Roman Historiography
Republican
Syllabus
PURPOSE:
• This course is about Latin, History and Historiography.
• Our subject will be Sallust's Bellum Catilinae.
• Our object, first and foremost, is to further your ability to
read and translate Latin with careful attention given to
grammar, syntax and style.
• To provide necessary context for Sallust and the BC, we
must also familiarize ourselves with the political history of
the Late Republic.
• Our final objective is to examine the art of classical
historiography and to analyze Sallust's distinctive
contribution to Roman Historiography.
Syllabus
REQUIRED TEXTS:
• Ramsey, Sallust's Bellum
Catilinae (Oxford University Press; 2007)
– our primary text
– copious notes on grammar &
syntax
– current annotated bibliography
– maps
Syllabus
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED:
• McGushin, Sallust: Bellum
Catilinae (Duckworth Publishers; 2002)
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vocabulary
copious historical commentary
notes on grammar & syntax
VOCABULARY
Syllabus
• This course is not just about translating Sallust, it’s about
Roman political history and historiography.
• To that end the Ramsey edition is essential and the
McGushin commentary invaluable.
• Please obtain copies of both.
Syllabus
REQUIRED TEXTS:
• Taylor, Party Politics in the Age of
Caesar (University of California Press; 1961)
– Sather Lectures
– a classic work on political life at the end
of the Republic
– discusses the evolution of Roman
politics
– easy prose style
– explains many Roman political oddities
– essential for anyone interested in
Roman Republican politics
• and/or enrolled in CL341
Syllabus
REQUIRED TEXTS:
• MacDonald, Cicero Orationes vol.x In
Catilinam I-IV, Pro Murena, Pro Sulla,
Pro Flacco (Harvard University Press;1976)
– supplement our main text
– Cicero's own take on the Catilinarian
conspiracy
• Catiline's conspiracy, one of the best
documented events from the late
Republic, gives us the rare opportunity to
analyze not just one literary version of
these events, but to think critically about
the divergences between Sallust's and
Cicero's accounts, and to try to make
sense of "what really happened" during
this chaotic period of Roman history.
– possible paper topic
Syllabus
GRADING:
Participation
Exam (10/3)
Paper (12/6)
Final Exam (12/12)
25%
25%
25%
25%
Sallust, Bellum Catilinae
approaches
literary
historical
political
historiography
history
context
30 minute Review of
roman history
• April 21, 753BC
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753-716 Romulus
750 Greek colonies established in Italy
700 Etruscan civilization dominates
715-674 Numa Pompilius
673-642 Tullius Hostilius
642-617 Ancus Marcius
616-579 L. Tarquinius Priscus
600 Forum Romanum built
578-535 Servius Tullius
535-510 L. Tarquinius Superbus
30 minute Review of
roman history
cont.
• 509BC Establishment of the Republic
– 508 Creation of the position of Pontifex Maximus
– 494 First Secession of the Plebs in Rome.
• Creation of the tribunes of the plebs, two elected annually
– 471 Concilium Plebis created; office of tribune recognized
– 451 Decemviri establish code of 12 tables
– 449 Secession of the plebs
• lex Valeria Horatia grants tribunician inviolability.
– 447 Creation of position for two quaestors, elected by the tribal
assembly.
– 445 lex Canuleia: consuls replaced by military tribunes with consular
powers;
allows plebeians and patricians to marry;
– 421 The number quaestors is increased to four, opened to
plebeians.
– 409 Three of the elected quaestors are plebeians.
30 minute Review of
roman history
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390 Gauls sack city of Rome, capitol saved.
7month
siege; invaders are bought off.
367 Lex Liciniae Sextiae restores the
Consulship, plebeians admitted to the office of
consul.
366 Offices of Praetor and Aedile added to
Cursus
Honorum.
343-41 First Samnite War, Rome occupies
Campania
328 Etrurian & Campania annexed
312 rural tribes in Rome number 27
304 Second Samnite War
298-290 Third Samnite War
– central & southern Italy under Rome
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295 Rome expands north to Po Valley
cont.
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
30 minute Review of
roman history
• 282-75 war with Pyrrhus
• 285-41 First Punic War
• 264 All of Italy under Roman
control
• 218-202 Second Punic War
• 214-205 First Macedonian
War
• 200-197 Second Macedonian
War
• 149-146 Third Punic War
• 136-121 First Sicilian Slave
War
cont.
30 minute Review of
roman history
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cont.
133
Tiberius Gracchus tribune
123-122 Gaius Gracchus tribune
111-105 Jugurthine War
104-100 Marius consul
90-88 Social War
88 Sulla: First Mithridatic War
88 Sulla's march on Rome with his army
82 Sulla becomes dictator
71 Crassus crushes Spartacus
71 Pompey defeats Sertorius' rebellion in Spain
70 Consulship of Crassus and Pompey
30 minute Review of
roman history
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cont.
63 Pompey defeats Mithridates
60 First Triumvirate: Pompey, Crassus, & Julius Caesar
58 - 50 Caesar conquers Gaul
53 Crassus killed in (battle) of Carrhae
49 Caesar crosses the Rubicon
48 Pharsalus (battle); Pompey Killed In Egypt
46 - 44 Caesar's dictatorship
44 End of Civil War
43 Second Triumvirate: Marc Antony, Lepidus, & Octavian
42 Philippi (battle)
31 Actium (battle)
27 Octavian becomes Augustus
Roman History
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8th c traditional founding
7th c Etruscan domination
6th c Republic established
5th c Struggle of the orders
4th c Italy expansion
3rd c Punic wars
2nd c Mediterranean expansion
1st c Internal struggles
recap
Sallust
• 86 Born at Amiternum
– Sabine municipium
• 85-56 Sallust’s lost years…
– Pythagorian cultist
• Strange puerile sacrifices
– Adulterous swine
• Fausta (Milo’s wife)
• and a host of other Roman matrons
• 55 quaestor?
• 52 tribune
• 50 expelled from Senate
– Political purge?
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Sallust
• 49 Illyricum
– command of legion
• Setback at Curicta
• 47 praetor-elect
– mutiny mess up
• 46 Africa campaign
– regained Senate seat
– Cercina
– Governor of Africa
• 45 accused of res repetundae
Sallust
• 44 retirement
– horti Sallustiani
– historian
• 35 death
– May 13
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
works
• Bellum Catilinae
– after 43
• Bellum Iugurthinum
– 41-40
• Historiae
– Incomplete
Historiography
• Pre-Sallust
– Annalistic
• not analy(s)tic
– narratores rerum
• brevity, truthfulness only virtues
• boring??
– L. Cornelius Sisenna 67BC
• puerile quiddam
Sallustian Style
• brevitas
• vocabulary
– archaisms
– neologisms
• infinitives run amok
• inconcinnitas
• Quintilian’s verdict