Page. 1 13. Proxima. Cicero delivered this oration on the 8th November. A meeting of the conspirators had taken place on the night of the 6th, at the house of Laeca. This is what Cicero calls nor superior. The morning of the 7th was the time fixed for his assassination by the two Roman knights. During that day, Cicero caused all the movements of the conspirators to be closely watched, and ascertained also, by his secret agents, all that was done on the night of the 7th. This was the nox proxima. Compare chapter 4th, and Pro Sull. c. 18. 14. Immo vero. "Nay, indeed." Graevius omits vero, but its presence imparts additional strength to the clause. Compare Ep. ad Att. 12, 42: "Ferendus tibi in hoc error: ferendus? immo vero etiam adjuvandus." And also Tursellinus de Part. Lat. s. v. Immo. 15. Publici consilii particeps. "A sharer in the public deliberations." Cicero's object is to excite the indignation of the senate against Catiline, for his having come into that assembly, not to inquire or seek for any thing, but actually to take part in their deliberations. 16. Viri fortes. Spoken ironically. "Men, full of courage." Cicero charges himself and the senate with cowardice, in not having before this brought Catiline to'punishment.—Satisfacere reipublicae. "To be doing our duty to the state."-Istius. "Of that wretch." Pointing at Catiline. Compare note 4, page 1. 17. In te conferri, &c. Understand jampridem, from the previous clause. 'Long since ought that ruin to have been heaped upon thy own head," &c. The pronoun istam tacitly implies that the ruin in question is the work of Catiline, and this idea is immediately enlarged upon in what follows, quam tu in nos omnes, &c. 18. An vero. The primitive meaning of an is "or," and, when used interrogatively, the sentence is always elliptical. Thus, an decertare mecum voluit? "Did he wish to contend with me?" This, when resolved, is nothing more than, "Am I wrong in my surmise, or did he wish to contend with me?" So, in the present instance, an vero vir amplissimus, &c., which we translate, "Did, in fact, that very illustrious individual," &c., is, in reality, when fully expressed, am I wrong in my assertion, or did, in fact," &c The same explanation will apply to the Greek, when used as an interrogative particle. 19. P. Scipio. The reference is to P. Scipio Nasica. He is called privatus because the office of pontifex maximus was not a magistracy; and hence the same person could be pontifex and also consul or praetor. Compare the remarks of Muretus, ad loc. The term privatus may, therefore, be rendered, "although filling no office of magistracy." As regards Scipio Nasica, consult Historical Index, s. v. Scipio. Gracchum. Consult Historical Index, s. v. Gracchus, and Legal Index, s. v. Sempronia Lex. 20. Mediocriter labefactantem, &c. "When only disturbing, in a moderate degree, the settled order of things in the state." The idea literally involved is the causing what was before firmly fixed to totter, and swerve from its place. Status is here figuratively employed, in allusion to the posture or attitude of a gladiator in combat. It will be observed, that Cicero designedly extenuates the offence of Tiberius Gracchus, in order that the rigour, with which he was punished, might be contrasted the more strongly with the impunity enjoyed by Catiline. 21. Catilinam. The common text has vero after Catilinam; but since this already occurs with an, in the previous part of the sentence, and does not appear in the present passage as cited by Quintilian, (8, 4, 13,) we have rejected it with Manutius, Lambinus, and other editors. We have also given, with Schütz, terrarum, in place of the common reading terrae, the former likewise occurring in Quintilian. 1. Nam illa, &c. Cicero here assigns a reason for other examples not being cited, in preference to that of Tiberius Gracchus. They were of too remote a date; whereas the movements of Grac chus had occurred at a comparatively recent period. 2. C. Servilius Ahala. Consult Historical Index, s. v. Ahala. He was magister equitum to the dictator T. Q. Cincinnatus. Ernesti first gave the true reading C. Servilius, for the common lection Q. Servilius.