This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
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 ;1 but, returning to those studies2 from which, at their commencement, a corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detatched portions,3 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. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the man.
1 IV. Servile occupations--agriculture or hunting] “Agrum colendo, aut venando, senvilibus officiis intentum.” By calling agriculture and hunting servilia officia, Sallust intends, as is remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the saying of Julian the emperor, Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, captare laudes ex corpore. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, agricultura et venatio servilia officia sunt, quum in solo consistant corporis usu, animum, verò nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Qui labor in se certè est illiberalis, ei præsertim cui facultas sit ad meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to peruse.
2 Returning to those studies, etc.] “A quo incepto studio me ambitio mala detinuerat, eòdem regressus.” " The study, namely, of writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." Cortius.
3 In detached portions] “Carptim.” Plin. Ep. viii., 47: “Respondebis non posse perinde carptim, ut contexta placere”: et vi. 22: “Egit carptim et κατὰ κεφάλαια,” Dietsch.
Conspiracy of Catiline. Sallust. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. New York and London. Harper & Brothers. 1899.
This text was converted to electronic form by optical character recognition and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.