propius: a preposition, comparative degree, governing uirtutem.
dolis ac fallaciis: Cf. 10.5 above.
concupiuit: gnomic perfect. See again the note on 2.8.
uenenis malis: "uenenum was originally a neutral word, e.g. it included medicamenta. Hence, in legal and archaic styles, we find a defining adj." (Summers, ad loc.)
uenenis ... effeminat: "The expression may owe something to the well-known tragic theme of Hercules destroyed by the blood of Nessus. [OCD 269-270, s.v. "Heracles", particularly the 3rd last para.] The use of effeminare instead of a more usual word like delere points to the allegorisation of Hercules' death by the Cynics. Our chief source for this is the 60th speech of Dio Chrysostom where the garment [smeared with the blood of Nessus] is taken as the symbol of the effemination of Hercules under the influence of Deianira (Dio, 60.8). The moralising application of this experience was common in Rome by S.'s time." (McGushin, ad loc.)
neque copia neque inopia minuitur: This clause explains the one immediately preceding without any connecting word. copia and inopia illustrate Sallust's use of polar expressions to convey the whole range of a concept by mentioning its outermost limits.
bonis initiis: Although the general sense is clear enough, it is difficult to pinpoint the case-usage of initiis: dative of disadvantage? ablative of origin? ablative of attendant circumstances?
rapere ... trahere ... cupere ... habere ... facere: another series of historic infinitives. See again the note on 6.4-5.
domum alius, alius agros: chiasmus.
modum ... modestiam: Reproduce the alliteration in translation, and see the note on "echo phrases" (33.1).
facinora facere: figura etymologica. See again the note on 7.6.
in Asia: "whither he proceeded in 84, after all the serious fighting had been finished in Greece." (Summers, ad loc.)
ductauerat: archaic for duxerat.
quo ... faceret: quo introduces a final clause without the usual comparative. Orthodox Classical prose would use ut. (GL 545, Remark 1) McGushin cites the "solitary example" of Cicero, De Legibus 2.26.65, sublata etiam erat celebritas uirorum ac mulierum quo lamentatio minueretur, auget enim luctum concursus hominum, "The gathering of large numbers of men and women was also forbidden in order to limit the cries of mourning, for a crowd increases grief."
The example is not really compelling, however, as minueretur implies a comparison; being equivalent to minus fieret.
morem maiorum: Cf. the note on instituta maiorum (5.9), as well as on "echo phrases" (33.1).
habuerat = tractauerat.
"Because of his insistence that concordia assured the strength of Rome down to 146 BC, S. postdates the introduction of luxuria. He is [however] in agreement with the annalistic tradition in stating that the first importation of luxuria was due to an army from Asia. The annalistic accounts represented by Livy 39.6.5ff., ascribes this to the army of Manlius Vulso." [OCD 919, s.v. "Manlius Vulso, Gnaeus"] (McGushin, ad loc.)
corruptis moribus: ablative of quality.
potentia: "To be distinguished from potestas. The former denotes power attained by personal means, wealth, influence etc., and used largely for personal ends. The latter is used of power associated with public office, properly constituted authority. S.'s selection of the term here further underlines his meaning." (McGushin, ad loc.) See also MBA page 406, Footnote 1.
sequebatur: singular because the three subject nouns are aspects of a whole. Cf. in English "bread and butter", "fish and chips", "lemon, lime and bitters", "horse and cart".
hebescere uirtus, paupertas ... haberi: chiasmus.
