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Cicero advises Catiline to leave Rome

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

The consul orders an enemy to leave the city. Are you being exiled? I am not ordering it. But if you want my advice, I advise it.

The consul orders an enemy to depart from the city. Do you ask me, Are you to go into banishment? I do not order it; but, if you consult me, I advise it.

Cicero, Against Catiline 1.13Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (Cicero, Against Catiline 1.13, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

Rome, 63 BCE. The consul Cicero is denouncing Catiline in the Senate for plotting to seize power by force. He says that putting Catiline to death would leave the other plotters in Rome, while his leaving would draw them out of the city with him.

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

Why it matters

Catiline's response to this first speech was to withdraw from the city and join an uprising in Etruria.

Based on Wikipedia: Catilinarian orations

The first speech was given in the senate, where Cicero accused a senator, Catiline, of leading a plot to overthrow the republic; in response, Catiline withdrew from the city and joined an uprising in Etruria.

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 advises Catiline to leave Rome
  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 tells the people Catiline is gone More from Cicero
  6. 63 BCESame year Cicero turns on Catiline in the Senate 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

But now you are openly attacking the entire republic. You are summoning to destruction and devastation the temples of the immortal gods, the houses of the city, the lives of all the citizens; in short, all Italy. Wherefore, since I do not yet venture to do that which is the best thing, and which belongs to my office and to the discipline of our ancestors, I will do that which is more merciful if we regard its rigour, and more expedient for the state. For if I order you to be put to death, the rest of the conspirators will still remain in the republic; if as I have long been exhorting you, you depart, your companions, those worthless dregs of the republic, will be drawn off from the city too. What is the matter, Catiline? Do you hesitate to do that which I order you which you were already doing of your own accord?

The quote: The consul orders an enemy to depart from the city. Do you ask me, Are you to go into banishment? I do not order it; but, if you consult me, I advise it.

For what is there, O Catiline, that can now afford you any pleasure in this city? for there is no one in it, except that band of profligate conspirators of yours, who does not fear you,—no one who does not hate you. What brand of domestic baseness is not stamped upon your life? What disgraceful circumstance is wanting to your infamy in your private affairs? From what licentiousness have your eyes, from what atrocity have your hands, from what iniquity has your whole body ever abstained?

Cicero, Against Catiline 1.12–13Translated by C. D. Yonge (1856)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
63 BCE. Speech one 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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