Difference between revisions of "C. Sallustii Crispi Opera Omnia quae Extant"

Revision as of 14:20, 10 March 2015

by Sallust

Opera Omnia quae Extant
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library at the College of William & Mary.
Author	Sallust
Editor
Translator
Published	London: Londini: typis Gul. Strahan. Impensis S. Ballard, W. Innys, A. Ward, T. Osborne, T. Longman, C. Hitch, E. Wicksteed, C. Bathurst, & M. Cooper
Date	1746
Edition
Language	Latin
Volumes	volume set
Pages	[18], 234, [100]
Desc.	8vo.

Sallust (86 B.C.E – 35 B.C.E.) was a Roman politician who later became an historian. He was born c. 86 B.C.E., in Amiternum near modern L’Aquila (56 miles from Rome). In 52 B.C.E., he was elected as tribune, but was expelled from the senate two years later due to his actions against Cicero and Milo.^[1] He joined Julius Caesar and commanded a legion in 49, and was appointed the first governor of Africa Nova. When Caesar was assassinated in 44, this forever changed the course of Sallust’s life. Although some historians have suggested that Caesar’s death may not have had such a significant effect on Sallust’s life, it is undeniable that from this point on, Sallust shifted away from politics and focused solely on historical and political writing.^[2] He died c. 35 B.C.E., having lived the remainder of his life away from the public eye.

C. Sallustii Crispi Opera Omnia quae Extant is a compilation of several of Sallust’s works including the famous "War Against Catiline" and "The Jugurthine War" (or "War Against Jugurtha"). The "War Against Caitiline" concerned the second Catilinarian Conspiracy of 65 B.C.E, a plot devised by the Roman Senator, Catiline, (along with other aristocrats) to overthrow the Roman senate. Sallust characterized Caitiline as a symbol of the moral decline of Rome. "The Jugurthine War" also emphasized moral decline through the lens of the Roman conquest of the Numidian King, Jugurtha.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

There is no doubt that Wythe owned this title—a copy of the 1746 edition of C. Sallustii Crispi Opera Omnia quae Extant at the Library of Congress includes George Wythe's bookplate. Thomas Jefferson also listed "Sallust. Delph. 8vo." in his inventory of Wythe's Library, noting that he kept the volume himself. He later sold it to the Library of Congress in 1815. All four of the Wythe Collection sources (Goodwin's pamphlet^[3], Dean's Memo^[4], George Wythe's Library^[5] on LibraryThing and the Brown Bibliography^[6]) list the 1746 edition of this title.

As yet, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to procure a copy of C. Sallustii Crispi Opera Omnia quae Extant.

References

1. ↑ C. B. R. Pelling, "Sallust," in Who's Who in the Classical World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
2. ↑ Ronald Syme, Sallust (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 40.
3. ↑ Mary R. M. Goodwin, The George Wythe House: Its Furniture and Furnishings (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, 1958), XLV.
4. ↑ Memorandum from Barbara C. Dean, Colonial Williamsburg Found., to Mrs. Stiverson, Colonial Williamsburg Found. (June 16, 1975), 5 (on file at Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary).
5. ↑ LibraryThing, s.v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on March 4, 2015.
6. ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012, rev. May, 2014) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433.