yourself in particular, who are master of Seleucia, the greatest of cities, and of Persia, renowned for its wealth, what can you expect from them but dissimulation for the present, and war hereafter? The Romans have weapons to attack all, but the keenest for those whose conquest will yield most spoil. It is by daring and deceit, and by raising war upon war, that they have become great. Pursuing this course, they will either suppress all other powers, or perish in the attempt. And to effect their destruction will not be difficult, if you on the side of Mesopotamia, and I on that of Armenia, surround their army, which will thus be deprived of provisions and succour, and which, indeed, has been hitherto preserved only by the favour of Fortune, or by our own fault. You will then be celebrated among posterity, as having come to the aid of great princes1, and having suppressed the spoilers of nations. This course I advise and exhort you to take; and not, by suffering me to perish, to delay your own destruction merely for a while, rather than become a conqueror by uniting with me2.

Of what book the following speech is a fragment is uncertain. Cortius, Gerlach, and Burnouf, think that it formed part of the third. De Brosses places it in the second.

SPEECH OF CAIUS COTTA3, THE CONSUL, TO THE PEOPLE. "It has been my lot, my fellow-citizens, to experience 1 Great princes] Magnis regibus. Himself and Tigranes.

2 "The arts of the Romans are nowhere more fully exposed than in this letter. We are not to believe, however, with the learned De Brosses, that it was written by Mithridates himself; . . . . for the commencement of it is a manifest imitation of Thucydides, i., 32; and the diction of Sallust is easily to be recognised throughout it." Burnouf.

Caius Cotta] "This speech, as appears from internal evidence, was spoken by Caius Aurelius Cotta, consul in the year 679, when a disturbance had arisen among the people in consequence of the famine of which we have spoken in the first note on the Letter of Pompey. It ought, therefore, to be referred to the third book of Sallust's History; and they are greatly in error who attribute it to Marcus Cotta, who was routed by Mithridates, and whom they suppose to be here deprecating the anger of the people on account of his defeat. It is plain, from the words of the speaker, that the people were threatening him with death under the influence of hunger. . . C. Cotta was a very great orator. Cicero says much respecting him, Brut. 30, 49, 55. He is also one of the speakers in the treatise De Oratore." Burnouf. Gerlach's remarks, on the authorship of the speech, are to the same effect.

many perils at home, and many reverses in the field; which, by the help of the gods and my own efforts, I have partly endured and partly surmounted; but in none of them have I been found wanting in ability to direct my conduct, or in industry to execute my plans. Prosperity and adversity have wrought changes in my resources, but never in my mind. Yet, in our present calamitous circumstances, every support, in common with Fortune, seems to have deserted me. Old age, too, which is a burden in itself, doubles my anxiety; for, at my advanced period of life, I cannot hope even to die with honour. Should I prove a traitor to you, and, after being twice born, lightly esteem my household gods, my country, and this supreme command, what torture would be sufficient for me during life, or what punishment after death? All the torments attributed to the infernal regions would be too little for my guilt.

"From my earliest manhood, both as a public and private character, my conduct has been before you; whoever wished to profit by my advocacy, my counsel, or my purse, has never been refused. I have exerted no subtilty of eloquence or talent to work mischief. Though most desirous of friendship as a private individual, I have incurred the most violent enmities in the cause of the state. But when I was overpowered, together with the commonwealth, by a victorious. faction; when I stood in need of relief from others, and was expecting still greater calamities, you, my fellow-citizens, restored to me my country, and my household gods, with the greatest possible honour. For such benefits, if I could lay down a life (which is impossible) for each of you, I should hardly think that I testified sufficient gratitude. Since life and death belong to natures; but the privilege of living

1 Even to die with honour] "For he cannot die with honour, who dies under the imputation of a great crime." Burnouf.

2 Twice born] Bis genitus. "Those were said to be bis geniti in the state, who, after some calamity, attained eminent honour, or who, after being banished from their country, were received into it again. That Cotta had been exiled, and had returned, appears from what he afterwards says, and from Cicero, Brut., c. 90. So Cicero, Epist. ad Att., vi., 6, calls his own return maliyyeveola." Cortius. He was exiled, according to Burnouf, A.U.C. 663, and recalled by Sylla after his victory over Marius.

3 Since life and death belong to nature, &c.] Nam vita et mors jura naturæe sunt, &c. "If I could lay down a life for each of you, I should only give what

among one's countrymen, without censure, uninjured in reputation or fortune, is given and received as a favour from one's country.

