This new and original translation of Sallust’s Conspiracy of Catiline and War of Jugurtha uses a fresh, modern English idiom that preserves the flavor of the historian’s famous epigrammatic style. Fully outfitted for comprehension and efficient referencing, this special edition contains the following features:

• Extended introduction describing the political and military systems of the Roman republic

Considered the first of the great Roman historians, Sallust has been read for centuries for his penetrating character studies, timeless moral insights, and matchless rhetoric. His profiles of flawed men led inexorably to ruin by excessive ambition or character defects resonate with us today more powerfully than ever.

Intrigue…murder…the lust for power…and the fatal hubris that leads men to their dooms. These are some of the historian’s gripping themes.

Deeply concerned with the moral decay and corruption he saw around him, Sallust’s pragmatic views of historical forces, personalities, and the psychology of power were aided by his own direct participation in the highest levels of Roman politics. 

The Conspiracy of Catiline tells the dramatic story of renegade senator Lucius Catiline’s attempt to seize power in Rome during the waning days of the republic. The War of Jugurtha recounts the rise and ultimate destruction of the headstrong Numidian king Jugurtha, who waged an insurgent war against Rome from 112 to 106 B.C.