L. Catilina, nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis, sed ingeni o malo pravoque.

Huic ab adulescentia bella intestina, caedes, rapinae, discordi a civilis grata fuere ibique iuventutem suam exercuit. Lucius Catiline, born of noble lineage, was blessed with impressive intellectua l and physical powers, but he was a man of a depraved and evil disposition. From his youth, intestine conflicts, butchery, plunder, sedition were a source of pl easure and it is here admist them that he spent his early years. Corpus patiens inediae, algoris, vigiliae supra quam cuiquam credibile est. Anim us audax, subdolus, varius, cuius rei lubet simulator ac dissimulator, alieni ap petens, sui profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae par um. Vastus animus immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta semper cupiebat. His body was able to endure starvation, the frigid cold and a lack of sleep, al l to an unbelievable degree. He was audacious, underhanded, capricious, both a d issimulator and dissembler as it suited, desirous of the property of others, pro fligate with his own, consumed by desires; sufficient in eloquence, lacking wisd om. His insatiable appetite was always seeking the extravagant, the extraordinar y and the unattainable. Omnis homines, qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus, summa ope niti dec et, ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona atque ventri ob oedientia finxit. All men, who desire to distinguish themselves from other living creatures, ough t to strive with the utmost effort, lest they pass their lives in obscurity like beasts of burden, which nature has fashioned stooping and servile to their bell y. Sed nostra omnis vis in animo et corpore sita est: animi imperio, corporis servi tio magis utimur; alterum nobis cum dis, alterum cum beluis commune est. But our power as a whole resides in our mind and in our body: we make more use of the authority that comes from our mind than the servitude from the body: the one we have in common with the gods, the other with wild beasts. Quo mihi rectius videtur ingeni quam virium opibus gloriam quaerere et, quoniam vita ipsa, qua fruimur, brevis est, memoriam nostri quam maxume longam efficere. Nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaq ue habetur. Wherefore, I think it is more fitting to seek renown through our innate genius rather than our physical strength and to ensure that the remembrance of us is as lasting as possible, since the life we enjoy is short. For the renown that aris es from wealth and beauty is mercurial and transient, excellence is held as illu strious and eternal.