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 oppressing their people, and he thereupon conceived the idea of further embarrassing the government by inducing these Gauls to stir up a revolt among their countrymen.
Igitur P.[1] Umbrēnō cuidam negōtium dat, ūtī[2] lēgātōs Allobrogum[3] requīrat[4] eōsque, sī possit, impellat[5] ad societātemsocietatem: societās, -ātis, {[sc|f}}., with gen., partnership (in). bellī, exīstimāns pūblicē prīvātimque[6] aere aliēnō oppressōs,[7] praetereā quod nātūrā gēns Gallica bellicōsa[8] esset,[9] facile eōs ad tāle[10] cōnsilium addūcī posse.
Umbrēnus, quod in Galliā negōtiātus erat, plērīsque prīncipibus cīvitātium[11] nōtus erat atque eōs nōverat.[12] Itaque
- ↑ P.: i.e. Pūbliō.—dat: subject, Lentulus.
- ↑ utī: .e. ut.
- ↑ Allobrogum: a tribe of southeast Gaul
- ↑ requīrat: requīrō, 3 -quisivi, -quisitus, seek out.
- ↑ impellat: impellō, 3, -pulī, -pulsus, incite.
- ↑ publicē privatimque: advs., as a people and as individuals.
- ↑ oppressos: modifying eōs (e. Allobrogēs) supplied.
- ↑ bellicōsa: bellicōsus, -a, -um, warlike.
- ↑ esset: for mood, cf. the note on admoveantur, p. 61, 1. 14; translate as a present.
- ↑ täle: tālis, -is, -e, such as.
- ↑ civitātium: cf. the note on p. 123, l. 11.
- ↑ nõverat: nōscō, 3, nõvî, nōtus: become acquainted with.
