Political Speeches (Oxford World's Classics) (37 page)

[21] The fourth group is certainly varied, mixed, and unruly. These are people who went under long ago, who have never got their heads above water, who partly through laziness, partly through business failures, and partly also through extravagance stagger on with long-standing debts, and who have given up in the face of bankruptcy summonses, hearings, and sequestrations—a very large group of people who are reported to have abandoned Rome and the country districts for that military camp. These people I would class not so much as keen soldiers as lazy backsliders. If they cannot stand on their own two feet, it would be much better if they fell as soon as possible, just so long as they do not disturb the state—or even their
immediate neighbours. For I cannot see why, if they are incapable of living honourable lives, they should want to die in dishonourable circumstances,
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or why they imagine death will be less distressing to them if they meet their end along with many others than if they do so on their own.

[22] The fifth group consists of murderers, cut-throats, and every other type of criminal. I do not want these men to abandon Catiline; and in fact they cannot be made to do so. Let them be killed as brigands, since there are far more of them than the prison
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can cope with.

The final group is last not just in number but also in character and way of life. This is Catiline’s very own, his elect, his special band of lovies. They are the ones you see with carefully arranged hair, moisturized faces, either too young to shave or else with full beards, with tunics down to their wrists and ankles, and wearing dresses not togas. All the energy of their lives, and the labour of their waking hours, is devoted to dinners that last till dawn. [23] In this clique, every gambler, every adulterer, and every filthy pervert is to be found. These boys, so elegant and refined, have perfected the art not just of sex, active and passive, nor just of singing and dancing, but of wielding the dagger and poisoning food. Unless they leave Rome, unless they die (even if Catiline himself should die), I tell you that they will be a spawning-ground of future Catilines in our country. But what is it those pathetic creatures want? Surely they are not going to arrive at the camp with their fancy women in tow? Yet how will they manage without them, especially during these long winter nights? How will they endure the frost and snow up there in the Apennines? Perhaps they expect to endure the glacial temperatures more easily because they have had plenty of practice dancing naked at dinner parties? [24] What a truly terrifying war this is going to be, with Catiline in command of this praetorian cohort of poofs!

Now, citizens, prepare your own armies and your own defences to fight these crack troops of Catiline’s! First, pit your consuls and generals against this exhausted and wounded gladiator. Then lead out the flower and pride of all Italy to fight this banished and enfeebled collection of castaways. The towns and colonies of Italy are more than a match for the hills and forests of Catiline. Nor is there any need for me to compare the other resources, equipment, and defensive forces that you possess with that brigand’s total lack of
such advantages. [25] But if we leave on one side all the things that we are supplied with and he lacks—the senate, the Roman equestrians, the Roman people, the city, the treasury, the revenues, all of Italy, all the provinces, foreign countries—if, leaving all these on one side, we choose to make a comparison of the actual principles that are in conflict, we will be able to tell from that alone how inferior their position is. On our side fights decency, on theirs depravity; on ours modesty, on theirs perversion; on ours honesty, on theirs deceit; on ours duty, on theirs crime; on ours steadfastness, on theirs hysteria; on ours honour, on theirs disgrace; on ours self-restraint, on theirs self-indulgence; on ours, justice, self-control, courage, prudence, and all the virtues, fighting against injustice, extravagance, sloth, recklessness, and all the vices; finally, wealth is fighting against poverty, good principles against bad, reason against madness, and well-grounded confidence against absolute despair. In a conflict and battle of this kind, even if human strength were to fail, would the immortal gods themselves not step in to ensure that these outstanding virtues triumph over those many, extreme vices?

[26] Under these circumstances, I urge you, citizens, as I did before, to defend your homes and guard them vigilantly. For my part, I have taken all the necessary steps to ensure that the city is properly protected without disturbing you, and without declaring a state of emergency. I have informed all your fellow-citizens in the towns and colonies of Catiline’s departure last night, and they will easily be able to defend their towns and territories. The gladiators, a force Catiline thought he could rely on absolutely—although they are more loyal to the country than some of our patricians are—will be kept under guard on my authority. Quintus Metellus,
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whom I sent in advance to the Umbrian coast and Picenum for precisely this purpose, will either crush Catiline or put a stop to all his movements and plans. As to all the other matters to be decided, put into action, and carried out, I shall now consult the senate, which as you see is being convened.

[27] But now to those who have stayed behind in Rome—or rather to those whom Catiline has deliberately planted in Rome to destroy the city and each one of you—I will keep repeating the following warning; after all, they may be enemies today, but they were born as Roman citizens. If anyone has felt that I have been too lenient up until now, it was because I have been waiting for what was still
hidden to burst out into the open. But for the future, I can no longer forget that this is my country, that I am your consul, that it is my duty either to live with you or give my life for you. The gates are unguarded, and there is no ambush on the road: so if anyone wishes to leave, I am prepared to turn a blind eye. But if anyone makes a move inside the city, if I discover any plan or scheme—let alone any act—against our country, that person should be aware that Rome has all-seeing consuls, it has outstanding magistrates, it has a strong senate; it has weapons—and it has a prison,
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which our ancestors ordained as a punishment for serious and flagrant crimes.

[28] In all these measures, citizens, I shall make sure that this serious crisis is put down with the least possible disturbance, this extreme danger put down without a state of emergency being declared, and this biggest and most brutal civil war in history put down with a single civilian—myself—as your leader and commander. In managing the situation, I shall make sure, citizens, so far as is possible, that not a single traitor inside the city shall pay the penalty for his crimes. But if the extent of manifest crime, if the scale of the danger hanging over our country compels me to deviate from this policy of leniency, then I shall certainly make sure—and this is something one hardly dare hope for in such a major, hazardous war—that no good citizen loses his life, and that all your lives are saved by the punishment of only a few individuals.

