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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7990-8.txt b/7990-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82e83a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/7990-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10147 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine +War, by Sallust + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine War + +Author: Sallust + +Posting Date: November 7, 2012 [EBook #7990] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 10, 2003 +Last Updated: March 20, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +SALLUST'S + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE AND THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +LITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN SELBY +WATSON, M.A. + + + + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the +ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII. +Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which he +collected them, XIV. His crimes and wretchedness, XV. His tuition of +his accomplices, and resolution to subvert the government, XVI. His +convocation of the conspirators, and their names, XVII. His concern in +a former conspiracy, XVIII., XIX. Speech to the conspirators, XX. His +promises to them, XXI. His supposed ceremony to unite them, XXII. His +designs discovered by Fulvia, XXIII. His alarm on the election of +Cicero to the consulship, and his design in engaging women in his +cause, XXIV. His accomplice, Sempronia, characterized, XXV. His +ambition of the consulship, his plot to assassinate Cicero, and his +disappointment in both, XXVI. His mission of Manlius into Etruria, and +his second convention of the conspirators, XXVII. His second attempt +to kill Cicero; his directions to Manlius well observed, XXVIII. His +machinations induce the Senate to confer extraordinary power on the +consuls, XXIX. His proceedings are opposed by various precautions, +XXX. His effrontery in the Senate, XXXI. He sets out for Etruria, +XXXII. His accomplice, Manlius, sends a deputation to Marcius, XXXIII. +His representations to various respectable characters, XXXIV. His +letter to Catulus, XXXV. His arrival at Manlius's camp; he is declared +an enemy by the Senate; his adherents continue faithful and resolute, +XXXVI. The discontent and disaffection of the populace in Rome, +XXXVII. The old contentions between the patricians and plebeians, +XXXVIII. The effect which a victory of Catiline would have produced, +XXXIX. The Allobroges are solicited to engage in the conspiracy, XL. +They discover it to Cicero, XLI. The incaution of Catiline's +accomplices in Gaul and Italy, XLII. The plans of his adherents at +Rome, XLIII. The Allobroges succeed in obtaining proofs of the +conspirators' guilt, XLIV. The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested +by the contrivance of Cicero, XLV. The principal conspirators at Rome +are brought before the Senate, XLVI. The evidence against them, and +their consignment to custody, XLVII. The alteration in the minds of +the populace, and the suspicions entertained against Crassus, XLVIII. +The attempts of Catulus and Piso to criminate Caesar, XLIX. The plans +of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, and the deliberations of +the Senate, L. The speech of Caesar on the mode of punishing the +conspirators, LI. The speech of Cato on the same subject, LII. The +condemnation of the prisoners; the causes of Roman greatness, LIII. +Parallel between Caesar and Cato, LIV. The execution of the criminals, +LV. Catiline's warlike preparations in Etruria, LVI. He is compelled +by Metullus and Antonius to hazard an action, LVII. His exhortation to +his men, LVIII. His arrangements, and those of his opponents, for the +battle, LIX. His bravery, defeat, and death, LX., LXI. + + * * * * * + +I. It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,[1] to strive, +to the utmost of their power,[2] not to pass through life in obscurity, +[3] like the beasts of the field,[4] which nature has formed groveling[5] +and subservient to appetite. + +All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.[6] Of the mind +we rather employ the government;[7] of the body the service.[8] The +one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It +appears to me, therefore, more reasonable[9]to pursue glory by means +of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we +enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. +For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of +intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.[10] + +Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military +efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of +intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before +beginning to act,[11] and, after planning, to act with promptitude +and vigor.[12] Thus, each[13] being insufficient of itself, the one +requires the assistance of the other.[14] + +II. In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title +of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;[15] +some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,[16] +the life of man was passed without covetousness;[17] every one was +satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia[18] and the +Lacedaemonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and +nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine +the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at +length discovered, by proof and experience,[19] that mental power has +the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,[20] if the +intellectual ability[21] of kings and magistrates[22] were exerted to +the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more +orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from +hand to hand,[23] and things universally changed and confused. For +dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first +obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, +and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune +of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is +always transferred from the less to the more deserving.[24] + +Even in agriculture,[25] in navigation, and in architecture, whatever +man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, +resigned to sensuality and indolence, un-instructed and unimproved, +have passed through life like travellers in a strange country[26]; to +whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a +gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and +death in equal estimation[27]; for silence is maintained concerning +both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, +who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling +enterprise, or honorable pursuit. + +But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different +paths to different individuals. III. To act well for the Commonwealth +is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit[28]. Both +in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have +acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their +tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal +glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it +yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of +great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately +represented[29] by words; and next, because most readers consider that +whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through +malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and +glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[30] only that +which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own +conception he regards as fictitious and incredible[31]. + +I myself, however, when a young man[32], was at first led by +inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs[33]; but +in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, +instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity[34], there prevailed +shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, +inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in +the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and +infected[35] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious +principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the +same obloquy and jealousy[36], which disquieted others, disquieted +myself. + +IV. When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and +trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days +unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my +valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile +occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting[37]; but, +returning to those studies[38] from which, at their commencement, a +corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached +portions[39], the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence +should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the +rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or +political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with +as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it +an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature +both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my +narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the +man. + +V. Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth[40], and of eminent mental +and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition. +His delight, from his youth, had been civil commotions, bloodshed, +robbery, and sedition[41]; and in such scenes he had spent his early +years.[42] His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and +cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and +versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.[43] +He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He +had abundance of eloquence,[44] though but little wisdom. His +insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, +and unattainable. + +Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship,[45] a strong desire of seizing +the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he +secured power[46] for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. +His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the +diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both +which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned +above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and +selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly +depraved,[47] furnished him with additional incentives to action. + +Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the +subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to +describe the conduct of our ancestors[48] in peace and war; how they +managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual +alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious +and depraved. + +VI. Of the city of Rome, as I understand,[49] the founders and +earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of +Aeneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any +settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines,[50] a savage +race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control. +How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar +language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met +within the same walls, is almost incredible.[51] But when their state, +from an accession of population and territory, and an improved +condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, +envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence +of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, +began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to +their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing +their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, +prepared with alacrity for their defense.[52] They encouraged one +another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their +arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had +at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their +allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by +bestowing[53] favors than by receiving them. + +They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their +government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled +by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the +council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the +similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS.[54] But afterward, when +the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the +protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest, +had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, +and appointed two magistrates,[55] with power only annual; for they +conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely +to grow overbearing for want of control. + +VII. At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to +display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the +meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and +to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was +secured, it is almost incredible[56] how much the state strengthened +itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction +had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they +were able to bear the toil of war,[57] acquired military skill by +actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms +and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial +indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or +inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome +every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; +each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be +noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this +they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility.[58] They were +covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent +riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account +would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman +people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and +cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault. + +VIII. But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every +thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with +truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very +great and glorious,[59] something inferior to what fame has represented +them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions +of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid +achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at +the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in +their writings. + +But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers;[60] +for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No +one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability +chose to act rather than narrate,[61] and was more desirous that his +own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should +record theirs. + +IX. Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the +camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible +avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more +from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They +displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy. +Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were +magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, +and steady in their friendships. + +By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they +maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which +virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war, +punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy +contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too +slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their +standards, or, when pressed by the enemy,[62] to abandon their posts; +and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by +exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to +pardon than to revenge it. + +X. But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased +its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;[63] when +barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; +when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly +destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune +then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal +innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and +doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of +desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of +money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as +it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, +integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, +inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general +venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one +thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue;[64] to +estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according +to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest +heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes +restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had +spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the +government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became +rapacious and insupportable. + +XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice,[65] that +influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue +than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as +desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; +the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud +and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise +man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued +with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.[66] +It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by +abundance nor by want. + +But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government[67] by force +of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious +termination, all became robbers and plunderers;[68] some set their +affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew +neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens +disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the +circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the +forces which he had commanded in Asia,[69] had treated them, contrary +to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and +exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had +easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the +soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated +to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, +pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public +edifices and private dwellings;[70] to spoil temples; and to cast off +respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, +when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. +Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would +those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. + +XII. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, +and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was +thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of +ill-nature.[71] From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, +avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once +rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and +coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; +they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off +all consideration and self-restraint. + +It furnishes much matter for reflection,[72] after viewing our modern +mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the +temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the +gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, +and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom +they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the +contrary, the basest of mankind,[73] have even wrested from their allies, +with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious +ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of +power were to inflict injury. + +XIII. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which +can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains +have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices,[74] by many private +citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth,[75] +since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have +enjoyed with honor. + +But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all +kinds of luxury,[76] had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot +their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify +appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; +they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer +waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold,[77] or fatigue, but anticipated +them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, +when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for +their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain +from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately +devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance. + +XIV. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very +easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the +unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and +profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by +gaming,[78] luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy +debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all +assassins[79] or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or +dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their +tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in +fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, +were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, +as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was +presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and +equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly +courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were +easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, +according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to +some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, +neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his +devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who +thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were +guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from +other causes than from any evidence of the fact[80]. + +XV. Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal +connections, with a virgin of noble birth[81], with a priestess of +Vesta[82], and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance +alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion +for Aurelia Orestilla[83], in whom no good man, at any time of her +life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed +that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a +grown-up step-son[84], he cleared the house for their nuptials by +putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been +the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty +mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either +waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his +tortured spirit.[85] His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his +eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and +distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look. + +XVI. The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join +him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among +them he furnished false witnesses,[86] and forgers of signatures; and +he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property, +and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and +shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for +crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to +circumvent and murder inoffensive persons[87] just as if they had +injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want +of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel. + +Depending on such accomplices and adherents, and knowing that the load +of debt was every where great, and that the veterans of Sylla,[88] +having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils +and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the +design of overthrowing the government. There was no army in Italy; +Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world;[89] he himself had +great hopes of obtaining the consulship; the senate was wholly off its +guard;[90] every thing was quiet and tranquil; and all those +circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline. + +XVII. Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of +Lucius Caesar[91] and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his +accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and +informed them, of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of +the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. +When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he +summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent, and whose spirits +were the most daring, to a general conference. + +At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank, Publius +Lentulus Sura,[92] Publius Autronius,[93] Lucius Cassius Longinus,[94] +Caius Cethegus,[95] Publius and Servius Sylla[96] the sons of +Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius,[97] Quintus Annius,[98] Marcus +Porcius Laeca,[99] Lucius Bestia,[100] Quintus Curius;[101] and, of +the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior,[102] Lucius +Statilius,[103] Publius Gabinius Capito,[104] Caius Cornelius;[105] +with many from the colonies and municipal towns,[106] persons of +consequence in their own localities. There were many others, too, +among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly: men whom +the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted +to join in the affair. But most of the young men, and especially the +sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had +abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, +preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. There were some, +also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus[107] was +not unacquainted with the conspiracy; because Cneius Pompey, whom he +hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the +power of any one whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey's +influence; trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should +succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the +conspirators. + +XVIII. But previously[108] to this period, a small number of persons, +among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the state: of +which affair I shall here give as accurate account as I am able. Under +the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius +and Publius Sylla,[109] having been tried for bribery under the laws +against it,[110] had paid the penalty of the offense. Shortly after +Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion,[111] had been +prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable +to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of +days.[112] There was at that time, too, a young patrician of the most +daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Cneius Piso,[113] whom +poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the government. +Catiline and Autronius,[114] having concerted measures with this Piso, +prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, +in the Capitol, on the first of January,[115] when they, having seized +on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the +two Spains.[116] But their design being discovered, they postponed the +assassination to the fifth of February; when they meditated the +destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the senate. And had +not Catiline, who was in front of the senate-house, been too hasty to +give the signal to his associates, there would that day have been +perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was +founded. But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in +sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design. + +XIX. Some time afterward, Piso was sent as quaestor, with Praetorian +authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, +because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. Nor were +the senate, indeed, unwilling[117] to grant him the province; for they +wished so infamous a character to be removed from the seat of +government; and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there +was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then +becoming formidable. But this Piso, on his march toward his province, +was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army. These +barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, +haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of +cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at +his instigation; since the Spaniards, they observed, had never before +committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe +commands. This question we shall leave undecided. Of the first +conspiracy enough has been said. + +XX. When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned,[118] +assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, +yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in +a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, +where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the +following effect: + +"If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, +this favorable opportunity[119] would have occurred to no purpose; +mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp; nor +should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue +contingencies instead of certainties. But as I have, on many remarkable +occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have +ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. I am +aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same +affect me; and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is +assuredly a firm bond of friendship. + +"What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. But my +ardor for action is daily more and more excited, when I consider what +our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our +claims to liberty.[120] For since the government has fallen under the +power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes[121] have constantly +been their tributaries; nations and states have paid them taxes; but all +the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, +have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and +subject to those, to whom, if the state were in a sound condition, we +should be a terror. Hence, all influence, power, honor, and wealth, are +in their hands, or where they dispose of them: to us they have left only +insults,[122] dangers, persecutions, and poverty. To such indignities, +O bravest of men, how long will you submit? Is it not better to die in +a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men's +insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy? + +"But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands. +Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken; among our oppressors, on +the contrary, through age and wealth a general debility has been +produced. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of +events[123] will accomplish the rest. + +"Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure +that they should have a superfluity of riches, to squander in building +over seas[124] and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting +to us even for the necessaries of life; that they should join together +two houses or more, and that we should not have a hearth to call our +own? They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate; +[125] though they pull down now buildings and erect others, and lavish +and abuse their wealth in every possible method; yet can not, with the +utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. But for us there is poverty at +home, debts abroad; our present circumstances are bad, our prospects +much worse; and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence? + +"Will you not, then, awake to action? Behold that liberty, that +liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor, and +glory, are set before your eyes. All these prizes fortune offers to +the victorious. Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, +let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, +animate you far more than my words. Use me either as your leader or +your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to +you. These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the +character of consul; unless, indeed, my expectation deceives me, and +you prefer to be slaves rather than masters." + +XXI. When these men, surrounded with numberless evils, but without any +resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they +thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, +yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to +engage in the contest; what benefits they were to expect from taking up +arms; and what support and encouragement they had, and in what quarters. +[126] Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts;[127] a +proscription of the wealthy citizens;[128] offices, sacerdotal dignities, +plunder, and all other gratifications which war, and the license of +conquerors, can afford. He added that Piso was in Hither Spain, and +Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were +privy to his plans; that Caius Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a +colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was +intimate, and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments; and that, +in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence +operations. He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with +reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of +his poverty, another of his ruling passion,[129] several others of their +danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by +the victory of Sylla. When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, +he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, +and dismissed the assembly. + +XXII. There were some, at the time, who said that Catiline, having +ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an +oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body +mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted +of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they +asserted[130] that he did this, in order that they might be the more +closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such +an atrocity. But some thought that this report, and many others, were +invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which +afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to +the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have +obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to +its magnitude. + +XXIII. Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius,[131] a +man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the +censors had ignominiously expelled from the senate. In this person +there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret +what he heard, not conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless +what he said or what he did. He had long had a criminal intercourse +with Fulvia, a woman of high birth; but growing less acceptable to her, +because, in his reduced circumstances, he had less means of being +liberal, he began, on a sudden, to boast, and to promise her seas and +mountains;[132] threatening her, at times, with the sword, if she were +not submissive to his will; and acting, in his general conduct, with +greater arrogance than ever.[133] Fulvia, having learned the cause of +his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the state a +secret; but, without naming her informant, communicated to several +persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning +Catiline's conspiracy. This intelligence it was that incited the +feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius +Cicero.[134] For before this period, most of the nobility were moved +with jealousy, and thought the consulship in some degree sullied, if a +man of no family,[135] however meritorious, obtained it. But when +danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside. XXIV. +Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius +Antonius were declared consuls; an event which gave the first shock to +the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all +diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he deposited arms, in +convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money borrowed on +his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius,[136] at +Faesulae,[137] who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. +At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great +numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier +days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, +when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had +contracted heavy debts. By the influence of these females, Catiline +hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and +either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives. + +XXV. In the number of those ladies was Sempronia,[138] a woman who had +committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, +in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was +skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and +dance,[139] with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and +possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. +But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. +Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would +have been difficult to decide. Her desires were so ardent that she +oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation. +She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn +debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by +her extravagance and poverty. But her abilities were by no means +despicable;[140] she could compose verses, jest, and join in +conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In a word, she was +distinguished[141] by much refinement of wit, and much grace of +expression. + +XXVI. Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for +the consulship for the following year; hoping that, if he should be +elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure. +Nor did he, in the mean time remain inactive, but devised schemes, in +every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill +or policy to guard, against them. For, at the very beginning of his +consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed +on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret +information of Catiline's proceedings. He had also persuaded his +colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces,[142] +to entertain no sentiment of disaffection toward the state; and he kept +around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and +dependents. + +When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline's efforts for +the consulship, nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the +Campus Martius,[143] were attended with success, he determined to +proceed to war, and resort to the utmost extremities, since what he +had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.[144] + +XXVII. He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Faesulae, and the +adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Carinum,[145] into the +Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various +places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[146] He +himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at +Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning +the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly +armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted +them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active +and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by +sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his +numerous projects succeeded,[147] he again, with the aid of Marcus +Porcius Laeca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of +night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them +that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had +prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other +eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he +himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut +off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures. + +XXVIII. While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius +Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius +Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an +armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay,[148] to +the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him, +and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own +residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that +threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of +Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in +consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had +undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed. + +In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, +who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, +under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other +property) were eager for a revolution. He also attached to himself all +sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of +Sylla's colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted +their enormous plunder. + +XXIX. When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being +alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the +city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain +satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of the army +of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion +among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as is +usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE +IT THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is +the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is +granted[149] by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him +to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the +allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at +home and in the field; rights which, without an order of the people, +the consul is not permitted to exercise. + +XXX. A few days afterward, Lucius Saenius, a senator, read to the +senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Faesulae, and in +which, it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken +the field by the 27th of October.[150] Others at the same time, as is +not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; +others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of +insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of +these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex[151] was dispatched, by a decree of +the senate, to Faesulae, and Quintus Metellus Creticus[152] into +Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of +commanders,[153] were waiting near the city, having been prevented +from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it +was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The +praetors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were +sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given +them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The +senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the +conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should +be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a +complete pardon and two hundred sestertia[154]. They further appointed +that the schools of gladiators[155] should be distributed in Capua and +other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at +Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the +inferior magistrates[156] should have the charge. + +XXXI. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with +alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that +extreme gayety and dissipation,[157] to which long tranquillity[158] +had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became +anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with +any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured +the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the +extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, +raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made +constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride +and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their +country. + +Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, +notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and +though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian +law.[159] At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of +clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he +went into the senate-house. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the +consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation +against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the +republic, which he afterward wrote and published.[160] + +When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of +the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, +that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing +against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had +so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in +prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, +whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, +had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus +Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome,[161] was eager to preserve +it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised +an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor.[162] +Being thus exasperated, "Since I am encompassed by enemies," he +exclaimed,[163] "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the +flame kindled around me in a general ruin." + +XXXII He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, +after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots +against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to +be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment +his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be +raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to +the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, +and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen +the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the +plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for +firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; +promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a +large army. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius +dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, +with directions to address him[164] to the following effect: + +XXXIII. "We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken +up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any +one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in +want, have been deprived most of us, of our homes, and all of us of +our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; +nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our +ancestors, to have the benefit of the law,[165] or, when our property +was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the +usurers and of the praetor.[166] + +Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at +Rome, relieved their distress by decrees;[167] and very lately, within +our own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with +the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass.[168] + +Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by +desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded[169] +under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake +of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not +aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes +but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend +your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, +which the injustice of the praetor has taken from us; and not to lay +on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to +avenge our blood." + +XXXIV. To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished +to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and +proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the +kindness[170] and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none +had ever asked help of them in vain." + +Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, +and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was +beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of +his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into +exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness +laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that +no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself." + +Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very +different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the +name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy. + +[171]XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your +eminent integrity, known to me by experience,[172] gives a pleasing +confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. +[173] I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense[174] with +regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious +of no guilt,[175] to offer you some explanation,[176] which, on my word +of honor,[177] you may receive as true.[178] Provoked by injuries and +indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, +[179] I did not obtain the post of honor due to me,[180] I have +undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. +Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts +contracted on my own security;[181] while the generosity of Orestilla, +out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those +incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men +ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed[182] on groundless suspicion, +I have for this very reason, adopted a course,[183] amply justifiable +in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. +When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that +violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla +to your protection;[184] intreating you, by your love for your own +children, to defend her from injury.[185] Farewell." + +XXXVI. Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Caius Flaminius +Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium,[186] while he was supplying +the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, +marched with his fasces, and other ensigns of authority, to join +Manlius in his camp. + +When this was known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius +enemies to the state, and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, +before which they might lay down their arms with impunity, except such +as had been convicted of capital offenses. They also decreed that the +consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten +in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city. + +At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an +extremely deplorable condition;[187] for though every nation, from the +rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and +though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest +blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her +citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge +themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two +decrees of the senate,[188] not one individual, out of so vast a +number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the +conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline. +So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded +the minds of most of the citizens. + +XXXVII. Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were +actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common +people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline. +This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character; +for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class, +and endeavor to exalt the factious;[189] they dislike the established +condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented +with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they +can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety, +since poverty does not easily suffer loss.[190] + +As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected[191] from +various causes. In the first place,[192] such as every where took the +lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their +fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy +had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general +receptacle of impurity. In the next place, many, who thought of the +success of Sylla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers +into senators, and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and +pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they +should once take up arms. In addition to this, the youth, who, in the +country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by +public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to +unwelcome toil in the field. To these, and all others of similar +character, public disorders would furnish subsistence. It is not at +all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute +principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the +interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their +own. Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sylla, had been +proscribed, whose property had been confiscated, and whose civil +rights had been curtailed,[193] looked forward to the event of a war +with precisely the same feelings. + +All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, +were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that +they themselves should be out of power. This was an evil, which, after +many years, had returned upon the community to the extent to which it +now prevailed.[194] + +XXXVIII. For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of +Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored,[195] +certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that +high office,[196] began to stir up the populace by inveighing against +the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses +and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they +became popular and powerful. On the other hand, the most of the +nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost; under pretense, +indeed, of supporting the senate, but in reality for their own +aggrandizement. For, to state the truth in few words, whatever +parties, during that period, disturbed the republic under plausible +pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to +make the authority of the senate as great as possible, all, though +affecting concern for the public good, contended every one for his own +interest. In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit; +each party made a merciless use of its successes. + +XXXIX. After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic +wars, the power of the people was diminished, and the influence of the +few increased. These few kept all public offices, the administration +of the provinces, and every thing else, in their own hands; they +themselves lived free from harm,[197] in flourishing circumstances, +and without apprehension; overawing others, at the same time, with +threats of impeachment,[198] so that when in office, they might be +less inclined to inflame the people. But as soon as a prospect of +change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the +old spirit of contention awakened their passions; and had Catiline, in +his first battle, come off victorious, or left the struggle undecided, +great distress and calamity must certainly have fallen upon the state, +nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendency, have +been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have +wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted. + +There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out +to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. Among these +was Aulus Fulvius, the son of a senator, whom, being arrested on his +journey, his father ordered to be put to death.[199] In Rome, at the +same time, Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline's directions, was +endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all +whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to +promote an insurrection; and not citizens only, but every description +of men who could be of any service in war. + +XL. He accordingly commissioned one Publius Umbrenus to apply to +certain deputies of the Allobroges,[200] and to lead them, if he +could, to a participation in the war; supposing that as they were +nationally and individually involved in debt, and as the Gauls were +naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise. +Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men +there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently, without +loss of time, as soon as he noticed the deputies in the Forum, he +asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their +country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, "what +termination they expected to such calamities?" When he found that they +complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the +senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only +remedy for their sufferings, "Yet I," said he, "if you will but act as +men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing +difficulties." When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with +the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; +saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they +would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from +debt. He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus, which was +close to the Forum, and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to +his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome.[201] In order, too, +to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius, +and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy, and +mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many +other persons, of every sort, who were guiltless of it, for the +purpose of inspiring the embassadors with greater confidence. At +length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart. + +XLI. Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should +adopt. On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war, and +great advantages to be expected from victory;[202] on the other, +superior resources, safe plans, and certain rewards[203] instead of +uncertain expectations. As they were balancing these considerations, +the good fortune of the state at length prevailed. They accordingly +disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus +Fabius Sanga,[204] to whose patronage their state was very greatly +indebted. Cicero, being apprized of the matter by Sanga, directed the +deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to +seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair +promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as +possible. + +XLII. Much about the same time there were commotions[205] in Hither +and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories, and in +Apulia. For those, whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts, +had begun, without consideration, and seemingly with madness, to +attempt every thing at once; and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing +armor and weapons from place to place, and by hurrying and confusing +every thing, had created more alarm than danger. Of these, Quintus +Metellus Celer, the praetor, having brought several to trial,[206] +under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had +also Caius Muraena in Further Gaul,[207] who governed that province in +quality of legate. + +XLIII. But at Rome, in the mean time, Lentulus, with the other leaders +of the conspiracy, having secured what they thought a large force, had +arranged, that as soon as Catiline should reach the neighborhood of +Faesulae, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an +assembly, should complain of the proceedings of Cicero, and lay the +odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul;[208] and +that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should, on +the following night, proceed to execute their respective parts. + +These parts are said to have been thus distributed. Statilius and +Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the +city, convenient for their purpose,[209] at the same time; in order +that, during the consequent tumult,[210] an easier access might be +obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was +intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him +personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; +while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to +kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the +massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline. + +While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was +incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates; +observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation +and delay;[211] that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of +deliberation, but of action; and that he himself, if a few would +support him, would storm the senate-house while the others remained +inactive. Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he +thought that success depended on rapidity of execution. + +XLIV. The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured +interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators; and +from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, they demanded an +oath, which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who +otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair. To this the +others consented without suspicion; but Cassius promised them soon to +visit their country,[212] and, indeed, left the city a little before +the deputies. + +In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm +their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of +faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of +Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which +the following is a copy: + +"Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you. +Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and +remember that you are a man.[213] Consider what your views demand, and +seek aid from all, even the lowest." In addition, he gave him this +verbal message: "Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for +what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves? That, in the +city, every thing which he had directed was arranged; and that he +should not delay to make nearer approaches to it." + +XLV. Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed +for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made +acquainted with every thing, directed the praetors,[214] Lucius +Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the +Allobroges, by laying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge;[215] he +gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were +sent,[216] and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. +Being military men, they placed a force, as had been directed, without +disturbance, and secretly invested the bridge; when the deputies, with +Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side +of the bridge,[217] the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, +surrendered themselves immediately to the praetors. Volturcius, at +first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers +with his sword; but afterward, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he +began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his +life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered +himself to the praetors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies. + +XLVI. The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was +immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Great anxiety, +and great joy, affected him at the same moment. He rejoiced that, by +the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger; but +he was doubtful how he ought to act, when citizens of such eminence +were detected in treason so atrocious. He saw that their punishment +would be a weight upon himself, and their escape the destruction of +the Commonwealth. Having, however, formed his resolution, he ordered +Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and one Quintus Coeparius of +Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to raise the slaves, to +be summoned before him. The others came without delay; but Coeparius, +having left his house a little before, and heard of the discovery of +the conspiracy, had fled from the city. The consul himself conducted +Lentulus, as he was praetor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the +others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard. Here +he assembled the senate, and in a very full attendance of that body, +introduced Volturcius with the deputies. Hither also he ordered +Valerius Flaccus, the praetor, to bring the box with the letters[218] +which he had taken from the deputies. + +XLVII. Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning +his letter,[219] and lastly, what object he had had in view,[220] and +from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate,[221] +and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was +told to speak on the security of the public faith,[222] he disclosed +every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been +admitted as an associate, a few days before, by Gabinius and Coeparius; +that he knew no more than the deputies, only that he used to hear from +Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, +and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. The Gauls made a +similar confession, and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, +not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in +the habit of making, "that the sovereignty of Rome, by the Sibylline +books, was predestined to three Cornelii; that Cinna and Sylla had ruled +already;[223] and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be +to govern the city; and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the +Capitol was burned; a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had +often said would be stained with the blood of civil war." + +The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously +acknowledged their seals,[224] decreed that Lentulus, being deprived +of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private +custody.[225] Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius +Lentulus Spinther, who was then aedile; Cethegus, to Quintus +Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Caesar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; +and Coeparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to +Cneius Terentius, a senator. + +XLVIII. The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire +of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on +the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate +the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if +rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other +effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the +burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, +especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their +daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore. + +On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before +the senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out +to join Catiline. This person, having offered to give information of +the conspiracy, if the public faith were pledged to him,[226] and +being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the senate +nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the +intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens, and the +approach of the enemy, adding that "he was sent by Marcus Crassus to +assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus, and +others of the conspirators, ought not to alarm him, but that he should +hasten, with so much the more expedition to the city, in order to +revive the courage of the rest, and to facilitate the escape of those +in custody".[227] When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, +of very great wealth, and of vast influence, some, thinking the +statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, +judging that at such a crisis a man of such power[228] was rather to +be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, +being; under obligation to Crassus), exclaimed that he was "a false +witness," and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote. +Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full senate decreed +"that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false; that he himself +should be kept in prison; and that no further liberty of speaking[229] +should be granted him, unless he should name the person at whose +instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny." + +There were some, at that time, who thought that this affair was +contrived by Publius Autronius, in order that the interest of Crassus, +if he were accused, might, from participation in the danger, more +readily screen the rest. Others said that Tarquinius was suborned by +Cicero, that Crassus might not disturb the state, by taking upon him, +as was his custom,[230] the defense of the criminals. That this attack +on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself +assert. + +XLIX. Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, +nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon +Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the +Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter +enmity with Caesar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was +on[231] his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put +to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since +he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after +filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Caesar, who was +then comparatively a youth.[232] The opportunity, too, seemed +favorable for such an accusation; for Caesar, by extraordinary +generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public,[233] +had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the +consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to +another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to +have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent +odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as +an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by +the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to +testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar +with their swords as he went out of the senate-house. + +L. While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while +rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the +Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some +of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and +slaves, in various directions throughout the city,[234] to attempt his +rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were +always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, +was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves[235] and freedmen, men +trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed +body, and force a way into his place of confinement. + +The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having +distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion +demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know "what +they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to +custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before[236] +declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus +Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, +moved[237] that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on +those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius +Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be +apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius +Caesar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius +Nero,[238] who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and +that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Caesar, when +it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to +the following effect: + +LI. "It becomes all men,[239] Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on +dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, +nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not +easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the +same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely +exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of +it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless. + +I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings +and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted +injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these +instances in which our ancestors, in opposition, to the impulse of +passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy. + +In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the +great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the +Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us; yet, when the war was +ended, and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, +our forefathers left them unmolested lest any should say that war was +made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of +punishing their faithlessness. Throughout the Punic war, too, though +the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspension of arms, were +guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took +occasion to retaliate, but considered rather what was worthy of +themselves, than what might be justly inflicted on their enemies. + +Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, +that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have +greater weight with you than your own dignity, and that you may not +regard your indignation more than your character. If, indeed, a +punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to +extraordinary measures;[240] but if the enormity of their crime +exceeds whatever can be devised,[241] I think that we should inflict +only such penalties as the laws have provided. + +Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have +deplored, in studied and impressive language,[242] the sad fate that +threatens the republic; they have recounted the barbarities of war, +and the afflictions that would fall on the vanquished; they have told +us that maidens would be dishonored, and youths abused; that children +would be torn from the embraces of their parents; that matrons would +be subjected to the pleasure of the conquerors; that temples and +dwelling-houses would be plundered; that massacres and fires would +follow; and that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, +blood, and lamentation. But to what end, in the name of the eternal +gods! was such eloquence directed? Was it intended to render you +indignant at the conspiracy? A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom +so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked! Far from it: +for to no man does evil, directed against himself, appear a light +matter; many, on the contrary, have felt it more seriously than was +right. + +But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of +license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, +commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for +their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live +invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole +world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the +least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither +partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in +others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and +cruelty. + +I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of +torture is inadequate to punish their crime; but the generality of +mankind dwell on that which happens last, and, in the case of +malefactors, forget their guilt, and talk only of their punishment, +should that punishment have been inordinately severe. I feel assured, +too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the +suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had +no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know +to be his character, and such his discretion.[243] Yet his proposal +appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is +directed against such characters?), but foreign to our policy. For +assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, must have +induced you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment. +Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, when by the prompt activity of +that distinguished man our consul, such numerous forces are under +arms; and as to the punishment, we may say, what is indeed the truth, +that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and +not a torment;[244] that it puts an end to all human woes; and that, +beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy. + +But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your +proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be +punished with the scourge? Was it because the Porcian law[245] forbids +it? But other laws[246] forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of +life, and allow them to go into exile. Or was it because scourging is +a severer penalty than death? Yet what can be too severe, or too +harsh, toward men convicted of such an offense? But if scourging be a +milder punishment than death, how is it consistent to observe the law +as to the smaller point, when you disregard it as to the greater? + +But who it may be asked, will blame any severity that shall be +decreed against these parricides[247] of their country? I answer that +time, the course of events,[248] and fortune, whose caprice governs +nations, may blame it. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall +on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well +what you resolve to inflict on others. All precedents productive of +evil effects,[249] have had their origin from what was good; but when +a government passes into the hands of the ignorant or unprincipled, +any new example of severity,[250] inflicted on deserving and suitable +objects, is extended to those that are improper and undeserving of it. +The Lacedaemonians, when they had conquered the Athenians,[251] +appointed thirty men to govern their state. These thirty began their +administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were +notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable; acts at which the people +rejoiced, and extolled their justice. But afterward, when their +lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, +to kill the good and the bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror +into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy +penalty for its imprudent exultation. + +Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sylla ordered +Damasippus,[252] and others of similar character, who had risen by +distressing their country, to be put to death, who did not commend the +proceeding? All exclaimed that wicked and factious men, who had +troubled the state with their seditious practices, had justly +forfeited their lives. Yet this proceeding was the commencement of +great bloodshed. For whenever anyone coveted the mansion or villa, or +even the plate or apparel of another, he exerted his influence to have +him numbered among the proscribed. Thus they, to whom the death of +Damasippus had been a subject of joy, were soon after dragged to death +themselves; nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sylla had +glutted all his partisans with riches. + +Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these +times. But in a large state there arise many men of various +dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, +like the present, may have an army at his command, some false +accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a +precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of +the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury? + +Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in conduct or +courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of +other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. Their armor, and +weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites; their ensigns of +authority,[253] for the most part, from the Etrurians; and, in short, +whatever appeared eligible to them, whether among allies or among +enemies, they adopted at home with the greatest readiness, being more +inclined to emulate merit than to be jealous of it. But at the same +time, adopting a practice from Greece, they punished their citizens +with the scourge, and inflicted capital punishment on such as were +condemned. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction +grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the +innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it +was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which +condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. This lenity of our +ancestors, Conscript Fathers, I regard as a very strong reason why we +should not adopt any new measures of severity. For assuredly there was +greater merit and wisdom in those, who raised so mighty an empire from +humble means, than in us, who can scarcely preserve what they so +honorably acquired. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the +conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should +thus be increased? Far from it; my recommendation is, that their +property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody +in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the +expense;[254] that no one hereafter bring their case before the +senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give +their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act +against the republic and the general safety." + +LII. When Caesar had ended his speech, the rest briefly expressed +their assent,[255] some to one speaker, and some to another, in +support of their different proposals; but Marcius Porcius Cato, being +asked his opinion, made a speech to the following purport: + +"My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different,[256] when I +contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my +mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, +as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who +have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, +and their homes;[257] but the state of affairs warns us rather to +secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what +sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after +they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its +commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to +justice.[258] When the city is taken, no power is left to the +vanquished. But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, +who have always valued your mansions and villas, your statues and +pictures, at a higher price than the welfare of your country; if you +wish to preserve those possessions, of whatever kind they are, to +which you are attached; if you wish to secure quiet for the enjoyment +of your pleasures, arouse yourselves, and act in defense of your +country. We are not now debating on the revenues, or on injuries done +to our allies, but our liberty and our life is at stake. + +Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this +assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our +citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of +many. I, who never excused to myself, or to my own conscience, the +commission of any fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct,[259] +or indulge the licentiousness, of others. But though you little +regarded my remonstrances, yet the republic remained secure; its own +strength[260] was proof against your remissness. The question, however, +at present under discussion, is not whether we live in a good or a bad +state of morals; nor how great, or how splendid, the empire of the +Roman people is; but whether these things around us, of whatever value +they are, are to continue our own, or to fall, with ourselves, into the +hands of the enemy. + +In such a case, does any one talk to me of gentleness and compassion? +For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real name of things; +[261] for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and +audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced +to the brink of ruin. But let those, who thus misname things, be liberal, +since such is the practice, out of the property of our allies; let them +be merciful to the robbers of the treasury; but let them not lavish our +blood, and, while they spare a few criminals, bring destruction on all +the guiltless. + +Caius Caesar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, +[262] before this assembly, on the subject of life and death; considering +as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead; that the bad, going a +different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary, and +full of horror. He accordingly proposed _that the property of the +conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in +the municipal towns_; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, +they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by +a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate were to be +found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if +desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is +less power to resist them. His proposal, therefore, if he fears any +danger from them, is absurd; but if, amid such universal terror, he +alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and +myself. + +Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and +the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army +of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display +in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if +they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will +advance upon you with fury. + +Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, +raised the republic to greatness merely by force of arms. If such had +been the case, we should enjoy it in a most excellent condition;[263] +for of allies and citizens,[264] as well as arms and horses, we have a +much greater abundance than they had. But there were other things +which made them great, but which among us have no existence; such as +industry at home, equitable government abroad, and minds impartial in +council, uninfluenced by any immoral or improper feeling. Instead of +such virtues, we have luxury and avarice; public distress, and private +superfluity; we extol wealth, and yield to indolence; no distinction +is made between good men and bad; and ambition usurps the honors due +to virtue. Nor is this wonderful; since you study each his individual +interest, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure, and here to +money or favor; and hence it happens that an attack is made on the +defenseless state. + +But on these subjects I shall say no more. Certain citizens, of the +highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging +the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war +against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon +us; and do you hesitate; even in such circumstances, how to treat +armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? I advise you to have +mercy upon them;[265] they are young men who have been led astray by +ambition; send them away, even with arms in their hands. But such +mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will +end in misery to yourselves. The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but +you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to +act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and +trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your +country in the greatest dangers. But the protection of the gods is not +obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, +activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. When +you are once resigned to sloth and indolence, it is in vain that you +implore the gods; for they are then indignant and threaten vengeance. + +In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war +with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had +fought with an enemy contrary to orders. That noble youth suffered for +excess of bravery; and do you hesitate what sentence to pass on the +most inhuman of traitors? Perhaps their former life is at variance +with their present crime. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he +has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods +or for men. Pardon the youth of Cethegus, unless this be the second +time that he has made war upon his country.[266] As to Gabinius, +Slatilius, Coeparius, why should I make any remark upon them? Had they +ever possessed the smallest share of discretion, they would never have +engaged in such a plot against their country. + +In conclusion, Conscript Fathers, if there were time to amend an +error, I might easily suffer you, since you disregard words, to be +corrected by experience of consequences. But we are beset by dangers on +all sides; Catiline, with his army, is ready to devour us;[267] while +there are other enemies within the walls, and in the heart of the +city; nor can any measures be taken, or any plans arranged, without +their knowledge. The more necessary is it, therefore, to act with +promptitude. What I advise, then, is this: that since the state, by a +treasonable combination of abandoned citizens, has been brought into +the greatest peril; and since the conspirators have been convicted on +the evidence of Titus Volturcius, and the deputies of the Allobroges, +and on their own confession, of having concerted massacres, +conflagrations, and other horrible and cruel outrages, against their +fellow-citizens and their country, punishment be inflicted, according +to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed +their guilt, as on men convicted of capital crimes." + +LIII. When Cato had resumed his seat, all the senators of consular +dignity, and a great part of the rest,[268] applauded his opinion, and +extolled his firmness of mind to the skies. With mutual reproaches, +they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the +greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he +had advised. + +After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the +Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as +by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great +foundation of such illustrious deeds. I knew that the Romans had +frequently, with small bodies of men, encountered vast armies of the +enemy; I was aware that they had carried on wars[269] with limited +forces against powerful sovereigns; that they had often sustained, +too, the violence of adverse fortune; yet that, while the Greeks +excelled them in eloquence, the Gauls surpassed them in military +glory. After much reflection, I felt convinced that the eminent virtue +of a few citizens had been the cause of all these successes; and hence +it had happened that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over +a multitude. And even in later times, when the state had become +corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported +itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and +magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted,[270] there +was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen +of eminent ability. Within my recollection, however, there arose two +men of remarkable powers, though of very different character, Marcus +Cato and Caius Caesar, whom, since the subject has brought them before +me, it is not my intention to pass in silence, but to describe, to the +best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each. + +LIV. Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; +their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though +attained by different means.[271] Caesar grew eminent by generosity +and munificence; Cato by the integrity of his life. Caesar was +esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given +dignity to Cato. Caesar acquired renown by giving, relieving, and +pardoning; Cato by bestowing nothing. In Caesar, there was a refuge +for the unfortunate; in Cato, destruction for the bad. In Caesar, his +easiness of temper was admired; in Cato, his firmness. Caesar, in +fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent +upon the interest of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he +refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for +himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war +in which his talents might be displayed. But Cato's ambition was that +of temperance, discretion, and, above all, of austerity; he did not +contend in splendor with the rich, or in faction with the seditious, +but with the brave in fortitude, with the modest in simplicity,[272] +with the temperate[273] in abstinence; he was more desirous to be, +than to appear, virtuous; and thus, the less he courted popularity, +the more it pursued him. + +LV. When the senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of +Cato, the counsel, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was +coming on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, +ordered the triumvirs[274] to make such preparations as the execution +of the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary +guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison; and the same office was +performed for the rest by the praetors. There is a place in the +prison, which is called the Tullian dungeon,[275] and which, after a +slight ascent to the left, is sunk about twelve feet under ground. +Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vaulted roof connected +with stone arches;[276] but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, +by reason of the filth, darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been +let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been +given,[277] strangled him with a cord. Thus this patrician, who was of +the illustrious family of the Cornelii, and who filled the office of +consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct. +On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Coeparius, punishment was +inflicted in a similar manner. + +LVI. During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire +force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius +had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts +as far as his number would allow;[278] and afterward, as any +volunteers, or recruits from his confederates,[279] arrived in his +camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus +filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of +men, though at first he had not more than two thousand. But, of his +whole army, only about a fourth part had the proper weapons of +soldiers; the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried darts, +spears, or sharpened stakes. + +As Antonius approached with his army, Catiline directed his march over +the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at +another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting, +yet hoped himself shortly to find one,[280] if his accomplices at Rome +should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers +[281] had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as +depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it impolitic +[282] to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates. + +LVII. When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy +had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest +whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope +of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell +away. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by +forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to +escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul. + +But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, had at that +time, his station in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the +difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course which +we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned his route from +some deserters, he immediately broke up his camp, and took his post at +the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline's descent +would be, in his hurried march into Gaul[283]. Nor was Antonius far +distant, as he was pursuing, though with, a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances, the enemy in retreat.[284] + +Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by +hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, +and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it +best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved +upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius. Having, +therefore, assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following +manner: + +LVIII. "I am well aware, soldiers, that words can not inspire courage; +and that a spiritless army can not be rendered active,[285] or a timid +army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Whatever courage is in +the heart of a man, whether from nature or from habit, so much will be +shown by him in the field; and on him whom neither glory nor danger +can move, exhortation is bestowed in vain; for the terror in his +breast stops his ears. + +I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, +and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course +which I have adopted. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the +inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; +and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable +to march into Gaul. + +In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as +myself. Two armies of the enemy, one on the side of Rome, and the +other on that of Gaul, oppose our progress; while the want of corn, +and of other necessaries, prevents us from remaining, however strongly +we may desire to remain, in our present position. Whithersoever we +would go, we must open a passage with our swords. I conjure you, +therefore, to maintain a brave and resolute spirit; and to remember, +when you advance to battle, that on your own right hands depend[286] +riches, honor, and glory, with the enjoyment of your liberty and of +your country. If we conquer, all will be safe; we shall have +provisions in abundance; and the colonies and corporate towns will +open their gates to us. But if we lose the victory through want of +courage, these same places[287] will turn against us; for neither +place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected. +Besides, soldiers, the same exigency does not press upon our +adversaries, as presses upon us; we fight for our country, for our +liberty, for our life; they contend for what but little concerns +them,[288] the power of a small party. Attack them, therefore, with so +much the greater confidence, and call to mind your achievements of +old. + +We might,[289] with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our +days in exile. Some of you, after losing your property, might have +waited at Rome for assistance from others. But because such a life, to +men of spirit, was disgusting and unendurable, you resolved upon your +present course. If you wish to quit it, you must exert all your +resolution, for none but conquerors have exchanged war for peace. To +hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy +the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle, +those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is +equivalent to a rampart. When I contemplate you, soldiers, and when I +consider your past exploits, a strong hope of victory animates me. +Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me confidence; to say nothing +of necessity, which makes even cowards brave. To prevent the numbers +of the enemy from surrounding us, our confined situation is +sufficient. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not +to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered +like cattle, rather than fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a +bloody and mournful victory." + +LIX. When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the +signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular +order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all +the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their +danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to +their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched +between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he +placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in +close order, in the rear.[290] From among these he removed all the +ablest centurions,[291] the veterans,[293] and the stoutest of the +common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost +ranks.[293] He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, +and a certain officer of Faesulae[294] on the left; while he himself, +with his freedmen[295] and the colonists,[296] took his station by the +eagle,[297] which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the +Cimbrian war. + +On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame,[298] was unable to +be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus +Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of +veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection,[299] +in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding +round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged +them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed +marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, +and their homes.[300] Being a military man, and having served with +great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, praefect, +lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their +honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused +the spirits of the men. + +LX. When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the +trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the +enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the +action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with +a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge.[301] They threw +aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans, +calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest +combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides +contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was +exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such +as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to +every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and +performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful +general. + +When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking +him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the +centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and +offering but partial resistance,[302] he made great slaughter, and +ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the +Faesulan, sword in hand, were among the first[303] that fell; and +Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few +supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the +thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last. + +LXI. When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and +what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; +for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath, +covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A +few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen +somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself +was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the +enemy; he was not quite breathless, and still expressed in his +countenance the fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his +life. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any +free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives +no more than those of the enemy. + +Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless +victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle, +or left the field severely wounded. + +Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the +slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a +friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, +recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, +were variously felt throughout the whole army. + + + + +NOTES. + + +[1] I. Desire to excel other animals--_Sese student praestare +caeteris animalibus._ The pronoun, which is usually omitted, is, says +Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to _ut ipsi_: +student _ut ipsi praestent_. In support of his opinion he quotes, with +other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicae, +i.e. vult _ut ipse amicae placeat_; and Coelius Antipater apud Festum +in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat aemulari, i.e. +_studeat ut ipse aemuletur._ This explanation is approved by Bernouf. +Cortius might have added Cat. 7: _sese_ quisque hostem _ferire +--properabat._ "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt." + +[2] To the utmost of their power--_Summâ ope_, with their utmost +ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said +_summâ operâ, summo studio, summâ contentione._ Ennius has '_Summa +nituntur opum vi_.'" Colerus. + +[3] In obscurity--_Silentio._ So as to have nothing said of them, +either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: _Eorum ego +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo, quoniam de utrâque siletur_. When Ovid +says, _Bene qui latuit, bene vixit,_ and Horace, _Nec vixit malè, qui +vivens moriensque fefellit,_ they merely signify that he has some +comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and +censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of +Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque," +says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriae studio maximè +ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and +glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will +bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the +Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus: + + "Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd + With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd? + + O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace, + With equal steps the paths of glory trace! + Join to that royal youth's your rival name, + And shine eternal in the sphere of fame." + +[4] Like the beasts of the field--_Veluti pecora._ Many translators +have rendered _pecora_ "brutes" or "beasts;" _pecus_, however, does +not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word _cattle_. + +[5] Groveling--_Prona._ I have adopted _groveling_ from Mair's +old translation. _Pronus_, stooping _to the earth_, is applied to +_cattle_, in opposition to _erectus_, which is applied to _man_; as +in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i.: + + "_Prona_ que cum spectent animalia caetera terram, + Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri + Jussit, et _erectos_ ad sidera tollere vultus." + + "--while the mute creation downward bend + Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, + Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes + Beholds his own hereditary skies." _Dryden._ + +Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased: + + "There wanted yet the master-work, the end + Of all yet done; a creature, who not _prone + And 'brute as other creatures_, but endued + With sanctity of reason, might _erect_ + _His stature_, and _upright with front serene_ + Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence + Magnanimous to correspond with heaven." + "Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultus + Sustulerit Deus, et sublimia fluxerit ora, + Cùm pecudes, voluerumque genus, formasque ferarum, + Segnem atque obscoenam passim stravisset in alvum." + + "See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'd + The countenance of man erect to heav'n, + Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bent + Th' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds, + And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd" + +"When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals +abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone +upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his +birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had +in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us +add Juvenal, xv, 146. + + "Sensum à coelesti demissum traximus arce, + Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia." + + "To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth, + Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth." + +[6] All our power is situate in the mind and in the body--_Sed +omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita_. All our power is placed, +or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle _sed,_ which is +merely a connective, answering to the Greek _dé_, and which would be +useless in an English translation, I have omitted. + +[7] Of the mind we--employ the government--_Animi imperio--utimur_. +"What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter +is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, +serve the better."--Sen. Epist. lxv. _Dux et imperator vitae mortalium +animus est,_ the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals. +--Jug. c. 1. "An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one +is formed by nature to rule, and the other to obey."--Aristot. Polit. +i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages. + +[8] Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the +service--_Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur_. The word +_magis_ is not to be regarded as useless. "It signifies," says Cortius, +"that the mind rules, and the body obeys, _in general_, and _with +greater reason_." At certain times the body may _seem to have the +mastery_, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger +or thirst. + +[9] It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.--_Quo mihi +rectius videtur_, etc. I have rendered _quo_ by _therefore_. "_Quo_," +observes Cortius, "is _propter quod_, with the proper force of the +ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: _Quo_ mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; +c. 2, _Quo_ magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would +force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected +with the comparative degree, as in _quo minus, eo major_, and similar +expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so +connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to +which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, _Quanto +magis animus corpori praestat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam +quaerere_. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow +Cortius. "_Quo_," says Pappaur, "is for _quocirca_." + +[10] _That of_ intellectual power is illustrious and immortal--_Virtus +clara aeternaque habetur_. The only one of our English translators who +has given the right sense of _virtus_ In this passage, is Sir Henry +Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée. +"It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the +numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among +foreign nations--the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée excepted--have thought +of giving to the word _virtus_, in this place, what so obviously is the +meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, +distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well +as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main +objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this +Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body +and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. +On this account it is pretty evident, that by _virtus_ Sallust could +never mean the [Greek _aretae_], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he +had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it +_ut viri vis_ (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which +ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his +fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this +rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the +second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same +train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a +different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, +of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the +pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments, +and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation +which shall never die. "_Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae, +adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at +ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt_". + +[11] It is necessary to plan before beginning to act--_Priusquam +incipias, consulto--opus est_. Most translators have rendered +_consulto_ "deliberation," or something equivalent; but it is +_planning_ or _contrivance_ that is signified. Demosthenes, in his +Oration _de Pace_, reproaches the Athenians with acting without any +settled plan: [Greek: _Oi men gar alloi puntes anthropoi pro ton +pragmatonheiothasi chraesthai to Bouleuesthai, umeis oude meta ta +pragmata_.] + +[12] To act with promptitude and vigor--_Maturè facto opus est_. +"Maturè facto" seems to include the notions both of promptitude and +vigor, of force as well as speed; for what would be the use of acting +expeditiously, unless expedition be attended with power and effect? + +[13] Each--_Utrumque_. The corporeal and mental faculties. + +[14] The one requires the assistance of the other--_Alterum +alterius auxilio eget_. "_Eget_," says Cortius, "is the reading of all +the MSS." _Veget_, which Havercamp and some others have adopted, was +the conjecture of Palmerius, on account of _indigens_ occurring in the +same sentence. But _eget_ agrees far better with _consulto et--maturè +facto opus est_, in the preceding sentence. + +[15] II. Applied themselves in different ways--_Diversi_. "Modo +et instituto diverso, diversa sequentes." _Cortius_. + +[16] At that period, however--_Et jam tum_. "Tunc temporis +_praecisè_, at that time _precisely_, which is the force of the +particle _jam_. as donatus shows. I have therefore written _et jam_ +separately. Virg. Aen. vii. 737. Late _jam tum_ ditione premebat +Sarrastes populos." _Cortius_. + +[17] Without covetousness--Sine cupiditate_. "As in the famous +golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 28." _Cortius_. See also Ovid. Met. +i. 80, _seq_. But "such times were never," as Cowper says. + +[18] But after Cyrus in Asia, etc.--_Postea verò quàm in, Asiâ +Cyrus_, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more +moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the +case. "The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, "though +not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were +great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their +reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon +a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and +went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." +Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate +ambition, the _veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem_, that is, to +break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees +in opinion with De Brosses. + +[19] Proof and experience--_Periculo atque negotiis_. Gronovius +rightly interprets _periculo_ "experiundo, experimentis," by +experiment or trial. Cortius takes _periculo atque negotiis_ for +_periculosis negotiis_, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius +remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he +adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding +by _negotia_ "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains _negotiis_ +by "ipsa negotiorum tractatione," _i. e._ by the management of affairs, +or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, +has "l'expérience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience." +which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives +only "experience" for both words. + +[20] And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.--_Quod +si--animi virtus_, etc. "Quod si" can not here be rendered _but if;_ +it is rather equivalent to _quapropter si_, and might be expressed by +_wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if_. + +[21] Intellectual ability--_Animi virtus_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, above noted. + +[22] Magistrates--_Imperatorum_. "Understand all who govern +states, whether in war or in peace." _Bernouf_. Sallust calls the +consuls _imperatores_, c. 6. + +[23] Governments shifted from hand to hand--_aliud aliò ferri_. +Evidently alluding to changes in government. + +[24] Less to the more deserving--_Ad optimum quemque à minus +bono_. "From the less good to the best." + +[25] Even in agriculture, etc.--_Quae homines arant, navigant, +aedificant, virtuti omnia parent_. Literally, _what men plow, sail_, +etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and +architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily +exertion, are as much the result of mental power as the highest of +human pursuits. + +[26] Like travelers in a strange country--_Sicuti peregrinantes_. +"Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vita quasi hospites sunt:" they know not +how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. +_Dietsch_. "_Peregrinantes_, qui, qua transeunt, nullum sui vestigium +relinquunt;" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace +of their course. Pappaur. + +[27] Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation--_Eorum +ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo_. I count them of the same value dead +as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. +"Those who are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as +Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, +indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. + +[28] III. Not without merit--_Haud absurdum_. I have borrowed +this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "sua laude non +caret." "The word _absurdus_ is often used by the Latins as an epithet +for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be +applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." _Kunhardt_. + +[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.--_Facta dictis +sunt exaequanda_. Most translators have regarded these words as +signifying _that the subject must be equaled by the style_. But it is +not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter +must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be +too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much +blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and +how it was done." _Kunhardt_. + +[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.--_Quae sibi--aequo +animo accipit_, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For +praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks +that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; +but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and +disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. + +[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible--_Veluti ficta, pro +falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis_, he considers as false or incredible, +_veluti ficta_, as if invented. + +[32] When a young man--_Adolescentulus_. "It is generally admitted +that all were called _adolescentes_ by the Romans, who were between +the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. +The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast +more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, +prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called _adolescentulus_, +in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." _Dietsch_. +And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, _Defendi +rempublicam adolescens_, Philipp. ii. 46. + +[33] To engage in political affairs--_Ad rempublicam_. "In the phrase +of Cornelius Nepos, _honoribus operam dedi_, I sought to obtain some +share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were +comprehended under the term _Respublica_." _Cortius_. + +[34] Integrity--_Virtute_. Cortius rightly explains this word as +meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who +manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to +_avaritia_, not, as some critics would have it, to _largitio_. + +[35] Was ensnared and infected--_Corrupta, tenebatur_. As +_obsessus tenetur_, Jug., c. 24. + +[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and +jealousy, etc.--_Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque +invidia vexabat_. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat +honoris cupido, et vexabat _propterea_ etiam eadem, quae caeteros, +fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., +that it is a _zeugma_. "_Fama atque invidia_," says Gronovius, "is +[Greek: _en dia duoin_], for _invidiosa et maligna fama_." Bernouf, +with Zanchius and others, read _fama atque invidia_ in the ablative +case; and the Bipont edition has _eadem qua--fama, etc._; but the +method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and +satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this +passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his +expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he +suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in +the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. + +[37] IV. Servile occupations--agriculture or hunting--_Agrum +colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum_. By calling +agriculture and hunting _servilia officia_, Sallust intends, as is +remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the +saying of Julian the emperor, _Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, +captare laudes ex corpore_. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, +"agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant +corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia +labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad +meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the +reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of +hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not +remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that +have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as +Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended +from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than +the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to +peruse. + +[38] Returning to those studies, etc.--_A quo incepto studio me +ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus_. "The study, namely, of +writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." +_Cortius_. + +[39] In detached portions--_Carptim_. "Plin. Ep. viii., 47: +Respondebis non posse perinde _carptim_, ut _contexta_ placere: et vi. +22: Egit _carptim_ et [Greek: _kata kephulaia_]," _Dietsch_. + +[40] V. Of noble birth--_Nobili genere natus_. His three names +were Lucius _Sergius_ Catilina, he being of the family of the Sergii, +for whose antiquity Virgil is responsible, Aen. v. 121: _Sergestusque, +domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen_. And Juvenal says, Sat. viii. 321: +_Quid, Catilino, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi Inveniet quisquam +sublimius?_ His great grandfather, L. Sergius Silus, had eminently +distinguished himself by his services in the second Punic war. See +Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 29. "Catiline was born A.U.C. 647, A.C. 107." +_Dietsch_. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxv.) says that he was the last +of the Sergii. + +[41] _Sedition--Discordia civilis_. + +[42] And in such scenes he had spent his early years--_Ibique +juventutem suam exercuit_. "It is to be observed that the Roman +writers often used an adverb, where we, of modern times, should +express ourselves more specifically by using a noun." _Dietsch_ on c. +3, _ibique multa mihi advorsa fuere_. _Juventus_ properly signified +the time between thirty and forty-five years of age; _adolescentia_ +that between fifteen and thirty. But this distinction was not always +accurately observed. Catiline had taken an active part in supporting +Sylla, and in carrying into execution his cruel proscriptions and +mandates. "Quis erat hujus (Syllae) imperii minister? Quis nisi +Catilina jam in omne facinus manus exercens?" Sen. de Ira, iii. 18. + +[43] Capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished +--_Cujuslibet, rei simulator ac dissimulator_. "Dissimulation is +the negative, when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not +that he is; simulation is the affirmative, when a man industriously +and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not." Bacon, +Essay vi. + +[44] Abundance of eloquence--_Satis eloquentiae_. Cortius reads +_loquentiae_ "_Loquentia_ is a certain facility of speech not +necessarily attended with sound sense; called by the Greeks [Greek: +_lalia_]." _Bernouf_. "Julius Candidus used excellently to observe +that _eloquentia_ was one thing, and _loquentia_ another; for +eloquence is given to few, but what Candidus called _loquentia_, or +fluency of speech, is the talent of many, and especially of the most +impudent." Plin. Ep. v. 20. But _eloquentiae_ is the reading of most +of the MSS., and _loquentiae_, if Aulus Gellius (i. 15) was rightly +informed, was a correction of Valerius Probus, the grammarian, who +said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could not +agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, the grammarian, +who said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could +not agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, however, +may be questioned. May not Sallust have written _eloquentiae_, with +the intention of signifying that Catiline had abundance of eloquence +to work on the minds of others, though he wanted prudence to regulate +his own conduct? Have there not been other men of whom the same may be +said, as Mirabeau, for example? The speeches that Sallust puts into +Catiline's mouth (c. 20, 58) are surely to be characterized rather as +_eloquentia_, than _loquentia_. On the whole, and especially from the +concurrence of MSS., I prefer to read _eloquentiae_, with the more +recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz and Dietsch. + +[45] Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship--_Post dominationem +Lucii Syllae_. "The meaning is not the same as if it were _finitâ +dominatione_ but is the same as _ab eo tempore quo dominari caeperat_. +In French, therefore, _post_ should be rendered by _depuis_, not, as +it is commonly translated, _après_." _Bernouf_. As _dictator_ was the +title that Sylla assumed, I have translated _dominatio_, "dictatorship". +Rose, Gordon, and others, render it "usurpation". + +[46] Power--_Regnum_. Chief authority, rule, dominion. + +[47] Rendered thoroughly depraved--_Vexabant_. "Corrumpere et +pessundare studebant." _Bernouf_. _Quos vexabant_, be it observed, +refers to _mores_, as Gerlach and Kritz interpret, not to _cives_ +understood in _civitatis_, which is the evidently erroneous method of +Cortius. + +[48] Conduct of our ancestors--_Instituta majorum_. The principles +adopted by our ancestors, with regard both to their own conduct, and +to the management of the state. That this is the meaning, is evident +from the following account. + +[49] VI. As I understand--_Sicuti ego accepi_. "By these words he +plainly shows that nothing certain was known about the origin of Rome. +The reader may consult Livy, lib. i.; Justin, lib. xliii.; and Dionys. +Halicar., lib.i.; all of whom attribute its rise to the Trojans." +_Bernouf_. + +[50] Aborigines--_Aborigines_. The original inhabitants of Italy; +the same as _indigenae_, or the [Greek: _Autochthones_]. + +[51]: Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. "Non credi potest, +si memoratur; superat omnem fidem." _Pappaur_. Yet that which +actually happened, can not be absolutely incredible; and I have, +therefore, inserted _almost_. + +[52] Prepared with alacrity for there defense--_Festinare, parare_. +"Made haste, prepared." "_Intenti ut festinanter pararent_ ea, quae +defensioni aut bello usui essent." _Pappaur_. + +[53] Procured friendships rather by bestowing, etc;--_Magisque +dandis, quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant_. Thucyd. ii., +40: [Greek: _Ou paschontes eu, alla drontes, ktometha tous philous_] + +[54] FATHERS--PATRES. "(Romulus) appointed that the direction of +the state should be in the hands of the old men, who, from their +authority, were called _Fathers_; from their age, _Senatus_." Florus, +i. 1. _Senatus_ from _senex_. "_Patres_ ab honore--appellati." +_Livy_. + +[55] Two magistrates--_Binos imperatores_. The two consuls. They +were more properly called _imperatores_ at first, when the law, which +settled their power, said "_Regio imperio_ duo sunto" (Cic. de Legg. +iii. 4), than afterward, when the people and tribunes had made +encroachments on their authority. + +[56] VII. Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. See above, c. 6. + +[57] Able to bear the toils of war--_Laboris ac belli patiens_. +As by _laboris_ the labor of war is evidently intended, I have thought +it better to render the words in this manner. The reading is Cortius'. +Havercamp and others have "simul _ac belli_ patiens erat, in castris +_per laborem usu_ militiam discebat;" but _per laborem usu_ is +assuredly not the hand of Sallust. + +[58] Honor and true nobility--_Bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem_. + +[59] VIII. Very great and glorious--_Satis amplae magnificaeque_. +In speaking of this amplification of the Athenian exploits, he +alludes, as Colerus observes, to the histories of Thucydides, +Xenophen, and perhaps Herodotus; not, as Wasse seems to imagine, +to the representations of the poets. + +[60] There was never any such abundance of writers--_Nunquam ea +copia fuit_. I follow Kuhnhardt, who thinks _copia_ equivalent to +_multitudo_. Others render it _advantage_, or something similar; +which seems less applicable to the passage. Compare c.28: +_Latrones_--_quorum_--magna copia _erat_. + +[61] Chose to act rather than narrate--"For," as Cicero says, +"neither among those who are engaged in establishing a state, nor +among those carrying on wars, nor among those who are curbed and +restrained under the rule of kings, is the desire of distinction in +eloquence wont to arise." _Graswinckelius_. + +[62] IX. Pressed by the enemy--_Pulsi_. In the words _pulsi loco +cedere ausi erant_, _loco_ is to be joined, as Dietsch observes, with +cedere_, not, as Kritzius puts it, with _pulsi_. "To retreat," adds +Dietsch, "is disgraceful only to those _qui ab hostibus se pelli +patiantur_, who suffer themselves to be _repulsed by the enemy_." + +[63] X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war--Perses, +Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others. + +[64] To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready +on the tongue--_Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum, + +[Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos homos Aidao pulaesin. + Os ch' eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de Bazei.] + + Who dares think one thing, and another tell, + My heart detests him as the gates of hell. + _Pope_. + +[65] XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, +etc.--_Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum +exercebat_. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, +an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c.10), _Igitur +primo pecuniae, deinde imperii cupido, crevit_, and it will be hard to +prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, +endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following +"meaning", which, he says, "seems perfectly evident": "Although +avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome, yet, after both +had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the +stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an +inordinate height". To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that +the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning". "How these passages +agree," says Rupertus, "I do not understand: unless we suppose that +Sallust, by the word _primo_, does not always signify order". + +[66] Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind--_Corpus +virilemque animum effaeminat_. That avarice weakens the mind, is +generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body? The most +satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus +Gellius (iii. 1), that those who are intent on getting riches devote +themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and +money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as +strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by +Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which +perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by _body and mind_, +intended merely to signify _the whole man_. + +[67] Having recovered the government--_Receptâ republicâ_. Having +wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party. + +[68] All became robbers and plunderers--_Rapere omnes, trahere_. +He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's +party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by +supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque +modestiam _victores_ habere." + +[69] which he had commanded in Asia--_Quem in Asiâ dustaverat_. I +have here deserted Cortius, who gives _in Asiam_, "into Asia," but this, +as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb +_ductaverat_. + +[70] in public edifices and private dwellings--_Privatim ac +publice_. I have translated this according to the notion of Burnouf. +Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider _privatim_ as signifying +_each on his own account_, and _publice_, _in the name of the +Republic_. + +[71] XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature +--_Innocentia pro malivolentiâ duci caepit_. "Whoever continued honest +and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their +enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their +party." _Bernouf_. + +[72] It furnishes much matter for reflection--_Operae pretium est_. + +[73] Basest of mankind--_Ignavissumi mortales_. It is opposed to +_fortissumi viri_, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam +fecere." _Cortius_. + +[74] XIII. Seas covered with edifices--_Maria constructa esse_. + + Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt, + _Jactis in altum molibus_, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 1. + + --The haughty lord, who lays + His deep foundations in the seas, + And scorns earth's narrow bound; + The fish affrighted feel their waves + Contracted by his numerous slaves, + Even in the vast profound. _Francis_. + +[75] To have made a sport of their wealth--_Quibus mihi videntur +ledibrio fuisse divitiae_. "They spent their riches on objects which, +in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." +_Cortius_. + +[76] Luxury--_Cultûs_. "Deliciarum in victu_, luxuries of the table; +for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." +_Cortius_. + +[77] Cold--_Frigus_. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is +wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it +were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, +sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot +weather; and he cites Pliny, Ep., v. 6, who speaks of _crytoporticus_, +a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were +underground, and which, even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. +He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. Ad Spartian. +Adrian., c. x., p. 87. + +[78] XIV. Gaming--_Manu_. Gerlach, Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the +recent editors, agree to interpret _manu_ by _gaming_. + +[79] Assassins--_Parricidae_. "Not only he who had killed his father +was called a _parricide_, but he who had killed any man; as is +evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and +knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be _a parricide_." +_Festus_ sub voce _Parrici_. + +[80] Than from any evidence of the fact--_Quam quod cuiquam id +compertum foret_. + +[81] XV. With a virgin of noble birth--_Cum virgine nobili_. Who +this was is not known. The name may have been suppressed from respect +to her family. If what is found in a fragment of Cicero be true, +Catiline had an illicit connection with some female, and afterward +married the daughter who was the fruit of the connection: _Ex eodem +stupro et uxorem et filiam invenisti_; Orat. in Tog. Cand. (Oration +xvi., Ernesti's edit.) On which words Asconius Pedianus makes this +comment: "Dicitur Catilinam adulterium commisisse cum ea quae ci +postea socrus fuit, et ex eo stupro duxisse uxorem, cum filia ejus +esset. Haec Lucceius quoque Catilinae objecit in orationibus, quas in +eum scripsit. Nomina harum mulierum nondum inveni." Plutarch, too +(Life of Cicero, c. 10), says that Catiline was accused of having +corrupted his own daughter. + +[82] With a priestess of Vesta--_Cum sacerdote Vestae_. This +priestess of Vesta was Fabia Terentia, sister to Terentia, Cicero's +wife, whom Sallust, after she was divorced by Cicero, married. Clodius +accused her, but she was acquitted, either because she was thought +innocent, or because the interest of Catulus and others, who exerted +themselves in her favor, procured her acquittal. See Orosius, vi. 3; +the Oration of Cicero, quoted in the preceding note; and Asconius's +commentary on it. + +[83] Aurelia Orestilla--See c. 35. She was the sister or daughter, +as De Brosses thinks, of Cneius Aurelius Orestis, who had been praetor, +A.U.C. 677. + +[84] A grown-up step-son--_Privignum adulta aetate_. A son of +Catiline's by a former marriage. + +[85] Desolate his tortured spirit--_Mentem exciteam vastabat_. +"Conscience desolates the mind, when it deprives it of its proper +power and tranquillity, and introduces into it perpetual disquietude." +_Cortius_. Many editions have _vexabat_. + +[86] XVI. He furnished false witnesses, etc. _Testis signatoresque +falsos commodare_. "If any one wanted any such character, Catiline was +ready to supply him from among his troop."_Bernouf_. + +[87] Inoffensive persons, etc.--_Insontes, sicuti sontes._ Most +translators have rendered these words "innocent" and "guilty," terms +which suggest nothing satisfactory to the English reader. The +_insontes_ are those who had given Catiline no cause of offens; the +_sontes_ those who had in some way incurred his displeasure, or become +objects of his rapacity. + +[88] Veterans of Sylla, etc.--Elsewhere called the colonists of +Sylla; men to whom Sylla had given large tracts of land as rewards for +their services, but who, having lived extravagantly, had fallen into +such debt and distress, that, as Cicero said, nothing could relieve +them but the resurrection of Sylla from the dead. Cic. ii. Orat. in +Cat. + +[89] Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world--_In extremis +terris_. Pompey was then conducting the war against Mithridates and +Tigranes, in Pontus and Armenia. + +[90] The senate was wholly off its guard--_Senatus nihil sane intentus_. +The senate was _regardless_, and unsuspicious of any danger. + +[91] XVII. Lucius Caesar--He was a relation of Julius Caesar; and his +sister was the wife of M. Antonius, the orator, and mother of Mark +Antony, the triumvir. + +[92] Publius Lentulus Sura--He was of the same family with Sylla, +that of the Cornelii. He had filled the office of consul, but his +conduct had been afterward so profligate, that the censors expelled +him from the senate. To enable him to resume his seat, he had +obtained, as a qualification, the office of praetor, which he held at +the time of the conspiracy. He was called Sura, because, when he had +squandered the public money in his quaestorship, and was called to +account by Sylla for his dishonesty, he declined to make any defense, +but said, "I present you the calf of my leg (_sura_);" alluding to a +custom among boys playing at ball, of inflicting a certain number of +strokes on the leg of an unsuccessful player. Plutarch, Life of +Cicero, c.17. + +[93] Publius Autronius--He had been a companion of Cicero in his +boyhood, and his colleague in the quaestorship. He was banished in the +year after the conspiracy, together with Cassius, Laeca, Vargunteius, +Servius Sylla, and Caius Cornelius, under the Plautian law. _De +Brosses_. + +[94] Lucius Cassius Longinus.--He had been a competitor with Cicero +for the consulship. Ascon. Ped., in Cic. Orat. in Tog. Cand. His +corpulence was such that Cassius's fat (_Cassii adeps_) became +proverbial. Cic. Orat. in Catil., iii. 7. + +[95] Caius Cethegus--He also was one of the Cornelian family. In the +civil wars, says De Brosses, he had first taken the side of Marius, +and afterward that of Sylla. Both Cicero (Orat. in Catil., ii.7) and +Sallust describe him as fiery and rash. + +[96] Publius and Servius Sylla--These were nephews of Sylla the +dictator. Publius, though present on this occasion, seems not to have +joined in the plot, since, when he was afterward accused of having +been a conspirator, he was defended by Cicero and acquitted. See Cic. +Orat. pro P. Sylla. He was afterward with Caesar in the battle of +Pharsalia. Caes. de B.C., iii. 89. + +[97] Lucius Vargunteius--"Of him or his family little is known. +He had been, before this period, accused of bribery, and defended by +Hortensius. Cic. pro P. Sylla, c. 2." _Bernouf_. + +[98] Quintus Annius--He is thought by De Brosses to have been the same +Annius that cut off the head of M. Antonius the orator, and carried it +to Marius. Plutarch, Vit. Marii, c. 44. + +[99] Marcus Porcius Laeca--He was one of the same _gens_ with the +Catones, but of a different family. + +[100] Lucius Bestia--Of the Calpurnian _gens_. He escaped death +on the discovery of the conspiracy, and was afterward aedile, and +candidate for the praetorship, but was driven into exile for bribery. +Being recalled by Caesar, he became candidate for the consulship, but +was unsuccessful. _De Brosses_. + +[101] Quintus Curius--He was a descendant of M. Curius Dentatus, the +opponent of Pyrrhus. He was so notorious as a gamester and a profligate, +that he was removed from the senate, A.U.C. 683. See c. 23. As he had +been the first to give information of the conspiracy to Cicero, public +honors were decreed him, but he was deprived of them by the influence of +Caesar, whom he had named as one of the conspirators. Sueton. Caes. 17; +Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. ii. + +[102] M. Fulvius Nobilior--"He was not put to death, but exiled, +A.U.C. 699. Cic. ad Att. iv., 16." _Bernouf_. + +[103] Lucius Statilius--of him nothing more is known than is told by +Sallust. + +[104] Publius Gabinius Capito--Cicero, instead of Capito, calls him +Cimber. Orat. in Cat., iii. 3. The family was originally from Gabii. + +[105] Caius Cornelius--There were two branches of the _gens Cornelia_, +one patrician, the other plebeian, from which sprung this conspirator. + +[106] Municipal towns--_Municipiis_. "The _municipia_ were towns +of which the inhabitants were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens, +but which were allowed to govern themselves by their own laws, and to +choose their own magistrates. See Aul. Gell, xvi. 13; Beaufort, Rep. +Rom., vol. v." _Bernouf_. + +[107] Marcus Licinius Crassus--The same who, with Pompey and Caesar, +formed the first triumvirate, and who was afterward killed in his +expedition against the Parthians. He had, before the time of the +conspiracy, held the offices of praetor and consul. + +[108] XVIII. But previously, etc.--Sallust here makes a digression, +to give an account of a conspiracy that was formed three years before +that of Catiline. + +[109] Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla--The same who are mentioned +in the preceding chapter. They were consuls elect, and some editions +have the words _designati consules_, immediately following their names. + +[110] Having been tried for bribery under the laws against it +--_Legibus ambitus interrogati_. _Bribery at their election_, is the +meaning of the word _ambitus_, for _ambire_, as Cortius observes, is +_circumeundo favorem et suffragia quaerere_. De Brosses translates the +passage thus: "Autrone et Sylla, convaincus d'avoir obtenu le consulat +par corruption des suffrages, avaient été punis selon la rigueur de la +loi". There were several very severe Roman laws against bribery. +Autronius and Sylla were both excluded from the consulship. + +[111] For extortion--_Pecuniarum repetundarum_. Catiline had been +praetor in Africa, and, at the expiration of his office, was accused +of extortion by Publius Clodius, on the part of the Africans. He +escaped by bribing the prosecutor and judges. + +[112] To declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number +of days--_Prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitimos +dies profiteri_ (se candidatum, says Cortius, citing Suet. Aug. 4) +_nequiverit_. A person could not be a candidate for the consulship, +unless he could declare himself free from accusation within a certain +number of days before the time of holding the _comitia centuriata_. +That number of days was _trinundinum spatium_, that is, the time +occupied by three market-days, _tres nundinae_, with seven days +intervening between the first and second, and between the second and +third; or _seventeen days_. The _nundinae_ (from _novem_ and _dies_) +were held, as it is commonly expressed, every ninth day; whence +Cortius and others considered _trinundinum spatium_ to be twenty-seven, +or even thirty days; but this way of reckoning was not that of the +Romans, who made the last day of _the first ennead_ to be also the first +day _of the second_. Concerning the _nundinae_ see Macrob., Sat. i. 16. +"Muller and Longius most erroneously supposed the _trinundinum_ to be +about thirty days; for that it embraced only seventeen days has been +fully shown by Ernesti. Clav. Cic., sub voce; by Scheller in Lex. Ampl., +p. 11, 669; by Nitschius Antiquitt. Romm. i. p. 623: and by Drachenborch +(cited by Gerlach) ad Liv. iii. 35." _Kritzius_. + +[113] Cneius Piso--Of the Calpurnian gens. Suetonius (Vit. Caes., c. 9) +mentions three authors who related that Crassus and Caesar were both +concerned in this plot; and that, if it had succeeded, Crassus was to +have assumed the dictatorship, and made Caesar his master of the horse. +The conspiracy, as these writers state, failed through the remorse or +irresolution of Crassus. + +[114] Catiline and Autronius--After these two names, in Havercamp's +and many other editions, follow the words _circiter nonas Decembres_, +_i.e._, about the fifth of December. + +[115] On the first of January--_Kalendis Januariis_. On this day the +consuls were accustomed to enter on their office. The consuls whom +they were going to kill, Cotta and Torquatus, were those who had been +chosen in the place of Antronius and Sylla. + +[116] The two Spains--Hither and Thither Spain. _Hispania Citerior_ +and _Ulterior_, as they were called by the Romans. + +[117] XIX. Nor were the senate, indeed, unwilling, etc.--See Dio Cass. +xxxvi. 27. + +[118] XX. Just above mentioned--In c. 17. + +[119] Favorable opportunity--_Opportuna res_. See the latter part +of c. 16. + +[120] Assert our claims to liberty--_Nosmet ipsi vindicamus in +libertatem_.Unless we vindicate ourselves into liberty. See below, +"En illa, illa, quam saepe optastis, libertas," etc. + +[121] Kings and princes--_Reges tetrarchae_. _Tetrarchs_ were +properly those who had the government of the fourth part of the +country; but at length, the signification of the word being extended, +it was applied to any governors of any country who were possessed of +supreme authority, and yet were not acknowledged as kings by the +Romans. See Hirt. Bell. Alex. c. 67: "Deiotarus, at that time +_tetrarch_ of almost all Gallograecia, a supremacy which the other +_tetrarchs_ would not allow to be granted him either by the laws or by +custom, but indisputably acknowledged as king of Armenia Minor by the +senate," etc. _Dietsch._ "Hesychius has, [Greek: _Tetrarchas, +basileis_]. See Isidor., ix. 8; Alex. ab. Alex., ii. 17." _Colerus_. +"Cicero, Phil. II., speaks of Reges Tetrarchas Dynastasque. And Lucan +has (vii. 46) Tetrarchae regesque tenent, magnique tyranni." _Wasse._ +Horace also says, + + --Modo reges atque tetrarchas, + Omnia magna loquens. + +I have, with Rose, rendered the word _princes_, as being the most +eligible term. + +[122] Insults--_Repulsas_. Repulses in standing for office. + +[123] The course of events, etc.--_Caetera res expediet_.--"Of. Cic. +Ep. Div. xiii. 26: _explicare et expedire negotia_." Gerlach. + +[124] Building over seas--See c. 13. + +[125] Embossed plate--_Toreumata_. The same as _vasa coelata_, +sculptured vases, c. 11. Vessels ornamented in bas-relief; from +[Greek: _toreuein_], _sculpere_; see Bentley ad Hor. A. P., 441. +"Perbona toreumata, in his pecula duo," etc. Cic. in Verr. iv. 18. + +[126] XXI. What support or encouragement they had, and in what +quarters.--_Quid ubique opis aut spei haberent; i.e._ quid opis aut + So c. 27, _init._ Quem ubique opportunum credebat, _i.e._, says +Cortius, "quem, et ubi _illum_, opportunum credebat". + +[127] Abolition of their debts--_Tabulas novas._ Debts were +registered on tablets; and, when the debts were paid, the score was +effaced, and the tablets were ready to be used _as new._ See Ernesti's +Clav. in Cio._sub voce_. + +[128] Proscription of the wealthy citizens--_Proscriptionem +locupletium._ The practice of proscription was commenced by Sylla, who +posted up, in public places of the city, the names of those whom he +doomed to death, offering rewards to such as should bring him their +heads. Their money and estates he divided among his adherents, and +Catiline excited his adherents with hopes of similar plunder. + +[129] Another of his ruling passion--_Admonebat--alium cupiditatis +suae_. Rose renders this passage, "Some he put in mind of their +poverty, others of their amours." De Brosses renders it, "Il +remontre à l'un sa pauvreté, à l'autre son ambition." _Ruling +passion_, however, seems to be the proper sense of _cupiditatis_; +as it is said, in c. 14, "As the passions of each, according to his +years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought +horses and dogs for others", etc. + +[130] XXII. They asserted--_Dictitare_. In referring this word to +the circulators of the report, I follow Cortius, Gerlach, Kritzius, +and Bernouf. Wasse, with less discrimination, refers it to Catiline. +This story of the drinking of human blood is copied by Florus, iv 1, +and by Plutarch in his Life of Cicero. Dio Cassius (lib. xxxvii.) says +that the conspirators were reported to have killed a child on the +occasion. + +[131] XXIII. Quintus Curius--the same that is mentioned in c. 17. + +[132] To promise her seas and mountains--_Maria montesque polliceri_. +A proverbial expression. Ter. Phorm., i. 2, 18: _Modò non montes auri +pollicens_. Perc., iii. 65: _Et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere +emontes._ + +[133] With greater arrogance than ever--_Ferocius quam solitus erat._ + +[134] To Marcus Tullius Cicero--Cicero was now in his forty-third +year, and had filled the office of quaestor, aedile, and praetor. + +[135] A man of no family--_Novus homo._ A term applied to such as +could not boast of any ancestor that had held any curule magistracy, +that is, had been consul, praetor, censor, or chief aedile. + +[136] XXIV. Manlius--He had been an officer in the army of Sylla, +and, having been distinguished for his services, had been placed at +the head of a colony of veterans settled about Faesulae: but he had +squandered his property in extravagance. See Plutarch, Vit. Cic., Dio +Cassius, and Appian. + +[137] Faesulae--A town of Etruria, at the foot of the Appennines, + + At evening from the top of Fesole, + Or in Valdarno to descry new lands, etc. +Par. L. i. 28. + +[138] XXV. Sempronia--Of the same _gens_ as the two Gracchi. She +was the wife of Decimus Brutus. + +[139] Sing, play, and dance--_Psallere, saltare._ As _psallo_ +signifies both to play on a musical instrument, and to sing to it +while playing, I have thought it necessary to give both senses in the +translation. + +[140] By no means despicable--_Haud absurdum._ Compare, _Bene dicere +haud absurdum est,_ c. 8. + +[141] She was distinguished, etc.--_Multae facetiae, multusque lepos +inerat._ Both _facetiae_ and _lepos_ mean "agreeableness, humor, +pleasantry," but _lepos_ here seems to refer to diction, as in Cic. +Orat. i. 7: _Magnus in jocando lepos._ + +[142] XXVI. By an arrangement respecting their provinces--_Pactione +provinciae_. This passage has been absurdly misrepresented by most +translators, except De Brosses. Even Rose, who was a scholar, translated +_pactione provinciae_, "by promising a province to his colleague." +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that the two provinces, which +Cicero and his colleague Antonius shared between them, were Gaul and +Macedonia, and that Cicero, in order to retain Antonius in the interest +of the senate, exchanged with him Macedonia, which had fallen to himself, +for the inferior province of Gaul. See Jug., c. 27. + +[143] Plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius +--_Insidiae quas consuli in campo fecerat_. I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _consulibus_, thinking that Catiline, in +his rage, might have extended his plots even to the consuls-elect. But +_consuli_, there is little doubt, is the right reading, as it is favored +by what is said at the beginning of the chapter, _insidias parabat +Ciceroni_, by what follows in the next chapter, _consuli insidias tendere_, +and by the words, _sperans, si designatus foret, facile se ex voluntate +Antonio usurum_; for if Catiline trusted that he should be able to use +his pleasure with Antonius, he could hardly think it necessary to form +plots against his life. I have De Brosses on my side, who translates the +phrase, _les pieges où il comptait faire périr le consul_. The words _in +campo_, which look extremely like an intruded gloss, I wonder that +Cortius should have retained. "_Consuli_," says Gerlach, "appears the +more eligible, not only on account of _consuli insidias tendere_, c. 27, +but because nothing but the death of Cicero was necessary to make +everything favorable for Catiline." Kritzius, Bernouf, Dietsch, Pappaur, +Allen, and all the modern editors, read _Consuli_. See also the end of +c. 27: _Si prius Ciceronem oppressisset_.] [note 144: Had ended in +confusion and disgrace--_Aspera faedaque evenerant_. I have borrowed +from Murphy. + +[145] XXVII. Of Camerinum--Camertem. "That is, a native of Camerinum, +a town on the confines of Umbria and Picenum. Hence the noun _Camers_, +as Cic. Pro. Syll., c. 19, _in agro Camerti_." Cortius. + +[146] Wherever he thought each would be most serviceable--_Ubi +quemque opportunum credebat. "Proprie reddas: quam, _et ubi_ illum, +_opportunum credebat_," Cortius. See c. 23. + +[147] When none of his numerous projects succeeded--_Ubi multa +agilanti nihil procedit_. + +[148] XXVIII. On that very night, and with but little delay--_Ea +nocte, paulo post_. They resolved on going soon after the meeting +broke up, so that they might reach Cicero's house early in the +morning, which was the usual time for waiting on great men. _Ingentem +foribus domus alla superbis_ Mane _salutantûm totis vomit aedibus +undam_. Virg. Georg., ii. 461. + +[149] XXIX. This is the greatest power which--is granted, etc. +--_Ea potestas per senatum, more Romano, magistratui maxima +permittitur_. Cortius, _mirâ judicii peversitate_, as Kritzius +observes, makes _ea_ the ablative case, understanding "decretione," +"formula," or some such word; but, happily, no one has followed him. + +[150] XXX. By the 27th of October--_Ante diem VI. Kalendas +Novembres_. He means that they were in arms on or before that day. + +[151] Quintus Marcius Rex--He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and +was expecting a triumph for his successes. + +[152] Quintus Metellus Creticus--He had obtained the surname of +Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete. + +[153] Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc. +--_hi utrique ad urbem imperatores erant; impediti ne triumpharent +calumniâ paucorum quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos +erat_. "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the +senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the +enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title +as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) +a triumph, for which he was obliged to wait _ad urbem_, near the city, +since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any +military command. These _imperatores_ had been debarred from their +expected honor by a party who would sell _any thing honorable_, as a +triumph, or _any thing dishonorable_, as a license to violate the laws. + +[154] A hundred sestertia--two hundred sestertia--A hundred sestertia +were about 807£. 5s. 10d. of our money. + +[155] Schools of gladiators--_Gladiatoriae familiae_. Any number of +gladiators under one teacher, or trainer (_lanista_), was called +_familia_. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be +strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See +Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach. + +[156] The inferior magistrates--The aediles, tribunes, quaestors, +and all others below the consuls, censors, and praetors. Aul. Cell., +xiii. 15. + +[157] XXXI. Dissipation--Lascivia. "Devotion to public amusements +and gayety. The word is used in the same sense as in Lucretius, v. + + Tum caput atque humeros planis redimire coronis. + Floribus et foliis, lascivia laeta monebat. + +_"Then sportive gayety prompted them to deck their heads and shoulders +with garlands of flowers and leaves." Bernouf_. + +[158] Long tranquillity--_Diuturna quies_. "Since the victory of +Sylla to the time of which Sallust is speaking, that is, for about +twenty years, there had been a complete cessation from civil discord +and disturbance" _Bernouf_. + +[159] The Plautian law--_Lege Plautia_. "This law was that of M. +Plautius Silanus, a tribune of the people, which was directed against +such as excited a sedition in the state, or formed plots against the +life of any individual." _Cyprianus Popma_. See Dr. Smith's Dict. of +Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, sub Vis. + +[160] Which he afterward wrote and published--_Quam postea scriptam +edidit_. This was the first of Cicero's four Orations against +Catiline. The epithet applied to it by Sallust, which I have rendered +"splendid," is _luculentam_; that is, says Gerlach, "luminibus +verborum et sententiarum ornatam," distinguished by much brilliancy of +words and thoughts. And so say Kritzius, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Cortius, +who is followed by Dahl, Langius, and Muller, makes the word equivalent +merely to _lucid_, in the supposition that Sallust intended to bestow +on the speech, as on other performances of Cicero, only very cool praise. +_Luculentus_, however, seems certainly to mean something more than +_lucidus_. + +[161] A mere adopted citizen of Rome--_Inquilinus civis urbis Romae_. +"Inquilinus" means properly a lodger, or tenant in the house of another. +Cicero was born at Arpinum, and is therefore called by Catiline a +citizen of Rome merely by adoption or by sufferance. Appian, in +repeating this account (Bell. Civ., ii. 104), says, [Greek: +_Ingkouilinon, phi raemati kalousi tous enoikountas en allotriais +oikiais_.] + +[162] Traitor--_Parricidam_. See c. 14. "An oppressor or betrayer +of his country is justly called a parricide; for our country is the +common parent of all. Cic. ad Attic." _Wasse_. + +[163] Since I am encompassed, by enemies, he exclaimed, etc.