In Catilinam 1.6

1.12Quid est, Catilīna?

What is it, Catiline?

1.13num dubitās id mē imperante facere quod iam tuā sponte faciēbās?

Surely you do not hesitate to do at my command what you were already doing of your own accord?

Note. num dubitās …?: num expects 'no'. mē imperante: ablative absolute, 'at my command'. tuā sponte: 'of your own accord'.

1.13Exīre ex urbe iubet cōnsul hostem.

The consul orders an enemy to leave the city.

Note. Exīre ex urbe iubet cōnsul hostem: Cicero calls Catiline hostis, a public enemy, not just an inimīcus, a personal one.

1.13Interrogās mē, num in exsilium?

You ask me: into exile?

Note. num in exsilium?: 'into exile?' Catiline is imagined interrupting. Cicero does not formally order exile, which he had no power to do, but he 'advises' it.

1.13Nōn iubeō, sed, sī mē cōnsulis, suādeō.

I do not order it, but if you ask my advice, I recommend it.

1.13Quid est enim, Catilīna, quod tē iam in hāc urbe dēlectāre possit?

For what is there, Catiline, that can now give you pleasure in this city?

1.13in quā nēmō est extrā istam coniūrātiōnem perditōrum hominum quī tē nōn metuat, nēmō quī nōn ōderit.

There is no one in it, outside that conspiracy of ruined men, who does not fear you, no one who does not hate you.

Note. quī … metuat … quī nōn ōderit: relative clauses of characteristic. ōderit is perfect in form but present in meaning: 'hates'.

1.13Quae nota domesticae turpitūdinis nōn inūsta vītae tuae est?

What brand of disgrace in your home life has not been burned into your life?

Note. Quae nota …?: from here Cicero turns to Catiline's private life. nota is the brand burned into a slave or the mark a censor set against a citizen's name. inūsta: 'burned in'.

1.13quod prīvātārum rērum dēdecus nōn haeret in fāmā?

What scandal in private affairs does not cling to your reputation?

1.13quae libīdō ab oculīs, quod facinus ā manibus umquam tuīs, quod flāgitium ā tōtō corpore āfuit?

What lust has ever been absent from your eyes, what crime from your hands, what outrage from your whole body?

Note. Three parallel questions: lust and eyes, crime and hands, outrage and the whole body.

1.13cui tū adulēscentulō quem corruptēlārum inlecebrīs inrētīssēs nōn aut ad audāciam ferrum aut ad libīdinem facem praetulistī?

What young man, once you had caught him in the snares of corruption, have you not led on with a sword for his recklessness or a torch for his lust?

Note. Catiline was accused of corrupting young men and then using them for violence (ferrum) or lust (facem, the torch carried to a lover's door at night). inrētīssēs: 'you had caught in your net'.

1.14Quid vērō?

What more?

1.14nūper cum morte superiōris uxōris novīs nūptiīs locum vacuēfēcissēs, nōnne etiam aliō incrēdibilī scelere hoc scelus cumulāvistī?

Recently, when you had cleared the house for a new marriage by the death of your previous wife, did you not crown this crime with another, unbelievable one?

Note. Cicero alludes to rumours that Catiline killed his first wife to marry Aurelia Orestilla, and (the 'unbelievable crime') killed his own son because she did not want a grown stepson. nōnne expects the answer 'yes'.

1.14quod ego praetermittō et facile patior silērī, nē in hāc cīvitāte tantī facinoris immānitās aut exstitisse aut nōn vindicāta esse videātur.

I pass over it and gladly let it go unspoken, so that it may not seem that so monstrous a crime has happened in this city, or gone unpunished.

Note. Cicero's trick of saying what he says he will pass over (praeteritiō): by refusing to describe the crime, he makes it seem too terrible to name.

