Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War

“If a man is ambitious for power, he can have no better supporters than the poor: They are not worried about their own possessions, since they have none, and whatever will put something in their pockets is right and proper in their eyes." (Jugurthine War 86.3)””

— Sallust

“[T]he public interest, as is too frequently the case, was defeated by private influence.””

— Sallust

“He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and circumspection.””

— Sallust

“Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility, who preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a convulsion of the earth.””

— Sallust

“(Caesar:) But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and cruelty.””

— Sallust

“The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore.””

— Sallust

“(Jugurtha:) Urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit.””

— Sallust

“La hermosura, pues, las grandes riquezas, las fuerzas del cuerpo y demás cosas de esta clase pasan brevemente; pero las esclarecidas obras del ingenio son tan inmortales como el alma.(La guerra de Jugurta)””

— Sallust

“Honour is not bestowed upon merit.””

— Sallust