ORATIO IV. IN L. CATILINAM.

INTRODUCTION.

THE Senate, the next day after that in which the Consul had communicated the detection of the conspirators, ordered publick rewards to be given to the deputies of the Gauls and to Vulturcius, for their discoveries; but in the mean time the city being alarmed by reports of new plots, formed by the slaves and partisans of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, Cicero resolved to terminate the affair as soon as possible, and therefore on the day succeeding summoned the Senate to determine the question concerning the punishment, which should be inflicted upon the prisoners. The opinion of Silanus, the consul elect, was first given: he thought that those of the conspirators, who were already committed to custody, men who had confessed themselves guilty of treason against the republick, and others, who were engaged in the conspiracy and who might afterwards be taken, should be put to death. In this advice many of the Senators, who spoke after him, concurred, till the opinion of Julius Caesar, then Praetor elect, was asked. Caesar, who was by many suspected of having encouraged and promoted the designs of the conspirators, was mild in his sentence; but such was his art, that he shrouded his misplaced clemency under the mantle of rigid justice. He said, if the prisoners deserved the most severe punishment, as it was observed, he dissented from the opinion, which had been advanced. Death, he thought, was not designed by the immortal gods as a punishment, bat either as a necessary law of nature, or a cessation of toils and misery; it was his opinion, that bonds and perpetual imprisonment were contrived for the punishment of the most detestable crimes, and he therefore advised, that the estates of the criminals should be confiscated, that their persons should be closely confined in the strongest of the municipal towns, and that it should be unlawful for any one hereafter to move the Senate or People in their favour. His elegant and eloquent speech made a great impression upon his auditors; it is said, even Silanus altered his opinion, and that the friends of Cicero, solicitous for his safety, which, they thought, would be secured by mild measures, readily concurred in Caesar's advice. Cicero, however, perceiving the opinions of the Senators to be changing, rose and delivered the following oration, the tendency of which, although it had the semblance of neutrality, strongly supported the counsel of Silanus.

VIDEO, P. C. in me omnium vestrum ora atque oculos esse conversos: video vos non solùm de vestro ac reipublicae, verùm etiam, si id depulsum sit, de meo periculo esse solicitos. Est mihi jucunda in malis, et grata in dolore, vestra erga me voluntas: sed eam, per deos immortales, quaeso, deponite; atque obliti salutis meae, de vobis ac de liberis vestris cogitate. Mihi quidem si haec conditio consulatûs data est, ut omnes acerbitates, omnes dolores cruciatusque perferrem; feram non solùm fortitèr, sed etiam libentèr, dummodo meis laboribus vobis populoque Romano dignitas salusque pariatur. Ego sum ille Consul, P. C. cui non 'forum, in quo omnis aequitas continetur; non campus consularibus auspiciis consecratus; non curia, summum auxilium omnium gentium; non *domus, commune perfugium;

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1. Forum The Forum was a large oblong open space between the Capitoline and Palatine hills, where the assemblies of the people were held, where justice was administered, and publick business transacted. Cicero had frequently been in danger in the Forum from the designs of Catiline.

2. Campus-The Campus Martius was a large plain along the Tiber, consecrated to Mars. On this plain the Comitia Centuriața were held for creating Consuls, Praetors, Censors, and other Magistrates; and in this place also Catiline several times attempted to put Cicero to death.

3. Curia-Curiae were buildings in which the Senate assembled. In the senate house likewise Catiline had threatened the life of Cic.

ero.

4. Domus..... lectus-These words refer to the attempt, which the two knights, mentioned in the first oration, made to kill Cicero in his bed.

5. Domus, commune perfugium-It was unlawful, according to the Twelve Tables, to force any person to court from his own house, because a man's house was esteemed his sanctuary. But if any person lurked at home to elude a prosecution, he was summoned three times, with an interval of ten days between each summons, by

non lectus, ad quietem datus ; non denique haec sedes honoris, sella curulis, unquam vacua mortis periculo atque insidiis fuit. Ego multa tacui, multa pertuli, multa concessi, multa meo quodam dolore in vestro timore sanavi. Nunc si hunc exitum Consulatûs mei dii immortales esse voluerunt, ut vos, P. C. populumque Romanum ex caede miserâ, conjuges liberosque vestros virginesque Vestales ex acerbissimâ vexatione; templa atque delubra, hanc pulcherrimam patriam omnium nostrûm ex foedissimâ flammâ; totam Italiam ex bello et vastitate eriperem ; quaecunque mihi uni proponetur fortuna, subeatur. Etenim si P. Lentulus suum nomen, inductus a vatibus, fatale ad perniciem reipublicae fore putavit; cur ego non laeter, meum consulatum ad salutem reipublicae propè fatalem exstitisse?

the voice of a herald, or by letters, or by the edict of the Praetor; and if he still did not appear, the prosecutor was put in possession of his effects.

6. Sella curulis-The Roman Consuls, Praetors, Censors, and chief Aediles, were called MAGISTRATUS CURULES from the name of the vehicles in which they used to ride, CURRUS; and the seat, on which these magistrates sat in the Senate-house, the Rostra, or tribunal of justice, was called SELLA CURULIS, because they carried it with them in their chariots.

