Catilinarian orations

Cicero Denounces Catiline, fresco by Cesare Maccari, 1882–1888

The Catilinarian orations (Latin: Marci Tullii Ciceronis orationes in Catilinam; also simply the Catilinarians) are four speeches given in 63 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the year's consuls. The speeches all related to the discovery, investigation, and suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy, a plot that year to overthrow the republic. All of the speeches in the form available today were published, probably around 60, as part of Cicero's attempt to justify his actions during the consulship; whether they are accurate reflections of the original speeches in 63 is debated.

The first speech was in the senate, where Cicero accused a senator, Catiline, of leading a plot to overthrow the republic; in response, Catiline withdrew from the city and joined an uprising in Etruria. The next two speeches were before the people, with Cicero justifying his actions as well as relating further news of the conspiracy in Rome itself and the arrest of four conspirators. The fourth speech, supposedly delivered before the Senate, was an intervention in an on-going debate as to the fate of the urban conspirators; Cicero argued in favour of their illegal execution without trial.

Some modern historians suggest that Catiline was a more complex character than Cicero's writings declare, and that Cicero was heavily influenced by a desire to establish a lasting reputation as a great Roman patriot and statesman. The Catilinarian orations, along with Sallust' monograph Bellum Catilinae, make the conspiracy one of the best-documented events from the ancient world.

Background

Further information: Catilinarian conspiracy

The Catilinarian conspiracy was a plot by the patrician senator Lucius Sergius Catilina (English: Catiline) to overthrow the Roman republic. He started this plot in 63 BC after being repulsed at elections for consul for the third time; after failing to be elected to the consulships of 65, 63, and 62 BC. The conspirators included various disaffected groups. The aristocrats who joined were largely men who were similarly unsuccessful in elections for high office or were otherwise bankrupt. They were joined by many disaffected Italian farmers – concentrated in Etruria – in two broad groups: farmers dispossessed by Sulla's proscriptions and colonisation programmes as well as Sulla's veterans who had fallen on debt after poor harvests.

The first indications of a plot in 63 BC were in autumn, handed over by Marcus Licinius Crassus on 18 or 19 October. Crassus' letters were corroborated by reports of armed men gathering in support of the conspiracy. In response, the senate passed a decree declaring a tumultus (a state of emergency) and, after receipt of the reports of armed men gathering in Etruria, carried the senatus consultum ultimum instructing the consuls to do whatever it took to respond to the crisis. By 27 October, the senate had received reports that Gaius Manlius, a former centurion and leader of an army there, had taken up arms near Faesulae.

Catiline remained in the city. While named in the anonymous letters sent to Crassus, this was insufficient evidence for incrimination. But after messages from Etruria connected him directly to the uprising, he was indicted under the lex Plautia de vi (public violence) in early November. The conspirators met, probably on 6 November, and found two volunteers to make an attempt on Cicero's life. After the attempts on Cicero's life failed on 7 November 63 BC, he assembled the senate and delivered the First Catilinarian, revealing Catiline's involvement in the plot; Catiline promptly left the city and joined Manlius' men in Etruria shortly thereafter.

At this time, Cicero then discovered a plot led by one of the sitting praetors, to bring in the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe, to support the Catilinarians. Using the Allobroges' envoys as double agents, Cicero used them to identify conspirators in the city. After intercepting incriminating letters between the conspirators and the Allobroges, five conspirators were arrested on 2 or 3 December. With the Gallic envoys divulging all they knew and confessions from the five men, there was no doubt of their guilt. After an attempt to rescue the five men from house arrest, the senate debated their fate on 5 December. After a prolonged debate, the Senate, after momentarily being convinced to sentence the men to life imprisonment without trial by Julius Caesar, advised Cicero to have the urban conspirators summarily executed. After the execution of the urban conspirators, most of Catiline's forces melted away; Catiline was eventually defeated and killed in early January 62 BC at the Battle of Pistoria.

At the close of the consular year, Cicero's valedictory speech was vetoed by two tribunes of the plebs. One of the tribunes, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, also sought to bring Cicero up on charges for executing citizens without trial. Although popular among large portions of the people for having taken decisive action to avoid civil war and suppress the coup attempt, Cicero's legal position came under attack in the coming years. In response, Cicero attempted to shore up his reputation and justify his actions by publishing his consular speeches: the Catilinarian orations were published after some editing in 60 BC as part of this effort.

First Catilinarian

Cicero – First speech against Catilina in Latin

As political orations go, it was relatively short, some 3,400 words, and to the point. The opening remarks, brilliantly crafted, are still widely remembered and used after 2000 years:

Quō ūsque tandem abūtere, Catilīna, patientiā nostrā? Quam diū etiam furor iste tuus nōs ēlūdet? Quem ad fīnem sēsē effrēnāta iactābit audācia?

When, O Catiline, do you mean to cease abusing our patience? How long is that madness of yours still to mock us? When is there to be an end of that unbridled audacity of yours, swaggering about as it does now?

