Sallust's works are among the earliest surviving Latin histories, one of which, The Conspiracy of Catiline, provides an excellent, almost unique, contemporary account of the dramatic events of 63 BC. Sallust was a novus homo (meaning he was the first of his family to venture into politics) in Rome and thoroughly opposed the nature of the late Roman Republic, often using his works to lament the passing of the 'golden age' of the Republic, a theme commonly repeated during the Imperial period.
The Conspiracy of Catiline, consists of Sallust's account of the Catilinarian conspiracy in 63 BC, a foiled attempt by Lucius Sergius Catilina to overthrow the Roman Republic with popular support. Although Sallust, like the majority of Roman writers, denounced Catiline's plot, he also used his work as a rhetoric exercise to highlight his own disquiet towards corruption in the Roman system.
The Jugurthine War is an account of the war against Jugurtha, King of Numidia in the late second century BC. The war highlighted organisational problems in the Roman army, which had not been reformed since the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC. Sallust's account introduces Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla as the 'saviours' of Rome and also remarks on the beginning of the rivalry between Marius and Sulla, a rivalry which would shape Roman politics into the early first century BC.

This book is a copy of a 1503 edition, printed by Filippo Giunti (c. 1450-1517) in Florence. It was re-bound in the nineteenth century prior to its acquisition by Queen Victoria.