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II. Pars Secunda (§§ 12-16).

12_16

Catiline is not in exile: he has joined his hostile army. Men say the consul has driven him into banishment; would the charge were true! 6

p118_l14

etiam , still (after all that has been done).

p118_l15

quod , obj. of adsequi, if I could effect it (referring to ipsos , etc.), i.e. their expulsion.

p118_l17

enim , i.e. the idea is absurd, as is implied in the irony following.

p118_l19

quid , tell me: i.e. "is that possible ?" in view of the circumstances, which he proceeds to narrate.

hesterno die qualifies convocavi .

p118_l21

detuli : technical term for laying a matter before the Senate; cf. referre (ad senatum) in the Vocabulary.

p118_l28

[13] quaesivi , etc.: see Cat. 1, sect. 9 .

p118_l29

necne : § 335 ,d(211,d); B. 162,4; G.459; H.380, 1 (353, N.1); H.-B. 234, a.

p118_l32

ei : dat. of agent; § 375 (232, a); B. 189, 2; G. 354; H. 431, 2 (388, I); H-B. 373, 2.

p119_l1

teneretur , was caught

p119_l2

pararet : for pluperf. (see note on Cat. 1, p. 100, l. 13 ).

securis , fascis : the use of these signified that Catiline intended to assume the authority and imperium of consul (see Fig. 25, p.290).

p119_l3

aquilam : see Cat. 1, p. 109, l. 6 , and note.

p119_l5

[14] eiciebam : conative imperf.; § 471 , c (277, c); B. 260, 3; G. 233; H. 534, 2 (469, I); H.-B. 484.

p119_l6

credo : ironical, as very often in this parenthetical use.

p119_l8

suo nomine , i.e. not by Catiline's order; the whole is, of course, ironical, as is already indicated by credo.

p119_l10

Massiliam : Marseilles, an ancient Greek city of Gaul, always faithful and friendly to Rome. It was a favorite place of sojourn for Romans who went into voluntary exile. 119.11

condicionem , terms.

p119_l12

nunc , even now.

p119_l14

pertimuerit , take alarm.

p119_l18

spe conatuque : referring of course to his treasonable hopes and designs.

p119_l22

[15] est mihi tanti , it is worth my while: § 417 (252, a); cf. B. 203, 3; G. 380, I, R.; H. 448 (404); H.-B. 356, I.

p119_l25

depellatur : § 528 (314); B. 310,ii; G.573; H. 587(313,i); H.-B. 529.

sane (concessive), f you like (see Vocab.).

p119_l28

invidiae , etc.: rather than have his predictions verified in this way, Cicero prefers the unjust odium of having arbitrarily driven Catiline to exile.

p119_l31

aliquando , some day.

quod. . . emiserim : § 592 , 3 (341, d); B. 323; G. 541; H. 588, ii (516, ii); H-B. 535, 2, a.

emiserim , eiecerim , let him go... drove him out

p120_l2

si interfectus , etc.: he thus adroitly excuses himself to those who would have preferred harsher measures. Notice the identity in sound in profectus , interfectus, and observe how the argument a fortiori is brought out by the exact antithesis.

p120_l3

[16] quamquam (corrective), and yet

p120_l4

dictitant : notice the frequentative.

p120_l5

nemo , not a man.

misericors : his going to Manlius was his inevitable ruin, and yet, for all their pity, they still wished him to go.

p120_l8

latrocinantem , in partisan warfare (see note on p.109, L I).

vivere : § 583 , c (336, c, N.2) ; G. 644, R3, b; cf. H. 613, 7 (535, i, 6); H.-B. 535, I, c.

p120_l10

vivis nobis , i.e. without assassinating me.

Commentary on Second Oration against Catiline. James Bradstreet Greenough. ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge. Boston. 1897.

