quos Catilina per montes asperos, magnis itineribus, in agrum Pistoriensem1 abducit, eo consilio, uti per tramites occulte perfugeret in Galliam. At Q. Metellus Celer cum tribus legionibus in agro Piceno præsidebat, ex difficultate rerum2 eadem illa existimans, quæ supra diximus, Catilinam agitare. Igitur, ubi iter ejus ex perfugis cognovit, castra propere movit, ac sub ipsis radicibus montium consedit3, qua illi descensus erat [in Galliam properanti]. Neque tamen Antonius procul aberat; utpote qui magno exercitu, locis æquioribus expeditus, in fuga1 sequeretur. Sed Catilina, postquam videt montibus atque copiis hostium sese clausum, in urbe res adversas, neque fugæ, neque præsidii ullam spem; optimum factum ratus in tali re fortunam belli tentare, statuit cum Antonio quamprimum confligere. Itaque, concione advocata, hujuscemodi orationem habuit: LVIII. "Compertum ego habeo, milites, verba virtutem non addere; neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem ex timido, exercitum oratione imperatoris, fieri. Quanta cujusque animo audacia natura 1 In agrum Pistoriensem, "the territory of Pistoria," modern Pistoia, in Etruria. Catiline had fixed his quarters at Fæsulæ. Coins have been found buried there, with dates reaching to this year, and no later, evidently to escape the search of his pillaging bands. Pistoia lay north-west of Fæsulæ, among the Apennines, on the road to Gaul. The direct road to the Cisalpine province lay to the north, through Bononia, but Celer occupied this. Besides, Catiline wanted to get to the Allobroges in the Transalpine. 2 Ex difficultate rerum, "from the difficult circumstances he was in ;" i.q. propter difficultatem. 3 Consedit: i. e. Comp. Cæs. B. G. i. 21. * In fuga: i. e. fugientem, castra posuit. aut moribus1, inest, tanta in bello patere solet: quem neque gloria, neque pericula excitant, nequidquam hortere; timor animi auribus obficit. Sed ego vos, quo pauca monerem, advocavi; simul uti caussam consilii aperirem. Scitis equidem, milites, secordia atque ignavia Lentuli quantam ipsi cladem nobisque attulerit; quoque modo, dum ex urbe præsidia opperior, in Galliam proficisci nequiverim. Nunc vero quo in loco res nostræ sint, juxta mecum omnes intelligitis. Exercitus hostium duo, unus ab urbe, alter a Gallia, obstant: diutius in his locis esse, si maxime3, animus ferat, frumenti atque aliarum rerum egestas prohibet. Quocumque ire placet, ferro iter aperiendum est. Quapropter vos moneo, uti forti atque parato animo sitis; et, cum prælium inibitis, memineritis, vos divitias, decus, gloriam, præterea libertatem atque patriam, in dextris portare. Si vincimus, omnia nobis tuta erunt, commeatus abunde1, coloniæ atque municipia patebunt: sin metu cesserimus, eadem illa adversa fient: neque locus, neque amicus quisquam teget, quem arma non texerint. Præterea, milites, non eadem nobis et illis necessitudo impendet: nos pro patria, pro libertate, pro vita certamus; illis su 1 Natura aut moribus, "natural or acquired." 2 Unus ab urbe, alter a Gallia, "6 one on the side of the city, the other on the side of Gaul." 3 Si maxime, "however much;" i. q. etiam si maxime. 4 Commeatus abunde: scil. erunt. Comp. c. 21. quibus mala abunde omnia erant. Jugur. 87. Romanos laxius licentiusque futuros. Hor. Sat. ii. 2. 106. recte tibi semper erunt res. So the adverbs impune, adversus, are joined with the verb subst. pervacaneum est pugnare pro potentia paucorum. Quo audacius adgredimini, memores pristinæ virtutis. Licuit nobis, cum summa turpitudine, in exilio ætatem agere potuistis nonnulli Romæ, amissis bonis, alienas opes exspectare. Quia illa fœda atque intoleranda viris videbantur, hæc sequi decrevistis. Si hæc relinquere vultis, audacia opus est: nemo, nisi victor, pace bellum mutavit. Nam in fuga salutem sperare, cum arma, quibus corpus tegitur, ab hostibus averteris, ea vero dementia est. Semper in prælio maximum est periculum, qui maxime timent: audacia pro muro habetur. Cum vos considero, milites, et cum facta vestra æstimo, magna me spes victoriæ tenet. Animus, ætas, virtus vestra me hortantur; præterea necessitudo quæ etiam timidos fortes facit. Nam multitudo hostium ne circumvenire queat, prohibent angustiæ loci. Quod si virtuti vestræ fortuna inviderit, cavete, inulti animam amittatis; neu capti potius, sicuti pecora, trucidemini, quam, virorum more pugnantes, cruentam atque luctuosam victoriam hostibus relinquatis." LIX. Hæc ubi dixit, paullulum commoratus, signa canere jubet, atque instructos ordines in locum 1 Supervacaneum, "superfluous," "a work of supererogation;" i.e. they already possess all the things that we are compelled to fight for, life, liberty, &c., and it is a mere matter of choice with them to fight for the ascendancy of the nobles. 