First Oration of Cicero Against Catiline with Notices, Notes and Complete Vocabulary

CHAPTER III.

Chapter 3 648 words Public domain Markdown

5: _Etenim--potest?_ This gives a reason for the clause _sed vives--possis_.

6: _exspectes_: H. 503, I.

7: _coeptus nefarios_: “your traitorous attempts:” another reading is _coetus_.

8: _privata domus_: the house of M. Porcius Laeca.

9: _parietibus_: abl. means. Distinguish _moenia_ (root _mun_, to defend: cp. ἀμύνειν), the walls of a city for defensive purposes: _murus_ (= _mun-rus_), any kind of wall: _paries_ (root _par_, to separate): the partition walls of a house: _maceria_, a garden wall.

10: _voces conjurationis_ = _voces conjuratorum_: “the voices of the conspirators:” Cicero often uses abstract for concrete terms.

11: _inlustrantur_ opposed to _obscurare_ as _erumpunt_ to _domus ... continet_.

12: _istam mentem_: “that resolve of thine,” i.e. of remaining in the city to murder the people.

13: _mihi crede_ = _me sequere_: “follow my advice:” _mihi crede_ is the common order in Cicero: _crede mihi_ in other writers.

14: _teneris undique_: “you are hemmed in (i.e. convicted) on every hand.”

15: _quae--recognoscas_: “and these plans you may now review with me:” Construe: _quae_ (= _et haec_, scil. _consilia_) _licit_ (_tibi ut_) _recognoscas jam mecum_.

§ 7.--

1: _meministine_ = _nonne meministi_: the particle _-ne_ added to a verb has sometimes in Cicero the force of _nonne_. Cp. Cat. Major, C. 10. _videtisne_ = _nonne videtis_. So frequently in Terence, Plautus, and in colloquial Latin: H. 396, II. I.

2: _ante-Novembres_: “on the 12th day before the Kalends of November,” i.e. on October 21st. This anomolous mode of expression probably arose from the transposition of _ante_. Having one written _ante die duodecimo Kalendas_, they would easily be led to infer that _ante_ governed _die_ and so would write _ante diem duodecimum Kalendas_. For the method of computation of time among the Romans, see H. 642.

3: _certo die, qui dies_: the repetition of the subst. after the relation may be explained on the ground of clearness.

4: _audaciae--tuae_: “the partisan and agent of your audacious schemes.” The words _satelles_ and _administer_ are synonymous, the former being more poetical and explained by the latter, which is the more common.

5: _num--dies?_ “was I, O Catiline, ignorant not merely of an attempt so enormous, so wicked, so surpassing belief, but, a thing which is more to be wondered at, of the day?” --_me fallit_: cf. _latet me_, λανθάνει με.

6: _caedem--Novembres_: “that you had fixed the 28th October for the slaughter of the nobles.” The construction is _in diem quintum ante Kalendas Novembres_. Predetermination of future time is often expressed by _in_ with acc.: as _in diem posterum senatum convocavit_, not “he summoned the Senate _on_ the next day,” but “_for_ the next day.”

7: _optimatium_: is the only word, not a proper name, in _-at_, that makes the gen. pl. in _-ium_. --_Roma_: Give rules for the construction of the names of towns.

8: _sui conservandi_: _sui_ like _nostri, vestri_ is not a gen. pl. but a gen. sing. of an adj. used collectively and abstractly: “not for self-preservation:” Madvig, 297, b. c.: 417.

9: _reprimendorum_: here used in the sense of _impediendorum_: “of preventing your plans being carried out.” This is probably a rhetorical flourish on the part of Cicero, as no such fact is mentioned by Sallust. Among those who fled, according to Plutarch, was M. Crassus. --_num--dicebas?_ “Can you deny that on that very day, beset by the guards I had placed, by my watchfulness, you could take not one step against the state, when on the departure of the others you, nevertheless, expressed yourself satisfied with the murder of us who remained?” --_discessu ceterorum_: the ablative here supplies the place of a participial abl. absol. --_nostra--caede--qui_: the relative is made to refer to an antecedent implied in _nostra_: H. 445, 6, --_quum_: is often used by Cicero in the impf. indic. when the bare notion of time or of continuance is to be expressed. --_remansissemus_: virtual oblique narrative: hence the subjunctive.

§ 8.--

1: _quid_: “further”: lit. “what shall I say?” scil. _dicam_.

2: _te--occupaturum_: “that you would anticipate us in seizing Praeneste in an attack by night on the first of November.” With _occupare_: cp. φθάνειν: no other writer mentions this fact. --_ipsis_: _ipse_ denotes exactness in temporal expressions: _triginta ipsi dies_, “exactly thirty days.”

3: _sensistisne_ = _nonne sensistis_: see note 1, § 7, above.

4: _praesidium_, a guard in a general sense: _custodiae_, watches on the wall: _vigiliae_, night watches.

5: _nihil--nihil, nihil_: see note 7, § 1. “There is nothing you do, nothing you plan, nothing you think which I do not hear only, but also see or clearly perceive.” Some read _non modo_ for _non modo non_, which the senses requires.