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Mention, however, is made of orations of Sallust, at whatever time delivered, in the well-known passage of Seneca the rhetorician.Præf. in Controv., 1. iii., p. 231, ed. Par. 1607. When Seneca inquired of Cassius Severus, why he, who was so eminent in pleading important causes, displayed so little talent in pronouncing fictitious declamations, the orator replied, Quod in me miraris, pene omnibus evenit, etc. Orationes Sallustii in honorem historiarum leguntur. "What you think extraordinary in me, is common to all men of ability. The greatest geniuses, to whom I am conscious of my great inferiority, have generally excelled only in one species of composition. The felicity of Virgil in poetry deserted him in prose; the eloquence of Cicero's orations is not to be found in his verses; and the speeches of Sallust are read only as a foil to his histories." The speeches which are here meant, are not, as has been generally imagined, those inserted in the histories, but others, which Sallust had spoken. This view of the passage was first taken by Antonius Augustinus, and communicated by him to Schottus, who mentioned it in his annotations on Seneca.P. 234, ed. Par. 1607.
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But by whatever means he secured support, he had at length sufficient interest to obtain a quæstorship;Pseudo-Cic., in Sall., c. 5. the tenure of which gave him admission into the senate. It would appear that he was about thirty-one years of age when he attained this honor.Adam's Rom. antiquities, p. 4.