4.3Quā rē, patrēs cōnscrīptī, cōnsulite vōbīs, prōspicite patriae, cōnservāte vōs, coniugēs, līberōs fortūnāsque vestrās, populī Rōmānī nōmen salūtemque dēfendite;Therefore, members of the senate, look after yourselves, provide for your country, preserve yourselves, your wives, your children and your fortunes, defend the name and the safety of the Roman people; 4.3mihi parcere ac dē mē cōgitāre dēsinite.stop sparing me and thinking about me. 4.3Nam prīmum dēbeō spērāre omnīs deōs quī huic urbī praesident prō eō mihi ac mereor relātūrōs esse grātiam;For, first, I ought to hope that all the gods who watch over this city will repay me as I deserve;Note. prō eō ac mereor: 'in proportion as I deserve'. relātūrōs esse grātiam: grātiam referre is to repay a favour. 4.3deinde, sī quid obtigerit, aequō animō parātōque moriar.next, if anything should happen to me, I shall die with a calm and ready mind.Note. sī quid obtigerit: 'if anything should happen (to me)', a common euphemism for death. quid after sī is the indefinite quis, 'anything'. 4.3Nam neque turpis mors fortī virō potest accidere neque immātūra cōnsulārī nec misera sapientī.For a shameful death cannot befall a brave man, nor an untimely one a man who has been consul, nor a wretched one a wise man.Note. Three contrasted pairs: turpis / fortī virō, immātūra / cōnsulārī, misera / sapientī. A man who had reached the consulship had reached the summit of a Roman career, so death could not come too soon for him. 4.3Nec tamen ego sum ille ferreus quī frātris cārissimī atque amantissimī praesentis maerōre nōn movear hōrumque omnium lacrimīs ā quibus mē circumsessum vidētis.Yet I am not so hard as not to be moved by the grief of my dearest and most loving brother, who is here, and by the tears of all these men by whom you see me surrounded.Note. fratris: Cicero's younger brother Quintus, who was present in the senate. ille ferreus quī … nōn movear: a relative clause of characteristic, 'the kind of iron man who is not moved'.
4.3Neque meam mentem nōn domum saepe revocat exanimāta uxor et abiecta metū fīlia et parvolus fīlius, quem mihi vidētur amplectī rēs pūblica tamquam obsidem cōnsulātūs meī, neque ille quī exspectāns huius exitum diēī stat in cōnspectū meō gener.Nor does my terrified wife fail to call my mind back home, nor my daughter, prostrate with fear, nor my little son, whom the republic seems to me to embrace as a hostage for my consulship, nor my son-in-law, who stands in my sight waiting for the outcome of this day.Note. Cicero's wife Terentia, his daughter Tullia, and his son Marcus (two years old). The gener is Tullia's husband, C. Calpurnius Piso. parvolus is the older spelling of parvulus. 4.3Moveor hīs rēbus omnibus, sed in eam partem utī salvī sint vōbīscum omnēs, etiam sī mē vīs aliqua oppresserit, potius quam et illī et nōs ūnā reī pūblicae peste pereāmus.I am moved by all these things, but in this direction: that they may all be safe with you, even if some violence overwhelms me, rather than that both they and we should perish in one common ruin of the republic.Note. in eam partem … utī: 'in this direction, that'. utī is an older form of ut. potius quam … pereāmus: 'rather than that we should perish'. 4.4Quā rē, patrēs cōnscrīptī, incumbite ad salūtem reī pūblicae, circumspicite omnīs procellās quae impendent nisi prōvidētis.Therefore, members of the senate, put your weight behind the safety of the republic, and look around at all the storms that hang over us unless you take precautions.
4.4Nōn Ti. Gracchus quod iterum tribūnus plēbis fierī voluit, nōn C. Gracchus quod agrāriōs concitāre cōnātus est, nōn L. Sāturnīnus quod C. Memmium occīdit, in discrīmen aliquod atque in vestrae sevēritātis iūdicium addūcitur: tenentur eī quī ad urbis incendium, ad vestram omnium caedem, ad Catilīnam accipiendum Rōmae restitērunt, tenentur litterae, signa, manūs, dēnique ūnīus cuiusque cōnfessiō: sollicitantur Allobrogēs, servitia excitantur, Catilīna arcessitur, id est initum cōnsilium ut interfectīs omnibus nēmō nē ad dēplōrandum quidem populī Rōmānī nōmen atque ad lāmentandam tantī imperī calamitātem relinquātur.It is not a Tiberius Gracchus, for wanting to become tribune of the plebs a second time, not a Gaius Gracchus, for trying to stir up the supporters of land reform, not a Lucius Saturninus, for killing Gaius Memmius, who is being brought into danger and before the judgement of your severity: those are in custody who stayed behind in Rome to burn the city, to massacre all of you, to receive Catiline; their letters are in our hands, their seals, their handwriting, and finally the confession of each one of them; the Allobroges are being tampered with, the slaves stirred up, Catiline summoned; that is, the plan has been formed that, once everyone is killed, no one should be left even to mourn the name of the Roman people and lament the disaster of so great an empire.Note. The Gracchi and Saturninus were reforming tribunes killed by the senate's supporters; Cicero says those cases were political, but this one is plain treason. Notice the piling of short clauses (tenentur … tenentur … sollicitantur … excitantur) to show how much evidence there is. nē … quidem: 'not even'.