XI.27-29 Notes

Nunc: Cicero has just brought to a close the central invective of his speech.  He now transits to the Deliberative issue, which is imaginined in terms of a kind of debate with, or at least interrogation, by the Fatherland.

quandam: This indefinite is always used to suggest that there is a specific and knowable instance of the noun but that the particular details will not be gone into.

iustam: When Cicero says that the complaint is nearly a just one, he lends weight to what follows while at the same time addressing one of the problems of his speech:  if it is morally and legally (iustum) right to exile or kill Catiline, why does he do nothing?  In a sense, we are circling back to the issues of the Exordium, especially, paragraph 2:  ad morten te, Catilina, duci iussu consulis iam pridem oportebat ....  This is not, however, a summary of points already made and so should not be thought to begin the Peroration.  Here, Cicero articulates most fully his argument that the most prudential course is to wait so that when the punishment and solution comes, it will not be a temporary or short-lived solution.  See further in section XIII on PERORATION. 

querimoniam: All the words enclosed by the adjecitive noun phrase,quandam querimoniam, belong to that phrase.  To see this helps reduce the clause to its core:  ut a me querimoniam detester.

detester: To solemnly avert (de-) by standing invoking a god or oneself as witness (testor).  The verb emphasizes solemnity and legality.  The pre-verb, de-, allows the verb to take an Ablative of Separation, a me.

deprecer: Like, detestor, this verb also means to solemnly abjure or avert, but this time with reference to religion and prayer.

diligenter: This word, which belongs as the adverbial modifier of dicam, precedes its relative for emphasis.  The root, from diligo, means to take special care, even affection, in ones activity.

ea: The demonstrative is parallel to quae dicam and creates a common chiastic construction with the main verb:  perciptie [A] quae [B] et ea [B] mandate [A].  

patria:  Quintilian (IO ix . 32) and Isidorus (Orig. ii.13. 1) quote this passage with patria mea.  While this does not have manuscript support, it does suggest something about the ethos which ancient readers felt here; compare civium tuorum belos. 

mihiDative of the person judging:  the dative is used to indicate the person in whose judgment or from whose perspective something is true.  

vita mea:  Ablative of comparison with carior.

res publica: The tri-colon is climactic in content.

loquatur: The apodosis of this condition does not appear until the beginning of XII:  pauca respondebo.  But by that time the precise construction (present subjunctive, open condition) is forgotten.

Marce Tulli:  Vocative of Marcus Tullius (Cicero).  In the Roman Senate and on formal occassions a Roman was addressed, as here, with the praenomen (Marcus) and the nomen, or family namd (Tullius).  The cognomen (Cicero), by which we know Cicero, indicated the branch of the family.

Tune = tu +-ne (enclitic marking the emphasis in the question:  "Is it YOU who allow him to leave ...?")

quem: After eum marks out the object of the verb, Cicero has the Fatherland characterize and describe Catiline in three parallel relative clauses followed by three parallel accusative nouns.  The function of this kind of elaboration is clearly not to identify whom the Fatherland is talking about; it is to tell the audience how the Fatherland feels about this person, and by extension how they should feel about him.  Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the words of the Fatherland recall and repeat Ciceros words.  This allows Cicero to appear to have already been talking on behalf of the Fatherland.

esse:  like the parallel infinitives, futurum [esse] and expectari, this is an infinitive in indirect discourse dependent upon comperisti.  If you think of the relative as a connective device, the equivalent to et eum, then you can easily represent the syntax in a translation like:  "you have discovered that he is the enemy"; this is the equivalent to the more precise translation:  "whom you have discovered to be ...."

hostem: This is, of course, the key constitutional issue and so it is imporatant that Cicero have the Fatherland support him in designating Catiline as a hostis rei publicae.

comperisti:  Cicero was mocked for saying omnia comperi; here, when the Fatherland characterizes Ciceros actions and discoveries in Ciceros words, it is as if Cicero is throwing his term back in the face of those who might have sneered at his discoveries.

futurum: Again, when the Fatherland predicts the same thing that Cicero predicted, Cicero seems to be validated.

evocatorem: evocati, anyone who is summoned forth, is the term for soldiers who had retired but were called back up to service.  Ciceros term suggests that Catiline summoned forth the slaves as a general might recall to service retired troops.  Sallust tells us that Catiline did not use slaves, although many joined his camp.

patiere: The verb from which we get the noun patientia; note the beginning sentence of the speech asks how long Catiline will continue to abuse Roman patience.  Here, the Fatherland asks Cicero if he will merely be patient as Catiline leaves.

sed immissus in urbem: Note the precise parallelism between the non and the sed phrases offers the second version as a blunt and contradictory alternative to the first.  Cicero does not use the term emittere of his actions in this speech; it first appears (other than here) at the beginning of the Second Catilinarian when he offers three versions of this very speech:   "ex urbe vel eiecimus vel emisimus vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus."  II. 1. 4.

duci: impero usually takes the dative of the person ordered and a clause of indirect command (a subordinate jussive).  It can, however, take the accusative + infinitive construction (which, like indirect discourse, is the direct object of the verb), but only when the infinitive is passive.

mactari: This introduces the word that will end the oration.

