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III. Contentio (§§ 11-19).

11_13

Death is none too severe a penalty; rigor in punishing the conspirators is mercy to the city. Opinion of L. Caesar.

p146_l17

quamob rem , etc.: because Caesar's view has in Caesar a popular sponsor, while the view of Silanus is in fact the more merciful one.

statueritis , dederitis: § 516 , c and N. (307, c and a.); G. 595, N.2; H. 540, 2 (473, 2); cf. H.-B. 490.

p146_l18

contionem : see Introd. to Manilian Law in notes (p.272). The action of the consul would have to be justified before the people, who might regard it as a tyrannical measure. In this justification Cicero would have Caesar to assist him.

p146_l20

obtinebo eam , make it appear that it [this view], etc.

p146_l23

ita . . . liceat : an asseveration like our "so help me God." The point lies in the idea of "so and not otherwise" implied in it.

p146_l24

ut . . . moveor , as [it is true that] I am influenced, etc.

p146_l29

animo , hr my mind's eye (properly, abl. of means).

patria , native city.

p146_l32

[12] cum vero : vero introduces (as often) the most striking point. The other conspirators are bad enough, but when, etc.

p147_l4

Vestalium : see note on p. 130, l. 19 .

p147_l7

si quis : for form, see § 148 , b, N. (104, a, N.); G. 106, R.; H. 512, I (454, I); cf. H-B. 141, a.

p147_l9

sumpserit : see note on dependisse, p. 146, l. 7 ; for tense, see note on statueritis, p. 146, l. 17 .

p147_l16

ut . . . conlocarent : purp. clause in appos. with id .

p147_l22

[13] nisi vero , etc.: reductio ad absurdum, as usual with this phrase; § 525 , b, N. (315, b, N.); G. 591, R.4; H.-B. 578, 31 a.

L. Caesar : L. Caesar (consul B.C. 64), was a distant relative of the Dictator, son of Lucius Caesar (consul B.C. 90, the year of the Social War), the author of the law giving citizenship to the Italian allies (see note, Arch., sect. 7 ). The sister of Lucius Caesar (the younger) was married to Lentulus, and his mother, Fulvia, was daughter of M. Fulvius Flaccus, the leading adherent of C. Gracchus. When Gracchus and Flaccus found themselves ( B.C. 121) drawn into a collision with the Senate, they sent the young son of Flaccus with a proposition of compromise. The Senate, however, refused to listen to any terms, threw the messenger into prison, — where he was afterwards strangled, —and moved upon the insurgents with all the power of the state. In the contest that followed, both leaders and several thousands of their partisans lost their lives. It was to these events that L. Caesar had appealed in justifying his vote in condemnation of his brother-in-law Lentulus.

p147_l26

ejus refers to avum .

legatum : of course the informal messenger of insurgents could have no claim to the title ambassador, or to the privileges which attached to the title in ancient as well as modern times.

p147_l27

quorum limits factum : understand with simile some word describing the present conspiracy ( what act of theirs was like this?).

p147_l29

largitionis . . . versata est : the plans of C. Gracchus embraced not only a lex frutmentaria, allowing every citizen to buy a certain amount of corn from the state at less than half its market rate, and a lex agraria, providing for the distribution of public land among the poorer citizens, but also the establishment of several colonies, both in Italy and the provinces, the object of which was at once to provide poor citizens with land, and to relieve the city, by emigration, of a part of its proletariat. Though these grants were perhaps just, yet their proposal was regarded by the nobility as a political bid for popular favor, and hence gave rise to violent party jealousy (partium contentio).

p147_l31

avus (see note on p. 131, l. 6 ): he was an active supporter of the Senate on this occasion; ille (1.32) refers to the same person.

p148_l4

urbem inflammandam : according to Sallust's Catiline, ch. 43, this work was assigned to Gabinius and Statilius.

p148_l5

vereamini follows censeo (ironical), as if with ut omitted.

