Bellum Catilinae 12

Cat. 12.1Postquam dīvitiae honōrī esse coepēre et eās glōria imperium potentia sequēbātur, hebēscere virtūs, paupertās probrō habērī, innocentia prō malevolentiā dūcī coepit.

After riches began to bring honour, and glory, power and influence followed them, virtue began to grow dull, poverty to be thought a disgrace, and innocence to be taken for ill will.

Note. honōrī esse: double dative, 'to be a source of honour'. probrō habērī: 'to be held a disgrace'. hebēscere, habērī, dūcī: infinitives depending on coepit.

Cat. 12.2Igitur ex dīvitiīs iuventūtem luxuria atque avāritia cum superbiā invāsēre: rapere cōnsūmere, sua parvī pendere aliēna cupere, pudōrem pudīcitiam, dīvīna atque hūmāna prōmiscua, nihil pēnsī neque moderātī habēre.

So, as a result of riches, luxury and greed together with arrogance took hold of the young: they plundered and squandered, set little value on their own and coveted others' property, held modesty, chastity, things divine and human all alike, and cared for nothing and restrained nothing.

Note. rapere, cōnsūmere, pendere, cupere, habēre: historical infinitives. parvī pendere: 'to value little' (genitive of value). nihil pēnsī neque moderātī habēre: 'to care for nothing and restrain nothing'.

Cat. 12.3Operae pretium est, quom domōs atque vīllās cognōverīs in urbium modum exaedificātās, vīsere templa deōrum, quae nostrī maiōrēs religiōsissumī mortālēs fēcēre.

It is worth the trouble, when you have seen houses and villas built up to the size of cities, to go and look at the temples of the gods which our ancestors, most devout of mortals, made.

Note. Operae pretium est: 'it is worth the effort'. quom … cognōveris: 'when you have seen'. in urbium modum: 'on the scale of cities'.

Cat. 12.4Vērum illī dēlūbra deōrum pietāte, domōs suās glōriā decorābant, neque victīs quicquam praeter iniūriae licentiam ēripiēbant.

But they adorned the shrines of the gods with piety, and their own homes with glory, and took nothing from the conquered except the freedom to do harm.

Cat. 12.5At hī contrā, ignāvissumī hominēs, per summum scelus omnia ea sociīs adimere, quae fortissumī virī victōrēs relīquerant: proinde quasi iniūriam facere id dēmum esset imperiō utī.

These men, on the contrary, the most cowardly of men, by the worst crime take from our allies everything that those bravest of men had left them when victorious: as if to do wrong were the true use of power.

Note. hī: the men of Sallust's own day, contrasted with illī (the ancestors) in the previous sentence. proinde quasi: 'just as if'.