Editing Sallust (section)

== Works ==
Sallust's monographs of the [[Catiline]] conspiracy (''De coniuratione Catilinae'' or ''Bellum Catilinae'') and the [[Jugurthine War]] (''Bellum Jugurthinum'') have come down to us complete, together with fragments of his larger and most important work (''Historiae''), a history of Rome from 78 to 67&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Levene|2007|p=277}}

His brief monographs – his work on Catiline, for example, is shorter than the shortest of Livy's volumes – were the first books of their form attested at Rome.{{sfn|Levene|2007|p=280}}

=== ''Catiline's War'' ===
{{main|Bellum Catilinae}}

The monograph was probably written {{circa|42 BC}}.{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1310}} Some historians, however, give it an earlier date of composition, perhaps as early at 50&nbsp;BC as an unpublished pamphlet which was reworked and published after the civil wars.{{sfn|MacKay|1962|p=190}} It shows no traces of personal recollections on the conspiracy, perhaps indicating the Sallust was out of the city on military service at the time.{{sfn|Earl|1966|pp=307–9}} It may have been written as "a plea for common sense" during the proscriptions of the [[Second Triumvirate]], with its depiction of Caesar opposing the death penalty contrasting with the then-current slaughter.{{sfn|Mellor|2002|p=38}}

It is Sallust's first published work, detailing the attempt by [[Lucius Sergius Catilina]] to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63&nbsp;BC. Sallust presents Catiline as a deliberate foe of law, order and morality, and does not give a comprehensive explanation of his views and intentions (Catiline had supported the party of [[Sulla]], whom Sallust had opposed). [[Theodor Mommsen]] suggested that Sallust particularly wished to clear his [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patron]] ([[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]) of all complicity in the conspiracy.{{cn|date=March 2022}}

In writing about the conspiracy of Catiline, Sallust's tone, style, and descriptions of aristocratic behaviour illustrate "the political and moral decline of Rome, begun after the fall of Carthage, quickening after Sulla's dictatorship, and spreading from the dissolute nobility to infect all Roman politics".{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1310}} While he inveighs against Catiline's depraved character and vicious actions, he does not fail to state that the man had many noble traits. In particular, Sallust shows Catiline as deeply courageous in his final battle.{{cn|date=March 2022}} He presents a narrative condemning the conspirators without doubt, likely relying on Cicero's ''De consulatu suo'' ({{literally|On his [Cicero's] consulship}}) for details of the conspiracy;{{sfn|MacKay|1962|p=183}} his narrative focused, however, on Caesar and [[Cato the Younger]], who are held up as "two examples of ''virtus'' ('excellence')" with long speeches describing a debate on the punishment of the conspirators in the last section.{{sfn|Pelling|2012|pp=1310–11}}{{sfn|Levene|2007|p=281}}

=== ''The Jugurthine War'' ===
{{Main|Bellum Jugurthinum}}
[[File:Houghton MS Richardson 17 - Sallust manuscript, ca. 1490, f51.jpg|thumb|c. 1490 manuscript of ''De Bello Jugurthino'']]
Sallust's ''Jugurthine War'' ({{langx|la|Bellum Jugurthinum}}) is a monograph on the war against [[Jugurtha]] in [[Numidia]] from 112 to 106&nbsp;BC. It was written {{circa|41–40 BC}} and again emphasised moral decline.{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1311}} Sallust likely relied on a general annalistic history of the time, as well as the autobiographies of [[Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (consul 115 BC)|Marcus Aemilius Scaurus]], [[Publius Rutilius Rufus]], and [[Sulla]].{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1311}}

Its true value lies in the introduction of [[Gaius Marius|Marius]] and [[Sulla]] to the Roman political scene and the beginning of their rivalry.  Sallust's time as governor of Africa Nova ought to have let the author develop a solid geographical and ethnographical background to the war; however, this is not evident in the monograph, despite a diversion on the subject, because Sallust's priority in the ''Jugurthine War'', as with ''War of Catiline'', is to use history as a vehicle for his judgement on the slow destruction of Roman morality and politics.{{cn|date=March 2022}}

=== Other works ===
{{see also|Epistula Mithridatis}}

His last work, ''Historiae'', covered events from 78&nbsp;BC; none of it survives except a fragment of book 5, concerning the year 67&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1311}} From the extant fragments, he seemed to again emphasize moral decline after Sulla; he "was not generous to Pompey".{{sfn|Pelling|2012|p=1311}} Historians regret the loss of the work, as it must have thrown much light on a very eventful period, embracing the war against [[Sertorius]] (died 72 BC), the campaigns of [[Lucullus]] against [[Mithradates VI of Pontus]] (75–66 BC), and the victories of [[Pompey]] in the East (66–62 BC).{{cn|date=March 2022}}

Two letters (''Duae epistolae de republica ordinanda''), letters of political counsel and advice addressed to Caesar, and an attack upon Cicero (''Invectiva'' or ''Declamatio in Ciceronem''), frequently attributed to Sallust, are thought by modern scholars to have come from the pen of a rhetorician of the first century AD, along with a counter-invective attributed to Cicero. At one time [[Marcus Porcius Latro]] was considered a candidate for the authorship of the pseudo-Sallustian corpus, but this view is no longer commonly held.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Smith
  | first = William
  | author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)
  | contribution = Latro, M. Porcius
  | editor-last = Smith
  | editor-first = William
  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]
  | volume = 2
  | pages = 726
  | publisher = Stefano Ciufferpebble
  | year = 1867
  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1834.html
  | access-date = 8 September 2007
  | archive-date = 15 March 2009
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090315034607/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1834.html
  | url-status = dead
  }}</ref>