7. Hunc exitum Consulatus-Cicero delivered this oration on the 5th of December, and, as Decius Junius Silanus, and Lucius Licinius Muraena, the Consuls elect, were to enter upon their office on the first of January, his consulship would soon expire.

8. Virginesque Vestales--These virgins were consecrated to the worship of Vesta, the goddess of fire. Their duties were to keep the sacred fire always burning, to keep the secret pledge of the empire, supposed to have been the Palladium, or Penates of the Roman people, and to perform constantly the sacred rites of the goddess. They wore a long white robe bordered with purple, and enjoyed singular privileges and honours. The Practors and Consuls, when they met them in the street, lowered their fasces, and went out of the way to shew them respect.

9. Templa atque delubra-Templa were buildings, the situations of which were appointed, and which were consecrated, by the augurs delubra were buildings in which images of any gods were placed.

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II. Quare, P. C. consulite vobis, prospicite patriae; conservate vos, conjuges, liberos, fortunasque vestras populi Romani nomen salutemque defendite mihi parcere ac de me cogitare desinite. Nam primùm debeo sperare, omnes deos, qui huic urbi praesident, pro eo mihi, ac mereor, relaturos gratiam esse; deinde, si quid obtigerit, aequo animo paratoque moriar; neque enim turpis mors forti viro potest accidere, neque immatura consulari, nec misera sapienti. Nec tamen ego sum ille ferreus, qui 3fratris carissimi atque amantissimi praesentis moerore non movear, horumque omnium lachrymis, a quibus me circumsessum videtis: neque meam mentem non domum saepè revocat *exanimata uxor,abjecta metu filia, et parvulus filius, quem mihi videtur

1. Mihi parcere-In Rome every act of the senate or people was ascribed to the person, who summoned the assembly, as he presided in it and put the question; the odium of putting the conspirators to death would therefore fall upon Cicero, though the Senate voted it; he, however, tells them to cease their concern for him, and be regardful only of the publick interest.

2. Turpis......immatura......misera-A brave man would never die basely-a consular man could never die immaturely; when he attained consular dignity, he attained the highest pitch of political elevation-a wise man would not die miserably; it was a doctrine of the philosophy of the Stoics, that he would not be unhappy in the most excruciating torments.

3. Fratris-Many of the relations and friends of Cicero were present, and greatly concerned in the issue of the debate: this brother was Quintus Cicero, a brave man and good soldier.

4. Exanimata uxor-Terentia, from the many attempts already made to kill Cicero, was in much fear, that he would finally be mur. dered.

5. Filia-Tullia, Cicero's daughter, was celebrated for her beauty, her manners, and her learning. She was first married to C. Calpurnius Piso, afterwards to Crassipedes, and lastly to Dolabella.

6. Filius......obsidem-Men, who had children, were supposed to be more anxious for the publick safety, than those, who had no offspring. Cicero, therefore, says, that his son, who was named Marcus and was about a year old, was a kind of hostage in the hands of the republick, that gave the strongest assurance, that the father

amplecti respublica tanquam obsidem consulatûs mei; neque ille, qui expectans hujus exitum diei adstat in conspectu meo 7gener. Moveor his rebus omnibus, sed in eam partem, ut salvi sint vobiscum omnes, etiam si vis aliqua me oppresserit, potiùs quàm, ut et illi et nos unà cum reipub. peste pereamus. Quare, P. C. incumbite ad reipub. salutem: circumspicite omnes procellas, quae impendent, nisi providetis ; non *Tib. Gracchus, qui iterùm tribunus plebis fieri voluit: non C. Gracchus, qui agrarios concitare conatus est ; non L. Saturninus, qui C. Memmium occidit, in discrimen aliquod atque in vestrae severitatis judicium adducitur. Tenentur ii, qui ad urbis incendium, ad vestrum omnium caedem, ad Catilinam accipiendum, Romae restiterunt; tenentur literae, signa, manus, denique uniuscujusque confessio; solicitantur Allobroges: servitia excitantur: Catilina arcessitur : id est, initum consilium, ut, interfectis omnibus, nemo ne ad deplorandum quidem reipub. nomen, atque ad lamentandam tanti imperii calamitatem relinquatur.

III. Haec omnia indices detulerunt, rei confessi sunt, vos multis jam judiciis judicavistis: primùm, quòd mihi gratias egistis singularibus verbis, et meâ virtute atque diligentiâ perditorum hominum patefactam esse conjurationem decrevistis: deinde, quòd P. Lentulum, ut se abdicaret praeturâ, coegistis: tum,

would undertake nothing, but what he thought would promote the publick interest. Marcus, after the death of his father, attained the consulship under Augustus.

7. Gener-Piso, at this time the husband of Tullia.

8. Tib. Gracchus-See Note 5th, page 6th, note 9th, page 7th, and note 1st, page 8th.

9. Servitia excitantur-Slaves at first were rejected by the conspirators, but afterwards were invited to join the conspiracy.