suli designato, Catilina, insidiatus es, non publico me præsidio, sed privata diligentia defendi: cum 'proximis comitiis consularibus me consulem in 2 campo, et competitores interficere voluisti, compressi tuos nefarios conatus amicorum præsidio et copiis, nullo tumultu publice concitato, denique. quotiescunque me petisti, per me tibi obstiti: quamquam videbam, perniciem meam cum magna calamitate rei publice 3 esse conjunctam. Nunc jam aperte rem publicam universam petis. Templa deorum immortalium, tecta urbis, vitam omnium civium, Italiam denique totam, ad exitium et vasti

tatem vocas.

their entrance upon office. These magistrates, from A.U.C. 600, were elected about the end of July or beginning of August, and installed on the first of January. (ADAM, Rom. Antiq. p. 94.) Cicero and Catiline had both been candidates for the consulship, and, when the former succeeded, Catiline endeavoured to murder him in the Campus Martius, and elsewhere, by his private emissaries, (" omnibus modis insidias parabat Ciceroni." SALL. Cat. c. 26.)

1 Proximis comitiis consularibus. Referring to the 22d of October, the previous month. (Compare note 1, page 12.) On the day of election here alluded to, Cicero, as Plutarch informs us, put on a coat of mail: the principal persons in Rome conducted him from his house, and great numbers of the youth attended him to the Campus Martius. There he threw back his robe, and displayed part of the coat of mail, on purpose to point out his danger. The people were incensed, and immediately gathered about him; the consequence of which was, that Catiline was again rejected, and Silanus and Murena were chosen consuls. (Vit. Cic. c. 14.) [Sallust thus alludes to both facts, Catalinæ neque petitio, neque insidiæ, quas consuli in campo fecerat, prospere cessere. The comitia had originally been appointed for the 12th before the kalends of November, but were deferred until the 5th. See on this point, Murena, chap. 25.]

2 Campo. The consular comitia were held in the Campus Martius.Competitores. Silanus and Murena.-Amicorum præsidio, &c. Consult note 1.-Me petisti. "You aimed a thrust at me." A gladiatorial term. Compare Cicero's language towards the close of chapter 6.—“ Quot ego tuas petitiones," &c.

* Esse conjunctam. "Was intimately connected."-Petis.

"You

aim a blow at." Compare note 2.-Ad exitium et vastitatem vocas. "You summon to ruin and desolation." Elegantly used instead of the more common phraseology, "Evertere et solo æquare machinaris.”

• Quoniam id, quod primum, &c. "Since I dare not yet pursue that course which first suggests itself, and is in strict accordance with the principles of this government, and the administration of our forefathers," i e. inflict capital punishment upon you. Some commentators refer the expression hujus imperii to the consular office, ("and is in strict accordance with the nature of that office which I now fill,") but the other interpretation seems preferable.

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4

Quare, quoniam id, quod primum, atque hujus imperii disciplinæque majorum proprium est, facere nondum audeo: faciam id, quod est 5ad severitatem lenius, et ad communem salutem utilius: nam, si te interfici jussero, residebit in re publica reliqua conjuratorum manus: sin tu (quod te jamdudum hortor,) exieris, 7 exhaurietur ex urbe tuorum comitum magna et perniciosa sentina rei publicæ. Quid est, Catilina? Num dubitas id, me imperante, facere, quod jam tua sponte faciebas? Exire ex urbe consul jubet hostem. Interrogas me, 9 num in exsilium? Non jubeo: sed, si me consulis, suadeo.

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5 Ad severitatem. "In point of severity" [the same as quoad, quod attinet ad.] Et ad communem, &c., "and as regards the common safety, productive of more decided advantage."

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Reliqua conjuratorum manus. Ernesti thinks reliqua too frigid, and suggests aliqua, which appears to us still more frigid than reliqua.— [Residebit. The metaphor is preparatory to the use of sentina. The verb is used of the settling down or precipitation of fæculent matter in sewers.]

