M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 2.11

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[11] quibus ego confido impendere fatum aliquod et poenam iam diu improbitati, nequitiae, sceleri, libidini debitam aut instare iam plane aut certe appropinquare. quos si meus consulatus, quoniam sanare non potest, sustulerit, non breve nescio quod tempus sed multa saecula propagarit rei publicae. nulla enim est¹ natio quam pertimescamus, nullus rex qui bellum populo Romano facere possit. omnia sunt externa unius virtute terra marique pacata: domesticum bellum manet, intus insidiae sunt², intus inclusum periculum est, intus est hostis. cum luxuria nobis, cum amentia, cum scelere certandum est. huic ego me bello ducem profiteor, Quirites; suscipio inimicitias hominum perditorum; quae sanari poterunt quacumque ratione sanabo, quae resecanda erunt non patiar ad perniciem civitatis manere³. proinde aut exeant aut quiescant aut, si et in urbe et in eadem⁴ mente permanent, ea quae merentur exspectent.

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.) — 2.11 focus

[11]
But I am confident that some fate is hanging over these men; and that the punishment long since due to their iniquity, and worthlessness, and wickedness, and lust, is either visibly at hand or at least rapidly approaching. And if my consulship shall have removed, since it cannot cure them, it will have added, not some brief span, but many ages of existence to the republic. For there is no nation for us to fear,—no king who can make war on the Roman people. All foreign affairs are tranquilized, both by land and sea, by the valour of one man. Domestic war alone remains. The only plots against us are within our own walls,—the danger is within,—the enemy is within. We must war with luxury, with madness, with wickedness. For this war, O citizens, I offer myself as the general. I take on myself the enmity of profligate men. What can be cured, I will cure, by whatever means it may be possible. What must be cut away, I will not suffer to spread, to the ruin of the republic. Let them depart, or let them stay quiet; or if they remain in the city and in the same disposition as at present, let them expect what they deserve.

Notes on the current edition

In Catilinam

1. est enim V αβγ

2. intus insidiae sunt om. CAV

3. manare Manutius

4. et in eadem in eadem AVo

Commentary

Commentary on Second 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

instare , is close at hand; plane merely emphasizes the idea of the verb.

propagarit : for tense, see § 516 , c, N. (307, c, a.) ; G. 595, N.2; H. 540(473).

pertimescamus ,

possit : subj. of characteristic.

unius : Pompey, just returning from his triumphs in the East.

quacumque ratione , sc. fieri potest

resecanda erunt , shall need the knipe (lit. must be cut away): the figure is derived from surgery.

si. . permanent : § 516 , a, N. (307, a, N.); G. 228; H. 533, 2 (467,5); H.-B. 572.

exspectent : hort. subj. in apod.; § 516 , d (307, d); B. 305, 2 G. 595; H. 580 (508, 4); H.-B. 532,1.

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 2.11

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

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