Moral Decline of the Roman Republic
Moral Decline of the Roman RepublicAn Exploration of Sallust’s and Plutarch’s View of the
Jamie Neufeld
ST# 864583
For: L. Foley
Class. 111.3 (08)
Though there are varied dates as to the time that the Roman Republic stood, it is agreed
upon as lasting approximately 500 years. During the last century of its existence (133 BC
-27 BC) there were the many violent years of The Civil Wars and much social strife. Though
the end result of these final years of the res publica was the adoption of an Emperor and
the birth of the Roman Empire, the focus of this paper will be the presentation of the
nature of tensions at the end of the res publica using selections from Sallust and Plutarch
as a basis.
Sallust and Plutarch, while coming from different worlds and living different lives were
very much alike in the thoughts that they presented in their writing on the fall of the
Roman Republic. Sallust was an active individual in Roman politics during the Republic’s
decline. He was a tribune in 52 BC who was kicked out of the Senate amid allegations of
immorality. In 49 BC Sallust was in command of one of Julius Caesar’s legions and was
elected to Praetor in 47 BC. Taking part in the African Campaign earned him the
governorship of Numidia in. Upon his return to Rome in the early 40’s BC however he was
charged with extortion, only to be released by Caesar. At this point in his life he decided
to become a writer of history and lived a quiet life doing that. Plutarch’s life was very
much different form Sallust’s. Born in Chaeronea he remained there for much of his life.
His last 30 years he spent as a Priest at Delphi. There he was a devout believer in the
ancient pieties and a profound student of its antiquities. The only involvement in politics
at the time were stories that he was a man of influence and rumors of a governmental office
being bestowed upon him by both Hadrian and Trajan. Despite the differences in their lives
and backgrounds, their surviving literature has a basic underlying similarity; that being
morality. To be more specific, the lack of morality on the part of the rulers of Rome
during the last century of the Republic. In the following essay I will show examples of how
Sallust and Plutarch point out again and again the lack of morality in the characters about
whom they write in reference to the decline of the Roman Republic.
Sallust begins his Bellum Catalinae by telling us how the Roman Republic was built. He
shows us that the people put aside their differences and kept their common goal, peace, in
mind. According to the version I have heard, in the...
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