4:patre-majoribus, scil.ortus: abl. of origin. The father of C. Sempronius Gracchus was Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, who twice held the consulship (B.C. 177, and B.C. 163), the censorship (169 B.C.), twice enjoyed a triumph, once over the Celtiberians, 178 B.C., and once over the Sardinians, 175 B.C. The mother of the Gracchi was Cornelia, daughter of P. Scipio Africanus Major, who defeated Hannibal at Zama B.C. 202. Thus Gracchus united in himself two of the noblest families in Rome.
5:M. Fulvius: one of the commissioners appointed to carry out thelex agrariaof C. Gracchus. He was killed with his eldest son in the fray in which Gracchus was slain. The youngest son was killed after the conflict.
6:simili-publica: some omit the commas aftersenatusconsultoandconsulibusand thus makeMario, Valeriodatives; others retain the commas and make these words ablative absolute. The event happened in the sixth consulship of Marius, B.C. 102. Lucius Saturninus and C. Servilius Glaucia were guilty of killing C. Memmius who was seeking the consulship. Both Saturninus and Glaucia were driven into the Capitol and put to death.
7:num—est?“Did the punishment of death inflicted by the state cause L. Saturninus, the tribune of the people, and C. Servilius, the praetor, to wait for a single day?” —mors ac rei publicae poena=mortis poena a re publica inflicta. —at vero: “but we assuredly.”
8:vicesimum diem: the 18th day since thesenatus consultumwas passed. The decree was passed Oct. 21st and this oration was delivered Nov. 8th. The Romans, however, reckoned both days.
9:aciei: “the edge:” rootac: “sharp.”
10:inclusum in tabulis: “shut up among our records” i.e. a useless decree unless carried into effect.
11:quo—convenit: “and in accordance with this decree, you, O Catiline, should be at once put to death:” withconfestim: cp.festino.
12:et vivis: rhetorical foret vivis quidemoridque. —cupio—cupio: “I desire, on the one hand,—I am anxious, on the other.” —The acc. of pronouns gives more prominence to the circumstance wished by disconnecting it from thecupio.
13:dissolutus: “remiss,” “forgetful of duty.” Synonymous withneglegens.
14:inertiae nequitiaeque: “of sloth and irresolution.”
§ 5.—1:castra—collocata: “a camp is pitched,” at Faesulae (nowFiesole), which lies on a spur of the western slope of the Appenines, not far from Florence. At this place Manlius had collected a number of soldiers who had served under Sulla.
The termfauces, literally “jaws,” is often used for a mountain pass: cp. Scott: Lady of the Lake: “Led slowly through the pass’s jaws.”
2:in dies singulos: “daily,” always joined to some word of comparative force and expressing daily increase or diminution:cottidie, simply daily repetition. —imperatorem ducemque: imperator, a military leader deriving his authority from the Senate:dux, simply a leader.
3:adeo in Senatu: “in the very Senate,” or as Zumpt (§ 737) takes it, “nay more,” “nay even in the Senate.”
4:jam: “now at once.” —jussero: the fut. pf. often represents the speedy accomplishment of a fut. action.
5:credo: used ironically: cp.οἴομαι. Here the word may be equivalent tonon erit verendum.
6:verendum mihi, etc.: “I shall have to fear (i.e. I am convinced) that all patriots will regard your death as occuring too late, rather than as too severe and cruel,” or asWilkinstranslates: “Certainly it is more likely that all patriots will consider this action too late, than that anyone should consider it too cruel.” Explainquisquam.
7:certe—adducor: “for a certain reason, I am not yet led to do:” i.e. the fear of punishing Catiline before his guilt was fully ascertained lest he might pass for an injured man with his sympathizers. Cicero’s object was to cause Catiline and his associates to leave Rome.
8:interficiere: i.e. “you willbeordered to be put to death.” Others readinterficiam te.
9:tui similis:similisin Cicero generally takesgenitive or dativeof persons:dativeof things.
