latin sentences

CICERO — FIRST ORATION AGAINST CATILINE

1. “Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?”

Translation:
“How far, at last, will your unbridled audacity toss itself about?”

Notes:

  • Quem ad finem = “to what end / how far.” Idiomatic.

  • effrenata audacia = literally “unreined audacity,” metaphor of a wild, bridleless horse.

  • sese iactabit = future tense; iactare → “to flaunt, throw itself around” (Cicero paints Catiline as thrashing wildly).

  • Tone: accusatory, dramatic.

2. “si istius furorem ac tela vitemus.”

Translation:
“—if we are even able to avoid that man’s madness and weapons.”

Notes:

  • istius = contemptuous demonstrative (“that that man”).

  • furorem ac tela = paired abstract + concrete = madness + literal weapons.

  • vitemus = present subjunctive in a clause of fearful or doubtful possibility.

  • This line adds menace: Catiline is both irrational and militarized.

3. “in qua nemo est extra istam coniurationem perditorum hominum, qui te non metuat, nemo, qui non oderit.”

Translation:
“In this entire state there is no one—outside that conspiracy of ruined men—who does not fear you, no one who does not hate you.”

Notes:

  • in qua = refers to the res publica (the state / community).

  • extra istam coniurationem perditorum hominum = “outside that conspiracy of ruined/depraved men.” Cicero isolates Catiline socially.

  • qui te non metuat / qui non oderit = double universal negative → emphatic “everyone fears/hates you.”

  • Two parallel relative clauses of characteristic.

4. “Venisti paulo ante in senatum. Quis te ex hac tanta frequentia totque tuis amicis ac necessariis salutavit?”

Translation:
“You came into the Senate just a short while ago. Who, out of this great crowd—out of all your so-called friends and associates—greeted you?”

Notes:

  • paulo ante = “just a little earlier.”

  • frequentia = “a throng,” especially of assembled senators.

  • salutavit? = greeting as a political signal; not greeting = social exile.

  • Cicero weaponizes silence: nobody acknowledged Catiline.

CICERO — SECOND ORATION AGAINST CATILINE

1. “Tandem aliquando, Quirites, L. Catilinam furentem audacia, scelus anhelantem, pestem patriae nefariae molientem, vobis atque huic urbi ferro flammaque minitantem ex urbe vel eiecimus vel emisimus vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus.”

Translation:
“At last, citizens, we have either driven out or cast out Lucius Catiline—raging with audacity, gasping after crime, plotting the ruin of his country in unspeakable ways, threatening you and this city with sword and fire—or we have pursued him with our words as he left of his own accord.”

Notes:

  • furentem audacia / scelus anhelantem = vivid participles: “raging / panting after crime.”

  • pestem patriae… molientem = Catiline as a literal plague of the fatherland.

  • ferro flammaque = hendiadys of destruction.

  • vel… vel… vel… = dramatic tripling to emphasize ANY way he left = good.

  • Highly performative: Cicero claims victory before any battle begins.

2. “Abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit.”

Translation:
“He has gone, withdrawn, escaped, burst out!”

Notes:

  • Four perfect verbs in rapid succession → climactic crescendo.

  • Suggests Catiline is both fleeing in shame and exploding out violently.

  • Classic Cicero rhetorical hammering.

3. “Nulla iam pernicies a monstro illo atque prodigio moenibus ipsis intra moenia comparabitur.”

Translation:
“No destruction any longer will be prepared within our walls by that monster and abomination.”

Notes:

  • pernicies = ruin/destruction.

  • monstro illo atque prodigio = dual mythic insults (portent, freak).

  • moenibus ipsis intra moenia = repetition for emphasis → “inside the very walls.”

4. “Quid enim mali aut sceleris fingi aut cogitari potest, quod non ille conceperit?”

Translation:
“For what evil or crime can be imagined or conceived that he has not already conceived himself?”

Notes:

  • quid… mali aut sceleris = partitive genitive → “what of evil or crime.”

  • fingi aut cogitari = passive infinitives (“be imagined or be thought”).

  • concepit → metaphor of Catiline “pregnant” with wickedness.

5. “quis tota Italia veneficus… quis perditus inveniri potest, qui se cum Catilina non familiarissime vixisse fateatur?”

Translation:
“What poisoner in all Italy, what gladiator, what bandit, assassin, parricide, forger, swindler, debauchee, wastrel, adulterer, what infamous woman, what corrupter of youth or corrupted youth—who among them cannot be found who will not confess to having lived in the closest intimacy with Catiline?”

Notes:

  • quis… quis… quis… → anaphora creating a catalogue of vice.

  • veneficus… gladiator… latro… → piling on criminal identities.

  • fateatur = subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic.

  • Cicero merges Catiline with all of Rome’s underworld.

6. “quae caedes per hosce annos sine illo facta est, quod nefarium stuprum non per illum?”

Translation:
“What murder in these past years was done without him? What vile outrage was not committed through him?”

Notes:

  • quae… quod = interrogatives introducing rhetorical questions.

  • sine illo… per illum = contrasting prepositional phrases (“without him / through him”).

  • Cicero makes Catiline omnipresent in all crime.

SALLUST — BELLUM CATILINAE

1. “L. Catilina, nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis, sed ingenio malo pravoque.” (1.5)

Translation:
“Lucius Catiline, born of a noble family, was a man of great strength both of mind and body, but of a wicked and depraved character.”

Notes:

  • nobili genere natus = ablative of origin.

  • magna vi et animi et corporis = balanced phrase, “of great force in both mind and body.”

  • sed ingenio malo pravoque = contrasting adversative; Sallust’s moral judgment.

2. “Huic ab adulescentia bella intestina, caedes, rapinae, discordia civilis grata fuere ibique iuventutem suam exercuit.” (1.5)

Translation:
“To him, from youth, civil wars, murders, plunderings, and civic discord were pleasing, and in these he trained his youth.”

Notes:

  • Huic… grata fuere = dative of interest with “were pleasing.”

  • bella intestina… discordia civilis = internal/civil strife—Sallust’s theme of moral decay.

  • ibique = “and in these things.”

  • exercuit = “he trained” → gives Catiline a twisted self-education.

3. “Animus audax, subdolus, varius, cuius rei lubet simulator ac dissimulator, alieni adpetens, sui profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum.” (1.5)

Translation:
“A bold, treacherous, changeable mind—one who could simulate or dissemble anything he pleased—greedy for others’ property, lavish with his own, burning in his passions; of enough eloquence, but too little wisdom.”

Notes:

  • A catalogue of antitheses: greedy for others / wasteful of self.

  • simulator ac dissimulator = he can pretend anything or hide anything.

  • satis… parum = moral imbalance.

4. “Neque tamen Catilinae furor minuebatur.” (1.24)

Translation:
“Nor, however, was Catiline’s frenzy diminished.”

Notes:

  • furor = madness, wildness, thematic term in both Cicero and Sallust.

  • Short, emphatic sentence → dramatic punch.

5. “At Catilinae crudelis animus eadem illa movebat.” (1.32)

Translation:
“But Catiline’s cruel spirit was stirring up those same things.”

Notes:

  • crudelis animus = personalizes cruelty.

  • eadem illa = “those very same things” → referencing previous wickedness.

  • movebat = imperfect → ongoing incitement.