quam maxime longam1 efficere. Nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeternaque habetur. Sed diu magnum inter mortales certamen fuit,2 vine corporis an virtute animi res militaris magis procederet. Nam et prius quam incipias consulto, et ubi consulueris mature facto opus est.3 Ita utrumque per se indigens, alterum alterius

auxilio eget.

2. Igitur initio reges (nam in terris nomen imperii id primum fuit), diversi pars5 ingenium, alii corpus exercebant; etiamtum vita hominum sine cupiditate agitabatur, sua cuique satis placebant. Postea vero quam6 in Asia Cyrus, in Graecia Lacedaemonii et Athenienses coepere urbes atque nationes subigere, libidinem dominandi causam belli habere, maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putare, tum demum periculo atque negotiis compertum est in bello plurimum ingenium posse. Quodsi regum atque imperatorum animi virtus in

1 Quam maxime longam; that is, quam longissimam, 'lasting as long as possible.' Zumpt, § 108.

2 The author here makes a digression, to remove the objection that in war bodily strength is of greater importance than mental superiority. He admits that in the earlier times it may have been so, but maintains that in more recent times, when the art of war had become rather complicate, the superiority of mind has become manifest. Vine corporis an; that is, utrum vi corporis an. See Zumpt, § 554.

3 That is, 'before undertaking anything, reflect well; but when you have reflected, then carry your design into execution without delay.' The past participles consulto and facto here supply the place of verbal substantives.

4 Respecting the frequent position of igitur at the beginning of a sentence in Sallust, see Zumpt, § 357.

5 Pars, instead of ali, probably to avoid the repetition of alii, and to produce variety.

6 Postea vero quam, for postquam vero. The author means to say, that after the formation of great empires by extensive conquests, the truth became manifest that even in war mind was superior to mere bodily strength. He mentions Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, because the earlier empires of the Egyptians and Assyrians did not yet belong to accredited history.

7 Sallust here introduces, by quodsi (and if, or yes, if), an illustration connected with the preceding remarks. Respecting this connecting power of quodsi, as distinguished from the simple si, see Zumpt, § 807. This illustration, which ends with the word transfertur, was suggested to Sallust especially by the consideration of the recent disturbances in the Roman republic under Pompey, Caesar, and Mark Antony, three men who, in times of peace, saw their glory, previously acquired in war, fade away.

8 Animi virtus; these two words are here united to express a single idea, 'mental greatness.'

pace ita ut in bello valeret, aequabilius atque constantius sese res humanae haberent, neque aliud alio1 ferri, neque mutari ac misceri omnia cerneres. Nam imperium facile his artibus retinetur, quibus initio partum est. Verum ubi pro labore desidia, pro continentia et aequitate libido atque superbia invasere, fortuna simul cum moribus immutatur. Ita imperium semper ad optimum quemque2 a minus bono transfertur. Quae homines arant, navigant, aedificant, virtuti omnia parent. Sed multi mortales dediti ventri atque somno, indocti incultique vitam sicuti peregrinantes transiere ;3 quibus profecto contra naturam corpus voluptati, anima oneri fuit. Eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo, quoniam de utraque siletur. Verum enimvero5 is demum mihi vivere atque frui anima videtur, qui aliquo negotio intentus praeclari facinoris aut artis bonae famam quaerit. Sed in magna copia rerum aliud alii natura iter ostendit.

3. Pulchrum est bene facere rei publicae; etiam bene dicere haud absurdum est ;7 vel pace vel bello clarum fieri licet; et qui fecere et qui facta aliorum scripsere, multi laudantur. Ac mihi quidem,& tametsi haudquaquam par gloria sequitur scrip

1 Aliud alio ferri, 'that one thing is drawn in one direction, and the other in another.' For aliud alio, see Zumpt, § 714; and for cerneres, in which the second person singular of the subjunctive answers to the Englishyou,' when not referring to any definite person, § 381.

6

2 Optimum quemque, to every one in proportion as he is better than others. Respecting this relative meaning of quisque, see Zumpt, § 710. 'Every one,' absolutely, is unusquisque, and adjectively omnis.

