Найти книгу: "Catiline"

Francois-Marie Arouet wrote under the nom de plume of Voltaire, and produced works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. In his preface to this play Voltaire says: «The learned will not here meet with a faithful narrative of Catiline's conspiracy: a tragedy, they very well know, is not a history, but they will see a true picture of the manners of those times: all that Cicero, Catiline, Cato and C?sar do in this piece is not true, but their genius and character are faithfully represented: if we do not there discover the eloquence of Cicero, we shall at least find displayed all that courage and virtue which he showed in the hour of danger. In Catiline is described that contrast of fierceness and dissimulation which formed his real character; C?sar is represented as growing into power, factious, and brave; that C?sar who was born at once to be the glory and the scourge of Rome.»

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, or Sallust, was a renowned Roman historian and a decided partisan of Caesar. After his retirement from statesmanship, Sallust devoted his time to the writing of literary and historical works that focused on great persons and events of his age. Although a lesser-known Roman historian, Sallust has become particularly revered for his intention to write scholarly, not merely anecdotal, discussions of events. Nietzsche described his style as “compact, severe, with as much substance as possible, a cold sarcasm against ‘beautiful words’ and ‘beautiful sentiments’.” His “Jugurthine War” relates the war in Numidia, circa 112 BC, of which Rome was the victor. It is most valued for his introduction, in which Sallust gives commentary on the moral decay and discord of the Roman political scene, and of his longing for the forgotten ideals of Rome. In his “Catiline’s Conspiracy”, Sallust’s deep concern for the decline of Rome is evident through the events and conspiracies of Catiline and his followers in the year 63 BC. Also included in this collection are the extant fragments of Sallust’s “Histories”.

Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. His career began in 1597 when he held a fixed engagement in the «Admiral's Men», and although he was unsuccessful as an actor, his literary talent was apparent and he began writing original plays for the troupe. Jonson's work was primarily in comedies for the public theatres, and although none of his earliest tragedies survived, «Catiline, His Conspiracy» was one of two later tragedies that did. Jonson drew on the works of historians like Plutarch, Dio Cassius and Marcus Tullius Cicero to write the play, which recounts the story of Lucius Sergius Catilina, the Roman politician and conspirator of the 1st century B.C. It was written in the tradition of a Senecan closet drama, relying more on language than on action or violence, which made it less popular than Jonson's satirical and comical works.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86-34 BC), or Sallust, was a renowned Roman historian and a decided partisan of Caesar. After his retirement from statesmanship, Sallust devoted his time to the writing of literary and historical works that focused on great persons and events of his age. Although a lesser-known Roman historian, Sallust has become particularly revered for his intention to write scholarly, not merely anecdotal, discussions of events. Nietzsche described his style as «compact, severe, with as much substance as possible, a cold sarcasm against 'beautiful words' and 'beautiful sentiments'.» His «Jugurthine War» relates the war in Numidia c. 112 B.C., of which Rome was the victor. It is most valued for his introduction, in which Sallust gives commentary on the moral decay and discord of the Roman political scene, and of his longing for the forgotten ideals of Rome. In his «Conspiracy of Catiline,» Sallust's deep concern for the decline of Rome is evident through the events and conspiracies of Catiline and his followers in the year 63 BC.