CATILINE'S CONSPIRACY (Sallust.
Bellum Catilinae, 40, 41, 60)
LESSON
134
In 63 B.C. Marcus Cicero (brother of the Quintus Cicero who subsequently figured in the events described in Lesson 108 ff.) had to deal with a rather alarming conspiracy which aimed to revolutionize the government of Rome. The chief conspirator, Catiline, took the field with
an army, while Lentulus, who was secretly in sympathy with him, supervised matters in the city. One day Lentulus noticed there two Gallic envoys who had come to Rome to complain that Roman officials were
and
oppressing their people,
he
thereupon conceived
further embarrassing the government up a revolt among their countrymen.
Umbreno cuidam negotium
Igitur P.
the idea of
by inducing these Gauls
to stir
utl legates
dat,
possit, impellat ad sociexistimans etatem belli, publice prlvatimque aere alieno oppresses, praeterea quod natura gens Gallica bellicosa si
Allobrogum requirat eosque,
5
esset, facile eos
ad
adduci posse.
tale consilium
Umbrenus, quod
in
Gallia
negotiatus erat, plerisque prmcipibus civitatium notus erat atque eos noverat. Itaque 1.
P.:
i.e.
PubliS.
dat: sub-
utl: i.e. ut. ject, Lentulus. 2. Allobrogum : a tribe
southeast
Gaul.
quiro,
3,
out,
impellat
-pulsus,
requirat:
-quisivi,
incite.
cietas, -atis, p.,
-quisitus,
of re-
seek
hnpello, 3, -puli,
societatem:
so-
modifying
eos
belli-Allobroges) supplied. cosa bellicosus, -a, -um, warlike. for mood, cf. the 5. esset:
note on admoveantur, p. 61, 1. 14; tale as a present.
translate
talis, -is, -e,
with gen., partner-
ship (in). ad vs., 3. publice privatimque as a people and as individuals.
oppresses:
4. (i.e.
7.
p.
novi,
172
civitatium:
123,
with.
such a.
1.
ii.
notus:
cf.
the note on
noverat: nosco,3,
become
acquainted
