In Catilinam 3.7

3.16Nunc quoniam, Quirītēs, cōnscelerātissimī perīculōsissimīque bellī nefāriōs ducēs captōs iam et comprehēnsōs tenētis, exīstimāre dēbētis omnīs Catilīnae cōpiās, omnīs spēs atque opēs hīs dēpulsīs urbis perīculīs concidisse.

Now, citizens, since you hold the wicked leaders of this most criminal and most dangerous war captured and under arrest, you ought to think that all Catiline's forces, all his hopes and resources, have collapsed, now that these dangers to the city have been driven off.

Note. The speech was given to the people in the Forum on the evening of 3 December 63 BC, after the arrest of the conspirators that morning. Quirītēs: the formal address to the Roman people as citizens. cōnscelerātissimī perīculōsissimīque: superlatives joined by -que, both agreeing with bellī. hīs dēpulsīs urbis perīculīs: ablative absolute.

3.16Quem quidem ego cum ex urbe pellēbam, hoc prōvidēbam animō, Quirītēs, remōtō Catilīnā nōn mihi esse P. Lentulī somnum nec L. Cassī adipēs nec C. Cethēgī furiōsam temeritātem pertimēscendam.

When I was driving him out of the city, citizens, I foresaw this in my mind: once Catiline was removed, I would have no need to dread the sleepiness of Publius Lentulus, nor the fat of Lucius Cassius, nor the mad recklessness of Gaius Cethegus.

Note. Quem … cum … pellēbam: a connecting relative (= et eum). The indirect statement nōn mihi esse … pertimēscendam depends on prōvidēbam: 'that I would not have to fear'; the gerundive with mihi expresses obligation. The jibes are pointed: Lentulus was slow, Cassius fat, Cethegus hot-headed.

3.16Ille erat ūnus timendus ex istīs omnibus, sed tam diū dum urbis moenibus continēbātur.

He was the only one of all those men to be feared, but only so long as he was kept within the city walls.

Note. tam diū dum: 'only so long as'.

3.16Omnia nōrat, omnium aditūs tenēbat;

He knew everything, he had access to everyone;

Note. nōrat: contracted pluperfect of nōscō (= nōverat), 'he knew'. The short clauses without connectives (asyndeton) imitate Catiline's restless energy.

3.16appellāre, temptāre, sollicitāre poterat, audēbat.

he could approach men, test them, tamper with them, and he dared to.

Note. The infinitives depend on both poterat and audēbat: he was able, and he dared.

3.16Erat eī cōnsilium ad facinus aptum, cōnsiliō autem neque lingua neque manus dēerat.

He had a mind fit for crime, and that mind lacked neither a tongue nor a hand.

Note. cōnsiliō … neque lingua neque manus dēerat: dēsum takes the dative, 'neither tongue nor hand was lacking to his planning'.

3.16Iam ad certās rēs cōnficiendās certōs hominēs dēlēctōs ac dēscrīptōs habēbat.

He already had picked and appointed men for carrying out particular tasks.

3.16Neque vērō, cum aliquid mandārat, cōnfectum putābat: nihil erat quod nōn ipse obīret, occurreret, vigilāret, labōrāret;

Nor, when he had given an order, did he think it done: there was nothing he did not see to in person, attend to, stay awake over and labour at;

Note. mandārat: contracted pluperfect (= mandāverat). nihil erat quod nōn … obīret: relative clause of characteristic, 'there was nothing that he did not see to himself'.

3.16frīgus, sitim, famem ferre poterat.

he could bear cold, thirst and hunger.

3.17Hunc ego hominem tam ācrem, tam audācem, tam parātum, tam callidum, tam in scelere vigilantem, tam in perditīs rēbus dīligentem nisi ex domesticīs īnsidiīs in castrēnse latrōcinium compulissem— dīcam id quod sentiō, Quirītēs— nōn facile hanc tantam mōlem malī ā cervīcibus vestrīs dēpulissem.

If I had not driven this man, so keen, so bold, so ready, so cunning, so wakeful in crime, so careful in desperate business, out of plots at home into banditry in the camp (I will say what I think, citizens), I could not easily have lifted so great a weight of evil from your necks.

Note. A past contrary-to-fact condition: nisi … compulissem … nōn … dēpulissem, 'if I had not driven … I would not have removed'. castrēnse latrōcinium: banditry in the camp, i.e. open rebellion with Manlius' army in Etruria rather than plotting in Rome.

3.17Nōn ille nōbīs Sāturnālia cōnstituisset, neque tantō ante exitī ac fātī diem reī pūblicae dēnūntiāvisset neque commīsisset ut signum, ut litterae suae testēs manifestī sceleris dēprehenderentur.

He would not have fixed on the Saturnalia for us, nor announced the day of the state's doom and destruction so long beforehand, nor let his seal and his letter be caught as clear witnesses of his crime.

Note. The pluperfect subjunctives continue the contrary-to-fact thought: Catiline, had he stayed, would not have made Lentulus' mistakes. The Saturnalia (from 17 December) was said to be the date fixed for the massacre and fires. signum: the seal on the letters, which the conspirators had to acknowledge in the senate.

3.17Quae nunc illō absente sīc gesta sunt ut nūllum in prīvātā domō fūrtum umquam sit tam palam inventum quam haec in tōtā rē pūblicā coniūrātiō manifestō comprehēnsa est.

As it is, with him away, these things have been so handled that no theft in a private house was ever found out so openly as this conspiracy has been caught red-handed in the whole state.

Note. Quae: connecting relative, 'these things'. illō absente: ablative absolute. manifestō: 'in the act', a legal term for a thief caught with the goods, hence the comparison with a household theft.

3.17Quod sī Catilīna in urbe ad hanc diem remānsisset, quamquam, quoad fuit, omnibus eius cōnsiliīs occurrī atque obstitī, tamen, ut levissimē dīcam, dīmicandum nōbīs cum illō fuisset, neque nōs umquam, cum ille in urbe hostis esset, tantīs perīculīs rem pūblicam tantā pāce, tantō ōtiō, tantō silentiō līberāssēmus.

But if Catiline had stayed in the city until today, although I met and blocked all his plans as long as he was here, still, to put it at its mildest, we should have had to fight it out with him, and while he was in the city as an enemy we would never have freed the state from such great dangers in such peace, such quiet and such silence.

Note. Quod sī: 'but if'. ut levissimē dīcam: 'to put it most mildly'. dīmicandum nōbīs … fuisset: impersonal passive periphrastic with the dative of agent, 'we would have had to fight'.