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SALLUST [Gams SALLUSTIUS CRlspus] (86...
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See also:SALLUST [Gams SALLUSTIUS CRlspus] (86–34 B.c.) , See also:Roman historian, belonging to a well-known plebeian See also:family, was See also:born at See also:Amiternum in the See also:country of the Sabines. After an See also:ill-spent youth he entered public See also:life, and was elected See also:tribune of the See also:people in 52, the See also:year in which See also:Clodius was killed in a See also:street brawl by the followers of See also:Milo. Sallust was opposed to Milo and to See also:Pompey's party and to the old See also:aristocracy of See also:Rome. From the first he was a decided See also:partisan of See also:Caesar, to whom he owed such See also:political See also:advancement as he attained. In 50 he was removed from the See also:senate by the See also:censor Appius See also:Claudius Pulcher on the ground of See also:gross immorality, the real See also:reason probably being his friendship for Caesar. In the following year, no doubt through Caesar's See also:influence, he was reinstated and appointed See also:quaestor. In 46 he was See also:praetor, and accompanied Caesar in his See also:African See also:campaign, which ended in the decisive defeat of the remains of the Pompeian party at See also:Thapsus. As a See also:reward for his services, Sallust was appointed See also:governor of the See also:province of See also:Numidia. In this capacity he was guilty of such oppression and See also:extortion that only the influence of Caesar enabled him to See also:escape condemnation. On his return to Rome he See also:purchased and laid out in See also:great splendour the famous gardens on the Quirinal known as the Horti Sallustiani. He now retired from public life and devoted himself to See also:historical literature. His See also:account of the See also:Catiline See also:conspiracy (De conjuration Catilinae or Bellum Catilinarium) and of the Jugurthine See also:War (Bellum Jugurthinum) have come down to us See also:complete, together with fragments of his larger and most important See also:work (Hisloriae), a See also:history of Rome from 78-67, intended as a continuation of L. See also:Cornelius Sisenna's work. The Catiline Conspiracy (his first published work) contains the history of the memorable year 63. Sallust adopts the usually accepted view of Catiline, and describes him as the deliberate foe of See also:law, See also:order and morality, without attempting to give any adequate explanation of his views and intentions. Catiline, it must be remembered, had supported the party of See also:Sulla, to which Sallust was opposed. There may be truth in See also:Mommsen's See also:suggestion that he was particularly anxious to clear his See also:patron Caesar of all complicity in the conspiracy. Anyhow, the subject gave him the opportunity of showing off his See also:rhetoric at the expense of the old koman aristocracy, whose degeneracy he delighted to paint in the blackest See also:colours. On the whole, he is not unfair towards See also:Cicero. His Jugurthine War, again, though a valuable and interesting monograph, is not a satisfactory performance. We may assume that he had collected materials and put together notes for it during his governor-See also:ship of Numidia. Here, too, he dwells upon the feebleness of the senate and aristocracyw'too often in a tiresome, moralizing and philosophizing vein, but as a military history the wcrk is unsatisfactory in the See also:matter of See also:geographical and See also:chronological details. The extant fragments of the Histories (some discovered in 1886) are enough to show the political partisan, who took a keen See also:pleasure in describing the reaction against the See also:dictator's policy and legislation after his See also:death. The loss of the work is to be regretted, as it must have thrown much See also:light on a very eventful See also:period, embracing the war against See also:Sertorius, the See also:campaigns of See also:Lucullus against See also:Mithradates of See also:Pontus, and the victories of the great Pompey in the See also:East. Two letters (Duae epistolae de republica ordinanda), letters of political counsel and See also:advice addressed to Caesar, and an attack upon Cicero (Invectiva or Dedamatio in Ciceronem), frequently attributed to Sallust, are probably the work of a rhetorician of the first See also:century A.D., also the author of a See also:counter-invective by Cicero. Sallust is highly spoken of by See also:Tacitus (See also:Annals, iii. 30); and See also:Quintilian (ii. 5, X. 1), who regards him as See also:superior to See also:Livy, does not hesitate to put him on a level with See also:Thucydides On the whole the See also:verdict of antiquity was favourable to Sallust as an historian. He struck out for himself practically a new See also:line in literature, his predecessors having been little better than See also:mere dry-as-dust chroniclers, whereas he endeavoured to explain the connexion and meaning of events, and was a successful delineator of See also:character. The contrast between his See also:early life and the high moral See also:tone adopted by him in his writings was frequently made a subject of reproach against him; but there is no reason why he should not have reformed. In any See also:case, his knowledge of his own former weaknesses may have led him to take a pessimistic view of the morality of his See also:fellow-men, and to See also:judge them severely. Ilis See also:model was Thucydides, whom he imitated in his truthfulness and impartiality, in the introduction of philosophizing reflections and speeches, and in the brevity of his See also:style, sometimes bordering upon obscurity. His fondness for old words and phrases, in which he imitated his contemporary See also:Cato, was ridiculed as an affectation; but it was just this affectation and his rhetorical exaggerations that made Sallust a favourite author in the 2nd century A.D. and later. See also:Editions and See also:translations in various See also:languages are numerous. Editio prineeps (1470); (See also:text) R. Dietsch (1874); H. See also:Jordan (1887); A. Eussner (1887); (text and notes) F. D. Gerlach (1823-'831); F. Kritz (1828–1853; ed. See also:minor, 1856) ; C. H. Frotscher (183o); C. See also:Merivale (1852); F. See also:Jacobs, H. Wirz (1894); G. See also:Long, revised by J. G. Frazer, with See also:chief fragments of Histories (1884); W. W. Capes (1884); See also:English See also:translation by A. W. See also:Pollard (1882). There are many See also:separate editions of the Catilina and Jugurtha, chiefly for school use. The fragments have been edited by F. Kritz (1853) and B. See also:Maurenbrecher (1891–1893); and there is an See also:Italian translation (with notes) of the supposititious letters by G. Vittori (1897). On Sallust generally J. W. Lobell's Zur Beurtheilung See also:des S. (1818) should still be consulted; there are also See also:treatises by T. See also:Vogel (1857) and M. See also:Jager (1879 and 1884), T. Rambeau (1879); L. See also:Constans, De sermone Sallustiano (188o); P. Bellezza, Dei fonti e dell' auloritd storica di Sallustio (1891); and See also:special See also:lexicon by O. Eichert (1885). The sections in See also:Teuffel-See also:Schwabe's History of Roman Literature are full of See also:information; see also bibliography of Sallust for 1878–1898 by B. Maurenbrecher in C. See also:Bursian, Jahresbericht fiber See also:die Fortschrilte der klassischen Altertumswissenschafl (1900). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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