4.18Habētis cōnsulem ex plūrimīs perīculīs et īnsidiīs atque ex mediā morte nōn ad vītam suam sed ad salūtem vestram reservātum.You have a consul rescued from very many dangers and plots and from the midst of death, not for his own life but for your safety.Note. Cicero himself is the consul saved from death (Catiline's men had tried to murder him in November). 4.18Omnēs ōrdinēs ad cōnservandam rem pūblicam mente, voluntāte, vōce cōnsentiunt.All orders agree in mind, will and voice to preserve the state. 4.18Obsessa facibus et tēlīs impiae coniūrātiōnis vōbīs supplex manūs tendit patria commūnis, vōbīs sē, vōbīs vītam omnium cīvium, vōbīs arcem et Capitōlium, vōbīs ārās Penātium, vōbīs illum ignem Vestae sempiternum, vōbīs omnium deōrum templa atque dēlūbra, vōbīs mūrōs atque urbis tēcta commendat.Besieged by the torches and weapons of an impious conspiracy, our common fatherland stretches out suppliant hands to you; to you it entrusts itself, to you the life of all its citizens, to you the citadel and the Capitol, to you the altars of the Penates, to you that everlasting fire of Vesta, to you the temples and shrines of all the gods, to you the walls and the houses of the city.Note. patria personified as a suppliant, a stirring figure. The repeated vōbīs (anaphora) hands each sacred thing to the senators in turn. ignem Vestae: the fire of Vesta, which was never allowed to go out, symbolized the life of Rome.
4.18Praetereā dē vestrā vītā, dē coniugum vestrārum atque līberōrum animā, dē fortūnīs omnium, dē sēdibus, dē focīs vestrīs hodiernō diē vōbīs iūdicandum est.Besides, today you must give judgment on your own life, on the lives of your wives and children, on the fortunes of all, on your homes and your hearths.Note. vōbīs iūdicandum est: passive periphrastic with the dative of agent, 'you must judge'. 4.19Habētis ducem memorem vestrī, oblītum suī, quae nōn semper facultās datur;You have a leader who is mindful of you and forgetful of himself, an opportunity not always given;Note. memorem vestrī, oblītum suī: chiasmus and antithesis, 'mindful of you, forgetful of himself'. vestrī and suī are genitives of the pronouns. 4.19habētis omnīs ōrdinēs, omnīs hominēs, ūniversum populum Rōmānum, id quod in cīvīlī causā hodiernō diē prīmum vidēmus, ūnum atque idem sentientem.you have all the orders, all men, the whole Roman people, feeling one and the same thing, which we see today for the first time in a civil cause. 4.19Cōgitāte quantīs labōribus fundātum imperium, quantā virtūte stabilītam lībertātem, quantā deōrum benignitāte auctās exaggerātāsque fortūnās ūna nox paene dēlērit.Think with what toil our empire was founded, with what courage our liberty was established, with what kindness of the gods our fortunes were increased and heaped up, and how one night almost destroyed them.Note. Cōgitāte introduces three indirect exclamations (quantīs … quantā … quantā) that build to the final clause ūna nox paene dēlērit. dēlērit = dēlēverit.
4.19Id nē umquam posthāc nōn modo nōn cōnficī sed nē cōgitārī quidem possit ā cīvibus hodiernō diē prōvidendum est.Today you must make sure that this can never again be not only carried out but even thought of by citizens.Note. nē … possit: purpose clause depending on prōvidendum est. nōn modo nōn … sed nē … quidem: 'not only not … but not even'. 4.19Atque haec, nōn ut vōs quī mihi studiō paene praecurritis excitārem, locūtus sum, sed ut mea vōx quae dēbet esse in rē pūblicā prīnceps officiō fūncta cōnsulārī vidērētur.And I have said these things not to rouse you, who almost outrun me in zeal, but so that my voice, which ought to be the foremost in the state, might be seen to have done its duty as consul.Note. Cicero tactfully says he is not urging the senators, who are already ahead of him in zeal. functa: from the deponent fungor, which takes the ablative officiō.