NOTES.

[1] I. Desire to excel other animals—Sese student praestare caeteris animalibus. The pronoun, which is usually omitted, is, says Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to ut ipsi: student ut ipsi praestent. In support of his opinion he quotes, with other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicae, i.e. vult ut ipse amicae placeat; and Coelius Antipater apud Festum in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat aemulari, i.e. studeat ut ipse aemuletur. This explanation is approved by Bernouf. Cortius might have added Cat. 7: sese quisque hostem ferire —properabat. "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt."

[2] To the utmost of their power—Summâ ope, with their utmost ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said summâ operâ, summo studio, summâ contentione. Ennius has 'Summa nituntur opum vi.'" Colerus.

[3] In obscurity—Silentio. So as to have nothing said of them, either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: Eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta aestumo, quoniam de utrâque siletur. When Ovid says, Bene qui latuit, bene vixit, and Horace, Nec vixit malè, qui vivens moriensque fefellit, they merely signify that he has some comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque," says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriae studio maximè ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus:

"Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd

With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd?

O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace,

With equal steps the paths of glory trace!

Join to that royal youth's your rival name,

And shine eternal in the sphere of fame."

[4] Like the beasts of the field—Veluti pecora. Many translators have rendered pecora "brutes" or "beasts;" pecus, however, does not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word cattle.

[5] Groveling—Prona. I have adopted groveling from Mair's old translation. Pronus, stooping to the earth, is applied to cattle, in opposition to erectus, which is applied to man; as in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i.:

"Prona que cum spectent animalia caetera terram,

Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri

Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."

"—while the mute creation downward bend

Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,

Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes

Beholds his own hereditary skies." Dryden.

Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased:

"There wanted yet the master-work, the end

Of all yet done; a creature, who not prone

And 'brute as other creatures, but endued

With sanctity of reason, might erect

His stature, and upright with front serene

Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence

Magnanimous to correspond with heaven."

"Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultus

Sustulerit Deus, et sublimia fluxerit ora,

Cùm pecudes, voluerumque genus, formasque ferarum,

Segnem atque obscoenam passim stravisset in alvum."

"See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'd

The countenance of man erect to heav'n,

Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bent

Th' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds,

And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd"

"When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us add Juvenal, xv, 146.

"Sensum à coelesti demissum traximus arce,

Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia."

"To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth,

Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth."

[6] All our power is situate in the mind and in the body—Sed omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita. All our power is placed, or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle sed, which is merely a connective, answering to the Greek dé, and which would be useless in an English translation, I have omitted.

[7] Of the mind we—employ the government—Animi imperio—utimur. "What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, serve the better."—Sen. Epist. lxv. Dux et imperator vitae mortalium animus est, the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals. —Jug. c. 1. "An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one is formed by nature to rule, and the other to obey."—Aristot. Polit. i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages.

[8] Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the service—Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur. The word magis is not to be regarded as useless. "It signifies," says Cortius, "that the mind rules, and the body obeys, in general, and with greater reason." At certain times the body may seem to have the mastery, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger or thirst.

[9] It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.—Quo mihi rectius videtur, etc. I have rendered quo by therefore. "Quo," observes Cortius, "is propter quod, with the proper force of the ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: Quo mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; c. 2, Quo magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected with the comparative degree, as in quo minus, eo major, and similar expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, Quanto magis animus corpori praestat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam quaerere. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow Cortius. "Quo," says Pappaur, "is for quocirca."

[10] That of intellectual power is illustrious and immortal—Virtus clara aeternaque habetur. The only one of our English translators who has given the right sense of virtus In this passage, is Sir Henry Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée." It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among foreign nations—the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée excepted—have thought of giving to the word virtus, in this place, what so obviously is the meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. On this account it is pretty evident, that by virtus Sallust could never mean the [Greek aretae], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it ut viri vis (De Ling. Lat.iv.

), as denoting the useful energy which ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments, and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation which shall never die." Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae, adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt".

[11] It is necessary to plan before beginning to act—Priusquam incipias, consulto—opus est. Most translators have rendered consulto "deliberation," or something equivalent; but it is planning or contrivance that is signified. Demosthenes, in his Oration de Pace, reproaches the Athenians with acting without any settled plan: [Greek: Oi men gar alloi puntes anthropoi pro ton pragmatonheiothasi chraesthai to Bouleuesthai, umeis oude meta ta pragmata.]

[12] To act with promptitude and vigor—Maturè facto opus est. "Maturè facto" seems to include the notions both of promptitude and vigor, of force as well as speed; for what would be the use of acting expeditiously, unless expedition be attended with power and effect?

