Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War Part 20

[106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._

[107] x.x.x. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length."

The reader might suppose, at first, that Sall.u.s.t transcribed this speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following _hujuscemodi_ shows that Sall.u.s.t did not profess to give the exact words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sall.u.s.tian phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius.

[108] x.x.xI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ "It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sall.u.s.t, or Memmius, not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean."

_Burnouf._ The ma.n.u.scripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576.

[109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents.

[110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently intended.

[111] Every civil and religions obligation--_Divina et humana omnia._ "They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an enemy; against the honor of Rome when they did what was unworthy of it, and greatly to its injury; and against G.o.ds and men, against all divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." _Dietsch._

[112] Slaves purchased with money, etc.--_Servi, aere parati,_ etc.

This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: _Servi injurias nimis aegre ferunt; quid illos bono genere natos, magna virtute praeditos, animi habuisse atque habituros, dum vivent?_ "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live?"

[113] Public spirit--_Pietas._ Under this word are included all duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, and the G.o.ds. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose.

[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--_Beneficia vestra._ Offices of state, civil and military.

[115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62.

[116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam haec tempora magis placent,_ etc. "_Those times_, which immediately succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for the tyranny of the n.o.bles, and the humiliation of the people; _these times_, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert their liberty." _Burnouf._

[117] Embezzlement of the public money--_Peculatus aerarii._ "Peculator, qui furtum facit pecuniae publicae." Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr i.

[118] Kings--I have subst.i.tuted the plural for the singular. "No name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." _Dietsch._

[119] If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.--_Si injuriae non sint, haud saepe auxilii egeas._ "Some foolishly interpret _auxilium_ as signifying _auxilium tribunicium_, the aid of the tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sall.u.s.t means _aid against the injuries of bad men_, i.e. revenge or punishment." _Kritzius._ "If injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the help of good men and it will be of less consequence if they become inactive." _Dietsch._

[120] x.x.xII. Lucius Ca.s.sius--This is the man from whom came the common saying _cui bono?_ "Lucius Ca.s.sius, whom the Roman people thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, _cui bono fuisset_, of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 80. "His tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into Numidia.

[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ See Cat.47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ is "to pledge."

[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ is "to pledge."

[122] x.x.xIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant--_Cultu quam maxime miserabili_. "In such a garb as accused persons, or suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite compa.s.sion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard to grow." _Burnouf._

[123] x.x.xIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace--A single tribune might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom.

Ant., under the head "Tribunes of the People."

[124] Every other act to which anger prompts--_Aliis omnibus, qua ira fieri amat._ "These words have given rise to wonderful hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many expressions of Sall.u.s.t are borrowed from the Greek, as _Vulgus amat fieri,_ all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the structure of Sall.u.s.t's words must be Greek, and have taken _ira,_ in this pa.s.sage, for an ablative, and _quae_ for a nominative plural.

Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited By Quintilian, and to correct them, please the G.o.ds, into _quae in Vulgus amat fieri._ But how could there have been such want of penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by Quintilian, has reference merely to the word [Greek: philei], _amat_, they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb on a neuter plural? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this mode of expression in other writers." _Kritzius._ Dietsch agrees with Kritzius; and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that _quae_ is the accusative and _ira_ the nominative; the sense being, "which anger loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been suggested, namely, to understand _mult.i.tudo_ as the nominative case to _amat_, making _ira_ the ablative; but this method is far more c.u.mbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sall.u.s.t. The words quoted by Quintilian do not refer, as Cortius erroneously supposes, to this pa.s.sage, but to some part of Sall.u.s.t's works that is now lost.

[125] x.x.xV. Should be disturbed--_Movere_ is the reading of Cortius; _moveri_ that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS.

and early editions.

[126] The times at which he resorted to particular places--_Loca atque tempora cuncta._ "All his places and times." There can be no doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text.

[127] In accordance with the law of nations, etc.--As the public faith had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the same footing as that of emba.s.sadors, the persons of whose attendants are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If any such offense is committed by an attendant of an emba.s.sador, an application is usually made by the government to the emba.s.sador to deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own country, the Portuguese emba.s.sador's brother, who was one of his retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell, et Pac., xviii, 8; Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not Jugurtha's object.