"Innocentia is contrasted with avaritia and is equivalent to pecuniae abstinentia." (McGushin, ad loc.)
maliuolentia:"It was assumed that anyone who let slip a chance of enriching himself must do so in order to enjoy the equivalent pleasure of censuring those who had less scruple." (Summers, ad loc.)
haberi ... duci: elegant variation. See again the note on 2.1.
coepit: In orthodox Classical prose the passive infinitives haberi and duci would, by a process of attraction, depend on a passive coepta est. (MBA 219 (ii))
"The view that iuvenes are ultimately responsible for the failure of the state is due rather to the influence of Greek philosophical thinking as reflected, e.g. in Polybius, 31.25 and Posidonius (Diodorus, 37.3), than to any partisan bias incorporated from contemporary political thinking. In S. the iuventus includes the young men, without regard to their origin, who have become the victims of sloth and prodigality. This concept is not confined to the nobiles. Ch. 17 makes the first specific mention of the nobiles; all that was said before applies to the state as a whole, and to its younger citizens as such, not as members of a party or a class." (McGushin, ad loc.)
rapere, consumere ... pendere ... cupere ... habere: another plethora of historic infinitives. See again the note on 6.4-5.
pudorem, pudicitiam: keep the alliteration in translation, and see again the note on "echo phrases" (33.1).
parui: genitive of value.
pendêre: Distinguish from pendêre. You will find both verbs in OLD 1322.
"promiscua here means roughly the same as vilia." (McGushin, ad loc.)
nihil pensi neque moderati: "pensi is a normal value genitive, moderati, a partitive, is drawn from zeugma [PDLT 1051] into S.'s favourite construction, pensi habere." (McGushin, ad loc.)
cognoueris: subjunctive of the ideal second person.
ignauissumi homines ... fortissumi uiri: The contrast is striking.
sociis: dative of disadvantage.
"The title which strictly speaking belonged to nations at least theoretically independent of Rome, is constantly applied to the subject nations and provinces." (Summers, ad loc.)
proinde: For proinde with quasi, see OLD 1482, s.v. "proinde", 2b.
quasi ... esset: a clause of unreal comparison. (MBA 494)
"It was from the impoverished younger set whose taste for luxuria persisted that Catiline expected support for his programme." (McGushin, ad loc.)
subuorsos: Cf. the note on aduorsa (3.3).
subuorsos montis, maria constrata: chiasmus. "Referring to Xerxes. [OCD 1631-1632, s.v. "Xerxes I"; 680, s.v. "Hellespont"] Lucullus, [OCCL 332] called by Pompey 'Xerxes togatus', and Pompey himself [OCD 1215-1216, s.v. "Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (Pompey)"] cut through hills to bring salt water into their fishponds, and villas built out into the sea existed in Sallust's time at Baiae." (Rolfe , ad loc.)
quippe quas ... properabant: Cicero would have used the subjunctive (MBA 513)
"quas is the object to both verbs, though the second [abuti] really requires an ablative." (Summers, ad loc.)
pati ... habere ... exquirere, dormire .. opperiri ... antecapere: historic infinitives again.
prius quam somni cupido esset: subjunctive because there is an accessory notion of purpose: they slept in order to forestall the desire for sleep. (MBA 442)
antecapere: "They forestalled hunger and thirst by appetizers and even by emetics (cf. Sen. Cons. ad Helv. 10.3, vomunt ut edant, edunt ut vomant), cold and weariness by baths." (Rolfe , ad loc.)
factu facillimum: figura etymologica; and, for the supine in -u, cf. the note on 3.2.
flagitiorum ... facinorum: The nouns have a concrete as opposed to their usual abstract force, "reprobates ... criminals". (LS 755, s.v. "flagitium", II. c, which cites this passage; OLD 667, s.v. "facinus", 2b, which cites this passage)
quo ... redimeret: Cf. the note on quo ... faceret (11.5).