Exhaurietur ex urbe, &c. Sentina properly means that part of the ship where the bilge-water collects. It is then taken to denote the bilge-water itself; and finally any worthless and impure collection of persons. Cicero, in the following passage, employs the term in speaking of the lowest of the people, the very dregs of the city: "Hoc enim verbo est usus, quasi de aliqua sentina, ac non de optimorum civium genere loqueretur." The manuscript reading is perniciosa sentina rei publica, and rei publice is thus regarded as a genitive, forming with comitum a double genitive, in imitation of the Greek. (GOERENZ, að Cic. Leg. 2, 17, 42, p. 169. MATTHIE, G. G. § 380, vol. ii. p. 608, Kenrick's transl.) Ernesti suspects this genitive rei publice to be a mere interpolation, since ex urbe, which is sufficient for the sense, precedes. He retains it, notwithstanding, in his text. Anthon has also retained rei publice, but placed it before sentina, and made it depend, as a dative, on perniciosa. He thinks it may be that sentina rei publice was written originally by some copyist for rei publicæ sentina, (a common error in MSS.,) and the true position of the words may at first have been designated by small numbers placed over them, which numbers were omitted by subsequent copyists, and the erroneous order allowed to remain. (Compare PORSON'S Letter to Dalzel, Mus. Crit. vol. i. p. 336.) [On the words sentina rei publice, comp. SALL. c. 37. Omnes quos flagitium aut facinus domo expulerat, ii Romam sicut in sentinam confluxerant. Quintilian cites this passage with approbation (viii. 6, 15.) Cicero recte sentinam rei republicæ dixit fœditatem hominum significans; and for the case, compare Cat. 11, 4, hanc sentinam hujus urbis.]

Tua sponte faciebas. "You were inclined to do of your own accord." Faciebas is here equivalent to facere volebas.-Exire ex urbe, &c. How much stronger than if he had said, "Exire ex urbe Cicero Catilinam jubet.” Num in exsilium. Cicero purposely avoids ordering Catiline to

VI. 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. 2 Quæ nota domestica turpitudinis non inusta vitæ tuæ est ? [3 Quod privatarum rerum dedecus non hæret infamiæ ?] Quæ libido ab oculis, 5 quod facinus a manibus unquam tuis, quod flagitium a toto corpore abfuit? Cui tu adolescentulo, quem corruptelarum illecebris irretisses, non aut ad audaciam ferrum, aut ad libidinem facem prætulisti? Quid vero ? nuper, cum morte superioris uxoris

4

go into exile. This would have been, in the present stage of the case, a hazardous experiment, as it might have exposed him to the charge of a tyrannical exercise of authority. The Romans were averse to the using of the word exile, even in their judicial sentences, and hence the punishment of expatriation was called ignis et aquæ interdictio, "interdicting from fire and water," by the force of which a person was compelled to leave Italy. It was a settled principle, that no Roman citizen could lose, without his own consent, the right of citizenship; and hence, when a person was to be banished, he was, by a fiction of law, interdicted from fire and water. ADAM, Rom. Antiq. pp. 56, 220.) -[Non jubeo, for exile was not a punishment, but a means of avoiding punishment and so in no Roman law is any crime found punishable with exile. See Cat. 51.]

1 Extra istam conjurationem, &c. "Unconnected with that confederated troop of abandoned followers." The pronoun iste here marks the person, and also denotes scorn and contempt on the part of the speaker. Compare note 3, page 3.

2 Quæ nota, &c. "What mark of domestic turpitude has not been branded on your character?" Nota was applied by the Romans to the mark branded on a fugitive slave when retaken, (Cic Off. 2, 7;) [it is a metaphor taken from the branding of cattle; see Georg. iii. 158;] and also to the stigma imposed by the censors for immoral conduct. (Pro Cluent. 46.) So the voice of public scorn had branded, with infamy, the character of Catiline. According to Plutarch, Sallust, and Asconius, Catiline had slain his own brother; had murdered his own son, that there might be no obstacle to his marriage with Aurelia Orestilla; and had indulged in incestuous intercourse with an illegitimate daughter of his own.

3 Quod privatarum rerum, &c. "What shameful conduct in private life adheres not to your infamy?" This clause is strongly suspected of being a mere interpolation, since the same idea is already expressed by the words, "Quae nota." The Latinity of non hæret infamiæ is very questionable, and savours strongly of the style of a scholiast.

4 Quæ libido. "What scenes of impurity." Compare the remark of DOERING, ad loc.: "Oculis nempe homines libidinosi venari solent libidinis alimenta."

"What

5 Quod facinus. "What daring deed."-Quod flagitium. infamous pollution." The distinction between facinus and flagitium

novis nuptiis domum 7 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 impendere tibi 9 proximis Idibus senties: ad illa venio, quæ non ad privatam ignominiam vitiorum tuorum, non ad 10domesticam tuam difficultatem ac turpitudinem, sed ad summam rem publicam, atque ad omnium nostrûm vitam salutemque pertinent. Potestne tibi hæc "lux, Catilina, aut hujus cœli

should be noted. Facinus denotes a bold or daring action, and unless it be joined with a favourable epithet, or the action be previously described as commendable, the term is always to be understood in a vituperative sense. Flagitium refers chiefly to disgraceful and lustful excess, though it sometimes denotes any fault, error, or crime, that reflects dishonour on the offender. (CROMBIE, Gymnasium, vol. ii. p. 162.)

