L. Cassius Longinus, C. Cethegus, P. et Servius Sullae, Servi filii, L. Vargunteius, Q. Annius, M. Porcius Laeca, L. Bestia, Q. Curius; praeterea ex equestri ordine M. Fulvius Nobilior, L. Statilius, P. Gabinius Capito, C. Cornelius; ad hoc multi ex coloniis et municipiis, domi nobiles. Erant praeterea complures paulo occultius consili hujusce participes nobiles, quos magis dominationis spes hortabatur quam inopia aut aliqua necessitudo. Ceterum juventus pleraque, sed maxume nobilium, Catilinae inceptis favebat; quibus in otio vel magnifice vel molliter vivere copia erat, incerta pro certis, bellum quam pacem malebant. Fuere item ea tempestate qui crederent M. Licinium Crassum non ignarum ejus consili fuisse; quia Cn. Pompeius invisus ipsi magnum exer

the Triumvir.-P. Autronius:' see C. 18.-L. Cassius Longinus:' Praetor in B.C. 66, in the same year as Cicero, who describes him as a fat fellow (in Cat. iii. 7). Cicero says that Cethegus was mad.

P. et Servius Sullae] The plural 'Sullae' is used, for he means 'P. Sulla et Servius Sulla.' These two

men were the sons of Servius Sulla,
who was the brother of the Dictator L.
Sulla. It has generally been supposed
that this P. Sulla is the man men-
tioned in the next chapter, the man
whom Cicero defended in an oration
which is extant. But a passage in Ci-
cero's oration (pro Sulla, c. 2), as it is
now read, proves that Cicero's client
was not the Publius Sulla who is
mentioned in this chapter (Halm's ed.
of the Pro Sulla, Einleitung).—
'Vargunteius:' he was quaestor in
BC. 75, in the same year as M.
Cicero.

P. Gabinius Capito] Cicero names him Cimber (in Ĉat. iii. 3), “horum omnium scelerum improbissimum machinatorem, Cimbrum Gabinium." - domi nobiles:' as there were nobiles in Rome, so there were 'nobiles' in the Roman and Latin colonies, and in the Italian towns (municipia), which were not colonies. This colonial and municipal nobility was probably acquired by

those who had filled the high offices in their towns, or whose ancestors had. In modern Italy during the time when it had republics, when Venice possessed many towns on the main land, there was a class of nobles also in these dependent towns, Padua and others.

aliqua necessitudo]' Any necessity at all,' as Jacobs remarks. Aliqua is emphatic. Cort has ‘alia necessitudo.'

vivere copia erat] 'Had the means of living; as if he had said 'licebat.' Kritz compares non fuit consilium .. conterere' (c. 4).

M. Licinium Crassum] The richest man in Rome. Crassus defeated Spartacus and his bands in B.C. 71. Pompeius on his return from Spain through North Italy met the fugitive slaves and destroyed them. Modesty was no part of Pompeius' character, and he claimed the merit of putting an end to this dangerous servile war (Plutarch, Crassus, c. 11; and Pompeius, c. 21). Pompeius and M. Crassus were consuls in B.C. 70, but they were quarrelling all the time.illos: the conspirators, the notion of conspirators being contained in the word 'conjuratio.' So in c. 16 illis' refers to 'juventutem.' This way of writing is usual among the Romans.

Cn.

citum ductabat, cujusvis opes voluisse contra illius potentiam crescere; simul confisum, si conjuratio valuisset, facile apud illos principem se fore.

18. Sed antea item conjuravere pauci contra rem publicam, in quibus Catilina fuit; de qua quam verissume potero dicam. L. Tullo M' Lepido consulibus, P. Autronius et P. Sulla, designati consules, legibus ambitus interrogati poenas dederant. cuniarum repetundarum reus,

petere [quod intra legitumos dies profiteri nequiverit]. Erat eodem tempore Cn. Piso, adulescens nobilis, summae audaciae, egens, factiosus, quem ad perturbandam rem publicam inopia atque mali mores stimulabant. Cum

hoc Catilina et Autronius circiter Nonas Decembris consilio communicato parabant in Capitolio Kalendis Januariis L. Cottam et L. Torquatum consules interficere, ipsi fascibus correptis Pisonem cum exercitu ad obtinendas duas Hispanias mittere. Ea re cognita rursus in Nonas Februarias consilium caedis transtulerant. Jam

of December, B.C. 66, to assassinate the consuls Cotta and Torquatus on the first of January, B.C. 65, the day on which they would enter on their office. Sallust therefore assigns to the year B.C. 66 Catilina's failure in becoming a candidate for the consulship for want of not having given legal notice.

