In 63 BC the corrupt aristocrat Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catiline in English) aimed to topple
the Roman Republic. Catiline attracted a wide array of supporters: debt-ridden men and women
from prominent families youths looking for adventure the less well-off tried of a political
class that seemed only to look out for its own interests. Frustrated in his efforts to be
elected consul Catiline fled Rome while several of his associates stayed behind with secret
plans to torch the city and murder its leading politicians. The story of Catiline and his
conspiracy is recounted by the Roman historian Sallust in his short book The War with Catiline
Sallust's account culminates with the unmasking of these urban conspirators at a meeting of the
Senate followed by a stormy debate that led to their execution and then the ultimate defeat
of Catiline and his legions in battle. While Catiline is at the heart of the story some of the
most important figures of Roman history play key roles in the story: Cicero the ambitious
young senator who calculated how best to protect Rome Julius Caesar who delivers a memorable
speech defending the conspirators against execution and Cato an ardent defender of the
Republic. Catiline himself is a fascinating figure - a bitter and haunted man determined to
destroy Rome yet sympathetic to the plight of struggling Romans. This book offers a new
translation of Sallust's account of the thwarted conspiracy framed for a contemporary audience.
As the translator Josiah Osgood notes in his introduction Sallust's work is not limited to
just recounting the conspiracy but engages with broader questions still relevant today about
how republics flourish and how they break down. Sallust also poignantly describes how the
corruption of Rome's leaders worried less about the common good and more about their own
advancement spread like a disease through Roman society. Claims of conspiracy across the
political spectrum have abounded in our time much as they did in Ancient Rome. While
Catiline's plot was real and the charges of conspiracy well-founded Osgood aims to show how
Sallust's short work can help us to think about the allure of explaining the world through
conspiracies both real and imagined. This makes it a still useful source of wisdom for
reflecting on a very real problem for contemporary republics--