--"It +was not on this day, nor indeed to Cicero, that this answer was made +by Catiline. It was a reply to Cato, uttered a few days before the +comitia for electing consuls, which were held on the 22d day of +October. See Cic. pro Muraeno, c. 25. Cicero's speech was delivered on +the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as +well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him." +_Bernouf_. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to +Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, +says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the +senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to +listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of +Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration +against Catiline, says that Catiline _could not endure his voice_, +but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," _obeyed +and submitted in silence_. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, "That +most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the +senate, was dumb." + +[164] XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.--_Cum mandatis +hujuscemodi_. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an +epistle, but a verbal message. + +[165] XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law--_Lege uti_. The law +here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to +the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in +prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his +person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the +occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one +of the strongest bonds of credit. + +[166] The praetor--The _praetor urbanus_, or city praetor, who +decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors. + +[167] Relieved their distress by decrees--_Decretis suis inopiae +opitulati sunt_. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for +diminishing the rate of interest. + +[168] Silver--was paid with brass--_Agentum aere solutum est_. +Thus a _sestertius_, which was of silver, and was worth four _asses_, +was paid with one _as_, which was of brass; or _the fourth part only +of the debt was paid_. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius +Paterculus, ii. 23; who says, _quadrantem solvi_, that _a quarter_ of +their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus, +when he became consul on the death of Marius. + +[169] Often--have the commonalty--seceded, etc.--"This happened +three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2. +To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of +Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on +account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." _Bernouf_. + +[170] XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.--_Ea, +mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populumque Romanum, semper +fuisse._ "That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I +have deserted the Latin for the English idiom. + +[171] XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different +editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: _Egregiatua fides, re cognita, +grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius corrected it as follows: _Egregia tua fides, re +cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and +most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. +That Cortius's is the better; few will deny; for it can hardly be +supposed that Sallust used _mihi, meis_, and _meae_ in such close +succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's +text, by asserting, from the phrase _earum exemplam infra scriptum,_ +that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, +therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is +sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: +"Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinae culpam tribuit, +qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam +apta et composita suprà, c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum +litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum +Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum +magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis haec quidem excusatio." Yet it +is not to be denied that _grata mihi_ is the reading of all the +manuscripts. + +[172] Known--by experience.--_Re cognita._ "Cognita" be it observed, +_tironum gratia,_ is the nominative case. "Catiline had experienced +the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it +was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is +related by Orosius." _Bernouf._ + +[173] Recommendation--_Commendationi._ His recommendation of his +affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus. + +[174] Formal defense--_Defensionem._ Opposed to _satisfactionem_, +which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. +"_Defensio_, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made +against an adversary, or before judges; _satisfactio_ was rather an +excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private +communication." _Cortius._ + +[175] Though conscious of no guilt--_Ex nullâ conscientiâ de culpâ_. +This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter +conscientam denullâ culpâ," or "inasmuch as I am conscious of no +fault." "_De culpâ_, he adds, is the same as _culpae_; so in the ii. +Epist. to Caesar, c. 1: Neque _de futuro_ quisquam satix callidus; +and c. 9: _de illis_ potissimum jactura fit." + +[176] To make no formal defense--to offer you some explanation +--_Defensionem--parare; satisfactionem--proponere_. "Parare," says +Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and +premeditation; _proponere_ to such a statement as it was easy to make +at once". + +[177] On my word of honor--_Me dius fidius_, sc. juvet. So may the +god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith? +_Dius_, say some, is the same as _Deus_ (Plautus has _Deus_ fidius, +Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter (_sub dio_ +being equivalent to _sub Jove_); so that _Dius fidius_ (_fidius_ being +an adjective from _fides_) will be the [Greek: _Zeus pistios_] of the +Greeks. "_Me dius fidius_" will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me!" +This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and +Dietsch. Others, with Festus (sub voce _Medius fidius_) make _fidius_ +equivalent to _filius_, because the ancients, according to Festus, +often used D for L, and _dius fidius_ will then be the same as [Greek: +_Dios_] or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and _medius fidius_ will be the +same as _mehercules_ or _mehercule_. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. +Sprengel) mentions a certain Aelius who was of this opinion. Against +this derivation there is the quantity of _fidius_, of which the first +syllable is short: _Quaerebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem_, Ov. Fast. +vi. 213. But if we consider _dius_ the same as _deus_, we may as well +consider _dius fidius_ to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and +may thus make _medius fidius_ identical with _mehercules_, as it +probably is. "Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that _medius fidius_ is a +form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub _Fidius_. This +point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, +and Ovid, _loc. cit._) Dius Fidius to be the same with the Sabine +Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules. + +[178] You may receive as true--_Veram licet cognoscas_. Some +editions, before that of Cortius, have _quae--licet vera mecum +recognoscas_; which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Aen. +iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have +_veram licet cognoscas_. + +[179] Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion--_Fructu laboris +industriaeque meae privatus_. "The honors which he sought he +elegantly calls the _fruit_ of his labor, because the one is obtained +by the other." _Cortius_. + +[180] Post of honor due to me--_Statum dignitatis_. The consulship. + +[181] On my own security--_Meis nominibus_. "He uses the plural," +says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one +person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to +explain this point. For _alienis nominibus_, which follows, being in +the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity +with Bernouf's comment. + +[182] Proscribed--_Alienatum_. "Repulsed from all hope of the +consulship." _Bernouf_. + +[183] Adopted a course--_Spes--secutus sum_. "_Spem sequi_ is a +phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, +or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what +appears advantageous, is signified." _Cortius_. + +[184] Protection--_Fidei_. + +[185] Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend +her from injury--_Eam ab injuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus_. +"Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the +sake of] your own children." + +[186] XXXVI. In the neighborhood of Arretium--_In agro Arretino_. +Havercamp, and many of the old editions, have _Reatino_; "but," says +Cortius, "if Catiline went the direct road to Faesulae, as is rendered +extremely probable by his pretense that he was going to Marseilles, +and by the assertion of Cicero, made the day after his departure, that +he was on his way to join Manlius, we must certainly read _Arretino_." +Arretium (now _Arezzo_) lay in his road to Faesulae; Reate was many +miles out of it. + +[187] In an extremely deplorable condition--_Multo maxime miserabile_. +_Multe_ is added to superlatives, like _longe_. So c. 52, _multo +pulcherrimam_ eam nos haberemus. Cortius gives several other instances. + +[188] Notwithstanding the two decrees of the senate--_Duobus senati +decretis._ I have translated it "_the_ two decrees," with Rose. +One of the two was that respecting the rewards mentioned in c. 30; the +other was that spoken of in c. 36., allowing the followers of Catiline +to lay down their arms before a certain day. + +[189] XXXVII. Endeavor to exalt the factious--_Malos extollunt_. +They strive to elevate into office those who resemble themselves. + +[190] Poverty does not easily suffer loss--_Egestas facile habetur +sine damna_ He that has nothing, has nothing to lose. Petron. +Sat., c. 119: _Inops audacia tuta est_. + +[191] Had become disaffected--Praeceps abierat. Had grown demoralized, +sunk in corruption, and ready to join in any plots against the state. +So Sallust says of Sempronia, _praeceps abierat_, c. 25. + +[192] In the first place--Primum omnium. "These words refer, not to +_item_ and _postremo in the same sentence, but to _deinde_ at the +commencement of the next." _Bernouf_. + +[193] Civil rights had been curtailed--_Jus libertatis imminutum +erat_. "Sylla, by one of his laws, had rendered the children of +proscribed persons incapable of holding any public office; a law +unjust, indeed, but which, having been established and acted upon for +more than twenty years, could not be rescinded without inconvenience +to the government. Cicero, accordingly, opposed the attempts which +were made, in his consulship, to remove this restriction, as he +himself states in his Oration against Piso, c. 2." _Bernouf_. See +Vell. Patere., ii., 28; Plutarch, Vit. Syll.; Quintil., xi. 1, where a +fragment of Cicero's speech, _De Proscriptorum Liberis_, is preserved. +This law of Sylla was at length abrogated by Julius Caesar, Suet. J. +Caes. 41; Plutarch Vit. Caes.; Dio Cass., xli. 18. + +[194] This was an evil--to the extent to which it now prevailed--_Id +adeò malum multos post annos in civitatem reverterat_. "_Adeò_, says +Cortius, "_in particula elegantissima_" Allen makes it equivalent to + _eò usque_. + +[195] XXXVIII. The powers of the tribunes--had been fully restored +--_Tribunicia potestas restituta_. Before the time of Sylla, +the power of the tribunes had grown immoderate, but Sylla diminished +and almost annihilated it, by taking from them the privileges of +holding any other magistracy after the tribunate, of publicly +addressing the people, of proposing laws, and of listening to appeals. +But in the consulship of Cotta, A.U.C. 679, the first of these +privileges had been restored; and in that of Pompey and Crassus, +A.U.C. 683, the tribunes were reinstated in all their former powers. + +[196] Having obtained that high office--_Summam potestatem nacti_. +Cortius thinks these words spurious. + +[197] XXXIX. Free from harm--_Innoxii_. In a passive sense. + +[198] Overawing others--with threats of impeachment--_Caeteros +judiciis terrere_. "Accusationibus et judiciorum periculis." +_Bernouf_. + +[199] His father ordered to be put to death--_Parens necari jussit_. +"His father put him to death, not by order of the consuls, but by his +own private authority; nor was he the only one who, at the same +period, exercised similar power." Dion. Cass., lib. xxxvii. The +father observed on the occasion, that, "he had begotten him, not for +Catiline against his country, but for his country against Catiline". +Val. Max., v.8. The Roman laws allowed fathers absolute control over +the lives of their children. + +[200] XL. Certain deputies of the Allobroges--_Legatos Allobrogum_. +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that there were then at Rome +_two deputies_ from this Gallic nation, sent to complain of oppression +on the part of the Roman governors. + +[201] As Brutus was then absent from Borne--_Nam tum Brutus ab +Româ, aberat_. From this remark, say Zanchius and Omnibonus, it is +evident that Brutus was not privy to the conspiracy. "What sort of +woman _Sempronia_ was, has been told in c. 25. Some have thought that +she was the wife of Decimus Brutus; but since Sallust speaks of her as +being in the decay of her beauty at the time of the conspiracy, and +since Brutus, as may be seen in Caesar (B. G. vii., sub fin.), was +then very young, it is probable that she had only an illicit +connection with him, but had gained such an ascendency over his +affections, by her arts of seduction, as to induce him to make her his +mistress, and to allow her to reside in his house." _Beauzée_. I have, +however, followed those who think that Brutus was the husband of +Sempronia. Sallust (c. 24), speaking of the woman, of whom Sempronia +was one, says that Catiline _credebat posse--viros earum vel adjungere +sibi, vel interficere_. The truth, on such a point, is of little +importance. + +[202] XLI. To be expected from victory--_In spe victoriae_. + +[203] Certain rewards--_Certa praemia_. "Offered by the senate to +those who should give information of the conspiracy. See c. 30." +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[204] Quintus Fabius Sanga--"A descendent of that Fabius who, for +having subdued the Allobroges, was surnamed Allobrogicus." _Bernouf_. +Whole states often chose patrons as well as individuals. + +[205] XLII. There were commotions--_Motus erat_. "_Motus_ is also +used by Cicero and Livy in the singular number for _seditiones_ and +_tumultus_. No change is therefore to be made in the text." _Gerlach_. +"Motus bellicos intelligit, _tumultus_; ut Flor., iii. 13." _Cortius_. + +[206] Having brought several to trial--_Complures--caussâ cognitâ. +"Caussum cognoscere_ is the legal phrase for examining as to the +authors and causes of any crime." _Dietsch_. + +[207] Caius Muraena in Further Gaul--_In Ulteriore Galliâ C. Muraena_. +All the editions, previous to that of Cortius, have _in citeriore +Galliâ_. "But C. Muraena," says the critic, "commanded in Gallia +Transalpina, or Ulterior Gaul, as appears from Cic. pro Muraena, +c. 41. To attribute such an error to a lapse or memory in Sallust, +would be absurd. I have, therefore, confidently altered _citeriore_ +into _ulteriore_." The praise of having first discovered the error, +however, is due, not to Cortius, but to Felicius Durantinus, a friend +of Rivius, in whose note on the passage his discovery is recorded. + +[208] XLIII. The excellent consul--_Optimo consuli_. With the +exception of the slight commendation bestowed on his speech, +_luculentam_ atque _utilem reipublicae_, c. 31, this is the only +epithet of praise that Sallust bestows on the consul throughout his +narrative. That it could be regarded only as frigid eulogy, is +apparent from a passage in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (xii. +21), in which he speaks of the same epithet having been applied to him +by Brutus: "Brutus thinks that he pays me a great compliment when he +calls me an excellent consul (optimum consulem); but what enemy could +speak more coldly of me?" + +[209] Twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose--_ +Duodecim--opportuna loca_. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says a +hundred places. Few narratives lose by repetition. + +[210] In order that, during the consequent tumult--_Quò tumultu_. +"It is best," says Dietsch, "to take _quo_ as the _particula finalis_ +(to the end that), and _tumultu_ as the ablative of the instrument". + +[211] Delay--_Dies prolatando_. By putting off from day to day. + +[212] XLIV. Soon to visit their country--_Semet eò brevi venturum_. +"It is plain that the adverb relates to what precedes (_ad cives_); +and that Cassius expresses an intention to set out for Gaul." _Dietsch_. + +[213] Remember that you are a man--_Memineris te virum_. Remember +that you are a man, and ought to act as one. Cicero, in repeating this +letter from memory (Orat. in Cat., iii. 5), gives the phrase, _Cura ut +vir sis_. + +[214] XLV. The praetors--_Praetoribus_ urbanis, the praetors of the city. + +[215] The Milvian Bridge--_Ponte Mulvio_. Now _Ponte Molle_. + +[216] Of the object with which they were sent--_Rem--cujus gratiâ +mittebantur_. + +[217] From each side of the bridge--_Utrinque_. "Utrinque," observes +Cortius, "glossae MSS. exponunt _ex utrâque parte pontis," and there +is little doubt that the exposition is correct. No translator, however, +before myself, has availed himself of it. + +[218] XLVI. The box with the letters--_Scrinium cum literis. Litterae_ +may be rendered either _letter_ or _letters_. There is no mention made +previously of more letters than that of Lentulus to Catiline, c. 44. +But as it is not likely that the deputies carried a box to convey only +one letter, I have followed other translators by putting the word in +the plural. The oath of the conspirators, too, which was a written +document, was probably in the box. + +[219] XLVII. His letter--_Litteris._ His own letter to Catiline, c. 44. +So _praeter litteras_ a little below. + +[220] What object he had had in view, etc.--_Quid, aut quâ de causâ, +consilli habuisset_. What design he had entertained, and from what +motive _he had entertained it_. + +[221] To prevaricate.--_Fingere alia._ "To pretend other things +than what had reference to the conspiracy." _Bernouf._ + +[222] On the security of the public faith--_Fide publicá._ +"Cicero pledged to him the public faith, with the consent of the +senate; or engaged, in the name of the republic, that his life +should be spared, if he would but speak the truth." _Bernouf._ + +[223] That Cinna and Sylla had ruled already--_Cinnam atque Syllam +antea._ "Had ruled," or something similar, must be supplied. Cinna +had been the means of recalling Marius from Africa, in conjunction +with whom he domineered over the city, and made it a scene of +bloodshed and desolation. + +[224] Their seals--_Signa sua_. "Leurs cachets, leurs sceaux." +Bernouf. The Romans tied their letters round with a string, the knot +of which they covered with wax, and impressed with a seal. To open the +letter it was necessary to cut the string: "_nos linum incidimus_." +Cic. Or. in Cat. iii. 5. See also C. Nep. Panc. 4, and Adam's _Roman +Antiquities_. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his +ancestors; see Cicero, _loc. cit._ + +[225] In private custody--_In liberis custodiis._ Literally, in +"free custody," but "private custody" conveys a better notion of the +arrangement to the mind of the English reader. It was called _free_ +because the persons in custody were not confined in prison. Plutarch +calls it [Greek: _adeomon phylakin_] as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See +Tacit. Ann. vi. 8. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and +consideration. + +[226] XLVIII. If the public faith were pledged to him--_Si fides +publica data, esset_. See c. 47. + +[227] And to facilitate the escape of those in custody--_Et illi +facilius è periculo eriperentur_. + +[228] A man of such power--_Tanta vis hominis_. So great power of +the man. + +[229] Liberty of speaking--_Potestatem_. "Potestatem loquendi." +_Cyprianus Popma_. As it did not appear that he spoke the truth, the +pledge which the senate had given him, _on condition that he spoke the +truth_, went for nothing; he was not allowed to continue his evidence, +and was sent to prison. + +[230] As was his custom--_More suo_. Plutarch, in his Life of Crassus, +relates that frequently when Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, had refused +to undertake the defense of certain persons, as being unworthy of +their support, Crassus would plead in their behalf; and that he thus +gained great popularity among the common people. + +[231] XLIX. Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on, +etc.--_Piso oppugnatus in judicio repetundarum propter cujusdam +Transpadani supplicium injustum_. Such is the reading and punctuation +of Cortius. Some editions insert _pecuniarum_ before _repetundarum_, +and some a comma after it. I have interpreted the passage in +conformity with the explanation of Kritzius, which seems to me the +most judicious that has been offered. _Oppugnatus_, says he, is +equivalent to _gravitur vexatus_, or violently assailed; and Piso was +thus assailed by Caesar on account of his unjust execution of the +Gaul; the words _in judicio repetundarum_ merely mark the time when +Caesar's attack was made. While he was on his trial for one thing, he +was attacked by Caesar for another. Gerlach, observing that the words +_in judicio_ are wanting in one MS., would emit them, and make +_oppugnatus_ govern _pecuniarum repetundarum_, as if it were +_accusatus_; a change which would certainly not improve the passage. +The Galli Transpadani seem to have been much attached to Caesar; see +Cic. Ep. ad Att., v. 2; ad Fam. xvi. 12. + +[232] Comparatively a youth--_Adolescentalo_. Caesar was then in +the thirty-third, or, as some say, the thirty-seventh year of his age. +See the note on this word, c. 3. + +[233] By magnificent exhibitions in public--_Publicè maximis muneribus_. +Shows of gladiators. + +[234] L. In various directions throughout the city--_Variis itineribus +--in vicis_. Going hither and thither through the streets. + +[235] Slaves--_Familiam_. "Servos suos, qui proprie _familia_," +Cortius. _Familia_ is a number of _famuli_. + +[236] A full senate, however, had but a short time before, +etc.--The senate had already decreed that they were enemies to their +country; Cicero now calls a meeting to ascertain what sentence should +be passed on them. + +[237] On this occasion--moved--_Tunc--decreverat_. The _tunc_ +(or, as most editors have it, _tum_) must be referred to the second +meeting or the senate, for it does not appear that any proposal +concerning the punishment of the prisoners was made at the first +meeting. There would be no doubt on this point, were it not for the +pluperfect tense, _decreverat_. I have translated it as the perfect. +We must suppose that Sallust had his thoughts on Caesar's speech, +which was to follow, and signifies that all this business _had been +done_ before Caesar addressed the house. Kritzius thinks that the +pluperfect was referred by Sallust, not to Caesar's speech, but to the +decree of the senate which was finally made; but this is surely a less +satisfactory method of settling the matter. Sallust often uses the +pluperfect, where his reader would expect the perfect; see, for +instance, _concusserat_, at the beginning of c. 24. + +[238] That he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero--_Pedibus +in sententian Tib. Neronis--iturum_. Any question submitted to the +senate was decided by the majority of votes, which was ascertained +either by _numeratio_, a counting of the votes, or by _discessio_, +when those who were of one opinion, at the direction of the presiding +magistrate, passed over to one side of the house, and those who were +of the contrary opinion, to the other. See Aul. Gell. xiv. 7; Suet. +Tib. 31; Adam's Rom. Ant.; Dr. Smith's Dictionary, Art. _Senatus_. + +[239] LI. It becomes all men, etc.--The beginning of this speech, +attributed to Caesar, is imitated from Demosthenes, [Greek: _Peri ton +hen Chersonaeso pragmaton: Edei men, o andres Athaenaioi, tous +legontas apantas en umin maete pros echthran poieisthai logon maedena, +maete pros charin_]. "It should be incumbent on all who speak before +you, O Athenians, to advance no sentiment with any view either to +enmity or to favor." + +[240] I consent to extraordinary measures--_Novum consilium adprobo_. +"That is, I consent that you depart from the usage of your ancestors, +by which Roman citizens were protected from death." _Bernouf_. + +[241] Whatever can be devised--_Omnium ingenia_. + +[242] Studied and impressive language--_Compositè atque magnificè. +Compositè_, in language nicely put together; elegantly. _Magnificè_, +in striking or imposing terms. _Compositè_ is applied to the speech +of Caesar, by Cato, in the following chapter. + +[243] Such I know to be his character, such his discretion--_Eos +mores, eam modestiam viri cognovi_. I have translated _modestiam, +discretion_, which seems to be the proper meaning of the word. Beauzée +renders it _prudence_, and adds a note upon it, which may be worth +transcription. "I translate _modestia_," says he, "by _prudence_, and +think myself authorized to do so. _Sic definitur a Stoicis_, says +Cicero (De Off. i. 40), _ut modestia sit sicentia earum rerum, quae +agentur, aut dicentur, loco suo collocandarum_; and shortly afterward, +_Sic fit ut modestia scientia sit opportunitatis idoneorum ad agendum +temporum_. And what is understood in French by prudence? It is, +according to the Dictionary of the Academy, 'a virtue by which we +discern and practice what is proper in the conduct of life.' This is +almost a translation of the words of Cicero". + +[244] That--death is a relief from suffering, not a torment, etc. +--This Epicurean doctrine prevailed very much at Rome in Caesar's, and +afterward. We may very well suppose Caesar to have been a sincere +convert to it. Cato alludes to this passage in the speech which +follows; as also Cicero, in his fourth Oration against Catiline, c. 4. +See, for opinions on this point, the first book of Cicero's Tusculan +Questions. + +[245] The Porcian Law--_Lex Porcia_. A law proposed by P. Porcius +Loeca, one of the tribunes, A.U.O. 454, which enacted that no one +should bind, scourge or kill a Roman citizen. See Liv., x. 9; Cic. +pro. Rabir., 3, 4: Verr., v 63; de Rep., ii, 31. + +[246] Other laws--_Aliae leges_. So Caesar says below, "Tum lex +Porcia aliaeque paratae, quibus legibus auxilium damnatis permissum;" +what other laws these were is uncertain. One of them, however, was the +Sempronian law, proposed by Caius Gracchus, which ordained that +sentence should not be passed on the life of a Roman citizen without +the order of the people. See Cic. pro Rabir. 4. So "O lex Porcia +legesque Semproniae!" Cic. in. Verr., v. 63. + +[247] Parricides--See c. 14, 32. + +[248] The course of events--_Dies_. "Id est, temporis momentum +(_der veränderte Zeitpunkt_)." _Dietsch_. Things change, and that +which is approved at one period, is blamed at another. _Tempus_ and +_dies_ are sometimes joined (Liv., xxii. 39, ii. 45), as if not only +time in general, but particular periods, as _from day to day_, were +intended. + +[249] All precedents productive of evil effects--_Omnia mala exempla_. +Examples of severe punishments are meant. + +[250] Any new example of severity, etc.--_Novum illud exemplum ab +dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transferetur_. Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, and Bernouf, agree to giving to this passage the +sense which is given in the translation. _Digni_ and _idonei_ are +here used in a bad sense, for _digni et idonei qui poena afficiantur_, +deserving and fit objects for punishment. + +[251] When they had conquered the Athenians--At the conclusion of +the Peloponnesian war. + +[252] Damasippus--"He, in the consulship of Caius Marius, the younger, +and Cneius Carbo, was city praetor, and put to death some of the most +eminent senators, a short time before the victory of Sylla. See Vell. +Paterc. ii. 26." _Bernouf_. + +[253] Ensigns of authority--_Insignia magistratum_. "The fasces and +axes of the twelve lictors, the robe adorned with purple, the curule +chair, and the ivory scepter. For the Etrurians, as Dionysius +Halicarnassensis relates, having been subdued, in a nine years' war, +by Tarquinius Priscus, and having obtained peace on condition of +submitting to him as their sovereign, presented him with the +_insignia_ of their own monarchs. See Strabo, lib. V.; Florus, i. 5," +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[254] Best able to bear the expense--_Maxime opibus valent_. Are +possessed of most resources. + +[255] LII. The rest briefly expressed their assent, etc.--_Caeteri +verbo, alius alii, varie assentiebantur. Verbo assentiebantur_ +signifies that they expressed their assent merely by a word or two, +as _assentior Silano, assentior Tiberio Neroni, aut Caesari_, the +three who had already spoken. _Varie_, "in support of their different +proposals." + +[256] My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different, +etc.--_Longe mihi alia mens est, P. C._, etc. The commencement of +Cato's speech is evidently copied from the beginning of the third +Olynthiac of Demosthenes: [Greek: _Ouchi tauta paristatai moi +ginoskein, o andres Athaenaioi, otan te eis ta pragmata apoblepso kai +otan pros tous logous ous akouo tous men gar logous peri tou +timoraesasthai Philippon oro gignomenous, ta de pragmata eis touto +proaekonta oste opos mae peisometha autoi proteron kakos skepsasthai +deon_.] "I am by no means affected in the same manner. Athenians, when +I review the state of our affairs, and when I attend to those speakers +who have now declared their sentiments. They insist that we should +punish Philip; but our affairs, situated as they now appear, warn us +to guard against the dangers with which we ourselves are threatened." +_Leland_. + +[257] Their altars and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis._ +"When _arae_ and _foci_ are joined, beware of supposing that they are +to be distinguished as referring the one (_arae) to the public +temples, and the other (_foci_) to private dwellings. Both are to be +understood of private houses, in which the _ara_ belonged to the _Dii +Penates_, and was placed in the _impluvium_ in the inner part of the +house; the _focus_ was dedicated to the _lares_, and was in the hall." +Ernesti, Clav. Cic., sub. v. _Ara_. Of the commentators on Sallust, +Kritzius is, I believe, the only one who has concurred in this notion +of Ernesti; Langins and Dietsch (with Cortius) adhere to the common +opinion that _arae_ are the public altars. Dietsch refers, for a +complete refutation of Ernesti, to G. A. B. Hertzberg _de Diis +Romanorum Penatibus_, Halae, 1840, p. 64; a book which I have not +seen. Certainly, in the observation of Cicero ad Att., vii. 11, "Non +est respublica in parietibus, sed in aris et focis," _arae_ must be +considered (as Schiller observes) to denote the public altars and +national religion. See Schiller's Lex. v. _Ara_. + +[258] In vain appeal to justice--_Frusta judicia implores. Judicia_, +trials, to procure the inflictions of legal penalties. + +[259] Could not easily pardon the misconduct, etc.--_Haud facile +alterius lubidini malefacta condonabam_. "Could not easily forgive the +licentiousness of another its evil deeds." + +[260] Yet the republic remained secure; its own strength, etc. +--_Tamen respublica firma, opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat_. This is +Cortius's reading; some editors, as Havercamp, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +insert _erat_ after _firma_. Whether _opulentia_ is the nominative or +ablative, is disputed. "_Opulentia_," says Allen, "casum sextum +intellige, et repete _respublica_ (ad _tolerabat_)." "_Opulentia_," +says Kritzius, "melius nominativo capiendum videtur; nam quae +sequuntur verba novam enunciationem efficiunt." I have preferred to +take it as a nominative. + +[261] We have lost the real names of things, etc.--Imitated from +Thucydides, iii. 32: [Greek: _Kai taen eiothuian axiosin ton onomaton +es ta erga antaellaxan tae dikaiosei. Tolma men gar alogistos, andria +philetairos enomisthae, mellasis te promaethaes, deilia euprepaes to +de sophron. Tou anandrou proschaema, kai to pros apan syneton, epi pan +argon_.] "The ordinary meaning of words was changed by them as they +thought proper. For reckless daring was regarded as courage that was +true to its friends; prudent delay, as specious cowardice; moderation, +as a cloak for unmanliness; being intelligent in every thing, as being +useful for nothing." _Dale's_ translation; Bohn's Classical Library. + +[262] Elegant language--_Compositè_. See above, c. 51. + +[263] In a most excellent condition--_Multo pulcherrumam._ See c. 36. + +[264] For of allies and citizens, etc.--Imitated from Demosthenes, +Philipp. III.4. + +[265] I advise you to have mercy upon them--_Misereamini censeo, +i.e._, censeo _ut_ misereanum, spoken ironically. Most translators +have taken the words in the sense of "You would take pity on them, I +suppose," or something similar. + +[266] Unless this be the second time that he has made war upon +his country--"Cethegus first made war on his country in conjunction +with Marius." _Bernouf_. Whether Sallust alludes to this, or intimates +(as Gerlach thinks) that he was engaged in the first conspiracy, is +doubtful. + +[267] Is ready to devour us--_Faucibus urget_. Cortius, Kritzius, +Gerlach, Burnouf, Allen, and Dietsch, are unanimous in interpreting +this as a metaphorical expression, alluding to a wild beast with open +jaws ready to spring upon its prey. They support this interpretation +by Val. Max., v. 3: "Faucibus apprehensam rempublicam;" Cic. pro. +Cluent., 31: "Quum faucibus premetur;" and Plaut. Casin. v. 3,4, +"Manifesto faucibus teneor." Some, editors have read _in faucibus_, +and understood the words as referring to the jaws or narrow passes of +Etruria, where Catiline was with his army. + +[268] LIII. All the senators of consular dignity, and a great +part of the rest--_Consulares omnes, itemque senatus magna pars_. "As +the consulars were senators, the reader would perhaps expect Sallust +to have said _reliqui senatús_ but _itemque_ is equivalent to _et +praeter eos_." _Dietsch_. + +[269] That they had carried on wars--_Bella gesta_. That wars had +been carried on _by them_. + +[270] As if the parent stock were exhausted--_Sicuti effoeta +parentum_. This is the reading of Cortius, which he endeavors to +explain thus: "Ac sicuti _effoeta parens_, inter parentes, _sese +habere solet_, ut nullos amplius liberas proferat, sic Roma sese +habuit, ubi multis tempestatibus nemo virtute magnus fuit." "_Est_," +he adds, "or _solet esse_, or _sese habere solet_, may very well be +understood from the _fuit_ which follows." But all this only serves to +show what a critic may find to say in defense of a reading to which he +is determined to adhere. All the MSS., indeed, have _parentum_, except +one, which has _parente_. Dietsch thinks that some word has been lost +between _effoeta_ and _parentum_, and proposes to read _sicuti effoetá +aetate parentum, with the sense, _as if the age of the parents were +too much exhausted to produce strong children_. Kritzius, from a +suggestion of Cortius (or rather of his predecessor, Rupertus), reads +_effoetae parentum_ (the effoetae agreeing with Romae which follows), +considering the sense to be the same as as _effoetae parentis_--as +_divina dearum_ for _divina dea_, etc. Gerlach retains the rending of +Cortius, and adopts his explanation (4to. ed., 1827), but says that +the _explicatio_ may seem _durior_, and that it is doubtful whether we +ought not to have recourse to the _effoeta parente_ of the old critics. +Assuredly if we retain _parentum_, _effoetae_ is the only reading that +we can well put with it. We may compare with it _loca nuda gignentium_, +(Jug. c. 79), i.e. "places bare of objects producing any thing." +Gronovius know not what to do with the passage, called it _locus +intellectus nemini_, and at last decided on understanding _virtute_ +with _effoetae parentum_, which, _pace tarti viri_, and although Allen +has followed him, is little better than folly. The concurrence of the +majority of manuscripts in giving _parentum_ makes the scholar +unwilling to set it aside. However, as no one has explained it +satisfactorily even to himself, I have thought it better, with Dietsch, +to regard it a _scriptura non ferenda_, and to acquiesce, with +Glareanus, Rivius, Burnouf, and the Bipont edition, in the reading +_effoetâ parente_. + +[271] LIV. Though attained by different means--_Sed alia alii_. +"Alii alia _gloria_," for _altera alteri_. So Livy, i. 21: _Duo +reges_, alius alia via. + +[272] Simplicity--_Pudore_. The word here seems to mean the absence +of display and ostentation. + +[273] With the temperate--_Cum innocente_. "That is _cum integro +et abstinente_. For _innocentia_ is used for _abstinentia_, and +opposed to _avaritia_. See Cic. pro Lego Manil., c. 13." _Burnouf_. + +[274] LV. The triumvirs--_Triumviros_. The _triumviri capitales_, +who had the charge of the prison and of the punishment of the +condemned. They performed their office by deputy, Val. Max., v. 4. 7. + +[275] The Tullian dungeon--_Tullianum_. "Tullianum" is an adjective, +with which _robur_ must be understood, as it was originally +constructed, wholly or partially, with oak. See Festus, sub voce +_Robum_ or _Robur_: his words are _arcis robustis includebatur_, of +which the sense is not very clear. The prison at Rome was built by +Ancus Marcius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius, from whom this part of +it had its name; Varro de L. L., iv. 33. It is now transformed into a +subterranean chapel, beneath a small church erected over it, called +_San Pietro in Carcere_. De Brosses and Eustace both visited it; See +Eustace's Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 260, in the _Family Library_. See +also Wasse's note on this passage. + +[276] A vaulted roof connected with stone arches--_Camera lapideis +fornicibus vincta_. "That _camera_ was a roof curved in the form of +a _testudo_, is generally admitted; see Vitruv. vii. 3; Varr., +R. R. iii. 7, init." _Dietsch_. The roof is now arched in the usual +way. + +[277] Certain men, to whom orders had been given--_Quibus praeceptum +erat_. The editions of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +have _vindices rerum capitalium, quibus_, etc. Cortius ejected the +first three words from his text, as an intruded gloss. If the words +be genuine, we must consider these _vindices_ to have been the +deputies, or lictors, of the "triumvirs" mentioned above. + +[278] LVI. As far as his numbers would allow--_Pro numero militum_. +He formed his men into two bodies, which he called legions, and +divided each legion, as was usual, into ten cohorts, putting into +each cohort as many men as he could. The cohort of a full legion +consisted of three maniples, or six hundred men; the legion would then +be six thousand men. But the legions were seldom so large as this; +they varied at different periods, from six thousand to three thousand; +in the time of Polybius they were usually four thousand two hundred. +See Adam's Rom. Ant., and Lipsius de Mil. Rom Dial. iv. + +[279] From his confederates--_Ex sociis_. "Understand, not only +the leaders in the conspiracy, but those who, in c. 35, are said to +have set out to join Catiline, though not at that time exactly +implicated in the plot." _Kritzius_. It is necessary to notice this, +because Cortius erroneously supposes "sociis" to mean the _allies of +Rome_. Dahl, Longius, Müller, Burnouf, Gerlach, and Dietsch, all +interpret in the same manner as Kritzius. + +[280] Hoped himself shortly to find one--_Sperabat propediem sese +habiturum_. Other editions, as those of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, +Dietsch, and Burnouf, have the words _magnas copias_ before _sese_. +Cortius struck them out, observing that _copiae_ occurred too often in +this chapter, and that in one MS. they were wanting. One manuscript, +however, was insufficient authority for discarding them; and the +phrase suits much better with what follows, _si Romae socii incepta +patravissent_, if they are retained. + +[281] Slaves--of whom vast numbers, etc.--_Servitia--cujus magnae +copiae_. "_Cujus_," says Priscian (xvii. 20, vol. ii., p. 81, cd. Krehl), +"is referred _ad rem_, that is _cujus rei servitiorum_." _Servorum_ or +_hominum genus_, is, perhaps, rather what Sallust had in his mind, as +the subject of his relation. Gerlach adduces as an expression most +nearly approaching to Sallust's, Thucyd., iii. 92; [Greek: _Kai dorieis, +hae maetropolis ton Lakedaimonion_]. + +[282] Impolitic--_Alienum suis rationibus_. Foreign to his views; +inconsistent with his policy. + +[283] LVII. In his hurried march into Gaul--_In Galliam properanti_. +These words Cortius inclosed in brackets, pronouncing them as a useless +gloss. But all editors have retained them as genuine, except the Bipont +and Burnouf, who wholly omitted them. + +[284] As he was pursuing, though with a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances; the enemy in +retreat--_Utpote qui magna exercitu, locis aequioribus, expeditus, in +fuga sequeretur_. It would be tedious to notice all that has been +written upon this passage of Sallust. All the editions, before that of +Cortius, had _expeditos, in fugam_, some joining _expeditos_ with +_locis aequioribus_, and some with _in fugam_. _Expeditos in fugam_ +was first condemned by Wasse, no negligent observer of phrases, who +said that no expression parallel to it could be found in any Latin +writer. Cortius, seeing that the _expedition_, of which Sallust is +speaking, is on the part of Antonius, not of Catiline, altered +_expeditos_, though found in all the manuscripts, into _expeditus_; +and _in fugam_, at the same time, into _in fuga_; and in both these +emendations he has been cordially followed by the subsequent editors, +Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch. I have translated _magno exercitu_, +"_though_ with a large army," although, according to Dietsch and some +others, we need not consider a large army as a cause of slowness, but +may rather regard it as a cause of speed; since the more numerous were +Metellus's forces, the less he would care how many he might leave +behind through fatigue, or to guard the baggage; so that he might be +the more _expeditus_, unincumbered. With _sequeretur_ we must +understand _hostes_. The Bipont, Burnouf's, which often follows it, +and Havercamp's, are now the only editions of any note that retain +_expeditos in fugam_. + +[285] LVIII. That a spiritless army can not be rendered active, +etc.--_Neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem ex timido exercitum +oratione imperatoris fieri_. I have departed a little from the literal +reading, for the sake of ease. + +[286] That on your own right hands depend, etc.--_In dextris +portare_. "That you carry in your right hands." + +[287] Those same places--_Eadem illa_. "Coloniae atque municipia +portas claudent." _Burnouf_. + +[288] They contend for what but little concerns them--_Illis +supervacaneum est pugnare_. It is but of little concern to the great +body of them personally: they may fight, but others will have the +advantages of their efforts. + +[289] We might, etc.--_Licuit nobis_. The editions vary between +_nobis_ and _robis_; but most, with Cortius, have _nobis_. + +[290] LIX. In the rear--_In subsidio_. Most translators have +rendered this, "as a body of reserve;" but such can not well be the +signification. It seems only to mean the part behind the front: +Catiline places the eight cohorts _in front_, and the rest of his +force _in subsidio_, to support the front. _Subsidia_, according to +Varro (de L. L., iv. 16) and Festus (v. _Subsidium_), was a term +applied to the Triarii, because they _subsidebant_, or sunk down on +one knee, until it was their turn to act. See Sheller's Lex. v. +_Subsidium_. "Novissimi ordines ita dicuntur." _Gerlach_. _In +subsidiis_, which occurs a few lines below, seems to signify _in lines +in the rear_; as in Jug. 49, _triplicibus subsidiis aciem intruxit, +i.e. with three lines behind the front_. "Subsidium ea pars aciei +vocabatur quae reliquis submitti posset; Caes. B. G., ii. 25." +_Dietsch_. + +[291] All the ablest centurions--_Centuriones omnes lectos_. +"_Lectos_ you may consider to be the same as _eximios, praestantes_, +centurionum praestantissimum quemque." _Kritzius_. Cortius and others +take it for a participle, _chosen_. + +[292] Veterans--_Evocatos_. Some would make this also a participle, +because, say they, it can not signify _evocati_, or _called-out +veterans_, since, though there were such soldiers in a regular Roman +army, there could be none so called in the tumultuary forces of +Catiline. But to this it is answered that Catiline had imitated the +regular disposition of a Roman army, and that his veterans might +consequently be called _evocati_, just as if they had been in one; +and, also that _evocatus_ as a participle would be useless; for if +Catiline removed (_subducit_) the centurions, it is unnecessary to +add that he called them out, "_Evocati_ erant, qui expletis stipendiis +non poterant in delectu scribi, sed precibus imperatoris permoti, aut +in gratiam ejus, militiam resumebant, homines longo uso militiae +peritissimi. Dio., xiv. p. 276. [Greek: _Ek touton de ton anoron kai +to ton Haeouokaton hae Ouokaton systaema (ous Anaklaetous an tis +Ellaenisas, hoti pepaumenoi taes strateias, ep' autein authis +aneklaethmsan, ouomaseien) enomisthae_.] Intelligit itaque ejusmodi +homines veteranos, etsi non proprie erant tales evocati, sed sponte +castra Catilinae essent secuti." _Cortius_. + +[293] Into the foremost ranks--_In primam aciem_. Whether Sallust +means that he ranged them with the eight cohorts, or only in the first +line of the _subsidia_, is not clear. + +[294] A certain officer of Faesulae--_Faesulanum quemdam_. "He is +thought to have been that P. Furius, whom Cicero (Cat., iii. 6, 14) +mentions as having been one of the colonists that Sylla settled at +Faesulae, and who was to have been executed, if he had been +apprehended, for having been concerned in corrupting the Allobrogian +deputies." _Dietsch_. Plutarch calls this officer Furius. + +[295] His freedmen--_Libertis_. "His own freedmen, whom he probably +had about him as a body-guard, deeming them the most attached of his +adherents. Among them was, possibly, that Sergius, whom we find +from Cic. pro Domo, 5, 6, to have been Catiline's armor bearer." +_Dietsch_. + +[296] The colonists--_Colonis_. "Veterans of Sylla, who had been +settled by him as colonists in Etruria, and who had now been induced +to join Catiline." _Gerlach_. See c. 28. + +[297] By the eagle--_Propter aquilam_. See Cic. in Cat., i. 9. + +[298] Being lame--_Pedibus aeger_. It has been common among +translators to render _pedibus aeger_ afflicted with the gout, though +a Roman might surely be lame without having the gout. As the lameness +of Antonius, however, according to Dion Cassius (xxxvii. 39), was only +pretended, it may be thought more probable that he counterfeited the +gout than any other malady. It was with this belief, I suppose, that +the writer of a gloss on one of the manuscripts consulted by Cortius, +interpreted the words, _ultroneam passus est podogram_, "he was +affected with a voluntary gout." Dion Cassius says that he preferred +engaging with Antonius, who had the larger army, rather than with +Metellus, who had the smaller, because he hoped that Antonius would +designedly act in such a way as to lose the victory. + +[299] To meet the present insurrection--_Tumulti causa_. Any sudden +war or insurrection in Italy or Gaul was called _tumultus_. See +Cic. Philipp. v. 12. + +[300] Their temples and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis_. See +c. 52. + +[301] LX. In a furious charge--_Infestis siqnis_. + +[302] Offering but partial resistance--_Alios alibi resistentes_. +Not making a stand in a body, but only some in one place, and some in +another. + +[303] Among the first, etc.--_In primis pugnantes cadunt_. Cortius +very properly refers _in primis_ to _cadunt_. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + +EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. + + +A.U.C 685.--COSS. L. CAECILIUS METELLUS, Q. MARCIIS REX.--Catiline is +Praetor. + +686.--C. CALPURNIUS PISO, M. ACILIUS GLABRIO.--Catiline Governor of +Africa. + +687.--L. VOLCATIUS TULLUS, M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS.--Deputies from Africa +accuse Catiline of extortion, through the agency of Clodius. He is +obliged to desist from standing for the consulship, and forms the +project of the first conspiracy. See Sall. Cat., c. 18. + +688.--L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS, L. AURELIUS COTTA.--_Jan_. 1: Catiline's +project of the first conspiracy becomes known, and he defers the +execution of it to the 5th of February, when he makes an unsuccessful +attempt to execute it. _July_ 17: He is acquitted of extortion, and +begins to canvass for the consulship for the year 690. + +689.--L. JULIUS CAESAR, C. MARCIUS FIGULUS THERMUS.--_June_ 1: +Catiline convokes the chiefs of the second conspiracy. He is +disappointed in his views on the consulship. + +690--M. TULLIUS CICERO, C. ANTONIUS HYBRIDA.--_Oct_. 19: Cicero lays +the affair of the conspiracy before the senate, who decree plenary +powers to the consuls for defending the state. _Oct_. 21: Silanus and +Muraena are elected consuls for the next year, Catiline, who was a +candidate, being rejected. _Oct_. 22: Catiline is accused under the +Plautian Law _de vi_. Sall. Cat., c. 31. _Oct_. 24: Manlius takes up +arms in Etruria. _Nov_. 6: Catiline assembles the chief conspirators, +by the agency of Porcius Laeca Sall. Cat., c. 27. _Nov_. 7: Vargunteius +and Cornelius undertake to assassinate Cicero. Sall. Cat., c. 28. +_Nov_. 8: Catiline appears in the senate; Cicero delivers his first +Oration against him; he threatens to extinguish the flame raised +around him in a general destruction, and quits Rome. Sall. Cat., c. +31. _Nov_. 9: Cicero delivers his second Oration against Catiline, +before an assembly of the people, convoked by order of the senate. +_Nov_. 20, _or thereabouts_: Catiline and Manlius are declared public +enemies. Soon after this the conspirators attempt to secure the +support of the Allobrogian deputies. _Dec_. 3: About two o'clock in +the morning the Allobroges are apprehended. Toward evening Cicero +delivers his third Oration against Catiline, before the people. _Dec_. +5. Cicero's fourth Oration against Catiline, before the senate. Soon +after, the conspirators are condemned to death, and great honors are +decreed by the senate to Cicero. 691.--D. JUNIUS SILANUS, L. LICINIUS +MURAENA--_Jan_. 5: Battle of Pistoria, and death of Catiline. + + * * * * * + +The narrative of Sallust terminates with the account of the battle of +Pistoria. There are a few other particulars connected with the history +of the conspiracy, which, for the sake of the English reader, it may +not be improper to add. + +When the victory was gained, Antonius caused Catiline's head to be cut +off, and sent it to Rome by the messengers who carried the news. +Antonius himself was honored, by a public decree, with the title of +_Imperator_, although he had done little to merit the distinction, and +although the number of slain, which was three thousand, was less than +that for which the title was generally given. See Dio Cass. xxxvii., +40, 41. + +The remains of Catiline's army, after the death of their leader, +continued to make efforts to raise another insurrection. In August, +eight months after the battle, a party, under the command of Lucius +Sergius, perhaps a relative or freedman of Catiline, still offered +resistance to the forces of the government in Etruria. _Reliquiae +conjuratorum, cum L. Sergio, tumultuantur in Hetruria_. Fragm. Act. +Diurn. The responsibility of watching these marauders was left to the +proconsul Metellus Celer. After some petty encounters, in which the +insurgents were generally worsted, Sergius, having collected his force +at the foot of the Alps, attempted to penetrate into the country of +the Allobroges, expecting to find them ready to take up arms; but +Metellus, learning his intention, pre-occupied the passes, and then +surrounded and destroyed him and his followers. + +At Rome, in the mean time, great honors were paid to Cicero. A +thanksgiving of thirty days was decreed in his name, an honor which +had previously been granted to none but military men, and which was +granted to him, to use his own words, because _he had delivered the +city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war_. "If +my thanksgiving," he also observes, "be compared with those of others, +there will be found this difference, that theirs were granted them for +having managed the interests of the republic successfully, but that +mine was decreed to me for having preserved the republic from ruin." +See Cic. Orat. iii., in Cat., c. 6. Pro Sylla, c. 30. In Pison. c. 3. +Philipp. xiv., 8. Quintus Catulus, then _princeps senatus_, and Marcus + + Roma parentem, + Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. + +Juv. Sat., viii. 244. + +Of the inferior conspirators, who did not follow Sergius, and who were +apprehended at Rome, or in other parts of Italy, after the death of +the leaders in the plot, some were put to death, chiefly on the +testimony of Lucius Vettius, one of their number, who turned informer +against the rest. But many whom he accused were acquitted; others, +supposed to be guilty, were allowed to escape. + + + + + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The author's declaration of his design, and +prefatory account of Jugurtha's family, V. Jugurtha's character, VI. +His talents excite apprehensions in his uncle Micipsa, VII. He is sent +to Numantia. His merits, his favor with Scipio, and his popularity in +the army, VIII. He receives commendation and advice from Scipio and is +adopted by Micipsa, who resolves that Jugurtha, Adherbal, and +Hiempsal, shall, at his death, divide his kingdom equally between +them, IX. He is addressed by Micipsa on his death-bed, X. His +proceedings, and those of Adherbal and Hiempsal, after the death of +Micipsa, XI. He murders Hiempsal, XII. He defeats Adherbal, and drives +him for refuge to Rome. He dreads the vengeance of the senate, and +sends embassadors to Rome, who are confronted with those of Adherbal +in the senate-house, XIII. The speech of Adherbal, XIV. The reply of +Jugurtha's embassadors, and the opinions of the senators, XV. The +prevalence of Jugurtha's money, and the partition of the kingdom +between him and Adherbal, XVI. A description of Africa, XVII. An +account of its inhabitants, and of its principal divisions at the +commencement of the Jugurthine war, XVIII., XIX. Jugurtha invades +Adherbal's part of the kingdom, XX. He defeats Adherbal, and besieges +him in Cirta, XXI. He frustrates the intentions of the Roman deputies, +XXII. Adherbal's distresses, XXIII. His letter to the senate, XXIV. +Jugurtha disappoints a second Roman deputation, XXV. He takes Cirta, +and puts Adherdal to death, XXVI. The senate determine to make war +upon him, and commit the management of it to Calpurnius, XXVII. He +sends an ineffectual embassy to the senate. His dominions are +vigorously invaded by Calpurnius, XXVIII. He bribes Calpurnius, and +makes a treaty with him, XXIX. His proceedings are discussed at Rome, +XXX. The speech of Memmius concerning them, XXXI. The consequences of +it, XXXII. The arrival of Jugurtha at Rome, and his appearance before +the people, XXXIII., XXXIV. He procures the assassination of Massiva, +and is ordered to quit Italy, XXXV. Albinus, the successor of +Calpurnius, renews the war. He returns to Rome, and leaves his brother +Aulus to command in his absence, XXXVI. Aulus miscarries in the siege +of Suthul, and concludes a dishonorable treaty with Jugurtha, XXXVII, +XXXVIII. His treaty is annulled by the senate. His brother, Albinus, +resumes the command, XXXIX. The people decree an inquiry into the +conduct of those who had treated with Jugurtha, XL. Consideration on +the popular and senatorial factions, XLI., XLII. Metellus assumes the +conduct of the war, XLIII. He finds the army in Numidia without +discipline, XLIV. He restores subordination, XLV. He rejects +Jugurtha's offers of submission, bribes his deputies, and marches into +the country, XLVI. He places a garrison in Vacca, and seduces other +deputies of Jugurtha, XLVII. He engages with Jugurtha, and defeats +him. His lieutenant, Rutilius, puts to flight Bomilcar, the general of +Jugurtha, XLVIII.-LIII. He is threatened with new opposition. He lays +waste the country. His stragglers are cut off by Jugurtha, LIV. His +merits are celebrated at Rome. His caution. His progress retarded, LV. +He commences the siege of Zama, which is reinforced by Jugurtha. His +lieutenant, Marius, repulses Jugurtha at Sicca, LVI. He is joined by +Marius, and prosecutes the siege. His camp is surprised, LVII., LVIII. +His struggles with Jugurtha, and his operations before the town, LIX., +LX. He raises the siege, and goes into winter quarters. He attaches +Bomilcar to his interest, LXI. He makes a treaty with Jugurtha, who +breaks it, LXII. The ambition of Marius. His character. His desire of +the consulship, LXIII. His animosity toward Metellus. His intrigues to +supplant him, LXIV, LXV. The Vaccians surprise the Roman garrison, and +kill all the Romans but Turpilius, the governor, LXVI., LXVII. +Metellus recovers Vacca, and puts Turpilius to death, LXVIII., LXIX. +The conspiracy of Bomilcar, and Nabdalsa against Jugurtha, and the +discovery of it. Jugurtha's disquietude, LXX.-LXXII. Metellus makes +preparations for a second campaign. Marius returns to Rome, and is +chosen consul, and appointed to command the army in Numidia, LXXIII. +Jugurtha's irresolution. Metellus defeats him, LXXIV. The flight of +Jugurtha to Thala. The march of Metellus in pursuit of him, LXXV. +Jugurtha abandons Thala, and Metellus takes possession of it, LXXVI. +Metellus receives a deputation from Leptis, and sends a detachment +thither, LXXVII. The situation of Leptis, LXXVIII. The history of +the Philaeni, LXXIX. Jugurtha collects an army of Getulians, and gains +the support of Bocchus, King of Mauritania. The two kings proceed +toward Cirta, LXXX., LXXXI. Metellus marches against them, but hearing +that Marius is appointed to succeed him, contents himself with +endeavoring to alienate Bocchus from Jugurtha, and protracting the war +rather than prosecuting it, LXXXII., LXXXIII. The preparations of Marius +for his departure. His disposition toward the nobility. His popularity, +LXXXIV. His speech to the people, LXXXV. He completes his levies, and +arrives in Africa, LXXXVI. He opens the campaign, LXXXVII. The reception +of Metellus in Rome. The successes and plans of Marius. The applications +of Bocchus, LXXXVIII. Marius marches against Capsa, and takes it, +LXXXIX-XCI. He gains possession of a fortress which the Numidians thought +impregnable, XCII.-XCIV. The arrival of Sylla in the camp. His character, +XCV. His arts to obtain the favor of Marius and the soldiers, XCVI. +Jugurtha and Bocchus attack Marius, and are vigorously opposed, XCVII., +XCVIII. Marius surprises them in the night, and routs them with great +slaughter, XCIX. Marius prepares to go into winter quarters. His +vigilance, and maintenance of discipline, C. He fights a second battle +with Jugurtha and Bocchus, and gains a second victory over them, CI. He +arrives at Cirta. He receives a deputation from Bocchus, and sends Sylla +and Manlius to confer with him, CII. Marina undertakes an expedition +Bocchus prepares to send ambassadors to Rome, who being stripped by +robbers, takes refuge in the Roman camp, and are entertained by Sylla +during the absence of Marius, CIII. Marius returns. The ambassadors +set out for Rome. The answer which they receive from the senate, CIV. +Bocchus desires a conference with Sylla; Sylla arrives at the camp of +Bocchus, CV.-CVII. Negotiations between Sylla and Bocchus, CVIII., +CIX. The address of Bocchus to Sylla, CX. The reply of Sylla. The +subsequent transactions between them. The resolution of Bocchus to +betray Jugurtha, and the execution of it, CXI-CXIII. The triumph of +Marius, CXIV. + + + + +I. Mankind unreasonably complain of their nature, that, being weak and +short-lived, it is governed by chance rather than intellectual power;[1] +for, on the contrary, you will find, upon reflection, that there is +nothing more noble or excellent, and that to nature is wanting rather +human industry than ability or time. + +The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it +pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful, +efficient, and worthy of honor,[2] and needs no assistance from +fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good +qualities, nor can take them away. But if the mind, ensnared by +corrupt passions, abandons itself[3] to indolence and sensuality, when +it has indulged for a season in pernicious gratifications, and when +bodily strength, time, and mental vigor, have been wasted in sloth, +the infirmity of nature is accused, and those who are themselves in +fault impute their delinquency to circumstances.[4] + +If man, however, had as much regard for worthy objects, as he has +spirit in the pursuit of what is useless,[5] unprofitable, and even +perilous, he would not be governed by circumstances more than he would +govern them, and would attain to a point of greatness, at which, +instead of being mortal,[6] he would be immortalized by glory. + +II. As man is composed of mind and body, so, of all our concerns and +pursuits, some partake the nature of the body, and some that of the +mind. Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and +all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal. + +Of the advantages of person and fortune, as there is a beginning, +there is also an end; they all rise and fall,[7] increase and decay. +But the mind, incorruptible and eternal, the ruler of the human race, +actuates and has power over all things,[8] yet is itself free from +control. + +The depravity of those, therefore, is the more surprising, who, +devoted to corporeal gratifications, spend their lives in luxury and +indolence, but suffer the mind, than which nothing is better or +greater in man, to languish in neglect and inactivity; especially when +there are so many and various mental employments by which the highest +renown may be attained. + +III. Of these occupations, however, civil and military offices,[9] and +all administration of public affairs, seem to me at the present time, +by no means to be desired; for neither is honor conferred on merit, +nor are those, who have gained power by unlawful means, the more +secure or respected for it. To rule our country or subjects[10] by +force, though we may have the ability, and may correct what is wrong, +is yet an ungrateful undertaking; especially as all changes in the +state lead to[11] bloodshed, exile, and other evils of discord; while +to struggle in ineffectual attempts, and to gain nothing, by wearisome +exertions, but public hatred, is the extreme of madness; unless when a +base and pernicious spirit, perchance, may prompt a man to sacrifice +his honor and liberty to the power of a party. + +IV. Among other employments which are pursued by the intellect, the +recording of past events is of pre-eminent utility; but of its merits +I may, I think, be silent, since many have spoken of them, and since, +if I were to praise my own occupation, I might be considered as +presumptuously[12] praising myself. I believe, too, that there will be +some, who, because I have resolved to live unconnected with political +affairs, will apply to my arduous and useful labors the name of +idleness; especially those who think it an important pursuit to court +the people, and gain popularity by entertainments. But if such persons +will consider at what periods I obtained office, what sort of men[13] +were then unable to obtain it, and what description of persons have +subsequently entered the senate,[14] they will think, assuredly, that +I have altered my sentiments rather from prudence than from indolence, +and that more good will arise to the state from my retirement, than +from the busy efforts of others. + +I have often heard that Quintus Maximus,[15] Publius Scipio,[16] and +many other illustrious men of our country, were accustomed to observe, +that, when they looked on the images of their ancestors, they felt +their minds irresistibly excited to the pursuit of honor.[17] Not, +certainly, that the wax,[18] or the shape, had any such influence; +but, as they called to mind their forefathers' achievements, such a +flame was kindled in the breasts of those eminent persons, as could +not be extinguished till their own merit had equaled the fame and +glory of their ancestors. + +But, in the present state of manners, who is there, on the contrary, +that does not rather emulate his forefathers in riches and extravagance, +than in virtue and labor? Even men of humble birth,[19] who formerly +used to surpass the nobility in merit, pursue power and honor rather +by intrigue and dishonesty, than by honorable qualifications; as if +the praetorship, consulate, and all other offices of the kind, were +noble and dignified in themselves, and not to be estimated according +to the worth of those who fill them. + +But, in expressing my concern and regret at the manners of the state, +I have proceeded with too great freedom, and at too great length. I +now return to my subject. + +V. I am about to relate the war which the Roman people carried on with +Jugurtha, King of the Numidians; first, because it was great, sanguinary, +and of varied fortune; and secondly, because then, for the first time, +opposition was offered to the power of the nobility; a contest which +threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion,[20] and was +carried to such a height of madness, that nothing but war, and the +devastation of Italy, could put an end to civil dissensions.[21] But +before I fairly commence my narrative, I will take a review of a few +preceding particulars, in order that the whole subject may be more +clearly and distinctly understood. + +In the second Punic war, in which Hannibal, the leader of the +Carthaginians, had weakened the power of Italy more than any other +enemy[22] since the Roman name became great,[23] Masinissa, King of +the Numidians, being received into alliance by Publius Scipio, who, +from his merits was afterward surnamed Africanus, had performed for us +many eminent exploits in the field. In return for which services, +after the Carthaginians were subdued, and after Syphax,[24] whose +power in Italy was great and extensive, was taken prisoner, the Roman +people presented to Masinissa, as a free gift, all the cities and +lands that they had captured. Masinissa's friendship for us, +accordingly, remained faithful and inviolate; his reign[25] and his +life ended together. His son, Micipsa, alone succeeded to his kingdom; +Mastanabal and Gulussa, his two brothers, having been carried off by +disease. Micipsa had two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and had brought +up in his house, with the same care as his own children, a son of his +brother Mastanabal, named Jugurtha, whom Masinissa, as being the son +of a concubine, had left in a private station. + +VI. Jugurtha, as he grew up, being strong in frame, graceful in +person, but, above all, vigorous in understanding, did not allow +himself to be enervated by pleasure and indolence, but, as is the +usage of his country, exercised himself in riding, throwing the +javelin, and contending in the race with his equals in age; and, +though he excelled them all in reputation, he was yet beloved by all. +He also passed much of his time in hunting; he was first, or among the +first, to wound the lion and other beasts; he performed very much, but +spoke very little of himself. + +Micipsa, though he was at first gratified with these circumstances, +considering that the merit of Jugurtha would be an honor to his +kingdom, yet, when he reflected that the youth was daily increasing in +popularity, while he himself was advanced in age, and his children but +young, he was extremely disturbed at the state of things, and revolved +it frequently in his mind. The very nature of man, ambitious of power, +and eager to gratify its desires, gave him reason for apprehension, as +well as the opportunity afforded by his own age and that of his children, +which was sufficient, from the prospect of such a prize, to lead astray +even men of moderate desires. The affection of the Numidians, too, which +was strong toward Jugurtha, was another cause for alarm; among whom, if +he should cut off such a man, he feared that some insurrection or war +might arise. + +VII. Surrounded by such difficulties, and seeing that a man, so +popular among his countrymen, was not to be destroyed either by force +or by fraud, he resolved, as Jugurtha was of an active disposition, +and eager for military reputation, to expose him to dangers in the +field, and thus make trial of fortune. During the Numantine war,[26] +therefore, when he was sending supplies of horse and foot to the +Romans, he gave him the command of the Numidians, whom he dispatched +into Spain, hoping that he would certainly perish, either by an +ostentatious display of his bravery, or by the merciless hand of the +enemy. But this project had a very different result from that which he +had expected. For when Jugurtha, who was of an active and penetrating +intellect, had learned the disposition of Publius Scipio, the Roman +general, and the character of the enemy, he quickly rose, by great +exertion and vigilance, by modestly submitting to orders, and frequently +exposing himself to dangers, to such a degree of reputation, that he was +greatly beloved by our men, and extremely dreaded by the Numantines. He +was indeed, what is peculiarly difficult, both brave in action, and wise +in counsel; qualities, of which the one, from forethought, generally +produces fear, and the other, from confidence, rashness. The general, +accordingly, managed almost every difficult matter by the aid of +Jugurtha, numbered him among his friends, and grew daily more and more +attached to him, as a man whose advice and whose efforts were never +useless. With such merits were joined generosity of disposition, and +readiness of wit, by which he united to himself many of the Romans in +intimate friendship. + +VIII. There were at that time, in our army, a number of officers, some +of low, and some of high birth, to whom wealth was more attractive +than virtue or honor; men who were attached to certain parties, and of +consequence in their own country; but, among the allies, rather +distinguished than respected. These persons inflamed the mind of +Jugurtha, of itself sufficiently aspiring, by assuring him, "that if +Micipsa should die, he might have the kingdom of Numidia to himself; +for that he was possessed of eminent merit, and that anything might be +purchased at Rome." + +When Numantia, however, was destroyed, and Scipio had determined to +dismiss the auxiliary troops, and to return to Rome, he led Jugurtha, +after having honored him, in a public assembly, with the noblest +presents and applauses, into his own tent; where he privately +admonished him "to court the friendship of the Romans rather by +attention to them as a body, than by practicing on individuals;[27] +to bribe no one, as what belonged to many could not without danger be +bought from a few; and adding that, if he would but trust to his own +merits, glory and regal power would spontaneously fall to his lot; +but, should he proceed too rashly, he would only, by the influence of +his money, hasten his own ruin." + +IX. Having thus spoken, he took leave of him, giving him a letter, +which he was to present to Micipsa, and of which the following was +the purport: "The merit of your nephew Jugurtha, in the war against +Numantia, has been eminently distinguished; a fact which I am sure +will afford you pleasure. He is dear to us for his services, and we +shall strive, with our utmost efforts, to make him equally dear to the +senate and people of Rome. As a friend, I sincerely congratulate you; +you have a kinsman worthy of yourself, and of his grandfather +Masinissa." + +Micipsa, when he found, from the letter of the general, that what he +had already heard reported was true, being moved, both by the merit of +the youth and by the interest felt for him by Scipio, altered his +purpose, and endeavored to win Jugurtha by kindness. He accordingly, +in a short time,[28] adopted him as his son, and made him, by his +will, joint-heir with his own children. + +A few years afterward, when, being debilitated by age and disease, he +perceived that the end of his life was at hand, he is said, in the +presence of his friends and relations, and of Adherbal and Hiempsal +his sons, to have spoken with Jugurtha in the following manner: + +X. "I received you, Jugurtha, at a very early age, into my kingdom,[29] +at a time when you had lost your father, and were without prospects or +resources, expecting that, in return for my kindness, I should not be +less loved by you than by my own children, if I should have any. Nor +have my anticipations deceived me; for, to say nothing of your other +great and noble deeds, you have lately, on your return from Numantia, +brought honor and glory both to me and my kingdom; by your bravery, +you have rendered the Romans, from being previously our friends, more +friendly to us than ever; the name of our family is revived in Spain; +and, finally, what is most difficult among mankind, you have suppressed +envy by preeminent merit.[30] + +And now, since nature is putting a period to my life, I exhort and +conjure you, by this right hand, and by the fidelity which you owe to +my kingdom,[31] to regard these princes, who are your cousins by +birth, and your brothers by my generosity, with sincere affection; and +not to be more anxious to attach to yourself strangers, than to retain +the love of those connected with you by blood. It is not armies, or +treasures,[32] that form the defenses of a kingdom, but friends, whom +you can neither command by force nor purchase with gold; for they are +acquired only by good offices and integrity. And who can be a greater +friend than one brother to another?[33] Or what stranger will you find +faithful, if you are at enmity with your own family? I leave you a +kingdom, which will be strong if you act honorably, but weak, if you +are ill-affected to each other; for by concord even small states are +increased, but by discord, even the greatest fall to nothing. + +But on you, Jugurtha, who are superior in age and wisdom, it is +incumbent, more than on your brothers, to be cautious that nothing of +a contrary tendency may arise; for, in all disputes, he that is the +stronger, even though he receive the injury, appears, because his +power is greater, to have inflicted it. And do you, Adherbal and +Hiempsal, respect and regard a kinsman of such a character; imitate +his virtues, and make it your endeavor to show that I have not adopted +a better son[34] than those whom I have begotten." + +XI. To this address, Jugurtha, though he knew that the king had spoken +insincerely,[35] and though he was himself revolving thoughts of a far +different nature, yet replied with good feeling, suitable to the +occasion. A few days afterward Micipsa died. + +When the princes had performed his funeral with due magnificence, they +met together to hold a discussion on the general condition of their +affairs. Hiempsal, the youngest, who was naturally violent, and who +had previously shown contempt for the mean birth of Jugurtha, as being +inferior on his mother's side, sat down on the right hand of Adherbal, +in order to prevent Jugurtha from being the middle one of the three, +which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor.[36] Being +urged by his brother, however, to yield to superior age, he at length +removed, but with reluctance, to the other seat.[37] + +In the course of this conference, after a long debate about the +administration of the kingdom, Jugurtha suggested, among other +measures, "that all the acts and decrees made in the last five years +should be annulled, as Micipsa, during that period, had been enfeebled +by age, and scarcely sound in intellect." + +Hiempsal replied, "that he was exceedingly pleased with the proposal, +since Jugurtha himself, within the last three years, had been adopted +as joint-heir to the throne." This repartee sunk deeper into the mind +of Jugurtha than any one imagined. From that very time, accordingly, +being agitated with resentment and jealousy, he began to meditate and +concert schemes, and to think of nothing but projects for secretly +cutting off Hiempsal. But his plans proving slow in operation, and his +angry feelings remaining unabated, he resolved to execute his purpose +by any means whatsoever. + +XII. At the first meeting of the princes, of which I have just spoken, +it had been resolved, in consequence of their disagreement, that the +treasures should be divided among them, and that limits should be set +to the jurisdiction of each. Days were accordingly appointed for both +these purposes, but the earlier of the two for the division of the +money. The princes, in the mean time, retired into separate places of +abode in the neighborhood of the treasury. Hiempsal, residing in the +town of Thirmida, happened to occupy the house of a man, who, being +Jugurtha's chief lictor,[38] had always been liked and favored by his +master. This man, thus opportunely presented as an instrument, +Jugurtha loaded with promises, and induced him to go to his house, as +if for the purpose of looking over it, and provide himself with false +keys to the gates; for the true ones used to be given to Hiempsal, +adding, that he himself, when circumstances should call for his +presence, would be at the place with a large body of men. This +commission the Numidian speedily executed, and, according to his +instructions, admitted Jugurtha's men in the night, who, as soon as +they had entered the house, went different ways in quest of the +prince; some of his attendants they killed while asleep, and others as +they met them; they searched into secret places, broke open those that +were shut, and filled the whole premises with uproar and tumult. +Hiempsal, after a time, was found concealed in the hut of a +maid-servant,[39] where, in his alarm and ignorance of the locality, +he had at first taken refuge. The Numidians, as they had been ordered, +brought his head to Jugurtha. + +XIII The report of so atrocious an outrage was soon spread through +Africa. Fear seized on Adherbal, and on all who had been subject to +Micipsa. The Numidians divided into two parties, the greater number +following Adherbal, but the more warlike, Jugurtha; who, accordingly, +armed as large a force as he could, brought several cities, partly by +force and partly by their own consent, under his power, and prepared +to make himself sovereign of the whole of Numidia. Adherbal, though he +had sent embassadors to Rome, to inform the senate of his brother's +murder and his own circumstances, yet, relying on the number of his +troops, prepared for an armed resistance. When the matter, however, +came to a contest, he was defeated, and fled from the field of battle +into our province,[40] and from thence hastened to Rome. + +Jugurtha, having thus accomplished his purposes,[41] and reflecting, +at leisure, on the crime which he had committed, began to feel a dread +of the Roman people, against whose resentment he had no hopes of +security but in the avarice of the nobility, and in his own wealth. A +few days afterward, therefore, he dispatched embassadors to Rome, with +a profusion of gold and silver, whom he directed, in the first place, +to make abundance of presents to his old friends, and then to procure +him new ones; and not to hesitate, in short; to effect whatever could +be done by bribery. + +When these deputies had arrived at Rome, and had sent large presents, +according to the prince's direction, to his intimate friends,[42] and +to others whose influence was at that time powerful, so remarkable a +change ensued, that Jugurtha, from being an object of the greatest +odium, grew into great regard and favor with the nobility; who, partly +allured with hope, and partly with actual largesses, endeavored, by +soliciting the members of the senate individually, to prevent any +severe measures from being adopted against him. When the embassadors +accordingly, felt sure of success, the senate, on a fixed day, gave +audience to both parties[43]. On that occasion, Adherbal, as I have +understood, spoke to the following effect: + +XIV. "My father Micipsa, Conscript Fathers, enjoined me, on his +death-bed, to look upon the kingdom of Numidia as mine only by +deputation;[44] to consider the right and authority as belonging to +you; to endeavor, at home and in the field, to be as serviceable to +the Roman people as possible; and to regard you as my kindred and +relatives:[45] saying that, if I observed these injunctions. I should +find, in your friendship, armies, riches, and all necessary defenses +of my realm. By these precepts I was proceeding to regulate my conduct, +when Jugurtha, the most abandoned of all men whom the earth contains, +setting at naught your authority, expelled me, the grandson of Masinissa, +and the hereditary[46] ally and friend of the Roman people, from my +kingdom and all my possessions. + +Since I was thus to be reduced to such an extremity of wretchedness, +I could wish that I were able to implore your aid, Conscript Fathers, +rather for the sake of my own services than those of my ancestors; I +could wish, indeed, above all, that acts of kindness were due to me +from the Romans, of which I should not stand in need; and, next to +this,[47] that, if I required your services, I might receive them as +my due. But as integrity is no defense in itself, and as I had no +power to form the character of Jugurtha,[48] I have fled to you, +Conscript Fathers, to whom, what is the most grievous of all things, I +am compelled to become a burden before I have been an assistance. + +Other princes have been received into your friendship after having +been conquered in war, or have solicited an alliance with you in +circumstances of distress; but our family commenced its league with +the Romans in the war with Carthage, at a time when their faith was a +greater object of attraction than their fortune. Suffer not, then, O +Conscript Fathers, a descendent of that family to implore aid from you +in vain. If I had no other plea for obtaining your assistance but my +wretched fortune; nothing to urge, but that, having been recently a +king, powerful by birth, by character, and by resources, I am now +dishonored, afflicted,[49] destitute, and dependent on the aid of +others, it would yet become the dignity of Rome to protect me from +injury, and to allow no man's dominions to be increased by crime. But +I am driven from those very territories which the Roman people gave to +my ancestors, and from which my father and grandfather, in conjunction +with yourselves, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. It is what you +bestowed that has been wrested from me; in my wrongs you are insulted. + +Unhappy man that I am! Has your kindness, O my father Micipsa, come +to this, that he whom you made equal with your children, and a sharer +of your kingdom, should become, above all others,[50] the destroyers +of your race? Shall our family, then, never be at peace? Shall we +always be harassed with war, bloodshed, and exile? While the +Carthaginians continued in power, we were necessarily exposed to all +manner of troubles; for the enemy were on our frontiers; you, our +friends, were at a distance; and all our dependence was on our arms. +But after that pest was extirpated, we were happy in the enjoyment of +tranquillity, as having no enemies but such as you should happen to +appoint us. But lo! on a sudden, Jugurtha, stalking forth with +intolerable audacity, wickedness, and arrogance, and having put to +death my brother, his own cousin, made his territory, in the first +place, the prize of his guilt; and next, being unable to ensnare me +with similar stratagems, he rendered me, when under your rule I +expected any thing rather than violence or war, an exile, as you see, +from my country and my home, the prey of poverty and misery, and safer +any where than in my own kingdom. + +I was always of opinion, Conscript Fathers, as I had often heard my +father observe, that those who cultivated your friendship might indeed +have an arduous service to perform, but would be of all people the +most secure. What our family could do for you, it has done; it has +supported you in all your wars; and it is for you to provide for our +safety in time of peace. Our father left two of us, brothers; a third, +Jugurtha, he thought would be attached to us by the benefits conferred +upon him; but one of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have +scarcely escaped the hand of lawlessness.[51] What course can I now +take? Unhappy that I am, to what place, rather than another, shall I +betake myself? All the props of our family are extinct; my father, of +necessity, has paid the debt of nature; a kinsman, whom least of all +men it became, has wickedly taken the life of my brother; and as for +my other relatives, and friends, and connections, various forms of +destruction have overtaken them. Seized by Jugurtha, some have been +crucified, and some thrown to wild beasts, while a few, whose lives +have been spared, are shut up in the darkness of the dungeon, and drag +on, amid suffering and sorrow, an existence more grievous than death +itself. + +If all that I have lost, or all that, from being friendly, has become +hostile to me,[52] remained unchanged, yet, in case of any sudden +calamity, it is of you that I should still have to implore assistance, +to whom, from the greatness of your empire, justice and injustice in +general should be objects of regard. And at the present time, when I +am exiled from my country and my home, when I am left alone, and +destitute of all that is suitable to my dignity, to whom can I go, or +to whom shall: I appeal, but to you? Shall I go to nations and kings, +who, from our friendship with Rome, are all hostile to my family? +Could I go, indeed, to any place where there are not abundance of +hostile monuments of my ancestors? Will any one, who, has ever been at +enmity with you, take pity upon me? + +Masinissa, moreover, instructed us, Conscript Fathers, to cultivate +no friendship but that of Rome, to adopt no new leagues or alliances, +as we should find, in your good-will, abundance of efficient support; +while, if the fortune of your empire should change, we must sink +together with it. But, by your own merits, and the favor of the gods, +you are great and powerful; the whole world regards you with favor and +yields to your power; and you are the better able, in consequence, to +attend to the grievances of your allies. My only fear is, that private +friendship for Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead any of you +astray; for his partisans, I hear, are doing their utmost in his +behalf, soliciting and importuning you individually, to pass no +decision against one who is absent, and whose cause is yet untried; +and saying that I state what is false, and only pretend to be an +exile, when I might, if I pleased, have remained still in my kingdom. +But would that I could see him,[53] by whose unnatural crime I am thus +reduced to misery, pretending as I now pretend; and would that, either +with you or with the immortal gods, there may at length arise some +regard for human interests; for then assuredly will he, who is now +audacious and triumphant in guilt, be tortured by every kind of +suffering, and pay a heavy penalty for his ingratitude to my father, +for the murder of my brother, and for the distress which he has +brought upon myself. + +And now, O my brother, dearest object of my affection, though thy +life has been prematurely taken from thee, and by a hand that should +have been the last to touch it, yet I think thy fate a subject for +rejoicing rather than lamentation, for, in losing life, thou hast not +been cut off from a throne, but from flight, expatriation, poverty, +and all those afflictions which now press upon me. But I, unfortunate +that I am, cast from the throne of my father into the depths of +calamity, afford an example of human vicissitudes, undecided what +course to adopt, whether to avenge thy wrongs, while I myself stand in +need of assistance, or to attempt the recovery of my kingdom, while my +life or death depends on the aid of others.[54] + +Would that death could be thought an honorable termination to my +misfortunes, that I might not seem to live an object of contempt, if, +sinking under my afflictions, I tamely submit to injustice. But now I +can neither live with pleasure, nor can die without disgrace.[55] I +implore you, therefore, Conscript Fathers, by your regard for +yourselves,[56] for your children, and for your parents, and by the +majesty of the Roman people, to grant me succor in my distress, to +arrest the progress of injustice, and not to suffer the kingdom of +Numidia, which is your own property, to sink into ruin[57] through +villainy and the slaughter of our family." + +XV. When the prince had concluded his speech, the embassadors of +Jugurtha, depending more on their money than their cause, replied, in +a few words, "that Hiempsal had been put to death by the Numidians for +his cruelty; that Adherbal, commencing war of his own accord, complained, +after he was defeated, of being unable to do injury; and that Jugurtha +entreated the senate not to consider him a different person from what +he had been known to be at Numantia, nor to set the assertions of his +enemy above his own conduct." + +Both parties then withdrew from the senate-house, and the senate +immediately proceeded to deliberate. The partisans of the embassadors, +with a great many others, corrupted by their influence, expressed +contempt for the statements of Adherbal, extolled with the highest +encomiums the merits of Jugurtha, and exerted themselves as +strenuously, with their interest and eloquence, in defense of the +guilt and infamy of another, as they would have striven for their own +honor. A few, however, on the other hand, to whom right and justice +were of more estimation than wealth, gave their opinion that Adherbal +should be assisted, and the murder of Hiempsal severely avenged. Of +all these the most forward was Aemilius Scaurus,[58] a man of noble +birth and great energy, but factious, and ambitious of power, honor, +and wealth; yet an artful concealer of his own vices. He, seeing that +the bribery of Jugurtha was notorious and shameless, and fearing that, +as in such cases often happens, its scandalous profusion might excite +public odium, restrained himself from the indulgence of his ruling +passion.[59] + +XVI. Yet that party gained the superiority in the senate, which +preferred money and interest to justice. A decree was made, "that ten +commissioners should divide the kingdom, which Micipsa had possessed, +between Jugurtha and Adherbal." Of this commission the leading person +was Lucius Opimius,[60] a man of distinction, and of great influence +at that time in the senate, from having in his consulship, on the +death of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, prosecuted the +victory of the nobility over the plebeians with great severity. + +Jugurtha, though he had already counted Scaurus among his friends at +Rome, yet received him with the most studied ceremony, and, by +presents and promises, wrought on him so effectually, that he +preferred the prince's interest to his own character, honor, and all +other considerations. The rest of the commissioners he assailed in a +similar way, and gained over most of them; by a few only integrity was +more regarded than lucre. In the division of the kingdom, that part of +Numidia which borders on Mauretania, and which is superior in +fertility and population, was allotted to Jugurtha; of the other part, +which, though better furnished with harbors and buildings, was more +valuable in appearance than in reality, Adherbal became the possessor. + +XVII. My subject seems to require of me, in this place, a brief +account of the situation of Africa, and of those nations in it with +whom we have had war or alliances. But of those tracts and countries, +which, from their heat, or difficulty of access, or extent of desert, +have been but little visited, I can not possibly give any exact +description. Of the rest I shall speak with all possible brevity. + +In the division of the earth, most writers consider Africa as a third +part; a few admit only two divisions, Asia and Europe,[61] and include +Africa in Europe. It is bounded, on the west, by the strait connecting +our sea with the ocean;[62] on the east, by a vast sloping tract, +which the natives call the Catabathmos.[63] The sea is boisterous, and +deficient in harbors; the soil is fertile in corn, and good for +pasturage, but unproductive of trees. There is a scarcity of water +both from rain and from landsprings. The natives are healthy, swift of +foot, and able to endure fatigue. Most of them die by the gradual +decay of age,[64] except such as perish by the sword or beasts of +prey; for disease finds but few victims. Animals of a venomous nature +they have in great numbers. + +Concerning the original inhabitants of Africa, the settlers that +afterward joined them, and the manner in which they intermingled, I +shall offer the following brief account, which, though it differs from +the general opinion, is that which was interpreted to me from the Punic +volumes said to have belonged to King Hiempsal[65], and which the +inhabitants of that country believe to be consistent with fact. For +the truth of the statement, however, the writers themselves must be +responsible. + +XVIII. Africa, then, was originally occupied by the Getulians and +Libyans,[66] rude and uncivilized tribes, who subsisted on the flesh +of wild animals, or, like cattle, on the herbage of the soil. They +were controlled neither by customs, laws, nor the authority of any +ruler; they wandered about, without fixed habitations, and slept in +the abodes to which night drove them. But after Hercules, as the +Africans think, perished in Spain, his army, which was composed of +various nations,[67] having lost its leader, and many candidates +severally claiming the command of it, was speedily dispersed. Of its +constituent troops, the Medes, Persians, and Armenians,[68] having +sailed over into Africa, occupied the parts nearest to our sea.[69] +The Persians, however, settled more toward the ocean,[70] and used the +inverted keels of their vessels for huts, there being no wood in the +country, and no opportunity of obtaining it, either by purchase or +barter, from the Spaniards; for a wide sea, and an unknown tongue, +were barriers to all intercourse. These, by degrees, formed +intermarriages with the Getulians; and because, from constantly trying +different soils, they were perpetually shifting their abodes, they +called themselves NUMIDIANS.[71] And to this day the huts of the +Numidian boors, which they call _mapalia_, are of an oblong shape, +with curved roofs; resembling the hulls of ships. + +The Medes and Armenians connected themselves with the Libyans, who +dwelled near the African sea; while the Getulians lay more to the +sun,[72] not far from the torrid heats; and these soon built +themselves towns,[73] as, being separated from Spain only by a strait, +they proceeded to open an intercourse with its inhabitants. The name +of Medes the Libyans gradually corrupted, changing it, in their +barbarous tongue, into Moors.[74] + +Of the Persians[75] the power rapidly increased; and at length, the +children, through excess of population, separating from the parents, +they took possession, under the name of Numidians, of those regions +bordering on Carthage which are now called Numidia. In process of +time, the two parties,[76] each assisting the other, reduced the +neighboring tribes, by force or fear, under their sway; but those who +had spread toward our sea, made the greater conquests: for the Lybians +are less warlike than the Getulians[77] At last nearly all lower +Africa[78] was occupied by the Numidians; and all the conquered tribes +were merged in the nation and name of their conquerors. + +XIX. At a later period, the Phoenicians, some of whom wished to lessen +their numbers at home, and others, ambitious of empire, engaged the +populace, and such as were eager for change, to follow them, founded +Hippo,[79] Adrumetum, Leptis,[80] and other cities, on the sea-coast; +which, soon growing powerful, became partly a support, and partly an +honor, to their parent state. Of Carthage I think it better to be +silent, than to say but little; especially as time bids me hasten to +other matters. + +Next to the Catabathmos,[81] then, which divides Egypt from Africa, +the first city along the sea-coast[82] is Cyrene, a colony of +Theraeans;[83] after which are the two Syrtes,[84] with Leptis[85] +between them; then the Altars of the Philaeni,[86] which the +Carthaginians considered the boundary of their dominion on the side of +Egypt; beyond these are the other Punic towns. The other regions, as +far as Mauretania, the Numidians occupy; the Moors are nearest to +Spain. To the south of Numidia,[87] as we are informed, are the +Getulians, of whom some live in huts, and others lead a vagrant and +less civilized life; beyond these are the Ethiopians; and further on, +regions parched by the heat of the sun. + +At the time of the Jugurthine war, most of the Punic towns, and the +territories which Carthage had lately possessed,[88] were under the +government of Roman praetors; a great part of the Getulians, and +Numidia as far as the river Mulucha, were subject to Jugurtha; while +the whole of the Moors were governed by Bocchus, a king who knew +nothing of the Romans but their name, and who, before this period, +was as little known to us, either in war or peace. Of Africa and its +inhabitants I have now said all that my narrative requires. + +XX. When the commissioners, after dividing the kingdom, had left +Africa, and Jugurtha saw that, contrary to his apprehensions, he had +obtained the object of his crimes; he then being convinced of the +truth of what he had heard from his friends at Numantia, "that all +things were purchasable at Rome," and being also encouraged by the +promises of those whom he had recently loaded with presents, directed +his views to the domain of Adherbal. He was himself bold and warlike, +while the other, at whose destruction he aimed, was quiet, unfit for +arms, of a mild temper, a fit subject for injustice, and a prey to +fear rather than an object of it. Jugurtha, accordingly, with a +powerful force, made a sudden irruption into his dominions, took +several prisoners, with cattle and other booty, set fire to the +buildings, and made hostile demonstrations against several places with +his cavalry. He then retreated, with all his followers, into his own +kingdom, expecting that Adherbal, roused by such provocation, would +avenge his wrongs by force, and thus furnish a pretext for war. But +Adherbal, thinking himself unable to meet Jugurtha in the field, and +relying on the friendship of the Romans more than on the Numidians, +merely sent embassadors to Jugurtha to complain of the outrage; and, +although they brought back but an insolent reply, yet he resolved to +endure any thing rather than have recourse to war, which, when he +attempted it before, had ended in his defeat. By such conduct the +eagerness of Jugurtha was not at all allayed; for he had now, indeed, +in imagination, possessed himself of all Adherbal's dominions. He +therefore renewed hostilities, not, as before, with a predatory band, +but at the head of a large army which he had collected, and openly +aspired to the sovereignty of all Numidia. Wherever he marched, he +ravaged the towns and the fields, drove off booty, and raised +confidence in his own men and dismay among the enemy. + +XXI. Adherbal, when he found that matters had arrived at such a point, +that he must either abandon his dominions, or defend them by force of +arms, collected an army from necessity, and advanced to meet Jugurtha. +Both armies took up[89] their position near the town of Cirta[90], at +no great distance from the sea; but, as evening was approaching, +encamped without coming to an engagement. But when the night was far +advanced, and twilight was beginning to appear[91], the troops of +Jugurtha, at a given signal, rushed into the camp of the enemy, whom +they routed and put to flight, some half asleep and others resuming +their arms. Adherbal, with a few of his cavalry, fled to Cirta; and, +had there not been a number of Romans[92] in the town, who repulsed +his Numidian pursuers from the walls, the war between the two princes +would have been begun and ended on the same day. + +Jugurtha proceeded to invest the town, and attempted to storm it with +the aid of mantelets, towers, and every kind of machines; being +anxious above all things, to take it before the ambassadors could +arrive at Rome, who, he was informed, had been dispatched thither by +Adherbal before the battle was fought. But as soon as the senate heard +of their contention, three young men[93] were sent as deputies into +Africa, with directions to go to both of the princes, and to announce +to them, in the words of the senate and people of Rome, "that it was +their will and resolution that they should lay down their arms, and +settle their disputes rather by arbitration than by the sword; since +to act thus would be to the honor both of the Romans and themselves." + +XXII. These deputies soon arrived in Africa, using the greater +dispatch, because, while they were preparing for their journey, a +report was spread at Rome of the battle which had been fought, and of +the siege of Cirta; but this report told much less than the truth[94] +Jugurtha, having given them an audience, replied, "that nothing was of +greater weight with him, nothing more respected, than the authority of +the senate; that it had been his endeavor, from his youth, to deserve +the esteem of all men of worth; that he had gained the favor of +Publius Scipio, a man of the highest eminence, not by dishonorable +practices, but by merit; that, for the same good qualities, and not +from want of heirs to the throne, he had been adopted by Micipsa; but +that, the more honorable and spirited his conduct had been, the less +could his feelings endure injustice; that Adherbal had formed designs +against his life on discovering which, he had counteracted his malice; +that the Romans would act neither justly nor reasonably, if they +withheld from him the common right of nations;[96] and, in conclusion, +that he would soon send embassadors to Rome to explain the whole of +his proceedings." On this understanding, both parties separated. Of +addressing Adherbal the deputies had no opportunity. + +XXIII. Jugurtha, as soon as he thought that they had quitted Africa, +surrounded the walls of Cirta, which, from the nature of its +situation, he was unable to take by assault, with a rampart and a +trench; he also erected towers, and manned them with soldiers; he made +attempts on the place, by force or by stratagem, day and night; he +held out bribes, and some times menaces, to the besieged; he roused +his men, by exhortations, to efforts of valor, and resorted, with the +utmost perseverance, to every possible expedient. + +Adherbal, on the other hand, seeing that his affairs were in a +desperate condition, that his enemy was determined on his ruin, that +there was no hope of succor, and that the siege, from want of +provisions, could not long be protracted, selected from among those +who had fled with him to Cirta, two of his most resolute supporters, +whom he induced, by numerous promises, and an affecting representation +of his distress, to make their way in the night, through the enemy's +lines, to the nearest point of the coast, and from thence to Rome. + +XXIV. The Numidians, in a few days executed their commission; and a +letter from Adherbal was read in the senate, of which the following +was the purport: + +"It is not through my own fault, Conscript Fathers, that I so often +send requests to you; but the violence of Jugurtha compels me; whom so +strong a desire for my destruction has seized, that he pays no +regard[96] either to you or to the immortal gods; my blood he covets +beyond every thing. Five months, in consequence, have I, the ally and +friend of the Roman people, been besieged with an armed force; neither +the remembrance of my father Micipsa's benefits, nor your decrees, are +of any avail for my relief; and whether I am more closely pressed by +the sword, or by famine, I am unable to say. + +From writing further concerning Jugurtha, my present condition deters +me; for I have experienced, even before,[97] that little credit is +given to the unfortunate. Yet I can perceive that his views extend +further than to myself, and that he does not expect to possess, at the +same time, your friendship and my kingdom; which of the two he thinks +the more desirable, must be manifest to every one. For, in the first +place, he murdered my brother Hiempsal; and, in the next, expelled me +from my dominions; which, however, may be regarded as our own wrongs, +and as having no reference to you. But now he occupies your kingdom +with an army; he keeps me, whom you appointed a king over the +Numidians, in a state of blockade; and in what estimation he holds the +words of your embassadors, my perils may serve to show. What then is +left, except your arms, that can make an impression upon him? + +I could wish, indeed, that what I now write, as well as the complaints +which I lately made before the senate, were false, rather than that my +present distresses should confirm the truth of my statements. But +since I am born to be an example of Jugurtha's villainy, I do not now +beg a release from death or distress, but only from the tyranny of an +enemy, and from bodily torture. Respecting the kingdom of Numidia, +which is your own property, determine as you please, but if the memory +of my grandfather Masinissa is still cherished by you, deliver me, I +entreat you, by the majesty of your empire, and by the sacred ties of +friendship, from the inhuman hands of Jugurtha." + +XXV. When this letter was read, there were some who thought that an +army should be dispatched into Africa, and relief afforded to +Adherbal, as soon as possible; and that the senate, in the mean time, +should give judgment on the conduct of Jugurtha, in not having obeyed +the embassadors. But by the partisans of Jugurtha, the same that had +before supported his cause, effectual exertions were made to prevent +any decree from being passed; and thus the public interest, as is too +frequently the case, was defeated by private influence. + +An embassy was, however, dispatched into Africa, consisting of men of +advanced years, and of noble birth, and who had filled the highest +offices of the state; among whom was Marcus Scaurus, already mentioned, +a man who had held the consulship, and who was at that time chief of +the senate[98]. These embassadors, as their business was an affair of +public odium, and as they were urged by the entreaties of the Numidians, +embarked in three days; and having soon arrived at Utica, sent a letter +from thence to Jugurtha, desiring him "to come to the province as +quickly as possible, as they were deputed by the senate to meet him." + +Jugurtha, when he found that men of eminence, whose influence at Rome +he knew to be powerful, were come to put a stop to his proceedings, +was at first perplexed, and distracted between fear and cupidity. He +dreaded the displeasure of the senate, if he should disobey the +embassadors; while his eager spirit, blinded by the lust of power, +hurried him on to complete the injustice which he had begun. At length +the evil incitements of ambition prevailed[99]. He accordingly drew +his army round the city of Cirta, and endeavored, with his utmost +efforts, to force an entrance; having the strongest hopes, that, by +dividing the attention of the enemy's troops, he should be able, by +force or artifice, to secure an opportunity of success. When his +attempts, however, were unavailing, and he found himself unable, as +he had designed, to get Adherbal into his power before he met the +embassadors, fearing that, by further delay, he might irritate +Scaurus, of whom he stood in great dread, he proceeded with a small +body of cavalry into the Province. Yet, though serious menaces were +repeated to him in the name of the senate, because he had not desisted +from the siege, nevertheless, after spending a long time in conference, +the embassadors departed without making any impression upon him. + +XXVI. When news of this result was brought to Cirta, the Italians[100], +by whose exertions the city had been defended, and who trusted that, if +a surrender were made, they would be able, from respect to the greatness +of the Roman power, to escape without personal injury, advised Adherbal +to deliver himself and the city to Jugurtha, stipulating only that his +life should be spared, and leaving all other matters to the care of the +senate. Adherbal, though he thought nothing less trustworthy than the +honor of Jugurtha, yet, knowing that those who advised could also compel +him if he resisted, surrendered the place according to their desire. +Jugurtha immediately proceeded to put Adherbal to death with torture, +and massacred all the inhabitants that were of age, whether Numidians +or Italians, as each fell in the way of his troops. + +XXVII. When this outrage was reported at Rome, and became a matter of +discussion in the senate, the former partisans of Jugurtha applied +themselves, by interrupting the debates and protracting the time, +sometimes exerting their interest, and sometimes quarreling with +particular members, to palliate the atrocity of the deed. And had not +Caius Memmius, one of the tribunes of the people elect, a man of +energy, and hostile to the power of the nobility, convinced the people +of Rome that an attempt was being made, by the agency of a small +faction, to have the crimes of Jugurtha pardoned, it is certain that +the public indignation against him would have passed off under the +protraction of the debates; so powerful was party interest, and the +influence of Jugurtha's money. When the senate, however, from +consciousness of misconduct, became afraid of the people, Numidia and +Italy, by the Sempronian law,[101] were appointed as provinces to the +succeeding consuls, who were declared to be Publius Scipio Nasica[102], +and Lucius Bestia Calpurnius[103]. Numidia fell to Calpurnius, and Italy +to Scipio. An army was then raised to be sent into Africa; and pay, and +all other necessaries of war, were decreed for its use. + +XXVIII. When Jugurtha received this news, which was utterly at +variance with his expectations, as he had felt convinced that all +things were purchasable at Rome, he sent his son, with two of his +friends, as deputies to the senate, and directed them, like those whom +he had sent on the murder of Hiempsal, to attack every body with +bribes. Upon the approach of these deputies to Rome, the senate was +consulted by Bestia, whether they would allow them to be admitted +within the gates; and the senate decreed, "that, unless they came to +surrender Jugurtha's kingdom and himself, they must quit Italy within +the ten following days." The consul directed this decree to be +communicated to the Numidians, who consequently returned home without +effecting their object. + +Calpurnius, in the mean time, having raised an army, chose for his +officers men of family and intrigue, hoping that whatever faults he +might commit, would be screened by their influence; and among these +was Scaurus, of whose disposition and character we have already +spoken. There were, indeed, in our consul Calpurnius, many excellent +qualities, both mental and personal, though avarice interfered with +the exercise of them; he was patient of labor, of a penetrating +intellect, of great foresight, not inexperienced in war, and extremely +vigilant against danger and surprise. + +The troops were conducted through Italy to Rhegium, from thence to +Sicily, and from Sicily into Africa; and Calpurnius's first step, +after collecting provisions, was to invade Numidia with spirit, where +he took many prisoners, and several towns, by force of arms. + +XXIX. But when Jugurtha began, through his emissaries, to tempt him +with bribes, and to show the difficulties of the war which he had +undertaken to conduct, his mind, corrupted with avarice, was easily +altered. His accomplice, however, and manager in all his schemes, was +Scaurus; who, though he had at first, when most of his party were +corrupted, displayed violent hostility to Jugurtha, yet was afterward +seduced, by a vast sum of money, from integrity and honor to injustice +and perfidy. Jugurtha, however, at first sought only to purchase a +suspension of hostilities, expecting to be able, during the interval, +to make some favorable impression, either by bribery or by interest, +at Rome; but when he heard that Scaurus was co-operating with +Calpurnius, he was elated with great hopes of regaining peace, and +resolved upon a conference with them in person respecting the terms of +it. In the mean time, for the sake of giving confidence [104] to +Jugurtha, Sextus the quaestor was dispatched by the consul to Vaga, +one of the prince's towns; the pretext for his journey being the +receiving of corn, which Calpurnius had openly demanded from Jugurtha's +emissaries, on the ground that a truce was observed through their delay +to make a surrender. Jugurtha then, as he had determined, paid a visit +to the consul's camp, where, having made a short address to the council, +respecting the odium cast upon his conduct, and his desire for a +capitulation, he arranged other matters with Bestia and Scaurus in +secret; and the next day, as if by an evident majority of voices[105], +he was formally allowed to surrender. But, as was demanded in the +hearing of the council, thirty elephants, a considerable number of +cattle and horses, and a small sum of money, were delivered into the +hands of the quaestor. Calpurnius then returned to Rome to preside at +the election of magistrates[106], and peace was observed throughout +Numidia and the Roman army. + +XXX. When rumor had made known the affairs transacted in Africa, and +the mode in which they had been brought to pass, the conduct of the +consul became a subject of discussion in every place and company at +Rome. Among the people there was violent indignation; as to the +senators, whether they would ratify so flagitious a proceeding, or +annul the act of the consul, was a matter of doubt. The influence of +Scaurus, as he was said to be the supporter and accomplice of Bestia, +was what chiefly restrained the senate from acting with justice and +honor. But Caius Memmius, of whose boldness of spirit, and hatred to +the power of the nobility, I have already spoken, excited the people +by his harangues, during the perplexity and delay of the senators, to +take vengeance on the authors of the treaty; he exhorted them not to +abandon the public interest or their own liberty; he set before them +the many tyrannical and violent proceedings of the nobles, and omitted +no art to inflame the popular passions. But as the eloquence of +Memmius, at that period, had great reputation and influence I have +thought proper to give in full[107] one out of many of his speeches; +and I take, in preference to others, that which he delivered in the +assembly of the people, after the return of Bestia, in words to the +following effect: + +XXXI. "Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow-citizens, +superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which +would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of +the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all +justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more +danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the +last fifteen years[108], you have been a sport to the arrogance of an +oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders +have perished[109]; and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth +and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, +will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in +awe of those to whom you should be a terror. + +Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an +attack on the power of that faction. That liberty of speech[110], +therefore, which has been left me by my father, I shall assuredly +exert against them; but whether I shall use it in vain, or for your +advantage, must, my fellow-citizens, depend upon yourselves. I do not, +however, exhort you, as your ancestors have often done, to rise in +arms against injustice. + +There is at present no need of violence, no need of secession; for +your tyrants must work their fall by their own misconduct. + +After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring +to be king, persecutions were instituted against the common people of +Rome; and after the slaughter of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, +many of your order were put to death in prison. But let us leave these +proceedings out of the question; let us admit that to restore their +rights to the people, was to aspire to sovereignty; let us allow that +what can not be avenged without shedding the blood of citizens, was +done with justice. You have seen with silent indignation, however, in +past years, the treasury pillaged; you have seen kings, and free +people, paying tribute to a small party of Patricians, in whose hands +were both the highest honors and the greatest wealth; but to have +carried on such proceedings with impunity, they now deem but a small +matter; and, at last, your laws and your honor, with every civil and +religious obligation[111], have been sacrificed for the benefit of +your enemies. Nor do they, who have done these things, show either +shame or contrition, but parade proudly before your faces, displaying +their sacerdotal dignities, their consulships, and some of them their +triumphs, as if they regarded them as marks of honor, and not as +fruits of their dishonesty. Slaves, purchased with money[112], will +not submit to unjust commands from their masters; yet you, my +fellow-citizens, who are born to empire, tamely endure oppression. + +But who are these that have thus taken the government into their +hands? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of +insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by +whom integrity, reputation, public spirit[113], and indeed every +thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of +gain. Some of them make it their defense that they have killed +tribunes of the people; others, that they have instituted unjust +prosecutions; others, that they have shed your blood; and thus, the +more atrocities each has committed, the greater is his security; while +your oppressors, whom the same desires, the same aversions, and the +same fears, combine in strict union (a union which among good men is +friendship, but among the bad confederacy in guilt), have excited in +you, through your want of spirit, that terror which they ought to feel +for their own crimes. + +But if your concern to preserve your liberty were as great as their +ardor to increase their power of oppression, the state would not be +distracted as it is at present; and the marks of favor which proceed +from you[114], would be conferred, not on the most shameless, but on +the most deserving. Your forefathers, in order to assert their rights +and establish their authority, twice seceded in arms to Mount +Aventine; and will not you exert yourselves, to the utmost of your +power, in defense of that liberty which you received from them? Will +you not display so much the more spirit in the cause, from the +reflection that it is a greater disgrace to lose[115] what has been +gained, than not to have gained it at all? + +But some will ask me, 'What course of conduct, then, would you advise +us to pursue?' I would advise you to inflict punishment on those who +have sacrificed the interests of their country to the enemy; not, +indeed, by arms, or any violence (which would be more unbecoming, +however, for you to inflict than for them to suffer), but by +prosecutions, and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself, who, if he has +really surrendered, will doubtless obey your summons; whereas, if he +shows contempt for it, you will at once judge what sort of a peace or +surrender it is, from which springs impunity to Jugurtha for his +crimes, immense wealth to a few men in power, and loss and infamy to +the republic. + +But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; +perhaps these times please you less than those[116] when kingdoms, +provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, +and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an +oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered +by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content +with being allowed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off +your slavery? For myself, indeed, though I think it most disgraceful +to receive an injury without resenting it, yet I could easily allow +you to pardon these basest of traitors, because they are your +fellow-citizens, were it not certain that your indulgence would end in +your destruction. For such is their presumption, that to escape +punishment for their misdeeds will have but little effect upon them, +unless they be deprived, at the same time, of the power of doing +mischief; and endless anxiety will remain for you, if you shall have +to reflect that you must either be slaves or preserve your liberty by +force of arms. + +Of mutual trust, or concord, what hope is there? They wish to be +lords, you desire to be free; they seek to inflict injury, you to +repel it; they treat your allies as enemies, your enemies as allies. +With feelings so opposite, can peace or friendship subsist between +you? I warn, therefore, and exhort you, not to allow such enormous +dishonesty to go unpunished. It is not an embezzlement of the public +money[117] that has been committed; nor is it a forcible extortion of +money from your allies; offenses which, though great, are now, from +their frequency, considered as nothing; but the authority of the +senate, and your own power, have been sacrificed to the bitterest of +enemies, and the public interest has been betrayed for money, both at +home and abroad; and unless these misdeeds be investigated, and +punishment be inflicted on the guilty, what remains for us but to live +the slaves of those who committed them? For those who do what they +will with impunity are undoubtedly kings.[118] + +I do not, however, wish to encourage you, O Romans, to be better +satisfied at finding your fellow-citizens guilty than innocent, but +merely to warn you not to bring ruin on the good, by suffering the bad +to escape. It is far better, in any government, to be unmindful of a +service than of an injury; for a good man, if neglected, only becomes +less active; but a bad man, more daring. Besides, if the crimes of the +wicked are suppressed,[119] the state will seldom need extraordinary +support from the virtuous." + +XXXII. By repeating these and similar sentiments, Memmius prevailed on +the people to send Lucius Cassius,[120] who was then praetor, to +Jugurtha, and to bring him, under guarantee of the public faith[121], +to Rome, in order that, by the prince's evidence, the misconduct of +Scaurus and the rest, whom they charged with having taken bribes, +might more easily be made manifest. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had +left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their +general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced +by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his +deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so +strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had +pervaded the breasts of all. + +Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and +while all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission +to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, +from a sense of guilt, he admonished "that since he had surrendered +himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than +their power." He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not +less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at that period, +was the reputation of Cassius. + +XXXIII. Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but +without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of +a suppliant[122]; and, though he felt great confidence on his own +part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy +he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the +aid of Caius Baebius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he +hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm. + +An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although they were +violently exasperated against Jugurtha, (some demanding that he should +be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his +accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the +usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather +their character than their resentment, endeavored to calm their +turbulence and mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as +depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, +when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed +them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and +set forth his crimes toward his father and brothers; and admonished +the prince, "that the Roman people, though they were well aware by +whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony +from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope +for him in the honor and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed +it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and +his hopes forever." + +XXXIV. But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was +expected to give his answer, Caius Baebius, the tribune of the people, +whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to +hold his peace[123]; and though the multitude, who formed the +assembly, were desperately enraged, and endeavored to terrify the +tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every +other act to which anger prompts[124], his audacity was at last +triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the +place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the +others, whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented. +XXXV. There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named +Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having +been, in the dissensions among the princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had +been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, +to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with +Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, +as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung +over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom +of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for the conduct of a war, was +desirous that affairs should be disturbed[125], rather than sink into +tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia +had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. + +When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, +Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as +a sense of guilt deterred some, and evil report or timidity others, +from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most +attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by +which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and +to do it secretly if he could; but, if secrecy should be impossible, +to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon +found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such +service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of +leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places +[126], and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of +their number sprung upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and +killed him; but being himself caught, he made, at the instigation of +many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. +Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the +principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of +nations[127], as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on +a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though +clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the +truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong +for his interest or his money. For which reason, although, at the +commencement of the proceedings[128], he had given fifty of his +friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet, thinking more of his kingdom than +of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia; for he feared +that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be +deterred from obeying him[129]. A few days after, he himself departed, +having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going +from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, +to have at last exclaimed, "That it was a venal city, and would soon +perish, if it could but find a purchaser!"[130] + +XXXVI. The war being now renewed, Albinus hastened to transport +provisions, money, and other things necessary for the army, into +Africa, whither he himself soon followed, with the hope that, before +the time of the comitia, which was not far distant, he might be able, +by an engagement, by capitulation, or by some other method, to bring +the contest to a conclusion. + +Jugurtha, on the other hand, tried every means of protracting the war, +continually inventing new causes for delay; at one time he promised to +surrender, at another he feigned distrust; he retreated when Albinus +attacked him, and then, lest his men should lose courage, attacked in +return, and thus amused the consul with alternate procrastinations of +war and of peace. + +There were some, at that time, who thought that Albinus understood +Jugurtha's object, and who believed that so ready a protraction of the +war, after so much haste at the commencement, was to be attributed +less to tardiness than to treachery. However this might be, Albinus, +when time passed on, and the day of the comitia approached, left his +brother Aulus in the camp as propraetor[131], and returned to Rome. + +XXXVII. The republic, at this time, was grievously distracted by the +contentions of the tribunes. Two of them, Publius Lucullus and Lucius +Annius, were struggling against the will of their colleagues, to +prolong their term of office; and this dispute put off the comitia +throughout the year[132]. In consequence of this delay, Aulus, who, as +I have just said, was left as propraetor in the camp, conceiving hopes +either of finishing the war, or of extorting money from Jugurtha by +the terror of his army, drew out his troops in the month of January, +from their winter-quarters into the field, and by forced marches, +during severe weather, made his way to the town of Suthul, where +Jugurtha's treasures were deposited. And though this place, both from +the inclemency of the season, and from its advantageous situation, +could neither be taken nor besieged; for around its walls, which were +built on the edge of a steep hill[133], a marshy plain, flooded by the +rains of winter, had been converted into a lake; yet Aulus, either as +a feint to strike terror into Jugurtha, or blinded by avarice, began +to move forward his vineae[134], to cast up a rampart, and to hasten +all necessary preparations for a siege. + +XXXVIII. Jugurtha, seeing the propraetor's vanity and ignorance, +artfully strengthened his infatuation; he sent him, from time to time, +deputies with submissive messages, while he himself, as if desirous to +escape, led his army away through woody defiles and cross-roads. At +length he succeeded in alluring Aulus, by the prospect of a surrender +on conditions, to leave Suthul, and pursue him, as if in full retreat, +into the remoter parts of the country. Meanwhile, by means of skillful +emissaries, he tampered night and day with our men, and prevailed on +some of the officers, both of infantry and cavalry, to desert to him +at once, and upon others to quit their posts at a given signal, that +their defection might thus be less observed[135]. Having prepared +matters according to his wishes, he suddenly surrounded the camp of +Aulus, in the dead of night, with a vast body of Numidians. The Roman +soldiers were alarmed with an unusual disturbance; some of them seized +their arms, others hid themselves, others encouraged those that were +afraid; but consternation prevailed every where; for the number of the +enemy was great, the sky was thick with clouds and darkness, the +danger was indiscernible, and it was uncertain whether it were safer +to flee or to remain. Of those whom I have just mentioned as being +bribed, one cohort of Ligurians, with two troops of Thracian horse, +and a few common soldiers, went over to Jugurtha; and the chief +centurion[136] of the third legion allowed the enemy an entrance at +the very post which he had been appointed to defend, and at which all +the Numidians poured into the camp. Our men fled disgracefully, the +greater part having thrown away their arms, and took possession of a +neighboring hill. Night, and the spoils of the camp, prevented the +enemy from making full use of this victory. On the following day, +Jugurtha, coming to a conference with Aulus, told him, "that though he +held him hemmed in by famine and the sword, yet that, being mindful of +human vicissitudes, he would, if they would make a treaty with him, +allow them to depart uninjured; only that they must pass under the +yoke, and quit Numidia within ten days." These terms were severe and +ignominious; but, as death was the alternative[137], peace was +concluded as Jugurtha desired. + +XXXIX. When this affair was made known at Rome, consternation and +dismay pervaded the city; some were concerned for the glory of the +republic; others, ignorant of war, trembled for their liberty. But +all were indignant at Aulus, and especially those who had been +distinguished in the field, because, with arms in his hands, he had +sought safety in disgrace rather than in resistance. The consul +Albinus, apprehending, from the delinquency of his brother, odium and +danger to himself, consulted the senate on the treaty which had been +made, but, at the same time, raised recruits for the army, sent for +auxiliaries to the allies and Latins, and made general preparations +for war. The senate, as was just, decreed, "that no treaty could be +made without their own consent and that of the people." + +The consul, though he was hindered by the influence of the tribunes +from taking with him the force which he had raised, set out in a few +days for the province of Africa, where the whole army, being +withdrawn, according to the agreement, from Numidia, had gone into +winter-quarters. When he arrived there, although he longed to pursue +Jugurtha, and diminish the odium that had fallen on his brother, yet, +when he saw the state of the troops, whom, besides the flight and +relaxation of discipline, licentiousness, and debauchery had +corrupted, he determined, under all the circumstances of the +case[138], to attempt nothing. + +XL. At Rome, in the mean time, Caius Mamilius Limetanus, one of the +tribunes, proposed that the people should pass a bill for instituting +an inquiry into the conduct of those by whose influence Jugurtha had +set at naught the decrees of the senate, as well as of those who, +whether as embassadors or commanders, had received money from him, or +who had restored to him his elephants and deserters, or had made any +compacts with the enemy relative to peace or war. To this bill some, +who were conscious of guilt, and others, who apprehended danger from +the jealousy of parties, secretly raised obstructions through the +agency of friends, and especially of men among the Latins and Italian +allies[139], since they could not openly resist it, without admitting +that these and similar practices met their approbation. But as to the +people, it is incredible what eagerness they displayed, and with what +spirit they approved, voted, and passed the bill, though rather from +hatred to the nobility, against whom these severe measures were +directed, than from concern for the republic; so violent was the fury +of party. + +While the rest of the delinquents were in trepidation, Marcus Scaurus +[140], whom I have previously noticed as Bestia's lieutenant, +contrived, amid the exultation of the populace, the dismay of his own +party, and the continued agitation in the city, to have himself +elected one of the three commissioners who were appointed by the bill +of Mamilius to carry it into execution. But the investigation, +notwithstanding, was conducted [141] with great rigor and violence, +under the influence of common rumor and popular caprice; for the +insolence of success, which had often distinguished the nobility, on +this occasion characterized the people. + +XLI. The prevalence of parties among the people, and of factions in +the senate, and of all evil practices attendant on them, had its +origin at Rome, a few years before, during a period of tranquillity, +and amid the abundance of all that mankind regarded as desirable. For, +before the destruction of Carthage, the senate and people managed the +affairs of the republic with mutual moderation and forbearance; there +were no contests among the citizens for honor or ascendency; but the +dread of an enemy kept the state in order. When that fear, however, +was removed from their minds, licentiousness and pride, evils which +prosperity loves to foster, immediately began to prevail; and thus +peace, which they had so eagerly desired in adversity, proved, when +they had obtained it, more grievous and fatal than adversity itself. +The patricians carried their authority, and the people their liberty, +to excess; every man took, snatched, and seized[142] what he could. +There was a complete division into two factions, and the republic was +torn in pieces between them. Yet the nobility still maintained an +ascendency by conspiring together; for the strength of the people, +being disunited and dispersed among a multitude, was less able to +exert itself. Things were accordingly directed, both at home and in +the field, by the will of a small number of men, at whose disposal +were the treasury, the provinces, offices, honors, and triumphs; while +the people were oppressed with military service and with poverty, and +the generals divided the spoils of war with a few of their friends. +The parents and children of the soldiers,[143] meantime, if they +chanced to dwell near a powerful neighbor, were driven from their +homes. Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and +wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding +alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its +own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility[144], who +preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a +tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a +convulsion of the earth. + +XLII. Thus when Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose forefathers had +done much to increase the power of the state in the Punic and other +wars, began to vindicate the liberty of the people, and to expose the +misconduct of the few, the nobility, conscious of guilt, and seized +with alarm, endeavored, sometimes by means of the allies and +Latins[145], and sometimes by means of the equestrian order, whom the +hope of coalition with the patricians had detached from the people, to +put a stop to the proceedings of the Gracchi; and first they killed +Tiberius, and a few years after Caius, who pursued the same measures +as his brother, the one when he was tribune, and the other when he was +one of a triumvirate for settling colonies; and with them they cut off +Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. In the Gracchi, indeed, it must be allowed +that, from their ardor for victory, there was not sufficient prudence. +But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit[146] to +injustice than to triumph over it by improper means. The nobility, +however, using their victory with wanton extravagance, exterminated +numbers of men by the sword or by exile, yet rather increased, for the +time to come, the dread with which they were regarded, than their real +power. Such proceedings have often ruined powerful states; for of two +parties, each strives to suppress the other by any means whatever, and +take vengeance with undue severity on the vanquished. + +But were I to attempt to treat of the animosities of parties, and of +the morals of the state, with minuteness of detail, and suitably to +the vastness of the subject, time would fail me sooner than matter. I +therefore return to my subject. + +XLIII. After the treaty of Aulus, and the disgraceful flight of our +army, Quintus Metellus and Marcus Silanus, the consuls elect, divided +the provinces between them; and Numidia fell to Metellus, a man of +energy, and, though an opponent of the popular party, yet of a +character uniformly irreproachable[147]. He, as soon as he entered on +his office, regarded all other things as common to himself and his +colleague[148], but directed his chief attention to the war which he +was to conduct. Distrusting, therefore, the old army, he began to +raise new troops, to procure auxiliaries from all parts, and to +provide arms, horses, and other military requisites, besides +provisions in abundance, and every thing else which was likely to be +of use in a war varied in its character, and demanding great +resources. To assist in accomplishing these objects, the allies and +Latins, by the appointment of the senate, and different princes[149] +of their own accord, sent supplies; and the whole state exerted itself +in the cause with the greatest zeal. Having at length prepared and +arranged every thing according to his wishes, Metellus set out for +Numidia, attended with sanguine expectations on the part of his +fellow-citizens, not only because of his other excellent qualities, +but especially because his mind was proof against gold; for it was +through the avarice of our commanders, that, down to this period, our +affairs in Numidia had been ruined, and those of the enemy rendered +prosperous. + +XLIV. When he arrived in Africa, the command of the army was resigned +to him by Albinus, the proconsul[150]; but it was an army spiritless +and unwarlike; incapable of encountering either danger or fatigue; +more ready with the tongue than with the sword; accustomed to plunder +our allies, while itself was the prey of the enemy; unchecked by +discipline, and void of all regard to its character. The new general, +accordingly, felt more anxiety from the corrupt morals of the men, +than confidence or hope from their numbers. He determined, however, +though the delay of the comitia had shortened his summer campaign, and +though he knew his countrymen to be anxious for the result of his +proceedings, not to commence operations, until, by a revival of the +old discipline, he had brought the soldiers to bear fatigue. For +Albinus, dispirited by the disaster of his brother Aulus and his army, +and having resolved not to leave the province during the portion of +the summer that he was to command, had kept the soldiers, for the most +part, in a stationary camp[151], except when stench, or want of +forage, obliged them to remove. But neither had the camp been +fortified[152], nor the watches kept, according to military usage; +every one had been allowed to leave his post when he pleased. The +camp-followers, mingled with the soldiers, wandered about day and +night, ravaging the country, robbing the houses, and vying with each +other in carrying off cattle and slaves, which they exchanged with +traders for foreign wine[153] and other luxuries; they even sold the +corn, which was given them from the public store, and bought bread +from day to day; and, in a word, whatever abominations, arising from +idleness and licentiousness, can be expressed or imagined, and even +more, were to be seen in that army. + +XLV. But I am assured that Metellus, in these difficult circumstances, +no less than in his operations against the enemy, proved himself a +great and wise man; so just a medium did he observe between an +affectation of popularity and an excessive enforcement of discipline. +His first measure was to remove incentives to idleness, by a general +order that no one should sell bread, or any other dressed provisions, +in the camp; that no sutlers should follow the army; and that no +common soldier should have a servant, or beast of burden, either in a +camp or on a march. He made the strictest regulations, too, with +regard to other things.