[128] At the commencement of the proceedings--_In priori actione._ That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder.

[129] His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him--_Reliquos popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi._ "Fear of obeying him should take possession of his other subjects."

[130] That it was a venal city, etc.--_Urbem venalem,_ etc. I consider, with Cortias, that this is the proper way of taking these words. Some would render them _O venal city,_ etc., because Livy, Epit. lxiv., has _O urbem venalem,_ but this seems to require that the verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy we should either eject the O or read _inveneris._ Florus, iii. 1, gives the words in the same way as Sall.u.s.t.

[131] x.x.xVI. As propraetor--_Pro praetore._ With the power of lieutenant-general.

[132] x.x.xVII. Throughout the year--_Totius anni._ That is, all that remained of the year.

[133] On the edge of a steep hill--_In praerupti montis extremo.

"In extremo_ a scholiast rightly interprets _in margine_," Gerlach.

Cortius, whom Langius follows, considers that _in extremo_ means _at the bottom_; a notion which Kritzius justly condemns; for, as Gerlach asks, what would that have to do withthe strength of the place? Muller would have us believe that _in extremo_ means _at the top_; but if Sall.u.s.t had meant to say that the city was at the top, he would hardly have chosen the word _extremus_ for the purpose. Doubtless, as Gerlach observes, the city was on the top of the hill, which was broad enough to hold it; but the words _in extremo_ signify that the walls were even with the side of the hill. Of the site of the town of Suthul no traces are now to be found.

[134] Vineae--Defenses made of hurdles or other wood, and often covered with raw hides, to defend the soldiers who worked the battering-ram. The word that comes nearest to _vineae_ in our language is _mantelets_. Before this word, in many editions, occurs the phrase _ob thesauros oppidi potiundi_, which Cortius, whom I follow, omits.

[135] x.x.xIII. That their defection might thus be less observed--_Ita delicta occultiora fore._ Cortius transferred these words to this place from the end of the preceding sentence; Kritzius and Dietsch have restored them to their former place. Gerlach thinks them an intruded gloss.

[136] The chief centurion--_Centurio primi pili._There were sixty centurions in a Roman legion; the one here meant was the first, or oldest, centurion of the Triarii, or Pilani.

[137] As death was the alternative--_Quia mortis metu mutabant.

Neither ma.n.u.scripts nor critics are agreed about this pa.s.sage. Cortius, from a suggestion of Palmerius, adopted _mutabant_; most other editors have _mutabantur_; but both are to be taken in the same sense; for _mutabant_ is equivalent to _mutabant se_. Cortius's interpretation appears the most eligible: "Permutabantur c.u.m metuenda morte," i.e.

there were those conditions on one side, and death on the other, and if they did not accept the conditions, they must die. Kritzius fancifully and strangely interprets, _propter mortis metum se mutabant, i.e., alia videbantur atque erant_, or the acceptance of the terms appeared excusable to the soldiers, because they were threatened with death if they did not accept them. It is worth while to notice the variety of readings exhibited in the ma.n.u.scripts collated by Cortius: ten exhibit _mutabantur_; three, _minitabantur_; three, _multabantur_; three, _tenebantur_; one, _tenebatur_; one, _cogebantur_; one, _cogebatur_; one, _angustiabantur_; one, _urgebantur_; and one _mortis metuebant pericula_. There is also, he adds, in some copies, _mutabant_, which the Bipont editors and Muller absurdly adopted.

[138] x.x.xIX. Under all the circ.u.mstances of the case--_Ex copia rerum._ From the number of things which he had to consider.

[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42.

[140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence.

[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius.

See Brut., c. 34.

[142] XLI. Took, s.n.a.t.c.hed, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_.

"_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows.

[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.--

Quid quod usque proximos Revellis agri terminos, et ultra Limites clientium Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos In sinu ferens deos Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos.

_Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18.

What can this impious av'rice stay?

Their sacred landmarks torn away.

You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, And overleap your client's bounds, Helpless the wife and husband flee, And in their arms, expell'd by thee, Their household G.o.ds, adored in vain, Their infants, too, a sordid train.

[144] Among the n.o.bility--_Ex n.o.bilitate._ Cortius injudiciously omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi.