In Catilinam 2.6

2.12At etiam sunt quī dīcant, Quirītēs, ā mē ēiectum esse Catilīnam.

But there are some, citizens, who say that Catiline was driven out by me.

2.12Quod ego sī verbō adsequī possem, istōs ipsōs ēicerem quī haec loquuntur.

If I could achieve that with a word, I would drive out the very men who say so.

Note. Quod: 'this', a connecting relative referring to driving Catiline out. Cicero turns the charge around: if words could expel men, he would expel his critics.

2.12Homō enim vidēlicet timidus aut etiam permodestus vōcem cōnsulis ferre nōn potuit;

For the man, of course, being timid or even exceedingly shy, could not bear the voice of the consul;

Note. videlicet is ironic: 'of course he was a timid, shy man'. Cicero mocks the idea that Catiline obeyed meekly.

2.12simul atque īre in exsilium iussus est, pāruit.

as soon as he was ordered to go into exile, he obeyed.

2.12Quīn hesternō diē, cum domī meae paene interfectus essem, senātum in aedem Iovis Statōris convocāvī, rem omnem ad patrēs cōnscrīptōs dētulī.

Why, yesterday, after I had almost been murdered in my own home, I called the senate to the temple of Jupiter Stator and laid the whole matter before the senators.

Note. The senate met on 8 November in the temple of Jupiter Stator, 'the Stayer', near the Palatine, a place that could be guarded easily. domī meae ... interfectus essem: the conspirators had tried to kill Cicero at his morning reception on 7 November. patrēs cōnscrīptī is the formal title of the senators.

2.12Quō cum Catilīna vēnisset, quis eum senātor appellāvit, quis salūtāvit, quis dēnique ita aspexit ut perditum cīvem ac nōn potius ut importūnissimum hostem?

When Catiline came there, what senator spoke to him, who greeted him, who even looked at him as at a ruined citizen and not rather as a most savage enemy?

2.12Quīn etiam prīncipēs eius ōrdinis partem illam subselliōrum ad quam ille accesserat nūdam atque inānem relīquērunt.

Why, even the leading men of that order left the part of the benches he had approached bare and empty.

Note. subselliōrum: the senators' benches. The senior consulars moved away from where Catiline sat, leaving him alone.

2.13Hīc ego vehemēns ille cōnsul quī verbō cīvīs in exsilium ēiciō quaesīvī ā Catilīnā in nocturnō conventū ad M. Laecam fuisset necne.

At this point I, that violent consul who drive citizens into exile with a word, asked Catiline whether he had been at the night meeting at the house of Marcus Laeca or not.

Note. vehemēns ille cōnsul: ironic, quoting the charge against himself. M. Porcius Laeca hosted the conspirators' night meeting on 6 November. necne: 'or not', in an indirect question.

2.13Cum ille homō audācissimus cōnscientiā convictus prīmō reticuisset, patefēcī cētera: quid eā nocte ēgisset, ubi fuisset, quid in proximam cōnstituisset, quem ad modum esset eī ratiō tōtīus bellī dēscrīpta ēdocuī.

When that most reckless man, convicted by his own conscience, at first said nothing, I revealed the rest: I set out what he had done that night, where he had been, what he had decided for the following night, how the plan of the whole war had been laid out for him.

Note. quid ... ēgisset, ubi fuisset, quid ... cōnstituisset, quem ad modum ... dēscrīpta esset: four indirect questions, so all subjunctive. quem ad modum: 'how'.

2.13Cum haesitāret, cum tenērētur, quaesīvī quid dubitāret proficīscī eō quō iam prīdem parāret, cum arma, cum secūrīs, cum fascīs, cum tubās, cum signa mīlitāria, cum aquilam illam argenteam cui ille etiam sacrārium domī suae fēcerat scīrem esse praemissam.

When he hesitated, when he was caught, I asked why he hesitated to set out for the place he had long been preparing to go to, since I knew that arms, axes, rods, trumpets, military standards, and that silver eagle for which he had even made a shrine in his home had been sent on ahead.

Note. The fascēs and secūrēs were the rods and axes of a magistrate's authority; taking them showed Catiline meant to claim power. The silver eagle was said to have been one of Marius' legionary standards, which Catiline kept in a shrine.

2.14In exsilium ēiciēbam quem iam ingressum esse in bellum vīderam?

Was I driving into exile a man whom I had seen already entering upon war?

2.14Etenim, crēdō, Mānlius iste centuriō quī in agrō Faesulānō castra posuit bellum populō Rōmānō suō nōmine indīxit, et illa castra nunc nōn Catilīnam ducem exspectant, et ille ēiectus in exsilium sē Massiliam, ut aiunt, nōn in haec castra cōnfert.

No doubt, I suppose, that centurion Manlius who pitched camp in the district of Faesulae declared war on the Roman people in his own name, and that camp is not now waiting for Catiline as its general, and he, driven into exile, is making for Massilia, as they say, and not for that camp.

Note. Heavy irony: crēdō, 'I suppose', signals that Cicero means the opposite. Manlius was the ex-centurion commanding the rebel camp at Faesulae.