[154] He moved his camp daily, exercising the +soldiers by marches across the country; he fortified it with a rampart +and a trench, exactly as if the enemy had been at hand; he placed +numerous sentinels[155] by night, and went the rounds with his +officers; and, when the army was on the march; he would be at one time +in the front, at another in the rear, and at another in the center, to +see that none quitted their ranks, that the men kept close to their +standards, and that every soldier carried his provisions and his arms. +Thus by preventing rather than punishing irregularities, he in a short +time rendered his army effective. + +XLVI. Jugurtha, meantime, having learned from his emissaries how +Metellus was proceeding, and having heard, when he was in Rome, of the +integrity of the consul's character, began to despair of his plans, +and at length actually endeavored to effect a capitulation. He +therefore sent deputies to the consul with proposals of submission, +stipulating only for his own life and that of his children, and +offering to surrender every thing else to the Romans. But Metellus had +already learned by experience, that the Numidians were a faithless +race, of unsettled disposition, and fond of change; and he accordingly +applied himself to each of the deputies separately, and after +gradually sounding them, and finding them proper instruments for his +purpose, prevailed on them, by large promises, to deliver Jugurtha +into his hands; bringing him alive, if they could, or dead, if to take +him alive was impracticable. In public, however, he directed that such +an answer should be given to the king as would be agreeable to his +wishes. + +A few days afterward, he led the army, which was now vigorous and +resolute, into Numidia, where, instead of any appearance of war, he +found the cottages full of people, and the cattle and laborers in the +fields, while the officers of Jugurtha came from the towns and +villages[156] to meet him, offering to supply him with corn, to convey +provisions for him, and to do whatever might be required of them. +Metellus, notwithstanding, made no diminution in the caution with +which he marched, but kept as much upon the defensive as if an enemy +had been at hand; and he dispatched scouts to explore the country, +thinking that these signs of submission were but pretense, and that +the Numidians were watching an opportunity for treachery. He himself, +with some light-armed cohorts, and a select body of slingers and +archers, advanced always in the front; while Caius Marius, his +lieutenant-general, at the head of the cavalry, had charge of the +rear. The auxiliary horse, distributed among the tribunes of the +legions and prefects of the cohorts, he placed on the flanks, so that, +with the aid of the light troops mixed with them, they might repel the +enemy whenever an approach should be made. For such was the subtlety +of Jugurtha, and such his knowledge of the country and the art of war, +that it was doubtful whether he was more formidable absent or present, +offering peace or threatening hostilities. + +XLVII. There lay, not far from the route which Metellus was pursuing, +a city of the Numidians named Vaga, the most celebrated place for +trade in the whole kingdom, in which many Italian merchants were +accustomed to reside and traffic. Here the consul, to try the +disposition of the inhabitants, and, should they allow him, to take +advantage of the situation of the place[157], established a garrison, +and ordered the people to furnish him with corn, and other necessaries +for war; thinking, as circumstances indeed suggested, that the +concourse of merchants, and frequent arrival of supplies[158], would +add strength to his army, and further the plans which he had already +formed. + +In the midst of these proceedings, Jugurtha, with extraordinary +earnestness[159], sent deputies to sue for peace, offering to resign +every thing to Metellus, except his own life and that of his children. +These, like the former, the consul first reduced to treachery, and +then sent back; the peace which Jugurtha asked, he neither granted nor +refused, but waited, during these delays, the performance of the +deputies' promises. XLVIII. Jugurtha, on comparing the words of +Metellus with his actions, perceived that he was assailed with his own +artifices; for though peace was offered him in words, a most vigorous +war was in reality pursued against him; one of his strongest cities +was wrested from him; his country was explored by the enemy, and the +affections of his subjects alienated. Being compelled, therefore, by +the necessity of circumstances, he resolved to try the fortune of a +battle. Having, with this view, informed himself of the exact route of +the enemy, and hoping for success from the advantage of the ground, he +collected as large a force of every kind as he could, and, marching by +cross-roads, got in advance of Metellus' army. + +There was, in that part of Numidia, of which, on the division of the +kingdom, Adherbal had become possessor, a river named Muthul, flowing +from the south; and, about twenty miles from it, was a range of +mountains running parallel with the stream[160], wild and +uncultivated; but from the center of it stretched a kind of hill, +reaching to a vast distance, covered with wild olives, myrtles, and +other trees, such as grow in a dry and sandy soil. The plain, which +lay between the mountains and the Muthul, was uninhabited from want of +water, except the parts bordering on the river, which were planted +with trees, and full of cattle and inhabitants. + +XLIX. On this hill, which I have just mentioned, stretching in a +transverse direction[161], Jugurtha took post with his line drawn out +to a great length. The command of the elephants, and of part of the +infantry, he committed to Bomilcar, and gave him instructions how to +act. He himself, with the whole of the cavalry and the choicest of the +foot, took his station nearer to the range of mountains. Then, riding +round among the several squadrons and battalions, he exhorted and +conjured them to call to mind their former prowess and triumphs, and +to defend themselves and their country from Roman rapacity; saying +that they would have to engage with those whom they had already +conquered and sent under the yoke, and that, though their commander +was changed, there was no alteration in their spirit. He added, that +he had provided for his men every thing becoming a general; that he +had chosen the higher ground, where they, being well acquainted with +the country[162], would contend with adversaries ignorant of it; nor +would they engage, inferior in numbers and skill, with a larger or +more experienced force; and that they should, therefore, be ready, +when the signal should be given, to fall vigorously on the Romans, as +that day would either crown[163] all their labors and victories, or be +a prelude to the most grievous calamities. He also addressed himself, +individually, to any one whom he had rewarded with money or honors for +military desert, reminding him of his favors, and pointing him out as +an example to the rest; and finally he excited all his men, some in +one way and some in another, by threats or entreaties, according to +the different dispositions of each. + +Metellus, who was still ignorant of the enemy's position, was now +seen[164] descending the mountain with his army. He was at first +doubtful what the strange appearance before him indicated; for the +Numidians, both cavalry and infantry, had taken post among the wood, +not entirely concealing themselves, by reason of the lowness of the +trees, yet rendering it uncertain[165] what they were, as both +themselves and their standards were screened as well by the nature of +the ground as by artifice; but soon perceiving that there were men in +ambush, he halted awhile, and, having altered the arrangement of his +troops, he drew up those in the right wing, which was nearest to the +enemy, in three lines[166]; he distributed the slingers and archers +among the infantry, posted all the cavalry on the flanks, and having +made a brief address, such as time permitted, to his men, he led them +down, with the front changed into a flank[167], toward the plain. + +L. But when he observed that the Numidians remained quiet, and did not +offer to descend from the hill, he became apprehensive that his army, +from the season of the year and the scarcity of water, might be +overcome with thirst, and therefore sent Rutilius, one of his +lieutenant-generals, with the light-armed cohorts and a detachment of +cavalry, toward the river, to secure ground for an encampment, +expecting that the enemy, by frequent charges and attacks on his +flank, would endeavor to impede his march, and, as they despaired of +success in arms, would try the effect of fatigue and thirst on his +troops. + +He then continued to advance by degrees, as his circumstances and the +ground permitted, in the same order in which he had descended from the +range of mountains. He assigned Marius his post behind the front +line[168], and took on himself the command of the cavalry on the left +wing, which, on the march, had become the van[169]. + +When Jugurtha perceived that the rear of the Roman army had passed his +first line, he took possession of that part of the mountain from which +Metellus had descended, with a body of about two thousand infantry, +that it might not serve the enemy, if they were driven back, as a +place of retreat, and afterward as a post of defense; and then, +ordering the signal to be given, suddenly commenced his attack. Some +of his Numidians made havoc in the rear of the Romans, while others +assailed them on the right and left wings; they all advanced and +charged furiously, and every where threw the consul's troops into +confusion. Even those of our men who made the stoutest resistance, +were baffled by the enemy's versatile method of fighting, and wounded +from a distance, without having the power of wounding in return, or of +coming to close combat; for the Numidian cavalry, as they had been +previously instructed by Jugurtha, retreated whenever a troop of +Romans attempted to pursue them, but did not keep in a body, or +collect themselves into one place, but dispersed as widely as +possible. Thus, being superior in numbers, if they could not deter the +Romans from pursuing, they surrounded them, when disordered, on the +rear or flank, or, if the hill seemed more convenient for retreat than +the plain, the Numidian horses, being accustomed to the brushwood, +easily made their way among it, while the difficulty of the ascent, +and want of acquaintance with the ground, impeded those of the Romans. + +LI. The aspect of the whole struggle[170] was indeed various, +perplexing, direful, and lamentable; the men, separated from their +comrades, were partly fleeing, partly pursuing; neither standards nor +ranks were regarded, but wherever danger pressed, there they made a +stand and defended themselves; arms and weapons, horses and men, +enemies, and fellow-countrymen, were all mingled in confusion; nothing +was done by direction or command, but chance ordered every thing. +Though the day, therefore, was now far advanced, the event of the +contest was still uncertain. At last, however, when all were faint +with exertion and the heat of the day, Metellus, observing that the +Numidians were less vigorous in their charges, drew his troops +together by degrees, restored order among them, and led four cohorts +of the legions against the enemy's infantry, of whom a great number, +overcome with fatigue, had seated themselves on the high ground. He at +the same time entreated and exhorted his men not to lose courage, nor +to suffer a flying enemy to be victorious; adding that they had +neither camp nor citadel to which they could flee, but that their only +dependence was on their arms. Nor was Jugurtha, in the mean time, +inactive; he rode round among his troops, cheered them, renewed the +contest, and, at the head of a select body, made every possible effort +for victory; supporting his own men, charging such of the enemy as +wavered, and repressing with missiles such as he saw remaining +unshaken. + +LII. Thus did these two commanders, both eminent men, maintain the +contest against each other. In personal ability they were equal, but +in circumstances unequal. Metellus had resolute troops, but a +disadvantageous position; Jugurtha had every thing in his favor except +men. At last the Romans, seeing that they had no place of refuge, that +the enemy allowed no opportunity for a regular engagement, and that +the evening was fast approaching, forced their way, according to the +orders which were given, up the hill. The Numidians were thus driven +from their position, routed, and put to flight; a few of them were +slain, but their speed, and the enemy's ignorance of the country[171], +saved the greater number of them. + +Meanwhile Bomilcar, who, as I have said before, was appointed by +Jugurtha over the elephants and a part of the infantry, having seen +Rutilius pass by him, led down his men gradually into the plain, and +while Rutilius hastened to the river, to which he had been dispatched, +quietly drew them up in such order as circumstances required; not +omitting, at the same time, to watch every movement of the enemy. When +he learned that Rutilius had taken his position, and seemed free from +apprehension of danger, and heard, at the same time, an increasing +noise where Jugurtha was engaged, fearing lest the lieutenant-general, +taking the alarm, should go to the support of his countrymen in +difficulties, he, in order to intercept his march, increased the +extent of his lines, which, from distrust of the bravery of his men, +he had previously condensed, and advanced in this order toward +Rutilius' camp. + +LIII. The Romans, on a sudden, observed a vast cloud of dust, which, +as the ground, thickly covered with brushes, obstructed their view, +they at first supposed to be only sand raised by the wind; but at +length, when they saw that it continued uniform, and approached nearer +and nearer as the line advanced, they understood the real cause of it, +and, hastily seizing their arms, drew up, as their commander directed, +before the camp. When the enemy came up, both sides rushed to the +encounter with loud shouts. But the Numidians maintained the contest +only as long as they trusted for support to their elephants; for, when +they saw the animals entangled in the boughs of the trees, and +dispersed or surrounded by the enemy, they betook themselves to +flight, and most of them, having thrown away their arms, escaped, by +favor of the hill, or of the night, which was now coming on, without +injury. Of the elephants, four were taken, and the rest, to the number +of forty, were killed. + +The Romans, though fatigued and exhausted[172] with their march, the +construction of their camp, and the engagement, yet, as Metellus was +longer in coming than they expected, advanced to meet him in regular +and steady order. The subtlety of the Numidians, indeed, allowed them +neither rest nor relaxation. But as the two parties drew together, in +the obscurity of the night, each occasioned, by a noise like that of +enemies approaching, alarm and trepidation in the other; and, had not +parties of horse, sent forward from both sides, ascertained the truth, +a fatal disaster was on the point of happening from the mistake. +However, in place of fear, joy quickly succeeded; the soldiers met +with mutual congratulations, relating their adventures, or listening +to those of others, and each extolling his own achievements to the +skies. For thus it is with human affairs; in success, even cowards may +boast; while defeat lowers the character even of heroes. + +LIV. Metellus remained four days in the same camp. He carefully +provided for the recovery of the wounded, rewarded, in military +fashion, such as had distinguished themselves in the engagements, and +praised and thanked them all in a public address; exhorting them to +maintain equal resolution in their future labors, which would be less +arduous, as they had fought sufficiently for victory, and would now +have to contend only for spoil. In the mean time he dispatched +deserters, and other eligible persons, to ascertain where Jugurtha +was, or what he was doing; whether he had but few followers, or a +large army; and how he conducted himself under his defeat. The prince, +he found, had retreated to places full of wood, well defended by +nature, and was there collecting an army, which would be more numerous +indeed than the former, but inactive and inefficient, as being +composed of men better acquainted with husbandry and cattle than with +war. This had happened from the circumstance, that, in case of flight, +none of the Numidian troops, except the royal cavalry, follow their +king; the rest disperse, wherever inclination leads them; nor is this +thought any disgrace to them as soldiers, such being the custom of the +people. + +Metellus, therefore, seeing that Jugurtha's spirit was still +unsubdued; that a war was being renewed, which could only be +conducted[173] according to the prince's pleasure; and that he was +struggling with the enemy on unequal terms, as the Numidians suffered +a defeat with less loss than his own men gained a victory, he resolved +to manage the contest, not by pitched battles or regular warfare, but +in another method. He accordingly marched into the richest parts of +Numidia, captured and burned many fortresses and towns, which were +insufficiently or wholly undefended, put the youth to the sword, and +gave up every thing else as plunder to his soldiers. From the terror +caused by these proceedings, many persons were given up as hostages to +the Romans; corn, and other necessaries, were supplied in abundance; +and garrisons were admitted wherever Metellus thought fit. + +These measures alarmed Jugurtha much more than the loss of the late +battle; for he, whose whole security lay in flight, was compelled to +pursue; and he who could not defend his own part of the kingdom, was +obliged to make war in that which was occupied by others. Under these +circumstances, however[174], he adopted what seemed the most eligible +plan. He ordered the main body of his army to continue stationary; +while he himself, with a select troop of cavalry, went in pursuit of +Metellus, and coming upon him unperceived, by means of night marches +and by-roads, he fell upon such of the Roman as were straggling about, +of whom the greater number, being unarmed, were slain, and several +others made prisoners; not one of them, indeed, escaped unharmed; and +the Numidians, before assistance could arrive from the camp, fled, as +they had been ordered, to the nearest hills. + +LV. In the mean time great joy appeared at Rome when the proceedings +of Metellus were reported, and when it was known how he was conducting +himself and his army conformably to the ancient discipline; how, on +adverse ground, he had gained a victory by his valor; how he was +securing possession of the enemy's territory; and how he had driven +Jugurtha, when elated by the weakness of Aulus, to depend for safety +on the desert or on flight. For these successes, accordingly, the +senate decreed a thanksgiving[175] to the immortal gods; the city, +which had been full of anxiety, and apprehensive as to the event of +the war, was now filled with joy; and the fame of Metellus was raised +to the utmost height. + +The consul's eagerness to gain a complete victory was thus increased; +he exerted himself in every possible way, taking care, at the same +time, to give the enemy no opportunity of attacking him to advantage. +He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the +more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and +circumspection. He never went out to plunder, after the sudden attack +of Jugurtha, with his troops in scattered parties; when corn or forage +was sought, a body of cohorts, with the whole of the cavalry, were +stationed as a guard. He himself conducted part of the army, and +Marius the rest. The country was wasted, however, more by fire than by +spoliation. They had separate camps, not far from each other; whenever +there was occasion for force, they formed a union; but, that +desolation and terror might spread the further, they acted separately. +Jugurtha, meanwhile, continued to follow them along the hills, +watching for a favorable opportunity or situation for an attack. He +destroyed the forage, and spoiled the water, which was scarce, +wherever he found that the enemy were coming. He presented himself +sometimes to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius; he would attack their +rear upon a march, and instantly retreat to the hills; he would +threaten sometimes one point, and sometimes another, neither giving +battle nor allowing rest, but making it his great object to retard the +progress of the enemy. + +LVI. The Roman commander, finding himself thus harassed by artifices, +and allowed no opportunity of coming to a general engagement, resolved +on laying siege to a large city, named Zama, which was the bulwark of +that part of the kingdom in which it was situate; expecting that +Jugurtha, as a necessary consequence, would come to the relief of his +subjects in distress, and that a battle would then follow. But the +king, being apprised by some deserters of the consul's design, reached +the place, by rapid marches, before him, and exhorted the inhabitants +to defend their walls, giving them, as a reinforcement, a body of +deserters; a class of men, who, of all the royal forces, were the most +to be trusted, inasmuch as they dared not be guilty of treachery[176]. +He also promised to support them, whenever it should be necessary, +with his whole army. + +Having taken these precautions, he retired into the deserts of the +interior; where he soon after learned that Marius, with a few cohorts, +had been dispatched from the line of march to bring provisions from +Sicca[177], a town which had been the first to revolt from him after +his defeat. To this place he hastened by night, accompanied by a +select body of cavalry, and attacked the Romans at the gate, just as +they were leaving the city; calling to the inhabitants, at the same +time, with a loud voice, to surround the cohorts in the rear; adding, +that Fortune had given them an opportunity for a glorious exploit; and +that, if they took advantage of it, he would henceforth enjoy his +kingdom, and they their liberty, without fear. And had not Marius +hastened to advance the standards, and to escape from the town, it is +certain that all, or the greater part of the inhabitants, would have +changed their allegiance; so great is the fickleness which the +Numidians exhibit in their conduct. The soldiers of Jugurtha, animated +for a time by their king, but finding the enemy pressing them with +superior force, betook themselves, after losing a few of their number, +to flight. + +LVII. Marius arrived at Zama. This town, built on a plain, was better +fortified by art than by nature. It was well supplied with +necessaries, and contained plenty of arms and men. Metellus, having +made arrangements suitable for the time and the place, encompassed the +whole city with his army, assigning to each of his officers his post +of command. At a given signal, a loud shout was raised on every side, +but without exciting the least alarm in the Numidians, who awaited the +attack full of spirit and resolution. The assault was consequently +commenced; the Romans were allowed to act each according to his +inclination; some annoyed the enemy with slings and stones from a +distance; others came close up to the walls, and attempted to +undermine or scale them, desiring to engage in close combat with the +besieged. The Zamians, on the other hand, rolled down stones, and +hurled burning stakes, javelins[178], and wood smeared with pitch and +sulphur, on the nearest assailants. Nor was caution a sufficient +protection to those who kept aloof; for darts, discharged from engines +or by the hand, inflicted wounds on most of them; and thus the brave and +the timid, though of unequal merit, were exposed to equal danger. + +LVIII. While the struggle was thus continued at Zama, Jugurtha, at the +head of a large force, suddenly attacked the camp of the Romans, and, +through the remissness of those left to guard it, who expected any +thing rather than an attack, effected an entrance at one of the gates. +Our men, struck with sudden consternation, acted each on his own +impulse; some fled, others seized their arms; and many of them were +wounded or slain. About forty, however, out of the whole number +mindful of the honor of Rome, formed themselves into a body, and took +possession of a slight eminence, from which they could not be +dislodged by the utmost efforts of the enemy, but hurled back the +darts discharged at them, and, as they were few against many, not +without execution. If the Numidians came near them, they displayed +their courage, and slaughtered, repulsed, and dispersed them, with the +greatest fury. Metellus, meanwhile, who was vigorously pursuing the +siege, heard a noise, as of enemies, in his rear, and, turning round +his horse, perceived a party of soldiers in flight toward him; a +certain proof that they were his own men. He instantly, therefore, +dispatched the whole of the cavalry to the camp, and immediately +afterward Caius Marius, with the cohorts of the allies, entreating him +with tears, by their mutual friendship, and by his regard for the +public welfare, to allow no stain to rest on a victorious army, and +not to let the enemy escape with impunity. Marius soon executed his +orders. Jugurtha, in consequence, after being embarrassed in the +intrenchments of the camp, while some of his men threw themselves over +the ramparts, and others, in their haste, obstructed each other at the +gates, fled, with considerable loss, to his strongholds, Metellus, not +succeeding in his attempt on the town, retired with his forces, at the +approach of night, into his camp. + +LIX. On the following day, before he marched out to resume the siege, +he ordered the whole of his cavalry to take their station before the +camp, on the side where the approach of Jugurtha was to be apprehended; +assigning the gates, and adjoining posts, to the charge of the tribunes. +He then marched toward the town, and commenced an assault upon the walls +as on the day before. Jugurtha, meanwhile, issuing from his concealment, +suddenly attacked our men in the camp, of whom those stationed in advance +were for the moment alarmed and thrown into confusion; but the rest soon +came to their support; nor would the Numidians have longer maintained +their ground, had not their foot, which were mingled with the cavalry, +done great execution in the struggle; for the horse, relying on the +infantry, did not, as is common in actions of cavalry, charge and then +retreat, but pressed impetuously forward, disordering and breaking the +ranks, and thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost succeeded +in giving the army a defeat[179]. + +LX. The conflict at Zama, at the same time, was continued with great +fury. Wherever any lieutenant or tribune commanded, there the men +exerted themselves with the utmost vigor. No one seemed to depend for +support on others, but every one on his own exertions. The townsmen, +on the other side, showed equal spirit. Attacks, or preparations for +defense, were made in all quarters[180]. All appeared more eager to +wound their enemies than to protect themselves. Shouts, mingled with +exhortations, cries of joy, and the clashing of arms, resounded +through the heavens. Darts flew thick on every side. If the besiegers, +however, in the least relaxed their efforts, the defenders of the +walls immediately turned their attention to the distant engagement of +the cavalry; they were to be seen sometimes exhibiting joy, and +sometimes apprehension, according to the varying fortune of Jugurtha, +and, as if they could be heard or seen by their friends, uttering +warnings or exhortations, making signs with their hands, and moving +their bodies to and fro, like men avoiding or hurling darts. This +being noticed by Marius, who commanded on that side of the town, he +artfully relaxed his efforts, as if despairing of success, and allowed +the besieged to view the battle at the camp unmolested. Then, while +their attention was closely fixed on their countrymen, he made a +vigorous assault on the wall, and the soldiers mounting their scaling +ladders, had almost gained the top, when the townsmen rushed to the +spot in a body, and hurled down upon them stones, firebrands, and +every description of missiles. Our men made head against these +annoyances for a while, but at length, when some of the ladders were +broken, and those who had mounted them dashed to the ground, the rest +of the assailants retreated as they could, a few indeed unhurt, but +the greater number miserably wounded. Night put an end to the efforts +of both parties. + +LXI. When Metellus saw that all his attempts were vain; that the town +was not to be taken; that Jugurtha was resolved to abstain from +fighting, except from an ambush, or on his own ground, and that the +summer was now far advanced, he withdrew his army from Zama, and +placed garrisons in such of the cities that had revolted to him as +were sufficiently strong in situation or fortifications. The rest of +his forces he settled in winter quarters, in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia[181]. + +This season of repose, however, he did not, like other commanders, +abandon to idleness and luxury; but as the war had been but slowly +advanced by fighting, he resolved to try the effect of treachery on +the king through his friends, and to employ their perfidy instead of +arms. He accordingly addressed himself with large promises, to +Bomilcar, the same nobleman who had been with Jugurtha at Rome, and +who had fled from thence, notwithstanding he had given bail, to escape +being tried for the murder of Massiva; selecting this person for his +instrument, because, from his great intimacy with Jugurtha, he had the +best opportunities of betraying him. He prevailed on him, in the first +place, to come to a conference with him privately, when, having given +him his word, "that, if he should deliver up Jugurtha, alive or dead, +the senate would grant him a pardon, and the full possession of his +property," he easily brought him over to his purpose, especially as he +was naturally faithless, and also apprehensive that, if peace were +made with the Romans, he himself would be surrendered to justice by +the terms of it. + +LXII. Bomilcar took the earliest opportunity of addressing Jugurtha, +at a time when he was full of anxiety, and lamenting his ill success. +He exhorted and implored him, with tears in his eyes, to take at +length some thought for himself and his children, as well as for the +people of Numidia, who had so much claim upon him. He reminded him +that they had been, defeated in every battle; that the country was +laid waste; that numbers of his subjects had been captured or slain; +that the resources of the kingdom were greatly reduced; that the valor +of his soldiers, and his own fortune, had been already sufficiently +tried; and that he should beware, lest, if he delayed to consult for +his people, his people should consult for themselves. By these and +similar appeals, he prevailed with Jugurtha to think of a surrender. +Embassadors were accordingly sent to the Roman general, announcing +that Jugurtha was ready to submit to whatever he should desire, and to +trust himself and his kingdom unconditionally to his honor. Metellus, +on receiving this statement, summoned such of his officers as were of +senatorial rank, from their winter quarters; of whom, with, others +whom he thought eligible, he formed a council. By a resolution of this +assembly, in conformity with ancient usage, he demanded of Jugurtha, +through his embassadors, two hundred thousand pounds' weight of +silver, all his elephants, and a portion of his horses and arms. These +requisitions being immediately complied with, he next desired that all +the deserters should be brought to him in chains. A large number of +them were accordingly brought; but a few, when the surrender first +began to be mentioned, had fled into Mauretania to king Bocchus. + +When Jugurtha, however, after being thus despoiled of arms, men and +money, was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium[182], to await the +consul's commands, he began again to change his mind, dreading, from a +consciousness of guilt, the punishment due to his crimes. Having spent +several days in hesitation, sometimes, from disgust at his ill +success, believing any thing better than war, and sometimes +considering with himself how grievous would be the fall from +sovereignty to slavery, he at last determined, notwithstanding that he +had lost so many and so valuable means of resistance, to commence +hostilities anew. + +At Rome, meanwhile, the senate, having been consulted about the +provinces, had decreed Numidia to Metellus. + +LXIII. About the same time, as Caius Marius, who happened to be at +Utica, was sacrificing to the gods[183], an augur told him that great +and wonderful things were presaged to him; that he might therefore +pursue whatever designs he had formed, trusting to the gods for +success; and that he might try fortune as often as he pleased, for +that all his undertakings would prosper. Previously to this period an +ardent longing for the consulship had possessed him; and he had, +indeed, every qualification for obtaining it, except antiquity of +family; he had industry, integrity, great knowledge of war, and a +spirit undaunted in the field; he was temperate in private life, +superior to pleasure and riches, and ambitious only of glory. +Having been born at Arpinum, and brought up there during his boyhood, +he employed himself, as soon as he was of age to bear arms, not in the +study of Greek eloquence, nor in learning the refinements of the city, +but in military service; and thus, amid the strictest discipline, his +excellent genius soon attained full vigor. When he solicited the +people, therefore, for the military tribuneship, he was well known by +name, though most were strangers to his face, and unanimously elected +by the tribes. After this office he attained others in succession, and +conducted himself so well in his public duties, that he was always +deemed worthy of a higher station than he had reached. Yet, though +such had been his character hitherto (for he was afterward carried +away by ambition), he had not ventured to stand for the consulship. +The people, at that time, still disposed of[184] other civil offices, +but the nobility transmitted the consulship from hand to hand among +themselves. Nor had any commoner appeared, however famous or +distinguished by his achievements, who would not have been thought +unworthy of that honor, and, as it were, a disgrace to it[185]. + +LXIV. But when Marius found that the words of the augur pointed in the +same direction as his own inclinations prompted him, he requested of +Metellus leave of absence, that he might offer himself a candidate for +the consulship. Metellus, though eminently distinguished by virtue, +honor, and other qualities valued by the good, had yet a haughty and +disdainful spirit, the common failing of the nobility. He was at +first, therefore, astonished at so extraordinary an application, +expressed surprise at Marius's views, and advised him, as if in +friendship, "not to indulge such unreasonable expectations, or elevate +his thoughts above his station; that all things were not to be coveted +by all men; that his present condition ought to satisfy him; and, +finally, that he should be cautious of asking from the Roman people +what they might justly refuse him." Having made these and similar +remarks, and finding that the resolution of Marius was not at all +affected by them, he told him "that he would grant what he desired as +soon as the public business would allow him".[186] On Marius repeating +his request several times afterward, he is reported to have said, +"that he need not be in a hurry to go, as he would be soon enough if +he became a candidate with his own son."[187] Metellus's son was then +on service in the camp with his father[188], and was about twenty +years old. + +This taunt served only to rouse the feelings of Marius, as well for +the honor at which he aimed, as against Metellus. He suffered himself +to be actuated, therefore, by ambition and resentment, the worst of +counselors. He omitted nothing henceforward, either in deeds or words, +that could increase his own popularity. He allowed the soldiers, of +whom he had the command in the winter quarters, more relaxation of +discipline than he had ever granted them before. He talked of the war +among the merchants, of whom there was a great number at Utica, +censoriously with respect to Metellus, and vauntingly with regard to +himself; saying "that if but half of the army were granted him, he +would in a few days have Jugurtha in chains; but that the war was +purposely protracted by the consul, because, being a man of vanity and +regal pride, he was too fond of the delights of power." All these +assertions appeared the more credible to the merchants, as, by the +long continuance of the war, they had suffered in their fortunes; and +to impatient minds no haste is sufficient. + +LXV. There was then in our army a Numidian named Gauda, the son of +Mastanabal, and grandson of Masinissa, whom Micipsa, in his will, had +appointed next heir to his immediate successors. This man had been +debilitated by ill-health, and, from the effect of it, was somewhat +impaired in his understanding. He had petitioned Metellus to allow him +a seat, like a prince, next to himself, and a troop of horse for a +bodyguard; but Metellus had refused him both; the seat, because it was +granted only to those whom the Roman people had addressed as kings, +and the guard, because it would be an indignity to Roman cavalry to +act as guards to a Numidian. While Gauda was discontented at these +refusals, Marius paid him a visit, and prompted him, with his +assistance, to seek revenge for the affronts put upon him by the +general; inflating his mind, which was as weak as his body,[189] with +flattering speeches, telling him that he was a prince, a great man, +and the grandson of Masinissa; that if Jugurtha were taken or killed, +he would immediately become king of Numidia; and that this event might +soon happen, if he himself were sent as consul to the war. + +Thus partly the influence of Marius himself, and partly the hope of +obtaining peace, induced Gauda, as well as most of the Roman knights, +both soldiers and merchants,[190] to write to their friends at Rome, +in a style of censure, respecting Metellus's management of the war, +and to intimate that Marius should be appointed general. The consulship, +accordingly, was solicited for him by numbers of people, with the most +honorable demonstrations in his favor.[191] It happened that the +people too, at this juncture, having just triumphed over the nobility +by the Mamilian law,[192] were eager to raise commoners to office. +Hence every thing was favorable to Marius's views. + +LXVI. Jugurtha, meantime, who, after relinquishing his intention to +surrender, had renewed the war, was now hastening the preparations for +it with the utmost diligence. He assembled an army; he endeavored, by +threats or promises, to recover the towns that had revolted from him; +he fortified advantageous positions;[193] he repaired or purchased +arms, weapons, and other necessaries, which he had given up on the +prospect of peace; he tried to seduce the slaves of the Romans, and +even tempted with bribes the Romans themselves who occupied the +garrisons; he, indeed, left nothing untried or neglected, but put +every engine in motion. + +Induced by the entreaties of their king, from whom, indeed, they had +never been alienated in affection, the leading inhabitants of Vacca, a +city in which Metellus, when Jugurtha began to treat for peace, had +placed a garrison, entered into a conspiracy against the Romans. As +for the common people of the town, they were, as is generally the +case, and especially among the Numidians, of a fickle disposition, +factious and turbulent, and therefore already desirous of a change, +and adverse to peace and quiet. Having arranged their plans, they +fixed upon the third day following for the execution of them, because +that day, being a festival, celebrated throughout Africa, would +promise merriment and dissipation rather than alarm. When the time +came, they invited the centurions and military tribunes, with Titus +Turpilius Silanus, the governor of the town, to their several houses, +and butchered them all, except Turpilius, at their banquets; and then +fell upon the common soldiers, who, as was to be expected on such a +day, when discipline was relaxed, were wandering about without their +arms. The populace followed the example of their chiefs, some of them +having been previously instructed to do so, and others induced by a +liking for such disorders, and, though ignorant of what had been done +or intended, finding sufficient gratification in tumult and variety. + +LXVII. The Roman soldiers, perplexed with sudden alarm, and not +knowing what was best for them to do, were in trepidation. At the +citadel,[194] where their standards and shields were, was posted a +guard of the enemy; and the city-gates, previously closed, prevented +escape. Women and children, too, on the roofs of the houses,[195] +hurled down upon them, with great eagerness, stones and whatever else +their position furnished. Thus neither could such twofold danger be +guarded against, nor could the bravest resist the feeblest; the worthy +and the worthless, the valiant and the cowardly, were alike put to +death unavenged. In the midst of this slaughter, while the Numidians +were exercising every cruelty, and the town was closed on all sides, +Turpilius was the only one, of all the Italians, that escaped unhurt. +Whether his flight was the consequence of compassion in his entertainer, +of compact, or of chance, I have never discovered; but since, in such a +general massacre, he preferred inglorious safety to an honorable name, +he seems to have been a worthless and infamous character.[196] + +LXVIII. When Metellus heard of what had happened at Vacca, he retired +for a time, overpowered with sorrow, from the public gaze; but at +length, as indignation mingled with his grief, he hastened, with the +utmost spirit, to take vengeance for the outrage. He led forth, at +sunset, the legion that was in winter quarters with him, and as many +Numidian horse as he could, and arrived, about the third hour on the +following day, at a certain plain surrounded by rising grounds. Here +he acquainted the soldiers, who were now exhausted with the length of +their march, and averse to further exertion,[197] that the town of +Vacca was not above a mile distant, and that it became them to bear +patiently the toil that remained, with the hope of exacting revenge for +their countrymen, the bravest and most unfortunate of men. He likewise +generously promised them the whole of the plunder. Their courage being +thus revived, he ordered them to resume their march, the cavalry +maintaining an extended line in front, and the infantry, with their +standards concealed, keeping the closest order behind. + +LXIX. The people of Vacca, perceiving an army coming toward them, +judged rightly at first that it was Metellus, and shut their gates; +but, after a while, when they saw that their fields were not laid +waste, and that the front consisted of Numidian cavalry, they imagined +that it was Jugurtha, and went out with great joy to meet him. A +signal being immediately given, both cavalry and infantry commenced an +attack; some cut down the multitude pouring from the town, others +hurried to the gates, others secured the towers, revenge and the hope +of plunder prevailing over their weariness. Thus Vacca triumphed only +two days in its treachery; the whole city, which was great and +opulent, was given up to vengeance and spoliation. Turpilius, the +governor, whom we mentioned as the only person that escaped, was +summoned by Metellus to answer for his conduct, and not being able to +clear himself, was condemned, as a native of Latium,[198] to be +scourged and put to death. + +LXX. About this time, Bomilcar, at whose persuasion Jugurtha had +entered upon the capitulation which he had discontinued through fear, +being distrusted by the king, and distrusting him in return, grew +desirous of a change of government. He accordingly meditated schemes +for Jugurtha's destruction, racking his invention night and day. At +last, to leave nothing untried, he sought an accomplice in Nabdalsa, a +man of noble birth and great wealth, who was in high regard and favor +with his countrymen, and who, on most occasions, used to command a +body of troops distinct from those of the king, and to transact all +business to which Jugurtha, from fatigue, or from being occupied with +more important matters, was unable to attend;[199] employments by +which he had gained both honors and wealth. By these two men in +concert, a day was fixed for the execution of their treachery; +succeeding matters they agreed to settle as the exigences of the +moment might require. Nabdalsa then proceeded to join his troops, +which he kept in readiness, according to orders, among the winter +quarters of the Romans,[200] to prevent the country from being ravaged +by the enemy with impunity. + +But as Nabdalsa, growing alarmed at the magnitude of the undertaking, +failed to appear at the appointed time, and allowed his fears to +hinder their plans, Bomilcar, eager for their execution, and +disquieted at the timidity of his associate, lest he should relinquish +his original intentions and adopt some new course, sent him a letter +by some confidential person, in which he "reproached him with +pusillanimity and irresolution, and conjured him by the gods, by whom +he had sworn, not to turn the offers of Metellus to his own +destruction;" assuring him "that the fall of Jugurtha was approaching; +that the only thing to be considered was whether he should perish by +their hand or by that of Metellus; and that, in consequence, he might +consider whether to choose rewards, or death by torture." + +LXXI. It happened that when this letter was brought, Nabdalsa, +overcome with fatigue, was reposing on his couch, where, after reading +Bomilcar's letter, anxiety at first, and afterward, as is usual with a +troubled mind, sleep overpowered him. In his service there was a +certain Numidian, the manager of his affairs, a person who possessed +his confidence and esteem, and who was acquainted with all his designs +except the last. He, hearing that a letter had arrived, and supposing +that there would be occasion, as usual, for his assistance or +suggestions, went into the tent, and, while his master was asleep, +took up the letter thrown carelessly upon the cushion behind his +head,[201] and read it; and, having thus discovered the plot, set off +in haste to Jugurtha. Nabdalsa, who awoke soon after, missing the +letter, and hearing of the whole affair, and how it had happened, at +first attempted to pursue the informer, but finding that pursuit was +vain, he went himself to Jugurtha to try to appease him; saying that +the disclosure which he intended to make, had been anticipated by the +perfidy of his servant; and beseeching him with tears, by his +friendship, and by his own former proofs of fidelity, not to think +that he could be guilty of such treachery. + +LXXII. To these entreaties the king replied with a mildness far +different from his real feelings. After putting to death Bomilcar, and +many others whom he knew to be privy to the plot, he refrained from +any further manifestation of resentment, lest an insurrection should +be the consequence of it. But after this occurrence he had no peace +either by day or by night; he thought himself safe neither in any +place, nor with any person, nor at any time; he feared his subjects +and his enemies alike; he was always on the watch, and was startled at +every sound; he passed the night sometimes in one place, and sometimes +in another, and often in places little suited to royal dignity; and +sometimes, starting from his sleep, he would seize his arms and raise +an alarm. He was indeed so agitated by extreme terror, that he +appeared under the influence of madness. + +LXXIII. Metellus, hearing from some deserters of the fate of Bomilcar, +and the discovery of the conspiracy, made fresh preparations for +action, and with the utmost dispatch, as if entering upon an entirely +new war. Marius, who was still importuning him for leave of absence, +he allowed to go home; thinking that as he served with reluctance, and +bore him personal enmity, he was not likely to prove a very useful +officer. + +The common people at Rome, having learned the contents of the letters +written from Africa concerning Metellus and Marius, had listened to +the accounts given of both with eagerness. But the noble birth of +Metellus, which had previously been a motive for paying him honor, had +now become a cause of unpopularity; while the obscurity of Marius's +origin had procured him favor. In regard to both, however, party +feeling had more influence than the good or bad qualities of either. +The factious tribunes,[202] too, inflamed the populace, charging +Metellus, in their harangues, with offenses worthy of death, and +exaggerating the excellent qualities of Marius. At length the people +were so excited that all the artisans and rustics, whose whole +subsistence and credit depended on their labor, quitting their several +employments, attended Marius in crowds, and thought less of their own +wants than of his exaltation. Thus the nobility being borne down, the +consulship, after the lapse of many years,[203] was once more given to +a man of humble birth. And afterward, when the people were asked by +Manilius Mancinus, one of their tribunes, whom they would appoint to +carry on the war against Jugurtha, they, in a full assembly, voted it +to Marius. The senate had previously decreed it to Metellus; but that +decree was thus rendered abortive.[204] + +LXXIV. During this period, Jugurtha, as he was bereft of his friends +(of whom he had put to death the greater number, while the rest, under +the influence of terror, had fled partly to the Romans, and partly to +Bocchus), as the war, too, could not be carried on without officers, +and as he thought it dangerous to try the faith of new ones after such +perfidy among the old, was involved in doubt and perplexity; no +scheme, no counsel, no person could satisfy him; he changed his route +and his captains daily; he hurried sometimes against the enemy, and +sometimes toward the deserts; depended at one time on flight, and at +another on resistance; and was unable to decide whether he could less +trust the courage or the fidelity of his subjects. Thus, to whatever +direction he turned his thoughts, the prospect was equally +disheartening. + +In the midst of his irresolution, Metellus suddenly made his +appearance with his army. The Numidians were assembled and drawn up by +Jugurtha, as well as time permitted; and a battle was at once +commenced. Where the king commanded in person, the struggle was +maintained for some time; but the rest of his force was routed and put +to flight at the first onset. The Romans took a considerable number of +standards and arms, but not many prisoners; for, in almost every +battle, their feet afforded more security to the Numidians than their +swords. + +LXXV. In consequence of this defeat, Jugurtha, feeling less confidence +in the state of his affairs than ever, retreated with the deserters, +and part of his cavalry, first into the deserts, and afterward to +Thala,[205] a large and opulent city, where lay the greater portion of +his treasures, and where there was magnificent provision for the +education of his children. When Metellus was informed of this, +although he knew that there was, between Thala and the nearest river, +a dry and desert region fifty miles broad, yet, in the hope of +finishing the war if he should gain possession of the town, he +resolved to surmount all difficulties, and to conquer even Nature +herself. He gave orders that the beasts of burden, therefore, should +be lightened of all the baggage excepting ten days' provision; and +that they should be laden with skins and other utensils for holding +water. He also collected from the fields as many laboring cattle as he +could find, and loaded them with vessels of all sorts, but chiefly +wooden, taken from the cottages of the Numidians. He directed such of +the neighboring people, too, as had submitted to him after the retreat +of Jugurtha, to bring him as much water as they could carry, +appointing a time and a place for them to be in attendance. He then +loaded his beasts from the river, which, as I have intimated, was the +nearest water to the town, and, thus provided, set out for Thala. + +When he came to the place at which he had desired the Numidians to +meet him, and had pitched and fortified his camp, so copious a fall of +rain is said to have happened, as would have furnished more than +sufficient water for his whole army. Provisions, too, were brought him +far beyond his expectations; for the Numidians, like most people after +a recent surrender, had done more than was required of them.[206] The +men, however, from a religious feeling, preferred using the +rain-water; the fall of which greatly increased their courage, for +they thought of themselves the peculiar care of the gods. On the next +day, to the surprise of Jugurtha, they arrived at Thala. The +inhabitants, who thought themselves secured by difficulties of the +approach to them, were astonished at so strange and unexpected a +sight, but, nevertheless, prepared for their defense. Our men showed +equal alacrity on their side. + +LXXVI. But Jugurtha himself, believing that Metellus, who, by his +exertions, had triumphed over every obstacle, over arms, deserts, +seasons, and finally over Nature herself that controls all, nothing +was impossible, fled with his children, and a great portion of his +treasure, from the city during the night. Nor did he ever, after this +time, continue[207] more than one day or night in any place; +pretending to be hurried away by business, but in reality dreading +treachery, which he thought he might escape by change of residence, as +schemes of such a kind are the result of leisure and opportunity. + +Metellus, seeing that the people of Thala were determined on +resistance, and that the town was defended both by art and situation, +surrounded the walls with a rampart and a trench. He then directed his +machines against the most eligible points, threw up a mound, and +erected towers upon it to protect[208] the works and the workmen. The +townsmen, on the other hand, were exceedingly active and diligent; and +nothing was neglected on either side. At last the Romans, though +exhausted with much previous fatigue and fighting, got possession, +forty days after their arrival, of the town, and the town only; for +all the spoil had been destroyed by the deserters; who, when they saw +the walls shaken by the battering-ram, and their own situation +desperate, had conveyed the gold and silver, and whatever else is +esteemed valuable, to the royal palace, where, after being sated with +wine and luxuries, they destroyed the treasures, the building, and +themselves, by fire, and thus voluntarily submitted to the sufferings +which, in case of being conquered, they dreaded at the hands of the +enemy. + +LXXVII. At the very time that Thala was taken, there came to Metellus +embassadors from the city of Leptis,[209] requesting him to send them +a garrison and a governor; saying "that a certain Hamilcar, a man of +rank, and of a factious disposition, against whom the magistrates and +the laws were alike powerless, was trying to induce them to change +sides; and that unless he attended to the matter promptly, their own +safety,[210] and the allies of Rome, would be in the utmost danger." +For the people at Leptis, at the very commencement of the war with +Jugurtha, had sent to the consul Bestia, and afterward to Rome, +desiring to be admitted into friendship and alliance with us. Having +been granted their request, they continued true and faithful adherents +to us, and promptly executed all orders from Bestia, Albinus, and +Metellus. They therefore readily obtained from the general the aid +which they solicited; and four cohorts of Ligurians were dispatched to +Leptis, with Caius Annius to be governor of the place. + +LXXVIII. This city was built by a party of Sidonians, who, as I have +understood, being driven from their country through civil dissensions, +came by sea into those parts of Africa. It is situated between the two +Syrtes, which take their name from their nature[211] These are two +gulfs almost at the extremity of Africa[212] of unequal size, but of +similar character. Those parts of them next to the land are very deep; +the other parts sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, as chance may +direct; for when the sea swells, and is agitated by the winds, the +waves roll along with them mud, sand, and huge stones; and thus the +appearance of the gulfs changes with the direction of the wind. + +Of this people, the language alone[213] has been altered by their +intermarriages with the Numidians; their laws and customs continue for +the most part Sidonian; which they have preserved with the greater +ease, through living at so great a distance from the king's +dominions.[214] Between them and the populous parts of Numidia lie +vast and uncultivated deserts. + +LXXIX. Since the affairs of Leptis have led me into these regions, it +will not be foreign to my subject to relate the noble and singular act +of two Carthaginians, which the place has brought to my recollection. + +At the time when the Carthaginians were masters of the greater part of +Africa, the Cyrenians were also a great and powerful people. The +territory that lay between them was sandy, and of a uniform +appearance, without a stream or a hill to determine their respective +boundaries; a circumstance which involved them in a severe and +protracted war. After armies and fleets had been routed and put to +flight on both sides, and each people had greatly weakened their +opponents, fearing lest some third party should attack both victors +and vanquished in a state of exhaustion, they came to an agreement, +during a short cessation of arms, "that on a certain day deputies +should leave home on either side, and that the spot where they should +meet should be the common boundary between the two states." From +Carthage, accordingly, were dispatched two brothers, who were named +Philaeni,[215] and who traveled with great expedition. The deputies of +the Cyrenians proceeded more slowly; but whether from indolence or +accident I have not been informed. However, a storm of wind in these +deserts will cause obstruction to passengers not less than at sea; for +when a violent blast, sweeping over a level surface devoid of +vegetation,[216] raises the sand from the ground, it is driven onward +with great force, and fills the mouth and eyes of the traveler, and +thus, by hindering his view, retards his progress. The Cyrenian +deputies, finding that they had lost ground, and dreading punishment +at home for their mismanagement, accused the Carthaginians of having +left home before the time; quarreling about the matter, and preferring +to do any thing rather than submit. The Philaeni, upon this, asked +them to name any other mode of settling the controversy, provided it +were equitable; and the Cyrenians gave them their choice, "either that +they should be buried alive in the spot which they claimed as the +boundary for their people, or that they themselves, on the same +conditions, should be allowed to go forward to whatever point they +should think proper." The Philaeni, having accepted the conditions, +sacrificed themselves[217] to the interest of their country, and were +interred alive. The people of Carthage consecrated altars to the +brothers on the spot; and other honors were instituted to them at +home. I now return to my subject. + +LXXX. After the loss of Thala, Jugurtha, thinking no place sufficiently +secure against Metellus, fled with a few followers into the country of +the Getulians, a people savage and uncivilized, and, at that period, +unacquainted with even the name of Rome. Of these barbarians he collected +a great multitude, and trained them by degrees to march in ranks, to +follow standards, to obey the word of command, and to perform other +military exercises. He also gained over to his interest, by large +presents and larger promises, the intimate friends of king Bocchus, and +working upon the king by their means, induced him to commence war +against the Romans. This was the more practicable and easy, because +Bocchus, at the commencement of hostilities with Jugurtha, had sent an +embassy to Rome to solicit friendship and alliance; but a faction, +blinded by avarice, and accustomed to sell their votes on every question +honorable or dishonorable,[218] had caused his advances to be rejected, +though they were of the highest consequence to the war recently begun. +A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha,[219] but such a +connection, among the Numidians and Moors, is but lightly regarded; +for every man has as many wives as he pleases, in proportion to his +ability to maintain them; some ten, others more, but the kings most of +all. Thus the affection of the husband is divided among a multitude; +no one of them becomes a companion to him,[220] but all are equally +neglected. + +LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies,[221] met in a place settled +by mutual agreement, where, after pledges of amity were given and +received, Jugurtha inflamed the mind of Bocchus by observing "that the +Romans were a lawless people, of insatiable covetousness, and the +common enemies of mankind; that they had the same motive for making +war on Bocchus as on himself and other nations, the lust of dominion; +that all independent states were objects of hatred to them; at present, +for instance, himself; a little before, the Carthaginians had been so, +as well as king Perses; and that, in future, as any sovereign became +conspicuous for his power, so would he assuredly be treated as an enemy +by the Romans." + +Induced by these and similar considerations, they determined to march +against Cirta, where Metellus had deposited his plunder, prisoners, +and baggage. Jugurtha supposed that, if he took the city, there would +be ample recompense for his exertions; or that, if the Roman general +came to succor his adherents, he would have the opportunity of +engaging him in the field. He also hastened this movement from policy, +to lessen Bocchus's chance of peace;[222] lest, if delay should be +allowed, he should decide upon something different from war. + +LXXXII. Metellus, when he heard of the confederacy of the kings, did +not rashly, or in every place, give opportunities of fighting, as he +had been used to do since Jugurtha had been so often defeated, but, +fortifying his camp, awaited the approach of the kings at no great +distance from Cirta; thinking it better, when he should have learned +something of the Moors,[223] as they were new enemies in the field, +to give battle on an advantage. In the mean time he was informed, by +letters from Rome, that the province of Numidia was assigned to Marius, +of whose election to the consulship he had already heard. + +Being affected at these occurrences beyond what was proper and +decorous, he could neither restrain his tears nor govern his tongue; +for though he was a man eminent in other respects, he had too little +firmness in bearing trouble of mind. His irritation was by some +imputed to pride; others said that a noble spirit was wounded by +insult; many thought him chagrined because victory, just attained, was +snatched from his grasp. But to me it is well known that he was more +troubled at the honor bestowed on Marius than at the injustice done to +himself; and that he would have shown much less uneasiness if the +province of which he was deprived had been given to any other than +Marius. + +LXXXIII. Discouraged, therefore, by such a mortification, and thinking +it folly to promote another man's success at his own hazard, he sent +deputies to Bocchus, entreating him "not to become an enemy to the +Romans without cause;" and observing "that he had a fine opportunity +of entering into friendship and alliance with them, which were far +preferable to war; that though he might have confidence in his +resources, he ought not to change certainties for uncertainties; that +a war was easily begun, but discontinued with difficulty; that its +commencement and conclusion were not dependent on the same party; that +any one, even a coward, might commence hostilities, but that they +could be broken off only when the conqueror thought proper; and that +he should therefore consult for his interest and that of his kingdom, +and not connect his own prosperous circumstances with the ruined +fortunes of Jugurtha." + +To these representations the king mildly answered, "that he desired +peace, but felt compassion for the condition of Jugurtha, to whom if +similar proposals were made, all would easily be arranged." Metellus, +in reply to this request of Bocchus, sent deputies with overtures, of +which the King approved some, and rejected others. Thus, in sending +messengers to and fro, the time passed away, and the war, according to +the consul's desire, was protracted without being advanced. + +LXXXIV. Marius, who, as I said before, had been made consul with great +eagerness on the part of the populace, began, though he had always +been hostile to the patricians, to inveigh against them, after the +people gave him the province of Numidia, with great frequency and +violence; he attacked them sometimes individually and sometimes in a +body; he said that he had snatched from them the consulship as spoils +from vanquished enemies; and uttered other remarks laudatory to +himself and offensive to them. Meanwhile he made the provision for the +war his chief object; he asked for reinforcements for the legions; he +sent for auxiliaries from foreign states, kings, and allies; he also +enlisted all the bravest men from Latium, most of whom were known to +him by actual service, some few only by report, and induced, by +earnest solicitation, even discharged veterans[224] to accompany him. +Nor did the senate, though adverse to him, dare to refuse him any +thing; the additions to the legions they had voted even with +eagerness, because military service was thought to be unpopular with +the multitude, and Marius seemed likely to lose either the means of +warfare[225], or the favor of the people. But such expectations were +entertained in vain, so ardent was the desire of going with Marius +that had seized on almost all. Every one cherished the fancy[226] that +he should return home laden with spoil, crowned with victory, or +attended with some similar good fortune. Marius himself, too, had +excited them in no small degree by a speech; for, when all that he +required was granted, and he was anxious to commence a levy, he called +an assembly of the people, as well to encourage them to enlist, as to +inveigh, according to his practice, against the nobility. He spoke, on +the occasion, as follows: + +LXXXV. "I am aware, my fellow-citizens, that most men do not appear as +candidates before you for an office, and conduct themselves in it when +they have obtained it, under the same character; that they are at +first industrious, humble, and modest, but afterward lead a life of +indolence and arrogance. But to me it appears that the contrary should +be the case; for as the whole state is of greater consequence than the +single office of consulate or praetorship, so its interests ought to +be managed[227] with greater solicitude than these magistracies are +sought. Nor am I insensible how great a weight of business I am, +through your kindness, called upon to sustain. To make preparations +for war, and yet to be sparing of the treasury; to press those into +the service whom I am unwilling to offend; to direct every thing at +home and abroad; and to discharge these duties when surrounded by the +envious, the hostile,[228] and the factious, is more difficult, my +fellow-citizens, than is generally imagined. In addition to this, if +others fail in their undertakings, their ancient rank, the heroic +actions of their ancestors, the power of their relatives and +connections, their numerous dependents, are all at hand to support +them; but as for me, my whole hopes rest upon myself, which I must +sustain by good conduct and integrity; for all other means are +unavailing. + +I am sensible, too, my fellow-citizens, that the eyes of all men are +turned upon me; that the just and good favor me, as my services are +beneficial to the state, but that the nobility seek occasion to attack +me. I must therefore use the greater exertion, that you may not be +deceived in me,[229] and that their views may be rendered abortive. I +have led such a life, indeed, from my boyhood to the present hour, +that I am familiar with every kind of toil and danger; and that +exertion, which, before your kindness to me, I practiced gratuitously, +it is not my intention to relax after having received my reward. For +those who have pretended to be men of worth only to secure their +election,[230] it may be difficult to conduct themselves properly in +office: but to me, who have passed my whole life in the most honorable +occupations, to act well has from habit become nature. + +You have commanded me to carry on the war against Jugurtha; a +commission at which the nobility are highly offended. Consider with +yourselves, I pray you, whether it would be a change for the better, +if you were to send to this, or to any other such appointment, one of +yonder crowd of nobles[231], a man of ancient family, of innumerable +statues, and of no military experience; in order, forsooth, that in so +important an office, and being ignorant of every thing connected with +it, he may exhibit hurry and trepidation, and select one of the people +to instruct him in his duty. For so it generally happens, that he whom +you have chosen to direct, seeks another to direct him. I know some, +my fellow-citizens, who, after they have been elected[232] consuls, +have begun to read the acts of their ancestors, and the military +precepts of the Greeks; persons who invert the order of things;[233] +for though to discharge the duties of the office[234] is posterior, in +point of time, to election, it is, in reality and practical +importance, prior to it. + +Compare now, my fellow-citizens, me, who am _a new man,_ with those +haughty nobles.[235] What they have but heard or read, I have +witnessed or performed. What they have learned from books, I have +acquired in the field; and whether deeds or words are of greater +estimation, it is for you to consider. + +They despise my humbleness of birth; I contemn their imbecility. My +condition[236] is made an objection to me; their misconduct is a +reproach to them. The circumstance of birth,[237] indeed, I consider +as one and the same to all; but think that he who best exerts himself +is the noblest. And could it be inquired of the fathers,[238] of +Albinus and Bestia, whether they would rather be the parents of them +or of me, what do you suppose that they would answer, but that they +would wish the most deserving to be their offspring! If the patricians +justly despise me, let them also despise their own ancestors, whose +nobility, like mine, had its origin in merit. They envy me the honor +that I have received; let them also envy me the toils, the +abstinence,[239] and the perils, by which I obtained that honor. + +But they, men eaten up with pride, live as if they disdained all the +distinctions that you can bestow, and yet sue for those distinctions +as if they had lived so as to merit them. Yet those are assuredly +deceived, who expect to enjoy, at the same time, things so +incompatible as the pleasures of indolence and the rewards of +honorable exertion.[240] + +When they speak before you, or in the senate, they occupy the +greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors;[241] +for, they suppose that, by recounting the heroic deeds of their +forefathers, they render themselves more illustrious. But the reverse +of this is the case; for the more glorious were the lives of their +ancestors, the more scandalous is their own inaction. The truth, +indeed, is plainly this, that the glory of ancestors sheds a light on +their posterity,[242] which suffers neither their virtues nor their +vices to be concealed. Of this light, my fellow-citizens, I have no +share; but I have, what confers much more distinction, the power of +relating my own actions. Consider, then, how unreasonable they are; +what they claim to themselves for the merit of others, they will not +grant to me for my own; alleging, forsooth, that I have no statues, +and that my distinction is newly-acquired; but it is surely better to +have acquired such distinction myself than to bring disgrace on that +received from others. + +I am not ignorant, that, if they were inclined to reply to me, they +would make an abundant display of eloquent and artful language. Yet, +since they attack both you and myself on occasion of the great favor +which you have conferred upon me, I did not think proper to be silent +before them, lest any one should construe my forbearance into a +consciousness of demerit. As for myself, indeed, nothing that is said +of me, I feel assured,[243] can do me injury; for what is true, must +of necessity speak in my favor; what is false, my life and character +will refute. But since your judgment, in bestowing on me so +distinguished an honor and so important a trust, is called in +question, consider, I beseech you, again and again, whether you are +likely to repent of what you have done. I can not, to raise your +confidence in me, boast of the statues, or triumphs, or consulships of +my ancestors; but, if it be thought necessary, I can show you spears,[244] +a banner,[245] caparisons[246] for horses, and other military rewards; +besides the scars of wounds on my breast. These are my statues; this +is my nobility; honors, not left, like theirs, by inheritance, but +acquired amid innumerable toils and dangers. + +My speech, they say, is inelegant; but that I have ever thought of +little importance. Worth sufficiently displays itself; it is for my +detractors to use studied language, that they may palliate base +conduct by plausible words. Nor have I learned Greek; for I had no +wish to acquire a tongue that adds nothing to the valor[247] of those +who teach it. But I have gained other accomplishments, such as are of +the utmost benefit to a state; I have learned to strike down an enemy; +to be vigilant at my post;[248] to fear nothing but dishonor; to bear +cold and heat with equal endurance; to sleep on the ground; and to +sustain at the same time hunger and fatigue. And with such rules of +conduct I shall stimulate my soldiers, not treating them with rigor +and myself with indulgence, nor making their toils my glory. Such a +mode of commanding is at once useful to the state, and becoming to a +citizen. For to coerce your troops with severity, while you yourself +live at ease, is to be a tyrant, not a general. + +It was by conduct such as this, my fellow-citizens, that your +ancestors made themselves and the republic renowned. Our nobility, +relying on their forefathers' merits, though totally different from +them in conduct, disparage us who emulate their virtues; and demand of +you every public honor, as due, not to their personal merit, but to +their high rank. Arrogant pretenders, and utterly unreasonable! For +though their ancestors left them all that was at their disposal, their +riches, their statues, and their glorious names, they left them not, +nor could leave them, their virtue; which alone, of all their +possessions, could neither be communicated nor received. + +They reproach me as being mean, and of unpolished manners, because, +forsooth, I have but little skill in arranging an entertainment, and +keep no actor,[249] nor give my cook[250] higher wages than my +steward; all which charges I must, indeed, acknowledge to be just; for +I learned from my father, and other venerable characters, that vain +indulgences belong to women, and labor to men; that glory, rather than +wealth, should be the object of the virtuous; and that arms and armor, +not household furniture, are marks of honor. But let the nobility, if +they please, pursue what is delightful and dear to them; let them +devote themselves to licentiousness and luxury; let them pass their +age as they have passed their youth, in revelry and feasting, the +slaves of gluttony and debauchery; but let them leave the toil and +dust of the field, and other such matters, to us, to whom they are +more grateful than banquets. This, however, they will not do; for when +these most infamous of men have disgraced themselves by every species +of turpitude, they proceed to claim the distinctions due to the most +honorable. Thus it most unjustly happens that luxury and indolence, +the most disgraceful of vices, are harmless to those who indulge in +them, and fatal only to the innocent commonwealth. + +As I have now replied to my calumniators, as far as my own character +required, though not so fully as their flagitiousness deserved, I +shall add a few words on the state of public affairs. In the first +place, my fellow-citizens, be of good courage with regard to Numidia; +for all that hitherto protected Jugurtha, avarice, inexperience, and +arrogance[251], you have entirely removed. There is an army in it, +too, which is well acquainted with the country, though, assuredly, +more brave than fortunate; for a great part of it has been destroyed +by the avarice or rashness of its commanders. Such of you, then, as +are of military age, co-operate with me, and support the cause of your +country; and let no discouragement, from the ill-fortune of others, or +the arrogance of the late commanders, affect any one of you. I myself +shall be with you, both on the march and in the battle, both to direct +your movements and to share your dangers. I shall treat you and myself +on every occasion alike; and, doubtless, with the aid of the gods, all +good things, victory, spoil, and glory, are ready to our hands; though, +even if they were doubtful or distant, it would still become every able +citizen to act in defense of his country. For no man, by slothful +timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals[252]; nor has any parent wished +for his children[253] that they might live forever, but rather that they +might act in life with virtue and honor. I would add more, my +fellow-citizens, if words could give courage to the faint-hearted; to +the brave I think that I have said enough." + +LXXXVI. After having spoken to this effect, Marius, when he found that +the minds of the populace were excited, immediately freighted vessels +with provisions, pay, arms, and other necessaries, and ordered Aulus +Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to set sail with them. He himself, in +the mean time, proceeded to enlist soldiers, not after the ancient +method, or from the classes[254], but taking all that were willing to +join him, and the greater part from the lowest ranks. Some said that +this was done from a scarcity of better men, and others from the +consul's desire to pay court[255] to the poorer class, because it was +by that order of men that he had been honored and promoted; and, +indeed, to a man grasping at power, the most needy are the most +serviceable, persons to whom their property (as they have none) is not +an object of care, and to whom every thing lucrative appears honorable. +Setting out, accordingly, for Africa, with a somewhat larger force than +had been decreed, he arrived in a few days at Utica. The command of the +army was resigned to him by Publius Rutilius, Metullus's +lieutenant-general; for Metullus himself avoided the sight of Marius, +that he might not see what he could not even endure to hear mentioned. + +LXXXVII. Marius, having filled up his legions[256] and auxiliary +cohorts, marched into a part of the country which was fertile and +abundant in spoil, where, whatever he captured, he gave up to his +soldiers. He then attacked such fortresses or towns as were ill +defended by nature or with troops, and ventured on several +engagements, though only of a light character, in different places. +The new recruits, in process of time, began to join in an encounter +without fear; they saw that such as fled were taken prisoners or +slain; that the bravest were the safest; that liberty, their country, +and parents,[257] are defended, and glory and riches acquired, by +arms. Thus the new and old troops soon became as one body, and the +courage of all was rendered equal. + +The two kings, when they heard of the approach of Marius, retreated, +by separate routes, into parts that were difficult of access; a plan +which had been proposed by Jugurtha, who hoped that, in a short time, +the enemy might be attacked when dispersed over the country, supposing +that the Roman soldiers, like the generality of troops, would be less +careful and observant of discipline when the fear of danger was removed. + +LXXXVIII. Metellus, meanwhile, having taken his departure for Rome, +was received there, contrary to his expectation, with the greatest +feelings of joy, being equally welcomed, since public prejudice had +subsided, by both the people and the patricians. + +Marius continued to attend, with equal activity and prudence, to his +own affairs and those of the enemy. He observed what would be +advantageous, or the contrary, to either party; he watched the +movements of the kings, counteracted their intentions and stratagems, +and allowed no remissness in his own army, and no security in that of +the enemy. He accordingly attacked and dispersed, on several +occasions, the Getulians and Jugurtha on their march, as they were +carrying off spoil from our allies;[258] and he obliged the king +himself, near the town of Cirta, to take flight without his arms[259] +But finding that such enterprises merely gained him honor, without +tending to terminate the war, he resolved on investing, one after +another, all the cities, which, by the strength of their garrisons or +situation, were best suited either to support the enemy, or to resist +himself; so that Jugurtha would either be deprived of his fortresses, +if he suffered them to be taken, or be forced to come to an engagement +in their defense. As to Bocchus, he had frequently sent messengers to +Marius, saying that he desired the friendship of the Roman people, and +that the consul need fear no act of hostility from him. But whether he +merely dissembled, with a view to attack us unexpectedly with greater +effect, or whether, from fickleness of disposition he habitually +wavered between war and peace, was never fairly ascertained. + +LXXXIX. Marius, as he had determined, proceeded to attack the +fortified towns and places of strength, and to detach them, partly by +force, and partly by threats or offers of reward, from the enemy. His +operations in this way, however, were at first but moderate; for he +expected that Jugurtha, to protect his subjects, would soon come to an +engagement. But finding that he kept at a distance, and was intent on +other affairs, he thought it was time to enter upon something of +greater importance and difficulty. Amid the vast deserts there lay a +great and strong city, named Capsa, the founder of which is said to have +been the Libyan Hercules.[260] Its inhabitants were exempted from taxes +by Jugurtha, and under mild government, and were consequently regarded +as the most faithful of his subjects. They were defended against enemies, +not only by walls, magazines of arms, and bodies of troops, but still +more by the difficulty of approaching them; for, except the parts +adjoining the walls, all the surrounding country is waste and +uncultivated, destitute of water, and infested with serpents, whose +fierceness, like that of other wild animals, is aggravated by want of +food; while the venom of such reptiles, deadly in itself, is exacerbated +by nothing so much as by thirst. Of this place Marius conceived a strong +desire[261] to make himself master, not only from its importance for the +war, but because its capture seemed an enterprise of difficulty; for +Metellus had gained great glory by taking Thala, a town similarly +situated and fortified; except that at Thala there were several springs +near the walls, while the people of Capsa had only one running stream, +and that within the town, all the water which they used beside being +rain-water. But this scarcity, both here and in other parts of Africa, +where the people live rudely and remote from the sea, was endured with +the greater ease, as the inhabitants subsist mostly on milk and wild +beasts' flesh,[262] and use no salt, or other provocatives of appetite, +their food being merely to satisfy hunger or thirst, and not to encourage +luxury or excess. + +XC. The consul,[263] having made all necessary investigations, and +relying, I suppose, on the gods (for against such difficulties he +could not well provide by his own forethought, as he was also +straitened for want of corn, because the Numidians apply more to +pasturage than agriculture, and had conveyed, by the king's order, +whatever corn had been raised into fortified places, while the ground +at the time, it being the end of summer, was parched and destitute of +vegetation), yet, under the circumstances, conducted his arrangements +with great prudence. All the cattle, which had been taken for some +days previous, he consigned to the care[264] of the auxiliary cavalry; +and directed Aulus Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to proceed with +the light-armed cohorts to the town of Lares,[265] where he had +deposited provisions and pay for the army, telling him that, after +plundering the country, he would join him there in a few days. Having +by this means concealed his real design, he proceeded toward the river +Tana. + +XCI. On his march he distributed daily, to each division of the +infantry and cavalry, an equal portion of the cattle, and gave orders +that water-bottles should be made of their hides; thus compensating, +at once, for the scarcity of corn, and providing, while all remained +ignorant of his intention, utensils which would soon be of service. At +the end of six days, accordingly, when he arrived at the river, a +large number of bottles had been prepared. Having pitched his camp, +with a slight fortification, he ordered his men to take refreshment, +and to be ready to resume their march at sunset; and, having laid aside +all their baggage, to load themselves and their beasts only with water. +As soon as it seemed time, he quitted the camp, and, after marching the +whole night,[266] encamped again. + +The same course he pursued on the following night, and on the third, +long before dawn, he reached a hilly spot of ground, not more than two +miles distant from Capsa, where he waited, as secretly as possible, +with his whole force. But when daylight appeared, and many of the +Numidians, having no apprehensions of an enemy, went forth out of the +town, he suddenly ordered all the cavalry, and with them the lightest +of the infantry, to hasten forward to Capsa, and secure the gates. He +himself immediately followed, with the utmost ardor, restraining his +men from plunder. + +When the inhabitants perceived that the place was surprised, their +state of consternation and extreme dread, the suddenness of the +calamity, and the consideration that many of their fellow-citizens +were without the walls in the power of the enemy, compelled them to +surrender. The town, however, was burned; of the Numidians, such as +were of adult age, were put to the sword; the rest were sold, and the +spoil divided among the soldiers. This severity, in violation of the +usages of war, was not adopted from avarice or cruelty in the consul, +but was exercised because the place was of great advantage to Jugurtha, +and difficult of access to us, while the inhabitants were a fickle and +faithless race, to be influenced neither by kindness nor by terror. + +XCII. When Marius had achieved so important an enterprise, without any +loss to his troops, he who was great and honored before became still +greater and still more honored. All his undertakings,[267] however +ill-concerted, were regarded as proofs of superior ability; his +soldiers, kept under mild discipline, and enriched with spoil, +extolled him to the skies; the Numidians dreaded him as some thing +more than human; and all, indeed, allies as well as enemies, believed +that he was either possessed of supernatural power, or had all things +directed for him by the will of the gods. + +After his success in this attempt, he proceeded against other towns; a +few, where they offered resistance, he took by force; a greater number, +deserted in consequence of the wretched fate of Capsa, he destroyed by +fire; and the whole country was filled with mourning and slaughter. + +Having at length gained possession of many places, and most of them +without loss to his army, he turned his thoughts to another enterprise, +which, though not of the same desperate character as that at Capsa, was +yet not less difficult of execution.[268] Not far from the river Mulucha, +which divided the kingdoms of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the +midst of a plain,[269] a rocky hill, sufficiently broad at the top for +a small fort; it rose to a vast height, and had but one narrow ascent +left open, the whole of it being as steep by nature as it could have +been rendered by labor and art. This place, as there were treasures of +the king in it, Marius directed his utmost efforts to take.[270] But +his views were furthered more by fortune than by his own contrivance. +In the fortress there were plenty of men and arms for its defense, +as well as an abundant store of provisions, and a spring of water; +while its situation was unfavorable for raising mounds, towers, and +other works; and the road to it, used by its inhabitants, was extremely +steep, with a precipice on either side. The vineae were brought up with +great danger, and without effect; for, before they were advanced any +considerable distance, they were destroyed with fire or stones. And from +the difficulties of the ground, the soldiers could neither stand in front +of the works, nor act among the vineae,[271] without danger; the boldest +of them were killed or wounded, and the fear of the rest increased. + +XCIII. Marius having thus wasted much time and labor, began seriously +to consider whether he should abandon the attempt as impracticable, or +wait for the aid of Fortune, whom he had so often found favorable. +While he was revolving the matter in his mind, during several days and +nights, in a state of much doubt and perplexity, it happened that a +certain Ligurian, a private soldier in the auxiliary cohorts,[272] +having gone out of the camp to fetch water, observed, near that part +of the fort which was furthest from the besiegers, some snails +crawling among the rocks, of which, when he had picked up one or two, +and afterward more, he gradually proceeded, in his eagerness for +collecting them, almost to the top of the hill. When he found this +part deserted, a desire, incident to the human mind, of seeing what he +had never seen,[273] took violent possession of him. A large oak +chanced to grow out among the rocks, at first, for a short distance, +horizontally,[274] and then, as nature directs all vegetables,[275] +turning and shooting upward. Raising himself sometimes on the boughs +of this tree, and sometimes on the projecting rocks, the Ligurian, as +all the Numidians were intently watching the besiegers, took a full +survey of the platform of the fortress. Having observed whatever he +thought it would afterward prove useful to know, he descended the same +way, not unobservantly, as he had gone up, but exploring and noticing +all the peculiarities of the path. He then hastened to Marius, +acquainted him with what he had done, and urged him to attack the fort +on that side where he had ascended, offering himself to lead the way +and the attempt. Marius sent some of those about him, along with the +Ligurian, to examine the practicability of his proposal, who, +according to their several dispositions, reported the affair as +difficult or easy. The consul's hopes, however, were somewhat +encouraged; and he accordingly selected, from his band of trumpeters +and bugle-men, five of the most nimble, and with them four centurions +for a guard;[276] all of whom he directed to obey the Ligurian, +appointing the next day for commencing the experiment. + +XCIV. When, according to their instructions, it seemed time to set +out, the Ligurian, after preparing and arranging every thing, +proceeded to the place of ascent. Those who commanded the +centuries,[277] being previously instructed by the guide, had changed +their arms and dress, having their heads and feet bare, that their +view upward, and their progress among the rocks, might be less +impeded;[278] their swords were slung behind them, as well as their +shields, which were Numidian, and made of leather, both for the sake +of lightness, and in order that, if struck against any object, they +might make less noise. The Ligurian went first, and tied to the rocks, +and whatever roots of trees projected through age, a number of ropes, +by which the soldiers supporting themselves might climb with the +greatest ease. Such as were timorous, from the extraordinary nature of +the path, he sometimes pulled up by the hand; when the ascent was +extremely rugged, he sent them on singly before him without their +arms, which he then carried up after them; whatever parts appeared +unsafe,[279] he first tried them himself, and, by going up and down +repeatedly in the same place, and then standing aside, he inspired the +rest with courage to proceed. At length, after uninterrupted and +harassing exertion they reached the fortress, which, on that side, was +undefended, for all the occupants, as on other days, were intent on +the enemy in the opposite quarter. + +Though Marius had kept the attention of the Numidians, during the +whole day, fixed on his attacks, yet, when he heard from his scouts +how the Ligurian had succeeded, he animated his soldiers to fresh +exertions, and he himself, advancing beyond the vineae, and causing a +testudo to be formed,[280] came up close under the walls, annoying the +enemy, at the same time, with his engines, archers, and slingers, from +a distance. + +But the Numidians, having often before overturned and burned the +vineae of the Romans, no longer confined themselves within the +fortress, but spent day and night before the walls, railing at the +Romans, upbraiding Marius with madness, threatening our soldiers with +being made slaves to Jugurtha, and exhibiting the utmost audacity on +account of their successful defense. In the mean time, while both the +Romans and Numidians were engaged in the struggle, the one side +contending for glory and dominion, the other for their very existence, +the trumpets suddenly sounded a blast in the rear of the enemy, at +which the women and children, who had gone out to view the contest, +were the first to flee; next those who were nearest to the wall, and +at length the whole of the Numidians, armed and unarmed, retreated +within the fort. When this had happened, the Romans pressed upon the +enemy with increased boldness, dispersing them, and at first only +wounding the greater part, but afterward making their way over the +bodies of those who fell, thirsting for glory, and striving who should +be first to reach the wall; not a single individual being detained by +the plunder. Thus the rashness of Marius, rendered successful by +fortune, procured him renown from his very error. + +XCV. During the progress of this affair, Lucius Sylla, Marius's +quaestor, arrived in the camp with a numerous body of cavalry, which +he had been left at Rome to raise among the Latins and allies. + +Of so eminent a man, since my subject brings him to my notice, I think +it proper to give a brief account of the character and manners; for I +shall in no other place allude to his affairs;[281] and Lucius +Sisenna,[282] who has treated that subject the most ably and accurately +of all writers, seems to me to have spoken with too little freedom. +Sylla, then, was of patrician descent, but of a family almost sunk in +obscurity by the degeneracy of his forefathers. He was skilled, equally +and profoundly, in Greek and Roman literature. He was a man of large +mind, fond of pleasure, but fonder of glory. His leisure was spent in +luxurious gratifications, but pleasure never kept him from his duties, +except that he might have acted more for his honor with regard to his +wife[283]. He was eloquent and subtle, and lived on the easiest terms +with his friends.[284] His depth of thought in disguising his +intentions, was incredible; he was liberal of most things, but +especially of money. And though he was the most fortunate [285] of all +men before his victory in the civil war, yet his fortune was never +beyond his desert;[286] and many have expressed a doubt whether his +success or his merit were the greater. As to his subsequent acts, I +know not whether more of shame, or of regret must be felt at the +recital of them. + +XCVI. When Sylla came with his cavalry into Africa, as has just been +stated, and arrived at the camp of Marius, though he had hitherto been +unskilled and undisciplined in the art of war, he became, in a short +time, the most expert of the whole army. He was besides affable to the +soldiers; he conferred favors on many at their request, and on others +of his own accord, and was reluctant to receive any in return. But he +repaid other obligations more readily than those of a pecuniary +nature; he himself demanded repayment from no one; but rather made it +his object that as many as possible should be indebted to him. He +conversed, jocosely as well as seriously, with the humblest of the +soldiers; he was their frequent companion at their works, on the +march, and on guard. Nor did he ever, as is usual with depraved +ambition, attempt to injure the character of the consul, or of any +deserving person. + +His sole aim, whether in the council or the field, was to suffer none +to excel him; to most he was superior. By such conduct he soon became +a favorite both with Marius and with the army. + +XCVII. Jugurtha, after he had lost the city of Capsa, and other strong +and important places, as well as a vast sum of money, dispatched +messengers to Bocchus, requesting him to bring his forces into Numidia +as soon as possible, and stating that the time for giving battle was +at hand. But finding that he hesitated, and was balancing the +inducements to peace and war, he again corrupted his confidants, as on +a previous occasion, with presents, and promised the Moor himself a +third part of Numidia, should either the Romans be driven from Africa, +or the war brought to an end without any diminution of his own +territories. Being allured by this offer, Bocchus joined Jugurtha with +a large force. + +The armies of the kings being thus united, they attacked Marius, on +his march to his winter quarters, when scarcely a tenth part of the +day remained[287], expecting that the night, which was now coming on, +would be a shelter to them if they were beaten, and no impediment if +they should conquer, as they were well acquainted with the country, +while either result would be worse for the Romans in the dark. At the +very moment, accordingly, that Marius heard from various quarters[288] +of the enemy's approach, the enemy themselves were upon him, and +before the troops could either form themselves or collect the baggage, +before they could receive even a signal or an order, the Moorish and +Getulian horse, not in line, or any regular array of battle, but in +separate bodies, as chance had united them, rushed furiously on our +men; who, though all struck with a panic, yet, calling to mind what +they had done on former occasions, either seized their arms, or +protected those who were looking for theirs, while some, springing on +their horses, advanced against the enemy. But the whole conflict was +more like a rencounter with robbers than a battle; the horse and foot +of the enemy, mingled together without standards or order, wounded +some of our men, and cut down others, and surprised many in the rear +while fighting stoutly with those in front; neither valor nor arms +were a sufficient defense, the enemy being superior in numbers, and +covering the field on all sides. At last the Roman veterans, who were +necessarily well experienced in war,[289] formed themselves, wherever +the nature of the ground or chance allowed them to unite, in circular +bodies, and thus secured on every side, and regularly drawn up, +withstood the attacks of the enemy. + +XCVIII. Marius, in this desperate emergency, was not more alarmed or +disheartened than on any previous occasion, but rode about with his +troop of cavalry, which he had formed of his bravest soldiers rather +than his nearest friends, in every quarter of the field, sometimes +supporting his own men when giving way, sometimes charging the enemy +where they were thickest, and doing service to his troops with his +sword, since, in the general confusion, he was unable to command with +his voice. + +The day had now closed, yet the barbarians abated nothing of their +impetuosity, but, expecting that the night would be in their favor, +pressed forward, as their kings had directed them, with increased +violence. Marius, in consequence, resolved upon a measure suited to +his circumstances, and, that his men might have a place of retreat, +took possession of two hills contiguous to each other, on one of +which, too small for a camp, there was an abundant spring of water, +while the other, being mostly elevated and steep, and requiring little +fortification, was suited for his purpose as a place of encampment. He +then ordered Sylla, with a body of cavalry, to take his station for +the night on the eminence containing the spring, while he himself +collected his scattered troops by degrees, the enemy being not less +disordered[290], and led them all at a quick march[291] up the other +hill. Thus the kings, obliged by the strength of the Roman position, +were deterred from continuing the combat; yet they did not allow their +men to withdraw to a distance, but, surrounding both hills with a +large force, encamped without any regular order. Having then lighted +numerous fires, the barbarians, after their custom, spent most of the +night in merriment, exultation, and tumultuous clamor, the kings, +elated at having kept their ground, conducting themselves as +conquerors. This scene, plainly visible to the Romans, under cover of +the night and on the higher ground, afforded great encouragement to +them. + +XCIX. Marius, accordingly, deriving much confidence from the +imprudence of the enemy, ordered the strictest possible silence to be +kept, not allowing even the trumpets, as was usual, to be sounded when +the watches were changed;[292] cavalry, and legions, to sound all and +then, when day approached, and the enemy were fatigued and just +sinking to sleep, he ordered the sentinels, with the trumpeters of the +auxiliary cohorts,[293] their instruments at once, and the soldiers, +at the same time, to raise a shout, and sally forth from the camp[294] +upon the enemy. The Moors and Getulians, suddenly roused by the +strange and terrible noise, could neither flee, nor take up arms, +could neither act, nor provide for their security, so completely had +fear, like a stupor,[295] from the uproar and shouting, the absence of +support, the charge of our troops, and the tumult and alarm, seized +upon them all. The whole of them were consequently routed and put to +flight; most of their arms, and military standards, were taken; and +more were killed in this than in all former battles, their escape +being impeded by sleep and the sudden alarm. + +C. Marius now continued the route, which he had commenced, toward his +winter quarters, which, for the convenience of getting provisions, he +had determined to fix in the towns on the coast. He was not, however, +rendered careless or presumptuous by his victory, but marched with his +army in form of a square[296] just as if he were in sight of the +enemy. Sylla, with his cavalry, was on the right; Aulus Manlius, with +the slingers and archers, and Ligurian cohorts, had the command on the +left; the tribunes, with the light-armed infantry, the consul had +placed in the front and rear. The deserters, whose lives were of +little value, and who were well acquainted with the country, observed +the route of the enemy. Marius himself, too, as if no other were +placed in charge, attended to every thing, went through the whole of +the troops, and praised or blamed them according to their desert. He +was always armed and on the alert, and obliged his men to imitate his +example. He fortified his camp with the same caution with which he +marched; stationing cohorts of the legions to watch the gates, and the +auxiliary cavalry in front, and others upon the rampart and lines. He +went round the posts in person, not from suspicion that his orders +would not be observed, but that the labor of the soldiers, shared +equally by their general, might be endured by them with cheerfulness. +[297] Indeed, Marius, as well at this as at other periods of the war, +kept his men to their duty rather by the dread of shame[298] than of +severity; a course which many said was adopted from desire of popularity, +but some thought it was because he took pleasure in toils to which he had +been accustomed from his youth, and in exertions which other men call +perfect miseries. The public interest, however, was served with as much +efficiency and honor as it could have been under the most rigorous +command. + +CI. At length, on the fourth day of his march, when he was not far +from the town of Cirta, his scouts suddenly made their appearance from +all quarters at once; a circumstance by which the enemy was known to +be at hand. But as they came in from different points, and all gave +the same account, the consul, doubting in what form to draw up his +army, made no alteration in it, but halted where he was, being already +prepared for every contingency. Jugurtha's expectations, in consequence, +disappointed him; for he had divided his force into four bodies, trusting +that one of them, assuredly,[299] would surprise the Romans in the rear. +Sylla, meanwhile, with whom they first came in contact, having cheered +on his men, charged the Moors, in person and with his officers,[300] +with troop after troop of cavalry, in the closest order possible; while +the rest of his force, retaining their position, protected themselves +against the darts thrown from a distance, and killed such of the enemy +as fell into their hands. + +While the cavalry was thus engaged, Bocchus, with his infantry, which +his son Volux had brought up, and which, from delay on their march, +had not been present in the former battle, assailed the Romans in the +rear. Marius was at that moment occupied in front, as Jugurtha was +there with his largest force. The Numidian king, hearing of the +arrival of Bocchus, wheeled secretly about, with a few of his +followers, to the infantry,[301] and exclaimed in Latin, which he had +learned to speak at Numantia, "that our men wore struggling in vain; +for that he had just slain Marius with his own hand;" showing, at the +same time, his sword besmeared with blood, which he had, indeed, +sufficiently stained by vigorously cutting down our infantry[302]. + +When the soldiers heard this, they felt a shock, though rather at the +horror of such an event, than from belief in him who asserted it; the +barbarians, on the other hand, assumed fresh courage, and advanced +with greater fury on the disheartened Romans, who were just on the +point of taking to flight, when Sylla, having routed those to whom he +had been opposed, fell upon the Moors in the flank. Bocchus instantly +fled. Jugurtha, anxious to support his men, and to secure a victory so +nearly won, was surrounded by our cavalry, and all his attendants, +right and left, being slain, had to force a way alone, with great +difficulty, through the weapons of the enemy. Marius, at the same +time, having put to flight the cavalry, came up to support such of his +men as he had understood to be giving ground. At last the enemy were +defeated in every quarter. The spectacle on the open plains was then +frightful;[303] some were pursuing, others fleeing; some were being +slain, others captured; men and horses were dashed to the earth; many, +who were wounded, could neither flee nor remain at rest, attempting to +rise, and instantly falling back; and the whole field, as far as the +eye could reach, was strewed with arms and dead bodies, and the +intermediate spaces saturated with blood. + +CII. At length the consul, now indisputably victor, arrived at the +town of Cirta, whither he had at first intended to go. To this place, +on the fifth day after the second defeat of the barbarians, came +messengers from Bocchus, who, in the king's name, requested of Marius +to send him two persons in whom he had full confidence, as he wished +to confer with them on matters concerning both the interest of the +Roman people and his own. Marius immediately dispatched Sylla and +Aulus Manlius; who, though they went at the king's invitation, thought +proper, notwithstanding, to address him first, in the hope of altering +his sentiments, if he were unfavorable to peace, or of strengthening +his inclination, if he were disposed to it. Sylla, therefore, to whose +superiority, not in years but in eloquence, Manlius yielded +precedence, spoke to Bocchus briefly as follows: + +"It gives us great pleasure, King Bocchus, that the gods have at +length induced a man, so eminent as yourself, to prefer peace to war, +and no longer to stain your own excellent character by an alliance +with Jugurtha, the most infamous of mankind; and to relieve us, at the +same time, from the disagreeable necessity of visiting with the same +punishment your errors and his crimes. Besides, the Roman people, even +from the very infancy[304] of their state, have thought it better to +seek friends than slaves, thinking it safer to rule over willing than +forced subjects. But to you no friendship can be more suitable than +ours; for, in the first place, we are at a distance from you, on which +account there will be the less chance of misunderstanding between us, +while our good feeling for you will be as strong as if we were near; +and, secondly, because, though we have subjects in abundance, yet +neither we, nor any other nation, can ever have a sufficiency of +friends. Would that such had been your inclination from the first; for +then you would assuredly, before this time, have received from the +Roman people more benefits than you have now suffered evils. But since +Fortune has the chief control in human affairs, and it has pleased her +that you should experience our force as well as our favor, now, when, +she gives you this fair opportunity, embrace it without delay, and +complete the course which you have begun. You have many and excellent +means of atoning, with great ease, for past errors by future services. +Impress this, however, deeply on your mind, that the Roman people are +never outdone in acts of kindness; of their power in war you have +already sufficient knowledge." + +To this address Bocchus made a temperate and courteous reply, offering +a few observations, at the same time, in extenuation of his error; and +saying "that he had taken arms, not with any hostile feeling, but to +defend his own dominions, as part of Numidia, out of which he had +forcibly driven Jugurtha,[305] was his by right of conquest, and he +could not allow it to be laid waste by Marius; that when he formerly +sent embassadors to the Romans, he was refused their friendship; but +that he would say nothing more of the past, and would, if Marius gave +him permission, send another embassy to the senate." But no sooner was +this permission granted, than the purpose of the barbarian was altered +by some of his friends, whom Jugurtha, hearing of the mission of Sylla +and Manlius, and fearful of what was intended by it, had corrupted +with bribes. + +CIII. Marius, in the mean time, having settled his army in winter +quarters, set out, with the light-armed cohorts and part of the +cavalry, into a desert part of the country, to besiege a fortress of +Jugurtha's, in which he had placed a garrison consisting wholly of +Roman deserters. And now again Bocchus, either from reflecting on what +he had suffered in the two engagements, or from being admonished by +such of his friends as Jugurtha had not corrupted, selected, out of +the whole number of his adherents, five persons of approved integrity +and eminent abilities, whom he directed to go, in the first place, to +Marius, and afterward to proceed, if Marius gave his consent, as +embassadors to Rome, granting them full powers to treat concerning his +affairs, and to conclude the war upon any terms whatsoever. These five +immediately set out for the Roman winter-quarters, but being beset and +spoiled by Getulian robbers on the way, fled, in alarm and ill +plight,[306] to Sylla, whom the consul, when he went on his expedition, +had left as pro-praetor with the army. Sylla received them, not, as they +had deserved, like faithless enemies, but with the greatest ceremony and +munificence; from which the barbarians concluded that what was said of +Roman avarice was false, and that Sylla, from his generosity, must be +their friend. For interested bounty,[307] in those days, was still +unknown to many; by whom every man who was liberal was also thought +benevolent, and all presents were considered to proceed from kindness. +They therefore disclosed to the quaestor their commission from Bocchus, +and asked him to be their patron and adviser; extolling, at the same +time, the power, integrity, and grandeur of their monarch, and adding +whatever they thought likely to promote their objects, or to procure +the favor of Sylla. Sylla promised them all that they requested; and, +being instructed how to address Marius and the senate, they tarried in +the camp about forty days.[308] + +CIV. When Marius, having failed in the object[309] of his expedition, +returned to Cirta, and was informed of the arrival of the embassadors, +he desired both them and Sylla to come to him, together with Lucius +Bellienus, the praetor from Utica, and all that were of senatorial rank +in any part of the country, with whom he discussed the instructions of +Bocchus to his embassadors; to whom permission to proceed to Rome was +granted by the consul. In the mean time a truce was asked, a request +to which assent was readily expressed by Sylla and the majority; the +few, who advocated harsher measures, were men inexperienced in human +affairs, which, unstable and fluctuating, are always verging to +opposite extremes.[310] + +The Moors having obtained all that they desired, three of them started +for Rome with Oneius Octavius Rufus, who, as quaestor, had brought pay +for the army to Africa; the other two returned to Bocchus, who heard +from them, with great pleasure, their account both of other +particulars, and especially of the courtesy and attention of Sylla. + +To his three embassadors that went to Rome, when, after a deprecatory +acknowledgment that their king had been in error, and had been led +astray by the treachery of Jugurtha, they solicited for him friendship +and alliance, the following answer was given: "The senate and people +of Rome are wont to be mindful of both services and injuries; they +pardon Bocchus, since he repents of his fault, and will grant him +their alliance and friendship when he shall have deserved them." + +CV. When this reply was communicated to Bocchus, he requested Marius, +by letter, to send Sylla to him, that, at his discretion,[311] +measures might be adopted for their common interest. Sylla was +accordingly dispatched, attended with a guard of cavalry, infantry, +and Balearic slingers, besides some archers and a Pelignian cohort, +who, for the sake of expedition, were furnished with light arms, +which, however, protected them, as efficiently as any others, against +the light darts of the enemy. As he was on his march, on the fifth day +after he set out, Volux, the son of Bocchus, suddenly appeared on the +open plain with a body of cavalry, which amounted in reality to not +more than a thousand, but which, as they approached in confusion and +disorder, presented to Sylla and the rest the appearance of a greater +number, and excited apprehensions of hostility. Every one, therefore, +prepared himself for action, trying and presenting[312] his arms and +weapons; some fear was felt among them, but greater hope, as they were +now conquerors, and were only meeting those whom they had often +overcome. After a while, however, a party of horse sent forward to +reconnoiter, reported, as was the case, that nothing but peace was +intended. + +CVI. Volux, coming forward, addressed himself to Sylla, saying that he +was sent by Bocchus his father to meet and escort him. The two parties +accordingly formed a junction, and prosecuted their journey, on that +day and the following, without any alarm. But when they had pitched +their camp, and evening had set in, Volux came running, with looks of +perplexity, to Sylla, and said that he had learned from his scouts +that Jugurtha was at hand, entreating and urging him, at the same +time, to escape with him privately in the night. Sylla boldly replied, +"that he had no fear of Jugurtha, an enemy so often defeated; that he +had the utmost confidence in the valor of his troops; and that, even +if certain destruction were at hand, he would rather keep his ground, +than save, by deserting his followers, a life at best uncertain, and +perhaps soon to be lost by disease." Being pressed, however, by Volux, +to set forward in the night, he approved of the suggestion, and +immediately ordered his men to dispatch their supper,[313] to light as +many fires as possible in the camp, and to set out in silence at the +first watch. + +When they were all fatigued with their march during the night, and +Sylla was preparing, at sunrise, to pitch his camp, the Moorish +cavalry announced that Jugurtha was encamped about two miles in +advance. At this report, great dismay fell upon our men; for they +believed themselves betrayed by Volux, and led into an ambuscade. Some +exclaimed that they ought to take vengeance on him at once, and not +suffer such perfidy to remain unpunished. + +CVII. But Sylla, though he had similar thoughts, protected the Moor +from violence; exhorting his soldiers to keep up their spirits; and +saying, "that a handful of brave men had often fought successfully +against a multitude; that the less anxious they were to save their +lives in battle, the greater would be their security; and that no man, +who had arms in his hands, ought to trust for safety to his unarmed +heels, or to turn to the enemy, in however great danger, the +defenseless and blind parts of his body".[314] Having then called +almighty Jupiter to witness the guilt and perfidy of Bocchus, he +ordered Volux, as being an instrument of his father's hostility,[315] +to quit the camp. + +Volux, with tears in his eyes, entreated him to entertain no such +suspicions; declaring "that nothing in the affair had been caused by +treachery on his part, but all by the subtlety of Jugurtha, to whom +his line of march had become known through his scouts. But as Jugurtha +had no great force with him, and as his hopes and resource were +dependent on his father Bocchus, he assuredly would not attempt any +open violence, when the son of Bocchus would himself be a witness of +it. He thought it best for Sylla, therefore, to march boldly through +the middle of his camp, and that as for himself, he would either send +forward his Moors, or leave them where they were, and accompany Sylla +alone." This course, under such circumstances, was adopted; they set +forward without delay, and, as they came upon Jugurtha unexpectedly, +while he was in doubt and hesitation how to act, they passed without +molestation. In a few days afterward, they arrived at the place to +which their march was directed. + +CVIII. There was, at this time, in constant and familiar intercourse +with Bocchus, a Numidian named Aspar, who had been sent to him by +Jugurtha, when he heard of Sylla's intended interview, in the +character of embassador, but secretly to be a spy on the Mauretanian +king's proceedings. There was also with him a certain Dabar, son of +Massugrada, one of the family of Masinissa,[316] but of inferior birth +on the maternal side, as his father was the son of a concubine. Dabar, +for his many intellectual endowments, was liked and esteemed by +Bocchus, who, having found him faithful[317] on many former occasions, +sent him forthwith to Sylla, to say that "he was ready to do whatever +the Romans desired; that Sylla himself should appoint the place, day, +and hour,[318] for a conference; that he kept all points, which he had +settled with him before, inviolate;[319] and that he was not to fear +the presence of Jugurtha's embassador as any restraint[320] on the +discussion of their common interests, since, without admitting him, he +could have no security against Jugurtha's treachery". I find, however, +that it was rather from African duplicity[321] than from the motives +which he professed, that Bocchus thus allured both the Romans and +Jugurtha with the hopes of peace; that he frequently debated with +himself whether he should deliver Jugurtha to the Romans, or Sylla to +Jugurtha; and that his inclination swayed him against us, but his +fears in our favor. + +CIX. Sylla replied, "that he should speak on but few particulars +before Aspar, and discuss others at a private meeting, or in the +presence of only a few;" dictating, at the same time, what answer +should be returned by Bocchus.[322] Afterward, when they met, as +Bocchus had desired, Sylla stated, "that he had come, by order of the +consul, to inquire whether he would resolve on peace or on war." +Bocchus, as he had been previously instructed by Sylla, requested him +to come again at the end of ten days, since he had as yet formed no +determination, but would at that time give a decisive answer. Both +then retired to their respective camps.[323] But when the night was +far advanced, Sylla was secretly sent for by Bocchus. At their +interview, none but confidential interpreters were admitted on either +side, together with Dabar, the messenger between them, a man of honor, +and held in esteem by both parties. The king at once commenced thus: + +CX. "I never expected that I, the greatest monarch in this part of the +world, and the richest of all whom I know, should ever owe a favor to +a private man. Indeed, Sylla, before I knew you, I gave assistance to +many who solicited me, and to others without solicitation, and stood +in need of no man's assistance. + +But at this loss of independence, at which others are wont to repine, +I am rather inclined to rejoice. It will be a pleasure to me[324] to +have once needed your friendship, than which I hold nothing dearer to +my heart. Of the sincerity of this assertion you may at once make +trial, take my arms, my soldiers, my money, or whatever you please, +and use it as your own. But do not suppose, as long as you live, that +your kindness to me has been fully requited; my sense of it will +always remain undiminished, and you shall, with my knowledge, wish for +nothing in vain. For, as I am of opinion, it is less dishonorable to a +prince to be conquered in battle than to be surpassed in generosity. + +With respect to your republic, whose interests you are sent to guard, +hear briefly what I have to say. I have neither made war upon the +Roman people, nor desired that it should be made; I have merely +defended my territories with arms against an armed force. But from +hostilities, since such is your pleasure, I now desist. Prosecute the +war with Jugurtha as you think proper. The river Malucha, which was +the boundary between Miscipsa and me, I shall neither pass myself, nor +suffer Jugurtha to come within it. And if you shall ask any thing +besides, worthy of me and of yourself, you shall not depart with a +refusal." + +CXI. To this speech Sylla replied, as far as concerned himself, +briefly and modestly; but spoke, with regard to the peace and their +common concerns, much more at length. He signified to the king "that +the senate and people of Rome, as they had the superiority in the +field, would think themselves little obliged by what he promised; that +he must do something which would seem more for their interest than his +own; and that for this there was now a fair opportunity, since he had +Jugurtha in his power, for, if he delivered him to the Romans, they +would feel greatly indebted to him, and their friendship and alliance, +as well as that part of Numidia which he claimed,[325] would readily +be granted him." Bocchus at first refused to listen to the proposal, +saying that affinity, the ties of blood,[326] and a solemn league, +connected him with Jugurtha; and that he feared, if he acted +insincerely, he might alienate the affections of his subjects, by whom +Jugurtha was beloved, and the Romans disliked. But at last, after +being frequently importuned, his resolution gave way,[327] and he +engaged to do every thing in accordance with Sylla's wishes. They then +concerted measures for conducting a pretended treaty of peace, of +which Jugurtha, weary of war, was extremely desirous. Having settled +their plans, they separated. + +CXII. On the next day Bocchus sent for Aspar, Jugurtha's envoy, and +acquainted him that he had ascertained from Sylla, through Dabar, that +the war might be concluded on certain conditions; and that he should +therefore make inquiry as to the sentiments of his king. Aspar +proceeded with joy to Jugurtha's camp, and having received full +instructions from him, returned in haste to Bocchus at the end of +eight days, with intelligence "that Jugurtha was eager to do whatever +might be required, but that he put little confidence in Marius, as +treaties of peace, concluded with Roman generals, had often before +proved of no effect; that if Bocchus, however, wished to consult the +interests of both,[328] and to have an established peace, he should +endeavor to bring all parties together to a conference, as if to +settle the conditions, and then deliver Sylla into his hands, for when +he had such a man in his power, a treaty would at once be concluded by +order of the senate and people of Rome; as a man of high rank, who had +fallen into the hands of the enemy, not from want of spirit, but from +zeal for the public interest, would not be left in captivity". + +CXIII. The Moor, after long meditation on these suggestions, at length +expressed his assent to them, but whether in pretense or sincerity I +have not been able to discover. But the inclinations of kings, as they +are violent, are often fickle, and at variance with themselves. At +last, after a time and place were fixed for coming to a conference +about the treaty, Bocchus addressed himself at one time to Sylla and +at another to the envoy of Jugurtha, treating them with equal +affability, and making the same professions to both. Both were in +consequence equally delighted, and animated with the fairest +expectations. But on the night preceding the day appointed for the +conference, the Moor, after first assembling his friends, and then, +on a change of mind, dismissing them, is reported to have had many +anxious struggles with himself, disturbed alike in his thoughts and +his gestures, which, even when he was silent, betrayed the secret +agitation of his mind. At last, however, he ordered that Sylla should +be sent for, and, according to his desire, laid an ambush for +Jugurtha. + +As soon as it was day, and intelligence was brought that Jugurtha was +at hand, Bocchus, as if to meet him and do him honor, went forth, +attended by a few friends, and our quaestor, as far as a little hill, +which was full in the view of the men who were placed in ambush. To +the same spot came Jugurtha with most of his adherents, unarmed, +according to agreement; when immediately, on a signal being given, he +was assailed on all sides by those who were lying in wait. The others +were cut to pieces, and Jugurtha himself was delivered bound to Sylla, +and by him conducted to Marius. + +CXIV. At this period war was carried on unsuccessfully by our generals +Quintus Caepio and Marcus Manlius, against the Gauls; with the terror +of which all Italy was thrown into consternation. Both the Romans of +that day, indeed, and their descendants, down to our own times, +maintained the opinion that all other nations must yield to their +valor, but that they contended with the Gauls, not for glory, but +merely in self-defense. But after the war in Numidia was ended, and +it was announced that Jugurtha was coming in chains to Rome, Marius, +though absent from the city, was created consul, and Gaul decreed to +him as his province. On the first of January he triumphed as consul, +with great glory. At that time[329] the hopes and dependence of the +state were placed on him. + + + + +NOTES FOR THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +[1] I. Intellectual power--_Virtute_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, at the commencement of the Conspiracy of Catiline. A little +below, I have rendered _via virtutis_, "the path of true merit." + +[2] Worthy of honor--_Clarus_. "A person may be called _clarus_ +either on account of his great actions and merits; or on account of +some honor which he has obtained, as the consuls were called +_clarissimi viri_; or on account of great expectations which are +formed from him. But since the worth of him who is _clarus_ is known +by all, it appears that the mind is here called _clarus_ because its +nature is such that pre-eminence is generally attributed to it, and +the attention of all directed toward it." _Dietsch_. + +[3] Abandons itself--_Pessum datus est_. Is altogether sunk and +overwhelmed. + +[4] Impute their delinquency to circumstances, etc.--_Suam quisque +culpam ad negotia transferunt_. Men excuse their indolence and +inactivity, by saying that the weakness of their faculties, or the +circumstances in which they are placed, render them unable to +accomplish any thing of importance. But, says Seneca, _Satis natura, +homini dedit roboris, si illo utamur;--nolle in causâ, non posse +praetenditur_. "Nature has given men sufficient powers, if they will +but use them; but they pretend that they can not when the truth is +that they will not." "_Negotia_ is a common word with Sallust, for +which other writers would use _res, facta_." Gerlach. "Cajus rei nos +ipsi sumus auctores, ejus culpam rebus externis attribuimus." +_Muller_. "Auctores" is the same as the [Greek: _aitioi_]. + +[5] Useless--_Aliena_. Unsuitable, not to the purpose, not +contributing to the improvement of life. + +[6] Instead of being mortal--_Pro mortalibus_. There are two senses +in which these words may be taken: _as far as mortals can_, and +_instead of being mortals_. Kritz and Dietsch say that the latter is +undoubtedly the true sense. Other commentators are either silent or +say little to the purpose. As for the translators, they have studied +only how to get over the passage delicately. The latter sense is +perhaps favored by what is said in c. 2, that "the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." + +[7] II. They all rise and fall, etc.--_Omnia orta occidunt, et +aucta senescunt_. This is true of things in general, but is here +spoken only of the qualities of the body, as De Brosses clearly +perceived. + +[8] Has power over all things--_Habet cuncta_. "All things are in +its power." Dietsch. "_Sub ditione tenet_. So Jupiter, Ov. Met. +i. 197: + Quum mihi qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque." +_Burnouf_. So Aristippus said, _Habeo Laidem, non habeor a Laide_, +[Greek: _echo ouk echomai_]. Cic. Epist. ad Fam. ix. 26. + +[9] III. Civil and military offices--_Magistratus et imperia_. +"Illo vocabule civilia, hoc militaria munera, significantur." +_Dietsch_. + +[10] To rule our country or subjects, etc.--_Nam vi quidem regere +patriam aut parentes_, etc. Cortius, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Muller are unanimous in understanding _parentes_ as the participle of +the verb _pareo_. That this is the sense, says Gerlach, is +sufficiently proved by the conjunction _aut_; for if Sallust had meant +_parents_, he would have used _ut_; and in this opinion Allen +coincides. Doubtless, also, this sense of the word suits extremely +well with the rest of the sentence, in which changes in government are +mentioned. But Burnouf, with Crispinus, prefers to follow Aldus +Manutius, who took the word in the other signification, supposing that +Sallust borrowed the sentiment from Plato, who says in his Epistle _ad +Dionis Propinquos_: [Greek: _Patera de hae maetera ouch osion +haegoumai prosbiazesthai, mae noso paraphrosunaes hechomenous. Bian de +patridi politeias metabolaes aeae prospherein, otan aneu phugon, kai +sphagaes andron, mae dunaton hae ginesthae taen ariostaen_.] And he +makes a similar observation in his Crito: [Greek: _Pantachou +poiaetaen, o an keleuoi hae polis te, kai hae patris.--Biazesthai de +ouch osion oute maetera, oute patera poly de touton eti aetton taen +patrida_.] On which sentiments Cicero, ad Fam. i. 9, thus comments: +_Id enim jubet idem ille Plato, quem ego auctorem vehementer sequor; +tantum contendere in republica quantum probare tuis civibus possis: +vim neque parenti, neque patriae afferre oportere_. There is also +another passage in Cicero, Cat. i. 3, which seems to favor this sense +of the word: _Si te parentes timerent atque odissent tui, neque eos +ullâ ratione placare posses, ut opinor, ab eorum oculis aliquò +concederes; nunc te patria, quae communis est omnium nostrum parens +odit ac metuit_, etc. Of the first passage cited from Plato, indeed, +Sallust's words may seem to be almost a translation. Yet, as the +majority of commentators have followed Cortius, I have also followed +him. Sallust has the word in this sense in Jug., c. 102; _Parentes +abunde habemus_. So Vell. Pat. ii. 108: _Principatis constans ex +voluntate parentium_. + +[11] Lead to--_Portendant_. "_Portendere_ in a _pregnant sense_, +meaning not merely to indicate, but _quasi secum ferre_, to carry +along with them." _Kritzius_. + +[12] IV, Presumptuously--_Per insolentiam_. The same as +_insolenter_, though some refer it, not to Sallust, but to _quis +existumet,_ in the sense of _strangely,_ i. e. _foolishly or +ignorantly._ I follow Cortius's interpretation. + +[13] At what periods I obtained office, what sort of men, etc. +--_Quibus ego temporibus maqistratus adeptus sum, et quales viri,_ etc. +--"Sallust obtained the quaestorship a few years after the conspiracy +of Catiline, about the time when the state was agitated by the +disorders of Clodius and his party. He was tribune of the people, +A.U.C. 701, the year in which Clodius was killed by Milo. He was +praetor in 708, when Caesar had made himself ruler. In the expression +_quales viri,_ etc., he alludes chiefly to Cato, who, when he stood +for the praetorship, was unsuccessful." _Burnouf._ Kritzius defends +_adeptus sum._ + +[14] What description of persons have subsequently entered the +senate--"Caesar chose the worthy and unworthy, as suited his own +purposes, to be members of the senate." _Burnouf._ + +[15] Quintus Maximus--Quintus Fabius Maximus, of whom Ennius says, + Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem. + +[16] Publius Scipio--Scipio Africanus the Elder, the conqueror of +Hannibal. See c. 5. + +[17] To the pursuit of honor--_Ad vertutem. Virtus_ in the same +sense as in _virtutis viâ,_ c. 1. + +[18] The wax--_Ceram illam._ The images or busts of their ancestors, +which the nobility kept in the halls of their houses, were made of wax. +See Plin. H. N. xxxv., 2. + +[19] Men of humble birth--_Homines novi_. See Cat., c. 23. + +[20] V. Threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion--_Divina +et humana cuncta permiscuit_. "All things, both divine and human, were +so changed, that their previous condition was entirely subverted." +_Dietsch_. + +[21] Civil dissensions--_Studiis civilibus_. This is the sense in +which most commentators take _studia_; and if this be right, the whole +phrase must be understood as I have rendered it. So Cortius; "Ut non +prius finirentur [_studia civilia_] nisi bello et vastitate Italiae." +Sallust has _studia partium_ Jug. c. 42; and Gerlach quotes from Cic. +pro Marcell. c. 10: "_Non enim consiliis solis et studiis, sed armis +etiam et castris dissidebamus_". + +[22] More than any other enemy--_Maximè_. + +[23] Since the Roman name became great--_Post magnitudinem nominis +Romani_. "I know not why interpreters should find any difficulty in +this passage. I understand it to signify simply _since_ the Romans +became so great as they were in the time of Hannibal; for, _before_ +that period they had suffered even heavier calamities, especially +from the Gauls." _Cortius_. + +[24] Syphax--"He was King of the Masaesyli in Numidia; was at first +an enemy to the Carthaginians (Liv. xxiv. 48), and afterward their +friend (Liv. xxviii. 17). He then changed sides again, and made +a treaty with Scipio; but having at length been offered the hand of +Sophonisba, the daughter of Asdrubal, in marriage, he accepted it, +and returned into alliance with the Carthaginians. Being subsequently +taken prisoner by Masinissa and Laelius, the lieutenant of Scipio, +(Liv. xxx. 2) he was carried into Italy, and died at Tibur (Liv. xxx. +45)." _Burnouf_. + +[25] His reign--_Imperii_. Cortius thinks that the grant of the +Romans ceased with the life of Masinissa, and that his son, Micipsa, +reigned only over that part of Numidia which originally belonged to +his father. But in this opinion succeeding commentators have generally +supposed him to be mistaken. + +[26] VII. During the Numantine war--_Bella Numantino_. Numantia, +which stood near the source of the Durius or _Douro_ in Spain, was +so strong in its situation and fortifications, that it with stood the +Romans for fourteen years. See Florus, ii. 17,18; Vell. Pat. ii. 4. + +[27] VIII. Rather by attention to them as a body, than by practicing +on individuals--_Publicè quàm privatim._ "Universae potius civitatis, +quàm privatorum gratiam quaerendo." _Burnouf_. The words can only be +rendered periphrastically. + +[28] IX. In a short time--_Statim_. If what is said in c. 11 be +correct, that Jugurtha was adopted within three years of Micipsa's +death, his adoption did not take place till twelve years after the +taking of Numantia, which surrendered in 619, and Micipsa died in 634. +_Statim_ is therefore used with great latitude, unless we suppose +Sallust to mean that Micipsa signified to Jugurtha his intention to +adopt him immediately on his return from Numantia, and that the formal +ceremony of the adoption was delayed for some years. + +[29] X. I received you--into my kingdom--_In meuum regnum accepi_. +By these words it is only signified that Micipsa received Jugurtha +into his palace so as to bring him up with his own children. The +critics who suppose that there is any allusion to the adoption, or +a pretended intention of it on the part of Micipsa, are evidently in +the wrong. + +[30] Pre-eminent merit--_Gloriâ_. Our English word _glory_ is too +strong. + +[31] By the fidelity which you owe to my kingdom--_Per regni +fidem_. This seems to be the best of all the explanations that have +been offered of these words. "Per fidem quam tu rex (futurus) mihi +regi praestare debes." _Bournouf_. "Per fidem quae decet in regno, _i. +e._ regem." _Dietsch_. "Per eam fidem, qua esse decet eum qui regnum +obtinet. _Kritzius_. + +[32] It is not armies, or treasures, etc.--[Greek: _Ou tode to +chrusoun skaeptron to taen basileian diasozon estin, alla oi polloi +philoi skaeptron basileioin ulaethestaton kai asphalestaton_.] "It is +not this golden scepter that can preserve a kingdom; but numerous +friends are to princes their trust and safest scepter." Xen. Cyrop., +viii. 7,14. + +[33] And who can be a greater friend than one brother to another? +--_Quis autem amicior, quam frater fratri?_ "[Greek: _Nomiz +adelphous tous alaethinous philous_] Menander." _Wasse_. + +[34] That I have not adopted a better son, &c--_Ne ego meliores +liberos sumsissevidear quam genuisse_. As there is no allusion to +Micipsa's adoption of any other son than Jugurtha, Sallust's +expression _liberos sumsisse_ can hardly be defended. It is necessary +to give _son_ in the singular, in the translation. + +[35] XI. Had spoken insincerely--_Ficta locutum_. Jugurtha saw +that Micipsa pretended more love for him than he really felt. Compare +c. 6,7. + +[36] Which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor--_Quad +apud Numidas honori ducitur_. "I incline," says Sir Henry Steuart, +"to consider those manuscripts as the most correct, in which the word +_et_ is placed immediately before _apud, Quod et apud Numidas honori +ducitur_." Sir Henry might have learned, had he consulted the +commentators, that "_ the word_ et _is placed immediately before_ +apud" in no manuscript; that Lipsius was the first who proposed its +insertion; and that Crispinus, the only editor who has received it +into his text, is ridiculed by Wasse for his folly. "Lipsius," says +Cortius, "cùm sciret apud Romanos etiam medium locum honoratiorem +fuisse, corrigit: _quod et apud Numidas honori ducitur_. Sed quis +talia ab historico exegerit? Si de Numidis narrat, non facile aliquis +intulerit, aliter propterea fuisse apud Romanos." + +[37] To the other seat--_In alteram partem_. We must suppose that +the three seats were placed ready for the three princes; that Adherbal +sat down first, in one of the outside seats; the one, namely, that +would be on the right hand of a spectator facing them; and that +Hiempsal immediately took the middle seat, on Adherbal's right hand, +so as to force Jugurtha to take the other outside one. Adherbal had +then to remove Hiempsal _in alteram partem_, that is, to induce him to +take the seat corresponding to his own, on the other side of the +middle one. + +[38] Chief lictor--_Proximus lictor_. "The _proximus lictor_ was +he who, when the lictors walked before the prince or magistrate in a +regular line, one behind the other, was last, or next to the person on +whom they attended." _Cortius_. He would thus be ready to receive the +great man's commands, and be in immediate communication with him. We +must suppose either that Sallust merely speaks in conformity with the +practice of the Romans, or, what is more probable, that the Roman +custom of being preceded by lictors had been adopted in Numidia. + +[39] Hut of a maid-servant--_Tugurio muliers ancillae_ Rose renders +_tugurio_ "a mean apartment," and other translators have given +something similar, as if they thought that the servant must have had a +room in the house. But she, and other Numidian servants, may have had +huts apart from the dwelling-house. _Tugurium_ undoubtedly signifies +_a hut_ in general. + +[40] XIII. Into our province--_In Provinciam_. "The word _province_, +in this place, signifies that part of Africa which, after the +destruction of Carthage, fell to the Romans by the right of conquest, +in opposition to the kingdom of Micipsa." _Wasse_. + +[41] Having thus accomplished his purposes--_Patratis consiliis_. +After _consiliis_, in all the manuscripts, occur the words _postquam +omnis Numidia potiebatur_, which were struck out by Cortius, as being +_turpissima glossa_. The recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Burnouf, have restored them. + +[42] His intimate friends--_Hospitibus_. Persons probably with whom +he had been intimate at Numantia, or who had since visited him in +Numidia. + +[43] The senate--gave audience to both parties--_senatus utrisque +datur_. "The embassadors of Jugurtha, and Adberbal in person, are +admitted into the senate-house to plead their cause." _Burnouf_. + +[44] By deputation--_Procuratione_. He was to consider himself only +the _procurator_, manager, or deputed governor, of the kingdom. + +[45] Kindred--and relatives--_Cognatorum--affinium_. _Cognatus_ is +a blood relation; _affinis_ is properly a relative by marriage. + +[46] Hereditary--_Ab stirpe_. + +[47] Next to this--_Secundum ea_. "Priscianus, lib. xiii., de +praepositione agens, _Secundum_, inquit, _quando pro [Greek: _kata ei +meta_] loco praepositionis est_. Sallustius in Jugurthino: _secundum +ea, uti deditis uterer_.--Videlicet hoc dicit, _Secundum_ in Sallustii +exemple, _post_ vel _proximè_ significare." _Rivius_. + +[48] As I had no power to form the character of Jugurtha--_Neque mihi +in manu fuit, qualis Jugurtha foret_. "_In manu fuit_ is simply +_in potestate fuit_--Ter. Hec., iv. 4, 44: _Uxor quid faciat in manu +non est meâ_." _Cortius_. + +[49] Dishonored, afflicted--_Deformatus aerumnis. + +[50] Above all others--_Potissimum_. + +[51] One of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have scarcely +escaped the hand of lawlessness--_Alter eorum necatus, alterius ipse +ego manus impias vix effugi_. This is the general reading, but it can +not be right. Adherbal speaks of himself and his brother as two +persons, and of Jugurtha as a third, and says that _of those two_ the +one (_alter_) has been killed; he would then naturally proceed to +speak of himself as the other; _i. e._ he would use the word _alter_ +concerning himself, not apply it to Jugurtha. Allen, therefore, +proposes to read _alter necatus, alter manus impias vix effugi_. This +mode of correction strikes out too much; but there is no doubt that +the second _alter_ should be in the nominative case. + +[52] From being friendly, has become hostile to me--_Ex necessariis +adversa facta sunt._ "Si omnia mihi incolumia manerent, neque quidquam +rerum mearum (s. praesidiorum) amisissem, neque Jugurtha aliique mihi +ex necessariis inimici facti essent."_Kritzius_. + +[53] But would that I could see him, etc.--_Quod utinam illum--videam_. +The _quod_, in _quod utinam_, is the same as that in _quod si_, which +we commonly translate, _but if_. _Quod_, in such expressions, serves +as a particle of connection, between what precedes and what follows it; +the Latins being fond of connection by means of relatives. See Zumpt's +Lat. Grammar on this point, Sect. 63, 82, Kenrick's translation. +Kritzius writes _quodutinam_, _quodsi_, _quodnisi_, etc., as one word. +Cortius injudiciously interprets _quod_ in this passage as having +_facientem_ understood with it. + +[54] My life or death depends on the aid of others--_Cujus vitae +necisque ex opibus alienis pendet_. On the aid of the Romans. Unless +they protected him, he expected to meet with the same fate as Hiempsal +at the hands of Jugurtha. + +[55] Without disgrace--_Sine dedecore_. That is, if he did not succeed +in getting revenge on Jugurtha. + +[56] By your regard for yourselves, etc.--I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _per, vos, liberos atque parentes_, +i. e. _vos (obsecro) per liberos_, etc., as most critics would explain +it, though Cortius himself prefers taking _vos_ as the nominative case, +and joining it with _subvenite_, which follows. Most other editions +have _per vos, per liberos, atque parentes vestros_, to which I have +adhered. _Per vos_, though an adjuration not used in modern times, +is found in other passages of the Roman writers. Thus Liv. xxix. 18: +_Per vos, fidemque vestram_. Cic. pro Planc., c. 42; _Per vos, per +fortunas vestras_. + +[57] To sink into ruin--_Tabescere_. "Paullatim interire." +_Cortius_. Lucret. ii. 1172: _Omnia paullatim tabescere el ire Ad +capulum_. "This speech," says Gerlach, "though of less weighty +argument than the other speeches of Sallust, is composed with great +art. Neither the speaker nor his cause was adapted for the highest +flights of eloquence; but Sallust has shrouded Adherbal's weakness in +excellent language. That there is a constant recurrence to the same +topics, is no ground for blame; indeed, such recurrence could hardly +be avoided, for it is natural to all speeches in which the orator +earnestly labors to make his hearers adopt his own feelings and views. +The Romans were again and again to be supplicated, and again and again +to be reminded of the character and services of Masinissa, that they +might be induced, if not by the love of justice, yet by the dread of +censure, to relieve the distresses of his grandson.... He omits no +argument or representation that could move the pity of the Romans; and +if his abject prostration of mind appears more suitable to a woman +than a man, it is to be remembered that it is purposely introduced by +Sallust to exhibit the weakness of his character." + +[58] XV. Aemilius Scaurus--He was _princeps senatus_(see c. 25), +and seems to be pretty faithfully characterized by Sallust as a man of +eminent abilities, but too avaricious to be strictly honest. Cicero, +who alludes to him in many passages with commendation (Off., i. 20, +30; Brut. 29; Pro Muraen., 7; Pro Fonteio, 7), mentions an anecdote +respecting him (De Orat. ii. 70), which shows that he had a general +character for covetousness. See Pliny, H. N, xxxvi. 14. Valerius +Maximus (iii. 7, 8) tells another anecdote of him, which shows that he +must have been held in much esteem, for whatever qualities, by the +public. Being accused before the people of having taken a bribe from +Mithridates, he made a few remarks on his own general conduct; and +added, "Varius of Sucro says that Marcus Scaurus, being bribed with +the king's money, has betrayed the interests of the Roman people. +Marcus Scaurus denies that he is guilty of what is laid to his charge. +Which of the two do you believe?" The people dismissed the accusation; +but the words of Scaurus may be regarded as those of a man rather +seeking to convey a notion of his innocence, than capable of proving +it. The circumstance which Cicero relates is this: Scaurus had +incurred some obloquy for having, as it was said, taken possession of +the property of a certain rich man, named Phyrgio Pompeius, without +being entitled to it by any will; and being engaged as an advocate in +some cause, Mommius, who was pleading on the opposite side, seeing a +funeral pass by at the time, said, "Scaurus, yonder is a dead man, on +his way to the grave; if you can but get possession of his property!" +I mention these matters, because it has been thought that Sallust, +from some ill-feeling, represents Scaurus as more avaricious than he +really was. + +[59] His ruling passion--_Consuetâ libidine_. Namely, avarice. + +[60] XVI. Lucius Opimius--His contention with the party of C. Gracchus +may be seen in any history of Rome. For receiving bribes from Jugurtha +he was publicly accused, and being condemned, ended his life, which +was protracted to old age, in exile and neglect. Cic. Brut. 33; +Planc. 28. + +[61] XVII. Only two divisions, Asia and Europe--Thus Varro, de L. +L. iv.13, ed. Bip. "As all nature is divided into heaven and earth, so +the heaven is divided into regions, and the earth into Asia and +Europe." See Bronkh. ad Tibull., iv. 1, 176. + +[62] The strait connecting our sea with the ocean--_Fretum nostri +maris et oceani_. That is, the _Fretum Gaditanum_, or Strait of +Gibraltar. By _our see_, he means the Mediterranean. See Pomp. Mela, +i. 1. + +[63] A vast sloping tract--Catabathmos--_Declivem latitudinem, +quem locum Catabathmon incolae appellant. Catabathmus--vallis repente +convexa_, Plin. H. N. v 5. _Catabathmus, vallis devexa in Aegyptum_, +Pomp. Mela, i. 8. I have translated _declivem latitudinem_ in +conformity with these passages. _Catabathmus_, a Greek word, means _a +descent_. There were two, the _major_ and _minor_; Sallust speaks of +the _major_. + +[64] Most of them die by the gradual decay of age--_Plerosque +senectus dissolvit_ "A happy expression; since the effect of old age +on the bodily frame is not to break it in pieces suddenly, but to +dissolve it, as it were, gradually and imperceptibly." _Burnouf_. + +[65] King Hiempsal--"This is not the prince that was murdered by +Jugurtha, but the king who succeeded him; he was grandson of +Masinissa, son of Gulussa, and father of Juba. After Juba was killed +at Thapsus, Caesar reduced Numidia to the condition of a province, and +appointed Sallust over it, who had thus opportunities of gaining a +knowledge of the country, and of consulting the books written in the +language of it." _Burnouf_. + +[66] XVIII. Getulians and Lybians--_Gaetuli et Libyes_, "See +Pompon. Mel. i. 4; Plin. H. N. v. 4, 6, 8, v. 2, xxi. 13; Herod, iv. +159, 168." _Gerlach_. The name _Gaetuli_, is, however, unknown to +Herodotus. They lay to the south of Numidia and Mauretania. See +Strabo, xvii. 3. _Libyes_ is a term applied by the Greek writers +properly to the Africans of the North coast, but frequently to the +inhabitants of Africa in general. + +[67] His army, which was composed of various nations--This seems +to have been an amplification of the adventure of Hercules with +Geryon, who was a king in Spain. But all stories that make Hercule +a leader of armies appear to be equally fabulous. + +[68] Medes, Persians and Armenians--De Brosses thinks that these +were not real Medes, etc., but that the names were derived from +certain companions of Hercules. The point is not worth discussion. + +[69] Our sea--The Mediterranean. See above, c. 17. + +[70] More toward the Ocean--_Intra oceanum magis_. "_Intra oceanum_ +is differently explained by different commentators. Cortius, Muller +and Gerlach, understand the parts bounded by the ocean, lying close +upon it, and stretching toward the west; while Langius thinks that +the regions more remote from the Atlantic Ocean, and extending +toward the east, are meant. But Langius did not consider that those +who had inverted keels of vessels for cottages, could not have +strayed far from the ocean, but must have settled in parts +bordering upon it_. And this is what is signified by _intra oceanum_. +For _intra aliquam rem_ is not always used to denote what is actually +_in a thing,_ and circumscribed by its boundaries, but what approaches +toward it, and reaches close to it." Kritzius. He then instances +_intra modum, intra legem; Hortensii scripta intra famam sunt_, +Quintil. xi. 8, 8. But the best example which he produces is Liv. xxv. +11: _Fossa ingens ducta, et vallum_, intra eam _erigitur_. Cicero, in +Verr. iii. 89, has also, he notices, the same, expression, _Locus_ +intra oceanum _jam nullus est--quò non nostrorum hominum libido +iniquitasque pervaserit_, i. e.. _locus oceano conterminus_. Burnouf +absurdly follows Langius. + +[71] Numidians--_Numidas_. The same as _Nomades_, or wanderers; a +term applied to pastoral nations, and which, as Kritzius observes, +the Africans must have had from the Greeks, perhaps those of Sicily. + +[72] More to the sun--_sub sole magis_. I have borrowed this +expression from Rose. The Getulians were more southward. + +[73] These soon built themselves towns--That is, the united Medes, +Armenians, and Libyans. + +[74] Medes--into Moors--_Mauris pro Medis_. A most improbable, +not to say impossible corruption. + +[75] Of the Persians--_Persarum_. That is, of the Persians and +Getulians united. + +[76] The two parties--_Utrique_. The older Numidians, and the +younger, who had emigrated toward Carthage. + +[77] Those who had spread toward our sea--for the Libyans are +less warlike than the Getulians--_Magis hi, qui ad nostrum mare +processerant; quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi_. The Persians +and Getulians (under the name of Numidians), and their colonists, who +were more toward the Mediterranean, and were more warlike than the +Libyans (who were united with the Medes and Armenians) took from them +portions of their territories by conquest. This is clearly the sense, +as deducible from the preceding portion of the text. + +[78] Lower Africa--_Africa pars inferior_. The part nearest to the +sea. The ancients called the maritime parts of a country _the lower +parts_, and the inland parts _the higher_, taking the notion, probably, +from the course of the rivers. Lower Egypt was the part at the mouth of +the Nile. + +[79] XIX. Hippo--"It is not Hippo Regius" (now called _Bona_) "that is +meant, but another Hippo, otherwise called _Diarrhytum_ or _Zarytum_, +situate in Zengitana, not far from Utica. This is shown by the order +in which the places are named, as has already been observed by Cortius." +_Kritzius_. + +[80] Leptis--There were two cities of this name. Leptis Major, now +_Lebida_, lay between the two Syrtes; Leptis Minor, now _Lempta_, +between the smaller Sytis and Carthage. It is the latter that is meant +here, and in c. 77, 78. + +[81] Next to the Catabathmos--_Ad Catabathmon_. _Ad_ means, on the +side of the country toward the Catabathmos. "Catabathmon _initium_ +ponens Sallustius ab eo _discedit_." Kritzius. + +[82] Along the sea-coast--_Secundo mari_. "Si quis secundum mare +pergat" _Wasse._ + +[83] Of Therseans--_Theraeon_. From the island of Thera, one of the +Sporades, in the Aegean Sea, now called _Santorin_. Battus was the +leader of the colony. See Herod., iv. 145; Strab., xvii. 8; Pind. +Pyth., iv. + +[84] Two Syrtes--See c. 78. + +[85] Leptis--That is, _Leptis Major_. See above on this c. + +[86] Altars of the Philaeni--see c. 79. + +[87] To the south of Numidia--_Super Numidiam_. "Ultra Numidiam, +meridiem versus." _Burnouf_. + +[88] Had lately possessed--_Novissimè habuerant_. In the interval +between the second and third Punic wars. + +[89] XXI. Both armies took up, etc.--I have omitted the word +_interim_ at the beginning of this sentence, as it would be worse than +useless in the translation. It signifies, _during the interval before +the armies came to an engagement_; but this is sufficiently expressed +at the termination of the sentence. + +[90] Cirta--Afterward named _Sittianorum Colonia_, from P. Sittius +Nucerinus (mentioned in Cat., c. 21), who assisted Caesar in the +African war, and was rewarded by him with the possession of this +city and its lands. It is now called _Constantina_, from Constantine +the Great, who enlarged and restored it when it had fallen into decay. +Strabo describes it, xvii. 3. + +[91] Twilight was beginning to appear--_Obscuro etiam tum lumine_. +Before day had fairly dawned. + +[92] Romans--_Togatorum_. Romans, with, perhaps, some of the +allies, engaged in merchandise, or other peaceful occupations, and +therefore wearing the _toga_. They are called _Italici_ in c. 26. + +[93] Three young men--_Tres adolescentes_. Cortius includes these +words in brackets, regarding them as the insertion of some sciolist. But +a sciolist, as Burnouf observes, would hardly have thought of inserting +_tres adolescentes_. The words occur in all the MSS., and are pretty +well confirmed by what is said below, c. 25, that when the senate next +sent a deputation, they took care to make it consist of _majores natu, +nobiles_. See on _adolescens_, Cat., c. 38. + +[94] XXII. Told much less than the truth--_Sed is rumor clemens erat_. +"It fell below the truth, not telling the whole of the atrocity that +had been committed." _Gruter._ "Priscian (xviii. 26) interprets +_clemens_ 'non nimius,' alluding to this passage of Sallust." +_Kritzius._ All the later commentators have adopted this interpretation, +except Burnouf, who adopts the supposition of Ciacconius, that a _vague +and uncertain_ rumor is meant. + +[95] Right of nations--_Jure gentium._ "That is, the right of avenging +himself." _Rupertus._ + +[96] XXIV. Pays no regard--_Neque--in animo habeat._ This letter of +Adherbal's, both in matter and tone, is very similar to his speech +in c. 14. + +[97] I have experienced, even before--_Jam antea expertus sum._ +He means, in the result of his speech to the senate. + +[98] XXV. Chief of the senate--_Princeps senatûs._ "He whose name +was first entered in the censors' books was called _Princeps Senatûs_, +which title used to be given to the person who of those alive had been +censor first (_qui primus censor, ex iis qui viverent, fuisset_), but +after the year 544, to him whom the censors thought most worthy, Liv., +xxvii. 13. This dignity, although it conferred no command or emolument, +was esteemed the very highest, and was usually retained for life, Liv., +xxxiv. 44; xxxix. 52. It is called _Principatus_; and hence afterward +the Emperor was named _Princeps_, which word properly denotes rank, and +not power." Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 3. + +[99] At length the evil incitements of ambition prevailed--_Vicit +tamen in avido ingenio pravum consilium._ "Evil propensities gained +the ascendency in his ambitious disposition." + +[100] XXVI. The Italians--_Italici._ See c. 21. + +[101] XXVII. By the Sempronian law--_Lege Semproniâ._ This was +the _Lex Sempronia de Provinciis._ In the early ages of the republic, +the provinces were decreed by the senate to the consuls after they +were elected; but by this law, passed A.U.C. 631, the senate fixed on +two provinces for the future consuls before their election (Cic. Pro +Dom., 9; De Prov. Cons., 2), which they, after entering on their +office, divided between themselves by lot or agreement. The law was +passed by Caius Gracchus. See Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 105. + +[102] Publius Scipio Nasica--"The great-grandson of him who was +pronounced by the senate to be _vir optimus_; and son of him who, +though holding no office at the time, took part in putting to death +Tiberius Gracchus. He was consul with Bestia, A.U.C. 643, and died in +his consulship. Cic. Brut., 34." _Burnouf._ + +[103] Lucius Bestia Calpurnius--"He had been on the side of the +nobility against the Gracchi, and was therefore in favor with the +senate. After his consulship he was accused and condemned by the +Mamilian law (c. 40), for having received money from Jugurtha, Cic. +Brut. c. 34. De Brosses thinks that he was the grandfather of that +Bestia who was engaged in the conspiracy of Catilina." Burnouf._ + +[104] XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence--_Fidei causâ._ "In +order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the +quaestor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns." +_Cortius._ + +[105] As if by an evident majority of voices--_Quasi per saturam +exquisitis sententiis._ "The opinions being taken in a confused +manner," or, as we say, _in the lump_. The sense manifestly is, that +there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in +Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each +individual in order. _Satura_, which some think to be always an +adjective, with _lanx_ understood, though _lanx_, according to +Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was _a +plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered +to the gods._ "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris +infertur, quae satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat., i. 1, +_init_. "Lanx. referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris +inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483."Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus +conditum," Festus _sub voce_. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satirâ, ii. 4; +Kritzius ad h. l., and Scheller's Lex. v., _Satur._ In the Pref. to +Justinian's Pandects, that work is called _opus sparsim et quasi per +saturam collectum, utíle cum inutilibus mixtim._ + +[106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus +rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the +people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._ + +[107] XXX. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length." +The reader might suppose, at first, that Sallust transcribed this +speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, +he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following +_hujuscemodi_ shows that Sallust did not profess to give the exact +words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sallustian +phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is +imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following +fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt +huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius. + +[108] XXXI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ +"It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of +Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, +not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." +_Burnouf._ The manuscripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and +others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, +which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is +also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576. + +[109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ +Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. + +[110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently +intended. + +[111] Every civil and religions obligation--_Divina et humana omnia._ +"They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an +enemy; against the honor of Rome when they did what was unworthy of +it, and greatly to its injury; and against gods and men, against all +divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not +only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." _Dietsch._ + +[112] Slaves purchased with money, etc.--_Servi, aere parati,_ etc. +This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is +preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: _Servi injurias nimis aegre ferunt; quid +illos bono genere natos, magnâ virtute praeditos, animi habuisse atque +habituros, dum vivent?_ "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of +injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and +of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live?" + +[113] Public spirit--_Pietas._ Under this word are included all +duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately +connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, +and the gods. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose. + +[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--_Beneficia vestra._ +Offices of state, civil and military. + +[115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est +parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas +aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62. + +[116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam +haec tempora magis placent,_ etc. "_Those times_, which immediately +succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for +the tyranny of the nobles, and the humiliation of the people; _these +times_, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert +their liberty." _Burnouf._ + +[117] Embezzlement of the public money--_Peculatus aerarii._ "Peculator, +qui furtum facit pecuniae publicae." Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr i. + +[118] Kings--I have substituted the plural for the singular. "No +name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, +accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of +Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." _Dietsch._ + +[119] If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.--_Si injuriae +non sint, haud saepe auxilii egeas._ "Some foolishly interpret +_auxilium_ as signifying _auxilium tribunicium_, the aid of the +tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sallust means _aid against +the injuries of bad men_, i.e. revenge or punishment." _Kritzius._ "If +injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the +help of good men and it will be of less consequence if they become +inactive." _Dietsch._ + +[120] XXXII. Lucius Cassius--This is the man from whom came the +common saying _cui bono?_ "Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people +thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed +constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, _cui bono fuisset_, +of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 80. "His +tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his +excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on +account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into +Numidia. + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interpositâ fide publicâ._ +See Cat.47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interpositâ fide publicâ._ +See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[122] XXXIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant--_Cultu +quam maximè miserabili_. "In such a garb as accused persons, or +suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite +compassion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard +to grow." _Burnouf._ + +[123] XXXIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace--A single tribune +might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost +any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom. +Ant., under the head "Tribunes of the People." + +[124] Every other act to which anger prompts--_Aliis omnibus, qua +ira fieri amat._ "These words have given rise to wonderful +hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many +expressions of Sallust are borrowed from the Greek, as _Vulgus amat +fieri,_ all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the +structure of Sallust's words must be Greek, and have taken _ira,_ in +this passage, for an ablative, and _quae_ for a nominative plural. +Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited +By Quintilian, and to correct them, please the gods, into _quae in +Vulgus amat fieri._ But how could there have been such want of +penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of +the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by +Quintilian, has reference merely to the word [Greek: philei], _amat_, +they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb +on a neuter plural? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, +does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this +mode of expression in other writers." _Kritzius._ Dietsch agrees with +Kritzius; and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that _quae_ is +the accusative and _ira_ the nominative; the sense being, "which anger +loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been +suggested, namely, to understand _multitudo_ as the nominative case to +_amat_, making _ira_ the ablative; but this method is far more +cumbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sallust. The +words quoted by Quintilian do not refer, as Cortius erroneously +supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is +now lost. + +[125] XXXV. Should be disturbed--_Movere_ is the reading of Cortius; +_moveri_ that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS. +and early editions. + +[126] The times at which he resorted to particular places--_Loca +atque tempora cuncta._ "All his places and times." There can be no +doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text. + +[127] In accordance with the law of nations, etc.--As the public faith +had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the +same footing as that of embassadors, the persons of whose attendants +are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no +offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If +any such offense is committed by an attendant of an embassador, an +application is usually made by the government to the embassador to +deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended +without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own +country, the Portuguese embassador's brother, who was one of his +retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver +Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell, et Pac., xviii, 8; +Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, +says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not +Jugurtha's object. + +[128] At the commencement of the proceedings--_In priori actione._ +That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder. + +[129] His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him--_Reliquos +popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi._ "Fear of obeying him should +take possession of his other subjects." + +[130] That it was a venal city, etc.--_Urbem venalem,_ etc. I +consider, with Cortias, that this is the proper way of taking these +words. Some would render them _O venal city,_ etc., because Livy, +Epit. lxiv., has _O urbem venalem,_ but this seems to require that the +verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy +we should either eject the O or read _inveneris._ Florus, iii. 1, +gives the words in the same way as Sallust. + +[131] XXXVI. As propraetor--_Pro praetore._ With the power of +lieutenant-general. + +[132] XXXVII. Throughout the year--_Totius anni._ That is, all that +remained of the year. + +[133] On the edge of a steep hill--_In praerupti montis extremo. +"In extremo_ a scholiast rightly interprets _in margine_," Gerlach. +Cortius, whom Langius follows, considers that _in extremo_ means _at +the bottom_; a notion which Kritzius justly condemns; for, as Gerlach +asks, what would that have to do withthe strength of the place? Muller +would have us believe that _in extremo_ means _at the top_; but if +Sallust had meant to say that the city was at the top, he would hardly +have chosen the word _extremus_ for the purpose. Doubtless, as Gerlach +observes, the city was on the top of the hill, which was broad enough +to hold it; but the words _in extremo_ signify that the walls were +even with the side of the hill. Of the site of the town of Suthul no +traces are now to be found. + +[134] Vineae--Defenses made of hurdles or other wood, and often +covered with raw hides, to defend the soldiers who worked the +battering-ram. The word that comes nearest to _vineae_ in our language +is _mantelets_. Before this word, in many editions, occurs the phrase +_ob thesauros oppidi potiundi_, which Cortius, whom I follow, omits. + +[135] XXXIII. That their defection might thus be less observed--_Ita +delicta occultiora fore._ Cortius transferred these words to this place +from the end of the preceding sentence; Kritzius and Dietsch have +restored them to their former place. Gerlach thinks them an intruded +gloss. + +[136] The chief centurion--_Centurio primi pili._There were sixty +centurions in a Roman legion; the one here meant was the first, or +oldest, centurion of the Triarii, or Pilani. + +[137] As death was the alternative--_Quia mortis metu mutabant. +Neither manuscripts nor critics are agreed about this passage. Cortius, +from a suggestion of Palmerius, adopted _mutabant_; most other editors +have _mutabantur_; but both are to be taken in the same sense; for +_mutabant_ is equivalent to _mutabant se_. Cortius's interpretation +appears the most eligible: "Permutabantur cum metuendâ morte," i.e. +there were those conditions on one side, and death on the other, and +if they did not accept the conditions, they must die. Kritzius +fancifully and strangely interprets, _propter mortis metum se mutabant, +i.e., alia videbantur atque erant_, or the acceptance of the terms +appeared excusable to the soldiers, because they were threatened with +death if they did not accept them. It is worth while to notice the +variety of readings exhibited in the manuscripts collated by Cortius: +ten exhibit _mutabantur_; three, _minitabantur_; three, _multabantur_; +three, _tenebantur_; one, _tenebatur_; one, _cogebantur_; one, +_cogebatur_; one, _angustiabantur_; one, _urgebantur_; and one _mortis +metuebant pericula_. There is also, he adds, in some copies, _mutabant_, +which the Bipont editors and Müller absurdly adopted. + +[138] XXXIX. Under all the circumstances of the case--_Ex copiâ rerum._ +From the number of things which he had to consider. + +[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, +et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all +the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not +obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this +period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be +employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42. + +[140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this +occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence. + +[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed +quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to +mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that +Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, +Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. +See Brut., c. 34. + +[142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_. +"_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some +degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly +refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows. + +[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.