Chapter 11

[113] _Ante facta_, &c. It would have been more common to say _factis suis anteponerent_. In Cicero, _ante_ is not used to denote preference as in Sallust, _Cat._ 53: _Graeci ante Romanos fuere_ for _Graeci Romanis praestabant_. [114] According to Sallust's mode of speaking, we should have expected _depravati_, _pars_ being only another form for _alii_. But nothing can be said against the grammatical agreement _pars depravata_, it being that form which, according to grammar, should be used. [115] Scaurus dreaded the stained audacity of those who accepted bribes from Jugurtha without any scruple or shame, and would have liked to stir up against them the hatred and envy of others. _Licentia_ is the conduct of a man who thinks he is allowed to do anything, and accordingly here signifies to accept bribes by which statesmen disgrace themselves. The adjective which properly refers to men (_pollutus_) is here transferred to _licentia_. Sallust describes Aemelius Scaurus, one of the most eminent men of his age (he was twice consul and princeps senatus), as a prudent aristocrat, anxious to keep up a respectable appearance, and to avoid suspicion as much as possible; although in secret he, too, had recourse to unfair means to obtain influence and wealth. The events which Sallust has related hitherto, the murder of Hiempsal, the expulsion of Adherbal by Jugurtha, and Adherbal's flight to Rome, belong to the year B.C. 116, a time when, if we except some trifling wars against barbarous tribes on the frontiers, the Roman Republic was not engaged in any military undertaking.

16. Vicit tamen in senatu pars illa, quae vero pretium aut gratiam anteferebat. Decretum fit, uti decem legati regnum, quod Micipsa obtinuerat, inter Jugurtham et Adherbalem dividerent. Cujus legationis princeps fuit L. Opimius, homo clarus et tum in senatu potens, quia consul, G. Graccho et M. Fulvio Flacco interfectis, acerrime victoriam nobilitatis in plebem exercuerat.[116] Eum Jugurtha tametsi Romae in inimicis habuerat, tamen accuratissime recepit, dando et pollicitando multa perfecit, uti famae, fide,[117] postremo omnibus suis rebus commodum regis anteferret. Reliquos legates eadem via aggressus, plerosque capit; paucis carior fides quam pecunia fuit. In divisione, quae pars Numidiae Mauretaniam attingit, agro virisque opulentior, Jugurthae traditur: illam alteram specie quam usu potiorem, quae portuosior et aedificiis magis exornata erat, Adherbal possedit.[118]

[116] Opimius had been consul in B.C. 121, and in that year he had, with the authority of the senate, crushed the democratical party of G. Gracchus by force of arms. In consequence of that victory, several very harsh measures had been adopted by the aristocracy to strengthen and increase the power of the senate and the nobility. Opimius, too, was a statesman of loose principles, as is clear from the narrative of Sallust. [117] _Fide_ for _fidei_. See Zumpt, S 85, note 3. [118] _Possedit_, 'he took possession of.' The present _possideo_ only means 'to possess;' but the past tenses, _possedi_, _possessum_, at the same time have the meaning of 'taking possession,' as if they were formed from a present _possido_, _possidere_. Compare the similarly-formed compounds of _sido_, _sidere_, in Zumpt, S 189.

17. Res postulare videtur Africae siturn paucis exponere et eas gentes, quibuscum nobis bellum aut amicitia fuit, attingere. Sed quae loca et nationes ob calorem aut asperitatem, item solitudines minus frequentata[119] sunt, de iis haud facile compertum narraverim; cetera quam paucissimis absolvam. In divisione orbis terrae plerique in parte tertia[120] Africam posuere, pauci tantummodo Asiam et Europam esse, sed Africam in Europa.[121]Ea fines habet ab occidente fretum nostri maris et Oceani,[122] ab ortu solis declivem latitudinem,[123] quem locum Katabathmon incolae appellant. Mare saevum, importuosum, ager frugum fertilis, bonus pecori, arbore infecundus, coelo terraque penuria aquarum. Genus hominum salubri corpore, velox, patiens laborum; plerosque senectus dissolvit, nisi qui ferro aut bestiis interiere; nam morbus haud saepe quemquam superat; ad hoc malefici generis plurima animalia. Sed qui mortales initio Africam habuerint, quique postea accesserint, aut quomodo inter se permixti sint, quamquam ab ea fama, quae plerosque obtinet, diversum est, tamen uti ex libris Punicis, qui regis Hiempsalis dicebantur, interpretatum nobis est, utique rem sese habere cultores ejus terrae putant, quam paucissimis dicam.[124] Ceterum fides ejus rei penes auctores erit.

