FRAGMENTS OF THE HISTORY OF SALLUST. Or these Fragments the greater part were collected from the grammarians, a other writers who have cited Sallust, by Paulus Manutius and Ludovicus Carrio. Subsequent critics have augmented, corrected, and illustrated them. That the Speeches and Epistles, which form the larger portion of them, have reached us entire, is owing to their preservation in an old manuscript, in which they had been added to the Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jugurthine War, and from which Pomponius Lætus extracted them for the press. Cortius. Of all who have endeavoured to illustrate these Fragments, the most successful has been De Brosses, who, by throwing light on many that were obscure, uniting some that had been disjoined, and supplying, from other writers, what appeared to have been lost, has given a restoration, as far as was possible, of Sallust's History in French. It must be allowed that the work which he has produced is worthy of being read by every student of Roman history. Sallust gave a historical record of the affairs at Rome from A.U.c. 675, when Sylla laid down the dictatorship, to A.U.c. 688, when Pompey, by the law of Manilius, was appointed general in the Mithridatic war. During this period occurred the civil disturbances excited by Lepidus after the death of Sylla, the wars of Sertorius and Spartacus, the destruction of the pirates, and the victories of Lucullus over Mithridates. To his narrative he prefixed a summary of events from the end of the Jugurthine War; so that the Jugurtha, the History, and the Catiline comprehended, in an uninterrupted series, the occurrences of fifty-five years, from 636 to 691. Burnouf All the Fragments of any importance are here translated. The names appended to them are those of the grammarians, or other writers, from whom they have been extracted. The text of them can scarcely be said to be settled; Cortius and Burnouf are the two editors that have bestowed most pains upon it. I have in general followed Burnouf. I HAVE recorded the acts of the Roman people, military· and civil, in the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus1, and the subsequent period. Donatus. Pomp. Messalinus. Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus They were consuls, A.U.C. 676, just Cato, the most expressive in style1 of all the Romans, said much in few words. Servius. Acron. Nor has the circumstance of being of an opposite party in the civil war ever drawn me away from the truth. Arusianus. The first dissensions among us arose from the depravity of the human mind, which, restless and untameable, is always engaged in a struggle for liberty, or glory, or power. Priscian. The Roman state was at the greatest height of power in the consulship of Servius Sulpicius and Marcus Marcellus3; when all Gaul on this side of the Rhine, and between our sea and the ocean, except what marshes rendered impassable, was brought under its dominion. But the Romans acted on the best moral principles, and with the greatest harmony, in the interval between the second and last Carthaginian war. Victorinus. Augustinus. But discord, and avarice, and ambition, and other evils after the abdication of Sylla. Ausonius mentions them, and alludes, at the same time, to the contents of Sallust's History, in his IVth Idyl, ver. 61: Jam facinus, Catilina, tuum, Lepidique tumultum, Ab Lepido et Catulo jam res et tempora Romæ 1 Expressive in style] Disertissimus. "Sallust had a particular regard for the History of Cato, which, in Sallust's time, had almost ceased to be read. He valued himself upon imitating his style, and his obsolete expressions. He found in his antique language an energy to which modern polish and accuracy scarcely ever attain. This is the quality which we Frenchmen so much regard in our ancient authors, as Comines, Amyot, and the incomparable Montaigne, writers who have never been surpassed for natural strength and ease of style." De Brosses. 2 The first dissensions, &c.] "This was the commencement of a preface, in which Sallust treated of the manners and condition of the city of Rome, and of the form of government, from the foundation of the city. The following frag. ments relate to the same subject." Burnouf. 3 Servius Sulpicius and Marcus Marcellus] A.U.c. 703. But discord, &c.] Compare Jug., c. 41; Cat, c. 10. that usually spring from prosperity, were most increased after Carthage was destroyed. For encroachments of the stronger on the weaker, and consequent separations of the people from the senate, with other domestic dissensions, had existed even from the very origin of the republic; nor, on the expulsion of the kings, were equity and moderation observed any longer than till the dread of Tarquin, and of a fierce war from Etruria, subsided; after that time, the patricians began to tyrannize over the plebeians as over slaves; to scourge and put them to death with authority like that of kings; to dispossess them of their lands, and, excluding them from the government, to keep it entirely in their own hands. The people, being greatly oppressed by these severities, and especially by the grievance of usury, and having also to contribute taxes and service for incessant wars, at ast took up arms, and posted themselves on the Sacred and Aventine Mounts; on which occasions they secured for themselves the right of electing tribunes, and other privileges. To these disputes and contentions the second Punic war brought a termination. Augustin. When, after the terror of the Carthaginians was removed, the people were at liberty to resume their dissensions, innumerable disturbances, seditions, and subsequent civil wars, arose, while a few powerful individuals, whose interest most of the other nobles had submitted to promote, sought, under the specious pretext of supporting the senate or the plebeians, to secure power for themselves; and men were esteemed or despised by them, not as they deserved well or ill of the republic, (for all were equally corrupt;) but whoever grew eminently wealthy, and better able to encroach on others, was styled, if he supported the present state of affairs, an excellent citizen. From this period the manners of our forefathers degenerated, not, as before, gradually, but with precipitation like that of a torrent; and the youth became so depraved with luxury and avarice, that they might be thought, with justice, to have been born powerless either to preserve their own property, or