C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino

by Sallust

[50.]

[242] Multitudines; that is, catervae, factiones, crowds or bands of men united for the purpose of creating disturbances among the people.
[243] This is the customary form of condemnation in a decree of the senate, whereby it is declared that a wrong has actually been done to the state, or that an attempt has been made upon the constitution. The verdict of ‘guilty,’ therefore, had been pronounced by the senate itself.
[244] Sententiam rogatus. See Zumpt, § 393, note 1.
[245] He had declared that at the voting, which took place after the members of the senate had expressed their opinions, he would vote for the opinion of Tib. Nero; for the voting took place by a division (discessio), only one proposal being voted upon at a time, so that those who supported it separated from those who did not support it, but intended to vote for any other opinion (alia omnia).
[246] This opinion then aimed only at an adjournment of the matter. Its issue was to be waited for; but in the meantime, the posts of guards were to be strengthened, and a fresh proposal was to be made respecting the punishment of the prisoners. The Tib. Nero here mentioned is the grandfather of the Emperor Tiberius, who was raised to the imperial throne in A. D. 14, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.

[51.]

[247] Male consulere, ‘to form bad’ or ‘injurious resolutions.’
[248] Perse. Respecting the forms of this name, see Zumpt, §§ 52, 54.
[249] An must be explained by supplying another interrogation before it, such as alione? ‘had that speech any other object, or had it this one?’ for an is used only in the second part of a double question.
[250] ‘To be sure words will fire him on, whom the thing itself did not move’ — that is, words are sure not to rouse him whom the thing itself did not move; for scilicet has an ironical force.
[251] Injuriae suae, ‘the injuries done to him.’
[252] ‘Many have taken them more seriously to heart than was necessary.’ It is more common to say gravius tulerunt. The perfect, habuere, in expressing a general truth, has the sense of a present, or rather of a Greek aorist, denoting that which once happened, and still continues to happen. Compare p.22, note 2 [[note 68]].
[253] Vitam habent for vitam agunt, which is more common. Sallust is very fond of the verb habere in certain phrases. See [Jug. 10].
[254] Equidem ego for ego quidem. See Zumpt, § 278.
[255] Inimicitiae. About this plural, see Zumpt, § 94. The singular inimicitia is not used at all.
[256] ‘Such I know to be the character of the man.’
[257] Subigere here, as in many other passages of Sallust, has the meaning of cogere, invitum impellere (‘to force a person to something’), followed by an infinitive instead of a clause with ut.
[258] Id quod res habet, ‘that which is in the nature of the thing.’ Caesar hereby means to represent his opinion as philosophically correct, and in accordance with nature. Id quod belong together.
[259] Such had indeed been the custom in former times. The condemned person, previous to being beheaded with the axe, was bound to a post and scourged. This barbarous punishment continued to be inflicted sometimes even at a later period, when it was expressly mentioned in the verdict that the criminal should be punished more majorum. Animadvertere is the proper expression for the infliction of bodily punishment by a lictor, who has to pay attention to his orders; but it is also used of the person who gives the order, and causes it to be carried into effect, just as interficere is said both of the executioner and the person who orders a man to be put to death.
[260] This law, proposed by one Porcius, and passed by the people, forbade the scourging of Roman citizens on the naked body; so that, after the passing of that law, an execution consisted simply in beheading a criminal with the sword; and if he was a soldier, flogging took the place of scourging. The celebrated M. Porcius Cato, about B. C. 160, recommended this bill to the people; but it was not he who proposed it, but an unknown person of the name of Porcius, probably a tribune of the people.
[261] There were no Roman laws forbidding capital punishment, or substituting exile in its place, and for this reason Caesar does not refer to any such law. He supports his view only by the circumstance that, in all the more recent laws, especially in the criminal law of Sulla, exile (interdictio aquae et ignis) was fixed upon as the extreme penalty; and that according to the usual indulgence (not sanctioned by any law), accused persons, if they denied being guilty, and were defended by some one, remained in the enjoyment of their freedom until the sentence was passed. Thus it happened that a person, foreseeing his condemnation, might quit the Roman territory, and take up his abode within the territory of some town or city where the Roman law was not in force, and where the Roman state placed no obstacles in his way.
[262] ‘How is it consistent?’ Respecting qui for quomodo or quo pacto, see Zumpt, § 133, note. The minus negotium is the scourging, and the majus negotium the execution.
[263] At enim introduces an objection raised by the orator himself. At represents the objection, and enim introduces an explanation of it. See Zumpt, § 349.
[264] Caesar means to say that the present senate, which, as he flatteringly says, consists of worthy men, will not abuse the power of putting Roman citizens to death; but that a subsequent senate, taking such an example as a precedent, might abuse its power. It must be observed that the Roman senate possessed the power over the life and death of citizens, not by virtue of legal enactments, but only by ancient custom. This power legally belonged only to the people assembled in the Comitia Centuriata, or to those to whom the people expressly intrusted it — namely, the ordinary and extraordinary courts of justice. It may seem surprising that Caesar does not express himself more energetically against the right claimed by the senate; but he would certainly have spoken in vain, for it was every senator’s interest that the power of the senate should be recognised in its greatest extent, even though it should not be exercised in every particular case.
[265] That is, the so-called thirty tyrants in the year B. C. 404.
[266] Ea; for this accusative, see Zumpt, § 385.
[267] Damasippus was only a surname of the praetor M. Junius Brutus, who in the year B. C. 82 put to death a great many Roman nobles of the party of Sulla.
[268] Namely, by Sulla, after he had been made dictator.
[269] Pleraque; most of the ensigns and distinctions by which the magistrates were distinguished from private persons, especially the toga praetexta, sella curulis, fasces (which were carried by the lictors), and, above all, the splendid procession of the triumphatores.
[270] Legibus is here a pleonasm, and might have been omitted. We must here repeat that Caesar makes an artful application of the circumstance that, in all the late criminal laws, the interdictio aquae et ignis was fixed as the severest punishment, as if thereby a person had been simply permitted to withdraw from the republic. The interdictio was a much more severe punishment, inasmuch as the person on whom it was inflicted lost all his rights as a citizen, and as every one was forbidden to receive him into his house, so that he was a complete outcast. Wherever these regulations were not carried into effect, and even in case a criminal made his escape before the sentence was pronounced, we can see nothing but an abuse of clemency.
[271] Quominus is here used because the leading clause conveys the idea of a hindrance; but ne also might have been written.
[272] Per municipia, ‘among the municipia.’ See Zumpt, § 301.