10:qui=ut is: “as not to confess that it was justly inflicted.” —id, i.e.te interficiamfrominterficierebefore.
§ 6.—1:quisquam: for use, see H. 457.
2:multis—oppressus: “beset by many powerful guards placed by me:” note the idiom. Cicero had guards placed not only in the capital, but also throughout Italy.
3:te commovere: “to make any farther movement:” a metaphor taken from the gladiatorial contests.
4:fecerunt=speculati sunt et custodiverunt: the verbfacioin Latin, andποιέωin Greek, anddoin English, are often used as substitutes for other verbs.
5:Etenim—potest?This gives a reason for the clausesed vives—possis.
6:exspectes: H. 503, I.
7:coeptus nefarios: “your traitorous attempts:” another reading iscoetus.
8:privata domus: the house of M. Porcius Laeca.
9:parietibus: abl. means. Distinguishmoenia(rootmun, to defend: cp.ἀμύνειν),the walls of a city for defensive purposes:murus(=mun-rus), any kind of wall:paries(rootpar, to separate): the partition walls of a house:maceria, a garden wall.
10:voces conjurationis=voces conjuratorum: “the voices of the conspirators:” Cicero often uses abstract for concrete terms.
11:inlustranturopposed toobscurareaserumpunttodomus ... continet.
12:istam mentem: “that resolve of thine,” i.e. of remaining in the city to murder the people.
13:mihi crede=me sequere: “follow my advice:”mihi credeis the common order in Cicero:crede mihiin other writers.
14:teneris undique: “you are hemmed in (i.e. convicted) on every hand.”
15:quae—recognoscas: “and these plans you may now review with me:” Construe:quae(=et haec, scil.consilia)licit(tibi ut)recognoscas jam mecum.
§ 7.—1:meministine=nonne meministi: the particle-neadded to a verb has sometimes in Cicero the force ofnonne. Cp. Cat. Major, C. 10.videtisne=nonne videtis. So frequently in Terence, Plautus, and in colloquial Latin: H. 396, II.i.
2:ante-Novembres: “on the 12th day before the Kalends of November,” i.e. on October 21st. This anomolous mode of expression probably arose from the transposition ofante. Having one writtenante die duodecimo Kalendas, they would easily be led to infer thatantegoverneddieand so would writeante diem duodecimum Kalendas. For the method of computation of time among the Romans, see H. 642.
3:certo die, qui dies: the repetition of the subst. after the relation may be explained on the ground of clearness.
4:audaciae—tuae: “the partisan and agent of your audacious schemes.” The wordssatellesandadministerare synonymous,the former being more poetical and explained by the latter, which is the more common.
5:num—dies?“was I, O Catiline, ignorant not merely of an attempt so enormous, so wicked, so surpassing belief, but, a thing which is more to be wondered at, of the day?” —me fallit: cf.latet me,λανθάνει με.
6:caedem—Novembres: “that you had fixed the 28th October for the slaughter of the nobles.” The construction isin diem quintum ante Kalendas Novembres. Predetermination of future time is often expressed byinwith acc.: asin diem posterum senatum convocavit, not “he summoned the Senateonthe next day,” but “forthe next day.”
7:optimatium: is the only word, not a proper name, in-at, that makes the gen. pl. in-ium.Roma: Give rules for the construction of the names of towns.
8:sui conservandi:suilikenostri, vestriis not a gen. pl. but a gen. sing. of an adj. used collectively and abstractly: “not for self-preservation:” Madvig, 297, b. c.: 417.
9:reprimendorum: here used in the sense ofimpediendorum:“of preventing your plans being carried out.” This is probably a rhetorical flourish on the part of Cicero, as no such fact is mentioned by Sallust. Among those who fled, according to Plutarch, was M. Crassus.num—dicebas!“Can you deny that on that very day, beset by the guards I had placed, by my watchfulness, you could take not one step against the state, when on the departure of the others you, nevertheless, expressed yourself satisfied with the murder of us who remained?” —discessu ceterorum: the ablative here supplies the place of a participial abl. absol. —nostra—caede—qui: the relative is made to refer to an antecedent implied innostra: H. 445, 6. —quum: is often used by Cicero in the impf. indic. when the bare notion of time or of continuance is to be expressed. —remansissemus: virtual oblique narrative: hence the subjunctive.