[119] _Frequentata sunt_, 'they have been frequented.' The participle is in the neuter, the subjects being both animate and inanimate. _Asperitas_ refers to the inaccessible nature of mountainous districts. [120] Other editions have _in partem tertiam_, and this deviation from the common mode of speaking (which is to use _pono_ with _in_ and the ablative) commentators explain by the remark, that the division was not yet made, but only supposed. But the Latin language knows of no such distinction. [121] In the earliest times, before the earth was divided into three parts, it was rather customary to consider Africa, especially Egypt and the countries about the Nile, as belonging to Asia. To connect Africa with Europe could only have been an idea of those who divided the earth into an eastern and a western half, and did not know the vast extent of Africa to the south. [122] _Fretum_, &c.; that is, the Fretum Herculeum, or the Straits of Gibraltar. It is clear that Sallust wants to state only the northern frontier of Africa on the Mediterranean, and the frontiers in the east and west. The extent of Africa southward was too little known to him to speak about it. [123] 'The inclined plain,' or, as the geographer Mela says, 'the valley which inclines towards Egypt.' The length of this valley extends from south to north as far as the Mediterranean, and in the upper part it separates the immense desert in the west from the oasis in the east, which is considered as a part of Egypt. The easternmost country in Africa on the Mediterranean was Cyrenaica. It is therefore quite clear that Sallust does not include Egypt in Africa. [124] Sallust wants to give a short account of the original inhabitants of Africa, and their amalgamation with new immigrants, such as it was translated for him from the Punic books of King Hiempsal. This Hiempsal is not the same as the one already mentioned, who had been murdered by Jugurtha, but a later descendant of Masinissa, who ruled after Jugurtha, and was still alive in the days of Cicero, about B. C. 60. _Interpretatum est_, in a passive sense. See Zumpt, S 632.

18. Africam initio habuere Gaetuli et Libyes, asperi incultique, quis cibus erat caro ferina atque humi pabulum, uti pecoribus. Hi neque moribus neque lege aut imperio cujusquam regebantur; vagi, palantes, qua nox coegerat, sedes habebant. Sed postquam in Hispania Hercules, sicuti Afri putant, interiit, exercitus ejus, compositus ex variis gentibus, amisso duce ac passim multis sibi quisque imperium petentibus,[125] brevi dilabitur. Ex eo numero Medi, Persae et Armenii, navibus in Africam transvecti, proximos nostro mari[126] locos occupavere. Sed Persae intra Oceanum magis; hique alveos navium inverses pro tuguriis habuere, quia neque materia in agris neque ab Hispanis emundi aut mutandi copia erat; mare magnum et ignara[127] lingua commercia prohibebant. Hi paulatim per connubia Gaetulos secum miscuere, et quia saepe temptantes agros[128] alia, deinde alia loca petiverant, semet ipsi Nomadas appellavere. Ceterum adhuc aedificia Numidarum agrestium, quae mapalia illi vocant, oblonga, incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinae sunt. Medi autem et Armenii accessere Libyes[129] (nam hi propius mare Africum agitabant, Gaetuli sub sole magis, haud procul ab ardoribus) hique mature oppida habuere; nam freto divisi ab Hispania mutare res inter se instituerant. Nomen eorum paulatim Libyes corrupere, barbara lingua Mauros pro Medis[130] appellantes. Sed res Persarum brevi adolevit; ac postea nomine Numidae, propter multitudinem a parentibus digressi, possedere ea loca, quae proxime Carthaginem Numidia appellatur. Deinde utrique[131] alteris freti finitimos armis aut metu sub imperium suum coegere, nomen gloriamque sibi addidere; magis ii, qui ad nostrum mare processerant, quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi. Denique Africae pars inferior pleraque ab Numidis possessa est; victi omnes in gentem nomenque imperantium concessere.