[52.]

[273] Cato says, ‘When I consider the danger of our situation, I form quite a different view from what I do when I reflect upon the opinions expressed by some about the punishment of the criminals; for the present danger demands energetic measures of defence, while some of you are speaking only about the punishment of a crime already committed. But such a view is incorrect, for we are still surrounded by the greatest dangers.’
[274] Pluris facere, ‘to esteem higher.’
[275] Capessere rem publicam, ‘to take part in the administration of the state,’ or ‘to devote one’s self to its service.’
[276] Verba facere, ‘to speak,’ or ‘to make a speech.’
[277] ‘I who had never connived at any of my bad acts’ — that is, I who had never given way to my own weaknesses. About this subjunctive expressing the reason why the orator does not allow the faults of others to pass unnoticed, see Zumpt, §§ 555, 558.
[278] ‘The strength of the state bore the negligence’ in restraining the arbitrary proceedings in which individuals indulged.
[279] ‘And here any one will speak to me of clemency and mercy!’ alluding to Caesar. The negative pronoun quisquam is used because the meaning implied is, that no one ought to have done so. See Zumpt, § 709.
[280] Equidem for quidem, as often in Sallust, but never in Cicero. The meaning is: ‘We have indeed (quidem) long since lost the habit of calling things by their true names, but this erroneous application of the word mercy is not to be borne.’
[281] Eo; Cicero would have said ea re.
[282] Instead of et, the author might have used neve (neu), since from the preceding clause we have to supply ne to et. This is not a very common mode of speaking; but it occurs most frequently when, after a negative clause, et introduces a kind of antithesis, and thus acquires the power of sed.
[283] Et non corrects the untrue supposition, that there were no rebels except at Rome. In such a case we can neither use non without et, nor neque. See Zumpt, § 334.
[284] ‘If Caesar alone is unconcerned, it is more requisite (necessary or important) that I should be concerned for me and for you.’ About refert, see Zumpt, §§ 23, 449, note.
[285] Habetote; this future imperative denotes that something is to be done when something else shall take place. Zumpt, § 583.
[286] The meaning is: ‘All will be there immediately’ — that is, they will rise to make the attack.
[287] Cato means to say, ‘It is a wrong opinion that our state has become great by arms; for if this were true, it would now be in the most flourishing condition, as our military power is now greater than it ever was. The republic has become great much more by the activity of the citizens, and by the justice of the government, and it is this activity and stern justice that must be restored.’
[288] Obnoxius, ‘subject to a punishment,’ or ‘to be injured (noxa);’ hence, figuratively, ‘bound,’ ‘dependent.’ Our ancestors, says Cato, could deliberate and judge without bias, for their minds were not crippled either by crimes they had committed, nor by immoderate desires and passions — a hint intimating that those who were in favour of lenient measures were conscious of their own guilt, and not free from bad intentions.
[289] Hic — that is, in the senate, in discussing matters of public importance, you allow yourselves to be guided only by your desire to gain money and popularity, being anxious not to offend any one who may be in your way.
[290] Vacuam — namely, a defensoribus, ‘defenceless,’ ‘helpless.’
[291] Incendere, a free use of the infinitive for ad patriam incendendam.
[292] A question expressive of wonder, in which the interrogative particles are commonly not used. See Zumpt, § 351, note.
[293] Ironically: ‘I am of opinion that you should have mercy, and dismiss the criminals.’ The subjunctive without ut depends upon the verb censeo; it is not a subjunctive for an imperative.
[294] ‘Assuredly this clemency of yours will end in misery.’ Respecting nae, see Zumpt, § 360; and on the transitive sense of vertere, § 145.
[295] The sentence beginning with scilicet is again ironical. The sense, without the irony, is: ‘Nor can it be supposed that you consider the matter indeed difficult, but that you are without fear. You are, on the contrary, full of fear, but you hesitate.’
[296] Immo vero, ‘oh no; on the contrary.’ See Zumpt, § 277.
[297] Respecting this form of hypothetical sentences, see Zumpt, § 524, note 1. The verb in the apodosis might be implorabis, without altering the meaning.
[298] This statement differs in two points from the current tradition of history. First, the praenomen of this Manlius is commonly Titus, and so we must no doubt correct here, even though the manuscripts have Aulus. Secondly, he did not show his severe military discipline towards his son in the Gallic war, but in the great Latin war, which ended, in B.C. 340, with the subjugation of Latium. Manlius ordered his son to be executed in presence of the army; and to characterise that harsh severity, the orator uses the word necare instead of interficere or occidere.
[299] Quidquam is stronger than siquid — that is, the expression of the negative is more strongly marked in the protasis.
[300] ‘If there were room for a mistake’ — namely, in the resolution to be come to. The meaning is: ‘No time is to be lost, since, if you come to a wrong determination, you will be ruined before you have time to correct your decision.’
[301] ‘Is upon our necks,’ a figurative expression, properly applied to a wrestler who seizes another by the throat.

