Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

of similar oracular sayings made and deposited in the temple when it was rebuilt.

Page 37. 1. Cinnam: in the year 87, when Sulla had left Rome to fight Mithridates, one of the consuls, L. Cornelius Cinna, who belonged to the Marian party, proposed that the Italians be admitted to citizenship, and in consequence was expelled by force from the city, by his colleague. He soon returned, however, at the head of a large army, and triumphed over his opponents. After a frightful season of bloodshed, Cinna and Marius declared themselves consuls; but on the death of Marius, a few days later, Cinna assumed absolute control and remained sole consul of Rome for three years. When Sulla was on his way home, in 83, Cinna made preparations to march against him, but was killed in a mutiny by his soldiers.

2. antea: sc. fuisse. urbis: Caesar and Sallust use the genitive, as well as the ablative, with potīrī. 3. ab incēnsō Capitōliō : the Capitol was destroyed by fire on the 6th of July, 83, but was rebuilt by Sulla, although it was not dedicated until 69. 4. ex prodigiis: the Etruscan haruspicēs not only prophesied by interpreting the movements and appearance of the vital organs of sacrificial victims, but explained the significance of lightning flashes and of unusual occurrences. 5. perlēctīs litteris: see note to redditās, 25, 18. 6. abdicātō magistrātū: no magistrate could be impeached during his term of office. When, however, the Senate brought the tremendous weight of its influence to bear upon a man, it was well-nigh irresistible. And so it proved in the case of

Lentulus.

8. P. Len

7. in liberīs cūstōdiīs: see custodia in Vocab. tulō Spinthērī: a good friend to Cicero; for when the latter was in exile, six years later, Spinther vigorously urged his recall. 9. Statilius C. Caesarī, Gabinius M. Crasso: Mommsen, assum

CICERO.

Page 37. 3. post virginum absolūtiōnem: the very possibility of a Vestal virgin violating her vow was so abhorrent that a trial, even if it resulted in an acquittal, was considered to be a dreadful omen. Nothing is known of the case here mentioned. 5. Sāturnālibus: a thanksgiving feast in honor of the golden age of Saturn. It began on the 17th of December and lasted several days. The 19th was the great day of the feast. It was a time of much merrymaking; no business was transacted,

ing that Caesar and Crassus were concerned in the conspiracy, declares that their appointment to guard the two least dangerous of the conspirators was a shrewd move of the Senate, since if they let them escape, they would be regarded by the people as leagued with the conspiracy, while if they detained them, their fellow conspirators would brand them as traitors to the cause.

Reaction among the plebs against the conspiracy; unsuccessful attempts to implicate Crassus and Caesar. Sections 48-49.

§ 48. 13. coniuratione patefactā: by the third oration of Cicero against Catiline, which he delivered in the Forum, before the people, on the 3d of December. quae: the antecedent is plēbs.

5. ūsū:

Page 38. 4. quippe cui omnēs cōpiae . . . erant: 'since all their resources consisted'; quippe qui is followed by the indicative in Sallust, but by the subjunctive in Caesar and Cicero. 'food.' cultu: clothing.' 6. Post eum diem = postrīdie ēius diēt. 10. eadem and (11) senātum form the double accusative with docet. dē parātīs incendiīs: the participle here is equivalent to a verbal substantive in English; translate, 'about preparations to set fire to the city.' So also deprehēnsī (line 14).

13. nē, etc.: 'not to be frightened by the arrest of Lentulus.' 14. -que 'but.' 19. tanta vīs hominis: a man of such power.' 21. plērïque . .

obnoxii: 'most of them were under 25. potestatem :

obligations to Crassus in private transactions.' sc. indicandi. 26. rem: the accusative with mentior is poetical. 28. māchinātum: another perfect participle of a deponent verb used passively; cf. adepta, 5, 30. 30. nē, etc. in order to prevent Crassus from disturbing the state by befriending the criminals, as was his custom.' Crassus made himself popular by pleading the cases of men whom lawyers like Cicero would not defend.

and the schools and courts were closed. The slaves were allowed unusual freedom, as they were not required to perform their customary duties, and were feasted at a banquet at which their masters waited upon them. 13. cui, etc.: 'to whom, according to the testimony which was given, Apulia had been allotted for the purpose of tampering with the shepherds of that district.' 14. P. Furium: this man, together with Chilo, Umbrenus, and Cassius, succeeded in escaping arrest.

Page 39. $49. 3. Q. Catulus: see note to 25, 17.

C. Pisō:

like Catulus, he was a leader in the aristocratic party. He had been consul in 67, and proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis in the year following. Recently, in the very year of the conspiracy, he was accused by the Gauls of plundering their province, and while being tried on this charge was further accused by. Caesar- who was patronus of the province of maltreating a certain one of the Gauls. 6. uterque .. exercebant: it is more usual to find uterque with a verb in the singular. 7. in at the time of."

[ocr errors]

9. pontificātūs: see note to sacerdotia, 15, 32. 10. māxumis honōribus ūsus: Catulus had been consul in B.C. 78, censor in 65, and was now princeps senātūs, i.e. the first on the list of the senators, and therefore the first to be called upon to express his opinion on all questions that came before the Senate; but see note to 40, 4. ab adulēscentulō: Caesar was 37 years of age, while Cato was probably 60. 12. the adverbs prīvātim and publicē modify the nouns liberālitāte and muneribus, respectively, both of these containing the verbal idea of giving. But it is rather singular to have adverbs modifying nouns.