3They have passed through life like strangers or travellers;' that is, as if they had no concern with their own life, although it is clear that human life is of value only when men are conscious of themselves, and exert themselves to cultivate their mental powers, and apply them to practical purposes.

4'I set an equal value upon their life and their death;' that is, an equally low value, juxta being equivalent to aeque or pariter.

5 Verum enimvero; these conjunctions are intended strongly to draw the attention of the reader to the conclusion from a preceding argument.

Intent upon some occupation.' Intentus is commonly construed with the dative, or the preposition in or ad with the accusative; but as a person may be intent upon something, so he also may be intent by, or in consequence of, something, so that the ablative is perfectly

consistent.

7 Haud absurdum est, is not unbecoming;' that is, 'is worthy of man.' 8 Quidem here, like the Greek μèv in iμoì μèv, without a dè following, introduces one opinion in contradistinction from others, though the latter are not mentioned, but merely suggested by quidem. 'I for my part think so, but what others think I do not know, or care.'

torem et actorem rerum, tamen in primis arduum videtur res gestas scribere; primum quod facta dictis exaequanda sunt, dehinc quia plerique, quae delicta reprehenderis, malivolentia et invidia dicta putant;1 ubi de magna virtute atque gloria bonorum memores, quae sibi quisque facilia factu putat, aequo animo accipit, supra ea2 veluti ficta pro falsis ducit.

Sed ego3 adolescentulus initio sicuti plerique studio ad rem publicam latus sum, ibique mihi multa adversa fuere. Nam pro pudore, pro abstinentia, pro virtute, audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant. Quae tametsi animus aspernabatur, insolens malarum artium,4 tamen inter tanta vitia imbecilla aetas ambitione corrupta tenebatur:5 ac me, quum ab reliquorum malis moribus dissentirem, nihilo minus honoris cupido eâdem qua ceteros famâ atque invidiâ vexabat.6

4. Igitur ubi animus ex multis miseriis atque periculis requievit et mihi reliquam aetatem a re publica procul habendam decrevi, non fuit consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conterere ;7 neque vero agrum colendo aut venando, servilibus officiis, intentum aetatem agere; sed a

1 'If you censure any things as faults or delinquencies, your censure is considered to have arisen from malevolence or ill-will.'

2 Supra ea, whatever is beyond that;' that is, whatever is beyond the capacity of the reader.

3 The author now passes over to his own experience, telling us that after having devoted himself at first to the career of a public man, and finding that he was not understood, and ill-used by his opponents, he formed the determination to give himself up to a literary life.

4 Insolens malarum artium, unacquainted with base artifices or intrigues; for artes may be malae as well as bonae, according as they consist in the skill of doing bad or good things.

5 Imbecilla aetas, my weak age;' that is, my mind, which had not yet arrived at mature independence, 'was corrupted by ambition, and was kept under the influence of such bad circumstances.' Sallust means to say that if his mind had arrived at manly independence, he would have immediately withdrawn from the vicious atmosphere of public life.

6 My ambition caused me to be equally ill spoken of and envied, and thus to be dragged down to a level with the rest, and to be equally harassed and persecuted as they were.

7 Conterere—that is, consumere,' to waste my fair leisure.'

8 Sallust here calls agriculture and the chase occupations of men in a servile condition, although the majority of the ancients considered the former especially as the most honourable occupation of free citizens. But he seems to think that in comparison with the important business of writing the history of his country, agriculture and the chase are not suitable occupations for a man who has at one time taken an active part in political affairs.

quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus statui res gestas populi Romani carptim,1 ut quaeque memoria digna videbantur, perscribere; eo magis, quod mihi a spe, metu, partibus rei publicae animus liber erat. Igitur de Catilinae conjuratione quam verissime potero paucis absolvam : 2 nam id facinus in primis ego memorabile existimo sceleris atque periculi novitate. De cujus hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt, quam initium narrandi faciam.