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Quem corruptelarum illecebris irretisses. "Whom you had entangled amid the allurements of your corrupting arts." Compare SALLUST, Cat. c. 14: "Sed maxime adolescentium familiaritates adpetebat,

&c.

1 Vacuefecisses. Catiline was said to have poisoned his first wife in order to make way for Aurelia Orestilla.-Alio incredibili scelere. The murder of his son. Compare CATULLUS (64, 402), “Optavit genitor primavi funera gnati," &c. [Sallust mentions Catiline's murder of his son, but is silent regarding that of his wife. See SALL. c. 15.]

8 Tanti facinoris immanitas. "The enormity of so great a

crime."

• Proximis Idibus. His creditors would then be entitled to call for the interest on their advances. [Not only the interest but the principal could be demanded on the Ides. ATT. xiv. 20. Jam vel sibi haben₺ nummos, modo numeret Idibus.] Among the Romans, the Kalends and Ides were the two periods of the month, when money was either laid out at interest or called in, or else the interest demanded for what was on loan. Compare HORACE (Sat. 1, 3, 87), "Quum tristes misero venere kalendæ," and also (Epod. 2, 69), "Omnem redegit idibus pecuniam, &c. The present oration was delivered on the 8th of November, and the next Ides would be on the 13th. The Ides fell on the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th of the other months.

1o Domesticam tuam difficultatem. "Your domestic difficulties," ie. your debts. Compare VERR. 2, 28: “Ostendit se in summa difficultate esse numaria."

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11 Lux. Grævius and others read hæc lux. On this Ernesti remark that the whole relation is lost between hujus vita lux, and hujus cœli spiritus. [Lux non simpliciter pro vita positum est, quod vult Grævius, sed significatur potius commoratio in urbe. Cf. Fam. 11, 12. Urbem, urbem, mi Rufe, cole, et in ista luce vive.-STEINMETZ.]

3

1

spiritus esse jucundus, cum scias, horum esse neminem, qui nesciat te pridie kalendas Januarias, 2 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 5 fortunam rei publicæ obstitisse? Ac jam illa omitto: (neque enim sunt aut obscura, aut non multa post commissa.) Quotiens tu me designatum, quotiens consulem interficere conatus es? Quot ego tuas petitiones ita conjectas, ut vitari non posse viderentur, parva quadam declinatione, et, ut aiunt, corpore effugi? [Nihil agis,]

1 Pridie kalendas Januarias. That is the 31st of December. Sallust gives a brief account of this earlier conspiracy (Cat. 18.) The plan was, to murder the consuls in the capitol, and then for Catiline and Autronius to seize upon the consular authority. Suetonius (Vit. Jul. Cæs. c. 9) informs us, on the faith of contemporary writers, that Cæsar and Crassus had taken part in this conspiracy, and that it failed from Cæsar's not having given the preconcerted signal, in consequence of Crassus's not appearing at the appointed time. According to Sallust, the plot failed a second time, on the nones (5th) of February, in consequence of Catiline's having given the signal for action before a sufficient number of conspirators had assembled.

2

Lepido et Tullo consulibus. A.U.C. 687. Catiline, being accused of extortion was unable to stand candidate for the consulship, and hence, inflamed with hatred and disappointment, he resolved to murder the new consuls, on the 1st of January, 688.

3 Stetisse in comitio cum telo. "Took your station in the comitium with a dagger." The comitium was that part of the forum where the comitia met.-It was forbidden, by one of the laws of the twelve tables, to carry any weapon within the city. The allusion in the text has already been explained under note 1.

4 Non mentem aliquam. "No glimpse of reason," and consequent remorse, amid his frenzy.

5 Fortunam. "The wonted good fortune." Compare SALLUST (Cat. c. 41,) "Tandem vicit fortuna rei publicæ."

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[Neque enim sunt, &c. "For neither are they concealed, nor are your after offences few." Steinmetz reads, neque enim sunt aut obscura, aut non multa commissa postea, i. e. for his after crimes are neither obscure nor few. The Delphin and some others have multo post.]

7 Quot ego tuas petitiones, &c. "How many thrusts of thine, aimed in such a way that they seemed impossible to be parried, have I avoided by a slight swerving of position, and as they say, by the movements of my body." Petitio, declinatio, corpus, and effugio, are all gladiatorial terms, purposely employed by Cicero, that he may seem to regard Catiline as no better than one of this class of persons. Compare the language he uses in the second oration against Catiline (c. 11,) "Gladiatori illi confecto et saucio consules opponite," &c.

Nihil agis, &c. "You do nothing, you contrive nothing, you