in magistratu placidius tractarent.[200] Sed ubi primum dubiis rebus[201]
novandi spes oblata est, vetus certamen animos eorum arrexit. Quodsi
primo proelio Catilina superior aut aequa manu discessisset, profecto
magna clades atque calamitas rem publicam oppressisset; neque illis, qui
victoriam adepti forent, diutius ea uti licuisset, quin defessis et
exsanguibus qui plus posset imperium atque libertatem extorqueret.[202]
Fuere tamen extra conjurationem complures, qui ad Catilinam initio
profecti sunt; in his erat A. Fulvius, senatoris filius, quem retractum
ex itinere parens necari jussit. Iisdem temporibus Romae Lentulus, sicuti
Catilina praeceperat, quoscunque moribus aut fortuna novis rebus idoneos
credebat, aut per se aut per alios sollicitabat, neque solum cives, sed
cujusque modi genus hominum, quod modo bello usui foret.

[199] _Innoxius_ has a twofold meaning, one active, 'one who does no
harm' (_noxa_), and a passive, 'one who is not injured,' 'one to
whom no harm is done,' _qui non afficitur noxa_, and in this latter
sense it is used in this passage.
[200] 'In order that, when in office, they themselves might guide the
populace more gently,' since those who excited the multitude would
be kept in awe by the terror of the law. _Placidius_, 'without
harshness,' 'without severity,' harshness and severity being applied
only against the popular leaders.
[201] _Dubiis rebus_, the ablative absolute; _cum res dubiae essent_,
'the state of affairs being dangerous.'
[202] 'A more powerful man would even have wrested their freedom from
them.' About _quin_, see Zumpt, S 542; and about the imperfect in the
sense of a pluperfect, S 525.

40. Igitur P. Umbreno cuidam negotium dat, uti legatos Allobrogum[203]
requirat eosque, si possit, impellat ad societatem belli, existimans