Sallust

Abstract

Sallust wrote in the late 40s and 30s bce, after the assassination of Caesar, in the face of renewed civil war, triumviral power and proscriptions. His texts offer a number of valuable perspectives on Roman political culture; more than that – from a certain perspective, it could legitimately be said that political culture is exactly Sallust's theme. The character portrait of Catiline, the words of Philippus and the observations in Sallust's authorial voice about distortion of merit and reward encourage the reader to confront ways in which political culture, and the rewards and incentives embedded in it, shape individual behaviour. Sallust came from the Italian town of Amiternum and modern scholars have emphasised the significance of Sallust's Italian identity and its impact on his political perspective. Sallust's perspectives on political culture speak to the heart of twenty-first-century scholarly debates about the nature of late Republican politics, political discourse and public oratory.