| abstract | - There is no information about Sallust's parents. The only exception is Tacitus' mention of his sister. Sallustii was a provincial noble family of Sabine origin. They belonged to the equestrian order and had a full Roman citizenship. During the Social War Gaius' parents could hide in the capital, because Amiternum was under threat of siege by rebelled Italic tribes. Due to this Sallust could have been raised in Rome The historian received very good education. After an ill-spent youth, Sallust entered public life and may have won election as quaestor in 55 BC. However, there is no strict evidence about this, and some scholars suppose that Sallust hadn't been a quaestor — the practice of violating cursus honorum was common in the last years of the Republic. He became a Tribune of the Plebs in 52 BC, the year in which the followers of Milo killed Clodius in a street brawl. Sallust then supported the prosecution of Milo. Sallust, Titus Munatius Plancus and Quintus Pompeius Rufus also tried to blame Cicero, one of the leaders of senators' opposition to triumvirate, for his support of Milo. Because of his position in Milo's trial R. Syme suggests that originally Sallust didn't support Caesar. T. Mommsen states that Sallust acted in Pompey's interests (according to Mommsen, Pompey was preparing to install his own dictatorship). From the beginning of his public career, Sallust operated as a decided partisan of Julius Caesar, to whom he owed such political advancement as he attained. In 50 BC, the censor Appius Claudius Pulcher removed him from the Senate on the grounds of gross immorality (probably really because of his opposition to Milo and Cicero). In the following year, perhaps through Caesar's influence, he was reinstated. During the Civil War of 49–45 BC Sallust acted as Caesar's partisan, but his role wasn't significant, so his name isn't mentioned in dictator's Commentarii de Bello Civili. It was reported that Sallust dined with Caesar, Hirtius, Oppius, Balbus and Sulpicus Rufus on the night after his famous crossing over the Rubicon river into Italy January 10. In 49 BC Sallust was moved to Illyricum and probably commanded at least one legion there against Publius Dolabella and Gaius Antonius. This campaign was unsuccessful, and . In the late summer 47 BC a group of soldiers rebelled near Rome, demanding for previously promised rewards and discharging. Sallust as praetor designatus was sent to persuade soldiers with several other senators, but the rebels killed two senators, while Sallust narrowly escaped death. In 46 BC, he served as a praetor and accompanied Caesar in his African campaign, which ended in the decisive defeat of the remains of the Pompeian war party at Thapsus. Sallust didn't participate in military operations directly, but he commanded several ships and organized supply through Kerkennah islands. As a reward for his services, Sallust gained appointment as governor of the province of Africa Nova. The reason of his designation is unclear: Sallust wasn't a skilled general, while the province was military significant with three legions deployed there. Moreover, governors after him were experienced military. However, Sallust successfully managed with organizing of supply and transportation, and these qualities could determine Caesar's choice. In the capacity of governor he committed such oppression and extortion that only the influence of Caesar enabled him to escape condemnation. On his return to Rome he purchased and began laying out in great splendour the famous gardens on the Quirinal known as the Horti Sallustiani or Gardens of Sallust. These gardens would later belong to the emperors. Sallust then retired from public life and devoted himself to historical literature, and further developing his Gardens of Sallust, upon which he spent much of his accumulated wealth. According to Anthony Everitt, Sallust later became the second husband of Cicero's ex-wife Terentia.
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