Orations Against Catiline — Chapter 2 in Latin
By Marcus Tullius Cicero
Tandem, O Romani, ex urbe aut eiecimus aut expulimus aut, cum ipse sua sponte discederet, verbis prosecuti sumus Lucium Catilinam, audacia furiosum, malitiam spirantem, impie patriae suae calamitatem molientem, vobis et urbi ignem gladiumque minantem. At length, O Romans, we have dismissed from the city or driven out or, when he was departing of his own accord, we have pursued with words Lucius Catiline, mad with audacity, breathing wickedness, impiously planning mischief to his country, threatening fire and sword to you and to the city. Abiit, discessit, evanuit, erumpit. He has gone, he has departed, he has disappeared, he has rushed out. Nulla iam calamitas intra muros ipsos ab illo portento et prodigio maleficii illis muris paratur. No injury will now be prepared against these walls within the walls themselves by that monster and prodigy of wickedness. Et illum, huius domestici belli solum imperatorem, sine controversia vicimus. And we have, without controversy, defeated him, the sole general of this domestic war. Nam nunc ille puggio nostris lateribus circumvolans non erit; in campo, in foro, in senatu, immo etiam in nostris ipsi penetralibus timebimus non. For now that dagger will no longer hover about our sides; we shall not be afraid in the campus, in the forum, in the senate-house,—aye, and within our own private walls. Motus est ex suo loco cum ex urbe pelleretur. He was moved from his place when he was driven from the city. Nunc aperte cum hoste sine impedimento bellum administrabimus. Now we shall openly carry on a regular war with an enemy without hindrance. Sine dubitatione hominem perdimus; splendide eum vicimus cum ex clandestinis insidiis in apertum bellum coegimus. Beyond all question we ruin the man; we have defeated him splendidly when we have driven him from secret treachery into open warfare. Sed quod ensem cruore madentem secum non tulit ut volebat,—quod nos vivos reliquit,—quod armam e manibus eius extorsimus,—quod cives incolumes et urbem stantem reliquit, quam gravem et inmanem luctum hoc illi putatis esse! But that he has not taken with him his sword red with blood as he intended,—that he has left us alive,—that we wrested the weapon from his hands,—that he has left the citizens safe and the city standing, what great and overwhelming grief must you think that this is to him! Nunc prostratam iacet, O Romani, et se victum et abiectum sentit, et saepe oculos ad hanc urbem refert, quam deplorat ex faucibus suis raptam, sed quae mihi videtur exsultare quod tale pestilentiam evomerit et eiecerit. Now he lies prostrate, O Romans, and feels himself stricken down and abject, and often casts back his eyes toward this city, which he mourns over as snatched from his jaws, but which seems to me to rejoice at having vomited forth such a pest, and cast it out of doors.
Sed si quis est eius modi qui omnibus hominibus esse debet, qui tamen me vehementer culpat in eo ipso in quo oratio mea exsultat et triumphat—quod scilicet non But if there be any one of that disposition which all men should have, who yet blames me greatly for the very thing in which my speech exults and triumphs—namely, that I did not
Inimicum tam capitale mortale potius comprehendere quam dimittere—non mea culpa est, O cives, sed temporum culpa. arrest so capital mortal an enemy rather than let him go—that is not my fault, O citizens, but the fault of the times. Lucius Catilina gravissimo supplicio afficiendus erat et iam diu morte multandus; et maiorum instituta et meae potestatis severitas et res publica hoc a me postulabant; sed quot putatis fuisse qui ea quae retulissem non crederent? Lucius Catiline ought to have been visited with the severest punishment, and to have been put to death long since; and both the customs of our ancestors, and the rigor of my office, and the republic, demanded this of me; but how many, think you, were there who did not believe what I reported? Quot qui ex stupiditate ita non sentirent? how many who out of stupidity did not think so? Quot qui eum etiam defenderent? how many who even defended him? Quot qui ex sua pravitate eum faverent? how many who, out of their own depravity, favored him? Si vero mihi persuasum fuisset, eo sublato omne periculum a vobis remotum esse, iam diu Lucium Catilinam sustulissem, etsi non solum popularitatem meam sed etiam vitam mihi periculo fuisset. If, in truth, I had thought that, if he were removed, all danger would be removed from you, I would long since have cut off Lucius Catiline, had it been at the risk, not only of my popularity, but even of my life.
Sed cum vidissem, quod cum res ne tum quidem omnibus vobis esset probata, si eum morte, ut meruerat, punivissem, invidia oppressus essem neque consequi eius comites potuissem, rem eo deduxi ut vos aperte cum hostem sine tegumento vidissetis pugnarsetis. But as I saw that, since the matter was not even then proved to all of you, if I had punished him with death, as he had deserved, I should be borne down by unpopularity, and so be unable to follow up his accomplices, I brought the business on to this point that you might be able to combat openly when you saw the enemy without disguise. Sed quantum hunc hostem timendum mihi esse videatur nunc cum domo exierit, ex eo perspicere potestis quod vexor etiam quod parva comitum manu de urbe discessit. But how exceedingly I think this enemy to be feared now that he is out of doors, you may see from this,—that I am vexed even that he has gone from the city with but a small retinue. Utinam omnes suas copias secum tulisset. I wish he had taken with him all his forces. Tullit secum Tongillum, cum quo nefarium commercium habuisse dicebatur, et Publicium et Munatius, quorum aes in popinis contractum reipublicae nihil molestiae afferre poterat. He has taken with him Tongillus, with whom he had been said to have a criminal intimacy, and Publicius, and Munatius, whose debts contracted in taverns could cause no great disquietude to the republic. Reliquit alios—vos omnes scitis quales sint, quam aere alieno oppessi, quam potentes, quam nobiles. He has left behind him others—you all know what men they are, how overwhelmed with debt, how powerful, how noble.