5. Lucius Catilina,3 nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et corporis, sed ingenio malo pravoque. Huic ab adolescentia bella intestina, caedes, rapinae, discordia civilis grata fuere, ibique juventutem suam exercuit. Corpus patiens inediae, algoris, vigiliae, supra quam cuiquam credibile est. Animus audax, subdolus, varius, cujus rei libet simulator ac dissimulator, alieni appetens, sui profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum. Vastus animus immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta semper cupiebat. Hunc post dominationem Lucii Sullae libido maxima invaserat rei publicae capiundae, neque id quibus modis asse

1 Carptim, 'in detached parts.'

2 Paucis absolvam, I shall treat briefly,' or paucis pertractabo conjurationem Catilinae.

3 Sallust begins with a general description of the character of Catiline. This talented person, though of a most wicked disposition, belonged to the patrician gens Sergia, which traced its descent to one of the companions of Aeneas. This is no doubt fabulous, but at anyrate proves the high antiquity of the gens. The most renowned among the ancestors of Catiline was M. Sergius, a real model of bravery, who distinguished himself in the Gallic and second Punic wars, and after having lost his right hand in battle, wielded the sword with the left. As Catiline offered himself as a candidate for the consulship in B. c. 66, which no Roman was allowed to do by law before having attained the age of forty-three, we may fairly presume that he was born about B. C. 109, in the time of the Jugurthine war. Cicero was born in B. c. 106, and was consequently a few years younger than Catiline.

4 Patiens inediae. Respecting the genitive governed by this and similar participles-as soon after alieni appetens-see Zumpt, § 438.

5 Cujus rei libet; it is more common to say cujuslibet rei. Sometimes the relative pronouns compounded with cunque and libet are separated by the insertion of some other word or words between them, which in grammatical language is called a tmesis-as quod enim cunque judicium subierat, absolvebatur; quem sors dierum cunque tibi dederit, lucro appone, 'whatever day chance may give thee, consider it as a gain.'

6 Capiundae. Respecting the e or u in such gerunds and gerundives, see Zumpt, § 167.

B

queretur, dum sibi regnum pararet, quidquam pensi habebat. Agitabatur magis magisque in dies animus ferox inopia rei familiaris et conscientia scelerum, quae utraque his artibus auxerat, quas supra memoravi. Incitabant praeterea corrupti civitatis mores, quos pessima ac diversa inter se mala, luxuria atque avaritia, vexabant. Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere2 ac paucis instituta majorum domi militiaeque,3 quomodo rem publicam habuerint quantamque reliquerint, ut paulatim immutata ex pulcherrima pessima ac flagitiosissima facta sit, disserere.

6. Urbem Romam,4 sicuti ego accepi, condidere atque habuere initio Trojani, qui Aenea duce profugi sedibus incertis vagabantur, cumque his Aborigines,5 genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum atque solutum. Hi postquam in una moenia convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more viventes, incredibile memoratu est

1 Auxerat. He had increased both by the above-mentioned qualities -namely, his poverty by extravagance, and the consciousness of guilt by the crimes he committed. The neuter plural quae, referring to two feminine substantives denoting abstract ideas, is not very common, though quite justifiable. Zumpt, § 377.

2 Respecting the infinitive after hortari, instead of the more common use of the conjunction ut, see Zumpt, § 615.

3 Domi militiaeque, in times of peace and in war.'

4 In the following eight chapters (6-13) Sallust describes the transition from the stern manners, the warlike energy, and domestic peace of the ancient Romans, to the corruption prevalent in the time of Catiline, and which consisted chiefly in extravagance, avarice, oppression, and the love of dominion. His description is a striking picture of the early virtuous character of the Romans, and their subsequent indulgence in vice. He traces all the corruption of his time to the immense wealth accumulated at Rome, after she had acquired the dominion over the world—that is, after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth; and he marks out in particular Sulla as the man who had fostered the very worst qualities in order to obtain supreme power for himself.

5

According to the current tradition, the people of the Latins had been formed by a union of the Trojan emigrants with the native Aborigines. Their capital was Alba Longa, and they lived about Alba, on and near the Alban Mount, in a great number of confederate townships. Four centuries after the arrival of Aeneas, the city of Rome was founded by Albans on the extreme frontier of the Latin territory, and near the hostile tribes by which it was surrounded. Sallust passes over the intermediate stages, either because he, like others, thought Rome much more ancient, or because, having to do only with the description of manners, he was unconcerned about historical developments.

• Una is the plural. See Zumpt, § 115, note.