hollis (they/them) currently studying classics and archaeology.

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catilinas:

(The Discovery of the Body of Catiline, Alcide Segoni)

“On 3 January 62 the tribune Q. Metellus Nepos attempted to force through the popular assembly his bill proposing the recall of Cn. Pompeius from the East to take charge of the war against Catilina. […] he presented his bill one day in advance of the legally permissible date […]. Why the sudden haste? It may reasonably be suggested that on the previous day Nepos had received intelligence indicating that Catilina’s end was near. […] It is this urgency now affecting Nepos’ proposal that goes far to explain the extraordinarily frantic character of the proceedings in Rome on 3 January. […]. the night of 3 January brought news to Rome of the fall of Catilina at the battle of Pistoria.”

The Last Journey of L. Sergivs Catilina, G. V. Sumner

news of pistoria reaches rome jan3 <- pistoria happens jan2? i mean, after the inauguration of the new consuls but before jan3 is….. basically only today. fun

“I am well aware, soldiers, that mere words cannot put courage into a man: that a frightened army cannot be rendered brave, or a sluggish one transformed into a brave one, by a speech from its commander. Every man has a certain degree of boldness, either natural or acquired by training; so much, and no more, does he generally show in battle.”

Sal. Cat. 58, trans. S.A. Handford

steven saylor is the only person in the world who Understands…. oratory is fake you can only trust your fists….. 

Whilst Catiline came on, not with the face
Of any man, but of a public ruin:
His countenance was a civil war itself;

Catiline His Conspiracy, Ben Jonson

“poor brutus with himself at war” needs to uhhh level up,

“The end showed how fierce the fighting had been. Not one of the enemy survived the battle; each man defended the place he had taken during the fighting with his breathless corpse. Catilina was found far from his men, among the bodies of his enemy—a most beautiful death, if only he had fallen thus on his country’s behalf.”

Flor. Epit. 2.12.1.12

anyway the translation i found said “glorious death” but the latin said “pulcherrima morte” so i did it myself

“Catiline himself was found far from his own men among the dead bodies of his adversaries. He was still breathing, and his face retained the look of haughty defiance that had marked him all through his life.”

Sal. Cat. 61, trans. S.A. Handford

like. these guys Get It. overwhelming sense of melodrama. pro caelio 10-14. paradox. maybe the real riddle was the friends we made along the way

“Antonius sent Catiline’s head to the city in order that the people might be assured of his death”

Dio 37.40.2, trans. Earnest Cary

head w/out a body!!! body w/out a head!!!!!! iconic and ironic!!!!!!!! 

(and can we assume the head reaches rome w the news about pistoria i.e. on jan3? happy birthday cicero, here’s your enemy’s severed head,)