Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

miseriam convertet.1 Scilicet res ipsa aspera est, sed vos non timetis eam.2 Immo vero maxime; sed inertia et mollitia animi alius alium expectantes cunctamini, videlicet dis immortalibus confisi, qui hanc rem publicam saepe in maximis periculis servavere. Non votis neque suppliciis muliebribus auxilia deorum parantur; vigilando, agendo, bene consulendo prospera omnia cedunt; ubi socordiae te atque ignaviae tradideris, nequidquam deos implores; irati infestique sunt. Apud majores nostros A. Manlius Torquatus bello Gallico filium suum, quod is contra imperium in hostem pugnaverat, necare jussit, atque ille egregius adolescens immoderatae fortitudinis morte poenas dedit: vos de crudelissimis parricidis quid statuatis cunctamini? Videlicet cetera vita eorum huic sceleri obstat. Verum parcite dignitati Lentuli, si ipse pudicitiae, si famae suae, si dis aut hominibus unquam ullis pepercit; ignoscite Cethegi adolescentiae, nisi iterum jam patriae bellum fecit. Nam quid ego de Gabinio, Statilio, Caepario loquar? quibus si quidquam unquam pensi fuisset, non ea consilia de re publica habuissent. Postremo, P. C., si mehercule peccato locus esset, facile paterer vos ipsa re corrigi, quoniam verba contemnitis; sed undique circumventi sumus. Catilina cum exercitu faucibus urguet: alii intra moenia atque in sinu

Assuredly this clemency of yours will end in misery.' Respecting nae, see Zumpt, $360; and on the transitive sense of vertere, $ 145.

2 The sentence beginning with scilicet is again ironical. The sense, without the irony, is: 'Nor can it be supposed that you consider the matter indeed difficult, but that you are without fear. You are, on the contrary, full of fear, but you hesitate.'

3 Immo vero, oh no; on the contrary.' See Zumpt, $277. • Respecting this form of hypothetical sentences, see Zumpt, $524, note 1. The verb in the apodosis might be implorabis, without altering the meaning.

This statement differs in two points from the current tradition of history. First, the praenomen of this Manlius is commonly Titus, and so we must no doubt correct here, even though the manuscripts have Aulus. Secondly, he did not show his severe military discipline towards his son in the Gallic war, but in the great Latin war, which ended, in в. с. 340, with the subjugation of Latium. Manlius ordered his son to be executed in presence of the army; and to characterise that harsh severity, the orator uses the word necare instead of interficere or occidere.

* Quidquam is stronger than siquid that is, the expression of the negative is more strongly marked in the protasis.

If there were room for a mistake'-namely, in the resolution to be come to. The meaning is: 'No time is to be lost, since, if you come to a wrong determination, you will be ruined before you have time to correct your decision.'

* ' Is upon our necks,' a figurative expression, properly applied to a wrestler who seizes another by the throat.

urbis sunt hostes: neque parari neque consuli quidquam potest occulte; quo magis properandum est. Quare ita ego censeo: quum nefario consilio sceleratorum civium res publica in maxima pericula venerit, iique indicio T. Volturcii et legatorum Allobrogum convicti confessique confessique sint caedem, incendia aliaque se foeda atque crudelia facinora in cives patriamque paravisse, de confessis sicuti de manifestis rerum capitalium more majorum supplicium sumendum.'

53. Postquam Cato assedit, consulares omnes itemque senatus magna pars sententiam ejus laudant, virtutem animi ad coelum ferunt, alii alios increpantes timidos vocant, Cato clarus atque magnus habetur, senati decretum fit, sicuti ille censuerat. Sed mihi multa legenti, multa audienti, quae populus Romanus domi militiaeque, mari atque terra praeclara facinora fecit, forte libuit attendere, quae res maxime tanta negotia sustinuisset. Sciebam saepenumero parva manu cum magnis legionibus hostium contendisse; cognoveram parvis copiis bella gesta cum opulentis regibus, ad hoc saepe fortunae violentiam toleravisse, facundia Graecos, gloria belli Gallos ante Romanos fuisse. Ac mihi multa agitanti constabat, paucorum civium egregiam virtutem cuncta patravisse, eoque factum, uti divitias paupertas, multitudinem paucitas superaret. Sed postquam luxu atque desidia civitas corrupta est, rursus res publica magnitudine sua imperatorum atque magistratuum vitia sustentabat, ac, sicuti effeta parentum, multis tempestatibus haud sane quisquam Romae vir

What has chiefly helped in carrying out such great undertakings.' Negotium sustinere, 'to be able to carry out a business,' representing the negotium as a burden.

