Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine War by Sallust

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SALLUST'S

CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE AND THE JUGURTHINE WAR

LITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN SELBY
WATSON, M.A.

CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the
ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII.
Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which he
collected them, XIV. His crimes and wretchedness, XV. His tuition of
his accomplices, and resolution to subvert the government, XVI. His
convocation of the conspirators, and their names, XVII. His concern in
a former conspiracy, XVIII., XIX. Speech to the conspirators, XX. His
promises to them, XXI. His supposed ceremony to unite them, XXII. His
designs discovered by Fulvia, XXIII. His alarm on the election of
Cicero to the consulship, and his design in engaging women in his
cause, XXIV. His accomplice, Sempronia, characterized, XXV. His
ambition of the consulship, his plot to assassinate Cicero, and his
disappointment in both, XXVI. His mission of Manlius into Etruria, and
his second convention of the conspirators, XXVII. His second attempt
to kill Cicero; his directions to Manlius well observed, XXVIII. His
machinations induce the Senate to confer extraordinary power on the
consuls, XXIX. His proceedings are opposed by various precautions,
XXX. His effrontery in the Senate, XXXI. He sets out for Etruria,
XXXII. His accomplice, Manlius, sends a deputation to Marcius, XXXIII.
His representations to various respectable characters, XXXIV. His
letter to Catulus, XXXV. His arrival at Manlius's camp; he is declared
an enemy by the Senate; his adherents continue faithful and resolute,
XXXVI. The discontent and disaffection of the populace in Rome,
XXXVII. The old contentions between the patricians and plebeians,
XXXVIII. The effect which a victory of Catiline would have produced,
XXXIX. The Allobroges are solicited to engage in the conspiracy, XL.
They discover it to Cicero, XLI. The incaution of Catiline's
accomplices in Gaul and Italy, XLII. The plans of his adherents at
Rome, XLIII. The Allobroges succeed in obtaining proofs of the
conspirators' guilt, XLIV. The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested
by the contrivance of Cicero, XLV. The principal conspirators at Rome
are brought before the Senate, XLVI. The evidence against them, and
their consignment to custody, XLVII. The alteration in the minds of
the populace, and the suspicions entertained against Crassus, XLVIII.
The attempts of Catulus and Piso to criminate Caesar, XLIX. The plans
of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, and the deliberations of
the Senate, L. The speech of Caesar on the mode of punishing the
conspirators, LI. The speech of Cato on the same subject, LII. The
condemnation of the prisoners; the causes of Roman greatness, LIII.
Parallel between Caesar and Cato, LIV. The execution of the criminals,
LV. Catiline's warlike preparations in Etruria, LVI. He is compelled
by Metullus and Antonius to hazard an action, LVII. His exhortation to
his men, LVIII. His arrangements, and those of his opponents, for the
battle, LIX. His bravery, defeat, and death, LX., LXI.

* * * * *

I. It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,[1] to strive,
to the utmost of their power,[2] not to pass through life in obscurity,
[3] like the beasts of the field,[4] which nature has formed groveling[5]
and subservient to appetite.

All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.[6] Of the mind
we rather employ the government;[7] of the body the service.[8] The
one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It
appears to me, therefore, more reasonable[9]to pursue glory by means
of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we
enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible.
For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of
intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.[10]

Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military
efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of
intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before
beginning to act,[11] and, after planning, to act with promptitude
and vigor.[12] Thus, each[13] being insufficient of itself, the one
requires the assistance of the other.[14]

II. In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title
of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;[15]
some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,[16]
the life of man was passed without covetousness;[17] every one was
satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia[18] and the
Lacedaemonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and
nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine
the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at
length discovered, by proof and experience,[19] that mental power has
the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,[20] if the
intellectual ability[21] of kings and magistrates[22] were exerted to
the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more
orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from
hand to hand,[23] and things universally changed and confused. For
dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first
obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry,
and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune
of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is
always transferred from the less to the more deserving.[24]

Even in agriculture,[25] in navigation, and in architecture, whatever
man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings,
resigned to sensuality and indolence, un-instructed and unimproved,
have passed through life like travellers in a strange country[26]; to
whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a
gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and
death in equal estimation[27]; for silence is maintained concerning
both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life,
who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling
enterprise, or honorable pursuit.

But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different
paths to different individuals. III. To act well for the Commonwealth
is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit[28]. Both
in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have
acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their
tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal
glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it
yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of
great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately
represented[29] by words; and next, because most readers consider that
whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through
malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and
glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[30] only that
which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own
conception he regards as fictitious and incredible[31].

I myself, however, when a young man[32], was at first led by
inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs[33]; but
in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for,
instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity[34], there prevailed
shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind,
inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in
the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and
infected[35] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious
principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the
same obloquy and jealousy[36], which disquieted others, disquieted
myself.

