SALLUST(IUS CRISPUS)
THE WAR AGAINST CATILINE
tr. J. C. Rolfe (Loeb, 1921)
(5) Lucius Catilina, member of a noble family, had great vigour both of mind and of body, but an evil and depraved nature. From youth up he revelled in civil wars, murder, pillage, and political dissension, and amid these he spent his early manhood. His body could endure hunger, cold, and want of sleep to an incredible degree; his mind was reckless, cunning, treacherous, capable of any form of pretence or concealment. Covetous of others' possessions, he was prodigal of his own. He was violent in his passions. He possessed a certain amount of eloquence, but little discretion. His disordered mind ever craved the monstrous, incredible, gigantic.
After the domination of Sulla the man had been seized with a mighty desire of getting control of the government, caring little by what manner he should achieve it, provided he made himself supreme. His haughty spirit was goaded more and more every day by poverty and a sense of guilt, both of which he had augmented by the practices of which I have already spoken. He was spurred on, also, by the corruption of the public morals, which were being ruined by two great evils of an opposite character, extravagance and avarice . . .
(8) Beyond question Fortune holds sway everywhere. It is she that makes all events famous or obscure according to her caprice rather than in accordance with the truth. The acts of the Athenians, in my judgement, were indeed great and glorious enough, but nevertheless somewhat less important than fame represents them. But because Athens produced writers of exceptional talent, the exploits of the men of Athens are heralded throughout the world as unsurpassed. Thus the merit of those who did the deeds is rated as high as brilliant minds have been able to exalt the deeds themselves by words of praise.
But the Roman people never ha that advantage, since their ablest men were always most engaged with affairs. Their minds were never employed apart from their bodies. The best citizen preferred action to words, and thought that his own brave deeds should be lauded by others rather than that theirs should be recounted by him.
(9) Accordingly, good morals were cultivated at home and in the field. There was the greatest harmony and little or no avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among them, thanks not so much to laws as to nature. Quarrels, discord, and strife were reserved for their enemies. Citizen vied with citizen only for the prize of merit. They were lavish in their offerings to the gods, frugal in the home, loyal to their friends. By practising these two qualities, boldness in warfare and justice when peace came, they watched over themselves and their country. In proof of these statements I present this convincing evidence: first, in time of war punishment was more often inflicted for attacking the enemy contrary to orders, or for withdrawing too tardily when recalled from the field, than for venturing to abandon the standards or to give ground under stress; and secondly, in time of peace they ruled by kindness rather than fear, and when wronged preferred forgiveness to vengeance.
(10) But when our country had grown great through toil and the practice of justice, when great kings had been vanquished in war, savage tribes and mighty peoples subdued by force of arms, when Carthage, the rival of Rome's sway, had perished utterly, and all seas and lands were open, then Fortune began to grow cruel and to bring confusion into all our affairs. Those who had found it easy to bear hardship and dangers, anxiety and adversity, found leisure and wealth--so desirable under the circumstances--a burden and a curse. Hence the lust for power first, then for money, grew upon them. These were, I may say, the root of all evils. For avarice destroyed honour, integrity, and all other noble qualities; taught in their place insolence, cruelty, to neglect the gods, to set a price on everything. Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue; to value friendships and enmities not on their merits but by the standard of self-interest, and to show a good front rather than a good heart. At first these vices grew slowly, from time to time they were punished. Finally, when the disease had spread like a deadly plague, the State was changed and a government second to none in equity and excellence became cruel and intolerable.
(11) But at first men's souls were actuated less by avarice than by ambition--a fault, it is true, but not so far removed from virtue; for the noble and the base alike long for glory, honour, and power, but the former mount by the true path, whereas the latter, being destitute of noble qualities, rely upon craft and deception. Avarice implies a desire for money, which no wise man covets: as though steeped with noxious poisons, it renders the most manly body and soul effeminate. It is ever unbounded and insatiable, nor can either plenty or want make it less. But after Sulla, having gained control of the State by arms, brought everything to a bad end from a good beginning, all men began to rob and pillage. One coveted a house, another lands. The victors showed neither moderation nor restraint, but shamefully and cruelly wronged their fellow citizens. Besides all this, Sulla, in order to secure the loyalty of the army which he led into Asia, had allowed it a luxury and licence foreign to the habits of our forefathers; and in the intervals of leisure those charming and voluptuous lands had easily demoralized the warlike spirit of his soldiers. There is was that an army of the Roman people first learned to indulge in women and drink; to admire statues, paintings, and chased vases, to steal them from private houses and public places, to pillage shrines, and to desecrate everything, both sacred and profane. These soldiers, therefore, after they had won the victory, left nothing to the vanquished. In truth, prosperity tries the soul even of the wise. How then should men of depraved character like these make a moderate use of victory?
(12) As soon as riches came to be held in honour, when glory, political control, and economic power followed in their train, virtue began to lose its lustre, poverty to be considered a disgrace, blamelessness to be termed malevolence. There -- as the result of riches -- luxury and greed, united with insolence, took possession of our young manhood.
(36) . . . At no other time has the condition of imperial Rome, as it seems to me, been more pitiable. The whole world, from the rising of the sun to its setting, subdued by her arms, rendered obedience to her; at home there was peace and an abundance of wealth, which mortal men deem the greatest of blessings. Yet there were citizens who from sheer perversity were bent upon their own ruin and that of their country. For in spite of the two decrees of the Senate, not one man of all that great number was led by the promised reward to betray the conspiracy, and not a single one deserted Catiline's camp. Such was the potency of the malady which like a plague had infected the minds of many of our countrymen.
(37) This insanity was not confined to those who were implicated in the plot, but the whole body of the commons through desire for change favoured the designs of Catiline. In this very particular they seemed to act as the populace usually does. For in every community those who have no means envy the good, exalt the base, hate what is old and established, long for something new, and from disgust with their own lot desire a general upheaval. Amid turmoil and rebellion they maintain themselves without difficulty, since poverty is easily provided for and can suffer no loss. But the city populace in particular acted with desperation for many reasons. To begin with, all who were especially conspicuous for their shamelessness and impudence, those too who had squandered their patrimony in riotous living, finally all whom disgrace or crime had forced to leave home, had all flowed into Rome as into a cesspool. Many, too, recalled Sulla's victory. They had seen common soldiers risen to the rank of senator, and others become so rich that they feasted and lived like kings, and now every man hoped that his fruits of victory would be the same, if he took the field. Besides this the young men who had maintained a wretched existence by manual labour in the country, tempted by governmental and private aid had come to prefer idleness in the city to their hateful toil; these, like all the others, profited while the nation suffered. Therefore it is not surprising that men who were beggars and without character, with illimitable hopes, should respect their country as little as they respected themselves. Moreover, those to whom Sulla's victory had mean the proscription of their parents, loss of property, and curtailment of their rights, looked forward in a similar spirit to the issue of a war. Finally, all who belonged to another party than that of the Senate preferred to see the government overthrown rather than be out of power themselves.
