[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.—Facta dictis sunt exaequanda. Most translators have regarded these words as signifying that the subject must be equaled by the style. But it is not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and how it was done." Kunhardt.
[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.—Quae sibi—aequo animo accipit, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library.
[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible—Veluti ficta, pro falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis, he considers as false or incredible, veluti ficta, as if invented.
[32] When a young man—Adolescentulus. "It is generally admitted that all were called adolescentes by the Romans, who were between the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called adolescentulus, in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." Dietsch. And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, Defendi rempublicam adolescens, Philipp. ii. 46.
[33] To engage in political affairs—Ad rempublicam. "In the phrase of Cornelius Nepos, honoribus operam dedi, I sought to obtain some share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were comprehended under the term Respublica." Cortius.
[34] Integrity—Virtute. Cortius rightly explains this word as meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to avaritia, not, as some critics would have it, to largitio.
[35] Was ensnared and infected—Corrupta, tenebatur. As obsessus tenetur, Jug., c. 24.
[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, etc.—Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque invidia vexabat. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat honoris cupido, et vexabat propterea etiam eadem, quae caeteros, fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., that it is a zeugma. "Fama atque invidia," says Gronovius, "is [Greek: en dia duoin], for invidiosa et maligna fama." Bernouf, with Zanchius and others, read fama atque invidia in the ablative case; and the Bipont edition has eadem qua—fama, etc.; but the method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence.
[37] IV. Servile occupations—agriculture or hunting—Agrum colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum. By calling agriculture and hunting servilia officia, Sallust intends, as is remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the saying of Julian the emperor, Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, captare laudes ex corpore. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, "agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to peruse.
[38] Returning to those studies, etc.—A quo incepto studio me ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus. "The study, namely, of writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." Cortius.