opus esset :  pœnam illorum sibi oneri, impunitatem perdendæ Rei Publicæ fore credebat.  Igitur confirmato animo, vocari ad sese jubet Lentulum, Cethegum, Statilium, Gabinium, itemque Cæparium Terracinensem qui in Apuliam ad concitanda servitia proficisci parabat.  Ceteri sine mora veniunt ;  Cæparius, paulo ante domo egressus, cognito indicio, ex urbe profugerat.  Consul Lentulum, quod prætor erat, ipse manu tenens in Senatum perducit ;  reliquos cum custodibus in ædem Concordiæ venire jubet.  Eo Senatum advocat magnaque frequentia ejus ordinis Volturcium cum legatis introducit ;  Flaccum prætorem scrinium cum litteris quas a legatis acceperat eodem afferre jubet. [XLVI] The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers.  Great anxiety and great joy affected him at the same moment.  He rejoiced that, by the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger;  but he was doubtful how he ought to act when citizens of such eminence were arrested in so major a crime.  He saw that their punishment would be a burden to himself, yet their escape the destruction of the Commonwealth.  Having, however, firmed up his resolution, he ordered Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, as well as {Quintus} Cæparius of Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to whip up the slaves, to be summoned before him.  The others came without delay;  but Cæparius, having left his house a little before and heard of the discovery of the conspiracy, had fled from the city.  The consul himself conducted Lentulus, as he was prætor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard.  Here he assembled the Senate and, in a very full attendance of that body, introduced Volturcius with the deputies.  Hither also he ordered Valerius Flaccus, the prætor, to bring the portfolio with the letters which he had taken from the deputies.
{ 47 }
The Evidence Against Them and Their Consignment to Custody.
[XLVII] Volturcius, interrogatus de itinere, de litteris, postremo quid aut qua de causa consilii habuisset, primo fingere alia, dissimulare de conjuratione ;  post, ubi fide publica dicere jussus est, omnia uti gesta erant aperit docetque se, paucis ante diebus a Gabinio et Cæpario socium ascitum, nihil amplius scire quam legatos ;  tantummodo audire solitum e Gabinio Publium Autronium, Servium Sullam, Lucium Varguntejum, multos præterea in ea conjuratione esse.  Eadem Galli fatentur ac Lentulum dissimulantem coarguunt præter litteras sermonibus quos ille habere solitus erat :  e libris Sibyllinis regnum Romæ tribus Corneliis portendi ;  Cinnam atque Sullam antea, se tertium esse cui fatum foret urbis potiri.  Præterea, ab incenso Capitolio illum esse vigesimum annum quem sæpe e prodigiis haruspices respondissent bello civili cruentum fore. [XLVII] Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning his letter and, lastly, what object he had had in view and from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy;  but at length, when he was told to speak on the security of the public faith, he disclosed every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been admitted as an associate a few days before, by Gabinius and Cæparius ;  that he knew no more than the envoys, only that he used to hear from Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sulla, Lucius Varguntejus and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy.  The Gauls made a similar confession and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in the habit of making, that a tyranny over Rome, by the Sibylline books, was predestined to three Cornelii, that Cinna and Sulla had ruled already;  and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be to govern the city;  and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the Capitol was burnt;  a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had often said would be bleeding with civil war.
Igitur, perlectis litteris, quum prius omnes signa sua cognovissent, Senatus decernit uti, abdicato magistratu, Lentulus itemque ceteri in liberis custodiis habeantur.  Itaque Lentulus Publio Lentulo Spinthēri, qui tum ædilis erat, Cethegus Quinto Cornificio, Statilius Gaĭo Cæsari, Gabinius Marco Crasso, Cæparius (nam is paulo ante e fuga retractus erat) Gnæo Terentio senatori traduntur. The letter then being read, the Senate, when all had previously acknowledged their seals, decreed that Lentulus, being deprived of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private custody.  Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius Lentulus Spinther, who was then ædile;  Cethegus, to Quintus Cornificius;  Statilius, to Gaĭus {Julius} Cæsar;  Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus;  and Cæparius (who had just before been arrested in his flight), to Gnæus Terentius, a senator.
{ 48 }
The Alteration in the Minds of the Populace and the Suspicions Entertained Against Crassus.
[XLVIII] Interea plebs, conjuratione patefacta quæ primo cupida rerum novarum nimis bello favebat, mutata mente, Catilinæ consilia exsecrari, Ciceronem ad cælum tollere :  veluti e servitute erepta gaudium atque lætitiam agitabat.  Namque alia belli facinora prædæ magis quam detrimento fore, incendium vero crudele, immoderatum ac sibi maxime calamitosum putabat, quippe cui omnes copiæ in usu cotidiano et cultu corporis erant. [XLVIII] The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire of change in the Commonwealth, been to much inclined to war, having, on the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to curse the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies;  and, as if rescued from slavery, to show their joy and exultation.  For they viewed the other effects of war as a gain rather than a loss;  but the arson they thought inhuman, outrageous and utterly fatal especially to themselves, since all their possessions consisted in their daily necessaries and the clothes on their bodies.
Post eum diem, quidam Lucius Tarquinius ad Senatum adductus erat, quem ad Catilinam proficiscentem ex itinere retractum ajebant.  Is quum se diceret indicaturum de conjuratione si fides publica data esset, jussus a consule quæ sciret edicere, eadem fere quæ Volturcius de paratis incendiis, de cæde bonorum, de itinere hostium Senatum docet ;  præterea se missum a Marco Crasso qui Catilinæ nuntiaret ne eum Lentulus et Cethegus aliique e conjuratione deprehensi terrerent, eoque magis properaret ad urbem accedere, quo et ceterorum animos reficeret et illi facilius e periculo eriperentur.  Sed ubi Tarquinius Crassum nominavit, hominem nobilem, maximis divitiis, summa potentia, alii rem incredibilem rati, pars, tametsi verum existimabant, tamen, quia in tali tempore tanta vis hominis magis lenienda quam exagitanda videbatur, plerique Crasso e negotiis privatis obnoxii, conclamant indicem falsum esse, deque ea re postulant uti referatur.  Itaque, consulente Cicerone, frequens Senatus decernit Tarquinii indicium falsum videri eumque in vinculis retinendum, neque amplius potestatem faciendam, nisi de eo indicaret cujus consilio tantam rem esset mentitus. On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before the Senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out to join Catiline.  This person, having offered to give information of the conspiracy if official immunity were pledged to him and, being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the Senate nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens and the approach of the enemy, adding that he was sent by Marcus Crassus to assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus and others of the conspirators ought not to alarm him, but that he should hasten all the more to the city in order to revive the courage of the rest and to facilitate the escape of those in custody.  When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, of very great wealth and of vast influence, some, thinking the statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, judging that at such a crisis a man of such power was rather to be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, being in debt to Crassus), exclaimed that he was “a false witness,” and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote.  Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full Senate decreed that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false;  that the latter himself should be kept in prison;  and that no further liberty of speaking should be granted him unless he should name the person at whose instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny.
Erant eo tempore qui æstimarent indicium illud a Publio Autronio machinatum quo facilius, appellato Crasso, per societatem periculi reliquos illius potentia tegeret.  Alii Tarquinium a Cicerone immissum ajebant ne Crassus, more suo suspecto malorum patrocinio, Rem Publicam conturbaret.  Ipsum Crassum ego postea prædicantem audivi tantam illam contumeliam sibi a Cicerone impositam. There were some at that time who thought that this affair had been contrived by Publius Autronius in order that the influence of Crassus, if he were accused, might, by association with the danger, more readily screen the rest.  Others said that Tarquinius had been suborned by Cicero so that Crassus would not disturb the Commonwealth by taking on, as was his custom, the defense of the criminals.  I later heard Crassus himself say publicly that this great calumny had been directed at him by Cicero.
{ 49 }
The Attempts of Catulus and Piso to Incriminate Cæsar.
[XLIX] Sed eisdem temporibus Quintus Catulus et Gaĭus Piso neque precibus neque gratia neque pretio Ciceronem impellere potuere uti per Allobroges aut alium indicem Gaĭus Cæsar falso nominaretur.  Nam uterque cum illo graves inimicitias exercebat :  Piso oppugnatus in judicio pecuniarum repetundarum propter cujusdam Transpadani supplicium injustum, Catulus e petitione pontificatus odio incensus quod, extrema ætate, maximis honoribus usus, ab adulescentulo Cæsare victus discesserat.  Res autem opportuna videbatur quod is privatim egregia liberalitate, publice maximis muneribus, grandem pecuniam debebat.  Sed ubi consulem ad tantum facinus impellere nequeunt, ipsi singillatim circumeundo atque ementiendo quæ se e Volturcio aut Allobrogibus audisse dicerent, magnam illi invidiam conflaverant, usque eo ut nonnulli equites Romani qui præsidii causa cum telis erant circum ædem Concordiæ, seu periculi magnitudine seu animi mobilitate impulsi, quo studium suum in Rem Publicam clarius esset, egredienti e Senatu Cæsari gladio minitarentur. [XLIX] Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus and Gaĭus Piso, prevail upon Cicero to have Gaĭus Cæsar falsely accused, either by means of the Allobroges or any other evidence.  Both of these men were at bitter enmity with Cæsar:  Piso, as having been attacked by him when he was on his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put to death a Transpadane Gaul;  Catulus, as having hated him ever since he stood for the pontificate because, at an advanced age, and after filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Cæsar, who was then comparatively a youth.  The opportunity, too, seemed favorable for such an accusation;  for Cæsar, by extraordinary generosity in private and by magnificent exhibitions in public, had fallen greatly into debt.  But when they failed to persuade the consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to another and spreading fictions of their own which they pretended to have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent odium against him that certain Roman knights who were stationed as an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, driven either by the greatness of the peril or the fickleness of their emotions, so that their zeal for the Commonwealth might be more apparent, threatened Cæsar with their swords as he went out of the senate-house.
