SALLUST was born at Amiternum, a town in the Sabine territory, on the first of October,Euseb. Chron. in the year six hundred and sixty-sixClinton, Fast. Rom. from the foundation of Rome, eighty-seven years before Christ, and in the seventh consulship of Marius.

The name of his father was Caius Sallustius;De Brosses, Vie de Sall., § 2; Glandorp. Onomast. that of his mother is unknown. His family was thought by Crinitus, and some others, to have been patrician, but by Gerlach, and most of the later critics, is pronounced to have been plebeian, because he held the office of tribune of the people, because he makes observations unfavorable to the nobility in his writings, and because his grandson, according to Tacitus,Ann., iii. 30. was only of equestrian rank.

The ingenuity of criticism has been exercised in determining whether his name should be written with a double or single l. Jerome Wolfius,Apud Voss. and Gerlach, are in favor of the single letter, depending chiefly on inscriptions, and on the presumption that the name is derived from salus or sal. But inscriptions vary; the etymology of the word is uncertain, and to derive it from sal would authorize either mode of spelling. All the Latin authors, both in prose and poetry, have the name with the double letter, and it seems better, as VossiusVit. Sall. remarks, to adhere to their practice. Among the Greeks, Dion and Eusebius have the single letter; in some other writers it is found doubled.

Another question raised respecting his name, is whether he should be called Sallustius Crispus or Crispus Sallustius. The latter mode is adopted by Le Clerc, Cortius, Havercamp, and some other critics; but De BrossesVie de Sall., § 1. argues conclusively in favor of the former method; as Sallustius, from its termination, is evidently the name of the family or gens; and Crispus, which denotes quelque habitude du corps, only a surname to distinguish one of its branches. Crispus Sallustius is found, indeed, in manuscripts; and, according to Cortius, in the best; but on what reasonable grounds can it be justified? It was perhaps adopted by some copyist front the ode of HoraceOd., ii. 2, 3. addressed to Sallist's nephew, and inconsiderately continued by his successors.

He was removed early in life to Rome, that he might be educated under Atteius Prætextatus, a celebrated grammarian of that age, who styled himself Philologus, and who was afterward tutor to Asinius Pollio.Suet. de Ill. Gramm., c. 10. Atteius treated Sallust with very great distinction.Ibid.

He may be supposed to have soon grown conscious of his powers;Pseudo-Sall. Ep. to Cæs., i. 10. and appears at an early period of his life to have devoted himself to study, with an intention to distinguish himself in history.Cat., c. 3.

His devotion to literature, however, was not so great as to detain him from indulgence in pleasure; for he became, if we allow any credit to the old declaimer, infamous, ætatis tirocinio, for debauchery and extravagance. He took possession of his father's house in his father's lifetime, and sold it; an act by which he brought his father to the grave; and he was twice, for some misconduct, arraigned before the magistrates, and escaped on both occasions only through the perjury of his judges.Pseudo-Cic. in Sall., c. 5.

When we cite this rhetorician, we must not forget that we cite an anonymous reviler, yet we must suppose with Gerlach, and with Meisner, the German translator of Sallust, that we quote a writer who grounded his invectives on reports and opinions current at the time in which he lived.

Sallust next thought of aspiring to political distinction;Cat., c. 3. but "the usual method of attaining notice," says De Brosses,Vie de Sal., c. 3. "which was to secure friends and clients by pleading the causes of individuals at the bar, he seems not to have adopted;" since, as is known, no orations spoken' by him are in existence, and, as is thought, no mention is made of such orations in any other author.

Mention, however, is made of orations of Sallust, at whatever time delivered, in the well-known passage of Seneca the rhetorician.Præf. in Controv., 1. iii., p. 231, ed. Par. 1607. When Seneca inquired of Cassius Severus, why he, who was so eminent in pleading important causes, displayed so little talent in pronouncing fictitious declamations, the orator replied, Quod in me miraris, pene omnibus evenit, etc. Orationes Sallustii in honorem historiarum leguntur. "What you think extraordinary in me, is common to all men of ability. The greatest geniuses, to whom I am conscious of my great inferiority, have generally excelled only in one species of composition. The felicity of Virgil in poetry deserted him in prose; the eloquence of Cicero's orations is not to be found in his verses; and the speeches of Sallust are read only as a foil to his histories." The speeches which are here meant, are not, as has been generally imagined, those inserted in the histories, but others, which Sallust had spoken. This view of the passage was first taken by Antonius Augustinus, and communicated by him to Schottus, who mentioned it in his annotations on Seneca.P. 234, ed. Par. 1607.

