Renæssanceforum 9

		Renæssanceforum 9 • 2015 Patricia Osmond Pomponio Leto's Life of Sallust: between vita and invectiva close window

		Pomponio's vita Salustii appeared in both the first printed edition of Sallust's opera (Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1490) and the presentation copy written for Agostino Maffei (BAV, Ms. Ottob. lat. 2989), and was frequently reprinted thereafter. It was by no means the first or only vita of Sallust in this period, for alongside the medieval vita auctoris that survived in manuscript and print, we also have the lives by Girolamo Squarzafico, Giovanni Crisostomo Soldi and Pietro Crinito. Pomponio's stands out, nevertheless, as the most critical of the author, perhaps because much of it was based on anti-Sallustian sources, especially the (ps.-) Ciceronian Oratio in Sallustium.