A single man’s ambition nearly destroyed a republic. A foreign king’s bribery exposed an empire’s rot. In these two gripping works—the first true historical monographs in Western literature—Sallust chronicles the moral and political crises that foreshadowed Rome’s fall from grace. The Conspiracy of Catiline recounts the desperate plot of a bankrupt nobleman to seize power by violence, while the masterful speeches of Cicero, Caesar, and Cato frame a timeless debate on liberty versus order. The Jugurthine War follows Rome’s corrupt campaign against a wily Numidian king, revealing how money and incompetence undermined Roman integrity before the rise of Marius. Now rendered in clear, vigorous modern English, Sallust’s narratives speak directly to our own age of political turmoil and institutional decay. This edition preserves the historian’s urgent voice while removing archaic barriers, making ancient wisdom fully accessible. Part of The Modern Wisdom Library.
