The Conspiriacy of Caitiline I-XII Summary and Analysis

Sallust starts by talking about the strengths of the mind and the body. He puts the virtues of the mind above that of the body, but he understands that war needs both—the mind for planning and the body for attacking. He says our ancestors built great empires based on intellect rather than brute strength; without an emphasis on mind, the government would be constantly changing and the people would be unhappy.

Sallust talks about the difficulty in writing a history book. He says it is a reader's inclination to think a writer is presenting a bias view, when actually the author is only censuring. He explains he was once in the army as a young man where he found a great number of power hungry people. He tells the reader that...