A Grammatical/Stylistic Commentary on Sallust Jug

A Grammatical/Stylistic Commentary on Sallust Jug. 84

A.M. Gowing

Key: OLD = Oxford Latin Dictionary

AG = Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar

NLS = E.C. Woodcock, New Latin Syntax

TLL = Thesaurus Linguae Latinae

1. At Marius: Having digressed to bring the reader up to date with Jugurtha's activities (74-83), S. now returns to Marius. As often, S. swiftly narrates the action with a series of historical infinitives (instare...laedere...dictitare...habere...postulare...arcessere...adcire...cogere). For similar exx. cf. Cat. 27.2, 31.1-3; Jug. 12.5, and esp. 36.2. McGushin p. 19 and 170

1. ut supra diximus: i.e., at 73.7. Such cross references are common in S.'s monographs (cf. e.g., Cat. 16.1, 57.2; Jug. 28.4, 30.3, 33.3, 52.5), and are one way in which he attempts to impose order and clarity on a complex series of simultaneously occurring events, the interrelation of whose causes and effects are integral to narrative.

1. cupientissuma plebe: ablative absolute expressing attendant circumstances (NLS 47, 49). Generally preferring the synonym cupidus (TLL 4.1435.47), S. uses this participle on only two other occasions in his extant work (Jug. 64.6, Hist. 5.19) but only here in the superlative, evidently to lend vividness (cf. plebes...adcensa at 73.6). Note the archaic form (cupientissuma rather than cupientissima), a mannerism particularly favored by S. (cf. in this chapter alone fortissumum in §2; advorsus, volgi and lubido in §3; volt in §5).

1. consul factus: the participle has a temporal force ("once he had been elected consul," AG 496). For the expression see OLD s.v. fio 6b, TLL 4.565.13.

1. ei: dative with iussit. For this use of iubeo see OLD s.v. 4a. The word, which distinguishes actions effected by the plebs from those effected by the senate, usually indicated by decerno (TLL 7.2.576.19; cf. note on §3 decreverat below), draws attention to the fact that Marius's command has been conferred by popular demand rather than the senate (cf. 73.7).

1. provinciam Numidiam: As often, the proper name stands in apposition rather than being genitive (AG 282; NLS 72.I.5, note i).

1. antea iam: a common expression in S. (Cat. 20.5; Jug. 11.3, 24.5), but only here inverted, perhaps to draw attention to the change in Marius' demeanor.

1. infestus nobilitati...multus atque ferox: A striking collocation of adjectives, whose use elsewhere suggests something of S.'s attitude toward Marius. infestus ("hostile to...", OLD s.v. 1) is applied to Memmius (Jug. 27.2), Catiline (Cat. 15.4), and Jugurtha (Jug. 72.2); ferox, to Catiline (Cat. 5.7), the other conspirators (Cat. 43.4, 52.18), Hiempsal (Jug. 11.3), and Jugurtha (Jug. 11.9, 54.5). For multus see OLD s.v. 6a.

1. instare: a vivid word meaning to press someone in a hostile manner which, although construed here as a verbal attack (so OLD s.v. 5c), elsewhere in S. is used almost exclusively in military contexts (e.g., Cat. 60.3, Jug. 36.2, 51.3, 94.6, Hist 3.96; cf. Verg. Aen. 10.645, Liv. 4.19.6). The ambiguity is significant, for throughout these sections S. will construe Marius' political actions in military terms (see note to §1, pro se et illis) and conversely apply terms usually associated with politicking to his military preparations (see note to §2, ambiundo).

1. singulos modo, modo univorsos: a chiasmus found once at Cat. 15.5 but particularly favored in the Jug. (e.g., 23.1, , 36.2, 60.4, 93.4, 113.2; on chiasmus see AG 598f)

1. laedere: a powerful word, typically used of a verbal lashing (OLD s.v. 4, TLL 7.2.869.20), which Marius will shortly claim cannot be inflicted upon him (82.57) and is later said to be something Sulla never did (96.3).

1. dictitare: evidently in several (the frequentative form [AG 263.2] indicates more than one is meant) contiones held by Marius prior to his assuming the consulship on Jan. 1, 107. The word occurs only here in S.'s extant work. For the sake of variatio S. here places the historical infinitive first rather than last.