Also remembered is the famous exasperated exclamation, O tempora, o mores! (Oh, what times! Oh, what behaviour!). Catiline was present when the speech was delivered. He replied to it by asking people not to trust Cicero because he was a self-made man with no family tradition of public office, and to trust himself because of the long experience of his family. Initially, Cicero's words proved unpersuasive. Catiline then ran from the building, hurling threats at the Senate. Later he left the city and claimed that he was placing himself in self-imposed exile at Marseille, but really went to the camp of Manlius, who was in charge of the army of rebels. The next morning Cicero assembled the people, and gave a further oration.

Second Catilinarian

Cicero informed the citizens of Rome that Catiline had left the city not into exile, as Catiline had said, but to join with his illegal army. He described the conspirators as rich men who were in debt, men eager for power and wealth, Sulla's veterans, ruined men who hoped for any change, criminals, profligates and other men of Catiline's ilk. He assured the people of Rome that they had nothing to fear because he, as consul, and the gods would protect the state. This speech was delivered with the intention of convincing the lower class, or common man, that Catiline would not represent their interests and they should not support him.

Meanwhile, Catiline joined up with Gaius Manlius, commander of the rebel force. When the Senate was informed of the developments, they declared the two of them public enemies. Antonius Hybrida (Cicero's fellow consul), with troops loyal to Rome, followed Catiline while Cicero remained at home to guard the city.

Third Catilinarian

Cicero claimed that the city should rejoice because it had been saved from a bloody rebellion. He presented evidence that all of Catiline's accomplices confessed to their crimes. He asked for nothing for himself but the grateful remembrance of the city and acknowledged that the victory was more difficult than one in foreign lands because the enemies were citizens of Rome.

Fourth Catilinarian

End of the 4th Catiliniarian Oration, in a manuscript written by Poggio Bracciolini. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 48,22, fol. 121r.

In his fourth and final published argument, which took place in the Temple of Concordia, Cicero establishes a basis for other orators (primarily Cato the Younger) to argue for the execution of the conspirators. As consul, Cicero was formally not allowed to voice any opinion in the matter, but he circumvented the rule with subtle oratory. Although very little is known about the actual debate (except for Cicero's argument, which has probably been altered from its original), the Senate majority probably opposed the death sentence for various reasons, one of which was the nobility of the accused. For example, Julius Caesar argued that exile and disenfranchisement would be sufficient punishment for the conspirators, and one of the accused, Lentulus, was a praetor. However, after the combined efforts of Cicero and Cato, the vote shifted in favor of execution, and the sentence was carried out shortly afterwards.

While some historians agree that Cicero's actions, in particular the final speeches before the Senate, may have saved the Republic, they also reflect his self-aggrandisement and, to a certain extent envy, probably born out of the fact that he was considered a novus homo, a Roman citizen without noble or ancient lineage.

Translations

• The Conspiracy of Catiline (63 B.C.)

• Cicero's Orations by Marcus Tullius Cicero at Project Gutenberg
• At Perseus Project (Latin text, translation and analysis):
  • Yonge, C.D., ed. (1856). The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero. London: Henry G. Bohn – via Perseus Digital Library.:
    • Cicero, M.T. "First Oration Against Lucius Catilina: Delivered in the Senate". In Yonge (1856).
    • ——. "Second Oration Against Lucius Catilina: Addressed to the People". In Yonge (1856).
    • ——. "Third Oration Against Lucius Catilina: Addressed to the People". In Yonge (1856).
    • ——. "Fourth Oration Against Lucius Catilina: Delivered in the Senate". In Yonge (1856).
  • Clark, Albert Curtis, ed. (1908). M. Tulli Ciceronis Orationes (in Latin). Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis – via Perseus Digital Library.
    • Cicero, M.T. "Oratio qua L. Catilinam Emisit in Senatu Habita". In Clark (1908).
    • ——. "In L. Catilinam Oratio Secunda Habita ad Populum". In Clark (1908).
    • ——. "In L. Catilinam Oratio Tertia Habita ad Populum". In Clark (1908).
    • ——. "In L. Catilinam Oratio Quarta Habita in Senatu". In Clark (1908).

Bibliography

• Beard, Mary (2015). SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. New York: Liveright. ISBN 978-0-87140-423-7.
• Berry, D H (2020). Cicero's Catilinarians. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-751081-0. LCCN 2019048911. OCLC 1126348418.
• Broughton, Thomas Robert Shannon (1952). The magistrates of the Roman republic. Vol. 2. New York: American Philological Association.
• Golden, Gregory K (2013). Crisis management during the Roman Republic. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-05590-2. OCLC 842919750.
• Gruen, Erich (1995). The last generation of the Roman republic. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02238-6.

External links

•  Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: In L. Catilinam orationes
• All Cicero’s Catilinarian speeches entirely and fully read in Latin (mp3)
• Cicero, In Catilinam, 1-4, English translation at attalus.org