Bellum Catilinae 5

Cat. 5.1L. Catilīna, nōbilī genere nātus, fuit magnā vī et animī et corporis sed ingeniō malō prāvōque.

Lucius Catiline, born of a noble family, had great strength of both mind and body, but a wicked and depraved nature.

Note. L. Catilīna: Lucius Sergius Catilina, of an old patrician family. The portrait is built on contrasts: great powers, bad character. ablative of quality: magnā vī, ingeniō malō.

Cat. 5.2Huic ab adulēscentiā bella intestīna caedēs rapīnae discordia cīvīlis grāta fuēre, ibique iuventūtem suam exercuit.

From his youth civil wars, slaughter, plunder and civil discord were welcome to him, and in these he spent his young manhood.

Note. bella intestīna caedēs rapīnae discordia: a list without 'and' (asyndeton). Catiline served under Sulla in the civil wars of the 80s.

Cat. 5.3Corpus patiēns inediae algōris vigiliae suprā quam quoiquam crēdibile est.

His body could bear hunger, cold and lack of sleep beyond what anyone would believe.

Note. Supply erat: Sallust often leaves out the verb 'to be'. patiēns + genitive: 'able to endure'. quoiquam = cuiquam.

Cat. 5.4Animus audāx subdolus varius, quoius reī lubet simulātor ac dissimulātor, aliēnī adpetēns suī profūsus, ārdēns in cupiditātibus;

His mind was bold, crafty, changeable, able to feign or to hide anything he pleased, greedy for other men's property, lavish with his own, burning in his desires;

Note. quoius reī lubet: 'of anything you like' (= cuiuslibet). simulātor ac dissimulātor: one who pretends to be what he is not, and hides what he is. aliēnī … suī: genitive with adpetēns and profūsus.

Cat. 5.4satis ēloquentiae, sapientiae parum.

he had eloquence enough, wisdom too little.

Note. A famous epigram: chiasmus (eloquentiae satis, sapientiae parum), with the genitive of the whole after adverbs of quantity.

Cat. 5.5Vāstus animus inmoderāta incrēdibilia nimis alta semper cupiēbat.

His insatiable mind always longed for things beyond measure, beyond belief, too high.

Cat. 5.6Hunc post dominātiōnem L. Sullae lubīdō maxuma invāserat reī pūblicae capiundae;

After the tyranny of Lucius Sulla he was seized by an overwhelming desire to take control of the state;

Note. Sulla, dictator 82–79 BC, had shown that the state could be seized by force. capiundae = capiendae: gerundive, 'of seizing the state'.

Cat. 5.6neque id quibus modīs adsequerētur, dum sibi regnum parāret, quicquam pēnsī habēbat.

and so long as he won kingly power for himself, he cared nothing by what means he got it.

Note. quicquam pēnsī habēbat: 'did he care at all'; pēnsī is a genitive of value. dum: 'provided that'.

Cat. 5.7Agitābātur magis magisque in diēs animus ferōx inopiā reī familiāris et cōnscientiā scelerum, quae utraque iīs artibus auxerat, quās suprā memorāvī.

His fierce spirit was driven more and more every day by want of money and by awareness of his crimes, both of which he had increased by the practices I mentioned above.

Note. magis magisque: 'more and more'. in diēs: 'day by day'. utraque: both the poverty and the guilty conscience.

Cat. 5.8Incitābant praetereā corruptī cīvitātis mōrēs, quōs pessuma ac dīvorsa inter sē mala, luxuria atque avāritia, vexābant.

He was spurred on besides by the corrupt morals of the city, which were being ruined by two evils, the worst of all and opposite to each other: luxury and greed.

Note. pessuma ac dīvorsa inter sē mala: luxury and greed are opposites (spending and getting) yet both ruin the state.

Cat. 5.9Rēs ipsa hortārī vidētur, quoniam dē mōribus cīvitātis tempus admonuit, suprā repetere ac paucīs īnstitūta maiōrum domī mīlitiaeque, quō modō rem pūblicam habuerint quantamque relīquerint, ut paulātim inmūtāta ex pulcherrumā atque optumā pessuma ac flāgitiōsissuma facta sit, disserere.

The subject itself, since the occasion has brought to mind the morals of the city, seems to urge me to go back and discuss briefly the institutions of our ancestors at home and in the field: how they governed the state and how great they left it, and how, changing little by little, from the finest and best it has become the worst and most shameful.

Note. The digression on Roman morals (chapters 6–13) explains how Rome came to produce a Catiline. domī mīlitiaeque: locatives, 'at home and on campaign'. ut … facta sit: indirect question, 'how it was made'.