THE PESSIMISM OF SALLUST’S MORAL AND HISTORICAL OUTLOOK By BRIAN MATTHEW MUMPER A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Classics Written under the direction of T. Corey Brennan And approved by ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May 2017 Abstract of the Dissertation The Pessimism of Sallust’s Moral and Historical Outlook by Brian Matthew Mumper Dissertation Director: T. Corey Brennan This study examines each of the three works of Sallust – the Bellum Catilinae, the Bellum Iugurthinum, and the Histories – and attempts to reevaluate the prevailing views on Sallust’s outlook on Roman history and Roman morality. Although many scholars have seen a degree of optimism in Sallust’s earliest work, the Bellum Catilinae, and an evolution toward deeper pessimism in his last work, the Histories, this study presents a thorough case for seeing a consistent pessimism about Roman history and Roman morality pervading all three of his texts. By considering factors ranging from the key role given to the concept of metus hostilis (fear of the enemy) in his scheme of moral and historical causation, to the various manipulations of chronology, narrative order, and historical detail that his texts present to us, we may gain an enhanced recognition of the careful techniques by which Sallust constantly crafts his own unique (and pessimistic) view of Roman history and morality. Along the way, this study addresses some lingering misconceptions about Sallust’s alleged political biases and philosophical sympathies in order to clear the way for an unclouded interpretation of the evidence of Sallust’s texts. We shall conclude by asking what insights we might gain into the nature of Sallust’s historical and moral orientation by taking into account the tumultuous socio-political ii context of the Triumviral Period in which Sallust was writing, and how some of his contemporaries responded to the same tensions, concerns, and conflicts of that era. Overall our investigation will show that, while Sallust’s pessimism about Roman history and Roman morality was certainly influenced by the social and political developments of his own age, the unabating consistency and unmatched profundity of Sallustian pessimism demands that we understand Sallust on his own terms and that we recognize the many thoughtful techniques by which he gives voice to his unique perspective on Roman history. iii Acknowledgements I would like to extend a deep gratitude to my advisor, T. Corey Brennan, without whose insight and advice my project could not have come to fruition. I also wish to thank the members of my dissertation committee, Serena Connolly, Leah Kronenberg, and David Levene. Their thoughtful questions, comments, and criticisms helped to improve and refine my project in many ways. Their help has been invaluable. The entire faculty of Classics at Rutgers has likewise contributed greatly to making me a better student of the Classics in countless ways, and to enhancing my time as a graduate student. I would also like to acknowledge the many fellow Rutgers graduate students I have come to know, whose levity and support have often buoyed my spirits. Many mutual conversations about conference papers and research experiences have contributed to my work in no small degree. Lastly, I must thank my entire family for their patience, support, and constant sacrifices, without which my education and my pursuit of a career in the Classics would surely not have been possible. iv Table of Contents Abstract: ii Acknowledgements: iv Chapter 1: Introduction: Approaching the Moral and Historical Outlook of Sallust 1 1.1: Overview 1 1.2: Sallustian Scholarship 5 1.3a: The Ancient Sources Used by Sallust 16 1.3b: The Transmission of the BC, BJ, and the Histories 18 1.4: Chapter Outlines 21 Chapter 2: Preliminaries to the Study of Sallust 27 2.1: A Brief Consideration of Sallust’s Historical and Chronological “Manipulations” 27 2.2: Metus Hostilis in Sallust 43 Chapter 3: Sallust’s Supposed Political Attachments 55 3.1: Sallust’s Career: The Basic Framework 56 3.2: The Evidence from the Biographical and Autobiographical Tradition 59 3.2a: Sallust’s Tribunate 59 3.2b: Sallust’s Prosecution de repetundis and Acquittal 63 3.2c: Rumors of Sexual Impropriety 70 3.2d: Sallust’s Alleged Moral Hypocrisy 75 3.3: The Alleged Political Affiliations of Sallust 78 3.3a: Modern Views 78 3.3b: Sallust’s Political Affiliations: Evidence from Within the Sallustian Texts 85 Chapter 4: Sallust’s Suspected Philosophical Influences 106 4.1: Sallust’s Withdrawal from Politics in Context: Possible Philosophical Motivations 108 4.2: Philosophical Affiliations: The Evidence from Within Sallust’s Own Texts 111 Chapter 5: The Nature and Extent of Sallust’s Pessimism, Part 1: The Histories 157 5.1: Pessimism in the Early Fragments of The Histories 160 Chapter 6: The Nature and Extent of Sallust’s Pessimism, Part 2: The BC & BJ 173 6.1a: Pessimism in the BJ: Indirect Evidence 173 6.1b: Pessimism in the BJ: Explicit Evidence 191 6.2: Pessimism in the BC 198 6.3: A Case Study: Irony and Pessimism in Sallust’s Use of Cato the Elder 215 6.3a: Non-Ironic Uses of Cato in Sallust 219 6.3b: Ironic Uses of Cato in Sallust 230 v Chapter 7: Moral Turning Points and Literary Fashioning 246 7.1: The Moral Turning Point as a Literary Tool in BC 11-12 246 7.2: Multiple Moral Turning Points: A Comparative Perspective 253 Chapter 8: Disease, Contagion, and the Body Politic in Sallust: Where is the Doctor? 