IV. When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and
trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days
unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my
valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile
occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting[37]; but,
returning to those studies[38] from which, at their commencement, a
corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached
portions[39], the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence
should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the
rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or
political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with
as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it
an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature
both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my
narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the
man.

V. Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth[40], and of eminent mental
and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition.
His delight, from his youth, had been civil commotions, bloodshed,
robbery, and sedition[41]; and in such scenes he had spent his early
years.[42] His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and
cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and
versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.[43]
He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He
had abundance of eloquence,[44] though but little wisdom. His
insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic,
and unattainable.

Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship,[45] a strong desire of seizing
the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he
secured power[46] for himself, by what means he might arrive at it.
His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the
diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both
which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned
above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and
selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly
depraved,[47] furnished him with additional incentives to action.

Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the
subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to
describe the conduct of our ancestors[48] in peace and war; how they
managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual
alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious
and depraved.

VI. Of the city of Rome, as I understand,[49] the founders and
earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of
Aeneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any
settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines,[50] a savage
race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control.
How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar
language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met
within the same walls, is almost incredible.[51] But when their state,
from an accession of population and territory, and an improved
condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful,
envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence
of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly,
began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to
their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing
their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field,
prepared with alacrity for their defense.[52] They encouraged one
another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their
arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had
at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their
allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by
bestowing[53] favors than by receiving them.

They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their
government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled
by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the
council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the
similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS.[54] But afterward, when
the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the
protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest,
had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan,
and appointed two magistrates,[55] with power only annual; for they
conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely
to grow overbearing for want of control.

VII. At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to
display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the
meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and
to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was
secured, it is almost incredible[56] how much the state strengthened
itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction
had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they
were able to bear the toil of war,[57] acquired military skill by
actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms
and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial
indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or
inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome
every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory;
each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be
noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this
they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility.[58] They were
covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent
riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account
would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman
people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and
cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault.

VIII. But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every
thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with
truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very
great and glorious,[59] something inferior to what fame has represented
them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions
of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid
achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at
the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in
their writings.

But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers;[60]
for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No
one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability
chose to act rather than narrate,[61] and was more desirous that his
own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should
record theirs.

IX. Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the
camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible
avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more
from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They
displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy.
Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were
magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families,
and steady in their friendships.

By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they
maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which
virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war,
punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy
contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too
slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their
standards, or, when pressed by the enemy,[62] to abandon their posts;
and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by
exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to
pardon than to revenge it.

X. But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased
its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;[63] when
barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection;
when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly
destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune
then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal
innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and
doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of
desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of
money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as
it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty,
integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead,
inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general
venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one
thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue;[64] to
estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according
to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest
heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes
restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had
spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the
government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became
rapacious and insupportable.

XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice,[65] that
influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue
than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as
desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods;
the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud
and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise
man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued
with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.[66]
It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by
abundance nor by want.

But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government[67] by force
of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious
termination, all became robbers and plunderers;[68] some set their
affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew
neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens
disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the
circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the
forces which he had commanded in Asia,[69] had treated them, contrary
to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and
exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had
easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the
soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated
to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues,
pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public
edifices and private dwellings;[70] to spoil temples; and to cast off
respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly,
when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished.
Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would
those of debauched habits use victory with moderation.

XII. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority,
and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was
thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of
ill-nature.[71] From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury,
avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once
rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and
coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence;
they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off
all consideration and self-restraint.

It furnishes much matter for reflection,[72] after viewing our modern
mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the
temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the
gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion,
and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom
they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the
contrary, the basest of mankind,[73] have even wrested from their allies,
with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious
ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of
power were to inflict injury.

XIII. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which
can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains
have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices,[74] by many private
citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth,[75]
since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have
enjoyed with honor.

But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all
kinds of luxury,[76] had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot
their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify
appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea;
they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer
waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold,[77] or fatigue, but anticipated
them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth,
when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for
their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain
from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately
devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance.

XIV. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very
easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the
unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and
profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by
gaming,[78] luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy
debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all
assassins[79] or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or
dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their
tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in
fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted,
were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one,
as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was
presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and
equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly
courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were
easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each,
according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to
some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word,
neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his
devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who
thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were
guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from
other causes than from any evidence of the fact[80].

XV. Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal
connections, with a virgin of noble birth[81], with a priestess of
Vesta[82], and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance
alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion
for Aurelia Orestilla[83], in whom no good man, at any time of her
life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed
that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a
grown-up step-son[84], he cleared the house for their nuptials by
putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been
the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty
mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either
waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his
tortured spirit.[85] His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his
eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and
distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look.

XVI. The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join
him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among
them he furnished false witnesses,[86] and forgers of signatures; and
he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property,
and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and
shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for
crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to
circumvent and murder inoffensive persons[87] just as if they had
injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want
of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel.

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