[14] Severe measures will be supported by the people. The humblest Citizens are stanch. The Senators are urged to act fearlessly: the consul will not fail them.

p148_l12

voces , remarks.

p148_l13

eorum , on the part of those, etc.

vereri . . . ut : § 564 (331, f); B. 296, 2; G. 550, 2; 11.567, I (498, iii, N.1); H.-B. 502, 4.

p148_l16

mea , etc.: observe the antithesis between mea summa cura and majore populi. . . voluntate .

p148_l29

ad , for.

consentiunt , unite.

p149_l1

ita . . ut , only to, etc. (lit. with this limitation that): see § 537 , b (319, b); G. 552, R3; H-B. 521, 2, d.

summam ordinis consilique , superiority in rank andprecedence in counsel ,

p149_l3

hujus ordinis (i.e. the Senate) limits dissensione in the sense of cum hoc, etc. For the long contest here alluded to, see Introduction, p. lxv.

p149_l5

quam st etc. , and if we keep this union, etc.

p149_l6

confirmo , I assure, in a different sense from confirmatam: Latin style does not (as ours does) object to such repetitions with a variation in meaning.

p149_l9

tribunos aerarios , deans if the tribes. The Roman people were divided into thirty-five tribes, local and territorial, like wards. These tribes were made the basis of the comitia centuriata, as well as of the comitia tributa. They served also as general administrative and financial divisions. From the latter character the name tribuni aerarii was given to their presiding officers.

p149_l10

scribas : the scribae quaestorii (treasury clerks) formed an important and powerful corporation. As they were a permanent body, while the quaestors (treasurers) were elected annually, they had the real responsibility in the management of the treasury.

p149_l11

sortis : the quaestors entered upon office on the Nones of December (Dec. 5); all other patrician magistrates on the first of January. The scribae had therefore come together in order to be present while the quaestors drew lots for their provinces.

p149_l12

ingenuorum , free-born. Freedmen, libertini, were always regarded as inferior in rank, if not in civil and political rights. Even these, however, are shown in the next chapter to be interested in the safety of the republic.

149.18

sua vktute : manumission was very commonly bestowed as the reward of some peculiar merit in the slave.

149.20

hic nati , i.e. citizens, as contrasted with the manumitted slaves (who were for the most part of foreign birth).

149.25

qui modo . . . sit : § 535 , d (320, d); H.-B. 579, N.2.

condicione : § 415 , N. (251, N.); Cf. B. 224, I; G. 400; H. 473, 2, N.1 (419, 2 4); H.-B. 443.

149.28

voluntatis : partitive gen. with quantum, as if tantum voluntatis quantum, etc.

p149_l30

circum tabernas , i.e. among the artisans. The Roman shops were like little stalls along the street, open in front, with a "long room," or perhaps two, at the back.

p150_l3

cubile ac lectulum : both words mean nearly the same thing, and imply a very humble way of living.

p150_l4

otiosum , peaceable; so oti (1.6).

p150_l8

quorum relates to eorum, three lines above.

p150_l9

incensis , Sc. tabernis.

futurum fuit fuisset ; § 517 , d (308, d); G. 597, R3 H. 582 (51 I, 2); H-B. 581, a; the protasis is implied in incensis .

p150_l11

populi Romani , as contrasted with the Senate: cf. the formula Senatus Populusque Romanus. 151.2

impiae , impious (in its strict sense a want of filial duty).

p151_l4

arcem et Capitolium : the Capitoline was a saddle-shaped hill, having the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus (Capitolium) on the southwestern point and the old citadel ( arx) on the northeastern (see Cat. 3, sect. 20 ). Since Jupiter Capitolinus was the protecting divinity of Rome, his temple was the most sacred spot in the whole empire.

p151_l5

aras Penatium : the Penates were gods of the household and the larder ( penus), worshipped by every paterfamilias in his own atrium. The state, being developed from the family, had likewise its Penates, which were fabled to have been brought by Aeneas from Troy and established at Lavinium, whence they were transferred to Alba Longa, and afterwards to Rome. Their temple was on the Velia, the low hill Connecting the Palatine and Esquiline.

ignem Vestue : the temple of Vesta was on the Sacra Via, toward the Palatine, — a small round building containing the symbolic household fire of the Roman state. see note on the Vestals, p. 130, l. 19 .

p151_l9

focis : the focus, the symbol of household life, was a brazier for burning charcoal. It originally stood at the rear end of the atrium, or great hall, of the house. Later it was moved, for all practical purposes, to the kitchen, but a representative focus remained in the atrium and continued to be the symbol of household life.

p151_l11

quae facultas : § 307 , e (201, d); cf. B. 251, 4, b; G. 616, 2; H.-B. 327.

p151_l13

in civili causa , on a political question.

p151_l14

quantis . . . delerit : this clause will be best turned into English by translating the participles fundatum , etc., as verbs, and delerit as a relative clause, — with how great toil this empire was established, which one night, etc. In Latin the question is contained in the interrogative modifiers of imperium and not in the main clause.