285 Chapter 9: The Triumviral Context of Sallustian Historiography 299 9.1: Suggested Allusions to the Triumviral Period in Sallust’s Texts 311 9.2: Reactions to the Triumviral Period Among Sallust’s Contemporaries 327 Epilogue: 349 Bibliography: 357 vi List of Tables Table 1: Sallust’s Chronology of Events of the Catilinarian Conspiracy in 63 B.C.E. 353 Table 2: Moral and Historical Turning Points: A Comparative Perspective 355 vii 1 Chapter 1: Introduction: Approaching the Moral and Historical Outlook of Sallust 1.1: Overview Sallust’s concern with political and moral corruption in the late Republic is patent to anyone who reads his works, and has been a consistent point of reference in Sallustian scholarship.1 While it is undeniable that corruption and civil strife are central themes in each of his three texts, scholars have come to widely divergent conclusions about many other aspects of Sallust’s writings. Sallust’s alleged philosophical leanings, the presence or absence of political biases behind his work, his moral outlook, even his knowledge of Greek and Latin authors, have been just some of the causes for continued debate. Moreover, in the ongoing effort to address such key issues in Sallustian studies, scholars sometimes take a cautious approach to assessing Sallust’s three texts (the Bellum Catilinae (BC), the Bellum Jugurthinum (BJ), and the Historiae (Hist.))2 in relation to each other, being especially wary of using the Historiae to further our understanding of what all three Sallustian texts share.3 Yet what these three texts share - and how Sallust 1 A full account of the bibliography is precluded here (see further the discussion below). Sallustian views of political and moral corruption are discussed in the majority of works on Sallust, but some more detailed treatments include Levene 2000, Sklenár 1998, Mineo 1997, Heldmann 1993, De Blois 1988, La Penna 1968, Earl 1961, Syme 1964, Oppermann 1958, Vretska 1937, Schur 1936, Seel 1930, and others. For a detailed focus on the date(s) for the beginning of moral decline, see i.a. Hackl 1980, Knoche 1938 (also Dunsch 2006: 204-9 (though misinformed), Gelzer 1936 passim). Works focused specifically on Sallust’s prologues (and/or digressions) include Dunsch 2006, Briquel 2006, Schutrümpf 1998, Conley 1981, D’Anna 1979, Tiffou 1973, Earl 1961, Leeman 1954-5, Klingner 1928. 2 All citations from the BC and BJ follow the numbering of the Oxford Classical Text of Reynolds. All citations from the Histories follow the numbering of the fragments in Maurenbrecher 1891, but parenthetical reference is made to that of McGushin 1992/1994 as well. The abbreviations BC, BJ, and Hist. will in all instances refer to Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae, Bellum Iugurthinum, and Historiae. 3 e.g. Earl 1960: 104, 110. Some skepticism about working with fragmentary texts is indeed healthy (see e.g. Brunt 1980: 477-94). Yet as Gerrish 2015: 198-9 explains (citing Syme 1964: 179), Sallust’s Histories, unlike many other fragmentary texts, has a fairly high number of overall fragments; Sallust himself is well-known through his other works, which provide a useful tool for comparative analysis; and we have extant authors who drew on Sallust’s Histories, such as Plutarch in his biographies of Sertorius and others. “These factors, combined with careful philological work and appropriate caution, allow us to extract a great deal from the fragments of the Histories.” 2 signals and maintains connections and continuities between them – is perhaps one of the most interesting aspect of Sallust’s work and a possible key to unlocking further insights. Indeed, common themes unite all three texts and invite comparisons between individuals and events in each.4 Language too (especially moral discourse) is recycled by Sallust between multiple characters across all three texts in surprising and unsettling ways, such that a complex tissue of linguistic and thematic connections is presented to the reader.5 Each of his texts makes us question and re-evaluate what we find in the others, and thus it seems clear Sallust meant to seed his texts with a certain amount of ambivalence.