Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio, ed. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A., 22

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There were some, at that time, who said that Catiline, having ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they asserted¹ that he did this, in order that they might be the more closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such an atrocity. But so some thought that this report, and many others, were invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero , which afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to its magnitude.

Catilinae Coniuratio. Sallust. ed. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A.. New York and London. 1899.

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Current edition Perseus

Conspiracy of Catiline (English) (Sallust. Sallust, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus. Watson, J. S. (John Selby), translator. London: Harper & Brothers, 1899.)

Editions (2)

Catilinae Coniuratio Perseus (Sallust. C. Sallusti Crispi Catilina, Iugurtha, orationes et epistulae excerptae de historiis. Ahlberg, Axel Wilhelm, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1919.) — 22 focus

1 fuere ea tempestate qui dicerent Catilinam oratione habita, quom ad ius iurandum popularis sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis sanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtulisse: 2 inde quom post execrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in sollemnibus sacris fieri consuevit, aperuisse consilium suom, atque eo dictita re fecisse, quo inter se fidi magis forent alius alii tanti facinoris conscii. 3 nonnulli ficta et haec et multa praeterea existumabant ab iis, qui Ciceronis invidiam quae postea orta est leniri credebant atrocitate sceleris eorum, qui poenas dederant. nobis ea res pro magnitudine parum comperta est.

Catilinae Coniuratio Perseus (Sallust. Catilinae Coniuratio. (No bibliographic information found).) — 22 focus

Fuere ea tempestate, qui dicerent Catilinam oratione habita, cum ad iusiurandum popularis sceleris sui adigeret, humani corporis sanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtulisse: inde cum post exsecrationem omnes degustavissent, sicuti in sollemnibus sacris fieri consuevit, aperuisse consilium suum; idque eo dicitur fecisse, quo inter se fidi magis forent alius alii tanti facinoris conscii. Nonnulli ficta et haec et multa praeterea existumabant ab iis, qui Ciceronis invidiam, quae postea orta est, leniri credebant atrocitate sceleris eorum, qui poenas dederant. Nobis ea res pro magnitudine parum comperta est.

Notes on the current edition

Conspiracy of Catiline

1. XXII. They asserted]

Dictitare.

In referring this word to the circulators of the report, I follow Cortius, Gerlach , Kritzius, and Bernouf. Wasse, with less discrimination, refers it to Catiline. This story of the drinking of human blood is copied by Florus, iv. 1, and by Plutarch in his Life of Cicero . Dio Cassius (lib. xxxvii.) says that the conspirators were reported to have killed a child on the occasion.

Sallust Catilinae Coniuratio 22

ed. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A.

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