esset praesidii, consultum atque prōvisum est. Colōni omnēs municipesque vestrī certiōrēs ā mē factī dē hāc nocturna excursiōne Catilinae facile urbēs suas fīnēsque defendent; gladiātōrēs, quam sibi ille manum certissimam fore putavit, quamquam animō meliōre sunt quam 5 pars patriciōrum, potestāte tamen nostra continebuntur. Q. Metellus, quem ego hōc prōspiciēns in agrum Gallicum Pīcēnumque praemīsī, aut opprimet hominem aut eius omnēs mōtūs cōnātūsque prohibēbit. Reliquis autem dē rēbus constituendīs, mātūrandīs, agendīs iam ad senatum 10 referemus, quem vocārī vidētis.

Nunc illōs qui in urbe remānsērunt, atque adeō qui contrā urbis salutem omniumque vestrum in urbe à Catilīnā relicti sunt, quamquam sunt hostēs, tamen, quia sunt cīvēs, monitōs etiam atque etiam volō. Mea lēnitās adhuc sĩ cui 15 solūtior visa est, hoc exspectavit, ut id quod latēbat ērumperet. Quod reliquum est, iam non possum oblivīscī meam hanc esse patriam, mē hōrum esse cōnsulem, mihi aut cum his vivendum aut prō his esse moriendum. Nullus est portis custōs, nullus insidiātor viae; si qui exire volunt, 20 cōnīvēre possum; qui vērō sẽ in urbe commōverit, cuius ego non modo factum, sed inceptum ullum cōnātumve contrā patriam dēprehenderō, sentiet in hac urbe esse consulēs vigilantes, esse egregiōs magistrātūs, esse fortem senatum, esse arma, esse carcerem, quem vindicem nefāriōrum ac 25 manifestōrum scelerum maiōrēs nostrī esse voluērunt.

All shall be done without tumult and without needless severity. The gods will be our protectors.

13. Atque haec omnia sīc agentur, Quirītēs, ut māximae rēs minimō mōtū, pericula summa nullō tumultu, bellum

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intestinum ac domesticum post hominum memoriam crūdēlissimum et maximum mē ūno togātō duce et imperātōre sēdētur. Quod ego sic administrābō, Quirītēs, ut, si ullo modo fieri poterit, nē improbus quidem quisquam in hāc urbe poenam sui sceleris sufferat. Sed sī vīs manifestae audaciae, si impendēns patriae periculum mē necessāriō dē hāc animī lēnitāte deduxerit, illud profecto perficiam, quod in tantō et tam insidiōsō bello vix optandum videtur, ut neque bonus quisquam intereat paucōrumque poenā vōs omnēs salvi esse possītis.

Quae quidem ego neque mea prūdentia neque humānīs consiliis frētus polliceor vobis, Quirītēs, sed multis et nōn dubiis deōrum immortalium significătionibus, quibus ego ducibus in hanc spem sententiamque sum ingressus; qui iam non procul, 20 ut quondam solebant, ab externo hoste atque longinquō, sed hic praesentēs suō nūmine atque auxiliō sua templa atque urbis tecta defendunt. Quōs vōs, Quirītēs, precārī, venerārī, implōrāre dēbētis, ut, quam urbem pulcherrimam florentissimamque esse voluerunt, hanc omnibus hostium 25 copiis terra marique superātīs ā perditissimōrum civium nefario scelere defendant.

THIRD ORATION AGAINST CATILINE

DELIVERED BEFORE THE PEOPLE IN THE FORUM, ON THE THIRD OF DECEMBER, 63 B.C.