-- + + Quid quod usque proximos + Revellis agri terminos, et ultra + Limites clientium + Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos + In sinu ferens deos + Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos. + + _Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18. + + What can this impious av'rice stay? + Their sacred landmarks torn away. + You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, + And overleap your client's bounds, + Helpless the wife and husband flee, + And in their arms, expell'd by thee, + Their household gods, adored in vain, + Their infants, too, a sordid train. + +[144] Among the nobility--_Ex nobilitate._ Cortius injudiciously +omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi. + +[145] By means of the allies and Latins--See on, c. 40. + +[146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, +etc.--_Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. +Bono,_ sc. _viro_. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy +characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have +revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled +manner." _Dietsch._ Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which +notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, +think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The +brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to +decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the +Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non +satis moderatum animum fuiase; _quae res ipsis adeo interitum +attulit_; sed _sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam_ bono vinci," +etc. Langius and Burnouf join _bono_ with _more_, but do not differ +much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by +Dietsch. + +[147] XLIII. Of a character uniformly irreproachable--_Famâ tamen +aequabili et inviolatâ. Aequabilis_ is uniform, always the same, +keeping an even tenor. + +[148] Regarded all things as common to himself and his colleague--_Ali +omnia sibi cum collegâ ratus._ "Other matters, unconnected with the war +against Jugurtha, he thought that he would have to manage in +conjunction with his colleague, and that, consequently, he might give +but partial attention to them; but that the war in Numidia was +committed to his sole care." _Cortius._ Other interpretations of these +words have been suggested; but they are fanciful and unworthy of notice. + +[149] Princes--_Reges._ Who these were, the commentators have not +attempted to conjecture. + +[150] XLIV. By Spurius Albinus, the proconsul.--_A Spurio Albino +proconsule_. This is the general reading. Cortius has, _Spurii Albini +pro consule_, with which we may understand _agentis_ or _imperantis_, +but can hardly believe it to be what Sallust wrote. Kritzius reads, +_Spurii Albini proconsulis_. + +[151] In a stationary camp--_Stativis castris_. In contradistinction +to that which the soldiers formed at the end of a day's march. + +[152] But neither had the camp been fortified, etc.--_Sed neque +muniebantur ea_ (se. castra), _neque more militari vigiliae +deducebantur_. "The words _sed neque muniebantur ea_ are wanting in +almost all the manuscripts, as well as in all the editions, except +that of Cyprianus Popma." _Kritzius_. Gerlach, however, had, +previously to Kritz, inserted them in his text though in brackets; +for he supposed them to be a mere conjecture of some scribe, who was +not satisfied with a single _neque_. But they have been found in a +codex of Fronto, by Angelo Mai, and have accordingly been received +as genuine by Kritz and Dietsch. Potter and Burnouf have omitted the +_ea_, thinking, I suppose, that in such a position it could hardly be +Sallust's; but the verb requires a nominative case to prevent it from +being referred to the following _vigiliae_. + +[153] Foreign wine--_Vino advectitio_ Imported. Africa does not +abound in wine. + +[154] XLV. With regard to other things--Caeteris. Cortius, whom +Gerlach follows, considers this word as referring to the men or +officers; but Kritzius and Dietsch, with better judgment, understand +_rebus_. + +[155] Numerous sentinels--_Vigilias crebras_. At short intervals, +says Kritzius, from each other. + +[156] XLVI. Villages--_Mapalibus_. See c. xviii. The word is here +used for a collection of huts, a village. + +[157] Here the consul, to try the disposition of the inhabitants, +and, should they allow him, to take advantage of the situation of the +place, etc.--_Huc consul, simul tentandi gratiâ, et si paterentur, +opportuniatis loci, praesidium imponit._ This is a _locus +veratissimus_, about which no editor has satisfied himself. I have +deserted Cortius and followed Dietsch, who seems to have settled the +passage, on the basis of Havercamp's text, with more judgment than any +other commentator. Cortius read, _Huc consul simul tentandi gratiâ, si +paterent opportunitates loci_, etc., taking _opportuniatates_ in the +sense of _munitiones_, "defenses;" but would Sallust have said _that +Metellus put a garrison in the place, to try if its defenses would be +open to him?_ Havercamp's reading is, _simul tentan si gratiâ, et si +paterentur opportunitates loci_, etc. Palmerius conjectured _simul +tentandi gratiâ, si paterentur; et opportunitate loci,_ which Gerlach +and Kritsius adopt, except that they change the place of the _et_, and +put it before _si_. Allen thinks that he has amended the passage by +reading _Huc consul, simul si paterentur tentandi, et opportunitatis +loci, gratiâ;_ but this conjecture is liable to similar objection with +that of Cortius. Other varieties of reading it is needless to notice. +But it is observable that four manuscripts, as Kritzius remarks, have +_propter opportunitates,_ which led me long ago to suppose that the +true reading must be _simul tentandi gratiâ, simul propter +opportunitates loci. Simul propter_ might easily have been corrupted +into _si paterentur_. + +[158] Frequent arrival of supplies--_Commeatum._ "Frumenti et omnium +rerum quarum in bello usus est, largam copiam." _Kritzius_. I follow +the text of Cortius (retaining the words _juvaturum ecercitum_) +which Kritzius sufficiently justifies. There is a variety of readings, +but all much the same in sense. + +[159] Extraordinary earnestness--_Impensius modo._ Cortius and +Kritzius interpret this _modo_ as the ablative case of _modus; i. e. +quam modus erat,_ or _supra modum;_ but Dietsch and Burnouf question +the propriety of this interpretation, and consider the _modo_ to be +the same as that in _tantummodo, dummodo,_ etc. The same expression +occurs again in c. 75. + +[160] XLVIII. Running parallel with the stream--_Tractu pari._ It +may be well to illustrate this and the following chapter by a copy of +the lines which Cortius has drawn, "to excite," as he says, "the +imagination of his readers:" + + River Muthul, flowing from the south + -------------------------------------------------- + I Hill on + North I which + <----------- I I Jugurtha + I I posted + I I himself + -------------------------------------------------- + Range of hills, parallel I with the Muthul + I + I Route of Metellus + I + +[161] XLIX. In a transverse direction--_Transverso itinere_. It lay on +the flank of the Romans as they marched toward the river, _in dextero +latere_, c.49, fin. + +[162] Well acquainted with the country--_Prudentes._ "Periti loci +et regionis." _Cortius._Or it may mean knowing what they were to do, +while the enemy would be _imperiti,_ surprised and perplexed. + +[163] Would crown--_Confirmaturum_. Would establish, settle, put the +last hand to them. + +[164] Was seen--_Conspicitur._ This is the reading adopted by Cortius, +Müller, and Allen, as being that of all the manuscripts. Havercamp, +Kritzius, and Dietsch admitted into their texts, on the sole authority +of Donatus ad Ter. Eun. ii. 3, _conspicatur_, i.e. (Metellus) _catches +sight_ of the enemy. The latter reading, perhaps, makes a better +connection. + +[165] Rendering it uncertain--_Incerti._ Presenting such an +appearance that a spectator could not be certain what they were. + +[166] He drew up these in the right wing--in three lines--_In +dextero latere triplicibus subsidiis aciem instruxit._ In the other +passages in which Sallust has the word _subsidia_ (Cat. c. 59), he +uses it for _the lines behind the front._ Thus he says of Catiline, +_Octo cohortes in fronte constituit; reliqua signa in subsidiis +arctiùs collocat;_ and of Petreius, _Cohortes veteranas--in fronte; +post eas reliquum exercitum in subsidiis locat._ But whether he uses +the word in the same sense here; whether we might, as Cortius thinks +(whom Gerlach and Dietsch follow), call the division of Metellus's +troops _quadruple_ instead of _triple,_ or whether he arranged them as +De Brosses and others suppose, in the usual disposition of Hastati, +Principes, and Triarii, who shall place beyond dispute? The probability, +however, if Sallust is consistent with himself in his use of the word, +lies with Cortius. Gerlach refers to Caesar, De Bell, Civ., iii. 89: +"_Celeriter ex tertiâ acie singulas cohortes detraxit, atque ex his +quartam instituit;_ but this does not illustrate Sallust's use of the +word _subsidia_: Caesar forms a fourth _acies_; Metellus draws up one +_acies_ triplicibus subsidia". + +[167] With the front changed into a flank--_Transversis principiis._ +He made the whole army wheel to the left, so that what was their front +line, or _principia,_ as they faced the enemy on the hill, became their +flank as they marched from the mountain toward the river. + +[168] L. Behind the front line--_Post principia._ The _principia_ +are the same as those mentioned in the preceding note, that is, the +front line when the army faced that of Jugurtha on the hill, but which +presented its flank to the enemy when the army was on its march. So +that Marius commanded in the center ("in medio agmine," says Dietsch), +while Metellus took the lead with the cavalry of the left wing. See +the following note. + +[169] Cavalry on the left wing--which, on the march, had become +the van--_Sinistrae ulae equitibus--qui in agmine principes facti +erant._ When Metellus halted (c. 49, fin.), and drew up his troops +fronting the hill on which Jugurtha was posted, he placed all his +cavalry in the wings; consequently, when the army wheeled to the left, +and marched forward, the cavalry of the left wing became the van. + +[170] LI. Of the whole struggle--_Totius negotii._ That is, on the side +of the Romans. + +[171] LII. The enemy's ignorance of the country--_Regio hostibus ignara. +Ignara_ for _ignota;_ a country unknown to the enemy. + +[172] LIII. Fatigued and exhausted--_Fessi lassique._ I am once more +obliged to desert Cortius, who reads _laetique_. The sense, as Kritzius +and Dietsch observe, shows that _laeti_ can not be the reading, for +there must evidently be a complete antithesis between the two parts of +the sentence; an antithesis which would be destroyed by the introduction +of _laeti_. Gerlach, though he retains _laeti_ in his text, condemns it +in his notes. + +[173] LIV. Which could only be conducted, etc.--_Quod, nisi ex illius +lubidine, geri non posset._ Cortius omits the _non_ before _posset_, +but almost every other editor, except Allen, has retained it, from a +conviction of necessity. + +[174] Under these circumstances, however--_Ex copiâ tamen._ With +_copiâ_ we must understand _consiliorum_ or _rerum,_ as at the end of +c. 39. All the manuscripts, except two, have _inopiâ_, which editors +have justly rejected as inconsistent with the sense. + +[175] LV. A thanksgiving--_Supplicia._ The same as _supplicatio,_ on +which the reader may consult Adam's Rom. Ant., or Dr. Smith's +Dictionary. + +[176] LVI. Dared not be guilty of treachery--_Fallere nequibant._ +"Through dread of the severest punishments if they should fall into +the hands of the Romans. Valerius Maximus, ii. 7, speaks of deserters +having been deprived of their hands by Quintus Fabius Maximus; of +others who were crucified or beheaded by the elder Africanus; of +others who were thrown to wild beasts by Africanus the younger; and of +others who were sentenced by Paulus Aemilius to be trampled to death +by elephants. Hence it appears that the punishment of deserters was +left to the pleasure of the general." _Burnouf_. + +[177] Sicca--It stood on the banks of the Bagradas, at some distance +from the coast, and contained a celebrated Temple of Venus. Val. Max., +ii. 6. D'Anville thinks it the same as the modern _Kef._ + +[178] LVII. Javelins--_Pila._ This _pilum_ may have been, as Müller +suggests, similar to the _falarica_ which Livy (xxi. 8) says that the +Saguntines used against their besiegers. _Falarica erat Saguntinis, +missile telum hastili abiegno--id, sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppa +circumligabant, linebantque pice:--quod cum medium accensum mitteretur_, +etc. Of Sallust's other words, in the latter part of this sentence, +the sense is clear, but the readings of different editors are extremely +various. Cortius and Gerlach have _sudes, pila praeterea picem sulphure +et taedâ mixtam ardentia mittere:_ but it can scarcely be believed that +Sallust wrote _picem--taedâ mixtam._ Havercamp gives _pice et sulphure +taedam mixtam ardentia mittere,_ which has been adopted by Kritzius and +Dietsch, except that they have changed _ardentia,_ on the authority of +some of the manuscripts, into _ardenti_. + +[179] LIX. And thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost +succeeded in giving the enemy a defeat--_Ita expeditis peditibus suis +hostes paene victos dare._ Cortius, Kritzius, and Allen, concur in +regarding _expeditis peditibus_ as an ablative of the instrument, i.e. +as equivalent to _per expeditos pedites_ and _victos dare_ as nothing +more than _vincere._ This appears to be the right mode of explanation; +but most of the translators, French as well as English, have taken +_expeditis peditibus_ as a dative, and given to the passage the sense +that "the cavalry delivered up the enemy, when nearly conquered, to be +dispatched by the light-armed foot." + +[180] LX. Attacks, or preparations for defense, were made in all +quarters--_Oppugnare aut parare omnibus locis._ There is much +discussion among the critics whether these verbs are to be referred to +the besiegers or the besieged. Cortius and Gerlach attribute +_oppugnare_ to the Romans, and _parare_ to the men of Zama; a +distinction which Kritzius justly condemns. There can be little doubt +that they are spoken of both parties equally. + +[181] LXI. The rest of his forces--in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia--_Caeterum exercitum in provinciam, quae proxima +est Numidiae, hiemandi gratiâ collocat._ "The words _quae proxima est +Numidiae_ Cortius would eject as superfluous and spurious. But it is +to be understood that Metellus did not distribute his troops through +the whole of the province, but in that part which is nearest to +Numidia, in order that they might be easily assembled in case of an +attack of the enemy or any other emergency. There is, therefore, no +need to read with the Bipont edition and Müller, _qua proxima,_ etc. +though this is in itself not a bad conjecture." _Kritzius_. + +[182] LXII. Was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium, etc. +--_Cum ipse ad imperandum Tisidium vocaretur._ The gerund is used, as +grammarians say, in a passive sense. "The town of Tisidium is nowhere +else mentioned. Strabo (xvii. 3, p. 488, Ed. Tauch.) speaks of a place +named [Greek: _Tisiaioi_], which was utterly destroyed, and not a +vestige of it left." _Gerlach_. + +[183] LXIII. Sacrificing to the gods--_Per hostias dis supplicante._ +Supplicating or worshiping the gods with sacrifices, and trying to +learn their intentions as to the future by inspection of the entrails. +"Marius was either a sincere believer in the absurd superstitions and +dreams of the soothsayers, or pretended to be so, from a knowledge of +the nature of mankind, who are eager to listen to wonders, and are +ore willing to be deceived than to be taught." _Burnouf._ See Plutarch, +Life of Marius. He could interpret omens for himself, according to +Valerius Maximus, i. 5. + +[184] The people--disposed of, etc.--_Etiam tum alios magistratus +plebes, consulatum nobilitas, inter se per manus tradebat._ The +commentators have seen the necessity of understanding a verb with +_plebes._ Kritzius suggests _habebat;_ Gerlach _grebat_ or _accipiebat_. + +[185] A disgrace to it--_Pollutus._ He was considered, as it were, +unclean. See Cat., c. 23, _fin_. + +[186] LXIV. As soon as the public business would allow him--_Ubi +primum potuisset per negotia publica._ As soon as he could through +(regard to) the public business. + +[187] With his own son--_Cum filio suo._ With the son of Metellus. +He tells Marius that it would be soon enough for him to stand for +the consulship in twenty-three years' time, the legitimate age for +the consulship being forty-three. + +[188] In the camp with his father--_Contubernio patris._ He was +among the young noblemen in the consul's retinue, who were sent out +to see military service under him. This was customary. See Cic. Pro +Cael. Pro Planc. 11. + +[189] LXV. Which was as weak as his body--_Ob morbos--parum valido._ +Sallust had already expressed this a few lines above. + +[190] Merchants--_Negotiatores._ "Every one knows that Romans of +equestrian dignity were accustomed to trade in the provinces." +_Burnouf_. + +[191] With the most honorable demonstrations in his favor +--_Honestissimâ suffragatione._ "_Suffragatio_ was the zealous +recommendation of those who solicited the votes of their +fellow-citizens in favor of some candidate. See Festus, s.v. +_Suffragatores,_ p. 266, Lindem." _Dietsch._ It was honorable, in +the case of Marius, as it was without bribery, and seemed to have +the good of the republic in view. + +[192] The Mamilian law--See c. 40. + +[193] LXVI. Advantageous positions--_Suos locos._ Places favorable +for his views. See Kritzius on c. 54. + +[194] LXVII. Were in trepidation. At the citadel, etc.--I have +translated this passage in conformity with the texts of Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, Müller, and Allen, who put a point between +_trepidare_ and _ad arcem_. Cortina, Havercamp, and Burnouf have +_trepidare ad arcem_, without any point. Which method gives the better +sense, any reader can judge. + +[195] On the roofs of the houses--_Pro tectis aedificiorum_. In +front of the roofs of the houses; that is, at the parapets. "In prima +tectorum parte." _Kritzius_. The roofs were flat. + +[196] Worthless and infamous character--_Improbus intestabilisque_. +These words are taken from the twelve tables of the Roman law: See +Aul. Gell. vi. 7, xv. 3. Horace, in allusion to them, has _intestabilis +et sacer_, Sat. ii. 3.181, _Intestabilis_ signified a person to be of +so infamous a character that he was not allowed to give evidence in a +court of justice. + +[197] LXVIII. Averse to further exertion--_Tum abnuentes omnia_. +Most of the translators have understood by these words that the troops +refused to obey orders; but Sallust's meaning is only that they +expressed, by looks and gestures, their unwillingness to proceed. + +[198] LXIX As a native of Latium--_Nam is civis ex Latio erat_. +"As he was a Latin, he was not protected by the Porcian law (see Cat., +c. 51), though how far this law had power in the camp, is not agreed." +_Allen_. Gerlach thinks that it had the same power in the camp as +elsewhere, with reference to Roman citizens. But Roman citizenship was +not extended to the Latins till the end of the Social War, A.U.C. 662. +Plutarch, however, in his Life of Caius Gracchus (c. 9), speaks of +Livius Drusus having been abetted by the patricians in proposing a law +for exempting the Latin soldiers from being flogged, about thirty +years earlier; and it seems to have been passed, but, from this +passage of Sallust, appears not to have remained in force. Lipsius +touches on this obscure point in his _Militia Romana_, v. 18, but +settles nothing. Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, c. 8, says that +Turpilius was an old retainer of the family of Metellus, whom he +attended, in this war, as _prafectus fabrûm_, or master of the +artificers; that, being afterward appointed governor of Vacea, he +exercised his office with great justice and humanity, that his life +was spared by Jugurtha at the solicitation of the inhabitants; that, +when he was brought to trial, Metellus thought him innocent, and that +he would not have been condemned but for the malice of Marius, who +exasperated the other members of the council against him. He adds, +that after his death, his innocence became apparent, and that Marius +boasted of having planted in the breast of Metellus an avenging fury, +that would not fail to torment him for having put to death the +innocent friend of his family. Hence Sir Henry Steuart has accused +Sallust of wilfully misrepresenting the character of Turpilius, as +well as the whole transaction. But as much credit is surely due to +Sallust as to Plutarch. + +[199] LXX. To which Jugurtha--was unable to attend--_Quae Jugartha, +fesso, aut majoribus astricto, superaverant_. "Which had remained to +(or been too much for) Jugurtha, when weary, or engaged in more +important affairs." + +[200] Among the winter-quarters of the Romans--_Inter hiberna +Romanorum_.It is stated in c. 61, as Kritzius observes, that Metellus, +when he put his army into winter-quarters, had, at the same time, +placed garrisons in such of Jugurtha's towns as had revolted to him. +The forces of the Romans being thus dispersed, Nabdalsa might justly +be said to have his army _inter hiberna_, "_among_ their +winter-quarters." + +[201] LXXI. Behind his head--_Super caput_. On the back of the +bolster that supported his head; part of which might be higher than +the head itself. + +[202] LXXIIL The factious tribunes--_Seditiosi magistratus_. + +[203] After the lapse of many years--_Post multas tempestates_. +Apparently the period since A.U.C. 611, when Quintus Pompeius, who, as +Cicero says (in Verr. ii. 5), was _humile atque obscuro loco natus_, +obtained the consulship; that is, a term of forty-three or forty-four +years. + +[204] That decree was thus rendered abortive--_Ea res frustra fuit_. +By a _lex Sempronia_, a law of Caius Gracchus, it was enacted that the +senate should fix the provinces for the future consuls before the +_comitia_ for electing them were held. But from Jug. c. 26, it appears +that the consuls might settle by lot, or by agreement between +themselves, which of those two provinces each of them should take. How +far the senate were allowed or accustomed in general, to interfere in +the arrangement, it is not easy to discover: but on this occasion they +had taken on themselves to pass a resolution in favor of the patrician. +Lest similar scenes, however, to those of the Sempronian times should +be enacted, they yielded the point to the people. + +[205] LXXV. Thala--The river on which this town stood is not named by +Sallust, but it appears to have been the Bagrada. It seems to have been +nearly destroyed by the Romans, after the defeat of Juba, in the time +of Julius Caesar; though Tacitus, Ann. iii. 21, mentions it as having +afforded a refuge to the Romans in the insurrection of the Numidian +chief, Tacfarinas. D'Anville and Dr. Shaw, _Travels in Bombay_, vol. +i. pt. 2, ch. 5, think it the same with Telepte, now _Ferre-anah_; but +this is very doubtful. See Cellar. iv. 5. It was in ruins in the time +of Strabo. + +[206] Had done more than was required of them--_Officia intenderant._ +"Auxit _intenditque_ saevitiam exacerbatus indicio filii sui Drusi" +Suet. Tib. 62. + +[207] LXXVI. Nor did he ever--continue, etc.--_Neque postea--moratus, +simulabat_, etc.--Most editors take _moratus_ for _morans_; Allen +places a colon after it, as if it were for _moratus est_. + +[208] And erected towns upon it to protect, etc.--_Et super aggerem +impositis turribus epus et administros tutari_. "And protected +the work and the workmen with towers placed on the mound." _Impositis +turribus_ is not the ablative absolute, but the ablative of the +instrument. + +[209] LXXVII. Leptis--Leptis Major, now _Lebida_. In c. 19, Leptis Minor +is meant. + +[210] Their own safety--_Suam salutem_: i.e. the safety of the people of +Leptis. + +[211] LXXVIII. Which take their name from their nature--_Quibus +nomen ex re inditum._ From [Greek: _surein_], _to draw,_ because the +stones and sand were drawn to and fro by the force of the wind and +tide. But it has been suggested that this etymology is probably false; +it is less likely that their name should be from the Greek than from +the Arabic, in which _sert_ signifies a desert tract or region, a term +still applied to the desert country bordering on the Syrtea. See +Ritter, Allgem. vergleich, Geog. vol. i. p. 929. The words which, in +Havercamp, close this description of the Syrtes, "Syrtes ab tractu +nominatae", and which Gruter and Putschius suspected not to be +Sallust's, Cortius omitted; and his example has been followed by +Muller and Burnouf; Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, have retained +them. Gerlach, however, thinks them a gloss, though they are found in +every manuscript but one. + +[212] Almost at the extremity of Africa--_Prope in extremâ Africâ._ +"By _extremâ Africâ_ Gerlach rightly understands the eastern part of +Africa, bordering on Egypt, and at a great distance from Numidia." +_Kritzius_. + +[213] The language alone--_Lingua modò_. + +[214] From the king's dominions--_Ab imperio regis._ "Understand +Masinissa's, Micipsa's, or Jugurtha's." _Burnouf_. + +[215] LXXIX. Philaeni--The account of these Carthaginian brothers +with a Greek name, _philainoi, praise-loving_, is probably a fable. +Cortius thinks that the inhabitants, observing two mounds rising above +the surrounding level, fancied they must have been raised, not by +nature, but by human labor, and invented a story to account for their +existence. "The altars," according to Mr. Rennell (Geog. of Herod., p. +640), "were situated about seven ninths of the way from Carthage to +Cyrene; and the deception," he adds, "would have been too gross, had +it been pretended that the Carthaginian party had traveled seven parts +in nine, while the Cyrenians had traveled no more than two such parts +of the way." Pliny (II. N. v. 4) says that the altars were of sand; +Strabo (lib. iii.) says that in his time they had vanished. Pomponius +Mela and Valerius Maximus repeat the story, but without adding any +thing to render it more probable. + +[216] Devoid of vegetation--_Nuda gignentium_. So c. 93, _cunota +gignentium natura_. Kritzius justly observes that _gignentia_ is not +to be taken in the sense of _genita_, as Cortius and others interpret, +but in its own active sense; the ground was bare _of all that was +productive_, or _of whatever generates any thing_. This interpretation +is suggested by Perizonius ad Sanctu Minerv. i. 15. + +[217] Sacrificed themselves--_Seque vitamque--condonavere_. +"Nihil aliud est quàm _vitam suam_, sc.[Greek: _eu dia dyoin_]." +_Allen_. + +[218] LXXX. Sell--honorable or dishonorable--_Omnia honesta atque +inhonesta vendere_. See Cat. c. 30. They had been bribed by Jugurtha +to use their influence against Bocchus. + +[219] A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha--_Jugurthae +filia Bocchi nupserat_. Several manuscripts and old editions have +_Boccho_, making Bocchus the son-in-law of Jugurtha. But Plutarch +(Vit. Mar. c. 10, Sull. c. 8) and Florus (iii. 1) agree in speaking +of him as Jugurtha's father-in-law. Bocchus was doubtless an older man +than Jugurtha, having a grown up son, Volux, c. 105. Castilioneus and +Cortius, therefore, saw the necessity of reading _Bocchi_, and, other +editors have followed them, except Gerlach, "who," says Kritzius, "has +given _Bocchi_ in his larger, and _Boccho_ in his smaller and more +recent edition, in order that readers using both may have an +opportunity of making a choice." + +[220] No one of them becomes a companion to him--_Nulla pro sociâ +obtinet The use of _obtinet_ absolutely, or with the word dependent on +it understood, prevails chiefly among the later Latin writers. Livy, +however, has _fama obtinuit_, xxi. 46. "The _tyro_ is to be reminded," +says Dietsch, "that _obtinet_ is not the same as _habetar_, but is +always for _locum obtinet_." + +[221] LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies--The text has only +_exercitus_. + +[222] To lessen Bocchus's chance of peace--_Bocchi pacem +imminuere_. He wished to engage Bocchus in some act of hostility +against the Romans, so as to render any coalition between them +impossible. + +[223] LXXXII. Should have learned something of the Moors +--_Cognitis Mauris, i.e._ after knowing something of the Moors, +_and not before_. _Cognitis militibus_ is used in the same way in c. +39; and Dietsch says that _amicitia Jugurthae parum cognita_ is for +_nondum cognita_, c. 14. + +[224] LXXXIV. Discharged veterans--_Homines emeritis stipendiis._ +Soldiers who had completed their term of service. + +[225] Means of warfare--_Usum belli._ That is _ea quae belli usus +posceret_, troops and supplies. + +[226] Cherished the fancy--_Animis trahebant. "Trahere animo_ is +always to revolve in the mind, not to let the thought of a thing +escape from the mind." _Kritzius_. + +[227] LXXXV. Its interests ought to be managed, etc.--_Majore curâ +illam administrari quàm haec peti debere._ Cortius injudiciously +omits the word _illam_. No one has followed him but Allen. + +[228] Hostile--_Occursantis._ Thwarting, opposing. + +[229] That you may not be deceived in me--_Ut neque vos capiamini._ +"This verb is undoubtedly used in this passage for _decipere_. +Compare Tibull. Eleg. iii. 6, 45: _Nec vos aut capiant pendentia +brachia collo, Aut fallat blandâ sordida tingua prece._ Cic. Acad. +iv. 20: _Sapientis vim maximam esse cavere, ne capiatur._" Gerlach. + +[230] To secure their election--_Per ambitionem. Ambire_ is to +canvass for votes; to court the favor of the people. + +[231] Of yonder crowd of nobles--_ex illo globo nobilitatis. Illo,_ +[Greek: _deiktikos_]. + +[232] I know some--who after they have been elected, etc.--"At +whom Marina directs this observation, it is impossible to tell. +Gerlach referring to Cic. Quest. Acad. ii. 1, 2, thinks that Lucullus +is meant. But if he supposes that Lucullus was present _to the mind of +Marius_ when he spoke, he is egregiously deceived, for Marius was +forty years antecedent to Lucullus. It is possible, however, that +_Sallust_, thinking of Lucullus when he wrote Marius's speech, may +have fallen into an anachronism, and have attributed to Marius, whose +character he had assumed, an observation which might justly have been +made in his own day." _Kritzius_. + +[233] Persons who invert the order of things--_Homines Praeposteri._ +Men who do that last which should be done first. + +[234] For though to discharge the duties of the office, etc.--_Nam +gerere, quam fieri, tempore posterius, re atque usu prius est._ With +_gerere_ is to be understood _consulatum_; with _fieri, consulem._ +This is imitated from Demosthenes, Olynth. iii.: [Greek: _To gar +prattein ton legein kai cheirotonein, usteron on tae taxei, proteron +tae dynamei kai kreitton esti_.] "Acting is posterior in order to +speaking and voting, but prior and superior in effect." + +[235] With those haughty nobles--_Cum illorum superbui. Virtus +Scipiades et mitis sapientia Laeli._ + +[236] My condition _Mihi fortuna_. "That is, my lot, or condition, +in which I was born, in which I had no hand in producing." _Dietsch_. + +[237] The circumstance of birth, etc. _Naturam unam et communem +omnium existumo_. "Nascendi sortem" is the explanation which Dietsch +gives to _naturam_. One man is _born_ as well as another, but the +difference between men is made by their different modes of action; a +difference which the nobles falsely suppose to proceed from fortune. +"Voltaire, Mohammed, Act.I., sce. iv., has expressed the sentiment of +Sallust exactly: + + Les mortels sont égaux, ce n'est point la naissance, + C'est la seule vertu qui fait leur différence." _Burnouf._ + +[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam +ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this +passage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is +apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were +probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The passage which Anthon +quotes from Plutarch to illustrate _patres_, is not applicable, for +the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae +kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai +paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, +all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9. +"He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the +ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity +like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high +birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_. + +[239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence. + +[240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and +Jug. c. 1. + +[241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their +ancestors--_Plerâque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their +ancestors in the greatest part of their speech." + +[242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, +viii.138: + + Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum + Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. + + Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display + Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day. + +[243] I feel assured--_Ex animi sententiâ_. "It was a common form of strong +asseveration." _Gerlach._ + +[244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was +anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in +battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had +struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. +v.17." _Burnouf_. + +[245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards. +Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two +colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa +was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the +color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius +thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, +as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261: + + Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique + Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_. + +[246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: + + _Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: + Hic _torque_ aurato circumdat bellica collae. + +Juvenal, xv. 60: + + Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes. + +These passages show that _phalerae_, a name for the ornaments of +horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the +_torques_, or collars, in this respect, that the _phalerae_ hung down +over the breast, and the _torques_ only encircled the neck. See Lips. +ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." _Burnouf_. + +[247] Valor--_Virtutem._ "The Greeks, those illustrious instructors +of the world, had not been able to preserve their liberty; their +learning therefore had not added to their valor. _Virtus_, in this +passage, is evidently _fortitudo bellica_, which, in the opinion of +Marius, was _the only virtue_." Burnouf. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. c. 2. + +[248] To be vigilant at my post--_Praesidia agitare_. Or "to keep +guard at my post." "_Praesidia agitare_ signifies nothing more than to +protect a party of foragers or the baggage, or to keep guard round a +besieged city." _Vortius_. + +[249] Keep no actor--_Histrionem nullum--habeo_. "Luxuriae peregrinae +origo ab exercitu Asiatico (Manlii sc. Vulsonis, A.U.C. 563) invecta +in urbem est.----Tum psaltriae sambucistriaeque et convivalia +_ludionum_ obiectamenta, addita epulis." Liv. xxxix. 6. "By this army +returning from Asia was the origin of foreign luxury imported into the +city.----At entertainments--were introduced players on the harp and +timbrel, with _buffoons_ for the diversion of the guests." _Baker_. +Professor Anthon, who quotes this passage, says that _histrio_ "here +denotes a buffoon kept for the amusement of the company." But such is +not the meaning of the word _histrio_. It signifies one who in some way +_acted_, either by dancing and gesticulation, or by reciting, perhaps +to the music of the _sambucistriae or other minstrels. See Smith's +Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. Art. _Histrio_, sect. 2. Scheller's Lex. +sub. vv. _Histrio, Ludio_, and _Salto_. The emperors had whole companies +of actors, _histriones aulici_, for their private amusement. Suetonius +says of Augustus (c. 74) that at feasts he introduced _acroamata et +histriones_. See also Spartian. _Had_. c. 19; Jul.Capitol. _Verus_, c.8. + +[250] My cook--_Coquum_. Livy, in the passage just cited from him, adds +_tum coquus villisimum antiquis mancipium, et estimatione et usu in +pretio esse; ut quod ministerium fuerat, ars haberi coepta_. "The cook, +whom the ancients considered as the meanest of their slaves both in +estimation and use, became highly valuable." _Baker_. + +[251] Avarice, inexperience, and arrogance--_Avaritiam, imperitiam, +superbiam_. "The President De Brosses and Dotteville have observed, +that Marius, in these words, makes an allusion to the characters of +all the generals that had preceded him, noticing at once the avarice +of Calpurnius, the inexperience of Albinus, and the pride of Metellus." +_Le Brun_. + +[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of +mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English +translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to +be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not +the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however +cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to +immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper +connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens +liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in +the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these +lines of Tyrtaeus: + +[Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin + Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton + Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton + Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.] + + + To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, + Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: + Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, + The silent foot of fate at home has found. + +The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la +lacheté n'a préservé de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour être un +làche, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly +_inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_. + +[253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: +_Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai +eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will +never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20. +"This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sallust both in +words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and +objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold +character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished +and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The +phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoarse.----But +it is animated and fervid, rushing on like a torrent; and by language +of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are +excellently represented." _Gerlach_. + +[254] LXXXVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the classes--_Non +more majorum, neque ex classibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, +who divided the Roman people into six classes, the highest class +consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in +regular gradation, none of the sixth class, who were not considered as +having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were +allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, +commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to +render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders. +See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10. + +[255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_. + +[256] LXXXVII. Having filled up his legions, etc. Their numbers had been +thinned in actions with the enemy, and Metellus perhaps took home some +part of the army which did not return to it. + +[257] Their country and parents, etc--_Patriam parentesque_, etc. +Sallust means to say that the soldiers would see such to be the general +effect and result of vigorous warfare; not that they had any country or +parents to protect in Numidia. But the observation has very much of the +rhetorician in it. + +[258] LXXXVIII. From our allies--_Ex sociis nostris_. The people of the +province. + +[259] Obliged the king himself--to take flight without his arms +_Ipsumque regem--armis exuerat_. He attacked Jugurtha so suddenly and +vigorously that he was compelled to flee, leaving his arms behind him. + +[260]: LXXXIX. The Libyan Hercules--_Hercules Libys_. "He is one of +the forty and more whom Varro mentions, and who, it is probable, were +leaders of trading expeditions or colonies. See _supra_, c. 18. A +Libyan Hercules is mentioned by Solinus xxvii." _Bernouf_. + +[261] Marius conceived a strong desire--_Marium maxima cupido +invaserat_. "A strong desire had seized Marius." + +[262] Wild beasts' flesh--_Ferinâ carne_. Almost all our +translators have rendered this "venison." But the Africans lived on +the flesh of whatever beasts they took in the chase. + +[263] XC. The consul, etc.--Here is a long and awkward parenthesis. +I have adhered to the construction of the original. The "yet," _tamen_, +that follows the parenthesis, refers to the matter included in it. + +[264] He consigned to the care, etc.--_Equitibus auxiliariis agendum +attribuit_. "He gave to be driven by the auxiliary cavalry." + +[265] The town of Lares--_Oppidum Laris_. Cortius seems to have +been right in pronouncing _Laris_ to be an accusative plural. Gerlach +observes that Lares occurs in the Itinerary of Antonius and in St. +Augustine, Adv. Donatist., vi. 28. + +[266] XCI. After marching the whole night.--He seems to have +marched in the night for the sake of coolness. + +[267] XCII. All his undertakings, etc.--_Omnia non bene consulta +in virtutem trahebantur_. "All that he did rashly was attributed to +his _consciousness of_ extraordinary power." If they could not praise +his prudence, they praised his resolution and energy. + +[268] Difficult of execution--_Difficilem_. There seemed to be as +many impediments to success as in the affair at Capsa, though the +undertaking was not of so perilous a nature. + +[269] In the midst of a plain--_Inter caeteram planitiem_. By +_caeteram_ he signifies that _the rest_ of the ground, except the part +on which the fort stood, was plain and level. + +[270] Directed his utmost efforts to take--_Summâ vi capere +intendit_. It is to be observed that _summâ vi_ refers to _intendit_, +not to _capere_. _Summâ ope_ animum _intendit ut caperet_. + +[271] Among the vineae--_Inter vineas_. "_Inter_, for which Müller, +from a conjecture of Glareanus, substituted _intra_ is supported by +all the manuscripts, and ought not to be altered, although _intra_ +would have been more exact, as the signification of _inter_ is of +greater extent, and includes that of _intra_. _Inter_ is used when +a thing is inclosed on each side; _intra_, when it is inclosed on +all sides. If the soldiers, therefore, are considered as surrounded +with the _vineae_, they should be described as _intra vineas_; but +as there is no reason why they may not also be contemplated as being +inclosed only laterally by the _vineae_, the phrase _inter vineas_ +may surely in that case be applied to them. Gronovius and Drakenborch +ad Liv., i. 10, have observed how often these propositions are +interchanged when referred to _time_." Kritzius. On _vineae_, see +c. 76. + +[272] XCIII. A certain Ligurian--in the auxiliary cohorts--The +Ligurians were not numbered among the Italians or _socii_ in the Roman +army, but attached to it only as auxiliaries. + +[273] A desire--of seeing what he had never seen--_More humani +ingenii, cupido ignara visundi invadit_. This is the reading of +Cortius, to which Muller and Allen adhere. Gerlach inserted in his +text, _More humani ingeni, cupidio difficilia faciundi animum vortit_; +which Kritzius, Orelli, and Dietsch, have adopted, and which Cortius +acknowledged to be the reading of the generality of the manuscripts, +except that they vary as to the last two words, some having +_animad vortit_. The sense of this reading will be, "the desire of +doing something difficult, which is natural to the human mind, drew +off his thoughts from gathering snails, and led him to contemplate +something of a more arduous character." But the reading of Cortius +gives so much better a sense to the passage, that I have thought +proper to follow it. Burnouf, with Havercamp and the editions +antecedent to Cortius, reads _more humanae cupidinis ignara visundi +animum vortit_, of which the first five words are taken from a +quotation of Aulus Gellius, ix. 12, who, however, may have transcribed +them from some other part of Sallust's works, now lost. + +[274] Horizontally--_Prona_. This word here signifies _forward_, not +_downward_, as Anthon and others interpret, for trees growing out +of a rock or bank will not take a _descending_ direction. + +[275] As nature directs all vegetables--_Quò cuncta gignentium +natura fert_. It is to be observed that the construction is _natura +fert cuncta gignentium_, for _cuncta gignentia_. On _gignentia_, i.e. +vegetable, or _whatever produces any thing_, see c. 79, and Cat., c. +53. + +[276] Four centurions for a guard--_Praesidio qui forent, quatuor +centuriones_. It is a question among the commentators whether the +centurions were attended by their centuries or not; Cortius thinks +that they were not, as ten men were sufficient to cause an alarm in +the fortress, which was all that Marius desired. But that Cortius is +in the wrong, and that there were common soldiers with the centurions, +appears from the following considerations: 1. Marius would hardly have +sent, or Sallust have spoken of, _four_ men as a guard to _six_. 2. +Why should centurions only have been selected, and not common soldiers +as well as their officers? 3. An expression in the following chapter, +_laqueis--quibus allevati milites facilius escenderent_, seems to +prove that there were others present besides the centurions and the +trumpeters. The word _milites_ is indeed wanting in the text of +Cortius, but appears to have been omitted by him merely to favor his +own notion as to the absence of soldiers, for he left it out, as +Kritzius says, _summâ libidine, ne uno quidem codice assentiente_, +"purely of his own will, and without the authority of a single +manuscript." Taking a fair view of the passage, we seem necessarily +led to believe that the centurions were attended by a portion, if not +the whole, of their companies. See the following note. + +[277] XCIV. Those who commanded the centuries--_Illi qui centuriis +praeerant_. This is the reading of several manuscripts, and of almost +all the editions before that of Kritzius, and may be tolerated if we +suppose that the centurions were attended by their men, and that +Sallust, in speaking of the change of dress, meant _to include the +men_, although he specifies only the officers. Yet it is difficult +to conceive why Sallust should have used such a periphrase for +_centuriones_. Seven of the manuscripts, however, have _qui adsensuri +erant_, which Kritzius and Dietsch have adopted. Two have _qui ex +centuriis praeerant_. Allen, not unhappily, conjectures, _qui +praesidio erant_. Cortius suspected the phrase, _qui centuriis +praeerant_, and thought it a transformation of the words _qui +adscensuris praeerat_, which somebody had written in the margin as an +explanation of the following word _duce_, and which were afterward +altered and thrust into the text. + +[278] Progress--might be less impeded--_Nisus--faciliùs foret_. The +adverb for the adjective. So in the speech of Adherbal, c. 14, _ut +tutius essem_. + +[279] Unsafe--_Dubia nisu_. "Not to be depended upon for support." +_Nisu_ is the old dative for _nisui_. + +[280] Causing a testudo to be formed--_Testudine actâ_. The soldiers +placed their shields over their heads, and joined them close together, +forming a defense like the shell of a tortoise. + +[281] XCV. For I shall in no other place allude to his affairs--_Neque +enim allo loco de Sullae rebus dicturi sumus._ "These words show that +Sallust, at this time, had not thought of writing _Histories_, but +that he turned his attention to that pursuit after he had finished +the Jugurthine war. For that he spoke of Sylla in his large history +is apparent from several extant fragments of it, and from Plutarch, +who quotes Sallust, Vit. Syll., c. 3." _Kritzius._ + +[282] Lucius Sisenna--He wrote a history of the civil wars between +Sylla and Marius, Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. Cicero alludes to his style +as being jejune and puerile, Brut., c. 64, De Legg. i. 2. About a +undred and fifty fragments of his history remain. + +[283] Except that he might have acted more for his honor with +regard to his wife--_Nisi quod de uxore potuit honestius consuli._ As +these words are vague and indeterminate, it is not agreed among the +critics and translators to what part of Sylla's life Sallust refers. +I suppose, with Rupertus, Aldus, Manutius, Crispinus, and De Brosses, +that the allusion is to his connection with Valeria, of which the +history is given by Plutarch in his life of Sylla, which the English +reader may take in Langhorne's translation: "A few months after +Metella's death, he presented the people with a show of gladiators; +and as, at that time, men and women had no separate places, but sat +promiscuously in the theater, a woman of great beauty, and of one of +the best families, happened to sit near Sylla. She was the daughter of +Messala, and sister to the orator Hortensius; her name was Valeria; +and she had lately been divorced from her husband. This woman, coming +behind Sylla, touched him, and took off a little of the nap of his +robe, and then returned to her place. Sylla looked at her, quite +amazed at her familiarity, when she said, 'Wonder not, my lord, at +what I have done; I had only a mind to share a little in your good +fortune.' Sylla was far from being displeased; on the contrary, it +appeared that he was flattered very agreeably, for he sent to ask her +name, and to inquire into her family and character. Then followed an +interchange of amorous regards and smiles, which ended in a contract +and marriage. The lady, perhaps, was not to blame. But Sylla, though +he got a woman of reputation, and great accomplishments, yet came into +the match upon wrong principles. Like a youth, he was caught with soft +looks and languishing airs, things that are wont to excite the lowest +of the passions." Others have thought that Sallust refers to Sylla's +conduct on the death of his wife Metella, above mentioned, to whom, as +she happened to fall sick when he was giving an entertainment to the +people, and as the priest forbade him to have his house defiled with +death on the occasion, he unfeelingly sent a bill of divorce, ordering +her to be carried out of the house while the breath was in her. +Cortius, Kritz, and Langius. think that the allusion is to Sylla'a +general faithlessness to his wives, for he had several; as if Sallust +had used the singular for the plural, _uxore_ for _uxoribus_, or +_reuxoriâ_; but if Sallust meant to allude to more than one wife, why +should he have restricted himself to the singular? + +[284] Lived on the easiest terms with his friends--_Facilis +amicitiâ_ The critics are in doubt about the sense of this phrase. I +have given that which Dietsch prefers, who says that a man _facilis +amicitiâ_ is "one who easily grants his friends all that they desire, +exacts little from them, and is no severe censor of their morals." +Cortius explains it _facilis ad amicitiam_, and Facciolati, in his +Lexicon, _facilè sibi amicos parans_, but these interpretations, as +Kritzius observes, are hardly suitable to the ablative case. + +[285] Most fortunate--_Felicissumo_. Alluding, perhaps, to the +title of Felix, which he assumed after his great victory over Marius. + +[286] His desert--_Industriam_. That is, the efforts which he made to +attain distinction. + +[287] XCVII. When scarcely a tenth part of the day remained--_Vix +decimâ parte die reliquâ._ A remarkably exact specification of the time. + +[288] From various quarters--_Ex multis._ From his scouts, who came in +from all sides. + +[289] The Roman veterans, who were necessarily well experienced +in war,--The reading of Cortius is, _Romani veteres, novique, et ob +ea scientes belli;_ which he explains by supposing that the new +recruits _were joined with_ the veterans, and that both united were +consequently well skilled in war, citing, in support of his +supposition, a passage in c. 87: _Sic brevi spatio_ novi veteresqua +_coaluere, et virtus omnium aequalis facta._ And Ascensius had +previously given a similar explanation, _quod etiam veterani +adessent._ But many later critics have not been induced to believe +that Cortius's reading will bear any such interpretation; and +accordingly Kritzius, Dietsch, and Orelli, have ejected _novique_; as +indeed Ciaeconius and Ursinus had long before recommended. Muller, +Burnouf, and Allen, retain it, adopting Cortius's interpretation. +Gerlach also retains it, but not without hesitation. But it is very +remarkable that it occurs in all the manuscripts but one, which has +_Romani veteres boni scientes erant ut quos locus,_ etc. + +[290] _Neque minus hostibus conturbatis_. If the enemy had not been +in as much disorder as himself, Marius would hardly have been able to +effect his retreat. + +[291] _Pleno gradu_.--"By the _militaris gradus_ twenty miles were +completed in five hours of a summer day; by the _plénusus_, which is +quicker, twenty-four miles were traversed in the same time." Veget. i.9. + +[292] XCIX. When the watches were changed--_Per vigilias: i. e. +at the end of each watch, when the guards were relieved. "The nights, +by the aid of a clepsydra, were divided into four watches, the +termination of each being marked by the blast of a trumpet or horn. +See Viget. in. 8: _A tubicine omnes vigiliae committuntur; et finitis +horis a cornicine revocantur_." Kritzius He also refers to Liv. vii. +35; Lucan. viii. 24; Tacit. Hist. v. 22. + +[293] Auxiliary cohorts--_Cohortium_. I have added the word _auxiliary_. +That they were the cohorts of the auxiliaries or allies is apparent, +as the word _legionum_ follows. Kritzius indeed thinks otherwise, +supposing that the cohorts had particular trumpeters, distinct from +those of the whole legion. But for this notion there seems to be no +sufficient ground. Sallust speaks of the _cohortes sociorum_, c. 58, +and _cohortes Ligurum_, c. 100. + +[294] Sally forth from the camp--_Portis erumpere_. Sallust uses +the common phrase for issuing from the camp. It can hardly be +supposed, that the Romans had formed a regular camp with gates during +the short time that they had been upon the hill, especially as they +had fled to it in great disorder. + +[295] Stupor--_Vecordia_. A feeling that deprived them of all sense. + +[296] C. in form of a square--_Quadrato agmine_. "A hollow square, +with the baggage in the center; see Serv. ad Verg. Aen. xii.121. ... +Such an _agmen_ Sallust, in c. 46, calls _munitum_, as it was +prepared to defend itself against the enemy, from whatever quarter +they might approach." _Kritzius_. + +[297] Might be endured by them with cheerfulness _Volentibus +esset._ A Greek phrase, _Boulomenois eiae._ + +[298] Dread of shame--_Pudore._ Inducing each to have a regard to +his character. + +[299] CI. Trusting that one of them, assuredly, etc.--_Ratua es +omnibus aque aliquos ab tergo hostibus ventures. By aequo Sallust_ +signifies that each of the four bodies would have an equal chance of +coming on the rear of the Romans. + +[300] In person and with his officers--_Ipse aliique._ "The +_alii_, are the _praefecti equitum,_ officers of the cavalry." +_Kritzius._ + +[301] Wheeled secretly about, with a few of his followers, to the +infantry--_Clam--ad pedites convertit_. What infantry are meant, the +commentators can not agree, nor is there any thing in the narrative on +which a satisfactory decision can be founded. As the arrival of +Bocchus is mentioned immediately before, Cortius supposes that the +infantry of Bocchus are signified; and it may be so; but to whatever +party the words wore addressed, they were intended to be heard by the +Romans, or for what purpose were they spoken in Latin? Jugurtha may +have spoken the words in both languages, and this, from what follows, +would appear to have been the case, for both sides understood him. +_Quod ubi milites_ (evidently the Roman soldiers) _accepere--simul +barbari animos tollere_, etc. The _clam_ signifies that Jugurtha +turned about, or wheeled off, so as to escape the notice of Marius, +with whom he had been contending. + +[302] By vigorously cutting down our infantry--_Satis impigre +occiso pedite nostro_. "A ces mots il leur montra son épée teinte du +sang des notres, dont il venait, en effet, de faire une assez cruelle +boucherie." _De Brosses_. Of the other French translators, Beauzée and +Le Brun render the passage in a similar way; Dotteville and Durean +Delamalle, as well as all our English translators, take _pedite_ as +signifying _only one soldier_. Sir Henry Steuart even specifies that +it was "a legionary soldier." The commentators, I should suppose, have +all regarded the word as having a plural signification; none of them, +except Burnouf, who expresses a needless doubt, say any thing on the +point. + +[303] The spectacle on the open plains was then frightful--_Tum +spectaculum horribile campis patentibus_, etc. The idea of this +passage was probably taken, as Ciacconius intimates, from a +description in Xenophon, Agesil. ii. 12, 14, part of which is quoted +by Longinus, Sect. 19, as an example of the effect produced by the +omission of conjunctions: [Greek: _Kai symbalontes tas aspidas +eothounto, emachonto, apekteinon, apethnaeskon Epei ge maen elaexen +hae machae, paraen dae theasasthai entha synepeson allaelois, taen men +gaen aimati pe, ormenaen, nekrous de peimenous philious kai polemious +met allaelon, aspidas de diatethrummenas, dorata syntethrausmena, +egchoipidia gumna kouleon ta men chamai, ta d'en somasi, ta d'eti meta +cheiras_.] "Closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, +... But when the battle was over, you might have seen, where they had +fought, the ground clotted with blood, the corpses of friends and +enemies mingled together, and pierced shields, broken lances, and +swords without their sheaths, strewed on the ground, sticking in the +dead bodies, or still remaining in the hands that had wielded them +when alive." Tacitus, Agric. c. 37. has copied this description of +Sallust, as all the commentators have remarked: _Tum vero patentibus +locis grande et atrox spectaculum. Sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque +eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare.... Passim, arma et corpora, et +laceri artus, et cruenta humus_. "The sight on the open field was then +striking and horrible; they pursued, they inflicted wounds, they took +... Every where were seen arms and corpses, mangled limbs, and the +ground stained with blood." + +[304] Besides, the Roman people, even from the very infancy--The +reading of this passage, before the edition of Cortius, was this: _Ad +hoc, populo Romano jam a principio inopi melius visum amicos, quam +servos, quaerere_. Gruter proposed to read _Ad hoc populo Romano inopi +melius est visum_, etc., whence Cortius made _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam +inopi visum_, etc. But the Bipont editors, observing that _inopi_ was +not quite consistent with _quaerere servos_, altered the passage to +_Ad hoc, populo Romano jam à principio reipublicae melius visum_, +etc., which seems to be the best emendation that has been proposed, +and which I have accordingly followed. Kritzius and Dietsch adopt it, +except that they omit _reipublicae_, and put nothing in the place of +_inopi_. Gerlach retains _inopi_, on the principle of "quo +insolentius, eo verius," and it may, after all, be genuine. Cortius +omitted _melius_ on no authority but his own. + +[305] Out of which he had forcibly driven Jugurtha--_Unde ut +Jugurtham expulerit [expulerat]_ There is here some obscurity. The +manuscripts vary between _expulerit_ and _expulerat_. Cortius, and +Gerlaen in his second edition, adopt _expulerat_, which they of +necessity refer to Marius; but to make Bocchus speak thus, is, as +Kritzius says, to make him speak very foolishly and arrogantly. +Kritzius himself, accordingly, adopts _expulerit_, and supposes that +Bocchus invents a falsehood, in the belief that the Romans wouldhave +no means of detecting it. But Bocchus may have spoken truth, referring, +as Müller suggests, to some previous transactions between him and +Jugurtha, to which Sallust does not elsewhere allude. + +[306] In ill plight--_Sine decore_. + +[307] For interested bounty--_Largitio_. "The word signifies liberal +treatment of others with a view to our own interest; without any real +goodwill." _Müller_. "He intends a severe stricture on his own age, +and the manners of the Romans." _Dietsch_. + +[308] About forty days. Waiting, apparently, for the return of Marius. + +[309] CIV. Having failed in the object, etc.--_Infecto, quo +intenderat, negotio._ Though this is the reading of most of the +manuscripts, Kritzius, Müller, and Dietach, read _confecto_, as if +Marius could not have failed in his attempt. + +[310] Are always verging to opposite extremes.--_Semper in adversa +mutant_. Rose renders this "are always changing, and constantly for +the worse;" and most other translators have given something similar. +But this is absurd; for every one sees that all changes in human +affairs are not for the worse. _Adversa_ is evidently to be taken in +the sense which I have given. + +[311] CV. At his discretion--_Arbitratu_. Kritzius observes that +this word comprehends the notion of plenary powers to treat and +decide: _der mit unbeschränkter Vollmacht unterhandeln könnte_. + +[312] Presenting--_Intendere_. The critics are in doubt to what +to refer this word; some have thought of understanding _animum_; +Cortius, Wasse, and Müller, think it is meant only of the bows of the +archers; Kritzius, Burnouf, and Allen, refer it, apparently with +better judgment, to the _arma_ and _tela_ in general. + +[313] CVI. To dispatch their supper--_Coenatos esse_. "The perfect is +not without its force; it signifies that Sylla wished his orders to +be performed with the greatest expedition." _Kritzius_. He orders them +_to have done_ supper. + +[314] CVII. And blind parts of his body--_Caecum corpus_. Imitated +from Xenephon, Cyrop. iii. 3, 45: [Greek: _Moron gar to kratein +boulomenous, ta tuphla, tou somatos, kai aopla, tauta enantia +tattein tois polemiois pheugontas_.] "It is folly for those that +desire to conquer to turn the blind, unarmed, and handless parts of +the body, to the enemy in flight." + +[315] At being an instrument of his father's hostility--_Quoniam +hostilia faceret_. "Since he wished to deceive the Romans by pretended +friendship." _Müller_. + +[316] CVIII. Of the family of Masinissa--_Ex gente Masinissae._ +Massugrada was the son of Masinissa by a concubine. + +[317] Faithful--_Fidum_. After this word, in the editions of Cortius, +Kritzius, Gerlach, Allen, and Dietsch, follows _Romanis_ or _esse +Romanis_. These critics defend _Romanis_ on the plea that a dative +is necessary after _fidum_, and that it was of importance, as +Castilioneus observes that Dabar should be well disposed toward the +Romans, and not have been corrupted, like many other courtiers of +Bocchus, by the bribes of Jugurtha. Glarcanus, Badius Ascensius, the +Bipont editors, and Burnouf, with, most of the translators, omit +_Romanis_, and I have thought proper to imitate their example. + +[318] Place, day, and hour--_Diem, locum, tempus._ Not only the +day, but the time of the day. + +[319] That he kept all points, which he had settled with him +before, inviolate--_Consulta sese omnia cum illo integra habere_. +Kritzius justly observes that most editors, in interpreting this +passage, have erroneously given to _consulta_ the sense of +_consulenda_; and that the sense is, "that all that he had arranged +with Sylla before, remained unaltered, and that he was not drawn from +his resolutions by the influence of Jugurtha." + +[320] And that he was not to fear the presence of Jugurtha's +embassador, as any restraint, etc.--_Neu Jugurthae legatum +pertimesceret, quo res communis licentius gereretur_. There is some +difficulty in this passage. Burnouf makes the nearest approach to a +satisfactory explanation of it. "Sylla," says he, "was not to fear the +envoy of Jugurtha, _quo_, on which account (equivalent to _eoque_, and +on that account, _i. e._ on account of his freedom from apprehension) +their common interests would be more freely arranged." Yet it appears +from what follows that fear of Jugurtha's envoy _could not be +dismissed_, and that there could be no freedom of discussion in his +presence, as Sylla was to say but little before him, and to speak more +at large at a private meeting. These considerations have induced +Kritzius to suppose that the word _remoto_, or something similar, has +been lost after _quo_. The Bipont editors inserted _cautum esse_ +before _quo_, which is without authority, and does not at all assist +the sense. + +[321] African duplicity--_Punica fide_. "_Punica fides_ was a +well-known proverbial expression for treachery and deceit. The origin +of it is perhaps attributable not so much to fact, as to the implacable +hatred of the Romans toward the Carthaginians." _Burnouf_. + +[322] CIX. What answer should be returned by Bocchus--That is, in +the presence of Aspar. + +[323] Both then retired to their respective camps--_Deinde ambo in +sua castra digressi_. Both, _i. e._ Bocchus and Sylla, not Aspar and +Sylla, as Cortius imagines. + +[324] CX. It will be a pleasure to me--_Fuerit mihi_. Some editions, +as that of Langius, the Bipont, and Burnouf's, have _fuerit mihi +pretium_. Something of the kind seems to be wanting. "Res in bonis +numeranda fuerit mihi." _Burnouf_. Allen, who omits _pretium_, +interprets, "Grata mihi egestas sit, quae ad tuam, amicitiam +coufugiat;" but who can deduce this sense from the passage, unless he +have _pretium_, or something similar, in his mind? + +[325] CXI. That part of Numidia which he claimed--_Numidiae partem +quam nunc peteret_. See the second note on c. 102. Bocchus continues, +in his speech in the preceding chapter, to signify that a part of +Numidia belonged to him. + +[326] The ties of blood--_Cognationem_. To this blood-relationship +between him and Jugurtha no allusion is elsewhere made. + +[327] His resolution gave way--_Lenitur_. Cortius whom Gerlach and +Müller follow, reads _leniter_, but, with Kritzius and Gerlach, I +prefer the verb to the adverb; which, however, is found in the greater +number of the manuscripts. + +[328] CXII. Interests of both--_Ambobus_. Both himself and Jugurtha. + +[329] CXIV. At that time--_ Eâ tempestate_. "In many manuscripts +is found _ex eâ tempestate_, by which the sense is wholly perverted. +Sallust signifies that Marius did not continue always deserving of +such honor; for, as is said in c. 63, 'he was afterward carried +headlong by ambition.'" _Kritzius_. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The +Jurgurthine War, by Sallust + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + +***** This file should be named 7990-8.txt or 7990-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/9/7990/ + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/7990-8.zip b/7990-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1adfcb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/7990-8.zip diff --git a/7990.txt b/7990.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0364085 --- /dev/null +++ b/7990.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10147 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine +War, by Sallust + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine War + +Author: Sallust + +Posting Date: November 7, 2012 [EBook #7990] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: June 10, 2003 +Last Updated: March 20, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +SALLUST'S + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE AND THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +LITERALLY TRANSLATED WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN SELBY +WATSON, M.A. + + + + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the +ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII. +Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which he +collected them, XIV. His crimes and wretchedness, XV. His tuition of +his accomplices, and resolution to subvert the government, XVI. His +convocation of the conspirators, and their names, XVII. His concern in +a former conspiracy, XVIII., XIX. Speech to the conspirators, XX. His +promises to them, XXI. His supposed ceremony to unite them, XXII. His +designs discovered by Fulvia, XXIII. His alarm on the election of +Cicero to the consulship, and his design in engaging women in his +cause, XXIV. His accomplice, Sempronia, characterized, XXV. His +ambition of the consulship, his plot to assassinate Cicero, and his +disappointment in both, XXVI. His mission of Manlius into Etruria, and +his second convention of the conspirators, XXVII. His second attempt +to kill Cicero; his directions to Manlius well observed, XXVIII. His +machinations induce the Senate to confer extraordinary power on the +consuls, XXIX. His proceedings are opposed by various precautions, +XXX. His effrontery in the Senate, XXXI. He sets out for Etruria, +XXXII. His accomplice, Manlius, sends a deputation to Marcius, XXXIII. +His representations to various respectable characters, XXXIV. His +letter to Catulus, XXXV. His arrival at Manlius's camp; he is declared +an enemy by the Senate; his adherents continue faithful and resolute, +XXXVI. The discontent and disaffection of the populace in Rome, +XXXVII. The old contentions between the patricians and plebeians, +XXXVIII. The effect which a victory of Catiline would have produced, +XXXIX. The Allobroges are solicited to engage in the conspiracy, XL. +They discover it to Cicero, XLI. The incaution of Catiline's +accomplices in Gaul and Italy, XLII. The plans of his adherents at +Rome, XLIII. The Allobroges succeed in obtaining proofs of the +conspirators' guilt, XLIV. The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested +by the contrivance of Cicero, XLV. The principal conspirators at Rome +are brought before the Senate, XLVI. The evidence against them, and +their consignment to custody, XLVII. The alteration in the minds of +the populace, and the suspicions entertained against Crassus, XLVIII. +The attempts of Catulus and Piso to criminate Caesar, XLIX. The plans +of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, and the deliberations of +the Senate, L. The speech of Caesar on the mode of punishing the +conspirators, LI. The speech of Cato on the same subject, LII. The +condemnation of the prisoners; the causes of Roman greatness, LIII. +Parallel between Caesar and Cato, LIV. The execution of the criminals, +LV. Catiline's warlike preparations in Etruria, LVI. He is compelled +by Metullus and Antonius to hazard an action, LVII. His exhortation to +his men, LVIII. His arrangements, and those of his opponents, for the +battle, LIX. His bravery, defeat, and death, LX., LXI. + + * * * * * + +I. It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,[1] to strive, +to the utmost of their power,[2] not to pass through life in obscurity, +[3] like the beasts of the field,[4] which nature has formed groveling[5] +and subservient to appetite. + +All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.[6] Of the mind +we rather employ the government;[7] of the body the service.[8] The +one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It +appears to me, therefore, more reasonable[9]to pursue glory by means +of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we +enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. +For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of +intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.[10] + +Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military +efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of +intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before +beginning to act,[11] and, after planning, to act with promptitude +and vigor.[12] Thus, each[13] being insufficient of itself, the one +requires the assistance of the other.[14] + +II. In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title +of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;[15] +some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,[16] +the life of man was passed without covetousness;[17] every one was +satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia[18] and the +Lacedaemonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and +nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine +the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at +length discovered, by proof and experience,[19] that mental power has +the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,[20] if the +intellectual ability[21] of kings and magistrates[22] were exerted to +the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more +orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from +hand to hand,[23] and things universally changed and confused. For +dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first +obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, +and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune +of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is +always transferred from the less to the more deserving.[24] + +Even in agriculture,[25] in navigation, and in architecture, whatever +man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, +resigned to sensuality and indolence, un-instructed and unimproved, +have passed through life like travellers in a strange country[26]; to +whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a +gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and +death in equal estimation[27]; for silence is maintained concerning +both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, +who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling +enterprise, or honorable pursuit. + +But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different +paths to different individuals. III. To act well for the Commonwealth +is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit[28]. Both +in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have +acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their +tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal +glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it +yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of +great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately +represented[29] by words; and next, because most readers consider that +whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through +malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and +glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[30] only that +which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own +conception he regards as fictitious and incredible[31]. + +I myself, however, when a young man[32], was at first led by +inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs[33]; but +in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, +instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity[34], there prevailed +shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, +inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in +the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and +infected[35] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious +principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the +same obloquy and jealousy[36], which disquieted others, disquieted +myself. + +IV. When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and +trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days +unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my +valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile +occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting[37]; but, +returning to those studies[38] from which, at their commencement, a +corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached +portions[39], the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence +should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the +rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or +political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with +as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it +an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature +both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my +narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the +man. + +V. Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth[40], and of eminent mental +and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition. +His delight, from his youth, had been civil commotions, bloodshed, +robbery, and sedition[41]; and in such scenes he had spent his early +years.[42] His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and +cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and +versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.[43] +He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He +had abundance of eloquence,[44] though but little wisdom. His +insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, +and unattainable. + +Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship,[45] a strong desire of seizing +the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he +secured power[46] for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. +His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the +diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both +which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned +above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and +selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly +depraved,[47] furnished him with additional incentives to action. + +Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the +subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to +describe the conduct of our ancestors[48] in peace and war; how they +managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual +alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious +and depraved. + +VI. Of the city of Rome, as I understand,[49] the founders and +earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of +Aeneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any +settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines,[50] a savage +race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control. +How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar +language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met +within the same walls, is almost incredible.[51] But when their state, +from an accession of population and territory, and an improved +condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, +envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence +of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, +began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to +their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing +their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, +prepared with alacrity for their defense.[52] They encouraged one +another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their +arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had +at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their +allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by +bestowing[53] favors than by receiving them. + +They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their +government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled +by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the +council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the +similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS.[54] But afterward, when +the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the +protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest, +had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, +and appointed two magistrates,[55] with power only annual; for they +conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely +to grow overbearing for want of control. + +VII. At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to +display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the +meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and +to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was +secured, it is almost incredible[56] how much the state strengthened +itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction +had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they +were able to bear the toil of war,[57] acquired military skill by +actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms +and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial +indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or +inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome +every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; +each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be +noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this +they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility.[58] They were +covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent +riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account +would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman +people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and +cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault. + +VIII. But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every +thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with +truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very +great and glorious,[59] something inferior to what fame has represented +them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions +of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid +achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at +the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in +their writings. + +But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers;[60] +for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No +one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability +chose to act rather than narrate,[61] and was more desirous that his +own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should +record theirs. + +IX. Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the +camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible +avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more +from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They +displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy. +Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were +magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, +and steady in their friendships. + +By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they +maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which +virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war, +punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy +contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too +slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their +standards, or, when pressed by the enemy,[62] to abandon their posts; +and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by +exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to +pardon than to revenge it. + +X. But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased +its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;[63] when +barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; +when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly +destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune +then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal +innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and +doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of +desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of +money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as +it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, +integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, +inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general +venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one +thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue;[64] to +estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according +to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest +heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes +restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had +spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the +government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became +rapacious and insupportable. + +XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice,[65] that +influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue +than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as +desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; +the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud +and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise +man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued +with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.[66] +It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by +abundance nor by want. + +But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government[67] by force +of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious +termination, all became robbers and plunderers;[68] some set their +affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew +neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens +disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the +circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the +forces which he had commanded in Asia,[69] had treated them, contrary +to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and +exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had +easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the +soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated +to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, +pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public +edifices and private dwellings;[70] to spoil temples; and to cast off +respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, +when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. +Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would +those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. + +XII. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, +and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was +thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of +ill-nature.[71] From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, +avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once +rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and +coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; +they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off +all consideration and self-restraint. + +It furnishes much matter for reflection,[72] after viewing our modern +mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the +temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the +gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, +and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom +they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the +contrary, the basest of mankind,[73] have even wrested from their allies, +with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious +ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of +power were to inflict injury. + +XIII. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which +can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains +have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices,[74] by many private +citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth,[75] +since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have +enjoyed with honor. + +But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all +kinds of luxury,[76] had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot +their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify +appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; +they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer +waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold,[77] or fatigue, but anticipated +them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, +when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for +their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain +from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately +devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance. + +XIV. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very +easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the +unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and +profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by +gaming,[78] luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy +debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all +assassins[79] or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or +dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their +tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in +fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, +were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, +as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was +presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and +equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly +courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were +easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, +according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to +some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, +neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his +devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who +thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were +guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from +other causes than from any evidence of the fact[80]. + +XV. Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal +connections, with a virgin of noble birth[81], with a priestess of +Vesta[82], and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance +alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion +for Aurelia Orestilla[83], in whom no good man, at any time of her +life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed +that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a +grown-up step-son[84], he cleared the house for their nuptials by +putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been +the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty +mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either +waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his +tortured spirit.[85] His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his +eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and +distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look. + +XVI. The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join +him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among +them he furnished false witnesses,[86] and forgers of signatures; and +he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property, +and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and +shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for +crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to +circumvent and murder inoffensive persons[87] just as if they had +injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want +of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel. + +Depending on such accomplices and adherents, and knowing that the load +of debt was every where great, and that the veterans of Sylla,[88] +having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils +and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the +design of overthrowing the government. There was no army in Italy; +Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world;[89] he himself had +great hopes of obtaining the consulship; the senate was wholly off its +guard;[90] every thing was quiet and tranquil; and all those +circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline. + +XVII. Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of +Lucius Caesar[91] and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his +accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and +informed them, of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of +the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. +When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he +summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent, and whose spirits +were the most daring, to a general conference. + +At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank, Publius +Lentulus Sura,[92] Publius Autronius,[93] Lucius Cassius Longinus,[94] +Caius Cethegus,[95] Publius and Servius Sylla[96] the sons of +Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius,[97] Quintus Annius,[98] Marcus +Porcius Laeca,[99] Lucius Bestia,[100] Quintus Curius;[101] and, of +the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior,[102] Lucius +Statilius,[103] Publius Gabinius Capito,[104] Caius Cornelius;[105] +with many from the colonies and municipal towns,[106] persons of +consequence in their own localities. There were many others, too, +among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly: men whom +the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted +to join in the affair. But most of the young men, and especially the +sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had +abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, +preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. There were some, +also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus[107] was +not unacquainted with the conspiracy; because Cneius Pompey, whom he +hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the +power of any one whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey's +influence; trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should +succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the +conspirators. + +XVIII. But previously[108] to this period, a small number of persons, +among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the state: of +which affair I shall here give as accurate account as I am able. Under +the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius +and Publius Sylla,[109] having been tried for bribery under the laws +against it,[110] had paid the penalty of the offense. Shortly after +Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion,[111] had been +prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable +to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of +days.[112] There was at that time, too, a young patrician of the most +daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Cneius Piso,[113] whom +poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the government. +Catiline and Autronius,[114] having concerted measures with this Piso, +prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, +in the Capitol, on the first of January,[115] when they, having seized +on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the +two Spains.[116] But their design being discovered, they postponed the +assassination to the fifth of February; when they meditated the +destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the senate. And had +not Catiline, who was in front of the senate-house, been too hasty to +give the signal to his associates, there would that day have been +perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was +founded. But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in +sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design. + +XIX. Some time afterward, Piso was sent as quaestor, with Praetorian +authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, +because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. Nor were +the senate, indeed, unwilling[117] to grant him the province; for they +wished so infamous a character to be removed from the seat of +government; and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there +was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then +becoming formidable. But this Piso, on his march toward his province, +was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army. These +barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, +haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of +cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at +his instigation; since the Spaniards, they observed, had never before +committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe +commands. This question we shall leave undecided. Of the first +conspiracy enough has been said. + +XX. When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned,[118] +assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, +yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in +a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, +where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the +following effect: + +"If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, +this favorable opportunity[119] would have occurred to no purpose; +mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp; nor +should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue +contingencies instead of certainties. But as I have, on many remarkable +occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have +ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. I am +aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same +affect me; and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is +assuredly a firm bond of friendship. + +"What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. But my +ardor for action is daily more and more excited, when I consider what +our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our +claims to liberty.[120] For since the government has fallen under the +power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes[121] have constantly +been their tributaries; nations and states have paid them taxes; but all +the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, +have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and +subject to those, to whom, if the state were in a sound condition, we +should be a terror. Hence, all influence, power, honor, and wealth, are +in their hands, or where they dispose of them: to us they have left only +insults,[122] dangers, persecutions, and poverty. To such indignities, +O bravest of men, how long will you submit? Is it not better to die in +a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men's +insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy? + +"But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands. +Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken; among our oppressors, on +the contrary, through age and wealth a general debility has been +produced. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of +events[123] will accomplish the rest. + +"Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure +that they should have a superfluity of riches, to squander in building +over seas[124] and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting +to us even for the necessaries of life; that they should join together +two houses or more, and that we should not have a hearth to call our +own? They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate; +[125] though they pull down now buildings and erect others, and lavish +and abuse their wealth in every possible method; yet can not, with the +utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. But for us there is poverty at +home, debts abroad; our present circumstances are bad, our prospects +much worse; and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence? + +"Will you not, then, awake to action? Behold that liberty, that +liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor, and +glory, are set before your eyes. All these prizes fortune offers to +the victorious. Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, +let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, +animate you far more than my words. Use me either as your leader or +your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to +you. These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the +character of consul; unless, indeed, my expectation deceives me, and +you prefer to be slaves rather than masters." + +XXI. When these men, surrounded with numberless evils, but without any +resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they +thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, +yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to +engage in the contest; what benefits they were to expect from taking up +arms; and what support and encouragement they had, and in what quarters. +[126] Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts;[127] a +proscription of the wealthy citizens;[128] offices, sacerdotal dignities, +plunder, and all other gratifications which war, and the license of +conquerors, can afford. He added that Piso was in Hither Spain, and +Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were +privy to his plans; that Caius Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a +colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was +intimate, and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments; and that, +in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence +operations. He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with +reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of +his poverty, another of his ruling passion,[129] several others of their +danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by +the victory of Sylla. When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, +he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, +and dismissed the assembly. + +XXII. There were some, at the time, who said that Catiline, having +ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an +oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body +mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted +of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they +asserted[130] that he did this, in order that they might be the more +closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such +an atrocity. But some thought that this report, and many others, were +invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which +afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to +the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have +obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to +its magnitude. + +XXIII. Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius,[131] a +man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the +censors had ignominiously expelled from the senate. In this person +there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret +what he heard, not conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless +what he said or what he did. He had long had a criminal intercourse +with Fulvia, a woman of high birth; but growing less acceptable to her, +because, in his reduced circumstances, he had less means of being +liberal, he began, on a sudden, to boast, and to promise her seas and +mountains;[132] threatening her, at times, with the sword, if she were +not submissive to his will; and acting, in his general conduct, with +greater arrogance than ever.[133] Fulvia, having learned the cause of +his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the state a +secret; but, without naming her informant, communicated to several +persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning +Catiline's conspiracy. This intelligence it was that incited the +feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius +Cicero.[134] For before this period, most of the nobility were moved +with jealousy, and thought the consulship in some degree sullied, if a +man of no family,[135] however meritorious, obtained it. But when +danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside. XXIV. +Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius +Antonius were declared consuls; an event which gave the first shock to +the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all +diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he deposited arms, in +convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money borrowed on +his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius,[136] at +Faesulae,[137] who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. +At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great +numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier +days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, +when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had +contracted heavy debts. By the influence of these females, Catiline +hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and +either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives. + +XXV. In the number of those ladies was Sempronia,[138] a woman who had +committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, +in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was +skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and +dance,[139] with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and +possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. +But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. +Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would +have been difficult to decide. Her desires were so ardent that she +oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation. +She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn +debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by +her extravagance and poverty. But her abilities were by no means +despicable;[140] she could compose verses, jest, and join in +conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In a word, she was +distinguished[141] by much refinement of wit, and much grace of +expression. + +XXVI. Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for +the consulship for the following year; hoping that, if he should be +elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure. +Nor did he, in the mean time remain inactive, but devised schemes, in +every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill +or policy to guard, against them. For, at the very beginning of his +consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed +on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret +information of Catiline's proceedings. He had also persuaded his +colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces,[142] +to entertain no sentiment of disaffection toward the state; and he kept +around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and +dependents. + +When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline's efforts for +the consulship, nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the +Campus Martius,[143] were attended with success, he determined to +proceed to war, and resort to the utmost extremities, since what he +had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.[144] + +XXVII. He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Faesulae, and the +adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Carinum,[145] into the +Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various +places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[146] He +himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at +Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning +the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly +armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted +them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active +and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by +sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his +numerous projects succeeded,[147] he again, with the aid of Marcus +Porcius Laeca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of +night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them +that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had +prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other +eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he +himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut +off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures. + +XXVIII. While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius +Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius +Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an +armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay,[148] to +the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him, +and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own +residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that +threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of +Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in +consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had +undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed. + +In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, +who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, +under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other +property) were eager for a revolution. He also attached to himself all +sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of +Sylla's colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted +their enormous plunder. + +XXIX. When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being +alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the +city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain +satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of the army +of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion +among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as is +usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE +IT THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is +the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is +granted[149] by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him +to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the +allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at +home and in the field; rights which, without an order of the people, +the consul is not permitted to exercise. + +XXX. A few days afterward, Lucius Saenius, a senator, read to the +senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Faesulae, and in +which, it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken +the field by the 27th of October.[150] Others at the same time, as is +not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; +others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of +insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of +these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex[151] was dispatched, by a decree of +the senate, to Faesulae, and Quintus Metellus Creticus[152] into +Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of +commanders,[153] were waiting near the city, having been prevented +from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it +was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The +praetors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were +sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given +them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The +senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the +conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should +be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a +complete pardon and two hundred sestertia[154]. They further appointed +that the schools of gladiators[155] should be distributed in Capua and +other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at +Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the +inferior magistrates[156] should have the charge. + +XXXI. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with +alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that +extreme gayety and dissipation,[157] to which long tranquillity[158] +had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became +anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with +any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured +the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the +extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, +raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made +constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride +and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their +country. + +Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, +notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and +though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian +law.[159] At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of +clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he +went into the senate-house. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the +consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation +against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the +republic, which he afterward wrote and published.[160] + +When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of +the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, +that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing +against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had +so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in +prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, +whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, +had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus +Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome,[161] was eager to preserve +it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised +an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor.[162] +Being thus exasperated, "Since I am encompassed by enemies," he +exclaimed,[163] "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the +flame kindled around me in a general ruin." + +XXXII He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, +after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots +against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to +be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment +his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be +raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to +the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, +and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen +the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the +plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for +firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; +promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a +large army. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius +dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, +with directions to address him[164] to the following effect: + +XXXIII. "We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken +up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any +one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in +want, have been deprived most of us, of our homes, and all of us of +our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; +nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our +ancestors, to have the benefit of the law,[165] or, when our property +was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the +usurers and of the praetor.[166] + +Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at +Rome, relieved their distress by decrees;[167] and very lately, within +our own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with +the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass.[168] + +Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by +desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded[169] +under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake +of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not +aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes +but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend +your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, +which the injustice of the praetor has taken from us; and not to lay +on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to +avenge our blood." + +XXXIV. To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished +to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and +proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the +kindness[170] and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none +had ever asked help of them in vain." + +Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, +and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was +beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of +his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into +exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness +laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that +no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself." + +Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very +different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the +name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy. + +[171]XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your +eminent integrity, known to me by experience,[172] gives a pleasing +confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. +[173] I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense[174] with +regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious +of no guilt,[175] to offer you some explanation,[176] which, on my word +of honor,[177] you may receive as true.[178] Provoked by injuries and +indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, +[179] I did not obtain the post of honor due to me,[180] I have +undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. +Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts +contracted on my own security;[181] while the generosity of Orestilla, +out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those +incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men +ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed[182] on groundless suspicion, +I have for this very reason, adopted a course,[183] amply justifiable +in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. +When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that +violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla +to your protection;[184] intreating you, by your love for your own +children, to defend her from injury.[185] Farewell." + +XXXVI. Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Caius Flaminius +Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium,[186] while he was supplying +the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, +marched with his fasces, and other ensigns of authority, to join +Manlius in his camp. + +When this was known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius +enemies to the state, and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, +before which they might lay down their arms with impunity, except such +as had been convicted of capital offenses. They also decreed that the +consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten +in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city. + +At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an +extremely deplorable condition;[187] for though every nation, from the +rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and +though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest +blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her +citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge +themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two +decrees of the senate,[188] not one individual, out of so vast a +number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the +conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline. +So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded +the minds of most of the citizens. + +XXXVII. Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were +actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common +people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline. +This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character; +for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class, +and endeavor to exalt the factious;[189] they dislike the established +condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented +with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they +can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety, +since poverty does not easily suffer loss.[190] + +As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected[191] from +various causes. In the first place,[192] such as every where took the +lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their +fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy +had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general +receptacle of impurity. In the next place, many, who thought of the +success of Sylla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers +into senators, and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and +pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they +should once take up arms. In addition to this, the youth, who, in the +country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by +public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to +unwelcome toil in the field. To these, and all others of similar +character, public disorders would furnish subsistence. It is not at +all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute +principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the +interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their +own. Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sylla, had been +proscribed, whose property had been confiscated, and whose civil +rights had been curtailed,[193] looked forward to the event of a war +with precisely the same feelings. + +All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, +were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that +they themselves should be out of power. This was an evil, which, after +many years, had returned upon the community to the extent to which it +now prevailed.[194] + +XXXVIII. For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of +Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored,[195] +certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that +high office,[196] began to stir up the populace by inveighing against +the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses +and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they +became popular and powerful. On the other hand, the most of the +nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost; under pretense, +indeed, of supporting the senate, but in reality for their own +aggrandizement. For, to state the truth in few words, whatever +parties, during that period, disturbed the republic under plausible +pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to +make the authority of the senate as great as possible, all, though +affecting concern for the public good, contended every one for his own +interest. In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit; +each party made a merciless use of its successes. + +XXXIX. After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic +wars, the power of the people was diminished, and the influence of the +few increased. These few kept all public offices, the administration +of the provinces, and every thing else, in their own hands; they +themselves lived free from harm,[197] in flourishing circumstances, +and without apprehension; overawing others, at the same time, with +threats of impeachment,[198] so that when in office, they might be +less inclined to inflame the people. But as soon as a prospect of +change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the +old spirit of contention awakened their passions; and had Catiline, in +his first battle, come off victorious, or left the struggle undecided, +great distress and calamity must certainly have fallen upon the state, +nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendency, have +been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have +wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted. + +There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out +to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. Among these +was Aulus Fulvius, the son of a senator, whom, being arrested on his +journey, his father ordered to be put to death.[199] In Rome, at the +same time, Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline's directions, was +endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all +whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to +promote an insurrection; and not citizens only, but every description +of men who could be of any service in war. + +XL. He accordingly commissioned one Publius Umbrenus to apply to +certain deputies of the Allobroges,[200] and to lead them, if he +could, to a participation in the war; supposing that as they were +nationally and individually involved in debt, and as the Gauls were +naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise. +Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men +there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently, without +loss of time, as soon as he noticed the deputies in the Forum, he +asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their +country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, "what +termination they expected to such calamities?" When he found that they +complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the +senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only +remedy for their sufferings, "Yet I," said he, "if you will but act as +men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing +difficulties." When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with +the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; +saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they +would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from +debt. He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus, which was +close to the Forum, and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to +his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome.[201] In order, too, +to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius, +and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy, and +mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many +other persons, of every sort, who were guiltless of it, for the +purpose of inspiring the embassadors with greater confidence. At +length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart. + +XLI. Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should +adopt. On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war, and +great advantages to be expected from victory;[202] on the other, +superior resources, safe plans, and certain rewards[203] instead of +uncertain expectations. As they were balancing these considerations, +the good fortune of the state at length prevailed. They accordingly +disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus +Fabius Sanga,[204] to whose patronage their state was very greatly +indebted. Cicero, being apprized of the matter by Sanga, directed the +deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to +seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair +promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as +possible. + +XLII. Much about the same time there were commotions[205] in Hither +and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories, and in +Apulia. For those, whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts, +had begun, without consideration, and seemingly with madness, to +attempt every thing at once; and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing +armor and weapons from place to place, and by hurrying and confusing +every thing, had created more alarm than danger. Of these, Quintus +Metellus Celer, the praetor, having brought several to trial,[206] +under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had +also Caius Muraena in Further Gaul,[207] who governed that province in +quality of legate. + +XLIII. But at Rome, in the mean time, Lentulus, with the other leaders +of the conspiracy, having secured what they thought a large force, had +arranged, that as soon as Catiline should reach the neighborhood of +Faesulae, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an +assembly, should complain of the proceedings of Cicero, and lay the +odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul;[208] and +that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should, on +the following night, proceed to execute their respective parts. + +These parts are said to have been thus distributed. Statilius and +Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the +city, convenient for their purpose,[209] at the same time; in order +that, during the consequent tumult,[210] an easier access might be +obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was +intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him +personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; +while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to +kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the +massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline. + +While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was +incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates; +observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation +and delay;[211] that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of +deliberation, but of action; and that he himself, if a few would +support him, would storm the senate-house while the others remained +inactive. Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he +thought that success depended on rapidity of execution. + +XLIV. The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured +interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators; and +from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, they demanded an +oath, which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who +otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair. To this the +others consented without suspicion; but Cassius promised them soon to +visit their country,[212] and, indeed, left the city a little before +the deputies. + +In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm +their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of +faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of +Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which +the following is a copy: + +"Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you. +Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and +remember that you are a man.[213] Consider what your views demand, and +seek aid from all, even the lowest." In addition, he gave him this +verbal message: "Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for +what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves? That, in the +city, every thing which he had directed was arranged; and that he +should not delay to make nearer approaches to it." + +XLV. Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed +for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made +acquainted with every thing, directed the praetors,[214] Lucius +Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the +Allobroges, by laying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge;[215] he +gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were +sent,[216] and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. +Being military men, they placed a force, as had been directed, without +disturbance, and secretly invested the bridge; when the deputies, with +Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side +of the bridge,[217] the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, +surrendered themselves immediately to the praetors. Volturcius, at +first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers +with his sword; but afterward, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he +began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his +life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered +himself to the praetors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies. + +XLVI. The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was +immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Great anxiety, +and great joy, affected him at the same moment. He rejoiced that, by +the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger; but +he was doubtful how he ought to act, when citizens of such eminence +were detected in treason so atrocious. He saw that their punishment +would be a weight upon himself, and their escape the destruction of +the Commonwealth. Having, however, formed his resolution, he ordered +Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and one Quintus Coeparius of +Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to raise the slaves, to +be summoned before him. The others came without delay; but Coeparius, +having left his house a little before, and heard of the discovery of +the conspiracy, had fled from the city. The consul himself conducted +Lentulus, as he was praetor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the +others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard. Here +he assembled the senate, and in a very full attendance of that body, +introduced Volturcius with the deputies. Hither also he ordered +Valerius Flaccus, the praetor, to bring the box with the letters[218] +which he had taken from the deputies. + +XLVII. Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning +his letter,[219] and lastly, what object he had had in view,[220] and +from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate,[221] +and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was +told to speak on the security of the public faith,[222] he disclosed +every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been +admitted as an associate, a few days before, by Gabinius and Coeparius; +that he knew no more than the deputies, only that he used to hear from +Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, +and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. The Gauls made a +similar confession, and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, +not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in +the habit of making, "that the sovereignty of Rome, by the Sibylline +books, was predestined to three Cornelii; that Cinna and Sylla had ruled +already;[223] and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be +to govern the city; and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the +Capitol was burned; a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had +often said would be stained with the blood of civil war." + +The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously +acknowledged their seals,[224] decreed that Lentulus, being deprived +of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private +custody.[225] Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius +Lentulus Spinther, who was then aedile; Cethegus, to Quintus +Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Caesar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; +and Coeparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to +Cneius Terentius, a senator. + +XLVIII. The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire +of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on +the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate +the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if +rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other +effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the +burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, +especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their +daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore. + +On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before +the senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out +to join Catiline. This person, having offered to give information of +the conspiracy, if the public faith were pledged to him,[226] and +being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the senate +nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the +intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens, and the +approach of the enemy, adding that "he was sent by Marcus Crassus to +assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus, and +others of the conspirators, ought not to alarm him, but that he should +hasten, with so much the more expedition to the city, in order to +revive the courage of the rest, and to facilitate the escape of those +in custody".[227] When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, +of very great wealth, and of vast influence, some, thinking the +statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, +judging that at such a crisis a man of such power[228] was rather to +be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, +being; under obligation to Crassus), exclaimed that he was "a false +witness," and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote. +Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full senate decreed +"that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false; that he himself +should be kept in prison; and that no further liberty of speaking[229] +should be granted him, unless he should name the person at whose +instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny." + +There were some, at that time, who thought that this affair was +contrived by Publius Autronius, in order that the interest of Crassus, +if he were accused, might, from participation in the danger, more +readily screen the rest. Others said that Tarquinius was suborned by +Cicero, that Crassus might not disturb the state, by taking upon him, +as was his custom,[230] the defense of the criminals. That this attack +on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself +assert. + +XLIX. Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, +nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon +Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the +Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter +enmity with Caesar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was +on[231] his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put +to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since +he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after +filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Caesar, who was +then comparatively a youth.[232] The opportunity, too, seemed +favorable for such an accusation; for Caesar, by extraordinary +generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public,[233] +had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the +consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to +another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to +have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent +odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as +an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by +the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to +testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar +with their swords as he went out of the senate-house. + +L. While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while +rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the +Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some +of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and +slaves, in various directions throughout the city,[234] to attempt his +rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were +always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, +was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves[235] and freedmen, men +trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed +body, and force a way into his place of confinement. + +The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having +distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion +demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know "what +they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to +custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before[236] +declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus +Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, +moved[237] that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on +those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius +Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be +apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius +Caesar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius +Nero,[238] who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and +that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Caesar, when +it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to +the following effect: + +LI. "It becomes all men,[239] Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on +dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, +nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not +easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the +same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely +exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of +it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless. + +I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings +and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted +injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these +instances in which our ancestors, in opposition, to the impulse of +passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy. + +In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the +great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the +Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us; yet, when the war was +ended, and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, +our forefathers left them unmolested lest any should say that war was +made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of +punishing their faithlessness. Throughout the Punic war, too, though +the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspension of arms, were +guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took +occasion to retaliate, but considered rather what was worthy of +themselves, than what might be justly inflicted on their enemies. + +Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, +that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have +greater weight with you than your own dignity, and that you may not +regard your indignation more than your character. If, indeed, a +punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to +extraordinary measures;[240] but if the enormity of their crime +exceeds whatever can be devised,[241] I think that we should inflict +only such penalties as the laws have provided. + +Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have +deplored, in studied and impressive language,[242] the sad fate that +threatens the republic; they have recounted the barbarities of war, +and the afflictions that would fall on the vanquished; they have told +us that maidens would be dishonored, and youths abused; that children +would be torn from the embraces of their parents; that matrons would +be subjected to the pleasure of the conquerors; that temples and +dwelling-houses would be plundered; that massacres and fires would +follow; and that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, +blood, and lamentation. But to what end, in the name of the eternal +gods! was such eloquence directed? Was it intended to render you +indignant at the conspiracy? A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom +so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked! Far from it: +for to no man does evil, directed against himself, appear a light +matter; many, on the contrary, have felt it more seriously than was +right. + +But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of +license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, +commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for +their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live +invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole +world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the +least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither +partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in +others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and +cruelty. + +I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of +torture is inadequate to punish their crime; but the generality of +mankind dwell on that which happens last, and, in the case of +malefactors, forget their guilt, and talk only of their punishment, +should that punishment have been inordinately severe. I feel assured, +too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the +suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had +no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know +to be his character, and such his discretion.[243] Yet his proposal +appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is +directed against such characters?), but foreign to our policy. For +assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, must have +induced you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment. +Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, when by the prompt activity of +that distinguished man our consul, such numerous forces are under +arms; and as to the punishment, we may say, what is indeed the truth, +that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and +not a torment;[244] that it puts an end to all human woes; and that, +beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy. + +But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your +proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be +punished with the scourge? Was it because the Porcian law[245] forbids +it? But other laws[246] forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of +life, and allow them to go into exile. Or was it because scourging is +a severer penalty than death? Yet what can be too severe, or too +harsh, toward men convicted of such an offense? But if scourging be a +milder punishment than death, how is it consistent to observe the law +as to the smaller point, when you disregard it as to the greater? + +But who it may be asked, will blame any severity that shall be +decreed against these parricides[247] of their country? I answer that +time, the course of events,[248] and fortune, whose caprice governs +nations, may blame it. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall +on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well +what you resolve to inflict on others. All precedents productive of +evil effects,[249] have had their origin from what was good; but when +a government passes into the hands of the ignorant or unprincipled, +any new example of severity,[250] inflicted on deserving and suitable +objects, is extended to those that are improper and undeserving of it. +The Lacedaemonians, when they had conquered the Athenians,[251] +appointed thirty men to govern their state. These thirty began their +administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were +notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable; acts at which the people +rejoiced, and extolled their justice. But afterward, when their +lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, +to kill the good and the bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror +into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy +penalty for its imprudent exultation. + +Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sylla ordered +Damasippus,[252] and others of similar character, who had risen by +distressing their country, to be put to death, who did not commend the +proceeding? All exclaimed that wicked and factious men, who had +troubled the state with their seditious practices, had justly +forfeited their lives. Yet this proceeding was the commencement of +great bloodshed. For whenever anyone coveted the mansion or villa, or +even the plate or apparel of another, he exerted his influence to have +him numbered among the proscribed. Thus they, to whom the death of +Damasippus had been a subject of joy, were soon after dragged to death +themselves; nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sylla had +glutted all his partisans with riches. + +Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these +times. But in a large state there arise many men of various +dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, +like the present, may have an army at his command, some false +accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a +precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of +the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury? + +Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in conduct or +courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of +other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. Their armor, and +weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites; their ensigns of +authority,[253] for the most part, from the Etrurians; and, in short, +whatever appeared eligible to them, whether among allies or among +enemies, they adopted at home with the greatest readiness, being more +inclined to emulate merit than to be jealous of it. But at the same +time, adopting a practice from Greece, they punished their citizens +with the scourge, and inflicted capital punishment on such as were +condemned. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction +grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the +innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it +was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which +condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. This lenity of our +ancestors, Conscript Fathers, I regard as a very strong reason why we +should not adopt any new measures of severity. For assuredly there was +greater merit and wisdom in those, who raised so mighty an empire from +humble means, than in us, who can scarcely preserve what they so +honorably acquired. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the +conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should +thus be increased? Far from it; my recommendation is, that their +property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody +in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the +expense;[254] that no one hereafter bring their case before the +senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give +their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act +against the republic and the general safety." + +LII. When Caesar had ended his speech, the rest briefly expressed +their assent,[255] some to one speaker, and some to another, in +support of their different proposals; but Marcius Porcius Cato, being +asked his opinion, made a speech to the following purport: + +"My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different,[256] when I +contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my +mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, +as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who +have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, +and their homes;[257] but the state of affairs warns us rather to +secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what +sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after +they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its +commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to +justice.[258] When the city is taken, no power is left to the +vanquished. But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, +who have always valued your mansions and villas, your statues and +pictures, at a higher price than the welfare of your country; if you +wish to preserve those possessions, of whatever kind they are, to +which you are attached; if you wish to secure quiet for the enjoyment +of your pleasures, arouse yourselves, and act in defense of your +country. We are not now debating on the revenues, or on injuries done +to our allies, but our liberty and our life is at stake. + +Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this +assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our +citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of +many. I, who never excused to myself, or to my own conscience, the +commission of any fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct,[259] +or indulge the licentiousness, of others. But though you little +regarded my remonstrances, yet the republic remained secure; its own +strength[260] was proof against your remissness. The question, however, +at present under discussion, is not whether we live in a good or a bad +state of morals; nor how great, or how splendid, the empire of the +Roman people is; but whether these things around us, of whatever value +they are, are to continue our own, or to fall, with ourselves, into the +hands of the enemy. + +In such a case, does any one talk to me of gentleness and compassion? +For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real name of things; +[261] for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and +audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced +to the brink of ruin. But let those, who thus misname things, be liberal, +since such is the practice, out of the property of our allies; let them +be merciful to the robbers of the treasury; but let them not lavish our +blood, and, while they spare a few criminals, bring destruction on all +the guiltless. + +Caius Caesar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, +[262] before this assembly, on the subject of life and death; considering +as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead; that the bad, going a +different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary, and +full of horror. He accordingly proposed _that the property of the +conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in +the municipal towns_; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, +they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by +a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate were to be +found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if +desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is +less power to resist them. His proposal, therefore, if he fears any +danger from them, is absurd; but if, amid such universal terror, he +alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and +myself. + +Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and +the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army +of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display +in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if +they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will +advance upon you with fury. + +Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, +raised the republic to greatness merely by force of arms. If such had +been the case, we should enjoy it in a most excellent condition;[263] +for of allies and citizens,[264] as well as arms and horses, we have a +much greater abundance than they had. But there were other things +which made them great, but which among us have no existence; such as +industry at home, equitable government abroad, and minds impartial in +council, uninfluenced by any immoral or improper feeling. Instead of +such virtues, we have luxury and avarice; public distress, and private +superfluity; we extol wealth, and yield to indolence; no distinction +is made between good men and bad; and ambition usurps the honors due +to virtue. Nor is this wonderful; since you study each his individual +interest, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure, and here to +money or favor; and hence it happens that an attack is made on the +defenseless state. + +But on these subjects I shall say no more. Certain citizens, of the +highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging +the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war +against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon +us; and do you hesitate; even in such circumstances, how to treat +armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? I advise you to have +mercy upon them;[265] they are young men who have been led astray by +ambition; send them away, even with arms in their hands. But such +mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will +end in misery to yourselves. The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but +you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to +act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and +trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your +country in the greatest dangers. But the protection of the gods is not +obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, +activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. When +you are once resigned to sloth and indolence, it is in vain that you +implore the gods; for they are then indignant and threaten vengeance. + +In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war +with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had +fought with an enemy contrary to orders. That noble youth suffered for +excess of bravery; and do you hesitate what sentence to pass on the +most inhuman of traitors? Perhaps their former life is at variance +with their present crime. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he +has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods +or for men. Pardon the youth of Cethegus, unless this be the second +time that he has made war upon his country.[266] As to Gabinius, +Slatilius, Coeparius, why should I make any remark upon them? Had they +ever possessed the smallest share of discretion, they would never have +engaged in such a plot against their country. + +In conclusion, Conscript Fathers, if there were time to amend an +error, I might easily suffer you, since you disregard words, to be +corrected by experience of consequences. But we are beset by dangers on +all sides; Catiline, with his army, is ready to devour us;[267] while +there are other enemies within the walls, and in the heart of the +city; nor can any measures be taken, or any plans arranged, without +their knowledge. The more necessary is it, therefore, to act with +promptitude. What I advise, then, is this: that since the state, by a +treasonable combination of abandoned citizens, has been brought into +the greatest peril; and since the conspirators have been convicted on +the evidence of Titus Volturcius, and the deputies of the Allobroges, +and on their own confession, of having concerted massacres, +conflagrations, and other horrible and cruel outrages, against their +fellow-citizens and their country, punishment be inflicted, according +to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed +their guilt, as on men convicted of capital crimes." + +LIII. When Cato had resumed his seat, all the senators of consular +dignity, and a great part of the rest,[268] applauded his opinion, and +extolled his firmness of mind to the skies. With mutual reproaches, +they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the +greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he +had advised. + +After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the +Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as +by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great +foundation of such illustrious deeds. I knew that the Romans had +frequently, with small bodies of men, encountered vast armies of the +enemy; I was aware that they had carried on wars[269] with limited +forces against powerful sovereigns; that they had often sustained, +too, the violence of adverse fortune; yet that, while the Greeks +excelled them in eloquence, the Gauls surpassed them in military +glory. After much reflection, I felt convinced that the eminent virtue +of a few citizens had been the cause of all these successes; and hence +it had happened that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over +a multitude. And even in later times, when the state had become +corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported +itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and +magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted,[270] there +was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen +of eminent ability. Within my recollection, however, there arose two +men of remarkable powers, though of very different character, Marcus +Cato and Caius Caesar, whom, since the subject has brought them before +me, it is not my intention to pass in silence, but to describe, to the +best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each. + +LIV. Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; +their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though +attained by different means.