A few days afterward, Lucius Sænius, a senator, read to the senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Fæsulæ, and in which it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken the field by the 27th of October. XXX. By the 27th of October] Ante diem VI. Kalendas Novembres. He means that they were in arms on or before that day. Others at the same time, as is not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex Quintus Marcius Rex] He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and was expecting a triumph for his successes. was dispatched, by a decree of the senate, to Fæsulæ, and Quintus Metellus Creticus Quintus Metellus Creticus] He had obtained the surname of Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete. into Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of commanders, Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc.] Ii utrique ad urbem imperatores erant ; impediti ne triumpharent calumniâ paucorum, quibus omnia, honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos erat. "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) a triumph, for which be was obliged to wait ad urbem, near the city, since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any military command. These imperatores had been debarred from their expected honor by a party who would sell any thing honorable, as a triumph, or any thing dishonorable, as a license to violate the laws. were waiting near the city, having been prevented from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The prætors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a complete pardon and two hundred sestertia A hundred sestertia—two hundred sestertia] A hundred sestertia were about 807l. 5s. 10d. of our money. . They further appointed that the schools of gladiators Schools of gladiators] Gladiatoriæ familiæ. Any number of gladiators under one teacher, or trainer ( lanista ), was called familia. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach. should be distributed in Capua and other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the inferior magistrates The inferior magistrates] The ædiles, tribunes, qaæstors, and all others below the consuls, censors, and prætors. Aul. Gell., xiii. 15. should have the charge. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that extreme gayety and dissipation, XXXI. Dissipation] Lascivia. "Devotion to public amusements and gayety. The word is used in the same sense as in Lucretius, v. 1398:
 Tum caput atquc humeros plexis redimire coronis. Floribus et foliis, lascivia læta monebat. 
Then sportive gayety promtped them to deck their heads and shoulders with garlands of flowers and leaves." Bernouf. to which long tranquillity Long tranquillity] Diuturna quies. "Since the victory of Sylla to the time of which Sallust is speaking, that is, for about twenty years, there had been a complete cessation from civil discord and disturbance." Bernouf. had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their country. Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian law. The Plautian law] Lege Plautiâ. "This law was that of M. Plautius Silanus, a tribune of the people, which was directed against such as excited a sedition in the state, or formed plots against the life of any individual." Cyprianus Popma. See Dr. Smith's Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, sub VIS. At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he went into the senatehouse. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the republic, which he afterward wrote and published. Which he afterward wrote and published] Quam posteà scriptam edidit. This was the first of Cicero's four Orations against Catiline. The epithet applied to it by Sallust, which I have rendered "splendid," is luculentam; that is, says Gerlach, "luminibus verborum et sententiarum ornatam," distinguished by much brilliancy of words and thoughts. And so say Kritzius, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Cortius, who is followed by Dahl, Langius, and Müller, makes the word equivalent merely to lucid, in the supposition that Sallust intended to bestow on the speech, as on other performances of Cicero, only very cool praise. Luculentus, however, seems certainly to mean something more than lucidus. When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome, A mere adopted citizen of Rome] Inquilinus civis urbis Romæ. "Inquilinus" means properly a lodger, or tenant in the house of another. Cicero was born at Arpinum, and is therefore called by Catiline a citizen of Rome merely by adoption or by sufferance. Appian, in repeating this account (Bell. Civ., ii. 104), says, was eager to preserve it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor. Traitor] Parricidam. See c. 14. "An oppressor or betrayer of his country is justly called a parricide ; for our country is the common parent of all. Cic. ad Attic." Wasse. Being thus exasperated, " Since I am encompassed by enemies," he exclaimed, Since I am encompassed by enemies, he exclaimed, etc.] " It was not on this day, nor indeed to Cicero, that this answer was made by Catilina. It was a reply to Cato, uttered a few days before the comitia for electing consuls, which were held on the 22d day of October. See Cic. pro Muræne, c. 25. Cicero's speech was delivered on the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him." Bernouf. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration against Catiline, says that Catiline could not endure his voice, but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," obeyed and submitted in silence. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, " That most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the senate, was dumb." "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the flame kindled around me in a general ruin." He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a large army. During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, with directions to address him XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.] Cum mandatis hujuscemodi. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an epistle, but a verbal message. to the following effect: "We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in want, have been deprived, most of us, of our homes, and all of us of our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our ancestors, to have the benefit of the law, XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law] Lege uti. The law here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one of the strongest bonds of credit. or, when our property was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the usurers and of the prætor. The prætor] The proætor urbanus, or city prætor, who decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors. "Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at Rome, relieved their distress by decrees ; Relieved their distress by decrees] Decretis suis inopiæ opitulati sunt. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for diminishing the rate of interest. and very lately, within our, own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass. Silver—was paid with brass] Agentum ære solutum est. Thus a sestertius, which was of silver, and was worth four asses, was paid with one as, which was of brass; or the fourth part only of the debt was paid. