6.
faciebas, were on the point of doing: § 471, c (277, c); B. 260, 3; G. 233; H. 534, 2 (469, I); H-B. 484. hostem, a public enemy, whom the consul would have the right to expel from the city. non jubeo: Cicero avoids the appearance of ordering a citizen to go into exile, since that was something which the consul had no right to do. jam, longer. metuat: cf. note on cogitent, p. 103, l. 9. privatarum rerum, in private life, i.e. intercourse with others out of the family (distinguished from domesticae, above). quem . . . inretisses, i.e. after entangling, etc. (subj. of characteristic). ferrum . . . facem, i.e. arm him for acts of violence, or inflame him to deeds of lust.
quid vero, and sly! novis nuptiis, etc.: this crime is mentioned by no other writer, and is perhaps one of the orator's exaggerations. aho . . . scelere: Sallust mentions, as a matter of common belief, that Catiline killed his own son, in order to gratify his new wife Aurelia Orestilla, "a woman praised for nothing but beauty." ruinas: this charge was undoubtedly correct. The conspiracy was mainly composed of men of ruined fortunes, who hoped to better themselves in the general scramble of a revolution. Idibus: the Calends and Ides — the beginning and middle of the month—were the usual times for the payment of debts. Catiline's failure in his consular canvass had probably stirred up his creditors to push him for payment.
cum: causal, but best translated by when. pridie Kalendas Januarias, etc.: Dec.31, B.C. 66. The act here mentioned seems to have been in preparation for a rising that had been planned by Catiline for the next day, Jan. 1, B.C. 65. On this day the consuls Cotta and Torquatus entered upon their office, and it was the intention of Catiline to take advantage of their inauguration to murder them and seize the government. The plot got whispered about, and its execution was put off to Feb. 5, when it failed again through Catiline's precipitancy in giving the word. cum telo (a technical expression), weapon in hand. manum: a band (of assassins). interficiendorum causi: § 504, b (298, c); cf. B. 338, I, c; G. 428, R.2; H-B. 612, I. mentem aliquam, some change of mini aut . . . aut, etc., either obscure or few. non multa, etc., i.e. they were too well known to need recapitulation, and too numerous to admit of it. commissa, which you have perpetrated. petitiones, thrusts: the word regularly used for the attack of a gladiator. Cicero uses this and similar terms as an affront to Catiline. ita conjectas, etc., so aimed that they seemed impossible to be shunned. The Latin has no adj. for "impossible." corpore, i.e. dodging with the body (a common colloquialism —hence ut aiunt).
tibi (dative of reference), etc., wrested from your hands: § 377 (235, a); B. 188, I); G. 350, 1; H. 425, 4, N. (384, 4, N.2); H.-B. 368. quae quidem, etc., I know not by what rights it has been consecrated and set apart, that you think, etc. (as if Catiline had solemnly pledged himself to use this dagger on nobody lower than a consul).
