Praeterea, milites, non eadem nobis et illis necessitudo impendet; nos
pro patria, pro libertate, pro vita certamus: illis supervacaneum est pro
potentia paucorum pugnare. Quo audacius aggredimini, memores pristinae
virtutis. Licuit vobis cum summa turpitudine in exilio aetatem agere;
potuistis nonnulli Romae amissis bonis alienas opes expectare: quia illa
foeda atque intoleranda viris videbantur, haec[331] sequi decrevistis. Si
haec relinquere vultis, audacia opus est; nemo nisi victor pace bellum
mutavit.[332] Nam in fuga salutem sperare, quum arma, quis[333] corpus
tegitur, ab hostibus averteris, ea vero dementia est. Semper in proelio
iis maximum est periculum, qui maxime timent; audacia pro muro habetur.
Quum vos considero, milites, et quum facta vestra aestimo, magna me spes
victoriae tenet. Animus, aetas, virtus vestra me hortantur;[334]
praeterea necessitudo, quae etiam timidos fortes facit. Nam multitudo
hostium ne circumvenire queat, prohibent angustiae loci. Quodsi virtuti
vestrae fortuna inviderit, cavete,[335] inulti animam amittatis, neu
capti potius sicuti pecora trucidemini, quam virorum more pugnantes
cruentam atque luctuosam victoriam hostibus relinquatis.'

[327] _Officere_ is properly 'to oppose,' 'obstruct,' _aliquid alicui
rei_; then omitting the object (_aliquid_) with the dative alone, 'to
be an obstacle to,' or 'to hinder,' therefore, _officia famae tuae_,
'I oppose something to your fame.' 'Internal fear is a hindrance to
the ear,' so that admonitions are either not heard at all, or do not
penetrate into the mind.
[328] Catiline assigns the circumstance that he had expected aid and
succours from Rome itself, as the cause of his not having set out for
Gaul earlier, when he might have accomplished his end. _Opperior_,
'I wait for,' or _expecto dum aliquis veniat_.
[329] _Quo in loco_, 'in which situation.' The preposition _in_ might
have been omitted. See Zumpt, S 481.