1.14Praetermittō ruīnās fortūnārum tuārum quās omnīs proximīs Īdibus tibi impendēre sentiēs: ad illa veniō quae nōn ad prīvātam ignōminiam vitiōrum tuōrum, nōn ad domesticam tuam difficultātem ac turpitūdinem, sed ad summam rem pūblicam atque ad omnium nostrum vītam salūtemque pertinent.

I pass over the ruin of your fortunes, which you will feel hanging over you on the coming Ides; I come to the things that have to do not with the private disgrace of your vices, not with your troubles and shame at home, but with the highest interest of the state and the life and safety of us all.

Note. proximīs Īdibus: the Ides of November (13th), when interest on debts fell due; Catiline was heavily in debt. summam rem pūblicam: 'the highest interests of the state'.

1.15Potestne tibi haec lūx, Catilīna, aut huius caelī spīritus esse iūcundus, cum sciās esse hōrum nēminem quī nesciat tē prīdiē Kalendās Iānuāriās Lepidō et Tullō cōnsulibus stetisse in comitiō cum tēlō, manum cōnsulum et prīncipum cīvitātis interficiendōrum causā parāvisse, scelerī ac furōrī tuō nōn mentem aliquam aut timōrem tuum sed Fortūnam populī Rōmānī obstitisse?

Can this daylight, Catiline, or the breath of this sky be pleasant to you, when you know that there is not one of these men who does not know that on the 31st of December, in the consulship of Lepidus and Tullus, you stood in the place of assembly with a weapon, that you had got a gang together to kill the consuls and the leading men of the state, and that it was not any second thoughts or fear of yours that stood in the way of your crime and madness, but the good fortune of the Roman people?

Note. prīdiē Kalendās Iānuāriās: 31 December 66 B.C., in the consulship of Lepidus and Tullus. This is the so-called 'first conspiracy' to kill the new consuls on 1 January; how much Catiline had to do with it is doubtful. Fortūnam populī Rōmānī: Fortune is treated almost as a goddess protecting Rome.

1.15Ac iam illa omittō— neque enim sunt aut obscūra aut nōn multa commissa posteā— quotiēns tū mē dēsignātum, quotiēns vērō cōnsulem interficere cōnātus es!

And I leave aside those attempts (for they are neither unknown nor few, the ones committed later): how often you tried to kill me as consul-elect, how often as consul!

Note. illa omittō: another praeteritio. neque enim … postea: a parenthesis, 'for the crimes committed later are neither unknown nor few'.

1.15quot ego tuās petītiōnēs ita coniectās ut vītārī posse nōn vidērentur parvā quādam dēclīnātiōne et, ut aiunt, corpore effūgī!

How many of your thrusts, aimed so that they seemed impossible to avoid, have I escaped by a slight swerve and, as they say, a twist of the body!

Note. petītiōnēs: a fencing term, 'thrusts'. corpore effūgī: 'I dodged with my body'; ut āiunt, 'as they say', marks the phrase as a gladiators' expression.

1.15Nihil agis, nihil adsequeris, neque tamen cōnārī ac velle dēsistis.

You achieve nothing, you gain nothing, and yet you do not stop trying and wanting.

1.16Quotiēns iam tibi extorta est ista sīca dē manibus, quotiēns excidit cāsū aliquō et ēlāpsa est!

How often has that dagger of yours been wrenched from your hands, how often has it slipped by some chance and fallen!

Note. sīca: a short dagger, the weapon of assassins (sīcāriī). extorta est … excidit … ēlāpsa est: the dagger is personified, as if it slipped away of its own accord.

1.16Quae quidem quibus abs tē initiāta sacrīs ac dēvōta sit nesciō, quod eam necesse putās esse in cōnsulis corpore dēfīgere.

With what rites you have consecrated and dedicated it, I do not know, that you think you must plunge it into a consul's body.

Note. Cicero suggests that Catiline has consecrated his dagger by some secret rite, so that he feels bound to plunge it into a consul. quibus … sacrīs: indirect question depending on nesciō. abs tē = ā tē.