6: _tandem_: see note 1, § 1. The orator implies by this particle the
fulness of his knowledge.
7: _noctem illam superiorem_: “the events on the night preceding the
last:” i.e., the events on the night of the 6th November, when the
meeting was held at the house of M. Porcius Laeca. --_illam_ here does
duty for the definite article in English.
8: _jam--reipublicae_: “You shall presently perceive that I am much more
actively watchful for the safety of the state than you are for its
destruction” --_intelliges_: what compounds of _-lego_ have _lexi_ in
the perfect? --_acrius_?
9: _dico_: this passage is executed with fine skill. At first the orator
states the fact clearly and briefly. He notes the effect on the
conspirator and calls for an answer: after no reply is given, Cicero
goes into details.
10: _priore nocte_: “on the night preceding (the last)”: a change for
_superiore nocte_. Others say it means _initio noctis_.
11: _inter falcarios_, scil. _opifices_: “through the scythe makers’
street:” a street in Rome deriving its name from the occupation of its
inhabitants. Cp. Isocr. Areopag. § 48: ἐν ταῖς αὐλητρίσιν: Livy, 35, 43:
_inter lignarios_ “in the woodcutters’ street.”
12: _in--domum_: is the preposition necessary?
13: _complures_: Sallust (Cat. 17) gives the names of eleven senators
who were present on this occasion.
14: _amentiae_: distinguish _amentia_ and _dementia_.
15: _convincam_: “I will prove it.”
§ 9.--
1: _ubinam gentium sumus!_ This phrase is very much the same as ours,
“where in the world are we?” It is often used in rhetorical writings and
in the comic poets. For the partitive genitive, see H. 397, 4.
2: _hic, hic_: Epizeuxis: note the emphatic repetition.
3: _patres conscripti_: said to be for _patres et conscripti_. The
senators were called _patres_. In the wars of the early republic many
were killed. To fill the place of those slain some were summoned
(_conscripti_.) Hence the original senators--those summoned--were
addressed as _patres et conscripti_: afterwards the _et_ was omitted.
4: _in--consilio_: “in this most venerable and respectable assembly of
the whole world.” The term _sanctus_ applied to the senate may refer to
the building in which it was convened. The usual distinction between
_consilium_ and _concilium_, that the former means advice, plans, while
the latter means an assemblage, with regard to those who compose it,
does not hold good. The roots of these words are different, _consilium_:
from _con_, _sed_, to sit: cp. _sedes_, _solium_, ἕδος; for the change
of _d_ to _l_: cp. δάκρυ, lacrima; _olere_, _odere_. --_concilium_:
_con_, _cal_, to summon: cp. _Kalendae_, _calare_, καλεῖν.
5: _qui--cogitent_: “(are men so nefarious) as to plan the destruction
of every one of us, and the ruin of this city and further of the whole
world.” --_qui_ = _tales ut. --adeo_: literally, “up to this point:”
then, “in fact.”
6: _sententiam rogo_: supply _hos_ from the preceding. _Sententiam rogo_
is said of the presiding magistrate who, in proposing a _senatus
consultum_, asked individually the will of the senators.
7: _vulnero_: by mentioning their names publicly.
8: _igitur_: resumes (_analeptic_) the argument referring to the
question, _num rogare audes?_ Catiline had left this unanswered. Having
been interrupted by the outbreak of his indignation, the orator now
returns to the doings of the conspirators at the house of Laeca.
9: _distribuisti_: Sallust (C. 27) informs us that C. Manlius was sent
to Faesulae, and the adjoining territory of Etruria: Septimius, into the
Picene territory: C. Julius, into Apulia.
10: _statuisti--placeret_: scil: _locum_: “you appointed the place to
which it was agreed on that each should set out:” For subjunctive in
_placeret_, see H. 529, I.
11: _delegisti--educeres_: “you picked out those whom you were to leave
at Rome, whom you were to take with you.” Sallust (Cat. C. 43) says that
Statilius and Gabinius were to set fire to the city, and Cethegus was to
assassinate Cicero, and Lentulus to superintend the general massacre.
12: _discripsisti_: _discribo_ is used where the fundamental notion is
to map out, plan, arrange, put in order, as _distribuere_, _dividere_,
_disponere_: _describo_ is to write down, to compose. Sallust (Cat. C.
43) says that the conspirators were to fire twelve (Plutarch says a
hundred) parts of the city at one and the same time. For _discripsisti_:
cf. Cic. Pro Sulla, 8: _Tam Catilina dies exurendi tum caeteris manendi
conditio, tum discriptio totam per orbem caedis atque incendiorum
constituta est_.
13: _paullulum--morae_: “that you still had even now a slight cause of
delay.” _Paullulus_ is a dual diminutive for _paurululus_ = _paullulus_:
_u_ being omitted before the first _l_ and the _r_ assimilated: cp.
_sterula_ = _stella_. --_viverem_: subj.: giving the opinion of
Catiline.
14: _etiam tum_: is used to express the words of Catilina, not those of
Cicero.
15: _duo equites_: according to Cic. (Pro Sulla, 18, 52) one was
C. Cornelius: Sallust (Cat. C. 18) mentions the Senator L. Vargunteius
as the other.
16: _qui--liberarent_: “to free you from the fear you had:” _qui_ =
_tales ut_.
_illa ipsa nocte_: these knights were to pay their intended visit in the
morning, where the Roman magistrates and distinguished men held their
audiences and received their clients.
17: _lectulo_: the diminutive here has scarcely any force. There may be
a slight reference to its comfort: “my dear bed.”
§ 10.--
1: _vixdum--dimisso_: “when your meeting was hardly as yet broken up.”
_Comperi_: Cicero gained his knowledge from Curius and Fulvia (Sall.
Cat. C. 28). According to Merivale, Cicero used _comperio_ when he was
wont to indicate his knowledge of facts, though afraid of revealing the
sources of his information. The word does not always have this force.
2: _salutatum_: supine after a verb of motion. What different ways of
expressing a purpose in Latin?
3: _mane_: another form is _mani_: cp. _luci_, _heri_, locatives.
4: _id temporis_: for partitive genitive: H. 397, note 5.