2 Sallust states that, after mature consideration of all the circumstances, he has come to the conviction that the merit of individual citizens had raised Rome to its supremacy over the world, but that afterwards there were no men of importance, or excelling others by mental superiority, and that the state, as a whole, alone made the faults of individuals bearable. We must honour the judgment of Sallust, but cannot agree with it; we must rather believe that the unvarying ability of the whole Roman people, notwithstanding the not very prominent minds of individuals, was the cause of the rapid progress of the Roman dominion. In the later times, on the other hand, we meet a Scipio the younger, a Marius, a Sulla, a Pompey, and a Caesar, all of whom were men or generals of eminent talent, while all those who served under them were persons of inferior abilities.

* Effeta parentum, the same as effeta parens, 'a mother who has had children, but can have no more. Respecting the partitive genitive (as in aliqui militum for aliqui milites), see Zumpt, $ 430. The author in the progress of his sentence abandons the construction with which he began, and which ought to have been continued tute magnus fuit. Sed memoria mea ingenti virtute, diversis moribus fuere viri duo, M. Cato et G. Caesar; quos quoniam res obtulerat, silentio praeterire non fuit consilium, quin1 utriusque naturam et mores, quantum ingenio possem, ape

rirem.

54. Igitur his genus, aetas, eloquentia prope aequalia fuere; magnitudo animi par, item gloria, sed alia alii. Caesar beneficiis ac munificentia magnus habebatur, integritate vitae Cato. Ille mansuetudine et misericordia clarus factus, huic severitas dignitatem addiderat. Caesar dando, sublevando, ignoscendo, Cato nihil largiundo gloriam adeptus est. In altero miseris perfugium erat, in altero malis pernicies; pe illius facilitas, hujus constantia laudabatur. Postremo Caesar in animum induxerat laborare, vigilare; negotiis amicorum intentus sua neglegere, nihil denegare, quod dono dignum esset; sibi magnum imperium, exercitum, bellum novum exoptabat, ubi virtus enitescere posset. At Catoni studium modestiae, decoris, sed maxime severitatis erat. Non divitiis cum divite, neque factione cum factioso, sed cum strenuo virtute, cum modesto pudore, cum innocente abstinentia certabat, esse quam videri bonus malebat; ita quo minus petebat gloriam, eo magis illum sequebatur.

55. Postquam, ut dixi, senatus in Catonis sententiam discessit, consul optimum factu ratus, noctem, quae instabat, antecapere, ne quid eo spatio novaretur, III. viros quae sup

thus: Roma haud sane quemquam virtute magnum protulit, for which he says, Romae haud sane quisquam virtute magnus fuit. This deviation from the construction may be explained still more easily, if in our mind we add facit to the words sicuti effeta parentum, 'as is the case with an aged mother.' Multis tempestatibus, 'during a long time.' The singular tempestas in the sense of 'time' is not uncommon, but the plural tempestates in the sense of 'periods of time' occurs only in Sallust in this passage, and Jug. 73, 96, and 108.

• Quin is used regularly for ut non after a negative clause: 'I would not pass them over in silence, without unfolding their characters.'

2 But the one a different one from the other.' The Latin custom of repeating the same word obliges the author, having once said alia, to use alii, which, strictly speaking, should be alteri, as he is speaking of only two persons.

3. The less he strove after fame, the more it followed him of itself,' so that gloria must be supplied.

* Discessit; that is, after the senate, a division having taken place, had decided in favour of Cato's opinion. Compare p. 50, note 2.

5 Read tresviros; each one by himself was called triumvir, 'one of the college of three.' These officers belonging to the magistratus minores, had the superintendence of the public prison, and the carrying of the sentence into execution; whence their complete title

plicium postulabat parare jubet; ipse, praesidiis dispositis, Lentulum in carcerem deducit; idem fit ceteris per praetores. Est in carcere locus, quod Tullianum appellatur, ubi paululum descenderis ad laevam, circiter duodecim pedes humi depressus. Eum muniunt undique parietes atque insuper camera lapideis fornicibus vincta, sed incultu, tenebris, odore foeda atque terribilis ejus facies est. In eum locum postquam demissus est Lentulus, vindices rerum capitalium, quibus praeceptum erat, laqueo gulam fregere. Ita ille patricius ex gente clarissima Corneliorum, qui consulare imperium Romae habuerat, dignum moribus factisque suis exitium vitae invenit. De Cethego, Statilio, Gabinio, Caepario eodem modo supplicium sumptum est.

was tresviri capitales. The singular, triumvir, does not justify the plural triumviri, since the ordinary grammatical laws require tres viri. In manuscripts, we usually find III. viri. Compare Zumpt, $124.