[29] When I make you this promise, citizens, I do it not on the basis of my own intelligence or of any human wisdom, but as a result of many unambiguous signs from the immortal gods, under whose guidance I have arrived at these hopes and this policy. They do not guard us from afar, as in days gone by, against a distant foreign enemy, but here present among us now they are defending their temples and the houses of the city with the protection of their divine power. Your duty, citizens, is to pray to them, to worship them, and to implore them, now that all the forces of our external enemies have been defeated on land and sea,
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to defend this city, which they have ordained should be the most beautiful, the most prosperous, and the most powerful city in the world, from the unspeakable criminality of citizen traitors.

[1] The country, citizens, together with the lives of each one of you, your property, your fortunes, your wives and children, this glorious seat of empire, this most blessed and most beautiful of cities—all these today, as a result of the great love that the immortal gods feel for you, and also as a result of my own physical toil, mental effort, and readiness to accept personal risk, you can see snatched from fire and the sword and the very jaws of death, preserved for you, and restored to you. [2] We consider the day on which we are saved to be at least as jubilant and joyful as the day on which we are born: when we are saved, our happiness is assured, whereas when we are born, we cannot take anything for granted; and also, of course, we are born with no feelings, but feel pleasure when we are saved. Surely then, since we have elevated the founder of this city
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to the immortal gods by our gratitude and praise, you and your descendants ought also to honour the man who has saved this same city once it had already been founded and grown to greatness. For what I have done is to extinguish the fires that were being set to the whole of the city, the temples, the shrines, the houses, and the walls, and were about to engulf them; and I have beaten back the swords that had been drawn against the state, pushing away their tips as they were held to your throats. [3] Since all this plotting has been discovered, exposed, and revealed to the senate by me, I will now give you, citizens, a brief account of it. This will enable you to find out what you currently do not know, but are eager to learn—how serious it is, how flagrant it is, and the means by which it has been detected and demonstrated.

First of all, then, when Catiline escaped from Rome some days ago,
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he left behind in the city his partners in crime, the most dangerous leaders of this unspeakable war. Accordingly, I have been constantly on the alert, citizens, and have been looking to see how, amid such widespread and well-concealed plotting, our safety might best be ensured. For at the time when I expelled Catiline from the city—and I am no longer afraid of making myself unpopular by using that word, because I ought now to be more frightened of being criticized for letting him leave alive—at that time, when I wanted to get him out of Rome, I imagined that either the rest of the conspirators
would leave with him or else those who remained behind would be weak and powerless without him. [4] But when it became clear to me that those whom I knew to be the fiercest and most extreme criminals had stayed behind in Rome and were still in our midst, I spent all my time, night and day, trying to find out and see what it was they were doing and what it was they were planning.
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Since I realized that the extraordinary scale of their criminal intentions would incline you to doubt what I was telling you when you merely heard it through your ears, I therefore found out as much as I could, intending that when you actually saw the conspiracy with your eyes you would then at last apply your minds to taking steps to ensure your own safety.

I discovered, then, that Publius Lentulus
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had tampered with the envoys of the Allobroges for the purpose of stirring up a war beyond the Alps and a revolt in Gaul; that the envoys had been sent back to their own people in Gaul with letters and instructions, and on their way there were to visit Catiline; and that an escort, Titus Volturcius,
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had been assigned to them, and had been given a letter for Catiline. It seemed to me that this was just the opportunity I needed—one very hard to come by, and yet one I had hoped all along the immortal gods might send me—an opportunity that would provide clear proof of the whole business not just to me, but to the senate and yourselves. [5] So yesterday I sent for the praetors Lucius Flaccus and Gaius Pomptinus,
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both of them valiant men and true patriots. I explained the situation to them, and told them what I wanted them to do. They, being men of absolutely unswerving loyalty towards their country, accepted the task without the slightest objection or delay. At dusk, they secretly arrived at the Mulvian Bridge, and there they split their force into two parts, placing them in the nearest houses on either side of the bridge over the Tiber. Without anyone suspecting a thing, they had brought with them a large number of brave followers, while I myself had sent some hand-picked young men from the prefecture of Reate,
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armed with swords, whom I have been making regular use of for the defence of the country.

[6] Towards the end of the third watch,
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the envoys of the Allobroges and their entourage,
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together with Volturcius, began to cross the Mulvian Bridge, and immediately came under attack. Swords were drawn on both sides. Only the praetors knew what was going on: no one else had been told. A fight broke out; but Pomptinus and Flaccus intervened and stopped it. The letters which the men
were carrying were all handed over to the praetors, their seals unbroken. The men themselves were arrested and brought to me just as dawn was breaking. I immediately sent for the villain who had co-ordinated this criminal plan, Cimber Gabinius,
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before he could suspect that anything was amiss. Then I also summoned Lucius Statilius,
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and after him Gaius Cethegus.
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Lentulus was very slow in coming—I imagine because, unusually for him, he had stayed up late into the night writing letters.
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[7] A large number of the most senior and illustrious men of our city, having heard the news, came to visit me this morning. They wanted me to open the letters before putting them before the senate, in case they contained nothing incriminating and I should then be accused of having created a state of national alarm without good reason. But I replied that in a situation involving public danger I could not do other than place the matter just as it was before the public council. Even, citizens, if the information which had been reported to me turned out not to be contained in the letters, I nevertheless believed that, when our country was in such grave danger, I had nothing to fear from being over-zealous.

As you saw, I quickly called a full meeting of the senate. [8] While it was being summoned, I did as the Allobroges advised me and immediately sent the valiant praetor Gaius Sulpicius
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to Cethegus’ house and asked him to confiscate any weapons he should find there. He duly removed from there an immense quantity of daggers and swords.