Bellum Catilinae 33

Cat. 33.1"Deōs hominēsque testāmur, imperātor, nōs arma neque contrā patriam cēpisse neque quō perīculum aliīs facerēmus, sed utī corpora nostra ab iniūriā tūta forent, quī miserī, egentēs violentiā atque crūdēlitāte faenerātōrum plērīque patriā, sed omnēs fāmā atque fortūnīs expertēs sumus.

"We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken up arms neither against our country nor to bring danger on others, but so that our persons might be safe from injury; we are wretched and needy, most of us stripped of our homeland by the violence and cruelty of moneylenders, all of us of our good name and fortunes.

Note. Manlius' letter is set out in direct speech. neque quo ... faceremus: quo introduces a purpose clause, 'nor in order that'. qui miseri ... sumus: the relative refers to nos. expertes takes the ablative (patria, fama, fortunis) here, a less common construction than the genitive.

Cat. 33.1Neque quoiquam nostrum licuit mōre maiōrum lēge utī neque āmissō patrimōniō līberum corpus habēre: tanta saevitia faenerātōrum atque praetōris fuit.

None of us has been allowed to use the protection of the law, as our ancestors did, nor to keep his body free once his property was lost: so great was the savagery of the moneylenders and of the praetor.

Note. lege uti: utor + ablative. Debtors could be handed over in bondage (addictio) to their creditors; Manlius claims that the urban praetor had applied the law harshly.

Cat. 33.2Saepe maiōrēs vostrum, miseritī plēbis Rōmānae, dēcrētīs suīs inopiae eius opitulātī sunt, ac novissumē memoriā nostrā propter magnitūdinem aeris aliēnī volentibus omnibus bonīs argentum aere solūtum est.

Often your ancestors, taking pity on the Roman common people, relieved their poverty by their decrees, and very recently, in our own memory, because of the size of the debts, silver was paid off in bronze with the consent of all good men.

Note. vostrum = vestrum, partitive genitive of vos; 'your ancestors'. miseriti: perfect participle of the deponent misereor, with the genitive plebis. argentum aere solutum est: in 86 BC a law allowed debts to be paid at a quarter of their value, 'silver paid with bronze'. novissume = novissime, 'very recently'.

Cat. 33.3Saepe ipsa plēbs, aut dominandī studiō permōta aut superbiā magistrātuum, armāta ā patribus sēcessit.

Often the common people themselves, either from a desire for power or provoked by the arrogance of the magistrates, have taken up arms and seceded from the senators.

Note. The secessions of the plebs in the early Republic, when the common people withdrew from the city until the patricians gave way.

Cat. 33.4At nōs nōn imperium neque dīvitiās petimus, quārum rērum causā bella atque certāmina omnia inter mortālīs sunt, sed lībertātem, quam nēmō bonus nisi cum animā simul āmittit.

But we seek neither power nor riches, the causes of all wars and struggles among men, but freedom, which no good man gives up except together with his life.

Note. quarum rerum causa: 'for the sake of which things'. nisi cum anima simul: 'except together with his life'.

Cat. 33.5Tē atque senātum obtestāmur, cōnsulātis miserīs cīvibus, lēgis praesidium quod inīquitās praetōris ēripuit restituātis, nēve nōbīs eam necessitūdinem inpōnātis, ut quaerāmus, quōnam modō maxumē ultī sanguinem nostrum pereāmus."

We implore you and the senate to take thought for your wretched fellow citizens, to give back the protection of the law that the praetor's injustice has snatched away, and not to impose on us the necessity of asking how we may best avenge our blood before we die."

Note. consulatis ... restituatis ... inponatis: subjunctives after obtestamur, without ut. ulti: perfect participle of the deponent ulciscor, used with present meaning: 'avenging our blood as we die'. The edition prints neccessitudinem, a misprint for necessitudinem.