The Cheerful Home-Going: In this section, Cicero addresses Catilines alternatives to exile. There are none, and, in fact, his own suggestion (in custodiam) is turned against him.
dixi: As with tacita above, so here this phrase serves as a reminder that Ciceros speech speaks for the State.
loquatur: present subjunctive in a "should-would" condition, used to create an imaginary scenario.
vim: This is the sheathed SCU, the threat of violence that Cicero must keep reminding Catiline of even as he simultaneously refuses to do anything.
Quid, quod: common idiom for What about the fact that .
ipse: The intensive pronoun here emphasizes that Catiline took the initiative
custodiam: Late in October Catiline was prosecuted for violence (riot and revolution) under the Lex Plautia de vi. Under such circumstances it was customary for a citizen either to give bail for his appearance or be placed in the custodial care of some trusted citizen who became responsible for his appearance in court. Catiline voluntarily offered to place himself in the custody of several distinguished citizens; they all refused.
vitandae suspicionis: The genitive is used with, and specifically in front of, certain nouns as if in a prepositional phrase. These expressions become an alternative to other purpose expressions and are especially common with the gerundive. While causa is not a preposition, it is used as if it were one, and the position of the genitive in front of the noun may be the precedent for the post-position of pre-positions in poetry.
causa: Cicero says that the reason that Catiline offered to place himself in custody was that he wanted to avoid suspicion regarding his real plans. But by giving the cause before he indicates the action, he attempts to demolish any legitimacy to the action before it is mentioned.
Ad + accusative of person = at the home of
te: the pronoun is in enclitic position, marking ad M'. Lepidum as emphatic and setting up the parallel with etiam ad me below.
Manius Lepidus had been consul in 66, the year when Catiline was prosecuted for extortion as governor of N. Africa.
velle: Here, velle = were willing to, not wanted to.
receptus: The participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence often sets the stage for the main clause and can be readily translated with a clause, when or after
domi meae: one of the few vestiges of the original locative case in Latin.
ut adservarem: a form of indirect command, more like an indirect request; you asked me to look after you
id responsum is a neuter singular, this response; the demonstrative points to the infinitive phrase, which is a phrase in indirect discourse, me non posse. Infinitives and infinitive phrases are the equivalent of neuter nouns.
tulisses: Note that in position and in function this cum-clause parallels a quo non receptus above. This parallelism tells you something about how to translate the participle. The cum-clause is a characterizing clause implying cause.
parietibus: In the last section, Cicero modelled Catilines life within the city upon normal life within the home (he used the extremes of slaves and parents); here, he recalls that model with the use of parietes, walls of an house, and moenia, city-walls, at the same time that he also recalls paragraph 11, section 5. The tactic explicitly begins in Section II, paragraph 5, where Catiline is pictured as delaying intra moenia (it actually begins at the beginning, with Ciceros surprise that Catiline is in the senate) and it will recur in the final sentence: a tectis urbis ac moenibus arcebis.
tuto: adverb, in safety, safely
qui essem: a relative clause of cause, explaining the reason that Cicero cannot be safely within the same walls by saying he would be in great danger. Translate, since I would be.
contineremur: Above, the essem had to be in the subjunctive as part of a causal clause; here, however, the subjunctive indicates that the quod-causal clause is in indirect discourse, and, if it is in indirect discourse, then, the qui-clause is also in the original statement. Cicero, in other words, presents the scene as one in which he had to or at least di explain it all to Catiline: No, I can in no way feel safe with you within the same walls, since I would be in great danger, given the fact that were were held within the same walls.
Q. Metellus Celer, Praetor, 63; Consul, 60.
repudiatus: Parallel in meaning and position to a quo non receptus and the cum-clause above.
virum optimum: Sarcastic
M. Metellum: Nothing further is known of Marcus Metellus.
demigrasti: The verb suggests that Catiline is already an exile, migrating from door to door, and usually being turned away.
videlicet: of course, often sarcastic in Cicero. The verb is a colloquial contraction of videre licet; literally, "you can see".
ad custodiendum: ad + gerund or gerundive is used to express purpose in Latin. Usually, one finds the gerundive in agreement with a noun or pronoun; and some editors print ad custodiendum te. It seems to me, however, that Cicero is being high-handed and mocking here and that the general statement (without the te), a statement about Metellus character in general, suits this tone better than the particular statement. That is, what makes Metellus such a "catilinarian" choice is that he was going to be, of course, very diligent in guarding, very clever in suspecting, and very brave in reproving.
diligentissimum: Notice the parallelism of this and the next two phrases; note as well how each adjective is precisely chosen to go with the specific activity required. It is as if Ciceros rhetorical care here mocks Catilines carelessness.
fore: An alternative form form for futurum esse, the future infinitive in indirect discourse.
vinculis: Detention by the state in a prison was not a form of penalty; it was always preliminary to execution.
iudicarit: Subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic. Therefore, a man who, not the man who. The subjunctive, however, would have been necessary under any circumstances, since this is a relative clause in indirect discourse.
dubito + infinitive = hesitate to do. The verb comes first after the connecive clause, and that means that it has a particular emphasis. In this case, the emphasis points to the fact that the sentence will not be a statement. In English (and in all Indo-European languages) one way to indicate that your sentence is not a statement is to put the verb first: we indicate both questions and commands in this fashion.
aequo animo: Mocking: if you dont have the stoic equanimity to kill yourself. The ablative is an ablative of manner.
aliquas: aliqui, with a singular noun, = some; with a plural noun, = any.
ereptum: Cicero figures Catilines exile as a form of escape. The meaning of the verb determines the fact that it takes an ablative of separation.
