[34] Sallust begins with a general description of the character of Catiline. This talented person, though of a most wicked disposition, belonged to the patrician _gens Sergia_, which traced its descent to one of the companions of Aeneas. This is no doubt fabulous, but at any rate proves the high antiquity of the gens. The most renowned among the ancestors of Catiline was M. Sergius, a real model of bravery, who distinguished himself in the Gallic and second Punic wars, and after having lost his right hand in battle, wielded the sword with the left. As Catiline offered himself as a candidate for the consulship in B.C. 66, which no Roman was allowed to do by law before having attained the age of forty-three, we may fairly presume that he was born about B.C. 109, in the time of the Jugurthine war. Cicero was born in B.C. 106, and was consequently a few years younger than Catiline. [35] _Patiens inediae_. Respecting the genitive governed by this and similar participles--as soon after _alieni appetens_--see Zumpt, S 438. [36] _Cujus rei libet;_ it is more common to say _cujuslibet rei_. Sometimes the relative pronouns compounded with _cunque_ and _libet_ are separated by the insertion of some other word or words between them, which in grammatical language is called a tmesis--as _quod enim cunque judicium subierat, absolvebatur; quem sors dierum cunque tibi dederit, lucre appone,_ 'whatever day chance may give thee, consider it as a gain.' [37] _Capiundae_. Respecting the _e_ or _u_ in such gerunds and gerandives, see Zumpt, S 167. [38] _Auxerat_. He had increased both by the above-mentioned qualities--namely, his poverty by extravagance, and the consciousness of guilt by the crimes he committed. The neuter plural _quae_, referring to two feminine substantives denoting abstract ideas, is not very common, though quite justifiable. Zumpt, S 377. [39] Respecting the infinitive after _hortari_, instead of the more common use of the conjunction _ut_, see Zumpt, S 615. [40] _Domi militiaeque_, 'in times of peace and in war.'