Quid ... te impedit:  While the nominal purpose of this inserted speech is to allow the Fatherland to complain about Ciceros inaction, its actual function is to justify in advance any of the actions listed above:  prison, death, punishment.  Cicero does this by returning to the major topics of his self defence:  tradition (mos maiorum), the constitutional question (here, leges; elsewhere, expressed as hostis), and the political question (invidia).  These three topics are put in emphatic and parallel position at the beginning of the sentence that takes them up.

mos maiorum: This returns to the themes and justifications of sections:  I.3 II. 4.

privati: cp. I.3:  an vero vir amplissimus, P. Scipio, pontifex maximus, Ti. Gracchum mediocriter labefactantem statuemrei publicae, privatus interfecit.

leges:  The term is emphatic as are all three of the terms introducing these issues:  mos ... leges ... invidiam....  Beginning with the first year of the republic (509 BCE) laws had been passed that allowed every Roman citizen the right of appeal to the populus Romanus against any sentence of death or flogging. 

civium:  The word is in emphatic position because the right of appeal was reserved only for citizens.  Since Cicero is claiming that Catiline is an hostis,  he is also implying that any law regarding the rights of citizens does not apply to him.

numquam: All the precedents could be equally well considered illegal action in violation of the laws.

qui a re publica defecerunt: A periphrasis meaning anyone who withdraws his allegiance from the state.  This is an understatement of the real issue that Cicero relies upon, namely that Catiline is a hostis (see sections 3, 5, and 13); the understatement performs the function of justifying a fortiori Ciceros actions in the case of a hostis.

civium iura tenuerunt:  Note again the emphatic position of civium.  Ciceros point is a moral one, but not a legally accurate one.

invidiam: This issue has been addressed by Cicero in sections 22 and 23. 

posteritatis:  Subjective genitive with invidiam; The Fatherland imagines that "posterity will hate him".

praeclaram: Sarcastic:  the Fatherland is criticizing Cicero for being an ingrate. 

per te is the important qualification:  known through your own efforts or, as we say, a self-made man. 

nulla commendatione maiorum: Cicero was a novus homo, meaning that he was the first member of his family to hold public office.  Cicero was rightfully proud (if perhaps both too proud and too loud) of his achievement.  The last novus homo to become consul had been elected some 30 years before.

tam mature:  Elegibility for the steps in the cursus honorum was partly determined by age and Cicero had been elected to each post at the earliest possible age:  quaestor at 30, praetor at 38, consul at 43.  Cicero claimed that he was the only novus homo to attain the consulship at the minimum age.

extulit: Cicero turns the Fatherlands accusation of ingratitude into an opportunity for him to list all his achievements.  

periculi: Personal danger, which may have played a role in Ciceros decisions, slips in only here.

tuorum:  Note the paternalistic tone of calling Romans "My Citizens."  Here, when the Fatherland addressing Cicero refers to "Your Citizens" it is as if the Fatherland itself allows Cicero to appropriate its paternalistic authority.  The ethos here is much the same as that which Quintilian and Isidorus felt in the propsopoeia of patria mea (see above) in general.  

quis is the indefinite adjective after si and in agreement with metus.

invidiae: Objective genitive.  It is important to note that of the three issues, invidia is the one that Cicero lingers on.  It is easy to imagine that this is because it is the only one that had any sting to it for him.  In other words, he probably really believed that he was acting in accordance with the mos maiorum (and it would be hard to diagree) and that his actions were legal (a more difficult position to maintain); but that he could suffer from invidia not only was a distinct possibility, but turned out to be the fact of the matter when he was exiled in 58 BCE for his actions as consul.  

num: Introducing a question that expects the answer, No.  Therefore, Surely invidia is not to be feared.  num est invidia pertimescenda? is the core of the sentence.  The rest is a comparison of the various causes of invidia:  the odium that c omes from severitas ac fortitudo is compared to the odium that comes from inertia ac nequitia.  For the basice issue, compare sed iam me ipse inertiae nequitiaeque condemno, II. 4.  

severitatis ac fortitudinis:  Strictly speaking these are objective genitivesInvidia is an emotion of "hatred" or "envy" felt for some object or person.  Here, the Fatherland imagines that people will hate Cicero's severity and bravery.

An introduces the second half of a question whose first half is felt to have been elipted.  This does not, of course, mean that there was a first question; only the feeling of hastening on to the point:  or is it the case that

cum:  correlative with tum:  Cicero uses the indicative with cum because he has a specific time in mind:  At the time when

non, like nonne, forces the implication that the answer to the base question is, Yes.  Or is it the case that you dont think implies You do, of course, think

incendio: The metaphor is common, but here gains in force since it is a direct development of ardebunt.  Thus, when the houses of Rome are burning, you will be caught in a backdraft of hatred.  It is possible to hear in this rhetoric either Ciceronian pride refracted through the voice of the Fatherland, or Ciceronian fears equally refracted.