Character and morality in the Sallustian monographs

This dissertation is a survey of the characterization program of Sallust in the Catilinae Coniuratio and Bellum Iugurthinum. His use of character sketches and "informal" characterizations in the historical narrative is an evolution of the practices of Greek historians and anticipates Livy and Tacitus. Sallust's greatest contribution to literary profiles is the close relationship he envisioned between these passages and the larger "literary" themes of his monographs.;The first chapter briefly recounts the development of literary portrayal in Greek historians and Romans whose writings probably influenced Sallust's notion of characterization. Special attention is given to two issues a historian must confront when he decides to incorporate sketches into his work: what individuals should be characterized and at what juncture in the work should the profile be located. Chapter two is divided into two major sections: (i) a survey of the constituent elements of Sallust's character sketches, and (ii) the six character sketches themselves. In the first section it is argued that there is a high degree of predictability in the material included in the literary portraits; the second section details the manner in which Sallust breaks this pattern so that he might develop a singular character for each individual.;In the third chapter the scope of the survey is expanded to the text outside the formal sketches. At issue is (i) the relationship between the characterization of the sketches and the account of his behavior in the historical narrative, and (ii) the manner in which Sallust characterizes major and minor individuals with brief, "informal" comments. Chapter four considers the relationship between characterization and compelling moral themes of the monographs (perversion of traditional moral values, superbia nobilitatis, the ambitious challenge of the "populares"). The final section of the chapter argues that Sallust had a definite didactic purpose in writing the monographs: although he is quite untraditional in focusing much of the narrative on morally flawed individuals, he still desires to educate his audience in appropriate behavior.