Sallust, [Gaius Sallustius Crispus]

Hoc in Volumine C. Crispi Sallustii haec omnia continentur. Epistola Pomponii ad Augustinum Mapheum. Epistola Io. Badii Ascensii nobliss ac Reuerendo D. Francisco Rouhan Lugdunensium Archipraesuli [etc.] . . . C. Crispi Sall. bellum Catilinariu [etc.] . . .

Venetiis [Venice]: In aedibus Ioannis Tacuini de Tridino... 1534. Later printing. Folio, pp. (6 leaves) [xii] + 151 leaves [302]; 19th century morocco gilt; boards detached but present; spine perished; marbled endpapers; with Harvard Detur Prize bookplate on front pastedown ("detur XXX XXX XXX Collegii Harvardiani Alumno, ex testamento Edvardi Hopkins Armig. Pro insigni in studiis diligentia Henry Aaron Yeomans Decanus 1917. Consill. Pret TT. adjuv. AD MDCCCLX."); later flyleaves; decorative wood engraved title leaf printed in red and black; woodcut initials throughout; few marginal notes in a contemporary hand; scattered offsetting and foxing to text leaves; text block sound. Paper quality uneven with some portions browned more than others. Rear board with heraldic arms of Edvardi Hopkins. Front board with Harvard seal (Christo et Eccelsiase Veritas). A solid candidate for rebinding. Fair. Disbound. [22565]


Scarce edition illustrated with fifteen woodcut illustrations in the text. (The first printed edition of Sallust was published in 1470.) With commentary by various authorities surrounding Sallust's text. Born into a plebeian family, the Roman historian Sallust (85-35 BCE) was a partisan and friend of Julius Caesar, who installed him as governor of Africa Nova, a position that allowed him to amass great wealth through extortion, graft and oppression. He escaped condemnation through his connection to Caesar and retired to Rome in luxury. Two of his works survive as complete texts, Cataline's War (his first published work) and the Jurgenthine War; only fragments of his Histories remain. Sallust strongly opposed the old Roman aristocracy which he described as vicious and depraved. In Caesar he saw a leader who might strengthen Roman morality and politics, though his own personal ethics were notable only in what they lacked. As a writer he showed a lively, unusual and epigrammatic style, often employing either archaic terms or even creating neologisms. Other classical writers, including Tacitus and Quintillian, considered Sallust an historian of the first rank. WorldCat locates three copies, including one at the Houghton. OCLC accession # 83423551.

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