CICERO

CATILINARIAN ORATIONS

E. A. UPCOTT

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK, TORONTO
MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY

CICERO

SPEECHES AGAINST CATILINA

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

E. A. UPCOTT, M.A.

LATE SCHOLAR OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD
ASSISTANT MASTER IN WELLINGTON COLLEGE

PART I.—INTRODUCTION AND TEXT

THIRD EDITION, REVISED

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

1900

NOTE.

The text adopted in the following Orations is that of Halm (11th Edition, Berlin, 1882), from whose notes I have derived much help. I have also consulted the English edition of the Speeches, based on that of Halm, by Mr. A. S. Wilkins. My best thanks are due to Mr. Evelyn Abbott, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, the Editor of the Series, for his kind assistance in superintending the printing of the book.

E. A. U.

Wellington College,
June, 1887.

INTRODUCTION.

The four speeches against Catilina were delivered during the latter part of the year b.c. 63, when Cicero was Consul.

L. Sergius Catilina, the author of the conspiracy against which they were directed, was descended from one of the oldest patrician families of Rome, though for many years no one of his house had held any public office. He was a man of ambitious and energetic disposition, distinguished among his contemporaries for great powers both of mind and body, which enabled him to exercise a remarkable degree of influence over others[1]. At the same time he was notorious for the dissoluteness and extravagance of his life, which were excessive even in an age when such characteristics were common; he was, moreover, suspected of grave crimes, such as the murder of his wife and son. But as these charges rest to a great extent upon the authority of his opponent Cicero, it is possible that they have been exaggerated.

He was born probably about b.c. 108, though the exact date is unknown. His first appearance in public life was during the dictatorship of Sulla (b.c. 82-79). When the latter issued his proscription list, Catilina was among those who took an active part in carrying out the work of bloodshed and confiscation. This, however, was from personal motives, and not from any sympathy with the Senatorial party which had triumphed under Sulla; for he subsequently attached himself entirely to the popular side.

In b.c. 68 he filled the office of Praetor in Rome; the following year he governed the province of Africa as Propraetor. Immediately on his return home he became a candidate for the Consulship for the year 65[2]. He was obliged, however, to withdraw, as an indictment for extortion in his province was brought against him, and Roman law did not allow a citizen against whom a legal suit was pending to be a candidate for any magistracy. It so happened that the Consuls elect for 65, Autronius Paetus and Cornelius Sulla, were convicted of bribery. Their election consequently became void, and L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Torquatus were declared Consuls in their stead. Enraged at his disappointment, Autronius entered into communication with Catilina, and the two, in conjunction with Cn. Piso and others, formed a plot, sometimes known as the 'First Catilinarian conspiracy.' The intention was, it is said, to murder Cotta and Torquatus on the day of their entering upon office (January 1, 65). Catilina and Autronius were then to proclaim themselves Consuls, while they were to be supported by an army which Piso was to raise on their behalf in Spain. The execution of this plot was postponed, however, until February 5, when it failed, as we are told, through Catilina's impatience in giving the signal too soon, before the armed bands on which he relied had collected in sufficient number. It is to this conspiracy that Cicero alludes in Cat. 1. §15. It was asserted that both Caesar and Crassus were concerned in it, but the facts are surrounded by a great deal of mystery. Whatever the design was, it came to nothing, and the Senate did not take steps against anyone in consequence.

During this year (65) Catilina was acquitted on the charge of extortion. The trial had, however, been postponed long enough to prevent him from standing for the Consulship for the year 64.

He was obliged, therefore, to postpone his candidature till the next year, when he had among his competitors M. Tullius Cicero and C. Antonius Hybrida, of whom the latter was believed to be partly in sympathy with him. He was known to entertain revolutionary designs of the most sweeping character, which he hoped as Consul to carry out. Prominent among these was a declaration of novae tabulae[3], or general cancelling of debts, and a wholesale confiscation of property. Many of the Roman aristocracy were hopelessly in debt, and he thus collected round him a numerous body of adherents, partly composed of those to whom his designs seemed to promise relief from their embarrassments, partly also of wild and turbulent spirits to whom any prospect of revolution was welcome. Alarmed at these schemes, the Optimates[4] threw their influence upon the side of Cicero, overcoming their natural jealousy of a novus homo, that is, one whose ancestors had never held any curule office. He was also strongly supported by the Equites[5], who, as the wealthiest class in Rome, were naturally most opposed to any general attack upon property. Accordingly, he was elected by a large majority. Antonius was returned as his colleague by a small majority over Catilina.

Defeated in his immediate object, Catilina began to entertain the idea of carrying out his designs by force. The time was eminently favourable for an armed insurrection against the government. Seventeen years before, Sulla had rewarded the soldiers of his victorious army by establishing them in colonies in various parts of Italy, and assigning them allotments of land. Unsuited for an agricultural life, these men had for the most part mismanaged their farms and exhausted their resources. Accordingly they were restless and discontented, and desired nothing so much as a return of the civil wars, with fresh chances of plunder. From among these and other discontented spirits, Catilina began secretly to recruit and organize