{ 50 }
The Plans of Lentulus and Cethegus for Their Rescue, and the Deliberations of the Senate.
[L] Dum hæc in Senatu aguntur et dum legatis Allobrogum et Tito Volturcio, comprobato eorum indicio, præmia decernuntur, liberti et pauci e clientibus Lentuli diversis itineribus opifices atque servitia in vicis ad eum eripiendum sollicitabant ;  partim exquirebant duces multitudinum, qui pretio Rem Publicam vexare soliti erant.  Cethegus autem per nuntios familiam atque libertos suos, lectos et exercitatos, orabat in audaciam ut, grege facto, cum telis ad sese irrumperent. [L] While these occurrences were passing in the Senate and while rewards were being voted, on approbation of their evidence, to the Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen and some of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and slaves, in various quarters, to attempt his rescue;  some, too, were seeking out the ringleaders of the mobs, who were always ready to disturb the Commonwealth for pay.  Cethegus, on the other hand, through his emissaires was exhorting his own slaves and freedmen — those selected and trained — to insurgency, so that having formed a gang they might with their weapons break in to him.
Consul ubi ea parari cognovit, dispositis præsidiis ut res atque tempus monebat, convocato Senatu refert quid de eis fieri placeat qui in custodiam traditi erant.  Sed eos paulo ante frequens Senatus judicaverat contra Rem Publicam fecisse.  Tum Decius Junius Silanus, primus sententiam rogatus quod eo tempore consul designatus erat, de eis qui in custodiis tenebantur, et præterea de Lucio Cassio, Publio Furio, Publio Umbreno, Quinto Annio, si deprehensi forent, supplicium sumendum decreverat ;  isque postea, permotus oratione Gaĭi Cæsaris, pedibus in sententiam Titi Neronis iturum se dixit, qui de ea re, præsidiis additis, referendum censuerat.  Sed Cæsar, ubi ad eum ventum est, rogatus sententiam a consule, hujuscemodi verba locutus est : The consul, when he learned that these elements were being mobilized, having distributed guards as the circumstances and occasion demanded, called a meeting of the Senate and desired to know “what they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to custody.”  A crowded Senate, however, had but a short time before declared they had committed treason against the Commonwealth.  On this occasion, Decimus Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, moved that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius Furius, Publius Umbrenus and Quintus Annius, if they should be apprehended;  but afterwards, being influenced by the speech of Gaĭus Cæsar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and that the Senate should deliberate further on the matter.  But Cæsar, when it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to the following effect:
{ 51 }
The Speech of Cæsar on the Mode of Punishing the Conspirators.
[LI] « Omnes homines, Patres Conscripti, qui de rebus dubiis consultant, ab odio, amicitia, ira atque misericordia vacuos esse decet.  Haud facile animus verum providet ubi illa officiunt, neque quisquam omnium libidini simul et usui paruit.  Ubi intenderīs ingenium, valet ;  si libido possidet, ea dominatur, animus nihil valet. [LI] “It becomes all men, Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, nor pity.  The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, cannot easily see what is right;  nor has anyone ever obeyed both his impulses and own best interests at the same time.  Where you concentrate your mind, it is powerful;  but if passion takes control, it becomes a tyrant and reason is powerless.
« Magna mihi copia est memorandi, Patres Conscripti, quæ reges atque populi, ira aut misericordia impulsi, male consuluerint ;  sed ea malo dicere quæ majores nostri contra libidinem animi sui recte atque ordine fecere. “I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted injudicious courses of conduct;  but I had rather speak of those instances in which our ancestors, in opposition to the impulse of passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy.
« Bello Macedonico, quod cum rege Perse gessimus, Rhodiorum civitas magna atque magnifica, quæ populi Romani opibus creverat, infida atque adversa nobis fuit.  Sed postquam, bello confecto, de Rhodiis consultum est, majores nostri, ne quis divitiarum magis quam injuriæ causa bellum inceptum diceret, impunitos eos dimisere.  Item bellis Punicis omnibus, quum sæpe Carthaginienses et in pace et per indutias multa nefaria facinora fecissent, nunquam ipsi per occasionem talia fecere :  magis quid se dignum foret quam quid in illos jure fieri posset quærebant. “In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us;  yet, when the war was ended and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, our forefathers left them unmolested, lest any should say that war was made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of punishing their faithlessness.  Throughout the Punic Wars too, though the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspensions of arms, were guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took occasion to retaliate, but considered what was worthy of themselves rather than what might justly be inflicted on their enemies.
« Hoc item vobis providendum est, Patres Conscripti, ne plus apud vos valeat Publii Lentuli et ceterorum scelus quam vestra dignitas, neu magis iræ vestræ quam famæ consulatis.  Nam si digna pœna pro factis eorum reperitur, novum consilium approbo ;  sin magnitudo sceleris omnium ingenia exsuperat, eis utendum censeo quæ legibus comparata sunt. “Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, that the villainy of Lentulus and the other conspirators may not have greater weight with you than you own dignity, and that you may not prize your indignation more than your character.  If, indeed, a punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to a new proposal;  but if the enormity of their crime exceeds all men’s ingenuity, I think that we should inflict only such penalties as the laws have provided.
« Plerique eorum qui ante me sententias dixerunt composite atque magnifice casum Rei Publicæ miserati sunt.  Quæ belli sævitia esset, quæ victis acciderent, enumeravere :  rapi virgines, pueros, divelli liberos a parentum complexu, matres familiarum pati quæ victoribus collibuissent ;  fana atque domos spoliari ;  cædem, incendia fieri ;  postremo armis, cadaveribus, cruore atque luctu omnia compleri.  Sed, per deos immortales, quo illa oratio pertinuit ?  An uti vos infestos conjurationi faceret ?  Scilicet quem res tanta et tam atrox non permovit, eum oratio accendet !  Non ita est ;  neque cuiquam mortalium injuriæ suæ parvæ videntur ;  multi eas gravius æquo habuere. “Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have lamented, in studied and impressive language, the lot of the Commonwealth;  they have recounted the barbarities of war, the afflictions that would befall the vanquished:  that maidens would be dishonored and youths abused;  that children would be torn from the embraces of their parents;  that matrons would suffer whatever pleased the conquerors;  that temples and homes would be plundered;  that massacres and fires would follow;  and lastly that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, blood and lamentation.  But in the name of the eternal gods, to what end was such eloquence directed?  Was it intended to render you indignant at the conspiracy?  A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked!  Far from it:  for to no man do his own injuries appear a light matter;  many, on the contrary, have considered them more seriously than is right.
« Sed alia aliis licentia est, Patres Conscripti.  Qui demissi in obscuro vitam habent, si quid iracundiā deliquere, pauci sciunt :  fama atque fortuna pares sunt.  Qui magno imperio præditi in excelso ætatem agunt, eorum facta cuncti mortales novere.  Ita in maxima fortuna minima licentia est :  neque studere, neque odisse, sed minime irasci decet.  Quæ apud alios iracundia dicitur, ea in imperio superbia atque crudelitas appellatur. “But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of license are allowed.  If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity commit a misdeed out of anger, few become aware of it, for their fame is as limited as their fortune;  but of those who live invested with extensive power and in an exalted station, the whole world knows the proceedings.  Thus in the highest position there is the least liberty of action;  and it becomes us to indulge in neither partiality nor aversion, but least of all in animosity;  for what in others is called anger, is in the powerful termed violence and cruelty.
