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Sallust: The War Against Jugurtha

Online ISBN:
9781800342750
Print ISBN:
9780856686375
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press
Book

Sallust: The War Against Jugurtha

Published online:
25 February 2021
Published in print:
12 February 2009
Online ISBN:
9781800342750
Print ISBN:
9780856686375
Publisher:
Liverpool University Press

Abstract

The Roman historian C. Sallustius Crispus, better known as Sallust, wrote about the war against the Numidian king Jugurtha. For Sallust, the Jugurthine War revealed the problems of the Republic at that time. The fact that a man such as Jugurtha could rise to power by buying Roman military and civil officials reflected a moral crisis in Roman politics. Sallust's account of the nobles' tactics in conducting the war, the rise of the homo novus , Marius, and the beginnings of Sulla's career are particularly effective at showing how Romans sought individual power and advantages often at the expense of the state. Sallust is determined to illustrate decay. He is the creator of a particular manner of writing history. His style has attracted attention and discussion both in ancient times and nowadays because it shows itself at the same time as archaic and innovatory, abrupt and artistic. The translation of this new edition seeks to be faithful to that characteristic Sallustian style and the commentary aims to be useful not only to specialists, but also to readers who know little or no Latin. The introduction deals with Sallust's life and career as a historian, the Jugurthine war itself, and also with the important Sallustian topic of virtus and the development of the ideology of the 'new man'.

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