Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator), 41

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The prevalence of parties among the people, and of factions in the senate, and of all evil practices attendant on them, had its origin at Rome, a few years before, during a period of tranquillity, and amid the abundance of all that mankind regarded as desirable. For, before the destruction of Carthage, the senate and people managed the affairs of the republic with mutual moderation and forbearance; there were no contests among the citizens for honor or ascendency; but the dread of an enemy kept the state in order. When that fear, however, was removed from their minds, licentiousness and pride, evils which prosperity loves to foster, immediately began to prevail; and thus peace, which they had so eagerly desired in adversity, proved, when they had obtained it, more grievous and fatal than adversity itself. The patricians carried their authority, and the people their liberty, to excess; every man took, snatched, and seized¹ what he could. There was a complete division into two factions, and the republic was torn in pieces between them. Yet the nobility still maintained an ascendency by conspiring together; for the strength of the people, being disunited and dispersed among a multitude, was less able to exert itself. Things were accordingly directed, both at home and in the field, by the will of a small number of men, at whose disposal were the treasury, the provinces, offices, honors, and triumphs; while the people were oppressed with military service and with poverty, and the generals divided the spoils of war with a few of their friends. The parents and children of the soldiers,² meantime, if they chanced to dwell near a powerful neighbor, were driven from their homes. Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility,³ who preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a convulsion of the earth.

Bellum Iugurthinum. Sallust. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator). New York and London. 1899.

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Current edition Perseus

Jugurthine War (English) (Sallust. Sallust, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus. Watson, J. S. (John Selby), translator. London: Harper & Brothers, 1899.)

Editions (2)

Bellum Iugurthinum Perseus (Sallust. C. Sallusti Crispi Catilina, Iugurtha, orationes et epistulae excerptae de historiis. Ahlberg, Axel Wilhelm, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1919.) — 41 focus

1 Ceterum mos partium et factionum ac deinde omnium malarum artium paucis ante annis Romae ortus est otio atque abundantia earum rerum, quae prima mortales ducunt. 2 nam ante Carthaginem deletam populus et senatus Romanus placide modesteque inter se rem publicam tractabant, neque gloriae neque dominationis certamen inter civis erat: metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat. 3 sed ubi illa formido mentibus decessit, scilicet ea, quae res secundae amant, lascivia atque superbia incessere. 4 ita quod in advorsis rebus optaverant otium, postquam adepti sunt, asperius acerbiusque fuit. 5 namque coepere nobilitas dignitatem, populus libertatem in lubidinem vortere, sibi quisque ducere trahere rapere. ita omnia in duas partis abstracta sunt, res publica, quae media fuerat, dilacerata. 6 ceterum nobilitas factione magis pollebat, plebis vis soluta atque dispersa in multitudine minus poterat. 7 paucorum arbitrio belli domique agitabatur; penes eosdem aerarium provinciae magistratus gloriae triumphique erant; populus militia atque inopia urgebatur; praedas bellicas imperatores cum paucis diripiebant: interea parentes aut parvi liberi militum, 8 uti quisque potentiori confinis erat, sedibus pellebantur. 9 ita cum potentia avaritia sine modo modestiaque invadere, polluere et vastare omnia, nihil pensi neque sancti habere, quoad semet ipsa praecipitavit. 10 nam ubi primum ex nobilitate reperti sunt, qui veram gloriam iniustae potentiae anteponerent, moveri civitas et dissensio civilis quasi permixtio terrae oriri coepit. 42 1 nam postquam Ti. et C. Cracchus, quorum maiores Punico atque aliis bellis multum rei publicae addiderant, vindicare plebem in libertatem et paucorum scelera patefacere coepere, nobilitas noxia atque eo perculsa modo per socios ac nomen Latinum, interdum per equites Romanos, quos spes societatis a plebe dimoverat, Gracchorum actionibus obviam ierat; et primo Tiberium, dein paucos post annos eadem ingredientem Gaium, tribunum alterum, alterum triumvirum coloniis deducundis, cum M. Fulvio Flacco ferro necaverat. 2 et sane Gracchis cupidine victoriae haud satis moderatus animus fuit. 3 sed bono vinci satius est quam malo more iniuriam vincere. 4 igitur ea victoria nobilitas ex lubidine sua usa multos mortalis ferro aut fuga extinxit plusque in reliquom sibi timoris quam potentiae addidit. quae res plerumque magnas civitatis pessum dedit, dum alteri alteros vincere quovis modo et victos acerbius ulcisci volunt. 5 sed de studiis partium et omnis civitatis moribus si singillatim aut pro magnitudine parem disserere, tempus quam res maturius me deseret. quam ob rem ad inceptum redeo.

Bellum Iugurthinum Perseus (Sallust. Bellum Iugurthinum. (No bibliographic information found).) — 41 focus

Ceterum mos partium et factionum ac deinde omnium malarum artium paucis ante annis Romae ortus est otio atque abundantia earum rerum, quae prima mortales ducunt. Nam ante Carthaginem deletam populus et senatus Romanus placide modesteque inter se rem publicam tractabant, neque gloriae neque dominationis certamen inter civis erat: metus hostilis in bonis artibus civitatem retinebat. Sed ubi illa formido mentibus decessit, scilicet ea, quae res secundae amant, lascivia atque superbia incessere. Ita quod in aduersis rebus optauerant otium, postquam adepti sunt, asperius acerbiusque fuit. Namque coepere nobilitas dignitatem, populus libertatem in libidinem vertere, sibi quisque ducere trahere rapere. Ita omnia in duas partis abstracta sunt, res publica, quae media fuerat, dilacerata. Ceterum nobilitas factione magis pollebat, plebis vis soluta atque dispersa in multitudine minus poterat. Paucorum arbitrio belli domique agitabatur; penes eosdem aerarium prouinciae magistratus gloriae triumphique erant; populus militia atque inopia urgebatur; praedas bellicas imperatores cum paucis diripiebant: interea parentes aut parui liberi militum, uti quisque potentiori confinis erat, sedibus pellebantur. Ita cum potentia auaritia sine modo modestiaque invadere, polluere et vastare omnia, nihil pensi neque sancti habere, quoad semet ipsa praecipitauit. Nam ubi primum ex nobilitate reperti sunt, qui veram gloriam iniustae potentiae anteponerent, moveri civitas et dissensio civilis quasi permixtio terrae oriri coepit.

Notes on the current edition

The Jugurthine War

1. XLI. Took, snatched, and seized]

Ducere, trahere, rapere.

" Ducere conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; trahere of some degree of force; rapere of open violence."

Müller. The words chiefly refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows.

2. The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.]

Quid quod usque proximos

Revellis agri terminos, et ultra

Limites clientium

Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos

In sinu ferens deos

Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos.

Hor. Od., ii. 18.

What can this impious av'rice stay ?

Their sacred landmarks torn away,

You plunge into your neighbor's grounds,

And overleap your client's bounds,

Helpless the wife and husband flee

And in their arms, expell'd by thee,

Their household gods, adored in vain,

Their infants, too, a sordid train.

Francis.

3. Among the nobility]

Ex nobilitate.

Cortius injudiciously omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi.

Sallust Bellum Iugurthinum 41

Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator)

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