« Equidem ego sic existimo, Patres Conscripti, omnes cruciatus minores quam facinora illorum esse.  Sed plerique mortales postrema meminere et, in hominibus impiis sceleris eorum obliti, de pœna disserunt, si ea paulo severior fuit.  Decimum Silanum, virum fortem atque strenuum, certo scio quæ dixerit studio Rei Publicæ dixisse, neque illum in tanta re gratiam aut inimicitias exercere :  eos mores eamque modestiam viri cognovi.  Verum sententia ejus mihi non crudelis — quid enim in tales homines crudele fieri potest ? — sed aliena a Re Publica nostra videtur.  Nam profecto aut metus aut injuria te subegit, Silane, consulem designatum, genus pœnæ novum decernere.  De timore supervacaneum est disserere, quum præsertim diligentiā clarissimi viri consulis tanta præsidia sint in armis.  De pœna possum equidem dicere — id quod res habet — in luctu atque miseriis mortem ærumnarum requiem, non cruciatum esse ;  eam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere ;  ultra neque curæ neque gaudio locum esse. “I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of torture is inadequate to punish their crime;  but most mortals remember the most recent happenings and forgetting, in the case of unprincipled men, their crime, debate the punishment, if this was a little too severe.  I know for a fact that Decimus Silanus, a courageous and energetic man, said what he said out of his commitment to the Commonwealth and that in such an important matter he did not employ favoritism or enmity;  such I know to be his character, and such his restraint.  Yet his proposal appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is directed against such characters?), but inconsistent with our Commonwealth.  For assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, compelled you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment.  Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, especially since, due to the vigilance of the most illustrious man, our consul, such strong guards are under arms.  As to the punishment, I myself may say — what is relevant to the issue — that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and not a torment;  that it puts an end to all human woes;  and that, beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy.
« Sed, per deos immortales, quam ob rem in sententiam non addidisti uti prius verberibus in eos animadverteretur ?  An quia lex Porcia vetat ?  At aliæ leges item condemnatis civibus non animam eripi, sed exilium permitti jubent.  An quia gravius est verberari quam necari ?  Quid autem acerbum aut nimis grave est in homines tanti facinoris convictos ?  Sin quia levius est, qui convenit in minore negotio legem timere, quum eam in majore neglegerīs ? “But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be punished with the scourge?  Was it because the Porcian law forbids it?  But other laws likewise forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of life and allow them to go into exile.  Or was it because scourging is a severer penalty than death?  Yet what can be severe or too harsh towards men convicted of such an offense?  But if scourging is a milder punishment, how is it consistent to fear the law in a smaller issue when you disregard it in a greater one?
« At enim quis reprehendet quod in parricidas Rei Publicæ decretum erit ?  Tempus, dies, fortuna, cujus libido gentibus moderatur.  Illis merito accidet quicquid evenerit ;  ceterum vos, Patres Conscripti, quid in alios statuatis considerate.  Omnia mala exempla e rebus bonis orta sunt.  Sed ubi imperium ad ignaros ejus aut minus bonos pervenit, novum illud exemplum a dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transfertur.  Lacedæmonii, devictis Atheniensibus, triginta viros imposuere qui Rem Publicam eorum tractarent.  Ii primo cœpere pessimum quemque et omnibus invisum indemnatum necare :  ea populus lætari et merito dicere fieri.  Post, ubi paulatim licentia crevit, juxta bonos et malos libidinose interficere, ceteros metu terrere.  Ita civitas, servitute oppressa, stultæ lætitiæ graves pœnas dedit. “But who, you may object, will censure what will have been decreed against these parricides of the Commonwealth?  The answer:  the times, the day, and fortune, whose caprice governs nations, will.  Whatever happens will fall on them justly;  but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well what you resolve to inflict on others.  All bad precedents have originated in what was good;  but when control passes into the hands of the ignorant or less good, that new example of severity becomes transferred from deserving and suitable subjects to those that are undeserving and unsuited to it.  The Lacedæmonians, after the Athenians had been conquered, appointed thirty men to govern their Commonwealth.  These thirty began their administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable;  acts at which the people rejoiced and extolled their justice.  But afterwards, when their lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded at their pleasure to kill the good and bad indiscriminately and to strike terror into the rest;  and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy penalty for its imprudent exultation.
« Nostra memoria, victor Sulla quum Damasippum et alios ejus modi, qui malo Rei Publicæ creverant, jugulari jussit, quis non factum ejus laudabat ?  Homines scelestos et factiosos, qui seditionibus Rem Publicam exagitaverant, merito necatos ajebant.  Sed ea res magnæ initium cladis fuit.  Nam uti quisque domum aut villam, postremo vas aut vestimentum alicujus concupiverat, dabat operam ut is in proscriptorum numero esset.  Ita illi quibus Damasippi mors lætitiæ fuerat paulo post ipsi trahebantur, neque prius finis jugulandi fuit quam Sulla omnes suos divitiis explevit. “Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sulla ordered Damasippus and others of that type who had flourished through the corruption of their country to be put to death, who did not commend his action?  All exclaimed that wicked and factious men who had troubled the Commonwealth with their seditious practices had been deservedly executed.  Yet this proceeding was the beginning of great bloodshed.  For whenever any one coveted the mansion or villa, or even the silverware or apparel of another, he undertook to have him numbered among the proscribed.  Thus they, to whom the death of Damasippus had been a subject of joy were soon after dragged to death themselves;  nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sulla had glutted all his partisans with riches.
« Atque ego hæc non in Marco Tullio neque his temporibus vereor ;  sed in magna civitate multa et varia ingenia sunt.  Potest alio tempore, alio consule, cui item exercitus in manu sit, falsum aliquid pro vero credi.  Ubi hoc exemplo per Senatus decretum consul gladium eduxerit, quis illi finem statuet aut quis moderabitur ? “Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these times.  But in a large state there arise many men of various dispositions.  At some other period, under some other consul who may likewise have an army at his command, some false accusation may be credited as true.  Given this precedent, where the consul will have drawn the sword on the authority of the Senate, who will stop him or moderate his fury?
« Majores nostri, Patres Conscripti, neque consilii neque audaciæ unquam eguere ;  neque illis superbia obstat quominus aliena instituta, si modo proba erant, imitarentur.  Arma atque tela militaria a Samnitibus, insignia magistratuum a Tuscis pleraque sumpserunt ;  postremo, quod ubique apud socios aut hostes idoneum videbatur, cum summo studio domi exsequebantur :  imitari quam invidere bonis malebant.  Sed eodem illo tempore, Græciæ morem imitati, verberibus animadvertebant in cives, de condemnatis summum supplicium sumebant.  Postquam Res Publica adolevit et multitudine civium factiones valuere, circumveniri innocentes, alia hujuscemodi fieri cœpere, tum lex Porcia aliæque leges paratæ sunt, quibus legibus exilium damnatis permissum est.  Hanc ego causam, Patres Conscripti, quominus novum consilium capiamus imprimis magnam puto.  Profecto virtus atque sapientia major illis fuit qui e parvis opibus tantum imperium fecere, quam in nobis qui ea bene parta vix retinemus. “Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in planning or courage;  nor did pride prevent them from imitating other nations’ customs, provided they were advantageous.  Their armor and weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites;  their insignia of offices, to a great extent, from the Etrurians;  and, in short, whatever anywhere appeared to them appropriate, whether among allies or among enemies, they adopted domestically with the greatest readiness, preferring to emulate good practices rather than to be jealous of them.  But at the same time, adopting a custom from Greece, they punished their citizens with the scourge and inflicted capital punishment on the condemned.  When the Commonwealth, however, matured and factionalism grew strong from the vast number of its citizens, the innocent began to be entrapped and other things of this type done;  it was then that the Porcian and other laws were instituted, laws by which exile was permitted to condemned citizens.  I consider this the chief reason, Conscript Fathers, why we should not adopt any novel measures.  For assuredly there was greater merit and wisdom in those who raised so mighty an empire from humble means, than in us who can scarcely preserve the things they so beneficially acquired.
« Placet igitur eos dimitti et augeri exercitum Catilinæ ?  Minime.  Sed ita censeo :  publicandas eorum pecunias, ipsos in vinculis habendos per municipia quæ maxime opibus valent, neu quis de eis postea ad Senatum referat neve cum populo agat ;  qui aliter fecerit, Senatum existimare eum contra Rem Publicam et salutem omnium facturum. » “Am I therefore voting for them to be released and Catiline’s army enlarged?  By no means.  But I do recommend this:  that their property be confiscated;  that they themselves be kept imprisoned those municipal towns that are strongest in resources;  that hereafter no one may bring an appeal for them before the Senate or submit it to the people;  and that the Senate hold the view that whoever acts otherwise will be acting against the Commonwealth and the safety of everyone.”
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The speech of Cato on the Same Subject.
[LII] Postquam Cæsar dicendi finem fecit, ceteri verbo alius alii varie assentiebantur.  At Marcus Porcius Cato rogatus sententiam hujuscemodi orationem habuit: [LII] After Cæsar had ended his speech, the rest expressed their agreement with a word, some with one speaker, some with another;  but Marcus Porcius Cato, being asked his opinion, made a speech to the following effect:
« Longe alia mihi mens est, Patres Conscripti, quum res atque pericula nostra considero et quum sententias nonnullorum ipse mecum reputo.  Illi mihi disseruisse videntur de pœna eorum qui patriæ, parentibus, aris atque focis suis bellum paravere.  Res autem monet cavere ab illis magis quam quid in illos statuamus consultare.  Nam cetera maleficia tum persequare, ubi facta sunt ;  hoc, nisi provīderīs ne accidat, ubi evenit, frustra judicia implores ;  capta urbe nihil fit reliqui victis. “My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely divergent when I consider our perilous circumstances, and when I myself think about the opinions of some here.  Those men seem to me to have debated about the penalties of those who have prepared for war on their own fatherland, their parents, their altars and hearths;  but the facts warn us to take precautions against them rather than to deliberate about what sentence we should pass upon them.  For other crimes you may punish after they have been committed;  but this one, unless you prevent it from occurring, you will, once it has taken effect, in vain appeal to justice.  After the city has been taken, nothing is left to the vanquished.