2 Signa canere jubet, "orders the trumpets to sound." I understand signa however as the object, subaud. tubicines the subject, as in Jugur. 99. Marius jubet tubicines simul omnes signa canere. But this subject and object are rarely expressed together. We have Liv. xxiv. 46. cornicines canere jubent. Sall. Fr. Hist. i. 38. æquum deducit: dein, remotis omnium equis', quo militibus, exæquato periculo, animus amplior esset, ipse pedes2 exercitum, pro loco atque copiis, instruit. Nam, uti planities erat inter sinistros montes, et, ab dextra, rupes aspera3, octo cohortes in fronte constituit: reliqua signa1 in subsidio arctius collocat. Ab his centuriones omnes lectos, et evocatos, præterea ex gregariis militibus optimum quemque armatum, in primam aciem subducit. C. Manlium in dextera, Fæsulanum quemdam in sinistra parte curare jubet : ipse tum libertis et colonis propter aquilam adsistit, quam, bello Cimbrico, C. Marius in exercitu habuisse dicebatur. At ex altera parte C. Antonius, pedi cornicines occinuerunt. But it is more common to meet with the phrase in the text. Comp. Liv. i. 1; xxiv. 15; xxvii. 47. Some critics take signa as the subject, in which case the idiom is identical with the English given above. 1 Omnium equis. Comp. Cæs. B. G. i. 25. Cæsar primum suo deinde omnium e conspectu remotis equis, ut æquato omnium periculo spem fugæ tolleret. 2 Ipse pedes, "himself on foot;" as a foot-soldier. Comp. Senec. Ep. 104. per medias Africa solitudines pedes duxit exercitum. Lucan, ix. 587. præcedit anheli Militis ora pedes. 3 Rupes aspera: sub. erat. The MSS. read rupe, which can only be explained, aspera (loca) ab dextra rupe, and may be pronounced inadmissible. 4 Reliqua signa, "the rest of his 9 forces." Every maniple had its own standard. 5 Evocatos; veterans discharged or entitled to their discharge, but continuing to serve, or returning to service, with higher pay and peculiar privileges. 6 Fæsulanum quemdam. Plutarch gives him the name of Furius. 7 Curare, "to command;" a proper military term. Comp. Jugur. 46, 57, and elsewhere. Tacitus sometimes adds the object. Annal. i. 31. inferiorem exercitum A. Cæcina curabat. 8 Libertis et colonis, "his own freedmen and the Sullan veterans settled in colonies: a chosen band of men attached to his person. bus æger1, quod prælio adesse nequibat, M. Petreio2 legato exercitum permittit. Ille cohortes veteranas, quas tumulti caussa3 conscripserat, in fronte; post eas, ceterum exercitum in subsidiis locat. Ipse equo circumiens, unumquemque nominans adpellat, hortatur, rogat, uti meminerint, se contra latrones inermes', pro patria, pro liberis, pro aris atque focis suis, cernere. Homo militaris, quod amplius annos triginta tribunus, aut præfectus, aut legatus, aut prætor, cum magna gloria fuerat, plerosque ipsos 10 factaque 1 Pedibus æger. Antonius is surmised to have feigned sickness, to escape the necessity of fighting with Catiline, in whose designs he may have been partly implicated. See Dion. xxxvii. 39. 2 M. Petreio. The same who was joined in command with Afranius, as a legatus of Pompey in Spain, and was there defeated by Cæsar, A.u. 705. He caused himself to be killed in single combat with Juba, king of Numidia, after the disastrous battle of Thapsus. 3 Tumulti caussa. Tumultus, a sudden occasion of peril from a foreign foe, when the ordinary rules of service are suspended, and the citizens generally liable to be called out for the defence of the state. A tumultus was usually proclaimed when the Gauls threatened an invasion, as was said to be the case now 4 Inermes, "without the regular arms of legionaries." 5 Homo militaris, "a man of military experience." Comp. the same phrase above, ch. 45. There 6 Tribunus: scil. militum. were six of these to each legion. In early times they commanded the legion successively day by day, and even at this period a tribune might still be called by courtesy, the commander of a legion. Horace, at the age of 22, joined the army of M. Brutus in Greece, and was appointed a tribunus. He says of himself: Quod mihi pareret legio Romana tribuno. It is impossible that so young and obscure a man could have been actual commander of a legion. 7 Præfectus. The commander of the auxiliary horse, appointed, by the imperator from among his Roman officers. 8 Legatus. The consul's or imperator's lieutenant, generally in command of a detachment. 9 Prætor: i. q. imperator. Qui præit exercitui. 10 Plerosque ipsos, "most of them personally." |