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius Paterculus, ii. 23 ; who says, quadrantem solvi, that a quarter of their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus, when he became consul on the death of Marius. "Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded Often—have the commonalty—seceded, etc.] "This happened three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2. To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." Bernouf. under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, which the injustice of the prætor has taken from us; and not to lay on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to avenge our blood." To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the kindness XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.] Eâ mansuetudine atque misericordiâ senatum populumque Romanum semper fuisse. " That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I have deserted the Latin for the English idiom. and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none had ever asked help of them in vain." Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself." Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in he name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy: XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: Egregiatua fides, re cognita grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meæ tribuit. Cortius corrected it as follows: Egregia tua fides, re cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meæ tribuit. Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. That Cortius's is the better, few will deny; for it can hardly be supposed that Sallust used mihi, meis, and meæ in such close succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's text, by asserting, from the phrase earum exemplam infra scriptum, that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: "Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinæ culpam tribuit, qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam apta et composita suprà c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis hæc quidem excusatio." Yet it is not to be denied that grata mihi is the reading of all the manuscripts. XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your eminent integrity, known to me by experience, Known—by experience] Re cognita. " Cognita" be it observed, tironum gratiâ, is the nominative case. "Catiline had experienced the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is related by Orosius." Bernouf. gives a pleasing confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. Recommendation] Commendationi. His recommendation of his affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus. I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense Formal defense] Defensionem. Opposed to satisfactionem, which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. "Defensio, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made against an adversary, or before judges; satisfactio was rather an excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private communication." Cortius. with regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious of no guilt, Though conscious of no guilt] Ex nullâ conscientiâ de coldâ. This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter conscientam de nullâ culpâ," or " inasmuch as I am conscious of no fault." " De culpâ," he adds, is the same as culpæ ; so in the ii. Epist. to Cæsar, c. 1: Neque de futuro quisquam satix callidus; and c. 9: de illis potissimum jactura fit." to offer you some explanation, To make no formal defense—to offer you some explanation] Defensionem—parare; satisfactionem—proponere. " Parare, " says Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and premeditation; proponere to such a statement as it was easy to make at once." which, on my word of honor, On my word of honor] Me dius fidus, sc. juvet. So may the god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith ? Dius, say some, is the same as Deus (Plautus has Deus fidius, Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter ( sub dio being equivalent to sub Jove ); so that Dius fidius ( fidius being an adjective from fides ) will be the Ζευζ πίστιοζ of the Greeks. Me dius fidius will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me !" This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Others, with Festus ( sub voce Medius fidius ) make fidius equivalent to filius, because the ancients, according to Festus, often used D for L, and dius fidius will then be the same as Διὸσ or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and medius fidius will be the same as mehercules or mehercule. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. Sprengel) mentions a certain Ælius who was of this opinion. Against this derivation there is the quantity of fidius, of which the first syllable is short: Quærebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem, Ov. Fast. vi. 213. But if we consider dius the same as deus, we may as well consider dius fidius to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and may thus make medius fidius identical with mehercules, as it probably is. " Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that medius fidius is a form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub Fidius. This point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, and Ovid, loc. cit.) Dius, Fidius to be the same with the Sabine Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules. you may receive as true. You may receive as true] Veram licet cognoscas. Some editions, before that of Cortius, have quæ—licet vera mecum recognoscas; which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Æn. iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have veram licet cognoscas. Provoked by injuries and indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion] Fructu laboris industriæque meæ privatus. "The honors which he sought he elegantly calls the fruit of his labor, because the one is obtained by the other.'" Cortius. I did not obtain the post of honor due to me, Post of honor due to me] Statum dignitatis. The consulship. I have undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts contracted on my own security ; On my own security] Meis nominibus. "He uses the plural," says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to explain this point. For alienis nominibus, which follows, being in the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity with Bernouf's comment. while the generosity of Orestilla, out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed Proscribed] Alienatum. "Repulsed from all hope of the consulship." Bernouf. on groundless suspicion, I have for this very reason, adopted a course, Adopted a course] Spes—secutus sum. "Spem sequi is a phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what appears advantageous, is signified." Cortius. amply justifiable in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla to your protection ; Protection] Fidei. intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury. Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury] Eam ab injuriâ defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus. "Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the sake of] your own children." Farewell."