« Sed, per deos immortales, vos ego appello qui semper domos, villas, signa, tabulas vestras pluris quam Rem Publicam fecistis :  si ista, cujuscunque modi sunt quæ amplexamini, retinere, si voluptatibus vestris otium præbere vultis, expergiscimini aliquando et capessite Rem Publicam !  Non agitur de vectigalibus neque de sociorum injuriis :  libertas et anima nostra in dubio est. “But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you who have always considered your mansions and villas, your statues and pictures, as more valuable than the Commonwealth:  if you wish to preserve those things, whatever they are, to which you cling, if you wish to provide the leisure for your pleasures, wake up finally and take hold of the Commonwealth.  It is not a matter of taxes or injuries done to our allies;  our liberty and life is in crisis.
« Sæpenumero, Patres Conscripti, multa verba in hoc ordine feci ;  sæpe de luxuria atque avaritia nostrorum civium questus sum, multosque mortales ea causa adversos habeo.  Qui mihi atque animo meo nullius unquam delicti gratiam fecissem, haud facile alterius libidini malefacta condonabam.  Sed ea tametsi vos parvi pendebatis, tamen Res Publica firma erat ;  opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat.  Nunc vero non id agitur bonisne an malis moribus vivamus, neque quantum aut quam magnificum imperium populi Romani sit, sed hæc, cujuscunque modi videntur, nostra an nobiscum una hostium futura sint. “Often, Conscript Fathers, I have spoken at great length in this assembly;  I have often complained of the luxury and avarice of our citizens and, because of that, have many mortals antagonistic to me.  I, who have never been indulgent to my own inclinations toward any misdeed, have not easily condoned the transgressions of anyone else’s intemperance.  But even though you considered my words worth little, the Commonwealth was nonetheless strong;  its omnipotence tolerated your negligence.  But now it is not a matter of whether we live with good or bad morals nor how great or how magnificent the dominion of the Roman people may be, but whether all these things, of whatever kind they seem to be, are to be ours or, along with us, the enemy’s.
« Hic mihi quisquam mansuetudinem et misericordiam nominat ?  Jampridem equidem nos vera vocabula rerum amisimus :  quia bona aliena largiri liberalitas, malarum rerum audacia fortitudo vocatur, eo Res Publica in extremo sita est.  Sint sane, quoniam ita se mores habent, liberales e sociorum fortunis ;  sint misericordes in furibus ærarii ;  ne illi sanguinem nostrum largiantur et, dum paucis sceleratis parcunt, bonos omnes perditum eant ! “In these circumstances, should anyone mention gentleness and compassion to me?  We have indeed long since lost the real names of things;  for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and audacity in wickedness is called courage;  and hence the Commonwealth is reduced to the brink of ruin.  Indeed, let them, since such is their practice, be generous with the property of our allies;  let them be merciful to the robbers of the treasury;  but let them not squander our blood and, while they spare a few criminals, proceed to destroy all good men.
« Bene et composite Gaĭus Cæsar paulo ante in hoc ordine de vita et morte disseruit, credo falsa existimans ea quæ de inferis memorantur — diverso itinere malos a bonis, loca tætra, inculta, fœda atque formidulosa habere.  Itaque censuit pecunias eorum publicandas, ipsos per municipia in custodiis habendos, videlicet timens ne, si Romæ sint, aut a popularibus conjurationis aut, a multitudine conductā, per vim eripiantur — quasi vero mali atque scelesti tantummodo in urbe et non per totam Italiam sint, aut non ibi plus possit audacia, ubi ad defendendum opes minores sunt.  Quare vanum equidem hoc consilium est, si periculum ex illis metuit ;  si in tanto omnium metu solus non timet, eo magis rēfert me mihi atque vobis timere. “Gaĭus Cæsar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, before this assembly, on the subject of life and death, considering as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead:  that the bad, going a different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary and full of horror.  He accordingly proposed that the property of the conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in the municipal towns;  fearing, of course, that, if they remain at Rome, they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy or by a hired mob — as if, indeed, villains and criminals were to be found only in the city and not through the whole of Italy, or as if desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is less power to resist them.  His proposal is therefore groundless, if he fears any danger from them;  but if, amidst such universal terror, he alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and myself.
« Quare, quum de Publio Lentulo ceterisque statuetis, pro certo habetote vos simul de exercitu Catilinæ et de omnibus conjuratis decernere.  Quanto vos attentius ea agetis, tanto illis animus infirmior erit ;  si paululum modo vos languere viderint, jam omnes feroces aderunt. “Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Publius Lentulus and the other prisoners, at the same time you will be determining that of Catiline’s army and of all the conspirators.  The more determination you display in your decision, the weaker will be their confidence;  but if they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will advance upon you with ferocity.
« Nolite existimare majores nostros armis Rem Publicam e parva magnam fecisse.  Si ita res esset, multo pulcherrimam eam nos haberemus, quippe sociorum atque civium, præterea armorum atque equorum major copia nobis quam illis est.  Sed alia fuere quæ illos magnos fecere, quæ nobis nulla sunt :  domi industria, foris justum imperium, animus in consulendo liber, neque delicto neque libidini obnoxius.  Pro his nos habemus luxuriam atque avaritiam, publice egestatem, privatim opulentiam.  Laudamus divitias, sequimur inertiam ;  inter bonos et malos discrimen nullum ;  omnia virtutis præmia ambitio possidet.  Neque mirum :  ubi vos separatim sibi quisque consilium capitis, ubi domi voluptatibus, hic pecuniæ aut gratiæ servītis, eo fit ut impetus fiat in vacuam Rem Publicam. “Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, raised the Commonwealth to greatness merely by force of arms.  If such had been the case, we would have in it by far the finest one, since besides arms and horses, we have a much greater abundance of allies and citizens than they had.  But it was other things that made them great, things which among us do not exist at all :  industry at home, equitable government abroad, in council independent minds enslaved neither by misconduct nor passions.  Instead of such virtues, we have luxury and avarice, public poverty and private opulence;  we extol wealth and yield to indolence;  there is no distinction between good men and bad;  ambition usurps all the honors due to virtue.  Nor is this surprising, since individually you attend each to your own individual interests, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure and, in this place, to money or influence;  hence it happens that an attack is made on the defenseless Commonwealth.
« Sed ego hæc omitto.  Conjuravere nobilissimi cives patriam incendere ;  Gallorum gentem infestissimam nomini Romano ad bellum arcessunt ;  dux hostium cum exercitu supra caput est :  vos cunctamini etiam nunc et dubitatis quid intra mœnia deprensis hostibus faciatis ?  Misereamini censeo — deliquere homines adulescentuli, per ambitionem.  Atque etiam armatos dimittatis.  Ne, ista vobis mansuetudo et misericordia, si illi arma ceperint, in miseriam convertat.  Scilicet res ipsa aspera est, sed vos non timetis eam.  Immo vero maxime ;  sed inertiā et mollitiā animi alius alium exspectantes cunctamini, videlicet dis immortalibus confisi qui hanc Rem Publicam sæpe in maximis periculis servavere.  Non votis neque suppliciis muliebribus auxilia deorum parantur :  vigilando, agendo, bene consulendo prospere omnia cedunt.  Ubi socordiæ tete atque ignaviæ tradiderīs, nequiquam deos implores :  irati infestique sunt. “But on these subjects I shall say no more.  Certain citizens, of the highest rank, have conspired to torch their fatherland;  they are summoning the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in their war;  the leader of the enemy hovers over our heads with his army:  and even now you delay and are in doubt as to what you should do with the enemy arrested within your walls?  I propose that you feel sorry for them;  they are young men who have misbehaved through ambition;  and let them go, even with their weapons.  Truly that clemency and pity of yours, if they should take up arms, may develop into misery for yourselves.  Oh yes, admittedly the situation itself is grave;  but you do not fear it.  On the contrary, you fear it greatly;  but through indolence and weakness of spirit you hesitate, one waiting for the other, relying, of course, on the immortal gods who have so often preserved the Commonwealth in the greatest dangers.  But the protection of the gods is not obtained by vows and effeminate supplications;  it is through vigilance, action and good planning that everything turns out successfully.  When you have given yourself over to inaction and laziness, you will call in vain on the gods;  for they are then indignant and hostile.
