audaciae satellitem, etc., 'servant and helper.' 'Satelles' implies a lower, less free relation than 'administer.' Cf. in Verr. 3. 21 'ministri ac satellites cupiditatum.'
Num me fefellit, 'Was I not right, not only as to the gravity of the design, savage and incredible as it was, but—what is more remarkable—in the date?'
optimatium. See note on 'bonorum' [1. 1].
sui, neut. gen. sing. from 'suus,' used to supply the place of gen. pl. of 'se.' Cf. the similar use of 'nostri,' 'vestri.'
cum . . . profugerunt. When cum simply means 'at the time when' (quo tempore) and does not contain any idea of consequence or cause, it is usually (though by no means invariably) followed by the indicative; especially when, as here, the time is fixed by the preceding demonstrative tum. Cf. below 'cum . . . dicebas,' and [1. 21] 'cum quiescunt, probant,' [2. 1] 'loco ille motus est, cum ex urbe est expulsus.' Nothing is known of this exodus.
qui remansissemus. The antecedent to 'qui' must be understood from 'nostra.' Subj. because part of the Oratio Obliqua. Catilina said, 'caede illorum qui remanserunt contentus sum.'
[§8].
Quid? a particle of transition, frequent in rhetorical passages. 'Again.' 'Nay more.' Cf. 'Quid vero?' [1. 14].
cum, 'although.'
Praeneste, twenty miles S. E. of Rome, occupying a strong position in the Hernican mountains. It had been the last stronghold of the younger Marius in 82 b.c.; on its capitulation Sulla put most of the citizens to death, and subsequently established one of his colonies on the site. Catilina hoped to use it as a fortified post.