M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 1.24

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[24] quamquam quid ego te invitem, a quo iam sciam esse praemissos qui tibi ad forum Aurelium praestolarentur armati, cui¹ sciam pactam et constitutam cum Manlio diem, a quo etiam aquilam illam argenteam quam tibi ac tuis omnibus confido perniciosam² ac funestam futuram, cui domi tuae sacrarium sceleratum³ constitutum fuit, sciam esse praemissam? tu ut illa carere diutius possis quam venerari ad caedem proficiscens solebas, a cuius altaribus saepe istam impiam dexteram ad necem civium transtulisti?

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

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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.) — 1.24 focus

[24]
Though why should I invite you, by whom I know men have been already sent on to wait in arms for you at the forum Aurelium; who I know has fixed and agreed with Manlius upon a settled day; by whom I know that that silver eagle, which I trust will be ruinous and fatal to you and to all your friends, and to which there was set up in your house a shrine as it were of your crimes, has been already sent forward. Need I fear that you can long do without that which you used to worship when going out to do murder, and from whose altars you have often transferred your impious hand to the slaughter of citizens?

Notes on the current edition

In Catilinam

1. cui Gulielmius: cum (cum sciam iam a) mei: cui iam Müll.

2. confido perniciosam α h: perniciosam esse confido cett.

3. sceleratum scripsi ( cf. obsceno sacrario Liv. xxxix. 15): scelerum α: scelerum tuorum cett., del. Halm

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

quamquam , and yet: § 527 , d, N. (313, f); B. 309, 5; G. 605, R.2; H. 586, 4 (515, iii, N.2); H.-B. 310, 7. cf. the same use of quamquam, p. 108, l. 13 , and of tametsi, p. 108, l. 16 .

invitem : § 444 (268); B. 277; G. 265; H. 557(486, ii); H.-B. 503.

sciam : characteristic subj.

Forum Aurelium : a small place on the Via Aurelia, about fifty miles from Rome. The Via Aurelia was the road which led along the sea-coast of Etruria, by which Catiline left the city the following night.

praestolarentur : rel. clause of purpose.

aquilam : the silver eagle had been adopted by Marius as the standard of the legion, and the eagle in question was said to have been actually used in the army of Marius.

sacrarium : it was customary in Roman houses to have a little shrine (see Fig. 27) for the worship of the lares and other protecting divinities. Doubtless Catiline was believed to have placed this eagle in such a shrine as an object of superstitious worship.

ut possis : exclam. clause with ut (see note on p. 108, l. 13 ). 10

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 1.24

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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