[271] Caesar grew eminent by generosity +and munificence; Cato by the integrity of his life. Caesar was +esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given +dignity to Cato. Caesar acquired renown by giving, relieving, and +pardoning; Cato by bestowing nothing. In Caesar, there was a refuge +for the unfortunate; in Cato, destruction for the bad. In Caesar, his +easiness of temper was admired; in Cato, his firmness. Caesar, in +fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent +upon the interest of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he +refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for +himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war +in which his talents might be displayed. But Cato's ambition was that +of temperance, discretion, and, above all, of austerity; he did not +contend in splendor with the rich, or in faction with the seditious, +but with the brave in fortitude, with the modest in simplicity,[272] +with the temperate[273] in abstinence; he was more desirous to be, +than to appear, virtuous; and thus, the less he courted popularity, +the more it pursued him. + +LV. When the senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of +Cato, the counsel, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was +coming on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, +ordered the triumvirs[274] to make such preparations as the execution +of the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary +guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison; and the same office was +performed for the rest by the praetors. There is a place in the +prison, which is called the Tullian dungeon,[275] and which, after a +slight ascent to the left, is sunk about twelve feet under ground. +Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vaulted roof connected +with stone arches;[276] but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, +by reason of the filth, darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been +let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been +given,[277] strangled him with a cord. Thus this patrician, who was of +the illustrious family of the Cornelii, and who filled the office of +consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct. +On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Coeparius, punishment was +inflicted in a similar manner. + +LVI. During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire +force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius +had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts +as far as his number would allow;[278] and afterward, as any +volunteers, or recruits from his confederates,[279] arrived in his +camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus +filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of +men, though at first he had not more than two thousand. But, of his +whole army, only about a fourth part had the proper weapons of +soldiers; the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried darts, +spears, or sharpened stakes. + +As Antonius approached with his army, Catiline directed his march over +the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at +another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting, +yet hoped himself shortly to find one,[280] if his accomplices at Rome +should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers +[281] had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as +depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it impolitic +[282] to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates. + +LVII. When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy +had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest +whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope +of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell +away. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by +forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to +escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul. + +But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, had at that +time, his station in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the +difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course which +we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned his route from +some deserters, he immediately broke up his camp, and took his post at +the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline's descent +would be, in his hurried march into Gaul[283]. Nor was Antonius far +distant, as he was pursuing, though with, a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances, the enemy in retreat.[284] + +Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by +hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, +and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it +best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved +upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius. Having, +therefore, assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following +manner: + +LVIII. "I am well aware, soldiers, that words can not inspire courage; +and that a spiritless army can not be rendered active,[285] or a timid +army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Whatever courage is in +the heart of a man, whether from nature or from habit, so much will be +shown by him in the field; and on him whom neither glory nor danger +can move, exhortation is bestowed in vain; for the terror in his +breast stops his ears. + +I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, +and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course +which I have adopted. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the +inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; +and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable +to march into Gaul. + +In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as +myself. Two armies of the enemy, one on the side of Rome, and the +other on that of Gaul, oppose our progress; while the want of corn, +and of other necessaries, prevents us from remaining, however strongly +we may desire to remain, in our present position. Whithersoever we +would go, we must open a passage with our swords. I conjure you, +therefore, to maintain a brave and resolute spirit; and to remember, +when you advance to battle, that on your own right hands depend[286] +riches, honor, and glory, with the enjoyment of your liberty and of +your country. If we conquer, all will be safe; we shall have +provisions in abundance; and the colonies and corporate towns will +open their gates to us. But if we lose the victory through want of +courage, these same places[287] will turn against us; for neither +place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected. +Besides, soldiers, the same exigency does not press upon our +adversaries, as presses upon us; we fight for our country, for our +liberty, for our life; they contend for what but little concerns +them,[288] the power of a small party. Attack them, therefore, with so +much the greater confidence, and call to mind your achievements of +old. + +We might,[289] with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our +days in exile. Some of you, after losing your property, might have +waited at Rome for assistance from others. But because such a life, to +men of spirit, was disgusting and unendurable, you resolved upon your +present course. If you wish to quit it, you must exert all your +resolution, for none but conquerors have exchanged war for peace. To +hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy +the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle, +those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is +equivalent to a rampart. When I contemplate you, soldiers, and when I +consider your past exploits, a strong hope of victory animates me. +Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me confidence; to say nothing +of necessity, which makes even cowards brave. To prevent the numbers +of the enemy from surrounding us, our confined situation is +sufficient. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not +to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered +like cattle, rather than fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a +bloody and mournful victory." + +LIX. When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the +signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular +order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all +the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their +danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to +their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched +between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he +placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in +close order, in the rear.[290] From among these he removed all the +ablest centurions,[291] the veterans,[293] and the stoutest of the +common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost +ranks.[293] He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, +and a certain officer of Faesulae[294] on the left; while he himself, +with his freedmen[295] and the colonists,[296] took his station by the +eagle,[297] which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the +Cimbrian war. + +On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame,[298] was unable to +be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus +Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of +veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection,[299] +in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding +round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged +them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed +marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, +and their homes.[300] Being a military man, and having served with +great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, praefect, +lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their +honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused +the spirits of the men. + +LX. When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the +trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the +enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the +action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with +a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge.[301] They threw +aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans, +calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest +combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides +contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was +exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such +as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to +every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and +performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful +general. + +When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking +him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the +centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and +offering but partial resistance,[302] he made great slaughter, and +ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the +Faesulan, sword in hand, were among the first[303] that fell; and +Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few +supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the +thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last. + +LXI. When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and +what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; +for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath, +covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A +few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen +somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself +was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the +enemy; he was not quite breathless, and still expressed in his +countenance the fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his +life. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any +free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives +no more than those of the enemy. + +Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless +victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle, +or left the field severely wounded. + +Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the +slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a +friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, +recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, +were variously felt throughout the whole army. + + + + +NOTES. + + +[1] I. Desire to excel other animals--_Sese student praestare +caeteris animalibus._ The pronoun, which is usually omitted, is, says +Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to _ut ipsi_: +student _ut ipsi praestent_. In support of his opinion he quotes, with +other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicae, +i.e. vult _ut ipse amicae placeat_; and Coelius Antipater apud Festum +in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat aemulari, i.e. +_studeat ut ipse aemuletur._ This explanation is approved by Bernouf. +Cortius might have added Cat. 7: _sese_ quisque hostem _ferire +--properabat._ "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt." + +[2] To the utmost of their power--_Summa ope_, with their utmost +ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said +_summa opera, summo studio, summa contentione._ Ennius has '_Summa +nituntur opum vi_.'" Colerus. + +[3] In obscurity--_Silentio._ So as to have nothing said of them, +either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: _Eorum ego +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo, quoniam de utraque siletur_. When Ovid +says, _Bene qui latuit, bene vixit,_ and Horace, _Nec vixit male, qui +vivens moriensque fefellit,_ they merely signify that he has some +comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and +censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of +Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque," +says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriae studio maxime +ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and +glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will +bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the +Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus: + + "Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd + With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd? + + O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace, + With equal steps the paths of glory trace! + Join to that royal youth's your rival name, + And shine eternal in the sphere of fame." + +[4] Like the beasts of the field--_Veluti pecora._ Many translators +have rendered _pecora_ "brutes" or "beasts;" _pecus_, however, does +not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word _cattle_. + +[5] Groveling--_Prona._ I have adopted _groveling_ from Mair's +old translation. _Pronus_, stooping _to the earth_, is applied to +_cattle_, in opposition to _erectus_, which is applied to _man_; as +in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i.: + + "_Prona_ que cum spectent animalia caetera terram, + Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri + Jussit, et _erectos_ ad sidera tollere vultus." + + "--while the mute creation downward bend + Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, + Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes + Beholds his own hereditary skies." _Dryden._ + +Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased: + + "There wanted yet the master-work, the end + Of all yet done; a creature, who not _prone + And 'brute as other creatures_, but endued + With sanctity of reason, might _erect_ + _His stature_, and _upright with front serene_ + Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence + Magnanimous to correspond with heaven." + "Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultus + Sustulerit Deus, et sublimia fluxerit ora, + Cum pecudes, voluerumque genus, formasque ferarum, + Segnem atque obscoenam passim stravisset in alvum." + + "See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'd + The countenance of man erect to heav'n, + Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bent + Th' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds, + And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd" + +"When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals +abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone +upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his +birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had +in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us +add Juvenal, xv, 146. + + "Sensum a coelesti demissum traximus arce, + Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia." + + "To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth, + Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth." + +[6] All our power is situate in the mind and in the body--_Sed +omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita_. All our power is placed, +or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle _sed,_ which is +merely a connective, answering to the Greek _de_, and which would be +useless in an English translation, I have omitted. + +[7] Of the mind we--employ the government--_Animi imperio--utimur_. +"What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter +is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, +serve the better."--Sen. Epist. lxv. _Dux et imperator vitae mortalium +animus est,_ the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals. +--Jug. c. 1. "An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one +is formed by nature to rule, and the other to obey."--Aristot. Polit. +i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages. + +[8] Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the +service--_Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur_. The word +_magis_ is not to be regarded as useless. "It signifies," says Cortius, +"that the mind rules, and the body obeys, _in general_, and _with +greater reason_." At certain times the body may _seem to have the +mastery_, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger +or thirst. + +[9] It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.--_Quo mihi +rectius videtur_, etc. I have rendered _quo_ by _therefore_. "_Quo_," +observes Cortius, "is _propter quod_, with the proper force of the +ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: _Quo_ mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; +c. 2, _Quo_ magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would +force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected +with the comparative degree, as in _quo minus, eo major_, and similar +expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so +connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to +which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, _Quanto +magis animus corpori praestat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam +quaerere_. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow +Cortius. "_Quo_," says Pappaur, "is for _quocirca_." + +[10] _That of_ intellectual power is illustrious and immortal--_Virtus +clara aeternaque habetur_. The only one of our English translators who +has given the right sense of _virtus_ In this passage, is Sir Henry +Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee. +"It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the +numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among +foreign nations--the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee excepted--have thought +of giving to the word _virtus_, in this place, what so obviously is the +meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, +distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well +as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main +objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this +Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body +and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. +On this account it is pretty evident, that by _virtus_ Sallust could +never mean the [Greek _aretae_], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he +had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it +_ut viri vis_ (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which +ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his +fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this +rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the +second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same +train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a +different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, +of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the +pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments, +and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation +which shall never die. "_Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae, +adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at +ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt_". + +[11] It is necessary to plan before beginning to act--_Priusquam +incipias, consulto--opus est_. Most translators have rendered +_consulto_ "deliberation," or something equivalent; but it is +_planning_ or _contrivance_ that is signified. Demosthenes, in his +Oration _de Pace_, reproaches the Athenians with acting without any +settled plan: [Greek: _Oi men gar alloi puntes anthropoi pro ton +pragmatonheiothasi chraesthai to Bouleuesthai, umeis oude meta ta +pragmata_.] + +[12] To act with promptitude and vigor--_Mature facto opus est_. +"Mature facto" seems to include the notions both of promptitude and +vigor, of force as well as speed; for what would be the use of acting +expeditiously, unless expedition be attended with power and effect? + +[13] Each--_Utrumque_. The corporeal and mental faculties. + +[14] The one requires the assistance of the other--_Alterum +alterius auxilio eget_. "_Eget_," says Cortius, "is the reading of all +the MSS." _Veget_, which Havercamp and some others have adopted, was +the conjecture of Palmerius, on account of _indigens_ occurring in the +same sentence. But _eget_ agrees far better with _consulto et--mature +facto opus est_, in the preceding sentence. + +[15] II. Applied themselves in different ways--_Diversi_. "Modo +et instituto diverso, diversa sequentes." _Cortius_. + +[16] At that period, however--_Et jam tum_. "Tunc temporis +_praecise_, at that time _precisely_, which is the force of the +particle _jam_. as donatus shows. I have therefore written _et jam_ +separately. Virg. Aen. vii. 737. Late _jam tum_ ditione premebat +Sarrastes populos." _Cortius_. + +[17] Without covetousness--Sine cupiditate_. "As in the famous +golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 28." _Cortius_. See also Ovid. Met. +i. 80, _seq_. But "such times were never," as Cowper says. + +[18] But after Cyrus in Asia, etc.--_Postea vero quam in, Asia +Cyrus_, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more +moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the +case. "The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, "though +not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were +great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their +reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon +a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and +went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." +Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate +ambition, the _veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem_, that is, to +break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees +in opinion with De Brosses. + +[19] Proof and experience--_Periculo atque negotiis_. Gronovius +rightly interprets _periculo_ "experiundo, experimentis," by +experiment or trial. Cortius takes _periculo atque negotiis_ for +_periculosis negotiis_, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius +remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he +adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding +by _negotia_ "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains _negotiis_ +by "ipsa negotiorum tractatione," _i. e._ by the management of affairs, +or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, +has "l'experience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience." +which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives +only "experience" for both words. + +[20] And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.--_Quod +si--animi virtus_, etc. "Quod si" can not here be rendered _but if;_ +it is rather equivalent to _quapropter si_, and might be expressed by +_wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if_. + +[21] Intellectual ability--_Animi virtus_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, above noted. + +[22] Magistrates--_Imperatorum_. "Understand all who govern +states, whether in war or in peace." _Bernouf_. Sallust calls the +consuls _imperatores_, c. 6. + +[23] Governments shifted from hand to hand--_aliud alio ferri_. +Evidently alluding to changes in government. + +[24] Less to the more deserving--_Ad optimum quemque a minus +bono_. "From the less good to the best." + +[25] Even in agriculture, etc.--_Quae homines arant, navigant, +aedificant, virtuti omnia parent_. Literally, _what men plow, sail_, +etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and +architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily +exertion, are as much the result of mental power as the highest of +human pursuits. + +[26] Like travelers in a strange country--_Sicuti peregrinantes_. +"Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vita quasi hospites sunt:" they know not +how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. +_Dietsch_. "_Peregrinantes_, qui, qua transeunt, nullum sui vestigium +relinquunt;" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace +of their course. Pappaur. + +[27] Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation--_Eorum +ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo_. I count them of the same value dead +as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. +"Those who are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as +Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, +indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. + +[28] III. Not without merit--_Haud absurdum_. I have borrowed +this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "sua laude non +caret." "The word _absurdus_ is often used by the Latins as an epithet +for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be +applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." _Kunhardt_. + +[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.--_Facta dictis +sunt exaequanda_. Most translators have regarded these words as +signifying _that the subject must be equaled by the style_. But it is +not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter +must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be +too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much +blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and +how it was done." _Kunhardt_. + +[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.--_Quae sibi--aequo +animo accipit_, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For +praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks +that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; +but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and +disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. + +[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible--_Veluti ficta, pro +falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis_, he considers as false or incredible, +_veluti ficta_, as if invented. + +[32] When a young man--_Adolescentulus_. "It is generally admitted +that all were called _adolescentes_ by the Romans, who were between +the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. +The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast +more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, +prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called _adolescentulus_, +in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." _Dietsch_. +And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, _Defendi +rempublicam adolescens_, Philipp. ii. 46. + +[33] To engage in political affairs--_Ad rempublicam_. "In the phrase +of Cornelius Nepos, _honoribus operam dedi_, I sought to obtain some +share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were +comprehended under the term _Respublica_." _Cortius_. + +[34] Integrity--_Virtute_. Cortius rightly explains this word as +meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who +manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to +_avaritia_, not, as some critics would have it, to _largitio_. + +[35] Was ensnared and infected--_Corrupta, tenebatur_. As +_obsessus tenetur_, Jug., c. 24. + +[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and +jealousy, etc.--_Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque +invidia vexabat_. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat +honoris cupido, et vexabat _propterea_ etiam eadem, quae caeteros, +fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., +that it is a _zeugma_. "_Fama atque invidia_," says Gronovius, "is +[Greek: _en dia duoin_], for _invidiosa et maligna fama_." Bernouf, +with Zanchius and others, read _fama atque invidia_ in the ablative +case; and the Bipont edition has _eadem qua--fama, etc._; but the +method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and +satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this +passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his +expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he +suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in +the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. + +[37] IV. Servile occupations--agriculture or hunting--_Agrum +colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum_. By calling +agriculture and hunting _servilia officia_, Sallust intends, as is +remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the +saying of Julian the emperor, _Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, +captare laudes ex corpore_. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, +"agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant +corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia +labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad +meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the +reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of +hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not +remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that +have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as +Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended +from censure by the Abbe Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than +the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to +peruse. + +[38] Returning to those studies, etc.--_A quo incepto studio me +ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus_. "The study, namely, of +writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." +_Cortius_. + +[39] In detached portions--_Carptim_. "Plin. Ep. viii., 47: +Respondebis non posse perinde _carptim_, ut _contexta_ placere: et vi. +22: Egit _carptim_ et [Greek: _kata kephulaia_]," _Dietsch_. + +[40] V. Of noble birth--_Nobili genere natus_. His three names +were Lucius _Sergius_ Catilina, he being of the family of the Sergii, +for whose antiquity Virgil is responsible, Aen. v. 121: _Sergestusque, +domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen_. And Juvenal says, Sat. viii. 321: +_Quid, Catilino, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi Inveniet quisquam +sublimius?_ His great grandfather, L. Sergius Silus, had eminently +distinguished himself by his services in the second Punic war. See +Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 29. "Catiline was born A.U.C. 647, A.C. 107." +_Dietsch_. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxv.) says that he was the last +of the Sergii. + +[41] _Sedition--Discordia civilis_. + +[42] And in such scenes he had spent his early years--_Ibique +juventutem suam exercuit_. "It is to be observed that the Roman +writers often used an adverb, where we, of modern times, should +express ourselves more specifically by using a noun." _Dietsch_ on c. +3, _ibique multa mihi advorsa fuere_. _Juventus_ properly signified +the time between thirty and forty-five years of age; _adolescentia_ +that between fifteen and thirty. But this distinction was not always +accurately observed. Catiline had taken an active part in supporting +Sylla, and in carrying into execution his cruel proscriptions and +mandates. "Quis erat hujus (Syllae) imperii minister? Quis nisi +Catilina jam in omne facinus manus exercens?" Sen. de Ira, iii. 18. + +[43] Capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished +--_Cujuslibet, rei simulator ac dissimulator_. "Dissimulation is +the negative, when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not +that he is; simulation is the affirmative, when a man industriously +and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not." Bacon, +Essay vi. + +[44] Abundance of eloquence--_Satis eloquentiae_. Cortius reads +_loquentiae_ "_Loquentia_ is a certain facility of speech not +necessarily attended with sound sense; called by the Greeks [Greek: +_lalia_]." _Bernouf_. "Julius Candidus used excellently to observe +that _eloquentia_ was one thing, and _loquentia_ another; for +eloquence is given to few, but what Candidus called _loquentia_, or +fluency of speech, is the talent of many, and especially of the most +impudent." Plin. Ep. v. 20. But _eloquentiae_ is the reading of most +of the MSS., and _loquentiae_, if Aulus Gellius (i. 15) was rightly +informed, was a correction of Valerius Probus, the grammarian, who +said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could not +agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, the grammarian, +who said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could +not agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, however, +may be questioned. May not Sallust have written _eloquentiae_, with +the intention of signifying that Catiline had abundance of eloquence +to work on the minds of others, though he wanted prudence to regulate +his own conduct? Have there not been other men of whom the same may be +said, as Mirabeau, for example? The speeches that Sallust puts into +Catiline's mouth (c. 20, 58) are surely to be characterized rather as +_eloquentia_, than _loquentia_. On the whole, and especially from the +concurrence of MSS., I prefer to read _eloquentiae_, with the more +recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz and Dietsch. + +[45] Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship--_Post dominationem +Lucii Syllae_. "The meaning is not the same as if it were _finita +dominatione_ but is the same as _ab eo tempore quo dominari caeperat_. +In French, therefore, _post_ should be rendered by _depuis_, not, as +it is commonly translated, _apres_." _Bernouf_. As _dictator_ was the +title that Sylla assumed, I have translated _dominatio_, "dictatorship". +Rose, Gordon, and others, render it "usurpation". + +[46] Power--_Regnum_. Chief authority, rule, dominion. + +[47] Rendered thoroughly depraved--_Vexabant_. "Corrumpere et +pessundare studebant." _Bernouf_. _Quos vexabant_, be it observed, +refers to _mores_, as Gerlach and Kritz interpret, not to _cives_ +understood in _civitatis_, which is the evidently erroneous method of +Cortius. + +[48] Conduct of our ancestors--_Instituta majorum_. The principles +adopted by our ancestors, with regard both to their own conduct, and +to the management of the state. That this is the meaning, is evident +from the following account. + +[49] VI. As I understand--_Sicuti ego accepi_. "By these words he +plainly shows that nothing certain was known about the origin of Rome. +The reader may consult Livy, lib. i.; Justin, lib. xliii.; and Dionys. +Halicar., lib.i.; all of whom attribute its rise to the Trojans." +_Bernouf_. + +[50] Aborigines--_Aborigines_. The original inhabitants of Italy; +the same as _indigenae_, or the [Greek: _Autochthones_]. + +[51]: Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. "Non credi potest, +si memoratur; superat omnem fidem." _Pappaur_. Yet that which +actually happened, can not be absolutely incredible; and I have, +therefore, inserted _almost_. + +[52] Prepared with alacrity for there defense--_Festinare, parare_. +"Made haste, prepared." "_Intenti ut festinanter pararent_ ea, quae +defensioni aut bello usui essent." _Pappaur_. + +[53] Procured friendships rather by bestowing, etc;--_Magisque +dandis, quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant_. Thucyd. ii., +40: [Greek: _Ou paschontes eu, alla drontes, ktometha tous philous_] + +[54] FATHERS--PATRES. "(Romulus) appointed that the direction of +the state should be in the hands of the old men, who, from their +authority, were called _Fathers_; from their age, _Senatus_." Florus, +i. 1. _Senatus_ from _senex_. "_Patres_ ab honore--appellati." +_Livy_. + +[55] Two magistrates--_Binos imperatores_. The two consuls. They +were more properly called _imperatores_ at first, when the law, which +settled their power, said "_Regio imperio_ duo sunto" (Cic. de Legg. +iii. 4), than afterward, when the people and tribunes had made +encroachments on their authority. + +[56] VII. Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. See above, c. 6. + +[57] Able to bear the toils of war--_Laboris ac belli patiens_. +As by _laboris_ the labor of war is evidently intended, I have thought +it better to render the words in this manner. The reading is Cortius'. +Havercamp and others have "simul _ac belli_ patiens erat, in castris +_per laborem usu_ militiam discebat;" but _per laborem usu_ is +assuredly not the hand of Sallust. + +[58] Honor and true nobility--_Bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem_. + +[59] VIII. Very great and glorious--_Satis amplae magnificaeque_. +In speaking of this amplification of the Athenian exploits, he +alludes, as Colerus observes, to the histories of Thucydides, +Xenophen, and perhaps Herodotus; not, as Wasse seems to imagine, +to the representations of the poets. + +[60] There was never any such abundance of writers--_Nunquam ea +copia fuit_. I follow Kuhnhardt, who thinks _copia_ equivalent to +_multitudo_. Others render it _advantage_, or something similar; +which seems less applicable to the passage. Compare c.28: +_Latrones_--_quorum_--magna copia _erat_. + +[61] Chose to act rather than narrate--"For," as Cicero says, +"neither among those who are engaged in establishing a state, nor +among those carrying on wars, nor among those who are curbed and +restrained under the rule of kings, is the desire of distinction in +eloquence wont to arise." _Graswinckelius_. + +[62] IX. Pressed by the enemy--_Pulsi_. In the words _pulsi loco +cedere ausi erant_, _loco_ is to be joined, as Dietsch observes, with +cedere_, not, as Kritzius puts it, with _pulsi_. "To retreat," adds +Dietsch, "is disgraceful only to those _qui ab hostibus se pelli +patiantur_, who suffer themselves to be _repulsed by the enemy_." + +[63] X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war--Perses, +Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others. + +[64] To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready +on the tongue--_Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum, + +[Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos homos Aidao pulaesin. + Os ch' eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de Bazei.] + + Who dares think one thing, and another tell, + My heart detests him as the gates of hell. + _Pope_. + +[65] XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, +etc.--_Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum +exercebat_. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, +an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c.10), _Igitur +primo pecuniae, deinde imperii cupido, crevit_, and it will be hard to +prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, +endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following +"meaning", which, he says, "seems perfectly evident": "Although +avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome, yet, after both +had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the +stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an +inordinate height". To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that +the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning". "How these passages +agree," says Rupertus, "I do not understand: unless we suppose that +Sallust, by the word _primo_, does not always signify order". + +[66] Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind--_Corpus +virilemque animum effaeminat_. That avarice weakens the mind, is +generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body? The most +satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus +Gellius (iii. 1), that those who are intent on getting riches devote +themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and +money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as +strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by +Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which +perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by _body and mind_, +intended merely to signify _the whole man_. + +[67] Having recovered the government--_Recepta republica_. Having +wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party. + +[68] All became robbers and plunderers--_Rapere omnes, trahere_. +He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's +party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by +supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque +modestiam _victores_ habere." + +[69] which he had commanded in Asia--_Quem in Asia dustaverat_. I +have here deserted Cortius, who gives _in Asiam_, "into Asia," but this, +as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb +_ductaverat_. + +[70] in public edifices and private dwellings--_Privatim ac +publice_. I have translated this according to the notion of Burnouf. +Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider _privatim_ as signifying +_each on his own account_, and _publice_, _in the name of the +Republic_. + +[71] XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature +--_Innocentia pro malivolentia duci caepit_. "Whoever continued honest +and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their +enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their +party." _Bernouf_. + +[72] It furnishes much matter for reflection--_Operae pretium est_. + +[73] Basest of mankind--_Ignavissumi mortales_. It is opposed to +_fortissumi viri_, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam +fecere." _Cortius_. + +[74] XIII. Seas covered with edifices--_Maria constructa esse_. + + Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt, + _Jactis in altum molibus_, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 1. + + --The haughty lord, who lays + His deep foundations in the seas, + And scorns earth's narrow bound; + The fish affrighted feel their waves + Contracted by his numerous slaves, + Even in the vast profound. _Francis_. + +[75] To have made a sport of their wealth--_Quibus mihi videntur +ledibrio fuisse divitiae_. "They spent their riches on objects which, +in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." +_Cortius_. + +[76] Luxury--_Cultus_. "Deliciarum in victu_, luxuries of the table; +for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." +_Cortius_. + +[77] Cold--_Frigus_. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is +wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it +were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, +sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot +weather; and he cites Pliny, Ep., v. 6, who speaks of _crytoporticus_, +a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were +underground, and which, even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. +He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. Ad Spartian. +Adrian., c. x., p. 87. + +[78] XIV. Gaming--_Manu_. Gerlach, Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the +recent editors, agree to interpret _manu_ by _gaming_. + +[79] Assassins--_Parricidae_. "Not only he who had killed his father +was called a _parricide_, but he who had killed any man; as is +evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and +knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be _a parricide_." +_Festus_ sub voce _Parrici_. + +[80] Than from any evidence of the fact--_Quam quod cuiquam id +compertum foret_. + +[81] XV. With a virgin of noble birth--_Cum virgine nobili_. Who +this was is not known. The name may have been suppressed from respect +to her family. If what is found in a fragment of Cicero be true, +Catiline had an illicit connection with some female, and afterward +married the daughter who was the fruit of the connection: _Ex eodem +stupro et uxorem et filiam invenisti_; Orat. in Tog. Cand. (Oration +xvi., Ernesti's edit.) On which words Asconius Pedianus makes this +comment: "Dicitur Catilinam adulterium commisisse cum ea quae ci +postea socrus fuit, et ex eo stupro duxisse uxorem, cum filia ejus +esset. Haec Lucceius quoque Catilinae objecit in orationibus, quas in +eum scripsit. Nomina harum mulierum nondum inveni." Plutarch, too +(Life of Cicero, c. 10), says that Catiline was accused of having +corrupted his own daughter. + +[82] With a priestess of Vesta--_Cum sacerdote Vestae_. This +priestess of Vesta was Fabia Terentia, sister to Terentia, Cicero's +wife, whom Sallust, after she was divorced by Cicero, married. Clodius +accused her, but she was acquitted, either because she was thought +innocent, or because the interest of Catulus and others, who exerted +themselves in her favor, procured her acquittal. See Orosius, vi. 3; +the Oration of Cicero, quoted in the preceding note; and Asconius's +commentary on it. + +[83] Aurelia Orestilla--See c. 35. She was the sister or daughter, +as De Brosses thinks, of Cneius Aurelius Orestis, who had been praetor, +A.U.C. 677. + +[84] A grown-up step-son--_Privignum adulta aetate_. A son of +Catiline's by a former marriage. + +[85] Desolate his tortured spirit--_Mentem exciteam vastabat_. +"Conscience desolates the mind, when it deprives it of its proper +power and tranquillity, and introduces into it perpetual disquietude." +_Cortius_. Many editions have _vexabat_. + +[86] XVI. He furnished false witnesses, etc. _Testis signatoresque +falsos commodare_. "If any one wanted any such character, Catiline was +ready to supply him from among his troop."_Bernouf_. + +[87] Inoffensive persons, etc.--_Insontes, sicuti sontes._ Most +translators have rendered these words "innocent" and "guilty," terms +which suggest nothing satisfactory to the English reader. The +_insontes_ are those who had given Catiline no cause of offens; the +_sontes_ those who had in some way incurred his displeasure, or become +objects of his rapacity. + +[88] Veterans of Sylla, etc.--Elsewhere called the colonists of +Sylla; men to whom Sylla had given large tracts of land as rewards for +their services, but who, having lived extravagantly, had fallen into +such debt and distress, that, as Cicero said, nothing could relieve +them but the resurrection of Sylla from the dead. Cic. ii. Orat. in +Cat. + +[89] Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world--_In extremis +terris_. Pompey was then conducting the war against Mithridates and +Tigranes, in Pontus and Armenia. + +[90] The senate was wholly off its guard--_Senatus nihil sane intentus_. +The senate was _regardless_, and unsuspicious of any danger. + +[91] XVII. Lucius Caesar--He was a relation of Julius Caesar; and his +sister was the wife of M. Antonius, the orator, and mother of Mark +Antony, the triumvir. + +[92] Publius Lentulus Sura--He was of the same family with Sylla, +that of the Cornelii. He had filled the office of consul, but his +conduct had been afterward so profligate, that the censors expelled +him from the senate. To enable him to resume his seat, he had +obtained, as a qualification, the office of praetor, which he held at +the time of the conspiracy. He was called Sura, because, when he had +squandered the public money in his quaestorship, and was called to +account by Sylla for his dishonesty, he declined to make any defense, +but said, "I present you the calf of my leg (_sura_);" alluding to a +custom among boys playing at ball, of inflicting a certain number of +strokes on the leg of an unsuccessful player. Plutarch, Life of +Cicero, c.17. + +[93] Publius Autronius--He had been a companion of Cicero in his +boyhood, and his colleague in the quaestorship. He was banished in the +year after the conspiracy, together with Cassius, Laeca, Vargunteius, +Servius Sylla, and Caius Cornelius, under the Plautian law. _De +Brosses_. + +[94] Lucius Cassius Longinus.--He had been a competitor with Cicero +for the consulship. Ascon. Ped., in Cic. Orat. in Tog. Cand. His +corpulence was such that Cassius's fat (_Cassii adeps_) became +proverbial. Cic. Orat. in Catil., iii. 7. + +[95] Caius Cethegus--He also was one of the Cornelian family. In the +civil wars, says De Brosses, he had first taken the side of Marius, +and afterward that of Sylla. Both Cicero (Orat. in Catil., ii.7) and +Sallust describe him as fiery and rash. + +[96] Publius and Servius Sylla--These were nephews of Sylla the +dictator. Publius, though present on this occasion, seems not to have +joined in the plot, since, when he was afterward accused of having +been a conspirator, he was defended by Cicero and acquitted. See Cic. +Orat. pro P. Sylla. He was afterward with Caesar in the battle of +Pharsalia. Caes. de B.C., iii. 89. + +[97] Lucius Vargunteius--"Of him or his family little is known. +He had been, before this period, accused of bribery, and defended by +Hortensius. Cic. pro P. Sylla, c. 2." _Bernouf_. + +[98] Quintus Annius--He is thought by De Brosses to have been the same +Annius that cut off the head of M. Antonius the orator, and carried it +to Marius. Plutarch, Vit. Marii, c. 44. + +[99] Marcus Porcius Laeca--He was one of the same _gens_ with the +Catones, but of a different family. + +[100] Lucius Bestia--Of the Calpurnian _gens_. He escaped death +on the discovery of the conspiracy, and was afterward aedile, and +candidate for the praetorship, but was driven into exile for bribery. +Being recalled by Caesar, he became candidate for the consulship, but +was unsuccessful. _De Brosses_. + +[101] Quintus Curius--He was a descendant of M. Curius Dentatus, the +opponent of Pyrrhus. He was so notorious as a gamester and a profligate, +that he was removed from the senate, A.U.C. 683. See c. 23. As he had +been the first to give information of the conspiracy to Cicero, public +honors were decreed him, but he was deprived of them by the influence of +Caesar, whom he had named as one of the conspirators. Sueton. Caes. 17; +Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. ii. + +[102] M. Fulvius Nobilior--"He was not put to death, but exiled, +A.U.C. 699. Cic. ad Att. iv., 16." _Bernouf_. + +[103] Lucius Statilius--of him nothing more is known than is told by +Sallust. + +[104] Publius Gabinius Capito--Cicero, instead of Capito, calls him +Cimber. Orat. in Cat., iii. 3. The family was originally from Gabii. + +[105] Caius Cornelius--There were two branches of the _gens Cornelia_, +one patrician, the other plebeian, from which sprung this conspirator. + +[106] Municipal towns--_Municipiis_. "The _municipia_ were towns +of which the inhabitants were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens, +but which were allowed to govern themselves by their own laws, and to +choose their own magistrates. See Aul. Gell, xvi. 13; Beaufort, Rep. +Rom., vol. v." _Bernouf_. + +[107] Marcus Licinius Crassus--The same who, with Pompey and Caesar, +formed the first triumvirate, and who was afterward killed in his +expedition against the Parthians. He had, before the time of the +conspiracy, held the offices of praetor and consul. + +[108] XVIII. But previously, etc.--Sallust here makes a digression, +to give an account of a conspiracy that was formed three years before +that of Catiline. + +[109] Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla--The same who are mentioned +in the preceding chapter. They were consuls elect, and some editions +have the words _designati consules_, immediately following their names. + +[110] Having been tried for bribery under the laws against it +--_Legibus ambitus interrogati_. _Bribery at their election_, is the +meaning of the word _ambitus_, for _ambire_, as Cortius observes, is +_circumeundo favorem et suffragia quaerere_. De Brosses translates the +passage thus: "Autrone et Sylla, convaincus d'avoir obtenu le consulat +par corruption des suffrages, avaient ete punis selon la rigueur de la +loi". There were several very severe Roman laws against bribery. +Autronius and Sylla were both excluded from the consulship. + +[111] For extortion--_Pecuniarum repetundarum_. Catiline had been +praetor in Africa, and, at the expiration of his office, was accused +of extortion by Publius Clodius, on the part of the Africans. He +escaped by bribing the prosecutor and judges. + +[112] To declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number +of days--_Prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitimos +dies profiteri_ (se candidatum, says Cortius, citing Suet. Aug. 4) +_nequiverit_. A person could not be a candidate for the consulship, +unless he could declare himself free from accusation within a certain +number of days before the time of holding the _comitia centuriata_. +That number of days was _trinundinum spatium_, that is, the time +occupied by three market-days, _tres nundinae_, with seven days +intervening between the first and second, and between the second and +third; or _seventeen days_. The _nundinae_ (from _novem_ and _dies_) +were held, as it is commonly expressed, every ninth day; whence +Cortius and others considered _trinundinum spatium_ to be twenty-seven, +or even thirty days; but this way of reckoning was not that of the +Romans, who made the last day of _the first ennead_ to be also the first +day _of the second_. Concerning the _nundinae_ see Macrob., Sat. i. 16. +"Muller and Longius most erroneously supposed the _trinundinum_ to be +about thirty days; for that it embraced only seventeen days has been +fully shown by Ernesti. Clav. Cic., sub voce; by Scheller in Lex. Ampl., +p. 11, 669; by Nitschius Antiquitt. Romm. i. p. 623: and by Drachenborch +(cited by Gerlach) ad Liv. iii. 35." _Kritzius_. + +[113] Cneius Piso--Of the Calpurnian gens. Suetonius (Vit. Caes., c. 9) +mentions three authors who related that Crassus and Caesar were both +concerned in this plot; and that, if it had succeeded, Crassus was to +have assumed the dictatorship, and made Caesar his master of the horse. +The conspiracy, as these writers state, failed through the remorse or +irresolution of Crassus. + +[114] Catiline and Autronius--After these two names, in Havercamp's +and many other editions, follow the words _circiter nonas Decembres_, +_i.e._, about the fifth of December. + +[115] On the first of January--_Kalendis Januariis_. On this day the +consuls were accustomed to enter on their office. The consuls whom +they were going to kill, Cotta and Torquatus, were those who had been +chosen in the place of Antronius and Sylla. + +[116] The two Spains--Hither and Thither Spain. _Hispania Citerior_ +and _Ulterior_, as they were called by the Romans. + +[117] XIX. Nor were the senate, indeed, unwilling, etc.--See Dio Cass. +xxxvi. 27. + +[118] XX. Just above mentioned--In c. 17. + +[119] Favorable opportunity--_Opportuna res_. See the latter part +of c. 16. + +[120] Assert our claims to liberty--_Nosmet ipsi vindicamus in +libertatem_.Unless we vindicate ourselves into liberty. See below, +"En illa, illa, quam saepe optastis, libertas," etc. + +[121] Kings and princes--_Reges tetrarchae_. _Tetrarchs_ were +properly those who had the government of the fourth part of the +country; but at length, the signification of the word being extended, +it was applied to any governors of any country who were possessed of +supreme authority, and yet were not acknowledged as kings by the +Romans. See Hirt. Bell. Alex. c. 67: "Deiotarus, at that time +_tetrarch_ of almost all Gallograecia, a supremacy which the other +_tetrarchs_ would not allow to be granted him either by the laws or by +custom, but indisputably acknowledged as king of Armenia Minor by the +senate," etc. _Dietsch._ "Hesychius has, [Greek: _Tetrarchas, +basileis_]. See Isidor., ix. 8; Alex. ab. Alex., ii. 17." _Colerus_. +"Cicero, Phil. II., speaks of Reges Tetrarchas Dynastasque. And Lucan +has (vii. 46) Tetrarchae regesque tenent, magnique tyranni." _Wasse._ +Horace also says, + + --Modo reges atque tetrarchas, + Omnia magna loquens. + +I have, with Rose, rendered the word _princes_, as being the most +eligible term. + +[122] Insults--_Repulsas_. Repulses in standing for office. + +[123] The course of events, etc.--_Caetera res expediet_.--"Of. Cic. +Ep. Div. xiii. 26: _explicare et expedire negotia_." Gerlach. + +[124] Building over seas--See c. 13. + +[125] Embossed plate--_Toreumata_. The same as _vasa coelata_, +sculptured vases, c. 11. Vessels ornamented in bas-relief; from +[Greek: _toreuein_], _sculpere_; see Bentley ad Hor. A. P., 441. +"Perbona toreumata, in his pecula duo," etc. Cic. in Verr. iv. 18. + +[126] XXI. What support or encouragement they had, and in what +quarters.--_Quid ubique opis aut spei haberent; i.e._ quid opis aut + So c. 27, _init._ Quem ubique opportunum credebat, _i.e._, says +Cortius, "quem, et ubi _illum_, opportunum credebat". + +[127] Abolition of their debts--_Tabulas novas._ Debts were +registered on tablets; and, when the debts were paid, the score was +effaced, and the tablets were ready to be used _as new._ See Ernesti's +Clav. in Cio._sub voce_. + +[128] Proscription of the wealthy citizens--_Proscriptionem +locupletium._ The practice of proscription was commenced by Sylla, who +posted up, in public places of the city, the names of those whom he +doomed to death, offering rewards to such as should bring him their +heads. Their money and estates he divided among his adherents, and +Catiline excited his adherents with hopes of similar plunder. + +[129] Another of his ruling passion--_Admonebat--alium cupiditatis +suae_. Rose renders this passage, "Some he put in mind of their +poverty, others of their amours." De Brosses renders it, "Il +remontre a l'un sa pauvrete, a l'autre son ambition." _Ruling +passion_, however, seems to be the proper sense of _cupiditatis_; +as it is said, in c. 14, "As the passions of each, according to his +years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought +horses and dogs for others", etc. + +[130] XXII. They asserted--_Dictitare_. In referring this word to +the circulators of the report, I follow Cortius, Gerlach, Kritzius, +and Bernouf. Wasse, with less discrimination, refers it to Catiline. +This story of the drinking of human blood is copied by Florus, iv 1, +and by Plutarch in his Life of Cicero. Dio Cassius (lib. xxxvii.) says +that the conspirators were reported to have killed a child on the +occasion. + +[131] XXIII. Quintus Curius--the same that is mentioned in c. 17. + +[132] To promise her seas and mountains--_Maria montesque polliceri_. +A proverbial expression. Ter. Phorm., i. 2, 18: _Modo non montes auri +pollicens_. Perc., iii. 65: _Et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere +emontes._ + +[133] With greater arrogance than ever--_Ferocius quam solitus erat._ + +[134] To Marcus Tullius Cicero--Cicero was now in his forty-third +year, and had filled the office of quaestor, aedile, and praetor. + +[135] A man of no family--_Novus homo._ A term applied to such as +could not boast of any ancestor that had held any curule magistracy, +that is, had been consul, praetor, censor, or chief aedile. + +[136] XXIV. Manlius--He had been an officer in the army of Sylla, +and, having been distinguished for his services, had been placed at +the head of a colony of veterans settled about Faesulae: but he had +squandered his property in extravagance. See Plutarch, Vit. Cic., Dio +Cassius, and Appian. + +[137] Faesulae--A town of Etruria, at the foot of the Appennines, + + At evening from the top of Fesole, + Or in Valdarno to descry new lands, etc. +Par. L. i. 28. + +[138] XXV. Sempronia--Of the same _gens_ as the two Gracchi. She +was the wife of Decimus Brutus. + +[139] Sing, play, and dance--_Psallere, saltare._ As _psallo_ +signifies both to play on a musical instrument, and to sing to it +while playing, I have thought it necessary to give both senses in the +translation. + +[140] By no means despicable--_Haud absurdum._ Compare, _Bene dicere +haud absurdum est,_ c. 8. + +[141] She was distinguished, etc.--_Multae facetiae, multusque lepos +inerat._ Both _facetiae_ and _lepos_ mean "agreeableness, humor, +pleasantry," but _lepos_ here seems to refer to diction, as in Cic. +Orat. i. 7: _Magnus in jocando lepos._ + +[142] XXVI. By an arrangement respecting their provinces--_Pactione +provinciae_. This passage has been absurdly misrepresented by most +translators, except De Brosses. Even Rose, who was a scholar, translated +_pactione provinciae_, "by promising a province to his colleague." +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that the two provinces, which +Cicero and his colleague Antonius shared between them, were Gaul and +Macedonia, and that Cicero, in order to retain Antonius in the interest +of the senate, exchanged with him Macedonia, which had fallen to himself, +for the inferior province of Gaul. See Jug., c. 27. + +[143] Plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius +--_Insidiae quas consuli in campo fecerat_. I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _consulibus_, thinking that Catiline, in +his rage, might have extended his plots even to the consuls-elect. But +_consuli_, there is little doubt, is the right reading, as it is favored +by what is said at the beginning of the chapter, _insidias parabat +Ciceroni_, by what follows in the next chapter, _consuli insidias tendere_, +and by the words, _sperans, si designatus foret, facile se ex voluntate +Antonio usurum_; for if Catiline trusted that he should be able to use +his pleasure with Antonius, he could hardly think it necessary to form +plots against his life. I have De Brosses on my side, who translates the +phrase, _les pieges ou il comptait faire perir le consul_. The words _in +campo_, which look extremely like an intruded gloss, I wonder that +Cortius should have retained. "_Consuli_," says Gerlach, "appears the +more eligible, not only on account of _consuli insidias tendere_, c. 27, +but because nothing but the death of Cicero was necessary to make +everything favorable for Catiline." Kritzius, Bernouf, Dietsch, Pappaur, +Allen, and all the modern editors, read _Consuli_. See also the end of +c. 27: _Si prius Ciceronem oppressisset_.] [note 144: Had ended in +confusion and disgrace--_Aspera faedaque evenerant_. I have borrowed +from Murphy. + +[145] XXVII. Of Camerinum--Camertem. "That is, a native of Camerinum, +a town on the confines of Umbria and Picenum. Hence the noun _Camers_, +as Cic. Pro. Syll., c. 19, _in agro Camerti_." Cortius. + +[146] Wherever he thought each would be most serviceable--_Ubi +quemque opportunum credebat. "Proprie reddas: quam, _et ubi_ illum, +_opportunum credebat_," Cortius. See c. 23. + +[147] When none of his numerous projects succeeded--_Ubi multa +agilanti nihil procedit_. + +[148] XXVIII. On that very night, and with but little delay--_Ea +nocte, paulo post_. They resolved on going soon after the meeting +broke up, so that they might reach Cicero's house early in the +morning, which was the usual time for waiting on great men. _Ingentem +foribus domus alla superbis_ Mane _salutantum totis vomit aedibus +undam_. Virg. Georg., ii. 461. + +[149] XXIX. This is the greatest power which--is granted, etc. +--_Ea potestas per senatum, more Romano, magistratui maxima +permittitur_. Cortius, _mira judicii peversitate_, as Kritzius +observes, makes _ea_ the ablative case, understanding "decretione," +"formula," or some such word; but, happily, no one has followed him. + +[150] XXX. By the 27th of October--_Ante diem VI. Kalendas +Novembres_. He means that they were in arms on or before that day. + +[151] Quintus Marcius Rex--He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and +was expecting a triumph for his successes. + +[152] Quintus Metellus Creticus--He had obtained the surname of +Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete. + +[153] Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc. +--_hi utrique ad urbem imperatores erant; impediti ne triumpharent +calumnia paucorum quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos +erat_. "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the +senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the +enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title +as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) +a triumph, for which he was obliged to wait _ad urbem_, near the city, +since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any +military command. These _imperatores_ had been debarred from their +expected honor by a party who would sell _any thing honorable_, as a +triumph, or _any thing dishonorable_, as a license to violate the laws. + +[154] A hundred sestertia--two hundred sestertia--A hundred sestertia +were about 807L. 5s. 10d. of our money. + +[155] Schools of gladiators--_Gladiatoriae familiae_. Any number of +gladiators under one teacher, or trainer (_lanista_), was called +_familia_. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be +strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See +Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach. + +[156] The inferior magistrates--The aediles, tribunes, quaestors, +and all others below the consuls, censors, and praetors. Aul. Cell., +xiii. 15. + +[157] XXXI. Dissipation--Lascivia. "Devotion to public amusements +and gayety. The word is used in the same sense as in Lucretius, v. + + Tum caput atque humeros planis redimire coronis. + Floribus et foliis, lascivia laeta monebat. + +_"Then sportive gayety prompted them to deck their heads and shoulders +with garlands of flowers and leaves." Bernouf_. + +[158] Long tranquillity--_Diuturna quies_. "Since the victory of +Sylla to the time of which Sallust is speaking, that is, for about +twenty years, there had been a complete cessation from civil discord +and disturbance" _Bernouf_. + +[159] The Plautian law--_Lege Plautia_. "This law was that of M. +Plautius Silanus, a tribune of the people, which was directed against +such as excited a sedition in the state, or formed plots against the +life of any individual." _Cyprianus Popma_. See Dr. Smith's Dict. of +Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, sub Vis. + +[160] Which he afterward wrote and published--_Quam postea scriptam +edidit_. This was the first of Cicero's four Orations against +Catiline. The epithet applied to it by Sallust, which I have rendered +"splendid," is _luculentam_; that is, says Gerlach, "luminibus +verborum et sententiarum ornatam," distinguished by much brilliancy of +words and thoughts. And so say Kritzius, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Cortius, +who is followed by Dahl, Langius, and Muller, makes the word equivalent +merely to _lucid_, in the supposition that Sallust intended to bestow +on the speech, as on other performances of Cicero, only very cool praise. +_Luculentus_, however, seems certainly to mean something more than +_lucidus_. + +[161] A mere adopted citizen of Rome--_Inquilinus civis urbis Romae_. +"Inquilinus" means properly a lodger, or tenant in the house of another. +Cicero was born at Arpinum, and is therefore called by Catiline a +citizen of Rome merely by adoption or by sufferance. Appian, in +repeating this account (Bell. Civ., ii. 104), says, [Greek: +_Ingkouilinon, phi raemati kalousi tous enoikountas en allotriais +oikiais_.] + +[162] Traitor--_Parricidam_. See c. 14. "An oppressor or betrayer +of his country is justly called a parricide; for our country is the +common parent of all. Cic. ad Attic." _Wasse_. + +[163] Since I am encompassed, by enemies, he exclaimed, etc.--"It +was not on this day, nor indeed to Cicero, that this answer was made +by Catiline. It was a reply to Cato, uttered a few days before the +comitia for electing consuls, which were held on the 22d day of +October. See Cic. pro Muraeno, c. 25. Cicero's speech was delivered on +the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as +well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him." +_Bernouf_. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to +Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, +says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the +senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to +listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of +Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration +against Catiline, says that Catiline _could not endure his voice_, +but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," _obeyed +and submitted in silence_. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, "That +most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the +senate, was dumb." + +[164] XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.--_Cum mandatis +hujuscemodi_. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an +epistle, but a verbal message. + +[165] XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law--_Lege uti_. The law +here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to +the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in +prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his +person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the +occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one +of the strongest bonds of credit. + +[166] The praetor--The _praetor urbanus_, or city praetor, who +decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors. + +[167] Relieved their distress by decrees--_Decretis suis inopiae +opitulati sunt_. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for +diminishing the rate of interest. + +[168] Silver--was paid with brass--_Agentum aere solutum est_. +Thus a _sestertius_, which was of silver, and was worth four _asses_, +was paid with one _as_, which was of brass; or _the fourth part only +of the debt was paid_. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius +Paterculus, ii. 23; who says, _quadrantem solvi_, that _a quarter_ of +their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus, +when he became consul on the death of Marius. + +[169] Often--have the commonalty--seceded, etc.--"This happened +three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2. +To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of +Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on +account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." _Bernouf_. + +[170] XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.--_Ea, +mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populumque Romanum, semper +fuisse._ "That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I +have deserted the Latin for the English idiom. + +[171] XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different +editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: _Egregiatua fides, re cognita, +grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius corrected it as follows: _Egregia tua fides, re +cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and +most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. +That Cortius's is the better; few will deny; for it can hardly be +supposed that Sallust used _mihi, meis_, and _meae_ in such close +succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's +text, by asserting, from the phrase _earum exemplam infra scriptum,_ +that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, +therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is +sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: +"Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinae culpam tribuit, +qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam +apta et composita supra, c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum +litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum +Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum +magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis haec quidem excusatio." Yet it +is not to be denied that _grata mihi_ is the reading of all the +manuscripts. + +[172] Known--by experience.--_Re cognita._ "Cognita" be it observed, +_tironum gratia,_ is the nominative case. "Catiline had experienced +the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it +was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is +related by Orosius." _Bernouf._ + +[173] Recommendation--_Commendationi._ His recommendation of his +affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus. + +[174] Formal defense--_Defensionem._ Opposed to _satisfactionem_, +which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. +"_Defensio_, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made +against an adversary, or before judges; _satisfactio_ was rather an +excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private +communication." _Cortius._ + +[175] Though conscious of no guilt--_Ex nulla conscientia de culpa_. +This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter +conscientam denulla culpa," or "inasmuch as I am conscious of no +fault." "_De culpa_, he adds, is the same as _culpae_; so in the ii. +Epist. to Caesar, c. 1: Neque _de futuro_ quisquam satix callidus; +and c. 9: _de illis_ potissimum jactura fit." + +[176] To make no formal defense--to offer you some explanation +--_Defensionem--parare; satisfactionem--proponere_. "Parare," says +Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and +premeditation; _proponere_ to such a statement as it was easy to make +at once". + +[177] On my word of honor--_Me dius fidius_, sc. juvet. So may the +god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith? +_Dius_, say some, is the same as _Deus_ (Plautus has _Deus_ fidius, +Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter (_sub dio_ +being equivalent to _sub Jove_); so that _Dius fidius_ (_fidius_ being +an adjective from _fides_) will be the [Greek: _Zeus pistios_] of the +Greeks. "_Me dius fidius_" will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me!" +This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and +Dietsch. Others, with Festus (sub voce _Medius fidius_) make _fidius_ +equivalent to _filius_, because the ancients, according to Festus, +often used D for L, and _dius fidius_ will then be the same as [Greek: +_Dios_] or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and _medius fidius_ will be the +same as _mehercules_ or _mehercule_. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. +Sprengel) mentions a certain Aelius who was of this opinion. Against +this derivation there is the quantity of _fidius_, of which the first +syllable is short: _Quaerebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem_, Ov. Fast. +vi. 213. But if we consider _dius_ the same as _deus_, we may as well +consider _dius fidius_ to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and +may thus make _medius fidius_ identical with _mehercules_, as it +probably is. "Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that _medius fidius_ is a +form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub _Fidius_. This +point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, +and Ovid, _loc. cit._) Dius Fidius to be the same with the Sabine +Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules. + +[178] You may receive as true--_Veram licet cognoscas_. Some +editions, before that of Cortius, have _quae--licet vera mecum +recognoscas_; which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Aen. +iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have +_veram licet cognoscas_. + +[179] Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion--_Fructu laboris +industriaeque meae privatus_. "The honors which he sought he +elegantly calls the _fruit_ of his labor, because the one is obtained +by the other." _Cortius_. + +[180] Post of honor due to me--_Statum dignitatis_. The consulship. + +[181] On my own security--_Meis nominibus_. "He uses the plural," +says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one +person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to +explain this point. For _alienis nominibus_, which follows, being in +the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity +with Bernouf's comment. + +[182] Proscribed--_Alienatum_. "Repulsed from all hope of the +consulship." _Bernouf_. + +[183] Adopted a course--_Spes--secutus sum_. "_Spem sequi_ is a +phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, +or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what +appears advantageous, is signified." _Cortius_. + +[184] Protection--_Fidei_. + +[185] Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend +her from injury--_Eam ab injuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus_. +"Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the +sake of] your own children." + +[186] XXXVI. In the neighborhood of Arretium--_In agro Arretino_. +Havercamp, and many of the old editions, have _Reatino_; "but," says +Cortius, "if Catiline went the direct road to Faesulae, as is rendered +extremely probable by his pretense that he was going to Marseilles, +and by the assertion of Cicero, made the day after his departure, that +he was on his way to join Manlius, we must certainly read _Arretino_." +Arretium (now _Arezzo_) lay in his road to Faesulae; Reate was many +miles out of it. + +[187] In an extremely deplorable condition--_Multo maxime miserabile_. +_Multe_ is added to superlatives, like _longe_. So c. 52, _multo +pulcherrimam_ eam nos haberemus. Cortius gives several other instances. + +[188] Notwithstanding the two decrees of the senate--_Duobus senati +decretis._ I have translated it "_the_ two decrees," with Rose. +One of the two was that respecting the rewards mentioned in c. 30; the +other was that spoken of in c. 36., allowing the followers of Catiline +to lay down their arms before a certain day. + +[189] XXXVII. Endeavor to exalt the factious--_Malos extollunt_. +They strive to elevate into office those who resemble themselves. + +[190] Poverty does not easily suffer loss--_Egestas facile habetur +sine damna_ He that has nothing, has nothing to lose. Petron. +Sat., c. 119: _Inops audacia tuta est_. + +[191] Had become disaffected--Praeceps abierat. Had grown demoralized, +sunk in corruption, and ready to join in any plots against the state. +So Sallust says of Sempronia, _praeceps abierat_, c. 25. + +[192] In the first place--Primum omnium. "These words refer, not to +_item_ and _postremo in the same sentence, but to _deinde_ at the +commencement of the next." _Bernouf_. + +[193] Civil rights had been curtailed--_Jus libertatis imminutum +erat_. "Sylla, by one of his laws, had rendered the children of +proscribed persons incapable of holding any public office; a law +unjust, indeed, but which, having been established and acted upon for +more than twenty years, could not be rescinded without inconvenience +to the government. Cicero, accordingly, opposed the attempts which +were made, in his consulship, to remove this restriction, as he +himself states in his Oration against Piso, c. 2." _Bernouf_. See +Vell. Patere., ii., 28; Plutarch, Vit. Syll.; Quintil., xi. 1, where a +fragment of Cicero's speech, _De Proscriptorum Liberis_, is preserved. +This law of Sylla was at length abrogated by Julius Caesar, Suet. J. +Caes. 41; Plutarch Vit. Caes.; Dio Cass., xli. 18. + +[194] This was an evil--to the extent to which it now prevailed--_Id +adeo malum multos post annos in civitatem reverterat_. "_Adeo_, says +Cortius, "_in particula elegantissima_" Allen makes it equivalent to + _eo usque_. + +[195] XXXVIII. The powers of the tribunes--had been fully restored +--_Tribunicia potestas restituta_. Before the time of Sylla, +the power of the tribunes had grown immoderate, but Sylla diminished +and almost annihilated it, by taking from them the privileges of +holding any other magistracy after the tribunate, of publicly +addressing the people, of proposing laws, and of listening to appeals. +But in the consulship of Cotta, A.U.C. 679, the first of these +privileges had been restored; and in that of Pompey and Crassus, +A.U.C. 683, the tribunes were reinstated in all their former powers. + +[196] Having obtained that high office--_Summam potestatem nacti_. +Cortius thinks these words spurious. + +[197] XXXIX. Free from harm--_Innoxii_. In a passive sense. + +[198] Overawing others--with threats of impeachment--_Caeteros +judiciis terrere_. "Accusationibus et judiciorum periculis." +_Bernouf_. + +[199] His father ordered to be put to death--_Parens necari jussit_. +"His father put him to death, not by order of the consuls, but by his +own private authority; nor was he the only one who, at the same +period, exercised similar power." Dion. Cass., lib. xxxvii. The +father observed on the occasion, that, "he had begotten him, not for +Catiline against his country, but for his country against Catiline". +Val. Max., v.8. The Roman laws allowed fathers absolute control over +the lives of their children. + +[200] XL. Certain deputies of the Allobroges--_Legatos Allobrogum_. +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that there were then at Rome +_two deputies_ from this Gallic nation, sent to complain of oppression +on the part of the Roman governors. + +[201] As Brutus was then absent from Borne--_Nam tum Brutus ab +Roma, aberat_. From this remark, say Zanchius and Omnibonus, it is +evident that Brutus was not privy to the conspiracy. "What sort of +woman _Sempronia_ was, has been told in c. 25. Some have thought that +she was the wife of Decimus Brutus; but since Sallust speaks of her as +being in the decay of her beauty at the time of the conspiracy, and +since Brutus, as may be seen in Caesar (B. G. vii., sub fin.), was +then very young, it is probable that she had only an illicit +connection with him, but had gained such an ascendency over his +affections, by her arts of seduction, as to induce him to make her his +mistress, and to allow her to reside in his house." _Beauzee_. I have, +however, followed those who think that Brutus was the husband of +Sempronia. Sallust (c. 24), speaking of the woman, of whom Sempronia +was one, says that Catiline _credebat posse--viros earum vel adjungere +sibi, vel interficere_. The truth, on such a point, is of little +importance. + +[202] XLI. To be expected from victory--_In spe victoriae_. + +[203] Certain rewards--_Certa praemia_. "Offered by the senate to +those who should give information of the conspiracy. See c. 30." +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[204] Quintus Fabius Sanga--"A descendent of that Fabius who, for +having subdued the Allobroges, was surnamed Allobrogicus." _Bernouf_. +Whole states often chose patrons as well as individuals. + +[205] XLII. There were commotions--_Motus erat_. "_Motus_ is also +used by Cicero and Livy in the singular number for _seditiones_ and +_tumultus_. No change is therefore to be made in the text." _Gerlach_. +"Motus bellicos intelligit, _tumultus_; ut Flor., iii. 13." _Cortius_. + +[206] Having brought several to trial--_Complures--caussa cognita. +"Caussum cognoscere_ is the legal phrase for examining as to the +authors and causes of any crime." _Dietsch_. + +[207] Caius Muraena in Further Gaul--_In Ulteriore Gallia C. Muraena_. +All the editions, previous to that of Cortius, have _in citeriore +Gallia_. "But C. Muraena," says the critic, "commanded in Gallia +Transalpina, or Ulterior Gaul, as appears from Cic. pro Muraena, +c. 41. To attribute such an error to a lapse or memory in Sallust, +would be absurd. I have, therefore, confidently altered _citeriore_ +into _ulteriore_." The praise of having first discovered the error, +however, is due, not to Cortius, but to Felicius Durantinus, a friend +of Rivius, in whose note on the passage his discovery is recorded. + +[208] XLIII. The excellent consul--_Optimo consuli_. With the +exception of the slight commendation bestowed on his speech, +_luculentam_ atque _utilem reipublicae_, c. 31, this is the only +epithet of praise that Sallust bestows on the consul throughout his +narrative. That it could be regarded only as frigid eulogy, is +apparent from a passage in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (xii. +21), in which he speaks of the same epithet having been applied to him +by Brutus: "Brutus thinks that he pays me a great compliment when he +calls me an excellent consul (optimum consulem); but what enemy could +speak more coldly of me?" + +[209] Twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose--_ +Duodecim--opportuna loca_. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says a +hundred places. Few narratives lose by repetition. + +[210] In order that, during the consequent tumult--_Quo tumultu_. +"It is best," says Dietsch, "to take _quo_ as the _particula finalis_ +(to the end that), and _tumultu_ as the ablative of the instrument". + +[211] Delay--_Dies prolatando_. By putting off from day to day. + +[212] XLIV. Soon to visit their country--_Semet eo brevi venturum_. +"It is plain that the adverb relates to what precedes (_ad cives_); +and that Cassius expresses an intention to set out for Gaul." _Dietsch_. + +[213] Remember that you are a man--_Memineris te virum_. Remember +that you are a man, and ought to act as one. Cicero, in repeating this +letter from memory (Orat. in Cat., iii. 5), gives the phrase, _Cura ut +vir sis_. + +[214] XLV. The praetors--_Praetoribus_ urbanis, the praetors of the city. + +[215] The Milvian Bridge--_Ponte Mulvio_. Now _Ponte Molle_. + +[216] Of the object with which they were sent--_Rem--cujus gratia +mittebantur_. + +[217] From each side of the bridge--_Utrinque_. "Utrinque," observes +Cortius, "glossae MSS. exponunt _ex utraque parte pontis," and there +is little doubt that the exposition is correct. No translator, however, +before myself, has availed himself of it. + +[218] XLVI. The box with the letters--_Scrinium cum literis. Litterae_ +may be rendered either _letter_ or _letters_. There is no mention made +previously of more letters than that of Lentulus to Catiline, c. 44. +But as it is not likely that the deputies carried a box to convey only +one letter, I have followed other translators by putting the word in +the plural. The oath of the conspirators, too, which was a written +document, was probably in the box. + +[219] XLVII. His letter--_Litteris._ His own letter to Catiline, c. 44. +So _praeter litteras_ a little below. + +[220] What object he had had in view, etc.--_Quid, aut qua de causa, +consilli habuisset_. What design he had entertained, and from what +motive _he had entertained it_. + +[221] To prevaricate.--_Fingere alia._ "To pretend other things +than what had reference to the conspiracy." _Bernouf._ + +[222] On the security of the public faith--_Fide publica._ +"Cicero pledged to him the public faith, with the consent of the +senate; or engaged, in the name of the republic, that his life +should be spared, if he would but speak the truth." _Bernouf._ + +[223] That Cinna and Sylla had ruled already--_Cinnam atque Syllam +antea._ "Had ruled," or something similar, must be supplied. Cinna +had been the means of recalling Marius from Africa, in conjunction +with whom he domineered over the city, and made it a scene of +bloodshed and desolation. + +[224] Their seals--_Signa sua_. "Leurs cachets, leurs sceaux." +Bernouf. The Romans tied their letters round with a string, the knot +of which they covered with wax, and impressed with a seal. To open the +letter it was necessary to cut the string: "_nos linum incidimus_." +Cic. Or. in Cat. iii. 5. See also C. Nep. Panc. 4, and Adam's _Roman +Antiquities_. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his +ancestors; see Cicero, _loc. cit._ + +[225] In private custody--_In liberis custodiis._ Literally, in +"free custody," but "private custody" conveys a better notion of the +arrangement to the mind of the English reader. It was called _free_ +because the persons in custody were not confined in prison. Plutarch +calls it [Greek: _adeomon phylakin_] as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See +Tacit. Ann. vi. 8. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and +consideration. + +[226] XLVIII. If the public faith were pledged to him--_Si fides +publica data, esset_. See c. 47. + +[227] And to facilitate the escape of those in custody--_Et illi +facilius e periculo eriperentur_. + +[228] A man of such power--_Tanta vis hominis_. So great power of +the man. + +[229] Liberty of speaking--_Potestatem_. "Potestatem loquendi." +_Cyprianus Popma_. As it did not appear that he spoke the truth, the +pledge which the senate had given him, _on condition that he spoke the +truth_, went for nothing; he was not allowed to continue his evidence, +and was sent to prison. + +[230] As was his custom--_More suo_. Plutarch, in his Life of Crassus, +relates that frequently when Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, had refused +to undertake the defense of certain persons, as being unworthy of +their support, Crassus would plead in their behalf; and that he thus +gained great popularity among the common people. + +[231] XLIX. Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on, +etc.--_Piso oppugnatus in judicio repetundarum propter cujusdam +Transpadani supplicium injustum_. Such is the reading and punctuation +of Cortius. Some editions insert _pecuniarum_ before _repetundarum_, +and some a comma after it. I have interpreted the passage in +conformity with the explanation of Kritzius, which seems to me the +most judicious that has been offered. _Oppugnatus_, says he, is +equivalent to _gravitur vexatus_, or violently assailed; and Piso was +thus assailed by Caesar on account of his unjust execution of the +Gaul; the words _in judicio repetundarum_ merely mark the time when +Caesar's attack was made. While he was on his trial for one thing, he +was attacked by Caesar for another. Gerlach, observing that the words +_in judicio_ are wanting in one MS., would emit them, and make +_oppugnatus_ govern _pecuniarum repetundarum_, as if it were +_accusatus_; a change which would certainly not improve the passage. +The Galli Transpadani seem to have been much attached to Caesar; see +Cic. Ep. ad Att., v. 2; ad Fam. xvi. 12. + +[232] Comparatively a youth--_Adolescentalo_. Caesar was then in +the thirty-third, or, as some say, the thirty-seventh year of his age. +See the note on this word, c. 3. + +[233] By magnificent exhibitions in public--_Publice maximis muneribus_. +Shows of gladiators. + +[234] L. In various directions throughout the city--_Variis itineribus +--in vicis_. Going hither and thither through the streets. + +[235] Slaves--_Familiam_. "Servos suos, qui proprie _familia_," +Cortius. _Familia_ is a number of _famuli_. + +[236] A full senate, however, had but a short time before, +etc.--The senate had already decreed that they were enemies to their +country; Cicero now calls a meeting to ascertain what sentence should +be passed on them. + +[237] On this occasion--moved--_Tunc--decreverat_. The _tunc_ +(or, as most editors have it, _tum_) must be referred to the second +meeting or the senate, for it does not appear that any proposal +concerning the punishment of the prisoners was made at the first +meeting. There would be no doubt on this point, were it not for the +pluperfect tense, _decreverat_. I have translated it as the perfect. +We must suppose that Sallust had his thoughts on Caesar's speech, +which was to follow, and signifies that all this business _had been +done_ before Caesar addressed the house. Kritzius thinks that the +pluperfect was referred by Sallust, not to Caesar's speech, but to the +decree of the senate which was finally made; but this is surely a less +satisfactory method of settling the matter. Sallust often uses the +pluperfect, where his reader would expect the perfect; see, for +instance, _concusserat_, at the beginning of c. 24. + +[238] That he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero--_Pedibus +in sententian Tib. Neronis--iturum_. Any question submitted to the +senate was decided by the majority of votes, which was ascertained +either by _numeratio_, a counting of the votes, or by _discessio_, +when those who were of one opinion, at the direction of the presiding +magistrate, passed over to one side of the house, and those who were +of the contrary opinion, to the other. See Aul. Gell. xiv. 7; Suet. +Tib. 31; Adam's Rom. Ant.; Dr. Smith's Dictionary, Art. _Senatus_. + +[239] LI. It becomes all men, etc.--The beginning of this speech, +attributed to Caesar, is imitated from Demosthenes, [Greek: _Peri ton +hen Chersonaeso pragmaton: Edei men, o andres Athaenaioi, tous +legontas apantas en umin maete pros echthran poieisthai logon maedena, +maete pros charin_]. "It should be incumbent on all who speak before +you, O Athenians, to advance no sentiment with any view either to +enmity or to favor." + +[240] I consent to extraordinary measures--_Novum consilium adprobo_. +"That is, I consent that you depart from the usage of your ancestors, +by which Roman citizens were protected from death." _Bernouf_. + +[241] Whatever can be devised--_Omnium ingenia_. + +[242] Studied and impressive language--_Composite atque magnifice. +Composite_, in language nicely put together; elegantly. _Magnifice_, +in striking or imposing terms. _Composite_ is applied to the speech +of Caesar, by Cato, in the following chapter. + +[243] Such I know to be his character, such his discretion--_Eos +mores, eam modestiam viri cognovi_. I have translated _modestiam, +discretion_, which seems to be the proper meaning of the word. Beauzee +renders it _prudence_, and adds a note upon it, which may be worth +transcription. "I translate _modestia_," says he, "by _prudence_, and +think myself authorized to do so. _Sic definitur a Stoicis_, says +Cicero (De Off. i. 40), _ut modestia sit sicentia earum rerum, quae +agentur, aut dicentur, loco suo collocandarum_; and shortly afterward, +_Sic fit ut modestia scientia sit opportunitatis idoneorum ad agendum +temporum_. And what is understood in French by prudence? It is, +according to the Dictionary of the Academy, 'a virtue by which we +discern and practice what is proper in the conduct of life.' This is +almost a translation of the words of Cicero". + +[244] That--death is a relief from suffering, not a torment, etc. +--This Epicurean doctrine prevailed very much at Rome in Caesar's, and +afterward. We may very well suppose Caesar to have been a sincere +convert to it. Cato alludes to this passage in the speech which +follows; as also Cicero, in his fourth Oration against Catiline, c. 4. +See, for opinions on this point, the first book of Cicero's Tusculan +Questions. + +[245] The Porcian Law--_Lex Porcia_. A law proposed by P. Porcius +Loeca, one of the tribunes, A.U.O. 454, which enacted that no one +should bind, scourge or kill a Roman citizen. See Liv., x. 9; Cic. +pro. Rabir., 3, 4: Verr., v 63; de Rep., ii, 31. + +[246] Other laws--_Aliae leges_. So Caesar says below, "Tum lex +Porcia aliaeque paratae, quibus legibus auxilium damnatis permissum;" +what other laws these were is uncertain. One of them, however, was the +Sempronian law, proposed by Caius Gracchus, which ordained that +sentence should not be passed on the life of a Roman citizen without +the order of the people. See Cic. pro Rabir. 4. So "O lex Porcia +legesque Semproniae!" Cic. in. Verr., v. 63. + +[247] Parricides--See c. 14, 32. + +[248] The course of events--_Dies_. "Id est, temporis momentum +(_der veraenderte Zeitpunkt_)." _Dietsch_. Things change, and that +which is approved at one period, is blamed at another. _Tempus_ and +_dies_ are sometimes joined (Liv., xxii. 39, ii. 45), as if not only +time in general, but particular periods, as _from day to day_, were +intended. + +[249] All precedents productive of evil effects--_Omnia mala exempla_. +Examples of severe punishments are meant. + +[250] Any new example of severity, etc.--_Novum illud exemplum ab +dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transferetur_. Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, and Bernouf, agree to giving to this passage the +sense which is given in the translation. _Digni_ and _idonei_ are +here used in a bad sense, for _digni et idonei qui poena afficiantur_, +deserving and fit objects for punishment. + +[251] When they had conquered the Athenians--At the conclusion of +the Peloponnesian war. + +[252] Damasippus--"He, in the consulship of Caius Marius, the younger, +and Cneius Carbo, was city praetor, and put to death some of the most +eminent senators, a short time before the victory of Sylla. See Vell. +Paterc. ii. 26." _Bernouf_. + +[253] Ensigns of authority--_Insignia magistratum_. "The fasces and +axes of the twelve lictors, the robe adorned with purple, the curule +chair, and the ivory scepter. For the Etrurians, as Dionysius +Halicarnassensis relates, having been subdued, in a nine years' war, +by Tarquinius Priscus, and having obtained peace on condition of +submitting to him as their sovereign, presented him with the +_insignia_ of their own monarchs. See Strabo, lib. V.; Florus, i. 5," +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[254] Best able to bear the expense--_Maxime opibus valent_. Are +possessed of most resources. + +[255] LII. The rest briefly expressed their assent, etc.--_Caeteri +verbo, alius alii, varie assentiebantur. Verbo assentiebantur_ +signifies that they expressed their assent merely by a word or two, +as _assentior Silano, assentior Tiberio Neroni, aut Caesari_, the +three who had already spoken. _Varie_, "in support of their different +proposals." + +[256] My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different, +etc.--_Longe mihi alia mens est, P. C._, etc. The commencement of +Cato's speech is evidently copied from the beginning of the third +Olynthiac of Demosthenes: [Greek: _Ouchi tauta paristatai moi +ginoskein, o andres Athaenaioi, otan te eis ta pragmata apoblepso kai +otan pros tous logous ous akouo tous men gar logous peri tou +timoraesasthai Philippon oro gignomenous, ta de pragmata eis touto +proaekonta oste opos mae peisometha autoi proteron kakos skepsasthai +deon_.] "I am by no means affected in the same manner. Athenians, when +I review the state of our affairs, and when I attend to those speakers +who have now declared their sentiments. They insist that we should +punish Philip; but our affairs, situated as they now appear, warn us +to guard against the dangers with which we ourselves are threatened." +_Leland_. + +[257] Their altars and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis._ +"When _arae_ and _foci_ are joined, beware of supposing that they are +to be distinguished as referring the one (_arae) to the public +temples, and the other (_foci_) to private dwellings. Both are to be +understood of private houses, in which the _ara_ belonged to the _Dii +Penates_, and was placed in the _impluvium_ in the inner part of the +house; the _focus_ was dedicated to the _lares_, and was in the hall." +Ernesti, Clav. Cic., sub. v. _Ara_. Of the commentators on Sallust, +Kritzius is, I believe, the only one who has concurred in this notion +of Ernesti; Langins and Dietsch (with Cortius) adhere to the common +opinion that _arae_ are the public altars. Dietsch refers, for a +complete refutation of Ernesti, to G. A. B. Hertzberg _de Diis +Romanorum Penatibus_, Halae, 1840, p. 64; a book which I have not +seen. Certainly, in the observation of Cicero ad Att., vii. 11, "Non +est respublica in parietibus, sed in aris et focis," _arae_ must be +considered (as Schiller observes) to denote the public altars and +national religion. See Schiller's Lex. v. _Ara_. + +[258] In vain appeal to justice--_Frusta judicia implores. Judicia_, +trials, to procure the inflictions of legal penalties. + +[259] Could not easily pardon the misconduct, etc.--_Haud facile +alterius lubidini malefacta condonabam_. "Could not easily forgive the +licentiousness of another its evil deeds." + +[260] Yet the republic remained secure; its own strength, etc. +--_Tamen respublica firma, opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat_. This is +Cortius's reading; some editors, as Havercamp, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +insert _erat_ after _firma_. Whether _opulentia_ is the nominative or +ablative, is disputed. "_Opulentia_," says Allen, "casum sextum +intellige, et repete _respublica_ (ad _tolerabat_)." "_Opulentia_," +says Kritzius, "melius nominativo capiendum videtur; nam quae +sequuntur verba novam enunciationem efficiunt." I have preferred to +take it as a nominative. + +[261] We have lost the real names of things, etc.--Imitated from +Thucydides, iii. 32: [Greek: _Kai taen eiothuian axiosin ton onomaton +es ta erga antaellaxan tae dikaiosei. Tolma men gar alogistos, andria +philetairos enomisthae, mellasis te promaethaes, deilia euprepaes to +de sophron. Tou anandrou proschaema, kai to pros apan syneton, epi pan +argon_.] "The ordinary meaning of words was changed by them as they +thought proper. For reckless daring was regarded as courage that was +true to its friends; prudent delay, as specious cowardice; moderation, +as a cloak for unmanliness; being intelligent in every thing, as being +useful for nothing." _Dale's_ translation; Bohn's Classical Library. + +[262] Elegant language--_Composite_. See above, c. 51. + +[263] In a most excellent condition--_Multo pulcherrumam._ See c. 36. + +[264] For of allies and citizens, etc.--Imitated from Demosthenes, +Philipp. III.4. + +[265] I advise you to have mercy upon them--_Misereamini censeo, +i.e._, censeo _ut_ misereanum, spoken ironically. Most translators +have taken the words in the sense of "You would take pity on them, I +suppose," or something similar. + +[266] Unless this be the second time that he has made war upon +his country--"Cethegus first made war on his country in conjunction +with Marius." _Bernouf_. Whether Sallust alludes to this, or intimates +(as Gerlach thinks) that he was engaged in the first conspiracy, is +doubtful. + +[267] Is ready to devour us--_Faucibus urget_. Cortius, Kritzius, +Gerlach, Burnouf, Allen, and Dietsch, are unanimous in interpreting +this as a metaphorical expression, alluding to a wild beast with open +jaws ready to spring upon its prey. They support this interpretation +by Val. Max., v. 3: "Faucibus apprehensam rempublicam;" Cic. pro. +Cluent., 31: "Quum faucibus premetur;" and Plaut. Casin. v. 3,4, +"Manifesto faucibus teneor." Some, editors have read _in faucibus_, +and understood the words as referring to the jaws or narrow passes of +Etruria, where Catiline was with his army. + +[268] LIII. All the senators of consular dignity, and a great +part of the rest--_Consulares omnes, itemque senatus magna pars_. "As +the consulars were senators, the reader would perhaps expect Sallust +to have said _reliqui senatus_ but _itemque_ is equivalent to _et +praeter eos_." _Dietsch_. + +[269] That they had carried on wars--_Bella gesta_. That wars had +been carried on _by them_. + +[270] As if the parent stock were exhausted--_Sicuti effoeta +parentum_. This is the reading of Cortius, which he endeavors to +explain thus: "Ac sicuti _effoeta parens_, inter parentes, _sese +habere solet_, ut nullos amplius liberas proferat, sic Roma sese +habuit, ubi multis tempestatibus nemo virtute magnus fuit." "_Est_," +he adds, "or _solet esse_, or _sese habere solet_, may very well be +understood from the _fuit_ which follows." But all this only serves to +show what a critic may find to say in defense of a reading to which he +is determined to adhere. All the MSS., indeed, have _parentum_, except +one, which has _parente_. Dietsch thinks that some word has been lost +between _effoeta_ and _parentum_, and proposes to read _sicuti effoeta +aetate parentum, with the sense, _as if the age of the parents were +too much exhausted to produce strong children_. Kritzius, from a +suggestion of Cortius (or rather of his predecessor, Rupertus), reads +_effoetae parentum_ (the effoetae agreeing with Romae which follows), +considering the sense to be the same as as _effoetae parentis_--as +_divina dearum_ for _divina dea_, etc. Gerlach retains the rending of +Cortius, and adopts his explanation (4to. ed., 1827), but says that +the _explicatio_ may seem _durior_, and that it is doubtful whether we +ought not to have recourse to the _effoeta parente_ of the old critics. +Assuredly if we retain _parentum_, _effoetae_ is the only reading that +we can well put with it. We may compare with it _loca nuda gignentium_, +(Jug. c. 79), i.e. "places bare of objects producing any thing." +Gronovius know not what to do with the passage, called it _locus +intellectus nemini_, and at last decided on understanding _virtute_ +with _effoetae parentum_, which, _pace tarti viri_, and although Allen +has followed him, is little better than folly. The concurrence of the +majority of manuscripts in giving _parentum_ makes the scholar +unwilling to set it aside. However, as no one has explained it +satisfactorily even to himself, I have thought it better, with Dietsch, +to regard it a _scriptura non ferenda_, and to acquiesce, with +Glareanus, Rivius, Burnouf, and the Bipont edition, in the reading +_effoeta parente_. + +[271] LIV. Though attained by different means--_Sed alia alii_. +"Alii alia _gloria_," for _altera alteri_. So Livy, i. 21: _Duo +reges_, alius alia via. + +[272] Simplicity--_Pudore_. The word here seems to mean the absence +of display and ostentation. + +[273] With the temperate--_Cum innocente_. "That is _cum integro +et abstinente_. For _innocentia_ is used for _abstinentia_, and +opposed to _avaritia_. See Cic. pro Lego Manil., c. 13." _Burnouf_. + +[274] LV. The triumvirs--_Triumviros_. The _triumviri capitales_, +who had the charge of the prison and of the punishment of the +condemned. They performed their office by deputy, Val. Max., v. 4. 7. + +[275] The Tullian dungeon--_Tullianum_. "Tullianum" is an adjective, +with which _robur_ must be understood, as it was originally +constructed, wholly or partially, with oak. See Festus, sub voce +_Robum_ or _Robur_: his words are _arcis robustis includebatur_, of +which the sense is not very clear. The prison at Rome was built by +Ancus Marcius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius, from whom this part of +it had its name; Varro de L. L., iv. 33. It is now transformed into a +subterranean chapel, beneath a small church erected over it, called +_San Pietro in Carcere_. De Brosses and Eustace both visited it; See +Eustace's Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 260, in the _Family Library_. See +also Wasse's note on this passage. + +[276] A vaulted roof connected with stone arches--_Camera lapideis +fornicibus vincta_. "That _camera_ was a roof curved in the form of +a _testudo_, is generally admitted; see Vitruv. vii. 3; Varr., +R. R. iii. 7, init." _Dietsch_. The roof is now arched in the usual +way. + +[277] Certain men, to whom orders had been given--_Quibus praeceptum +erat_. The editions of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +have _vindices rerum capitalium, quibus_, etc. Cortius ejected the +first three words from his text, as an intruded gloss. If the words +be genuine, we must consider these _vindices_ to have been the +deputies, or lictors, of the "triumvirs" mentioned above. + +[278] LVI. As far as his numbers would allow--_Pro numero militum_. +He formed his men into two bodies, which he called legions, and +divided each legion, as was usual, into ten cohorts, putting into +each cohort as many men as he could. The cohort of a full legion +consisted of three maniples, or six hundred men; the legion would then +be six thousand men. But the legions were seldom so large as this; +they varied at different periods, from six thousand to three thousand; +in the time of Polybius they were usually four thousand two hundred. +See Adam's Rom. Ant., and Lipsius de Mil. Rom Dial. iv. + +[279] From his confederates--_Ex sociis_. "Understand, not only +the leaders in the conspiracy, but those who, in c. 35, are said to +have set out to join Catiline, though not at that time exactly +implicated in the plot." _Kritzius_. It is necessary to notice this, +because Cortius erroneously supposes "sociis" to mean the _allies of +Rome_. Dahl, Longius, Mueller, Burnouf, Gerlach, and Dietsch, all +interpret in the same manner as Kritzius. + +[280] Hoped himself shortly to find one--_Sperabat propediem sese +habiturum_. Other editions, as those of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, +Dietsch, and Burnouf, have the words _magnas copias_ before _sese_. +Cortius struck them out, observing that _copiae_ occurred too often in +this chapter, and that in one MS. they were wanting. One manuscript, +however, was insufficient authority for discarding them; and the +phrase suits much better with what follows, _si Romae socii incepta +patravissent_, if they are retained. + +[281] Slaves--of whom vast numbers, etc.--_Servitia--cujus magnae +copiae_. "_Cujus_," says Priscian (xvii. 20, vol. ii., p. 81, cd. Krehl), +"is referred _ad rem_, that is _cujus rei servitiorum_." _Servorum_ or +_hominum genus_, is, perhaps, rather what Sallust had in his mind, as +the subject of his relation. Gerlach adduces as an expression most +nearly approaching to Sallust's, Thucyd., iii. 92; [Greek: _Kai dorieis, +hae maetropolis ton Lakedaimonion_]. + +[282] Impolitic--_Alienum suis rationibus_. Foreign to his views; +inconsistent with his policy. + +[283] LVII. In his hurried march into Gaul--_In Galliam properanti_. +These words Cortius inclosed in brackets, pronouncing them as a useless +gloss. But all editors have retained them as genuine, except the Bipont +and Burnouf, who wholly omitted them. + +[284] As he was pursuing, though with a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances; the enemy in +retreat--_Utpote qui magna exercitu, locis aequioribus, expeditus, in +fuga sequeretur_. It would be tedious to notice all that has been +written upon this passage of Sallust. All the editions, before that of +Cortius, had _expeditos, in fugam_, some joining _expeditos_ with +_locis aequioribus_, and some with _in fugam_. _Expeditos in fugam_ +was first condemned by Wasse, no negligent observer of phrases, who +said that no expression parallel to it could be found in any Latin +writer. Cortius, seeing that the _expedition_, of which Sallust is +speaking, is on the part of Antonius, not of Catiline, altered +_expeditos_, though found in all the manuscripts, into _expeditus_; +and _in fugam_, at the same time, into _in fuga_; and in both these +emendations he has been cordially followed by the subsequent editors, +Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch. I have translated _magno exercitu_, +"_though_ with a large army," although, according to Dietsch and some +others, we need not consider a large army as a cause of slowness, but +may rather regard it as a cause of speed; since the more numerous were +Metellus's forces, the less he would care how many he might leave +behind through fatigue, or to guard the baggage; so that he might be +the more _expeditus_, unincumbered. With _sequeretur_ we must +understand _hostes_. The Bipont, Burnouf's, which often follows it, +and Havercamp's, are now the only editions of any note that retain +_expeditos in fugam_. + +[285] LVIII. That a spiritless army can not be rendered active, +etc.--_Neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem ex timido exercitum +oratione imperatoris fieri_. I have departed a little from the literal +reading, for the sake of ease. + +[286] That on your own right hands depend, etc.--_In dextris +portare_. "That you carry in your right hands." + +[287] Those same places--_Eadem illa_. "Coloniae atque municipia +portas claudent." _Burnouf_. + +[288] They contend for what but little concerns them--_Illis +supervacaneum est pugnare_. It is but of little concern to the great +body of them personally: they may fight, but others will have the +advantages of their efforts. + +[289] We might, etc.--_Licuit nobis_. The editions vary between +_nobis_ and _robis_; but most, with Cortius, have _nobis_. + +[290] LIX. In the rear--_In subsidio_. Most translators have +rendered this, "as a body of reserve;" but such can not well be the +signification. It seems only to mean the part behind the front: +Catiline places the eight cohorts _in front_, and the rest of his +force _in subsidio_, to support the front. _Subsidia_, according to +Varro (de L. L., iv. 16) and Festus (v. _Subsidium_), was a term +applied to the Triarii, because they _subsidebant_, or sunk down on +one knee, until it was their turn to act. See Sheller's Lex. v. +_Subsidium_. "Novissimi ordines ita dicuntur." _Gerlach_. _In +subsidiis_, which occurs a few lines below, seems to signify _in lines +in the rear_; as in Jug. 49, _triplicibus subsidiis aciem intruxit, +i.e. with three lines behind the front_. "Subsidium ea pars aciei +vocabatur quae reliquis submitti posset; Caes. B. G., ii. 25." +_Dietsch_. + +[291] All the ablest centurions--_Centuriones omnes lectos_. +"_Lectos_ you may consider to be the same as _eximios, praestantes_, +centurionum praestantissimum quemque." _Kritzius_. Cortius and others +take it for a participle, _chosen_. + +[292] Veterans--_Evocatos_. Some would make this also a participle, +because, say they, it can not signify _evocati_, or _called-out +veterans_, since, though there were such soldiers in a regular Roman +army, there could be none so called in the tumultuary forces of +Catiline. But to this it is answered that Catiline had imitated the +regular disposition of a Roman army, and that his veterans might +consequently be called _evocati_, just as if they had been in one; +and, also that _evocatus_ as a participle would be useless; for if +Catiline removed (_subducit_) the centurions, it is unnecessary to +add that he called them out, "_Evocati_ erant, qui expletis stipendiis +non poterant in delectu scribi, sed precibus imperatoris permoti, aut +in gratiam ejus, militiam resumebant, homines longo uso militiae +peritissimi. Dio., xiv. p. 276. [Greek: _Ek touton de ton anoron kai +to ton Haeouokaton hae Ouokaton systaema (ous Anaklaetous an tis +Ellaenisas, hoti pepaumenoi taes strateias, ep' autein authis +aneklaethmsan, ouomaseien) enomisthae_.] Intelligit itaque ejusmodi +homines veteranos, etsi non proprie erant tales evocati, sed sponte +castra Catilinae essent secuti." _Cortius_. + +[293] Into the foremost ranks--_In primam aciem_. Whether Sallust +means that he ranged them with the eight cohorts, or only in the first +line of the _subsidia_, is not clear. + +[294] A certain officer of Faesulae--_Faesulanum quemdam_. "He is +thought to have been that P. Furius, whom Cicero (Cat., iii. 6, 14) +mentions as having been one of the colonists that Sylla settled at +Faesulae, and who was to have been executed, if he had been +apprehended, for having been concerned in corrupting the Allobrogian +deputies." _Dietsch_. Plutarch calls this officer Furius. + +[295] His freedmen--_Libertis_. "His own freedmen, whom he probably +had about him as a body-guard, deeming them the most attached of his +adherents. Among them was, possibly, that Sergius, whom we find +from Cic. pro Domo, 5, 6, to have been Catiline's armor bearer." +_Dietsch_. + +[296] The colonists--_Colonis_. "Veterans of Sylla, who had been +settled by him as colonists in Etruria, and who had now been induced +to join Catiline." _Gerlach_. See c. 28. + +[297] By the eagle--_Propter aquilam_. See Cic. in Cat., i. 9. + +[298] Being lame--_Pedibus aeger_. It has been common among +translators to render _pedibus aeger_ afflicted with the gout, though +a Roman might surely be lame without having the gout. As the lameness +of Antonius, however, according to Dion Cassius (xxxvii. 39), was only +pretended, it may be thought more probable that he counterfeited the +gout than any other malady. It was with this belief, I suppose, that +the writer of a gloss on one of the manuscripts consulted by Cortius, +interpreted the words, _ultroneam passus est podogram_, "he was +affected with a voluntary gout." Dion Cassius says that he preferred +engaging with Antonius, who had the larger army, rather than with +Metellus, who had the smaller, because he hoped that Antonius would +designedly act in such a way as to lose the victory. + +[299] To meet the present insurrection--_Tumulti causa_. Any sudden +war or insurrection in Italy or Gaul was called _tumultus_. See +Cic. Philipp. v. 12. + +[300] Their temples and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis_. See +c. 52. + +[301] LX. In a furious charge--_Infestis siqnis_. + +[302] Offering but partial resistance--_Alios alibi resistentes_. +Not making a stand in a body, but only some in one place, and some in +another. + +[303] Among the first, etc.--_In primis pugnantes cadunt_. Cortius +very properly refers _in primis_ to _cadunt_. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + +EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. + + +A.U.C 685.--COSS. L. CAECILIUS METELLUS, Q. MARCIIS REX.--Catiline is +Praetor. + +686.--C. CALPURNIUS PISO, M. ACILIUS GLABRIO.--Catiline Governor of +Africa. + +687.--L. VOLCATIUS TULLUS, M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS.--Deputies from Africa +accuse Catiline of extortion, through the agency of Clodius. He is +obliged to desist from standing for the consulship, and forms the +project of the first conspiracy. See Sall. Cat., c. 18. + +688.--L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS, L. AURELIUS COTTA.--_Jan_. 1: Catiline's +project of the first conspiracy becomes known, and he defers the +execution of it to the 5th of February, when he makes an unsuccessful +attempt to execute it. _July_ 17: He is acquitted of extortion, and +begins to canvass for the consulship for the year 690. + +689.--L. JULIUS CAESAR, C. MARCIUS FIGULUS THERMUS.--_June_ 1: +Catiline convokes the chiefs of the second conspiracy. He is +disappointed in his views on the consulship. + +690--M. TULLIUS CICERO, C. ANTONIUS HYBRIDA.--_Oct_. 19: Cicero lays +the affair of the conspiracy before the senate, who decree plenary +powers to the consuls for defending the state. _Oct_. 21: Silanus and +Muraena are elected consuls for the next year, Catiline, who was a +candidate, being rejected. _Oct_. 22: Catiline is accused under the +Plautian Law _de vi_. Sall. Cat., c. 31. _Oct_. 24: Manlius takes up +arms in Etruria. _Nov_. 6: Catiline assembles the chief conspirators, +by the agency of Porcius Laeca Sall. Cat., c. 27. _Nov_. 7: Vargunteius +and Cornelius undertake to assassinate Cicero. Sall. Cat., c. 28. +_Nov_. 8: Catiline appears in the senate; Cicero delivers his first +Oration against him; he threatens to extinguish the flame raised +around him in a general destruction, and quits Rome. Sall. Cat., c. +31. _Nov_. 9: Cicero delivers his second Oration against Catiline, +before an assembly of the people, convoked by order of the senate. +_Nov_. 20, _or thereabouts_: Catiline and Manlius are declared public +enemies. Soon after this the conspirators attempt to secure the +support of the Allobrogian deputies. _Dec_. 3: About two o'clock in +the morning the Allobroges are apprehended. Toward evening Cicero +delivers his third Oration against Catiline, before the people. _Dec_. +5. Cicero's fourth Oration against Catiline, before the senate. Soon +after, the conspirators are condemned to death, and great honors are +decreed by the senate to Cicero. 691.--D. JUNIUS SILANUS, L. LICINIUS +MURAENA--_Jan_. 5: Battle of Pistoria, and death of Catiline. + + * * * * * + +The narrative of Sallust terminates with the account of the battle of +Pistoria. There are a few other particulars connected with the history +of the conspiracy, which, for the sake of the English reader, it may +not be improper to add. + +When the victory was gained, Antonius caused Catiline's head to be cut +off, and sent it to Rome by the messengers who carried the news. +Antonius himself was honored, by a public decree, with the title of +_Imperator_, although he had done little to merit the distinction, and +although the number of slain, which was three thousand, was less than +that for which the title was generally given. See Dio Cass. xxxvii., +40, 41. + +The remains of Catiline's army, after the death of their leader, +continued to make efforts to raise another insurrection. In August, +eight months after the battle, a party, under the command of Lucius +Sergius, perhaps a relative or freedman of Catiline, still offered +resistance to the forces of the government in Etruria. _Reliquiae +conjuratorum, cum L. Sergio, tumultuantur in Hetruria_. Fragm. Act. +Diurn. The responsibility of watching these marauders was left to the +proconsul Metellus Celer. After some petty encounters, in which the +insurgents were generally worsted, Sergius, having collected his force +at the foot of the Alps, attempted to penetrate into the country of +the Allobroges, expecting to find them ready to take up arms; but +Metellus, learning his intention, pre-occupied the passes, and then +surrounded and destroyed him and his followers. + +At Rome, in the mean time, great honors were paid to Cicero. A +thanksgiving of thirty days was decreed in his name, an honor which +had previously been granted to none but military men, and which was +granted to him, to use his own words, because _he had delivered the +city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war_. "If +my thanksgiving," he also observes, "be compared with those of others, +there will be found this difference, that theirs were granted them for +having managed the interests of the republic successfully, but that +mine was decreed to me for having preserved the republic from ruin." +See Cic. Orat. iii., in Cat., c. 6. Pro Sylla, c. 30. In Pison. c. 3. +Philipp. xiv., 8. Quintus Catulus, then _princeps senatus_, and Marcus + + Roma parentem, + Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. + +Juv. Sat., viii. 244. + +Of the inferior conspirators, who did not follow Sergius, and who were +apprehended at Rome, or in other parts of Italy, after the death of +the leaders in the plot, some were put to death, chiefly on the +testimony of Lucius Vettius, one of their number, who turned informer +against the rest. But many whom he accused were acquitted; others, +supposed to be guilty, were allowed to escape. + + + + + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The author's declaration of his design, and +prefatory account of Jugurtha's family, V. Jugurtha's character, VI. +His talents excite apprehensions in his uncle Micipsa, VII. He is sent +to Numantia. His merits, his favor with Scipio, and his popularity in +the army, VIII. He receives commendation and advice from Scipio and is +adopted by Micipsa, who resolves that Jugurtha, Adherbal, and +Hiempsal, shall, at his death, divide his kingdom equally between +them, IX. He is addressed by Micipsa on his death-bed, X. His +proceedings, and those of Adherbal and Hiempsal, after the death of +Micipsa, XI. He murders Hiempsal, XII. He defeats Adherbal, and drives +him for refuge to Rome. He dreads the vengeance of the senate, and +sends embassadors to Rome, who are confronted with those of Adherbal +in the senate-house, XIII. The speech of Adherbal, XIV. The reply of +Jugurtha's embassadors, and the opinions of the senators, XV. The +prevalence of Jugurtha's money, and the partition of the kingdom +between him and Adherbal, XVI. A description of Africa, XVII. An +account of its inhabitants, and of its principal divisions at the +commencement of the Jugurthine war, XVIII., XIX. Jugurtha invades +Adherbal's part of the kingdom, XX. He defeats Adherbal, and besieges +him in Cirta, XXI. He frustrates the intentions of the Roman deputies, +XXII. Adherbal's distresses, XXIII. His letter to the senate, XXIV. +Jugurtha disappoints a second Roman deputation, XXV. He takes Cirta, +and puts Adherdal to death, XXVI. The senate determine to make war +upon him, and commit the management of it to Calpurnius, XXVII. He +sends an ineffectual embassy to the senate. His dominions are +vigorously invaded by Calpurnius, XXVIII. He bribes Calpurnius, and +makes a treaty with him, XXIX. His proceedings are discussed at Rome, +XXX. The speech of Memmius concerning them, XXXI. The consequences of +it, XXXII. The arrival of Jugurtha at Rome, and his appearance before +the people, XXXIII., XXXIV. He procures the assassination of Massiva, +and is ordered to quit Italy, XXXV. Albinus, the successor of +Calpurnius, renews the war. He returns to Rome, and leaves his brother +Aulus to command in his absence, XXXVI. Aulus miscarries in the siege +of Suthul, and concludes a dishonorable treaty with Jugurtha, XXXVII, +XXXVIII. His treaty is annulled by the senate. His brother, Albinus, +resumes the command, XXXIX. The people decree an inquiry into the +conduct of those who had treated with Jugurtha, XL. Consideration on +the popular and senatorial factions, XLI., XLII. Metellus assumes the +conduct of the war, XLIII. He finds the army in Numidia without +discipline, XLIV. He restores subordination, XLV. He rejects +Jugurtha's offers of submission, bribes his deputies, and marches into +the country, XLVI. He places a garrison in Vacca, and seduces other +deputies of Jugurtha, XLVII. He engages with Jugurtha, and defeats +him. His lieutenant, Rutilius, puts to flight Bomilcar, the general of +Jugurtha, XLVIII.-LIII. He is threatened with new opposition. He lays +waste the country. His stragglers are cut off by Jugurtha, LIV. His +merits are celebrated at Rome. His caution. His progress retarded, LV. +He commences the siege of Zama, which is reinforced by Jugurtha. His +lieutenant, Marius, repulses Jugurtha at Sicca, LVI. He is joined by +Marius, and prosecutes the siege. His camp is surprised, LVII., LVIII. +His struggles with Jugurtha, and his operations before the town, LIX., +LX. He raises the siege, and goes into winter quarters. He attaches +Bomilcar to his interest, LXI. He makes a treaty with Jugurtha, who +breaks it, LXII. The ambition of Marius. His character. His desire of +the consulship, LXIII. His animosity toward Metellus. His intrigues to +supplant him, LXIV, LXV. The Vaccians surprise the Roman garrison, and +kill all the Romans but Turpilius, the governor, LXVI., LXVII. +Metellus recovers Vacca, and puts Turpilius to death, LXVIII., LXIX. +The conspiracy of Bomilcar, and Nabdalsa against Jugurtha, and the +discovery of it. Jugurtha's disquietude, LXX.-LXXII. Metellus makes +preparations for a second campaign. Marius returns to Rome, and is +chosen consul, and appointed to command the army in Numidia, LXXIII. +Jugurtha's irresolution. Metellus defeats him, LXXIV. The flight of +Jugurtha to Thala. The march of Metellus in pursuit of him, LXXV. +Jugurtha abandons Thala, and Metellus takes possession of it, LXXVI. +Metellus receives a deputation from Leptis, and sends a detachment +thither, LXXVII. The situation of Leptis, LXXVIII. The history of +the Philaeni, LXXIX. Jugurtha collects an army of Getulians, and gains +the support of Bocchus, King of Mauritania. The two kings proceed +toward Cirta, LXXX., LXXXI. Metellus marches against them, but hearing +that Marius is appointed to succeed him, contents himself with +endeavoring to alienate Bocchus from Jugurtha, and protracting the war +rather than prosecuting it, LXXXII., LXXXIII. The preparations of Marius +for his departure. His disposition toward the nobility. His popularity, +LXXXIV. His speech to the people, LXXXV. He completes his levies, and +arrives in Africa, LXXXVI. He opens the campaign, LXXXVII. The reception +of Metellus in Rome. The successes and plans of Marius. The applications +of Bocchus, LXXXVIII. Marius marches against Capsa, and takes it, +LXXXIX-XCI. He gains possession of a fortress which the Numidians thought +impregnable, XCII.-XCIV. The arrival of Sylla in the camp. His character, +XCV. His arts to obtain the favor of Marius and the soldiers, XCVI. +Jugurtha and Bocchus attack Marius, and are vigorously opposed, XCVII., +XCVIII. Marius surprises them in the night, and routs them with great +slaughter, XCIX. Marius prepares to go into winter quarters. His +vigilance, and maintenance of discipline, C. He fights a second battle +with Jugurtha and Bocchus, and gains a second victory over them, CI. He +arrives at Cirta. He receives a deputation from Bocchus, and sends Sylla +and Manlius to confer with him, CII. Marina undertakes an expedition +Bocchus prepares to send ambassadors to Rome, who being stripped by +robbers, takes refuge in the Roman camp, and are entertained by Sylla +during the absence of Marius, CIII. Marius returns. The ambassadors +set out for Rome. The answer which they receive from the senate, CIV. +Bocchus desires a conference with Sylla; Sylla arrives at the camp of +Bocchus, CV.-CVII. Negotiations between Sylla and Bocchus, CVIII., +CIX. The address of Bocchus to Sylla, CX. The reply of Sylla. The +subsequent transactions between them. The resolution of Bocchus to +betray Jugurtha, and the execution of it, CXI-CXIII. The triumph of +Marius, CXIV. + + + + +I. Mankind unreasonably complain of their nature, that, being weak and +short-lived, it is governed by chance rather than intellectual power;[1] +for, on the contrary, you will find, upon reflection, that there is +nothing more noble or excellent, and that to nature is wanting rather +human industry than ability or time. + +The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it +pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful, +efficient, and worthy of honor,[2] and needs no assistance from +fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good +qualities, nor can take them away. But if the mind, ensnared by +corrupt passions, abandons itself[3] to indolence and sensuality, when +it has indulged for a season in pernicious gratifications, and when +bodily strength, time, and mental vigor, have been wasted in sloth, +the infirmity of nature is accused, and those who are themselves in +fault impute their delinquency to circumstances.[4] + +If man, however, had as much regard for worthy objects, as he has +spirit in the pursuit of what is useless,[5] unprofitable, and even +perilous, he would not be governed by circumstances more than he would +govern them, and would attain to a point of greatness, at which, +instead of being mortal,[6] he would be immortalized by glory. + +II. As man is composed of mind and body, so, of all our concerns and +pursuits, some partake the nature of the body, and some that of the +mind. Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and +all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal. + +Of the advantages of person and fortune, as there is a beginning, +there is also an end; they all rise and fall,[7] increase and decay. +But the mind, incorruptible and eternal, the ruler of the human race, +actuates and has power over all things,[8] yet is itself free from +control. + +The depravity of those, therefore, is the more surprising, who, +devoted to corporeal gratifications, spend their lives in luxury and +indolence, but suffer the mind, than which nothing is better or +greater in man, to languish in neglect and inactivity; especially when +there are so many and various mental employments by which the highest +renown may be attained. + +III. Of these occupations, however, civil and military offices,[9] and +all administration of public affairs, seem to me at the present time, +by no means to be desired; for neither is honor conferred on merit, +nor are those, who have gained power by unlawful means, the more +secure or respected for it. To rule our country or subjects[10] by +force, though we may have the ability, and may correct what is wrong, +is yet an ungrateful undertaking; especially as all changes in the +state lead to[11] bloodshed, exile, and other evils of discord; while +to struggle in ineffectual attempts, and to gain nothing, by wearisome +exertions, but public hatred, is the extreme of madness; unless when a +base and pernicious spirit, perchance, may prompt a man to sacrifice +his honor and liberty to the power of a party. + +IV. Among other employments which are pursued by the intellect, the +recording of past events is of pre-eminent utility; but of its merits +I may, I think, be silent, since many have spoken of them, and since, +if I were to praise my own occupation, I might be considered as +presumptuously[12] praising myself. I believe, too, that there will be +some, who, because I have resolved to live unconnected with political +affairs, will apply to my arduous and useful labors the name of +idleness; especially those who think it an important pursuit to court +the people, and gain popularity by entertainments. But if such persons +will consider at what periods I obtained office, what sort of men[13] +were then unable to obtain it, and what description of persons have +subsequently entered the senate,[14] they will think, assuredly, that +I have altered my sentiments rather from prudence than from indolence, +and that more good will arise to the state from my retirement, than +from the busy efforts of others. + +I have often heard that Quintus Maximus,[15] Publius Scipio,[16] and +many other illustrious men of our country, were accustomed to observe, +that, when they looked on the images of their ancestors, they felt +their minds irresistibly excited to the pursuit of honor.[17] Not, +certainly, that the wax,[18] or the shape, had any such influence; +but, as they called to mind their forefathers' achievements, such a +flame was kindled in the breasts of those eminent persons, as could +not be extinguished till their own merit had equaled the fame and +glory of their ancestors. + +But, in the present state of manners, who is there, on the contrary, +that does not rather emulate his forefathers in riches and extravagance, +than in virtue and labor? Even men of humble birth,[19] who formerly +used to surpass the nobility in merit, pursue power and honor rather +by intrigue and dishonesty, than by honorable qualifications; as if +the praetorship, consulate, and all other offices of the kind, were +noble and dignified in themselves, and not to be estimated according +to the worth of those who fill them. + +But, in expressing my concern and regret at the manners of the state, +I have proceeded with too great freedom, and at too great length. I +now return to my subject. + +V. I am about to relate the war which the Roman people carried on with +Jugurtha, King of the Numidians; first, because it was great, sanguinary, +and of varied fortune; and secondly, because then, for the first time, +opposition was offered to the power of the nobility; a contest which +threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion,[20] and was +carried to such a height of madness, that nothing but war, and the +devastation of Italy, could put an end to civil dissensions.[21] But +before I fairly commence my narrative, I will take a review of a few +preceding particulars, in order that the whole subject may be more +clearly and distinctly understood. + +In the second Punic war, in which Hannibal, the leader of the +Carthaginians, had weakened the power of Italy more than any other +enemy[22] since the Roman name became great,[23] Masinissa, King of +the Numidians, being received into alliance by Publius Scipio, who, +from his merits was afterward surnamed Africanus, had performed for us +many eminent exploits in the field. In return for which services, +after the Carthaginians were subdued, and after Syphax,[24] whose +power in Italy was great and extensive, was taken prisoner, the Roman +people presented to Masinissa, as a free gift, all the cities and +lands that they had captured. Masinissa's friendship for us, +accordingly, remained faithful and inviolate; his reign[25] and his +life ended together. His son, Micipsa, alone succeeded to his kingdom; +Mastanabal and Gulussa, his two brothers, having been carried off by +disease. Micipsa had two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and had brought +up in his house, with the same care as his own children, a son of his +brother Mastanabal, named Jugurtha, whom Masinissa, as being the son +of a concubine, had left in a private station. + +VI. Jugurtha, as he grew up, being strong in frame, graceful in +person, but, above all, vigorous in understanding, did not allow +himself to be enervated by pleasure and indolence, but, as is the +usage of his country, exercised himself in riding, throwing the +javelin, and contending in the race with his equals in age; and, +though he excelled them all in reputation, he was yet beloved by all. +He also passed much of his time in hunting; he was first, or among the +first, to wound the lion and other beasts; he performed very much, but +spoke very little of himself. + +Micipsa, though he was at first gratified with these circumstances, +considering that the merit of Jugurtha would be an honor to his +kingdom, yet, when he reflected that the youth was daily increasing in +popularity, while he himself was advanced in age, and his children but +young, he was extremely disturbed at the state of things, and revolved +it frequently in his mind. The very nature of man, ambitious of power, +and eager to gratify its desires, gave him reason for apprehension, as +well as the opportunity afforded by his own age and that of his children, +which was sufficient, from the prospect of such a prize, to lead astray +even men of moderate desires. The affection of the Numidians, too, which +was strong toward Jugurtha, was another cause for alarm; among whom, if +he should cut off such a man, he feared that some insurrection or war +might arise. + +VII. Surrounded by such difficulties, and seeing that a man, so +popular among his countrymen, was not to be destroyed either by force +or by fraud, he resolved, as Jugurtha was of an active disposition, +and eager for military reputation, to expose him to dangers in the +field, and thus make trial of fortune. During the Numantine war,[26] +therefore, when he was sending supplies of horse and foot to the +Romans, he gave him the command of the Numidians, whom he dispatched +into Spain, hoping that he would certainly perish, either by an +ostentatious display of his bravery, or by the merciless hand of the +enemy. But this project had a very different result from that which he +had expected. For when Jugurtha, who was of an active and penetrating +intellect, had learned the disposition of Publius Scipio, the Roman +general, and the character of the enemy, he quickly rose, by great +exertion and vigilance, by modestly submitting to orders, and frequently +exposing himself to dangers, to such a degree of reputation, that he was +greatly beloved by our men, and extremely dreaded by the Numantines. He +was indeed, what is peculiarly difficult, both brave in action, and wise +in counsel; qualities, of which the one, from forethought, generally +produces fear, and the other, from confidence, rashness. The general, +accordingly, managed almost every difficult matter by the aid of +Jugurtha, numbered him among his friends, and grew daily more and more +attached to him, as a man whose advice and whose efforts were never +useless. With such merits were joined generosity of disposition, and +readiness of wit, by which he united to himself many of the Romans in +intimate friendship. + +VIII. There were at that time, in our army, a number of officers, some +of low, and some of high birth, to whom wealth was more attractive +than virtue or honor; men who were attached to certain parties, and of +consequence in their own country; but, among the allies, rather +distinguished than respected. These persons inflamed the mind of +Jugurtha, of itself sufficiently aspiring, by assuring him, "that if +Micipsa should die, he might have the kingdom of Numidia to himself; +for that he was possessed of eminent merit, and that anything might be +purchased at Rome." + +When Numantia, however, was destroyed, and Scipio had determined to +dismiss the auxiliary troops, and to return to Rome, he led Jugurtha, +after having honored him, in a public assembly, with the noblest +presents and applauses, into his own tent; where he privately +admonished him "to court the friendship of the Romans rather by +attention to them as a body, than by practicing on individuals;[27] +to bribe no one, as what belonged to many could not without danger be +bought from a few; and adding that, if he would but trust to his own +merits, glory and regal power would spontaneously fall to his lot; +but, should he proceed too rashly, he would only, by the influence of +his money, hasten his own ruin." + +IX. Having thus spoken, he took leave of him, giving him a letter, +which he was to present to Micipsa, and of which the following was +the purport: "The merit of your nephew Jugurtha, in the war against +Numantia, has been eminently distinguished; a fact which I am sure +will afford you pleasure. He is dear to us for his services, and we +shall strive, with our utmost efforts, to make him equally dear to the +senate and people of Rome. As a friend, I sincerely congratulate you; +you have a kinsman worthy of yourself, and of his grandfather +Masinissa." + +Micipsa, when he found, from the letter of the general, that what he +had already heard reported was true, being moved, both by the merit of +the youth and by the interest felt for him by Scipio, altered his +purpose, and endeavored to win Jugurtha by kindness. He accordingly, +in a short time,[28] adopted him as his son, and made him, by his +will, joint-heir with his own children. + +A few years afterward, when, being debilitated by age and disease, he +perceived that the end of his life was at hand, he is said, in the +presence of his friends and relations, and of Adherbal and Hiempsal +his sons, to have spoken with Jugurtha in the following manner: + +X. "I received you, Jugurtha, at a very early age, into my kingdom,[29] +at a time when you had lost your father, and were without prospects or +resources, expecting that, in return for my kindness, I should not be +less loved by you than by my own children, if I should have any. Nor +have my anticipations deceived me; for, to say nothing of your other +great and noble deeds, you have lately, on your return from Numantia, +brought honor and glory both to me and my kingdom; by your bravery, +you have rendered the Romans, from being previously our friends, more +friendly to us than ever; the name of our family is revived in Spain; +and, finally, what is most difficult among mankind, you have suppressed +envy by preeminent merit.[30] + +And now, since nature is putting a period to my life, I exhort and +conjure you, by this right hand, and by the fidelity which you owe to +my kingdom,[31] to regard these princes, who are your cousins by +birth, and your brothers by my generosity, with sincere affection; and +not to be more anxious to attach to yourself strangers, than to retain +the love of those connected with you by blood. It is not armies, or +treasures,[32] that form the defenses of a kingdom, but friends, whom +you can neither command by force nor purchase with gold; for they are +acquired only by good offices and integrity. And who can be a greater +friend than one brother to another?[33] Or what stranger will you find +faithful, if you are at enmity with your own family? I leave you a +kingdom, which will be strong if you act honorably, but weak, if you +are ill-affected to each other; for by concord even small states are +increased, but by discord, even the greatest fall to nothing. + +But on you, Jugurtha, who are superior in age and wisdom, it is +incumbent, more than on your brothers, to be cautious that nothing of +a contrary tendency may arise; for, in all disputes, he that is the +stronger, even though he receive the injury, appears, because his +power is greater, to have inflicted it. And do you, Adherbal and +Hiempsal, respect and regard a kinsman of such a character; imitate +his virtues, and make it your endeavor to show that I have not adopted +a better son[34] than those whom I have begotten." + +XI. To this address, Jugurtha, though he knew that the king had spoken +insincerely,[35] and though he was himself revolving thoughts of a far +different nature, yet replied with good feeling, suitable to the +occasion. A few days afterward Micipsa died. + +When the princes had performed his funeral with due magnificence, they +met together to hold a discussion on the general condition of their +affairs. Hiempsal, the youngest, who was naturally violent, and who +had previously shown contempt for the mean birth of Jugurtha, as being +inferior on his mother's side, sat down on the right hand of Adherbal, +in order to prevent Jugurtha from being the middle one of the three, +which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor.[36] Being +urged by his brother, however, to yield to superior age, he at length +removed, but with reluctance, to the other seat.[37] + +In the course of this conference, after a long debate about the +administration of the kingdom, Jugurtha suggested, among other +measures, "that all the acts and decrees made in the last five years +should be annulled, as Micipsa, during that period, had been enfeebled +by age, and scarcely sound in intellect." + +Hiempsal replied, "that he was exceedingly pleased with the proposal, +since Jugurtha himself, within the last three years, had been adopted +as joint-heir to the throne." This repartee sunk deeper into the mind +of Jugurtha than any one imagined. From that very time, accordingly, +being agitated with resentment and jealousy, he began to meditate and +concert schemes, and to think of nothing but projects for secretly +cutting off Hiempsal. But his plans proving slow in operation, and his +angry feelings remaining unabated, he resolved to execute his purpose +by any means whatsoever. + +XII. At the first meeting of the princes, of which I have just spoken, +it had been resolved, in consequence of their disagreement, that the +treasures should be divided among them, and that limits should be set +to the jurisdiction of each. Days were accordingly appointed for both +these purposes, but the earlier of the two for the division of the +money. The princes, in the mean time, retired into separate places of +abode in the neighborhood of the treasury. Hiempsal, residing in the +town of Thirmida, happened to occupy the house of a man, who, being +Jugurtha's chief lictor,[38] had always been liked and favored by his +master. This man, thus opportunely presented as an instrument, +Jugurtha loaded with promises, and induced him to go to his house, as +if for the purpose of looking over it, and provide himself with false +keys to the gates; for the true ones used to be given to Hiempsal, +adding, that he himself, when circumstances should call for his +presence, would be at the place with a large body of men. This +commission the Numidian speedily executed, and, according to his +instructions, admitted Jugurtha's men in the night, who, as soon as +they had entered the house, went different ways in quest of the +prince; some of his attendants they killed while asleep, and others as +they met them; they searched into secret places, broke open those that +were shut, and filled the whole premises with uproar and tumult. +Hiempsal, after a time, was found concealed in the hut of a +maid-servant,[39] where, in his alarm and ignorance of the locality, +he had at first taken refuge. The Numidians, as they had been ordered, +brought his head to Jugurtha. + +XIII The report of so atrocious an outrage was soon spread through +Africa. Fear seized on Adherbal, and on all who had been subject to +Micipsa. The Numidians divided into two parties, the greater number +following Adherbal, but the more warlike, Jugurtha; who, accordingly, +armed as large a force as he could, brought several cities, partly by +force and partly by their own consent, under his power, and prepared +to make himself sovereign of the whole of Numidia. Adherbal, though he +had sent embassadors to Rome, to inform the senate of his brother's +murder and his own circumstances, yet, relying on the number of his +troops, prepared for an armed resistance. When the matter, however, +came to a contest, he was defeated, and fled from the field of battle +into our province,[40] and from thence hastened to Rome. + +Jugurtha, having thus accomplished his purposes,[41] and reflecting, +at leisure, on the crime which he had committed, began to feel a dread +of the Roman people, against whose resentment he had no hopes of +security but in the avarice of the nobility, and in his own wealth. A +few days afterward, therefore, he dispatched embassadors to Rome, with +a profusion of gold and silver, whom he directed, in the first place, +to make abundance of presents to his old friends, and then to procure +him new ones; and not to hesitate, in short; to effect whatever could +be done by bribery. + +When these deputies had arrived at Rome, and had sent large presents, +according to the prince's direction, to his intimate friends,[42] and +to others whose influence was at that time powerful, so remarkable a +change ensued, that Jugurtha, from being an object of the greatest +odium, grew into great regard and favor with the nobility; who, partly +allured with hope, and partly with actual largesses, endeavored, by +soliciting the members of the senate individually, to prevent any +severe measures from being adopted against him. When the embassadors +accordingly, felt sure of success, the senate, on a fixed day, gave +audience to both parties[43]. On that occasion, Adherbal, as I have +understood, spoke to the following effect: + +XIV. "My father Micipsa, Conscript Fathers, enjoined me, on his +death-bed, to look upon the kingdom of Numidia as mine only by +deputation;[44] to consider the right and authority as belonging to +you; to endeavor, at home and in the field, to be as serviceable to +the Roman people as possible; and to regard you as my kindred and +relatives:[45] saying that, if I observed these injunctions. I should +find, in your friendship, armies, riches, and all necessary defenses +of my realm. By these precepts I was proceeding to regulate my conduct, +when Jugurtha, the most abandoned of all men whom the earth contains, +setting at naught your authority, expelled me, the grandson of Masinissa, +and the hereditary[46] ally and friend of the Roman people, from my +kingdom and all my possessions. + +Since I was thus to be reduced to such an extremity of wretchedness, +I could wish that I were able to implore your aid, Conscript Fathers, +rather for the sake of my own services than those of my ancestors; I +could wish, indeed, above all, that acts of kindness were due to me +from the Romans, of which I should not stand in need; and, next to +this,[47] that, if I required your services, I might receive them as +my due. But as integrity is no defense in itself, and as I had no +power to form the character of Jugurtha,[48] I have fled to you, +Conscript Fathers, to whom, what is the most grievous of all things, I +am compelled to become a burden before I have been an assistance. + +Other princes have been received into your friendship after having +been conquered in war, or have solicited an alliance with you in +circumstances of distress; but our family commenced its league with +the Romans in the war with Carthage, at a time when their faith was a +greater object of attraction than their fortune. Suffer not, then, O +Conscript Fathers, a descendent of that family to implore aid from you +in vain. If I had no other plea for obtaining your assistance but my +wretched fortune; nothing to urge, but that, having been recently a +king, powerful by birth, by character, and by resources, I am now +dishonored, afflicted,[49] destitute, and dependent on the aid of +others, it would yet become the dignity of Rome to protect me from +injury, and to allow no man's dominions to be increased by crime. But +I am driven from those very territories which the Roman people gave to +my ancestors, and from which my father and grandfather, in conjunction +with yourselves, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. It is what you +bestowed that has been wrested from me; in my wrongs you are insulted. + +Unhappy man that I am! Has your kindness, O my father Micipsa, come +to this, that he whom you made equal with your children, and a sharer +of your kingdom, should become, above all others,[50] the destroyers +of your race? Shall our family, then, never be at peace? Shall we +always be harassed with war, bloodshed, and exile? While the +Carthaginians continued in power, we were necessarily exposed to all +manner of troubles; for the enemy were on our frontiers; you, our +friends, were at a distance; and all our dependence was on our arms. +But after that pest was extirpated, we were happy in the enjoyment of +tranquillity, as having no enemies but such as you should happen to +appoint us. But lo! on a sudden, Jugurtha, stalking forth with +intolerable audacity, wickedness, and arrogance, and having put to +death my brother, his own cousin, made his territory, in the first +place, the prize of his guilt; and next, being unable to ensnare me +with similar stratagems, he rendered me, when under your rule I +expected any thing rather than violence or war, an exile, as you see, +from my country and my home, the prey of poverty and misery, and safer +any where than in my own kingdom. + +I was always of opinion, Conscript Fathers, as I had often heard my +father observe, that those who cultivated your friendship might indeed +have an arduous service to perform, but would be of all people the +most secure. What our family could do for you, it has done; it has +supported you in all your wars; and it is for you to provide for our +safety in time of peace. Our father left two of us, brothers; a third, +Jugurtha, he thought would be attached to us by the benefits conferred +upon him; but one of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have +scarcely escaped the hand of lawlessness.[51] What course can I now +take? Unhappy that I am, to what place, rather than another, shall I +betake myself? All the props of our family are extinct; my father, of +necessity, has paid the debt of nature; a kinsman, whom least of all +men it became, has wickedly taken the life of my brother; and as for +my other relatives, and friends, and connections, various forms of +destruction have overtaken them. Seized by Jugurtha, some have been +crucified, and some thrown to wild beasts, while a few, whose lives +have been spared, are shut up in the darkness of the dungeon, and drag +on, amid suffering and sorrow, an existence more grievous than death +itself. + +If all that I have lost, or all that, from being friendly, has become +hostile to me,[52] remained unchanged, yet, in case of any sudden +calamity, it is of you that I should still have to implore assistance, +to whom, from the greatness of your empire, justice and injustice in +general should be objects of regard. And at the present time, when I +am exiled from my country and my home, when I am left alone, and +destitute of all that is suitable to my dignity, to whom can I go, or +to whom shall: I appeal, but to you? Shall I go to nations and kings, +who, from our friendship with Rome, are all hostile to my family? +Could I go, indeed, to any place where there are not abundance of +hostile monuments of my ancestors? Will any one, who, has ever been at +enmity with you, take pity upon me? + +Masinissa, moreover, instructed us, Conscript Fathers, to cultivate +no friendship but that of Rome, to adopt no new leagues or alliances, +as we should find, in your good-will, abundance of efficient support; +while, if the fortune of your empire should change, we must sink +together with it. But, by your own merits, and the favor of the gods, +you are great and powerful; the whole world regards you with favor and +yields to your power; and you are the better able, in consequence, to +attend to the grievances of your allies. My only fear is, that private +friendship for Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead any of you +astray; for his partisans, I hear, are doing their utmost in his +behalf, soliciting and importuning you individually, to pass no +decision against one who is absent, and whose cause is yet untried; +and saying that I state what is false, and only pretend to be an +exile, when I might, if I pleased, have remained still in my kingdom. +But would that I could see him,[53] by whose unnatural crime I am thus +reduced to misery, pretending as I now pretend; and would that, either +with you or with the immortal gods, there may at length arise some +regard for human interests; for then assuredly will he, who is now +audacious and triumphant in guilt, be tortured by every kind of +suffering, and pay a heavy penalty for his ingratitude to my father, +for the murder of my brother, and for the distress which he has +brought upon myself. + +And now, O my brother, dearest object of my affection, though thy +life has been prematurely taken from thee, and by a hand that should +have been the last to touch it, yet I think thy fate a subject for +rejoicing rather than lamentation, for, in losing life, thou hast not +been cut off from a throne, but from flight, expatriation, poverty, +and all those afflictions which now press upon me. But I, unfortunate +that I am, cast from the throne of my father into the depths of +calamity, afford an example of human vicissitudes, undecided what +course to adopt, whether to avenge thy wrongs, while I myself stand in +need of assistance, or to attempt the recovery of my kingdom, while my +life or death depends on the aid of others.[54] + +Would that death could be thought an honorable termination to my +misfortunes, that I might not seem to live an object of contempt, if, +sinking under my afflictions, I tamely submit to injustice. But now I +can neither live with pleasure, nor can die without disgrace.[55] I +implore you, therefore, Conscript Fathers, by your regard for +yourselves,[56] for your children, and for your parents, and by the +majesty of the Roman people, to grant me succor in my distress, to +arrest the progress of injustice, and not to suffer the kingdom of +Numidia, which is your own property, to sink into ruin[57] through +villainy and the slaughter of our family." + +XV. When the prince had concluded his speech, the embassadors of +Jugurtha, depending more on their money than their cause, replied, in +a few words, "that Hiempsal had been put to death by the Numidians for +his cruelty; that Adherbal, commencing war of his own accord, complained, +after he was defeated, of being unable to do injury; and that Jugurtha +entreated the senate not to consider him a different person from what +he had been known to be at Numantia, nor to set the assertions of his +enemy above his own conduct." + +Both parties then withdrew from the senate-house, and the senate +immediately proceeded to deliberate. The partisans of the embassadors, +with a great many others, corrupted by their influence, expressed +contempt for the statements of Adherbal, extolled with the highest +encomiums the merits of Jugurtha, and exerted themselves as +strenuously, with their interest and eloquence, in defense of the +guilt and infamy of another, as they would have striven for their own +honor. A few, however, on the other hand, to whom right and justice +were of more estimation than wealth, gave their opinion that Adherbal +should be assisted, and the murder of Hiempsal severely avenged. Of +all these the most forward was Aemilius Scaurus,[58] a man of noble +birth and great energy, but factious, and ambitious of power, honor, +and wealth; yet an artful concealer of his own vices. He, seeing that +the bribery of Jugurtha was notorious and shameless, and fearing that, +as in such cases often happens, its scandalous profusion might excite +public odium, restrained himself from the indulgence of his ruling +passion.[59] + +XVI. Yet that party gained the superiority in the senate, which +preferred money and interest to justice. A decree was made, "that ten +commissioners should divide the kingdom, which Micipsa had possessed, +between Jugurtha and Adherbal." Of this commission the leading person +was Lucius Opimius,[60] a man of distinction, and of great influence +at that time in the senate, from having in his consulship, on the +death of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, prosecuted the +victory of the nobility over the plebeians with great severity. + +Jugurtha, though he had already counted Scaurus among his friends at +Rome, yet received him with the most studied ceremony, and, by +presents and promises, wrought on him so effectually, that he +preferred the prince's interest to his own character, honor, and all +other considerations. The rest of the commissioners he assailed in a +similar way, and gained over most of them; by a few only integrity was +more regarded than lucre. In the division of the kingdom, that part of +Numidia which borders on Mauretania, and which is superior in +fertility and population, was allotted to Jugurtha; of the other part, +which, though better furnished with harbors and buildings, was more +valuable in appearance than in reality, Adherbal became the possessor. + +XVII. My subject seems to require of me, in this place, a brief +account of the situation of Africa, and of those nations in it with +whom we have had war or alliances. But of those tracts and countries, +which, from their heat, or difficulty of access, or extent of desert, +have been but little visited, I can not possibly give any exact +description. Of the rest I shall speak with all possible brevity. + +In the division of the earth, most writers consider Africa as a third +part; a few admit only two divisions, Asia and Europe,[61] and include +Africa in Europe. It is bounded, on the west, by the strait connecting +our sea with the ocean;[62] on the east, by a vast sloping tract, +which the natives call the Catabathmos.