Catilinae: possessive genitive.
inciderat: "incidere is a verb often used in connection with misfortune, the onset of disease etc., of a quarry falling into the hands of a hunter, and so is apt to S.'s meaning here." (McGushin, ad loc.)
postremo: "a favourite summing up word of S." (McGushin, ad loc.)
dum ... faceret: a clause of proviso. (MBA 439)
qui ... existumarent: a generic qui- clause.
quae ... frequentabat: "On several occasions in S. a relative clause with an indicative verb occurs in conjunction with oratio obliqua where it is difficult to decide whether it is S.'s own comment or is really part of the original speech." (McGushin, ad loc.)
quod ... compertum foret: a clause of rejected reason. (MBA 486)
foret: an archaism for esset.
cum uirgine nobili: Her identity cannot be ascertained.
cum sacerdote Vestae: The more usual uirgine Vestali would have involved repetition. Her name was Fabia. She was acquitted on a charge of adultery thanks to the advocacy of Cato, Catullus and Cicero. She was also the half-sister of Terentia, Cicero's wife.
alia huiusce modi: "e.g. incest with his own daughter. There is no mention of the murders perpetrated during the Sullan terror." (McGushin, ad loc.)
nubere is the verb used for a woman marrying. Cognate with nubes, "cloud", it means basically "to put on the veil (for)" and is consequently followed by a dative of advantage (or disadvantage as the case may be). The corresponding verb for a man is ducere (in matrimonium).
necato filio: Valerius Maximus 9.1.9 writes ueneno sustulit, which supports S.'s necato. necare means to kill cruelly, often without a weapon, e.g. by poison or starvation.
nuptiis: dative of purpose.
uastabat: "tormented". (OLD 2014, s.v. "uasto", 2d)
"Greeks and Romans judged a man by his gait. Cicero tells us not to walk too slowly, as if we were taking part in some solemn procession, nor yet on the other hand outrage the rules of elegance by excessive haste (Off. 1.131)." (Summers, ad loc.)
uecordia: "The concept of madness brought about by conscientia scelerum derives from tragedy and as a traditional motif it made its way into historiography." (McGushin, ad loc.)
signatores witnessed wills and marriage ceremonies with their seals.
commodare ... habere: historic infinitives.
post: here an adverb.
attriuerat: pluperfect for repeated occurrence. (MBA 428, Note 1)
circumuenire, iugulare: historic infinitives; the crimes were committed by his recruits.
rapinarum et uictoriae: objective genitives dependent on memores.
opprimundae: Cf. the note on capiundae (5.6).
in Italia nullus exercitus: There were almost certainly Roman troops in Cisalpine Gaul. See OCD 280, s.v. "Calpurnius Piso (1), Gaius"; 268-269, s.v. "Caecilius Metellus Celer, Quintus".
in extremis terris: or so it seemed to Romans back home. "Pontus and Armenia, where Pompeius was pursuing the war against Mithridates." (McGushin, ad loc.)
petenti: not petendi, as he was already a candidate for the consulship of 63, as was Cicero.
tutae tranquillaeque res omnes: "In comparison with the turmoil of 66 (ch. 18) and the overt activity of Crassus in 65 (19.1) the year 64 opened quietly. But it was a delusive calm; cf. 23.5 on the reported activities of Caesar and Crassus before the elections." (McGushin, ad loc.)
prorsus here = omnino. (OLD 1498, s.v. "prorsus", 2)
appellare, hortari alios, alios temptare ... docere: historic infinitives and chiasmus.
"The composition of his following at this point - he is not yet the champion of the lower classes - and the repeated reference to the fact that success was felt to depend on success at the election make for the assumption that S. is here dealing not with a full-fledged conspiracy but with an exploratory and preparatory programme on the part of Catiline." (McGushin, ad loc.)
The following notes on the rest are based on McGushin:
L. Cassius Longinus: praetor with Cicero 66; failed to win the consulship in 63.
C. Cethegus: a leading light, forceful, colourful, brazen, impetuous; executed.
Ser[vius Cornelius Sulla]: Publius's brother and nephew of the dictator; convicted and banished, as was Publius. ("Sullae is nom. pl., the phrase meaning P. Sulla and Servius Sulla, sons of Servius (Sulla)." (Summers, ad loc.)
L. Vargunteius: convicted and banished.
Q. Annius: Cicero accused him of tampering with the Allobroges. (Cat. 3.14)
M. Porcius Laeca: The crucial meeting of the conspirators took place at his house, convicted and banished.
L. Bestia: tribune of the plebs, 62; Cicero possibly defended him on a bribery charge; harassed Cicero by protesting against the execution of Roman citizens.
