| Sallust's use of boundary imagery in his Bellum Iugurthinum illustrates important patterns of discord and concord in the social and political relationships of the monograph. Through carefully crafted references to the establishment, loss, confusion, transgression, defense, and assault of boundaries to characterize key individuals, he analyzes the causes of strife within Roman society. And Sallust goes beyond mere analysis: he proposes a solution to the problems that has destroyed the Republic.; My study focuses on Sallust's treatment of key Romans in the monograph including Scipio Aemilianus, the "novi atque nobiles," Metellus, Marius, and Sulla. Sallust proposes that patterns of concord and discord have been present in Roman society for generations.; Chapters 1 and 2 examine the characters of Scipio and the novi atque nobiles. Scipio is the defender of the boundaries of Roman values; the novi atque nobiles, whose very name suggests confusion, embody the disorder of society. Scipio's portrait reveals, however, that Rome's defender unwittingly opens the door to her destruction.; Chapter 3 shows how Metellus a man of integrity restores concord in the state, but ultimately, like Scipio, his aristocratic superbia spawns new discord. Chapters 4 through 7 studies various dimensions of Marius' portrait: his character sketch, his political campaign, and military command. Sallust portrays him as a transgressor of boundaries: as a political outsider, he assaults the traditions excluding him; as a military commander, he brings war to the very boundaries of Jugurtha's kingdom. He is both a danger in the domestic sphere and an effective commander. In spite of the fact that he embroiled Rome in a new period of discord, he ultimately reunites Rome and restores hope, when, by cooperation with his future enemy, Sulla, he brings an end to the war.; Scholars generally read the ending of the work as irony in light of Marius' and Sulla's later falling out. I contend, however, that the ending with hope and concord is meant to be instructive. The message is that stability is possible, even after strife, when leaders subordinate their own interests to the good of the state. |