13. grandem pecūniam dēbēbat: even before Caesar held any public office, his debts amounted to 1300 talents ($1,500,000). Moreover, throughout his political career, Caesar was recklessly liberal. It is said that he never turned away any one who wanted money. In his aedileship he exhibited 320 pairs of gladiators equipped in silver, and he even had the wild beasts' cages made of silver. Suetonius writes that when Caesar was parting with his mother, on the morning of the pontifical election, overcome by the thought of his enormous debt, he said he should never come home again unless he were elected pontifex maximus. Indeed, it was not until his return to Rome in 60, after his governorship of Spain, that he had the means with which to pay off his debts.

15. quae sẽ. . . audisse dicerent: occasionally, in causal and relative clauses, the verb of saying itself is put in the subjunctive instead of the indicative, apparently through carelessness, as though it were in a subordinate clause dependent on an accusative and infinitive sentence. 17. equites Rōmānī: naturally men of this order, whose business interests were endangered by the conspiracy, would be the most ready to show their indignation when a popular leader like Caesar was suspected of being concerned in the plot. 21. ēgredienti ex senātū: this scene probably took place as Caesar was leav

ing the Senate, after its meeting to decide the fate of the conspirators; see § 53. It must be remembered that Sallust was always a strong partisan of Caesar, and that, therefore, when the question was a matter of conjecture, as in this case, Sallust would naturally defend him. Positive evidence is lacking. But there are many suspicious circumstances which have led the most impartial students of this period of Roman history to conclude that both Caesar and Crassus were at least no strangers to the conspiracies of 66 and 63.

Secret plots of the chief conspirators to be freed impel Cicero to consult the Senate as to their sentence. Section 50.

...

$ 50. 23. haec referring to the charge brought against Crassus; see § 48. lēgātīs Allobrogum praemia decernuntur : however, the Allobroges failed to secure any redress for their wrongs from the Senate, and returned to Gaul; soon afterward the tribe rebelled against Rome again; see note to C. Pomptīnō, 34, 11. 25. liberti : denotes freedmen, but it includes the suggestion of their dependence upon their patrons. Apart from their patrons they were called libertini. Cf. Cicero, 37, 17. 26. opificēs: the mechanics were for the most part aliens and freedmen, and were held in almost as much contempt as the slaves with whom they had to compete in labor. Hence, they might easily be roused to aid the conspirators. 27. partim :

'while others.' ducēs multitudinum: 'leaders of the rabble,' like Clodius or Milo, who roamed about the city at the head of a gang of desperadoes.

Page 40. 1. convocātō senātū: in the temple of Concord, on the 5th of December, the occasion of Cicero's fourth oration against Catiline. 3. contra rem publicam: see contra in Vocab. 4. prīmus sententiam rogātus: whenever the Senate met between the elections and the day of inauguration, the newly elected officials were always given precedence over other senators of their rank. Hence the consuls-elect were asked for their opinion before the princeps senātūs. But, in Cicero's time, the presiding officer exercised more freedom than formerly, and might invite other men of consular rank to speak first, if he wished to do them especial honor. During the discussion of any question, a senator might express his own opinion in full (sententiam dicere), or simply assent to some other speaker's proposal (verbō adsentiri). The final vote was made on a division (discessio), the senators going (pedibus ire) to one or the other side

of the house when the consul put the motion: qui hoc cēnsētis, illūc trānsīte, qui alia omnia (cēnsētis), in hanc partem. 10. qui . censuerat: Nero moved that the Senate postpone action on the question until the guards had been withdrawn. This was an insinuation that the Senate was being intimidated by the strong guard of equites which Cicero had stationed about the temple of Concord. 11. Caesar was now praetor-elect, and therefore would properly speak after the consulārēs and before those of his own rank, the praetōrū.

Caesar's speech to the Senate. Section 51.

§ 51. The situation was critical. At the meeting of the Senate on December 3d, the prisoners had been adjudged guilty not only of being concerned in a conspiracy against the government, but of having actually solicited aid for their nefarious scheme from a barbarous tribe of Gaul. More infamous treachery could not be imagined. The Senate had ordered them to be kept "in free custody." But this was practically useless, as plans had already been set on foot by their friends to employ violence in releasing them. And even if it were possible to hold them until a regular trial took place, with so farreaching a conspiracy there was every likelihood that they would be acquitted, or at least allowed to go into exile, which would be virtually nothing less than dismissing them to join Catiline. In either event, their escape from justice would bring the government into contempt, and might be the turning-point with the still wavering city rabble, in causing them to cast in their lot with Catiline. There could be no alternative. The emergency demanded the immediate sentence and execution of the prisoners. Cicero might have ordered them to be put to death at once on his own authority; for the senātūs cōnsultum of October 21st gave the consuls power to take any action which they deemed necessary for the safety of the state. But he shrank from assuming the whole responsibility, and therefore assembled the Senate in order to obtain its support in so unusual a step.

Outline of the Speech.· Let us discuss this measure dispassionately, giving heed to both precedent and propriety.

Silanus blunders in voting for the execution of the conspirators, because death is in no sense an adequate punishment. He should insist on their being scourged first. If he fears the law against scourging, he will do well to have an equal regard for the law which permits condemned citizens to go into exile.

« IndietroContinua »