to suffer others to preserve theirs. Gellius. Augustin. THE SPEECH OF THE CONSUL, MARCUS ÆMILIUS LEPIDUS1, TO THE PEOPLE OF ROME, AGAINST SYLLA. "YOUR clemency and probity2, O Romans, for which 1 Marcus Æmilius Lepidus] "He was the father of Lepidus, the triumvir, of the patrician gens Æmilia, the chief families of which were the Lepidi, Pauli, and Scauri. This Lepidus was ædile in the seventh consulship of Marius, but afterwards went over to the victorious party of Sylla, and was distinguished as one of the most eager in getting possession of the property of the proscribed. He became consul-elect in the year 675, supported by Pompey, and opposed by Sylla, who was still dictator. But after Sylla resigned the dictatorship, Lepidus applied himself to nullify his acts, to revive the party of Marius, and to stir up the children and friends of the proscribed; aspiring, himself, to power similar to that of Sylla, but not with Sylla's ability; for he was light-minded, a leader of sedition, cunning rather than prudent, and without skill in war. De Brosses thinks that this speech was spoken by Lepidus, when he was consul-elect, and before he had entered on his office, to his own particular adherents, whom he had convened in some private place. But Douza is of opinion that Lepidus actually addressed himself to an assembly of the people after he had assumed the consulship, while Sylla was living in a private station after his resignation of the dictatorship, but while he yet retained much of his dictatorial power through the influence of his party." Burnouf. From the character of the speech itself, the reader will be inclined, I think, to pronounce the opinion of De Brosses fanciful, and to agree with Douza. The composition of the speech is of course Sallust's own; though the sentiments, or many of them, may have proceeded from Lepidus. "It is very difficult to determine at what time the speech was made; for though this may seem to be sufficiently shown by its title and matter, yet it has been suspected by many that such an oration could not have been publicly pronounced while Sylla was alive, even though he might have resigned the dictatorship, but must have been addressed to a band of conspirators, in some private place of assembly. It is, however, certain that Lepidus, as consul, made the speech to the people on the rostra; for he would not have used the term Quirites except in a public address; nor would he, in the character of consul-elect, which gave him no power or authority, have offered himself as a leader to the people for the recovery of their liberty. But, it may be said, there are many expressions in the speech which seem to prove that Sylla, at the time of its delivery, still held the dictatorship. Appius and Orosius intimate that Sylla ceased to be dictator A.U.C. 674, when he himself was consul with Metellus Pius, or the year after, when Servilius and Claudius were consuls. See Appian, De Bell. Civ. i., 103; Oros. v., 22. And from Plutarch, Syll. c. 34, we may understand that the abdication took place A.U.C. 675. The agreement of these writers, though they are of no great authority individually, induces me to believe that Sylla resigned his office the year before Lepidus and Catulus were consuls. But the resignation appears to me no matter of wonder; and, indeed, the writers of those days regarded it as a mere display of arrogance; for though he abdicated the name of dictator, he gave up nothing of his dictatorial power, except what he might lose by devoting himself to pleasure and luxury. deed, the power of Sylla depended not so much on his office of dictator, as on the laws which he had made, and on a party of the nobility who supported him." Gerlach. Your clemency and probity, &c.] Clementia et probitas vestra, &c. Burnouf .... In you are eminent and renowned among other nations, excite in me the greatest apprehensions against the tyranny of Sylla, lest, either by disbelieving concerning others what you yourselves think nefarious, you should allow imposition to be practised upon you, (especially since all his hopes depend on dishonesty and perfidy, nor does he otherwise deem himself safe, than by becoming more abandoned and infamous1 than even your fears can forebode, so that, when you are thoroughly made subject to him, your sufferings may suppress in you all care of recovering your liberty;) or lest, if you foresee his machinations, you should occupy your thoughts rather in guarding against them than in taking revenge for them. "His satellites, men of the highest name, and with the noblest examples of their forefathers for their imitation, sacrifice their own freedom (I cannot sufficiently wonder at their conduct) as a price for the power of domineering over you, and prefer slavery and tyranny without laws, to liberty under the best laws. Illustrious descendants of the Bruti, Emilii, and Lutatii, born to overthrow what the virtue of their ancestors established! For what was it that was defended against Pyrrhus, and Hannibal, and Philip2, and Antiochus, but liberty, and the security of our homes, and obedience to nothing but the laws? But all these privileges this cruel Romulus withholds from us, as spoils torn from foreign enemies; nor is he satiated with the destruction of so many armies, of a consul5, and of other eminent men observes that this exordium is an imitation of that of the Corinthians to the Lacedæmonians, Thucyd. i., 68: Τὸ πιστὸν, ὑμᾶς, ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, gc. " The trustiness and policy of your intercourse amongst yourselves, Lacedæmonians, renders you the more distrustful with regard to others, if we say anything against them; and from this you have a character for sober-mindedness, but betray too great ignorance with regard to foreign affairs." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Cl. Library. 1 Infamous] Intestabilior. See Jug., c. 67. 2 Philip] King of Macedonia. 3 Security of our homes] Sua cuique sedes. This cruel Romulus] Savus iste Romulus. He thus designates Sylla, as being, like Romulus, bent upon maintaining his power by violence. But the term would have been more applicable to him before he resigned his dictatorship. 5 Of a consul] Consulis. "He seems to speak of the younger Marius." Crispinus. Gerlach observes that three consuls, Carbo, Marius, and Norbanus, were killed in the civil war, and thinks that the reading consulum, which is in some copies, ought to be adopted. |