There is a fourth class, various, promiscuous and turbulent; who indeed are now overwhelmed;
who will never recover themselves; who, partly from indolence, partly from managing their
affairs badly, partly from extravagance, are embarrassed by old debts; and worn out with bail
bonds, and judgments, and seizures of their goods, are said to be betaking themselves in
numbers to that camp both from the city and the country. These men I think not so much active
soldiers as lazy insolvents; who, if they cannot stand at first, may fall, but fall so, that
not only the city but even their nearest neighbours know nothing of it. For I do not understand
why, if they cannot live with honour, they should wish to die shamefully; or wily they think
they shall perish with less pain in a crowd, than if they perish by themselves.
There is a fifth class, of parricides, assassins, in short of all infamous characters, whom I
do not wish to recall from Catiline, and indeed they cannot be separated from him. Let them
perish in their wicked war, since they are so numerous that a prison cannot contain them.
There is a last class, last not only in number but in the sort of men and in their way of
life; the especial body-guard of Catiline, of his levying; yes, the friends of his embraces and
of his bosom; whom you see with carefully combed hair, glossy, beardless, or with well-trimmed
beards; with tunics with sleeves, or reaching to the ankles; clothed with veils, not with
robes; all the industry of whose life, all the labour of whose watchfulness, is expended in
suppers lasting till daybreak.
In these bands are all the gamblers, all the adulterers, all the unclean and shameless
citizens. These boys, so witty and delicate, have learnt not only to love and to be loved, not
only to sing and to dance, but also to brandish daggers and to administer poisons; and unless
they are driven out, unless they die, even should Catiline die, I warn you that the school of
Catiline would exist in the republic. But what do those wretches want? Are they going to take
their wives with them to the camp? how can they do without them, especially in these nights?
and how will they endure the Apennines, and these
frosts, and this snow? unless they think that they will bear the winter more easily because
they have been in the habit of dancing naked at their feasts. O war much to be dreaded, when
Catiline is going to have his bodyguard of prostitutes!
Array now, O Romans, against these splendid troops of Catiline, your guards and your armies;
and first of all oppose to that worn-out and wounded gladiator your consuls and generals; then
against that banished and enfeebled troop of ruined men lead out the flower and strength of all
Italy instantly the cities of the colonies and
municipalities will match the rustic mounds of Catiline; and I will not condescend to compare
the rest of your troops and equipments and guards with the want and destitution of that
highwayman.
But if, omitting all these things in which we
are rich and of which he is destitute,—the senate, the Roman knights, the people, the city, the
treasury, the revenues, all Italy, all the provinces,
foreign nations,—if I say, omitting all these things, we choose to compare the causes
themselves which are opposed to one another, we may understand from that alone how thoroughly
prostrate they are. For on the one side are fighting modesty, on the other wantonness; on the
one chastity, on the other uncleanness; on the one honesty, on the other fraud; on the one
piety, on the other wickedness; on the one consistency, on the other insanity; on the one
honour, on the other baseness; on the one continence, on the other lust; in short, equity,
temperance, fortitude, prudence, all the virtues contend against iniquity with luxury, against
indolence, against rashness, against all the vices; lastly, abundance contends against
destitution, good plans against baffled designs, wisdom against madness, well-founded hope
against universal despair. In a contest and war of this sort, even if the zeal of men were to
fail, will not the immortal gods compel such numerous and excessive vices to be defeated by
these most eminent virtues?
And as this is the case, O Romans, as I have said before, defend your house with guards and
vigilance. I have taken care and made arrangements that there shall be sufficient
protection for the city without distressing you and without any tumult. All the colonists and
citizens of your municipal towns, being informed by me of this nocturnal sally of Catiline,
will easily defend their cities and territories; the gladiators which he thought would be his
most numerous and most trusty band, although they are better disposed than part of the
patricians, will be held in cheek by our power. Quintus Metellus, whom I, making provision for
this, sent on to the Gallic and Picenian territory, will either overwhelm the man, or will
prevent all his motions and attempts; but with respect to the arrangement of all other matters,
and maturing and acting on our plans, we shall consult the senate, which, as you are aware, is
convened.
Now once more I wish those who have remained in the city, and who, contrary to the safety of
the city and of all of you, have been left in the city by Catiline, although they are enemies,
yet because they were born citizens, to be warned again and again by me. If my lenity has
appeared to any one too remiss, it has been only waiting that that might break out which was
lying hid. As to the future, I cannot now forget that this is my country, that I am the consul
of these citizens; that I must either live with them, or die for them. There is no guard at the
gate, no one plotting against their path; if any one wishes to go, he can provide for himself;
but if any one stirs in the city, and if I detect not only any action, but any attempt or
design against the country, he shall feel that there are in this city vigilant consuls, eminent
magistrates, a brave senate, arms, and prisons; which our ancestors appointed as the avengers
of nefarious and convicted crimes.
And all this shall be so done, O Romans, that affairs of the greatest importance shall be
transacted with the least possible disturbance; the greatest dangers shall be avoided without
any tumult; an internal civil war the most cruel and terrible in the memory of man, shall be
put an end to by me alone in the robe of peace acting as general and commander-in-chief. And
this I will so arrange, O Romans, that if it can be by any means managed, even the most
worthless man shall not suffer the punishment of his crimes in this city. But if the violence
of open audacity, if danger impending over the republic drives me of necessity from this
merciful disposition, at all events I will manage this, which seems scarcely even to be hoped
for in so great and so treacherous a war, that no good man shall fall, and that you may all be
saved by the punishment of a few.
And I promise you this, O Romans, relying neither on my own prudence, nor on human counsels,
but on many and manifest intimations of the will of the immortal gods; under whose guidance I
first entertained this hope and this opinion; who are now defending their temples and the
houses of the city, not afar off, as they were used to, from a foreign and distant enemy, but
here on the spot, by their own divinity and present help. And you, O Romans, ought to pray to
and implore them to defend from the nefarious wickedness of abandoned citizens, now that all
the forces of all enemies are defeated by land and sea, this city which they have ordained to
be the most beautiful and flourishing of all cities.