intentum ætatem agere: sed, a quo incepto studio me ambitio mala1 detinuerat, eodem regressus, statui res gestas populi Romani carptim2, ut quæque memoria digna videbantur, perscribere: eo magis, quod mihi a spe, metu, partibus reipublicæ, animus liber erat. Igitur de Catilinæ conjuratione, quam verissime potero, paucis absolvam3: nam id facinus in primis ego memorabile existimo, sceleris atque periculi novitate. De cujus hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt, quam initium narrandi faciam *.

6

V. Lucius Catilina 5, nobili genere natus, fuit

the nobles at this time were generally cultivated, and even superintended by slaves.

1 Ambitio mala, i.e. quæ malum affert, or, malos facit. So Horace, Sat. i. 6. 129. misera ambitio, i. e. quæ miseros reddit.

2 Carptim, "piecemeal;" "to write the history of Rome in monographies." Comp. Plin. Ep. vi. 22. ego carptim et Kaтa Kepάλala. Tac. Hist. iv. 46. dimissi carptim ac singuli.

3 Absolvam: scil. narrationem, "I will execute a narrative:" or absol. "I will discuss,” i. q. agam, disseram. Comp. Ammian. Marc. xxiii. 6. locorum situm, quantum ratio sinit, absol

vam.

4 Prius...quam...faciam. The conjunct. unusual. Jugur. 5. priusquam initium expedio. It implies more hesitation, "before I think of beginning." Cic. de Orat. 1. 39. tragœdi quotidie, antequam pronuncient, vocem sensim excitant.

5 Catilina. This cognomen is connected with the words catillus, “a dish;" catillo, "one who licks dishes;" and may be a cant term for a pilferer.

6 Nobili genere. The gens Sergia, a patrician house which claimed Trojan descent. Accordingly Virgil introduces a Sergestus in company with Eneas, Æn. v. 121. Sergestusque domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen. The name occurs in the Fasti from the year A.C. 303. There exists a coin of M. Sergius, with the cognomen Silus. One of this gens was distinguished for his valour in the war with Hannibal. Pliny, Hist. Nat. vii. 29. M. Sergio, ut quidem arbitror, nemo quenquam hominum jure prætulerit, licet pronepos Catilinæ gratiam nomini deroget. Secundo stipendio dexteram manum perdidit, stipendiisque duobus ter et vicies vulneratus est...sinistra manu sola quater pugnavit,...dextram sibi ferream fecit, eaque alligata præliatus, &c. Pliny mentions another Ser

magna vi et animi et corporis, sed ingenio malo pravoque1. Huic ab adolescentia bella intestina, cædes, rapinæ, discordia civilis, grata fuere; ibique 2 juventutem suam exercuit. Corpus patiens 3 inediæ, vigiliæ, algoris, supra quam cuiquam credibile est: animus audax, subdolus, varius, cujus rei libet simulator ac dissimulator: alieni appetens, sui profusus; ardens in cupiditatibus: satis eloquentiæ, sapientiæ parum. Vastus animus 5 immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta semper cupiebat. Hunc, post dominationem 6 Lucii

gius, with the cognomen Orata, Hist. Nat. ix. 79. Ostrearum vivaria primus omnium invenit Sergius Orata in Baiano, ætate L. Crassi oratoris, ante Marsicum bellum; nec gulæ causa sed avaritiæ, magna vectigalia tali ex ingenio suo percipiens...is primus omnium saporem ostreis Lucrinis adjudicavit. It seems not unlikely that the nickname Catilina may have been given him on this account.

1 Malo pravoque: malus, bad in essence, pravus, bad in form. Hence pravus, i. q. curvus, deformis, perversus: opposed to rectus. Hor. Sat.ii. 3. 87. Sive ego pravè seu recte hoc volui. Hence malus, bad in morals, pravus, perverse in judgment. Doederlein, Synon. i. 60.