[13] Each—Utrumque. The corporeal and mental faculties.

[14] The one requires the assistance of the other—Alterum alterius auxilio eget. "Eget," says Cortius, "is the reading of all the MSS." Veget, which Havercamp and some others have adopted, was the conjecture of Palmerius, on account of indigens occurring in the same sentence. But eget agrees far better with consulto et—maturè facto opus est, in the preceding sentence.

[15] II. Applied themselves in different ways—Diversi. "Modo et instituto diverso, diversa sequentes." Cortius.

[16] At that period, however—Et jam tum. "Tunc temporis praecisè, at that time precisely, which is the force of the particle jam. as donatus shows. I have therefore written et jam separately. Virg. Aen. vii. 737. Late jam tum ditione premebat Sarrastes populos." Cortius.

[17] Without covetousness—Sine cupiditate_. "As in the famous golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 28." Cortius. See also Ovid. Met. i. 80, seq. But "such times were never," as Cowper says.

[18] But after Cyrus in Asia, etc.—Postea verò quàm in, Asiâ Cyrus, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the case. "The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, "though not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate ambition, the veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem, that is, to break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees in opinion with De Brosses.

[19] Proof and experience—Periculo atque negotiis. Gronovius rightly interprets periculo "experiundo, experimentis," by experiment or trial. Cortius takes periculo atque negotiis for periculosis negotiis, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding by negotia "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains negotiis by "ipsa negotiorum tractatione," i. e. by the management of affairs, or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, has "l'expérience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience." which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives only "experience" for both words.

[20] And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.—Quod si—animi virtus, etc. "Quod si" can not here be rendered but if; it is rather equivalent to quapropter si, and might be expressed by wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if.

[21] Intellectual ability—Animi virtus. See the remarks on virtus, above noted.

[22] Magistrates—Imperatorum. "Understand all who govern states, whether in war or in peace." Bernouf. Sallust calls the consuls imperatores, c. 6.

[23] Governments shifted from hand to hand—aliud aliò ferri. Evidently alluding to changes in government.

[24] Less to the more deserving—Ad optimum quemque à minus bono. "From the less good to the best."

[25] Even in agriculture, etc.—Quae homines arant, navigant, aedificant, virtuti omnia parent. Literally, what men plow, sail, etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily exertion, are as much the result of mental power as the highest of human pursuits.

[26] Like travelers in a strange country—Sicuti peregrinantes. "Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vita quasi hospites sunt:" they know not how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. Dietsch. "Peregrinantes, qui, qua transeunt, nullum sui vestigium relinquunt;" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace of their course. Pappaur.

[27] Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation—Eorum ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo. I count them of the same value dead as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. "Those who are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx.

[28] III. Not without merit—Haud absurdum. I have borrowed this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "sua laude non caret." "The word absurdus is often used by the Latins as an epithet for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." Kunhardt.

[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.—Facta dictis sunt exaequanda. Most translators have regarded these words as signifying that the subject must be equaled by the style. But it is not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and how it was done." Kunhardt.

[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.—Quae sibi—aequo animo accipit, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library.

[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible—Veluti ficta, pro falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis, he considers as false or incredible, veluti ficta, as if invented.

[32] When a young man—Adolescentulus. "It is generally admitted that all were called adolescentes by the Romans, who were between the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called adolescentulus, in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." Dietsch. And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, Defendi rempublicam adolescens, Philipp. ii. 46.

[33] To engage in political affairs—Ad rempublicam. "In the phrase of Cornelius Nepos, honoribus operam dedi, I sought to obtain some share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were comprehended under the term Respublica." Cortius.

[34] Integrity—Virtute. Cortius rightly explains this word as meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to avaritia, not, as some critics would have it, to largitio.

[35] Was ensnared and infected—Corrupta, tenebatur. As obsessus tenetur, Jug., c. 24.

[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, etc.—Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque invidia vexabat. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat honoris cupido, et vexabat propterea etiam eadem, quae caeteros, fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., that it is a zeugma. "Fama atque invidia," says Gronovius, "is [Greek: en dia duoin], for invidiosa et maligna fama." Bernouf, with Zanchius and others, read fama atque invidia in the ablative case; and the Bipont edition has eadem qua—fama, etc.; but the method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence.

[37] IV. Servile occupations—agriculture or hunting—Agrum colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum. By calling agriculture and hunting servilia officia, Sallust intends, as is remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the saying of Julian the emperor, Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, captare laudes ex corpore. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, "agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to peruse.

[38] Returning to those studies, etc.—A quo incepto studio me ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus. "The study, namely, of writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." Cortius.

