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Cicero tells the people the city was saved

63 BCE, Rome. His own words, in a speech to the people.

Where and when

63 BCERome

2,088 years ago

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Cicero

, RomeHis own words, in a speech to the people

In plain words, ours

Romans, today you see the republic, your lives, families and this beautiful city saved from fire and sword, by the gods and by my work and risks.

You see this day, O Romans, the republic, and all your lives, your goods, your fortunes, your wives and children, this home of most illustrious empire, thus most fortunate and beautiful city, by the great love of the immortal gods for you, by my labours and counsels and dangers, snatched from fire and sword, and almost from the very jaws of fate, and preserved and restored to you.

Cicero, Against Catiline 3.1Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (Cicero, Against Catiline 3.1, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Rome, 3 December 63 BCE. The Senate had just thanked Cicero and voted to hold Lentulus and the other plotters around Catiline. Cicero then went to the Forum to tell the people everything: how he had uncovered the plot and what the Senate had decided.

Checked claim by claim against: Cicero exposes Catiline's plot against the Republic, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

Cicero's efforts to suppress the conspiracy, which he reports here, earned him the honorific father of the fatherland, though he lived thereafter in fear of trial or exile.

Based on Wikipedia: Cicero

Cicero received the honorific "pater patriae" ("father of the fatherland") for his efforts to suppress the conspiracy; however, he lived thereafter in fear of trial or exile for having put Roman citizens to death without trial.

Wikipedia, Cicero (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-10-01. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 63 BCESame year Cicero exposes Catiline's plot against the Republic The event behind itAlso in Rome
  2. 63 BCEThis momentCicero tells the people the city was saved
  3. 63 BCESame year Cato, Caesar and the note, in Plutarch Also in Rome
  4. 63 BCESame year Cicero denounces Catiline to his face More from Cicero
  5. 63 BCESame year Cicero turns on Catiline in the Senate More from Cicero
  6. 63 BCESame year Cicero advises Catiline to leave Rome More from Cicero
  7. c. 60 BCEabout 3 years later Caesar, Pompey and Crassus join forces Also in Rome

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

The senate passed a vote acknowledging the services of Cicero in the most ample terms, and voted that Lentulus should he deposed from his office of praetor, and, with all the other conspirators, committed to safe custody. Cicero, after the senate adjourned, proceeded to the forum and gave an account to the people of everything which had passed, both in regard to the steps that he had taken to detect the whole conspiracy, and to convict the conspirators and also of what had taken place in the senate, and of the votes and resolutions which that body had just passed. While the prisoners were before the senate he had copies of their examinations and confessions taken down, and dispersed through Italy and all the provinces. This happened on the third of December.

The quote: You see this day, O Romans, the republic, and all your lives, your goods, your fortunes, your wives and children, this home of most illustrious empire, thus most fortunate and beautiful city, by the great love of the immortal gods for you, by my labours and counsels and dangers, snatched from fire and sword, and almost from the very jaws of fate, and preserved and restored to you.

Cicero, Against Catiline 3–3.1Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
63 BCE. Speech three against Catiline, given during Cicero's consulship in 63 BCE; he published the speeches himself a few years later.
Whose words
His own words, in a speech to the people.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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