[63] The sea is boisterous, and +deficient in harbors; the soil is fertile in corn, and good for +pasturage, but unproductive of trees. There is a scarcity of water +both from rain and from landsprings. The natives are healthy, swift of +foot, and able to endure fatigue. Most of them die by the gradual +decay of age,[64] except such as perish by the sword or beasts of +prey; for disease finds but few victims. Animals of a venomous nature +they have in great numbers. + +Concerning the original inhabitants of Africa, the settlers that +afterward joined them, and the manner in which they intermingled, I +shall offer the following brief account, which, though it differs from +the general opinion, is that which was interpreted to me from the Punic +volumes said to have belonged to King Hiempsal[65], and which the +inhabitants of that country believe to be consistent with fact. For +the truth of the statement, however, the writers themselves must be +responsible. + +XVIII. Africa, then, was originally occupied by the Getulians and +Libyans,[66] rude and uncivilized tribes, who subsisted on the flesh +of wild animals, or, like cattle, on the herbage of the soil. They +were controlled neither by customs, laws, nor the authority of any +ruler; they wandered about, without fixed habitations, and slept in +the abodes to which night drove them. But after Hercules, as the +Africans think, perished in Spain, his army, which was composed of +various nations,[67] having lost its leader, and many candidates +severally claiming the command of it, was speedily dispersed. Of its +constituent troops, the Medes, Persians, and Armenians,[68] having +sailed over into Africa, occupied the parts nearest to our sea.[69] +The Persians, however, settled more toward the ocean,[70] and used the +inverted keels of their vessels for huts, there being no wood in the +country, and no opportunity of obtaining it, either by purchase or +barter, from the Spaniards; for a wide sea, and an unknown tongue, +were barriers to all intercourse. These, by degrees, formed +intermarriages with the Getulians; and because, from constantly trying +different soils, they were perpetually shifting their abodes, they +called themselves NUMIDIANS.[71] And to this day the huts of the +Numidian boors, which they call _mapalia_, are of an oblong shape, +with curved roofs; resembling the hulls of ships. + +The Medes and Armenians connected themselves with the Libyans, who +dwelled near the African sea; while the Getulians lay more to the +sun,[72] not far from the torrid heats; and these soon built +themselves towns,[73] as, being separated from Spain only by a strait, +they proceeded to open an intercourse with its inhabitants. The name +of Medes the Libyans gradually corrupted, changing it, in their +barbarous tongue, into Moors.[74] + +Of the Persians[75] the power rapidly increased; and at length, the +children, through excess of population, separating from the parents, +they took possession, under the name of Numidians, of those regions +bordering on Carthage which are now called Numidia. In process of +time, the two parties,[76] each assisting the other, reduced the +neighboring tribes, by force or fear, under their sway; but those who +had spread toward our sea, made the greater conquests: for the Lybians +are less warlike than the Getulians[77] At last nearly all lower +Africa[78] was occupied by the Numidians; and all the conquered tribes +were merged in the nation and name of their conquerors. + +XIX. At a later period, the Phoenicians, some of whom wished to lessen +their numbers at home, and others, ambitious of empire, engaged the +populace, and such as were eager for change, to follow them, founded +Hippo,[79] Adrumetum, Leptis,[80] and other cities, on the sea-coast; +which, soon growing powerful, became partly a support, and partly an +honor, to their parent state. Of Carthage I think it better to be +silent, than to say but little; especially as time bids me hasten to +other matters. + +Next to the Catabathmos,[81] then, which divides Egypt from Africa, +the first city along the sea-coast[82] is Cyrene, a colony of +Theraeans;[83] after which are the two Syrtes,[84] with Leptis[85] +between them; then the Altars of the Philaeni,[86] which the +Carthaginians considered the boundary of their dominion on the side of +Egypt; beyond these are the other Punic towns. The other regions, as +far as Mauretania, the Numidians occupy; the Moors are nearest to +Spain. To the south of Numidia,[87] as we are informed, are the +Getulians, of whom some live in huts, and others lead a vagrant and +less civilized life; beyond these are the Ethiopians; and further on, +regions parched by the heat of the sun. + +At the time of the Jugurthine war, most of the Punic towns, and the +territories which Carthage had lately possessed,[88] were under the +government of Roman praetors; a great part of the Getulians, and +Numidia as far as the river Mulucha, were subject to Jugurtha; while +the whole of the Moors were governed by Bocchus, a king who knew +nothing of the Romans but their name, and who, before this period, +was as little known to us, either in war or peace. Of Africa and its +inhabitants I have now said all that my narrative requires. + +XX. When the commissioners, after dividing the kingdom, had left +Africa, and Jugurtha saw that, contrary to his apprehensions, he had +obtained the object of his crimes; he then being convinced of the +truth of what he had heard from his friends at Numantia, "that all +things were purchasable at Rome," and being also encouraged by the +promises of those whom he had recently loaded with presents, directed +his views to the domain of Adherbal. He was himself bold and warlike, +while the other, at whose destruction he aimed, was quiet, unfit for +arms, of a mild temper, a fit subject for injustice, and a prey to +fear rather than an object of it. Jugurtha, accordingly, with a +powerful force, made a sudden irruption into his dominions, took +several prisoners, with cattle and other booty, set fire to the +buildings, and made hostile demonstrations against several places with +his cavalry. He then retreated, with all his followers, into his own +kingdom, expecting that Adherbal, roused by such provocation, would +avenge his wrongs by force, and thus furnish a pretext for war. But +Adherbal, thinking himself unable to meet Jugurtha in the field, and +relying on the friendship of the Romans more than on the Numidians, +merely sent embassadors to Jugurtha to complain of the outrage; and, +although they brought back but an insolent reply, yet he resolved to +endure any thing rather than have recourse to war, which, when he +attempted it before, had ended in his defeat. By such conduct the +eagerness of Jugurtha was not at all allayed; for he had now, indeed, +in imagination, possessed himself of all Adherbal's dominions. He +therefore renewed hostilities, not, as before, with a predatory band, +but at the head of a large army which he had collected, and openly +aspired to the sovereignty of all Numidia. Wherever he marched, he +ravaged the towns and the fields, drove off booty, and raised +confidence in his own men and dismay among the enemy. + +XXI. Adherbal, when he found that matters had arrived at such a point, +that he must either abandon his dominions, or defend them by force of +arms, collected an army from necessity, and advanced to meet Jugurtha. +Both armies took up[89] their position near the town of Cirta[90], at +no great distance from the sea; but, as evening was approaching, +encamped without coming to an engagement. But when the night was far +advanced, and twilight was beginning to appear[91], the troops of +Jugurtha, at a given signal, rushed into the camp of the enemy, whom +they routed and put to flight, some half asleep and others resuming +their arms. Adherbal, with a few of his cavalry, fled to Cirta; and, +had there not been a number of Romans[92] in the town, who repulsed +his Numidian pursuers from the walls, the war between the two princes +would have been begun and ended on the same day. + +Jugurtha proceeded to invest the town, and attempted to storm it with +the aid of mantelets, towers, and every kind of machines; being +anxious above all things, to take it before the ambassadors could +arrive at Rome, who, he was informed, had been dispatched thither by +Adherbal before the battle was fought. But as soon as the senate heard +of their contention, three young men[93] were sent as deputies into +Africa, with directions to go to both of the princes, and to announce +to them, in the words of the senate and people of Rome, "that it was +their will and resolution that they should lay down their arms, and +settle their disputes rather by arbitration than by the sword; since +to act thus would be to the honor both of the Romans and themselves." + +XXII. These deputies soon arrived in Africa, using the greater +dispatch, because, while they were preparing for their journey, a +report was spread at Rome of the battle which had been fought, and of +the siege of Cirta; but this report told much less than the truth[94] +Jugurtha, having given them an audience, replied, "that nothing was of +greater weight with him, nothing more respected, than the authority of +the senate; that it had been his endeavor, from his youth, to deserve +the esteem of all men of worth; that he had gained the favor of +Publius Scipio, a man of the highest eminence, not by dishonorable +practices, but by merit; that, for the same good qualities, and not +from want of heirs to the throne, he had been adopted by Micipsa; but +that, the more honorable and spirited his conduct had been, the less +could his feelings endure injustice; that Adherbal had formed designs +against his life on discovering which, he had counteracted his malice; +that the Romans would act neither justly nor reasonably, if they +withheld from him the common right of nations;[96] and, in conclusion, +that he would soon send embassadors to Rome to explain the whole of +his proceedings." On this understanding, both parties separated. Of +addressing Adherbal the deputies had no opportunity. + +XXIII. Jugurtha, as soon as he thought that they had quitted Africa, +surrounded the walls of Cirta, which, from the nature of its +situation, he was unable to take by assault, with a rampart and a +trench; he also erected towers, and manned them with soldiers; he made +attempts on the place, by force or by stratagem, day and night; he +held out bribes, and some times menaces, to the besieged; he roused +his men, by exhortations, to efforts of valor, and resorted, with the +utmost perseverance, to every possible expedient. + +Adherbal, on the other hand, seeing that his affairs were in a +desperate condition, that his enemy was determined on his ruin, that +there was no hope of succor, and that the siege, from want of +provisions, could not long be protracted, selected from among those +who had fled with him to Cirta, two of his most resolute supporters, +whom he induced, by numerous promises, and an affecting representation +of his distress, to make their way in the night, through the enemy's +lines, to the nearest point of the coast, and from thence to Rome. + +XXIV. The Numidians, in a few days executed their commission; and a +letter from Adherbal was read in the senate, of which the following +was the purport: + +"It is not through my own fault, Conscript Fathers, that I so often +send requests to you; but the violence of Jugurtha compels me; whom so +strong a desire for my destruction has seized, that he pays no +regard[96] either to you or to the immortal gods; my blood he covets +beyond every thing. Five months, in consequence, have I, the ally and +friend of the Roman people, been besieged with an armed force; neither +the remembrance of my father Micipsa's benefits, nor your decrees, are +of any avail for my relief; and whether I am more closely pressed by +the sword, or by famine, I am unable to say. + +From writing further concerning Jugurtha, my present condition deters +me; for I have experienced, even before,[97] that little credit is +given to the unfortunate. Yet I can perceive that his views extend +further than to myself, and that he does not expect to possess, at the +same time, your friendship and my kingdom; which of the two he thinks +the more desirable, must be manifest to every one. For, in the first +place, he murdered my brother Hiempsal; and, in the next, expelled me +from my dominions; which, however, may be regarded as our own wrongs, +and as having no reference to you. But now he occupies your kingdom +with an army; he keeps me, whom you appointed a king over the +Numidians, in a state of blockade; and in what estimation he holds the +words of your embassadors, my perils may serve to show. What then is +left, except your arms, that can make an impression upon him? + +I could wish, indeed, that what I now write, as well as the complaints +which I lately made before the senate, were false, rather than that my +present distresses should confirm the truth of my statements. But +since I am born to be an example of Jugurtha's villainy, I do not now +beg a release from death or distress, but only from the tyranny of an +enemy, and from bodily torture. Respecting the kingdom of Numidia, +which is your own property, determine as you please, but if the memory +of my grandfather Masinissa is still cherished by you, deliver me, I +entreat you, by the majesty of your empire, and by the sacred ties of +friendship, from the inhuman hands of Jugurtha." + +XXV. When this letter was read, there were some who thought that an +army should be dispatched into Africa, and relief afforded to +Adherbal, as soon as possible; and that the senate, in the mean time, +should give judgment on the conduct of Jugurtha, in not having obeyed +the embassadors. But by the partisans of Jugurtha, the same that had +before supported his cause, effectual exertions were made to prevent +any decree from being passed; and thus the public interest, as is too +frequently the case, was defeated by private influence. + +An embassy was, however, dispatched into Africa, consisting of men of +advanced years, and of noble birth, and who had filled the highest +offices of the state; among whom was Marcus Scaurus, already mentioned, +a man who had held the consulship, and who was at that time chief of +the senate[98]. These embassadors, as their business was an affair of +public odium, and as they were urged by the entreaties of the Numidians, +embarked in three days; and having soon arrived at Utica, sent a letter +from thence to Jugurtha, desiring him "to come to the province as +quickly as possible, as they were deputed by the senate to meet him." + +Jugurtha, when he found that men of eminence, whose influence at Rome +he knew to be powerful, were come to put a stop to his proceedings, +was at first perplexed, and distracted between fear and cupidity. He +dreaded the displeasure of the senate, if he should disobey the +embassadors; while his eager spirit, blinded by the lust of power, +hurried him on to complete the injustice which he had begun. At length +the evil incitements of ambition prevailed[99]. He accordingly drew +his army round the city of Cirta, and endeavored, with his utmost +efforts, to force an entrance; having the strongest hopes, that, by +dividing the attention of the enemy's troops, he should be able, by +force or artifice, to secure an opportunity of success. When his +attempts, however, were unavailing, and he found himself unable, as +he had designed, to get Adherbal into his power before he met the +embassadors, fearing that, by further delay, he might irritate +Scaurus, of whom he stood in great dread, he proceeded with a small +body of cavalry into the Province. Yet, though serious menaces were +repeated to him in the name of the senate, because he had not desisted +from the siege, nevertheless, after spending a long time in conference, +the embassadors departed without making any impression upon him. + +XXVI. When news of this result was brought to Cirta, the Italians[100], +by whose exertions the city had been defended, and who trusted that, if +a surrender were made, they would be able, from respect to the greatness +of the Roman power, to escape without personal injury, advised Adherbal +to deliver himself and the city to Jugurtha, stipulating only that his +life should be spared, and leaving all other matters to the care of the +senate. Adherbal, though he thought nothing less trustworthy than the +honor of Jugurtha, yet, knowing that those who advised could also compel +him if he resisted, surrendered the place according to their desire. +Jugurtha immediately proceeded to put Adherbal to death with torture, +and massacred all the inhabitants that were of age, whether Numidians +or Italians, as each fell in the way of his troops. + +XXVII. When this outrage was reported at Rome, and became a matter of +discussion in the senate, the former partisans of Jugurtha applied +themselves, by interrupting the debates and protracting the time, +sometimes exerting their interest, and sometimes quarreling with +particular members, to palliate the atrocity of the deed. And had not +Caius Memmius, one of the tribunes of the people elect, a man of +energy, and hostile to the power of the nobility, convinced the people +of Rome that an attempt was being made, by the agency of a small +faction, to have the crimes of Jugurtha pardoned, it is certain that +the public indignation against him would have passed off under the +protraction of the debates; so powerful was party interest, and the +influence of Jugurtha's money. When the senate, however, from +consciousness of misconduct, became afraid of the people, Numidia and +Italy, by the Sempronian law,[101] were appointed as provinces to the +succeeding consuls, who were declared to be Publius Scipio Nasica[102], +and Lucius Bestia Calpurnius[103]. Numidia fell to Calpurnius, and Italy +to Scipio. An army was then raised to be sent into Africa; and pay, and +all other necessaries of war, were decreed for its use. + +XXVIII. When Jugurtha received this news, which was utterly at +variance with his expectations, as he had felt convinced that all +things were purchasable at Rome, he sent his son, with two of his +friends, as deputies to the senate, and directed them, like those whom +he had sent on the murder of Hiempsal, to attack every body with +bribes. Upon the approach of these deputies to Rome, the senate was +consulted by Bestia, whether they would allow them to be admitted +within the gates; and the senate decreed, "that, unless they came to +surrender Jugurtha's kingdom and himself, they must quit Italy within +the ten following days." The consul directed this decree to be +communicated to the Numidians, who consequently returned home without +effecting their object. + +Calpurnius, in the mean time, having raised an army, chose for his +officers men of family and intrigue, hoping that whatever faults he +might commit, would be screened by their influence; and among these +was Scaurus, of whose disposition and character we have already +spoken. There were, indeed, in our consul Calpurnius, many excellent +qualities, both mental and personal, though avarice interfered with +the exercise of them; he was patient of labor, of a penetrating +intellect, of great foresight, not inexperienced in war, and extremely +vigilant against danger and surprise. + +The troops were conducted through Italy to Rhegium, from thence to +Sicily, and from Sicily into Africa; and Calpurnius's first step, +after collecting provisions, was to invade Numidia with spirit, where +he took many prisoners, and several towns, by force of arms. + +XXIX. But when Jugurtha began, through his emissaries, to tempt him +with bribes, and to show the difficulties of the war which he had +undertaken to conduct, his mind, corrupted with avarice, was easily +altered. His accomplice, however, and manager in all his schemes, was +Scaurus; who, though he had at first, when most of his party were +corrupted, displayed violent hostility to Jugurtha, yet was afterward +seduced, by a vast sum of money, from integrity and honor to injustice +and perfidy. Jugurtha, however, at first sought only to purchase a +suspension of hostilities, expecting to be able, during the interval, +to make some favorable impression, either by bribery or by interest, +at Rome; but when he heard that Scaurus was co-operating with +Calpurnius, he was elated with great hopes of regaining peace, and +resolved upon a conference with them in person respecting the terms of +it. In the mean time, for the sake of giving confidence [104] to +Jugurtha, Sextus the quaestor was dispatched by the consul to Vaga, +one of the prince's towns; the pretext for his journey being the +receiving of corn, which Calpurnius had openly demanded from Jugurtha's +emissaries, on the ground that a truce was observed through their delay +to make a surrender. Jugurtha then, as he had determined, paid a visit +to the consul's camp, where, having made a short address to the council, +respecting the odium cast upon his conduct, and his desire for a +capitulation, he arranged other matters with Bestia and Scaurus in +secret; and the next day, as if by an evident majority of voices[105], +he was formally allowed to surrender. But, as was demanded in the +hearing of the council, thirty elephants, a considerable number of +cattle and horses, and a small sum of money, were delivered into the +hands of the quaestor. Calpurnius then returned to Rome to preside at +the election of magistrates[106], and peace was observed throughout +Numidia and the Roman army. + +XXX. When rumor had made known the affairs transacted in Africa, and +the mode in which they had been brought to pass, the conduct of the +consul became a subject of discussion in every place and company at +Rome. Among the people there was violent indignation; as to the +senators, whether they would ratify so flagitious a proceeding, or +annul the act of the consul, was a matter of doubt. The influence of +Scaurus, as he was said to be the supporter and accomplice of Bestia, +was what chiefly restrained the senate from acting with justice and +honor. But Caius Memmius, of whose boldness of spirit, and hatred to +the power of the nobility, I have already spoken, excited the people +by his harangues, during the perplexity and delay of the senators, to +take vengeance on the authors of the treaty; he exhorted them not to +abandon the public interest or their own liberty; he set before them +the many tyrannical and violent proceedings of the nobles, and omitted +no art to inflame the popular passions. But as the eloquence of +Memmius, at that period, had great reputation and influence I have +thought proper to give in full[107] one out of many of his speeches; +and I take, in preference to others, that which he delivered in the +assembly of the people, after the return of Bestia, in words to the +following effect: + +XXXI. "Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow-citizens, +superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which +would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of +the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all +justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more +danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the +last fifteen years[108], you have been a sport to the arrogance of an +oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders +have perished[109]; and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth +and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, +will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in +awe of those to whom you should be a terror. + +Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an +attack on the power of that faction. That liberty of speech[110], +therefore, which has been left me by my father, I shall assuredly +exert against them; but whether I shall use it in vain, or for your +advantage, must, my fellow-citizens, depend upon yourselves. I do not, +however, exhort you, as your ancestors have often done, to rise in +arms against injustice. + +There is at present no need of violence, no need of secession; for +your tyrants must work their fall by their own misconduct. + +After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring +to be king, persecutions were instituted against the common people of +Rome; and after the slaughter of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, +many of your order were put to death in prison. But let us leave these +proceedings out of the question; let us admit that to restore their +rights to the people, was to aspire to sovereignty; let us allow that +what can not be avenged without shedding the blood of citizens, was +done with justice. You have seen with silent indignation, however, in +past years, the treasury pillaged; you have seen kings, and free +people, paying tribute to a small party of Patricians, in whose hands +were both the highest honors and the greatest wealth; but to have +carried on such proceedings with impunity, they now deem but a small +matter; and, at last, your laws and your honor, with every civil and +religious obligation[111], have been sacrificed for the benefit of +your enemies. Nor do they, who have done these things, show either +shame or contrition, but parade proudly before your faces, displaying +their sacerdotal dignities, their consulships, and some of them their +triumphs, as if they regarded them as marks of honor, and not as +fruits of their dishonesty. Slaves, purchased with money[112], will +not submit to unjust commands from their masters; yet you, my +fellow-citizens, who are born to empire, tamely endure oppression. + +But who are these that have thus taken the government into their +hands? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of +insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by +whom integrity, reputation, public spirit[113], and indeed every +thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of +gain. Some of them make it their defense that they have killed +tribunes of the people; others, that they have instituted unjust +prosecutions; others, that they have shed your blood; and thus, the +more atrocities each has committed, the greater is his security; while +your oppressors, whom the same desires, the same aversions, and the +same fears, combine in strict union (a union which among good men is +friendship, but among the bad confederacy in guilt), have excited in +you, through your want of spirit, that terror which they ought to feel +for their own crimes. + +But if your concern to preserve your liberty were as great as their +ardor to increase their power of oppression, the state would not be +distracted as it is at present; and the marks of favor which proceed +from you[114], would be conferred, not on the most shameless, but on +the most deserving. Your forefathers, in order to assert their rights +and establish their authority, twice seceded in arms to Mount +Aventine; and will not you exert yourselves, to the utmost of your +power, in defense of that liberty which you received from them? Will +you not display so much the more spirit in the cause, from the +reflection that it is a greater disgrace to lose[115] what has been +gained, than not to have gained it at all? + +But some will ask me, 'What course of conduct, then, would you advise +us to pursue?' I would advise you to inflict punishment on those who +have sacrificed the interests of their country to the enemy; not, +indeed, by arms, or any violence (which would be more unbecoming, +however, for you to inflict than for them to suffer), but by +prosecutions, and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself, who, if he has +really surrendered, will doubtless obey your summons; whereas, if he +shows contempt for it, you will at once judge what sort of a peace or +surrender it is, from which springs impunity to Jugurtha for his +crimes, immense wealth to a few men in power, and loss and infamy to +the republic. + +But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; +perhaps these times please you less than those[116] when kingdoms, +provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, +and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an +oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered +by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content +with being allowed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off +your slavery? For myself, indeed, though I think it most disgraceful +to receive an injury without resenting it, yet I could easily allow +you to pardon these basest of traitors, because they are your +fellow-citizens, were it not certain that your indulgence would end in +your destruction. For such is their presumption, that to escape +punishment for their misdeeds will have but little effect upon them, +unless they be deprived, at the same time, of the power of doing +mischief; and endless anxiety will remain for you, if you shall have +to reflect that you must either be slaves or preserve your liberty by +force of arms. + +Of mutual trust, or concord, what hope is there? They wish to be +lords, you desire to be free; they seek to inflict injury, you to +repel it; they treat your allies as enemies, your enemies as allies. +With feelings so opposite, can peace or friendship subsist between +you? I warn, therefore, and exhort you, not to allow such enormous +dishonesty to go unpunished. It is not an embezzlement of the public +money[117] that has been committed; nor is it a forcible extortion of +money from your allies; offenses which, though great, are now, from +their frequency, considered as nothing; but the authority of the +senate, and your own power, have been sacrificed to the bitterest of +enemies, and the public interest has been betrayed for money, both at +home and abroad; and unless these misdeeds be investigated, and +punishment be inflicted on the guilty, what remains for us but to live +the slaves of those who committed them? For those who do what they +will with impunity are undoubtedly kings.[118] + +I do not, however, wish to encourage you, O Romans, to be better +satisfied at finding your fellow-citizens guilty than innocent, but +merely to warn you not to bring ruin on the good, by suffering the bad +to escape. It is far better, in any government, to be unmindful of a +service than of an injury; for a good man, if neglected, only becomes +less active; but a bad man, more daring. Besides, if the crimes of the +wicked are suppressed,[119] the state will seldom need extraordinary +support from the virtuous." + +XXXII. By repeating these and similar sentiments, Memmius prevailed on +the people to send Lucius Cassius,[120] who was then praetor, to +Jugurtha, and to bring him, under guarantee of the public faith[121], +to Rome, in order that, by the prince's evidence, the misconduct of +Scaurus and the rest, whom they charged with having taken bribes, +might more easily be made manifest. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had +left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their +general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced +by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his +deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so +strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had +pervaded the breasts of all. + +Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and +while all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission +to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, +from a sense of guilt, he admonished "that since he had surrendered +himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than +their power." He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not +less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at that period, +was the reputation of Cassius. + +XXXIII. Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but +without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of +a suppliant[122]; and, though he felt great confidence on his own +part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy +he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the +aid of Caius Baebius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he +hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm. + +An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although they were +violently exasperated against Jugurtha, (some demanding that he should +be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his +accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the +usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather +their character than their resentment, endeavored to calm their +turbulence and mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as +depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, +when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed +them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and +set forth his crimes toward his father and brothers; and admonished +the prince, "that the Roman people, though they were well aware by +whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony +from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope +for him in the honor and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed +it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and +his hopes forever." + +XXXIV. But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was +expected to give his answer, Caius Baebius, the tribune of the people, +whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to +hold his peace[123]; and though the multitude, who formed the +assembly, were desperately enraged, and endeavored to terrify the +tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every +other act to which anger prompts[124], his audacity was at last +triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the +place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the +others, whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented. +XXXV. There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named +Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having +been, in the dissensions among the princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had +been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, +to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with +Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, +as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung +over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom +of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for the conduct of a war, was +desirous that affairs should be disturbed[125], rather than sink into +tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia +had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. + +When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, +Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as +a sense of guilt deterred some, and evil report or timidity others, +from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most +attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by +which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and +to do it secretly if he could; but, if secrecy should be impossible, +to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon +found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such +service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of +leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places +[126], and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of +their number sprung upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and +killed him; but being himself caught, he made, at the instigation of +many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. +Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the +principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of +nations[127], as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on +a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though +clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the +truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong +for his interest or his money. For which reason, although, at the +commencement of the proceedings[128], he had given fifty of his +friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet, thinking more of his kingdom than +of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia; for he feared +that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be +deterred from obeying him[129]. A few days after, he himself departed, +having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going +from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, +to have at last exclaimed, "That it was a venal city, and would soon +perish, if it could but find a purchaser!"[130] + +XXXVI. The war being now renewed, Albinus hastened to transport +provisions, money, and other things necessary for the army, into +Africa, whither he himself soon followed, with the hope that, before +the time of the comitia, which was not far distant, he might be able, +by an engagement, by capitulation, or by some other method, to bring +the contest to a conclusion. + +Jugurtha, on the other hand, tried every means of protracting the war, +continually inventing new causes for delay; at one time he promised to +surrender, at another he feigned distrust; he retreated when Albinus +attacked him, and then, lest his men should lose courage, attacked in +return, and thus amused the consul with alternate procrastinations of +war and of peace. + +There were some, at that time, who thought that Albinus understood +Jugurtha's object, and who believed that so ready a protraction of the +war, after so much haste at the commencement, was to be attributed +less to tardiness than to treachery. However this might be, Albinus, +when time passed on, and the day of the comitia approached, left his +brother Aulus in the camp as propraetor[131], and returned to Rome. + +XXXVII. The republic, at this time, was grievously distracted by the +contentions of the tribunes. Two of them, Publius Lucullus and Lucius +Annius, were struggling against the will of their colleagues, to +prolong their term of office; and this dispute put off the comitia +throughout the year[132]. In consequence of this delay, Aulus, who, as +I have just said, was left as propraetor in the camp, conceiving hopes +either of finishing the war, or of extorting money from Jugurtha by +the terror of his army, drew out his troops in the month of January, +from their winter-quarters into the field, and by forced marches, +during severe weather, made his way to the town of Suthul, where +Jugurtha's treasures were deposited. And though this place, both from +the inclemency of the season, and from its advantageous situation, +could neither be taken nor besieged; for around its walls, which were +built on the edge of a steep hill[133], a marshy plain, flooded by the +rains of winter, had been converted into a lake; yet Aulus, either as +a feint to strike terror into Jugurtha, or blinded by avarice, began +to move forward his vineae[134], to cast up a rampart, and to hasten +all necessary preparations for a siege. + +XXXVIII. Jugurtha, seeing the propraetor's vanity and ignorance, +artfully strengthened his infatuation; he sent him, from time to time, +deputies with submissive messages, while he himself, as if desirous to +escape, led his army away through woody defiles and cross-roads. At +length he succeeded in alluring Aulus, by the prospect of a surrender +on conditions, to leave Suthul, and pursue him, as if in full retreat, +into the remoter parts of the country. Meanwhile, by means of skillful +emissaries, he tampered night and day with our men, and prevailed on +some of the officers, both of infantry and cavalry, to desert to him +at once, and upon others to quit their posts at a given signal, that +their defection might thus be less observed[135]. Having prepared +matters according to his wishes, he suddenly surrounded the camp of +Aulus, in the dead of night, with a vast body of Numidians. The Roman +soldiers were alarmed with an unusual disturbance; some of them seized +their arms, others hid themselves, others encouraged those that were +afraid; but consternation prevailed every where; for the number of the +enemy was great, the sky was thick with clouds and darkness, the +danger was indiscernible, and it was uncertain whether it were safer +to flee or to remain. Of those whom I have just mentioned as being +bribed, one cohort of Ligurians, with two troops of Thracian horse, +and a few common soldiers, went over to Jugurtha; and the chief +centurion[136] of the third legion allowed the enemy an entrance at +the very post which he had been appointed to defend, and at which all +the Numidians poured into the camp. Our men fled disgracefully, the +greater part having thrown away their arms, and took possession of a +neighboring hill. Night, and the spoils of the camp, prevented the +enemy from making full use of this victory. On the following day, +Jugurtha, coming to a conference with Aulus, told him, "that though he +held him hemmed in by famine and the sword, yet that, being mindful of +human vicissitudes, he would, if they would make a treaty with him, +allow them to depart uninjured; only that they must pass under the +yoke, and quit Numidia within ten days." These terms were severe and +ignominious; but, as death was the alternative[137], peace was +concluded as Jugurtha desired. + +XXXIX. When this affair was made known at Rome, consternation and +dismay pervaded the city; some were concerned for the glory of the +republic; others, ignorant of war, trembled for their liberty. But +all were indignant at Aulus, and especially those who had been +distinguished in the field, because, with arms in his hands, he had +sought safety in disgrace rather than in resistance. The consul +Albinus, apprehending, from the delinquency of his brother, odium and +danger to himself, consulted the senate on the treaty which had been +made, but, at the same time, raised recruits for the army, sent for +auxiliaries to the allies and Latins, and made general preparations +for war. The senate, as was just, decreed, "that no treaty could be +made without their own consent and that of the people." + +The consul, though he was hindered by the influence of the tribunes +from taking with him the force which he had raised, set out in a few +days for the province of Africa, where the whole army, being +withdrawn, according to the agreement, from Numidia, had gone into +winter-quarters. When he arrived there, although he longed to pursue +Jugurtha, and diminish the odium that had fallen on his brother, yet, +when he saw the state of the troops, whom, besides the flight and +relaxation of discipline, licentiousness, and debauchery had +corrupted, he determined, under all the circumstances of the +case[138], to attempt nothing. + +XL. At Rome, in the mean time, Caius Mamilius Limetanus, one of the +tribunes, proposed that the people should pass a bill for instituting +an inquiry into the conduct of those by whose influence Jugurtha had +set at naught the decrees of the senate, as well as of those who, +whether as embassadors or commanders, had received money from him, or +who had restored to him his elephants and deserters, or had made any +compacts with the enemy relative to peace or war. To this bill some, +who were conscious of guilt, and others, who apprehended danger from +the jealousy of parties, secretly raised obstructions through the +agency of friends, and especially of men among the Latins and Italian +allies[139], since they could not openly resist it, without admitting +that these and similar practices met their approbation. But as to the +people, it is incredible what eagerness they displayed, and with what +spirit they approved, voted, and passed the bill, though rather from +hatred to the nobility, against whom these severe measures were +directed, than from concern for the republic; so violent was the fury +of party. + +While the rest of the delinquents were in trepidation, Marcus Scaurus +[140], whom I have previously noticed as Bestia's lieutenant, +contrived, amid the exultation of the populace, the dismay of his own +party, and the continued agitation in the city, to have himself +elected one of the three commissioners who were appointed by the bill +of Mamilius to carry it into execution. But the investigation, +notwithstanding, was conducted [141] with great rigor and violence, +under the influence of common rumor and popular caprice; for the +insolence of success, which had often distinguished the nobility, on +this occasion characterized the people. + +XLI. The prevalence of parties among the people, and of factions in +the senate, and of all evil practices attendant on them, had its +origin at Rome, a few years before, during a period of tranquillity, +and amid the abundance of all that mankind regarded as desirable. For, +before the destruction of Carthage, the senate and people managed the +affairs of the republic with mutual moderation and forbearance; there +were no contests among the citizens for honor or ascendency; but the +dread of an enemy kept the state in order. When that fear, however, +was removed from their minds, licentiousness and pride, evils which +prosperity loves to foster, immediately began to prevail; and thus +peace, which they had so eagerly desired in adversity, proved, when +they had obtained it, more grievous and fatal than adversity itself. +The patricians carried their authority, and the people their liberty, +to excess; every man took, snatched, and seized[142] what he could. +There was a complete division into two factions, and the republic was +torn in pieces between them. Yet the nobility still maintained an +ascendency by conspiring together; for the strength of the people, +being disunited and dispersed among a multitude, was less able to +exert itself. Things were accordingly directed, both at home and in +the field, by the will of a small number of men, at whose disposal +were the treasury, the provinces, offices, honors, and triumphs; while +the people were oppressed with military service and with poverty, and +the generals divided the spoils of war with a few of their friends. +The parents and children of the soldiers,[143] meantime, if they +chanced to dwell near a powerful neighbor, were driven from their +homes. Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and +wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding +alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its +own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility[144], who +preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a +tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a +convulsion of the earth. + +XLII. Thus when Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose forefathers had +done much to increase the power of the state in the Punic and other +wars, began to vindicate the liberty of the people, and to expose the +misconduct of the few, the nobility, conscious of guilt, and seized +with alarm, endeavored, sometimes by means of the allies and +Latins[145], and sometimes by means of the equestrian order, whom the +hope of coalition with the patricians had detached from the people, to +put a stop to the proceedings of the Gracchi; and first they killed +Tiberius, and a few years after Caius, who pursued the same measures +as his brother, the one when he was tribune, and the other when he was +one of a triumvirate for settling colonies; and with them they cut off +Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. In the Gracchi, indeed, it must be allowed +that, from their ardor for victory, there was not sufficient prudence. +But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit[146] to +injustice than to triumph over it by improper means. The nobility, +however, using their victory with wanton extravagance, exterminated +numbers of men by the sword or by exile, yet rather increased, for the +time to come, the dread with which they were regarded, than their real +power. Such proceedings have often ruined powerful states; for of two +parties, each strives to suppress the other by any means whatever, and +take vengeance with undue severity on the vanquished. + +But were I to attempt to treat of the animosities of parties, and of +the morals of the state, with minuteness of detail, and suitably to +the vastness of the subject, time would fail me sooner than matter. I +therefore return to my subject. + +XLIII. After the treaty of Aulus, and the disgraceful flight of our +army, Quintus Metellus and Marcus Silanus, the consuls elect, divided +the provinces between them; and Numidia fell to Metellus, a man of +energy, and, though an opponent of the popular party, yet of a +character uniformly irreproachable[147]. He, as soon as he entered on +his office, regarded all other things as common to himself and his +colleague[148], but directed his chief attention to the war which he +was to conduct. Distrusting, therefore, the old army, he began to +raise new troops, to procure auxiliaries from all parts, and to +provide arms, horses, and other military requisites, besides +provisions in abundance, and every thing else which was likely to be +of use in a war varied in its character, and demanding great +resources. To assist in accomplishing these objects, the allies and +Latins, by the appointment of the senate, and different princes[149] +of their own accord, sent supplies; and the whole state exerted itself +in the cause with the greatest zeal. Having at length prepared and +arranged every thing according to his wishes, Metellus set out for +Numidia, attended with sanguine expectations on the part of his +fellow-citizens, not only because of his other excellent qualities, +but especially because his mind was proof against gold; for it was +through the avarice of our commanders, that, down to this period, our +affairs in Numidia had been ruined, and those of the enemy rendered +prosperous. + +XLIV. When he arrived in Africa, the command of the army was resigned +to him by Albinus, the proconsul[150]; but it was an army spiritless +and unwarlike; incapable of encountering either danger or fatigue; +more ready with the tongue than with the sword; accustomed to plunder +our allies, while itself was the prey of the enemy; unchecked by +discipline, and void of all regard to its character. The new general, +accordingly, felt more anxiety from the corrupt morals of the men, +than confidence or hope from their numbers. He determined, however, +though the delay of the comitia had shortened his summer campaign, and +though he knew his countrymen to be anxious for the result of his +proceedings, not to commence operations, until, by a revival of the +old discipline, he had brought the soldiers to bear fatigue. For +Albinus, dispirited by the disaster of his brother Aulus and his army, +and having resolved not to leave the province during the portion of +the summer that he was to command, had kept the soldiers, for the most +part, in a stationary camp[151], except when stench, or want of +forage, obliged them to remove. But neither had the camp been +fortified[152], nor the watches kept, according to military usage; +every one had been allowed to leave his post when he pleased. The +camp-followers, mingled with the soldiers, wandered about day and +night, ravaging the country, robbing the houses, and vying with each +other in carrying off cattle and slaves, which they exchanged with +traders for foreign wine[153] and other luxuries; they even sold the +corn, which was given them from the public store, and bought bread +from day to day; and, in a word, whatever abominations, arising from +idleness and licentiousness, can be expressed or imagined, and even +more, were to be seen in that army. + +XLV. But I am assured that Metellus, in these difficult circumstances, +no less than in his operations against the enemy, proved himself a +great and wise man; so just a medium did he observe between an +affectation of popularity and an excessive enforcement of discipline. +His first measure was to remove incentives to idleness, by a general +order that no one should sell bread, or any other dressed provisions, +in the camp; that no sutlers should follow the army; and that no +common soldier should have a servant, or beast of burden, either in a +camp or on a march. He made the strictest regulations, too, with +regard to other things.[154] He moved his camp daily, exercising the +soldiers by marches across the country; he fortified it with a rampart +and a trench, exactly as if the enemy had been at hand; he placed +numerous sentinels[155] by night, and went the rounds with his +officers; and, when the army was on the march; he would be at one time +in the front, at another in the rear, and at another in the center, to +see that none quitted their ranks, that the men kept close to their +standards, and that every soldier carried his provisions and his arms. +Thus by preventing rather than punishing irregularities, he in a short +time rendered his army effective. + +XLVI. Jugurtha, meantime, having learned from his emissaries how +Metellus was proceeding, and having heard, when he was in Rome, of the +integrity of the consul's character, began to despair of his plans, +and at length actually endeavored to effect a capitulation. He +therefore sent deputies to the consul with proposals of submission, +stipulating only for his own life and that of his children, and +offering to surrender every thing else to the Romans. But Metellus had +already learned by experience, that the Numidians were a faithless +race, of unsettled disposition, and fond of change; and he accordingly +applied himself to each of the deputies separately, and after +gradually sounding them, and finding them proper instruments for his +purpose, prevailed on them, by large promises, to deliver Jugurtha +into his hands; bringing him alive, if they could, or dead, if to take +him alive was impracticable. In public, however, he directed that such +an answer should be given to the king as would be agreeable to his +wishes. + +A few days afterward, he led the army, which was now vigorous and +resolute, into Numidia, where, instead of any appearance of war, he +found the cottages full of people, and the cattle and laborers in the +fields, while the officers of Jugurtha came from the towns and +villages[156] to meet him, offering to supply him with corn, to convey +provisions for him, and to do whatever might be required of them. +Metellus, notwithstanding, made no diminution in the caution with +which he marched, but kept as much upon the defensive as if an enemy +had been at hand; and he dispatched scouts to explore the country, +thinking that these signs of submission were but pretense, and that +the Numidians were watching an opportunity for treachery. He himself, +with some light-armed cohorts, and a select body of slingers and +archers, advanced always in the front; while Caius Marius, his +lieutenant-general, at the head of the cavalry, had charge of the +rear. The auxiliary horse, distributed among the tribunes of the +legions and prefects of the cohorts, he placed on the flanks, so that, +with the aid of the light troops mixed with them, they might repel the +enemy whenever an approach should be made. For such was the subtlety +of Jugurtha, and such his knowledge of the country and the art of war, +that it was doubtful whether he was more formidable absent or present, +offering peace or threatening hostilities. + +XLVII. There lay, not far from the route which Metellus was pursuing, +a city of the Numidians named Vaga, the most celebrated place for +trade in the whole kingdom, in which many Italian merchants were +accustomed to reside and traffic. Here the consul, to try the +disposition of the inhabitants, and, should they allow him, to take +advantage of the situation of the place[157], established a garrison, +and ordered the people to furnish him with corn, and other necessaries +for war; thinking, as circumstances indeed suggested, that the +concourse of merchants, and frequent arrival of supplies[158], would +add strength to his army, and further the plans which he had already +formed. + +In the midst of these proceedings, Jugurtha, with extraordinary +earnestness[159], sent deputies to sue for peace, offering to resign +every thing to Metellus, except his own life and that of his children. +These, like the former, the consul first reduced to treachery, and +then sent back; the peace which Jugurtha asked, he neither granted nor +refused, but waited, during these delays, the performance of the +deputies' promises. XLVIII. Jugurtha, on comparing the words of +Metellus with his actions, perceived that he was assailed with his own +artifices; for though peace was offered him in words, a most vigorous +war was in reality pursued against him; one of his strongest cities +was wrested from him; his country was explored by the enemy, and the +affections of his subjects alienated. Being compelled, therefore, by +the necessity of circumstances, he resolved to try the fortune of a +battle. Having, with this view, informed himself of the exact route of +the enemy, and hoping for success from the advantage of the ground, he +collected as large a force of every kind as he could, and, marching by +cross-roads, got in advance of Metellus' army. + +There was, in that part of Numidia, of which, on the division of the +kingdom, Adherbal had become possessor, a river named Muthul, flowing +from the south; and, about twenty miles from it, was a range of +mountains running parallel with the stream[160], wild and +uncultivated; but from the center of it stretched a kind of hill, +reaching to a vast distance, covered with wild olives, myrtles, and +other trees, such as grow in a dry and sandy soil. The plain, which +lay between the mountains and the Muthul, was uninhabited from want of +water, except the parts bordering on the river, which were planted +with trees, and full of cattle and inhabitants. + +XLIX. On this hill, which I have just mentioned, stretching in a +transverse direction[161], Jugurtha took post with his line drawn out +to a great length. The command of the elephants, and of part of the +infantry, he committed to Bomilcar, and gave him instructions how to +act. He himself, with the whole of the cavalry and the choicest of the +foot, took his station nearer to the range of mountains. Then, riding +round among the several squadrons and battalions, he exhorted and +conjured them to call to mind their former prowess and triumphs, and +to defend themselves and their country from Roman rapacity; saying +that they would have to engage with those whom they had already +conquered and sent under the yoke, and that, though their commander +was changed, there was no alteration in their spirit. He added, that +he had provided for his men every thing becoming a general; that he +had chosen the higher ground, where they, being well acquainted with +the country[162], would contend with adversaries ignorant of it; nor +would they engage, inferior in numbers and skill, with a larger or +more experienced force; and that they should, therefore, be ready, +when the signal should be given, to fall vigorously on the Romans, as +that day would either crown[163] all their labors and victories, or be +a prelude to the most grievous calamities. He also addressed himself, +individually, to any one whom he had rewarded with money or honors for +military desert, reminding him of his favors, and pointing him out as +an example to the rest; and finally he excited all his men, some in +one way and some in another, by threats or entreaties, according to +the different dispositions of each. + +Metellus, who was still ignorant of the enemy's position, was now +seen[164] descending the mountain with his army. He was at first +doubtful what the strange appearance before him indicated; for the +Numidians, both cavalry and infantry, had taken post among the wood, +not entirely concealing themselves, by reason of the lowness of the +trees, yet rendering it uncertain[165] what they were, as both +themselves and their standards were screened as well by the nature of +the ground as by artifice; but soon perceiving that there were men in +ambush, he halted awhile, and, having altered the arrangement of his +troops, he drew up those in the right wing, which was nearest to the +enemy, in three lines[166]; he distributed the slingers and archers +among the infantry, posted all the cavalry on the flanks, and having +made a brief address, such as time permitted, to his men, he led them +down, with the front changed into a flank[167], toward the plain. + +L. But when he observed that the Numidians remained quiet, and did not +offer to descend from the hill, he became apprehensive that his army, +from the season of the year and the scarcity of water, might be +overcome with thirst, and therefore sent Rutilius, one of his +lieutenant-generals, with the light-armed cohorts and a detachment of +cavalry, toward the river, to secure ground for an encampment, +expecting that the enemy, by frequent charges and attacks on his +flank, would endeavor to impede his march, and, as they despaired of +success in arms, would try the effect of fatigue and thirst on his +troops. + +He then continued to advance by degrees, as his circumstances and the +ground permitted, in the same order in which he had descended from the +range of mountains. He assigned Marius his post behind the front +line[168], and took on himself the command of the cavalry on the left +wing, which, on the march, had become the van[169]. + +When Jugurtha perceived that the rear of the Roman army had passed his +first line, he took possession of that part of the mountain from which +Metellus had descended, with a body of about two thousand infantry, +that it might not serve the enemy, if they were driven back, as a +place of retreat, and afterward as a post of defense; and then, +ordering the signal to be given, suddenly commenced his attack. Some +of his Numidians made havoc in the rear of the Romans, while others +assailed them on the right and left wings; they all advanced and +charged furiously, and every where threw the consul's troops into +confusion. Even those of our men who made the stoutest resistance, +were baffled by the enemy's versatile method of fighting, and wounded +from a distance, without having the power of wounding in return, or of +coming to close combat; for the Numidian cavalry, as they had been +previously instructed by Jugurtha, retreated whenever a troop of +Romans attempted to pursue them, but did not keep in a body, or +collect themselves into one place, but dispersed as widely as +possible. Thus, being superior in numbers, if they could not deter the +Romans from pursuing, they surrounded them, when disordered, on the +rear or flank, or, if the hill seemed more convenient for retreat than +the plain, the Numidian horses, being accustomed to the brushwood, +easily made their way among it, while the difficulty of the ascent, +and want of acquaintance with the ground, impeded those of the Romans. + +LI. The aspect of the whole struggle[170] was indeed various, +perplexing, direful, and lamentable; the men, separated from their +comrades, were partly fleeing, partly pursuing; neither standards nor +ranks were regarded, but wherever danger pressed, there they made a +stand and defended themselves; arms and weapons, horses and men, +enemies, and fellow-countrymen, were all mingled in confusion; nothing +was done by direction or command, but chance ordered every thing. +Though the day, therefore, was now far advanced, the event of the +contest was still uncertain. At last, however, when all were faint +with exertion and the heat of the day, Metellus, observing that the +Numidians were less vigorous in their charges, drew his troops +together by degrees, restored order among them, and led four cohorts +of the legions against the enemy's infantry, of whom a great number, +overcome with fatigue, had seated themselves on the high ground. He at +the same time entreated and exhorted his men not to lose courage, nor +to suffer a flying enemy to be victorious; adding that they had +neither camp nor citadel to which they could flee, but that their only +dependence was on their arms. Nor was Jugurtha, in the mean time, +inactive; he rode round among his troops, cheered them, renewed the +contest, and, at the head of a select body, made every possible effort +for victory; supporting his own men, charging such of the enemy as +wavered, and repressing with missiles such as he saw remaining +unshaken. + +LII. Thus did these two commanders, both eminent men, maintain the +contest against each other. In personal ability they were equal, but +in circumstances unequal. Metellus had resolute troops, but a +disadvantageous position; Jugurtha had every thing in his favor except +men. At last the Romans, seeing that they had no place of refuge, that +the enemy allowed no opportunity for a regular engagement, and that +the evening was fast approaching, forced their way, according to the +orders which were given, up the hill. The Numidians were thus driven +from their position, routed, and put to flight; a few of them were +slain, but their speed, and the enemy's ignorance of the country[171], +saved the greater number of them. + +Meanwhile Bomilcar, who, as I have said before, was appointed by +Jugurtha over the elephants and a part of the infantry, having seen +Rutilius pass by him, led down his men gradually into the plain, and +while Rutilius hastened to the river, to which he had been dispatched, +quietly drew them up in such order as circumstances required; not +omitting, at the same time, to watch every movement of the enemy. When +he learned that Rutilius had taken his position, and seemed free from +apprehension of danger, and heard, at the same time, an increasing +noise where Jugurtha was engaged, fearing lest the lieutenant-general, +taking the alarm, should go to the support of his countrymen in +difficulties, he, in order to intercept his march, increased the +extent of his lines, which, from distrust of the bravery of his men, +he had previously condensed, and advanced in this order toward +Rutilius' camp. + +LIII. The Romans, on a sudden, observed a vast cloud of dust, which, +as the ground, thickly covered with brushes, obstructed their view, +they at first supposed to be only sand raised by the wind; but at +length, when they saw that it continued uniform, and approached nearer +and nearer as the line advanced, they understood the real cause of it, +and, hastily seizing their arms, drew up, as their commander directed, +before the camp. When the enemy came up, both sides rushed to the +encounter with loud shouts. But the Numidians maintained the contest +only as long as they trusted for support to their elephants; for, when +they saw the animals entangled in the boughs of the trees, and +dispersed or surrounded by the enemy, they betook themselves to +flight, and most of them, having thrown away their arms, escaped, by +favor of the hill, or of the night, which was now coming on, without +injury. Of the elephants, four were taken, and the rest, to the number +of forty, were killed. + +The Romans, though fatigued and exhausted[172] with their march, the +construction of their camp, and the engagement, yet, as Metellus was +longer in coming than they expected, advanced to meet him in regular +and steady order. The subtlety of the Numidians, indeed, allowed them +neither rest nor relaxation. But as the two parties drew together, in +the obscurity of the night, each occasioned, by a noise like that of +enemies approaching, alarm and trepidation in the other; and, had not +parties of horse, sent forward from both sides, ascertained the truth, +a fatal disaster was on the point of happening from the mistake. +However, in place of fear, joy quickly succeeded; the soldiers met +with mutual congratulations, relating their adventures, or listening +to those of others, and each extolling his own achievements to the +skies. For thus it is with human affairs; in success, even cowards may +boast; while defeat lowers the character even of heroes. + +LIV. Metellus remained four days in the same camp. He carefully +provided for the recovery of the wounded, rewarded, in military +fashion, such as had distinguished themselves in the engagements, and +praised and thanked them all in a public address; exhorting them to +maintain equal resolution in their future labors, which would be less +arduous, as they had fought sufficiently for victory, and would now +have to contend only for spoil. In the mean time he dispatched +deserters, and other eligible persons, to ascertain where Jugurtha +was, or what he was doing; whether he had but few followers, or a +large army; and how he conducted himself under his defeat. The prince, +he found, had retreated to places full of wood, well defended by +nature, and was there collecting an army, which would be more numerous +indeed than the former, but inactive and inefficient, as being +composed of men better acquainted with husbandry and cattle than with +war. This had happened from the circumstance, that, in case of flight, +none of the Numidian troops, except the royal cavalry, follow their +king; the rest disperse, wherever inclination leads them; nor is this +thought any disgrace to them as soldiers, such being the custom of the +people. + +Metellus, therefore, seeing that Jugurtha's spirit was still +unsubdued; that a war was being renewed, which could only be +conducted[173] according to the prince's pleasure; and that he was +struggling with the enemy on unequal terms, as the Numidians suffered +a defeat with less loss than his own men gained a victory, he resolved +to manage the contest, not by pitched battles or regular warfare, but +in another method. He accordingly marched into the richest parts of +Numidia, captured and burned many fortresses and towns, which were +insufficiently or wholly undefended, put the youth to the sword, and +gave up every thing else as plunder to his soldiers. From the terror +caused by these proceedings, many persons were given up as hostages to +the Romans; corn, and other necessaries, were supplied in abundance; +and garrisons were admitted wherever Metellus thought fit. + +These measures alarmed Jugurtha much more than the loss of the late +battle; for he, whose whole security lay in flight, was compelled to +pursue; and he who could not defend his own part of the kingdom, was +obliged to make war in that which was occupied by others. Under these +circumstances, however[174], he adopted what seemed the most eligible +plan. He ordered the main body of his army to continue stationary; +while he himself, with a select troop of cavalry, went in pursuit of +Metellus, and coming upon him unperceived, by means of night marches +and by-roads, he fell upon such of the Roman as were straggling about, +of whom the greater number, being unarmed, were slain, and several +others made prisoners; not one of them, indeed, escaped unharmed; and +the Numidians, before assistance could arrive from the camp, fled, as +they had been ordered, to the nearest hills. + +LV. In the mean time great joy appeared at Rome when the proceedings +of Metellus were reported, and when it was known how he was conducting +himself and his army conformably to the ancient discipline; how, on +adverse ground, he had gained a victory by his valor; how he was +securing possession of the enemy's territory; and how he had driven +Jugurtha, when elated by the weakness of Aulus, to depend for safety +on the desert or on flight. For these successes, accordingly, the +senate decreed a thanksgiving[175] to the immortal gods; the city, +which had been full of anxiety, and apprehensive as to the event of +the war, was now filled with joy; and the fame of Metellus was raised +to the utmost height. + +The consul's eagerness to gain a complete victory was thus increased; +he exerted himself in every possible way, taking care, at the same +time, to give the enemy no opportunity of attacking him to advantage. +He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the +more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and +circumspection. He never went out to plunder, after the sudden attack +of Jugurtha, with his troops in scattered parties; when corn or forage +was sought, a body of cohorts, with the whole of the cavalry, were +stationed as a guard. He himself conducted part of the army, and +Marius the rest. The country was wasted, however, more by fire than by +spoliation. They had separate camps, not far from each other; whenever +there was occasion for force, they formed a union; but, that +desolation and terror might spread the further, they acted separately. +Jugurtha, meanwhile, continued to follow them along the hills, +watching for a favorable opportunity or situation for an attack. He +destroyed the forage, and spoiled the water, which was scarce, +wherever he found that the enemy were coming. He presented himself +sometimes to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius; he would attack their +rear upon a march, and instantly retreat to the hills; he would +threaten sometimes one point, and sometimes another, neither giving +battle nor allowing rest, but making it his great object to retard the +progress of the enemy. + +LVI. The Roman commander, finding himself thus harassed by artifices, +and allowed no opportunity of coming to a general engagement, resolved +on laying siege to a large city, named Zama, which was the bulwark of +that part of the kingdom in which it was situate; expecting that +Jugurtha, as a necessary consequence, would come to the relief of his +subjects in distress, and that a battle would then follow. But the +king, being apprised by some deserters of the consul's design, reached +the place, by rapid marches, before him, and exhorted the inhabitants +to defend their walls, giving them, as a reinforcement, a body of +deserters; a class of men, who, of all the royal forces, were the most +to be trusted, inasmuch as they dared not be guilty of treachery[176]. +He also promised to support them, whenever it should be necessary, +with his whole army. + +Having taken these precautions, he retired into the deserts of the +interior; where he soon after learned that Marius, with a few cohorts, +had been dispatched from the line of march to bring provisions from +Sicca[177], a town which had been the first to revolt from him after +his defeat. To this place he hastened by night, accompanied by a +select body of cavalry, and attacked the Romans at the gate, just as +they were leaving the city; calling to the inhabitants, at the same +time, with a loud voice, to surround the cohorts in the rear; adding, +that Fortune had given them an opportunity for a glorious exploit; and +that, if they took advantage of it, he would henceforth enjoy his +kingdom, and they their liberty, without fear. And had not Marius +hastened to advance the standards, and to escape from the town, it is +certain that all, or the greater part of the inhabitants, would have +changed their allegiance; so great is the fickleness which the +Numidians exhibit in their conduct. The soldiers of Jugurtha, animated +for a time by their king, but finding the enemy pressing them with +superior force, betook themselves, after losing a few of their number, +to flight. + +LVII. Marius arrived at Zama. This town, built on a plain, was better +fortified by art than by nature. It was well supplied with +necessaries, and contained plenty of arms and men. Metellus, having +made arrangements suitable for the time and the place, encompassed the +whole city with his army, assigning to each of his officers his post +of command. At a given signal, a loud shout was raised on every side, +but without exciting the least alarm in the Numidians, who awaited the +attack full of spirit and resolution. The assault was consequently +commenced; the Romans were allowed to act each according to his +inclination; some annoyed the enemy with slings and stones from a +distance; others came close up to the walls, and attempted to +undermine or scale them, desiring to engage in close combat with the +besieged. The Zamians, on the other hand, rolled down stones, and +hurled burning stakes, javelins[178], and wood smeared with pitch and +sulphur, on the nearest assailants. Nor was caution a sufficient +protection to those who kept aloof; for darts, discharged from engines +or by the hand, inflicted wounds on most of them; and thus the brave and +the timid, though of unequal merit, were exposed to equal danger. + +LVIII. While the struggle was thus continued at Zama, Jugurtha, at the +head of a large force, suddenly attacked the camp of the Romans, and, +through the remissness of those left to guard it, who expected any +thing rather than an attack, effected an entrance at one of the gates. +Our men, struck with sudden consternation, acted each on his own +impulse; some fled, others seized their arms; and many of them were +wounded or slain. About forty, however, out of the whole number +mindful of the honor of Rome, formed themselves into a body, and took +possession of a slight eminence, from which they could not be +dislodged by the utmost efforts of the enemy, but hurled back the +darts discharged at them, and, as they were few against many, not +without execution. If the Numidians came near them, they displayed +their courage, and slaughtered, repulsed, and dispersed them, with the +greatest fury. Metellus, meanwhile, who was vigorously pursuing the +siege, heard a noise, as of enemies, in his rear, and, turning round +his horse, perceived a party of soldiers in flight toward him; a +certain proof that they were his own men. He instantly, therefore, +dispatched the whole of the cavalry to the camp, and immediately +afterward Caius Marius, with the cohorts of the allies, entreating him +with tears, by their mutual friendship, and by his regard for the +public welfare, to allow no stain to rest on a victorious army, and +not to let the enemy escape with impunity. Marius soon executed his +orders. Jugurtha, in consequence, after being embarrassed in the +intrenchments of the camp, while some of his men threw themselves over +the ramparts, and others, in their haste, obstructed each other at the +gates, fled, with considerable loss, to his strongholds, Metellus, not +succeeding in his attempt on the town, retired with his forces, at the +approach of night, into his camp. + +LIX. On the following day, before he marched out to resume the siege, +he ordered the whole of his cavalry to take their station before the +camp, on the side where the approach of Jugurtha was to be apprehended; +assigning the gates, and adjoining posts, to the charge of the tribunes. +He then marched toward the town, and commenced an assault upon the walls +as on the day before. Jugurtha, meanwhile, issuing from his concealment, +suddenly attacked our men in the camp, of whom those stationed in advance +were for the moment alarmed and thrown into confusion; but the rest soon +came to their support; nor would the Numidians have longer maintained +their ground, had not their foot, which were mingled with the cavalry, +done great execution in the struggle; for the horse, relying on the +infantry, did not, as is common in actions of cavalry, charge and then +retreat, but pressed impetuously forward, disordering and breaking the +ranks, and thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost succeeded +in giving the army a defeat[179]. + +LX. The conflict at Zama, at the same time, was continued with great +fury. Wherever any lieutenant or tribune commanded, there the men +exerted themselves with the utmost vigor. No one seemed to depend for +support on others, but every one on his own exertions. The townsmen, +on the other side, showed equal spirit. Attacks, or preparations for +defense, were made in all quarters[180]. All appeared more eager to +wound their enemies than to protect themselves. Shouts, mingled with +exhortations, cries of joy, and the clashing of arms, resounded +through the heavens. Darts flew thick on every side. If the besiegers, +however, in the least relaxed their efforts, the defenders of the +walls immediately turned their attention to the distant engagement of +the cavalry; they were to be seen sometimes exhibiting joy, and +sometimes apprehension, according to the varying fortune of Jugurtha, +and, as if they could be heard or seen by their friends, uttering +warnings or exhortations, making signs with their hands, and moving +their bodies to and fro, like men avoiding or hurling darts. This +being noticed by Marius, who commanded on that side of the town, he +artfully relaxed his efforts, as if despairing of success, and allowed +the besieged to view the battle at the camp unmolested. Then, while +their attention was closely fixed on their countrymen, he made a +vigorous assault on the wall, and the soldiers mounting their scaling +ladders, had almost gained the top, when the townsmen rushed to the +spot in a body, and hurled down upon them stones, firebrands, and +every description of missiles. Our men made head against these +annoyances for a while, but at length, when some of the ladders were +broken, and those who had mounted them dashed to the ground, the rest +of the assailants retreated as they could, a few indeed unhurt, but +the greater number miserably wounded. Night put an end to the efforts +of both parties. + +LXI. When Metellus saw that all his attempts were vain; that the town +was not to be taken; that Jugurtha was resolved to abstain from +fighting, except from an ambush, or on his own ground, and that the +summer was now far advanced, he withdrew his army from Zama, and +placed garrisons in such of the cities that had revolted to him as +were sufficiently strong in situation or fortifications. The rest of +his forces he settled in winter quarters, in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia[181]. + +This season of repose, however, he did not, like other commanders, +abandon to idleness and luxury; but as the war had been but slowly +advanced by fighting, he resolved to try the effect of treachery on +the king through his friends, and to employ their perfidy instead of +arms. He accordingly addressed himself with large promises, to +Bomilcar, the same nobleman who had been with Jugurtha at Rome, and +who had fled from thence, notwithstanding he had given bail, to escape +being tried for the murder of Massiva; selecting this person for his +instrument, because, from his great intimacy with Jugurtha, he had the +best opportunities of betraying him. He prevailed on him, in the first +place, to come to a conference with him privately, when, having given +him his word, "that, if he should deliver up Jugurtha, alive or dead, +the senate would grant him a pardon, and the full possession of his +property," he easily brought him over to his purpose, especially as he +was naturally faithless, and also apprehensive that, if peace were +made with the Romans, he himself would be surrendered to justice by +the terms of it. + +LXII. Bomilcar took the earliest opportunity of addressing Jugurtha, +at a time when he was full of anxiety, and lamenting his ill success. +He exhorted and implored him, with tears in his eyes, to take at +length some thought for himself and his children, as well as for the +people of Numidia, who had so much claim upon him. He reminded him +that they had been, defeated in every battle; that the country was +laid waste; that numbers of his subjects had been captured or slain; +that the resources of the kingdom were greatly reduced; that the valor +of his soldiers, and his own fortune, had been already sufficiently +tried; and that he should beware, lest, if he delayed to consult for +his people, his people should consult for themselves. By these and +similar appeals, he prevailed with Jugurtha to think of a surrender. +Embassadors were accordingly sent to the Roman general, announcing +that Jugurtha was ready to submit to whatever he should desire, and to +trust himself and his kingdom unconditionally to his honor. Metellus, +on receiving this statement, summoned such of his officers as were of +senatorial rank, from their winter quarters; of whom, with, others +whom he thought eligible, he formed a council. By a resolution of this +assembly, in conformity with ancient usage, he demanded of Jugurtha, +through his embassadors, two hundred thousand pounds' weight of +silver, all his elephants, and a portion of his horses and arms. These +requisitions being immediately complied with, he next desired that all +the deserters should be brought to him in chains. A large number of +them were accordingly brought; but a few, when the surrender first +began to be mentioned, had fled into Mauretania to king Bocchus. + +When Jugurtha, however, after being thus despoiled of arms, men and +money, was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium[182], to await the +consul's commands, he began again to change his mind, dreading, from a +consciousness of guilt, the punishment due to his crimes. Having spent +several days in hesitation, sometimes, from disgust at his ill +success, believing any thing better than war, and sometimes +considering with himself how grievous would be the fall from +sovereignty to slavery, he at last determined, notwithstanding that he +had lost so many and so valuable means of resistance, to commence +hostilities anew. + +At Rome, meanwhile, the senate, having been consulted about the +provinces, had decreed Numidia to Metellus. + +LXIII. About the same time, as Caius Marius, who happened to be at +Utica, was sacrificing to the gods[183], an augur told him that great +and wonderful things were presaged to him; that he might therefore +pursue whatever designs he had formed, trusting to the gods for +success; and that he might try fortune as often as he pleased, for +that all his undertakings would prosper. Previously to this period an +ardent longing for the consulship had possessed him; and he had, +indeed, every qualification for obtaining it, except antiquity of +family; he had industry, integrity, great knowledge of war, and a +spirit undaunted in the field; he was temperate in private life, +superior to pleasure and riches, and ambitious only of glory. +Having been born at Arpinum, and brought up there during his boyhood, +he employed himself, as soon as he was of age to bear arms, not in the +study of Greek eloquence, nor in learning the refinements of the city, +but in military service; and thus, amid the strictest discipline, his +excellent genius soon attained full vigor. When he solicited the +people, therefore, for the military tribuneship, he was well known by +name, though most were strangers to his face, and unanimously elected +by the tribes. After this office he attained others in succession, and +conducted himself so well in his public duties, that he was always +deemed worthy of a higher station than he had reached. Yet, though +such had been his character hitherto (for he was afterward carried +away by ambition), he had not ventured to stand for the consulship. +The people, at that time, still disposed of[184] other civil offices, +but the nobility transmitted the consulship from hand to hand among +themselves. Nor had any commoner appeared, however famous or +distinguished by his achievements, who would not have been thought +unworthy of that honor, and, as it were, a disgrace to it[185]. + +LXIV. But when Marius found that the words of the augur pointed in the +same direction as his own inclinations prompted him, he requested of +Metellus leave of absence, that he might offer himself a candidate for +the consulship. Metellus, though eminently distinguished by virtue, +honor, and other qualities valued by the good, had yet a haughty and +disdainful spirit, the common failing of the nobility. He was at +first, therefore, astonished at so extraordinary an application, +expressed surprise at Marius's views, and advised him, as if in +friendship, "not to indulge such unreasonable expectations, or elevate +his thoughts above his station; that all things were not to be coveted +by all men; that his present condition ought to satisfy him; and, +finally, that he should be cautious of asking from the Roman people +what they might justly refuse him." Having made these and similar +remarks, and finding that the resolution of Marius was not at all +affected by them, he told him "that he would grant what he desired as +soon as the public business would allow him".[186] On Marius repeating +his request several times afterward, he is reported to have said, +"that he need not be in a hurry to go, as he would be soon enough if +he became a candidate with his own son."[187] Metellus's son was then +on service in the camp with his father[188], and was about twenty +years old. + +This taunt served only to rouse the feelings of Marius, as well for +the honor at which he aimed, as against Metellus. He suffered himself +to be actuated, therefore, by ambition and resentment, the worst of +counselors. He omitted nothing henceforward, either in deeds or words, +that could increase his own popularity. He allowed the soldiers, of +whom he had the command in the winter quarters, more relaxation of +discipline than he had ever granted them before. He talked of the war +among the merchants, of whom there was a great number at Utica, +censoriously with respect to Metellus, and vauntingly with regard to +himself; saying "that if but half of the army were granted him, he +would in a few days have Jugurtha in chains; but that the war was +purposely protracted by the consul, because, being a man of vanity and +regal pride, he was too fond of the delights of power." All these +assertions appeared the more credible to the merchants, as, by the +long continuance of the war, they had suffered in their fortunes; and +to impatient minds no haste is sufficient. + +LXV. There was then in our army a Numidian named Gauda, the son of +Mastanabal, and grandson of Masinissa, whom Micipsa, in his will, had +appointed next heir to his immediate successors. This man had been +debilitated by ill-health, and, from the effect of it, was somewhat +impaired in his understanding. He had petitioned Metellus to allow him +a seat, like a prince, next to himself, and a troop of horse for a +bodyguard; but Metellus had refused him both; the seat, because it was +granted only to those whom the Roman people had addressed as kings, +and the guard, because it would be an indignity to Roman cavalry to +act as guards to a Numidian. While Gauda was discontented at these +refusals, Marius paid him a visit, and prompted him, with his +assistance, to seek revenge for the affronts put upon him by the +general; inflating his mind, which was as weak as his body,[189] with +flattering speeches, telling him that he was a prince, a great man, +and the grandson of Masinissa; that if Jugurtha were taken or killed, +he would immediately become king of Numidia; and that this event might +soon happen, if he himself were sent as consul to the war. + +Thus partly the influence of Marius himself, and partly the hope of +obtaining peace, induced Gauda, as well as most of the Roman knights, +both soldiers and merchants,[190] to write to their friends at Rome, +in a style of censure, respecting Metellus's management of the war, +and to intimate that Marius should be appointed general. The consulship, +accordingly, was solicited for him by numbers of people, with the most +honorable demonstrations in his favor.[191] It happened that the +people too, at this juncture, having just triumphed over the nobility +by the Mamilian law,[192] were eager to raise commoners to office. +Hence every thing was favorable to Marius's views. + +LXVI. Jugurtha, meantime, who, after relinquishing his intention to +surrender, had renewed the war, was now hastening the preparations for +it with the utmost diligence. He assembled an army; he endeavored, by +threats or promises, to recover the towns that had revolted from him; +he fortified advantageous positions;[193] he repaired or purchased +arms, weapons, and other necessaries, which he had given up on the +prospect of peace; he tried to seduce the slaves of the Romans, and +even tempted with bribes the Romans themselves who occupied the +garrisons; he, indeed, left nothing untried or neglected, but put +every engine in motion. + +Induced by the entreaties of their king, from whom, indeed, they had +never been alienated in affection, the leading inhabitants of Vacca, a +city in which Metellus, when Jugurtha began to treat for peace, had +placed a garrison, entered into a conspiracy against the Romans. As +for the common people of the town, they were, as is generally the +case, and especially among the Numidians, of a fickle disposition, +factious and turbulent, and therefore already desirous of a change, +and adverse to peace and quiet. Having arranged their plans, they +fixed upon the third day following for the execution of them, because +that day, being a festival, celebrated throughout Africa, would +promise merriment and dissipation rather than alarm. When the time +came, they invited the centurions and military tribunes, with Titus +Turpilius Silanus, the governor of the town, to their several houses, +and butchered them all, except Turpilius, at their banquets; and then +fell upon the common soldiers, who, as was to be expected on such a +day, when discipline was relaxed, were wandering about without their +arms. The populace followed the example of their chiefs, some of them +having been previously instructed to do so, and others induced by a +liking for such disorders, and, though ignorant of what had been done +or intended, finding sufficient gratification in tumult and variety. + +LXVII. The Roman soldiers, perplexed with sudden alarm, and not +knowing what was best for them to do, were in trepidation. At the +citadel,[194] where their standards and shields were, was posted a +guard of the enemy; and the city-gates, previously closed, prevented +escape. Women and children, too, on the roofs of the houses,[195] +hurled down upon them, with great eagerness, stones and whatever else +their position furnished. Thus neither could such twofold danger be +guarded against, nor could the bravest resist the feeblest; the worthy +and the worthless, the valiant and the cowardly, were alike put to +death unavenged. In the midst of this slaughter, while the Numidians +were exercising every cruelty, and the town was closed on all sides, +Turpilius was the only one, of all the Italians, that escaped unhurt. +Whether his flight was the consequence of compassion in his entertainer, +of compact, or of chance, I have never discovered; but since, in such a +general massacre, he preferred inglorious safety to an honorable name, +he seems to have been a worthless and infamous character.[196] + +LXVIII. When Metellus heard of what had happened at Vacca, he retired +for a time, overpowered with sorrow, from the public gaze; but at +length, as indignation mingled with his grief, he hastened, with the +utmost spirit, to take vengeance for the outrage. He led forth, at +sunset, the legion that was in winter quarters with him, and as many +Numidian horse as he could, and arrived, about the third hour on the +following day, at a certain plain surrounded by rising grounds. Here +he acquainted the soldiers, who were now exhausted with the length of +their march, and averse to further exertion,[197] that the town of +Vacca was not above a mile distant, and that it became them to bear +patiently the toil that remained, with the hope of exacting revenge for +their countrymen, the bravest and most unfortunate of men. He likewise +generously promised them the whole of the plunder. Their courage being +thus revived, he ordered them to resume their march, the cavalry +maintaining an extended line in front, and the infantry, with their +standards concealed, keeping the closest order behind. + +LXIX. The people of Vacca, perceiving an army coming toward them, +judged rightly at first that it was Metellus, and shut their gates; +but, after a while, when they saw that their fields were not laid +waste, and that the front consisted of Numidian cavalry, they imagined +that it was Jugurtha, and went out with great joy to meet him. A +signal being immediately given, both cavalry and infantry commenced an +attack; some cut down the multitude pouring from the town, others +hurried to the gates, others secured the towers, revenge and the hope +of plunder prevailing over their weariness. Thus Vacca triumphed only +two days in its treachery; the whole city, which was great and +opulent, was given up to vengeance and spoliation. Turpilius, the +governor, whom we mentioned as the only person that escaped, was +summoned by Metellus to answer for his conduct, and not being able to +clear himself, was condemned, as a native of Latium,[198] to be +scourged and put to death. + +LXX. About this time, Bomilcar, at whose persuasion Jugurtha had +entered upon the capitulation which he had discontinued through fear, +being distrusted by the king, and distrusting him in return, grew +desirous of a change of government. He accordingly meditated schemes +for Jugurtha's destruction, racking his invention night and day. At +last, to leave nothing untried, he sought an accomplice in Nabdalsa, a +man of noble birth and great wealth, who was in high regard and favor +with his countrymen, and who, on most occasions, used to command a +body of troops distinct from those of the king, and to transact all +business to which Jugurtha, from fatigue, or from being occupied with +more important matters, was unable to attend;[199] employments by +which he had gained both honors and wealth. By these two men in +concert, a day was fixed for the execution of their treachery; +succeeding matters they agreed to settle as the exigences of the +moment might require. Nabdalsa then proceeded to join his troops, +which he kept in readiness, according to orders, among the winter +quarters of the Romans,[200] to prevent the country from being ravaged +by the enemy with impunity. + +But as Nabdalsa, growing alarmed at the magnitude of the undertaking, +failed to appear at the appointed time, and allowed his fears to +hinder their plans, Bomilcar, eager for their execution, and +disquieted at the timidity of his associate, lest he should relinquish +his original intentions and adopt some new course, sent him a letter +by some confidential person, in which he "reproached him with +pusillanimity and irresolution, and conjured him by the gods, by whom +he had sworn, not to turn the offers of Metellus to his own +destruction;" assuring him "that the fall of Jugurtha was approaching; +that the only thing to be considered was whether he should perish by +their hand or by that of Metellus; and that, in consequence, he might +consider whether to choose rewards, or death by torture." + +LXXI. It happened that when this letter was brought, Nabdalsa, +overcome with fatigue, was reposing on his couch, where, after reading +Bomilcar's letter, anxiety at first, and afterward, as is usual with a +troubled mind, sleep overpowered him. In his service there was a +certain Numidian, the manager of his affairs, a person who possessed +his confidence and esteem, and who was acquainted with all his designs +except the last. He, hearing that a letter had arrived, and supposing +that there would be occasion, as usual, for his assistance or +suggestions, went into the tent, and, while his master was asleep, +took up the letter thrown carelessly upon the cushion behind his +head,[201] and read it; and, having thus discovered the plot, set off +in haste to Jugurtha. Nabdalsa, who awoke soon after, missing the +letter, and hearing of the whole affair, and how it had happened, at +first attempted to pursue the informer, but finding that pursuit was +vain, he went himself to Jugurtha to try to appease him; saying that +the disclosure which he intended to make, had been anticipated by the +perfidy of his servant; and beseeching him with tears, by his +friendship, and by his own former proofs of fidelity, not to think +that he could be guilty of such treachery. + +LXXII. To these entreaties the king replied with a mildness far +different from his real feelings. After putting to death Bomilcar, and +many others whom he knew to be privy to the plot, he refrained from +any further manifestation of resentment, lest an insurrection should +be the consequence of it. But after this occurrence he had no peace +either by day or by night; he thought himself safe neither in any +place, nor with any person, nor at any time; he feared his subjects +and his enemies alike; he was always on the watch, and was startled at +every sound; he passed the night sometimes in one place, and sometimes +in another, and often in places little suited to royal dignity; and +sometimes, starting from his sleep, he would seize his arms and raise +an alarm. He was indeed so agitated by extreme terror, that he +appeared under the influence of madness. + +LXXIII. Metellus, hearing from some deserters of the fate of Bomilcar, +and the discovery of the conspiracy, made fresh preparations for +action, and with the utmost dispatch, as if entering upon an entirely +new war. Marius, who was still importuning him for leave of absence, +he allowed to go home; thinking that as he served with reluctance, and +bore him personal enmity, he was not likely to prove a very useful +officer. + +The common people at Rome, having learned the contents of the letters +written from Africa concerning Metellus and Marius, had listened to +the accounts given of both with eagerness. But the noble birth of +Metellus, which had previously been a motive for paying him honor, had +now become a cause of unpopularity; while the obscurity of Marius's +origin had procured him favor. In regard to both, however, party +feeling had more influence than the good or bad qualities of either. +The factious tribunes,[202] too, inflamed the populace, charging +Metellus, in their harangues, with offenses worthy of death, and +exaggerating the excellent qualities of Marius. At length the people +were so excited that all the artisans and rustics, whose whole +subsistence and credit depended on their labor, quitting their several +employments, attended Marius in crowds, and thought less of their own +wants than of his exaltation. Thus the nobility being borne down, the +consulship, after the lapse of many years,[203] was once more given to +a man of humble birth. And afterward, when the people were asked by +Manilius Mancinus, one of their tribunes, whom they would appoint to +carry on the war against Jugurtha, they, in a full assembly, voted it +to Marius. The senate had previously decreed it to Metellus; but that +decree was thus rendered abortive.[204] + +LXXIV. During this period, Jugurtha, as he was bereft of his friends +(of whom he had put to death the greater number, while the rest, under +the influence of terror, had fled partly to the Romans, and partly to +Bocchus), as the war, too, could not be carried on without officers, +and as he thought it dangerous to try the faith of new ones after such +perfidy among the old, was involved in doubt and perplexity; no +scheme, no counsel, no person could satisfy him; he changed his route +and his captains daily; he hurried sometimes against the enemy, and +sometimes toward the deserts; depended at one time on flight, and at +another on resistance; and was unable to decide whether he could less +trust the courage or the fidelity of his subjects. Thus, to whatever +direction he turned his thoughts, the prospect was equally +disheartening. + +In the midst of his irresolution, Metellus suddenly made his +appearance with his army. The Numidians were assembled and drawn up by +Jugurtha, as well as time permitted; and a battle was at once +commenced. Where the king commanded in person, the struggle was +maintained for some time; but the rest of his force was routed and put +to flight at the first onset. The Romans took a considerable number of +standards and arms, but not many prisoners; for, in almost every +battle, their feet afforded more security to the Numidians than their +swords. + +LXXV. In consequence of this defeat, Jugurtha, feeling less confidence +in the state of his affairs than ever, retreated with the deserters, +and part of his cavalry, first into the deserts, and afterward to +Thala,[205] a large and opulent city, where lay the greater portion of +his treasures, and where there was magnificent provision for the +education of his children. When Metellus was informed of this, +although he knew that there was, between Thala and the nearest river, +a dry and desert region fifty miles broad, yet, in the hope of +finishing the war if he should gain possession of the town, he +resolved to surmount all difficulties, and to conquer even Nature +herself. He gave orders that the beasts of burden, therefore, should +be lightened of all the baggage excepting ten days' provision; and +that they should be laden with skins and other utensils for holding +water. He also collected from the fields as many laboring cattle as he +could find, and loaded them with vessels of all sorts, but chiefly +wooden, taken from the cottages of the Numidians. He directed such of +the neighboring people, too, as had submitted to him after the retreat +of Jugurtha, to bring him as much water as they could carry, +appointing a time and a place for them to be in attendance. He then +loaded his beasts from the river, which, as I have intimated, was the +nearest water to the town, and, thus provided, set out for Thala. + +When he came to the place at which he had desired the Numidians to +meet him, and had pitched and fortified his camp, so copious a fall of +rain is said to have happened, as would have furnished more than +sufficient water for his whole army. Provisions, too, were brought him +far beyond his expectations; for the Numidians, like most people after +a recent surrender, had done more than was required of them.[206] The +men, however, from a religious feeling, preferred using the +rain-water; the fall of which greatly increased their courage, for +they thought of themselves the peculiar care of the gods. On the next +day, to the surprise of Jugurtha, they arrived at Thala. The +inhabitants, who thought themselves secured by difficulties of the +approach to them, were astonished at so strange and unexpected a +sight, but, nevertheless, prepared for their defense. Our men showed +equal alacrity on their side. + +LXXVI. But Jugurtha himself, believing that Metellus, who, by his +exertions, had triumphed over every obstacle, over arms, deserts, +seasons, and finally over Nature herself that controls all, nothing +was impossible, fled with his children, and a great portion of his +treasure, from the city during the night. Nor did he ever, after this +time, continue[207] more than one day or night in any place; +pretending to be hurried away by business, but in reality dreading +treachery, which he thought he might escape by change of residence, as +schemes of such a kind are the result of leisure and opportunity. + +Metellus, seeing that the people of Thala were determined on +resistance, and that the town was defended both by art and situation, +surrounded the walls with a rampart and a trench. He then directed his +machines against the most eligible points, threw up a mound, and +erected towers upon it to protect[208] the works and the workmen. The +townsmen, on the other hand, were exceedingly active and diligent; and +nothing was neglected on either side. At last the Romans, though +exhausted with much previous fatigue and fighting, got possession, +forty days after their arrival, of the town, and the town only; for +all the spoil had been destroyed by the deserters; who, when they saw +the walls shaken by the battering-ram, and their own situation +desperate, had conveyed the gold and silver, and whatever else is +esteemed valuable, to the royal palace, where, after being sated with +wine and luxuries, they destroyed the treasures, the building, and +themselves, by fire, and thus voluntarily submitted to the sufferings +which, in case of being conquered, they dreaded at the hands of the +enemy. + +LXXVII. At the very time that Thala was taken, there came to Metellus +embassadors from the city of Leptis,[209] requesting him to send them +a garrison and a governor; saying "that a certain Hamilcar, a man of +rank, and of a factious disposition, against whom the magistrates and +the laws were alike powerless, was trying to induce them to change +sides; and that unless he attended to the matter promptly, their own +safety,[210] and the allies of Rome, would be in the utmost danger." +For the people at Leptis, at the very commencement of the war with +Jugurtha, had sent to the consul Bestia, and afterward to Rome, +desiring to be admitted into friendship and alliance with us. Having +been granted their request, they continued true and faithful adherents +to us, and promptly executed all orders from Bestia, Albinus, and +Metellus. They therefore readily obtained from the general the aid +which they solicited; and four cohorts of Ligurians were dispatched to +Leptis, with Caius Annius to be governor of the place. + +LXXVIII. This city was built by a party of Sidonians, who, as I have +understood, being driven from their country through civil dissensions, +came by sea into those parts of Africa. It is situated between the two +Syrtes, which take their name from their nature[211] These are two +gulfs almost at the extremity of Africa[212] of unequal size, but of +similar character. Those parts of them next to the land are very deep; +the other parts sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, as chance may +direct; for when the sea swells, and is agitated by the winds, the +waves roll along with them mud, sand, and huge stones; and thus the +appearance of the gulfs changes with the direction of the wind. + +Of this people, the language alone[213] has been altered by their +intermarriages with the Numidians; their laws and customs continue for +the most part Sidonian; which they have preserved with the greater +ease, through living at so great a distance from the king's +dominions.[214] Between them and the populous parts of Numidia lie +vast and uncultivated deserts. + +LXXIX. Since the affairs of Leptis have led me into these regions, it +will not be foreign to my subject to relate the noble and singular act +of two Carthaginians, which the place has brought to my recollection. + +At the time when the Carthaginians were masters of the greater part of +Africa, the Cyrenians were also a great and powerful people. The +territory that lay between them was sandy, and of a uniform +appearance, without a stream or a hill to determine their respective +boundaries; a circumstance which involved them in a severe and +protracted war. After armies and fleets had been routed and put to +flight on both sides, and each people had greatly weakened their +opponents, fearing lest some third party should attack both victors +and vanquished in a state of exhaustion, they came to an agreement, +during a short cessation of arms, "that on a certain day deputies +should leave home on either side, and that the spot where they should +meet should be the common boundary between the two states." From +Carthage, accordingly, were dispatched two brothers, who were named +Philaeni,[215] and who traveled with great expedition. The deputies of +the Cyrenians proceeded more slowly; but whether from indolence or +accident I have not been informed. However, a storm of wind in these +deserts will cause obstruction to passengers not less than at sea; for +when a violent blast, sweeping over a level surface devoid of +vegetation,[216] raises the sand from the ground, it is driven onward +with great force, and fills the mouth and eyes of the traveler, and +thus, by hindering his view, retards his progress. The Cyrenian +deputies, finding that they had lost ground, and dreading punishment +at home for their mismanagement, accused the Carthaginians of having +left home before the time; quarreling about the matter, and preferring +to do any thing rather than submit. The Philaeni, upon this, asked +them to name any other mode of settling the controversy, provided it +were equitable; and the Cyrenians gave them their choice, "either that +they should be buried alive in the spot which they claimed as the +boundary for their people, or that they themselves, on the same +conditions, should be allowed to go forward to whatever point they +should think proper." The Philaeni, having accepted the conditions, +sacrificed themselves[217] to the interest of their country, and were +interred alive. The people of Carthage consecrated altars to the +brothers on the spot; and other honors were instituted to them at +home. I now return to my subject. + +LXXX. After the loss of Thala, Jugurtha, thinking no place sufficiently +secure against Metellus, fled with a few followers into the country of +the Getulians, a people savage and uncivilized, and, at that period, +unacquainted with even the name of Rome. Of these barbarians he collected +a great multitude, and trained them by degrees to march in ranks, to +follow standards, to obey the word of command, and to perform other +military exercises. He also gained over to his interest, by large +presents and larger promises, the intimate friends of king Bocchus, and +working upon the king by their means, induced him to commence war +against the Romans. This was the more practicable and easy, because +Bocchus, at the commencement of hostilities with Jugurtha, had sent an +embassy to Rome to solicit friendship and alliance; but a faction, +blinded by avarice, and accustomed to sell their votes on every question +honorable or dishonorable,[218] had caused his advances to be rejected, +though they were of the highest consequence to the war recently begun. +A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha,[219] but such a +connection, among the Numidians and Moors, is but lightly regarded; +for every man has as many wives as he pleases, in proportion to his +ability to maintain them; some ten, others more, but the kings most of +all. Thus the affection of the husband is divided among a multitude; +no one of them becomes a companion to him,[220] but all are equally +neglected. + +LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies,[221] met in a place settled +by mutual agreement, where, after pledges of amity were given and +received, Jugurtha inflamed the mind of Bocchus by observing "that the +Romans were a lawless people, of insatiable covetousness, and the +common enemies of mankind; that they had the same motive for making +war on Bocchus as on himself and other nations, the lust of dominion; +that all independent states were objects of hatred to them; at present, +for instance, himself; a little before, the Carthaginians had been so, +as well as king Perses; and that, in future, as any sovereign became +conspicuous for his power, so would he assuredly be treated as an enemy +by the Romans." + +Induced by these and similar considerations, they determined to march +against Cirta, where Metellus had deposited his plunder, prisoners, +and baggage. Jugurtha supposed that, if he took the city, there would +be ample recompense for his exertions; or that, if the Roman general +came to succor his adherents, he would have the opportunity of +engaging him in the field. He also hastened this movement from policy, +to lessen Bocchus's chance of peace;[222] lest, if delay should be +allowed, he should decide upon something different from war. + +LXXXII. Metellus, when he heard of the confederacy of the kings, did +not rashly, or in every place, give opportunities of fighting, as he +had been used to do since Jugurtha had been so often defeated, but, +fortifying his camp, awaited the approach of the kings at no great +distance from Cirta; thinking it better, when he should have learned +something of the Moors,[223] as they were new enemies in the field, +to give battle on an advantage. In the mean time he was informed, by +letters from Rome, that the province of Numidia was assigned to Marius, +of whose election to the consulship he had already heard. + +Being affected at these occurrences beyond what was proper and +decorous, he could neither restrain his tears nor govern his tongue; +for though he was a man eminent in other respects, he had too little +firmness in bearing trouble of mind. His irritation was by some +imputed to pride; others said that a noble spirit was wounded by +insult; many thought him chagrined because victory, just attained, was +snatched from his grasp. But to me it is well known that he was more +troubled at the honor bestowed on Marius than at the injustice done to +himself; and that he would have shown much less uneasiness if the +province of which he was deprived had been given to any other than +Marius. + +LXXXIII. Discouraged, therefore, by such a mortification, and thinking +it folly to promote another man's success at his own hazard, he sent +deputies to Bocchus, entreating him "not to become an enemy to the +Romans without cause;" and observing "that he had a fine opportunity +of entering into friendship and alliance with them, which were far +preferable to war; that though he might have confidence in his +resources, he ought not to change certainties for uncertainties; that +a war was easily begun, but discontinued with difficulty; that its +commencement and conclusion were not dependent on the same party; that +any one, even a coward, might commence hostilities, but that they +could be broken off only when the conqueror thought proper; and that +he should therefore consult for his interest and that of his kingdom, +and not connect his own prosperous circumstances with the ruined +fortunes of Jugurtha." + +To these representations the king mildly answered, "that he desired +peace, but felt compassion for the condition of Jugurtha, to whom if +similar proposals were made, all would easily be arranged." Metellus, +in reply to this request of Bocchus, sent deputies with overtures, of +which the King approved some, and rejected others. Thus, in sending +messengers to and fro, the time passed away, and the war, according to +the consul's desire, was protracted without being advanced. + +LXXXIV. Marius, who, as I said before, had been made consul with great +eagerness on the part of the populace, began, though he had always +been hostile to the patricians, to inveigh against them, after the +people gave him the province of Numidia, with great frequency and +violence; he attacked them sometimes individually and sometimes in a +body; he said that he had snatched from them the consulship as spoils +from vanquished enemies; and uttered other remarks laudatory to +himself and offensive to them. Meanwhile he made the provision for the +war his chief object; he asked for reinforcements for the legions; he +sent for auxiliaries from foreign states, kings, and allies; he also +enlisted all the bravest men from Latium, most of whom were known to +him by actual service, some few only by report, and induced, by +earnest solicitation, even discharged veterans[224] to accompany him. +Nor did the senate, though adverse to him, dare to refuse him any +thing; the additions to the legions they had voted even with +eagerness, because military service was thought to be unpopular with +the multitude, and Marius seemed likely to lose either the means of +warfare[225], or the favor of the people. But such expectations were +entertained in vain, so ardent was the desire of going with Marius +that had seized on almost all. Every one cherished the fancy[226] that +he should return home laden with spoil, crowned with victory, or +attended with some similar good fortune. Marius himself, too, had +excited them in no small degree by a speech; for, when all that he +required was granted, and he was anxious to commence a levy, he called +an assembly of the people, as well to encourage them to enlist, as to +inveigh, according to his practice, against the nobility. He spoke, on +the occasion, as follows: + +LXXXV. "I am aware, my fellow-citizens, that most men do not appear as +candidates before you for an office, and conduct themselves in it when +they have obtained it, under the same character; that they are at +first industrious, humble, and modest, but afterward lead a life of +indolence and arrogance. But to me it appears that the contrary should +be the case; for as the whole state is of greater consequence than the +single office of consulate or praetorship, so its interests ought to +be managed[227] with greater solicitude than these magistracies are +sought. Nor am I insensible how great a weight of business I am, +through your kindness, called upon to sustain. To make preparations +for war, and yet to be sparing of the treasury; to press those into +the service whom I am unwilling to offend; to direct every thing at +home and abroad; and to discharge these duties when surrounded by the +envious, the hostile,[228] and the factious, is more difficult, my +fellow-citizens, than is generally imagined. In addition to this, if +others fail in their undertakings, their ancient rank, the heroic +actions of their ancestors, the power of their relatives and +connections, their numerous dependents, are all at hand to support +them; but as for me, my whole hopes rest upon myself, which I must +sustain by good conduct and integrity; for all other means are +unavailing. + +I am sensible, too, my fellow-citizens, that the eyes of all men are +turned upon me; that the just and good favor me, as my services are +beneficial to the state, but that the nobility seek occasion to attack +me. I must therefore use the greater exertion, that you may not be +deceived in me,[229] and that their views may be rendered abortive. I +have led such a life, indeed, from my boyhood to the present hour, +that I am familiar with every kind of toil and danger; and that +exertion, which, before your kindness to me, I practiced gratuitously, +it is not my intention to relax after having received my reward. For +those who have pretended to be men of worth only to secure their +election,[230] it may be difficult to conduct themselves properly in +office: but to me, who have passed my whole life in the most honorable +occupations, to act well has from habit become nature. + +You have commanded me to carry on the war against Jugurtha; a +commission at which the nobility are highly offended. Consider with +yourselves, I pray you, whether it would be a change for the better, +if you were to send to this, or to any other such appointment, one of +yonder crowd of nobles[231], a man of ancient family, of innumerable +statues, and of no military experience; in order, forsooth, that in so +important an office, and being ignorant of every thing connected with +it, he may exhibit hurry and trepidation, and select one of the people +to instruct him in his duty. For so it generally happens, that he whom +you have chosen to direct, seeks another to direct him. I know some, +my fellow-citizens, who, after they have been elected[232] consuls, +have begun to read the acts of their ancestors, and the military +precepts of the Greeks; persons who invert the order of things;[233] +for though to discharge the duties of the office[234] is posterior, in +point of time, to election, it is, in reality and practical +importance, prior to it. + +Compare now, my fellow-citizens, me, who am _a new man,_ with those +haughty nobles.[235] What they have but heard or read, I have +witnessed or performed. What they have learned from books, I have +acquired in the field; and whether deeds or words are of greater +estimation, it is for you to consider. + +They despise my humbleness of birth; I contemn their imbecility. My +condition[236] is made an objection to me; their misconduct is a +reproach to them. The circumstance of birth,[237] indeed, I consider +as one and the same to all; but think that he who best exerts himself +is the noblest. And could it be inquired of the fathers,[238] of +Albinus and Bestia, whether they would rather be the parents of them +or of me, what do you suppose that they would answer, but that they +would wish the most deserving to be their offspring! If the patricians +justly despise me, let them also despise their own ancestors, whose +nobility, like mine, had its origin in merit. They envy me the honor +that I have received; let them also envy me the toils, the +abstinence,[239] and the perils, by which I obtained that honor. + +But they, men eaten up with pride, live as if they disdained all the +distinctions that you can bestow, and yet sue for those distinctions +as if they had lived so as to merit them. Yet those are assuredly +deceived, who expect to enjoy, at the same time, things so +incompatible as the pleasures of indolence and the rewards of +honorable exertion.[240] + +When they speak before you, or in the senate, they occupy the +greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors;[241] +for, they suppose that, by recounting the heroic deeds of their +forefathers, they render themselves more illustrious. But the reverse +of this is the case; for the more glorious were the lives of their +ancestors, the more scandalous is their own inaction. The truth, +indeed, is plainly this, that the glory of ancestors sheds a light on +their posterity,[242] which suffers neither their virtues nor their +vices to be concealed. Of this light, my fellow-citizens, I have no +share; but I have, what confers much more distinction, the power of +relating my own actions. Consider, then, how unreasonable they are; +what they claim to themselves for the merit of others, they will not +grant to me for my own; alleging, forsooth, that I have no statues, +and that my distinction is newly-acquired; but it is surely better to +have acquired such distinction myself than to bring disgrace on that +received from others. + +I am not ignorant, that, if they were inclined to reply to me, they +would make an abundant display of eloquent and artful language. Yet, +since they attack both you and myself on occasion of the great favor +which you have conferred upon me, I did not think proper to be silent +before them, lest any one should construe my forbearance into a +consciousness of demerit. As for myself, indeed, nothing that is said +of me, I feel assured,[243] can do me injury; for what is true, must +of necessity speak in my favor; what is false, my life and character +will refute. But since your judgment, in bestowing on me so +distinguished an honor and so important a trust, is called in +question, consider, I beseech you, again and again, whether you are +likely to repent of what you have done. I can not, to raise your +confidence in me, boast of the statues, or triumphs, or consulships of +my ancestors; but, if it be thought necessary, I can show you spears,[244] +a banner,[245] caparisons[246] for horses, and other military rewards; +besides the scars of wounds on my breast. These are my statues; this +is my nobility; honors, not left, like theirs, by inheritance, but +acquired amid innumerable toils and dangers. + +My speech, they say, is inelegant; but that I have ever thought of +little importance. Worth sufficiently displays itself; it is for my +detractors to use studied language, that they may palliate base +conduct by plausible words. Nor have I learned Greek; for I had no +wish to acquire a tongue that adds nothing to the valor[247] of those +who teach it. But I have gained other accomplishments, such as are of +the utmost benefit to a state; I have learned to strike down an enemy; +to be vigilant at my post;[248] to fear nothing but dishonor; to bear +cold and heat with equal endurance; to sleep on the ground; and to +sustain at the same time hunger and fatigue. And with such rules of +conduct I shall stimulate my soldiers, not treating them with rigor +and myself with indulgence, nor making their toils my glory. Such a +mode of commanding is at once useful to the state, and becoming to a +citizen. For to coerce your troops with severity, while you yourself +live at ease, is to be a tyrant, not a general. + +It was by conduct such as this, my fellow-citizens, that your +ancestors made themselves and the republic renowned. Our nobility, +relying on their forefathers' merits, though totally different from +them in conduct, disparage us who emulate their virtues; and demand of +you every public honor, as due, not to their personal merit, but to +their high rank. Arrogant pretenders, and utterly unreasonable! For +though their ancestors left them all that was at their disposal, their +riches, their statues, and their glorious names, they left them not, +nor could leave them, their virtue; which alone, of all their +possessions, could neither be communicated nor received. + +They reproach me as being mean, and of unpolished manners, because, +forsooth, I have but little skill in arranging an entertainment, and +keep no actor,[249] nor give my cook[250] higher wages than my +steward; all which charges I must, indeed, acknowledge to be just; for +I learned from my father, and other venerable characters, that vain +indulgences belong to women, and labor to men; that glory, rather than +wealth, should be the object of the virtuous; and that arms and armor, +not household furniture, are marks of honor. But let the nobility, if +they please, pursue what is delightful and dear to them; let them +devote themselves to licentiousness and luxury; let them pass their +age as they have passed their youth, in revelry and feasting, the +slaves of gluttony and debauchery; but let them leave the toil and +dust of the field, and other such matters, to us, to whom they are +more grateful than banquets. This, however, they will not do; for when +these most infamous of men have disgraced themselves by every species +of turpitude, they proceed to claim the distinctions due to the most +honorable. Thus it most unjustly happens that luxury and indolence, +the most disgraceful of vices, are harmless to those who indulge in +them, and fatal only to the innocent commonwealth. + +As I have now replied to my calumniators, as far as my own character +required, though not so fully as their flagitiousness deserved, I +shall add a few words on the state of public affairs. In the first +place, my fellow-citizens, be of good courage with regard to Numidia; +for all that hitherto protected Jugurtha, avarice, inexperience, and +arrogance[251], you have entirely removed. There is an army in it, +too, which is well acquainted with the country, though, assuredly, +more brave than fortunate; for a great part of it has been destroyed +by the avarice or rashness of its commanders. Such of you, then, as +are of military age, co-operate with me, and support the cause of your +country; and let no discouragement, from the ill-fortune of others, or +the arrogance of the late commanders, affect any one of you. I myself +shall be with you, both on the march and in the battle, both to direct +your movements and to share your dangers. I shall treat you and myself +on every occasion alike; and, doubtless, with the aid of the gods, all +good things, victory, spoil, and glory, are ready to our hands; though, +even if they were doubtful or distant, it would still become every able +citizen to act in defense of his country. For no man, by slothful +timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals[252]; nor has any parent wished +for his children[253] that they might live forever, but rather that they +might act in life with virtue and honor. I would add more, my +fellow-citizens, if words could give courage to the faint-hearted; to +the brave I think that I have said enough." + +LXXXVI. After having spoken to this effect, Marius, when he found that +the minds of the populace were excited, immediately freighted vessels +with provisions, pay, arms, and other necessaries, and ordered Aulus +Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to set sail with them. He himself, in +the mean time, proceeded to enlist soldiers, not after the ancient +method, or from the classes[254], but taking all that were willing to +join him, and the greater part from the lowest ranks. Some said that +this was done from a scarcity of better men, and others from the +consul's desire to pay court[255] to the poorer class, because it was +by that order of men that he had been honored and promoted; and, +indeed, to a man grasping at power, the most needy are the most +serviceable, persons to whom their property (as they have none) is not +an object of care, and to whom every thing lucrative appears honorable. +Setting out, accordingly, for Africa, with a somewhat larger force than +had been decreed, he arrived in a few days at Utica. The command of the +army was resigned to him by Publius Rutilius, Metullus's +lieutenant-general; for Metullus himself avoided the sight of Marius, +that he might not see what he could not even endure to hear mentioned. + +LXXXVII. Marius, having filled up his legions[256] and auxiliary +cohorts, marched into a part of the country which was fertile and +abundant in spoil, where, whatever he captured, he gave up to his +soldiers. He then attacked such fortresses or towns as were ill +defended by nature or with troops, and ventured on several +engagements, though only of a light character, in different places. +The new recruits, in process of time, began to join in an encounter +without fear; they saw that such as fled were taken prisoners or +slain; that the bravest were the safest; that liberty, their country, +and parents,[257] are defended, and glory and riches acquired, by +arms. Thus the new and old troops soon became as one body, and the +courage of all was rendered equal. + +The two kings, when they heard of the approach of Marius, retreated, +by separate routes, into parts that were difficult of access; a plan +which had been proposed by Jugurtha, who hoped that, in a short time, +the enemy might be attacked when dispersed over the country, supposing +that the Roman soldiers, like the generality of troops, would be less +careful and observant of discipline when the fear of danger was removed. + +LXXXVIII. Metellus, meanwhile, having taken his departure for Rome, +was received there, contrary to his expectation, with the greatest +feelings of joy, being equally welcomed, since public prejudice had +subsided, by both the people and the patricians. + +Marius continued to attend, with equal activity and prudence, to his +own affairs and those of the enemy. He observed what would be +advantageous, or the contrary, to either party; he watched the +movements of the kings, counteracted their intentions and stratagems, +and allowed no remissness in his own army, and no security in that of +the enemy. He accordingly attacked and dispersed, on several +occasions, the Getulians and Jugurtha on their march, as they were +carrying off spoil from our allies;[258] and he obliged the king +himself, near the town of Cirta, to take flight without his arms[259] +But finding that such enterprises merely gained him honor, without +tending to terminate the war, he resolved on investing, one after +another, all the cities, which, by the strength of their garrisons or +situation, were best suited either to support the enemy, or to resist +himself; so that Jugurtha would either be deprived of his fortresses, +if he suffered them to be taken, or be forced to come to an engagement +in their defense. As to Bocchus, he had frequently sent messengers to +Marius, saying that he desired the friendship of the Roman people, and +that the consul need fear no act of hostility from him. But whether he +merely dissembled, with a view to attack us unexpectedly with greater +effect, or whether, from fickleness of disposition he habitually +wavered between war and peace, was never fairly ascertained. + +LXXXIX. Marius, as he had determined, proceeded to attack the +fortified towns and places of strength, and to detach them, partly by +force, and partly by threats or offers of reward, from the enemy. His +operations in this way, however, were at first but moderate; for he +expected that Jugurtha, to protect his subjects, would soon come to an +engagement. But finding that he kept at a distance, and was intent on +other affairs, he thought it was time to enter upon something of +greater importance and difficulty. Amid the vast deserts there lay a +great and strong city, named Capsa, the founder of which is said to have +been the Libyan Hercules.[260] Its inhabitants were exempted from taxes +by Jugurtha, and under mild government, and were consequently regarded +as the most faithful of his subjects. They were defended against enemies, +not only by walls, magazines of arms, and bodies of troops, but still +more by the difficulty of approaching them; for, except the parts +adjoining the walls, all the surrounding country is waste and +uncultivated, destitute of water, and infested with serpents, whose +fierceness, like that of other wild animals, is aggravated by want of +food; while the venom of such reptiles, deadly in itself, is exacerbated +by nothing so much as by thirst. Of this place Marius conceived a strong +desire[261] to make himself master, not only from its importance for the +war, but because its capture seemed an enterprise of difficulty; for +Metellus had gained great glory by taking Thala, a town similarly +situated and fortified; except that at Thala there were several springs +near the walls, while the people of Capsa had only one running stream, +and that within the town, all the water which they used beside being +rain-water. But this scarcity, both here and in other parts of Africa, +where the people live rudely and remote from the sea, was endured with +the greater ease, as the inhabitants subsist mostly on milk and wild +beasts' flesh,[262] and use no salt, or other provocatives of appetite, +their food being merely to satisfy hunger or thirst, and not to encourage +luxury or excess. + +XC. The consul,[263] having made all necessary investigations, and +relying, I suppose, on the gods (for against such difficulties he +could not well provide by his own forethought, as he was also +straitened for want of corn, because the Numidians apply more to +pasturage than agriculture, and had conveyed, by the king's order, +whatever corn had been raised into fortified places, while the ground +at the time, it being the end of summer, was parched and destitute of +vegetation), yet, under the circumstances, conducted his arrangements +with great prudence. All the cattle, which had been taken for some +days previous, he consigned to the care[264] of the auxiliary cavalry; +and directed Aulus Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to proceed with +the light-armed cohorts to the town of Lares,[265] where he had +deposited provisions and pay for the army, telling him that, after +plundering the country, he would join him there in a few days. Having +by this means concealed his real design, he proceeded toward the river +Tana. + +XCI. On his march he distributed daily, to each division of the +infantry and cavalry, an equal portion of the cattle, and gave orders +that water-bottles should be made of their hides; thus compensating, +at once, for the scarcity of corn, and providing, while all remained +ignorant of his intention, utensils which would soon be of service. At +the end of six days, accordingly, when he arrived at the river, a +large number of bottles had been prepared. Having pitched his camp, +with a slight fortification, he ordered his men to take refreshment, +and to be ready to resume their march at sunset; and, having laid aside +all their baggage, to load themselves and their beasts only with water. +As soon as it seemed time, he quitted the camp, and, after marching the +whole night,[266] encamped again. + +The same course he pursued on the following night, and on the third, +long before dawn, he reached a hilly spot of ground, not more than two +miles distant from Capsa, where he waited, as secretly as possible, +with his whole force. But when daylight appeared, and many of the +Numidians, having no apprehensions of an enemy, went forth out of the +town, he suddenly ordered all the cavalry, and with them the lightest +of the infantry, to hasten forward to Capsa, and secure the gates. He +himself immediately followed, with the utmost ardor, restraining his +men from plunder. + +When the inhabitants perceived that the place was surprised, their +state of consternation and extreme dread, the suddenness of the +calamity, and the consideration that many of their fellow-citizens +were without the walls in the power of the enemy, compelled them to +surrender. The town, however, was burned; of the Numidians, such as +were of adult age, were put to the sword; the rest were sold, and the +spoil divided among the soldiers. This severity, in violation of the +usages of war, was not adopted from avarice or cruelty in the consul, +but was exercised because the place was of great advantage to Jugurtha, +and difficult of access to us, while the inhabitants were a fickle and +faithless race, to be influenced neither by kindness nor by terror. + +XCII. When Marius had achieved so important an enterprise, without any +loss to his troops, he who was great and honored before became still +greater and still more honored. All his undertakings,[267] however +ill-concerted, were regarded as proofs of superior ability; his +soldiers, kept under mild discipline, and enriched with spoil, +extolled him to the skies; the Numidians dreaded him as some thing +more than human; and all, indeed, allies as well as enemies, believed +that he was either possessed of supernatural power, or had all things +directed for him by the will of the gods. + +After his success in this attempt, he proceeded against other towns; a +few, where they offered resistance, he took by force; a greater number, +deserted in consequence of the wretched fate of Capsa, he destroyed by +fire; and the whole country was filled with mourning and slaughter. + +Having at length gained possession of many places, and most of them +without loss to his army, he turned his thoughts to another enterprise, +which, though not of the same desperate character as that at Capsa, was +yet not less difficult of execution.[268] Not far from the river Mulucha, +which divided the kingdoms of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the +midst of a plain,[269] a rocky hill, sufficiently broad at the top for +a small fort; it rose to a vast height, and had but one narrow ascent +left open, the whole of it being as steep by nature as it could have +been rendered by labor and art. This place, as there were treasures of +the king in it, Marius directed his utmost efforts to take.[270] But +his views were furthered more by fortune than by his own contrivance. +In the fortress there were plenty of men and arms for its defense, +as well as an abundant store of provisions, and a spring of water; +while its situation was unfavorable for raising mounds, towers, and +other works; and the road to it, used by its inhabitants, was extremely +steep, with a precipice on either side. The vineae were brought up with +great danger, and without effect; for, before they were advanced any +considerable distance, they were destroyed with fire or stones. And from +the difficulties of the ground, the soldiers could neither stand in front +of the works, nor act among the vineae,[271] without danger; the boldest +of them were killed or wounded, and the fear of the rest increased. + +XCIII. Marius having thus wasted much time and labor, began seriously +to consider whether he should abandon the attempt as impracticable, or +wait for the aid of Fortune, whom he had so often found favorable. +While he was revolving the matter in his mind, during several days and +nights, in a state of much doubt and perplexity, it happened that a +certain Ligurian, a private soldier in the auxiliary cohorts,[272] +having gone out of the camp to fetch water, observed, near that part +of the fort which was furthest from the besiegers, some snails +crawling among the rocks, of which, when he had picked up one or two, +and afterward more, he gradually proceeded, in his eagerness for +collecting them, almost to the top of the hill. When he found this +part deserted, a desire, incident to the human mind, of seeing what he +had never seen,[273] took violent possession of him. A large oak +chanced to grow out among the rocks, at first, for a short distance, +horizontally,[274] and then, as nature directs all vegetables,[275] +turning and shooting upward. Raising himself sometimes on the boughs +of this tree, and sometimes on the projecting rocks, the Ligurian, as +all the Numidians were intently watching the besiegers, took a full +survey of the platform of the fortress. Having observed whatever he +thought it would afterward prove useful to know, he descended the same +way, not unobservantly, as he had gone up, but exploring and noticing +all the peculiarities of the path. He then hastened to Marius, +acquainted him with what he had done, and urged him to attack the fort +on that side where he had ascended, offering himself to lead the way +and the attempt. Marius sent some of those about him, along with the +Ligurian, to examine the practicability of his proposal, who, +according to their several dispositions, reported the affair as +difficult or easy. The consul's hopes, however, were somewhat +encouraged; and he accordingly selected, from his band of trumpeters +and bugle-men, five of the most nimble, and with them four centurions +for a guard;[276] all of whom he directed to obey the Ligurian, +appointing the next day for commencing the experiment. + +XCIV. When, according to their instructions, it seemed time to set +out, the Ligurian, after preparing and arranging every thing, +proceeded to the place of ascent. Those who commanded the +centuries,[277] being previously instructed by the guide, had changed +their arms and dress, having their heads and feet bare, that their +view upward, and their progress among the rocks, might be less +impeded;[278] their swords were slung behind them, as well as their +shields, which were Numidian, and made of leather, both for the sake +of lightness, and in order that, if struck against any object, they +might make less noise. The Ligurian went first, and tied to the rocks, +and whatever roots of trees projected through age, a number of ropes, +by which the soldiers supporting themselves might climb with the +greatest ease. Such as were timorous, from the extraordinary nature of +the path, he sometimes pulled up by the hand; when the ascent was +extremely rugged, he sent them on singly before him without their +arms, which he then carried up after them; whatever parts appeared +unsafe,[279] he first tried them himself, and, by going up and down +repeatedly in the same place, and then standing aside, he inspired the +rest with courage to proceed. At length, after uninterrupted and +harassing exertion they reached the fortress, which, on that side, was +undefended, for all the occupants, as on other days, were intent on +the enemy in the opposite quarter. + +Though Marius had kept the attention of the Numidians, during the +whole day, fixed on his attacks, yet, when he heard from his scouts +how the Ligurian had succeeded, he animated his soldiers to fresh +exertions, and he himself, advancing beyond the vineae, and causing a +testudo to be formed,[280] came up close under the walls, annoying the +enemy, at the same time, with his engines, archers, and slingers, from +a distance. + +But the Numidians, having often before overturned and burned the +vineae of the Romans, no longer confined themselves within the +fortress, but spent day and night before the walls, railing at the +Romans, upbraiding Marius with madness, threatening our soldiers with +being made slaves to Jugurtha, and exhibiting the utmost audacity on +account of their successful defense. In the mean time, while both the +Romans and Numidians were engaged in the struggle, the one side +contending for glory and dominion, the other for their very existence, +the trumpets suddenly sounded a blast in the rear of the enemy, at +which the women and children, who had gone out to view the contest, +were the first to flee; next those who were nearest to the wall, and +at length the whole of the Numidians, armed and unarmed, retreated +within the fort. When this had happened, the Romans pressed upon the +enemy with increased boldness, dispersing them, and at first only +wounding the greater part, but afterward making their way over the +bodies of those who fell, thirsting for glory, and striving who should +be first to reach the wall; not a single individual being detained by +the plunder. Thus the rashness of Marius, rendered successful by +fortune, procured him renown from his very error. + +XCV. During the progress of this affair, Lucius Sylla, Marius's +quaestor, arrived in the camp with a numerous body of cavalry, which +he had been left at Rome to raise among the Latins and allies. + +Of so eminent a man, since my subject brings him to my notice, I think +it proper to give a brief account of the character and manners; for I +shall in no other place allude to his affairs;[281] and Lucius +Sisenna,[282] who has treated that subject the most ably and accurately +of all writers, seems to me to have spoken with too little freedom. +Sylla, then, was of patrician descent, but of a family almost sunk in +obscurity by the degeneracy of his forefathers. He was skilled, equally +and profoundly, in Greek and Roman literature. He was a man of large +mind, fond of pleasure, but fonder of glory. His leisure was spent in +luxurious gratifications, but pleasure never kept him from his duties, +except that he might have acted more for his honor with regard to his +wife[283]. He was eloquent and subtle, and lived on the easiest terms +with his friends.[284] His depth of thought in disguising his +intentions, was incredible; he was liberal of most things, but +especially of money. And though he was the most fortunate [285] of all +men before his victory in the civil war, yet his fortune was never +beyond his desert;[286] and many have expressed a doubt whether his +success or his merit were the greater. As to his subsequent acts, I +know not whether more of shame, or of regret must be felt at the +recital of them. + +XCVI. When Sylla came with his cavalry into Africa, as has just been +stated, and arrived at the camp of Marius, though he had hitherto been +unskilled and undisciplined in the art of war, he became, in a short +time, the most expert of the whole army. He was besides affable to the +soldiers; he conferred favors on many at their request, and on others +of his own accord, and was reluctant to receive any in return. But he +repaid other obligations more readily than those of a pecuniary +nature; he himself demanded repayment from no one; but rather made it +his object that as many as possible should be indebted to him. He +conversed, jocosely as well as seriously, with the humblest of the +soldiers; he was their frequent companion at their works, on the +march, and on guard. Nor did he ever, as is usual with depraved +ambition, attempt to injure the character of the consul, or of any +deserving person. + +His sole aim, whether in the council or the field, was to suffer none +to excel him; to most he was superior. By such conduct he soon became +a favorite both with Marius and with the army. + +XCVII. Jugurtha, after he had lost the city of Capsa, and other strong +and important places, as well as a vast sum of money, dispatched +messengers to Bocchus, requesting him to bring his forces into Numidia +as soon as possible, and stating that the time for giving battle was +at hand. But finding that he hesitated, and was balancing the +inducements to peace and war, he again corrupted his confidants, as on +a previous occasion, with presents, and promised the Moor himself a +third part of Numidia, should either the Romans be driven from Africa, +or the war brought to an end without any diminution of his own +territories. Being allured by this offer, Bocchus joined Jugurtha with +a large force. + +The armies of the kings being thus united, they attacked Marius, on +his march to his winter quarters, when scarcely a tenth part of the +day remained[287], expecting that the night, which was now coming on, +would be a shelter to them if they were beaten, and no impediment if +they should conquer, as they were well acquainted with the country, +while either result would be worse for the Romans in the dark. At the +very moment, accordingly, that Marius heard from various quarters[288] +of the enemy's approach, the enemy themselves were upon him, and +before the troops could either form themselves or collect the baggage, +before they could receive even a signal or an order, the Moorish and +Getulian horse, not in line, or any regular array of battle, but in +separate bodies, as chance had united them, rushed furiously on our +men; who, though all struck with a panic, yet, calling to mind what +they had done on former occasions, either seized their arms, or +protected those who were looking for theirs, while some, springing on +their horses, advanced against the enemy. But the whole conflict was +more like a rencounter with robbers than a battle; the horse and foot +of the enemy, mingled together without standards or order, wounded +some of our men, and cut down others, and surprised many in the rear +while fighting stoutly with those in front; neither valor nor arms +were a sufficient defense, the enemy being superior in numbers, and +covering the field on all sides. At last the Roman veterans, who were +necessarily well experienced in war,[289] formed themselves, wherever +the nature of the ground or chance allowed them to unite, in circular +bodies, and thus secured on every side, and regularly drawn up, +withstood the attacks of the enemy. + +XCVIII. Marius, in this desperate emergency, was not more alarmed or +disheartened than on any previous occasion, but rode about with his +troop of cavalry, which he had formed of his bravest soldiers rather +than his nearest friends, in every quarter of the field, sometimes +supporting his own men when giving way, sometimes charging the enemy +where they were thickest, and doing service to his troops with his +sword, since, in the general confusion, he was unable to command with +his voice. + +The day had now closed, yet the barbarians abated nothing of their +impetuosity, but, expecting that the night would be in their favor, +pressed forward, as their kings had directed them, with increased +violence. Marius, in consequence, resolved upon a measure suited to +his circumstances, and, that his men might have a place of retreat, +took possession of two hills contiguous to each other, on one of +which, too small for a camp, there was an abundant spring of water, +while the other, being mostly elevated and steep, and requiring little +fortification, was suited for his purpose as a place of encampment. He +then ordered Sylla, with a body of cavalry, to take his station for +the night on the eminence containing the spring, while he himself +collected his scattered troops by degrees, the enemy being not less +disordered[290], and led them all at a quick march[291] up the other +hill. Thus the kings, obliged by the strength of the Roman position, +were deterred from continuing the combat; yet they did not allow their +men to withdraw to a distance, but, surrounding both hills with a +large force, encamped without any regular order. Having then lighted +numerous fires, the barbarians, after their custom, spent most of the +night in merriment, exultation, and tumultuous clamor, the kings, +elated at having kept their ground, conducting themselves as +conquerors. This scene, plainly visible to the Romans, under cover of +the night and on the higher ground, afforded great encouragement to +them. + +XCIX. Marius, accordingly, deriving much confidence from the +imprudence of the enemy, ordered the strictest possible silence to be +kept, not allowing even the trumpets, as was usual, to be sounded when +the watches were changed;[292] cavalry, and legions, to sound all and +then, when day approached, and the enemy were fatigued and just +sinking to sleep, he ordered the sentinels, with the trumpeters of the +auxiliary cohorts,[293] their instruments at once, and the soldiers, +at the same time, to raise a shout, and sally forth from the camp[294] +upon the enemy. The Moors and Getulians, suddenly roused by the +strange and terrible noise, could neither flee, nor take up arms, +could neither act, nor provide for their security, so completely had +fear, like a stupor,[295] from the uproar and shouting, the absence of +support, the charge of our troops, and the tumult and alarm, seized +upon them all. The whole of them were consequently routed and put to +flight; most of their arms, and military standards, were taken; and +more were killed in this than in all former battles, their escape +being impeded by sleep and the sudden alarm. + +C. Marius now continued the route, which he had commenced, toward his +winter quarters, which, for the convenience of getting provisions, he +had determined to fix in the towns on the coast. He was not, however, +rendered careless or presumptuous by his victory, but marched with his +army in form of a square[296] just as if he were in sight of the +enemy. Sylla, with his cavalry, was on the right; Aulus Manlius, with +the slingers and archers, and Ligurian cohorts, had the command on the +left; the tribunes, with the light-armed infantry, the consul had +placed in the front and rear. The deserters, whose lives were of +little value, and who were well acquainted with the country, observed +the route of the enemy. Marius himself, too, as if no other were +placed in charge, attended to every thing, went through the whole of +the troops, and praised or blamed them according to their desert. He +was always armed and on the alert, and obliged his men to imitate his +example. He fortified his camp with the same caution with which he +marched; stationing cohorts of the legions to watch the gates, and the +auxiliary cavalry in front, and others upon the rampart and lines. He +went round the posts in person, not from suspicion that his orders +would not be observed, but that the labor of the soldiers, shared +equally by their general, might be endured by them with cheerfulness. +[297] Indeed, Marius, as well at this as at other periods of the war, +kept his men to their duty rather by the dread of shame[298] than of +severity; a course which many said was adopted from desire of popularity, +but some thought it was because he took pleasure in toils to which he had +been accustomed from his youth, and in exertions which other men call +perfect miseries. The public interest, however, was served with as much +efficiency and honor as it could have been under the most rigorous +command. + +CI. At length, on the fourth day of his march, when he was not far +from the town of Cirta, his scouts suddenly made their appearance from +all quarters at once; a circumstance by which the enemy was known to +be at hand. But as they came in from different points, and all gave +the same account, the consul, doubting in what form to draw up his +army, made no alteration in it, but halted where he was, being already +prepared for every contingency. Jugurtha's expectations, in consequence, +disappointed him; for he had divided his force into four bodies, trusting +that one of them, assuredly,[299] would surprise the Romans in the rear. +Sylla, meanwhile, with whom they first came in contact, having cheered +on his men, charged the Moors, in person and with his officers,[300] +with troop after troop of cavalry, in the closest order possible; while +the rest of his force, retaining their position, protected themselves +against the darts thrown from a distance, and killed such of the enemy +as fell into their hands. + +While the cavalry was thus engaged, Bocchus, with his infantry, which +his son Volux had brought up, and which, from delay on their march, +had not been present in the former battle, assailed the Romans in the +rear. Marius was at that moment occupied in front, as Jugurtha was +there with his largest force. The Numidian king, hearing of the +arrival of Bocchus, wheeled secretly about, with a few of his +followers, to the infantry,[301] and exclaimed in Latin, which he had +learned to speak at Numantia, "that our men wore struggling in vain; +for that he had just slain Marius with his own hand;" showing, at the +same time, his sword besmeared with blood, which he had, indeed, +sufficiently stained by vigorously cutting down our infantry[302]. + +When the soldiers heard this, they felt a shock, though rather at the +horror of such an event, than from belief in him who asserted it; the +barbarians, on the other hand, assumed fresh courage, and advanced +with greater fury on the disheartened Romans, who were just on the +point of taking to flight, when Sylla, having routed those to whom he +had been opposed, fell upon the Moors in the flank. Bocchus instantly +fled. Jugurtha, anxious to support his men, and to secure a victory so +nearly won, was surrounded by our cavalry, and all his attendants, +right and left, being slain, had to force a way alone, with great +difficulty, through the weapons of the enemy. Marius, at the same +time, having put to flight the cavalry, came up to support such of his +men as he had understood to be giving ground. At last the enemy were +defeated in every quarter. The spectacle on the open plains was then +frightful;[303] some were pursuing, others fleeing; some were being +slain, others captured; men and horses were dashed to the earth; many, +who were wounded, could neither flee nor remain at rest, attempting to +rise, and instantly falling back; and the whole field, as far as the +eye could reach, was strewed with arms and dead bodies, and the +intermediate spaces saturated with blood. + +CII. At length the consul, now indisputably victor, arrived at the +town of Cirta, whither he had at first intended to go. To this place, +on the fifth day after the second defeat of the barbarians, came +messengers from Bocchus, who, in the king's name, requested of Marius +to send him two persons in whom he had full confidence, as he wished +to confer with them on matters concerning both the interest of the +Roman people and his own. Marius immediately dispatched Sylla and +Aulus Manlius; who, though they went at the king's invitation, thought +proper, notwithstanding, to address him first, in the hope of altering +his sentiments, if he were unfavorable to peace, or of strengthening +his inclination, if he were disposed to it. Sylla, therefore, to whose +superiority, not in years but in eloquence, Manlius yielded +precedence, spoke to Bocchus briefly as follows: + +"It gives us great pleasure, King Bocchus, that the gods have at +length induced a man, so eminent as yourself, to prefer peace to war, +and no longer to stain your own excellent character by an alliance +with Jugurtha, the most infamous of mankind; and to relieve us, at the +same time, from the disagreeable necessity of visiting with the same +punishment your errors and his crimes. Besides, the Roman people, even +from the very infancy[304] of their state, have thought it better to +seek friends than slaves, thinking it safer to rule over willing than +forced subjects. But to you no friendship can be more suitable than +ours; for, in the first place, we are at a distance from you, on which +account there will be the less chance of misunderstanding between us, +while our good feeling for you will be as strong as if we were near; +and, secondly, because, though we have subjects in abundance, yet +neither we, nor any other nation, can ever have a sufficiency of +friends. Would that such had been your inclination from the first; for +then you would assuredly, before this time, have received from the +Roman people more benefits than you have now suffered evils. But since +Fortune has the chief control in human affairs, and it has pleased her +that you should experience our force as well as our favor, now, when, +she gives you this fair opportunity, embrace it without delay, and +complete the course which you have begun. You have many and excellent +means of atoning, with great ease, for past errors by future services. +Impress this, however, deeply on your mind, that the Roman people are +never outdone in acts of kindness; of their power in war you have +already sufficient knowledge." + +To this address Bocchus made a temperate and courteous reply, offering +a few observations, at the same time, in extenuation of his error; and +saying "that he had taken arms, not with any hostile feeling, but to +defend his own dominions, as part of Numidia, out of which he had +forcibly driven Jugurtha,[305] was his by right of conquest, and he +could not allow it to be laid waste by Marius; that when he formerly +sent embassadors to the Romans, he was refused their friendship; but +that he would say nothing more of the past, and would, if Marius gave +him permission, send another embassy to the senate." But no sooner was +this permission granted, than the purpose of the barbarian was altered +by some of his friends, whom Jugurtha, hearing of the mission of Sylla +and Manlius, and fearful of what was intended by it, had corrupted +with bribes. + +CIII. Marius, in the mean time, having settled his army in winter +quarters, set out, with the light-armed cohorts and part of the +cavalry, into a desert part of the country, to besiege a fortress of +Jugurtha's, in which he had placed a garrison consisting wholly of +Roman deserters. And now again Bocchus, either from reflecting on what +he had suffered in the two engagements, or from being admonished by +such of his friends as Jugurtha had not corrupted, selected, out of +the whole number of his adherents, five persons of approved integrity +and eminent abilities, whom he directed to go, in the first place, to +Marius, and afterward to proceed, if Marius gave his consent, as +embassadors to Rome, granting them full powers to treat concerning his +affairs, and to conclude the war upon any terms whatsoever. These five +immediately set out for the Roman winter-quarters, but being beset and +spoiled by Getulian robbers on the way, fled, in alarm and ill +plight,[306] to Sylla, whom the consul, when he went on his expedition, +had left as pro-praetor with the army. Sylla received them, not, as they +had deserved, like faithless enemies, but with the greatest ceremony and +munificence; from which the barbarians concluded that what was said of +Roman avarice was false, and that Sylla, from his generosity, must be +their friend. For interested bounty,[307] in those days, was still +unknown to many; by whom every man who was liberal was also thought +benevolent, and all presents were considered to proceed from kindness. +They therefore disclosed to the quaestor their commission from Bocchus, +and asked him to be their patron and adviser; extolling, at the same +time, the power, integrity, and grandeur of their monarch, and adding +whatever they thought likely to promote their objects, or to procure +the favor of Sylla. Sylla promised them all that they requested; and, +being instructed how to address Marius and the senate, they tarried in +the camp about forty days.