Illustrated history of ancient literature, oriental and classicalQuackenbos, John D. (John Duncan)
History
Illustrated history of ancient literature, oriental and classical
Quackenbos, John D. (John Duncan)
Classical literature -- History and criticism; Oriental literature -- History and criticism
A Roman army followed him into Africa; but little was effected until
the consul Metellus assumed the command, and, proof against Numidian
gold, prosecuted the war in earnest. After five years’ continuance,
it was successfully terminated by Marius. Sallust’s history ends with
the betrayal of Jugurtha to the Romans, and the triumph of the consul
Marius, “on whom the hopes of the state were then placed.” Plutarch
adds that, after figuring in the procession, Jugurtha was set upon by
the people, who tore the rings from his ears and even stripped him
of his clothes; then he was pushed into a damp dungeon to starve,
shuddering as he cried to the bystanders with a maniacal laugh, “How
cold is this bath of yours!”
Another work of Sallust was a History of Rome from 78 to 66 B.C.,
fragments of which remain.
SALLUST’S STYLE, modelled after that of Thucydides, is sententious,
energetic, and an improvement on the original in clearness.
Condensation without obscurity is its crowning excellence; and its
finish, though too plainly showing marks of labor, is always attractive.
The forte of Sallust lay in delineating character; his portraits of
Catiline and Jugurtha are as vivid as if the men themselves stood
before us. Especially striking are his pictures of remorse. Catiline,
who murdered his own son to induce an infamous beauty to become his
wife, “at peace with neither gods nor men, finds no comfort either
waking or sleeping; his complexion is pale, his eyes haggard, his walk
sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and distraction is apparent in
every look.” Jugurtha, red with the blood of many victims, “fears his
subjects and his enemies alike, is ever on the watch, starts from his
sleep to seize his arms, and is so agitated by terror as to appear
under the influence of madness.”
Sallust also affects the moralist, and throughout his works is as
loud in the praises of virtue as in his life he was careless of her
interests. From “the Jugurthine War” we take an interesting account of
the
CAPTURE OF A NUMIDIAN FORT.
“Not far from the river Mulucha, which separated the kingdoms of
Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the midst of a plain, a small
fort, on a rock of considerable breadth, and of prodigious height,
naturally as steep on every side as art or labor could render it;
it had no access, except at one place, and that was by means of a
narrow path. As the king’s treasure was deposited in this place,
Marius exerted his utmost efforts to reduce it; and succeeded, more by
accident than by prudent management.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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