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Current edition Perseus

Commentary on Second Oration against Catiline (English) (Select Orations of Cicero (Allen and Greenough's Edition). Greenough, James Bradstreet; Kittredge, George Lyman, editors. Boston, London: Ginn & Company, 1897.)

Editions (1)

In L. Catilinam Perseus (Cicero. M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes, Volume 1. Clark, Albert Curtis, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.) — 2.12 focus

[12] 6 at etiam sunt qui dicant, Quirites¹, a me eiectum esse Catilinam². quod ego si verbo adsequi possem, istos ipsos eicerem qui haec loquuntur. homo enim videlicet timidus aut etiam permodestus vocem consulis ferre non potuit; simul atque ire in exsilium iussus est, paruit³. quin⁴ hesterno die, cum domi meae paene interfectus essem, senatum in aedem Iovis Statoris convocavi⁵, rem omnem ad patres conscriptos detuli. quo cum Catilina venisset, quis eum senator appellavit, quis salutavit, quis denique ita aspexit ut perditum civem ac non potius ut importunissimum hostem? quin etiam principes eius ordinis partem illam subselliorum ad quam ille accesserat nudam atque inanem reliquerunt.

[13] hic ego vehemens ille consul qui verbo civis in exsilium eicio quaesivi a Catilina in⁶ nocturno conventu ad M. M arcum Laecam fuisset necne. cum ille homo audacissimus conscientia convictus primo reticuisset, patefeci cetera: quid ea nocte egisset, ubi fuisset⁷, quid in proximam⁸ constituisset, quem ad modum esset ei ratio totius belli descripta edocui. cum haesitaret, cum teneretur, quaesivi quid dubitaret proficisci eo quo iam pridem pararet, cum arma, cum securis, cum fascis, cum tubas, cum signa militaria, cum aquilam illam argenteam cui ille etiam sacrarium⁹ domi suae fecerat scirem esse praemissam.

[14] in exsilium eiciebam quem iam ingressum esse in bellum videram¹⁰? etenim, credo, Manlius iste centurio qui in agro Faesulano castra posuit bellum populo Romano suo nomine indixit, et illa castra nunc non Catilinam ducem exspectant, et ille eiectus in exsilium se Massiliam, ut aiunt, non in haec castra confert¹¹. 7 O condicionem miseram non modo administrandae verum etiam conservandae rei publicae! nunc si L. L ucius Catilina consiliis, laboribus, periculis meis circumclusus ac debilitatus subito pertimuerit, sententiam mutaverit, deseruerit suos, consilium belli faciendi abiecerit, et ex¹² hoc cursu sceleris ac¹³ belli iter ad fugam atque in exsilium¹⁴ converterit, non ille a me spoliatus armis audaciae, non obstupefactus ac perterritus mea diligentia, non de spe conatuque depulsus, sed indemnatus innocens in exsilium eiectus a consule vi et minis esse dicetur: et erunt qui illum, si hoc fecerit, non improbum sed miserum¹⁵, me non diligentissimum consulem sed crudelissimum tyrannum existimari velint!

[15] est mihi tanti, Quirites, huius invidiae falsae atque iniquae tempestatem subire, dum modo a vobis huius horribilis belli ac nefarii periculum depellatur. dicatur sane eiectus esse a me, dum modo eat in exsilium. sed mihi credite, non est iturus. numquam ego ab¹⁶ dis immortalibus optabo, Quirites, invidiae meae relevandae¹⁷ causa ut L. L ucium Catilinam ducere exercitum hostium atque in armis volitare audiatis, sed triduo tamen audietis; multoque magis illud timeo ne mihi sit invidiosum aliquando quod illum emiserim potius¹⁸ quam quod eiecerim. sed cum sint homines qui illum, cum profectus sit, eiectum esse dicant, idem, si interfectus esset, quid dicerent?