[39] In detached portions—Carptim. "Plin. Ep. viii., 47: Respondebis non posse perinde carptim, ut contexta placere: et vi. 22: Egit carptim et [Greek: kata kephulaia]," Dietsch.

[40] V. Of noble birth—Nobili genere natus. His three names were Lucius Sergius Catilina, he being of the family of the Sergii, for whose antiquity Virgil is responsible, Aen. v. 121: Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen. And Juvenal says, Sat. viii. 321: Quid, Catilino, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi Inveniet quisquam sublimius? His great grandfather, L. Sergius Silus, had eminently distinguished himself by his services in the second Punic war. See Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 29. "Catiline was born A. U. C. 647, A. C. 107." Dietsch. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxv.) says that he was the last of the Sergii.

[41] Sedition—Discordia civilis.

[42] And in such scenes he had spent his early years—Ibique juventutem suam exercuit. "It is to be observed that the Roman writers often used an adverb, where we, of modern times, should express ourselves more specifically by using a noun." Dietsch on c. 3, ibique multa mihi advorsa fuere. Juventus properly signified the time between thirty and forty-five years of age; adolescentia that between fifteen and thirty. But this distinction was not always accurately observed. Catiline had taken an active part in supporting Sylla, and in carrying into execution his cruel proscriptions and mandates. "Quis erat hujus (Syllae) imperii minister? Quis nisi Catilina jam in omne facinus manus exercens?" Sen. de Ira, iii. 18.

[43] Capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished —Cujuslibet, rei simulator ac dissimulator. "Dissimulation is the negative, when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is; simulation is the affirmative, when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not." Bacon, Essay vi.

[44] Abundance of eloquence—Satis eloquentiae. Cortius reads loquentiae "Loquentia is a certain facility of speech not necessarily attended with sound sense; called by the Greeks [Greek: lalia]." Bernouf." Julius Candidus used excellently to observe that eloquentia was one thing, and loquentia another; for eloquence is given to few, but what Candidus called loquentia, or fluency of speech, is the talent of many, and especially of the most impudent." Plin. Ep.v.20. But eloquentiae is the reading of most of the MSS., and loquentiae, if Aulus Gellius (i.15) was rightly informed, was a correction of Valerius Probus, the grammarian, who said that Sallust must have written so, as eloquentiae could not agree with sapientiae parum. This opinion of Probus, the grammarian, who said that Sallust must have written so, as eloquentiae could not agree with sapientiae parum. This opinion of Probus, however, may be questioned. May not Sallust have written eloquentiae, with the intention of signifying that Catiline had abundance of eloquence to work on the minds of others, though he wanted prudence to regulate his own conduct?

Have there not been other men of whom the same may be said, as Mirabeau, for example? The speeches that Sallust puts into Catiline's mouth (c.20, 58) are surely to be characterized rather as eloquentia, than loquentia. On the whole, and especially from the concurrence of MSS., I prefer to read eloquentiae, with the more recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz and Dietsch.

[45] Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship—Post dominationem Lucii Syllae. "The meaning is not the same as if it were finitâ dominatione but is the same as ab eo tempore quo dominari caeperat. In French, therefore, post should be rendered by depuis, not, as it is commonly translated, après." Bernouf. As dictator was the title that Sylla assumed, I have translated dominatio, "dictatorship". Rose, Gordon, and others, render it "usurpation".

[46] Power—Regnum. Chief authority, rule, dominion.

[47] Rendered thoroughly depraved—Vexabant. "Corrumpere et pessundare studebant." Bernouf. Quos vexabant, be it observed, refers to mores, as Gerlach and Kritz interpret, not to cives understood in civitatis, which is the evidently erroneous method of Cortius.

[48] Conduct of our ancestors—Instituta majorum. The principles adopted by our ancestors, with regard both to their own conduct, and to the management of the state. That this is the meaning, is evident from the following account.

[49] VI. As I understand—Sicuti ego accepi. "By these words he plainly shows that nothing certain was known about the origin of Rome. The reader may consult Livy, lib. i.; Justin, lib. xliii.; and Dionys. Halicar., lib.i.; all of whom attribute its rise to the Trojans." Bernouf.

[50] Aborigines—Aborigines. The original inhabitants of Italy; the same as indigenae, or the [Greek: Autochthones].

[51]: Almost incredible—Incredibile memoratu. "Non credi potest, si memoratur; superat omnem fidem." Pappaur. Yet that which actually happened, can not be absolutely incredible; and I have, therefore, inserted almost.