1. sese consulatum...cepisse: indirect statement after dictitare

1. spolia: in apposition to consulatum

1. alia praeterea magnifica pro se et illis dolentia: direct objects with dictitare. The entire sentence contains two devices favored by S.: a) asyndeton, or lack of connective, here between the two clauses governed by dictitare, and b) inconcinnitas, an abrupt or unexpected shift in construction, here achieved by the juxtapostion of an indirect statement and direct objects both governed by the same verb (cf. 1.2, and note on §4 below, fore...rediturum, alia huiusce modi)

1. pro se et illis: the variatio of prep.+abl (with magnfica) and dative (with the intransitive dolentia, for which see NLS 59(i)) serves to stress the distinction between what Marius said about himself and what he said about his opponents.

S. cleverly mixes two technical expressions, one from the political sphere (consulatum capere, for which see TLL 4.575.57, OLD s.v. capio 15b,) and one from the military (spolia capere, ibid. 6c) to insinuate that Marius waged and won his campaign for the consulship as though it were in effect a military campaign. The same purpose may lie behind the use of victis illis to designate those whom he had 'defeated' in the elections, the principal meaning of vinco being to defeat someone in battle (OLD s.v. 1a).

2. quae bello opus erant: a determinative relative clause (hence the indicative rather than subjunctive) defining prima (see NLS 230(1)). For the position of the clause prior to its referent see AG 599e. For the ablative (bello) with opus see AG 411.

2. habere: "regarded." For the expression OLD s.v. primus 15a.

2. postulare: this is the first in a second series of historical infinitives that shifts the reader's attention to Marius' military preparations.

2. legionibus: "for the legions," a dative of advantage indicating the persons for whose benefit a particular action is performed (NLS 64)

2. auxilia a populis et regibus arcessere, praeterea ex Latio sociisque: auxilia (OLD s.v. 5) is the technical military term used to designate the non-Italic elements in the Roman army drafted from allied peoples and client kingdoms (a populis et regibus), as opposed to the regular forces conscripted from among the Roman citizens and allies inhabiting the Italian peninsula (ex Latio sociisque). Cf. 43.4.

2. fortissumum quemque: for quisque +the superlative, a common variation for omnes, see AG 313b.

2. plerosque militiae, paucos fama cognitos: these stand in apposition to fortissumum quemque.

2. militiae: genitive of definition (NLS 72.I(5)) ‘defining’ the particular group (militia) from which ‘most’ of these men were drawn.

2. fama: "by reputation," ablative of specification with cognitos (AG 418). A few of these individuals were evidently known by reputation to Marius.

2. ambiundo: for the ablative of the gerund expressing means see AG 507. Still playing on the underlying theme of this passage, S. now reverts to an expression typically associated with political campaigns (cf. 13.8; OLD s.v. ambio 2, TLL 1.1849.47) to describe Marius' military preparations.

2. cogere homines...proficisci: subject accusative + present infinitive of the deponent proficiscor, forming an objective noun clause governed by cogere (NLS 25).

2. emeritis stipendiis: abl. of means with cogere. For the expression OLD s.v. stipendium 2c.

3. illi: dative with abnuere (as often with intransitive verbs, for which see NLS 59); for the construction with de + abl. see OLD s.v. abnuo 5b. The pronoun serves as a virtual connective and is thus placed near the beginning of the sentence to emphasize that S. is turning to the senate's response to the actions by Marius which have just been described. Note that S. now abandons the historical infinitives for indicative verbs.

3. quamquam advorsus erat: i.e., to Marius.

3. laetus: "gladly" -- adjectives in Latin are often best rendered adverbially in English (AG 290). Syme (Sallust 310) notes that this word occurs first in S. in the Jug. (where it appears nine times).

3. supplementum: "reinforcements" (OLD s.v. 1b)

3. decreverat < decerno. Here used in its technical sense of senatorial action (OLD s.v. 5, TLL 5.1.142.39): see on §1 ei above.

3. quia...amissurus: sc. erat . Future periphrastic (AG 498.a), rendered either as "was going to..." or "would." The clause establishes the reasoning behind the senate's actions.

