crederent; ea familia ortum, ita se ab adolescentia vitam instituisse, ut
omnia bona in spe haberet; ne existimarent, sibi, patricio homini, cujus
ipsius atque majorum plurima beneficia in plebem Romanam essent, perdita
re publica opus esse, quum eam servaret M. Tullius, inquilinus civis
urbis Romae.'[168] Ad hoc maledicta alia quum adderet, obstrepere omnes,
hostem atque parricidam vocare. Tum ille furibundus: 'Quoniam quidem
circumventus, inquit, ab inimicis praeceps agor, incendium meum ruina
restinguam.'

[162] _Quibus_. Sallust more frequently uses the accusative in such
expressions. See chapter 8.
[163] _Afflictare sese_, 'they worried themselves.' The expression is
properly used of that kind of grief which manifests itself in
inflicting pain on the body, by pulling the hair, striking the breast
or loins, or by throwing one's self on the ground. So also
_plangere_ denotes the physical expression of pain.
[164] A law _de vi_ enacted in the year B.C. 89, and aimed at those who
might attempt by violence to subvert the existing constitution of the
state. On the ground of this law Catiline had already been summoned
before a court of law, though no formal charge had yet been brought
against him.
[165] _Sicuti_ is here used for _quasi_, _velut_, or _perinde ac si_,
'as if.'
[166] This is the first of Cicero's speeches against Catiline, which
was delivered A.D. 6, Id. Novemb.; that is, on the 8th of November.
[167] 'When he had sat down;' that is, when he had finished his speech,
for those who spoke in the senate did so standing.
[168] The imprudence of this speech, independent of the audacious denial
of facts, consists in his boasting of his patrician descent, and in
the insinuation that Cicero, who was born in the municipium of