Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?

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“Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra” is a Latin phrase. Its author is Marcus Tullius Cicero. He wrote it in his work called “Catilinaria 1”. Literally translated it means “How long, o Catiline, will you abuse our patience?”.

These words constitute the famous Incipit, which is the beginning of the first speech against Catilina. This speech was given by Marcus Tullius Cicero in the Roman Senate at the eighth of November in 63 BC in order to uncover and punish the second Catilinarian conspiracy, an attempted coup by Catiline and his supporters against the Roman Republic.

The phrase is occasionally used nowadays in order to unmask the hypocrisy from a person. Normally it is spoken with a dolorous tone. Predictably it is a vastly more common expression in countries that require their children to study Latin, such as in Italy.

[edit] See also

• O tempora o mores!
• Full text of the Catiline Orations from Latin Wikisource