‘Monstruosa Species’: Scylla, Spartacus, Sextus Pompeius and Civil War in Sallust’s Histories
By Jennifer Gerrish
Abstract: Through the figure of Scylla, Sallust evokes Sextus Pompeius as part of his critique of contemporary politics. Although the Histories narrate the years following Sulla’s death, they are an allegorical critique of Sallust’s own world. Scylla appears in an excursus on Sicily in Sallust’s account of the Spartacus War. Although the Spartacus War taxed Rome for three years, the state downplayed the threat posed to the security of the republic. Likewise, the triumvirs downplayed Sextus’ threat by portraying him as a mere pirate. Sallust evokes Sextus in the context of the Spartacus War to suggest that, despite the triumvirs’ dissimulation, Sextus was a threat, and that the state was as unstable during the triumviral years as it was during those turbulent years after Sulla’s death.
Published in The Classical Journal, Vol. 111, No. 2 (2016), pg.193-217