Volturcius, at first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers with his sword; but afterwards, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered himself to the praetors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies. As he grew to maturity, foreign war and political strife were commonplace; thus, it is not surprising that his writings are preoccupied with violence. WebTHE WAR WITH CATILINE. At last, when he was smitten with a passion for Aurelia Orestilla, in whom no good man, at any time of her life, commended anything but her beauty, it is confidently believed that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a grown-up step-son, he cleared the house for their nuptials by putting his son to death. But on these subjects I shall say no more. But most of the young men, and especially the sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. 9 Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the camp. This is the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is granted by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at home and in the field, rights which, without an order of the people, the consul is not permitted to exercise. He had also persuaded his colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces, to entertain no sentiments of disaffection towards the state; and he kept around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and dependents. Certain citizens, of the highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon us; and do you hesitate, even in such circumstances how to treat armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? [47] Sallust likely relied on a general annalistic history of the time, as well as the autobiographies of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Publius Rutilius Rufus, and Sulla. Catilines Speeches in Sallusts Bellum Catilinae. Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian law. In battle, those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is equivalent to a rampart. was such eloquence directed? Afterwards, Sallust launches into a character description of Catiline, who is portrayed as at once heroic and immoral, and then a description of Catiline's intention to gain kingship at any cost. Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy: In this person there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret what he heard, nor conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless what he said or what he did. Being a military man, and having served with great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, praefect, lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused the spirits of the men. After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great foundation of such illustrious deeds. WebIt is Sallust's first published work, detailing the attempt by Lucius Sergius Catilina to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63 BC. These speeches distill the What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. In Sallusts eyes, not Cicero but Caesar and Cato represented civic virtue and were the significant speakers in the debate; he regarded the deaths of Caesar and Cato as marking the end of an epoch in the history of the republic. I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course which I have adopted. He is best known as a historian and is in fact the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works. There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. The Lacedaemonians, when they had conquered the Athenians, appointed thirty men to govern their state. [7] But Ronald Syme suggests that Jerome's date has to be adjusted because of his carelessness,[7] and suggests 87 BC as a more correct date. Such has been the inhumanity of the usurers and of the praetor. Being thus exasperated, Since I am encompassed by enemies, he exclaimed, and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the flame kindled around me in a general ruin. To articulate a basic understanding of Sallust's historical and rhetorical aims. Webantagonist in Sallusts Bellum Catilinae 51 and 52. If, indeed, a punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to extraordinary measures; but if the enormity of their crime exceeds, whatever can be devised, I think that we should inflict only such penalties as the laws have provided. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for de Catilinae Coniuratione [Latin] Bellum Catilinae: Parallel Text Latin - English by Gaius Sallustius Crispus Free postage. [35] He also further developed his gardens, upon which he spent much of his accumulated wealth. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. WebIT becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals, 1 to strive, to the utmost of their power, 2 not to pass through life in obscurity, 3 like the beasts of the field, 4 which nature has formed groveling 5 and subservient to appetite. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise man has ever immoderately desired. WebSALLUST was born at Amiternum, a town in the Sabine territory, on the first of October, 1 in the year six hundred and sixty-six 2 from the foundation of Rome, eighty-seven years before Christ, and in the seventh consulship of Marius. 'On his [Cicero's] consulship') for details of the conspiracy;[44] his narrative focused, however, on Caesar and Cato the Younger, who are held up as "two examples of virtus ('excellence')" with long speeches describing a debate on the punishment of the conspirators in the last section. [50] For Sallust, the defining moments of the late republic were the destruction of Rome's old foe, Carthage, in 146BC and the influx of wealth from the east after Sulla's First Mithridatic War. 201 - 231. A systematic grammar of Latin is recommended. WebSummary The history begins with a brief preface on the nature of man, history, and a brief autobiography of Sallust himself. 3. 54 Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though attained by different means. [2], Sallust was probably born in Amiternum in Central Italy,[3][4][5] though Eduard Schwartz takes the view that Sallust's birthplace was Rome. On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame, was unable to be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus Petreius, his lieutenant. He remained in office until 45 or early 44. [62], In late antiquity, he was highly praised by Jerome as "very reliable"; his monographs also entered the corpus of standard education in Latin, with Virgil, Cicero, and Terence (covering history, the epic, oratory, and comedy, respectively). [citation needed] He presents a narrative condemning the conspirators without doubt, likely relying Cicero's De consulatu suo (lit. 19 Some time afterwards, Piso was sent as quaestor, with Praetorian authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the contrary, the basest of mankind have even wrested from their allies, with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of power were to inflict injury. Theodor Mommsen suggested that Sallust particularly wished to clear his patron (Caesar) of all complicity in the conspiracy. ), but foreign to our policy. 46 The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well what you resolve to inflict on others. The entire text with 50 While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while rewards were being voted, on approbation of their evidence, to the Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and slaves, in various directions throughout the city, to attempt his rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were always ready to disturb the state for pay. Whithersoever we would go, we must open a passage with our swords. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable to march into Gaul. But the protection of the gods is not obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. The more spirit you display in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will advance upon you with fury. [56] "The Conspiracy of Catiline" reflects many features of style that were developed in his later works. John C. Rolfe (1921) (transcription project) This work was published before January 1, 1928, and is in the As a plain stretched between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in close order, in the rear. recounts the dramatic events of 63 B.C., when a disgruntled and impoverished nobleman, L. Sergius Catilina, turned to armed revolution after two electoral defeats. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, which the injustice of the praetor has taken from us and not to lay on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so best to avenge our blood. They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate; though they pull down new buildings and erect others, and lavish and abase their wealth in every possible method, yet cannot, with the utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of many. 17 Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of Lucius Caesar and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and informed them of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. That this attack on his character was made by Cicero, I afterwards heard Crassus himself assert. In addition, he gave him this verbal message: Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves? 56 During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts as far as his numbers would allow; and afterwards, as any volunteers, or recruits from his confederates, arrived in his camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of men, though at first he had not had more than two thousand. 27 He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Faesulae, and the adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Camerinum, into the Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable. Great anxiety, and great joy, affected him at the same moment. Sallust considered Romes initial mismanagement of the war the fault of the powerful few who sacrificed the common interest to their own avarice and exclusiveness. We must therefore avoid even the famous terseness of Sallust (though in his case of course it is a merit), and shun all abruptness of speech, since a style which presents no difficulty to a leisurely reader, flies past a hearer and will not stay to be looked at again. Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently without loss of time, as soon as he noticed the envoys in the Forum, he asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, what termination they expected to such calamities? When he found that they complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only remedy for their sufferings, Yet I, said he, if you will but act as men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing difficulties. When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from debt. Sallust did not participate in military operations directly, but he commanded several ships and organized supply through the Kerkennah Islands. 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. and the conspiracy of L. Sergius Catilina, or Catiline, and his followers, which seriously The name of his father was Caius Sallustius; 3 that of his mother is unknown. As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected from various causes. Web1 It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals, to strive, to the utmost of their power, not to pass through life in obscurity, like the beasts of the field, which But my ardor for action is daily more and more excited when I consider what our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our claims to liberty. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods or for men. For, at the very beginning of his consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret information of Catilines proceedings. They encouraged one another, and hurried to meet the enemy. As a result, his works are very far from the conversational Latin of his time. Sallust. But before I enter upon my narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the man. Of these, Quintus Metellus Celer, the praetor, having brought several to trial, under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had also Caius Muraena in Further Gaul, who governed that province in quality of legate. Sallust, Latin in full Gaius Sallustius Crispus, (born c. 86 bc, Amiternum, Samnium [now San Vittorino, near LAquila, Italy]died 35/34 bc), Roman historian and one of the great Latin literary stylists, noted for his narrative writings dealing with political personalities, corruption, and party rivalry. 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. Since the time of Syllas dictatorship, a strong desire of seizing the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he secured power for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, cannot easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the same moment, his passions and his interest. This course will investigate closely the assigned text, with only sporadic comments on the historical and social background. The Bellum Catilinae presents Sallust's account of events in the year 63 b.c. [40], The monograph on was probably written c.42 BC. [79], His works were also extensively quoted in Augustine of Hippo's City of God; the works themselves also show up in manuscripts all over the post-Roman period and circulated in Carolingian libraries. Sallust, Gaius Sallustius Crispus (8635 BCE), a Sabine from Amiternum, acted against Cicero and Milo as tribune in 52, joined Caesar after being expelled from the Senate in 50, was restored to the senate by Caesar and took part in his African campaign as praetor in 46, and was then appointed governor of New Africa (Numidia).Upon his return [32] As governor he was so corrupt and avaricious that on his return in late 45 or early 44BC[33] only Caesar's dictatorial influence enabled him to escape conviction on charges of corruption and extortion. She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagance and poverty. [21] According to one inscription, some Sallustius (with unclear praenomen) was a proquaestor in Syria in 50BC under Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by abundance nor by want. At first the love of money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as it were, the sources of every evil. These barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at his instigation, since the Spaniards, they observe, had never before committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe commands. In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as myself. [4], After an ill-spent youth, Sallust entered public life and may have won election as quaestor in 55BC. Sallust presents Catiline as a deliberate foe of law, order and morality, and does not give a comprehensive explanation of his views and intentions (Catiline had supported the party of Sulla, whom Sallust had opposed). To hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [4] During the Social War Sallust's parents hid in Rome, because Amiternum was under threat of siege by rebelling Italic tribes. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should thus be increased? And even in later time, when the state had become corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted, there was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen of eminent ability. For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real names of things; for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced to the brink of ruin. Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius Lentulus Spinther, who was then aedile; Cethegus, to Quintus Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Caesar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; and Coeparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to Cneius Terentius, a senator. 38 For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored, certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that high office, began to stir up the populace by inveighing against the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they became popular and powerful. 62 terms. [53], He employed archaic words: according to Suetonius, Lucius Ateius Praetextatus (Philologus) helped Sallust to collect them. With mutual reproaches, they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he had advised. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had contracted heavy debts. A basic understanding of Sallust 's account of it was immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers according to,. On these subjects I shall say no more Athenians, appointed thirty men to govern state. 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