But by whatever means he secured support, he had at length sufficient interest to obtain a quæstorship;Pseudo-Cic., in Sall., c. 5. the tenure of which gave him admission into the senate. It would appear that he was about thirty-one years of age when he attained this honor.Adam's Rom. antiquities, p. 4.

It must have been about this period that his adventure with Fausta, the daughter of Sylla and wife of Milo, occurred, of which a short account is given by Aulus Gelliusxvii. 18. in an extract from Varro. The English reader may take it in the version of Beloe : "Marcus Varro, a man of great authority and weight in his writings and life, in his publication entitled 'Pius,' or 'De Pace,' records that Caius Sallust, the author of that grave and serious composition (seriæ illius et severæ orationis), in which he has exercised the severity of the censorial office, in taking cognizance of crimes, being taken by Annæus Milo in adultery, was well scourged, and, after paying a sum of money, dismissed." The same story is told, on the authority of Asconius Pedianus the biographer of Sallust, by Acro and Porphyrio, the scholiasts on Horace, who, they think, had it in his mind when he wrote the words, Ille flagellis ad mortem cæsus.Sat., i. 2, 41. Servius, also, in his note on Quique ob adulterium cæsi, in the sixth book of the Æneid,Ver. 612. tells a like tale, adding that Sallust entered the house in the habit of a slave, and was caught in that disguise by Milo.

Such being the case, it is not wonderful that when Sallust entered on his tribuneship of the people, to which lie was elected in the year of the city seven hundred, he seized an opportunity which occurred of being revenged on Milo, who had shortly before killed Clodius. He joined with his colleagues, Pompeins Rufus and Plancus, in inflaming the populace, and charging Milo with premeditated hostility.Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Orat. pro Milo., c. 17; Cic. Mil., c. 5. They intimidated Cicero, Milo's advocate, insinuating that he had planned the assassination;Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Mil., c. 18. and the matter ended in Milo's banishment.Dion. Cap., lib. xl. During the progress of the trial, however, it is said that Sallust abated his hostility to Milo and Cicero, and even became friendly with them.Ascon. Ped. ubi supra. How this reconciliation was effected, does not appear; but it seems certain that Cicero, when he attacked Plancus, Sallust's colleague, for exciting the populace to turbulence, left Sallust himself unmolested.Ascon. Ped. in Cic. Mil., c. 85.

Unmolested, however, lie did not long remain; for in the year of the city seven hundred and four, in the censorship of Appius Claudius Pulcher, and Lucius Calpurnius Piso, Appius, actuated by two motives, one of which was to serve Pompey, by excluding from the senate such as were hostile to him,Dion. Cap., xl. 63. and the other to throw into the shade his own private irregularities by an ostentatious discharge of his public duties,Cic. Ep. ad Fam., viii. 14. expelled Sallust from the senate on pretence that he was a flagrantly immoral character.Dion., ib.

But Appius, by this proceeding, instead of serving Pompey, served Cæsar; for many who had previously been favorable to Pompey, or had continued neutral, betook themselves immediately to Cæsar's camp; in the number of whom was Sallust.Pseudo-Cic. in Sail., c. 6. Gerlach, Vit. Sall., p. 7.

His attendance on Cæsar did not go unrewarded; for when Cæsar returned from Spain, after his victory over Afranius and Petreius, he restored Sallust, with others under similar circumstances,Suet. J. Cæs., c. 41. to his seat in the senate; and as it was not usual for a senator, who had been degraded from his rank, to be reinstated in it without being at the same time elected to an office, he was again made quæstor,Pseudo-Cic., c. 6, 8. or, as Dion thinks, prætor.

He was then intrusted with some military command, and sent into Illyria, where, as OrosiusLib., vi. 15. Gerlach, Vit. Sall., p. 7. states, he was one of those that were defeated by the Pomnpeian leaders Octavius and Libo.

Afterward, when the war in Egypt and Asia was finished, but while the remains of Pompey's army, headed by Scipio and Cato, were still menacing hostilities in Africa, Sallust, with the title of prætor, was directed to conduct against them a body of troops from Campania.Dion. Cass., xlii. 52. But Sallust was intrusted with more than he was able to perform. The soldiers mutinied on the coast, compelled him to flee, and hurried away to Rome, putting to death two senators in their way., It was on this occasion that Cæsar humbled them by addressing them as Quirites instead of commilitones.Dion., ib. Appian. B. C., ii. 92. Plut. in Cæs. Suet. J. Cæs., c. 10.

