Sallust

Sallust (Caius Sallustius Crispus) (săl`əst), 86 B.C.–c.34 B.C., Roman historian. He was tribune of the people (52 B.C.) and praetor (46). He was ejected (50) from the senate ostensibly for adultery, but more probably because of his partisanship for Caesar. He served with Caesar after his praetorship and was his governor in Numidia; he was subsequently accused of misusing his governorship for personal gain. His principal works are the Bellum Catilinae, on the conspiracy of Catiline and his account of the Jugurthine War, Bellum Jugurthinum. His history of Rome is extant only in fragments; it probably covered the period 78 B.C. to 67 B.C. There are also two letters, in rhetorical style, from Sallust to Caesar, the authenticity of which has been greatly disputed. As a historian Sallust was important as one of the first to write historical monographs dealing with sharply limited events and periods. Although his style is consciously archaic, it is distinguished by its terseness and directness. His character sketches are particularly impressive and vivid, and his work has found as many imitators as critics.

Bibliography

See studies by D. C. Earl (1961) and R. Syme (1964); bibliography by A. D. Leeman (rev. ed. 1965).

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Sallust

 Latin Gaius Sallustius Crispus

(born c. 86 BC, Amiternum, Samnium—died 35/34 BC) Roman historian. Sallust probably had military experience before taking political office during the strife of the 50s. He began to write after his political career ended c. 45 BC, becoming one of the great Latin literary stylists, noted for his narrative writings about political personalities, corruption, and party rivalry. His works, whose influence pervades later Roman historiography, are Catiline's War (43–42 BC), dealing with corruption in Roman politics; The Jugurthine War (41–40), exploring party struggles in Rome in the late 2nd century BC; and Histories, of which only fragments remain.

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Sallust

full name Gaius Sallustius Crispus. 86--?34 bc, Roman historian and statesman, noted for his histories of the Catiline conspiracy and the Roman war against Jugurtha

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Sallust 

(Gaius Sallustius Crispus). Born 86 B.C.; died circa 35 B.C. Roman historian.

In the civil wars of 49–45 B.C., Sallust sided with Julius Caesar; he subsequently became proconsul of the Roman province of Africa Nova. After Caesar’s death in 44 B.C., Sallust devoted himself to literature. His surviving works include his letters to Caesar (c. 50 B.C. and 46 B.C.), which contain proposals for reform of the state, and two short works, De coniuratione Catilinae (c. 43 B.C. or 41 B.C.) and Bellum Jugurthinum (c. 41 B.C. or 39–36 B.C.). Sallust’s last work—the Historiae, written in five books in the years 36–35 B.C. and dealing with the events of 78–66 B.C.—has been preserved only in brief fragments. Sallust’s works are marked by liveliness of exposition, superbly drawn characters, and an artistic mastery of narration; they provide a vivid picture of the decline of Roman society, the moral disintegration of the nobilitas, and the Senate’s inability to govern the state.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Poln. sobr. soch. Translated and annotated by V. Rudakov. St. Petersburg, 1894.
Zagovor Katiliny: Iugurtinskaia voina. Translated by M. B. Gol’denveizer. Moscow, 1916.
“Pis’ma k Tsezariu-startsu … Fragmenty ‘Istorii.’” Vestnik drevnei istorii, 1950, no. 1.

REFERENCES

Utchenko, S. L. Ideino-politicheskaia bor’ba v Rime nakanune padeniia Respubliki. Moscow, 1952. (Contains a translation of Sallust’s letters to Caesar.)
Syme, R. Sallust. Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1964.