[125] Within the clause expressed by the ablative absolute (_multis--petentibus_) there is inserted another stating that each did so for himself, and that in the nominative case, because _multis petentibus_ is, after all, only a different form for _quum multi peterent_. Grammatically speaking, it ought to be _sibi quoque_; but no Latin would have understood this, since he would have taken _quoque_ as an adverb. See Zumpt, S 710. _Passim_, 'in different places,' 'scattered everywhere,' but not 'here and there.' The tradition of the immense conquests extending to the western extremities of the known earth, which are ascribed to Hercules (Heracles), who occurs in the traditions of various nations, runs through the whole of ancient history. [126] _Nostrum mare_ is the Mediterranean, the African coast of which was occupied by the parts of Hercules' army here mentioned; and the Persae, it is farther stated, occupied that coast which is more within (that is, 'on this side,' as a person writing at Rome would say) the ocean. [127] _Gnarus_ and _ignarus_ have most commonly an active meaning, denoting 'one who does know,' or 'one does not know;' but sometimes, and especially in Sallust and Tacitus, they have a passive meaning, 'he who is known,' and 'he who is not known.' So here _ignara lingua_ is the same as _ignota lingua_. [128] 'They tried the fields;' that is, 'the soil,' as to whether it was fruitful, and in this manner they sometimes inhabited one place, and sometimes another. _Alia, deinde alia_, is the same as _alia atque alia_, as in chap. 26. Hence they were called in Greek [Greek: Nomades], and the Greek accusative of this word, _Nomadas_ for _Nomades_, is used by Sallust in the next sentence. See Zumpt, S 74. [129] The Medes and Armenians in the army of Hercules joined the Libyans, the ancient inhabitants of Africa. _Libyes_ is the accusative, for _accedere_ is joined with the accusative as well as the dative of the person whom one joins. See Zumpt, S 386, note. [130] This derivation of the name _Mauri_ is very improbable. The Mauri are the inhabitants of the western part of the African coast of the Mediterranean. They lived to the west of the mouth of the river Mulucha (which separated them from the Numidians), opposite Malaga and Cadiz, and also on the coast of the ocean extending southward as far as those countries were known to the ancients. The modern name of Moors is derived from the ancient Mauri. [131] _Utrique_ refers to _parentes_ and their descendants, the Numidae. One part of the nation trusted to the other (_alteris freti_), and was supported by it.

19. Postea Phoenices, alii multitudinis domi minuendae gratia, pars imperii cupidine, sollicitata plebe et aliis novarum rerum avidis,[132] Hipponem, Hadrumetum, Leptim[133] aliasque urbes in ora maritima condidere, eaeque brevi multum auctae, pars originibus suis[134] praesidio, aliae decori fuere. Nam[135] de Carthagine silere melius puto quam parum dicere, quoniam alio properare tempus monet. Igitur ad Katabathmon, qui locus Aegyptum ab Africa dividit, secundo mari[136] prima Cyrene est, colonia Theraeon, ac deinceps duae Syrtes,[137] interque eas Leptis; deinde Philaenon arae,[138] quem locum Aegyptum versus finem imperii habuere Carthaginienses, post aliae Punicae urbes. Cetera loca usque ad Mauretaniam Numidae tenent; proxime Hispaniam Mauri sunt. Super Numidiam[139] Gaetulos accepimus partim in tuguriis, alios incultius vagos agitare, post eos Aethiopas esse, dein loca exusta solis ardoribus. Igitur bello Jugurthino pleraque ex Punicis oppida et fines Carthaginiensium, quos novissime[140] habuerant, populus Romanus permagistratus administrabat, Gaetulorum magna pars et Numidae usque ad flumen Mulucham sub Jugurtha erant, Mauris omnibus rex Bocchus imperitabat, praeter nomen cetera ignarus[141] populi Romani, itemque nobis neque bello neque pace antea cognitus. De Africa et ejus incolis ad necessitudinem rei satis dictum.

[132] To _aliis--avidis_ supply _sollicitatis_. [133] All three are cities in the territory of Carthage, which afterwards became the province of Africa. Hippo with the surname of Diarrhytus, (there being another town, Hippo Regius, on the coast of Numidia,) is said to be the modern Bizerta; Hadrumetum, southeast of Carthage, and Leptis, surnamed minor (there being another town, Leptis magna, more to the east), are now in ruins. [134] 'To their origin;' that is, to their mother country Phoenicia, whence the settlers had come. [135] The transition to Carthage by the conjunction _nam_ presupposes the ellipsis of some such sentiment as--'I only meant to mention these Phoenician settlements on the African coast, _for_ it is well known that Carthage also was a settlement of the Phoenicians.' [136] _Secundo mari_, 'along the sea,' is said according to the analogy of _secundo flumine_ (see Caes. _Bell. Gall._ vii. 58) _secundo flumine ad Lutetiam iter facere coepit_. The sea has indeed no current like a river, but the direction is determined by the person travelling on the coast, and in this case it is the direction from east to west. _Theraei_ are the inhabitants of the island of Thera, in the Greek Archipelago, south of Peloponnesus, whence the first Greek settlers at Cyrene proceeded in B. C. 631, under the leadership of Battus. Respecting the Greek genitive _on_, instead of _orum_, see Zumpt, S 52, 1. [137] _Syrtis major_ and _Syrtis minor_ are two large sandbanks near the coast of Africa between Cyrene and Carthage. They were very dangerous to navigation, and between them lay the route to Leptis magna, a city of considerable importance. Compare chap. 78, where Sallust describes these sandbanks and the bays named after them. [138] The origin of the name of this place is stated by Sallust, chap. 79. As it was situated above the great, that is, the eastern Syrtis, it is clear that _deinde_ is used somewhat vaguely, since only the great Syrtis, but not the town of Leptis and the small Syrtis, precede the place Arae Philaenon in the order of succession. [139] 'Above Numidia;' that is, southward, towards the inland, the coast being always, or at least being always conceived to be, lower than the inland districts. [140] _Novissime_, 'latterly;' that is, at the beginning of the third Punic war, the result of which was, that Carthage and its territory became a Roman province. [141] _Cetera ignarus_, 'otherwise unknown.' Compare p. 87, note 4 [note 127]; and on _cetera_, Zumpt, S 459.

