Bellum Catilinae 13

Cat. 13.1Nam quid ea memorem, quae nisi iīs quī vīdēre nēminī crēdibilia sunt, ā prīvātīs complūribus subvorsōs montīs, maria cōnstrāta esse?

For why should I mention things that are believable to no one except those who have seen them: that mountains have been levelled and seas built over by many private men?

Note. Levelling hills and building out over the sea for villas were notorious extravagances of rich Romans such as Lucullus.

Cat. 13.2Quibus mihi videntur lūdibriō fuisse dīvitiae: quippe quās honestē habēre licēbat, abūtī per turpitūdinem properābant.

To these men riches seem to me to have been a plaything: for what they could have held honourably, they hastened to misuse shamefully.

Cat. 13.3Sed lubīdō stuprī gāneae cēterīque cultūs nōn minor incesserat: virī muliebria patī, mulierēs pudīcitiam in propatulō habēre;

But no less a passion had come over them for lust, gluttony and the other refinements: men played the woman's part, women put their chastity up for sale in public;

Note. ganea: gluttony in low eating-houses. muliebria patī: a euphemism for men taking the passive role, which Romans regarded as disgraceful.

Cat. 13.3vēscendī causā terrā marīque omnia exquīrere;

to satisfy their appetite they searched land and sea for everything;

Note. Vescendī causā: 'for the sake of eating'. terrā marīque: 'by land and sea'. Another run of historical infinitives follows.

Cat. 13.3dormīre prius quam somnī cupīdō esset;

they slept before they wanted sleep;

Note. prius quam … esset: subjunctive with priusquam, since the sleepiness was anticipated rather than real.

Cat. 13.3nōn famem aut sitim, neque frīgus neque lassitūdinem opperīrī, sed ea omnia luxū antecapere.

they did not wait for hunger or thirst, cold or weariness, but forestalled all of them by luxury.

Cat. 13.4Haec iuventūtem, ubi familiārēs opēs dēfēcerant, ad facinora incendēbant: animus inbūtus malīs artibus haud facile lubīdinibus carēbat;

These things drove the young, when their family fortunes had run out, to crime: a mind steeped in bad practices did not easily do without its desires;

Note. familiārēs opēs: 'family fortunes'. This prepares Catiline's recruits: young men ruined by debt.

Cat. 13.5eō profūsius omnibus modīs quaestuī atque sūmptuī dēditus erat.

so all the more extravagantly was it given over to every kind of getting and spending.

Note. Eō profūsius: 'all the more extravagantly'. quaestuī atque sūmptuī: datives with dēditus, 'devoted to getting and spending'.