§ 8.—1:quid: “further”: lit. “what shall I say?” scil.dicam.
2:te—occupaturum: “that you would anticipate us in seizing Praeneste in an attack by night on the first of November.” Withoccupare: cp.φθάνειν: no other writer mentions this fact. —ipsis:ipsedenotes exactness in temporal expressions:triginta ipsi dies, “exactly thirty days.”
3:sensistisne=nonne sensistis: seenote 1, § 7, above.
4:praesidium, a guard in a general sense:custodiae, watches on the wall:vigiliae, night watches.
5:nihil—nihil, nihil: seenote 7, § 1. “There is nothing you do, nothing you plan, nothing you think which I do not hear only, but also see or clearly perceive.” Some readnon modofornon modo non, which the senses requires.
6:tandem: seenote 1, § 1. The orator implies by this particle the fulness of his knowledge.
7:noctem illam superiorem: “the events on the night preceding the last:” i.e., the events on the night of the 6th November, when the meeting was held at the house of M. Porcius Laeca. —illamhere does duty for the definite article in English.
8:jam—reipublicae: “You shall presently perceive that I am much more actively watchful for the safety of the state than you are for its destruction” —intelliges: what compounds of-legohavelexiin the perfect? —acrius?
9:dico: this passage is executed with fine skill. At first the orator states the fact clearly and briefly. He notes the effect on the conspirator and calls for an answer: after no reply is given, Cicero goes into details.
10:priore nocte: “on the night preceding (the last)”: a change forsuperiore nocte. Others say it meansinitio noctis.
11:inter falcarios, scil.opifices: “through the scythe makers’ street:” a street in Rome deriving its name from the occupation of its inhabitants. Cp. Isocr. Areopag. § 48:ἐν ταῖς αὐλητρίσιν: Livy, 35, 43:inter lignarios“in the woodcutters’ street.”
12:in—domum: is the preposition necessary?
13:complures: Sallust (Cat. 17) gives the names of eleven senators who were present on this occasion.
14:amentiae: distinguishamentiaanddementia.
15:convincam: “I will prove it.”
§ 9.—1:ubinam gentium sumus!This phrase is very much the same as ours, “where in the world are we?” It is often used in rhetorical writings and in the comic poets. For the partitive genitive, see H. 397, 4.
2:hic, hic: Epizeuxis: note the emphatic repetition.
3:patres conscripti: said to be forpatres et conscripti. The senators were calledpatres. In the wars of the early republic many were killed. To fill the place of those slain some were summoned (conscripti.) Hence the original senators—those summoned—were addressed aspatres et conscripti: afterwards theetwas omitted.
4:in—consilio: “in this most venerable and respectable assembly of the whole world.” The termsanctusapplied to the senate may refer to the building in which it was convened. The usual distinction betweenconsiliumandconcilium, that the former means advice, plans, while the latter means an assemblage, with regard to those who compose it, does not hold good. The roots of these words are different,consilium: fromcon,sed, to sit: cp.sedes,solium,ἕδος; for the change ofdtol: cp.δάκρυ, lacrima;olere,odere. —concilium:con,cal, to summon: cp.Kalendae,calare,καλεῖν.
5:qui—cogitent: “(are men so nefarious) as to plan the destruction of every one of us, and the ruin of this city and further of the whole world.” —qui=tales ut. —adeo: literally, “up to this point:” then, “in fact.”
6:sententiam rogo: supplyhosfrom the preceding.Sententiamrogois said of the presiding magistrate who, in proposing asenatus consultum, asked individually the will of the senators.
7:vulnero: by mentioning their names publicly.
