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Sallust
(Gaius Sallustius Crispius)
Roman historian
(86-35 BC)



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Alieni appetens, sui profusus.
Greedy for the property of others, extravagant with his own.
-- Bellum Catilinae, ch. 5

Nam idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est.
For to like and dislike the same things, only this is a strong friendship.
-- Cataline quoted in: Bellum Catilinae, ch. 20

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur.
To stir up undisputed matters seemed a great reward in itself.
-- Bellum Catilinae, ch. 21

Psallere et saltere elegantius, quam necesse est probae.
To play the lyre and sing more beautifully than a virtuous woman need.
-- Bellum Catilinae, ch. 25

Esse quam videri bonus malebat.
He preferred to be rather than to seem good.
-- Of Cato, in: Bellum Catilinae, ch. 54

Se pro patria, pro liberis, pro aris atque focis suis certare.
To fight for their country, children, altars, and hearths.
-- Bellum Catilinae, ch. 59

Nam concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maximae dilabuntur.
For harmony makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest empires.
-- Bellum Iugurthinum, ch. 10, sect. 6

Urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit.
A venal city ripe to perish, if a buyer can be found.
-- Of Rome, in: Bellum Iugurthinum, ch. 35

Omne bellum sumi facile, ceterum aegerrime desinere, non in eiusdem potestate initium eius et finem esse.
Every war is easy to begin but difficult to stop; its beginning and end are not in control of the same person.
-- Bellum Iugurthinum, ch. 83

Punica fide.
With Carthaginian trustworthiness.
-- Bellum Iugurthinum, ch. 108, sect. 3, ironically referring to the treachery of the Numidian Bocchus, who acted as a double agent between the Carthaginian leader Jugurtha and the Roman general Sulla.

Namque pauci libertatem, pars magna iustos dominos volunt.
Few men desire freedom, the greater part desire just masters.
-- Histories, 4.69.18
Alternative translation:
Only a few prefer liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters.

Sed res docuit id verum esse, quod in carminibus Appius ait, fabrum esse suae quemque fortunae.
But experience has shown that to be true which Appius says in his verses, that every man is the architect of his own fortune.
-- Epistulae ad Caesarem senem, I.i.2


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The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner.

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