A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

314 Introduction to the Sources
Ancient
World, 405 f.
P. 73.
Historians.
Caesar,
100-44 B.C.
Ancient
World, 445-
Sallust.
Annals. After him followed a long succession of annalists,
who wrote either in Greek or in Latin. The first Roman
to adopt the native tongue for historical use was Cato the
Censor; it is chiefly for this reason that he is considered
the founder of Latin prose hterature. "He tells us that
he himself wrote books on history with his own hand in
large letters that his boy might start in life with a useful
knowledge of what his forefathers had done." Cato and
other public men of his time wrote their political and
judicial speeches, thus creating in literature the department
of oratory. Not long after Cato lived Polybius, the
ablest writer of Roman history. His work has been mentioned
in an earlier chapter.
The period of the annalists, closing about 80 B.C., was
followed by that of the historians.
First in order let us consider Gains Julius Caesar. While
in war and in statesmanship his achievements place him
among the foremost men of the world, his literary genius
is scarcely less remarkable. In his writings he shows a
faultless taste and a clear, direct, masterful style. His
Commentaries on the Gallic War and On the Civil War are
a plain but forceful narrative of his wonderful campaigns.
The primary object of these works was to justify his wars
and his political policy.
Somewhat later Sallust wrote a monograph On the Conspiracy
of Catiline and another On the Jugurthlne War.
Along with his narrative of events, he tried impartially to
analyze the character of society and the motives of conduct.
These works we still have, but most of his History,
in which he described the events following Sulla's death,
has been lost. Cassar and Sallust were the chief historians
of their age. Though each noble family recorded the deeds
of illustrious ancestors, no national interest in biography