De Bello Catilinario et Jurgthino | Page 7

quidem,[23]
tametsi haudquaquam par gloria sequitur scriptorem et actorem rerum,
tamen in primis arduum videtur res gestas scribere; primum quod facta
dictis exaequanda sunt, dehinc quia plerique, quae delicta reprehenderis,
malivolentia et invidia dicta putant;[24] ubi de magna virtute atque
gloria bonorum memores, quae sibi quisque facilia factu putat, aequo
animo accipit, supra ea[25] veluti ficta pro falsis ducit.
Sed ego[26] adolescentulus initio sicuti plerique studio ad rem
publicam latus sum, ibique mihi multa adversa fuere. Nam pro pudore,
pro abstinentia, pro virtute, audacia, largitio, avaritia vigebant. Quae
tametsi animus aspernabatur, insolens malarum artium,[27] tamen inter
tanta vitia imbecilla aetas ambitione corrupta tenebatur[28]: ac me,
quum ab reliquorum malis moribus dissentirem, nihilo minus honoris
cupido eadem qua ceteros fama atque invidia vexabat.[29]
[22] Haud absurdum est, 'is not unbecoming;' that is, 'is worthy of
man.' [23] Quidem here, like the Greek [Greek: men] in [Greek: emoi
men], without a [Greek: de] following, introduces one opinion in
contradistinction from others, though the latter are not mentioned, but
merely suggested by quidem. 'I for my part think so, but what others
think I do not know, or care.' [24] 'If you censure any things as faults or

delinquencies, your censure is considered to have arisen from
malevolence or ill-will.' [25] Supra ea, 'whatever is beyond: that;' that
is, whatever is beyond the capacity of the reader. [26] The author now
passes over to his own experience, telling us that after having devoted
himself at first to the career of a public man, and finding that he was
not understood, and ill-used by his opponents, he formed the
determination to give himself up to a literary life. [27] Insolens
malarum artium, 'unacquainted with base artifices or intrigues;' for
artes may be malae as well as bonae, according as they consist in the
skill of doing bad or good things. [28] Imbecilla aetas, 'my weak age;'
that is, my mind, which had not yet arrived at mature
independence,'was corrupted by ambition, and was kept under the
influence of such bad circumstances.' Sallust means to say that if his
mind had arrived at manly independence, he would have immediately
withdrawn from the vicious atmosphere of public life. [29] My
ambition caused me to be equally ill spoken of and envied, and thus to
be dragged down to a level with the rest, and to be equally harassed and
persecuted as they were.
4. Igitur ubi animus ex multis miseriis atque periculis requievit et mihi
reliquam aetatem a re publica procul habendam decrevi, non fuit
consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conterere;[30] neque
vero agrum colendo aut venando, servilibus officiis,[31] intentum
aetatem agere; sed a quo incepto studioque me ambitio mala detinuerat,
eodem regressus statui res gestas populi Romani carptim,[32] ut
quaeque memoria digna videbantur, perscribere; eo magis, quod mihi a
spe, metu, partibus rei publicae animus liber erat. Igitur de Catilinae
conjuratione quam verissime potero paucis absolvam:[33] nam id
facinus in primis ego memorabile existimo sceleris atque periculi
novitate. De cujus hominis moribus pauca prius explananda sunt, quam
initium narrandi faciam.
[30] Conterere--that is, consumere, 'to waste my fair leisure.' [31]
Sallust here calls agriculture and the chase occupations of men in a
servile condition, although the majority of the ancients considered the
former especially as the most honourable occupation of free citizens.
But he seems to think that in comparison with the important business of

writing the history of his country, agriculture and the chase are not
suitable occupations for a man who has at one time taken an active part
in political affairs. [32] Carptim, 'in detached parts.' [33] Paucis
absolvam, 'I shall treat briefly,' or _paucis pertractabo conjurationem
Catilinae_.
5. Lucius Catilina,[34] nobili genere natus, fuit magna vi et animi et
corporis, sed ingenio malo pravoque. Huic abadolescentia bella
intestina, caedes, rapinae, discordia civilis grata fuere, ibique
juventutem suam exercuit. Corpus patiens[35] inediae, algoris, vigiliae,
supra quam cuiquam credibile est. Animus audax, subdolus, varius,
cujus rei libet[36] simulator ac dissimulator, alieni appetens, sui
profusus, ardens in cupiditatibus; satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum.
Vastus animus immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta semper cupiebat.
Hunc post dominationem Lucii Sullae libido maxima invaserat rei
publicae capiundae,[37] neque id quibus modis assequeretur, dum sibi
regnum pararet, quidquam pensi habebat. Agitabatur magis magisque
in dies animus ferox inopia rei familiaris et conscientia scelerum, quae
utraque his artibus auxerat,[38] quas supra memoravi. Incitabant
praeterea corrupti civitatis mores, quos pessima ac diversa inter se mala,
luxuria atque avaritia, vexabant. Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de
moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere[39] ac paucis
instituta majorum domi militiaeque,[40] quomodo rem publicam
habuerint quantamque reliquerint, ut paulatim immutata ex pulcherrima
pessima ac flagitiosissima facta sit, disserere.
[34] Sallust begins with a general description of the character of
Catiline. This talented person, though of a most wicked disposition,
belonged to the patrician gens Sergia, which traced its