In Catilinam 1.7

1.16Nunc vērō quae tua est ista vīta?

But now what kind of life is this of yours?

1.16Sīc enim iam tēcum loquar, nōn ut odiō permōtus esse videar, quō dēbeō, sed ut misericordiā, quae tibi nūlla dēbētur.

For I shall now speak with you in such a way that I may seem moved not by the hatred I ought to feel but by pity, of which you deserve none.

Note. quō dēbeō: understand odiō permōtus, 'by the hatred I ought to feel'. misericordiā: also with permōtus. quae tibi nūlla dēbētur: 'none of which is owed to you', a sharp turn at the end.

1.16Vēnistī paulō ante in senātum.

A little while ago you came into the senate.

1.16Quis tē ex hāc tantā frequentiā, tot ex tuīs amīcīs ac necessāriīs salūtāvit?

Who out of this great crowd, who out of so many of your friends and relations, greeted you?

Note. frequentiā: the senate was unusually full; Cicero had summoned it to the temple of Jupiter Stator on 8 November 63 B.C.

1.16Sī hoc post hominum memoriam contigit nēminī, vōcis exspectās contumēliam, cum sīs gravissimō iūdiciō taciturnitātis oppressus?

If within living memory this has happened to no one, are you waiting for a spoken insult, when you have been crushed by the heaviest verdict of silence?

Note. post hominum memoriam: 'within human memory'. vōcis … contumēliam: 'an insult in words'. taciturnitātis: the senators' silence is itself the verdict.

1.16Quid, quod adventū tuō ista subsellia vacuēfacta sunt, quod omnēs cōnsulārēs quī tibi persaepe ad caedem cōnstitūtī fuērunt, simul atque adsēdistī, partem istam subselliōrum nūdam atque inānem relīquērunt, quō tandem animō tibi ferendum putās?

What of the fact that at your arrival those benches emptied, that all the ex-consuls, whom you have so often marked out for murder, left that part of the benches bare and empty as soon as you sat down: with what feelings, pray, do you think you ought to bear that?

Note. Quid, quod …?: 'What of the fact that …?', a favourite way of adding a fresh charge. cōnsulārēs: ex-consuls sat on the front benches. tibi … cōnstitūtī: 'marked out by you', tibi is dative of the agent with the participle. ferendum: understand esse, 'that it must be borne by you'.

1.17Servī mehercule meī sī mē istō pactō metuerent ut tē metuunt omnēs cīvēs tuī, domum meam relinquendam putārem: tū tibi urbem nōn arbitrāris?

By Hercules, if my slaves feared me the way all your fellow citizens fear you, I would think I had to leave my house: do you not think you must leave the city?

Note. Cicero argues from the lesser to the greater: a master feared by his slaves would leave his house, so Catiline should leave the city. urbem: understand relinquendam.

1.17et sī mē meīs cīvibus iniūriā suspectum tam graviter atque offēnsum vidērem, carēre mē aspectū cīvium quam īnfestīs omnium oculīs cōnspicī māllem: tū, cum cōnscientiā scelerum tuōrum agnōscās odium omnium iūstum et iam diū tibi dēbitum, dubitās quōrum mentīs sēnsūsque volnerās, eōrum aspectum praesentiamque vītāre?

And if I saw that I was so gravely suspected and resented, however unjustly, by my fellow citizens, I would rather go without the sight of them than be looked on by the hostile eyes of all: and you, though the consciousness of your crimes tells you that the hatred of everyone is just and long since your due, do you hesitate to avoid the sight and presence of those whose minds and feelings you are wounding?

Note. carēre … quam … cōnspicī māllem: 'I would rather be without … than be looked at'. agnōscās: subjunctive after cum, 'although you recognise'.

1.17Sī tē parentēs timērent atque ōdissent tuī neque eōs ratiōne ūllā plācāre possēs, ut opīnor, ab eōrum oculīs aliquō concēderēs.

If your own parents feared and hated you and you could not appease them in any way, you would, I think, withdraw somewhere out of their sight.

1.17Nunc tē patria, quae commūnis est parēns omnium nostrum, ōdit ac metuit et iam diū nihil tē iūdicat nisi dē parricīdiō suō cōgitāre: huius tū neque auctōritātem verēbere nec iūdicium sequēre nec vim pertimēscēs?

Now your country, the common parent of us all, hates and fears you, and has long judged that you are thinking of nothing but her murder: will you neither respect her authority nor follow her judgement nor fear her power?

Note. The patria is pictured as a parent; parricīdium is literally the murder of a parent, so Catiline's plot is parricide against his country. verēbere, sequere: future 2nd person of the deponents vereor and sequor (= verēberis, sequēris).

1.18Quae tēcum, Catilīna, sīc agit et quōdam modō tacita loquitur: "Nūllum iam aliquot annīs facinus exstitit nisi per tē, nūllum flāgitium sine tē;

She, Catiline, pleads with you in this way and, though silent, somehow speaks: "For some years now no crime has come about except through you, no outrage without you;

Note. Here Cicero begins a prosopopoeia: he makes the fatherland itself speak. tacita loquitur: a paradox, 'speaks in silence'. aliquot annīs: Catiline had been accused of murders in Sulla's proscriptions and of extortion as governor of Africa.

1.18tibi ūnī multōrum cīvium necēs, tibi vexātiō dīreptiōque sociōrum impūnīta fuit ac lībera;

you alone have killed many citizens and harried and plundered our allies unpunished and unchecked;

Note. Catiline was tried for extortion after his governorship of Africa and acquitted; the patria treats that acquittal as proof of his power over the courts. impūnīta … ac lībera: the singular adjectives agree with the nearest noun.

1.18tū nōn sōlum ad neglegendās lēgēs et quaestiōnēs vērum etiam ad ēvertendās perfringendāsque valuistī.

you have had the power not only to disregard the laws and the courts but to overturn and smash them.

1.18Superiōra illa, quamquam ferenda nōn fuērunt, tamen ut potuī tulī;

Those earlier things, though they ought not to have been borne, I nevertheless bore as best I could;

1.18nunc vērō mē tōtam esse in metū propter ūnum tē, quicquid increpuerit, Catilīnam timērī, nūllum vidērī contrā mē cōnsilium inīrī posse quod ā tuō scelere abhorreat, nōn est ferendum.

but now that I am wholly in fear because of you alone, that at every sound Catiline is feared, that no plan seems able to be formed against me that does not belong to your wickedness, is not to be borne.

Note. The subjects of nōn est ferendum are the three infinitive clauses: mē … esse in metū, Catilīnam timērī, nūllum vidērī … cōnsilium inīrī posse. quicquid increpuerit: 'whenever anything makes a sound'. abhorreat: 'is foreign to', i.e. no plot exists that is not yours.

1.18Quam ob rem discēde atque hunc mihi timōrem ēripe;

So go away and take this fear from me:

1.18sī est vērus, nē opprimar, sīn falsus, ut tandem aliquandō timēre dēsinam."

if it is well founded, so that I may not be destroyed; if false, so that at long last I may stop being afraid."

Note. sī est vērus: understand timor. nē opprimar, ut … dēsinam: purpose clauses depending on discēde.