author for veracity and fairness, but by the amount of his learning, the variety of authority which came within his reach, the wisdom displayed in judging between historical contradictions, and the sagacity evinced in forming opinions from the various materials presented to him from which to frame the history. The former class must, from its very nature, embrace but a small portion of time; but writings of this kind, from their minute and accurate detail, their glowing description, and their reality, are more likely to be interesting and amusing than the other kind, compared with which they are like moving panoramas by the side of still paintings. They are principally valuable as forming materials for the future historian. They are the pure, original sources, the very elements, of history. When their truth is once accredited, their value increases from age to age; and they acquire the same sort of authority as legal precedents. To this class of historical writings belong the works of Sallust. This writer was born so soon after the termination of the Jugurthine war, that he was undoubtedly acquainted with many who had been engaged in it; and while he held the prætorship of Numidia, he visited the scenes of the most memorable events in the war, and acquainted himself with the geography of the country, besides collecting several original documents, which he caused to be translated into Latin for his own benefit. He was thus enabled to give a minute and graphic description of the principal events in the war. He had seen the places where the most remarkable incidents took place; he had stood on the fields where the bloodiest battles had been fought; and perhaps learned from some veteran, who had borne his share in the contest, how the whole fearful drama had passed, where the armies had been stationed, in what order they advanced,—on what spot they encountered each other in the onset, where the fierce king of Numidia had charged with his formidable cavalry, and whither he retreated when his troops had spent their vain fury upon the ponderous phalanx of the Romans. All the scene was before him, as if he himself had witnessed it. He had traversed the same plains and wildernesses, crossed the rivers, ascended the mountains that lay in the path of the Roman army. He had penetrated to the distant cities of the desert, surveyed their walls, and scaled the cliffs whose summits were capped with impregnable fortresses; and accordingly we find in his writings a vividness of description and a reality which could be expected from no author who had not enjoyed equal advantages. Sallust was living at Rome when the conspiracy of Catiline broke out, and was personally acquainted with most of the leaders in that dangerous plot. The picture of Catiline is evidently drawn from the life. The author himself had studied the appearance of this remarkable man; he had seen the unsteady and fitful gait, the disordered dress, the changeful expression, the eye glaring with the fires of passion or the frenzy of remorse. He had listened to the eloquence of Cæsar, of Cato, and of Cicero; he had seen the terror which overspread the city on the breaking out of the conspiracy, and had witnessed the universal joy when it was quelled. The characters he draws were intimately known to him; the scenes described were familiar; the whole course of the conspiracy had passed under his eye. The merit of correctness and impartiality is generally allowed to Sallust. If he has failed in these qualities in any portion of his works, it is in speaking of Cicero. He is thought not to have done full justice to the conspicuous and important part which the great orator took in quelling the formidable conspiracy of Catiline, and it is supposed that he was influenced by private feeling in omitting to place in their true light the energy, wisdom, and boldness of the man, who, for his transcendent merits, was hailed as the father of his country. Sallust devoted the earlier portion of his life to public duties, into which he seems to have entered rather in the hope of personal aggrandizement than from any feeling of patriotism. His career has been stigmatized as shamefully corrupt, both in his public and private relations; though it is thought that the charge of libertinism must be shared with his nephew, Crispus Sallustius. He followed the fortunes of Cæsar; and, after the victory at Pharsalia, and the defeat of the remnant of Pompey's adherents in Africa, in which war Sallust bore a part, he was rewarded by Cæsar with the prætorship of Numidia. He acquired an immense fortune by the plunder of this province, and, the year following, returned to Rome, to devote the remainder of his life to the pursuits of refined and voluptuous leisure. He built within the precincts of Rome a magnificent palace, which he filled with every thing that could minister to the senses, or contribute in any way to the promotion of Epicurean enjoyment. His gardens were extensive, and of unrivalled beauty, and embraced within their limits a circus, a temple of Venus, — which was a model of classic architecture, and extensive and costly baths. Here, surrounded by every object that could gratify the taste, or give repose to the mind, Sallust devoted himself to the society of refined and learned men, and to the pursuits of literature. His History must be regarded as a work of art, undertaken and finished from a love of elegant composition, and in the hope of leaving a monument which should perpetuate his memory. He is supposed to have selected Thucydides as his model in historical writing, and to have imitated, as nearly as possible, his condensed and nervous style. However this may be, his works still possess a distinct and individual character, and show that the author was gifted with a strong and penetrating mind, with no small share of eloquence, and great felicity of diction. The most striking attribute of this author is his power of description. With a few bold and masterly touches, he places a whole scene before us; he at once excites and gratifies the imagination. So rapid, and yet so graphic, are his sketches, that they remind us of outline drawings, where a single stroke of the pencil gives a character to the whole piece. Indeed, his style is so condensed, and at the same time so expressive, that it might be called outline composition. A remarkable instance of this power of description occurs at the close of the one hundred and first section of the Jugurthine War. It is the picture of a battle-field at the end of the fight. 'At last, the enemy was routed on every side. Then might be seen a horrid spectacle on the extended plains. Here the Romans were pursuing; there, the enemy flying. Some were cut down; others made prisoners. Horses and men were struggling together; and many, who had been wounded, could neither fly nor bear to lie still: they would try to raise themselves up, and instantly fall to the ground again. In a word, the field, as far as the eye could reach, was strewed with weapons, armor, and dead bodies; and the soil between was red with the blood.' This description might be taken as a model of the graphic style of composition. No less happy is our author in his portraits of distinguished individuals. He has the art of conveying to his readers, in a few words, the whole appearance, as well as the character of the person. The look and character of Catiline, for instance, are stamped forever by the masterly picture Sallust has given of him; and when we read of the dark and fitful expression of his countenance, and the ferocious gleam of his eyes; of his wicked and vengeful nature, and, above all, of his infernal lures for the ruin of young men, we are forcibly reminded of Retzsch's terrible picture of the Prince of Darkness playing with man for his soul, in the game of life. The philosophical reflections, which we meet with in the course of the work, are less interesting and valuable than the descriptions and portraits. All that came within the reach of his observation -men, manners, conditions of society, events and scenes are represented with a power that borders upon genius. But we learn from him more of the art than the philosophy of history; more of the talent of interesting and faithful narration of facts, than the deduction of great general principles. History, in his hands, is much more a picture than a moral or philosophical essay. The proper blending of the two probably constitutes the perfection of this kind of writing. Sallust also wrote another History, in five books, which formed a sort of connecting link between the Jugurthine War and the Conspiracy of Catiline; of which only fragments remain. These have the same general characteristics as the Histories presented in this volume. |