Q. Curius: Cicero's chief source of information; see chapter 23.
L. Statilius: ran the arson squad; executed.
P. Gabinius Capito: Cicero calls him omnium scelerum improbissimus machinator; executed.
C. Cornelius: undertook with Vargunteius to murder Cicero; convicted.
Conviction and banishment (as opposed to execution) occurred under the lex Plautia de ui, the origin and details of which are uncertain.
ex coloniis et municipiis: in short, the towns of Italy. On Italian coloniae, see OCD 364-365, s.v. "colonization, Roman", paras 1, 2, 6; on municipia, OCD 1001, s.v. "municipium", paras 1-3.
domi nobiles: "members of local aristocracies of Italy, many with considerable influence at Rome both as members of the comitia centuriata [OCD 372-373, s.v "comitia", especially paras 4-5] and because of personal ties with Roman politicians." (McGushin, ad loc.)
maxime nobilium: "The repetition of nobilis, nobilitas in reference to Catiline and his followers reflects S.'s view that the troubles of which the conspiracy was a symptom were in part due to the corrupt and unpatriotic attitude of members of this class." (McGushin, ad loc.)
uiuere copia: Cicero would have used the genitive gerund uiuendi.
incerta pro certis, bellum quam pacem: antithesis and elegant variation.
non ignarum: litotes. (PDLT 507)
inuisus ipsi: "The well-known friction between Pompeius and Crassus in the year of their joint consulship (70 BC) could have begun as early as 80, the occasion of Pompeius' triumph for his African campaign; it persisted throughout their careers, even when they joined forces for their mutual benefit, and Crassus' motive for departing with his family for Asia in 62 is accurately interpreted by Plutarch as a desire to lend credence to anti-Pompeian gossip." (McGushin, ad loc.)
magnum exercitum: "The bill of Manilius in 66 had made Pompeius general extraordinary in the provinces of Asia, Cilicia and Bithynia, vested with almost unlimited military and financial powers to finish the war against Mithridates." (McGushin, ad loc.)
ductabat: indicative of fact, not part of the oratio obliqua after crederent.
potentiam: See again the note on 12.1.
confisum si coniuratio ualuisset ... se fore: Crassus' thought, expressed in direct form, would be si coniuratio ualuerit (future perfect), (ego) princeps ero.
illos: the conspirators.
quîs: ablative, an alternative form of quibus. (GL 105, Note 2)
"The so-called First Conspiracy of Catiline, in which Catiline bore a subordinate part, if he was connected with it at all. It owes its name to the fact that the second conspiracy was the direct outgrowth of the earlier one." (Rolfe, ad loc.)
quam uerissume potero: Is his evidence unsatisfactory?
L. Tullo ... consulibus: 66 BC. "Tullus was the consul who refused Catiline's candidature for election in 66." (McGushin, ad loc.)
P. Sulla: not the same one as in 17.3. See OCD 400, s.v. "Cornelius Sulla, Publius".
designati: Elected in July, they entered office the following January.
legibus: ablative of accordance, used with or, as here, without e(x); here probably the lex Calpurnia on electoral corruption, 67 BC. (OCD 850)
interrogati: The interrogatio was an early stage of a criminal trial, when the defendant had to appear and answer questions about his guilt. (RL 339) The US grand jury provides for a similar procedure.
poenas dederant: "These included a fine, the loss of their office, and expulsion from the senate." (Rolfe, ad loc.)
prohibitus erat ... profiteri nequiuerat: McGushin's discussion of the legal complexities involved may be read for interest only.
"Cicero's references to the affair make it clear that the trial did not take place until the summer of 65. But the impending prosecution would provide the presiding consul with a reason for refusing to accept Catiline's candidature, and there is some evidence that this is what happened." (Handford, ad loc.)
summae audaciae: genitive of quality.
