5. desiderant, hove been wanting: § 466 (276, a); B. 259, 4; G. 230; H. 532, 2 (467, 2); H-B. 485. si minus (sc. omnes), if not
II. Hortatio
Why does not Catiline leave the city? Life there should be intolerable to him. He is feared and hated by all good citizens. His native city begs him to be gone.
murus, i.e. city wall (cf. parietibus, walls of a house, sect. 6). intersit: § 528(314); B. 310, ii; G. 573; H. 587 (513, i); H-B. 529. non feram, etc.: the same idea is repeated for emphasis, but, for variety, different words are used.
atque, and particularly. huic, i.e. in whose temple we are met. Statori (sto): the one who causes to stand firm. The temple to Jupiter Stator was vowed by Romulus when his troops were giving way, and built upon the spot where their flight was stayed. The remains of this temple have been recently discovered on the Palatine, near the Arch of Titus. in uno homine, by one man (Catiline); lit. in the case of one man. proximis: the consular election was usually held in July; but in this year, on account of the disturbed condition of things, it did not take place until Oct.28. in Campo: the comitia centuriata, in which the higher magistrates were elected, were held in the Campus Martius, or military parade-ground, north of the city. This is the space covered by the main part of modern Rome. competitores: Catiline's successful competitors were D. Silanus and L. Murena. copiis, i.e. persons in the employ of his friends, — slaves and hired retainers. nullo . . . concitato, without exciting (a very common way of expressing this idiom in Latin). videbam, I saw all along (observe the force of the imperf.).
nunc jam, now at length. hujus imperi, i.e. that which I now possess: namely, that conferred upon the consuls by the special decree of the Senate dent operant, etc. (see note on p. 100, l. 12). Without this decree they possessed imperium, it is true, but it was limited (in the city) by special privileges of Roman citizens. tu: opposed to comitum. sentina rei publicae, political rabble; or, keeping the original figure, we might say, bilge-water of the ship of state.