[52] Prepared with alacrity for there defense—Festinare, parare. "Made haste, prepared." "Intenti ut festinanter pararent ea, quae defensioni aut bello usui essent." Pappaur.

[53] Procured friendships rather by bestowing, etc;—Magisque dandis, quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant. Thucyd. ii., 40: [Greek: Ou paschontes eu, alla drontes, ktometha tous philous]

[54] FATHERS—PATRES. "(Romulus) appointed that the direction of the state should be in the hands of the old men, who, from their authority, were called Fathers; from their age, Senatus." Florus, i. 1. Senatus from senex. "Patres ab honore—appellati." Livy.

[55] Two magistrates—Binos imperatores. The two consuls. They were more properly called imperatores at first, when the law, which settled their power, said "Regio imperio duo sunto" (Cic. de Legg. iii. 4), than afterward, when the people and tribunes had made encroachments on their authority.

[56] VII. Almost incredible—Incredibile memoratu. See above, c. 6.

[57] Able to bear the toils of war—Laboris ac belli patiens. As by laboris the labor of war is evidently intended, I have thought it better to render the words in this manner. The reading is Cortius'. Havercamp and others have "simul ac belli patiens erat, in castris per laborem usu militiam discebat;" but per laborem usu is assuredly not the hand of Sallust.

[58] Honor and true nobility—Bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem.

[59] VIII. Very great and glorious—Satis amplae magnificaeque. In speaking of this amplification of the Athenian exploits, he alludes, as Colerus observes, to the histories of Thucydides, Xenophen, and perhaps Herodotus; not, as Wasse seems to imagine, to the representations of the poets.

[60] There was never any such abundance of writers—Nunquam ea copia fuit. I follow Kuhnhardt, who thinks copia equivalent to multitudo. Others render it advantage, or something similar; which seems less applicable to the passage. Compare c.28: Latrones—quorum—magna copia erat.

[61] Chose to act rather than narrate—"For," as Cicero says, "neither among those who are engaged in establishing a state, nor among those carrying on wars, nor among those who are curbed and restrained under the rule of kings, is the desire of distinction in eloquence wont to arise." Graswinckelius.

[62] IX. Pressed by the enemy—Pulsi. In the words pulsi loco cedere ausi erant, loco is to be joined, as Dietsch observes, with cedere_, not, as Kritzius puts it, with pulsi. "To retreat," adds Dietsch, "is disgraceful only to those qui ab hostibus se pelli patiantur, who suffer themselves to be repulsed by the enemy."

[63] X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war—Perses, Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others.

[64] To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue—_Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum,

[Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos homos Aidao pulaesin.

Os ch' eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de Bazei.]

Who dares think one thing, and another tell,

My heart detests him as the gates of hell.

Pope.

[65] XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, etc.—Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum exercebat. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c.10), Igitur primo pecuniae, deinde imperii cupido, crevit, and it will be hard to prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following "meaning", which, he says, "seems perfectly evident": "Although avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome, yet, after both had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an inordinate height". To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning". "How these passages agree," says Rupertus, "I do not understand: unless we suppose that Sallust, by the word primo, does not always signify order".

[66] Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind—Corpus virilemque animum effaeminat. That avarice weakens the mind, is generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body? The most satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus Gellius (iii. 1), that those who are intent on getting riches devote themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by body and mind, intended merely to signify the whole man.

[67] Having recovered the government—Receptâ republicâ. Having wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party.

[68] All became robbers and plunderers—Rapere omnes, trahere. He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque modestiam victores habere."

[69] which he had commanded in Asia—Quem in Asiâ dustaverat. I have here deserted Cortius, who gives in Asiam, "into Asia," but this, as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb ductaverat.

[70] in public edifices and private dwellings—Privatim ac publice. I have translated this according to the notion of Burnouf. Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider privatim as signifying each on his own account, and publice, in the name of the Republic.

[71] XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature —Innocentia pro malivolentiâ duci caepit. "Whoever continued honest and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their party." Bernouf.

[72] It furnishes much matter for reflection—Operae pretium est.

[73] Basest of mankind—Ignavissumi mortales. It is opposed to fortissumi viri, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam fecere." Cortius.

[74] XIII. Seas covered with edifices—Maria constructa esse.

Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt,

Jactis in altum molibus, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 1.

—The haughty lord, who lays

His deep foundations in the seas,

And scorns earth's narrow bound;

The fish affrighted feel their waves

Contracted by his numerous slaves,

Even in the vast profound. Francis.

[75] To have made a sport of their wealth—Quibus mihi videntur ledibrio fuisse divitiae. "They spent their riches on objects which, in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." Cortius.