The fragments of Cicero's oration in Toga Candida, which was delivered in B.C. 64, and the commentary of Asconius on that oration, state the facts thus,-When Catilina returned from Africa in B.c. 66, he declared his intention to be a candidate for the consulship for the next year. It was necessary to make this declaration a' trinundinum' or seventeen days before the election ('comitia): this is what Sallust means by the words 'intra legitumos dies.' The consul Tullus, whose business it was to preside at the election, called together the senate ('consilium publicum ') or the chief senators (principes civitatis') and asked them, whether he should consider Catilina as a candidate, for he was under prosecution for repetundae. Catilina for this reason desisted from his canvass, the decision having been against him, as we must infer, though Asconius does not say so. This took place, as it seems, before the election of Autronius and P. Sulla; and after their conviction for bribery L. Aurelius Cotta and T. Manlius Torquatus were elected consuls for B.C. 65. Then followed the events which Sallust speaks of in

the words 'Erat eodem tempore' &c. to multa antea perpessos (c. 19).

Kalendis Januariis] On the first of January, B.C. 65. This was the day on which the consuls entered on their office. Sallust does not say that Catilina was tried in B.C. 65 on this charge of repetundae. The prosecutor was P. Clodius, afterwards Cicero's mortal enemy. Catilina was acquitted. The historian Fenestella says that Cicero defended Catilina, but Asconius doubts the truth of this statement, founding his doubt on an expression in Cicero's oration in Toga Candida. This prosecution prevented Catilina from being a candidate for the consulship in B.C. 65 also. It appears then that when Sallust says that Catilina could not be a candidate, because he could not declare himself within the proper time, he has assigned to B.C. 66 what took place in B.C. 65. If the words

...

quod nequiverat' or 'nequiverit,' as some read it, were omitted, Sallust's statement would be nearer the truth, for it may be assumed that Catilina received notice of his prosecution in B.C. 66, though he was not tried till в c. 65.

fascibus correptis] The seizing the 'fasces,' the symbols of the consular power, is the seizing on the consulship.-duas Hispanias: so the Romans used to speak of the province of Hispania Citerior, afterwards named Tarraconensis, and Hispania Ulterior, afterwards divided into Baetica and Lusitania.

tum non consulibus modo, sed plerisque senatoribus perniciem machinabantur. Quodni Catilina maturasset pro curia signum sociis dare, eo die post conditam urbem Romam pessumum facinus patratum foret. Quia nondum frequentes armati convenerant, ea res consilium diremit.

19. Postea Piso in citeriorem Hispaniam quaestor pro praetore missus est, annitente Crasso, quod eum infestum inimicum Cn. Pompeio cognoverat. Neque tamen senatus provinciam invitus dederat, quippe foedum hominem a re publica procul esse volebat; simul quia boni complures praesidium in eo putabant, et jam tum potentia Pompei formidolosa erat. Sed is Piso in provincia ab equitibus Hispanis, quos in exercitu ductabat, iter faciens

maturasset] ( Maturare,' to ripen,' 'to make ready,' was also used to signify to hasten,' and so it came to mean to be in too great a hurry.'

·

This is a most unsatisfactory story about the first conspiracy. If all these facts were known at the time, it is difficult to understand how Catilina was not brought to trial and punished, for there was at least, as we are here told, one act of treason, the giving of the signal for the rising and the meeting of some men in arms. Cicero (in Cat. i. 6) attributes the failure of the design on the consuls and others to Fortuna. Dion (36, c. 27), in a passage which is corrupt, seems to say that proceedings would have been taken by the Senate against the conspirators, if a tribune had not interposed.