"The elements of S.'s description so closely echo the features noted of Catiline's following as to give weight to the theory that from the moral standpoint S. viewed the state of mind which expressed itself ultimately in the rebellion of 63 as a continuing and long-implanted propensity." (McGushin, ad loc.)
parabant ... interficere ... mittere: Instead of an infinitive after parare, Cicero would normally use a gerundive construction: parabant ad consules interficiendos etc.
McGushin (ad loc.) points to a number of circumstances which make the story improbable: (i) a more obvious target would be the consul Volcacius Tullus, who had refused Catiline's candidature; (ii) Torquatus supported him at his trial; (iii) Cicero himself thought of defending Catiline to win his support as a fellow candidate for the consulship in 64.
fascibus: OCD 587-588. "The emblems of office for the office itself, a rather poetical use for Latin on much the same lines as our own expression 'seize the throne'." (Summers, ad loc.) The figure, of course, is metonymy. (PDLT 545-546) The Italian Fascist party adopted the fasces as its emblem in 1919.
Pisonem cum exercitu ... mittere: "S. is obviously inventing ex eventu. There is no doubt about the connection between Piso and Spain (19.1), but S. is the only one who makes this mission to Spain part of the programme of the alleged conspiracy. duas Hispanias is not consistent with 19.1, where S. correctly assigns only Hispania Citerior to Piso." (McGushin, ad loc.)
rursus: The reading is dubious as it implies more than one postponement. A plausible alternative suggestion is consulibus.
transtulerant = transtulerunt. (GL 241, Note 1)
maturasset ... patratum foret (= esset): subjunctives in an unreal conditional sentence referring to past time.
patratum: "a solemn archaic verb, a favourite with S." (McGushin, ad loc.)
"There need not be anything startling or sinister in the appointment of Piso to Hither Spain. He was despatched pro praetore, i.e. with imperium as 'acting governor' of the province. This can only mean that the province was without a governor. Governors may have been in short supply [or] the governor of Hither Spain might have died suddenly." (McGushin, ad loc.)
quod eum ... Pompeio cognouerat: "One of the most important features of the political scene of 66-62 BC [was] the absence and ultimate homecoming of Pompeius with a victorious army." (McGushin, ad loc.) Cf. potentia Pompei formidulosa erat (sec. 2 below).
infestum inimicum: another typical Sallustian doublet.
quippe foedum ... uolebat: "patently absurd both as a motive and as a solution to supposed fears." (McGushin, ad loc.)
boni: here a technical term, = optimates. (OCD 1070-1071, s.v. "optimates, populares")
uoluntate: ablative of accordance.
numquam Hispanos ... perpessos: "Not quite accurate. L. Piso Frugi was killed in Spain as propraetor in 112 BC. Cf. Livy's report of the murder of Hasdrubal, 21.2.6 and the note on Spanish savagery in Bell. Hisp. 42.4. [OCCL 87, s.v. "Bellum Hispaniense"]" (McGushin, ad loc.)
nos relinquemus: royal plural. Cf. the note on 7.7.
uniuorsos: Cf. the note on aduorsa (3.3).
spectata mihi forent: mihi is dative of the agent, basically of person interested. (MBA 258)
dominatio: "Catiline is anticipating the result of his coup, a well-worn rhetorical device." (McGushin, ad loc.)
uos cognoui fortis fidosque: Recall the composition of his audience (17.3-4).
eo: ablative of cause, "for that reason".