« Apud majores nostros Aulus Manlius Torquatus bello Gallico filium suum, quod is contra imperium in hostem pugnaverat, necari jussit, atque ille egregius adulescens immoderatæ fortitudinis morte pœnas dedit :  vos de crudelissimis parricidis quid statuatis, cunctamini ?  Videlicet cetera vita eorum huic sceleri obstat.  Verum parcite dignitati Lentuli, si ipse pudicitiæ, si famæ suæ, si dis aut hominibus unquam ullis pepercit ;  ignoscite Cethegi adulescentiæ — nisi iterum patriæ bellum fecit.  Nam quid ego de Gabinio, Statilio, Cæpario loquar ?  Quibus si quicquam unquam pensi fuisset, non ea consilia de Re Publica habuissent. “In the days of our forefathers, Aulus Manlius Torquatus, during a war with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had fought with the enemy contrary to orders.  That noble youth paid the death penalty for his unrestrained bravery;  and you hesitate over what to decide about the most inhuman of traitors?  Ah yes, the rest of their lives is at variance with their present crime.  By all means, then, show consideration for the dignity of Lentulus if he himself has ever shown consideration for chastity, for his own reputation or for gods or men.  Pardon the youth of Cethegus — if this was not the second time he has made war upon his fatherland.  As to Gabinius, Statilius, Cæparius, why should I make any remark upon them?  Had they ever had any scruples, they would never have engaged in such a plot against their country.
« Postremo, Patres Conscripti, si mehercule peccato locus esset, facile paterer vos ipsa re corrigi, quoniam verba contemnitis.  Sed undique circumventi sumus :  Catilina cum exercitu faucibus urget ;  alii intra mœnia atque in sinu urbis sunt hostes ;  neque parari neque consuli quicquam potest occulte — quo magis properandum est. “Finally, Conscript Fathers, if, by Hercules, there were leeway for error, I might easily allow you to be corrected by the event itself, since you scorn verbiage.  But we are beset by dangers on all sides;  Catiline, with his army, is pressing in on us with his jaws;  there are other enemies within the walls and in the heart of the city;  nothing can be prepared or planned in secret.  All the more necessary is it, therefore, to act with haste.
« Quare ego ita censeo :  quum nefario consilio sceleratorum civium Res Publica in maxima pericula venerit, iique indicio Titi Volturci et legatorum Allobrogum convicti confessique sint cædem, incendia, aliaque se fœda atque crudelia facinora in cives patriamque paravisse, de confessis, sicuti de manifestis rerum capitalium, more majorum supplicium sumendum. » “What I advise, then, is this:  since the Commonwealth has been brought into the greatest peril by an evil plot of criminal citizens;  and since, on the evidence of Titus Volturcius and the envoys of the Allobroges, and on their own confession, they have been convicted of having readied massacres, arson and other horrible and cruel outrages against their fellow-citizens and their fatherland;  that punishment be inflicted, according to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed their guilt, as on men caught red-handed in capital crimes.”
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The Condemnation of the Prisoners;  the Causes of Roman Greatness.
[LIII] Postquam Cato assedit, consulares omnes itemque Senatus magna pars sententiam ejus laudant, virtutem animi ad cælum ferunt, alii alios increpantes timidos vocant.  Cato clarus atque magnus habetur ;  Senati decretum fit sicuti ille censuerat. [LIII] After Cato had sat down, all the ex-consuls and a great part of the Senate as well praised his opinion and extolled his firmness of mind to the skies.  They rebuked one another and called each other cowardly, while Cato was regarded as famous and great;  and a decree of the Senate was made as he had advised.
Sed mihi multa legenti, multa audienti quæ populus Romanus domi militiæque, mari atque terra, præclara facinora fecit, forte libuit attendere quæ res maxime tanta negotia sustinuisset.  Sciebam sæpenumero parva manu cum magnis legionibus hostium contendisse ;  cognoveram parvis copiis bella gesta cum opulentis regibus ;  ad hoc sæpe fortunæ violentiam toleravisse, facundia Græcos, gloria belli Gallos ante Romanos fuisse.  Ac mihi multa agitanti constabat paucorum civium egregiam virtutem cuncta patravisse, eoque factum uti divitias paupertas, multitudinem paucitas superaret.  Sed postquam luxu atque desidia civitas corrupta est, rursus Res Publica magnitudine sua imperatorum atque magistratuum vitia sustentabat ac, sicuti effeta <vi> parentum, multis tempestatibus haud sane quisquam Romæ virtute magnus fuit.  Sed memoria mea ingenti virtute, diversis moribus fuere viri duo, Marcus Cato et Gaĭus Cæsar.  Quos, quoniam res obtulerat, silentio præterire non fuit consilium quin utriusque naturam et mores, quantum ingenio possum, aperirem. After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as by land, I incidentally became interested in investigating what had made such great deeds possible.  I knew that with small bodies of men the Romans had quite often fought with large enemy armies;  I was aware that they had carried on wars with limited resources against powerful sovereigns;  that they had often endured, too, the violence of fate;  and that as the Greeks had surpassed them in eloquence, the Gauls did so in military glory.  Turning over in my mind many factors, it became evident to me that the eminent virtue of a few citizens had brought about all these successes, and that it had thereby happened that poverty had overcome riches, and the few the many.  But after the citizenry was corrupted by luxury and sloth, by contrast the Commonwealth held up under the shortcomings of its generals and magistrates through its own greatness and, as though the vigor of its ancestors were worn out with childbearing, in many periods, certainly, no one in Rome was great in ability.  Within my recollection, however, there arose two men of remarkable powers, though of very different character:  Marcus Cato and Gaĭus Cæsar.  Since the topic has brought them up, it is not my intention to pass them over in silence without describing, to the best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each.
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Parallel Between Cæsar and Cato.
[LIV] Igitur eis genus, ætas, eloquentia prope æqualia fuere, magnitudo animi par, item gloria, sed alia alii.  Cæsar beneficiis ac munificentia magnus habebatur, integritate vitæ Cato.  Ille mansuetudine et misericordia clarus factus, huic severitas dignitatem addiderat.  Cæsar dando, sublevando, ignoscendo, Cato nihil largiendo gloriam adeptus est.  In altero miseris perfugium erat, in altero malis pernicies.  Illius facilitas, hujus constantia laudabatur.  Postremo Cæsar in animum induxerat laborare, vigilare ;  negotiis amicorum intentus sua neglegere, nihil denegare quod dono dignum esset ;  sibi magnum imperium, exercitum, bellum novum exoptabat ubi virtus enitescere posset.  At Catoni studium modestiæ, decoris, sed maxime severitatis erat ;  non divitiis cum divite neque factione cum factioso, sed cum strenuo virtute, cum modesto pudore, cum innocente abstinentia certabat.  Esse quam videri bonus malebat ;  ita, quo minus petebat gloriam, eo magis illum sequebatur. [LIV] Their descent, age and eloquence were nearly on a par, their greatness of mind equal, as was also their reputation, though different for each one.  Cæsar was considered great due to his generosity and munificence;  Cato by the integrity of his life.  Cæsar was esteemed for his gentleness and benevolence;  austereness had given dignity to Cato.  Cæsar acquired renown by giving, relieving and pardoning;  Cato by bestowing nothing.  In Cæsar, there was a refuge for the unfortunate;  in Cato, destruction for the bad.  In Cæsar, his obligingness was admired;  in Cato, his firmness.  Cæsar, in short, had resolved to work hard, to stay alert;  intent upon the interests of his friends, he was neglectful of his own;  he refused no request worthy of being granted, while for himself he desired a major command, an army and a fresh war where his talents might shine.  But Cato’s ambition was that of temperance, discretion and, above all, of austerity;  he did not compete in wealth with the rich nor in factionalism with the seditious, but with the energetic in forcefulness, with the modest in self-restraint, with the temperate in abstinence.  He preferred to be, rather than to appear, virtuous;  and thus, the less he courted popularity, the more it pursued him.
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The Execution of the Criminals.
[LV] Postquam, ut dixi, Senatus in Catonis sententiam discessit, consul optimum factu ratus noctem quæ instabat antecapere, ne quid eo spatio novaretur, triumviros quæ [ad] supplicium postulabat, parare jubet.  Ipse, præsidiis dispositis, Lentulum in carcerem deducit ;  idem fit ceteris per prætores. [LV] When the Senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of Cato, the consul, thinking it best to act before the oncoming night lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, ordered the triumvirs to make such preparations as the execution required.  He himself, having posted the necessary guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison;  and the same thing was done for the rest by the prætors.
Est in carcere locus quod Tullianum appellatur, ubi paululum ascenderīs ad lævam, circiter duodecim pedes humi depressus ;  eum muniunt undique parietes atque insuper camera lapideis fornicibus juncta ;  sed incultu, tenebris, odore, fœda atque terribilis ejus facies est.  In eum locum postquam demissus est Lentulus, vindices rerum capitalium quibus præceptum erat, laqueo gulam fregere.  Ita ille, patricius e gente clarissima Corneliorum, qui consulare imperium Romæ habuerat, dignum moribus factisque suis exitum [vitæ] invenit.  De Cethego, Statilio, Gabinio, Cæpario eodem modo supplicium sumptum est. In the prison where you go up a little to the left, there is a place, sunken about twelve feet below ground, called the Tullian dungeon.  Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vault spanned by stone arches;  but due to the neglect, darkness and stench, its appearance is disgusting and horrible.  When Lentulus had been let down into this place, the executioners to whom orders had been given strangled his neck with a cord.  Thus this patrician, who was of the illustrious family of the Cornelii, and who had filled the office of consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct.  On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius and Cæparius, punishment was inflicted in the same manner.
