Sallust

In 63 BC, frustrated by his failure to be elected leader of the Roman Republic, the aristocrat Catiline tried to topple its elected government. Backed by corrupt elites and poor, alienated Romans, he fled Rome while his associates plotted to burn the city and murder its leading politicians. The attempted coup culminated with the unmasking of the conspirators in the...

Sallust (86-c. 35 BC) is the earliest Roman historian of whom complete works survive. A senator of the Roman Republic, he was a younger contemporary of Cicero, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. His Catiline's War tells of the conspiracy in 63 BC led by L. Sergius Catilina, who plotted to assassinate numerous senators and take control of the government but was...

Sallust, Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86–35 BCE), a Sabine from Amiternum, acted as tribune against Cicero and Milo in 52, joined Caesar after being expelled from the Senate in 50. He was restored to the Senate by Caesar and took part in his African campaign as praetor in 46, and was then appointed governor of New Africa (Numidia). Upon his return...

Sallust, Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86-35 BCE), a Sabine from Amiternum, acted against Cicero and Milo as tribune in 52, joined Caesar after being expelled from the Senate in 50. He was restored to the Senate by Caesar and took part in his African campaign as praetor in 46, later appointed governor of New Africa (Numidia). Upon his return to Rome,...

This text is a supplemental reader for the Lingua Latina series that includes selections from Sallust's Catilina and Cicero's Catilinarian Speeches I and III. It is designed for students who have finished Part I, Familia Romana, or anyone interested in learning Latin using the Lingua Latina Hans Orberg method.

This is Sallust's text, Bellum Catilinae, in Latin with an English introduction and notes. It is intended primarily for use by sixth-formers (upper high/secondary school) and undergraduates. The commentary concentrates on the elucidation of historical points and on the analysis of character and motive. It also explains points of grammar as they arise. The introduction provides essential information on the...