Sallust was then reinstated in command, and was sent, during the African war, to the island of Cercina, to bring off a quantity of corn that had been deposited there by the enemy; a commission which he successfully executed.Hirt. B. A., c. 8, 24.

Whether he performed any other service for Cæsar in this war, we have no account; but Cæsar, when it was ended, thought him a person of such consequence, that he gave him the government of Numidia, with the title of pro-consul. "He received the province from Cæsar," says Dion, "nominally to govern it, but in reality to ravage and plunder it." Whether such was Cæsar's intention or not, it is generally believed that he enriched himself by the spoil of it to the greatest possible extent.Dion., xliii. 9. Pseudo-Cic., c. 7.

When his term of office, which seems to have been only a year, was expired, he "appeared at Rome," says the declaimer, "like a man enriched in a dream." But the Numidians followed him, and accused him of extortion; a charge front which he was only acquitted through the interposition of Cæsar,Dion., xliii. 9. to whom he is said to have presented a bribe.Pseudo-Cic., c. 7.

The trial had not been long concluded when Cæsar was assassinated, and Sallust, being thus deprived of his patron, seems to have withdrawn entirely from public life. He purchased a large tract of ground on the Quirinal hill, where he erected a splendid mansion, and laid out those magnificent gardens of which so much has been related. Their extent must have been vast, if De Brosses, who visited the spot in 1739, obtained any just notion of it.De Brosses, Œuv. de Sall., vol. iii., p. 363. But some have thought them much smaller. He had also a country-house at Tibur, which had belonged to Julius Cæsar.Pseudo-Cic., c. 7.

It was during this period of retirement, as is supposed, that he married Terentia, the divorced wife of Cicero, if, indeed, he married her at all; for their union rests on no very strong testimony.Hieronym. adv. Jovin., i. 48. Gerlach, vol. ii., p. 8. De Brosses, tom. iii. p. 355. Le Clerc, Vit. Sall.

It was at this time, too, it would appear, that he commenced the composition of history, with a view to the perpetuation of his name; for he entered on it, lie says, when his mind was free from "hope, fear, or political partisanship;"Cat., c. 4. and to no other time of his life are such expressions applicable. Dion seems to have supposed that he appeared as a historian before he went to Numidia, but is in all probability mistaken.

Sallust died on the thirteenth of May, in the year of the city seven hundred and eighteen, in the fifty-second year of his age,Euseb. Chron. Clinton, Fasti. leaving his grand-nephew, Gains Sallustius Crispus, whom want of children had induced him to adopt, heir to all his possessions. His gardens, some years after his death, became imperial property.See De Brosses, tom. iii. p. 368.

Such were the events, as far as we learn, of the life of Sallust; and such is the notion which the voice of antiquity teaches us to form of his moral character. In modern times, some attempts have been made to prove that he was less vicious than he was anciently represented.

Among those who have attempted to clear him of the charges usually brought against hin, are Miller,C. Sallustius Crispus, Leipzig, 1817. Wieland,Ad. Hor. Sat., i. 2, 48. and Roos;Einige Bemerk, ub. den Moral Char. des Sallust. Prog. Giessen., 1788, 4to. See Frotscher's note on Le Clerc's Life of Sall., init. who are strenuously opposed by GerlachVit. Sall., p. 9, seq. and Loebell.Zur Beurtheilung des Sall., Breslau, 1818. The points on which his champions chiefly endeavor to defend him, are the adventure with Fausta, and the spoliation of Numidia. Of the three, Miller is the most enterprising. With regard to the affair of Fausta, he sets himself boldly to impugn the authority of Varro or Gellius, on which it chiefly rests; and his reasoning is as follows: That such writers as Gellius are not always to be trusted; that Gellius often quoted from memory; that he cites old authors on the testimony of later authors; that he speaks of Varro, fide homo multâ et gravis, as if he were a cotemporary that needed commendation, not the well-known Varro whose character was established; that the Varro of Gellius may therefore be a later Varro, whose book, "Pius," or "De Pace," may have been about Antoninus Pius, under whom Gellius lived, and who may have been utterly mistaken in what he said of Sallust; and that, consequently, the passage in Gellius is to be suspected. Respecting the plunder of Numidia, his arguments are, that the province was given to Sallust to spoil, not for himself, but for Cæsar; that of the money obtained from it, the chief part was given to Cæsar; and that, consequently, Cæsar, not Sallust, is to bear the blame for what was done.

