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To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the kindness1 and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none had ever asked help of them in vain."
Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself."
Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in he name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy:
2XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your eminent integrity, known to me by experience,3 gives a pleasing confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation.4 I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense5 with regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious of no guilt,6 to offer you some explanation,7 which, on my word of honor,8 you may receive as true.9 Provoked by injuries and indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion,10 I did not obtain the post of honor due to me,11 I have undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts contracted on my own security ;12 while the generosity of Orestilla, out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed13 on groundless suspicion, I have for this very reason, adopted a course,14 amply justifiable in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla to your protection ;15 intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury.16 Farewell."
1 XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.] “Eâ mansuetudine atque misericordiâ senatum populumque Romanum semper fuisse.” " That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I have deserted the Latin for the English idiom.
2 XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: Egregiatua fides, re cognita grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meæ tribuit. Cortius corrected it as follows: Egregia tua fides, re cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meæ tribuit. Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. That Cortius's is the better, few will deny; for it can hardly be supposed that Sallust used mihi, meis, and meæ in such close succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's text, by asserting, from the phrase earum exemplam infra scriptum, that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: "Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinæ culpam tribuit, qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam apta et composita suprà c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis hæc quidem excusatio." Yet it is not to be denied that grata mihi is the reading of all the manuscripts.
3 Known--by experience] “Re cognita.” " Cognita" be it observed, tironum gratiâ, is the nominative case. “"Catiline had experienced the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is related by Orosius."” Bernouf.
4 Recommendation] “Commendationi.” His recommendation of his affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus.
5 Formal defense] “Defensionem.” Opposed to satisfactionem, which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. "Defensio, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made against an adversary, or before judges; satisfactio was rather an excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private communication." Cortius.
6 Though conscious of no guilt] “Ex nullâ conscientiâ de coldâ.” This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter conscientam de nullâ culpâ," or " inasmuch as I am conscious of no fault." " De culpâ," he adds, is the same as culpæ ; so in the ii. Epist. to Cæsar, c. 1: Neque de futuro quisquam satix callidus; and c. 9: de illis potissimum jactura fit."
7 To make no formal defense--to offer you some explanation] “Defensionem--parare; satisfactionem--proponere. " Parare,”" says Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and premeditation; “proponere” to such a statement as it was easy to make at once."
8 On my word of honor] “Me dius fidus,” sc. juvet. So may the god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith ? Dius, say some, is the same as Deus (Plautus has Deus fidius, Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter (sub dio being equivalent to sub Jove); so that Dius fidius (fidius being an adjective from fides) will be the Ζευζ πίστιοζ of the Greeks. Me dius fidius will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me !" This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Others, with Festus (sub voce Medius fidius) make fidius equivalent to filius, because the ancients, according to Festus, often used D for L, and dius fidius will then be the same as Διὸς or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and medius fidius will be the same as mehercules or mehercule. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. Sprengel) mentions a certain Ælius who was of this opinion. Against this derivation there is the quantity of fidius, of which the first syllable is short: Quærebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem, Ov. Fast. vi. 213. But if we consider dius the same as deus, we may as well consider dius fidius to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and may thus make medius fidius identical with mehercules, as it probably is. " Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that medius fidius is a form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub Fidius. This point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, and Ovid, loc. cit.) Dius, Fidius to be the same with the Sabine Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules.
9 You may receive as true] “Veram licet cognoscas.” Some editions, before that of Cortius, have “quæ--licet vera mecum recognoscas;” which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Æn. iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have “veram licet cognoscas.”
10 Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion] “Fructu laboris industriæque meæ privatus.” "The honors which he sought he elegantly calls the fruit of his labor, because the one is obtained by the other.'" Cortius.
11 Post of honor due to me] “Statum dignitatis.” The consulship.
12 On my own security] “Meis nominibus.” "He uses the plural," says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to explain this point. For alienis nominibus, which follows, being in the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity with Bernouf's comment.
13 Proscribed] “Alienatum.” “"Repulsed from all hope of the consulship."” Bernouf.
14 Adopted a course] “Spes--secutus sum.” "Spem sequi is a phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what appears advantageous, is signified." Cortius.
16 Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend her from injury] “Eam ab injuriâ defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus.” "Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the sake of] your own children."
Conspiracy of Catiline. Sallust. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. New York and London. Harper & Brothers. 1899.
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