Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

In the fourth of his orations against Catiline, delivered before the Senate in 63, Cicero asserts once again that the whole of Rome is united behind him. “All men are here, of every order, of all origins and indeed of all ages. The Forum is full, the temples about the Forum are full, all the approaches to this temple and place are full. For this case is the only one known since the founding of the city in which all think as one” (Cat. 4.14). To reinforce his argument, he lists the different groups that have now joined together in their hope that the Senate will come to the correct decision. First come the equites, the group of wealthy Romans from which the Senate drew its members, “who concede supremacy to you in rank and decision-making as they compete with you in their love of the res -publica” (Cat. 4.15). Secondly, the tribunes of the treasury and the clerks. Thirdly, the mass of the citizens: “the whole multitude of free-born citizens (ingenui) is here, even the poorest. For is there anyone to whom these temples, the sight of the city, the possession of liberty and even the light itself and the common soil of the fatherland are not precious and sweet and delightful?” (Cat. 4.16). Fourthly, the liber ti, the former slaves who received citizenship when they were manumitted: “it is worth the effort, Conscript Fathers, to take note of the eagerness of the freedmen, who, having ... log in or subscribe to read full text