8:igitur: resumes (analeptic) the argument referring to the question,num rogare audes?Catiline had left this unanswered. Having been interrupted by the outbreak of his indignation, the orator now returns to the doings of the conspirators at the house of Laeca.
9:distribuisti: Sallust (C. 27) informs us that C. Manlius was sent to Faesulae, and the adjoining territory of Etruria: Septimius, into the Picene territory: C. Julius, into Apulia.
10:statuisti—placeret: scil:locum: “you appointed the place to which it was agreed on that each should set out:” For subjunctive inplaceret, see H. 529, I.
11:delegisti—educeres: “you picked out those whom you were to leave at Rome, whom you were to take with you.” Sallust (Cat. C. 43) says that Statilius and Gabinius were to set fire to the city, and Cethegus was to assassinate Cicero, and Lentulus to superintend the general massacre.
12:discripsisti:discribois used where the fundamental notion is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order, asdistribuere,dividere,disponere:describois to write down, to compose. Sallust (Cat. C. 43) says that the conspirators were to fire twelve (Plutarch says a hundred) parts of the city at one and the same time. Fordiscripsisti: cf. Cic. Pro Sulla, 8:Tam Catilina dies exurendi tum caeteris manendi conditio, tum discriptio totam per orbem caedis atque incendiorum constituta est.
13:paullulum—morae: “that you still had even now a slight cause of delay.”Paullulusis a dual diminutive forpaurululus=paullulus:ubeing omitted before the firstland therassimilated: cp.sterula=stella. —viverem: subj.: giving the opinion of Catiline.
14:etiam tum: is used to express the words of Catilina, not those of Cicero.
15:duo equites: according to Cic. (Pro Sulla, 18, 52) one was C. Cornelius: Sallust (Cat. C. 18) mentions the Senator L. Vargunteius as the other.
16:qui—liberarent: “to free you from the fear you had:”qui=tales ut.
illa ipsa nocte: these knights were to pay their intended visit in the morning, where the Roman magistrates and distinguished men held their audiences and received their clients.
17:lectulo: the diminutive here has scarcely any force. There may be a slight reference to its comfort: “my dear bed.”
§ 10.—1:vixdum—dimisso: “when your meeting was hardly as yet broken up.”
Comperi: Cicero gained his knowledge from Curius and Fulvia (Sall. Cat. C. 28). According to Merivale, Cicero usedcomperiowhen he was wont to indicate his knowledge of facts, though afraid of revealing the sources of his information. The word does not always have this force.
2:salutatum: supine after a verb of motion. What different ways of expressing a purpose in Latin?
3:mane: another form ismani: cp.luci,heri, locatives.
4:id temporis: for partitive genitive: H. 397, note 5.
§ 11.—1:quae—sint: “since these facts are so:” often used to sum up a chain of facts founded on evidence.
2:perge quo coepisti, scil.pergere: “proceed as you have begun.” Conjugatepergere.
desiderant: “feel the loss of.”desiderare, to feel the loss of an object of love or sympathy: hence “to yearn after;”requirere: to feel the loss of a thing, as an act of the understanding.
3:si minus=si non. Construe:si minus (educis omnes, educ) quam plurimos (educere potes).
4:dummodo—intersit: cp. Plutarch (Cicero 16): “and Cicero arising ordered him to leave the city; for while he himselfcarried on his political contest by words and Catiline by arms, there must needs be a city wall between them.”
5:non—sinam: note theanaphora. Cicero uses three synonymous verbs to express the thought that he will not endure the conduct of Catiline under any circumstances. We may translate: “I cannot, will not, shall not endure it.”
6:magna—urbis: “much gratitude is due to the immortal gods and especially (atque) to this Juppiter Stator, the most ancient guardian of our city.” Distinguishgratiam habere, to feel thankful:gratias agere, to return thanks in words:gratiam referre, to show oneself thankful by deeds. Juppiter obtained the name Stator because he is said to have stayed the flight of the Romans when they were hard pressed by the Sabines. The place where the flight was arrested was marked by a temple vowed by Romulus at the foot of the Palatine (Livy I. 12).
