Bellum Catilinae

The history begins with a brief preface on the nature of man, history, and a brief autobiography of Sallust himself. Afterwards, Sallust launches into a character description of Catiline, who is portrayed as at once heroic and immoral, and then a description of Catiline's intention to gain kingship at any cost. However, Sallust tells his readership that Catiline's political ambitions were thwarted several times in his youth, and perhaps alludes to the First Catilinarian conspiracy, and he finally resorts to rebellion, during which attempts to recruit a number of bankrupt nobles and politically dissatisfied plebeians. The Senate eventually discovers the conspiracy, and attempts to put it down militarily. In the one and only battle of the rebellion, Catiline is killed by the Roman army, bringing the rebellion to an end.

Bellum Catilinae was probably written during the last half of the 1st century BC.Mellor, R. (1999) The Roman historians. Routledge. P. 32 After writing it, Sallust went on to author Bellum Jugurthinum, a historical account of the Jugurthine War.

G. W. S. Barrow has shown that one passage in the Declaration of Arbroath was carefully written using different parts of Bellum Catilinae as the direct source:{{cite journal |last1=Barrow |first1=G. W. S. |title=The Idea of Freedom in Late Medieval Scotland |journal=The Innes Review |date=1979 |volume=30 |issue=30 |pages=16–34 |doi=10.3366/inr.1979.30.30.16}} (Reprinted in G. W. S. Barrow, Scotland and its Neighbours in the Middle Ages (London, Hambledon, 1992), chapter 1

{{cquote|...for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.}}

The following are some translations of Bellum Catilinae, sorted reverse chronologically.

• {{cite book |author=Sallust |title=How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Republic |translator-last=Osgood |translator-first=Josiah |series=Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers |location=New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2022 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691212364/how-to-stop-a-conspiracy |isbn=978-0-691-21236-4}}
• {{cite book |author=Sallust |title=The War with Catiline. The War with Jugurtha |editor-last=Ramsey |editor-first=John T. |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=J. C. |series=Loeb Classical Library 116 |location=Cambridge |publisher= Harvard University Press |year=2013 |url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL116/2013/volume.xml |isbn=978-0-6749-9684-7 }} Update to Rolfe's earlier Loeb; major changes made to Latin text and translations.
• {{Cite book |author=Sallust |title=Catiline's conspiracy, the Jugurthine War, Histories |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |translator-last=Batstone |translator-first=William Wendell |isbn=978-0-19-161252-7 |oclc=759007075}}
• {{cite book |author=Sallust |title=Catiline's War, The Jurgurthine War, Histories |translator-last=Woodman |translator-first=A. J. |publisher=Penguin Classics |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-1404-4948-8 }}
• {{cite book |author=Sallust |chapter=The War with Catiline |title=The War with Catiline. The War with Jugurtha |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=J. C. |series=Loeb Classical Library 116 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1931 |orig-year=1921 |chapter-url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL116/2013/volume.xml |isbn=0-6749-9128-1 |via=LacusCurtius }}
• {{cite book |author=Sallust |chapter=Conspiracy of Catiline |title=Sallust, Florus, Velleius Paterculus: literally translated with copious notes and general index |translator-last=Watson |translator-first=John Selby |series=Harper's Classical Library |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |chapter-url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi0631.phi001.perseus-eng1 |year=1881 |via=Perseus }}

; Citations

{{Reflist}}

; Sources

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book |editor-last=Marincola |editor-first=John |title=A companion to Greek and Roman historiography |year=2007 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4051-0216-2 }}
• {{harvc |last=O'Gorman |first=Ellen |c=The politics of Sallustian style |in=Marincola |year=2007 |pages=379–84 }}
• {{harvc |last=Feldherr |first=Andrew |c=The translation of Catiline |in=Marincola |year=2007 |pages=379–84 }}
• {{Cite book |last=McGushin |first=Patrick |title=Bellum Catilinae: a commentary |date=1977 |publisher=Brill |series=Mnemosyne Supplements 45 |isbn=90-04-04835-9 |oclc=3414580}}
• {{Cite book |last=Mellor |first=Ronald |title=The Roman historians |date=1999 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-11774-7 |location=London and New York |oclc=796812740}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ramsey |first=J. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CFDDL85460oC |title=Sallust's Bellum Catilinae |edition=2nd |series=American Philological Association monographs |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972451-2 }}

{{refend}}

• {{Librivox book |title=The Catiline Conspiracy and the Jugurthine War |author=Sallust}}

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Category:1st-century BC history books

Category:1st-century BC books in Latin

Category:Catiline

Category:Monographs

Category:History books about ancient Rome