{ 56 }
Catiline’s Warlike Preparations in Etruria.
[LVI] Dum ea Romæ geruntur, Catilina, ex omni copia quam et ipse adduxerat et Manlius habuerat, duas legiones instituit, cohortes pro numero militum complet.  Deinde, ut quisque voluntarius aut e sociis in castra venerat, æqualiter distribuerat ac brevi spatio legiones numero hominum expleverat, quum initio non amplius duobus milibus habuisset.  Sed ex omni copia circiter pars quarta erat militaribus armis instructa :  ceteri, ut quemque casus armaverat, sparos aut lanceas, alii præacutas sudes portare. [LVI] While these things were going on at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire force which he himself had brought with him and that which Manlius had already had, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts in accordance with the available number of soldiers.  Then, as any volunteers or recruits from his allies arrived in his camp, he distributed them equally and in a short time filled up his legions with the regular number of men, though at first he had not had more than two thousand soldiers.  But of his whole force, only about a fourth part was equipped with regular military weapons;  the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried, some of them, hunting spears or lances, others, sharpened stakes.
Sed postquam Antonius cum exercitu adventabat, Catilina per montes iter facere, modo ad urbem, modo Galliam versus castra movere, hostibus occasionem pugnandi non dare :  sperabat propediem magnas copias sese habiturum, si Romæ socii incepta patravissent.  Interea servitia repudiabat, cujus initio ad eum magnæ copiæ concurrebant, opibus conjurationis fretus, simul alienum suis rationibus existimans, videri causam civium cum servis fugitivis communicavisse. But after Antonius started arriving with his army, Catiline marched through the mountains — encamping now in the direction of Rome, now toward Gaul —, without giving the enemy any chance to fight.  He was hoping soon to have large forces if his accomplices at Rome were to achieve their objectives.  Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but simultaneously considering it inconsistent with his own interests to appear to share the cause of citizens with runaway slaves.
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Catiline is Compelled by Metellus and Antonius to Hazard an Action.
[LVII] Sed postquam in castra nuntius pervenit Romæ conjurationem patefactam, de Lentulo et Cethego ceterisque quos supra memoravi supplicium sumptum, plerique, quos ad bellum spes rapinarum aut novarum rerum studium illexerat, dilabuntur ;  reliquos Catilina per montes asperos magnis itineribus in agrum Pistoriensem abducit eo consilio, uti per tramites occulte perfugeret in Galliam Transalpinam. [LVII] But after the news arrived in the camp that in Rome the conspiracy had been exposed and that Lentulus, Cethegus and the rest whom I mentioned above had been put to death, most of those whom the hope of plunder or the love of revolution had attracted, slipped away.  Catiline conducted the remainder over rugged mountains, by forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with the intention of escaping covertly into Transalpine Gaul by cross roads.
At Quintus Metellus Celer cum tribus legionibus in agro Piceno præsidebat, e difficultate rerum eădem illă existimans quæ supra diximus Catilinam agitare.  Igitur, ubi iter ejus e perfugis cognovit, castra propere movit ac sub ipsis radicibus montium consedit, qua illi descensus erat in Galliam properanti.  Neque tamen Antonius procul aberat, utpote qui magno exercitu locis æquioribus expeditos in fuga sequeretur. But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, held command, at that time, in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the difficulties of his position, would follow precisely the same course we have just described.  When, therefore, he had learned his route from some deserters, he quickly moved his camp and took his post at the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline’s descent would be in his hurried march to Gaul.  Nor was Antonius far distant, given that he was pursuing — even though with a large army, yet over more level terrain and with fewer hindrances — the lightly equipped troops in their retreat.
Sed Catilina, postquam videt montibus atque copiis hostium sese clausum, in urbe res adversas, neque fugæ neque præsidii ullam spem, optimum factu ratus in tali re fortunam belli temptare, statuit cum Antonio quam primum confligere.  Itaque, contione advocata, hujuscemodi orationem habuit: Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, and that there was no hope either of escape or of reinforcements, thinking it best in such circumstances to try the fortune of battle, resolved upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius.  Having therefore assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following manner:
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Catiline’s Exhortation to His Men.
[LVIII] « Compertum ego habeo, milites, verba virtutem non addere, neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem e timido exercitum oratione imperatoris fieri.  Quanta cujusque animo audacia natura aut moribus inest, tanta in bello patere solet.  Quem neque gloria neque pericula excitant, nequiquam hortēre :  timor animi auribus officit. [LVIII] “I know from experience, soldiers, that words do not produce valor, and that a sluggish army does not become energetic, nor a timid one courageous, through a speech of its commander.  The degree of boldness in each man’s heart due to nature or habituation is wont to be visible in war.  In vain will you exhort the man whom neither glory nor danger moves :  the fear in his breast stops his ears.
« Sed ego vos quo pauca monerem advocavi, simul uti causam mei consilii aperirem.  Scitis equidem, milites, socordia atque ignavia Lentuli quantam ipsi nobisque cladem attulerit, quōque modo, dum ex urbe præsidia opperior, in Galliam proficisci nequiverim.  Nunc vero quo loco res nostræ sint, juxta mecum omnes intellegitis.  Exercitus hostium duo — unus ab urbe, alter a Gallia — obstant ;  diutius in his locis esse, si maxime animus ferat, frumenti atque aliarum rerum egestas prohibet.  Quocunque ire placet, ferro iter aperiendum est.  Quapropter vos moneo, uti forti atque parato animo sitis et, quum prœlium inibitis, meminerītis vos divitias, decus, gloriam, præterea libertatem atque patriam in dextris vestris portare.  Si vincimus, omnia nobis tuta erunt :  commeatus abunde, municipia atque coloniæ patebunt.  Si metu cesserĭmus, eadem illa adversa fient :  neque locus neque amicus quisquam teget quem arma non texerint.  Præterea, milites, non eadem nobis et illis necessitudo impendet :  nos pro patria, pro libertate, pro vita certamus ;  illis supervacaneum est pugnare pro potentia paucorum.  Quo audacius aggredimini, memores pristinæ virtutis ! “I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, and at the same time to explain to you the reasons for my decision.  You all know, soldiers, how great a disaster the sluggishness and cowardice of Lentulus have brought upon himself and us;  and just how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable to march into Gaul.  In what a situation our affairs now are, you all understand just as I do.  Two armies of the enemy — one on the side of Rome, the other on that of Gaul — stand in our way;  the lack of grain and other necessities prevents us from staying in this area any longer, even if our intention should very greatly incline so.  Whichever way we decide to go, the passage must be opened with the sword.  For that reason I charge you to be of courageous and resolute heart and, when you enter battle, to remember that you carry riches, honor and glory and, in addition, liberty and the fatherland in your own right hands.  If we win, everything will be safe;  provisions will be in abundance;  the free towns and colonies will open up to us.  But if we give up out of fear, those same places will turn against us.  Neither place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected.  Besides, soldiers, it is not the same complusion that looms over us and them;  we fight for our fatherland, for liberty, for life;  for them to fight for the power of a few is purposeless.  So attack them all the more boldly, mindful of your valor of old!
« Licuit vobis, cum summa turpitudine, in exilio ætatem agere ;  potuistis nonnulli Romæ, amissis bonis, alienas opes exspectare.  Quia illa fœda atque intoleranda viris videbantur, hæc sequi decrevistis.  Si hæc relinquere vultis, audacia opus est :  nemo, nisi victor, pace bellum mutavit.  Nam in fuga salutem sperare, quum arma quibus corpus tegitur ab hostibus averterīs, ea vero dementia est.  Semper in prœlio eis maximum est periculum qui maxime timent :  audacia pro muro habetur. “You might, with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of your days in exile.  Some of you, after losing your property, might have waited at Rome for assistance from others.  But because all those options appeared disgusting and intolerable to real men, you have decided to follow this one.  If you wish to leave this one behind you, you need daring:  none but victors have exchanged war for peace.  Because hoping for safety in flight, when you have turned your weapons — by which the body is shielded — off away from the enemy, is indeed madness.  In battle, those who are most afraid are always in most danger;  the possession of daring is equivalent to a rampart.
« Quum vos considero, milites, et quum facta vestra æstimo, magna me spes victoriæ tenet.  Animus, ætas, virtus vestra me hortantur, præterea necessitudo, quæ etiam timidos fortes facit.  Nam multitudo hostium ne circumvenire queat, prohibent angustiæ loci.  Quod si virtuti vestræ fortuna inviderit, cavete inulti animam amittatis, neu capti potius sicuti pecora trucidemini quam, virorum more pugnantes, cruentam atque luctuosam victoriam hostibus relinquatis ! » “Soldiers, when I think about you and when I consider your exploits, a strong hope of victory fills me.  Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me heart;  and in addition there is necessity, which makes even the timid brave.  For the narrowness of this place prevents the large number of the enemy from being able to surround us.  But should Fortune begrudge your valor, take care not to lose your lives unavenged and, captured, be butchered like cattle rather than, fighting like men, leave to your enemies a bloody and mournful victory.”