7:quod—effugimus: “because we have already escaped so often a pest so cruel, so dreadful, so dangerous to the state” —toties: referring to the earlier conspiracy of Catiline which failed.
8:non—reipublicae: “it must not again and again depend on one man that the existence of the state should be in peril:” or, “the safety of the state must not be often exposed to danger by one man.” A similar expression is found: Cic. Pro. Rosc. Amer. 51. 148:summa res publica in hujus periculo tentatur.
9:consuli designato: in the days of Cicero the consuls were elected on the 22nd October, but did not formally enter upon their office till January 1st. Between the time of their election and entering upon office they were calledconsules designati.proximis comitiis consularibus: referring to Oct. 22nd.
10:in campo, scil.Martio: the consular elections were held in the Campus Martius, a plain between the city and the Tiber.
11:competitores: D. Junius Silanus and L. Licinius Murena.
12:compressi—copiis: on the day of the consular elections, we are told by Plutarch, Cicero put on a coat of mail and was attended by the chief men of Rome and a great number of youths to the Campus Martius. He there threw off histogaand displayed his coat of mail to show the danger to which he was exposed. The people were so angry with Catiline that they chose Murena and Silanus as consuls.
13:quotiescumque—obstiti: “as often as you aimed at my life, by my own resources did I oppose you:”petereis a gladiatorial term, “to aim a blow at an opponent.”
14:quamquam videbam: distinguishquamquam, introducing a conceded fact and in good authors used with the indicativefromquamvisintroducing a purely hypothetical case and used with the subjunctive. H., 516, I. and II.
15:perniciem—conjunctum: “that my destruction was linked with the signal downfall of the state” —pernicies: fromper-rootnec: cp.nex,noceo, hence utter destruction —calamitas: another form iscadamitas: fromcado, to fall: for the interchange ofdandl: cp.odere,olere:dingua,lingua.
§ 12.—1:nunc jam: emphatically, “now” —jam nunc: is “even now” (i.e., before the regular time), or “now at last.”
2:denique: “in a word.”
3:quare—audeo: “wherefore since I do not yet dare to pursue that course which first presents itself and which is in accordance with the power (I hold) and the principles of our ancestors” —imperiigenitive afterproprium. What cases maypropriusgovern? —imperiirefers to the extraordinary power which he had by the decreevideant consules ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat. This decree (decretum ultimum) armed the consuls with civil and military authority. Others sayimperii propriummeans, “in accordance with this government.”
4:ad—lenius: “milder as regards severity,” or “in point of severity.”Ad=quoad, quoad attinet ad, si spectes. He usesad communem salutem utiliusto balancead severitatem lenius.
5:reliqua—manus: “a remnant of the conspirators.” Ernesti readsaliquaforreliqua.
6:sin: “if, on the other hand.”
7:exhaurietur—reipublicae: “there shall be drained off from the city a great and destructive refuse of the state composed of your comrades.”Exhaurio: cp.ἀντλέωproperly to drain the bilge water (ἄντλοςsentina) out of the hold of a vessel. —tuorum comitum: this secondary genitive is one of explanation (expexegetical).
§ 13.—1:imperante me: abl. absolute.
2:faciebas=facere volebas: Madvig, § 337, obs. I.
3:consul hostem: note the emphatic juxtaposition of these words.
4:num—exilium, scil.jubes me exire: “You do not order me to go into exile, do you?” Distinguishexilium,deportatio, andrelegatio: see Antiquities.
5:me consulis: distinguishme consulit,mihi consulit,in me consulit.
6:quod—possit: H., 503, I.
7:extra—hominum: “unconnected with that band of conspirators composed of worthless men” —conjuratio: used in a concrete sense: cp.advocatio,servitium. For subjunctive: H., 500, I.