[308] + +CIV. When Marius, having failed in the object[309] of his expedition, +returned to Cirta, and was informed of the arrival of the embassadors, +he desired both them and Sylla to come to him, together with Lucius +Bellienus, the praetor from Utica, and all that were of senatorial rank +in any part of the country, with whom he discussed the instructions of +Bocchus to his embassadors; to whom permission to proceed to Rome was +granted by the consul. In the mean time a truce was asked, a request +to which assent was readily expressed by Sylla and the majority; the +few, who advocated harsher measures, were men inexperienced in human +affairs, which, unstable and fluctuating, are always verging to +opposite extremes.[310] + +The Moors having obtained all that they desired, three of them started +for Rome with Oneius Octavius Rufus, who, as quaestor, had brought pay +for the army to Africa; the other two returned to Bocchus, who heard +from them, with great pleasure, their account both of other +particulars, and especially of the courtesy and attention of Sylla. + +To his three embassadors that went to Rome, when, after a deprecatory +acknowledgment that their king had been in error, and had been led +astray by the treachery of Jugurtha, they solicited for him friendship +and alliance, the following answer was given: "The senate and people +of Rome are wont to be mindful of both services and injuries; they +pardon Bocchus, since he repents of his fault, and will grant him +their alliance and friendship when he shall have deserved them." + +CV. When this reply was communicated to Bocchus, he requested Marius, +by letter, to send Sylla to him, that, at his discretion,[311] +measures might be adopted for their common interest. Sylla was +accordingly dispatched, attended with a guard of cavalry, infantry, +and Balearic slingers, besides some archers and a Pelignian cohort, +who, for the sake of expedition, were furnished with light arms, +which, however, protected them, as efficiently as any others, against +the light darts of the enemy. As he was on his march, on the fifth day +after he set out, Volux, the son of Bocchus, suddenly appeared on the +open plain with a body of cavalry, which amounted in reality to not +more than a thousand, but which, as they approached in confusion and +disorder, presented to Sylla and the rest the appearance of a greater +number, and excited apprehensions of hostility. Every one, therefore, +prepared himself for action, trying and presenting[312] his arms and +weapons; some fear was felt among them, but greater hope, as they were +now conquerors, and were only meeting those whom they had often +overcome. After a while, however, a party of horse sent forward to +reconnoiter, reported, as was the case, that nothing but peace was +intended. + +CVI. Volux, coming forward, addressed himself to Sylla, saying that he +was sent by Bocchus his father to meet and escort him. The two parties +accordingly formed a junction, and prosecuted their journey, on that +day and the following, without any alarm. But when they had pitched +their camp, and evening had set in, Volux came running, with looks of +perplexity, to Sylla, and said that he had learned from his scouts +that Jugurtha was at hand, entreating and urging him, at the same +time, to escape with him privately in the night. Sylla boldly replied, +"that he had no fear of Jugurtha, an enemy so often defeated; that he +had the utmost confidence in the valor of his troops; and that, even +if certain destruction were at hand, he would rather keep his ground, +than save, by deserting his followers, a life at best uncertain, and +perhaps soon to be lost by disease." Being pressed, however, by Volux, +to set forward in the night, he approved of the suggestion, and +immediately ordered his men to dispatch their supper,[313] to light as +many fires as possible in the camp, and to set out in silence at the +first watch. + +When they were all fatigued with their march during the night, and +Sylla was preparing, at sunrise, to pitch his camp, the Moorish +cavalry announced that Jugurtha was encamped about two miles in +advance. At this report, great dismay fell upon our men; for they +believed themselves betrayed by Volux, and led into an ambuscade. Some +exclaimed that they ought to take vengeance on him at once, and not +suffer such perfidy to remain unpunished. + +CVII. But Sylla, though he had similar thoughts, protected the Moor +from violence; exhorting his soldiers to keep up their spirits; and +saying, "that a handful of brave men had often fought successfully +against a multitude; that the less anxious they were to save their +lives in battle, the greater would be their security; and that no man, +who had arms in his hands, ought to trust for safety to his unarmed +heels, or to turn to the enemy, in however great danger, the +defenseless and blind parts of his body".[314] Having then called +almighty Jupiter to witness the guilt and perfidy of Bocchus, he +ordered Volux, as being an instrument of his father's hostility,[315] +to quit the camp. + +Volux, with tears in his eyes, entreated him to entertain no such +suspicions; declaring "that nothing in the affair had been caused by +treachery on his part, but all by the subtlety of Jugurtha, to whom +his line of march had become known through his scouts. But as Jugurtha +had no great force with him, and as his hopes and resource were +dependent on his father Bocchus, he assuredly would not attempt any +open violence, when the son of Bocchus would himself be a witness of +it. He thought it best for Sylla, therefore, to march boldly through +the middle of his camp, and that as for himself, he would either send +forward his Moors, or leave them where they were, and accompany Sylla +alone." This course, under such circumstances, was adopted; they set +forward without delay, and, as they came upon Jugurtha unexpectedly, +while he was in doubt and hesitation how to act, they passed without +molestation. In a few days afterward, they arrived at the place to +which their march was directed. + +CVIII. There was, at this time, in constant and familiar intercourse +with Bocchus, a Numidian named Aspar, who had been sent to him by +Jugurtha, when he heard of Sylla's intended interview, in the +character of embassador, but secretly to be a spy on the Mauretanian +king's proceedings. There was also with him a certain Dabar, son of +Massugrada, one of the family of Masinissa,[316] but of inferior birth +on the maternal side, as his father was the son of a concubine. Dabar, +for his many intellectual endowments, was liked and esteemed by +Bocchus, who, having found him faithful[317] on many former occasions, +sent him forthwith to Sylla, to say that "he was ready to do whatever +the Romans desired; that Sylla himself should appoint the place, day, +and hour,[318] for a conference; that he kept all points, which he had +settled with him before, inviolate;[319] and that he was not to fear +the presence of Jugurtha's embassador as any restraint[320] on the +discussion of their common interests, since, without admitting him, he +could have no security against Jugurtha's treachery". I find, however, +that it was rather from African duplicity[321] than from the motives +which he professed, that Bocchus thus allured both the Romans and +Jugurtha with the hopes of peace; that he frequently debated with +himself whether he should deliver Jugurtha to the Romans, or Sylla to +Jugurtha; and that his inclination swayed him against us, but his +fears in our favor. + +CIX. Sylla replied, "that he should speak on but few particulars +before Aspar, and discuss others at a private meeting, or in the +presence of only a few;" dictating, at the same time, what answer +should be returned by Bocchus.[322] Afterward, when they met, as +Bocchus had desired, Sylla stated, "that he had come, by order of the +consul, to inquire whether he would resolve on peace or on war." +Bocchus, as he had been previously instructed by Sylla, requested him +to come again at the end of ten days, since he had as yet formed no +determination, but would at that time give a decisive answer. Both +then retired to their respective camps.[323] But when the night was +far advanced, Sylla was secretly sent for by Bocchus. At their +interview, none but confidential interpreters were admitted on either +side, together with Dabar, the messenger between them, a man of honor, +and held in esteem by both parties. The king at once commenced thus: + +CX. "I never expected that I, the greatest monarch in this part of the +world, and the richest of all whom I know, should ever owe a favor to +a private man. Indeed, Sylla, before I knew you, I gave assistance to +many who solicited me, and to others without solicitation, and stood +in need of no man's assistance. + +But at this loss of independence, at which others are wont to repine, +I am rather inclined to rejoice. It will be a pleasure to me[324] to +have once needed your friendship, than which I hold nothing dearer to +my heart. Of the sincerity of this assertion you may at once make +trial, take my arms, my soldiers, my money, or whatever you please, +and use it as your own. But do not suppose, as long as you live, that +your kindness to me has been fully requited; my sense of it will +always remain undiminished, and you shall, with my knowledge, wish for +nothing in vain. For, as I am of opinion, it is less dishonorable to a +prince to be conquered in battle than to be surpassed in generosity. + +With respect to your republic, whose interests you are sent to guard, +hear briefly what I have to say. I have neither made war upon the +Roman people, nor desired that it should be made; I have merely +defended my territories with arms against an armed force. But from +hostilities, since such is your pleasure, I now desist. Prosecute the +war with Jugurtha as you think proper. The river Malucha, which was +the boundary between Miscipsa and me, I shall neither pass myself, nor +suffer Jugurtha to come within it. And if you shall ask any thing +besides, worthy of me and of yourself, you shall not depart with a +refusal." + +CXI. To this speech Sylla replied, as far as concerned himself, +briefly and modestly; but spoke, with regard to the peace and their +common concerns, much more at length. He signified to the king "that +the senate and people of Rome, as they had the superiority in the +field, would think themselves little obliged by what he promised; that +he must do something which would seem more for their interest than his +own; and that for this there was now a fair opportunity, since he had +Jugurtha in his power, for, if he delivered him to the Romans, they +would feel greatly indebted to him, and their friendship and alliance, +as well as that part of Numidia which he claimed,[325] would readily +be granted him." Bocchus at first refused to listen to the proposal, +saying that affinity, the ties of blood,[326] and a solemn league, +connected him with Jugurtha; and that he feared, if he acted +insincerely, he might alienate the affections of his subjects, by whom +Jugurtha was beloved, and the Romans disliked. But at last, after +being frequently importuned, his resolution gave way,[327] and he +engaged to do every thing in accordance with Sylla's wishes. They then +concerted measures for conducting a pretended treaty of peace, of +which Jugurtha, weary of war, was extremely desirous. Having settled +their plans, they separated. + +CXII. On the next day Bocchus sent for Aspar, Jugurtha's envoy, and +acquainted him that he had ascertained from Sylla, through Dabar, that +the war might be concluded on certain conditions; and that he should +therefore make inquiry as to the sentiments of his king. Aspar +proceeded with joy to Jugurtha's camp, and having received full +instructions from him, returned in haste to Bocchus at the end of +eight days, with intelligence "that Jugurtha was eager to do whatever +might be required, but that he put little confidence in Marius, as +treaties of peace, concluded with Roman generals, had often before +proved of no effect; that if Bocchus, however, wished to consult the +interests of both,[328] and to have an established peace, he should +endeavor to bring all parties together to a conference, as if to +settle the conditions, and then deliver Sylla into his hands, for when +he had such a man in his power, a treaty would at once be concluded by +order of the senate and people of Rome; as a man of high rank, who had +fallen into the hands of the enemy, not from want of spirit, but from +zeal for the public interest, would not be left in captivity". + +CXIII. The Moor, after long meditation on these suggestions, at length +expressed his assent to them, but whether in pretense or sincerity I +have not been able to discover. But the inclinations of kings, as they +are violent, are often fickle, and at variance with themselves. At +last, after a time and place were fixed for coming to a conference +about the treaty, Bocchus addressed himself at one time to Sylla and +at another to the envoy of Jugurtha, treating them with equal +affability, and making the same professions to both. Both were in +consequence equally delighted, and animated with the fairest +expectations. But on the night preceding the day appointed for the +conference, the Moor, after first assembling his friends, and then, +on a change of mind, dismissing them, is reported to have had many +anxious struggles with himself, disturbed alike in his thoughts and +his gestures, which, even when he was silent, betrayed the secret +agitation of his mind. At last, however, he ordered that Sylla should +be sent for, and, according to his desire, laid an ambush for +Jugurtha. + +As soon as it was day, and intelligence was brought that Jugurtha was +at hand, Bocchus, as if to meet him and do him honor, went forth, +attended by a few friends, and our quaestor, as far as a little hill, +which was full in the view of the men who were placed in ambush. To +the same spot came Jugurtha with most of his adherents, unarmed, +according to agreement; when immediately, on a signal being given, he +was assailed on all sides by those who were lying in wait. The others +were cut to pieces, and Jugurtha himself was delivered bound to Sylla, +and by him conducted to Marius. + +CXIV. At this period war was carried on unsuccessfully by our generals +Quintus Caepio and Marcus Manlius, against the Gauls; with the terror +of which all Italy was thrown into consternation. Both the Romans of +that day, indeed, and their descendants, down to our own times, +maintained the opinion that all other nations must yield to their +valor, but that they contended with the Gauls, not for glory, but +merely in self-defense. But after the war in Numidia was ended, and +it was announced that Jugurtha was coming in chains to Rome, Marius, +though absent from the city, was created consul, and Gaul decreed to +him as his province. On the first of January he triumphed as consul, +with great glory. At that time[329] the hopes and dependence of the +state were placed on him. + + + + +NOTES FOR THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +[1] I. Intellectual power--_Virtute_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, at the commencement of the Conspiracy of Catiline. A little +below, I have rendered _via virtutis_, "the path of true merit." + +[2] Worthy of honor--_Clarus_. "A person may be called _clarus_ +either on account of his great actions and merits; or on account of +some honor which he has obtained, as the consuls were called +_clarissimi viri_; or on account of great expectations which are +formed from him. But since the worth of him who is _clarus_ is known +by all, it appears that the mind is here called _clarus_ because its +nature is such that pre-eminence is generally attributed to it, and +the attention of all directed toward it." _Dietsch_. + +[3] Abandons itself--_Pessum datus est_. Is altogether sunk and +overwhelmed. + +[4] Impute their delinquency to circumstances, etc.--_Suam quisque +culpam ad negotia transferunt_. Men excuse their indolence and +inactivity, by saying that the weakness of their faculties, or the +circumstances in which they are placed, render them unable to +accomplish any thing of importance. But, says Seneca, _Satis natura, +homini dedit roboris, si illo utamur;--nolle in causa, non posse +praetenditur_. "Nature has given men sufficient powers, if they will +but use them; but they pretend that they can not when the truth is +that they will not." "_Negotia_ is a common word with Sallust, for +which other writers would use _res, facta_." Gerlach. "Cajus rei nos +ipsi sumus auctores, ejus culpam rebus externis attribuimus." +_Muller_. "Auctores" is the same as the [Greek: _aitioi_]. + +[5] Useless--_Aliena_. Unsuitable, not to the purpose, not +contributing to the improvement of life. + +[6] Instead of being mortal--_Pro mortalibus_. There are two senses +in which these words may be taken: _as far as mortals can_, and +_instead of being mortals_. Kritz and Dietsch say that the latter is +undoubtedly the true sense. Other commentators are either silent or +say little to the purpose. As for the translators, they have studied +only how to get over the passage delicately. The latter sense is +perhaps favored by what is said in c. 2, that "the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." + +[7] II. They all rise and fall, etc.--_Omnia orta occidunt, et +aucta senescunt_. This is true of things in general, but is here +spoken only of the qualities of the body, as De Brosses clearly +perceived. + +[8] Has power over all things--_Habet cuncta_. "All things are in +its power." Dietsch. "_Sub ditione tenet_. So Jupiter, Ov. Met. +i. 197: + Quum mihi qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque." +_Burnouf_. So Aristippus said, _Habeo Laidem, non habeor a Laide_, +[Greek: _echo ouk echomai_]. Cic. Epist. ad Fam. ix. 26. + +[9] III. Civil and military offices--_Magistratus et imperia_. +"Illo vocabule civilia, hoc militaria munera, significantur." +_Dietsch_. + +[10] To rule our country or subjects, etc.--_Nam vi quidem regere +patriam aut parentes_, etc. Cortius, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Muller are unanimous in understanding _parentes_ as the participle of +the verb _pareo_. That this is the sense, says Gerlach, is +sufficiently proved by the conjunction _aut_; for if Sallust had meant +_parents_, he would have used _ut_; and in this opinion Allen +coincides. Doubtless, also, this sense of the word suits extremely +well with the rest of the sentence, in which changes in government are +mentioned. But Burnouf, with Crispinus, prefers to follow Aldus +Manutius, who took the word in the other signification, supposing that +Sallust borrowed the sentiment from Plato, who says in his Epistle _ad +Dionis Propinquos_: [Greek: _Patera de hae maetera ouch osion +haegoumai prosbiazesthai, mae noso paraphrosunaes hechomenous. Bian de +patridi politeias metabolaes aeae prospherein, otan aneu phugon, kai +sphagaes andron, mae dunaton hae ginesthae taen ariostaen_.] And he +makes a similar observation in his Crito: [Greek: _Pantachou +poiaetaen, o an keleuoi hae polis te, kai hae patris.--Biazesthai de +ouch osion oute maetera, oute patera poly de touton eti aetton taen +patrida_.] On which sentiments Cicero, ad Fam. i. 9, thus comments: +_Id enim jubet idem ille Plato, quem ego auctorem vehementer sequor; +tantum contendere in republica quantum probare tuis civibus possis: +vim neque parenti, neque patriae afferre oportere_. There is also +another passage in Cicero, Cat. i. 3, which seems to favor this sense +of the word: _Si te parentes timerent atque odissent tui, neque eos +ulla ratione placare posses, ut opinor, ab eorum oculis aliquo +concederes; nunc te patria, quae communis est omnium nostrum parens +odit ac metuit_, etc. Of the first passage cited from Plato, indeed, +Sallust's words may seem to be almost a translation. Yet, as the +majority of commentators have followed Cortius, I have also followed +him. Sallust has the word in this sense in Jug., c. 102; _Parentes +abunde habemus_. So Vell. Pat. ii. 108: _Principatis constans ex +voluntate parentium_. + +[11] Lead to--_Portendant_. "_Portendere_ in a _pregnant sense_, +meaning not merely to indicate, but _quasi secum ferre_, to carry +along with them." _Kritzius_. + +[12] IV, Presumptuously--_Per insolentiam_. The same as +_insolenter_, though some refer it, not to Sallust, but to _quis +existumet,_ in the sense of _strangely,_ i. e. _foolishly or +ignorantly._ I follow Cortius's interpretation. + +[13] At what periods I obtained office, what sort of men, etc. +--_Quibus ego temporibus maqistratus adeptus sum, et quales viri,_ etc. +--"Sallust obtained the quaestorship a few years after the conspiracy +of Catiline, about the time when the state was agitated by the +disorders of Clodius and his party. He was tribune of the people, +A.U.C. 701, the year in which Clodius was killed by Milo. He was +praetor in 708, when Caesar had made himself ruler. In the expression +_quales viri,_ etc., he alludes chiefly to Cato, who, when he stood +for the praetorship, was unsuccessful." _Burnouf._ Kritzius defends +_adeptus sum._ + +[14] What description of persons have subsequently entered the +senate--"Caesar chose the worthy and unworthy, as suited his own +purposes, to be members of the senate." _Burnouf._ + +[15] Quintus Maximus--Quintus Fabius Maximus, of whom Ennius says, + Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem. + +[16] Publius Scipio--Scipio Africanus the Elder, the conqueror of +Hannibal. See c. 5. + +[17] To the pursuit of honor--_Ad vertutem. Virtus_ in the same +sense as in _virtutis via,_ c. 1. + +[18] The wax--_Ceram illam._ The images or busts of their ancestors, +which the nobility kept in the halls of their houses, were made of wax. +See Plin. H. N. xxxv., 2. + +[19] Men of humble birth--_Homines novi_. See Cat., c. 23. + +[20] V. Threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion--_Divina +et humana cuncta permiscuit_. "All things, both divine and human, were +so changed, that their previous condition was entirely subverted." +_Dietsch_. + +[21] Civil dissensions--_Studiis civilibus_. This is the sense in +which most commentators take _studia_; and if this be right, the whole +phrase must be understood as I have rendered it. So Cortius; "Ut non +prius finirentur [_studia civilia_] nisi bello et vastitate Italiae." +Sallust has _studia partium_ Jug. c. 42; and Gerlach quotes from Cic. +pro Marcell. c. 10: "_Non enim consiliis solis et studiis, sed armis +etiam et castris dissidebamus_". + +[22] More than any other enemy--_Maxime_. + +[23] Since the Roman name became great--_Post magnitudinem nominis +Romani_. "I know not why interpreters should find any difficulty in +this passage. I understand it to signify simply _since_ the Romans +became so great as they were in the time of Hannibal; for, _before_ +that period they had suffered even heavier calamities, especially +from the Gauls." _Cortius_. + +[24] Syphax--"He was King of the Masaesyli in Numidia; was at first +an enemy to the Carthaginians (Liv. xxiv. 48), and afterward their +friend (Liv. xxviii. 17). He then changed sides again, and made +a treaty with Scipio; but having at length been offered the hand of +Sophonisba, the daughter of Asdrubal, in marriage, he accepted it, +and returned into alliance with the Carthaginians. Being subsequently +taken prisoner by Masinissa and Laelius, the lieutenant of Scipio, +(Liv. xxx. 2) he was carried into Italy, and died at Tibur (Liv. xxx. +45)." _Burnouf_. + +[25] His reign--_Imperii_. Cortius thinks that the grant of the +Romans ceased with the life of Masinissa, and that his son, Micipsa, +reigned only over that part of Numidia which originally belonged to +his father. But in this opinion succeeding commentators have generally +supposed him to be mistaken. + +[26] VII. During the Numantine war--_Bella Numantino_. Numantia, +which stood near the source of the Durius or _Douro_ in Spain, was +so strong in its situation and fortifications, that it with stood the +Romans for fourteen years. See Florus, ii. 17,18; Vell. Pat. ii. 4. + +[27] VIII. Rather by attention to them as a body, than by practicing +on individuals--_Publice quam privatim._ "Universae potius civitatis, +quam privatorum gratiam quaerendo." _Burnouf_. The words can only be +rendered periphrastically. + +[28] IX. In a short time--_Statim_. If what is said in c. 11 be +correct, that Jugurtha was adopted within three years of Micipsa's +death, his adoption did not take place till twelve years after the +taking of Numantia, which surrendered in 619, and Micipsa died in 634. +_Statim_ is therefore used with great latitude, unless we suppose +Sallust to mean that Micipsa signified to Jugurtha his intention to +adopt him immediately on his return from Numantia, and that the formal +ceremony of the adoption was delayed for some years. + +[29] X. I received you--into my kingdom--_In meuum regnum accepi_. +By these words it is only signified that Micipsa received Jugurtha +into his palace so as to bring him up with his own children. The +critics who suppose that there is any allusion to the adoption, or +a pretended intention of it on the part of Micipsa, are evidently in +the wrong. + +[30] Pre-eminent merit--_Gloria_. Our English word _glory_ is too +strong. + +[31] By the fidelity which you owe to my kingdom--_Per regni +fidem_. This seems to be the best of all the explanations that have +been offered of these words. "Per fidem quam tu rex (futurus) mihi +regi praestare debes." _Bournouf_. "Per fidem quae decet in regno, _i. +e._ regem." _Dietsch_. "Per eam fidem, qua esse decet eum qui regnum +obtinet. _Kritzius_. + +[32] It is not armies, or treasures, etc.--[Greek: _Ou tode to +chrusoun skaeptron to taen basileian diasozon estin, alla oi polloi +philoi skaeptron basileioin ulaethestaton kai asphalestaton_.] "It is +not this golden scepter that can preserve a kingdom; but numerous +friends are to princes their trust and safest scepter." Xen. Cyrop., +viii. 7,14. + +[33] And who can be a greater friend than one brother to another? +--_Quis autem amicior, quam frater fratri?_ "[Greek: _Nomiz +adelphous tous alaethinous philous_] Menander." _Wasse_. + +[34] That I have not adopted a better son, &c--_Ne ego meliores +liberos sumsissevidear quam genuisse_. As there is no allusion to +Micipsa's adoption of any other son than Jugurtha, Sallust's +expression _liberos sumsisse_ can hardly be defended. It is necessary +to give _son_ in the singular, in the translation. + +[35] XI. Had spoken insincerely--_Ficta locutum_. Jugurtha saw +that Micipsa pretended more love for him than he really felt. Compare +c. 6,7. + +[36] Which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor--_Quad +apud Numidas honori ducitur_. "I incline," says Sir Henry Steuart, +"to consider those manuscripts as the most correct, in which the word +_et_ is placed immediately before _apud, Quod et apud Numidas honori +ducitur_." Sir Henry might have learned, had he consulted the +commentators, that "_ the word_ et _is placed immediately before_ +apud" in no manuscript; that Lipsius was the first who proposed its +insertion; and that Crispinus, the only editor who has received it +into his text, is ridiculed by Wasse for his folly. "Lipsius," says +Cortius, "cum sciret apud Romanos etiam medium locum honoratiorem +fuisse, corrigit: _quod et apud Numidas honori ducitur_. Sed quis +talia ab historico exegerit? Si de Numidis narrat, non facile aliquis +intulerit, aliter propterea fuisse apud Romanos." + +[37] To the other seat--_In alteram partem_. We must suppose that +the three seats were placed ready for the three princes; that Adherbal +sat down first, in one of the outside seats; the one, namely, that +would be on the right hand of a spectator facing them; and that +Hiempsal immediately took the middle seat, on Adherbal's right hand, +so as to force Jugurtha to take the other outside one. Adherbal had +then to remove Hiempsal _in alteram partem_, that is, to induce him to +take the seat corresponding to his own, on the other side of the +middle one. + +[38] Chief lictor--_Proximus lictor_. "The _proximus lictor_ was +he who, when the lictors walked before the prince or magistrate in a +regular line, one behind the other, was last, or next to the person on +whom they attended." _Cortius_. He would thus be ready to receive the +great man's commands, and be in immediate communication with him. We +must suppose either that Sallust merely speaks in conformity with the +practice of the Romans, or, what is more probable, that the Roman +custom of being preceded by lictors had been adopted in Numidia. + +[39] Hut of a maid-servant--_Tugurio muliers ancillae_ Rose renders +_tugurio_ "a mean apartment," and other translators have given +something similar, as if they thought that the servant must have had a +room in the house. But she, and other Numidian servants, may have had +huts apart from the dwelling-house. _Tugurium_ undoubtedly signifies +_a hut_ in general. + +[40] XIII. Into our province--_In Provinciam_. "The word _province_, +in this place, signifies that part of Africa which, after the +destruction of Carthage, fell to the Romans by the right of conquest, +in opposition to the kingdom of Micipsa." _Wasse_. + +[41] Having thus accomplished his purposes--_Patratis consiliis_. +After _consiliis_, in all the manuscripts, occur the words _postquam +omnis Numidia potiebatur_, which were struck out by Cortius, as being +_turpissima glossa_. The recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Burnouf, have restored them. + +[42] His intimate friends--_Hospitibus_. Persons probably with whom +he had been intimate at Numantia, or who had since visited him in +Numidia. + +[43] The senate--gave audience to both parties--_senatus utrisque +datur_. "The embassadors of Jugurtha, and Adberbal in person, are +admitted into the senate-house to plead their cause." _Burnouf_. + +[44] By deputation--_Procuratione_. He was to consider himself only +the _procurator_, manager, or deputed governor, of the kingdom. + +[45] Kindred--and relatives--_Cognatorum--affinium_. _Cognatus_ is +a blood relation; _affinis_ is properly a relative by marriage. + +[46] Hereditary--_Ab stirpe_. + +[47] Next to this--_Secundum ea_. "Priscianus, lib. xiii., de +praepositione agens, _Secundum_, inquit, _quando pro [Greek: _kata ei +meta_] loco praepositionis est_. Sallustius in Jugurthino: _secundum +ea, uti deditis uterer_.--Videlicet hoc dicit, _Secundum_ in Sallustii +exemple, _post_ vel _proxime_ significare." _Rivius_. + +[48] As I had no power to form the character of Jugurtha--_Neque mihi +in manu fuit, qualis Jugurtha foret_. "_In manu fuit_ is simply +_in potestate fuit_--Ter. Hec., iv. 4, 44: _Uxor quid faciat in manu +non est mea_." _Cortius_. + +[49] Dishonored, afflicted--_Deformatus aerumnis. + +[50] Above all others--_Potissimum_. + +[51] One of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have scarcely +escaped the hand of lawlessness--_Alter eorum necatus, alterius ipse +ego manus impias vix effugi_. This is the general reading, but it can +not be right. Adherbal speaks of himself and his brother as two +persons, and of Jugurtha as a third, and says that _of those two_ the +one (_alter_) has been killed; he would then naturally proceed to +speak of himself as the other; _i. e._ he would use the word _alter_ +concerning himself, not apply it to Jugurtha. Allen, therefore, +proposes to read _alter necatus, alter manus impias vix effugi_. This +mode of correction strikes out too much; but there is no doubt that +the second _alter_ should be in the nominative case. + +[52] From being friendly, has become hostile to me--_Ex necessariis +adversa facta sunt._ "Si omnia mihi incolumia manerent, neque quidquam +rerum mearum (s. praesidiorum) amisissem, neque Jugurtha aliique mihi +ex necessariis inimici facti essent."_Kritzius_. + +[53] But would that I could see him, etc.--_Quod utinam illum--videam_. +The _quod_, in _quod utinam_, is the same as that in _quod si_, which +we commonly translate, _but if_. _Quod_, in such expressions, serves +as a particle of connection, between what precedes and what follows it; +the Latins being fond of connection by means of relatives. See Zumpt's +Lat. Grammar on this point, Sect. 63, 82, Kenrick's translation. +Kritzius writes _quodutinam_, _quodsi_, _quodnisi_, etc., as one word. +Cortius injudiciously interprets _quod_ in this passage as having +_facientem_ understood with it. + +[54] My life or death depends on the aid of others--_Cujus vitae +necisque ex opibus alienis pendet_. On the aid of the Romans. Unless +they protected him, he expected to meet with the same fate as Hiempsal +at the hands of Jugurtha. + +[55] Without disgrace--_Sine dedecore_. That is, if he did not succeed +in getting revenge on Jugurtha. + +[56] By your regard for yourselves, etc.--I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _per, vos, liberos atque parentes_, +i. e. _vos (obsecro) per liberos_, etc., as most critics would explain +it, though Cortius himself prefers taking _vos_ as the nominative case, +and joining it with _subvenite_, which follows. Most other editions +have _per vos, per liberos, atque parentes vestros_, to which I have +adhered. _Per vos_, though an adjuration not used in modern times, +is found in other passages of the Roman writers. Thus Liv. xxix. 18: +_Per vos, fidemque vestram_. Cic. pro Planc., c. 42; _Per vos, per +fortunas vestras_. + +[57] To sink into ruin--_Tabescere_. "Paullatim interire." +_Cortius_. Lucret. ii. 1172: _Omnia paullatim tabescere el ire Ad +capulum_. "This speech," says Gerlach, "though of less weighty +argument than the other speeches of Sallust, is composed with great +art. Neither the speaker nor his cause was adapted for the highest +flights of eloquence; but Sallust has shrouded Adherbal's weakness in +excellent language. That there is a constant recurrence to the same +topics, is no ground for blame; indeed, such recurrence could hardly +be avoided, for it is natural to all speeches in which the orator +earnestly labors to make his hearers adopt his own feelings and views. +The Romans were again and again to be supplicated, and again and again +to be reminded of the character and services of Masinissa, that they +might be induced, if not by the love of justice, yet by the dread of +censure, to relieve the distresses of his grandson.... He omits no +argument or representation that could move the pity of the Romans; and +if his abject prostration of mind appears more suitable to a woman +than a man, it is to be remembered that it is purposely introduced by +Sallust to exhibit the weakness of his character." + +[58] XV. Aemilius Scaurus--He was _princeps senatus_(see c. 25), +and seems to be pretty faithfully characterized by Sallust as a man of +eminent abilities, but too avaricious to be strictly honest. Cicero, +who alludes to him in many passages with commendation (Off., i. 20, +30; Brut. 29; Pro Muraen., 7; Pro Fonteio, 7), mentions an anecdote +respecting him (De Orat. ii. 70), which shows that he had a general +character for covetousness. See Pliny, H. N, xxxvi. 14. Valerius +Maximus (iii. 7, 8) tells another anecdote of him, which shows that he +must have been held in much esteem, for whatever qualities, by the +public. Being accused before the people of having taken a bribe from +Mithridates, he made a few remarks on his own general conduct; and +added, "Varius of Sucro says that Marcus Scaurus, being bribed with +the king's money, has betrayed the interests of the Roman people. +Marcus Scaurus denies that he is guilty of what is laid to his charge. +Which of the two do you believe?" The people dismissed the accusation; +but the words of Scaurus may be regarded as those of a man rather +seeking to convey a notion of his innocence, than capable of proving +it. The circumstance which Cicero relates is this: Scaurus had +incurred some obloquy for having, as it was said, taken possession of +the property of a certain rich man, named Phyrgio Pompeius, without +being entitled to it by any will; and being engaged as an advocate in +some cause, Mommius, who was pleading on the opposite side, seeing a +funeral pass by at the time, said, "Scaurus, yonder is a dead man, on +his way to the grave; if you can but get possession of his property!" +I mention these matters, because it has been thought that Sallust, +from some ill-feeling, represents Scaurus as more avaricious than he +really was. + +[59] His ruling passion--_Consueta libidine_. Namely, avarice. + +[60] XVI. Lucius Opimius--His contention with the party of C. Gracchus +may be seen in any history of Rome. For receiving bribes from Jugurtha +he was publicly accused, and being condemned, ended his life, which +was protracted to old age, in exile and neglect. Cic. Brut. 33; +Planc. 28. + +[61] XVII. Only two divisions, Asia and Europe--Thus Varro, de L. +L. iv.13, ed. Bip. "As all nature is divided into heaven and earth, so +the heaven is divided into regions, and the earth into Asia and +Europe." See Bronkh. ad Tibull., iv. 1, 176. + +[62] The strait connecting our sea with the ocean--_Fretum nostri +maris et oceani_. That is, the _Fretum Gaditanum_, or Strait of +Gibraltar. By _our see_, he means the Mediterranean. See Pomp. Mela, +i. 1. + +[63] A vast sloping tract--Catabathmos--_Declivem latitudinem, +quem locum Catabathmon incolae appellant. Catabathmus--vallis repente +convexa_, Plin. H. N. v 5. _Catabathmus, vallis devexa in Aegyptum_, +Pomp. Mela, i. 8. I have translated _declivem latitudinem_ in +conformity with these passages. _Catabathmus_, a Greek word, means _a +descent_. There were two, the _major_ and _minor_; Sallust speaks of +the _major_. + +[64] Most of them die by the gradual decay of age--_Plerosque +senectus dissolvit_ "A happy expression; since the effect of old age +on the bodily frame is not to break it in pieces suddenly, but to +dissolve it, as it were, gradually and imperceptibly." _Burnouf_. + +[65] King Hiempsal--"This is not the prince that was murdered by +Jugurtha, but the king who succeeded him; he was grandson of +Masinissa, son of Gulussa, and father of Juba. After Juba was killed +at Thapsus, Caesar reduced Numidia to the condition of a province, and +appointed Sallust over it, who had thus opportunities of gaining a +knowledge of the country, and of consulting the books written in the +language of it." _Burnouf_. + +[66] XVIII. Getulians and Lybians--_Gaetuli et Libyes_, "See +Pompon. Mel. i. 4; Plin. H. N. v. 4, 6, 8, v. 2, xxi. 13; Herod, iv. +159, 168." _Gerlach_. The name _Gaetuli_, is, however, unknown to +Herodotus. They lay to the south of Numidia and Mauretania. See +Strabo, xvii. 3. _Libyes_ is a term applied by the Greek writers +properly to the Africans of the North coast, but frequently to the +inhabitants of Africa in general. + +[67] His army, which was composed of various nations--This seems +to have been an amplification of the adventure of Hercules with +Geryon, who was a king in Spain. But all stories that make Hercule +a leader of armies appear to be equally fabulous. + +[68] Medes, Persians and Armenians--De Brosses thinks that these +were not real Medes, etc., but that the names were derived from +certain companions of Hercules. The point is not worth discussion. + +[69] Our sea--The Mediterranean. See above, c. 17. + +[70] More toward the Ocean--_Intra oceanum magis_. "_Intra oceanum_ +is differently explained by different commentators. Cortius, Muller +and Gerlach, understand the parts bounded by the ocean, lying close +upon it, and stretching toward the west; while Langius thinks that +the regions more remote from the Atlantic Ocean, and extending +toward the east, are meant. But Langius did not consider that those +who had inverted keels of vessels for cottages, could not have +strayed far from the ocean, but must have settled in parts +bordering upon it_. And this is what is signified by _intra oceanum_. +For _intra aliquam rem_ is not always used to denote what is actually +_in a thing,_ and circumscribed by its boundaries, but what approaches +toward it, and reaches close to it." Kritzius. He then instances +_intra modum, intra legem; Hortensii scripta intra famam sunt_, +Quintil. xi. 8, 8. But the best example which he produces is Liv. xxv. +11: _Fossa ingens ducta, et vallum_, intra eam _erigitur_. Cicero, in +Verr. iii. 89, has also, he notices, the same, expression, _Locus_ +intra oceanum _jam nullus est--quo non nostrorum hominum libido +iniquitasque pervaserit_, i. e.. _locus oceano conterminus_. Burnouf +absurdly follows Langius. + +[71] Numidians--_Numidas_. The same as _Nomades_, or wanderers; a +term applied to pastoral nations, and which, as Kritzius observes, +the Africans must have had from the Greeks, perhaps those of Sicily. + +[72] More to the sun--_sub sole magis_. I have borrowed this +expression from Rose. The Getulians were more southward. + +[73] These soon built themselves towns--That is, the united Medes, +Armenians, and Libyans. + +[74] Medes--into Moors--_Mauris pro Medis_. A most improbable, +not to say impossible corruption. + +[75] Of the Persians--_Persarum_. That is, of the Persians and +Getulians united. + +[76] The two parties--_Utrique_. The older Numidians, and the +younger, who had emigrated toward Carthage. + +[77] Those who had spread toward our sea--for the Libyans are +less warlike than the Getulians--_Magis hi, qui ad nostrum mare +processerant; quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi_. The Persians +and Getulians (under the name of Numidians), and their colonists, who +were more toward the Mediterranean, and were more warlike than the +Libyans (who were united with the Medes and Armenians) took from them +portions of their territories by conquest. This is clearly the sense, +as deducible from the preceding portion of the text. + +[78] Lower Africa--_Africa pars inferior_. The part nearest to the +sea. The ancients called the maritime parts of a country _the lower +parts_, and the inland parts _the higher_, taking the notion, probably, +from the course of the rivers. Lower Egypt was the part at the mouth of +the Nile. + +[79] XIX. Hippo--"It is not Hippo Regius" (now called _Bona_) "that is +meant, but another Hippo, otherwise called _Diarrhytum_ or _Zarytum_, +situate in Zengitana, not far from Utica. This is shown by the order +in which the places are named, as has already been observed by Cortius." +_Kritzius_. + +[80] Leptis--There were two cities of this name. Leptis Major, now +_Lebida_, lay between the two Syrtes; Leptis Minor, now _Lempta_, +between the smaller Sytis and Carthage. It is the latter that is meant +here, and in c. 77, 78. + +[81] Next to the Catabathmos--_Ad Catabathmon_. _Ad_ means, on the +side of the country toward the Catabathmos. "Catabathmon _initium_ +ponens Sallustius ab eo _discedit_." Kritzius. + +[82] Along the sea-coast--_Secundo mari_. "Si quis secundum mare +pergat" _Wasse._ + +[83] Of Therseans--_Theraeon_. From the island of Thera, one of the +Sporades, in the Aegean Sea, now called _Santorin_. Battus was the +leader of the colony. See Herod., iv. 145; Strab., xvii. 8; Pind. +Pyth., iv. + +[84] Two Syrtes--See c. 78. + +[85] Leptis--That is, _Leptis Major_. See above on this c. + +[86] Altars of the Philaeni--see c. 79. + +[87] To the south of Numidia--_Super Numidiam_. "Ultra Numidiam, +meridiem versus." _Burnouf_. + +[88] Had lately possessed--_Novissime habuerant_. In the interval +between the second and third Punic wars. + +[89] XXI. Both armies took up, etc.--I have omitted the word +_interim_ at the beginning of this sentence, as it would be worse than +useless in the translation. It signifies, _during the interval before +the armies came to an engagement_; but this is sufficiently expressed +at the termination of the sentence. + +[90] Cirta--Afterward named _Sittianorum Colonia_, from P. Sittius +Nucerinus (mentioned in Cat., c. 21), who assisted Caesar in the +African war, and was rewarded by him with the possession of this +city and its lands. It is now called _Constantina_, from Constantine +the Great, who enlarged and restored it when it had fallen into decay. +Strabo describes it, xvii. 3. + +[91] Twilight was beginning to appear--_Obscuro etiam tum lumine_. +Before day had fairly dawned. + +[92] Romans--_Togatorum_. Romans, with, perhaps, some of the +allies, engaged in merchandise, or other peaceful occupations, and +therefore wearing the _toga_. They are called _Italici_ in c. 26. + +[93] Three young men--_Tres adolescentes_. Cortius includes these +words in brackets, regarding them as the insertion of some sciolist. But +a sciolist, as Burnouf observes, would hardly have thought of inserting +_tres adolescentes_. The words occur in all the MSS., and are pretty +well confirmed by what is said below, c. 25, that when the senate next +sent a deputation, they took care to make it consist of _majores natu, +nobiles_. See on _adolescens_, Cat., c. 38. + +[94] XXII. Told much less than the truth--_Sed is rumor clemens erat_. +"It fell below the truth, not telling the whole of the atrocity that +had been committed." _Gruter._ "Priscian (xviii. 26) interprets +_clemens_ 'non nimius,' alluding to this passage of Sallust." +_Kritzius._ All the later commentators have adopted this interpretation, +except Burnouf, who adopts the supposition of Ciacconius, that a _vague +and uncertain_ rumor is meant. + +[95] Right of nations--_Jure gentium._ "That is, the right of avenging +himself." _Rupertus._ + +[96] XXIV. Pays no regard--_Neque--in animo habeat._ This letter of +Adherbal's, both in matter and tone, is very similar to his speech +in c. 14. + +[97] I have experienced, even before--_Jam antea expertus sum._ +He means, in the result of his speech to the senate. + +[98] XXV. Chief of the senate--_Princeps senatus._ "He whose name +was first entered in the censors' books was called _Princeps Senatus_, +which title used to be given to the person who of those alive had been +censor first (_qui primus censor, ex iis qui viverent, fuisset_), but +after the year 544, to him whom the censors thought most worthy, Liv., +xxvii. 13. This dignity, although it conferred no command or emolument, +was esteemed the very highest, and was usually retained for life, Liv., +xxxiv. 44; xxxix. 52. It is called _Principatus_; and hence afterward +the Emperor was named _Princeps_, which word properly denotes rank, and +not power." Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 3. + +[99] At length the evil incitements of ambition prevailed--_Vicit +tamen in avido ingenio pravum consilium._ "Evil propensities gained +the ascendency in his ambitious disposition." + +[100] XXVI. The Italians--_Italici._ See c. 21. + +[101] XXVII. By the Sempronian law--_Lege Sempronia._ This was +the _Lex Sempronia de Provinciis._ In the early ages of the republic, +the provinces were decreed by the senate to the consuls after they +were elected; but by this law, passed A.U.C. 631, the senate fixed on +two provinces for the future consuls before their election (Cic. Pro +Dom., 9; De Prov. Cons., 2), which they, after entering on their +office, divided between themselves by lot or agreement. The law was +passed by Caius Gracchus. See Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 105. + +[102] Publius Scipio Nasica--"The great-grandson of him who was +pronounced by the senate to be _vir optimus_; and son of him who, +though holding no office at the time, took part in putting to death +Tiberius Gracchus. He was consul with Bestia, A.U.C. 643, and died in +his consulship. Cic. Brut., 34." _Burnouf._ + +[103] Lucius Bestia Calpurnius--"He had been on the side of the +nobility against the Gracchi, and was therefore in favor with the +senate. After his consulship he was accused and condemned by the +Mamilian law (c. 40), for having received money from Jugurtha, Cic. +Brut. c. 34. De Brosses thinks that he was the grandfather of that +Bestia who was engaged in the conspiracy of Catilina." Burnouf._ + +[104] XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence--_Fidei causa._ "In +order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the +quaestor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns." +_Cortius._ + +[105] As if by an evident majority of voices--_Quasi per saturam +exquisitis sententiis._ "The opinions being taken in a confused +manner," or, as we say, _in the lump_. The sense manifestly is, that +there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in +Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each +individual in order. _Satura_, which some think to be always an +adjective, with _lanx_ understood, though _lanx_, according to +Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was _a +plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered +to the gods._ "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris +infertur, quae satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat., i. 1, +_init_. "Lanx. referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris +inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483."Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus +conditum," Festus _sub voce_. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satira, ii. 4; +Kritzius ad h. l., and Scheller's Lex. v., _Satur._ In the Pref. to +Justinian's Pandects, that work is called _opus sparsim et quasi per +saturam collectum, utile cum inutilibus mixtim._ + +[106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus +rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the +people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._ + +[107] XXX. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length." +The reader might suppose, at first, that Sallust transcribed this +speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, +he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following +_hujuscemodi_ shows that Sallust did not profess to give the exact +words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sallustian +phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is +imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following +fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt +huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius. + +[108] XXXI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ +"It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of +Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, +not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." +_Burnouf._ The manuscripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and +others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, +which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is +also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576. + +[109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ +Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. + +[110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently +intended. + +[111] Every civil and religions obligation--_Divina et humana omnia._ +"They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an +enemy; against the honor of Rome when they did what was unworthy of +it, and greatly to its injury; and against gods and men, against all +divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not +only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." _Dietsch._ + +[112] Slaves purchased with money, etc.--_Servi, aere parati,_ etc. +This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is +preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: _Servi injurias nimis aegre ferunt; quid +illos bono genere natos, magna virtute praeditos, animi habuisse atque +habituros, dum vivent?_ "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of +injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and +of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live?" + +[113] Public spirit--_Pietas._ Under this word are included all +duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately +connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, +and the gods. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose. + +[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--_Beneficia vestra._ +Offices of state, civil and military. + +[115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est +parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas +aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62. + +[116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam +haec tempora magis placent,_ etc. "_Those times_, which immediately +succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for +the tyranny of the nobles, and the humiliation of the people; _these +times_, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert +their liberty." _Burnouf._ + +[117] Embezzlement of the public money--_Peculatus aerarii._ "Peculator, +qui furtum facit pecuniae publicae." Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr i. + +[118] Kings--I have substituted the plural for the singular. "No +name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, +accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of +Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." _Dietsch._ + +[119] If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.--_Si injuriae +non sint, haud saepe auxilii egeas._ "Some foolishly interpret +_auxilium_ as signifying _auxilium tribunicium_, the aid of the +tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sallust means _aid against +the injuries of bad men_, i.e. revenge or punishment." _Kritzius._ "If +injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the +help of good men and it will be of less consequence if they become +inactive." _Dietsch._ + +[120] XXXII. Lucius Cassius--This is the man from whom came the +common saying _cui bono?_ "Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people +thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed +constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, _cui bono fuisset_, +of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 80. "His +tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his +excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on +account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into +Numidia. + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ +See Cat.47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ +See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[122] XXXIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant--_Cultu +quam maxime miserabili_. "In such a garb as accused persons, or +suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite +compassion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard +to grow." _Burnouf._ + +[123] XXXIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace--A single tribune +might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost +any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom. +Ant., under the head "Tribunes of the People." + +[124] Every other act to which anger prompts--_Aliis omnibus, qua +ira fieri amat._ "These words have given rise to wonderful +hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many +expressions of Sallust are borrowed from the Greek, as _Vulgus amat +fieri,_ all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the +structure of Sallust's words must be Greek, and have taken _ira,_ in +this passage, for an ablative, and _quae_ for a nominative plural. +Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited +By Quintilian, and to correct them, please the gods, into _quae in +Vulgus amat fieri._ But how could there have been such want of +penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of +the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by +Quintilian, has reference merely to the word [Greek: philei], _amat_, +they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb +on a neuter plural? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, +does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this +mode of expression in other writers." _Kritzius._ Dietsch agrees with +Kritzius; and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that _quae_ is +the accusative and _ira_ the nominative; the sense being, "which anger +loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been +suggested, namely, to understand _multitudo_ as the nominative case to +_amat_, making _ira_ the ablative; but this method is far more +cumbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sallust. The +words quoted by Quintilian do not refer, as Cortius erroneously +supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is +now lost. + +[125] XXXV. Should be disturbed--_Movere_ is the reading of Cortius; +_moveri_ that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS. +and early editions. + +[126] The times at which he resorted to particular places--_Loca +atque tempora cuncta._ "All his places and times." There can be no +doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text. + +[127] In accordance with the law of nations, etc.--As the public faith +had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the +same footing as that of embassadors, the persons of whose attendants +are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no +offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If +any such offense is committed by an attendant of an embassador, an +application is usually made by the government to the embassador to +deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended +without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own +country, the Portuguese embassador's brother, who was one of his +retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver +Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell, et Pac., xviii, 8; +Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, +says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not +Jugurtha's object. + +[128] At the commencement of the proceedings--_In priori actione._ +That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder. + +[129] His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him--_Reliquos +popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi._ "Fear of obeying him should +take possession of his other subjects." + +[130] That it was a venal city, etc.--_Urbem venalem,_ etc. I +consider, with Cortias, that this is the proper way of taking these +words. Some would render them _O venal city,_ etc., because Livy, +Epit. lxiv., has _O urbem venalem,_ but this seems to require that the +verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy +we should either eject the O or read _inveneris._ Florus, iii. 1, +gives the words in the same way as Sallust. + +[131] XXXVI. As propraetor--_Pro praetore._ With the power of +lieutenant-general. + +[132] XXXVII. Throughout the year--_Totius anni._ That is, all that +remained of the year. + +[133] On the edge of a steep hill--_In praerupti montis extremo. +"In extremo_ a scholiast rightly interprets _in margine_," Gerlach. +Cortius, whom Langius follows, considers that _in extremo_ means _at +the bottom_; a notion which Kritzius justly condemns; for, as Gerlach +asks, what would that have to do withthe strength of the place? Muller +would have us believe that _in extremo_ means _at the top_; but if +Sallust had meant to say that the city was at the top, he would hardly +have chosen the word _extremus_ for the purpose. Doubtless, as Gerlach +observes, the city was on the top of the hill, which was broad enough +to hold it; but the words _in extremo_ signify that the walls were +even with the side of the hill. Of the site of the town of Suthul no +traces are now to be found. + +[134] Vineae--Defenses made of hurdles or other wood, and often +covered with raw hides, to defend the soldiers who worked the +battering-ram. The word that comes nearest to _vineae_ in our language +is _mantelets_. Before this word, in many editions, occurs the phrase +_ob thesauros oppidi potiundi_, which Cortius, whom I follow, omits. + +[135] XXXIII. That their defection might thus be less observed--_Ita +delicta occultiora fore._ Cortius transferred these words to this place +from the end of the preceding sentence; Kritzius and Dietsch have +restored them to their former place. Gerlach thinks them an intruded +gloss. + +[136] The chief centurion--_Centurio primi pili._There were sixty +centurions in a Roman legion; the one here meant was the first, or +oldest, centurion of the Triarii, or Pilani. + +[137] As death was the alternative--_Quia mortis metu mutabant. +Neither manuscripts nor critics are agreed about this passage. Cortius, +from a suggestion of Palmerius, adopted _mutabant_; most other editors +have _mutabantur_; but both are to be taken in the same sense; for +_mutabant_ is equivalent to _mutabant se_. Cortius's interpretation +appears the most eligible: "Permutabantur cum metuenda morte," i.e. +there were those conditions on one side, and death on the other, and +if they did not accept the conditions, they must die. Kritzius +fancifully and strangely interprets, _propter mortis metum se mutabant, +i.e., alia videbantur atque erant_, or the acceptance of the terms +appeared excusable to the soldiers, because they were threatened with +death if they did not accept them. It is worth while to notice the +variety of readings exhibited in the manuscripts collated by Cortius: +ten exhibit _mutabantur_; three, _minitabantur_; three, _multabantur_; +three, _tenebantur_; one, _tenebatur_; one, _cogebantur_; one, +_cogebatur_; one, _angustiabantur_; one, _urgebantur_; and one _mortis +metuebant pericula_. There is also, he adds, in some copies, _mutabant_, +which the Bipont editors and Mueller absurdly adopted. + +[138] XXXIX. Under all the circumstances of the case--_Ex copia rerum._ +From the number of things which he had to consider. + +[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, +et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all +the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not +obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this +period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be +employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42. + +[140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this +occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence. + +[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed +quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to +mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that +Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, +Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. +See Brut., c. 34. + +[142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_. +"_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some +degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly +refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows. + +[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.-- + + Quid quod usque proximos + Revellis agri terminos, et ultra + Limites clientium + Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos + In sinu ferens deos + Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos. + + _Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18. + + What can this impious av'rice stay? + Their sacred landmarks torn away. + You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, + And overleap your client's bounds, + Helpless the wife and husband flee, + And in their arms, expell'd by thee, + Their household gods, adored in vain, + Their infants, too, a sordid train. + +[144] Among the nobility--_Ex nobilitate._ Cortius injudiciously +omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi. + +[145] By means of the allies and Latins--See on, c. 40. + +[146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, +etc.--_Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. +Bono,_ sc. _viro_. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy +characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have +revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled +manner." _Dietsch._ Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which +notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, +think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The +brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to +decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the +Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non +satis moderatum animum fuiase; _quae res ipsis adeo interitum +attulit_; sed _sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam_ bono vinci," +etc. Langius and Burnouf join _bono_ with _more_, but do not differ +much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by +Dietsch. + +[147] XLIII. Of a character uniformly irreproachable--_Fama tamen +aequabili et inviolata. Aequabilis_ is uniform, always the same, +keeping an even tenor. + +[148] Regarded all things as common to himself and his colleague--_Ali +omnia sibi cum collega ratus._ "Other matters, unconnected with the war +against Jugurtha, he thought that he would have to manage in +conjunction with his colleague, and that, consequently, he might give +but partial attention to them; but that the war in Numidia was +committed to his sole care." _Cortius._ Other interpretations of these +words have been suggested; but they are fanciful and unworthy of notice. + +[149] Princes--_Reges._ Who these were, the commentators have not +attempted to conjecture. + +[150] XLIV. By Spurius Albinus, the proconsul.--_A Spurio Albino +proconsule_. This is the general reading. Cortius has, _Spurii Albini +pro consule_, with which we may understand _agentis_ or _imperantis_, +but can hardly believe it to be what Sallust wrote. Kritzius reads, +_Spurii Albini proconsulis_. + +[151] In a stationary camp--_Stativis castris_. In contradistinction +to that which the soldiers formed at the end of a day's march. + +[152] But neither had the camp been fortified, etc.--_Sed neque +muniebantur ea_ (se. castra), _neque more militari vigiliae +deducebantur_. "The words _sed neque muniebantur ea_ are wanting in +almost all the manuscripts, as well as in all the editions, except +that of Cyprianus Popma." _Kritzius_. Gerlach, however, had, +previously to Kritz, inserted them in his text though in brackets; +for he supposed them to be a mere conjecture of some scribe, who was +not satisfied with a single _neque_. But they have been found in a +codex of Fronto, by Angelo Mai, and have accordingly been received +as genuine by Kritz and Dietsch. Potter and Burnouf have omitted the +_ea_, thinking, I suppose, that in such a position it could hardly be +Sallust's; but the verb requires a nominative case to prevent it from +being referred to the following _vigiliae_. + +[153] Foreign wine--_Vino advectitio_ Imported. Africa does not +abound in wine. + +[154] XLV. With regard to other things--Caeteris. Cortius, whom +Gerlach follows, considers this word as referring to the men or +officers; but Kritzius and Dietsch, with better judgment, understand +_rebus_. + +[155] Numerous sentinels--_Vigilias crebras_. At short intervals, +says Kritzius, from each other. + +[156] XLVI. Villages--_Mapalibus_. See c. xviii. The word is here +used for a collection of huts, a village. + +[157] Here the consul, to try the disposition of the inhabitants, +and, should they allow him, to take advantage of the situation of the +place, etc.--_Huc consul, simul tentandi gratia, et si paterentur, +opportuniatis loci, praesidium imponit._ This is a _locus +veratissimus_, about which no editor has satisfied himself. I have +deserted Cortius and followed Dietsch, who seems to have settled the +passage, on the basis of Havercamp's text, with more judgment than any +other commentator. Cortius read, _Huc consul simul tentandi gratia, si +paterent opportunitates loci_, etc., taking _opportuniatates_ in the +sense of _munitiones_, "defenses;" but would Sallust have said _that +Metellus put a garrison in the place, to try if its defenses would be +open to him?_ Havercamp's reading is, _simul tentan si gratia, et si +paterentur opportunitates loci_, etc. Palmerius conjectured _simul +tentandi gratia, si paterentur; et opportunitate loci,_ which Gerlach +and Kritsius adopt, except that they change the place of the _et_, and +put it before _si_. Allen thinks that he has amended the passage by +reading _Huc consul, simul si paterentur tentandi, et opportunitatis +loci, gratia;_ but this conjecture is liable to similar objection with +that of Cortius. Other varieties of reading it is needless to notice. +But it is observable that four manuscripts, as Kritzius remarks, have +_propter opportunitates,_ which led me long ago to suppose that the +true reading must be _simul tentandi gratia, simul propter +opportunitates loci. Simul propter_ might easily have been corrupted +into _si paterentur_. + +[158] Frequent arrival of supplies--_Commeatum._ "Frumenti et omnium +rerum quarum in bello usus est, largam copiam." _Kritzius_. I follow +the text of Cortius (retaining the words _juvaturum ecercitum_) +which Kritzius sufficiently justifies. There is a variety of readings, +but all much the same in sense. + +[159] Extraordinary earnestness--_Impensius modo._ Cortius and +Kritzius interpret this _modo_ as the ablative case of _modus; i. e. +quam modus erat,_ or _supra modum;_ but Dietsch and Burnouf question +the propriety of this interpretation, and consider the _modo_ to be +the same as that in _tantummodo, dummodo,_ etc. The same expression +occurs again in c. 75. + +[160] XLVIII. Running parallel with the stream--_Tractu pari._ It +may be well to illustrate this and the following chapter by a copy of +the lines which Cortius has drawn, "to excite," as he says, "the +imagination of his readers:" + + River Muthul, flowing from the south + -------------------------------------------------- + I Hill on + North I which + <----------- I I Jugurtha + I I posted + I I himself + -------------------------------------------------- + Range of hills, parallel I with the Muthul + I + I Route of Metellus + I + +[161] XLIX. In a transverse direction--_Transverso itinere_. It lay on +the flank of the Romans as they marched toward the river, _in dextero +latere_, c.49, fin. + +[162] Well acquainted with the country--_Prudentes._ "Periti loci +et regionis." _Cortius._Or it may mean knowing what they were to do, +while the enemy would be _imperiti,_ surprised and perplexed. + +[163] Would crown--_Confirmaturum_. Would establish, settle, put the +last hand to them. + +[164] Was seen--_Conspicitur._ This is the reading adopted by Cortius, +Mueller, and Allen, as being that of all the manuscripts. Havercamp, +Kritzius, and Dietsch admitted into their texts, on the sole authority +of Donatus ad Ter. Eun. ii. 3, _conspicatur_, i.e. (Metellus) _catches +sight_ of the enemy. The latter reading, perhaps, makes a better +connection. + +[165] Rendering it uncertain--_Incerti._ Presenting such an +appearance that a spectator could not be certain what they were. + +[166] He drew up these in the right wing--in three lines--_In +dextero latere triplicibus subsidiis aciem instruxit._ In the other +passages in which Sallust has the word _subsidia_ (Cat. c. 59), he +uses it for _the lines behind the front._ Thus he says of Catiline, +_Octo cohortes in fronte constituit; reliqua signa in subsidiis +arctius collocat;_ and of Petreius, _Cohortes veteranas--in fronte; +post eas reliquum exercitum in subsidiis locat._ But whether he uses +the word in the same sense here; whether we might, as Cortius thinks +(whom Gerlach and Dietsch follow), call the division of Metellus's +troops _quadruple_ instead of _triple,_ or whether he arranged them as +De Brosses and others suppose, in the usual disposition of Hastati, +Principes, and Triarii, who shall place beyond dispute? The probability, +however, if Sallust is consistent with himself in his use of the word, +lies with Cortius. Gerlach refers to Caesar, De Bell, Civ., iii. 89: +"_Celeriter ex tertia acie singulas cohortes detraxit, atque ex his +quartam instituit;_ but this does not illustrate Sallust's use of the +word _subsidia_: Caesar forms a fourth _acies_; Metellus draws up one +_acies_ triplicibus subsidia". + +[167] With the front changed into a flank--_Transversis principiis._ +He made the whole army wheel to the left, so that what was their front +line, or _principia,_ as they faced the enemy on the hill, became their +flank as they marched from the mountain toward the river. + +[168] L. Behind the front line--_Post principia._ The _principia_ +are the same as those mentioned in the preceding note, that is, the +front line when the army faced that of Jugurtha on the hill, but which +presented its flank to the enemy when the army was on its march. So +that Marius commanded in the center ("in medio agmine," says Dietsch), +while Metellus took the lead with the cavalry of the left wing. See +the following note. + +[169] Cavalry on the left wing--which, on the march, had become +the van--_Sinistrae ulae equitibus--qui in agmine principes facti +erant._ When Metellus halted (c. 49, fin.), and drew up his troops +fronting the hill on which Jugurtha was posted, he placed all his +cavalry in the wings; consequently, when the army wheeled to the left, +and marched forward, the cavalry of the left wing became the van. + +[170] LI. Of the whole struggle--_Totius negotii._ That is, on the side +of the Romans. + +[171] LII. The enemy's ignorance of the country--_Regio hostibus ignara. +Ignara_ for _ignota;_ a country unknown to the enemy. + +[172] LIII. Fatigued and exhausted--_Fessi lassique._ I am once more +obliged to desert Cortius, who reads _laetique_. The sense, as Kritzius +and Dietsch observe, shows that _laeti_ can not be the reading, for +there must evidently be a complete antithesis between the two parts of +the sentence; an antithesis which would be destroyed by the introduction +of _laeti_. Gerlach, though he retains _laeti_ in his text, condemns it +in his notes. + +[173] LIV. Which could only be conducted, etc.--_Quod, nisi ex illius +lubidine, geri non posset._ Cortius omits the _non_ before _posset_, +but almost every other editor, except Allen, has retained it, from a +conviction of necessity. + +[174] Under these circumstances, however--_Ex copia tamen._ With +_copia_ we must understand _consiliorum_ or _rerum,_ as at the end of +c. 39. All the manuscripts, except two, have _inopia_, which editors +have justly rejected as inconsistent with the sense. + +[175] LV. A thanksgiving--_Supplicia._ The same as _supplicatio,_ on +which the reader may consult Adam's Rom. Ant., or Dr. Smith's +Dictionary. + +[176] LVI. Dared not be guilty of treachery--_Fallere nequibant._ +"Through dread of the severest punishments if they should fall into +the hands of the Romans. Valerius Maximus, ii. 7, speaks of deserters +having been deprived of their hands by Quintus Fabius Maximus; of +others who were crucified or beheaded by the elder Africanus; of +others who were thrown to wild beasts by Africanus the younger; and of +others who were sentenced by Paulus Aemilius to be trampled to death +by elephants. Hence it appears that the punishment of deserters was +left to the pleasure of the general." _Burnouf_. + +[177] Sicca--It stood on the banks of the Bagradas, at some distance +from the coast, and contained a celebrated Temple of Venus. Val. Max., +ii. 6. D'Anville thinks it the same as the modern _Kef._ + +[178] LVII. Javelins--_Pila._ This _pilum_ may have been, as Mueller +suggests, similar to the _falarica_ which Livy (xxi. 8) says that the +Saguntines used against their besiegers. _Falarica erat Saguntinis, +missile telum hastili abiegno--id, sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppa +circumligabant, linebantque pice:--quod cum medium accensum mitteretur_, +etc. Of Sallust's other words, in the latter part of this sentence, +the sense is clear, but the readings of different editors are extremely +various. Cortius and Gerlach have _sudes, pila praeterea picem sulphure +et taeda mixtam ardentia mittere:_ but it can scarcely be believed that +Sallust wrote _picem--taeda mixtam._ Havercamp gives _pice et sulphure +taedam mixtam ardentia mittere,_ which has been adopted by Kritzius and +Dietsch, except that they have changed _ardentia,_ on the authority of +some of the manuscripts, into _ardenti_. + +[179] LIX. And thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost +succeeded in giving the enemy a defeat--_Ita expeditis peditibus suis +hostes paene victos dare._ Cortius, Kritzius, and Allen, concur in +regarding _expeditis peditibus_ as an ablative of the instrument, i.e. +as equivalent to _per expeditos pedites_ and _victos dare_ as nothing +more than _vincere._ This appears to be the right mode of explanation; +but most of the translators, French as well as English, have taken +_expeditis peditibus_ as a dative, and given to the passage the sense +that "the cavalry delivered up the enemy, when nearly conquered, to be +dispatched by the light-armed foot." + +[180] LX. Attacks, or preparations for defense, were made in all +quarters--_Oppugnare aut parare omnibus locis._ There is much +discussion among the critics whether these verbs are to be referred to +the besiegers or the besieged. Cortius and Gerlach attribute +_oppugnare_ to the Romans, and _parare_ to the men of Zama; a +distinction which Kritzius justly condemns. There can be little doubt +that they are spoken of both parties equally. + +[181] LXI. The rest of his forces--in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia--_Caeterum exercitum in provinciam, quae proxima +est Numidiae, hiemandi gratia collocat._ "The words _quae proxima est +Numidiae_ Cortius would eject as superfluous and spurious. But it is +to be understood that Metellus did not distribute his troops through +the whole of the province, but in that part which is nearest to +Numidia, in order that they might be easily assembled in case of an +attack of the enemy or any other emergency. There is, therefore, no +need to read with the Bipont edition and Mueller, _qua proxima,_ etc. +though this is in itself not a bad conjecture." _Kritzius_. + +[182] LXII. Was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium, etc. +--_Cum ipse ad imperandum Tisidium vocaretur._ The gerund is used, as +grammarians say, in a passive sense. "The town of Tisidium is nowhere +else mentioned. Strabo (xvii. 3, p. 488, Ed. Tauch.) speaks of a place +named [Greek: _Tisiaioi_], which was utterly destroyed, and not a +vestige of it left." _Gerlach_. + +[183] LXIII. Sacrificing to the gods--_Per hostias dis supplicante._ +Supplicating or worshiping the gods with sacrifices, and trying to +learn their intentions as to the future by inspection of the entrails. +"Marius was either a sincere believer in the absurd superstitions and +dreams of the soothsayers, or pretended to be so, from a knowledge of +the nature of mankind, who are eager to listen to wonders, and are +ore willing to be deceived than to be taught." _Burnouf._ See Plutarch, +Life of Marius. He could interpret omens for himself, according to +Valerius Maximus, i. 5. + +[184] The people--disposed of, etc.--_Etiam tum alios magistratus +plebes, consulatum nobilitas, inter se per manus tradebat._ The +commentators have seen the necessity of understanding a verb with +_plebes._ Kritzius suggests _habebat;_ Gerlach _grebat_ or _accipiebat_. + +[185] A disgrace to it--_Pollutus._ He was considered, as it were, +unclean. See Cat., c. 23, _fin_. + +[186] LXIV. As soon as the public business would allow him--_Ubi +primum potuisset per negotia publica._ As soon as he could through +(regard to) the public business. + +[187] With his own son--_Cum filio suo._ With the son of Metellus. +He tells Marius that it would be soon enough for him to stand for +the consulship in twenty-three years' time, the legitimate age for +the consulship being forty-three. + +[188] In the camp with his father--_Contubernio patris._ He was +among the young noblemen in the consul's retinue, who were sent out +to see military service under him. This was customary. See Cic. Pro +Cael. Pro Planc. 11. + +[189] LXV. Which was as weak as his body--_Ob morbos--parum valido._ +Sallust had already expressed this a few lines above. + +[190] Merchants--_Negotiatores._ "Every one knows that Romans of +equestrian dignity were accustomed to trade in the provinces." +_Burnouf_. + +[191] With the most honorable demonstrations in his favor +--_Honestissima suffragatione._ "_Suffragatio_ was the zealous +recommendation of those who solicited the votes of their +fellow-citizens in favor of some candidate. See Festus, s.v. +_Suffragatores,_ p. 266, Lindem." _Dietsch._ It was honorable, in +the case of Marius, as it was without bribery, and seemed to have +the good of the republic in view. + +[192] The Mamilian law--See c. 40. + +[193] LXVI. Advantageous positions--_Suos locos._ Places favorable +for his views. See Kritzius on c. 54. + +[194] LXVII. Were in trepidation. At the citadel, etc.--I have +translated this passage in conformity with the texts of Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, Mueller, and Allen, who put a point between +_trepidare_ and _ad arcem_. Cortina, Havercamp, and Burnouf have +_trepidare ad arcem_, without any point. Which method gives the better +sense, any reader can judge. + +[195] On the roofs of the houses--_Pro tectis aedificiorum_. In +front of the roofs of the houses; that is, at the parapets. "In prima +tectorum parte." _Kritzius_. The roofs were flat. + +[196] Worthless and infamous character--_Improbus intestabilisque_. +These words are taken from the twelve tables of the Roman law: See +Aul. Gell. vi. 7, xv. 3. Horace, in allusion to them, has _intestabilis +et sacer_, Sat. ii. 3.181, _Intestabilis_ signified a person to be of +so infamous a character that he was not allowed to give evidence in a +court of justice. + +[197] LXVIII. Averse to further exertion--_Tum abnuentes omnia_. +Most of the translators have understood by these words that the troops +refused to obey orders; but Sallust's meaning is only that they +expressed, by looks and gestures, their unwillingness to proceed. + +[198] LXIX As a native of Latium--_Nam is civis ex Latio erat_. +"As he was a Latin, he was not protected by the Porcian law (see Cat., +c. 51), though how far this law had power in the camp, is not agreed." +_Allen_. Gerlach thinks that it had the same power in the camp as +elsewhere, with reference to Roman citizens. But Roman citizenship was +not extended to the Latins till the end of the Social War, A.U.C. 662. +Plutarch, however, in his Life of Caius Gracchus (c. 9), speaks of +Livius Drusus having been abetted by the patricians in proposing a law +for exempting the Latin soldiers from being flogged, about thirty +years earlier; and it seems to have been passed, but, from this +passage of Sallust, appears not to have remained in force. Lipsius +touches on this obscure point in his _Militia Romana_, v. 18, but +settles nothing. Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, c. 8, says that +Turpilius was an old retainer of the family of Metellus, whom he +attended, in this war, as _prafectus fabrum_, or master of the +artificers; that, being afterward appointed governor of Vacea, he +exercised his office with great justice and humanity, that his life +was spared by Jugurtha at the solicitation of the inhabitants; that, +when he was brought to trial, Metellus thought him innocent, and that +he would not have been condemned but for the malice of Marius, who +exasperated the other members of the council against him. He adds, +that after his death, his innocence became apparent, and that Marius +boasted of having planted in the breast of Metellus an avenging fury, +that would not fail to torment him for having put to death the +innocent friend of his family. Hence Sir Henry Steuart has accused +Sallust of wilfully misrepresenting the character of Turpilius, as +well as the whole transaction. But as much credit is surely due to +Sallust as to Plutarch. + +[199] LXX. To which Jugurtha--was unable to attend--_Quae Jugartha, +fesso, aut majoribus astricto, superaverant_. "Which had remained to +(or been too much for) Jugurtha, when weary, or engaged in more +important affairs." + +[200] Among the winter-quarters of the Romans--_Inter hiberna +Romanorum_.It is stated in c. 61, as Kritzius observes, that Metellus, +when he put his army into winter-quarters, had, at the same time, +placed garrisons in such of Jugurtha's towns as had revolted to him. +The forces of the Romans being thus dispersed, Nabdalsa might justly +be said to have his army _inter hiberna_, "_among_ their +winter-quarters." + +[201] LXXI. Behind his head--_Super caput_. On the back of the +bolster that supported his head; part of which might be higher than +the head itself. + +[202] LXXIIL The factious tribunes--_Seditiosi magistratus_. + +[203] After the lapse of many years--_Post multas tempestates_. +Apparently the period since A.U.C. 611, when Quintus Pompeius, who, as +Cicero says (in Verr. ii. 5), was _humile atque obscuro loco natus_, +obtained the consulship; that is, a term of forty-three or forty-four +years. + +[204] That decree was thus rendered abortive--_Ea res frustra fuit_. +By a _lex Sempronia_, a law of Caius Gracchus, it was enacted that the +senate should fix the provinces for the future consuls before the +_comitia_ for electing them were held. But from Jug. c. 26, it appears +that the consuls might settle by lot, or by agreement between +themselves, which of those two provinces each of them should take. How +far the senate were allowed or accustomed in general, to interfere in +the arrangement, it is not easy to discover: but on this occasion they +had taken on themselves to pass a resolution in favor of the patrician. +Lest similar scenes, however, to those of the Sempronian times should +be enacted, they yielded the point to the people. + +[205] LXXV. Thala--The river on which this town stood is not named by +Sallust, but it appears to have been the Bagrada. It seems to have been +nearly destroyed by the Romans, after the defeat of Juba, in the time +of Julius Caesar; though Tacitus, Ann. iii. 21, mentions it as having +afforded a refuge to the Romans in the insurrection of the Numidian +chief, Tacfarinas. D'Anville and Dr. Shaw, _Travels in Bombay_, vol. +i. pt. 2, ch. 5, think it the same with Telepte, now _Ferre-anah_; but +this is very doubtful. See Cellar. iv. 5. It was in ruins in the time +of Strabo. + +[206] Had done more than was required of them--_Officia intenderant._ +"Auxit _intenditque_ saevitiam exacerbatus indicio filii sui Drusi" +Suet. Tib. 62. + +[207] LXXVI. Nor did he ever--continue, etc.--_Neque postea--moratus, +simulabat_, etc.--Most editors take _moratus_ for _morans_; Allen +places a colon after it, as if it were for _moratus est_. + +[208] And erected towns upon it to protect, etc.--_Et super aggerem +impositis turribus epus et administros tutari_. "And protected +the work and the workmen with towers placed on the mound." _Impositis +turribus_ is not the ablative absolute, but the ablative of the +instrument. + +[209] LXXVII. Leptis--Leptis Major, now _Lebida_. In c. 19, Leptis Minor +is meant. + +[210] Their own safety--_Suam salutem_: i.e. the safety of the people of +Leptis. + +[211] LXXVIII. Which take their name from their nature--_Quibus +nomen ex re inditum._ From [Greek: _surein_], _to draw,_ because the +stones and sand were drawn to and fro by the force of the wind and +tide. But it has been suggested that this etymology is probably false; +it is less likely that their name should be from the Greek than from +the Arabic, in which _sert_ signifies a desert tract or region, a term +still applied to the desert country bordering on the Syrtea. See +Ritter, Allgem. vergleich, Geog. vol. i. p. 929. The words which, in +Havercamp, close this description of the Syrtes, "Syrtes ab tractu +nominatae", and which Gruter and Putschius suspected not to be +Sallust's, Cortius omitted; and his example has been followed by +Muller and Burnouf; Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, have retained +them. Gerlach, however, thinks them a gloss, though they are found in +every manuscript but one. + +[212] Almost at the extremity of Africa--_Prope in extrema Africa._ +"By _extrema Africa_ Gerlach rightly understands the eastern part of +Africa, bordering on Egypt, and at a great distance from Numidia." +_Kritzius_. + +[213] The language alone--_Lingua modo_. + +[214] From the king's dominions--_Ab imperio regis._ "Understand +Masinissa's, Micipsa's, or Jugurtha's." _Burnouf_. + +[215] LXXIX. Philaeni--The account of these Carthaginian brothers +with a Greek name, _philainoi, praise-loving_, is probably a fable. +Cortius thinks that the inhabitants, observing two mounds rising above +the surrounding level, fancied they must have been raised, not by +nature, but by human labor, and invented a story to account for their +existence. "The altars," according to Mr. Rennell (Geog. of Herod., p. +640), "were situated about seven ninths of the way from Carthage to +Cyrene; and the deception," he adds, "would have been too gross, had +it been pretended that the Carthaginian party had traveled seven parts +in nine, while the Cyrenians had traveled no more than two such parts +of the way." Pliny (II. N. v. 4) says that the altars were of sand; +Strabo (lib. iii.) says that in his time they had vanished. Pomponius +Mela and Valerius Maximus repeat the story, but without adding any +thing to render it more probable. + +[216] Devoid of vegetation--_Nuda gignentium_. So c. 93, _cunota +gignentium natura_. Kritzius justly observes that _gignentia_ is not +to be taken in the sense of _genita_, as Cortius and others interpret, +but in its own active sense; the ground was bare _of all that was +productive_, or _of whatever generates any thing_. This interpretation +is suggested by Perizonius ad Sanctu Minerv. i. 15. + +[217] Sacrificed themselves--_Seque vitamque--condonavere_. +"Nihil aliud est quam _vitam suam_, sc.[Greek: _eu dia dyoin_]." +_Allen_. + +[218] LXXX. Sell--honorable or dishonorable--_Omnia honesta atque +inhonesta vendere_. See Cat. c. 30. They had been bribed by Jugurtha +to use their influence against Bocchus. + +[219] A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha--_Jugurthae +filia Bocchi nupserat_. Several manuscripts and old editions have +_Boccho_, making Bocchus the son-in-law of Jugurtha. But Plutarch +(Vit. Mar. c. 10, Sull. c. 8) and Florus (iii. 1) agree in speaking +of him as Jugurtha's father-in-law. Bocchus was doubtless an older man +than Jugurtha, having a grown up son, Volux, c. 105. Castilioneus and +Cortius, therefore, saw the necessity of reading _Bocchi_, and, other +editors have followed them, except Gerlach, "who," says Kritzius, "has +given _Bocchi_ in his larger, and _Boccho_ in his smaller and more +recent edition, in order that readers using both may have an +opportunity of making a choice." + +[220] No one of them becomes a companion to him--_Nulla pro socia +obtinet The use of _obtinet_ absolutely, or with the word dependent on +it understood, prevails chiefly among the later Latin writers. Livy, +however, has _fama obtinuit_, xxi. 46. "The _tyro_ is to be reminded," +says Dietsch, "that _obtinet_ is not the same as _habetar_, but is +always for _locum obtinet_." + +[221] LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies--The text has only +_exercitus_. + +[222] To lessen Bocchus's chance of peace--_Bocchi pacem +imminuere_. He wished to engage Bocchus in some act of hostility +against the Romans, so as to render any coalition between them +impossible. + +[223] LXXXII. Should have learned something of the Moors +--_Cognitis Mauris, i.e._ after knowing something of the Moors, +_and not before_. _Cognitis militibus_ is used in the same way in c. +39; and Dietsch says that _amicitia Jugurthae parum cognita_ is for +_nondum cognita_, c. 14. + +[224] LXXXIV. Discharged veterans--_Homines emeritis stipendiis._ +Soldiers who had completed their term of service. + +[225] Means of warfare--_Usum belli._ That is _ea quae belli usus +posceret_, troops and supplies. + +[226] Cherished the fancy--_Animis trahebant. "Trahere animo_ is +always to revolve in the mind, not to let the thought of a thing +escape from the mind." _Kritzius_. + +[227] LXXXV. Its interests ought to be managed, etc.--_Majore cura +illam administrari quam haec peti debere._ Cortius injudiciously +omits the word _illam_. No one has followed him but Allen. + +[228] Hostile--_Occursantis._ Thwarting, opposing. + +[229] That you may not be deceived in me--_Ut neque vos capiamini._ +"This verb is undoubtedly used in this passage for _decipere_. +Compare Tibull. Eleg. iii. 6, 45: _Nec vos aut capiant pendentia +brachia collo, Aut fallat blanda sordida tingua prece._ Cic. Acad. +iv. 20: _Sapientis vim maximam esse cavere, ne capiatur._" Gerlach. + +[230] To secure their election--_Per ambitionem. Ambire_ is to +canvass for votes; to court the favor of the people. + +[231] Of yonder crowd of nobles--_ex illo globo nobilitatis. Illo,_ +[Greek: _deiktikos_]. + +[232] I know some--who after they have been elected, etc.--"At +whom Marina directs this observation, it is impossible to tell. +Gerlach referring to Cic. Quest. Acad. ii. 1, 2, thinks that Lucullus +is meant. But if he supposes that Lucullus was present _to the mind of +Marius_ when he spoke, he is egregiously deceived, for Marius was +forty years antecedent to Lucullus. It is possible, however, that +_Sallust_, thinking of Lucullus when he wrote Marius's speech, may +have fallen into an anachronism, and have attributed to Marius, whose +character he had assumed, an observation which might justly have been +made in his own day." _Kritzius_. + +[233] Persons who invert the order of things--_Homines Praeposteri._ +Men who do that last which should be done first. + +[234] For though to discharge the duties of the office, etc.--_Nam +gerere, quam fieri, tempore posterius, re atque usu prius est._ With +_gerere_ is to be understood _consulatum_; with _fieri, consulem._ +This is imitated from Demosthenes, Olynth. iii.: [Greek: _To gar +prattein ton legein kai cheirotonein, usteron on tae taxei, proteron +tae dynamei kai kreitton esti_.] "Acting is posterior in order to +speaking and voting, but prior and superior in effect." + +[235] With those haughty nobles--_Cum illorum superbui. Virtus +Scipiades et mitis sapientia Laeli._ + +[236] My condition _Mihi fortuna_. "That is, my lot, or condition, +in which I was born, in which I had no hand in producing." _Dietsch_. + +[237] The circumstance of birth, etc. _Naturam unam et communem +omnium existumo_. "Nascendi sortem" is the explanation which Dietsch +gives to _naturam_. One man is _born_ as well as another, but the +difference between men is made by their different modes of action; a +difference which the nobles falsely suppose to proceed from fortune. +"Voltaire, Mohammed, Act.I., sce. iv., has expressed the sentiment of +Sallust exactly: + + Les mortels sont egaux, ce n'est point la naissance, + C'est la seule vertu qui fait leur difference." _Burnouf._ + +[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam +ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this +passage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is +apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were +probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The passage which Anthon +quotes from Plutarch to illustrate _patres_, is not applicable, for +the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae +kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai +paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, +all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9. +"He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the +ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity +like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high +birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_. + +[239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence. + +[240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and +Jug. c. 1. + +[241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their +ancestors--_Pleraque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their +ancestors in the greatest part of their speech." + +[242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, +viii.138: + + Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum + Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. + + Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display + Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day. + +[243] I feel assured--_Ex animi sententia_. "It was a common form of strong +asseveration." _Gerlach._ + +[244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was +anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in +battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had +struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. +v.17." _Burnouf_. + +[245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards. +Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two +colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa +was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the +color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius +thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, +as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261: + + Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique + Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_. + +[246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: + + _Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: + Hic _torque_ aurato circumdat bellica collae. + +Juvenal, xv. 60: + + Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes. + +These passages show that _phalerae_, a name for the ornaments of +horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the +_torques_, or collars, in this respect, that the _phalerae_ hung down +over the breast, and the _torques_ only encircled the neck. See Lips. +ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." _Burnouf_. + +[247] Valor--_Virtutem._ "The Greeks, those illustrious instructors +of the world, had not been able to preserve their liberty; their +learning therefore had not added to their valor. _Virtus_, in this +passage, is evidently _fortitudo bellica_, which, in the opinion of +Marius, was _the only virtue_." Burnouf. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. c. 2. + +[248] To be vigilant at my post--_Praesidia agitare_. Or "to keep +guard at my post." "_Praesidia agitare_ signifies nothing more than to +protect a party of foragers or the baggage, or to keep guard round a +besieged city." _Vortius_. + +[249] Keep no actor--_Histrionem nullum--habeo_. "Luxuriae peregrinae +origo ab exercitu Asiatico (Manlii sc. Vulsonis, A.U.C. 563) invecta +in urbem est.----Tum psaltriae sambucistriaeque et convivalia +_ludionum_ obiectamenta, addita epulis." Liv. xxxix. 6. "By this army +returning from Asia was the origin of foreign luxury imported into the +city.----At entertainments--were introduced players on the harp and +timbrel, with _buffoons_ for the diversion of the guests." _Baker_. +Professor Anthon, who quotes this passage, says that _histrio_ "here +denotes a buffoon kept for the amusement of the company." But such is +not the meaning of the word _histrio_. It signifies one who in some way +_acted_, either by dancing and gesticulation, or by reciting, perhaps +to the music of the _sambucistriae or other minstrels. See Smith's +Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. Art. _Histrio_, sect. 2. Scheller's Lex. +sub. vv. _Histrio, Ludio_, and _Salto_. The emperors had whole companies +of actors, _histriones aulici_, for their private amusement. Suetonius +says of Augustus (c. 74) that at feasts he introduced _acroamata et +histriones_. See also Spartian. _Had_. c. 19; Jul.Capitol. _Verus_, c.8. + +[250] My cook--_Coquum_. Livy, in the passage just cited from him, adds +_tum coquus villisimum antiquis mancipium, et estimatione et usu in +pretio esse; ut quod ministerium fuerat, ars haberi coepta_. "The cook, +whom the ancients considered as the meanest of their slaves both in +estimation and use, became highly valuable." _Baker_. + +[251] Avarice, inexperience, and arrogance--_Avaritiam, imperitiam, +superbiam_. "The President De Brosses and Dotteville have observed, +that Marius, in these words, makes an allusion to the characters of +all the generals that had preceded him, noticing at once the avarice +of Calpurnius, the inexperience of Albinus, and the pride of Metellus." +_Le Brun_. + +[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of +mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English +translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to +be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not +the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however +cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to +immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper +connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens +liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in +the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these +lines of Tyrtaeus: + +[Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin + Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton + Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton + Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.] + + + To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, + Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: + Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, + The silent foot of fate at home has found. + +The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la +lachete n'a preserve de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour etre un +lache, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly +_inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_. + +[253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: +_Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai +eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will +never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20. +"This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sallust both in +words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and +objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold +character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished +and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The +phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoarse.----But +it is animated and fervid, rushing on like a torrent; and by language +of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are +excellently represented." _Gerlach_. + +[254] LXXXVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the classes--_Non +more majorum, neque ex classibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, +who divided the Roman people into six classes, the highest class +consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in +regular gradation, none of the sixth class, who were not considered as +having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were +allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, +commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to +render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders. +See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10. + +[255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_. + +[256] LXXXVII. Having filled up his legions, etc. Their numbers had been +thinned in actions with the enemy, and Metellus perhaps took home some +part of the army which did not return to it. + +[257] Their country and parents, etc--_Patriam parentesque_, etc. +Sallust means to say that the soldiers would see such to be the general +effect and result of vigorous warfare; not that they had any country or +parents to protect in Numidia. But the observation has very much of the +rhetorician in it. + +[258] LXXXVIII. From our allies--_Ex sociis nostris_. The people of the +province. + +[259] Obliged the king himself--to take flight without his arms +_Ipsumque regem--armis exuerat_. He attacked Jugurtha so suddenly and +vigorously that he was compelled to flee, leaving his arms behind him. + +[260]: LXXXIX. The Libyan Hercules--_Hercules Libys_. "He is one of +the forty and more whom Varro mentions, and who, it is probable, were +leaders of trading expeditions or colonies. See _supra_, c. 18. A +Libyan Hercules is mentioned by Solinus xxvii." _Bernouf_. + +[261] Marius conceived a strong desire--_Marium maxima cupido +invaserat_. "A strong desire had seized Marius." + +[262] Wild beasts' flesh--_Ferina carne_. Almost all our +translators have rendered this "venison." But the Africans lived on +the flesh of whatever beasts they took in the chase. + +[263] XC. The consul, etc.--Here is a long and awkward parenthesis. +I have adhered to the construction of the original. The "yet," _tamen_, +that follows the parenthesis, refers to the matter included in it. + +[264] He consigned to the care, etc.--_Equitibus auxiliariis agendum +attribuit_. "He gave to be driven by the auxiliary cavalry." + +[265] The town of Lares--_Oppidum Laris_. Cortius seems to have +been right in pronouncing _Laris_ to be an accusative plural. Gerlach +observes that Lares occurs in the Itinerary of Antonius and in St. +Augustine, Adv. Donatist., vi. 28. + +[266] XCI. After marching the whole night.--He seems to have +marched in the night for the sake of coolness. + +[267] XCII. All his undertakings, etc.--_Omnia non bene consulta +in virtutem trahebantur_. "All that he did rashly was attributed to +his _consciousness of_ extraordinary power." If they could not praise +his prudence, they praised his resolution and energy. + +[268] Difficult of execution--_Difficilem_. There seemed to be as +many impediments to success as in the affair at Capsa, though the +undertaking was not of so perilous a nature. + +[269] In the midst of a plain--_Inter caeteram planitiem_. By +_caeteram_ he signifies that _the rest_ of the ground, except the part +on which the fort stood, was plain and level. + +[270] Directed his utmost efforts to take--_Summa vi capere +intendit_. It is to be observed that _summa vi_ refers to _intendit_, +not to _capere_. _Summa ope_ animum _intendit ut caperet_. + +[271] Among the vineae--_Inter vineas_. "_Inter_, for which Mueller, +from a conjecture of Glareanus, substituted _intra_ is supported by +all the manuscripts, and ought not to be altered, although _intra_ +would have been more exact, as the signification of _inter_ is of +greater extent, and includes that of _intra_. _Inter_ is used when +a thing is inclosed on each side; _intra_, when it is inclosed on +all sides. If the soldiers, therefore, are considered as surrounded +with the _vineae_, they should be described as _intra vineas_; but +as there is no reason why they may not also be contemplated as being +inclosed only laterally by the _vineae_, the phrase _inter vineas_ +may surely in that case be applied to them. Gronovius and Drakenborch +ad Liv., i. 10, have observed how often these propositions are +interchanged when referred to _time_." Kritzius. On _vineae_, see +c. 76. + +[272] XCIII. A certain Ligurian--in the auxiliary cohorts--The +Ligurians were not numbered among the Italians or _socii_ in the Roman +army, but attached to it only as auxiliaries. + +[273] A desire--of seeing what he had never seen--_More humani +ingenii, cupido ignara visundi invadit_. This is the reading of +Cortius, to which Muller and Allen adhere. Gerlach inserted in his +text, _More humani ingeni, cupidio difficilia faciundi animum vortit_; +which Kritzius, Orelli, and Dietsch, have adopted, and which Cortius +acknowledged to be the reading of the generality of the manuscripts, +except that they vary as to the last two words, some having +_animad vortit_. The sense of this reading will be, "the desire of +doing something difficult, which is natural to the human mind, drew +off his thoughts from gathering snails, and led him to contemplate +something of a more arduous character." But the reading of Cortius +gives so much better a sense to the passage, that I have thought +proper to follow it. Burnouf, with Havercamp and the editions +antecedent to Cortius, reads _more humanae cupidinis ignara visundi +animum vortit_, of which the first five words are taken from a +quotation of Aulus Gellius, ix. 12, who, however, may have transcribed +them from some other part of Sallust's works, now lost. + +[274] Horizontally--_Prona_. This word here signifies _forward_, not +_downward_, as Anthon and others interpret, for trees growing out +of a rock or bank will not take a _descending_ direction. + +[275] As nature directs all vegetables--_Quo cuncta gignentium +natura fert_. It is to be observed that the construction is _natura +fert cuncta gignentium_, for _cuncta gignentia_. On _gignentia_, i.e. +vegetable, or _whatever produces any thing_, see c. 79, and Cat., c. +53. + +[276] Four centurions for a guard--_Praesidio qui forent, quatuor +centuriones_. It is a question among the commentators whether the +centurions were attended by their centuries or not; Cortius thinks +that they were not, as ten men were sufficient to cause an alarm in +the fortress, which was all that Marius desired. But that Cortius is +in the wrong, and that there were common soldiers with the centurions, +appears from the following considerations: 1. Marius would hardly have +sent, or Sallust have spoken of, _four_ men as a guard to _six_. 2. +Why should centurions only have been selected, and not common soldiers +as well as their officers? 3. An expression in the following chapter, +_laqueis--quibus allevati milites facilius escenderent_, seems to +prove that there were others present besides the centurions and the +trumpeters. The word _milites_ is indeed wanting in the text of +Cortius, but appears to have been omitted by him merely to favor his +own notion as to the absence of soldiers, for he left it out, as +Kritzius says, _summa libidine, ne uno quidem codice assentiente_, +"purely of his own will, and without the authority of a single +manuscript." Taking a fair view of the passage, we seem necessarily +led to believe that the centurions were attended by a portion, if not +the whole, of their companies. See the following note. + +[277] XCIV. Those who commanded the centuries--_Illi qui centuriis +praeerant_. This is the reading of several manuscripts, and of almost +all the editions before that of Kritzius, and may be tolerated if we +suppose that the centurions were attended by their men, and that +Sallust, in speaking of the change of dress, meant _to include the +men_, although he specifies only the officers. Yet it is difficult +to conceive why Sallust should have used such a periphrase for +_centuriones_. Seven of the manuscripts, however, have _qui adsensuri +erant_, which Kritzius and Dietsch have adopted. Two have _qui ex +centuriis praeerant_. Allen, not unhappily, conjectures, _qui +praesidio erant_. Cortius suspected the phrase, _qui centuriis +praeerant_, and thought it a transformation of the words _qui +adscensuris praeerat_, which somebody had written in the margin as an +explanation of the following word _duce_, and which were afterward +altered and thrust into the text. + +[278] Progress--might be less impeded--_Nisus--facilius foret_. The +adverb for the adjective. So in the speech of Adherbal, c. 14, _ut +tutius essem_. + +[279] Unsafe--_Dubia nisu_. "Not to be depended upon for support." +_Nisu_ is the old dative for _nisui_. + +[280] Causing a testudo to be formed--_Testudine acta_. The soldiers +placed their shields over their heads, and joined them close together, +forming a defense like the shell of a tortoise. + +[281] XCV. For I shall in no other place allude to his affairs--_Neque +enim allo loco de Sullae rebus dicturi sumus._ "These words show that +Sallust, at this time, had not thought of writing _Histories_, but +that he turned his attention to that pursuit after he had finished +the Jugurthine war. For that he spoke of Sylla in his large history +is apparent from several extant fragments of it, and from Plutarch, +who quotes Sallust, Vit. Syll., c. 3." _Kritzius._ + +[282] Lucius Sisenna--He wrote a history of the civil wars between +Sylla and Marius, Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. Cicero alludes to his style +as being jejune and puerile, Brut., c. 64, De Legg. i. 2. About a +undred and fifty fragments of his history remain. + +[283] Except that he might have acted more for his honor with +regard to his wife--_Nisi quod de uxore potuit honestius consuli._ As +these words are vague and indeterminate, it is not agreed among the +critics and translators to what part of Sylla's life Sallust refers. +I suppose, with Rupertus, Aldus, Manutius, Crispinus, and De Brosses, +that the allusion is to his connection with Valeria, of which the +history is given by Plutarch in his life of Sylla, which the English +reader may take in Langhorne's translation: "A few months after +Metella's death, he presented the people with a show of gladiators; +and as, at that time, men and women had no separate places, but sat +promiscuously in the theater, a woman of great beauty, and of one of +the best families, happened to sit near Sylla. She was the daughter of +Messala, and sister to the orator Hortensius; her name was Valeria; +and she had lately been divorced from her husband. This woman, coming +behind Sylla, touched him, and took off a little of the nap of his +robe, and then returned to her place. Sylla looked at her, quite +amazed at her familiarity, when she said, 'Wonder not, my lord, at +what I have done; I had only a mind to share a little in your good +fortune.' Sylla was far from being displeased; on the contrary, it +appeared that he was flattered very agreeably, for he sent to ask her +name, and to inquire into her family and character. Then followed an +interchange of amorous regards and smiles, which ended in a contract +and marriage. The lady, perhaps, was not to blame. But Sylla, though +he got a woman of reputation, and great accomplishments, yet came into +the match upon wrong principles. Like a youth, he was caught with soft +looks and languishing airs, things that are wont to excite the lowest +of the passions." Others have thought that Sallust refers to Sylla's +conduct on the death of his wife Metella, above mentioned, to whom, as +she happened to fall sick when he was giving an entertainment to the +people, and as the priest forbade him to have his house defiled with +death on the occasion, he unfeelingly sent a bill of divorce, ordering +her to be carried out of the house while the breath was in her. +Cortius, Kritz, and Langius. think that the allusion is to Sylla'a +general faithlessness to his wives, for he had several; as if Sallust +had used the singular for the plural, _uxore_ for _uxoribus_, or +_reuxoria_; but if Sallust meant to allude to more than one wife, why +should he have restricted himself to the singular? + +[284] Lived on the easiest terms with his friends--_Facilis +amicitia_ The critics are in doubt about the sense of this phrase. I +have given that which Dietsch prefers, who says that a man _facilis +amicitia_ is "one who easily grants his friends all that they desire, +exacts little from them, and is no severe censor of their morals." +Cortius explains it _facilis ad amicitiam_, and Facciolati, in his +Lexicon, _facile sibi amicos parans_, but these interpretations, as +Kritzius observes, are hardly suitable to the ablative case. + +[285] Most fortunate--_Felicissumo_. Alluding, perhaps, to the +title of Felix, which he assumed after his great victory over Marius. + +[286] His desert--_Industriam_. That is, the efforts which he made to +attain distinction. + +[287] XCVII. When scarcely a tenth part of the day remained--_Vix +decima parte die reliqua._ A remarkably exact specification of the time. + +[288] From various quarters--_Ex multis._ From his scouts, who came in +from all sides. + +[289] The Roman veterans, who were necessarily well experienced +in war,--The reading of Cortius is, _Romani veteres, novique, et ob +ea scientes belli;_ which he explains by supposing that the new +recruits _were joined with_ the veterans, and that both united were +consequently well skilled in war, citing, in support of his +supposition, a passage in c. 87: _Sic brevi spatio_ novi veteresqua +_coaluere, et virtus omnium aequalis facta._ And Ascensius had +previously given a similar explanation, _quod etiam veterani +adessent._ But many later critics have not been induced to believe +that Cortius's reading will bear any such interpretation; and +accordingly Kritzius, Dietsch, and Orelli, have ejected _novique_; as +indeed Ciaeconius and Ursinus had long before recommended. Muller, +Burnouf, and Allen, retain it, adopting Cortius's interpretation. +Gerlach also retains it, but not without hesitation. But it is very +remarkable that it occurs in all the manuscripts but one, which has +_Romani veteres boni scientes erant ut quos locus,_ etc. + +[290] _Neque minus hostibus conturbatis_. If the enemy had not been +in as much disorder as himself, Marius would hardly have been able to +effect his retreat. + +[291] _Pleno gradu_.--"By the _militaris gradus_ twenty miles were +completed in five hours of a summer day; by the _plenusus_, which is +quicker, twenty-four miles were traversed in the same time." Veget. i.9. + +[292] XCIX. When the watches were changed--_Per vigilias: i. e. +at the end of each watch, when the guards were relieved. "The nights, +by the aid of a clepsydra, were divided into four watches, the +termination of each being marked by the blast of a trumpet or horn. +See Viget. in. 8: _A tubicine omnes vigiliae committuntur; et finitis +horis a cornicine revocantur_." Kritzius He also refers to Liv. vii. +35; Lucan. viii. 24; Tacit. Hist. v. 22. + +[293] Auxiliary cohorts--_Cohortium_. I have added the word _auxiliary_. +That they were the cohorts of the auxiliaries or allies is apparent, +as the word _legionum_ follows. Kritzius indeed thinks otherwise, +supposing that the cohorts had particular trumpeters, distinct from +those of the whole legion. But for this notion there seems to be no +sufficient ground. Sallust speaks of the _cohortes sociorum_, c. 58, +and _cohortes Ligurum_, c. 100. + +[294] Sally forth from the camp--_Portis erumpere_. Sallust uses +the common phrase for issuing from the camp. It can hardly be +supposed, that the Romans had formed a regular camp with gates during +the short time that they had been upon the hill, especially as they +had fled to it in great disorder. + +[295] Stupor--_Vecordia_. A feeling that deprived them of all sense. + +[296] C. in form of a square--_Quadrato agmine_. "A hollow square, +with the baggage in the center; see Serv. ad Verg. Aen. xii.121. ... +Such an _agmen_ Sallust, in c. 46, calls _munitum_, as it was +prepared to defend itself against the enemy, from whatever quarter +they might approach." _Kritzius_. + +[297] Might be endured by them with cheerfulness _Volentibus +esset._ A Greek phrase, _Boulomenois eiae._ + +[298] Dread of shame--_Pudore._ Inducing each to have a regard to +his character. + +[299] CI. Trusting that one of them, assuredly, etc.--_Ratua es +omnibus aque aliquos ab tergo hostibus ventures. By aequo Sallust_ +signifies that each of the four bodies would have an equal chance of +coming on the rear of the Romans. + +[300] In person and with his officers--_Ipse aliique._ "The +_alii_, are the _praefecti equitum,_ officers of the cavalry." +_Kritzius._ + +[301] Wheeled secretly about, with a few of his followers, to the +infantry--_Clam--ad pedites convertit_. What infantry are meant, the +commentators can not agree, nor is there any thing in the narrative on +which a satisfactory decision can be founded. As the arrival of +Bocchus is mentioned immediately before, Cortius supposes that the +infantry of Bocchus are signified; and it may be so; but to whatever +party the words wore addressed, they were intended to be heard by the +Romans, or for what purpose were they spoken in Latin? Jugurtha may +have spoken the words in both languages, and this, from what follows, +would appear to have been the case, for both sides understood him. +_Quod ubi milites_ (evidently the Roman soldiers) _accepere--simul +barbari animos tollere_, etc. The _clam_ signifies that Jugurtha +turned about, or wheeled off, so as to escape the notice of Marius, +with whom he had been contending. + +[302] By vigorously cutting down our infantry--_Satis impigre +occiso pedite nostro_. "A ces mots il leur montra son epee teinte du +sang des notres, dont il venait, en effet, de faire une assez cruelle +boucherie." _De Brosses_. Of the other French translators, Beauzee and +Le Brun render the passage in a similar way; Dotteville and Durean +Delamalle, as well as all our English translators, take _pedite_ as +signifying _only one soldier_. Sir Henry Steuart even specifies that +it was "a legionary soldier." The commentators, I should suppose, have +all regarded the word as having a plural signification; none of them, +except Burnouf, who expresses a needless doubt, say any thing on the +point. + +[303] The spectacle on the open plains was then frightful--_Tum +spectaculum horribile campis patentibus_, etc. The idea of this +passage was probably taken, as Ciacconius intimates, from a +description in Xenophon, Agesil. ii. 12, 14, part of which is quoted +by Longinus, Sect. 19, as an example of the effect produced by the +omission of conjunctions: [Greek: _Kai symbalontes tas aspidas +eothounto, emachonto, apekteinon, apethnaeskon Epei ge maen elaexen +hae machae, paraen dae theasasthai entha synepeson allaelois, taen men +gaen aimati pe, ormenaen, nekrous de peimenous philious kai polemious +met allaelon, aspidas de diatethrummenas, dorata syntethrausmena, +egchoipidia gumna kouleon ta men chamai, ta d'en somasi, ta d'eti meta +cheiras_.] "Closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, +... But when the battle was over, you might have seen, where they had +fought, the ground clotted with blood, the corpses of friends and +enemies mingled together, and pierced shields, broken lances, and +swords without their sheaths, strewed on the ground, sticking in the +dead bodies, or still remaining in the hands that had wielded them +when alive." Tacitus, Agric. c. 37. has copied this description of +Sallust, as all the commentators have remarked: _Tum vero patentibus +locis grande et atrox spectaculum. Sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque +eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare.... Passim, arma et corpora, et +laceri artus, et cruenta humus_. "The sight on the open field was then +striking and horrible; they pursued, they inflicted wounds, they took +... Every where were seen arms and corpses, mangled limbs, and the +ground stained with blood." + +[304] Besides, the Roman people, even from the very infancy--The +reading of this passage, before the edition of Cortius, was this: _Ad +hoc, populo Romano jam a principio inopi melius visum amicos, quam +servos, quaerere_. Gruter proposed to read _Ad hoc populo Romano inopi +melius est visum_, etc., whence Cortius made _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam +inopi visum_, etc. But the Bipont editors, observing that _inopi_ was +not quite consistent with _quaerere servos_, altered the passage to +_Ad hoc, populo Romano jam a principio reipublicae melius visum_, +etc., which seems to be the best emendation that has been proposed, +and which I have accordingly followed. Kritzius and Dietsch adopt it, +except that they omit _reipublicae_, and put nothing in the place of +_inopi_. Gerlach retains _inopi_, on the principle of "quo +insolentius, eo verius," and it may, after all, be genuine. Cortius +omitted _melius_ on no authority but his own. + +[305] Out of which he had forcibly driven Jugurtha--_Unde ut +Jugurtham expulerit [expulerat]_ There is here some obscurity. The +manuscripts vary between _expulerit_ and _expulerat_. Cortius, and +Gerlaen in his second edition, adopt _expulerat_, which they of +necessity refer to Marius; but to make Bocchus speak thus, is, as +Kritzius says, to make him speak very foolishly and arrogantly. +Kritzius himself, accordingly, adopts _expulerit_, and supposes that +Bocchus invents a falsehood, in the belief that the Romans wouldhave +no means of detecting it. But Bocchus may have spoken truth, referring, +as Mueller suggests, to some previous transactions between him and +Jugurtha, to which Sallust does not elsewhere allude. + +[306] In ill plight--_Sine decore_. + +[307] For interested bounty--_Largitio_. "The word signifies liberal +treatment of others with a view to our own interest; without any real +goodwill." _Mueller_. "He intends a severe stricture on his own age, +and the manners of the Romans." _Dietsch_. + +[308] About forty days. Waiting, apparently, for the return of Marius. + +[309] CIV. Having failed in the object, etc.--_Infecto, quo +intenderat, negotio._ Though this is the reading of most of the +manuscripts, Kritzius, Mueller, and Dietach, read _confecto_, as if +Marius could not have failed in his attempt. + +[310] Are always verging to opposite extremes.--_Semper in adversa +mutant_. Rose renders this "are always changing, and constantly for +the worse;" and most other translators have given something similar. +But this is absurd; for every one sees that all changes in human +affairs are not for the worse. _Adversa_ is evidently to be taken in +the sense which I have given. + +[311] CV. At his discretion--_Arbitratu_. Kritzius observes that +this word comprehends the notion of plenary powers to treat and +decide: _der mit unbeschraenkter Vollmacht unterhandeln koennte_. + +[312] Presenting--_Intendere_. The critics are in doubt to what +to refer this word; some have thought of understanding _animum_; +Cortius, Wasse, and Mueller, think it is meant only of the bows of the +archers; Kritzius, Burnouf, and Allen, refer it, apparently with +better judgment, to the _arma_ and _tela_ in general. + +[313] CVI. To dispatch their supper--_Coenatos esse_. "The perfect is +not without its force; it signifies that Sylla wished his orders to +be performed with the greatest expedition." _Kritzius_. He orders them +_to have done_ supper. + +[314] CVII. And blind parts of his body--_Caecum corpus_. Imitated +from Xenephon, Cyrop. iii. 3, 45: [Greek: _Moron gar to kratein +boulomenous, ta tuphla, tou somatos, kai aopla, tauta enantia +tattein tois polemiois pheugontas_.] "It is folly for those that +desire to conquer to turn the blind, unarmed, and handless parts of +the body, to the enemy in flight." + +[315] At being an instrument of his father's hostility--_Quoniam +hostilia faceret_. "Since he wished to deceive the Romans by pretended +friendship." _Mueller_. + +[316] CVIII. Of the family of Masinissa--_Ex gente Masinissae._ +Massugrada was the son of Masinissa by a concubine. + +[317] Faithful--_Fidum_. After this word, in the editions of Cortius, +Kritzius, Gerlach, Allen, and Dietsch, follows _Romanis_ or _esse +Romanis_. These critics defend _Romanis_ on the plea that a dative +is necessary after _fidum_, and that it was of importance, as +Castilioneus observes that Dabar should be well disposed toward the +Romans, and not have been corrupted, like many other courtiers of +Bocchus, by the bribes of Jugurtha. Glarcanus, Badius Ascensius, the +Bipont editors, and Burnouf, with, most of the translators, omit +_Romanis_, and I have thought proper to imitate their example. + +[318] Place, day, and hour--_Diem, locum, tempus._ Not only the +day, but the time of the day. + +[319] That he kept all points, which he had settled with him +before, inviolate--_Consulta sese omnia cum illo integra habere_. +Kritzius justly observes that most editors, in interpreting this +passage, have erroneously given to _consulta_ the sense of +_consulenda_; and that the sense is, "that all that he had arranged +with Sylla before, remained unaltered, and that he was not drawn from +his resolutions by the influence of Jugurtha." + +[320] And that he was not to fear the presence of Jugurtha's +embassador, as any restraint, etc.--_Neu Jugurthae legatum +pertimesceret, quo res communis licentius gereretur_. There is some +difficulty in this passage. Burnouf makes the nearest approach to a +satisfactory explanation of it. "Sylla," says he, "was not to fear the +envoy of Jugurtha, _quo_, on which account (equivalent to _eoque_, and +on that account, _i. e._ on account of his freedom from apprehension) +their common interests would be more freely arranged." Yet it appears +from what follows that fear of Jugurtha's envoy _could not be +dismissed_, and that there could be no freedom of discussion in his +presence, as Sylla was to say but little before him, and to speak more +at large at a private meeting. These considerations have induced +Kritzius to suppose that the word _remoto_, or something similar, has +been lost after _quo_. The Bipont editors inserted _cautum esse_ +before _quo_, which is without authority, and does not at all assist +the sense. + +[321] African duplicity--_Punica fide_. "_Punica fides_ was a +well-known proverbial expression for treachery and deceit. The origin +of it is perhaps attributable not so much to fact, as to the implacable +hatred of the Romans toward the Carthaginians." _Burnouf_. + +[322] CIX. What answer should be returned by Bocchus--That is, in +the presence of Aspar. + +[323] Both then retired to their respective camps--_Deinde ambo in +sua castra digressi_. Both, _i. e._ Bocchus and Sylla, not Aspar and +Sylla, as Cortius imagines. + +[324] CX. It will be a pleasure to me--_Fuerit mihi_. Some editions, +as that of Langius, the Bipont, and Burnouf's, have _fuerit mihi +pretium_. Something of the kind seems to be wanting. "Res in bonis +numeranda fuerit mihi." _Burnouf_. Allen, who omits _pretium_, +interprets, "Grata mihi egestas sit, quae ad tuam, amicitiam +coufugiat;" but who can deduce this sense from the passage, unless he +have _pretium_, or something similar, in his mind? + +[325] CXI. That part of Numidia which he claimed--_Numidiae partem +quam nunc peteret_. See the second note on c. 102. Bocchus continues, +in his speech in the preceding chapter, to signify that a part of +Numidia belonged to him. + +[326] The ties of blood--_Cognationem_. To this blood-relationship +between him and Jugurtha no allusion is elsewhere made. + +[327] His resolution gave way--_Lenitur_. Cortius whom Gerlach and +Mueller follow, reads _leniter_, but, with Kritzius and Gerlach, I +prefer the verb to the adverb; which, however, is found in the greater +number of the manuscripts. + +[328] CXII. Interests of both--_Ambobus_. Both himself and Jugurtha. + +[329] CXIV. At that time--_ Ea tempestate_. "In many manuscripts +is found _ex ea tempestate_, by which the sense is wholly perverted. +Sallust signifies that Marius did not continue always deserving of +such honor; for, as is said in c. 63, 'he was afterward carried +headlong by ambition.'" _Kritzius_. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The +Jurgurthine War, by Sallust + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + +***** This file should be named 7990.txt or 7990.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/9/7990/ + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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JOHN SELBY +WATSON, M.A. + + + + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the +ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII. +Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which he +collected them, XIV. His crimes and wretchedness, XV. His tuition of +his accomplices, and resolution to subvert the government, XVI. His +convocation of the conspirators, and their names, XVII. His concern in +a former conspiracy, XVIII., XIX. Speech to the conspirators, XX. His +promises to them, XXI. His supposed ceremony to unite them, XXII. His +designs discovered by Fulvia, XXIII. His alarm on the election of +Cicero to the consulship, and his design in engaging women in his +cause, XXIV. His accomplice, Sempronia, characterized, XXV. His +ambition of the consulship, his plot to assassinate Cicero, and his +disappointment in both, XXVI. His mission of Manlius into Etruria, and +his second convention of the conspirators, XXVII. His second attempt +to kill Cicero; his directions to Manlius well observed, XXVIII. His +machinations induce the Senate to confer extraordinary power on the +consuls, XXIX. His proceedings are opposed by various precautions, +XXX. His effrontery in the Senate, XXXI. He sets out for Etruria, +XXXII. His accomplice, Manlius, sends a deputation to Marcius, XXXIII. +His representations to various respectable characters, XXXIV. His +letter to Catulus, XXXV. His arrival at Manlius's camp; he is declared +an enemy by the Senate; his adherents continue faithful and resolute, +XXXVI. The discontent and disaffection of the populace in Rome, +XXXVII. The old contentions between the patricians and plebeians, +XXXVIII. The effect which a victory of Catiline would have produced, +XXXIX. The Allobroges are solicited to engage in the conspiracy, XL. +They discover it to Cicero, XLI. The incaution of Catiline's +accomplices in Gaul and Italy, XLII. The plans of his adherents at +Rome, XLIII. The Allobroges succeed in obtaining proofs of the +conspirators' guilt, XLIV. The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested +by the contrivance of Cicero, XLV. The principal conspirators at Rome +are brought before the Senate, XLVI. The evidence against them, and +their consignment to custody, XLVII. The alteration in the minds of +the populace, and the suspicions entertained against Crassus, XLVIII. +The attempts of Catulus and Piso to criminate Caesar, XLIX. The plans +of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, and the deliberations of +the Senate, L. The speech of Caesar on the mode of punishing the +conspirators, LI. The speech of Cato on the same subject, LII. The +condemnation of the prisoners; the causes of Roman greatness, LIII. +Parallel between Caesar and Cato, LIV. The execution of the criminals, +LV. Catiline's warlike preparations in Etruria, LVI. He is compelled +by Metullus and Antonius to hazard an action, LVII. His exhortation to +his men, LVIII. His arrangements, and those of his opponents, for the +battle, LIX. His bravery, defeat, and death, LX., LXI. + + * * * * * + +I. It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,[1] to strive, +to the utmost of their power,[2] not to pass through life in obscurity, +[3] like the beasts of the field,[4] which nature has formed groveling[5] +and subservient to appetite. + +All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.[6] Of the mind +we rather employ the government;[7] of the body the service.[8] The +one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It +appears to me, therefore, more reasonable[9]to pursue glory by means +of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we +enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. +For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of +intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.[10] + +Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military +efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of +intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before +beginning to act,[11] and, after planning, to act with promptitude +and vigor.[12] Thus, each[13] being insufficient of itself, the one +requires the assistance of the other.[14] + +II. In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title +of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;[15] +some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,[16] +the life of man was passed without covetousness;[17] every one was +satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia[18] and the +Lacedaemonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and +nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine +the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at +length discovered, by proof and experience,[19] that mental power has +the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,[20] if the +intellectual ability[21] of kings and magistrates[22] were exerted to +the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more +orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from +hand to hand,[23] and things universally changed and confused. For +dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first +obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, +and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune +of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is +always transferred from the less to the more deserving.[24] + +Even in agriculture,[25] in navigation, and in architecture, whatever +man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, +resigned to sensuality and indolence, un-instructed and unimproved, +have passed through life like travellers in a strange country[26]; to +whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a +gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and +death in equal estimation[27]; for silence is maintained concerning +both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, +who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling +enterprise, or honorable pursuit. + +But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different +paths to different individuals. III. To act well for the Commonwealth +is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit[28]. Both +in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have +acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their +tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal +glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it +yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of +great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately +represented[29] by words; and next, because most readers consider that +whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through +malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and +glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[30] only that +which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own +conception he regards as fictitious and incredible[31]. + +I myself, however, when a young man[32], was at first led by +inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs[33]; but +in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, +instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity[34], there prevailed +shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, +inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in +the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and +infected[35] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious +principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the +same obloquy and jealousy[36], which disquieted others, disquieted +myself. + +IV. When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and +trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days +unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my +valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile +occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting[37]; but, +returning to those studies[38] from which, at their commencement, a +corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached +portions[39], the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence +should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the +rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or +political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with +as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it +an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature +both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my +narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the +man. + +V. Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth[40], and of eminent mental +and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition. +His delight, from his youth, had been civil commotions, bloodshed, +robbery, and sedition[41]; and in such scenes he had spent his early +years.[42] His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and +cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and +versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.[43] +He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He +had abundance of eloquence,[44] though but little wisdom. His +insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, +and unattainable. + +Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship,[45] a strong desire of seizing +the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he +secured power[46] for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. +His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the +diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both +which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned +above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and +selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly +depraved,[47] furnished him with additional incentives to action. + +Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the +subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to +describe the conduct of our ancestors[48] in peace and war; how they +managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual +alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious +and depraved. + +VI. Of the city of Rome, as I understand,[49] the founders and +earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of +Aeneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any +settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines,[50] a savage +race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control. +How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar +language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met +within the same walls, is almost incredible.[51] But when their state, +from an accession of population and territory, and an improved +condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, +envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence +of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, +began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to +their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing +their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, +prepared with alacrity for their defense.[52] They encouraged one +another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their +arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had +at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their +allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by +bestowing[53] favors than by receiving them. + +They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their +government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled +by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the +council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the +similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS.[54] But afterward, when +the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the +protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest, +had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, +and appointed two magistrates,[55] with power only annual; for they +conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely +to grow overbearing for want of control. + +VII. At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to +display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the +meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and +to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was +secured, it is almost incredible[56] how much the state strengthened +itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction +had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they +were able to bear the toil of war,[57] acquired military skill by +actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms +and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial +indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or +inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome +every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; +each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be +noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this +they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility.[58] They were +covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent +riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account +would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman +people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and +cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault. + +VIII. But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every +thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with +truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very +great and glorious,[59] something inferior to what fame has represented +them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions +of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid +achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at +the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in +their writings. + +But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers;[60] +for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No +one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability +chose to act rather than narrate,[61] and was more desirous that his +own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should +record theirs. + +IX. Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the +camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible +avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more +from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They +displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy. +Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were +magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, +and steady in their friendships. + +By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they +maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which +virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war, +punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy +contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too +slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their +standards, or, when pressed by the enemy,[62] to abandon their posts; +and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by +exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to +pardon than to revenge it. + +X. But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased +its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;[63] when +barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; +when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly +destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune +then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal +innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and +doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of +desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of +money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as +it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, +integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, +inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general +venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one +thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue;[64] to +estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according +to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest +heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes +restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had +spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the +government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became +rapacious and insupportable. + +XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice,[65] that +influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue +than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as +desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; +the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud +and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise +man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued +with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.[66] +It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by +abundance nor by want. + +But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government[67] by force +of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious +termination, all became robbers and plunderers;[68] some set their +affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew +neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens +disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the +circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the +forces which he had commanded in Asia,[69] had treated them, contrary +to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and +exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had +easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the +soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated +to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, +pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public +edifices and private dwellings;[70] to spoil temples; and to cast off +respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, +when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. +Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would +those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. + +XII. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, +and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was +thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of +ill-nature.[71] From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, +avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once +rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and +coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; +they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off +all consideration and self-restraint. + +It furnishes much matter for reflection,[72] after viewing our modern +mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the +temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the +gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, +and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom +they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the +contrary, the basest of mankind,[73] have even wrested from their allies, +with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious +ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of +power were to inflict injury. + +XIII. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which +can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains +have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices,[74] by many private +citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth,[75] +since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have +enjoyed with honor. + +But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all +kinds of luxury,[76] had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot +their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify +appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; +they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer +waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold,[77] or fatigue, but anticipated +them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, +when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for +their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain +from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately +devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance. + +XIV. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very +easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the +unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and +profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by +gaming,[78] luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy +debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all +assassins[79] or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or +dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their +tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in +fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, +were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, +as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was +presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and +equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly +courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were +easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, +according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to +some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, +neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his +devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who +thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were +guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from +other causes than from any evidence of the fact[80]. + +XV. Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal +connections, with a virgin of noble birth[81], with a priestess of +Vesta[82], and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance +alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion +for Aurelia Orestilla[83], in whom no good man, at any time of her +life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed +that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a +grown-up step-son[84], he cleared the house for their nuptials by +putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been +the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty +mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either +waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his +tortured spirit.[85] His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his +eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and +distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look. + +XVI. The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join +him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among +them he furnished false witnesses,[86] and forgers of signatures; and +he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property, +and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and +shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for +crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to +circumvent and murder inoffensive persons[87] just as if they had +injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want +of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel. + +Depending on such accomplices and adherents, and knowing that the load +of debt was every where great, and that the veterans of Sylla,[88] +having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils +and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the +design of overthrowing the government. There was no army in Italy; +Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world;[89] he himself had +great hopes of obtaining the consulship; the senate was wholly off its +guard;[90] every thing was quiet and tranquil; and all those +circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline. + +XVII. Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of +Lucius Caesar[91] and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his +accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and +informed them, of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of +the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. +When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he +summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent, and whose spirits +were the most daring, to a general conference. + +At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank, Publius +Lentulus Sura,[92] Publius Autronius,[93] Lucius Cassius Longinus,[94] +Caius Cethegus,[95] Publius and Servius Sylla[96] the sons of +Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius,[97] Quintus Annius,[98] Marcus +Porcius Laeca,[99] Lucius Bestia,[100] Quintus Curius;[101] and, of +the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior,[102] Lucius +Statilius,[103] Publius Gabinius Capito,[104] Caius Cornelius;[105] +with many from the colonies and municipal towns,[106] persons of +consequence in their own localities. There were many others, too, +among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly: men whom +the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted +to join in the affair. But most of the young men, and especially the +sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had +abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, +preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. There were some, +also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus[107] was +not unacquainted with the conspiracy; because Cneius Pompey, whom he +hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the +power of any one whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey's +influence; trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should +succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the +conspirators. + +XVIII. But previously[108] to this period, a small number of persons, +among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the state: of +which affair I shall here give as accurate account as I am able. Under +the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius +and Publius Sylla,[109] having been tried for bribery under the laws +against it,[110] had paid the penalty of the offense. Shortly after +Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion,[111] had been +prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable +to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of +days.