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Catiline’s Arrangements and Those of His Opponents, for the Battle.
[LIX] Hæc ubi dixit, paululum commoratus, signa canere jubet atque instructos ordines in locum æquum deducit.  Dein, remotis omnium equis quo militibus exæquato periculo animus amplior esset, ipse pedes exercitum pro loco atque copiis instruit.  Nam, uti planities erat inter sinistros montes et, a dextra, rupe<m> aspera<m>, octo cohortes in fronte constituit ;  reliquarum signa in subsidio artius collocat.  Ab eis centuriones, omnes [lectos] et evocatos, præterea e gregariis militibus optimum quemque armatum in primam aciem subducit.  Gaĭum Manlium in dextra, Fæsulanum quendam in sinistra parte curare jubet.  Ipse cum libertis et colonis propter aquilam assistit quam bello Cimbrico Gaĭus Marius in exercitu habuisse dicebatur. [LIX] Having said these things, after waiting a bit, he ordered the trumpet-calls to sound and led the battle-arrayed ranks down onto level terrain.  Then, having sent all the warhorses away so that, with the danger equalized, the men’s courage would be greater, he himself, on foot, deployed his army in accordance with the terrain and his numbers.  For, because there was a plain between the left-hand mountains and, on the right, a jagged cliff, he stationed eight cohorts in front;  he placed the standards of the rest, in tighter order, in reserve.  From among these he placed the centurions, all the picked men and veterans, as well as all the best of the common soldiers that were regularly armed, in the foremost ranks.  He ordered Gaĭus Manlius to take the command on the right, and a certain officer of Fæsulæ on the left.  He himself, with his freedmen and the colonists, took his station by the eagle which Gaĭus Marius was said to have had in his army in the Cimbrian war.
At ex altera parte Gaĭus Antonius, pedibus æger, quod prœlio adesse nequibat, Marco Petrejo legato exercitum permittit.  Ille cohortes veteranas, quas tumulti causa conscripserat, in fronte, post eas ceterum exercitum in subsidiis locat.  Ipse equo circumiens unumquemque nominans appellat, hortatur, rogat ut meminerint se contra latrones inermos pro patria, pro liberis, pro aris atque focis suis certare.  Homo militaris, quod amplius annos triginta tribunus aut præfectus aut legatus aut prætor cum magna gloria in exercitu fuerat, plerosque ipsos factaque eorum fortia noverat ;  ea commemorando militum animos accendebat. On the other side, Gaĭus Antonius, who, infirm in his legs, because he was unable to be present in the battle, turned the army over to Marcus Petrejus, his lieutenant.  The latter ranged the cohorts of veterans, which he had raised because of the insurgency, in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines.  He himself, going around on his horse, addressed each one by name, encouraged them and bade them remember that they were fighting against irregularly armed bandits in defense of their fatherland, their children, their temples and their homes.  As a military man, because for more than thirty years he had served in the army with great distinction as tribune or præfect or lieutenant, or prætor, he knew most of the soldiers themselves and their brave deeds;  by calling these to their remembrance, he roused the spirits of the men.
{ 60 }
Catiline’s Bravery, Defeat and Death.
[LX] Sed ubi, omnibus rebus exploratis, Petrejus tuba signum dat, cohortes paulatim incedere jubet ;  idem facit hostium exercitus.  Postquam eo ventum est, unde a ferentariis prœlium committi posset, maximo clamore cum infestis signis concurrunt ;  pila omittunt, gladiis res geritur.  Veterani, pristinæ virtutis memores, comminus acriter instare, illi haud timidi resistunt :  maxima vi certatur.  Interea Catilina cum expeditis in prima acie versari, laborantibus succurrere, integros pro sauciis arcessere, omnia providere, multum ipse pugnare, sæpe hostem ferire :  strenui militis et boni imperatoris officia simul exsequebatur. [LX] But when, after having reviewed everything, Petrejus gave the signal with the trumpet, he ordered the cohorts to advance slowly.  The army of the enemy did the same.  After it had come to the point where the battle could be joined by the skirmishers, with a great cry they rushed together in a head-on charge.  They dropped their spears ;  the issue was carried on with swords.  The veterans, calling to mind their valor of times past, engaged fiercely in close-quarters combat.  The unafraid enemy withstood them;  the fighting went on with utmost violence.  Meanwhile Catiline, with his light-armed men, was active on the front line, helping those in trouble, calling up unscathed men for the wounded ones, looking after everything, himself fighting a great deal, often striking the enemy;  he fulfilled simultaneously the roles of an energetic soldier and an excellent general.
Petrejus ubi videt Catilinam, contra ac ratus erat, magna vi tendere, cohortem prætoriam in medios hostes inducit eosque perturbatos atque alios alibi resistentes interficit.  Deinde utrimque e lateribus ceteros aggreditur.  Manlius et Fæsulanus imprimis pugnantes cadunt.  <Catilina,> postquam fusas copias seque cum paucis reliquum videt, memor generis atque pristinæ suæ dignitatis, in confertissimos hostes incurrit, ibique pugnans confoditur. When Petrejus, contrary to his expectation, saw Catiline fighting with great forcefulness, he led his prætorian cohort against the center of the enemy, and killed off those thereby routed and others resisting elsewhere.  He next attacked the rest on both sides from his flanks.  Fighting among the first, Manlius and the Fæsulan fell.  Catiline, having seen his forces routed and himself abandoned with but few men, remembering his lineage and former dignity, rushed into the thickest of the enemy where he was stabbed through, fighting to the last.
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[LXI] Sed confecto prœlio, tum vero cerneres quanta audacia quantaque animi vis fuisset in exercitu Catilinæ.  Nam fere quem quisque vivus pugnando locum ceperat, eum, amissa anima, corpore tegebat.  Pauci autem, quos medios cohors prætoria disjecerat, paulo diversius, sed omnes tamen adversis vulneribus conciderant.  Catilina vero longe a suis inter hostium cadavera repertus est, paululum etiam spirans, ferociamque animi quam habuerat vivus in vultu retinens.  Postremo, ex omni copia, neque in prœlio neque in fuga quisquam civis ingenuus captus est :  ita cuncti suæ hostiumque vitæ juxta pepercerant. [LXI] But when the battle was over, then you could really see what great daring and forcefulness of spirit had filled Catiline’s army:  for in death almost every single one covered with his body the spot that, in fighting, he had taken when alive.  A few, indeed, whom the prætorian cohort had forced apart in the center, were somewhat more scattered, but all had nonetheless fallen with wounds on their fronts.  Catiline, however, was found far from his own men among enemy corpses, still breathing a little, retaining in his expression the fierceness of character he had had while alive.  Finally, of the entire force, neither in battle nor in flight was a single freeborn citizen taken captive:  in that way all of them had spared both their own lives and those of the foe in equal measure.
Neque tamen exercitus populi Romani lætam aut incruentam victoriam adeptus erat ;  nam strenuissimus quisque aut occĭderat in prœlio aut graviter vulneratus discesserat. Nor did the army of the Roman people achieve a joyful or bloodless victory;  for all their bravest men had either fallen in the battle or come out of it severely wounded.
Multi autem, qui e castris visendi aut spoliandi gratia processerant, volventes hostilia cadavera amicum alii, pars hospitem aut cognatum reperiebant ;  fuere item qui inimicos suos cognoscerent.  Ita varie per omnem exercitum lætitia, mæror, luctus atque gaudia agitabantur. Many, however, who went out from the camp for the sake of looking or engaging in plunder, in turning over the enemy corpses, found, some of them a friend, a part of them a hospitable acquaintance or relative.  Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, were variously felt throughout the whole army.