Commentary on Fourth 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 Fourth 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.) — 4.11 focus

[11] 6 quam ob rem, sive hoc statueritis, dederitis mihi comitem ad contionem populo carum atque iucundum, sive Silani sententiam sequi malueritis, facile me atque vos¹ crudelitatis vituperatione populus Romanus² liberabit³, atque obtinebo eam multo leniorem fuisse. quamquam, patres conscripti, quae potest esse in tanti sceleris immanitate punienda crudelitas? ego enim de meo sensu iudico. nam ita mihi salva re publica vobiscum perfrui liceat ut ego, quod in hac causa vehementior sum, non atrocitate animi moveor⁴ — quis enim est me mitior? — sed singulari quadam humanitate et misericordia. videor enim mihi videre hanc urbem, lucem orbis terrarum atque arcem omnium gentium, subito uno incendio concidentem. cerno animo sepulta in patria⁵ miseros atque insepultos acervos civium, versatur mihi ante oculos aspectus Cethegi et furor in vestra caede bacchantis.

[12] cum vero mihi proposui regnantem Lentulum, sicut ipse se⁶ ex fatis sperasse confessus est, purpuratum esse huic⁷ Gabinium, cum exercitu venisse Catilinam, tum lamentationem matrum familias, tum fugam virginum atque puerorum ac vexationem⁸ virginum Vestalium perhorresco, et, quia mihi vehementer haec videntur misera atque miseranda, idcirco in eos qui ea perficere voluerunt me severum vehementemque praebebo⁹. etenim quaero, si quis pater familias, liberis suis a servo interfectis, uxore occisa, incensa domo, supplicium de servis¹⁰ non quam¹¹ acerbissimum sumpserit, utrum is clemens ac misericors an inhumanissimus et crudelissimus esse videatur? mihi vero importunus ac ferreus qui non dolore¹² et cruciatu nocentis suum dolorem cruciatumque¹³ lenierit. sic nos in his hominibus qui nos, qui coniuges, qui liberos nostros trucidare voluerunt, qui singulas unius cuiusque nostrum domos et hoc universum rei publicae domicilium delere conati sunt, qui id egerunt ut gentem Allobrogum in vestigiis huius urbis atque in cinere deflagrati imperi conlocarent, si vehementissimi fuerimus, misericordes habebimur; sin remissiores esse voluerimus, summae¹⁴ nobis crudelitatis in patriae civiumque pernicie fama subeunda est.

[13] Nisi vero cuipiam L. L ucius Caesar, vir fortissimus et amantissimus rei publicae, crudelior nudius tertius visus est, cum sororis suae, feminae lectissimae¹⁵, virum praesentem et audientem vita privandum esse dixit, cum avum suum¹⁶ iussu consulis interfectum filiumque eius impuberem legatum a patre missum in carcere necatum¹⁷ esse dixit. quorum quod simile factum, quod initum delendae rei publicae consilium? largitionis voluntas tum in re publica versata est et partium quaedam contentio. atque illo¹⁸ tempore huius avus Lentuli, vir clarissimus¹⁹, armatus Gracchum est persecutus. ille etiam grave tum volnus accepit, ne quid de summa rei publicae²⁰ minueretur²¹; hic ad evertenda fundamenta rei publicae²² Gallos arcessit, servitia concitat, Catilinam vocat, attribuit nos trucidandos Cethego et ceteros civis interficiendos Gabinio, urbem inflammandam Cassio²³, totam Italiam vastandam diripiendamque Catilinae. vereamini minus²⁴ censeo ne in hoc scelere tam immani ac nefando aliquid severius²⁵ statuisse videamini: multo magis est verendum ne remissione poenae crudeles in patriam quam ne severitate animadversionis nimis vehementes in acerbissimos hostis fuisse videamur.

