The dominant quality of Sallust's moral philosophy as articulated in the preface to the Bellum Catilinae is gloria: this preoccupies much of Sallust's discussion, particularly in the opening two chapters of the monograph. 41 The text begins with an emphatic statement of the goal of life, which according to Sallust is to avoid passing through life without leaving a record of one's existence: omnis homines qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus summa ope niti decet ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona atque ventri oboedientia finxit: "for all men who set themselves to exceed the other animals, it is right to struggle with the highest effort, lest they pass through life in silence like beasts, whom nature has made supine and subject to their appetites."142 To this end, Sallust continues, man is comprised of a dual nature, body (held in common with the beasts) and mind (in common with the gods); we should make use of the resources of the mind (animus) to seek gloria.143 "For", Sallust continues "the gloria of riches and beauty is variable and fragile; virtus is held to be splendid and lasting", nam divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est, virtus clara aeterna habetur.* The separation between mind and body, according to Sallust, is not absolute: each requires the assistance of the other,
because the mind is required to plan actions, and the body to carry them out. 145
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