In Catilinam 3.1

3.1Rem pūblicam, Quirītēs, vītamque omnium vestrum, bona, fortūnās, coniugēs līberōsque vestrōs atque hoc domicilium clārissimī imperī, fortūnātissimam pulcherrimamque urbem, hodiernō diē deōrum immortālium summō ergā vōs amōre, labōribus, cōnsiliīs, perīculīs meīs ē flammā atque ferrō ac paene ex faucibus fātī ēreptam et vōbīs cōnservātam ac restitūtam vidētis.

The republic, citizens, and the lives of you all, your goods, your fortunes, your wives and children, and this home of a most glorious empire, this most fortunate and most beautiful city, you see today snatched from fire and sword and almost from the jaws of doom, and preserved and restored to you, by the very great love of the immortal gods towards you and by my labours, plans and dangers.

Note. Cicero speaks to the people in the Forum on the evening of 3 December 63 BC, just after the senate meeting where the conspirators were exposed. Quirītēs is the formal way to address the Roman people. The long object list (rem pūblicam … urbem) is held together by the participles ēreptam … cōnservātam … restitūtam and the verb at the very end, vidētis: 'you see … saved'.

3.2Et sī nōn minus nōbīs iūcundī atque inlūstrēs sunt eī diēs quibus cōnservāmur quam illī quibus nāscimur, quod salūtis certa laetitia est, nāscendī incerta condiciō et quod sine sēnsū nāscimur, cum voluptāte servāmur, profectō, quoniam illum quī hanc urbem condidit ad deōs immortālīs benivolentia fāmāque sustulimus, esse apud vōs posterōsque vestrōs in honōre dēbēbit is quī eandem hanc urbem conditam amplificātamque servāvit.

And if the days on which we are saved are no less pleasant and glorious to us than those on which we are born, because the joy of rescue is certain while the lot we are born to is uncertain, and because we are born without feeling but are saved with delight, then surely, since we have raised the man who founded this city to the immortal gods by our goodwill and praise, the man who has saved this same city after it was founded and enlarged ought to be held in honour among you and your descendants.

Note. The founder is Romulus, who was worshipped as the god Quirinus. Cicero hints that the man who saved the city (himself) deserves honour too. salūtis certa laetitia … nāscendī incerta condiciō: a pair of contrasted phrases without a verb in the second half (supply est).

3.2Nam tōtī urbī, templīs, dēlūbrīs, tēctīs ac moenibus subiectōs prope iam ignīs circumdatōsque restīnximus, īdemque gladiōs in rem pūblicam dēstrictōs rettudimus mucrōnēsque eōrum ā iugulīs vestrīs dēiēcimus.

For we have put out the fires that had been laid under and set all round the whole city, its temples, shrines, houses and walls, almost at the last moment; and we too have beaten back the swords drawn against the republic and turned their points away from your throats.

Note. īdemque … rettudimus: 'and we too beat back'. īdem stresses that the same man (Cicero, using 'we') both put out the fires and turned the swords aside.

3.3Quae quoniam in senātū inlūstrāta, patefacta, comperta sunt per mē, vōbīs iam expōnam breviter ut et quanta et quam manifesta et quā ratiōne investīgāta et comprehēnsa sint vōs quī et ignōrātis et exspectātis scīre possītis.

Since these things have been brought to light, laid open and established by me in the senate, I shall now set them out briefly for you, so that you who do not know them and are waiting to hear may learn how great and how clear they are, and by what method they were tracked down and seized.

Note. Quae: a connecting relative, 'since these things'. ut … scīre possītis: purpose. Inside it, quanta … quam manifēsta … quā ratiōne … sint are indirect questions, so their verb is subjunctive.

3.3Prīncipiō, ut Catilīna paucīs ante diēbus ērūpit ex urbe, cum sceleris suī sociōs huiusce nefāriī bellī ācerrimōs ducēs Rōmae relīquisset, semper vigilāvī et prōvīdī, Quirītēs, quem ad modum in tantīs et tam absconditīs īnsidiīs salvī esse possēmus.

To begin with: ever since Catiline burst out of the city a few days ago, having left behind in Rome the partners of his crime, the fiercest leaders of this wicked war, I have always been on the watch and taking care, citizens, how we could be safe amid treachery so great and so well hidden.

Note. Catiline had left Rome on the night of 8 November, after Cicero's First Catilinarian. huiusce: an emphatic form of huius. quem ad modum … possēmus: 'how we could be …', an indirect question.