GAĬI  SALLUSTII  CRISPI  BELLUM  CATILINÆ  EXPLICIT

CHRONOLOGY OF CATILINE’S CONSPIRACY
July-October, 63:
Manlius collects troops at Fæsulæ in Etruria.  Minor disturbances in other parts of Italy.  (Sallust Cat. 27.1)
October 20, 63 B.Gajus:
An anonymous letter, presumably drafted by Catiline or one of his conspirators, made its way to Crassus and many members of the Senate.  This letter contained a warning to the recipients to leave the city, threatening death and destruction to the whole city, and mentioned the date of October 27th, which was to be the day the attacker’s forces would strike the city.  (Sallust)
Crassus and other nobles deliver letters to Cicero warning of impending massacre in Rome.  (Cicero Cat. 1.7)
October 21:
Cicero presented the letters to the members of the Senate as proof that Catiline was indeed a real threat to the safety of the Roman people.  Cicero also argued that Manlius would initiate a rebellion on the 27th and that Catiline would massacre the nobles burn the city on the following day.  These charges were verified by Quintus Arrius, who stated that he had witnessed Manlius mustering troops in the area around Etruria.  Cicero was charged with protecting the city of Rome through the Senatus consultum ultimum (ultimate decree of the Senate), which made Cicero responsible for striking down the terrible conspiracy that threatened the city, and gave him ultimate responsibility and latitude with which to deal with the impending problem.  He then gave Metellus the job of protecting Rome from external threat and put himself in control of internal affairs.  (Cicero)
October 27:
When the 27th passed uneventfully, the Roman people became suspicious of Cicero, surmising that this may have been a simple plot on his part to rally support and power from the people, inventing a time of need by means of which he could strengthen his political power.  (Cicero)
Manlius raises in open revolt at Fæsulæ (Sallust Cat. 30.1)
October 28:
The Roman people’s faith in Cicero was renewed, as reports came in from the countryside warning of the buildup of troops.  At this point, under the auspices of the lex Plautia de vi, Cicero ordered the indictment of Catiline, which was filed by Lucius Æmilius Paulus.  (Cicero)
Massacre of leading citizens in Rome thwarted (Cicero Cat. 1.7)
Following reports of military activity in the country but still playing the stunned innocent, Catiline offered himself to the care of Cicero or Metullus (custodia libera) as a sign of his “good faith.”  Both declined his offer.  (Sallust)
Late October:
Cicero sends quæstor Publius Sestius to secure Capua (Cicero Sest. 9)
November 1:
Attempt by conspirators to seize Præneste (c. 20 miles southeast of Rome) fails (Cicero Cat. 1.8)
Senate learns of uprising at Fæsulæ.  Military commanders dispatched to threatened areas.  Rewards offered for betrayal of conspiracy.  (Sallust Cat. 30)
Early November:
Lucius Æmilius Paulus indicts Catiline under lex Plautia de vi.  (Sallust Cat. 31.4)
November 6:
A meeting of the conspirators was called in the evening at the house of Marcus Porcius Læca.  It was decided that Catiline would leave Rome and head for Etruria in order to prepare to march on Rome with his army.  Catiline and his men also decided how to split up Italy, choosing certain sections to be attacked by specific men.  The conspirators would also try to enlist the help of the gladiators at Capua.  The final plan of action was to have two men greet Cicero the following morning and assassinate him, which also failed.  (Sallust Cat. 27.3)
November 7:
Cicero avoided a morning assassination attempt made by the conspirators.  He had been informed of the attempt by Fulvia, the aristocratic mistress of one of Catiline’s supporters, and had his house well fortified.  (Cicero & Sallust Cat. 28.1-3)
November 7:
Senate meets at temple of Jupiter Stator.  Cicero delivers First Catilinarian, urging Catiline to leave Rome.  (Sallust Cat. 31.5-6)
Catiline showed up and sat in the Senate that day as if nothing was wrong, but he ended up sitting alone.  He gave a speech in response to Cicero, calling for the senators to look at his ancestry, which was extremely ancient and powerful, and to look as well at the lack of proof that Cicero had.  However, the Senate, angry at his actions, shouted him down.  (Sallust)
Catiline fled Rome.  Some of his fellow conspirators stayed in Rome, while others, such as Tongilius, Publicius, and Minucius, traveled with him to Etruria.  Along the way he stopped in Forum Aurelium, and then in Arctium, and gave out weapons to the people.  Catiline took up the insignia of the consul, and also carried with him the silver eagle standard of Rome.  (Sallust Cat. 32.1 & 36.1)
November 9:
Cicero delivered his Second Catilinarian justifying his action before the People.  He talked about how great a victory it was to have Catiline out of Rome.  He also assured the public that everything was under control, and that the common people had nothing in common with Catiline and his conspirators.  He emphasized that he was on the side of the people and Catiline was not, and said that he (Cicero) had sacrificed his popularity with certain nobles in order to protect the common people from Catiline’s plots.  (Cicero Cat. 2.12)
Mid-November:
Senate declares Catiline and Manlius hostes (public enemies);  dates set for amnesty for deserters;  consuls assigned to levy army, Antonius directed to crush rebellion.  (Sallust Cat. 36.2-3)
Prætor Publius Cornelius Lentulus attempts to recruit support of Allobrogian envoys, who betray the negotiations to Cicero.  (Sallust Cat. 40-41)
November 15:
Catiline and his army arrived in Fæsulæ, where they discovered that they had been declared hostes, or public enemies.  (Sallust)
End of November:
Disturbances in Gaul, Picenum, Bruttium and Apulia quelled.  Toward the end of November a few of Catiline’s lieutenants started some small uprisings on the countryside, but they were captured, tried, and imprisoned.  Only Catiline’s army in Eturia was large enough to march on Rome, but only one quarter of it was armed.  He had to wait.  (Sallust Cat. 42.1-3)
Also at the end of November, the conspiracy had sought the help of the Allbroges, a tribe from Gaul.  Approached for support because they were in financial debt to Rome, the Allbroges agreed to help by creating a diversion in Gaul, but secretly decided that it would be more beneficial to act as spies for the government.  (Sallust)
Catiline leaves Fæsulæ with his army to avoid Antonius’ approach.  (Sallust Cat. 56.4)
December 2:
After the Gauls reneged on their offer to aid the conspirators, they contacted the patron of their tribe in Rome, Quintus Fabius Sanga, who notified Cicero immediately.  Cicero instructed the Gauls to continue playing along with the conspirators, but to ask for written information on the plot.  An envoy was created to meet with Catiline leaving the city on December 2, and two letters were sent from Lentulus.  Cicero, learning this, notified two prætors who formed an attack squadron to ambush the posse on the Mulvian bridge that night.  As soon as the Gauls realized who the ambushers were, they surrendered themselves and the letters, the necessary evidence.  (Cicero & Sallust Cat. 45)
December 3:
The next morning the letters were delivered to Cicero.  He brought the "big five" conspirators remaining in the city, Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Cæparius to the temple of Concord, where he and the Patres Conscripti had already gathered, and conducted an inquisition that found the conspirators to be guilty.  Cicero was hailed as a hero, is given a vote of thanks and a supplicatio is declared.  Cicero delivers his Third Catilinarian to the expectant masses, and the city rejoiced.  (Cicero Cat. 3.5 & Sallust Cat. 46.3-47.3)
On the same day, the house of Gaĭus Cornelius Cethegus, a conspiracy leader, was searched and arms for the rebel army were found, and both the leaders of the conspiracy and the Allbroges testified against Catiline in the temple of Concord.  (Sallust)
December 4:
Further testimony against conspirators before the Senate.  Lucius Tarquinius unsuccessfully attempts to implicate Crassus.  Rewards voted to the informers.  (Sallust Cat. 48.3-50.1) Attempt to rescue the conspirators under house arrest fails.  (Sallust Cat. 50.1-2)
December 5:
Senate debates punishment of conspirators.  The majority of senators agreed with the death penalty for the currently incarcerated prisoners as well as those still to be apprehended until Cæsar spoke, warning against the implications of the oligarchy taking such drastic measures against the populace.  He argued against a rash decision while the senators were still full of passion and instead suggested property confiscations and life imprisonments in Roman towns.  Cicero delivered the Fourth Catilinarian, followed by a rousing speech from the young Marcus Cato.  The senators were then fully persuaded that a harsh sentence would dissuade Catiline from marching against Rome on the 17th.  (Sallust Cat. 50.3-53.1)
Those conspirators who had been arrested were executed.  Lentulus was forced to resign as prætor before he was executed.  Catiline’s conspiracy in Rome had failed.  (Sall Cat. 55) Cicero makes a brief speech to crowd, given triumphal escort home by torchlight.
December 15:
Massive desertions in Catiline’s army following news of conspirators’ execution in Rome.  (Sallust Cat. 57.1)
December 25:
Quintus Metellus Celer blocks Catiline’s attempt to break out of Etruria into Cisalpine Gaul.  (Sallust Cat. 57.1-3)
December 29:
Cicero is prevented by tribunes Bestia and Metellus Nepos from addressing People when laying down office on grounds that he had executed Roman citizens without trial.
January 3, 62 B.Gajus:
Tribune Quintus Metellus Nepos proposes law recalling Pompey to put down Catiline.  The proposal is vetoed and rioting follows.  The Senate passes the Senatus consultum ultimum and Nepos leaves Rome to join Pompey in the East.  (Dio 37.43; Cicero Fam. 5.2.8)
Early January 62:
Catiline tried to move his troops through the Apennines but was met there by Metellus Celer, with Antonius and his army coming from the rear.  Catiline arrives near Pistoria (with about 3,000 men - Dio 37.40.1) and is crushed by Antonius’ army under command of legate Marcus Petrejus.  (Sallust Cat. 57.5- 61)
After the death of Catiline on the battlefield, Cicero left his office at the peak of his political power and popularity.  He was honored with the title pater patriæ for having saved the country from ruin with his oratory and swift action.  (Cicero)

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Deus vult ! — Brian Regan ( Inscriptio electronica :   )
Dies immutationis recentissimæ :  die Jovi, 2014 Nov 20