for now I shall speak with you in such a way, not so that I might seem to be moved by hate, by which I ought, but so that I might seem to be moved by pity, none of which is owed to you. nunc vero quae tua est ista vita? now indeed what is that life of yours? sic enim iam tecum loquar, non ut odio permotus esse videar, quo debeo, sed ut misericordia, quae tibi nulla debetur. indeed I do not know by what sacred rights it has been consecrated and dedicated by you that you think it is necessary to plunge it into the body of the consul. quotiens tibi iam extorta est ista sica de manibus! quotiens excidit casu aliquo et elapsa est! how often already has that dagger been twisted out of your hands! how often has it fallen and slipped out by some accident! quae quidem quibus abs te initiata sacris ac devota sit, nescio, quod eam necesse putas esse in consulis corpore defigere. you do nothing, you accomplish nothing, nevertheless you do not stop trying and wishing. I now come to those things which do not pertain to the private disgrace of your crimes, not to your domestic difficulties and dishonor, but which relate to the supreme danger of the state and to the life and health of us all potestne tibi haec lux, Catilina, aut huius caeli spiritus esse iucundus, cum scias esse horum neminem qui nesciat, te pridie Kalendas Ianuarias Lepido et Tullo consulibus stetisse in comitio cum telo? can this light be pleasing to you, Catiline, or the air of this sky, when you know that there is no-one of these men who does not know that on the day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Ledidus and Tullus, you stood in the comitium with a sword? manum consulum et principum civitatis interficiendorum causa paravisse? that you prepared a gang for the sake of murdering the consuls and the leading citizens of the state? sceleri ac furori tuo non mentem aliquam aut timorem tuum, sed fortunam populi Romani obstetisse? that it was not some mind or your fear stand in the way of your mad crime, but rather the fortune of the Roman people? ac iam illa omitto - neque enim sunt aut obscura aut non multa comissa postea - : but now I pass over those matters - for they are not unknown and many things were later committed by you - : quotiens tu me disignatum, quotiens vero consulem interficere conatus es! how often you tried to kill me when I was consul elect, in truth how often you tried to kill me as consul! quot ego tuas petitiones ita coniectas, ut vitari posse non viderentur, parva quadam declinatione et, ut aiunt, corpore effugi! how many of your thrusts that were so directed in such a way that they did not seem able to be avoided did I escape from by just a slight swerve of the body, as they say! nihil agis, nihil adsequeris, neque tamen conari ac velle desistis. Ad illa venio, quae non ad privatam ignominiam vitiorum tuorum, non ad domesticam tuam difficultatem ac turpitudinem, sed ad summam rem publicam atque ad omnium nostrum vitam salutemque pertinent.
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