—Sp. Maelium. Maelius was the richest private man in the commonwealth, and more than suspected of aiming at the sovereign power, in consequence of his liberal donations of corn among the lower orders, during a season of great scarcity. Consult Historical Index, s. v. Maelius.-Novis rebus studentem. "Aiming at a change in the government," i. e. plotting a revolution. 3. Ista virtus. "That degree of public virtue," i. e. of true patriotism. In our remarks on the pronoun iste and its usage by Cicero, we observed that the distinction there laid down did not hold good universally. (note 4, page 1.) The present passage furnishes a case in point. Ista is here used simply in the sense of illa, and the latter pronoun itself would no doubt have been actually employed, had it not occurred just before, in the expression "nam illa nimis," &c. Compare, as regards the exceptions to the rule about iste, tho remarks of Manutius, ad. Cic. Ep. Fam. 3, 10, (vol. 1, p. 161, ed. Graev.) and Laur. Valla, de L. L. Eleg. 2, 4, p. 51. Page. Page. 2 4. Habemus. We have rejected enim after habemus, with Graevius, Ernesti, Schütz, &c., on the authority of some of the best MSS. It appears to have found its way into the text from habemus enim, in the next chapter. 5. Senatusconsultum. By which the consuls were enjoined, "ut viderent ne quid detrimenti respublica caperet." A decree of this nature armed the consuls with dictatorial power for the time being, and, by virtue of it, they could put to death whomsoever they pleased, without the formality of a trial. (Compare Sallust, Cat. c. 29, and Plutarch, Vit. Cic. c. 15.) Catiline and his accomplices might have been seized and punished under this decree, but Cicero purposely abstained from such a course, and sought rather to induce them to quit the city. 6. Non deest reipublicae, &c. "Neither the counsel nor the sanction of this order is wanting to the republic," i. e. the decree which the senate had passed against Catiline contained "counsel," or consilium, and was a "sanction," or auctoritas. Compare Tacitus, Germ. 12. "Centeni singulis ex plebe comites, consilium et auctoritas, adsunt." 7..Nos consules desumus. "We consuls are wanting in our duty." We have inserted a third nos before desumus, as given by Priscian, lib. 17, p. 1076, ed. Putsch. (Op. ed. Krehl. vol. 2, p. 53.) -Cicero means, that the consuls have not done their duty in allowing Catiline to go so long unpunished. His object is to intimidate him, and induce him to leave the city. 8. Quondam. A. U. C. 633, B. C. 121. fore the time when Cicero uttered this.-L. consul, with Fabius Maximus, A. U. C. 633. Index. Fifty-eight years be- 9. Videret, &c. A decree of this kind was called decretum ultimum, or ultimae necessitatis. Consult note 5, page 2. Sometimes both consuls were named in it, at other times only one. 10. Quasdam seditionum suspiciones. "Certain suspicions of seditious projects." Cicero here purposely uses mild language, as in the instance of the elder Gracchus. (Note 20, page 1.) Consult Historical Index. 11. Clarissimo patre, &c. The Gracchi had for their father Sempronius Gracchus, who had been once honoured with the censorship, twice with the consulate, and had enjoyed two triumphs. Their maternal grandfather was the elder Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. 12. M. Fulvius. One of the three commissioners named for carrying into effect the agrarian law, by dividing the public lands. Page. He was the particular friend of C. Gracchus. Consult Historical 2 Index. The eldest son of Fulvius was slain with his father during the affray; the younger after the conflict. 13. C. Mario. This occurred during the sixth consulship of Marius. The crime of Saturninus and Servilius was seditious and turbulent conduct, and especially the having assassinated C. Memmius, a candidate for the consulship, in the Campus Martius. Consult Historical Index, s. v. Saturninus.-The individual, whom Cicero here calls C. Servilius, is elsewhere styled C. Servilius Glaucia. Cicero purposely employs the nomen merely, as it belonged to a family of distinction, and he adds to it the title of praetor, in order that it may be seen, that neither birth nor official dignity could save him from the prompt vengeance of the laws, which Catiline had for so long a time been braving. 