1 The preposition de in this compound adds to the idea of the simple verb ducere, that of the place to which a person is led, and in which he is to remain; hence it is frequently used in the expression domum deducere, 'to take' or 'lead a person home.'

Locus, quod. Respecting the gender of the relative pronoun, see Zumpt, $372.

3 The whole structure was called carcer Mamertinus, and its main parts still exist, being changed into a Christian church, San Pietro in carcere. It is situated not far from the ancient forum Romanum, to the north-east, at the foot of the Capitoline hill. According to Sallust's description, persons on entering had to go down a few steps leading to the entrance of the Tullianum, a subterraneous apartment cut into the rock, and covered over with a roof; and this was the place where prisoners were executed. Their corpses were afterwards publicly exhibited in the adjoining Scalae Gemoniae. The name Tullianum is derived by the Romans from their king, Tullus Hostilius.

"The roof is bound together by arches of stone,' to make it strong, for otherwise, wooden beams were used for such purposes. Incultus, a substantive of rare occurrence, denoting ' want of cleanliness, 'the absence of care.'

* Punishers of capital offences' is only a paraphrase for carnifices, 'executioners.'

Cornelius Lentulus had been consul as early as B. c. 71, but the year after, he had been ejected from the senate by the censors, on account of his base conduct. In order to be able to re-enter the senate, he caused himself to become praeter a second time in this year, B. c. 63, in which he ended his life so disgracefully. It is mentioned that he was of a manly and handsome appearance; but the baseness of his character is attested also by other authors.

* The only one among the others who was a member of the senate was Cornelius Cethegus; Gabinius and Statilius were men of equestrian rank, and Čaeparius was a native of the municipium of Terracina.

56. Dum ea Romae geruntur, Catilina ex omni copia, quam et ipse adduxerat et Manlius habuerat, duas legiones instituit, cohortes pro numero militum complet, deinde, ut quisque voluntarius aut ex sociis in castra venerat, aequaliter distribuerat, ac brevi spatio legiones numero hominum expleverat, quum initio non amplius duobus milibus habuisset. Sed ex omni copia circiter pars quarta erat militaribus armis instructa; ceteri, ut quemque casus armaverat, sparos aut lanceas, alii praeacutas sudes portabant. Sed postquam Antonius cum exercitu adventabat, Catilina per montes iter facere, modo ad urbem, modo in Galliam versus castra movere, hostibus occasionem pugnandi non dare; sperabat propediem magnas copias sese habiturum, si Romae socii incepta patravissent. Interea servitia repudiabat, cujus initio ad eum magnae copiae concurrebant, opibus conjurationis fretus, simul alienum suis rationibus existimans, videri causam civium cum servis fugitivis communicavisse.

* A regular military force is more commonly called copiae, but the singular, copia, also occurs in the sense of 'army,' especially when it consists of an irregular mass of troops.

2 Cohortes complet cannot mean in this passage, he makes the cohorts complete,' for such a completeness (consisting of at least 420 men) is incompatible with the addition pro numero militum, 'according to the number of his soldiers' in each cohort was not the usual number of a complete cohort. Complet refers to the number of cohorts, ten of which made a legion. Translate therefore, 'he makes the full number of cohorts.'

3 Duobus milibus. Sallust might have said duo milia, with the ellipsis of quam so customary with plus, amplius, and minus. See Zumpt, $ 485.

* Sparus is said to be a wooden kind of weapon, resembling a shepherd's staff, turned at the top; and lancea a spear with a handle in the middle. Both these weapons were not used by Roman soldiers, for the latter, besides the short and broad gladius, used the pilum, as long as a man is high, and as thick as a fist, the upper end of which was strongly provided with iron, and sometimes the hasta, which was still longer, and had an iron point.

L. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in the consulship, в. с. 63. * Servitia, cujus magnae copiae; a singular construction, which cannot be explained otherwise than by taking cujus as a neuter, slaves, of which large numbers flocked to him. This explanation, however, is supported by the consideration that slaves were regarded as things, and were designated by names of the neuter gender, as servitia, mancipia. In ordinary language, we should say cujus generis, of which class of men.'

Videri for se videri, he thought it contrary to his interest to appear to have maintained the cause of citizens with the aid of runaway slaves.' Respecting the omission of the subject of the infinitive when it is a personal pronoun, see Zumpt, $ 605.

« IndietroContinua »