M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, Charles Duke Yonge (Translator), 1.1

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[1]
When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now? Do not the nightly guards placed on the Palatine Hill—do not the watches posted throughout the city—does not the alarm of the people, and the union of all good men—does not the precaution taken of assembling the senate in this most defensible place—do not the looks and countenances of this venerable body here present, have any effect upon you? Do you not feel that your plans are detected? Do you not see that your conspiracy is already arrested and rendered powerless by the knowledge which every one here possesses of it? What is there that you did last night, what the night before— where is it that you were—who was there that you summoned to meet you—what design was there which was adopted by you, with which you think that any one of us is unacquainted?

In Catilinam. M. Tullius Cicero. Charles Duke Yonge (Translator). London. 1856.

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Current edition Perseus

Against L. Catiline (English) (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.)

Editions (1)

In L. Catilinam Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) — 1.1 focus

[1] 1 quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos¹ eludet? quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia? nihilne te nocturnum praesidium Palati, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi, nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora voltusque moverunt? patere tua consilia non sentis, constrictam iam horum omnium scientia teneri coniurationem tuam² non vides? quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris, ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, quid consili ceperis quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris?

Commentary

Commentary on First Oration against Catiline (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.) focus

etiam ( et jam), still,

eludet , baffle, i.e. his mad conduct makes fools of the Roman people, as it were, by continuing to escape the just punishment that would suppress it.

quem ad finem : almost equivalent to quamdiu, but implying some shock or crisis ( finem) which must follow.

sese jactabit , insolently display itself

nihil (adv. acc.), not at all .

Palati : one of the strongest positions in the city, commanding the Forum, and so most likely to be seized by the conspirators. The Palatium, an isolated hill, of a rudely quadrangular shape, was the original seat of the city of Rome, from which the city spread gradually over the other hills. In the last years of the Republic, the Palatine became the fashionable place for residences. Here was Cicero's house as well as Catiline's. It was because of its nearness to his house, as well as because of the strength of its position, that Cicero selected this temple for the meeting of the Senate on this occasion. Under the Empire the Palatine became the seat of the imperial residence, and its name, palace, has passed in this sense into most modern languages.

bonorum : the Senate was surrounded by a crowd of equites and other citizens (see sect. 21 , below).

locus : the Senate was assembled, not, as usual, in the Curia Hostilia, but in the Temple of Jupiter Stator, which occupied a commanding position on the brow of the Palatine Hill and faced the Sacred Way. The ruins of this temple were discovered some years ago (see view in text).

horum (with a gesture), i.e. the Senators present.

ora , features;

voltus , expression: the phrase is a sort of hendiadys, almost equivalent to expression of their features; § 640 (385); B. 374, 4; G. 698; H. 751,3, N.1 (636, iii, 2); H-B. 631,5.

patere : note the emphatic position.

non : observe the abruptness and force given by omitting the interrog. particle - ne .

constrictam . . . teneri , is held fast bound; § 497 , b (292, c) ; cf. B. 337, 6; G. 238; H.431,1(385, 1, N.); H.-B. 605,5.

proxima , superiore: for what was done on the night of Nov. 6, see sect. 4 ; as to proxima , last night, we meet with nothing but general assertions.

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 1.1

Charles Duke Yonge (Translator)

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