14. L. Saturnini, &c. The true reading of this passage is involved in considerable doubt. The conjectural emendation, which we have given in the text, appears the least objectionable, and was first suggested, we believe, by E. H. Barker. "Did the punishment due to the republic, delay, for a single day thereafter, the death of L. Saturninus," &c., i. e. did L. Saturninus, though a tribune of the commons, and C. Servilius, although invested with the praetorship, escape the punishment of death, so justly their due, for a single day after the decree in question had been passed?—The common text has, num unum diem postea L. Saturninum tribunum plebis, et C. Servilium praetorem, mors ac reipublicae poena remorata est? "Did death, and the punishment due to the republic, fail, for a single day thereafter, to overtake L. Saturninus," &c. It is extremely questionable, however, whether we can say, in correct Latinity, poena remoratur hominem, "punishment fails to overtake the man." Cicero, elsewhere, uses remorari in its ordinary sense, "to delay," or "retard." Thus: "hae res quae caeteros remorari solent illum non retardarunt." (Pro. Leg Manil. 14.) Although Propertius, on the other hand, has a passage which seems at first view to favour the common explanation, " Quamvis te longae remorentur fata senectae." (1, 19, 17.) But there is nothing here, in reality, to prevent our making remorentur equivalent to retineant.— Ernesti gives the ordinary reading, in the passage of Cicero under consideration, but recommends L. Șaturnini, tribuni plebis, et C. Servilii, praetoris, retaining, however, mors ac, (which we have changed to mortem,) and giving to remorata est the intransitive meaning, "to delay," or "linger." But mors ac poena is extremely frigid. As regards the reading which we have adopted, it will be borne in mind, that proper names, and titles of office, are frequently Page. 2 written in the MSS. with more or less abbreviation, and that, in consequence of this, the grammatical case can oftentimes be discovered only from the context. So that, in fact, mortem for mors ac is the only alteration that appears at all violent, if it even be so in reality. 15. Nos. "We consuls." Referring to himself and colleague.Vicesimum diem. It was, in fact, only the 18th day since the senate had decreed that Cicero and Antonius should see that the republic received no injury. The orator, however, calls it, in round numbers, the 20th. So, in the oration against Piso (c. 2), in place of thirty-six years, he says forty. In the same way, the one hundred and five judges at Rome were called centumviri, “the hundred.” Compare the remarks of Asconius, in Pison. l. c., and those of Muretus on the present passage. Consult also Manutius, in loc. (Vol. 1, p. 441, ed. Richter,) "Integrum numerum amat orator," &c. 16. Gladium. Omitted in many MSS. and editions; but defended by Ernesti, because inclusum precedes. 17. Confestim interfectum, &c. "You ought, Catiline, to have been immediately put to death." Convenit is here the perfect tense. Muretus doubts, whether this usage of convenit be in accordance with correct Latinity; but many examples might be adduced in confirmation of it. One alone will here suffice: "Quo nomine mirarı convenit eos." (Vell. Paterc. 1, 3.) Compare Boecker, and Burmann, ad loc. 18. Cupio. Render the first cupio, "I am desirous, on the one hand," and the second, "I am anxious, on the other." If expressed in Greek, the first of these clauses would have μév, and the second, để. 19. Dissolutum. "Culpably negligent," i. e. too indulgent. Compare the remark of Ernesti, s. v. "Dissolutus, nimis negligens, opponitur severo et justo," (Clav. Cic.,) and the words of Cicero himself, on another occasion: "Maluisse Domitium crudelem in animadvertendo, quam in praetermittendo dissolutum videri.” (in Verr. 5, 3.). 20. Nequitiaeque. The term nequitia, though generally employed to denote, "worthlessness," "wickedness," "depravity," &c., is here used in a milder sense, for "utter remissness." Compare the language of Cicero, in the eleventh chapter of the present oration : 'num est vehementius severitatis ac fortitudinis invidia quam inertiae ac nequitiae pertimescenda?" Here nequitia is opposed to severitas. 21. In Etruriae faucibus. "In the mountain-defiles that open on Etruria." Cn. Manlius had then near Faesulae, in Etruria, an army, which he had collected from the veteran soldiers of Sylla, |