Sallust's Bellum Catilinae (Society for Classical Studies Texts & Commentaries) 2nd Edition

This is a wonderful Latin text--the text is presented uninterrupted and then over half the book is commentary--vocabulary and commentary on why a certain Latin word was used over another one and what certain Latin words meant at the time of composition. This is a wonderful book to add to my collection of Latin texts and one that I can return to for reference time and time again

This book is Roman history written by a Roman around Caesar's time.....there is no contrived plot of course, but it is a fascinating narrative of intrigue, double-dealing and just plain murder.

This commentary is magnificent!

I read this author & work from a Teubner text (a critical text w/ zero commentary) in 1975. Wish I'd had this book back then. Helpful in matters literary, historical and grammatical ('tho students always complain textbooks don't do enough grammar: one can never find the happy medium). Ramsey is highly competent in all the above areas and writes clearly and well. Sallust is an interesting read, with some fascinating early Latin quirks in orthography and expression.Seller was very fast and book in pristine condition.

Sallust's Bellum Catilinae contains the Latin text of Sallust's work on the conspiracy of Catiline along with a concise introduction and commentary by J.T. Ramsey.The introduction begins with a brief overview of the life and works of Sallust, discusses Sallust's contribution to Roman historiography, introduces his general style of writing and has a few words on the textual tradition of the Bellum Catilinae. Ramsey then gives a short account of the conspiracy of Catiline, followed by a timeline of events. Finally, the introduction concludes with an analysis Sallust's narrative.The Latin text is based on the text in Ernout's 1958 Bude edition with a few modifications.The commentary mostly has notes on the grammar and syntax of the text, but also on style and sometimes even discusses questions of textual criticism, it often explains important concepts and, where needed, gives the reader further information on historical matters. The commentary, however, is not at all historical or philological in nature, but rather designed to be of aid to readers who's main concern is to be able to read and understand the Latin text. In my opinion, Ramseys notes do a fine job of this and are generally very helpful.I recommend this book to those who wish to experience the pleasure of reading Sallust in Latin. Ramseys commentary will almost certainly make it an easier task as well as enrich the experience.

Well produced, nicely laid out, clear text. The notes are much more about understanding the language than analysing the text, which is a little frustrating. There is an index of names, but (at least the one I checked) not all references are there. Despite that, I recommend this as a good book for basic levels.

This is the 2006 second edition of this well-known commentary which first came out in 1984 with a corrected reprint in 1988. It provides very full notes on the linguistic issues presented by the text and so is really useful to the student. There are historical notes too but not a full historical commentary. The text is based on Ernout's Bude of 1958 but this second edition adds a page of variants from Reynolds' OCT of 1991 which many readers may be using. There is a summary with timescale of the conspiracy, useful maps, an appendix on the supposed first Catilinarian conspiracy, a Bibliography which is helpfully annotated and indices of names and words. The reader will also want to read Cicero's famous speeches and some historical background but this is a very satisfactory basic commentary which has maintained its place for a generation.

Ich bin zu diesem Buch gekommen, weil meine Dozentin meinte, dieses Buch sei unerlässlich. Also habe ich es bestellt und schon nach erstem Durchblättern fällt auf: Alles ist sehr gut durchstrukturiert im Vergleich zum ein oder anderen älteren Kommentar. Mit dem Englisch hatte ich auch keine Probleme.Ich habe zur "Coniuratio Catilinae" viele Kommentare herangezogen und muss sagen, dass dieser einer der besten ist, den ich gesehen habe. Er fasst viele Ansichten zusammen, die man sonst nur vereinzelt in anderen Kommentaren findet.Sehr gut, um einen ersten, aber auch recht detaillierten Einblick in die Stilmittel von Sallust und historische Hintergründe über die Verschwörung des Catilina zu erhalten.

Guter Preis, aber leider ist das papier von schlechte Qualität. Schade. Der Inhalt ist aber sehr lesenswert, meiner Meinung nach.