"You have elected us Consuls1, my fellow-citizens, at a time when the republic is in the greatest embarrassment both at home and abroad. The generals in Spain2 are calling for pay, troops, arms, and provisions; demands which their circumstances oblige them to make; for, from the defection of our allies, and the retreat of Sertorius over the mountains, they can neither come to an engagement, nor obtain necessary supplies. Armies are maintained in Asia and Cilicia, on account of the formidable power of Mithridates. Macedonia is full of enemies, as well as the maritime parts of Italy and the provinces. Our revenues, which are small, and, from the distractions of war, irregularly received, scarcely suffice for the half of our expenses*; and hence we sail with a fleet, for conveying provisions to the troops, much smaller than on previous occasions.

"If this state of things has been produced by treachery or neglect in us, act against us as vengeance may prompt you; inflict the most severe punishment upon us. But if Fortune, which is common to all, has merely frowned upon us, why do you meditate resolutions unworthy of yourselves, of us, and of the commonwealth? For myself, whose long life is drawing to a close, I do not deprecate death, if, by the infliction of it, any inconvenience may be removed from you; nor can I terminate my life, the life of a free-born citizen, in a more

belongs to nature, and not to man; but you gave me what belongs to yourselves, namely, the privilege of living without dishonour, and even in the full enjoyment of fame and fortune among my countrymen. What I should offer to you, could not be received as a real gift; what you conferred on me, was both given and received as the greatest of gifts." Burnouf.

1 Us Consuls] Himself and Lucullus, afterwards famous for his conduct of the Mithridatic war.

2 The generals in Spain] Pompey and Metellus. See Pompey's Letter, and the notes. "From these words it is plain that this speech was delivered some short time before the Letter of Pompey was sent to the senate; for Lucullus and Cotta granted Pompey's requests." Gerlach.

3 Defection of our allies] "Those in Spain, whom Sertorius had detached from the Romans." Burnouf.

♦ Half of our expenses] Partem sumptuum. Sc. dimidiam. So duæ partes is used for two-thirds.

honourable cause than that of promoting your welfare. I, Caius Cotta, your consul, am here before you; I do what our ancestors, in unsuccessful wars, have often done; I devote and offer myself for the republic. But consider to what sort of person you must hereafter intrust its interests; for no man of merit will be willing to accept such an honour, when he must be accountable for misfortunes at sea, and for all the events of war, whether conducted by himself or by others, or come to an ignominious end. Remember, however, when you have put me to death, that I died, not for any iniquitous or avaricious practices, but resigning my breath willingly in behalf of those to whom I owe the highest obligations.

"But I conjure you, my fellow-citizens, by your regard for yourselves, and by the glory of your ancestors, bear up against adversity, and devise proper measures for the good of the state. To the management of a great empire much care, and much toil, are necessary; toil from which it is in vain for you to shrink, and in vain to look for the affluence of peace, when every province and realm, every sea and land, is embroiled or exhausted with war."

TWO EPISTLES TO JULIUS CAESAR, ON THE

GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE;

WHICH HAVE BEEN ASCRIBED TO SALLUST.

"THESE Letters were formerly entitled Orations. But that they are Letters is apparent from various passages in them; and especially from the twelfth section of the first, in which the writer says, forsitan, imperator, perlectis litteris, &c. I have therefore followed Cortius in giving them that name. That which I have placed first, in accordance with the opinions of the best French translators, De Brosses, Dureau Delamalle, and Eusebe Salvert, is generally put second. But it is evident, from the ninth section of the first, and from the second section of the second, that they were written in the order in which they are here given.

"There has been much contention amongst scholars whether they were written by Sallust, or by some imitator of Sallust's style. Cortius maintains that they are not Sallust's, and bestows great labour in proving that every word in them may be found in Sallust's other writings; and hence infers that they are not the composition of Sallust. Any other person might possibly, from such premises, have formed a different conclusion. But Cortius wrote his commentary in a passion, and does not scruple to charge the author of the Epistles, throughout his notes, with the grossest folly and stupidity; reproaches which would certainly recoil upon himself, had he not, by his other annotations on Sallust, honourably rendered himself proof against them. Douza, a man of as great learning as Cortius, asserts that they must certainly be Sallust's; 'for there could not be taken, says he, from the same spring, two drops of water more like to one another than these letters are like the relics of Sallust which fortune has spare us.' That such is the case, every one who reads the letters will understand as well as Douza. Carrio expresses doubts; of which the chief cause is, that they are not cited by the old grammarians, who adduce so many phrases from Sallust's other works; and I am willing to allow this objection its due weight. But De Brosses answers it by observing that they may have been little known, from having been written as to a private friend, and without any intention that they should be laid before the public.

"They were found by Pomponius Lætus in a manuscript in the Vatican, attached to the fragments of Sallust's History. Lætus, when he published them, did not prefix Sallust's name; but that circumstance is no proof for or against them. I am induced to ascribe them to Sallust, first, by the diction, which is truly Sallustian, and, secondly, by the remarkable knowledge of political affairs which appears in them. It seems impossible to me that any Pseudo-Sallust could have