Catiline's Audacity

The Conspiracy

• During the time of the Roman Republic, Lucius Sergius Catilina, known as Catiline, conspired against Rome with a group of aristocrats. His main goal was to take over Rome's senatorial government. In order to do this, he gathered Etruscans, disaffected senators, and equestrians to form an army.
• However, Catiline's plan had failed. On October 18th, 63 BC Crassus, a Roman politician, brought letters to Cicero, who was a consul, warning him about Catiline's conspiracy against Rome.
• In response to this conspiracy, Cicero wrote four orations against Catiline, which Cicero delivered to Catiline at the Temple of Jupiter Stator(Nov. 7th, 63 BC)

Catiline's Audacity

• In the first part of this oration, Cicero shows frustration towards Catiline. He uses rhetorical devices, such as anaphora, to repeatedly question Catiline. Some of the questions he asks address how long he mocked Rome(Quam diu etiam...nos eludet?) Cicero also asks Catiline if he was moved by the guards at Palatine Hill, which was the center of the 7 Hills of Rome, the city watchmen, the people and by the meeting place of the senate, or the curia .(Nihilne...nihil...nihil.....) Lastly, Cicero questions who Catiline summoned the prevous night and whether or not he felt his plans would be revealed.(quid superiore nocte...quos convocaveris)
• In the second part of the oration, Cicero shouts Oh time, Oh the customs!(O tempora, o mores!) which shows Cicero's incredulity that this is going on in Rome. He also states that the senate is aware of these things, however Catiline still lives!(Senatus haec intellegit...Vivit?) Cicero is further astonished when he says that Catiline became a part of the public consul and that the republic is just avoiding his actions.(publici consili particeps...ac tela vitamus) Cicero ends by saying that Catiline should have been executed a long time ago. (Ad mortem te, Catilina, duci iussu consulis...)

• In the last part of the oration, Cicero mentions how Publius Scipio, who was the highest preist of the College of Pontiffs(Pontifex Maximus), killed Tiberius Gracchus, a plebeian. He also states that Gaius Servilius Ahala, a Roman politician, killed Spurius Maelius, a plebeian. Cicero mentions these incidents to show what used to happen to people when they acted against the republic. (P. Scipio...Ti. Gracchum...interfecit...C. Servilius Ahala Sp. Maelium...occidit).
• In I1 Cicero says "fortes viri" which means we brave men, and in I3 "viri fortes" means that brave men. This basically means that the brave men in the past would act harsher to criminals, or people who started a revolution, than the people in the republic at Cicero's time would have.

                                     

On the Eruption of Vesuvius

- In this letter Pliny is writing to the historian Tacitus about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pliny begins the letter by stating that he stopped his departure with his mother in order to seek shelter.(Egressi tecta consistimus.) He also says that the carts that were being led by his household on the stone streets were shaking since the ground was trembling(...fulta in eodem vestigio quiescebant.)
- He saw the ground shake like it was being consumed beside the ocean(Praeterea mare... repelli videbamus), and he also stated that along the shore the sand contained animals that had dried up from the sea.(multaque animalia maris...detinebat)

- Next, Pliny describes how black clouds formed and how the lava was shooting out of the volcano like lightning (latere nubes...ignei spiritus tortis...fulguribus...) He also describes how ashes were rare but a dense fog was beginning to form(densa caligo tergis imminebat).
- Pliny tells his mom to turn aside so they won't get trampled on since the streets were filled with people frantically running and it was so dark out(Deflectamus...turba in tenebris obteramur.) However they aren't able to sit down because it became so dark that it looked like night, which Pliny compares to a light going out in a closed room.(illunis aut nubila...locis clausis lumine exstincto)

- He observes the cries of babies, women, and men,(Audires ululatus, feminarum, infantum, virorum...) who are searching for people(alii parentes alii liberos...requirebant.) Pliny tells us that some people were found by the sound of their voice.(vocibus noscitabant)
- Lastly, Pliny states how in the end people were praying because they were fearing death.(metu mortis mortem precarentur.)


Background Research:
- Mount Vesuvius is a volcano that is located in Southern Italy near Naples. It's most famous eruption was on August 24th, 79 A.D. This eruption destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, covering the cities with volcanic ash. Roughly 16,000 people were killed during the eruption including Pliny the Elder. These cities were completely destroyed and were never built back again. The only evidence of ancient life remains buried under molten rock, icluding the remains of people who were buried alive. Mount Vesuvius is still active today, however the most recent eruption occured in 1944. Today the area around Mount Vesuvius is densely populated.

 

 

Roman Efficiency: A Water Supply

• In this letter Pliny is writing to the Emperor Trajan about the Sinopians lack of water. He tells Trajan that 16 miles away you can see a good and abundant water supply(videtur...ab sexto decimo miliario...)
• Pliny investigated the stability of the land, with his own money, and saw that it was soft enough to build an aqueduct, which was his initial plan to get water to Sinope.(...locus suspectus et mollis)

•  Trajan replies by acknowledging the fact that Pliny checked the stability of the land(explora diligenter...quem suspectum habes)
• He also replies by agreeing that the Sinopians need a water supply(perducenda sit in coloniam Sinopensem)
• However Trajan says that the Sinopians should help in the construction of the aqueduct(modo ea viribus suis assequi potest...) so that they could have a healthy water supply.

Background Research:

• The first aqueduct called the Aqua Appia was built in 312 BC
• Aqueducts are stone channels that were built to solve sewage problems by carrying clean water to towns
• They had to be carefully constructed at different slopes in order to make sure the water wasn't coming into the town too fast
• Most Roman water system ran below the ground