[53.]

[302] ‘What has chiefly helped in carrying out such great undertakings.’ Negotium sustinere, ‘to be able to carry out a business,’ representing the negotium as a burden.
[303] Sallust states that, after mature consideration of all the circumstances, he has come to the conviction that the merit of individual citizens had raised Rome to its supremacy over the world, but that afterwards there were no men of importance, or excelling others by mental superiority, and that the state, as a whole, alone made the faults of individuals bearable. We must honour the judgment of Sallust, but cannot agree with it; we must rather believe that the unvarying ability of the whole Roman people, notwithstanding the not very prominent minds of individuals, was the cause of the rapid progress of the Roman dominion. In the later times, on the other hand, we meet a Scipio the younger, a Marius, a Sulla, a Pompey, and a Caesar, all of whom were men or generals of eminent talent, while all those who served under them were persons of inferior abilities.
[304] Effeta parentum, the same as effeta parens, ‘a mother who has had children, but can have no more.’ Respecting the partitive genitive (as in aliqui militum for aliqui milites), see Zumpt, § 430. The author in the progress of his sentence abandons the construction with which he began, and which ought to have been continued thus: Roma haud sane quemquam virtute magnum protulit, for which he says, Romae haud sane quisquam virtute magnus fuit. This deviation from the construction may be explained still more easily, if in our mind we add facit to the words sicuti effeta parentum, ‘as is the case with an aged mother.’ Multis tempestatibus, ‘during a long time.’ The singular tempestas in the sense of ‘time’ is not uncommon, but the plural tempestates in the sense of ‘periods of time’ occurs only in Sallust in this passage, and Jug. [73], [96], and [108].
[305] Quin is used regularly for ut non after a negative clause: ‘I would not pass them over in silence, without unfolding their characters.’

[54.]

[306] ‘But the one a different one from the other.’ The Latin custom of repeating the same word obliges the author, having once said alia, to use alii, which, strictly speaking, should be alteri, as he is speaking of only two persons.
[307] ‘The less he strove after fame, the more it followed him of itself,’ so that gloria must be supplied.