De Bello Catilinario et Jurgthino | Page 8

distinguished himself in the Gallic and second Punic wars, and after having lost his right hand in battle, wielded the sword with the left. As Catiline offered himself as a candidate for the consulship in B.C. 66, which no Roman was allowed to do by law before having attained the age of forty-three, we may fairly presume that he was born about B.C. 109, in the time of the Jugurthine war. Cicero was born in B.C. 106, and was consequently a few years younger than Catiline. [35] Patiens inediae. Respecting the genitive governed by this and similar participles--as soon after alieni appetens--see Zumpt, S 438. [36] Cujus rei libet; it is more common to say cujuslibet rei. Sometimes the relative pronouns compounded with cunque and libet are separated by the insertion of some other word or words between them, which in grammatical language is called a tmesis--as _quod enim cunque judicium subierat, absolvebatur; quem sors dierum cunque tibi dederit, lucre appone,_ 'whatever day chance may give thee, consider it as a gain.' [37] Capiundae. Respecting the e or u in such gerunds and gerandives, see Zumpt, S 167. [38] Auxerat. He had increased both by the above-mentioned qualities--namely, his poverty by extravagance, and the consciousness of guilt by the crimes he committed. The neuter plural quae, referring to two feminine substantives denoting abstract ideas, is not very common, though quite justifiable. Zumpt, S 377. [39] Respecting the infinitive after hortari, instead of the more common use of the conjunction ut, see Zumpt, S 615. [40] Domi militiaeque, 'in times of peace and in war.'
6. Urbem Romam,[41] sicuti ego accepi, condidere atque habuere initio Trojani, qui Aenea duce profugi sedibus incertis vagabantur, cumque his Aborigines,[42] genus hominum agreste, sine legibus, sine imperio, liberum atque solutum. Hi postquam in una[43] moenia convenere, dispari genere, dissimili lingua, alius alio more viventes, incredibile memoratu est quam facile coaluerint.[44] Sed postquam res eorum civibus, moribus, agris aucta, satia prospera satisque pollens videbatur, sicuti pleraque mortalium habentur, invidia ex opulentia orta est. Igitur reges populique finitimi bello temptare,[45] pauci ex amicis auxilio esse; nam ceteri metu perculsi a periculis aberant. At Romani domi militiaeque intenti festinare, parare, alius alium hortari, hostibus obviam ire, libertatem, patriam parentesque armis tegere. Post, ubi pericula virtute propulerant, sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant,[46] magisque dandis quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant. Imperium legitimum, nomen imperii regium habebant;[47] delecti, quibus corpus annis infirmum, ingenium sapientia validum erat, rei publicae consultabant;[48] hi vel aetate vel curae similitudine patres appellabantur. Post, ubi regium imperium, quod initio conservandae libertatis atque augendae rei publicae[49] fuerat, in superbiam dominationemque convertit[50] immutato more annua imperia binosque imperatores[51] sibi fecere; eo modo minime posse putabant per licentiam insolescere animum humanum.
[41] In the following eight chapters (6-13) Sallust describes the transition from the stern manners, the warlike energy, and domestic peace of the ancient Romans, to the corruption prevalent in the time of Catiline, and which consisted chiefly in extravagance, avarice, oppression, and the love of dominion. His description is a striking picture of the early virtuous character of the Romans, and their subsequent indulgence in vice. He traces all the corruption of his time to the immense wealth accumulated at Rome, after she had acquired the dominion over the world--that is, after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth; and he marks out in particular Sulla as the man who had fostered the very worst qualities in order to obtain supreme power for himself. [42] According to the current tradition, the people of the Latins had been formed by a union of the Trojan emigrants with the native Aborigines. Their capital was Alba Longa, and they lived about Alba, on and near the Alban Mount, in a great number of confederate townships. Four centuries after the arrival of Aeneas, the city of Rome was founded by Albans on the extreme frontier of the Latin territory, and near the hostile tribes by which it was surrounded. Sallust passes over the intermediate stages, either because he, like others, thought Rome much more ancient, or because, having to do only with the description of manners, he was unconcerned about historical developments. [43] Una is the plural. See Zumpt, S 115, note. [44] It is indeed wonderful how quickly the Roman people, although consisting of a mixture of different tribes--whether, as Sallust briefly intimates, they were Trojans and Aborigines, or, as the more minute historians relate, Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans--united into one nationality. The language spoken by the Roman people, however, was not a mixture of those of the last-mentioned tribes, but Latin, which, in conformity with Sallust's notion, appears to be a combination of Greek with some early Italian idiom. [45] Temptare, the historical infinitive, about the meaning and construction of which see Zumpt, S 599, note. [46] Auxilia portare is a less common