For Sallust the
‘active citizens’ of this ilk are genuinely
tragic figures, laid low, in the best Shakespearian
fashion, by their own fatal flaws.
The great citizens of the early Republic, he
explained, had been driven to success by
personal rivalry and patriotic ardour. But
above all they were driven by ambition and
the desire for personal glory – passions
which had roused them to great deeds. For
ambition (Sallust explains), while perhaps a
defect, is near to virtue. (The Roman word,
virtus, is in fact ambiguous between moral
honour and personal courage.) The good
and the bad alike aspire to glory, honour and
mastery over men – only by different paths.
Yet time and success had turned good mores
into bad: what had been a noble thirst for
glory became base avarice, and wealth and
success in turn undermined ambition and
liberty