But such conjectures produce no more impression on the mind of a reader than Walpole's " Historic Doubts" concerning Richard the Third. They suggest something that may have been, but bring no proof of what actually was; they may be allowed to be ingenious, but the general voice of history is still believed. To all Müller's suggestions Gerlach exclaims, Credat Judæus! Were there, in the pages of antiquity, a single record or remark favorable to the moral character of Sallust, there would then be a point d'appui from which to commence an attack on what is said against him; but the case, alas! is exactly the reverse; wherever Sallust is characterized as a man, he is characterized unfavorably.

His writings consisted of his narratives of the Conspiracy of Catiline and the War with Jugurtha, and of a History of Rome in five books, extending from the death of Sylla to the beginning of the Mithridatic war. The Catiline and Jugurtha have reached us entire; but of the History there now remain only four speeches, two letters, and a number of smaller fragments preserved among the grammarians. That he was not the author of the Epistles to Cæsar, the reader will find satisfactorily shown in the remarks prefixed to the translation of them in the present volume.

Sallust is supposed to have formed his style on that of Thucydides;Vell. Pat., i. 36. but he has far excelled his model, if not in energy, certainly in conciseness and perspicuity, of expression. "The speeches of Thucydides," says Cicero,Orat., c. 9. "contain so many dark and intricate passages, that they are scarcely understood." No such complaint can be made of any part of the writings of Sallust. "From any sentence in Thucydides," says Seneca the rhetorician,Controvers., iv. 24. "however remarkable for its conciseness, if a word or two be taken away, the sense will remain, if not equally ornate, yet equally entire; but from the periods of Sallust nothing can be deducted without detriment to the meaning." Apud eruditas aures, says Quintilian,Inst. Or., x. 1. nihil potest esse perfectius.

The defects of his style are, that he wants the flumen orationis so much admired in Livy and Herodotus;Monboddo, Origin and Prog. of Language, vol. ii. p. 200. that his transitions are often abrupt; and that he too much affects antique phraseology.Quint. Inst. Or., viii. 3. But no writer can combine qualities that are incompatible. He is justly preferred by QuintilianInst. Or., ii. 5. to Livy, and well merits the praise given him by TacitusAnn., iii. 30. and Martial,xiv. 191. of being rerum Romanarum florentissimus auctor, and Romanâ primus in historiâ.

Of the numerous editions of Sallust, that of Cortius, which appeared at Leipsic in 1724, and has been often reprinted, long indisputably held the first rank. But Cortius, as an editor, was somewhat too fond of expelling from his text all words that he could possibly pronounce superfluous; and succeeding editors, as Gerlach (Basil. 1823), Kritz (Leipsic, 1834), and Dietsch (Leipsic, 1846), have judiciously restored many words that he had discarded, and produced texts more acceptable in many respects to the generality of students.

Sallust has been many times translated into English. The versions most deserving notice are those of Gordon (1744), Rose (1751), Murphy (1809), and Peacock (1845.) Gordon has vigor, but wants polish; Rose is close and faithful but often dry and hard; Murphy is sprightly, but verbose and licentious, qualities in which his admirer, Sir Henry Steuart (1806), went audaciously beyond him; Mr. Peacock's translation is equally faithful with that of Rose, and far exceeds it in general ease and agreeableness of style.

IT becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,I. Desire to excel other animals] Sese student præstare ceteris animalibus. The pronoun, which was usually omitted, is, says Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to ut ipsi: student ut ipsi præstent. In support of his opinion he quotes, with other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicæ, i.e. vult ut ipse amicæ placeat; and Cælius Antipater apud Festum in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat æmulari, i.e. studeat ut ipse æmuletur. This explanation is approved by Bernouf. Cortius might have added Cat. 7: sese quisque hostem ferre—properabat. "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt." to strive, to the utmost of their power,To the utmost of their power] Summâ ope, with their utmost ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said summâ operâ, summo studio, summâ, contentione. Ennius has 'Summa nituntur opum vi.'" Colerus. not to pass through life in obscurity,In obscurity] Silentio. So as to have nothing said of them, either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: Eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta æstumo, quoniam de utrâque siletur. When Ovid says, Bene qui latuit, bene vixit, and Horace, Nec vixit malè, qui vivens moriensque fefellit, they merely signify that he has some comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque, says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriæ studio maximè ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus: Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'dWith great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd ?* * * * *O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace,With equal steps the paths of glory trace !Join to that royal youth's your rival name,And shine eternal in the sphere of fame. like the beasts of the field,Like the beasts of the field] Veluti pecora. Many translators have rendered pecora "brutes" or "beasts;" pecus, however, does not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word cattle. which nature has formed grovelingGroveling] Prona. I have adopted groveling from Mair's old translation. Pronus, stooping to the earth, is applied to cattle, in opposition to erectus, which is applied to man; as in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i. 76: Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram,Os homini sublime dedit, cælumque tueriJussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus." "—while the mute creation downward bendTheir sight, and to their earthly mother tend,Man looks aloft, and with erected eyesBeholds his own hereditary skies.Dryden. Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased: There wanted yet the master-work, the endOf all yet done; a creature, who not proneAnd brute as other creatures, but enduedWith sanctity of reason, might erectHis stature, and upright with front sereneGovern the rest, self-knowing, and-from thenceMagnanimous to correspond with heaven. So Silius Italicus, xv. 84: Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultusSustulerit Deus, et sublimia finxerit ora,Cùm pecudes, volucrumque genus, formasque ferarum,Segnem atque obscænam passim stravisset in alvum. See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'dThe countenance of man erect to heav'n,Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bentTh' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds,And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd? "When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us add Juvenal, xv. 146: Sensum à cælesti demissum traximus arce,Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia. To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth,Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth. and subservient to appetite.