[14] 7 sed ea quae exaudio, patres conscripti, dissimulare non possum. iaciuntur enim voces quae perveniunt ad auris meas eorum qui vereri videntur ut²⁶ habeam satis praesidi ad ea quae vos statueritis hodierno die transigenda. omnia et provisa et parata et constituta sunt²⁷, patres conscripti, cum mea summa cura atque diligentia tum multo etiam maiore populi Romani ad summum imperium retinendum et ad communis fortunas conservandas voluntate. omnes adsunt omnium ordinum homines, omnium generum²⁸, omnium denique²⁹ aetatum; plenum est forum, plena templa circum forum, pleni omnes aditus huius templi ac loci³⁰. causa est enim post urbem conditam haec inventa sola in qua omnes sentirent³¹ unum atque idem praeter eos qui, cum sibi viderent esse pereundum, cum omnibus potius quam soli perire voluerunt.

[15] hosce ego homines excipio et secerno libenter, neque in improborum civium sed in acerbissimorum hostium numero habendos puto. ceteri vero, di immortales! qua frequentia, quo studio, qua virtute ad communem salutem dignitatemque consentiunt! quid ego hic equites Romanos commemorem? qui vobis ita summam ordinis consilique concedunt ut vobiscum de amore rei publicae certent; quos ex multorum annorum dissensione huius ordinis ad societatem concordiamque revocatos hodiernus dies vobiscum atque haec causa coniungit. quam si coniunctionem in consulatu confirmatam meo perpetuam in re publica tenuerimus, confirmo vobis nullum posthac malum civile ac domesticum ad ullam rei publicae partem esse venturum. Pari studio defendendae rei publicae convenisse video tribunos aerarios, fortissimos viros; scribas item universos quos, cum casu hic dies ad aerarium frequentasset, video ab exspectatione sortis ad salutem communem esse conversos.

[16] omnis ingenuorum adest multitudo, etiam tenuissimorum. quis est enim cui non haec templa, aspectus urbis, possessio libertatis, lux denique haec ipsa et³² commune patriae solum cum³³ sit carum tum vero dulce atque iucundum? 8 operae pretium est, patres conscripti, libertinorum hominum studia cognoscere qui, sua virtute fortunam huius civitatis consecuti, vere³⁴ hanc suam patriam esse³⁵ iudicant quam quidam³⁶ hic nati, et summo nati loco³⁷, non patriam suam sed urbem hostium esse iudicaverunt. sed quid ego hosce ordines atque homines³⁸ commemoro quos privatae fortunae, quos communis res publica, quos denique libertas ea quae dulcissima est ad salutem patriae defendendam excitavit? servus est nemo, qui modo³⁹ tolerabili condicione sit servitutis, qui non audaciam civium perhorrescat, qui non haec stare cupiat, qui non quantum⁴⁰ audet⁴¹ et quantum⁴² potest conferat ad salutem⁴³ voluntatis.

[17] qua re si quem vestrum forte commovet hoc quod auditum est, lenonem quendam Lentuli concursare circum tabernas, pretio sperare sollicitari posse animos egentium atque imperitorum, est id quidem coeptum atque temptatum, sed nulli sunt inventi tam aut fortuna miseri aut voluntate perditi qui non illum ipsum sellae atque operis et quaestus cotidiani locum, qui non cubile ac lectulum suum⁴⁴, qui denique non cursum hunc otiosum vitae suae salvum esse velint. multo vero maxima pars eorum qui in tabernis sunt, immo⁴⁵ vero — id enim potius est dicendum — genus hoc universum amantissimum est oti. etenim omne instrumentum, omnis opera atque quaestus frequentia civium sustentatur, alitur otio; quorum si quaestus occlusis tabernis minui solet, quid tandem incensis futurum fuit?

[18] quae cum ita sint, patres conscripti, vobis populi Romani praesidia non desunt: vos ne populo Romano deesse videamini providete. 9 habetis consulem ex plurimis periculis et insidiis atque ex media morte non ad vitam suam sed ad salutem vestram reservatum. omnes ordines ad conservandam rem publicam mente, voluntate⁴⁶, voce consentiunt. obsessa facibus et telis impiae coniurationis vobis supplex manus tendit patria communis, vobis se, vobis vitam omnium civium, vobis arcem et Capitolium, vobis aras Penatium, vobis illum ignem Vestae sempiternum, vobis omnium deorum templa atque delubra, vobis muros atque urbis tecta commendat. praeterea de vestra vita, de coniugum vestrarum atque liberorum anima, de fortunis omnium⁴⁷, de sedibus, de focis vestris hodierno die vobis iudicandum est.