2 Ibi: scil. iis rebus. Comp. Catil. 20. divitiæ apud illos sunt, ubi (sc. apud quos) illi volunt.

3 Corpus patiens. Comp. Cicero, in Catil. i. 10. præclaram tuam patientiam famis frigoris inopiæ rerum omnium and ii. 5. iii. 7. Comp. further the character of Catiline given by Cicerd, pro Calio, 6. Illa vero in

homine mirabilia fuerunt.....versare suam naturam, et regere ad tempus, atque huc et illuc torquere et flectere: cum tristibus severe, cum remissis jucunde, cum senibus graviter, cum juventute comiter, cum facinorosis audaciter, cum libidinosis luxuriose vivere. Hæc ille tam varia multiplicique natura, cum omnes omnibus ex terris homines improbos audacesque collegerat, tum etiam multos fortes viros et bonos specie quadam virtutis assimulatæ tenebat.

4 Cujus rei libet: i. q. cujuslibet rei. So Catil. 52. Sed cujus hæc cunque modi videntur.

5 Vastus animus, "prodigious or monstrous spirit." Vastus: 1 vacant; 2 desert; 3 wild; 4 shocking, monstrous; 5 vast.

6 Post dominationem, "no man since the usurpation of Sulla had been so ambitious of power." Comp. Jugur. 5. Hannibal post magnitudinem nominis Romani Italiæ opes maxime adtriverat, "more than any invader since the Roman power had become great."

Sullæ1, lubido maxima invaserat reipublicæ capiendæ; neque id quibus modis adsequeretur, dum sibi regnum pararet, quidquam pensi habebat 2. Agitabatur magis magisque in dies animus ferox, inopia rei familiaris, et conscientia scelerum; quæ utraque his artibus auxerat, quas supra memoravi. Incitabant præterea corrupti civitatis mores, quos pessima ac diversa3 inter se mala, luxuria atque avaritia, vexabant. Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere, ac, paucis, instituta majorum domi militiæque, quomodo rempublicam habuerint, quantamque reliquerint, ut, paullatim immutata, ex pulcherrima, pessima ac flagitiosissima facta sit, disserere.

VI. Urbem Romam, sicuti ego accepi 5, condidere atque habuere initio Trojani, qui, Aenea duce, profugi, sedibus incertis vagabantur; cumque his Aborigines, genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine

1 Sullæ, not Syllæ, as appears from inscriptions, and from the derivation of the word from sura.

2 Quidquam pensi habebat. Comp. Catil. 12. 23. 31. Jugur. 41. nihil pensi neque sancti habere. Liv. xlii. 23. pensum, i. q. perpensum, consideratum.

3 Diversa, "contrary one to the other."

↑ Supra repetere, "to trace from a higher source:" the object is instituta, or rather res Romanas generally, understood in inst. maj. disserere; "to discuss," with or without an accus. of the object. Comp. Cic. de Nat. Deor.

iii. 40. ea disserere malui. Tac. Ann. i. 4. bona libertatis disserere. This passage involves both these constructions: scil. disserere instituta, and disserere quomodo, etc.

5 Sicuti ego accepi. Implying that upon this point, namely, the foundation of Rome itself, there were different opinions. Tacitus commences his Annals with the words, Urbem Romam a principio reges habuere; upon which there is no difference of opinion.

Aborigines. Festus in voc. Aborigines appellati sunt quod errantes convenerint in agrum qui nunc est populi Rom. fuit enim gens antiquis

imperio1, liberum atque solutum. Hi postquam in una monia2 convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more viventes 3, incredibile memoratu est quam facile coaluerint. Sed, postquam res1 eorum civibus, moribus, agris5 aucta, satis prospera, satisque pollens videbatur, sicuti pleraque mortalium habentur, invidia ex opulentia orta est. Igitur reges populique finitimi bello tentare: pauci ex amicis auxilio esse; nam ceteri, metu perculsi 7, a periculis aberant. At Romani, domi militiæque intenti, festinare, parare, alius alium hortari; hostibus obviam ire9; libertatem, patriam, parentesque 10 armis tegere: post, ubi

sima Italiæ. Suidas, 'Aẞwpiyeves, ë0νος Ιταλικόν. Dionysius Halic. calls them 'Aßeppiyeves, evidently mistaking the meaning of the word; wote dŋλοῦσθαι πλανήτας.