All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.All our power is situate in the mind and in the body] Sed omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita. All our power is placed, or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle sed, which is merely a connective, answering to the Greek δέ, and which would be useless in an English translation, I have omitted. Of the mind we rather employ the government;Of the mind we—employ the government] Animi imperio—utimur. "What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, serve the better."—Sen. Epist. lxv. Dux et imperator vitæ mortalium animus est. the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals.—Jug. c. 1. " An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one is formed by nature to rule and the other to obey."—Aristot. Polit. i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages. of the body, the service.Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the service] Animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur. The word magis is not to be regarded as useless. " It signifies," says Cortius, " that the mind rules, and the body obeys, in general, and with greater reason." At certain times the body may seem to have the mastery, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger or thirst. The one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It appears to me, therefore, more reasonableIt appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.] Quo mihi rectius videtur, etc. I have rendered quo by therefore. " Quo," observes Cortius, "is propter quod with the proper force of the ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: Quo mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; c. 2, Quo magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected with the comparative degree, as in quo minus, eo major, and similar expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, Quanto magis animus corpori prætat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam quærere. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow Cortius. " Quo," says Pappaur, "is for quocirca." to pursue glory by means of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.That of intellectual powor is illustrious and immortal] Virtus clara æternaque habetur. The only one of our English translators who has given the right sense of virtus in this passage, is Sir Henry Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée. " It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among foreign nations—the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée excepted—have thought of giving to the word virtus, in this place, what so obviously is the meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, distinguished talents.' Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this Præmium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. On this account it is pretty evident, that by virtus Sallust could never mean the Greek ἀρετή, virtue or moral worth,' but that he had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it ut viri vis (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the second section of the Præmium to the Jugarthine War, where the same train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, of both these Dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantages or bodily endowments, and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation which shall never die. Igitur præclara facies, magnæ divitiæ, adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmodi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt."

In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;II. Applied themselves in different ways] Diversi. "Modo et instituto diverse, diversa sequentes."Cortius. some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,At that period, however] Et jam tum. "Tunc temporis præcisè, at that time precisely, which is the force of the particle jam, as Donatus shows. * * * I have therefore written et jam separately. * * * Virg. Æn. vii. 737. Late jam tum ditione premebat Sarrastes populos." Cortius. the life of man was passed without covetousness Without covetousness] Sine cupiditate. " As in the famous golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 26." Cortius. See also Ovid. Met. i. 89, seq. But "such times were never," as Cowper says. every one was satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in AsiaBut after Cyrus in Asia, etc.] Postea verò quàm in, Asiâ Cyrus, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the case. " The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, " though not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate ambition, the veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem; that is, to break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees in opinion with De Brosses. and the Lacedæmonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at length discovered, by proof and experience,Proof and experience] Periculo atque negotiis. Gronovius rightly interprets periculo "experiundo, experimentis," by experiment or trial. Cortius takes periculo atque negotiis for periculosis negotiis, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding by negotia "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains negotiis by "ipsâ negotiorum tractatione," i.e. by the management of affairs, or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, has "l'expérience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience," which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives only "experience" for both words. that mental power has the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.] Quod si—animi virtus, etc. " Quod si" can not here be rendered but if; it is rather equivalent to quapropter si, and might be expressed by wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if. if the intellectual abilityIntellectual ability] Animi virtus. See the remarks on virtus, above cited. of kings and magistratesMagistrates] Imperatorum. "Understand all who govern states, whether in war or in peace." Bernouf. Sallust calls the consuls imperatores, c. 6. were exerted to the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from hand to hand,Governments shifted from hand to hand] Aliud aliò ferri. Evidently alluding to changes in government. and things universally changed and confused. For dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is always transferred from the less to the more deserving.Less to the more deserving] Ad optimum quemque à minus bono. " From the less good to the best."