Refer: This is the technical term for bringing a matter before the Senate for discussion and vote.
inquis: This section ends with a tour de force of speech for others. First, Cicero speaks for Catiline; then, for the senate. As his voice self-consciously becomes again the voice of the state, he turns the silence of his audience into the fierce judgment that he articulates. As powerful as this is literarily, one should note that politically and practically it depends upon Cicero not putting the matter to the Senate, which means that it depends upon Cicero keeping the Senate silent. How Catiline asked that the matter be brought before the Senate, I do not know. However, if it had been brought forward, there were few outcomes that could have been favorable to Cicero. First, the Senate may have voted not to exile Catiline; Second, if they did vote to exile Catiline, since he had not been tried, he could have posed as the victim of illegal and arbitrary authority; Third, the Senate had no legal jurisdiction anyway.
decreverit: The subjunctive is determined by the fact that this is a subordinate clause in indirect discourse (dicis). We cannot tell exactly what the main verb of the indirect discourse was because the the future infinitive, optemperaturum esse, could stand for either a future indicative or a present subjunctive. Consequently, the perfect subjunctive may stand for either an original future perfect indicative or an original perfect subjunctive.
moribus: Either because the Senate had no legal authority or because Cicero felt that he already had the moral authority he needed in the SCU.
faciam: faciam ut : see to it that [result clause]
sentiant: Subjunctive in an indirect question. Ciceros speech reveals what is in the mind of the Senate just as much earlier in his speech he had revealed what was in the mind of Catiline.
egredere: The form and the content recalls Cicero at 5.10 and the Patria at 7.18; these echoes help to empower Ciceros orders and fears as representative of the desires and fears of the State.
in exilium: The phrase is emphatic because Cicero has finally said it, Into exile! However, recall that above, at 5. 13, Cicero had shied away from the direct order; note, as well, that even here he does not represent that order as the imperious command of the consul, but as the thought and will of the Senators.
Quid est: This begins a little dramative vignette in which Cicero imagines that Catiline acts like he heard something. One can overtranslate but get the effect as follows: But, shh, whats that, Catiline? Do you hear something? Do you hear their silence?
animadvertis: A more emphatic verb than attendis, but in this context with a similar meaning.
patiuntur: Perhaps, they are patient. The sense is that they do not resist the proceedings and the speech of Cicero. But the verb also recalls the impatience with which Cicero began and his claim that Catiline is abusing the patience of Rome. Thus, the silence of the audience of Senators performs an important role in Cicero's movement from "There is a crisis" to "Just wait; you'll see it's alright."
tacent: The point is that Ciceros speech is sufficient; they have no objections or anything to add.
Quid = why.
expectas: Catiline is again assigned a role by Cicero who reveals what he is expecting: before he had asked if Catiline was waiting for that word in exilium; now he asks if Catiline is waiting for some show of auctoritas from the Senators as they speak.
auctoritatem loquentium: The expression is highly condensed: are you awaiting the auctoritas of (them) when they speak, whose wishes you see when they are silent. Note the careful parallelism of auctoritatem | voluntatem and loquentium | tacitorum.
At si: This is the set-up: a past contrary to fact condition that illustrates what Catiline might have been expecting but which in fact he will not receive. The condition depends upon an impicit comparison of the character of Sestius (see optimo) and Marcellus (see fortissimo) with that of Catiline.
P. Sestio: Quaestor in 63 BCE; Cicero defended him in his Pro Sestio.
M. Marcello: A young aristocrat, destined to oppose Caesar, be consul in 51, be defended by Cicero in the pro Marcello, exiled, pardoned, and murdered.
consuli: appositional predication; it is the equivalent of saying even though I am Consul
templo: The Senate was meeting in the Temple of Jupiter Stator.
vim et manus: hendiadys: violent hands
intulisset: Cicero claims that the Senate would not have spoken, but simply taken action.
clamant: This is an important conclusion for Ciceros rhetorical tactics. The elegant simplicity of the sentences reinforces the posture that Cicero is just saying what is on everyones mind.
tibi: Dative of the person judging; to be taken with cara.
auctoritas: A reference to expectas auctoritatem at the end of section 20. It is one of the oldest tricks in the world to first assign a word to someone (as Cicero does with expectas auctoritatem) and then to mock that person for the word that was given to them.
videlicet: sarcastic again
vilissima: The point is in the parallelism: that Catiline would find there auctoritas cara while he made plans that proved that the thought their vita vilissima.
illi equites: Presumably, the demonstrative points to the observers in the corona. The reference to the equites is followed by cives and Senatum as Cicero creates an image of a consensio omnium around his opposition to Catiline.
exaudire: Note the careful parallel structure. The picture that Cicero draws suits his purposes and helps the reader imagine the scene.
Quorum: This is not a connective relative, but a relative preceding its antecedent. Note that the antecedent, eosdem, appears as soon as the relative clause ends.
vix: Often with difficulty.
iam diu: Adverb of duration of time plus present tense of the verb (contineo) requires a special translation in English.
adducam: Cicero imagines leading this group of Senators, equites, and citizens to the gates of Rome as the escort Catiline from the city. The image that this recalls the image of the exile followed by relatives and friends, some weeping, others consolatory, as the exile leaves behind those whom he loves. Cicero, of course, inverts the image (as he did with the kletic hymn) and in the place of this crowd of friends he has Catiline followed by a crowd of citizens whom he hates and who hate him as he leaves, not what he loves, but what he was zealous to destroy, and they cheer him on his way.
relinquentem: In agreement with te, the participle forms a word block from te to relinquentem, one large accusat