3. neque plebi militia volenti putabatur: the construction, though difficult, results from S.'s usual desire to be as succinct as possible. militia is a predicate nominative with the impersonal passive putabatur (OLD s.v. puto 5a), which governs an indirect statement (sc. esse). The idiom plebi volenti esse (for which see OLD s.v. volens 1c) means "to be welcome to the people." Thus literally rendered, the sentence translates, "it was not believed that military service would be welcome to the people."

3. belli usum: "his need for war" (OLD s.v. usus 13a). The senate banked on two possibilities 1) that Marius' recruiting stemmed from a desire to increase his popularity and that satisfied, he would lose interest, or 2) popular enthusiasm for the general would wane.

3. volgi: subjective genitive with studia (AG 343 Note 1), i.e., popular favor for Marius, not Marius' enthusiasm for the populus.

3. sed ea res frustra sperata: sc. est. The expression echoes 73.7.

3. tanta lubido cum Mario eundi: objective genitive of the gerund of eo, to be construed with lubido (see AG 504; for the expression cf. Cat. 2.5, 5.6; Jug. 24.2).

3. invaserat: a powerful word of which S. is quite fond (cf., e.g., Jug. 41.9) and used often with abstracts such as cupido (89.6), which here recalls cupientissuma plebe above in §1, or lubido (refs. in previous note). See OLD s.v. invado 4b; TLL 7.1.111.48.

4. sese quisque...animis trahebant: for the singular subject (quisque) with the plural verb see AG 317. The expression animis trahebant ("they considered...") is unique to S. (cf. 93.1; see OLD s.v. traho 19).

4. praeda: ablative of specification (AG 418) with locupletem

4. fore...rediturum, alia huiusce modi: S. again mixes, with asyndeton, two indirect statements with a direct object (cf. note on §1 above, alia praeterea magnifica pro se et illis dolentia).

4. domum: accusative of place to which (AG 427.2)

4. adrexerat < arrigo: This is a good example of how S. expands the use of his vocabulary between the Bellum Catilinae and the Bellum Iugurthinum. The verb occurs once in the Cat. (39.3 ) as opposed to five times in the Jug.

5. omnibus quae postulaverat decretis: ablative absolute with temporal force (NLS 50)

5. scribere: "to muster" (OLD s.v. 7b; cf. Jug. 27.5, 39.2, 43.3)

5. volt: historical present, as often with postquam (AG 543)

5. hortandi causa simul et nobilitatem...exagitandi: the use of the gerund with a direct object is relatively rare is classical Latin, but fairly common in earlier periods, and this is thus another instance of S.'s archaizing tendencies (NLS 206 Note ii).

5. deinde hoc modo disseruit: cf. 30.4; Hist. 1.76.1, 2.47.

At Marius, ut supra diximus, cupientissuma plebe consul factus, postquam ei provinciam Numidiam populus iussit, antea iam infestus nobilitati, tum vero multus atque ferox instare; singulos modo, modo univorsos laedere, dictitare sese consulatum ex victis illis spolia cepisse, alia praeterea magnifica pro se et illis dolentia; [2] interim quae bello opus erant prima habere, postulare legionibus supplementum, auxilia a populis et regibus arcessere, praeterea ex Latio sociisque fortissumum quemque, plerosque militiae, paucos fama cognitos, accire et ambiundo cogere homines emeritis stipendiis secum proficisci. [3] neque illi senatus, quamquam advorsus erat, de ullo negotio abnuere audebat. ceterum sup-plementum etiam laetus decreverat, quia neque plebi militia volenti putabatur et Marius aut belli usum aut studia volgi amissurus. sed ea res frustra sperata: tanta lubido cum Mario eundi plerosque invaserat. [4] sese quis-que praeda locupletem fore, victorem domum rediturum, alia huiusce modi animis trahebant, et eos non paulum oratione sua Marius adrexerat. [5] nam postquam omnibus quae postulaverat decretis milites scribere volt, hortandi causa simul et nobilitatem, uti consueverat, exagitandi contionem populi advocavit. deinde hoc modo disseruit: