In Catilinam 4.10

4.20Nunc ante quam ad sententiam redeō, dē mē pauca dīcam.

Now, before I return to the motion, I will say a few words about myself.

Note. ante quam … redeō: 'before I return', antequam written as two words. The sententia is the motion now before the house.

4.20Ego, quanta manus est coniūrātōrum, quam vidētis esse permagnam, tantam mē inimīcōrum multitūdinem suscēpisse videō;

I see that I have taken on a multitude of enemies as large as the band of conspirators, which you see is very large;

Note. quanta … tantam: 'as great … so great'. Cicero has made enemies of all the conspirators.

4.20sed eam turpem iūdicō et īnfirmam et abiectam.

but I judge it to be base, weak and contemptible.

4.20Quod sī aliquandō alicuius furōre et scelere concitāta manus ista plūs valuerit quam vestra ac reī pūblicae dignitās, mē tamen meōrum factōrum atque cōnsiliōrum numquam, patrēs cōnscrīptī, paenitēbit.

But if at some time that band, roused by someone's madness and crime, proves stronger than your dignity and the state's, still, members of the senate, I will never regret my deeds and my counsels.

Note. Quod sī: 'but if'. mē … paenitēbit: impersonal verb, 'it will repent me', i.e. 'I will regret', with the genitive of what is regretted.

4.20Etenim mors, quam illī fortasse minitantur, omnibus est parāta: vītae tantam laudem quantā vōs mē vestrīs dēcrētīs honestāstis nēmō est adsecūtus;

For death, which they perhaps threaten, is prepared for all men; but no one has won such praise in life as that with which you have honoured me by your decrees.

Note. quantā: ablative, 'with (as great praise) as'. Cicero refers to the supplicātiō, a public thanksgiving, decreed in his honor on 3 December, the first ever voted to a civilian.

4.20cēterīs enim semper bene gestā, mihi ūnī cōnservātā rē pūblicā grātulātiōnem dēcrēvistis.

For to others you have decreed thanksgivings for governing the state well, to me alone for saving it.

Note. bene gestā … cōnservātā rē pūblicā: two ablatives absolute sharing one noun. Others were thanked for fighting well, Cicero for saving the state.

4.21Sit Scīpiō clārus ille cuius cōnsiliō atque virtūte Hannibal in Āfricam redīre atque Ītaliā dēcēdere coāctus est, ōrnētur alter eximiā laude Āfricānus quī duās urbīs huic imperiō īnfestissimās Karthāginem Numantiamque dēlēvit, habeātur vir ēgregius Paulus ille cuius currum rēx potentissimus quondam et nōbilissimus Persēs honestāvit, sit aeternā glōriā Marius quī bis Ītaliam obsidiōne et metū servitūtis līberāvit, antepōnātur omnibus Pompēius cuius rēs gestae atque virtūtēs īsdem quibus sōlis cursus regiōnibus ac terminīs continentur: erit profectō inter hōrum laudēs aliquid locī nostrae glōriae, nisi forte maius est patefacere nōbīs prōvinciās quō exīre possīmus quam cūrāre ut etiam illī quī absunt habeant quō victōrēs revertantur.

Let that famous Scipio be renowned, by whose counsel and courage Hannibal was forced to return to Africa and leave Italy; let the second Africanus be honoured with outstanding praise, who destroyed two cities most hostile to this empire, Carthage and Numantia; let that Paulus be thought an excellent man, whose chariot the once most powerful and noble king Perses adorned; let Marius be of eternal glory, who twice freed Italy from siege and the fear of slavery; let Pompey be placed above them all, whose deeds and virtues are bounded by the same regions and limits as the course of the sun: there will surely be some room among their praises for our glory, unless perhaps it is greater to open up provinces for us to go out to than to see to it that even those who are away have somewhere to return to as victors.

Note. A great catalogue of Roman heroes with jussive subjunctives (Sit, ōrnētur, habeātur, sit, antepōnātur), all set against Cicero's own glory. Scipio the elder defeated Hannibal; the younger Africanus destroyed Carthage and Numantia; Paulus led King Perseus in his triumph; Marius defeated the Cimbri and Teutones; Pompey conquered the East. aeternā glōriā: ablative of description.

4.22Quamquam est ūnō locō condiciō melior externae victōriae quam domesticae, quod hostēs aliēnigenae aut oppressī serviunt aut receptī beneficiō sē obligātōs putant, quī autem ex numerō cīvium dēmentiā aliquā dēprāvātī hostēs patriae semel esse coepērunt, eōs, cum ā perniciē reī pūblicae reppulerīs, nec vī coercēre nec beneficiō plācāre possīs.

And yet in one respect the position of a foreign victory is better than that of a domestic one, because foreign enemies either are crushed and become slaves, or are taken into friendship and think themselves bound by the kindness; but those from among the citizens who, corrupted by some madness, have once begun to be enemies of their fatherland, when you have driven them back from destroying the state, you can neither restrain by force nor appease by kindness.

Note. reppulerīs … possīs: generalizing second-person subjunctives, 'you (anyone) can neither …'.

4.22Quā rē mihi cum perditīs cīvibus aeternum bellum susceptum esse videō.

So I see that I have taken on an eternal war with wicked citizens.

Note. Cicero foresees what in fact happened: the conspirators' friends drove him into exile in 58 BC.

4.22Id ego vestrō bonōrumque omnium auxiliō memoriāque tantōrum perīculōrum, quae nōn modo in hōc populō quī servātus est sed in omnium gentium sermōnibus ac mentibus semper haerēbit, ā mē atque ā meīs facile prōpulsārī posse cōnfīdō.

I trust that with your help and that of all good men, and with the memory of such great dangers (a memory which will always cling not only in this people that has been saved but in the talk and minds of all nations), this war can easily be driven back from me and my family.

Note. Id is the eternal war of the previous sentence, subject of prōpulsārī.

4.22Neque ūlla profectō tanta vīs reperiētur quae coniūnctiōnem vestram equitumque Rōmānōrum et tantam cōnspīrātiōnem bonōrum omnium cōnfringere et labefactāre possit.

And surely no force will be found so great that it can shatter and undermine the union of you and the Roman knights and so great an agreement of all good men.

Note. coniūnctiōnem vestram equitumque Rōmānōrum: again the concordia ōrdinum.