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Men have no right to complain that they are naturally feeble and short-lived, or that it is chance and not merit that decides their destiny. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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In the Jugurthine War, you get wonderful details on the rise of the great generals, Marius and Sulla, who were friends and then deadly rivals in a struggle that essentially sowed the seeds of the end of the Roman Republic in the next generation. While the plot covers a war in Northern Africa on a ruthless rebel King, Jugurtha, the most important aspects of the work are on the transformation of the Roman army from amateur soldier-farmer landowners to a professional corps that admitted anyone. While a necessary measure to maintain the expansion of the Roman empire as the population of traditional army recruits dwindled, this led directly to rise of powerful generals, who could rely on the personal loyalty of their troops if they wished to grab power in civil war, which had been avoided for centuries. First, there was Sulla's dictatorship, then Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon. But the story takes place before that, when the military genius Marius was transforming the army and mentoring the ambitious Sulla. The reader can study the organization of the army as well as the changing mores of Roman society that this reflected. It is a great masterpiece and fun read, with wonderfully quirky details. In many ways, it is about the end of the oligarchy that ruled the Republic for so long, as exemplified by the failure of Metellus and how despised enemy, Marius (who was not a aristocrat and knew no Greek) took over from him and triumphed.
The story on Cataline's conspiracy is more about Rome's civil society and governance. It is a far more openly moralistic tale of an attempted coup by a disgraced aristocrat, who was opposed by Cicero; in the background Julius Caesar and Pompey are also present, as are a number of lesser known Senators such as Scaurus. While this adds crucial detail to the historical picture, its preachiness and one-sided portrait - and many sloppy chronological mistakes - make it a fairly boring read, i.e. for scholars. It is a tale of decadence and ruffians who are tempted by power in the promises of a fool, Cataline.
The introductory essays are also splendidly detailed regarding historical controversies and background currents as well as beautifully written. I learned a great deal about the context in which Sallust's essays were conceived, e.g. his reasons for moralizing, his hypocracies, and career.
So, while rather recondite, this is a truly great volume of one of antiquity's most influential writers. Recommended.
"Wealth and Beauty can only give us a fleeting and perishable fame, but intellectual excellence is a glorious and everlasting possession." This stance sits nicely alongside the fact that he was expelled from the Senate for alleged immorality in 50 B.C.! The solution to this problem seems to be that human nature is a complex phenomenon, and that man is capable of both brute carnality and intellectual honesty, depending on the chemical swings of the moment without totally compromising his integrity.
Only a part of Sallust's work has survived, most notably his history of the war against Jugurthine, an able North African monarch, and the Conspiracy of Catiline, a debauched but charismatic member of the aristocracy who aimed at a populist coup. This volume is composed of these two histories.
The war against the ruthless but talented Jugurthine was more about politics than tactics. Jugurthine took advantage of the growing material greed of senators and tribunes in the late Roman Republic to bribe them to connive at his usurpation of the Numidian Kingdom. This policy was only successful in the short term, however, as the aggravated greed of the Romans led to a war of conquest, plunder, and annexation of his kingdom.
Sallust's account is particularly effective at showing the rise of Marius, a common soldier from a plebian family, who succeeded in overcoming prejudice to rise to the top of the Roman State as Consul. Although he later became a bloodthirsty revolutionary, his toughness, honesty, and energy contrast with the corruption and decadence that was already infecting Rome's higher orders.
The second part of this history focuses on one of these corrupt aristocrats, the much vilified Catiline, who tried to seize supreme power. Connected to many of the great men of his day, like the young Julius Caesar and the extremely wealthy Crassus, he hatched a plot to cause fires, assassinations, and riots in Rome while his private army conscripted from veterans with bad debts marched on the city. Catiline as a profligate nobleman had vast debts of his own and this was perhaps one of the main motives behind the plot.
Ably opposed by the Consul Cicero, the plot fell apart until Catiline's private army was forced to retreat and then annihilated by the Roman legions in North Italy. Although Catiline was depicted by Cicero as a depraved monster who had even sacrificed and eaten human flesh, Sallust seems more objective. He records Caesar's fine speech calling for clemency for some of the conspirators, and he also records the bravery of Catiline's little army, every man of which fell facing the enemy in a stubborn battle. This leaves the reader feeling that Catiline was perhaps more than just a power-crazed thug.
Dealing honestly with two of the most unpopular 'villains' from the late Republic, Sallust's history successfully aspires to the writer's own notion of intellectual excellence. It is for this reason that his name is still with us today.
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