INTRODUCTION

ACCORDING to the plan which Catiline unfolded to his associates before his departure, if we can trust Cicero, Cethegus was to assassinate the consul, the praetor Lentulus was charged with the general management of the affairs of the conspiracy in the capital, Cassius was to set fire to the city, and, in the midst of the general confusion attendant upon the conflagration, the conspirators were to open communication with Catiline. But, while the execution of the bloody plot was delayed, a deputation from the Allobroges in Gaul visited Rome to present certain complaints against the provincial government. Lentulus, taking advantage of their disaffection, endeavored to interest them in the conspiracy, but Cicero finally succeeded in securing their coöperation, and encouraged them to continue their negotiations with the conspirators, and obtain from them a written statement of the propɔsition which they were to make to their people. The experiment was perfectly successful. The required statement was readily obtained. The Gallic ambassadors, having finished their work, left Rome on the night of the second of December, accompanied by Titus Volturcius, the bearer of dispatches for Catiline, but they had proceeded only a short distance beyond the city gate when they fell into the hands of an armed force in the employ of the government. Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Gabinius were arrested the next morning. Later in the day the prisoners were all brought before the bar of the senate. The evidence of their guilt, in the opinion of Cicero, was overwhelming, and was finally confirmed by their own confessions.

After the adjournment of the senate, Cicero addressed the people1 on the great events of the day in his Third Oration against Catiline. 1 That is, at a contio.

ANALYSIS

I. EXPOSURE OF THE CONSPIRACY, I.

II. AN ACCOUNT OF THE MEANS AND EVENTS BY WHICH THE CONSPIRACY
WAS DISCOVERED AND EXPOSED. DECREE OF THE SENATE, 2-6.

III. THE SIGNAL SUCCESS ALREADY ATTAINED TO BE ASCRIBED TO TWO
PRINCIPAL CAUSES:

I. TO THE POLICY OF THE CONSUL IN DRIVING CATILINE FROM THE

CITY, 7.

2. TO THE DIVINE INTERPOSITION IN BEHALF OF THE STATE, 8, 9.
IV. THE PEOPLE ARE EXHORTED TO RENDER GRATITUDE TO THE GODS
AND TO RETAIN A GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION OF THE SERVICES OF
THEIR CONSUL, IO, II.

V. THE DUTY OF THE CITIZENS TO PROTECT THEIR CONSUL, 12.

EXORDIUM, I

The conspiracy has been exposed and crushed; the state is safe.

1. Rem publicam, Quirītēs, vītamque omnium vestrum, bona, fortūnās, coniugēs līberōsque vestrōs atque hoc domicilium clarissimi imperii, fortūnātissimam pulcherrimamque urbem, hodiernō diē deōrum immortalium summō ergā vōs 5 amōre, labōribus, cōnsiliīs, periculis meīs ē flammā atque ferrō ac paene ex faucibus fātī ēreptam et vōbīs cōnservātam ac restitūtam vidētis. Et sī nōn minus nōbīs iūcundi atque inlustrēs sunt ii dies quibus cōnservāmur, quam illī quibus nascimur, quod salūtis certa laetitia est, nāscendī Io incerta condicio, et quod sine sensu nascimur, cum voluptāte servāmur, profecto, quoniam illum qui hanc urbem condidit ad deōs immortālēs benevolentiā fāmāque sustulimus, esse apud vos posterōsque vestrōs in honōre dēbēbit is qui eandem hanc urbem conditam amplificatamque ser15 vāvit. Nam tōtī urbi, templīs, dēlūbris, tectis ac moenibus subiectōs prope iam īgnēs circumdatōsque restīnximus,

idemque gladiōs in rem publicam dēstrictōs rettudimus mücrōnēsque eōrum a iugulis vestrīs deiecimus. Quae quoniam in senātū inlūstrāta, patefacta, comperta sunt per mē, vōbis iam expōnam breviter, Quirītēs, ut et quanta et quam manifesta et qua ratiōne investīgāta et 5

comprehensa sint, vōs, qui et īgnōrātis et exspectātis, scire possitis.

Principio ut Catilīna paucis ante diebus ērūpit ex urbe, cum sceleris sui socios, huiusce nefarii belli acerrimos ducēs, Romae reliquisset, semper vigilāvī et prōvīdī, Quirītēs, 10 quem ad modum in tantis et tam absconditīs insidiis salvi esse possēmus.