[19] habetis ducem memorem vestri, oblitum sui, quae non semper facultas datur; habetis omnis ordines, omnis homines, universum populum Romanum, id quod in civili causa hodierno die primum videmus, unum atque idem sentientem. cogitate quantis laboribus fundatum imperium, quanta virtute stabilitam libertatem, quanta deorum benignitate auctas exaggeratasque fortunas una nox paene⁴⁸ delerit. id ne umquam posthac non modo non⁴⁹ confici sed ne cogitari quidem possit a civibus hodierno die providendum est⁵⁰. atque haec, non ut vos qui mihi studio paene praecurritis excitarem, locutus sum, sed ut mea vox quae debet esse in re publica princeps officio functa consulari videretur.

Translations (1)

Against L. Catiline Perseus (Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Volume 2. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Bell, 1856.) — 4.11 focus

[11]
Wherefore, if you decide on this you give me a companion in my address, dear and acceptable to the Roman people; or if you prefer to adopt the opinion of Silanus, you will easily defend me and yourselves from the reproach of cruelty, and I will prevail that it shall be much lighter. Although, O conscript fathers, what cruelty can there be in chastising the enormity of such excessive wickedness? For I decide from my own feeling. For so may I be allowed; to enjoy the republic in safety in your company, as I am not moved to be somewhat vehement in this cause by any severity of disposition, (for who is more merciful than I am?) but rather by a singular humanity and mercifulness. For I seem to myself to see this city, the light of the world and the citadel of all nations, falling on a sudden by one conflagration. I see in my mind's eye miserable and unburied heaps of cities in my buried country; the sight of Cethegus and his madness raging amid your slaughter is ever present to my sight.

[12] But when I have set before myself Lentulus reigning, as he himself confesses that he had hoped was his destiny, and this Gabinius arrayed in the purple and Catiline arrived with his army, then I shudder at the lamentation of matrons, and the flight of virgins and of boys and the insults of the vestal virgins; and because these things appear to me exceedingly miserable and pitiable, therefore I show myself severe and rigorous to those who have wished to bring about this state of things. I ask, forsooth, if any father of a family, supposing his children had been slain by a slave, his wife murdered, his house burnt, were not to inflict on his slaves the severest possible punishment would he appear clement and merciful or most inhuman and cruel? To me he would seem unnatural and hard-hearted who did not soothe his own pain and anguish by the pain and torture of the criminal. And so we, in the case of these men who desired to murder us, and our wives, and our children,—who endeavoured to destroy the houses of every individual among us, and also the republic, the home of all,—who designed to place the nation of the Allobroges on the relics of this city, and on the ashes of the empire destroyed by fire;—if we are very rigorous, we shall be considered merciful; if we choose to be lax, we must endure the character of the greatest cruelty, to the damage of our country and our fellow-citizens.

[13]
Unless, indeed, Lucius ¹ Caesar, a thoroughly brave man and of the best disposition towards the republic, seemed to any one to be too cruel three, days ago, when he said that the husband of his own sister, a most excellent woman, (in his presence and in his hearing,) ought to be deprived of life,— when he said that his grandfather had been put to death by command of the consul and his youthful son, sent as an ambassador by his father, had been put to death in prison. And what deed had they done like these men? had they formed any plan for destroying the republic? At that time great corruption was rife in the republic, and there was the greatest strife between parties. And, at that time, the grandfather of this Lentulus, a most illustrious man, put on his armour and pursued Gracchus; he even received a severe wound that there might be no diminution of the great dignity of the republic. But this man, his grandson, invited the Gauls to overthrow the foundations of the republic; he stirred up the slaves, he summoned Catiline, he distributed us to Cethegus to be massacred, and the rest of the citizens to Gabinius to be assassinated, the city he allotted to Cassius to burn, and the plundering and devastating of all Italy he assigned to Catiline. You fear, I think, lest in the case of such unheard of and abominable wickedness you should seem to decide anything with too great severity; when we ought much more to fear lest by being remiss in punishing we should appear cruel to our country, rather than appear by the severity of our irritation too rigorous to its most bitter enemies.

[14]
But O conscript fathers, I cannot conceal what I hear; for sayings are bruited about, which come to my ears, of those men who seem to fear that I may not have force enough to put in execution the things which you determine on this day. Everything is provided for, and prepared, and arranged, O conscript fathers, both by my exceeding care and diligence, and also by the still greater zeal of the Roman people for the retaining of their supreme dominion, and for the preserving of the fortunes of all. All men of all ranks are present, and of all ages; the forum is full, the temples around the forum are full, all the approaches to this place and to this temple are full. For this is the only cause that has ever been known since the first foundation of the city, in which all men were of one and the same opinion—except those, who, as they saw they must be ruined, preferred to perish in company with all the world rather than by themselves.

