Sallust is the earliest Roman historian of whom complete works survive,
a senator of the Roman Republic and younger contemporary of Cicero,
Pompey and Julius Caesar. His Catiline's War tells of the conspiracy
in 63 bc led by L. Sergius Catilina, who plotted to assassinate numerous
senators and take control of the government, but was thwarted by Cicero.
Sallust's vivid account of Roman public life shows a Republic in
decline, prey to moral corruption and internal strife. In The
Jugurthine War he describes Rome's fight in Africa against the king of
the Numidians from 111 to 105 bc, and provides a damning picture of the
Roman aristocracy. Also included in this volume are the major surviving
extracts from Sallust's now fragmentary Histories, depicting Rome after
the death of the dictator Sulla.
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