Bellum Catilinae 56

Cat. 56.1Dum ea Rōmae geruntur, Catilīna ex omnī cōpiā, quam et ipse addūxerat et Mānlius habuerat, duās legiōnēs īnstituit, cohortīs prō numerō mīlitum conplet.

While this was going on at Rome, Catiline formed two legions out of all the troops that he had brought himself and that Manlius had had, and filled up the cohorts in proportion to the number of soldiers.

Note. cohortīs: accusative plural in -īs, the older ending that Sallust uses for i-stem nouns and adjectives (montīs, omnīs, hostīs). conplet: older spelling of complet; historic present.

Cat. 56.2Deinde, ut quisque voluntārius aut ex sociīs in castra vēnerat, aequāliter distribuerat, ac brevī spatiō legiōnēs numerō hominum explēverat, quom initiō nōn amplius duōbus mīlibus habuisset.

Then, as each volunteer or man from among the allies had come into camp, he had distributed them evenly, and in a short time he had filled the legions with men, though at the start he had had no more than two thousand.

Note. distribuerat, explēverat: pluperfects summing up what he had done as the men came in. quom: older spelling of the conjunction cum. nōn amplius duōbus mīlibus: amplius, 'more than', without quam, with the ablative of comparison.

Cat. 56.3Sed ex omnī cōpiā circiter pars quārta erat mīlitāribus armīs īnstrūcta;

But of the whole force only about a quarter was equipped with proper soldiers' weapons;

Cat. 56.3cēterī, ut quemque cāsus armāverat, sparōs aut lanceās, aliī praeacūtās sudīs portābant.

the rest, as chance had armed each man, carried hunting spears or lances, and some sharpened stakes.

Note. sparōs, lanceās, sudīs: improvised weapons, a sign of how poorly armed the rebels were. sudīs: accusative plural in -īs.

Cat. 56.4Sed postquam Antōnius cum exercitū adventābat, Catilīna per montīs iter facere, modo ad urbem, modo Galliam vorsus castra movēre, hostibus occāsiōnem pugnandī nōn dare.

But after Antonius began approaching with his army, Catiline marched through the mountains, moving camp now towards the city, now in the direction of Gaul, and gave the enemy no chance to fight.

Note. postquam … adventābat: with the imperfect, 'after Antonius began approaching'. facere, movēre, dare: historic infinitives. Galliam vorsus: versus 'towards' placed after its noun; vorsus is the older spelling.

Cat. 56.4Spērābat propediem magnās cōpiās sēsē habitūrum, sī Rōmae sociī incepta patrāvissent.

He hoped soon to have large forces, if his allies at Rome carried out what they had begun.

Note. habitūrum: future infinitive with esse understood after spērābat.

Cat. 56.5Intereā servitia repudiābat, quoius initiō ad eum magnae cōpiae concurrēbant, opibus coniūrātiōnis frētus, simul aliēnum suīs ratiōnibus exīstumāns vidērī causam cīvium cum servīs fugitīvīs commūnicāvisse.

Meanwhile he kept rejecting the slaves, of whom great numbers flocked to him at first, relying on the resources of the conspiracy, and at the same time thinking it would look damaging to his plans to seem to have shared the citizens' cause with runaway slaves.

Note. servitia: 'slaves', literally 'slaveries', the abstract used for the concrete. quoius: older spelling of cuius. existumāns: older spelling of exīstimāns. alienum suīs ratiōnibus: 'harmful to his interests'. Catiline would not raise a slave revolt, which would have cost him respectable support.