De Bello Catilinario et Jurgthino | Page 7

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 Sallust means to say that if his mind had arrived at manly independence, he would have immediately withdrawn from the vicious atmosphere of public life.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 descent to one of the companions of Aeneas. This is no doubt fabulous, but at any rate proves the high antiquity of the gens. The most renowned among the ancestors of Catiline was M. Sergius, a real model of bravery, who