M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 1.19

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[19] 8 haec si tecum, ut¹ dixi, patria loquatur, nonne impetrare debeat, etiam si vim adhibere non possit? quid, quod tu te² in custodiam dedisti, quod vitandae suspicionis causa ad³ M’. M anlium Lepidum te habitare velle dixisti? A quo non receptus etiam ad me venire ausus es, atque ut domi meae te adservarem rogasti. cum a me quoque id responsum tulisses, me nullo modo posse isdem parietibus tuto esse tecum, quia⁴ magno in periculo essem quod isdem moenibus contineremur, ad Q. Q uintum Metellum praetorem venisti. A quo repudiatus ad sodalem tuum, virum optimum, M. M arcum Metellum⁵ demigrasti, quem tu videlicet et⁶ ad custodiendum te diligentissimum et ad suspicandum sagacissimum et ad vindicandum fortissimum fore putasti. sed quam longe videtur a carcere atque a vinculis abesse debere qui se ipse⁷ iam dignum custodia iudicarit?

In Catilinam. M. Tullius Cicero. ed. Albert Curtis Clark. Oxford. 1908.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by National Endowment For The Humanities (NEH).

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (1)

Against L. Catiline Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 1.19 focus

[19]
If, as I have said, your country were thus to address you, ought she not to obtain her request, even if she were not able to enforce it? What shall I say of your having given yourself into custody? what of your having said, for the sake of avoiding suspicion, that you were willing to dwell in the house of Marcus Lepidus? And when you were not received by him, you dared even to come to me, and begged me to keep you in my house; and when you had received answer from me that I could not possibly be safe in the same house with you, when I considered myself in great danger as long as we were in the same city, you came to Quintus Metellus, the praetor, and being rejected by him, you passed on to your associate, that most excellent man, Marcus Marcellus, who would be, I suppose you thought, most diligent in guarding you, most sagacious hi suspecting you, and most bold in punishing you; but how far can we think that man ought to be from bonds and imprisonment who has already judged himself deserving of being given into custody?

Notes on the current edition

In Catilinam

1. ut ita ut aho2

2. tu te CAVb: tu te ipse cett.

3. ad α, Servius ad Aen. i. 24: apud cett.

4. quia α h: qui αβγ

5. M. Metellum Metellum α: M. Marcellum cett.

6. te om. a

7. ipse α: ipsum cett.

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

Praeneste ( Palestrina), an important town of Latium, about twenty miles from Rome, in a very commanding situation. Its possession would have given Catiline a valuable military post. Praeneste had been a chief stronghold of the Marian party in the Civil War, and Sulla had punished it by establishing a military colony there (hence coloniam ).

sensistine , did you not find? - ne here nonne: § 332 , c and N. (210, d and N.); G. 454, N.5; H.-B. 231,1, N.1.

praesidiis , the garrison manning the walls; custodus, sentinels at the gates; vigilus, watchmen (i.e. night-guard).

agis , etc.: notice the climax.

noctem illam superiorem , that night, night before last, i.e. Nov. 6;

priore (1.29, below) refers to the same night.

quam te : § 581 , N.2 (336, a, I, R.); H. 643, I (524, 1.1); H.-B. 535, I, c.

inter falcarios , i.e. to the street of the scythe-makers.

non agam obscure , i.e. I will speak out and be more definite.

in domum : § 428 , k (258, b, N.3); G. 337, a.3; H-B. 454, 3.

eodem , at the same place (lit. to the same place, according to the Latin idiom).

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 1.19

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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