EDITED BY

A. C. MAYBURY, D.Sc., AND PIERCE EGAN, M.A. (LOND.)

C. CRISPI SALLUSTII

DE

CATILINE CONJURATIONE

HISTORIA.

WITH

TRANSLATION, NOTES GRAMMATICAL, HISTORICAL

AND GEOGRAPHICAL.

ALSO

LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

BY

PIERCE EGAN, M.A. (LOND.),

Barrister-at-Law

LONDON:

BAILLIERE, TINDALL AND сох,

20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.

PREFACE.

THE present has often been called an age of examinations, and the accusation that the rising generation is, if anything, overexamined and under-educated, is not without some justification; though by far the larger number of candidates who fail to pass break down on account, not so much of want of knowledge, as of adequate preparation. Having been for many years engaged in reading with candidates, and having felt the want of works specially adapted for the various University Examinations, we have determined, provided our efforts meet with support, to issue a series of class books, by University graduates, the object of which is to afford really practical aid to those who may be deficient or unable to procure the assistance of a tutor.

In the classical series no attempt has been made at elegance of diction or literary style; the translation, which, as more convenient, has been placed side by side with the original, is as close as possible, and will be found, it is hoped, clear and accurate, while the notes are designed to meet such questions as are likely to be set by the examiners. The text of Cortius has been, in this instance, mainly followed, but has been collated with the best editions.

P. E.

A. C. M.

LONDON: 23, CHARLOTTE ST.,

BEDFORD SQUARE, W.C.

August, 1883.

OF

SALLUST.

CAIUS CRISPUS SALLUSTIUS, or as he is with some show of authority styled by some Caius Sallustius (or Salustius) Crispus, with justice reckoned by his fellow countrymen the foremost of Roman historians, was born в.c. 86, at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines, and though of a plebeian family, passed through the usual course of study in law and oratory in his youth. These were stirring times, and he soon entered the public service, being Quæstor B.c. 59, and Tribune of the plebs in 52, which was the year of the assassination of Clodius by Milo. He joined the popular side against the murderer and was consequently expelled the Senate in 50, but he attached himself to "Cæsar and his fortunes," and in 47 became Prætor, having been by the influence of his patron restored to his place in the senate. Cæsar, no mean judge, seems to have had a good opinion of his capacity, for he sent him with some troops from Campania against the relics of Pompey's army. These troops mutinied. Sallust had to fly for his life, and the men marched towards Rome. Cæsar took the historian with him to Africa (B.c. 46), and when the war was over appointed him pro-consul of Numidia. He managed, as most Roman governors did, to amass an immense fortune during his term of office, and was subsequently put on his trial for extortion, but acquitted through the influence of Cæsar, who is said to have accepted a large bribe. In B.c. 44 the murder of Cæsar took place, and Sallust withdrew from public life spending the remainder of his days in learned leisure, having purchased a villa at Tibur previously owned by Cæsar, and a splendid mansion on the Quirinal, where he formed the celebrated gardens which afterwards bore his name and belonged to the State. He died in B.C. 34. and, being childless, his grand-nephew Caius Sallustius Crispus succeeded to his enormous wealth.

The private character of Sallust has been much debated, but there can be no doubt, in spite of the moral reflections scattered through his works, and the manner in which he constantly denounces luxury, dissipation and immorality, that he was a man of very lax morals himself, but he appears to have

been a tolerably good man of business and a capable soldier. His works consist of the two historical, or, rather, political tracts on the Catilinarian Conspiracy and the Jugurthine War, and a History of Rome during the twelve years which intervened between the death of Sulla and the Mithridatic War, and which would form a connecting link between the Jugurtha and the Catiline, only a few fragments of which have come down to us. A few other works are attributed to him, but on insufficient evidence.

The style of Sallust is said to have been founded on that of Thucydides; but if so, in clearness and directness he has surpassed his model. He is terse to a fault, and in aiming at conciseness is often rather harsh and abrupt, but his great excellence is the vividness of his narrative, by which he places the events as clearly before the reader as if he were an actor in them himself. With regard to his Latinity, it is to be remarked that Sallust, in discarding the rhetorical style in vogue in his day, and of which Cicero is facile princeps, went to the other extreme, and affected archaisms both in diction and construction, which render him by no means easy to read, and still more difficult to translate. The chief of these are: (1.) The old forms of spelling adopied, e.g., divorsi for diversi, voltis for vultis; caussa for causa, maxume for maxime, and the like. Also quis for quibus, senati for senatûs, tumulti for tumultus, dicundi, capiundi, &c., for dicendi, capiendi; intellegere for intelligere. (2.) Use of the infinitive, instead of the gerund or a dependent clause, and double constructions in the same sentence. (3.) Absence of conjunctions and use of pet phrases, as sine morâ, igitur commencing a sentence, ex sententiâ, etium tum, mortales for homines, pars for alius, ad hoc for præterea, &c. It has also been remarked that he uses deponent participles, as adeptus, in a passive sense, and often joins words nearly synonymous, as bonum atque honestum, varius incertusque, &c. But these mannerisms only tend to bring forth his originality in a more striking manner, and rather heighten the charm of his writing, which, especially in the delineation of character, and in the suitability of the speeches he puts into the mouths of his characters, is at once brilliant and forcible.

P. E.