Dion also says that P. Sulla the colleague of Autronius was in the conspiracy. Suetonius (Caesar, c. 9) also says that this P. Sulla was in the conspi

racy. Suetonius quotes as his authorities for this first conspiracy the history of Tanusius Geminus, the edicta of Bibulus, and the orations of C. Curio the father. Tanusius says that M. Crassus was in the conspiracy, and that through changing his mind or through fear he was not present on the day agreed on for the massacre, and that accordingly C. Caesar did not give the signal which it had been agreed that he should give. We conclude that Sallust's short story is incomplete, and also that the facts of this first conspiracy are very uncertain.

19. quaestor pro praetore] Though he was only 'quaestor,' he had the title and power of a 'praetor.' His title was 'quaestor pro praetore.'

Neque tamen] Nor yet.' He means that the appointment of an unsuccessful conspirator seemed strange, and yet the Senate had appointed him willingly. They wished to keep him away from the administration of affairs at Rome, for that is the meaning of a re publica procul esse.' boni:' the good are the optimates,' the conservative senatorial party, the men who were against revolution and change.-'complures:' 'quam plures,' Cort.

occisus est. Sunt qui ita dicunt, imperia ejus injusta, superba, crudelia barbaros nequivisse pati; alii autem equites illos, Cn. Pompeii veteres fidosque clientis, voluntate ejus Pisonem aggressos; numquam Hispanos praeterea tale facinus fecisse, sed imperia saeva multa antea perpessos. Nos eam rem in medio relinquemus. De superiore conjuratione satis dictum.

20. Catilina ubi eos quos paulo ante memoravi convenisse videt, tametsi cum singulis multa saepe egerat, tamen in rem fore credens universos appellare et cohortari, in abditam partem aedium secedit, atque ibi omnibus arbitris procul amotis orationem hujuscemodi habuit. "Ni virtus fidesque vostra spectata mihi forent, nequicquam opportuna res cecidisset; spes magna, dominatio

6

Sunt qui ita dicunt] 'Some affirm.' 'Sunt qui' corresponds to alii' in the next clause, and 'Sunt qui' here stands as one word. There is a reading sunt qui ita dicant,' which some may prefer.- Cn. Pompeii: Cn. Pompeius had served in Spain and brought to an end the war against Sertorius. The exact meaning of 'voluntate ejus' is not plain. Pompeius was in the east, and could not have urged these Spaniards to kill Piso. Jacobs explains it thus: because they knew that he would be glad to see it.' The 'voluntas,' the good will, or consent of Pompeius could only be inferred from the fact of the assassins being attached to Pompeius, and the additional fact of the Spaniards never having done such a thing before. Yet Jacobs reminds us that L. Piso Frugi, a propraetor in Spain, and a better man than Cn. Piso, had already been murdered there.

imperia-multa] The cruel administration of many governors.' in medio] We will leave this undecided; he will leave every man to form his opinion.

20. tametsi cum singulis-egerat] Agere cum aliquo' means to talk with any person about any matter;' agere cum populo,'' to address the

people,' to propose a measure.'
Tametsi' and' etsi are generally
followed by tamen.'. in rem:
'to the purpose, 'useful.'-'arbi-
tris: witnesses,' of what was said.
There were none present except the
conspirators, as we might have sup-
posed without being told. Ar' is
equivalent to ad;' and 'arbiter' is
one who is present. hujuscemodi :'
' of this kind,' to this effect.' So
'hujuscemodi' and 'ejusmodi' are
used. Sallust has written a speech
such as he supposed to be suitable to
the occasion.

cecidisset] 'Would have fallen out,' 'happened.'-' spes ... dominatio in manibus:' great hopes, power which is in our hands would have been useless.' As Kritz remarks, we must understand in manibus' as an adjective, which agrees with dominatio,' and frustra' is the predicate both of 'spes' and 'dominatio.' He compares Jug. c. 7. Allen has fuisset,' because dominatio' is not another thing, but a stronger word which takes the place of spes. per ignaviam :' he means

6

per ignavos homines,' and 'vana ingenia' means the same as homines vani ingenii,' 'men of worthless character.' Vanus' is empty, unreal, false. See Jug. c. 38.