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Cicero tells the Senate he is ready to die

63 BCE, Rome (the Senate). His own words, in a speech to the Senate.

Where and when

63 BCERome (the Senate)

2,088 years ago

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Cicero

, Rome (the Senate)His own words, in a speech to the Senate

In plain words, ours

If something happens to me, I will die calm and ready. Death cannot shame a brave man, come too soon for a consul, or make a wise man miserable.

…if anything does happen to me, I shall fall with a contented and prepared mind; and, indeed, death cannot be disgraceful to a brave man, nor premature to one of consular rank, nor miserable to a wise man.

Cicero, Against Catiline 4.3Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (Cicero, Against Catiline 4.3, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Rome, 63 BCE: the consul Cicero, who exposed Catiline's plot to seize power, speaks to the Senate again. He tells the senators to stop sparing him and look to the Republic, and says his brother is there grieving and his wife and daughter are afraid.

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

Why it matters

In this fourth speech Cicero laid the ground for others, chiefly Cato, to argue for executing the conspirators, and after their combined efforts the Senate vote shifted in favour of execution.

Based on Wikipedia: Catilinarian orations

In his fourth and final published argument, which took place in the Temple of Concordia, Cicero establishes a basis for other orators (primarily Cato the Younger) to argue for the execution of the conspirators.

However, after the combined efforts of Cicero and Cato, the vote shifted in favor of execution, and the sentence was carried out shortly afterwards.

Wikipedia, Catilinarian orations (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-08-28. 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 Senate he is ready to die
  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
  8. 48 BCE15 years later Caesar on Pompey's killing in Egypt Also about death
  9. 46 BCE17 years later Cato's last night, as Plutarch tells it Also about death

Just before and after

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

Show the passageHide the passage

If, indeed, Publius Lentulus, being led on by soothsayers believed that his name was connected by destiny with the destruction of the republic, why should not I rejoice that my consulship has taken place almost by the express appointment of fate for the preservation of the republic? Wherefore, O conscript fathers, consult the welfare of yourselves, provide for that of the republic; preserve yourselves, your wives, your children, and your fortunes; defend the name and safety of the Roman people; cease to spare me, and to think of me. For, in the first place, I ought to hope that all the gods who preside over this city will show me gratitude in proportion as I deserve it; and in the second place,

The quote: if anything does happen to me, I shall fall with a contented and prepared mind; and, indeed, death cannot be disgraceful to a brave man, nor premature to one of consular rank, nor miserable to a wise man.

Not that I am a man of so iron a disposition as not to be moved by the grief of a most dear and affectionate brother now present, and by the tears of all these men by whom you now see me surrounded. Nor does my fainting wife, my daughter prostrate with fear, and my little son whom the republic seems to me to embrace as a sort of hostage for my consulship, the son-in-law who, awaiting the end of that day, is now standing in my sight, fail often to recall my mind to my home.

Cicero, Against Catiline 4.2–3Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
63 BCE. Speech four 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 Senate.
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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