1 Sine legibus, sine imperio, “without laws or regular government.”

2 Una mania. Unus in plur. only joined with plural nouns; as nuptiæ, littera, etc. Jugur. 60. unæ atque alteræ scala.

3 Alius alio more viventes. Comp. Catil. 52. alius alium expectantes. Jugur. 53.

4 Res, i. q. civitas. So res Romana, res Latina, etc.

5 Civibus, moribus, agris, "numbers, institutions, and territory."

6 Sicuti pleraque mortalium habentur, i. e. habent se, sunt. Comp. the Greek idiom ὡς ἔχει τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν OvnTv, "as is the case generally with human affairs." Mortalium may be gen. of mortalia, or of mortales, i. e. homines.

7 Metu perculsi. The common notion that percussus refers to the body, perculsus, to the mind, is erroneous. Either word is used either of body or mind; but percussus of the mind when the affection is slight, perculsus when it is grave. Bentley on Hor. Ep. vii. 15. Ruhnken on Terent. Andr. i. 1. 98. But this distinction is not always preserved.

8 Domi militiæque intenti, “always actively engaged, whether in peace or in war."

9 Obviam ire, "to oppose, resist." Jugur. 5. Liv. ix. 14.

pericula virtute propulerant, sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant1; magisque dandis quam accipiendis beneficiis, amicitias parabant. Imperium legitimum, nomen imperii regium habebant: delecti3, quibus corpus annis infirmum, ingenium sapientia validum, reipublicæ consultabant: hi, vel ætate, vel curæ similitudine, PATRES appellabantur. Post, ubi regium imperium, quod, initio, conservandæ libertatis, atque augendæ reipublicæ fuerat, in superbiam dominationemque convertit 5, immutato more, annua imperia,

abunde habemus, amicorum nunquam Isatis fuit. Vell. ii. 108. Maroboduus ex voluntate parentium inter suos occupavit principatum.

1 Portabant. This word used (for ferebant) of weighty, and fig. of important things. Ruhnken ad Terent. Andr. ii. 2. 1.

2 Imperium legitimum. Imperium is absolute, irresponsible authority, within certain limits of time, place, and circumstance, as that of a general over his soldiers in the field, of the consul in certain particulars, as of levying soldiers, taking the auspices, &c. Legitimum, "restricted by law."

3 Delecti, "selected;" legere and eligere, "to take," generally, out of a number: deligere, "to select for peculiar fitness." Thus in Cæs. B. G. vii. 76. Huic rei idoneos homines deligebat.

4 Regium imperium quod initio conservandæ libertatis fuerat, "regal authority which had originally conduced to the maintenance of liberty." Comp. Liv. iii. 39. Quod unum exæquandæ sit libertatis. xxxviii. 50.

nihil tam æquandæ libertatis esse. xxvii. 9. ea prodendi imperii Rom. tradendæ Hannibali victoriæ esse. Varro, de Re Rust. i. 19. ea sola quæ agri tuendi erunt. In all these cases the subject of the sentence conduces to, or has for its object that which is put in the genit. with the future participle; and the genitive attributes to it a certain quality, function or tendency. But where the genitive is connected with another verb than the verb substantive, causaor concilio must be supplied, like the Greek éveka or Xápiv. Thus Sallust Fr. Hist. i. 19. exercitum opprimendæ libertatis habet. Liv. viii. 6. placuit averruncandæ Deum iræ victimas cædi. That these are not genitives of quality (e. g. victims fit for averting divine wrath) appears from such passages as Tac. Ann. ii. 59. Germanicus Ægyptum proficiscitur cognoscendæ antiquitatis. iii. 27. multa populus paravit tuendæ libertatis et firmandæ concordiæ.

5 Convertit, "turned itself," intrans. or more properly reflexive.