sallust bellum catilinae summary

In this year, he, with the other ten tribunes, all supported a law to permit Caesar to stand for a second consulship in absentia. 57 When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell away. Use me either as your leader or your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to you. Statilius and Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose, at the same time; in order that, during the consequent tumult, an easier access might be obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline. Far from it; my recommendation is, that their property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the expense; that no one hereafter bring their case before the senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act against the republic and the general safety. WebTHE WAR WITH CATILINE. 45 Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made acquainted with everything, directed the praetors, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the Allobroges, by lying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge; he gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were sent, and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. Nor did he, in the mean time, remain inactive, but devised schemes, in every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill or policy to guard against them. [77] Aulus Gellius saved Pollio's unfavorable statement about Sallust's style via quote. WebHis first monograph, Bellum Catilinae (4342 bc; Catilines War), deals with corruption in Roman politics by tracing the conspiracy of Catiline, a ruthlessly ambitious patrician who 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. 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 [citation needed], In writing about the conspiracy of Catiline, Sallust's tone, style, and descriptions of aristocratic behaviour illustrate "the political and moral decline of Rome, begun after the fall of Carthage, quickening after Sulla's dictatorship, and spreading from the dissolute nobility to infect all Roman politics". Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he thought that success depended on rapidity of execution. Webedition. WebSallust's Bellum Catilinae Resource Information The item Sallust's Bellum Catilinaerepresents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Missouri University of Science & Technology Library. Not all translations are grammatically faithful to the original. And, indeed, if the intellectual ability of kings and magistrates 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, and things universally changed and confused. 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. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be noticed while performing such an exploit. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius Caesar (100 to 44 BC), circa 50s BC. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud and deceit. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were easily ensnared by his stratagems. [59] Sallust also often uses antithesis, alliterations and chiasmus. [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. shee-ma. But as I have, on many remarkable occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. To recognize basic rhetorical devices used by Sallust. We might, with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our days in exile. In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which the following is a copy: Look here. 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). I feel assured, too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know to be his character, and such his discretion. Updates? Bennett's New Latin Grammar or, better, Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar. 4 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; but, returning to those studies from which, at their commencement, a corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached portions, 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. By the influence of these females, Catiline hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives. Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have greater weight with you than you own dignity, and that you may not regard your indignation more than your character. In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as myself. 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. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. But afterwards, when their lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, to kill the good and bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy penalty for its imprudent exultation. Some of you, after losing your property, might have waited at Rome for assistance from others. It is not at all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their own. 49 Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the Allobroges, or any other evidence. 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. 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. Theodor Mommsen suggested that Sallust particularly wished to clear his patron (Caesar) of all complicity in the conspiracy. 7 At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned above. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking impolitic to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates. In 50 Sallust was expelled from the Senate. Caesar was esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given dignity to Cato. 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. From among these he removed all the ablest centurions, the veterans, and the stoutest of the common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost ranks. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. In 46BC, he served as a praetor[31] and accompanied Caesar in his African campaign, which ended in another defeat of the remaining Pompeians at Thapsus. Then, riding round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, and their homes. 20 terms. At one time Marcus Porcius Latro was considered a candidate for the authorship of the pseudo-Sallustian corpus, but this view is no longer commonly held. Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. [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. All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that they themselves should be out of power. 46 The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. jack_26_12 PLUS. sophia20753. XIV, 191) Martial. His principal works are the Bellum Catilinae, on the conspiracy of Catiline and his account of the Jugurthine War, Bellum Jugurthinum.. A. J. Woodman is Basil L. Gildersleeve Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia. It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by abundance nor by want. Cethegus, at the same time, was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves and freedmen, men trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed body, and force a way into his place of confinement. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives no more than those of the enemy. AU $29.43. [34] His political life influenced his histories, which produced in him a "deep bitterness toward the elite", with "few heroes in his surviving writings". [52], The style of works written by Sallust was well known in Rome. 58 I am well aware, soldiers, that words cannot inspire courage; and that a spiritless army cannot be rendered active, or a timid army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Corrections? The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your country in the greatest dangers. 16 The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. But such mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will end in misery to yourselves. All humans who are keen to surpass other animals had best strive with all their might not to pass through life without notice, like cattle, which nature has fashioned bent over and subservient to their stomachs. WebIt is Sallust's first published work, detailing the attempt by Lucius Sergius Catilina to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63 BC. 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. 14 In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the unprincipled and desperate. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul. Sallust's vivid account of Roman public life shows a Republic in decline, prey to moral corruption and internal strife. In the first place, such as everywhere took the lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general receptacle of impurity. 25 terms. [34] On his return to Rome he purchased and began laying out in great splendour the famous gardens on the Quirinal known as the Gardens of Sallust (Latin: horti sallustiani), which were later inherited by the emperors. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of intellect. 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. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, prepared with alacrity for their defense. Caesar, in fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent upon the interests of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war in which his talents might be displayed. The veterans, calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest combat. 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. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole world knows the proceedings. The work required is considerable, the rewards commensurate. 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. Web2. But when they failed to persuade the consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar with their swords as he went out of the senate-house. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes restrained by correction; but afterwards, when their infection had spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became rapacious and insupportable. 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. [74][75] Fronto used ancient words collected by Sallust to provide "archaic coloring" for his works. Or was it because scourging is a severer penalty than death? [31] It is not clear why: Sallust was not a skilled general; the province was militarily significant. In place of that extreme gaiety and dissipation, to which long tranquillity had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured the public danger by his own fear. Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, recognized their enemies. 86 B.C. Sallust describes the course of the conspiracy and the measures taken by the Senate and Cicero, who was then consul. Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. [27] Plutarch reported that Sallust dined with Caesar, Hirtius, Oppius, Balbus and Sulpicius Rufus on the night after Caesar's crossing the Rubicon into Italy in early January. [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. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered like cattle, rather than, fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a bloody and mournful victory. It differs from the writings of his contemporaries Caesar and especially Cicero. In Sallusts view, Catilines crime and the danger he presented were unprecedented. He accordingly proposed that the property of the conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in the municipal towns; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate w-ere to be found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is less power to resist them. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the republic, which he afterwards wrote and published. 2. WebBellum Catilinae (War of Catiline), also called De coniuratione Catilinae (Conspiracy of Catiline), is the first history published by the Roman historian Sallust. In his Bellum Catilinae, C. Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (86-35/34 B.C.) Two years later, designated praetor, he was sent to quell a mutiny among Caesars troops, again without success. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of events will accomplish the rest. But after Cyrus in Asia, and the Lacedaemonians 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, that mental power has the greatest effect in military operations. 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, 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. 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. 19 terms. WebHis "Catiline's War" tells of the conspiracy in 63 bc led by L. Sergius Catilina, who plotted to assassinate numerous senators and take control of the government, but was thwarted by In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other property), were eager for a revolution. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 47 Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning his letter, and lastly, what object he had had in view, and from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate, and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was told to speak on the security of the public faith, he disclosed every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been admitted as an associate a few days before, by Gabinius and Coeparius; that he knew no more than the envoys, only that he used to hear from Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had fought with an enemy contrary to orders.

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sallust bellum catilinae summary