Sallust
Please read the introduction to Sallust's War with Jugurtha. Pick out what you consider to be the most important/most interesting line from this selection. If other students have chosen a different line, explain why *your* line is even more important or more interesting. As an alternative, pick out the line from Sallust you consider the worst, or the least interesting. If other students have chosen a different line, explain why your line is even worse or less interesting.
posted by Ancient Art at 10:59 AM
12 Comments:
"Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, andall other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." I found this line to be particularly interesting. I like it because I have always believed that the mind should be more important than anything else. Everything can be taken away from you except that which is locked inside your head. Those thoughts, ideas, and knowledge are impossible to be taken away from you, even after everything else is gone.
"The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful, efficient, and worthy of honor, and needs no assistance from fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good qualities, nor can take them away." This line from Sallust can also sum up another era of thinkers who believed, like Sallust, that the mind was powerful. Sallust would have fit in with those that lived in the Age of Reason, where the mind was exclaimed as the ultimate authority.
Sallust believed that Rome had fallen into a pursuit of pleasure and vice. What Rome needed was to stop its greed and seeking possessions and instead seek virtue and wisdom. Sallust believes that possessions and other temporary goods will eventually be gone but the achievements of the mind will be remembered forever.
"Even men of humble birth,[19] who formerlyused to surpass the nobility in merit, pursue power and honor ratherby intrigue and dishonesty, than by honorable qualifications" This line seems a bit pessemistic to me as though the person who said this had no optimism for the human race. He seems to be saying that people may be conducting themselves honestly, but eventually tune corrupt because lust of power gets a hold of them. I guess he is saying that society corrupts and that Roman society has followed this pattern. The Roman Republic started from humble beginnings as a small reblic. However, as it grew into an empire it began to become corrupt as the people in power thought only of power and how to keep, not of how they could help the republic of Rome.
I agree with brandon."Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." So many people are vain and materialistic, but looks don't last forever and money can't always make you happy. However, one grows wiser with age and what one's attitude about one's self is a better reflection over a person as a whole, rather than on'es strength and appearance, which quickly fade away. In other words, people with some mental appitude will most likely be happier than those with every luxury in the world, but no mental achievements to enjoy it.
“The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it
pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful,
efficient, and worthy of honor, and needs no assistance from
fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good
qualities, nor can take them away.”
To me, this is a very secular and temporal view. I would strongly disagree with this line. I feel that neither the pursuits of a mans mind, or fortune is solely the ruler and director of the life of man.
While our minds provide the choices to follow the correct or incorrect paths, life is directed by a power much greater then the human mind. I believe that the mind is insufficient without that power to guide us.
-Nate Mills
II. As man is composed of mind and body, so, of all our concerns and pursuits, some partake the nature of the body, and some that of the mind. Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal.
Quite the quote to be quoted. I find this passage exceptionally remarkable because it tells us exactly what we already know and the exact thing we usually run away from. Our lives are usually pent up around wealth, health, glory, fame, power... the carnal goals in life. It is only our body which could benefit from these things. What is truly important, what people think, feel, desire, care MOST about is left out of the equation. The non carnal goals in life effect both the body and the mind. He was right: the mind is immortal. My body will decay and fall away. My thoughts, feelings, beliefs... they will not die away. It is not because of humans, but because of a greater power which makes this possible. He cares very little over what our carnal images look like or how long they last. He takes great care, however, in our minds and souls.
-amber eich
But if the mind, ensnared by corrupt passions, abandons itself[3] to indolence and sensuality, whenit has indulged for a season in pernicious gratifications, and when bodily strength, time, and mental vigor, have been wasted in sloth,the infirmity of nature is accused, and those who are themselves infault impute their delinquency to circumstances.[4]
My understanding of this line is that if a person allows their mind to wander and become distracted and to allow the body to become neglected, it is nature that is blamed. It does go on to say that if the people themselves are at fault, then circumstances are blamed.
In other words, the whole passage is saying, in essence to me, that people are not taking responsibility for their own actions and blaming others for how their own lives are unfolding.
"The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when itpursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful,efficient, and worthy of honor,[2] and needs no assistance fromfortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good qualities, nor can take them away." I like this line because it says that man is not controlled by chance but by the mind. It says that if you put your mind to something that is truly important it will get acheive it without the help of chance or destiny. He also goes on from this line to say that if the mind pursues unimportant things than it is wasting energy and time allowing chance to throw the mind wherever. I like that Sallust discusses both human decision and chance or fate and understanding that chance/fate is as much a choice or decision as everything else because of how you chose to use your mind.
"If man, however, had as much regard for worthy objects, as he hasspirit in the pursuit of what is useless,[5] unprofitable, and evenperilous, he would not be governed by circumstances more than he wouldgovern them, and would attain to a point of greatness, at which,instead of being mortal,[6] he would be immortalized by glory."
I dissagree with Mr.Wurtz who seems to think that this is the poorest line of the selection. I think it has several strengths to it. When rome had so many gods that were floating around, it seems that it would take some great effort to feel devout to even a small number of them. This could take a good amount of time and other energy that could be used more productivly. Also I think the bit about circumstances is very true. This is because with polytheism a person will think that each thing is controled by a differnt god. So if something did not turn out for you it can be blamed on one of the fickle gods instead of being responsible for it youself. Then instead of fixing the error in there ways they will make offerings and pray and the problem they are having might never be fixed. So if they were to reject the thought that the gods were intamently involvled in every little thing then, you can better aperciate cause and effect relationships and be less at the whim of chance.
But the mind, incorruptible and eternal, the ruler of the human race,actuates and has power over all things,[8] yet is itself free fromcontrol.
This is a very loaded statement that contains several falicies. First of all, the idea that the mind is incorruptible is lidacris. Throughout history it has been proven that man's mind is suseptible to corruption in the forms of power, money, sex, and drugs just to name a few. Leaders such as Napoleon or Josef Stalin have shown that power is one of the biggest enemies of the mind and have made way for the saying "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." The second falice is that the mind is eternal. The mind is a very important aspect of one's being. It is home to on'es dreas, thoughts, and desires but as soon as the being ceases to exist, the mind also ceases to exist. The minds does not continue on after death like the soul because it is an earthly possession that can not be taken into the afterlife. So as one can see the mind is anything but free, rather it is confined by things such as corruption and death.
"The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when itpursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful,efficient, and worthy of honor". I picked this quote because it is saying that man is the only one who can control his fate. He goes on to say after this that fortune cannot bestow merit or honor, only one's actions can do that. Thus, the only two things you can control in life are your attitude and your effort, everything else is out of your control.
The depravity of those, therefore, is the more surprising, who,devoted to corporeal gratifications, spend their lives in luxury andindolence, but suffer the mind, than which nothing is better orgreater in man, to languish in neglect and inactivity; especially whenthere are so many and various mental employments by which the highestrenown may be attained.
this passage shows that education is to valued above all things. some people live their lives looking for power and riches missing everything else. when they are on their death bes, they look back on their lives and see they accomplished nothing.
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