De coniuratione Catilinae

Sallust's monograph on Catiline's attempted coup clearly reflects the author's pessimistic view of history. For him, the absence of external threats to Rome (since the destruction of Carthage) automatically leads to moral decay: the long-established 'virtus' gives way to the hunger for power and greed. The thematic and stylistic individuality of the 'Coniuratio' has made the text just as indispensable in Latin classes as Caesar's "Bellum Gallicum." This is an unabridged and unedited text edition in the original language, with translations of difficult words at the bottom of each page, a postscript, and references to literature.