"Sallust's "Catiline

BETWEEN THE DATE and the purpose of Sallust's Catiline some connection may reasonably be expected. There is little evidence for exact dating, between the obvious limits of Catiline's death in 62 and Sallust's death in 35. The tone of the comparison between Caesar and Cato implies that they are dead; but this is an avowed digression, which, though it may date the publication in final form, cannot be used with complete confidence to date the composition as a whole. The tone of the references to Crassus also suggests that Crassus is dead. Since these are a part of the narrative, they may serve to narrow the time available to after 53. Internal evidence presents the Catiline as Sallust's earliest historical work; how much the earliest we do not know, nor is precise dating possible for the later works. It may be objected that all this is excessive scrupulosity; Sallust tells us that he began to write, or rather, returned to writing, after he had renounced all political ambition, and this he does not seem to have done till after the death of Caesar. This, however, is not strictly true; there was an earlier occasion on which he might have adopted, at least temporarily, a tone of angry renunciation, all the more if he felt that his demotion from the Senate in 50 was, as it may well have been, an unjust exercise of political animosity. If, however, we confine ourselves to the years after Caesar's death, some time must be allowed for Sallust's other historical work. It seems a reasonable assumption that publication of the Catiline may be dated somewhere between 44 and 40. These were troubled and eventful years, and one might suppose it should be possible to link Sallust's choice of theme and treatment to events of the time. Such attempts have been made; some have seen in the Catiline an attack on the nobility in the interests of the popular party, with whose cause Sallust is supposed to have identified himself; others have regarded the work as a defence of Caesar's memory, or as a counterblast against Cicero's De consiliis. Some scholars, disheartened by the variety and inadequacy of these explanations, have renounced the search for a topical explanation entirely; they are content with a literary justification: the theme offered a promising field for the display of Sallust's literary talent, for criticism of a regime that had not given him the recognition he felt he deserved, and for playing the moralist at a time when he had nothing to lose by it. This seems a frivolous explanation. Whatever one may think of Sallust's intellectual qualifications and achievements, he saw himself as a serious

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