sumebant. Postquam res publica adolevit et multitudine civium factiones
valuere, circumvenire innocentes, alia hujuscemodi fieri coepere, tum lex
Porcia aliaeque leges paratae sunt, quibus legibus[270] exilium damnatis
permissum est. Ego hanc causam, P. C., quominus[271] novum consilium
capiamus, in primis magnam puto. Profecto virtus atque sapientia major in
illis fuit, qui ex parvis opibus tantum imperium fecere quam in nobis,
qui ea bene parta vix retinemus. Placet igitur eos dimitti et augere
exercitum Catilinae? Minime, sed ita censeo; publicandas eorum pecunias,
ipsos in vinculis habendos per municipia,[272] quae maxime opibus valent;
neu quis de his postea ad senatum referat neve cum populo agat; qui
aliter fecerit, senatum existimare eum contra rem publicam et salutem
omnium facturum.'

[247] _Male consulere_, 'to form bad' or 'injurious resolutions.'
[248] _Perse_. Respecting the forms of this name, see Zumpt, SS 52, 54.
[249] _An_ must be explained by supplying another interrogation before
it, such as _alione?_ 'had that speech any other object, or had it
this one?' for _an_ is used only in the second part of a double
question.
[250] 'To be sure words will fire him on, whom the thing itself did not
move'--that is, words are sure not to rouse him whom the thing
itself did not move; for _scilicet_ has an ironical force.
[251] _Injuriae suae_, 'the injuries done to him.'
[252] 'Many have taken them more seriously to heart than was necessary.'
It is more common to say _gravius tulerunt_. The perfect, _habuere_,
in expressing a general truth, has the sense of a present, or rather
of a Greek aorist, denoting that which once happened, and still
continues to happen. Compare p.22, note 2 [note 68].
[253] _Vitam habent_ for _vitam agunt_, which is more common. Sallust is
very fond of the verb _habere_ in certain phrases. See _Jug_. 10.