[76] Luxury—Cultûs. "Deliciarum in victu_, luxuries of the table; for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." Cortius.

[77] Cold—Frigus. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot weather; and he cites Pliny, Ep., v. 6, who speaks of crytoporticus, a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were underground, and which, even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. Ad Spartian. Adrian., c. x., p. 87.

[78] XIV. Gaming—Manu. Gerlach, Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the recent editors, agree to interpret manu by gaming.

[79] Assassins—Parricidae. "Not only he who had killed his father was called a parricide, but he who had killed any man; as is evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be a parricide." Festus sub voce Parrici.

[80] Than from any evidence of the fact—Quam quod cuiquam id compertum foret.

[81] XV. With a virgin of noble birth—Cum virgine nobili. Who this was is not known. The name may have been suppressed from respect to her family. If what is found in a fragment of Cicero be true, Catiline had an illicit connection with some female, and afterward married the daughter who was the fruit of the connection: Ex eodem stupro et uxorem et filiam invenisti; Orat. in Tog. Cand. (Oration xvi., Ernesti's edit.) On which words Asconius Pedianus makes this comment: "Dicitur Catilinam adulterium commisisse cum ea quae ci postea socrus fuit, et ex eo stupro duxisse uxorem, cum filia ejus esset. Haec Lucceius quoque Catilinae objecit in orationibus, quas in eum scripsit. Nomina harum mulierum nondum inveni." Plutarch, too (Life of Cicero, c. 10), says that Catiline was accused of having corrupted his own daughter.

[82] With a priestess of Vesta—Cum sacerdote Vestae. This priestess of Vesta was Fabia Terentia, sister to Terentia, Cicero's wife, whom Sallust, after she was divorced by Cicero, married. Clodius accused her, but she was acquitted, either because she was thought innocent, or because the interest of Catulus and others, who exerted themselves in her favor, procured her acquittal. See Orosius, vi. 3; the Oration of Cicero, quoted in the preceding note; and Asconius's commentary on it.

[83] Aurelia Orestilla—See c. 35. She was the sister or daughter, as De Brosses thinks, of Cneius Aurelius Orestis, who had been praetor, A. U. C. 677.

[84] A grown-up step-son—Privignum adulta aetate. A son of Catiline's by a former marriage.

[85] Desolate his tortured spirit—Mentem exciteam vastabat. "Conscience desolates the mind, when it deprives it of its proper power and tranquillity, and introduces into it perpetual disquietude." Cortius. Many editions have vexabat.

[86] XVI. He furnished false witnesses, etc. Testis signatoresque falsos commodare. "If any one wanted any such character, Catiline was ready to supply him from among his troop." Bernouf.

[87] Inoffensive persons, etc.—Insontes, sicuti sontes. Most translators have rendered these words "innocent" and "guilty," terms which suggest nothing satisfactory to the English reader. The insontes are those who had given Catiline no cause of offens; the sontes those who had in some way incurred his displeasure, or become objects of his rapacity.

[88] Veterans of Sylla, etc.—Elsewhere called the colonists of Sylla; men to whom Sylla had given large tracts of land as rewards for their services, but who, having lived extravagantly, had fallen into such debt and distress, that, as Cicero said, nothing could relieve them but the resurrection of Sylla from the dead. Cic. ii. Orat. in Cat.

[89] Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world—In extremis terris. Pompey was then conducting the war against Mithridates and Tigranes, in Pontus and Armenia.

[90] The senate was wholly off its guard—Senatus nihil sane intentus. The senate was regardless, and unsuspicious of any danger.

[91] XVII. Lucius Caesar—He was a relation of Julius Caesar; and his sister was the wife of M. Antonius, the orator, and mother of Mark Antony, the triumvir.

[92] Publius Lentulus Sura—He was of the same family with Sylla, that of the Cornelii. He had filled the office of consul, but his conduct had been afterward so profligate, that the censors expelled him from the senate. To enable him to resume his seat, he had obtained, as a qualification, the office of praetor, which he held at the time of the conspiracy. He was called Sura, because, when he had squandered the public money in his quaestorship, and was called to account by Sylla for his dishonesty, he declined to make any defense, but said, "I present you the calf of my leg (sura);" alluding to a custom among boys playing at ball, of inflicting a certain number of strokes on the leg of an unsuccessful player. Plutarch, Life of Cicero, c.17.

[93] Publius Autronius—He had been a companion of Cicero in his boyhood, and his colleague in the quaestorship. He was banished in the year after the conspiracy, together with Cassius, Laeca, Vargunteius, Servius Sylla, and Caius Cornelius, under the Plautian law. De Brosses.