Series:  Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers

How to Stop a Conspiracy: An Ancient Guide to Saving a Republic

An energetic new translation of an ancient Roman masterpiece about a failed coup led by a corrupt and charismatic politician

In 63 BC, frustrated by his failure to be elected leader of the Roman Republic, the aristocrat Catiline tried to topple its elected government. Backed by corrupt elites and poor, alienated Romans, he fled Rome while his associates plotted to burn the city and murder its leading politicians. The attempted coup culminated with the unmasking of the conspirators in the Senate, a stormy debate that led to their execution, and the defeat of Catiline and his legions in battle. In How to Stop a Conspiracy, Josiah Osgood presents a brisk, modern new translation of the definitive account of these events, Sallust’s The War with Catiline—a brief, powerful book that has influenced how generations of readers, including America’s founders, have thought about coups and political conspiracies.

In a taut, jaw-dropping narrative, Sallust pleasurably combines juicy details about Catiline and his louche associates with highly quotable moral judgments and a wrenching description of the widespread social misery they exploited. Along the way, we get unforgettable portraits of the bitter and haunted Catiline, who was sympathetic to the plight of Romans yet willing to destroy Rome; his archenemy Cicero, who thwarts the conspiracy; and Julius Caesar, who defends the conspirators and is accused of being one of them.

Complete with an introduction that discusses how The War with Catiline has shaped and continues to shape our understanding of how republics live and die, and featuring the original Latin on facing pages, this volume makes Sallust’s gripping history more accessible than ever before.

About the Author

Josiah Osgood is professor and chair of classics at Georgetown University and the author of many books on Roman history, including How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders (Princeton). He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

"An awesome book about the Catiline conspiracy."—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Axios

"“[A] cautionary warning for our own volatile and perilous political moment. ... Osgood’s clear, engaging translation of Sallust’s The War Against Catiline brings vital aid from the past to the present.”"—Emily Katz Anhalt, Arts Fuse

"Rings uncomfortably familiar"—Mark Danner, New York Review of Books

“An engaging and highly readable translation of Sallust’s War with Catiline. Josiah Osgood does a terrific job of introducing the narrative and underscoring the ways in which it remains useful to think with today.”—Kathryn Tempest, author of Brutus: The Noble Conspirator

“How to Stop a Conspiracy is excellent in all respects—from Josiah Osgood’s fluid translation of Sallust’s War with Catiline to the lucid introduction. Osgood takes a step back from this classic text, and casts a tangle of thorny facts and inferences into a compelling historical narrative that is immediately accessible to the general reader. At every turn, there are (unfortunately) contemporary resonances, especially in U.S. politics.”—Corey Brennan, author of Sabina Augusta: An Imperial Journey