Sallust's two extant monographs take as their theme the moral and political decline of Rome, one on the conspiracy of Catiline and the other on the war with Jugurtha. Although Sallust is decidedly unsubtle and partisan in analyzing people and events, his works are important and significantly influenced later historians, notably Tacitus.
In Memorabilia and in Oeconomicus, a dialogue about household management, we see the philosopher Socrates through the eyes of his associate, Xenophon. In the Symposium, we obtain insight on life in Athens. Xenophon’s Apology is an interesting complement to Plato’s account of Socrates’s defense at his trial.