M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 1.5

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[5] castra sunt in Italia contra populum Romanum in Etruriae faucibus conlocata, crescit in dies singulos hostium numerus; eorum autem castrorum imperatorem ducemque hostium intra moenia atque adeo in senatu videtis¹ intestinam aliquam cotidie perniciem rei publicae molientem. si te iam², Catilina, comprehendi, si interfici iussero, credo, erit verendum mihi ne non hoc potius omnes boni serius a me quam quisquam crudelius factum esse dicat. verum ego hoc quod iam pridem factum esse oportuit certa de causa nondum adducor ut faciam. tum denique interficiere³, cum iam nemo tam improbus, tam perditus⁴, tam tui similis inveniri poterit qui id non iure factum esse fateatur.

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.) — 1.5 focus

[5] A camp is pitched in Italy , at the entrance of Etruria, in hostility to the republic; the number of the enemy increases every day; and yet the general of that camp, the leader of those enemies, we see within the walls—yes, and even in the senate, —planning every day some internal injury to the republic. ¹ If, O Catiline, I should now order you to be arrested, to be put to death, I should, I suppose, have to fear lest all good men should say that I had acted tardily, rather than that any one should affirm that I acted cruelly. But yet this, which ought to have been done long since, I have good reason for not doing as yet; I will put you to death, then, when there shall be not one person possible to be found so wicked, so abandoned, so like yourself, as not to allow that it has been rightly done.

Notes on the current edition

In Catilinam

1. videtis ah: videmus αβγ

2. iam om. Quintil. ix. 3. 19, sup. lin. hab Ao

3. interficiam te αγ

4. nemo tam perditus AV

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

castra sunt , etc.: an enumeration of the circumstances which make a mild policy no longer possible.

faucibus , narrow pass, leading north from Etruria, through the Apennines.

conlocata : § 495 (291, b); B. 337, 2; G. 250, a.2; H. 538, 4 (47 I, 6, N.1); H.-B. 320, iii, 248.

jam , at once.

erit verendum , etc., I shall have to fear, I suppose (ironical), that all good citizens will fail to say (lit. will not say ) that I have acted too late rather than that anybody will say that I have acted too cruelly, i.e. I shall have to fear that I shall be accused of cruelty rather than slackness.

ne non . . . dicat : § 564 (331,f); B. 296, 2, a; G. 550, 2; H. 567, 2 (498, iii, N.2); H.-B. 502, 4.

boni (sc. dicant): here, as usual, the well-intentioned, i.e. those who held the speaker's views.

ego : opposed to

omnes boni (1.19, above).

factum esse : § 486 , b and N. (288, d); B. 270, 2, a; G. 280, a.2; H.-B. 582, 3, a, footnote 2.

oportuit : § 522 , a (311, c) ; B. 304, 3, a; G. 597, a.3, a; H. 583 (51 I, I, N.') ; H-B. 582, 3, a.

denique , i.e. then, and not before.

jam , at length.

fateatur : for mood, see § 537 , 2 (319, 2); B. 284, 2; G. 631, I; H. 589, ii, 591 (509, 1); H.-B. 521, I.

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 1.5

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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