8:quae—est?“what stain of domestic infamy has not been branded on your life?” Distinguish:nŏtă, nōtă, nŏtā. The expressionnota domesticae turpitudinisdiffers in meaning fromprivatarum rerum dedecus: the former relates to moral or immoral domestic life, the latter to all private actions as opposed to those that affect a man’s public character.Notais applied (1) to the brand on cattle; Virg. Georg. 3, 158: (2) to the mark placed on a fugitive slave when retaken: (3) to the mark placed by the censor (nota censoria) on revising the list of citizens, opposite the name of the person degraded. According to Plutarch, Catiline had slain his own brother and murdered his own son that there might be no obstacle to his marrying Aurelia Orestilla.
9:quod—fama: “what scandal in private life does not cling to your notorious acts?” Some readinfamiae, a dat, afterhaeret, which is sometimes found. Give the different constructions ofhaerere.
10:quae—afuit: “what act of impurity ever was strange to your eyes, what enormity to your hands, what pollution to your whole body?” —libido; licentiousness, in a general sense;facinus, a bold, daring deed, in a bad sense, unless justified by some favourable epithet:flagitium, a disgraceful, lustful excess.
11:cui—praetulisti?“to what youth, after you had once entangled him by the allurements of vice, did you not hand either a dagger to commit some daring deed, or a torch to inflame his passion?” —adulescentulo: the diminutive is used in a depreciatory sense, since many a weak youth was misled by Catiline (Sallust Cat., c. 14). —facem: the figure refers to the nightly revels and debauches of Catiline. Slaves carried torches before their masters at night to show the way. The torch of Catiline not merely showed the way to crimes, but served to inflame the passions of lust.
§ 14.—1:quid vero?scil.dicam; “further:” lit. “what, indeed, shall I say?”
2:nuper—cumulasti?“When lately by the death of your first wife you had rendered your home empty to contract a new marriage, did you not aggravate this crime by committinganother incredible act of guilt?” It is said that Catiline poisoned his first wife and murdered his own son, to marry Aurelia Orestilla.
3:patior: “I suffer myself:” a kind of middle form: cp.glorior,vescor,vertor,lavor.
4:tanti—immanitas: “so enormous a crime.”
5:quas—senties: “which you will find wholly threaten you on the next Ides.” On theidesit was usual to pay interest on borrowed money, cp. Hor. Ep. 2. Theides(idus, fromiduare, to divide) were on the 13th of each month, except in March, May, July, October, when they fell on the 15th. As this oration was delivered on the 8th, Catiline had only five days to prepare against bankruptcy. Declineidus? What words are fem. of 4th decl.?
6:ad—pertinent: “to these I come, which concern not the personal disgrace which attaches to your vices, (which concern) not the embarassment and scandal of your home, but (which concern) the welfare of the state and the life and safety of us all.” —ignominiam: referring to his personal crimes. —difficultatem: his financial difficulties.
§ 15.—1:cum scias: for subjunctive: H. 522, II. 2.
2:neminem: decline this word.
3:pridie—Januarias: scilante: “on the day before the Kalends of January,” i.e. December 31st, Sallust gives an account of this earlier conspiracy. The plan was to murder the consuls in the capitol, then Catiline and Autronius were to seize the consular power. Suetonius says that both Crassus and Caesar were partners in guilt, and that the scheme failed because Crassus did not appear at the proper time. A second time (5th February) an attempt was made, but this also failed in consequence of Catiline having given the signal too soon before a sufficient number of followers had arrived.
4:Lepido et Tullo consulibus: M. Aemilius Lepidus and L. Volcatius Tullus were consuls 66 B.C. Theconsules designatiwere P. Autronius Paetus and P. Cornelius Sulla: but these were disqualified for bribery and L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatius (their accusers) obtained the consulship.
5:comitio: distinguishcomitiumandcomitia. Where was thecomitium?manum—paravisse?scil.potestne—scias: “that you collected a gang to slay the consuls and leading men of the state?”
6:sceleri—obstitisse?“that no reflection or fear of yours, but the good luck of the state thwarted your wicked and frenzied attempt!” Isaliquiscommonly used in negative clauses?