In continuation to his denouncing oration, Cicero starts off with three frustrated rhetorical questions, an example of his common writing technique 2's & 3's. Cicero asks from the Senate where is it that they live and and what sort of state they have, as if all morality is gone. (O di inmortales! ubinam gentium sumus? in qua urbe vivimus? quam rem publicam habemus?)
Cicero then accuses his senators, that there are men, here within the Senate, that dream of the destruction of both Rome, and the entire world. (Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, patres conscripti, in hoc orbis terrae sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de huius urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent!)
As consul, Cicero sees these corrupt men and asks for their opinion of the Senate, in attempts to uncover their lies. (Hos ego video consul et de re publica sententiam rogo)
Cicero believes that these men should be slaughtered with an iron sword, but he has yet to "wound them with his words", or scold them. (quos ferro trucidari oportebat, eos nondum voce volnero!)
Directly at Catiline, Cicero accuses him of being at the house of Marcus Laecas, a fellow conspirator, where they both plotted against Rome by dividing up parts of Italy, deciding who to leave in Rome and who to take with them, and also, establishing parts of Rome to destroy. (Fuisti igitur apud Laecam illa nocte, Catilina, distribuisti partes Italiae, statuisti, quo quemque proficisci placeret, delegisti, quos Romae relinqueres, quos tecum educeres, discripsisti urbis partes ad incendia, confirmasti te ipsum iam esse exiturum )
According to Cicero, Catiline said that because Cicero himself was alive, he was worried that he had only a little delay left for his plot to take action. (dixisti paulum tibi esse etiam nunc morae, quod ego viverem)
Cicero, now going into the details of the plot, tells Catiline that he is aware of the two Roman horsemen, sent by Catiline, that were to set him free of his worries, by killing him in his own bed just before dawn. (Reperti sunt duo equites Romani, qui te ista cura liberarent et sese illa ipsa nocte paulo ante lucem me in meo lectulo interfecturos esse pollicerentur)
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteThis reads too much like a summary and not an analysis. A good part is your analysis of the 3 rhetorical questions. Cicero is definitely stating that morality is gone. But the rest just seems like a retelling of the passage.
Also, I believe you may have misunderstood what Cicero meant here: As consul, Cicero sees these corrupt men and asks for their opinion of the Senate, in attempts to uncover their lies. (Hos ego video consul et de re publica sententiam rogo)
He is revealing, as you mentioned, that there are more conspirators in the senate. How is he supposed to rely on these senators to give him good counsel if they are acting against him?
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