Two stories from the Roman Republic
I quite like books written by ancient historians, though we must remember the purposes of the ancient historians are a little different to modern historians (though I would argue that it is not all that different). The editor argued that ancient historians tended to have different purposes, though all historians, I believe, will approach a period in history, or, as in Sallust's case, certain events within history, to not only tell a story but for the reader to come out of the story having learnt a lesson. This is not so much different to how many historians write today. Granted, we do have text books and encyclopaedias which try to be as objective as possible, however it is very difficult not to let one's subjective opinion get in the way, or even revise the events to push one's own personal agenda. I can easily refer you to the works of Niall Ferguson as an example of this (his book on the British Empire was written to push the idea that imperialism is not necessarily a bad thing) and I will also refer the reader to Philip Jenkins Lost History of Christianity as an example of a revisionist text (though he tries to be objective, when I think of the history he writes he tends to put the scientific achievements of the Arabs into the hands of the Nestorian Church).
This particular book is about two events near the end of the Roman Republic. One event is a war with an outside enemy (the Numidians, located in modern day Algeria) and the second involves a spoilt rich kid who could not handle losing his bid to become consul (sort of like a president, but less so, particularly since one had to share the position with another) and his tantrum that brought the Republic onto the verge of civil war.
Sallust, in the first story (for that is what it really is) explores the events that brought Rome to war with the Numidians, and the destruction that this war left upon the peninsula. The reason for this was because Rome had committed much of her veteran troops to Numidia, they were unprepared by another Gaullic invasion from the north (though this invasion was nowhere near as devastating as one of the earlier invasions). He also delves into how Jugurtha would bribe his opponents to leave him alone and also how he would use intrigue to set elements of the Roman Senate against each other. However, in the end, Jugurtha was defeated by the Consul Marius (who was elected into the position seven times, but died during his seventh year). Reporting to Marius was Sulla, a man who was to become quite important as cracks began to appear in the Republic.
The Conspiracy of Cataline is basically about a spoilt rich kid. It is clear from the text that Cataline was never consul material. He just kept on getting himself into trouble, and the one time he almost got elected, he lost by the narrowest of margins. Instead of simply accepting the vote he stormed off in a rage and began to raise an army to forcefully take the position. When considering people like Cataline, it brings to mind modern politicians like Richard Nixon and John Howard. Nixon lost by the narrowest of margins to Kennedy (and some suggest that Kennedy cheated), but waiting eight years was elected in a landslide. While not so similar to John Howard, as the news media said when he was finally defeated in 2007, that he was one of those politicians that would be elected when the time was right. If Nixon and Howard had thrown a tantrum like Cataline then it is highly unlikely that they would have come to the fore as they have. As for Al Gore, another modern politician who lost by a narrow margin, he went on to win a Nobel prize and an Oscar, two things Bush never achieved.
Sallust was a supporter of Julius Caeser, and after Caeser's assassination he retired to his country estate to become an author. I wonder if he expected that his writings would still be read by history buffs and taught in universities two thousand years after his death? Thucydidies wanted that to happen, but then I guess there were a lot of writers back then that dreamt of such a legacy. Out of all of the Roman Emperors, only Caeser and Marcus Aurelius obtained that distinction (most Emperors considered themselves authors). As for his history, we must remember that Sallust was writing from living memory. He experienced the conspiracy of Cataline, and was no doubt a young man during the Jugurthine War. However, looking back, it seems as if the devastation of the Jugurthine War that Sallust wrote about was quite minor for the Roman Empire went onto its greatest period subsequent to this, much in the same way that after losing her American Colonies, Britain then went on to rule the world.