20. Postquam, diviso regno, legati Africa decessere, et Jugurtha contra timorem animi praemia sceleris adeptum sese videt, certum ratus, quod ex amicis apud Numantiam acceperat, omnia Romae venalia esse, simul et illorum pollicitationibus accensus, quos paulo ante muneribus expleverat, in regnum Adherbalis animum intendit. Ipse acer, bellicosus; at is, quem petebat, quietus, imbellis, placido ingenio, opportunus injuriae, metuens magis quam metuendus. Igitur ex improviso fines ejus cum magna manu invadit; multos mortales cum pecore atque alia praeda capit, aedificia incendit, pleraque loca hostiliter cum equitatu accedit, deinde cum omni multitudine in regnum suum convertit, existimans dolore permotum Adherbalem injurias suas manu vindicaturum, eamque rem belli causam fore. At ille, quod neque se parem armis existimabat et amicitia populi Romani magis quam Numidis fretus erat, legatos ad Jugurtham de injuriis questum[142] misit; qui tametsi contumeliosa dicta retulerant, prius tamen omnia pati decrevit quam bellum sumere, quia temptatum antea secus[143] cesserat. Neque eo magis cupido Jugurthae minuebatur, quippe qui totum ejus regnum animo jam invaserat. Itaque non uti antea cum praedatoria manu, sed magno exercitu comparato bellum gerere coepit et aperte totius Numidiae imperium petere. Ceterum qua pergebat urbes, agros vastare, praedas agere, suis animum, hostibus terrorem augere.

[142] _Questum_, the supine, 'in order to complain' [143] 'The war previously undertaken had turned out unsuccessfully.' About _secus_, see Zumpt, S 283.

21. Adherbal ubi intellegit eo processum, uti regnum aut relinquendum esset aut armis retinendum, necessario copias parat et Jugurthae obvius procedit. Interim haud longe a mari prope Cirtam oppidum[144] utriusque exercitus consedit, et quia diei extremum erat, proelium non inceptum. Sed ubi plerumque[145] noctis processit, obscuro etiamtum lumine, milites Jugurthini signo dato castra hostium invadunt; semisomnos partim,[146] alios arma sumentes fugant funduntque; Adherbal cum paucis equitibus Cirtam profugit, et ni multitudo togatorum[147] fuisset, quae Numidas insequentes moenibus prohibuit, uno die inter duos reges coeptum atque patratum bellum foret. Igitur Jugurtha oppidum circumsedit, vineis turribusque et machinis omnium generum expugnare aggreditur, maxime festinans tempus legatorum antecapere, quos ante proelium factum ab Adherbale Romam missos audiverat. Sed postquam senatus de bello eorum accepit, tres adolescentes in Africam legantur, qui ambos reges adeant, senatus populique Romani verbis nuntient: 'Velle et censere eos ab armis discedere, de controversiis suis jure potius quam bello disceptare; ita seque illisque[148] dignum esse.'

[144] _Cirta_, the capital of Numidia, situated in that part of the country nearest to Carthage, or the Roman province. It is said to be 'not far from the sea,' only in consideration of the vast extent of Numidia to the south. Cirta is the modern Constantina, which name it received in honour of the Emperor Constantine, and is situated at a distance of four days' march from Bona, the ancient Hippo Regius. [145] _Plerumque_ for the more common _plurimum_, 'the greater part.' See Zumpt, S 103. [146] As Sallust in other passages connects _pars_ and _alii_, so here _partim_ and _alios_, _partim_ being the same as _partem_. [147] _Togati_ are Roman citizens, for they alone wore the peculiar and privileged dress called _toga_. But it may be that other Italians also are comprised under the name; for Romans and Italians resided in great numbers in all the towns subject to the Roman dominion, for the sake of commerce, and in them they formed a distinct _conventus_. _Moenibus prohibere_. See Zumpt, S 468. [148] It would be more in accordance with the ordinary usage to say, _et se et illis_. See Zumpt, S 338.

