He's quoting stuff from plays that people would've known, where there are various stern fathers.
Mr Brophy said that Cicero might have done the voices for the prosopopoeia, and was a "talented actor" (source?) in which case what if Cicero did voice training? Uwu kicking my feet.
redeo nunc ad te, Caeli, vicissim ac mihi auctoritatem patriam severitatemque suscipio.
- Caeli special vocative form.
- note from earlier: Cn. Domiti: words ending in -ius have vocative -i, (it entirely removes the us)
- mihi dative of interest
I now return to you, Caelius, in turn, and I take up for myself a paternal title and severity.
sed dubito quem patrem potissimum sumam, Caecilianumne aliquem vehementem atque durum:
"nunc enim demum mi animus ardet, nunc meum cor cumulatur ira"
- quem patrem potissimum sumam indirect question
- mi - mihi - dative of interest/possession
But I'm not sure which father I should most appropriately take on, whether someone Caecilian, vehement, and stern:
"For now at last the mind burns for me, now my heart is overloaded with anger,"
aut illum:
"o [tu] infelix, o [tu] sceleste!"
- infelix, sceleste vocative adjectives
or him: "Oh unlucky, oh wicked!"
ferrei sunt isti patres:
"egone quid dicam, quid velim? quae tu omnia
tuis foedis factis facis ut nequiquam velim,"
- ferrei - adjective. there's ferrus, -i (noun), in which case the genitive would be ferri. This is from ferreus, -a -um (adjective), it's just the nom.PL desc/patres
- ut nequiquam velim - SICK BURN - when you insult yourself remember that
There are those iron fathers:
"What should I say, what should I wish? You do all this, with your disgraceful actions, so that I wish in vain."
[isti patres] vix ferendi [sunt]. diceret talis pater: "cur te in istam vicinitatem meretriciam contulisti? cur inlecebris cognitis non refugisti?
- ferendi - gerundive - take fero, ferre in this case as "to carry" → "to bear" → "to tolerate", not "to bring"
- inlecebris - we had this word in the Pro Milo or something where Cicero was talking about traps
- inlecebris cognitis - ablative separation or ablative absolute! cognosco cognoscere cognovi cognitum
They are hardly to be tolerated. The father would say such: "Why had you brought yourself into that meretricious closeness? Why do you not flee from known traps?
cur alienam ullam mulierem nosti? dide ac dissice;
per me tibi licet. si egebis, tibi dolebit, non mihi.
mihi sat est qui aetatis quod relicuom est oblectem meae."
- dide ac dissice scatter and squander, from commentary. from dido, didere and dis + iacio, iacere
- note that dissice is NOT from disseco, dissecare, dissecui, dissectum
- per me for my part, as far as I'm concerned
- qui ... oblectem relative clause of purpose. oblectem is 1st person subjunctive
- relicuom = reliquum because Caecilius was writing in 2nd century BC. cu like in cuius
- qui oblectem [quod relicuom est meae aetatis]
Why did you know any woman of somebody else? Scatter and squander; it is allowed for you for my part. If you will be without, it will hurt for you, not for me. There is enough for me so that I may entertain that which is left of my life."
quoting from comedy → makes crimes not look that serious
He rebukes Caelius for engaging w a prostitute → Cicero continues to portray Clodia as a prostitute, even though he's talking to Caelius now
entertaining the jury on a day they would otherwise spend at the ludi → shows to jury that he cares about them
HSC commentary - in your explanation, they want to see a reference to the content.
Sullust lists "corpus patiens inediae, algoris, vigilae" to make Catiline seem superhuman → Sullust lists "corpus patiens inediae, algoris, vigilae" to exaggerate Catiline's physical tolerance to make Catiline seem superhuman
to help you do this, don't use vague terms like "behaviour", "deed", etc, add adjectives or something