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I myself, however, when a young man,When a young man] Adolescentulus. "It is generally admitted that all were called adolescentes by the Romans, who were between the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, prudence, and experience of age. So Cæsar is called adolescentulus, in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." Dietsch. And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, Defendi rempublicam adolescens, Philipp. ii. 46. was at first led by inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs;To engage in political affairs] Ad rempublicam. "In the phrase of Cornelius Nepos, honoribus operam dedi, I sought to obtain some share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were comprehended under the term Respublica." Cortius. but in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity,Integrity] Virtute. Cortius rightly explains this word as meaning justice, equity, and all other virtues necessary in those who manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to avaritia, not, as some critics would have it, to largitio. there prevailed shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and infectedWas ensnared and infected] Corrupta tenebatur. As obsessus tenetur, Jug., c. 24. by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy,The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and jealousy, etc.] Honoris cupido cadem quæ cæteros, fama atque invidia vexabat. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat honoris cupido, et vexabat propterea etiam eadem, quæ cæteros, fama atque invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., that it is a zeugma. "Fama atque invidia," says Gronovius, "is ἑν διὰ δυοῖν, for invidiosa et maligna fame." Bernouf, with Zanchius and others, read famâ atque invidiâ in the ablative case; and the Bipont edition has eadem quâ—famâ, etc.; but the method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. which disquieted others, disquieted myself.