22. Legati in Africam maturantes veniunt, eo magis, quod Romae, dum proficisci parant, de proelio facto et oppugnatione Cirtae audiebatur; sed is rumor clemens erat.[149] Quorum Jugurtha accepta oratione respondit: 'Sibi neque majus quiequam neque carius auctoritate senatus esse; ab adolescentia ita se enisum, ut ab optimo quoque probaretur; virtute, non malitia P. Scipioni, summo viro, placuisse; ob easdem artes ab Micipsa, non penuria liberorum, in regnum adoptatum esse. Ceterum quo plura bene atque strenue fecisset, eo animum suum injuriam minus tolerare: Adherbalem dolis vitae suae insidiatum; quod ubi comperisset, sceleri ejus obviam isse; populum Romanum neque recte neque pro bono facturum,[150] si ab jure gentium sese prohibuerit; postremo de omnibus rebus legatos Romam brevi missurum.' Ita utrique[151] digrediuntur. Adherbalis appellandi copia non fuit.

[149] Literally, 'but this report was mild;' that is, it spoke of the battle and siege as if they had been mild or moderate; which was not the case, as Jugurtha carried them on with all his energy. [150] _Pro bono facere_; literally, 'to act in accordance with what is good,' and hence 'to act well,' _bene agere_. [151] _Utrique_ refers to both parties--the Roman ambassadors on the one hand, and Jugurtha on the other. The ambassadors were not allowed to speak with Adherbal.

23. Jugurtha ubi eos Africa decessisse ratus est, neque propter loci naturam Cirtam armis expugnare potest, vallo atque fossa moenia circumdat, turres extruit easque praesidiis firmat, praeterea dies noctesque aut per vim aut dolis temptare, defensoribus moenium praemia modo, modo formidinem ostentare, suos hortando ad virtutem arrigere,[152] prorsus intentus cuncta parare. Adherbal, ubi intellegit omnes suas fortunas in extremo sitas, hostem infestum, auxilii spem nullam, penuria rerum necessariarum bellum trahi non posse, ex iis, qui una Cirtam profugerant, duos maxime impigros delegit; eos multa pollicendo ac miserando casum suum confirmat, uti per hostium munitiones noctu ad proximum mare, dein Romam pergerent. Numidae paucis diebus jussa efficiunt; litterae Adherbalis in senatu recitatae, quarum sententia haec fuit:

[152] _Arrigere_, the same as _excitare_; hence frequently _animum arrigere_, 'to rouse courage.'

24. 'Non mea culpa saepe ad vos oratum mitto, patres conscripti, sed vis Jugurthae subigit, quem tanta libido extinguendi me invasit, ut neque vos neque deos immortales in animo habeat, sanguinem meum quam omnia malit. Itaque quintum jam mensem socius et amicus populi Romani armis obsessus teneor, neque mihi Micipsae patris mei beneficia neque vestra decreta auxiliantur; ferro an fame acrius urguear incertus sum. Plura de Jugurtha scribere dehortatur me fortuna mea; et jam antea expertus sum parum fidei miseris esse. Nisi tamen intellego[153] illum supra quam ego sum petere, neque simul amicitiam vestram et regnum meum sperare. Utrum gravius existimet, nemini occultum est. Nam, initio occidit Hiempsalem, fratrem meum, dein patrio regno me expulit; quae sane fuerint nostrae injuriae, nihil ad vos.[154] Verum nunc vestrum regnum armis tenet, me, quem vos imperatorem Numidis posuistis, clausum obsidet; legatorum verba quanti fecerit, pericula mea declarant. Quid reliquum nisi vestra vis, quo moveri possit? Nam ego quidem vellem et haec, quae scribo, et illa, quae antea in senatu questus sum, vana forent potius, quam miseria mea fidem verbis faceret. Sed quoniam eo natus sum, ut Jugurthae scelerum ostentui essem,[155] non jam mortem neque aerumnas, tantummodo inimici imperium et crutiatus corporis deprecor.[156] Regno Numidiae, quod vestrum est, uti libet consulite; me ex manibus impiis eripite per majestatem imperii, per amicitiae fidem, si ulla apud vos memoria remanet avi mei Masinissae.'