Bellum Catilinae 49

Cat. 49.1Sed īsdem temporibus Q. Catulus et C. Pīsō neque pretiō neque grātiā Cicerōnem inpellere potuēre, utī per Allobrogēs aut alium indicem C. Caesar falsō nōminārētur.

But at the same time Quintus Catulus and Gaius Piso could not move Cicero, either by money or by influence, to have Gaius Caesar falsely named through the Allobroges or some other informer.

Note. Q. Lutatius Catulus and C. Calpurnius Piso were leading conservatives and enemies of Caesar. falsō 'falsely' is an adverb.

Cat. 49.2Nam uterque cum illō gravīs inimīcitiās exercēbat: Pīsō oppugnātus in iūdiciō pecūniārum repetundārum propter quoiusdam Trānspadānī supplicium iniūstum, Catulus ex petītiōne pontificātūs odiō incēnsus, quod extrēmā aetāte, maxumīs honōribus ūsus, ab adulēscentulō Caesare victus discesserat.

For both were carrying on bitter quarrels with him: Piso had been attacked in a trial for extortion because of the unjust execution of a certain man from beyond the Po; Catulus was burning with hatred from his candidacy for the chief priesthood, because in his old age, after holding the highest offices, he had come away beaten by the young Caesar.

Note. pecūniārum repetundārum: the legal phrase for extortion by a governor ('of money to be recovered'). Piso had executed a man from beyond the Po while governing Cisalpine Gaul. In 63 BC Caesar, still under forty, beat the veteran Catulus for the office of pontifex maximus.

Cat. 49.3Rēs autem opportūna vidēbātur, quod is prīvātim ēgregiā līberālitāte, pūblicē maxumīs mūneribus grandem pecūniam dēbēbat.

And the moment seemed right, because Caesar owed a great deal of money, privately through his remarkable generosity and publicly through very lavish shows.

Note. Caesar was famously in debt from his generosity and from the expensive games he gave as aedile in 65 BC: the hope was that a debtor would be believed to favour Catiline's programme of cancelling debts.

Cat. 49.4Sed ubi cōnsulem ad tantum facinus inpellere nequeunt, ipsī singillātim circumeundō atque ēmentiundō, quae sē ex Volturciō aut Allobrogibus audīsse dīcerent, magnam illī invidiam cōnflāverant, usque eō ut nōnnūllī equitēs Rōmānī, quī praesidī causā cum tēlīs erant circum aedem Concordiae, seu perīculī magnitūdine seu animī mōbilitāte inpulsī, quō studium suom in rem pūblicam clārius esset, ēgredientī ex senātū Caesarī gladiō minitārentur.

But when they cannot drive the consul to so great a crime, they themselves, by going round to people one by one and inventing things which they claimed to have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, had stirred up great hatred against him, so much so that some Roman knights, who were posted under arms round the temple of Concord as a guard, driven either by the greatness of the danger or by excitability of mind, threatened Caesar with the sword as he was leaving the senate, so that their zeal for the Republic might be the more conspicuous.

Note. circumeundō atque ēmentiundō: ablative gerunds, 'by going round and lying'. usque eō ut 'to such a point that'. quō … clārius esset: quō + comparative purpose clause. Caesar was threatened by armed knights as he left the senate.