Friendship is born at the moment when one man says to another, "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself ..." But the common taste or vision or point of view which is thus discovered need not always be a nice one. From such a moment art, or philosophy, or an advance in religion or morals might well take their rise; but why not also torture, cannibalism or human sacrifice? It was wonderful when we first met someone who cared for our favourite poet. But it was no less delightful when we first met someone who shared a secret evil.What a remarkable summation of the relationship Catiline formed with his followers.
ea: attracted into the gender of the complement amicitia.
nisi ... uindicamus: One might expect the subjunctive in this subordinate clause, which is an integral part of the thought dependent on considero. After a first or second person primary governing verb, however, the indicative is regularly retained. Cf. D. S. Barrett, "Mood-Usage in Subordinate Clauses in Oratio Obliqua", Latin Teaching 32 (1965). 18-20. Apart from that, however, orthodox Classical prose would use the future perfect uindicauerimus instead of the timeless present uindicamus. In this respect English usage tallies with Sallust's.
nosmet: accusative; a more emphatic form of nos, reinforced in turn by ipsi.
The abuses listed in secs 7-8 carry conviction and are well chosen to suit the circumstances of the audience.
tetrarchae: OCD 1488, s.v. "tetrarchy".
esse ... pendere: historic infinitives.
populi, nationes: For the distinction, see again the note on 10.1.
"[The doublet strenuus-bonus] is meant to include all the facets of virtus; Sallust comes closest to this ideal meaning in BJ 7.5 et proelio strenuus et bonus consilio. But in the present passage boni is strained and overloaded if it means bono consilio and rather ambiguous if it is general, i.e. opposed to mali; in this passage one must also think of boni as conservatives (cf. 19.2). In short either clumsy writing on the part of S. or a cleverly misleading use of time-honoured phrasing by Catiline." (McGushin, ad loc.)
si res publica ualeret ... essemus: an unreal conditional sentence, the imperfect subjunctives referring to present time.
gratia: "the influence one acquires through beneficia." (McGushin, ad loc.)
pericula ... egestatem: Catiline has personally suffered all four as a result of his failure in politics.
I suggest that here Sallust recalls Cicero's words to illustrate that perversion of vocabulary which is the keynote of Catiline's speech: just as he misuses, for example, the terms virtus fidesque at the beginning of his speech, in stark contrast to Sallust's own definition, so he perverts the famous words of the attack which revealed his true villainy in similar savage indignatio.fueris: subjunctive of the ideal second person.
Classical Quarterly 27 (1977). 468)
emori ... uitam ... amittere: elegant variation. See again the note on 2.1.
deum is an older form of the second declension genitive plural. (JH, note on line 4, superum)
uiget aetas, animus ualet: alliteration and chiasmus combined.
annis, diuitiis: ablatives of cause.
diuitiis: Yet that is what he and his followers are after! See especially secs 14-15 below.
consenuerunt: Sallust much more commonly uses the ending -ere. (Palmer 275, middle)
incepto opus est: For the case-usage of incepto, see MBA 286.
quas profundant: a relative final clause.
extruendo mari ... montibus exaequandis: chiasmus. See again the note on 13.1.
nobis ... deesse: No sed or autem precedes - an example of adversative asyndeton. See the note on 1.4. The same applies to nobis larem ... ullum esse in the following sentence.
larem: OCCL 314, s.v. "lares". Here the word is used by metonymy (PDLT 545-546) for "home, hearthstone".
emunt ... diruunt ... aedificant ... trahunt, uexant: In view of the following tamen, we might normally have expected these five indicative verbs to be subjunctive in concessive cum-clauses.
trahunt, uexant: "A metaphor, as if they were at war with their riches, continued by the use of uincere afterwards." (Summers, ad loc.)
utimini: Can you parse it?
ut spero ... nisi forte me animus fallit: Is his uncertainty real or feigned? The latter, one imagines.
"This combination of an expectation of properly constituted power by unconstitutional means is a feature which is somewhat puzzling. As A. N. Sherwin-White remarks, 'men who want to be consular are by definition not men who want to start revolutions'. Catiline, of course, need not necessarily fit into the general rule, and it may be S.'s way of underlining his undoubted derangement when he notes that Catiline sets out on his last journey decked with the insignia of the highest republican office." (McGushin, ad loc.) See 36.2 below.
seruire magis quam imperare parati estis: Cicero would have written ad seruiendum magis quam ad imperandum parati estis.