Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam [Against Catiline]

Kathryn Tempest (University of Roehampton)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

The suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy in 63 BCE was the major event of Cicero’s consulship, if not his career, and it is thus not surprising that Cicero would want to preserve an account of the speeches he delivered. These speeches, four in total, were published as the

In Catilinam

together with other speeches that Cicero had delivered during his consulship. It seems that Cicero waited almost three years before publishing these orations as part of a consular ‘corpus’ (Cicero,

Letters to Atticus

2.1.3). Consequently, the accuracy of the

In Catilinam

, as well as Cicero’s motives for publishing the collection, has been variously interpreted. For, by 60 BCE, when Cicero published the speeches, there was a need for Cicero to defend his actions as a consul and, in particular,…

1235 words

Citation: Tempest, Kathryn. "In Catilinam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 June 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=20488, accessed 31 October 2024.]

20488 In Catilinam 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.