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IV. THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT IN CICERO'S

TIME.

The speeches and letters of Cicero are full of references to the organization and administration of the Roman state in his time. The following outline may be found helpful in grouping the scattered information which the reader of them will naturally acquire. It applies to the constitution after the time of Sulla. For the literature of the subject see the editor's "Fifty Topics in Roman Antiquities," pp. 35-37, 17, 18.

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Who they were

Free inhabitants of Rome.
Free inhabitants of Italy, who
must go to Rome if they
wished to vote.

Division: -35 tribes, each tribe subdivided into 5 classes, each class into 2 centuries,

= 350 centuries.

Registration: — In the lists of the censors, by whom a citizen was assigned to his tribe, class, and century.

Of the People.

Comitia Centuriata, an assembly by centuries, to elect consuls, praetors, censors.

Comitia Tributa, an assembly by tribes, to elect the lesser magistrates and enact laws, known as plebiscita.

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Sena

Of Counsellors designated by appointment:
tus, containing about 600 members; charged with
legislation upon foreign affairs, and matters of
religion and finance.

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M. TULLI CICERONIS

IN L. CATILINAM ORATIO PRIMA

HABITA IN SENATU

I. Quō usque tandem abūtēre, Catilīna, patientiā nostrā? Quam diū etiam furor iste tuus nōs ēlūdet? Quem ad finem sēsē effrēnāta iactābit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palātī, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populī, nihil concursus bonōrum 5 omnium, nihil hic mūnītissimus habendi senātūs locus, nihil hōrum ōra vultusque mōvērunt? Patere tua consilia nōn sentis? Constrictam iam omnium hōrum scientia tenērī coniūrātiōnem tuam nōn vidēs? Quid proximā, quid superiōre nocte ēgeris, ubi fueris, quōs 10 convocaveris, quid consili ceperis, quem nostrum ignorāre arbitrāris ?

Senātus haec intellegit,

O tempora, O mōrēs! cōnsul videt; hic tamen vivit. Vivit ? Immō vērō etiam in senātum venit, fit pūblicī cōnsilī particeps, 15 notat et designat oculis ad caedem unum quemque nostrum. Nōs autem, fortēs virī, satis facere rei pūblicae vidēmur, sī istīus furōrem ac tēla vītēmus.

Ad mortem te, Catilina, dūcī iussu cōnsulis iam pridem oportebat, in te conferri pestem, quam tu in 20 nōs māchināris. An vērō vir amplissimus, P. Scīpiō, pontifex maximus, Ti. Gracchum mediocriter labe

factantem statum rei publicae prīvātus interfecit; Catilinam, orbem terrae caede atque incendiīs vāstāre cupientem, nōs consulēs perferēmus? Nam illa nimis antiqua praetereo, quod C. Servilius Ahāla Sp. Mae5 lium, novis rēbus studentem, manū sua occidit. Fuit, fuit ista quondam in hac rē pūblicā virtūs, ut virī fortēs ācriōribus suppliciis civem perniciōsum quam acerbissimum hostem coërcerent. Habēmus senātūs consultum in tē, Catilina, vehemens et grave, non deest 10 rei publicae cōnsilium neque auctōritās hūius ōrdinis; nōs, nōs, dīcō apertē, cōnsulēs dēsumus.

II. Decrevit quondam senātus, ut L. Opīmius cōnsul videret, ne quid res publica detrimenti caperet. Nox nulla intercessit: interfectus est propter quasdam 15 sēditiōnum suspiciōnēs C. Gracchus, clarissimō patre, avō, māiōribus; occisus est cum liberis M. Fulvius consulāris. Similī senātūs cōnsultō C. Mariō et L. Valerio consulibus est permissa rēs pūblica; num ūnum diem postea L. Sāturnīnum tribūnum plēbis et 20 C. Servilium praetorem mors ac rei publicae poena remorāta est? At nōs vīcēsimum iam diem patimur hebescere aciem hōrum auctōritātis. Habēmus enim hūiusce modī senātūs cōnsultum, vērum inclusum in tabulis, tamquam in vāgīnā reconditum, quo ex senā25 tūs cōnsultō cōnfestim te interfectum esse, Catilina, convenit. Vīvis, et vīvis nōn ad dēpōnendam, sed ad confirmandam audaciam.

Cupiō, patres cōnscripti, mē esse clementem, cupiō in tantis rei publicae periculis mē nōn dissolūtum 30 vidērī, sed iam mē ipse inertiae nequitiaeque condemnō. Castra sunt in Italia contrā populum Rōmānum in Etruriae faucibus collocata, crescit in dies singulōs hostium numerus; eōrum autem castrōrum imperātōrem ducemque hostium intrā moenia atque

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