Gaius Sallustius Crispus was a Roman historian whose career began in the Roman senate during the period of decline which preceded the Augustan era in the time of Julius Caesar. Sources such as St. Jerome tell us he was born in the year after Rome's 'Social War' in which the 'socii' or 'allies of Rome' waged war against Rome itself, winning to them official status as citizens of the republic. Sallust rose to distinction, & when he entered the field of Roman politics he became what the Romans classified as 'novus homo' or a 'new man' pertaining to his status as a senator. It means that Sallust succeeded in attaining to the position of senator without any hereditary assistance; he didn't get in easily because his father had been a senator, or his uncle. He achieved his rank based upon his own merits. In the year 50 B.C., Cassius Dio's work states that Sallust was removed from the senate for opprobrious conduct, but later after the rise of Julius Caesar he regained his previous rank & status. Caesar liked Sallust.
During his tenure as a politician Sallust held various elected positions, culminating with his appointment as governor over the Roman province of Africa Nova. According to what history tells, he was quite corrupt in his administration of the territory, while holding this position, leading to the acquisition of ill-begotten wealth & enabling Sallust to commission projects such as his famous 'Horti Sallustiani' or 'Gardens of Sallust' at the extravagant mansion he later had constructed in Rome.
Sallust is considered to be amongst the first Roman historians whose work has survived. His three works considered to be significant include 'De coniuratione Catilinae', a record of the famous Cataline Conspiracy in 63 B.C., 'Bellum Jugurthinum', a chronicle of of the Jugurthine War which pitted Rome against the Numidian king Jugurtha from 112-105 B.C., & 'Historiae' which is an extremely fragmented history of Rome from the years of 78-67 B.C. Sallust's work for the Penguin Classic edition is translated by A.J. Woodman who like other translators has a immense passion for his work that becomes quite apparent via the wonderful way in which the composition 'feels' as you read it. Woodman's introduction also provides to the reader his scholarly insight on remaining faithful to the source material, as well as the inherent pitfalls correlated with deviation or what I consider to be interpolation of someone's original words. He believes that it just corrupts the language, which I wholeheartedly agree with him on without hesitation.
When compared to other writers from antiquity such as Gaius Suetonius, Cornelius Tacitus, & the Elder & Younger Plinys, Sallust's particular style to me reads like it was written by someone who truly had a talent for manufacturing compelling literature. From the impression I derived after reading 'The Annals' & 'The Histories' I think Tacitus absolutely enjoyed the work he did, but he wasn't necessarily the best writer. His composition doesn't make the reader sit & ponder after reading it, & to me it didn't leave a lasting impression. Suetonius was effective at very different things, such as being able to make the reader laugh & also he was able to infuse his emotion & admiration for the men he wrote about, into his writing style. As a result, his very-unorthodox composition style & irregular organizational tendencies all of a sudden become endearing as opposed to annoying the reader. Pliny the Elder only has 'Naturalis Historiae' to evaluate his writing by, which is a work more of a scientific disposition than a historical one; the Younger Pliny's letters however do in my eyes reflect a refined, versatile literary style of writing that is indicative of the considerably diverse spectrum of positions he held in his career. He was a lawyer, a magistrate, a governor, each of which probably exposed him to many different people & thrust him into many different situations. When someone is given the opportunity to spread their wings & fulfill their potential, they are able to do so.
Sallust's narrative flows so smoothly to me, it's so effective & compelling that I literally feel like I'm reading one of George R.R. Martin's books, something like 'Fire & Blood' or 'The World of Ice & Fire' because it's written in a way that to me is demonstrative of an effort made on the part of the author not only to engage his audience but to keep him or her engaged for the entirety of the text. Sallust doesn't merely tell the reader, "Then this man went here, & met up with these people, they fought a war, then this happened..et cetera", he finds a way to convey something akin to what I just recreated but in a compelling manner. "It was with him that Cataline & Autronius around the Nones of December shared their scheme, & they were preparing to kill the consuls L. Cotta & L. Torquatus on the Capitol on the Kalends of January." Further down in the paragraph he continues, "And, had not Catiline been too speedy in giving the signal to his allies in front of the curia, the worst deed since the founding of the City of Rome would have been perpetrated on that day." This is actually interesting to read about! I think modern authors enjoy a fairly stable environment to develop their craft whereas those in antiquity endured a much more stressful lifestyle simply because civilization had not sufficiently developed to make that level of security possible. For a writer living during that time period to be as linguistically adept as Sallust most certainly was becomes all the more impressive.
Also, it assists tremendously that Sallust's 'Cataline War' & 'The Jurgathine War' both at their beginning have introductions woven into the writing devised so beautifully they slowly help the reader along, filling in what happened leading up to the events themselves. And Sallust's style is so subtle & nuanced that he's able to effectively convey his beliefs on which qualities of mankind make people good or evil in a way that completely abjures from employing any distasteful employment of expression resembling "This person is evil because of this reason" or "I believe that so-and-so was a good person". Sallust's base concepts of avarice & prowess, which Woodman helps to bring to our attention in the introduction by explaining his choices of using specific English words to translate from the original in Latin, are explored in depth as he utilizes them frequently when illustrating the events & the people on which his narratives are focused. I'm quite sure that the degree of success achieved with the flow of the writing is also in large part a result of Woodman's skills as a translator, which even though he very specifically & visibly states to the reader that his translation is as close as he could possibly make it to being faithful to the original Latin with no sacrifices made to the language in order to make this edition more easily readable on a mass level. You are able to infer quite easily through reading his introduction & preface what an intelligent man Woodman is & his complete abstinence in bringing to attention any of his own talents or skills effectively delineates that he also is an exceedingly modest one. He can abjure all he likes, but the superior-level quality of his translation work speaks for A.J. Woodman in a way that my words as well as anyone else's cannot.
If there exists a low point in this collection of Sallust's work its origins are a consequence of history's 'mala facinora' or 'wicked deeds' & not an author's or translator's inadequacy or lack of due diligence. Sallust's final work 'Histories' is rife with 'lacunae' or fragmentations of the original Latin manuscript. The extent material consists mainly of speeches & letters which only serve in making the reader's yearning to read what has been lost to the erosion of time & probably to humanity's destructive nature. However this unfortunate reality does not diminish the grandeur of Sallust's 'Cataline War' or 'The Jugurthine War' whatsoever. This isn't a long book, when the introductions & expanded notes are included the total page count runs at just over 200.
Historically, the earliest of Sallust's writings is 'The Jugurthine War' which takes place after the end of the Punic era following the fall of the brothers Gracchi. 'Cataline's War' however takes place shortly before the beginning of the first triumvirate which preceded the rise of Julius Caesar, but as I stated earlier in the review, Sallust's work is the earliest known Roman historical records so there is no prior background history with which the reader can familiarize his or herself; this is pretty much the starting point. This means that you can more-or-less dive right in, however if you would like to read an author from (very) roughly the same era with a slightly-easier-to-read linguistic style of composition I would recommend to you 'The Twelve Caesars' by Gaius Suetonius as it's written in a way that while providing a challenge, still will make you smile & laugh at both Suetonius' eccentricities & the way he describes the twelve Roman emperors in their biographies. 'The Twelve Caesars' would be a good choice for those seeking to become familiar with the verbiage for linguistic experience if not the historical background.
I hope you enjoyed my review & also that you perhaps learned more about Roman history !
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Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
I personally liked Catiline's War part of the Book
Reviewed in India on November 2, 2016Luc REYNAERT
All evicted Justice from their greedy thoughts (Catullus)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2013George Gordon
Strong literalist translation, but beware...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 12, 2014