M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam, ed. Albert Curtis Clark, 2.20

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[20] Tertium genus est aetate iam adfectum, sed tamen exercitatione robustum; quo ex genere iste est¹ Manlius cui nunc Catilina succedit. hi² sunt homines ex eis coloniis quas³ Sulla constituit; quas ego universas civium esse optimorum et fortissimorum virorum sentio, sed tamen ei sunt⁴ coloni qui se in⁵ insperatis ac repentinis pecuniis sumptuosius insolentiusque iactarunt. hi dum aedificant tamquam beati, dum praediis⁶ lectis⁷, familiis magnis, conviviis apparatis delectantur, in tantum aes alienum inciderunt ut, si salvi esse velint, Sulla sit eis ab⁸ inferis excitandus: qui etiam non nullos agrestis homines tenuis atque egentis in eandem illam spem rapinarum veterum impulerunt. quos ego utrosque⁹ in eodem genere praedatorum direptorumque pono, sed eos hoc moneo, desinant furere ac proscriptiones et dictaturas cogitare. tantus enim illorum temporum dolor inustus est civitati ut iam ista non modo homines sed ne pecudes quidem mihi passurae esse videantur.

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.) — 2.20 focus

[20]
There is a third class, already touched by age, but still vigorous from constant exercise; of which class is Manlius himself; whom Catiline is now succeeding. These are men of those colonies which Sulla established at Faesulae , which I know to be composed, on the whole, of excellent citizens and brave men; but yet these are colonists, who, from becoming possessed of unexpected and sudden wealth, boast themselves extravagantly and insolently; these men, while they build like rich men, while they delight in farms, in litters, in vast families of slaves, in luxurious banquets, have incurred such great debts, that, if they would be saved, they must raise Sulla from the dead; and they have even excited some countrymen, poor and needy men, to entertain the same hopes of plunder as themselves. And all these men, O Romans, I place in the same class of robbers and banditti. But, I warn them, let them cease to be mad, and to think of proscriptions and dictatorships; for such a horror of these times is ingrained into the city, that not even men, but it seems to me that even the very cattle would refuse to bear them again.

Notes on the current edition

In Catilinam

1. iste est α h: est ipse cett.

2. hi om. αβx

3. quas α: quas Faesulas cett.

4. ei sunt insunt Eberhard

5. in Ernesti: om. codd.

6. praediis praesidiis Aaou

7. lectis α: lecticis cett.

8. eis ab ab a: ab his h

9. utrosque α h: Quirites (Quirites utrosque o2 cett.

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

ex eis coloniis : Sulla rewarded his veterans (120,000 in number) by liberal grants of land, partly in municipia already existing, partly in new colonies which he founded for them.

universas , as a whole.

civium esse , consist of etc.

ei sunt coloni , these are colonists of this sort (as opposed to the general character of the colonies, which Cicero does not wish to impugn).

beati , men of wealth.

Sulla , etc., Sulla will have to be raised from the dead, for they can have no such hope in Catiline.

agrestis , farmers, not Sulla's colonists.

veterum : alluding to the plunder of the disorderly times following Sulla's victory over the Marian party.

illorum temporum , i.e. the times of proscription. 10

M. Tullius Cicero In Catilinam 2.20

ed. Albert Curtis Clark

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Commentary

Stable identifiers