12.
qaae, as: § 308, h (201,g); H-B. 270, b. isti (contrasted with mihi) refers to illorum (1.20). mentes, counsels. nihil . . . noceri potest, no harm can be done. dignitas, etc., i.e. the majesty of the Roman state will be an invisible safeguard for me; cf. "the divinity "that" doth hedge a king" (Hamlet iv, 5, 123). conscientiae, etc., i.e. my enemies, conscious of their guilty sympathy with this conspiracy, will, in their attempts to injure me, inevitably commit some act which will show them to be traitors to the state.
altro, i.e. without waiting to be attacked. domesticoram hostiam: oxymoron; § 641 (386); B. 375, 2; G. 694; H. 752, 12 (637, xi, 6); H.-B. 632, 3. cf. the same figure in Cat. 1, sect. 21 (p. 108, l. 4): cum tacent, clamant. convertit: pres. for fut., as often, especially in protasis. obtulerint: subj. of integral part. in honore vestro: honor is used here, as usual, to denote external honors (offices) conferred by the people. Holding the consulship, he had nothing to look forward to.
conservanda re publica: abl. of means. in re publica, in public life. virtute, non casa, etc., i.e. he will show this by such conduct as shall be consistent with this glorious achievement. Jovem: the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus is shown in the background of the illustration opposite p.136; the figure in the text at p.140 is a restoration of this temple.
