book review by Serafina Itano
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, "De coniuratione Catilinae "
‘The Conspiracy of Catiline’ is a monograph of the Roman historian Sallust. He describes the conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catilina who tried in 63 B.C. to seize the power in the Roman republic by a coup d'état what was thwarted by the consul Marcus Tullius Cicero. In the first chapters of his work he depicts the fame as the meaning of life. Then follows a characterization of his protagonist and the demonization of his moral corruptness. It comes the first digression in which Sallust describes a general demoralisation as a cause of the crisis of the Roman republic. Sallust asserts that the virtuousness and braveness which made Rome great during the past centuries would be more and more replaced by greed and squandering. Catiline is described as a typical representative of both of these vices.
The next chapters report about the preliminary events leading up to the complot, the conspiracy itself, the revelation and defeat of the conspirators in the Battle of Pistoria.
It's really a very interesting historical book, especially for those who only know about the conspiracy by Cicero's famous 'Orations against Catiline'. So read it today !! This book receives a rating of five stars *****
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