Cicero In Catilinam I -- Vital Notes

The Latin, the English translation and some vital notes on the first section of Cicero's In Catilinam I speech, as relevent to the AS Latin Exam.

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  • Created by: Tiula
  • Created on: 10-04-11 12:00

Latin

Quo usque tandem abutere, Catalina, patientia nostra?

Quamdiu etiam iste furor tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem

sese effrenata iactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum

praesidium Palati, nihil urbis vigiliae, nihil timor populi,

nihil concursus bonorum omnium, nihil hic munitissimus

habendi senatus locus, nihil horum ora vultusque moverunt?

Patere tua consilia non sentis, constrictam iam horum

omnium scientia teneri coniurationem tuam non vides?

Translation on the next card. However, if you feel confident, try translating without looking first.

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English

For how long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience? For how

long will this fury of yours mock us? To what end will your

unreined daring flaunt itself? Does neither the nightime

defense of the Palatine, nor the watch of the city, nor the

people's fear, nor the gathering of all good men, nor this

very guarded place of the senate held, nor the faces and

expressions of all these men move you at all? Are you

not aware that your plans lie open, do you not see that your

plot is held by the knowledge of all these people now?

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Notes

  • opens with a series of sharp, harsh rhetorical questions. Catiline cannot answer them. Direct attack.
     
     
  • uses the second person singular -- Catiline is alone, no-one is going to help him. Emphasises this by portraying the senate as "nos", "us", making it seem as though many people are against Catiline.
  • "audacia" meaning "daring" brought to the end of the sentence for emphasis.
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Comments

ellie

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Wow! Really helpful, thank you ^_^

Tiula

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Thanks :) I'll upload some more on the rest of the set text soon, watch this space :)

Casper

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Tiula,

It's a great translation, but I noticed the way you translated eludet as elude.  I really think that this is a mistake and that the correct translation for this is mock or make fun of. Also furor in this case could mean madness (Cataline is bat-**** crazy according to Cicero).

Looking forward to next upload.

Tiula

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Thanks, I agree that the best translation for eludet is probably mock (I will change this, it is a better translation than elude).

Furor could be translated as madness or fury. Personally, I prefer fury, as it suggests that Catiline is doing this deliberately as a revenge rather than madness, which suggests that this is involuntary. However it should be noted that both translations are correct.

Tiula

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The next upload is here, sorry it took so long: http://getrevising.co.uk/resources/cicero_in_catilinam_i_vital_notes_ii

Casper

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No worries and thanks for going through all this effort.

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