In Catilinam 4.6

4.11Quam ob rem, sīve hoc statueritis, dederitis mihi comitem ad cōntiōnem populō cārum atque iūcundum, sīve Sīlānī sententiam sequī mālueritis, facile mē atque vōs crūdēlitātis vituperātiōne populus Rōmānus līberābit, atque obtinēbō eam multō lēniōrem fuisse.

So, if you decide on this, you will give me a companion dear and pleasant to the people when I go before their assembly; or if you prefer to follow Silanus' proposal, the Roman people will easily free you and me from the reproach of cruelty, and I will maintain that it was the much milder course.

Note. hoc is Caesar's proposal (life imprisonment in Italian towns); Sīlānī sententiam is the proposal of death. statueritis, dederitis and mālueritis are future perfects: 'if you (will have) decided … you will have given'. comitem: Caesar, a popular politician, would stand with Cicero before the people. obtinēbō eam … fuisse: 'I will maintain that it (Silanus' proposal) was much milder', a paradox Cicero goes on to defend.

4.11Quamquam, patrēs cōnscrīptī, quae potest esse in tantī sceleris immānitāte pūniendā crūdēlitās?

And yet, members of the senate, what cruelty can there be in punishing the monstrousness of so great a crime?

Note. patrēs cōnscrīptī: the formal way to address the senate, vocative plural. quae … crūdēlitās: an interrogative adjective separated from its noun, a favorite device of Cicero. in … immānitāte pūniendā: a gerundive phrase, 'in punishing the monstrousness'.

4.11Ego enim dē meō sēnsū iūdicō.

For I judge by my own feeling.

4.11Nam ita mihi salvā rē pūblicā vōbīscum perfruī liceat ut ego, quod in hāc causā vehementior sum, nōn atrōcitāte animī moveor— quis enim est mē mītior?— sed singulārī quādam hūmānitāte et misericordiā.

For so may I enjoy the safety of the state together with you, as it is true that, though I am rather vehement in this case, I am moved not by harshness of mind (for who is gentler than I?) but by a certain remarkable humanity and compassion.

Note. ita … liceat ut …: an oath formula, 'so may I enjoy …, as (it is true that) …'. Cicero stakes his own safety on the truth of what follows. mē mītior: ablative of comparison, 'gentler than I'.

4.11Videor enim mihi vidēre hanc urbem, lūcem orbis terrārum atque arcem omnium gentium, subitō ūnō incendiō concidentem.

For I seem to see this city, the light of the world and the citadel of all nations, suddenly collapsing in a single blaze.

Note. Videor mihi vidēre: 'I seem to myself to see', introducing a vivid picture (Greek enargeia). The phrases lūcem orbis terrārum and arcem omnium gentium are in apposition to urbem.

4.11Cernō animō sepultā in patriā miserōs atque īnsepultōs acervōs cīvium, versātur mihi ante oculōs aspectus Cethēgī et furor in vestrā caede bacchantis.

I see in my mind, in our buried fatherland, wretched and unburied heaps of citizens; before my eyes there moves the face of Cethegus and his frenzy as he revels in your slaughter.

Note. bacchantis: genitive of the participle, agreeing with the 'his' implied in furor (Cethegus' frenzy). To revel like a Bacchant is to rage in religious frenzy.

4.12Cum vērō mihi prōposuī regnantem Lentulum, sīcut ipse sē ex fātīs spērāsse cōnfessus est, purpurātum esse huic Gabīnium, cum exercitū vēnisse Catilīnam, tum lāmentātiōnem mātrum familiās, tum fugam virginum atque puerōrum ac vexātiōnem virginum Vestālium perhorrēscō, et, quia mihi vehementer haec videntur misera atque miseranda, idcircō in eōs quī ea perficere voluērunt mē sevērum vehementemque praebēbō.

But when I have pictured to myself Lentulus reigning as king, as he himself confessed he had hoped from the oracles of fate, and Gabinius as his courtier in purple, and Catiline arrived with his army, then I shudder at the wailing of mothers of families, the flight of girls and boys, and the abuse of the Vestal Virgins; and because these things seem to me exceedingly wretched and pitiable, for that very reason I will show myself stern and vehement against those who wanted to accomplish them.

Note. Lentulus believed prophecies (the Sibylline books) that a third Cornelius would rule Rome, after Cinna and Sulla. purpurātus is a king's courtier in purple, an insult to Roman ears, since Rome had no kings. The long sentence piles up pictures (tum … tum …) before the main verb perhorrēscō.

4.12Etenim quaerō, sī quis pater familiās, līberīs suīs ā servō interfectīs, uxōre occīsā, incēnsā domō, supplicium dē servīs nōn quam acerbissimum sūmpserit, utrum is clēmēns ac misericors an inhūmānissimus et crūdēlissimus esse videātur?

For I ask you: if some father of a family, when his children had been killed by a slave, his wife murdered and his house set on fire, did not take the harshest possible punishment from his slaves, would he seem merciful and compassionate, or utterly inhuman and cruel?

Note. A rhetorical analogy from the Roman household: the pater familiās had the power to punish his slaves. Note the three ablatives absolute (līberīs … interfectīs, uxōre occīsā, incēnsā domō). familiās is an old genitive kept in this phrase. quam acerbissimum: quam with a superlative, 'as harsh as possible'.

4.12Mihi vērō importūnus ac ferreus quī nōn dolōre et cruciātū nocentis suum dolōrem cruciātumque lēnierit.

To me, at least, a man would seem heartless and made of iron who did not soothe his own pain and torment with the pain and torment of the guilty man.

Note. Supply videātur from the previous sentence: 'to me he would seem heartless'. nocentis: 'of the guilty one', a participle used as a noun.

4.12Sīc nōs in hīs hominibus quī nōs, quī coniugēs, quī līberōs nostrōs trucīdāre voluērunt, quī singulās ūnīus cuiusque nostrum domōs et hoc ūniversum reī pūblicae domicilium dēlēre cōnātī sunt, quī id ēgērunt ut gentem Allobrogum in vestīgiīs huius urbis atque in cinere dēflagrātī imperī conlocārent, sī vehementissimī fuerimus, misericordēs habēbimur;

So with these men, who wanted to slaughter us, our wives and our children, who tried to destroy the separate homes of each one of us and this whole home of the state, who worked to settle the nation of the Allobroges on the ruins of this city and in the ashes of an empire burnt to the ground: if we are as vehement as we can be, we will be considered merciful;

Note. The anaphora quī … quī … quī builds the charge sheet. The paradox at the end: the most vehement will be judged the most merciful. fuerimus is future perfect after sī.

4.12sīn remissiōrēs esse voluerimus, summae nōbīs crūdēlitātis in patriae cīviumque perniciē fāma subeunda est.

if we choose to be too lenient, we must face a reputation for the utmost cruelty in the destruction of our fatherland and our fellow citizens.

Note. sīn: 'but if'. fāma subeunda est: a passive periphrastic with dative of agent nōbīs, 'we must undergo the reputation'.

4.13Nisi vērō cuipiam L. Caesar, vir fortissimus et amantissimus reī pūblicae, crūdēlior nudius tertius vīsus est, cum sorōris suae, fēminae lēctissimae, virum praesentem et audientem vītā prīvandum esse dīxit, cum avum suum iussū cōnsulis interfectum fīliumque eius impūberem lēgātum ā patre missum in carcere necātum esse dīxit.

Unless perhaps Lucius Caesar, a most gallant man and most devoted to the state, seemed to anyone too cruel the day before yesterday, when he said that the husband of his sister, an excellent woman, should be put to death while he was present and listening; when he said that his own grandfather had been killed at the consul's order, and that his grandfather's son, a boy not yet of age, sent by his father as an envoy, had been executed in prison.

Note. Lucius Caesar (consul 64 BC) was the brother-in-law of Lentulus, yet voted for death. His grandfather Fulvius Flaccus was killed in 121 BC on the consul Opimius' order, and Fulvius' young son was put to death in prison. nudius tertius: 'two days ago' (literally 'it is now the third day').

4.13Quōrum quod simile factum, quod initum dēlendae reī pūblicae cōnsilium?

What deed of theirs was like this one? What plan had they formed to destroy the state?

Note. Quōrum: 'of these men' (the Gracchan rebels of 121). quod … factum, quod … cōnsilium: interrogative adjectives. Cicero's point: they never plotted to destroy Rome, as the conspirators did.

4.13Largītiōnis voluntās tum in rē pūblicā versāta est et partium quaedam contentiō.

At that time a desire to win favour with handouts was active in public life, and a certain rivalry of factions.

Note. Largītiōnis voluntās: the Gracchi were accused of buying popularity with land grants and cheap grain. partium: 'of the factions', the populārēs and optimātēs.

4.13Atque illō tempore huius avus Lentulī, vir clārissimus, armātus Gracchum est persecūtus.

And at that time the grandfather of this very Lentulus, a most distinguished man, pursued Gracchus in arms.

Note. huius … Lentulī: the grandfather of the conspirator Lentulus fought against Gracchus in 121, which makes the grandson's treason all the more shameful.

4.13Ille etiam grave tum volnus accēpit, nē quid dē summā reī pūblicae minuerētur;

He even received a serious wound then, so that nothing should be taken away from the supreme power of the state;

4.13hic ad ēvertenda fundāmenta reī pūblicae Gallōs arcessit, servitia concitat, Catilīnam vocat, attribuit nōs trucīdandōs Cethēgō et cēterōs cīvīs interficiendōs Gabīniō, urbem īnflammandam Cassio, tōtam Ītaliam vāstandam dīripiendamque Catilīnae.

this man summons the Gauls to overturn the foundations of the state, stirs up the slaves, calls in Catiline, assigns us to Cethegus to be slaughtered, the rest of the citizens to Gabinius to be killed, the city to Cassius to be set on fire, and all Italy to Catiline to be laid waste and plundered.

Note. hic: 'this man', the present Lentulus, set against ille, his grandfather. The historic present (arcessit, concitat, vocat, attribuit) makes the plot vivid. The gerundives with attribuit say what is assigned for what purpose: nōs trucīdandōs Cethēgō, 'us to Cethegus to be slaughtered'.

4.13Vereāminī minus cēnseō nē in hōc scelere tam immānī ac nefandō aliquid sevērius statuisse videāminī: multō magis est verendum nē remissiōne poenae crūdēlēs in patriam quam nē sevēritāte animadversiōnis nimis vehementēs in acerbissimōs hostīs fuisse videāmur.

I do not think you should be afraid that, in so monstrous and unspeakable a crime, you may seem to have decided on something too severe: much more must we fear that by relaxing the punishment we may seem to have been cruel to our fatherland, rather than seem, by the severity of our punishment, to have been too vehement against our bitterest enemies.

Note. Vereāminī … cēnseō: 'I think you should be afraid' (subjunctive with cēnseō, no ut). minus here is a softened negative: 'I do not think you should fear'. nē after verbs of fearing means 'that'. Note the balance: remissiōne poenae … crūdēlēs set against sevēritāte animadversiōnis … vehementēs.