Even in agriculture,Even in agriculture, etc.] Quæ homines arant, navigant, ædificant, virtuti omnia parent. Literally, what men plow, sail, etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily exertion, are as much the result of mental power us the highest of human pursuits. in navigation, and in architecture, whatever man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, resigned to sensuality and indolence, uninstructed and unimproved, have passed through life like travelers in a strange country;Like travelers in a strange country] Sicuti peregrinantes. Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vitâ quasi hospites sunt; they know not how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. Dietsch. "Peregrinantes, qui, quâ transeunt, nullum sui vestigium relinquunt:" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace of their course. Pappaur. to whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation;Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation] Eorum ego vitàm mortemque juxta æstimo. I count them of the same value dead as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. "Those who, are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. for silence is maintained concerning both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling enterprise, or honorable pursuit.

But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different paths to different individuals.

To act well for the Commonwealth is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit.III. Not without merit] Haud absurdum. I have borrowed this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "suâ laude non caret." "The word absurdus is often used by the Latins as an epithet for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." Kunhardt. Both in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it yet seems in the highest degeee difficult to write the history of great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately representedDeeds must be adequately represented, etc.] Facta dictis sunt exæquanda. Most translators have regarded these words as signifying that the subject must be equaled by the style. But it is not of mere style that Sallust is speaking." He means that the matter must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and how it was done." Kunlhardt. by words; and next, because most readers consider that whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescenceEvery one hears with acquiescence, etc.] Quæ sibi—æquo animo accipit, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. " For praises spoken of other are only endured so far as each one thinks that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. only that which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own conception he regards as fictitious and incredible.Regards as fictitious and incredible] Veluti ficta, pro falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis, he considers as false or incredible, veluti ficta, as if invented.

I myself, however, when a young man,When a young man] Adolescentulus. "It is generally admitted that all were called adolescentes by the Romans, who were between the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, prudence, and experience of age. So Cæsar is called adolescentulus, in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." Dietsch. And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, Defendi rempublicam adolescens, Philipp. ii. 46. was at first led by inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs;To engage in political affairs] Ad rempublicam. "In the phrase of Cornelius Nepos, honoribus operam dedi, I sought to obtain some share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were comprehended under the term Respublica." Cortius. but in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity,Integrity] Virtute. Cortius rightly explains this word as meaning justice, equity, and all other virtues necessary in those who manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to avaritia, not, as some critics would have it, to largitio. there prevailed shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and infectedWas ensnared and infected] Corrupta tenebatur. As obsessus tenetur, Jug., c. 24. by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy,The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, etc.] Honoris cupido cadem quæ cæteros, fama atque invidia vexabat. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat honoris cupido, et vexabat propterea etiam eadem, quæ cæteros, fama atque invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., that it is a zeugma. "Fama atque invidia," says Gronovius, "is ἑν διὰ δυοῖν, for invidiosa et maligna fame." Bernouf, with Zanchius and others, read famâ atque invidiâ in the ablative case; and the Bipont edition has eadem quâ—famâ, etc.; but the method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. which disquieted others, disquieted myself.

When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting ;IV. Servile occupations—agriculture or hunting] Agrum colendo, aut venando, senvilibus officiis intentum. By calling agriculture and hunting servilia officia, Sallust intends, as is remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the saying of Julian the emperor, Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, captare laudes ex corpore. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, agricultura et venatio servilia officia sunt, quum in solo consistant corporis usu, animum, verò nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Qui labor in se certè est illiberalis, ei præsertim cui facultas sit ad meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to peruse. but, returning to those studiesReturning to those studies, etc.] A quo incepto studio me ambitio mala detinuerat, eòdem regressus. " The study, namely, of writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." Cortius. from which, at their commencement, a corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detatched portions,In detached portions] Carptim. Plin. Ep. viii., 47: Respondebis non posse perinde carptim, ut contexta placere: et vi. 22: Egit carptim et κατὰ κεφάλαια, Dietsch. the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the man.