Sallust wrote:
Quae quousque tandem patiemini, o fortissumi viri? (Sall. Cat. 20)
This is Catiline’s speech to his followers, encouraging them as he unfolds his nefarious plan.
Cicero’s famous beginning from the First Catilinarian:
quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?
A deliberate echo on the part of Sallust referencing Cicero’s oration?
Yes clearly, it’s been much discussed. The question is, what’s its function? It has little point as a simple allusion on Sallust’s part. Some interesting points raised in https://classicalstudies.org/annual-meeting/303feldherr (and see his books).
Excellent link, thanks. Do you have any thoughts on the issue?
I can’t say I’ve ever given it any real thought. For what it’s worth (not much), I think the idea that it was a catch-phrase of Catiline implicitly mocked by Cicero but restored to Cat by Sallust is ingenious but far-fetched, and I’d prefer to think that Sallust is having Cat obliquely turn Cic’s abuse against him. But that may be too subtle for Sallust, who is not a subtle writer.