[16] quamquam isti qui Catilinam Massiliam ire dictitant non tam hoc queruntur quam verentur. nemo est istorum tam misericors qui illum non ad Manlium quam ad Massiliensis ire malit. ille autem, si me hercule hoc quod agit numquam antea cogitasset, tamen latrocinantem se interfici mallet quam exsulem vivere. nunc vero, cum ei nihil adhuc praeter ipsius voluntatem cogitationemque acciderit, nisi quod vivis nobis Roma profectus est, optemus potius ut eat in exsilium quam queramur.

Translations (1)

Against L. Catiline Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 2.12 focus

[12]
But there are men, O Romans, who say that Catiline has been driven by me into banishment. But if I could do so by a word, I would drive out those also who say so. Forsooth, that timid, that excessively bashful man could not bear the voice of the consul; as soon as he was ordered to go into banishment, he obeyed, he was quiet. Yesterday, when I had been all but murdered at my own house, I convoked the senate in the temple of Jupiter Stator; I related the whole affair to the conscript fathers; and when Catiline came thither, what senator addressed him? who saluted him? who looked upon him not so much even as an abandoned citizen, as an implacable enemy? Nay the chiefs of that body left that part of the benches to which he came naked and empty.

[13]
On this I, that violent consul, who drive citizens into exile by a word, asked of Catiline whether he had been at the nocturnal meeting at Marcus Lecca's, or not; when that most audacious man, convicted by his own conscience, was at first silent. I related all the other circumstances; I described what he had done that night, where he had been, what he had arranged for the next night, how the plan of the whole war had been laid down by him. When he hesitated, when he was convicted, I asked why he hesitated to go whither he had been long been preparing to go; when I knew that arms, that the axes, the fasces, and trumpets, and military standards, and that silver eagle to which he had made a shrine in his own house, had been sent on?

[14] Did I drive him into exile who I knew had already entered upon war? I suppose Manlius, that centurion who has pitched his camp in the Faesulan district, has proclaimed war against the Roman people in his own name; and that camp is not now waiting for Catiline as its general, and he, driven indeed into exile, will go to Marseilles , as they say, and not to that camp. 7
O the hard lot of those, not only of those who govern, but even of those who save the republic. Now, if Lucius Catiline, hemmed in and rendered powerless by my counsels, by my toils, by my dangers, should on a sudden become alarmed, should change his designs, should desert his friends, should abandon his design of making war, should change his path from this course of wickedness and war, and betake himself to flight and exile, he will not be said to have been deprived by me of the arms of his audacity, to have been astounded and terrified by my diligence, to have been driven from his hope and from his enterprise, but, uncondemned and innocent, to have been driven into banishment by the consul by threats and violence; and there will be some who will seek to have him thought not worthless but unfortunate, and be considered not a most active consul, but a most cruel tyrant.

[15] I am not unwilling, O Romans, to endure this storm of false and unjust unpopularity as long as the danger of this horrible and nefarious war is warded off from you. Let him be said to be banished by me as long as he goes into banishment; but, believe me, he will not go. I will never ask of the immortal gods, O Romans, for the sake of lightening my own unpopularity, for you to hear that Lucius Catiline is leading an army of enemies, and is hovering about in arms; but yet in three days you will hear it. And I much more fear that it will be objected to me some day or other, that I have let him escape, rather than that I have banished him. But when there are men who say he has been banished because he has gone away, what would these men say if he had been put to death?

[16]
Although those men who keep saying that Catiline is going to Marseilles do not complain of this so much as they fear it; for there is not one of them so inclined to pity, as not to prefer that he should go to Manlius rather than to Marseilles . But he, if he had never before planned what he is now doing, yet would rather be slain while living as a bandit, than live as an exile; but now, when nothing has happened to him contrary to his own wish and design,—except, indeed, that he has left Rome while we are alive,—let us wish rather that he may go into exile than complain of it.

James Bradstreet Greenough Commentary on Second Oration against Catiline II

ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge

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II. Pars Secunda (§§ 12-16).

Current edition Perseus

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