INTRODUCTION
of history. He is reported to have married Cicero's divorced wife Terentia,[1] and he adopted his sister's grandson, the Sallustius Crispus to whom Horace addressed one of his Odes,[2] afterwards a trusted friend of the Emperor Augustus.[3] It is therefore probable that he had no son of his own. He died in 35–34 B.C.
Sallust devoted his attention to a comparatively new branch of historiography, the historical monograph. He seems to have made careful and conscientious preparation for his work. Suetonius tells us[4] that Ateius Philologus supplied him with an outline of the whole of Roman history, and his careful study of Thucydides and Cato is apparent; Lenaeus, indeed, called him "an ignorant pilferer of the language of the ancients and of Cato in particular."[5] Sallust professes complete impartiality, and while his leaning towards the popular party is obvious, his fairness is shown by his treatment of Metellus and Marius in the Jugurtha. His first work was an account of the conspiracy of Catiline, which has come down to us under various titles, of which the best attested is Bellum Catilinae.[6] The reason which he himself gives for the choice of the theme is "the novelty of the crime and the danger to which
xii
