Is it my imagination, or is the Third Catilinarian a bit structurally less complex, less periodic, than other orations of Cicero? It is supposed to have been addressed to the people in general. Do we have an example here of how Cicero might have adjusted his normal speaking practices to suit a broader audience than usual (even taking into account that he certainly edited the speech for publication)?
Certainly the 3rd is structurally simple—much simpler than the 2nd, since it’s designed simply to claim credit for having “saved” the Republic, while the 2nd is more defensive and a trickier act to pull off. But they’re both addressed to the People. I’d say the differences between the pair addressed to the Senate (book-ending the Catilinarian quartet) and the central pair to the People—in fact the differences among all four—lie more in their differing strategic agendas than in any adjustment of his “normal speaking practices.” That’s not to deny the distinction that Quintilian draws between what’s appropriate to each of the two bodies (8.3.14): in suadendo sublimius aliquid senatus, concitatius populus (sc. poscit)—but that doesn’t fully apply to the Catilinarians.
The publication—and composition?—of these particular four speeches several years after the event was part of what was essentially a PR exercise. And Cicero knew he was on very dodgy ground legally over his summary execution of the conspirators who’d stayed in Rome (Caesar had opposed it), and this set of worked-over speeches reflects his sensitivity over the issue. It’s all too easy to be fooled into thinking they’re what he’d actually said at the time.
Helpful observations. One point, though, concerning the publication of the speeches. How different could they be from what was actually said considering that the majority of people who would have heard the actual speeches were still around? I’ve always thought of the speeches as edited for style rather than content, but I’m sure some changes in content to make Cicero look even better would not be out of the range of possibility.