[15]
These men I except, and I willingly set apart from the rest; for I do not think that they should be classed in the number of worthless citizens, but in that of the most bitter enemies. But, as for the rest, O ye immortal gods! in what crowds, with what zeal, with what virtue do they agree in defence of the common dignity and safety. Why should I here speak of the Roman knights? who yield to you the supremacy in rank and wisdom, in order to vie with you in love for the republic,—whom this day and this cause now reunite with you in alliance and unanimity with your body reconciled after a disagreement of many years. And if we can preserve for ever in the republic this union now established in nay consulship, I pledge myself to you that no civil and domestic calamity can hereafter reach any part of the republic. I see that the tribunes of the treasury—excellent men—have united with similar zeal in defence of the republic, and all the notaries. ² For as this day had by chance brought them in crowds to the treasury, I see that they were diverted from an anxiety for the money due to them, from an expectation of their capital, to a regard for the common safety.

[16] The entire multitude of honest men, even the poorest is present; for who is there to whom these temples, the sight of the city, the possession of liberty,—in short; this light and this soil of his, common to us all, is not both dear and pleasant and delightful? 8
It is worth while, O conscript fathers, to know the inclinations of the freedmen; who, having by their good fortune obtained the rights of citizens, consider this to be really their country, which some who have been born here, and born in the highest rank, have considered to be not their own country, but a city of enemies. But why should I speak of men of this body whom their private fortunes, whom their common republic, whom, in short, that liberty which is most delightful has called forth to defend the safety of their country? There is no slave who is only in an endurable condition of slavery who does not shudder at the audacity of citizens, who does not desire that these things may stand, who does not contribute all the good-will that he can, and all that he dares, to the common safety.

[17]
Wherefore, if this consideration moves any one, that it has been heard that some tool of Lentulus is running about the shops,—is hoping that the minds of some poor and ignorant men may be corrupted by bribery; that, indeed, has been attempted and begun, but no one has been found either so wretched in their fortune or so abandoned in their inclination as not to wish the place of their seat and work and daily gain, their chamber and their bed, and, in short, the tranquil course of their lives, to be still preserved to them. And far the greater part of those who are in the shops,—yes, indeed, (for that is the more correct way of speaking,) the whole of this class is of all the most attached to tranquillity; their whole stock, indeed, their whole employment and livelihood, exists by the peaceful intercourse of the citizens, and is wholly supported by peace. And if their gains are diminished whenever their shops are shut, what will they be when they are burnt?

[18] And, as this is the case, O conscript fathers, the protection of the Roman people is not wanting to you; do you take care that you do not seem to be wanting to the Roman people. 9
You have a consul preserved out of many dangers and plots, and from death itself not for his own life, but for your safety. All ranks agree for the preservation of the republic with heart and will, with zeal, with virtue, with their voice. Your common country, besieged by the hands and weapons of an impious conspiracy, stretches forth her hands to you as a suppliant; to you she recommends herself to you she recommends the lives of all the citizens, and the citadel, and the Capitol, and the altars of the household gods, and the eternal inextinguishable fire of Vesta, and all the temples of all the gods, and the altars and the walls and the houses of the city. Moreover, your own lives, those of your wives and children, the fortunes of all men, your homes, your hearth; are this day interested in your decision.

[19]
You have a leader mindful of you, forgetful of himself—an opportunity which is not always given to men; you have all ranks, all individuals, the whole Roman people, (a thing which in civil transactions we see this day for the first time,) full of one and the same feeling. Think with what great labour this our dominion was founded, by what virtue this our liberty was established, by what kind favour of the gods our fortunes were aggrandized and ennobled, and how nearly one night destroyed them all. That this may never hereafter be able not only to be done, but not even to be thought of you must this day take care. And I have spoken thus, not in order to stir you up who almost outrun me myself but that my voice, which ought to be the chief voice in the republic, may appear to have fulfilled the duty which belongs to me as consul.

James Bradstreet Greenough Commentary on Fourth Oration against Catiline III

ed. James Bradstreet Greenough, ed. George Lyman Kittredge

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III. Contentio (§§ 11-19).

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