[112] There was at that time, too, a young patrician of the most +daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Cneius Piso,[113] whom +poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the government. +Catiline and Autronius,[114] having concerted measures with this Piso, +prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, +in the Capitol, on the first of January,[115] when they, having seized +on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the +two Spains.[116] But their design being discovered, they postponed the +assassination to the fifth of February; when they meditated the +destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the senate. And had +not Catiline, who was in front of the senate-house, been too hasty to +give the signal to his associates, there would that day have been +perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was +founded. But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in +sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design. + +XIX. Some time afterward, Piso was sent as quaestor, with Praetorian +authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, +because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. Nor were +the senate, indeed, unwilling[117] to grant him the province; for they +wished so infamous a character to be removed from the seat of +government; and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there +was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then +becoming formidable. But this Piso, on his march toward his province, +was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army. These +barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, +haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of +cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at +his instigation; since the Spaniards, they observed, had never before +committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe +commands. This question we shall leave undecided. Of the first +conspiracy enough has been said. + +XX. When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned,[118] +assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, +yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in +a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, +where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the +following effect: + +"If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, +this favorable opportunity[119] would have occurred to no purpose; +mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp; nor +should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue +contingencies instead of certainties. But as I have, on many remarkable +occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have +ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. I am +aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same +affect me; and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is +assuredly a firm bond of friendship. + +"What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. But my +ardor for action is daily more and more excited, when I consider what +our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our +claims to liberty.[120] For since the government has fallen under the +power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes[121] have constantly +been their tributaries; nations and states have paid them taxes; but all +the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, +have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and +subject to those, to whom, if the state were in a sound condition, we +should be a terror. Hence, all influence, power, honor, and wealth, are +in their hands, or where they dispose of them: to us they have left only +insults,[122] dangers, persecutions, and poverty. To such indignities, +O bravest of men, how long will you submit? Is it not better to die in +a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men's +insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy? + +"But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands. +Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken; among our oppressors, on +the contrary, through age and wealth a general debility has been +produced. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of +events[123] will accomplish the rest. + +"Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure +that they should have a superfluity of riches, to squander in building +over seas[124] and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting +to us even for the necessaries of life; that they should join together +two houses or more, and that we should not have a hearth to call our +own? They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate; +[125] though they pull down now buildings and erect others, and lavish +and abuse their wealth in every possible method; yet can not, with the +utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. But for us there is poverty at +home, debts abroad; our present circumstances are bad, our prospects +much worse; and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence? + +"Will you not, then, awake to action? Behold that liberty, that +liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor, and +glory, are set before your eyes. All these prizes fortune offers to +the victorious. Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, +let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, +animate you far more than my words. Use me either as your leader or +your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to +you. These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the +character of consul; unless, indeed, my expectation deceives me, and +you prefer to be slaves rather than masters." + +XXI. When these men, surrounded with numberless evils, but without any +resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they +thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, +yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to +engage in the contest; what benefits they were to expect from taking up +arms; and what support and encouragement they had, and in what quarters. +[126] Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts;[127] a +proscription of the wealthy citizens;[128] offices, sacerdotal dignities, +plunder, and all other gratifications which war, and the license of +conquerors, can afford. He added that Piso was in Hither Spain, and +Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were +privy to his plans; that Caius Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a +colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was +intimate, and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments; and that, +in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence +operations. He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with +reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of +his poverty, another of his ruling passion,[129] several others of their +danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by +the victory of Sylla. When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, +he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, +and dismissed the assembly. + +XXII. There were some, at the time, who said that Catiline, having +ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an +oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body +mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted +of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they +asserted[130] that he did this, in order that they might be the more +closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such +an atrocity. But some thought that this report, and many others, were +invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which +afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to +the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have +obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to +its magnitude. + +XXIII. Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius,[131] a +man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the +censors had ignominiously expelled from the senate. In this person +there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret +what he heard, not conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless +what he said or what he did. He had long had a criminal intercourse +with Fulvia, a woman of high birth; but growing less acceptable to her, +because, in his reduced circumstances, he had less means of being +liberal, he began, on a sudden, to boast, and to promise her seas and +mountains;[132] threatening her, at times, with the sword, if she were +not submissive to his will; and acting, in his general conduct, with +greater arrogance than ever.[133] Fulvia, having learned the cause of +his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the state a +secret; but, without naming her informant, communicated to several +persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning +Catiline's conspiracy. This intelligence it was that incited the +feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius +Cicero.[134] For before this period, most of the nobility were moved +with jealousy, and thought the consulship in some degree sullied, if a +man of no family,[135] however meritorious, obtained it. But when +danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside. XXIV. +Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius +Antonius were declared consuls; an event which gave the first shock to +the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all +diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he deposited arms, in +convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money borrowed on +his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius,[136] at +Faesulae,[137] who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. +At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great +numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier +days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, +when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had +contracted heavy debts. By the influence of these females, Catiline +hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and +either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives. + +XXV. In the number of those ladies was Sempronia,[138] a woman who had +committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, +in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was +skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and +dance,[139] with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and +possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. +But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. +Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would +have been difficult to decide. Her desires were so ardent that she +oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation. +She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn +debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by +her extravagance and poverty. But her abilities were by no means +despicable;[140] she could compose verses, jest, and join in +conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In a word, she was +distinguished[141] by much refinement of wit, and much grace of +expression. + +XXVI. Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for +the consulship for the following year; hoping that, if he should be +elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure. +Nor did he, in the mean time remain inactive, but devised schemes, in +every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill +or policy to guard, against them. For, at the very beginning of his +consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed +on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret +information of Catiline's proceedings. He had also persuaded his +colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces,[142] +to entertain no sentiment of disaffection toward the state; and he kept +around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and +dependents. + +When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline's efforts for +the consulship, nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the +Campus Martius,[143] were attended with success, he determined to +proceed to war, and resort to the utmost extremities, since what he +had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.[144] + +XXVII. He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Faesulae, and the +adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Carinum,[145] into the +Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various +places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[146] He +himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at +Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning +the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly +armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted +them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active +and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by +sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his +numerous projects succeeded,[147] he again, with the aid of Marcus +Porcius Laeca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of +night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them +that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had +prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other +eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he +himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut +off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures. + +XXVIII. While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius +Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius +Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an +armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay,[148] to +the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him, +and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own +residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that +threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of +Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in +consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had +undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed. + +In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, +who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, +under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other +property) were eager for a revolution. He also attached to himself all +sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of +Sylla's colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted +their enormous plunder. + +XXIX. When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being +alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the +city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain +satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of the army +of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion +among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as is +usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE +IT THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is +the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is +granted[149] by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him +to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the +allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at +home and in the field; rights which, without an order of the people, +the consul is not permitted to exercise. + +XXX. A few days afterward, Lucius Saenius, a senator, read to the +senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Faesulae, and in +which, it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken +the field by the 27th of October.[150] Others at the same time, as is +not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; +others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of +insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of +these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex[151] was dispatched, by a decree of +the senate, to Faesulae, and Quintus Metellus Creticus[152] into +Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of +commanders,[153] were waiting near the city, having been prevented +from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it +was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The +praetors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were +sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given +them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The +senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the +conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should +be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a +complete pardon and two hundred sestertia[154]. They further appointed +that the schools of gladiators[155] should be distributed in Capua and +other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at +Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the +inferior magistrates[156] should have the charge. + +XXXI. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with +alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that +extreme gayety and dissipation,[157] to which long tranquillity[158] +had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became +anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with +any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured +the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the +extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, +raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made +constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride +and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their +country. + +Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, +notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and +though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian +law.[159] At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of +clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he +went into the senate-house. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the +consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation +against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the +republic, which he afterward wrote and published.[160] + +When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of +the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, +that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing +against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had +so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in +prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, +whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, +had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus +Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome,[161] was eager to preserve +it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised +an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor.[162] +Being thus exasperated, "Since I am encompassed by enemies," he +exclaimed,[163] "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the +flame kindled around me in a general ruin." + +XXXII He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, +after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots +against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to +be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment +his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be +raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to +the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, +and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen +the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the +plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for +firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; +promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a +large army. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius +dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, +with directions to address him[164] to the following effect: + +XXXIII. "We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken +up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any +one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in +want, have been deprived most of us, of our homes, and all of us of +our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; +nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our +ancestors, to have the benefit of the law,[165] or, when our property +was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the +usurers and of the praetor.[166] + +Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at +Rome, relieved their distress by decrees;[167] and very lately, within +our own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with +the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass.[168] + +Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by +desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded[169] +under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake +of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not +aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes +but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend +your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, +which the injustice of the praetor has taken from us; and not to lay +on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to +avenge our blood." + +XXXIV. To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished +to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and +proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the +kindness[170] and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none +had ever asked help of them in vain." + +Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, +and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was +beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of +his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into +exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness +laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that +no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself." + +Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very +different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the +name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy. + +[171]XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your +eminent integrity, known to me by experience,[172] gives a pleasing +confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. +[173] I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense[174] with +regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious +of no guilt,[175] to offer you some explanation,[176] which, on my word +of honor,[177] you may receive as true.[178] Provoked by injuries and +indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, +[179] I did not obtain the post of honor due to me,[180] I have +undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. +Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts +contracted on my own security;[181] while the generosity of Orestilla, +out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those +incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men +ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed[182] on groundless suspicion, +I have for this very reason, adopted a course,[183] amply justifiable +in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. +When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that +violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla +to your protection;[184] intreating you, by your love for your own +children, to defend her from injury.[185] Farewell." + +XXXVI. Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Caius Flaminius +Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium,[186] while he was supplying +the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, +marched with his fasces, and other ensigns of authority, to join +Manlius in his camp. + +When this was known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius +enemies to the state, and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, +before which they might lay down their arms with impunity, except such +as had been convicted of capital offenses. They also decreed that the +consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten +in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city. + +At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an +extremely deplorable condition;[187] for though every nation, from the +rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and +though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest +blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her +citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge +themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two +decrees of the senate,[188] not one individual, out of so vast a +number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the +conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline. +So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded +the minds of most of the citizens. + +XXXVII. Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were +actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common +people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline. +This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character; +for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class, +and endeavor to exalt the factious;[189] they dislike the established +condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented +with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they +can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety, +since poverty does not easily suffer loss.[190] + +As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected[191] from +various causes. In the first place,[192] such as every where took the +lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their +fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy +had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general +receptacle of impurity. In the next place, many, who thought of the +success of Sylla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers +into senators, and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and +pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they +should once take up arms. In addition to this, the youth, who, in the +country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by +public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to +unwelcome toil in the field. To these, and all others of similar +character, public disorders would furnish subsistence. It is not at +all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute +principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the +interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their +own. Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sylla, had been +proscribed, whose property had been confiscated, and whose civil +rights had been curtailed,[193] looked forward to the event of a war +with precisely the same feelings. + +All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, +were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that +they themselves should be out of power. This was an evil, which, after +many years, had returned upon the community to the extent to which it +now prevailed.[194] + +XXXVIII. For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of +Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored,[195] +certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that +high office,[196] began to stir up the populace by inveighing against +the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses +and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they +became popular and powerful. On the other hand, the most of the +nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost; under pretense, +indeed, of supporting the senate, but in reality for their own +aggrandizement. For, to state the truth in few words, whatever +parties, during that period, disturbed the republic under plausible +pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to +make the authority of the senate as great as possible, all, though +affecting concern for the public good, contended every one for his own +interest. In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit; +each party made a merciless use of its successes. + +XXXIX. After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic +wars, the power of the people was diminished, and the influence of the +few increased. These few kept all public offices, the administration +of the provinces, and every thing else, in their own hands; they +themselves lived free from harm,[197] in flourishing circumstances, +and without apprehension; overawing others, at the same time, with +threats of impeachment,[198] so that when in office, they might be +less inclined to inflame the people. But as soon as a prospect of +change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the +old spirit of contention awakened their passions; and had Catiline, in +his first battle, come off victorious, or left the struggle undecided, +great distress and calamity must certainly have fallen upon the state, +nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendency, have +been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have +wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted. + +There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out +to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. Among these +was Aulus Fulvius, the son of a senator, whom, being arrested on his +journey, his father ordered to be put to death.[199] In Rome, at the +same time, Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline's directions, was +endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all +whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to +promote an insurrection; and not citizens only, but every description +of men who could be of any service in war. + +XL. He accordingly commissioned one Publius Umbrenus to apply to +certain deputies of the Allobroges,[200] and to lead them, if he +could, to a participation in the war; supposing that as they were +nationally and individually involved in debt, and as the Gauls were +naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise. +Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men +there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently, without +loss of time, as soon as he noticed the deputies in the Forum, he +asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their +country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, "what +termination they expected to such calamities?" When he found that they +complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the +senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only +remedy for their sufferings, "Yet I," said he, "if you will but act as +men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing +difficulties." When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with +the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; +saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they +would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from +debt. He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus, which was +close to the Forum, and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to +his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome.[201] In order, too, +to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius, +and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy, and +mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many +other persons, of every sort, who were guiltless of it, for the +purpose of inspiring the embassadors with greater confidence. At +length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart. + +XLI. Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should +adopt. On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war, and +great advantages to be expected from victory;[202] on the other, +superior resources, safe plans, and certain rewards[203] instead of +uncertain expectations. As they were balancing these considerations, +the good fortune of the state at length prevailed. They accordingly +disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus +Fabius Sanga,[204] to whose patronage their state was very greatly +indebted. Cicero, being apprized of the matter by Sanga, directed the +deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to +seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair +promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as +possible. + +XLII. Much about the same time there were commotions[205] in Hither +and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories, and in +Apulia. For those, whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts, +had begun, without consideration, and seemingly with madness, to +attempt every thing at once; and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing +armor and weapons from place to place, and by hurrying and confusing +every thing, had created more alarm than danger. Of these, Quintus +Metellus Celer, the praetor, having brought several to trial,[206] +under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had +also Caius Muraena in Further Gaul,[207] who governed that province in +quality of legate. + +XLIII. But at Rome, in the mean time, Lentulus, with the other leaders +of the conspiracy, having secured what they thought a large force, had +arranged, that as soon as Catiline should reach the neighborhood of +Faesulae, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an +assembly, should complain of the proceedings of Cicero, and lay the +odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul;[208] and +that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should, on +the following night, proceed to execute their respective parts. + +These parts are said to have been thus distributed. Statilius and +Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the +city, convenient for their purpose,[209] at the same time; in order +that, during the consequent tumult,[210] an easier access might be +obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was +intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him +personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; +while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to +kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the +massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline. + +While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was +incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates; +observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation +and delay;[211] that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of +deliberation, but of action; and that he himself, if a few would +support him, would storm the senate-house while the others remained +inactive. Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he +thought that success depended on rapidity of execution. + +XLIV. The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured +interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators; and +from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, they demanded an +oath, which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who +otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair. To this the +others consented without suspicion; but Cassius promised them soon to +visit their country,[212] and, indeed, left the city a little before +the deputies. + +In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm +their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of +faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of +Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which +the following is a copy: + +"Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you. +Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and +remember that you are a man.[213] Consider what your views demand, and +seek aid from all, even the lowest." In addition, he gave him this +verbal message: "Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for +what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves? That, in the +city, every thing which he had directed was arranged; and that he +should not delay to make nearer approaches to it." + +XLV. Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed +for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made +acquainted with every thing, directed the praetors,[214] Lucius +Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the +Allobroges, by laying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge;[215] he +gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were +sent,[216] and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. +Being military men, they placed a force, as had been directed, without +disturbance, and secretly invested the bridge; when the deputies, with +Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side +of the bridge,[217] the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, +surrendered themselves immediately to the praetors. Volturcius, at +first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers +with his sword; but afterward, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he +began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his +life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered +himself to the praetors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies. + +XLVI. The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was +immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Great anxiety, +and great joy, affected him at the same moment. He rejoiced that, by +the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger; but +he was doubtful how he ought to act, when citizens of such eminence +were detected in treason so atrocious. He saw that their punishment +would be a weight upon himself, and their escape the destruction of +the Commonwealth. Having, however, formed his resolution, he ordered +Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and one Quintus Coeparius of +Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to raise the slaves, to +be summoned before him. The others came without delay; but Coeparius, +having left his house a little before, and heard of the discovery of +the conspiracy, had fled from the city. The consul himself conducted +Lentulus, as he was praetor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the +others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard. Here +he assembled the senate, and in a very full attendance of that body, +introduced Volturcius with the deputies. Hither also he ordered +Valerius Flaccus, the praetor, to bring the box with the letters[218] +which he had taken from the deputies. + +XLVII. Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning +his letter,[219] and lastly, what object he had had in view,[220] and +from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate,[221] +and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was +told to speak on the security of the public faith,[222] he disclosed +every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been +admitted as an associate, a few days before, by Gabinius and Coeparius; +that he knew no more than the deputies, only that he used to hear from +Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, +and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. The Gauls made a +similar confession, and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, +not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in +the habit of making, "that the sovereignty of Rome, by the Sibylline +books, was predestined to three Cornelii; that Cinna and Sylla had ruled +already;[223] and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be +to govern the city; and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the +Capitol was burned; a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had +often said would be stained with the blood of civil war." + +The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously +acknowledged their seals,[224] decreed that Lentulus, being deprived +of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private +custody.[225] Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius +Lentulus Spinther, who was then aedile; Cethegus, to Quintus +Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Caesar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; +and Coeparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to +Cneius Terentius, a senator. + +XLVIII. The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire +of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on +the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate +the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if +rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other +effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the +burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, +especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their +daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore. + +On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before +the senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out +to join Catiline. This person, having offered to give information of +the conspiracy, if the public faith were pledged to him,[226] and +being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the senate +nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the +intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens, and the +approach of the enemy, adding that "he was sent by Marcus Crassus to +assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus, and +others of the conspirators, ought not to alarm him, but that he should +hasten, with so much the more expedition to the city, in order to +revive the courage of the rest, and to facilitate the escape of those +in custody".[227] When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, +of very great wealth, and of vast influence, some, thinking the +statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, +judging that at such a crisis a man of such power[228] was rather to +be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, +being; under obligation to Crassus), exclaimed that he was "a false +witness," and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote. +Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full senate decreed +"that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false; that he himself +should be kept in prison; and that no further liberty of speaking[229] +should be granted him, unless he should name the person at whose +instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny." + +There were some, at that time, who thought that this affair was +contrived by Publius Autronius, in order that the interest of Crassus, +if he were accused, might, from participation in the danger, more +readily screen the rest. Others said that Tarquinius was suborned by +Cicero, that Crassus might not disturb the state, by taking upon him, +as was his custom,[230] the defense of the criminals. That this attack +on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself +assert. + +XLIX. Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, +nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon +Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the +Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter +enmity with Caesar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was +on[231] his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put +to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since +he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after +filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Caesar, who was +then comparatively a youth.[232] The opportunity, too, seemed +favorable for such an accusation; for Caesar, by extraordinary +generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public,[233] +had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the +consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to +another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to +have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent +odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as +an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by +the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to +testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar +with their swords as he went out of the senate-house. + +L. While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while +rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the +Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some +of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and +slaves, in various directions throughout the city,[234] to attempt his +rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were +always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, +was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves[235] and freedmen, men +trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed +body, and force a way into his place of confinement. + +The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having +distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion +demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know "what +they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to +custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before[236] +declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus +Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, +moved[237] that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on +those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius +Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be +apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius +Caesar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius +Nero,[238] who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and +that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Caesar, when +it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to +the following effect: + +LI. "It becomes all men,[239] Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on +dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, +nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not +easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the +same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely +exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of +it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless. + +I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings +and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted +injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these +instances in which our ancestors, in opposition, to the impulse of +passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy. + +In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the +great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the +Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us; yet, when the war was +ended, and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, +our forefathers left them unmolested lest any should say that war was +made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of +punishing their faithlessness. Throughout the Punic war, too, though +the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspension of arms, were +guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took +occasion to retaliate, but considered rather what was worthy of +themselves, than what might be justly inflicted on their enemies. + +Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, +that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have +greater weight with you than your own dignity, and that you may not +regard your indignation more than your character. If, indeed, a +punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to +extraordinary measures;[240] but if the enormity of their crime +exceeds whatever can be devised,[241] I think that we should inflict +only such penalties as the laws have provided. + +Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have +deplored, in studied and impressive language,[242] the sad fate that +threatens the republic; they have recounted the barbarities of war, +and the afflictions that would fall on the vanquished; they have told +us that maidens would be dishonored, and youths abused; that children +would be torn from the embraces of their parents; that matrons would +be subjected to the pleasure of the conquerors; that temples and +dwelling-houses would be plundered; that massacres and fires would +follow; and that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, +blood, and lamentation. But to what end, in the name of the eternal +gods! was such eloquence directed? Was it intended to render you +indignant at the conspiracy? A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom +so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked! Far from it: +for to no man does evil, directed against himself, appear a light +matter; many, on the contrary, have felt it more seriously than was +right. + +But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of +license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, +commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for +their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live +invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole +world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the +least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither +partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in +others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and +cruelty. + +I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of +torture is inadequate to punish their crime; but the generality of +mankind dwell on that which happens last, and, in the case of +malefactors, forget their guilt, and talk only of their punishment, +should that punishment have been inordinately severe. I feel assured, +too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the +suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had +no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know +to be his character, and such his discretion.[243] Yet his proposal +appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is +directed against such characters?), but foreign to our policy. For +assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, must have +induced you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment. +Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, when by the prompt activity of +that distinguished man our consul, such numerous forces are under +arms; and as to the punishment, we may say, what is indeed the truth, +that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and +not a torment;[244] that it puts an end to all human woes; and that, +beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy. + +But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your +proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be +punished with the scourge? Was it because the Porcian law[245] forbids +it? But other laws[246] forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of +life, and allow them to go into exile. Or was it because scourging is +a severer penalty than death? Yet what can be too severe, or too +harsh, toward men convicted of such an offense? But if scourging be a +milder punishment than death, how is it consistent to observe the law +as to the smaller point, when you disregard it as to the greater? + +But who it may be asked, will blame any severity that shall be +decreed against these parricides[247] of their country? I answer that +time, the course of events,[248] and fortune, whose caprice governs +nations, may blame it. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall +on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well +what you resolve to inflict on others. All precedents productive of +evil effects,[249] have had their origin from what was good; but when +a government passes into the hands of the ignorant or unprincipled, +any new example of severity,[250] inflicted on deserving and suitable +objects, is extended to those that are improper and undeserving of it. +The Lacedaemonians, when they had conquered the Athenians,[251] +appointed thirty men to govern their state. These thirty began their +administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were +notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable; acts at which the people +rejoiced, and extolled their justice. But afterward, when their +lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, +to kill the good and the bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror +into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy +penalty for its imprudent exultation. + +Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sylla ordered +Damasippus,[252] and others of similar character, who had risen by +distressing their country, to be put to death, who did not commend the +proceeding? All exclaimed that wicked and factious men, who had +troubled the state with their seditious practices, had justly +forfeited their lives. Yet this proceeding was the commencement of +great bloodshed. For whenever anyone coveted the mansion or villa, or +even the plate or apparel of another, he exerted his influence to have +him numbered among the proscribed. Thus they, to whom the death of +Damasippus had been a subject of joy, were soon after dragged to death +themselves; nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sylla had +glutted all his partisans with riches. + +Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these +times. But in a large state there arise many men of various +dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, +like the present, may have an army at his command, some false +accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a +precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of +the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury? + +Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in conduct or +courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of +other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. Their armor, and +weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites; their ensigns of +authority,[253] for the most part, from the Etrurians; and, in short, +whatever appeared eligible to them, whether among allies or among +enemies, they adopted at home with the greatest readiness, being more +inclined to emulate merit than to be jealous of it. But at the same +time, adopting a practice from Greece, they punished their citizens +with the scourge, and inflicted capital punishment on such as were +condemned. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction +grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the +innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it +was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which +condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. This lenity of our +ancestors, Conscript Fathers, I regard as a very strong reason why we +should not adopt any new measures of severity. For assuredly there was +greater merit and wisdom in those, who raised so mighty an empire from +humble means, than in us, who can scarcely preserve what they so +honorably acquired. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the +conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should +thus be increased? Far from it; my recommendation is, that their +property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody +in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the +expense;[254] that no one hereafter bring their case before the +senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give +their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act +against the republic and the general safety." + +LII. When Caesar had ended his speech, the rest briefly expressed +their assent,[255] some to one speaker, and some to another, in +support of their different proposals; but Marcius Porcius Cato, being +asked his opinion, made a speech to the following purport: + +"My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different,[256] when I +contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my +mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, +as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who +have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, +and their homes;[257] but the state of affairs warns us rather to +secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what +sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after +they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its +commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to +justice.[258] When the city is taken, no power is left to the +vanquished. But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, +who have always valued your mansions and villas, your statues and +pictures, at a higher price than the welfare of your country; if you +wish to preserve those possessions, of whatever kind they are, to +which you are attached; if you wish to secure quiet for the enjoyment +of your pleasures, arouse yourselves, and act in defense of your +country. We are not now debating on the revenues, or on injuries done +to our allies, but our liberty and our life is at stake. + +Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this +assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our +citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of +many. I, who never excused to myself, or to my own conscience, the +commission of any fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct,[259] +or indulge the licentiousness, of others. But though you little +regarded my remonstrances, yet the republic remained secure; its own +strength[260] was proof against your remissness. The question, however, +at present under discussion, is not whether we live in a good or a bad +state of morals; nor how great, or how splendid, the empire of the +Roman people is; but whether these things around us, of whatever value +they are, are to continue our own, or to fall, with ourselves, into the +hands of the enemy. + +In such a case, does any one talk to me of gentleness and compassion? +For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real name of things; +[261] for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and +audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced +to the brink of ruin. But let those, who thus misname things, be liberal, +since such is the practice, out of the property of our allies; let them +be merciful to the robbers of the treasury; but let them not lavish our +blood, and, while they spare a few criminals, bring destruction on all +the guiltless. + +Caius Caesar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, +[262] before this assembly, on the subject of life and death; considering +as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead; that the bad, going a +different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary, and +full of horror. He accordingly proposed _that the property of the +conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in +the municipal towns_; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, +they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by +a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate were to be +found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if +desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is +less power to resist them. His proposal, therefore, if he fears any +danger from them, is absurd; but if, amid such universal terror, he +alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and +myself. + +Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and +the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army +of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display +in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if +they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will +advance upon you with fury. + +Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, +raised the republic to greatness merely by force of arms. If such had +been the case, we should enjoy it in a most excellent condition;[263] +for of allies and citizens,[264] as well as arms and horses, we have a +much greater abundance than they had. But there were other things +which made them great, but which among us have no existence; such as +industry at home, equitable government abroad, and minds impartial in +council, uninfluenced by any immoral or improper feeling. Instead of +such virtues, we have luxury and avarice; public distress, and private +superfluity; we extol wealth, and yield to indolence; no distinction +is made between good men and bad; and ambition usurps the honors due +to virtue. Nor is this wonderful; since you study each his individual +interest, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure, and here to +money or favor; and hence it happens that an attack is made on the +defenseless state. + +But on these subjects I shall say no more. Certain citizens, of the +highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging +the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war +against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon +us; and do you hesitate; even in such circumstances, how to treat +armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? I advise you to have +mercy upon them;[265] they are young men who have been led astray by +ambition; send them away, even with arms in their hands. But such +mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will +end in misery to yourselves. The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but +you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to +act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and +trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your +country in the greatest dangers. But the protection of the gods is not +obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, +activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. When +you are once resigned to sloth and indolence, it is in vain that you +implore the gods; for they are then indignant and threaten vengeance. + +In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war +with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had +fought with an enemy contrary to orders. That noble youth suffered for +excess of bravery; and do you hesitate what sentence to pass on the +most inhuman of traitors? Perhaps their former life is at variance +with their present crime. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he +has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods +or for men. Pardon the youth of Cethegus, unless this be the second +time that he has made war upon his country.[266] As to Gabinius, +Slatilius, Coeparius, why should I make any remark upon them? Had they +ever possessed the smallest share of discretion, they would never have +engaged in such a plot against their country. + +In conclusion, Conscript Fathers, if there were time to amend an +error, I might easily suffer you, since you disregard words, to be +corrected by experience of consequences. But we are beset by dangers on +all sides; Catiline, with his army, is ready to devour us;[267] while +there are other enemies within the walls, and in the heart of the +city; nor can any measures be taken, or any plans arranged, without +their knowledge. The more necessary is it, therefore, to act with +promptitude. What I advise, then, is this: that since the state, by a +treasonable combination of abandoned citizens, has been brought into +the greatest peril; and since the conspirators have been convicted on +the evidence of Titus Volturcius, and the deputies of the Allobroges, +and on their own confession, of having concerted massacres, +conflagrations, and other horrible and cruel outrages, against their +fellow-citizens and their country, punishment be inflicted, according +to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed +their guilt, as on men convicted of capital crimes." + +LIII. When Cato had resumed his seat, all the senators of consular +dignity, and a great part of the rest,[268] applauded his opinion, and +extolled his firmness of mind to the skies. With mutual reproaches, +they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the +greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he +had advised. + +After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the +Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as +by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great +foundation of such illustrious deeds. I knew that the Romans had +frequently, with small bodies of men, encountered vast armies of the +enemy; I was aware that they had carried on wars[269] with limited +forces against powerful sovereigns; that they had often sustained, +too, the violence of adverse fortune; yet that, while the Greeks +excelled them in eloquence, the Gauls surpassed them in military +glory. After much reflection, I felt convinced that the eminent virtue +of a few citizens had been the cause of all these successes; and hence +it had happened that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over +a multitude. And even in later times, when the state had become +corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported +itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and +magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted,[270] there +was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen +of eminent ability. Within my recollection, however, there arose two +men of remarkable powers, though of very different character, Marcus +Cato and Caius Caesar, whom, since the subject has brought them before +me, it is not my intention to pass in silence, but to describe, to the +best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each. + +LIV. Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; +their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though +attained by different means.[271] Caesar grew eminent by generosity +and munificence; Cato by the integrity of his life. Caesar was +esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given +dignity to Cato. Caesar acquired renown by giving, relieving, and +pardoning; Cato by bestowing nothing. In Caesar, there was a refuge +for the unfortunate; in Cato, destruction for the bad. In Caesar, his +easiness of temper was admired; in Cato, his firmness. Caesar, in +fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent +upon the interest of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he +refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for +himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war +in which his talents might be displayed. But Cato's ambition was that +of temperance, discretion, and, above all, of austerity; he did not +contend in splendor with the rich, or in faction with the seditious, +but with the brave in fortitude, with the modest in simplicity,[272] +with the temperate[273] in abstinence; he was more desirous to be, +than to appear, virtuous; and thus, the less he courted popularity, +the more it pursued him. + +LV. When the senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of +Cato, the counsel, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was +coming on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, +ordered the triumvirs[274] to make such preparations as the execution +of the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary +guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison; and the same office was +performed for the rest by the praetors. There is a place in the +prison, which is called the Tullian dungeon,[275] and which, after a +slight ascent to the left, is sunk about twelve feet under ground. +Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vaulted roof connected +with stone arches;[276] but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, +by reason of the filth, darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been +let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been +given,[277] strangled him with a cord. Thus this patrician, who was of +the illustrious family of the Cornelii, and who filled the office of +consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct. +On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Coeparius, punishment was +inflicted in a similar manner. + +LVI. During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire +force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius +had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts +as far as his number would allow;[278] and afterward, as any +volunteers, or recruits from his confederates,[279] arrived in his +camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus +filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of +men, though at first he had not more than two thousand. But, of his +whole army, only about a fourth part had the proper weapons of +soldiers; the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried darts, +spears, or sharpened stakes. + +As Antonius approached with his army, Catiline directed his march over +the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at +another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting, +yet hoped himself shortly to find one,[280] if his accomplices at Rome +should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers +[281] had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as +depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it impolitic +[282] to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates. + +LVII. When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy +had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest +whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope +of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell +away. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by +forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to +escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul. + +But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, had at that +time, his station in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the +difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course which +we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned his route from +some deserters, he immediately broke up his camp, and took his post at +the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline's descent +would be, in his hurried march into Gaul[283]. Nor was Antonius far +distant, as he was pursuing, though with, a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances, the enemy in retreat.[284] + +Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by +hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, +and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it +best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved +upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius. Having, +therefore, assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following +manner: + +LVIII. "I am well aware, soldiers, that words can not inspire courage; +and that a spiritless army can not be rendered active,[285] or a timid +army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Whatever courage is in +the heart of a man, whether from nature or from habit, so much will be +shown by him in the field; and on him whom neither glory nor danger +can move, exhortation is bestowed in vain; for the terror in his +breast stops his ears. + +I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, +and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course +which I have adopted. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the +inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; +and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable +to march into Gaul. + +In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as +myself. Two armies of the enemy, one on the side of Rome, and the +other on that of Gaul, oppose our progress; while the want of corn, +and of other necessaries, prevents us from remaining, however strongly +we may desire to remain, in our present position. Whithersoever we +would go, we must open a passage with our swords. I conjure you, +therefore, to maintain a brave and resolute spirit; and to remember, +when you advance to battle, that on your own right hands depend[286] +riches, honor, and glory, with the enjoyment of your liberty and of +your country. If we conquer, all will be safe; we shall have +provisions in abundance; and the colonies and corporate towns will +open their gates to us. But if we lose the victory through want of +courage, these same places[287] will turn against us; for neither +place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected. +Besides, soldiers, the same exigency does not press upon our +adversaries, as presses upon us; we fight for our country, for our +liberty, for our life; they contend for what but little concerns +them,[288] the power of a small party. Attack them, therefore, with so +much the greater confidence, and call to mind your achievements of +old. + +We might,[289] with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our +days in exile. Some of you, after losing your property, might have +waited at Rome for assistance from others. But because such a life, to +men of spirit, was disgusting and unendurable, you resolved upon your +present course. If you wish to quit it, you must exert all your +resolution, for none but conquerors have exchanged war for peace. To +hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy +the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle, +those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is +equivalent to a rampart. When I contemplate you, soldiers, and when I +consider your past exploits, a strong hope of victory animates me. +Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me confidence; to say nothing +of necessity, which makes even cowards brave. To prevent the numbers +of the enemy from surrounding us, our confined situation is +sufficient. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not +to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered +like cattle, rather than fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a +bloody and mournful victory." + +LIX. When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the +signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular +order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all +the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their +danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to +their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched +between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he +placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in +close order, in the rear.[290] From among these he removed all the +ablest centurions,[291] the veterans,[293] and the stoutest of the +common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost +ranks.[293] He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, +and a certain officer of Faesulae[294] on the left; while he himself, +with his freedmen[295] and the colonists,[296] took his station by the +eagle,[297] which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the +Cimbrian war. + +On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame,[298] was unable to +be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus +Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of +veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection,[299] +in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding +round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged +them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed +marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, +and their homes.[300] Being a military man, and having served with +great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, praefect, +lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their +honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused +the spirits of the men. + +LX. When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the +trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the +enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the +action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with +a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge.[301] They threw +aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans, +calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest +combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides +contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was +exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such +as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to +every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and +performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful +general. + +When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking +him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the +centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and +offering but partial resistance,[302] he made great slaughter, and +ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the +Faesulan, sword in hand, were among the first[303] that fell; and +Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few +supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the +thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last. + +LXI. When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and +what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; +for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath, +covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A +few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen +somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself +was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the +enemy; he was not quite breathless, and still expressed in his +countenance the fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his +life. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any +free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives +no more than those of the enemy. + +Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless +victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle, +or left the field severely wounded. + +Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the +slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a +friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, +recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, +were variously felt throughout the whole army. + + + + +NOTES. + + +[1] I. Desire to excel other animals--_Sese student praestare +caeteris animalibus._ The pronoun, which is usually omitted, is, says +Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to _ut ipsi_: +student _ut ipsi praestent_. In support of his opinion he quotes, with +other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicae, +i.e. vult _ut ipse amicae placeat_; and Coelius Antipater apud Festum +in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat aemulari, i.e. +_studeat ut ipse aemuletur._ This explanation is approved by Bernouf. +Cortius might have added Cat. 7: _sese_ quisque hostem _ferire +--properabat._ "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt." + +[2] To the utmost of their power--_Summa ope_, with their utmost +ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said +_summa opera, summo studio, summa contentione._ Ennius has '_Summa +nituntur opum vi_.'" Colerus. + +[3] In obscurity--_Silentio._ So as to have nothing said of them, +either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: _Eorum ego +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo, quoniam de utraque siletur_. When Ovid +says, _Bene qui latuit, bene vixit,_ and Horace, _Nec vixit male, qui +vivens moriensque fefellit,_ they merely signify that he has some +comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and +censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of +Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque," +says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriae studio maxime +ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and +glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will +bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the +Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus: + + "Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd + With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd? + + O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace, + With equal steps the paths of glory trace! + Join to that royal youth's your rival name, + And shine eternal in the sphere of fame." + +[4] Like the beasts of the field--_Veluti pecora._ Many translators +have rendered _pecora_ "brutes" or "beasts;" _pecus_, however, does +not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word _cattle_. + +[5] Groveling--_Prona._ I have adopted _groveling_ from Mair's +old translation. _Pronus_, stooping _to the earth_, is applied to +_cattle_, in opposition to _erectus_, which is applied to _man_; as +in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i.: + + "_Prona_ que cum spectent animalia caetera terram, + Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri + Jussit, et _erectos_ ad sidera tollere vultus." + + "--while the mute creation downward bend + Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, + Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes + Beholds his own hereditary skies." _Dryden._ + +Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased: + + "There wanted yet the master-work, the end + Of all yet done; a creature, who not _prone + And 'brute as other creatures_, but endued + With sanctity of reason, might _erect_ + _His stature_, and _upright with front serene_ + Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence + Magnanimous to correspond with heaven." + "Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultus + Sustulerit Deus, et sublimia fluxerit ora, + Cum pecudes, voluerumque genus, formasque ferarum, + Segnem atque obscoenam passim stravisset in alvum." + + "See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'd + The countenance of man erect to heav'n, + Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bent + Th' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds, + And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd" + +"When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals +abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone +upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his +birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had +in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us +add Juvenal, xv, 146. + + "Sensum a coelesti demissum traximus arce, + Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia." + + "To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth, + Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth." + +[6] All our power is situate in the mind and in the body--_Sed +omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita_. All our power is placed, +or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle _sed,_ which is +merely a connective, answering to the Greek _de_, and which would be +useless in an English translation, I have omitted. + +[7] Of the mind we--employ the government--_Animi imperio--utimur_. +"What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter +is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, +serve the better."--Sen. Epist. lxv. _Dux et imperator vitae mortalium +animus est,_ the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals. +--Jug. c. 1. "An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one +is formed by nature to rule, and the other to obey."--Aristot. Polit. +i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages. + +[8] Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the +service--_Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur_. The word +_magis_ is not to be regarded as useless. "It signifies," says Cortius, +"that the mind rules, and the body obeys, _in general_, and _with +greater reason_." At certain times the body may _seem to have the +mastery_, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger +or thirst. + +[9] It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.--_Quo mihi +rectius videtur_, etc. I have rendered _quo_ by _therefore_. "_Quo_," +observes Cortius, "is _propter quod_, with the proper force of the +ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: _Quo_ mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; +c. 2, _Quo_ magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would +force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected +with the comparative degree, as in _quo minus, eo major_, and similar +expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so +connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to +which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, _Quanto +magis animus corpori praestat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam +quaerere_. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow +Cortius. "_Quo_," says Pappaur, "is for _quocirca_." + +[10] _That of_ intellectual power is illustrious and immortal--_Virtus +clara aeternaque habetur_. The only one of our English translators who +has given the right sense of _virtus_ In this passage, is Sir Henry +Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee. +"It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the +numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among +foreign nations--the Abbe Thyvon and M. Beauzee excepted--have thought +of giving to the word _virtus_, in this place, what so obviously is the +meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, +distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well +as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main +objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this +Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body +and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. +On this account it is pretty evident, that by _virtus_ Sallust could +never mean the [Greek _aretae_], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he +had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it +_ut viri vis_ (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which +ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his +fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this +rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the +second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same +train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a +different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, +of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the +pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments, +and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation +which shall never die. "_Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae, +adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at +ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt_". + +[11] It is necessary to plan before beginning to act--_Priusquam +incipias, consulto--opus est_. Most translators have rendered +_consulto_ "deliberation," or something equivalent; but it is +_planning_ or _contrivance_ that is signified. Demosthenes, in his +Oration _de Pace_, reproaches the Athenians with acting without any +settled plan: [Greek: _Oi men gar alloi puntes anthropoi pro ton +pragmatonheiothasi chraesthai to Bouleuesthai, umeis oude meta ta +pragmata_.] + +[12] To act with promptitude and vigor--_Mature facto opus est_. +"Mature facto" seems to include the notions both of promptitude and +vigor, of force as well as speed; for what would be the use of acting +expeditiously, unless expedition be attended with power and effect? + +[13] Each--_Utrumque_. The corporeal and mental faculties. + +[14] The one requires the assistance of the other--_Alterum +alterius auxilio eget_. "_Eget_," says Cortius, "is the reading of all +the MSS." _Veget_, which Havercamp and some others have adopted, was +the conjecture of Palmerius, on account of _indigens_ occurring in the +same sentence. But _eget_ agrees far better with _consulto et--mature +facto opus est_, in the preceding sentence. + +[15] II. Applied themselves in different ways--_Diversi_. "Modo +et instituto diverso, diversa sequentes." _Cortius_. + +[16] At that period, however--_Et jam tum_. "Tunc temporis +_praecise_, at that time _precisely_, which is the force of the +particle _jam_. as donatus shows. I have therefore written _et jam_ +separately. Virg. Aen. vii. 737. Late _jam tum_ ditione premebat +Sarrastes populos." _Cortius_. + +[17] Without covetousness--Sine cupiditate_. "As in the famous +golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 28." _Cortius_. See also Ovid. Met. +i. 80, _seq_. But "such times were never," as Cowper says. + +[18] But after Cyrus in Asia, etc.--_Postea vero quam in, Asia +Cyrus_, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more +moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the +case. "The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, "though +not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were +great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their +reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon +a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and +went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." +Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate +ambition, the _veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem_, that is, to +break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees +in opinion with De Brosses. + +[19] Proof and experience--_Periculo atque negotiis_. Gronovius +rightly interprets _periculo_ "experiundo, experimentis," by +experiment or trial. Cortius takes _periculo atque negotiis_ for +_periculosis negotiis_, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius +remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he +adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding +by _negotia_ "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains _negotiis_ +by "ipsa negotiorum tractatione," _i. e._ by the management of affairs, +or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, +has "l'experience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience." +which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives +only "experience" for both words. + +[20] And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.--_Quod +si--animi virtus_, etc. "Quod si" can not here be rendered _but if;_ +it is rather equivalent to _quapropter si_, and might be expressed by +_wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if_. + +[21] Intellectual ability--_Animi virtus_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, above noted. + +[22] Magistrates--_Imperatorum_. "Understand all who govern +states, whether in war or in peace." _Bernouf_. Sallust calls the +consuls _imperatores_, c. 6. + +[23] Governments shifted from hand to hand--_aliud alio ferri_. +Evidently alluding to changes in government. + +[24] Less to the more deserving--_Ad optimum quemque a minus +bono_. "From the less good to the best." + +[25] Even in agriculture, etc.--_Quae homines arant, navigant, +aedificant, virtuti omnia parent_. Literally, _what men plow, sail_, +etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and +architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily +exertion, are as much the result of mental power as the highest of +human pursuits. + +[26] Like travelers in a strange country--_Sicuti peregrinantes_. +"Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vita quasi hospites sunt:" they know not +how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. +_Dietsch_. "_Peregrinantes_, qui, qua transeunt, nullum sui vestigium +relinquunt;" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace +of their course. Pappaur. + +[27] Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation--_Eorum +ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo_. I count them of the same value dead +as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. +"Those who are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as +Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, +indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. + +[28] III. Not without merit--_Haud absurdum_. I have borrowed +this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "sua laude non +caret." "The word _absurdus_ is often used by the Latins as an epithet +for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be +applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." _Kunhardt_. + +[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.--_Facta dictis +sunt exaequanda_. Most translators have regarded these words as +signifying _that the subject must be equaled by the style_. But it is +not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter +must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be +too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much +blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and +how it was done." _Kunhardt_. + +[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.--_Quae sibi--aequo +animo accipit_, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For +praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks +that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; +but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and +disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. + +[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible--_Veluti ficta, pro +falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis_, he considers as false or incredible, +_veluti ficta_, as if invented. + +[32] When a young man--_Adolescentulus_. "It is generally admitted +that all were called _adolescentes_ by the Romans, who were between +the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. +The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast +more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, +prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called _adolescentulus_, +in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." _Dietsch_. +And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, _Defendi +rempublicam adolescens_, Philipp. ii. 46. + +[33] To engage in political affairs--_Ad rempublicam_. "In the phrase +of Cornelius Nepos, _honoribus operam dedi_, I sought to obtain some +share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were +comprehended under the term _Respublica_." _Cortius_. + +[34] Integrity--_Virtute_. Cortius rightly explains this word as +meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who +manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to +_avaritia_, not, as some critics would have it, to _largitio_. + +[35] Was ensnared and infected--_Corrupta, tenebatur_. As +_obsessus tenetur_, Jug., c. 24. + +[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and +jealousy, etc.--_Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque +invidia vexabat_. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat +honoris cupido, et vexabat _propterea_ etiam eadem, quae caeteros, +fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., +that it is a _zeugma_. "_Fama atque invidia_," says Gronovius, "is +[Greek: _en dia duoin_], for _invidiosa et maligna fama_." Bernouf, +with Zanchius and others, read _fama atque invidia_ in the ablative +case; and the Bipont edition has _eadem qua--fama, etc._; but the +method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and +satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this +passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his +expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he +suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in +the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. + +[37] IV. Servile occupations--agriculture or hunting--_Agrum +colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum_. By calling +agriculture and hunting _servilia officia_, Sallust intends, as is +remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the +saying of Julian the emperor, _Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, +captare laudes ex corpore_. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, +"agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant +corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia +labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad +meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the +reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of +hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not +remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that +have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as +Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended +from censure by the Abbe Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than +the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to +peruse. + +[38] Returning to those studies, etc.--_A quo incepto studio me +ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus_. "The study, namely, of +writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." +_Cortius_. + +[39] In detached portions--_Carptim_. "Plin. Ep. viii., 47: +Respondebis non posse perinde _carptim_, ut _contexta_ placere: et vi. +22: Egit _carptim_ et [Greek: _kata kephulaia_]," _Dietsch_. + +[40] V. Of noble birth--_Nobili genere natus_. His three names +were Lucius _Sergius_ Catilina, he being of the family of the Sergii, +for whose antiquity Virgil is responsible, Aen. v. 121: _Sergestusque, +domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen_. And Juvenal says, Sat. viii. 321: +_Quid, Catilino, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi Inveniet quisquam +sublimius?_ His great grandfather, L. Sergius Silus, had eminently +distinguished himself by his services in the second Punic war. See +Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 29. "Catiline was born A.U.C. 647, A.C. 107." +_Dietsch_. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxv.) says that he was the last +of the Sergii. + +[41] _Sedition--Discordia civilis_. + +[42] And in such scenes he had spent his early years--_Ibique +juventutem suam exercuit_. "It is to be observed that the Roman +writers often used an adverb, where we, of modern times, should +express ourselves more specifically by using a noun." _Dietsch_ on c. +3, _ibique multa mihi advorsa fuere_. _Juventus_ properly signified +the time between thirty and forty-five years of age; _adolescentia_ +that between fifteen and thirty. But this distinction was not always +accurately observed. Catiline had taken an active part in supporting +Sylla, and in carrying into execution his cruel proscriptions and +mandates. "Quis erat hujus (Syllae) imperii minister? Quis nisi +Catilina jam in omne facinus manus exercens?" Sen. de Ira, iii. 18. + +[43] Capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished +--_Cujuslibet, rei simulator ac dissimulator_. "Dissimulation is +the negative, when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not +that he is; simulation is the affirmative, when a man industriously +and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not." Bacon, +Essay vi. + +[44] Abundance of eloquence--_Satis eloquentiae_. Cortius reads +_loquentiae_ "_Loquentia_ is a certain facility of speech not +necessarily attended with sound sense; called by the Greeks [Greek: +_lalia_]." _Bernouf_. "Julius Candidus used excellently to observe +that _eloquentia_ was one thing, and _loquentia_ another; for +eloquence is given to few, but what Candidus called _loquentia_, or +fluency of speech, is the talent of many, and especially of the most +impudent." Plin. Ep. v. 20. But _eloquentiae_ is the reading of most +of the MSS., and _loquentiae_, if Aulus Gellius (i. 15) was rightly +informed, was a correction of Valerius Probus, the grammarian, who +said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could not +agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, the grammarian, +who said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could +not agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, however, +may be questioned. May not Sallust have written _eloquentiae_, with +the intention of signifying that Catiline had abundance of eloquence +to work on the minds of others, though he wanted prudence to regulate +his own conduct? Have there not been other men of whom the same may be +said, as Mirabeau, for example? The speeches that Sallust puts into +Catiline's mouth (c. 20, 58) are surely to be characterized rather as +_eloquentia_, than _loquentia_. On the whole, and especially from the +concurrence of MSS., I prefer to read _eloquentiae_, with the more +recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz and Dietsch. + +[45] Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship--_Post dominationem +Lucii Syllae_. "The meaning is not the same as if it were _finita +dominatione_ but is the same as _ab eo tempore quo dominari caeperat_. +In French, therefore, _post_ should be rendered by _depuis_, not, as +it is commonly translated, _apres_." _Bernouf_. As _dictator_ was the +title that Sylla assumed, I have translated _dominatio_, "dictatorship". +Rose, Gordon, and others, render it "usurpation". + +[46] Power--_Regnum_. Chief authority, rule, dominion. + +[47] Rendered thoroughly depraved--_Vexabant_. "Corrumpere et +pessundare studebant." _Bernouf_. _Quos vexabant_, be it observed, +refers to _mores_, as Gerlach and Kritz interpret, not to _cives_ +understood in _civitatis_, which is the evidently erroneous method of +Cortius. + +[48] Conduct of our ancestors--_Instituta majorum_. The principles +adopted by our ancestors, with regard both to their own conduct, and +to the management of the state. That this is the meaning, is evident +from the following account. + +[49] VI. As I understand--_Sicuti ego accepi_. "By these words he +plainly shows that nothing certain was known about the origin of Rome. +The reader may consult Livy, lib. i.; Justin, lib. xliii.; and Dionys. +Halicar., lib.i.; all of whom attribute its rise to the Trojans." +_Bernouf_. + +[50] Aborigines--_Aborigines_. The original inhabitants of Italy; +the same as _indigenae_, or the [Greek: _Autochthones_]. + +[51]: Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. "Non credi potest, +si memoratur; superat omnem fidem." _Pappaur_. Yet that which +actually happened, can not be absolutely incredible; and I have, +therefore, inserted _almost_. + +[52] Prepared with alacrity for there defense--_Festinare, parare_. +"Made haste, prepared." "_Intenti ut festinanter pararent_ ea, quae +defensioni aut bello usui essent." _Pappaur_. + +[53] Procured friendships rather by bestowing, etc;--_Magisque +dandis, quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant_. Thucyd. ii., +40: [Greek: _Ou paschontes eu, alla drontes, ktometha tous philous_] + +[54] FATHERS--PATRES. "(Romulus) appointed that the direction of +the state should be in the hands of the old men, who, from their +authority, were called _Fathers_; from their age, _Senatus_." Florus, +i. 1. _Senatus_ from _senex_. "_Patres_ ab honore--appellati." +_Livy_. + +[55] Two magistrates--_Binos imperatores_. The two consuls. They +were more properly called _imperatores_ at first, when the law, which +settled their power, said "_Regio imperio_ duo sunto" (Cic. de Legg. +iii. 4), than afterward, when the people and tribunes had made +encroachments on their authority. + +[56] VII. Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. See above, c. 6. + +[57] Able to bear the toils of war--_Laboris ac belli patiens_. +As by _laboris_ the labor of war is evidently intended, I have thought +it better to render the words in this manner. The reading is Cortius'. +Havercamp and others have "simul _ac belli_ patiens erat, in castris +_per laborem usu_ militiam discebat;" but _per laborem usu_ is +assuredly not the hand of Sallust. + +[58] Honor and true nobility--_Bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem_. + +[59] VIII. Very great and glorious--_Satis amplae magnificaeque_. +In speaking of this amplification of the Athenian exploits, he +alludes, as Colerus observes, to the histories of Thucydides, +Xenophen, and perhaps Herodotus; not, as Wasse seems to imagine, +to the representations of the poets. + +[60] There was never any such abundance of writers--_Nunquam ea +copia fuit_. I follow Kuhnhardt, who thinks _copia_ equivalent to +_multitudo_. Others render it _advantage_, or something similar; +which seems less applicable to the passage. Compare c.28: +_Latrones_--_quorum_--magna copia _erat_. + +[61] Chose to act rather than narrate--"For," as Cicero says, +"neither among those who are engaged in establishing a state, nor +among those carrying on wars, nor among those who are curbed and +restrained under the rule of kings, is the desire of distinction in +eloquence wont to arise." _Graswinckelius_. + +[62] IX. Pressed by the enemy--_Pulsi_. In the words _pulsi loco +cedere ausi erant_, _loco_ is to be joined, as Dietsch observes, with +cedere_, not, as Kritzius puts it, with _pulsi_. "To retreat," adds +Dietsch, "is disgraceful only to those _qui ab hostibus se pelli +patiantur_, who suffer themselves to be _repulsed by the enemy_." + +[63] X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war--Perses, +Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others. + +[64] To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready +on the tongue--_Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum, + +[Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos homos Aidao pulaesin. + Os ch' eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de Bazei.] + + Who dares think one thing, and another tell, + My heart detests him as the gates of hell. + _Pope_. + +[65] XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, +etc.--_Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum +exercebat_. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, +an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c.10), _Igitur +primo pecuniae, deinde imperii cupido, crevit_, and it will be hard to +prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, +endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following +"meaning", which, he says, "seems perfectly evident": "Although +avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome, yet, after both +had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the +stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an +inordinate height". To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that +the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning". "How these passages +agree," says Rupertus, "I do not understand: unless we suppose that +Sallust, by the word _primo_, does not always signify order". + +[66] Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind--_Corpus +virilemque animum effaeminat_. That avarice weakens the mind, is +generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body? The most +satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus +Gellius (iii. 1), that those who are intent on getting riches devote +themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and +money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as +strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by +Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which +perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by _body and mind_, +intended merely to signify _the whole man_. + +[67] Having recovered the government--_Recepta republica_. Having +wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party. + +[68] All became robbers and plunderers--_Rapere omnes, trahere_. +He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's +party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by +supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque +modestiam _victores_ habere." + +[69] which he had commanded in Asia--_Quem in Asia dustaverat_. I +have here deserted Cortius, who gives _in Asiam_, "into Asia," but this, +as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb +_ductaverat_. + +[70] in public edifices and private dwellings--_Privatim ac +publice_. I have translated this according to the notion of Burnouf. +Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider _privatim_ as signifying +_each on his own account_, and _publice_, _in the name of the +Republic_. + +[71] XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature +--_Innocentia pro malivolentia duci caepit_. "Whoever continued honest +and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their +enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their +party." _Bernouf_. + +[72] It furnishes much matter for reflection--_Operae pretium est_. + +[73] Basest of mankind--_Ignavissumi mortales_. It is opposed to +_fortissumi viri_, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam +fecere." _Cortius_. + +[74] XIII. Seas covered with edifices--_Maria constructa esse_. + + Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt, + _Jactis in altum molibus_, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 1. + + --The haughty lord, who lays + His deep foundations in the seas, + And scorns earth's narrow bound; + The fish affrighted feel their waves + Contracted by his numerous slaves, + Even in the vast profound. _Francis_. + +[75] To have made a sport of their wealth--_Quibus mihi videntur +ledibrio fuisse divitiae_. "They spent their riches on objects which, +in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." +_Cortius_. + +[76] Luxury--_Cultus_. "Deliciarum in victu_, luxuries of the table; +for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." +_Cortius_. + +[77] Cold--_Frigus_. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is +wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it +were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, +sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot +weather; and he cites Pliny, Ep., v. 6, who speaks of _crytoporticus_, +a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were +underground, and which, even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. +He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. Ad Spartian. +Adrian., c. x., p. 87. + +[78] XIV. Gaming--_Manu_. Gerlach, Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the +recent editors, agree to interpret _manu_ by _gaming_. + +[79] Assassins--_Parricidae_. "Not only he who had killed his father +was called a _parricide_, but he who had killed any man; as is +evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and +knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be _a parricide_." +_Festus_ sub voce _Parrici_. + +[80] Than from any evidence of the fact--_Quam quod cuiquam id +compertum foret_. + +[81] XV. With a virgin of noble birth--_Cum virgine nobili_. Who +this was is not known. The name may have been suppressed from respect +to her family. If what is found in a fragment of Cicero be true, +Catiline had an illicit connection with some female, and afterward +married the daughter who was the fruit of the connection: _Ex eodem +stupro et uxorem et filiam invenisti_; Orat. in Tog. Cand. (Oration +xvi., Ernesti's edit.) On which words Asconius Pedianus makes this +comment: "Dicitur Catilinam adulterium commisisse cum ea quae ci +postea socrus fuit, et ex eo stupro duxisse uxorem, cum filia ejus +esset. Haec Lucceius quoque Catilinae objecit in orationibus, quas in +eum scripsit. Nomina harum mulierum nondum inveni." Plutarch, too +(Life of Cicero, c. 10), says that Catiline was accused of having +corrupted his own daughter. + +[82] With a priestess of Vesta--_Cum sacerdote Vestae_. This +priestess of Vesta was Fabia Terentia, sister to Terentia, Cicero's +wife, whom Sallust, after she was divorced by Cicero, married. Clodius +accused her, but she was acquitted, either because she was thought +innocent, or because the interest of Catulus and others, who exerted +themselves in her favor, procured her acquittal. See Orosius, vi. 3; +the Oration of Cicero, quoted in the preceding note; and Asconius's +commentary on it. + +[83] Aurelia Orestilla--See c. 35. She was the sister or daughter, +as De Brosses thinks, of Cneius Aurelius Orestis, who had been praetor, +A.U.C. 677. + +[84] A grown-up step-son--_Privignum adulta aetate_. A son of +Catiline's by a former marriage. + +[85] Desolate his tortured spirit--_Mentem exciteam vastabat_. +"Conscience desolates the mind, when it deprives it of its proper +power and tranquillity, and introduces into it perpetual disquietude." +_Cortius_. Many editions have _vexabat_. + +[86] XVI. He furnished false witnesses, etc. _Testis signatoresque +falsos commodare_. "If any one wanted any such character, Catiline was +ready to supply him from among his troop."_Bernouf_. + +[87] Inoffensive persons, etc.--_Insontes, sicuti sontes._ Most +translators have rendered these words "innocent" and "guilty," terms +which suggest nothing satisfactory to the English reader. The +_insontes_ are those who had given Catiline no cause of offens; the +_sontes_ those who had in some way incurred his displeasure, or become +objects of his rapacity. + +[88] Veterans of Sylla, etc.--Elsewhere called the colonists of +Sylla; men to whom Sylla had given large tracts of land as rewards for +their services, but who, having lived extravagantly, had fallen into +such debt and distress, that, as Cicero said, nothing could relieve +them but the resurrection of Sylla from the dead. Cic. ii. Orat. in +Cat. + +[89] Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world--_In extremis +terris_. Pompey was then conducting the war against Mithridates and +Tigranes, in Pontus and Armenia. + +[90] The senate was wholly off its guard--_Senatus nihil sane intentus_. +The senate was _regardless_, and unsuspicious of any danger. + +[91] XVII. Lucius Caesar--He was a relation of Julius Caesar; and his +sister was the wife of M. Antonius, the orator, and mother of Mark +Antony, the triumvir. + +[92] Publius Lentulus Sura--He was of the same family with Sylla, +that of the Cornelii. He had filled the office of consul, but his +conduct had been afterward so profligate, that the censors expelled +him from the senate. To enable him to resume his seat, he had +obtained, as a qualification, the office of praetor, which he held at +the time of the conspiracy. He was called Sura, because, when he had +squandered the public money in his quaestorship, and was called to +account by Sylla for his dishonesty, he declined to make any defense, +but said, "I present you the calf of my leg (_sura_);" alluding to a +custom among boys playing at ball, of inflicting a certain number of +strokes on the leg of an unsuccessful player. Plutarch, Life of +Cicero, c.17. + +[93] Publius Autronius--He had been a companion of Cicero in his +boyhood, and his colleague in the quaestorship. He was banished in the +year after the conspiracy, together with Cassius, Laeca, Vargunteius, +Servius Sylla, and Caius Cornelius, under the Plautian law. _De +Brosses_. + +[94] Lucius Cassius Longinus.--He had been a competitor with Cicero +for the consulship. Ascon. Ped., in Cic. Orat. in Tog. Cand. His +corpulence was such that Cassius's fat (_Cassii adeps_) became +proverbial. Cic. Orat. in Catil., iii. 7. + +[95] Caius Cethegus--He also was one of the Cornelian family. In the +civil wars, says De Brosses, he had first taken the side of Marius, +and afterward that of Sylla. Both Cicero (Orat. in Catil., ii.7) and +Sallust describe him as fiery and rash. + +[96] Publius and Servius Sylla--These were nephews of Sylla the +dictator. Publius, though present on this occasion, seems not to have +joined in the plot, since, when he was afterward accused of having +been a conspirator, he was defended by Cicero and acquitted. See Cic. +Orat. pro P. Sylla. He was afterward with Caesar in the battle of +Pharsalia. Caes. de B.C., iii. 89. + +[97] Lucius Vargunteius--"Of him or his family little is known. +He had been, before this period, accused of bribery, and defended by +Hortensius. Cic. pro P. Sylla, c. 2." _Bernouf_. + +[98] Quintus Annius--He is thought by De Brosses to have been the same +Annius that cut off the head of M. Antonius the orator, and carried it +to Marius. Plutarch, Vit. Marii, c. 44. + +[99] Marcus Porcius Laeca--He was one of the same _gens_ with the +Catones, but of a different family. + +[100] Lucius Bestia--Of the Calpurnian _gens_. He escaped death +on the discovery of the conspiracy, and was afterward aedile, and +candidate for the praetorship, but was driven into exile for bribery. +Being recalled by Caesar, he became candidate for the consulship, but +was unsuccessful. _De Brosses_. + +[101] Quintus Curius--He was a descendant of M. Curius Dentatus, the +opponent of Pyrrhus. He was so notorious as a gamester and a profligate, +that he was removed from the senate, A.U.C. 683. See c. 23. As he had +been the first to give information of the conspiracy to Cicero, public +honors were decreed him, but he was deprived of them by the influence of +Caesar, whom he had named as one of the conspirators. Sueton. Caes. 17; +Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. ii. + +[102] M. Fulvius Nobilior--"He was not put to death, but exiled, +A.U.C. 699. Cic. ad Att. iv., 16." _Bernouf_. + +[103] Lucius Statilius--of him nothing more is known than is told by +Sallust. + +[104] Publius Gabinius Capito--Cicero, instead of Capito, calls him +Cimber. Orat. in Cat., iii. 3. The family was originally from Gabii. + +[105] Caius Cornelius--There were two branches of the _gens Cornelia_, +one patrician, the other plebeian, from which sprung this conspirator. + +[106] Municipal towns--_Municipiis_. "The _municipia_ were towns +of which the inhabitants were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens, +but which were allowed to govern themselves by their own laws, and to +choose their own magistrates. See Aul. Gell, xvi. 13; Beaufort, Rep. +Rom., vol. v." _Bernouf_. + +[107] Marcus Licinius Crassus--The same who, with Pompey and Caesar, +formed the first triumvirate, and who was afterward killed in his +expedition against the Parthians. He had, before the time of the +conspiracy, held the offices of praetor and consul. + +[108] XVIII. But previously, etc.--Sallust here makes a digression, +to give an account of a conspiracy that was formed three years before +that of Catiline. + +[109] Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla--The same who are mentioned +in the preceding chapter. They were consuls elect, and some editions +have the words _designati consules_, immediately following their names. + +[110] Having been tried for bribery under the laws against it +--_Legibus ambitus interrogati_. _Bribery at their election_, is the +meaning of the word _ambitus_, for _ambire_, as Cortius observes, is +_circumeundo favorem et suffragia quaerere_. De Brosses translates the +passage thus: "Autrone et Sylla, convaincus d'avoir obtenu le consulat +par corruption des suffrages, avaient ete punis selon la rigueur de la +loi". There were several very severe Roman laws against bribery. +Autronius and Sylla were both excluded from the consulship. + +[111] For extortion--_Pecuniarum repetundarum_. Catiline had been +praetor in Africa, and, at the expiration of his office, was accused +of extortion by Publius Clodius, on the part of the Africans. He +escaped by bribing the prosecutor and judges. + +[112] To declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number +of days--_Prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitimos +dies profiteri_ (se candidatum, says Cortius, citing Suet. Aug. 4) +_nequiverit_. A person could not be a candidate for the consulship, +unless he could declare himself free from accusation within a certain +number of days before the time of holding the _comitia centuriata_. +That number of days was _trinundinum spatium_, that is, the time +occupied by three market-days, _tres nundinae_, with seven days +intervening between the first and second, and between the second and +third; or _seventeen days_. The _nundinae_ (from _novem_ and _dies_) +were held, as it is commonly expressed, every ninth day; whence +Cortius and others considered _trinundinum spatium_ to be twenty-seven, +or even thirty days; but this way of reckoning was not that of the +Romans, who made the last day of _the first ennead_ to be also the first +day _of the second_. Concerning the _nundinae_ see Macrob., Sat. i. 16. +"Muller and Longius most erroneously supposed the _trinundinum_ to be +about thirty days; for that it embraced only seventeen days has been +fully shown by Ernesti. Clav. Cic., sub voce; by Scheller in Lex. Ampl., +p. 11, 669; by Nitschius Antiquitt. Romm. i. p. 623: and by Drachenborch +(cited by Gerlach) ad Liv. iii. 35." _Kritzius_. + +[113] Cneius Piso--Of the Calpurnian gens. Suetonius (Vit. Caes., c. 9) +mentions three authors who related that Crassus and Caesar were both +concerned in this plot; and that, if it had succeeded, Crassus was to +have assumed the dictatorship, and made Caesar his master of the horse. +The conspiracy, as these writers state, failed through the remorse or +irresolution of Crassus. + +[114] Catiline and Autronius--After these two names, in Havercamp's +and many other editions, follow the words _circiter nonas Decembres_, +_i.e._, about the fifth of December. + +[115] On the first of January--_Kalendis Januariis_. On this day the +consuls were accustomed to enter on their office. The consuls whom +they were going to kill, Cotta and Torquatus, were those who had been +chosen in the place of Antronius and Sylla. + +[116] The two Spains--Hither and Thither Spain. _Hispania Citerior_ +and _Ulterior_, as they were called by the Romans. + +[117] XIX. Nor were the senate, indeed, unwilling, etc.--See Dio Cass. +xxxvi. 27. + +[118] XX. Just above mentioned--In c. 17. + +[119] Favorable opportunity--_Opportuna res_. See the latter part +of c. 16. + +[120] Assert our claims to liberty--_Nosmet ipsi vindicamus in +libertatem_.Unless we vindicate ourselves into liberty. See below, +"En illa, illa, quam saepe optastis, libertas," etc. + +[121] Kings and princes--_Reges tetrarchae_. _Tetrarchs_ were +properly those who had the government of the fourth part of the +country; but at length, the signification of the word being extended, +it was applied to any governors of any country who were possessed of +supreme authority, and yet were not acknowledged as kings by the +Romans. See Hirt. Bell. Alex. c. 67: "Deiotarus, at that time +_tetrarch_ of almost all Gallograecia, a supremacy which the other +_tetrarchs_ would not allow to be granted him either by the laws or by +custom, but indisputably acknowledged as king of Armenia Minor by the +senate," etc. _Dietsch._ "Hesychius has, [Greek: _Tetrarchas, +basileis_]. See Isidor., ix. 8; Alex. ab. Alex., ii. 17." _Colerus_. +"Cicero, Phil. II., speaks of Reges Tetrarchas Dynastasque. And Lucan +has (vii. 46) Tetrarchae regesque tenent, magnique tyranni." _Wasse._ +Horace also says, + + --Modo reges atque tetrarchas, + Omnia magna loquens. + +I have, with Rose, rendered the word _princes_, as being the most +eligible term. + +[122] Insults--_Repulsas_. Repulses in standing for office. + +[123] The course of events, etc.--_Caetera res expediet_.--"Of. Cic. +Ep. Div. xiii. 26: _explicare et expedire negotia_." Gerlach. + +[124] Building over seas--See c. 13. + +[125] Embossed plate--_Toreumata_. The same as _vasa coelata_, +sculptured vases, c. 11. Vessels ornamented in bas-relief; from +[Greek: _toreuein_], _sculpere_; see Bentley ad Hor. A. P., 441. +"Perbona toreumata, in his pecula duo," etc. Cic. in Verr. iv. 18. + +[126] XXI. What support or encouragement they had, and in what +quarters.--_Quid ubique opis aut spei haberent; i.e._ quid opis aut + So c. 27, _init._ Quem ubique opportunum credebat, _i.e._, says +Cortius, "quem, et ubi _illum_, opportunum credebat". + +[127] Abolition of their debts--_Tabulas novas._ Debts were +registered on tablets; and, when the debts were paid, the score was +effaced, and the tablets were ready to be used _as new._ See Ernesti's +Clav. in Cio._sub voce_. + +[128] Proscription of the wealthy citizens--_Proscriptionem +locupletium._ The practice of proscription was commenced by Sylla, who +posted up, in public places of the city, the names of those whom he +doomed to death, offering rewards to such as should bring him their +heads. Their money and estates he divided among his adherents, and +Catiline excited his adherents with hopes of similar plunder. + +[129] Another of his ruling passion--_Admonebat--alium cupiditatis +suae_. Rose renders this passage, "Some he put in mind of their +poverty, others of their amours." De Brosses renders it, "Il +remontre a l'un sa pauvrete, a l'autre son ambition." _Ruling +passion_, however, seems to be the proper sense of _cupiditatis_; +as it is said, in c. 14, "As the passions of each, according to his +years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought +horses and dogs for others", etc. + +[130] XXII. They asserted--_Dictitare_. In referring this word to +the circulators of the report, I follow Cortius, Gerlach, Kritzius, +and Bernouf. Wasse, with less discrimination, refers it to Catiline. +This story of the drinking of human blood is copied by Florus, iv 1, +and by Plutarch in his Life of Cicero. Dio Cassius (lib. xxxvii.) says +that the conspirators were reported to have killed a child on the +occasion. + +[131] XXIII. Quintus Curius--the same that is mentioned in c. 17. + +[132] To promise her seas and mountains--_Maria montesque polliceri_. +A proverbial expression. Ter. Phorm., i. 2, 18: _Modo non montes auri +pollicens_. Perc., iii. 65: _Et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere +emontes._ + +[133] With greater arrogance than ever--_Ferocius quam solitus erat._ + +[134] To Marcus Tullius Cicero--Cicero was now in his forty-third +year, and had filled the office of quaestor, aedile, and praetor. + +[135] A man of no family--_Novus homo._ A term applied to such as +could not boast of any ancestor that had held any curule magistracy, +that is, had been consul, praetor, censor, or chief aedile. + +[136] XXIV. Manlius--He had been an officer in the army of Sylla, +and, having been distinguished for his services, had been placed at +the head of a colony of veterans settled about Faesulae: but he had +squandered his property in extravagance. See Plutarch, Vit. Cic., Dio +Cassius, and Appian. + +[137] Faesulae--A town of Etruria, at the foot of the Appennines, + + At evening from the top of Fesole, + Or in Valdarno to descry new lands, etc. +Par. L. i. 28. + +[138] XXV. Sempronia--Of the same _gens_ as the two Gracchi. She +was the wife of Decimus Brutus. + +[139] Sing, play, and dance--_Psallere, saltare._ As _psallo_ +signifies both to play on a musical instrument, and to sing to it +while playing, I have thought it necessary to give both senses in the +translation. + +[140] By no means despicable--_Haud absurdum._ Compare, _Bene dicere +haud absurdum est,_ c. 8. + +[141] She was distinguished, etc.--_Multae facetiae, multusque lepos +inerat._ Both _facetiae_ and _lepos_ mean "agreeableness, humor, +pleasantry," but _lepos_ here seems to refer to diction, as in Cic. +Orat. i. 7: _Magnus in jocando lepos._ + +[142] XXVI. By an arrangement respecting their provinces--_Pactione +provinciae_. This passage has been absurdly misrepresented by most +translators, except De Brosses. Even Rose, who was a scholar, translated +_pactione provinciae_, "by promising a province to his colleague." +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that the two provinces, which +Cicero and his colleague Antonius shared between them, were Gaul and +Macedonia, and that Cicero, in order to retain Antonius in the interest +of the senate, exchanged with him Macedonia, which had fallen to himself, +for the inferior province of Gaul. See Jug., c. 27. + +[143] Plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius +--_Insidiae quas consuli in campo fecerat_. I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _consulibus_, thinking that Catiline, in +his rage, might have extended his plots even to the consuls-elect. But +_consuli_, there is little doubt, is the right reading, as it is favored +by what is said at the beginning of the chapter, _insidias parabat +Ciceroni_, by what follows in the next chapter, _consuli insidias tendere_, +and by the words, _sperans, si designatus foret, facile se ex voluntate +Antonio usurum_; for if Catiline trusted that he should be able to use +his pleasure with Antonius, he could hardly think it necessary to form +plots against his life. I have De Brosses on my side, who translates the +phrase, _les pieges ou il comptait faire perir le consul_. The words _in +campo_, which look extremely like an intruded gloss, I wonder that +Cortius should have retained. "_Consuli_," says Gerlach, "appears the +more eligible, not only on account of _consuli insidias tendere_, c. 27, +but because nothing but the death of Cicero was necessary to make +everything favorable for Catiline." Kritzius, Bernouf, Dietsch, Pappaur, +Allen, and all the modern editors, read _Consuli_. See also the end of +c. 27: _Si prius Ciceronem oppressisset_.] [note 144: Had ended in +confusion and disgrace--_Aspera faedaque evenerant_. I have borrowed +from Murphy. + +[145] XXVII. Of Camerinum--Camertem. "That is, a native of Camerinum, +a town on the confines of Umbria and Picenum. Hence the noun _Camers_, +as Cic. Pro. Syll., c. 19, _in agro Camerti_." Cortius. + +[146] Wherever he thought each would be most serviceable--_Ubi +quemque opportunum credebat. "Proprie reddas: quam, _et ubi_ illum, +_opportunum credebat_," Cortius. See c. 23. + +[147] When none of his numerous projects succeeded--_Ubi multa +agilanti nihil procedit_. + +[148] XXVIII. On that very night, and with but little delay--_Ea +nocte, paulo post_. They resolved on going soon after the meeting +broke up, so that they might reach Cicero's house early in the +morning, which was the usual time for waiting on great men. _Ingentem +foribus domus alla superbis_ Mane _salutantum totis vomit aedibus +undam_. Virg. Georg., ii. 461. + +[149] XXIX. This is the greatest power which--is granted, etc. +--_Ea potestas per senatum, more Romano, magistratui maxima +permittitur_. Cortius, _mira judicii peversitate_, as Kritzius +observes, makes _ea_ the ablative case, understanding "decretione," +"formula," or some such word; but, happily, no one has followed him. + +[150] XXX. By the 27th of October--_Ante diem VI. Kalendas +Novembres_. He means that they were in arms on or before that day. + +[151] Quintus Marcius Rex--He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and +was expecting a triumph for his successes. + +[152] Quintus Metellus Creticus--He had obtained the surname of +Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete. + +[153] Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc. +--_hi utrique ad urbem imperatores erant; impediti ne triumpharent +calumnia paucorum quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos +erat_. "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the +senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the +enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title +as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) +a triumph, for which he was obliged to wait _ad urbem_, near the city, +since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any +military command. These _imperatores_ had been debarred from their +expected honor by a party who would sell _any thing honorable_, as a +triumph, or _any thing dishonorable_, as a license to violate the laws. + +[154] A hundred sestertia--two hundred sestertia--A hundred sestertia +were about 807L. 5s. 10d. of our money. + +[155] Schools of gladiators--_Gladiatoriae familiae_. Any number of +gladiators under one teacher, or trainer (_lanista_), was called +_familia_. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be +strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See +Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach. + +[156] The inferior magistrates--The aediles, tribunes, quaestors, +and all others below the consuls, censors, and praetors. Aul. Cell., +xiii. 15. + +[157] XXXI. Dissipation--Lascivia. "Devotion to public amusements +and gayety. The word is used in the same sense as in Lucretius, v. + + Tum caput atque humeros planis redimire coronis. + Floribus et foliis, lascivia laeta monebat. + +_"Then sportive gayety prompted them to deck their heads and shoulders +with garlands of flowers and leaves." Bernouf_. + +[158] Long tranquillity--_Diuturna quies_. "Since the victory of +Sylla to the time of which Sallust is speaking, that is, for about +twenty years, there had been a complete cessation from civil discord +and disturbance" _Bernouf_. + +[159] The Plautian law--_Lege Plautia_. "This law was that of M. +Plautius Silanus, a tribune of the people, which was directed against +such as excited a sedition in the state, or formed plots against the +life of any individual." _Cyprianus Popma_. See Dr. Smith's Dict. of +Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, sub Vis. + +[160] Which he afterward wrote and published--_Quam postea scriptam +edidit_. This was the first of Cicero's four Orations against +Catiline. The epithet applied to it by Sallust, which I have rendered +"splendid," is _luculentam_; that is, says Gerlach, "luminibus +verborum et sententiarum ornatam," distinguished by much brilliancy of +words and thoughts. And so say Kritzius, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Cortius, +who is followed by Dahl, Langius, and Muller, makes the word equivalent +merely to _lucid_, in the supposition that Sallust intended to bestow +on the speech, as on other performances of Cicero, only very cool praise. +_Luculentus_, however, seems certainly to mean something more than +_lucidus_. + +[161] A mere adopted citizen of Rome--_Inquilinus civis urbis Romae_. +"Inquilinus" means properly a lodger, or tenant in the house of another. +Cicero was born at Arpinum, and is therefore called by Catiline a +citizen of Rome merely by adoption or by sufferance. Appian, in +repeating this account (Bell. Civ., ii. 104), says, [Greek: +_Ingkouilinon, phi raemati kalousi tous enoikountas en allotriais +oikiais_.] + +[162] Traitor--_Parricidam_. See c. 14. "An oppressor or betrayer +of his country is justly called a parricide; for our country is the +common parent of all. Cic. ad Attic." _Wasse_. + +[163] Since I am encompassed, by enemies, he exclaimed, etc.--"It +was not on this day, nor indeed to Cicero, that this answer was made +by Catiline. It was a reply to Cato, uttered a few days before the +comitia for electing consuls, which were held on the 22d day of +October. See Cic. pro Muraeno, c. 25. Cicero's speech was delivered on +the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as +well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him." +_Bernouf_. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to +Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, +says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the +senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to +listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of +Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration +against Catiline, says that Catiline _could not endure his voice_, +but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," _obeyed +and submitted in silence_. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, "That +most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the +senate, was dumb." + +[164] XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.--_Cum mandatis +hujuscemodi_. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an +epistle, but a verbal message. + +[165] XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law--_Lege uti_. The law +here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to +the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in +prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his +person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the +occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one +of the strongest bonds of credit. + +[166] The praetor--The _praetor urbanus_, or city praetor, who +decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors. + +[167] Relieved their distress by decrees--_Decretis suis inopiae +opitulati sunt_. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for +diminishing the rate of interest. + +[168] Silver--was paid with brass--_Agentum aere solutum est_. +Thus a _sestertius_, which was of silver, and was worth four _asses_, +was paid with one _as_, which was of brass; or _the fourth part only +of the debt was paid_. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius +Paterculus, ii. 23; who says, _quadrantem solvi_, that _a quarter_ of +their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus, +when he became consul on the death of Marius. + +[169] Often--have the commonalty--seceded, etc.--"This happened +three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2. +To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of +Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on +account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." _Bernouf_. + +[170] XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.--_Ea, +mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populumque Romanum, semper +fuisse._ "That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I +have deserted the Latin for the English idiom. + +[171] XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different +editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: _Egregiatua fides, re cognita, +grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius corrected it as follows: _Egregia tua fides, re +cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and +most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. +That Cortius's is the better; few will deny; for it can hardly be +supposed that Sallust used _mihi, meis_, and _meae_ in such close +succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's +text, by asserting, from the phrase _earum exemplam infra scriptum,_ +that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, +therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is +sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: +"Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinae culpam tribuit, +qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam +apta et composita supra, c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum +litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum +Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum +magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis haec quidem excusatio." Yet it +is not to be denied that _grata mihi_ is the reading of all the +manuscripts. + +[172] Known--by experience.--_Re cognita._ "Cognita" be it observed, +_tironum gratia,_ is the nominative case. "Catiline had experienced +the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it +was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is +related by Orosius." _Bernouf._ + +[173] Recommendation--_Commendationi._ His recommendation of his +affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus. + +[174] Formal defense--_Defensionem._ Opposed to _satisfactionem_, +which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. +"_Defensio_, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made +against an adversary, or before judges; _satisfactio_ was rather an +excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private +communication." _Cortius._ + +[175] Though conscious of no guilt--_Ex nulla conscientia de culpa_. +This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter +conscientam denulla culpa," or "inasmuch as I am conscious of no +fault." "_De culpa_, he adds, is the same as _culpae_; so in the ii. +Epist. to Caesar, c. 1: Neque _de futuro_ quisquam satix callidus; +and c. 9: _de illis_ potissimum jactura fit." + +[176] To make no formal defense--to offer you some explanation +--_Defensionem--parare; satisfactionem--proponere_. "Parare," says +Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and +premeditation; _proponere_ to such a statement as it was easy to make +at once". + +[177] On my word of honor--_Me dius fidius_, sc. juvet. So may the +god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith? +_Dius_, say some, is the same as _Deus_ (Plautus has _Deus_ fidius, +Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter (_sub dio_ +being equivalent to _sub Jove_); so that _Dius fidius_ (_fidius_ being +an adjective from _fides_) will be the [Greek: _Zeus pistios_] of the +Greeks. "_Me dius fidius_" will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me!" +This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and +Dietsch. Others, with Festus (sub voce _Medius fidius_) make _fidius_ +equivalent to _filius_, because the ancients, according to Festus, +often used D for L, and _dius fidius_ will then be the same as [Greek: +_Dios_] or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and _medius fidius_ will be the +same as _mehercules_ or _mehercule_. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. +Sprengel) mentions a certain Aelius who was of this opinion. Against +this derivation there is the quantity of _fidius_, of which the first +syllable is short: _Quaerebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem_, Ov. Fast. +vi. 213. But if we consider _dius_ the same as _deus_, we may as well +consider _dius fidius_ to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and +may thus make _medius fidius_ identical with _mehercules_, as it +probably is. "Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that _medius fidius_ is a +form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub _Fidius_. This +point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, +and Ovid, _loc. cit._) Dius Fidius to be the same with the Sabine +Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules. + +[178] You may receive as true--_Veram licet cognoscas_. Some +editions, before that of Cortius, have _quae--licet vera mecum +recognoscas_; which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Aen. +iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have +_veram licet cognoscas_. + +[179] Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion--_Fructu laboris +industriaeque meae privatus_. "The honors which he sought he +elegantly calls the _fruit_ of his labor, because the one is obtained +by the other." _Cortius_. + +[180] Post of honor due to me--_Statum dignitatis_. The consulship. + +[181] On my own security--_Meis nominibus_. "He uses the plural," +says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one +person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to +explain this point. For _alienis nominibus_, which follows, being in +the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity +with Bernouf's comment. + +[182] Proscribed--_Alienatum_. "Repulsed from all hope of the +consulship." _Bernouf_. + +[183] Adopted a course--_Spes--secutus sum_. "_Spem sequi_ is a +phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, +or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what +appears advantageous, is signified." _Cortius_. + +[184] Protection--_Fidei_. + +[185] Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend +her from injury--_Eam ab injuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus_. +"Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the +sake of] your own children." + +[186] XXXVI. In the neighborhood of Arretium--_In agro Arretino_. +Havercamp, and many of the old editions, have _Reatino_; "but," says +Cortius, "if Catiline went the direct road to Faesulae, as is rendered +extremely probable by his pretense that he was going to Marseilles, +and by the assertion of Cicero, made the day after his departure, that +he was on his way to join Manlius, we must certainly read _Arretino_." +Arretium (now _Arezzo_) lay in his road to Faesulae; Reate was many +miles out of it. + +[187] In an extremely deplorable condition--_Multo maxime miserabile_. +_Multe_ is added to superlatives, like _longe_. So c. 52, _multo +pulcherrimam_ eam nos haberemus. Cortius gives several other instances. + +[188] Notwithstanding the two decrees of the senate--_Duobus senati +decretis._ I have translated it "_the_ two decrees," with Rose. +One of the two was that respecting the rewards mentioned in c. 30; the +other was that spoken of in c. 36., allowing the followers of Catiline +to lay down their arms before a certain day. + +[189] XXXVII. Endeavor to exalt the factious--_Malos extollunt_. +They strive to elevate into office those who resemble themselves. + +[190] Poverty does not easily suffer loss--_Egestas facile habetur +sine damna_ He that has nothing, has nothing to lose. Petron. +Sat., c. 119: _Inops audacia tuta est_. + +[191] Had become disaffected--Praeceps abierat. Had grown demoralized, +sunk in corruption, and ready to join in any plots against the state. +So Sallust says of Sempronia, _praeceps abierat_, c. 25. + +[192] In the first place--Primum omnium. "These words refer, not to +_item_ and _postremo in the same sentence, but to _deinde_ at the +commencement of the next." _Bernouf_. + +[193] Civil rights had been curtailed--_Jus libertatis imminutum +erat_. "Sylla, by one of his laws, had rendered the children of +proscribed persons incapable of holding any public office; a law +unjust, indeed, but which, having been established and acted upon for +more than twenty years, could not be rescinded without inconvenience +to the government. Cicero, accordingly, opposed the attempts which +were made, in his consulship, to remove this restriction, as he +himself states in his Oration against Piso, c. 2." _Bernouf_. See +Vell. Patere., ii., 28; Plutarch, Vit. Syll.; Quintil., xi. 1, where a +fragment of Cicero's speech, _De Proscriptorum Liberis_, is preserved. +This law of Sylla was at length abrogated by Julius Caesar, Suet. J. +Caes. 41; Plutarch Vit. Caes.; Dio Cass., xli. 18. + +[194] This was an evil--to the extent to which it now prevailed--_Id +adeo malum multos post annos in civitatem reverterat_. "_Adeo_, says +Cortius, "_in particula elegantissima_" Allen makes it equivalent to + _eo usque_. + +[195] XXXVIII. The powers of the tribunes--had been fully restored +--_Tribunicia potestas restituta_. Before the time of Sylla, +the power of the tribunes had grown immoderate, but Sylla diminished +and almost annihilated it, by taking from them the privileges of +holding any other magistracy after the tribunate, of publicly +addressing the people, of proposing laws, and of listening to appeals. +But in the consulship of Cotta, A.U.C. 679, the first of these +privileges had been restored; and in that of Pompey and Crassus, +A.U.C. 683, the tribunes were reinstated in all their former powers. + +[196] Having obtained that high office--_Summam potestatem nacti_. +Cortius thinks these words spurious. + +[197] XXXIX. Free from harm--_Innoxii_. In a passive sense. + +[198] Overawing others--with threats of impeachment--_Caeteros +judiciis terrere_. "Accusationibus et judiciorum periculis." +_Bernouf_. + +[199] His father ordered to be put to death--_Parens necari jussit_. +"His father put him to death, not by order of the consuls, but by his +own private authority; nor was he the only one who, at the same +period, exercised similar power." Dion. Cass., lib. xxxvii. The +father observed on the occasion, that, "he had begotten him, not for +Catiline against his country, but for his country against Catiline". +Val. Max., v.8. The Roman laws allowed fathers absolute control over +the lives of their children. + +[200] XL. Certain deputies of the Allobroges--_Legatos Allobrogum_. +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that there were then at Rome +_two deputies_ from this Gallic nation, sent to complain of oppression +on the part of the Roman governors. + +[201] As Brutus was then absent from Borne--_Nam tum Brutus ab +Roma, aberat_. From this remark, say Zanchius and Omnibonus, it is +evident that Brutus was not privy to the conspiracy. "What sort of +woman _Sempronia_ was, has been told in c. 25. Some have thought that +she was the wife of Decimus Brutus; but since Sallust speaks of her as +being in the decay of her beauty at the time of the conspiracy, and +since Brutus, as may be seen in Caesar (B. G. vii., sub fin.), was +then very young, it is probable that she had only an illicit +connection with him, but had gained such an ascendency over his +affections, by her arts of seduction, as to induce him to make her his +mistress, and to allow her to reside in his house." _Beauzee_. I have, +however, followed those who think that Brutus was the husband of +Sempronia. Sallust (c. 24), speaking of the woman, of whom Sempronia +was one, says that Catiline _credebat posse--viros earum vel adjungere +sibi, vel interficere_. The truth, on such a point, is of little +importance. + +[202] XLI. To be expected from victory--_In spe victoriae_. + +[203] Certain rewards--_Certa praemia_. "Offered by the senate to +those who should give information of the conspiracy. See c. 30." +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[204] Quintus Fabius Sanga--"A descendent of that Fabius who, for +having subdued the Allobroges, was surnamed Allobrogicus." _Bernouf_. +Whole states often chose patrons as well as individuals. + +[205] XLII. There were commotions--_Motus erat_. "_Motus_ is also +used by Cicero and Livy in the singular number for _seditiones_ and +_tumultus_. No change is therefore to be made in the text." _Gerlach_. +"Motus bellicos intelligit, _tumultus_; ut Flor., iii. 13." _Cortius_. + +[206] Having brought several to trial--_Complures--caussa cognita. +"Caussum cognoscere_ is the legal phrase for examining as to the +authors and causes of any crime." _Dietsch_. + +[207] Caius Muraena in Further Gaul--_In Ulteriore Gallia C. Muraena_. +All the editions, previous to that of Cortius, have _in citeriore +Gallia_. "But C. Muraena," says the critic, "commanded in Gallia +Transalpina, or Ulterior Gaul, as appears from Cic. pro Muraena, +c. 41. To attribute such an error to a lapse or memory in Sallust, +would be absurd. I have, therefore, confidently altered _citeriore_ +into _ulteriore_." The praise of having first discovered the error, +however, is due, not to Cortius, but to Felicius Durantinus, a friend +of Rivius, in whose note on the passage his discovery is recorded. + +[208] XLIII. The excellent consul--_Optimo consuli_. With the +exception of the slight commendation bestowed on his speech, +_luculentam_ atque _utilem reipublicae_, c. 31, this is the only +epithet of praise that Sallust bestows on the consul throughout his +narrative. That it could be regarded only as frigid eulogy, is +apparent from a passage in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (xii. +21), in which he speaks of the same epithet having been applied to him +by Brutus: "Brutus thinks that he pays me a great compliment when he +calls me an excellent consul (optimum consulem); but what enemy could +speak more coldly of me?" + +[209] Twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose--_ +Duodecim--opportuna loca_. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says a +hundred places. Few narratives lose by repetition. + +[210] In order that, during the consequent tumult--_Quo tumultu_. +"It is best," says Dietsch, "to take _quo_ as the _particula finalis_ +(to the end that), and _tumultu_ as the ablative of the instrument". + +[211] Delay--_Dies prolatando_. By putting off from day to day. + +[212] XLIV. Soon to visit their country--_Semet eo brevi venturum_. +"It is plain that the adverb relates to what precedes (_ad cives_); +and that Cassius expresses an intention to set out for Gaul." _Dietsch_. + +[213] Remember that you are a man--_Memineris te virum_. Remember +that you are a man, and ought to act as one. Cicero, in repeating this +letter from memory (Orat. in Cat., iii. 5), gives the phrase, _Cura ut +vir sis_. + +[214] XLV. The praetors--_Praetoribus_ urbanis, the praetors of the city. + +[215] The Milvian Bridge--_Ponte Mulvio_. Now _Ponte Molle_. + +[216] Of the object with which they were sent--_Rem--cujus gratia +mittebantur_. + +[217] From each side of the bridge--_Utrinque_. "Utrinque," observes +Cortius, "glossae MSS. exponunt _ex utraque parte pontis," and there +is little doubt that the exposition is correct. No translator, however, +before myself, has availed himself of it. + +[218] XLVI. The box with the letters--_Scrinium cum literis. Litterae_ +may be rendered either _letter_ or _letters_. There is no mention made +previously of more letters than that of Lentulus to Catiline, c. 44. +But as it is not likely that the deputies carried a box to convey only +one letter, I have followed other translators by putting the word in +the plural. The oath of the conspirators, too, which was a written +document, was probably in the box. + +[219] XLVII. His letter--_Litteris._ His own letter to Catiline, c. 44. +So _praeter litteras_ a little below. + +[220] What object he had had in view, etc.--_Quid, aut qua de causa, +consilli habuisset_. What design he had entertained, and from what +motive _he had entertained it_. + +[221] To prevaricate.--_Fingere alia._ "To pretend other things +than what had reference to the conspiracy." _Bernouf._ + +[222] On the security of the public faith--_Fide publica._ +"Cicero pledged to him the public faith, with the consent of the +senate; or engaged, in the name of the republic, that his life +should be spared, if he would but speak the truth." _Bernouf._ + +[223] That Cinna and Sylla had ruled already--_Cinnam atque Syllam +antea._ "Had ruled," or something similar, must be supplied. Cinna +had been the means of recalling Marius from Africa, in conjunction +with whom he domineered over the city, and made it a scene of +bloodshed and desolation. + +[224] Their seals--_Signa sua_. "Leurs cachets, leurs sceaux." +Bernouf. The Romans tied their letters round with a string, the knot +of which they covered with wax, and impressed with a seal. To open the +letter it was necessary to cut the string: "_nos linum incidimus_." +Cic. Or. in Cat. iii. 5. See also C. Nep. Panc. 4, and Adam's _Roman +Antiquities_. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his +ancestors; see Cicero, _loc. cit._ + +[225] In private custody--_In liberis custodiis._ Literally, in +"free custody," but "private custody" conveys a better notion of the +arrangement to the mind of the English reader. It was called _free_ +because the persons in custody were not confined in prison. Plutarch +calls it [Greek: _adeomon phylakin_] as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See +Tacit. Ann. vi. 8. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and +consideration. + +[226] XLVIII. If the public faith were pledged to him--_Si fides +publica data, esset_. See c. 47. + +[227] And to facilitate the escape of those in custody--_Et illi +facilius e periculo eriperentur_. + +[228] A man of such power--_Tanta vis hominis_. So great power of +the man. + +[229] Liberty of speaking--_Potestatem_. "Potestatem loquendi." +_Cyprianus Popma_. As it did not appear that he spoke the truth, the +pledge which the senate had given him, _on condition that he spoke the +truth_, went for nothing; he was not allowed to continue his evidence, +and was sent to prison. + +[230] As was his custom--_More suo_. Plutarch, in his Life of Crassus, +relates that frequently when Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, had refused +to undertake the defense of certain persons, as being unworthy of +their support, Crassus would plead in their behalf; and that he thus +gained great popularity among the common people. + +[231] XLIX. Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on, +etc.--_Piso oppugnatus in judicio repetundarum propter cujusdam +Transpadani supplicium injustum_. Such is the reading and punctuation +of Cortius. Some editions insert _pecuniarum_ before _repetundarum_, +and some a comma after it. I have interpreted the passage in +conformity with the explanation of Kritzius, which seems to me the +most judicious that has been offered. _Oppugnatus_, says he, is +equivalent to _gravitur vexatus_, or violently assailed; and Piso was +thus assailed by Caesar on account of his unjust execution of the +Gaul; the words _in judicio repetundarum_ merely mark the time when +Caesar's attack was made. While he was on his trial for one thing, he +was attacked by Caesar for another. Gerlach, observing that the words +_in judicio_ are wanting in one MS., would emit them, and make +_oppugnatus_ govern _pecuniarum repetundarum_, as if it were +_accusatus_; a change which would certainly not improve the passage. +The Galli Transpadani seem to have been much attached to Caesar; see +Cic. Ep. ad Att., v. 2; ad Fam. xvi. 12. + +[232] Comparatively a youth--_Adolescentalo_. Caesar was then in +the thirty-third, or, as some say, the thirty-seventh year of his age. +See the note on this word, c. 3. + +[233] By magnificent exhibitions in public--_Publice maximis muneribus_. +Shows of gladiators. + +[234] L. In various directions throughout the city--_Variis itineribus +--in vicis_. Going hither and thither through the streets. + +[235] Slaves--_Familiam_. "Servos suos, qui proprie _familia_," +Cortius. _Familia_ is a number of _famuli_. + +[236] A full senate, however, had but a short time before, +etc.--The senate had already decreed that they were enemies to their +country; Cicero now calls a meeting to ascertain what sentence should +be passed on them. + +[237] On this occasion--moved--_Tunc--decreverat_. The _tunc_ +(or, as most editors have it, _tum_) must be referred to the second +meeting or the senate, for it does not appear that any proposal +concerning the punishment of the prisoners was made at the first +meeting. There would be no doubt on this point, were it not for the +pluperfect tense, _decreverat_. I have translated it as the perfect. +We must suppose that Sallust had his thoughts on Caesar's speech, +which was to follow, and signifies that all this business _had been +done_ before Caesar addressed the house. Kritzius thinks that the +pluperfect was referred by Sallust, not to Caesar's speech, but to the +decree of the senate which was finally made; but this is surely a less +satisfactory method of settling the matter. Sallust often uses the +pluperfect, where his reader would expect the perfect; see, for +instance, _concusserat_, at the beginning of c. 24. + +[238] That he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero--_Pedibus +in sententian Tib. Neronis--iturum_. Any question submitted to the +senate was decided by the majority of votes, which was ascertained +either by _numeratio_, a counting of the votes, or by _discessio_, +when those who were of one opinion, at the direction of the presiding +magistrate, passed over to one side of the house, and those who were +of the contrary opinion, to the other. See Aul. Gell. xiv. 7; Suet. +Tib. 31; Adam's Rom. Ant.; Dr. Smith's Dictionary, Art. _Senatus_. + +[239] LI. It becomes all men, etc.--The beginning of this speech, +attributed to Caesar, is imitated from Demosthenes, [Greek: _Peri ton +hen Chersonaeso pragmaton: Edei men, o andres Athaenaioi, tous +legontas apantas en umin maete pros echthran poieisthai logon maedena, +maete pros charin_]. "It should be incumbent on all who speak before +you, O Athenians, to advance no sentiment with any view either to +enmity or to favor." + +[240] I consent to extraordinary measures--_Novum consilium adprobo_. +"That is, I consent that you depart from the usage of your ancestors, +by which Roman citizens were protected from death." _Bernouf_. + +[241] Whatever can be devised--_Omnium ingenia_. + +[242] Studied and impressive language--_Composite atque magnifice. +Composite_, in language nicely put together; elegantly. _Magnifice_, +in striking or imposing terms. _Composite_ is applied to the speech +of Caesar, by Cato, in the following chapter. + +[243] Such I know to be his character, such his discretion--_Eos +mores, eam modestiam viri cognovi_. I have translated _modestiam, +discretion_, which seems to be the proper meaning of the word. Beauzee +renders it _prudence_, and adds a note upon it, which may be worth +transcription. "I translate _modestia_," says he, "by _prudence_, and +think myself authorized to do so. _Sic definitur a Stoicis_, says +Cicero (De Off. i. 40), _ut modestia sit sicentia earum rerum, quae +agentur, aut dicentur, loco suo collocandarum_; and shortly afterward, +_Sic fit ut modestia scientia sit opportunitatis idoneorum ad agendum +temporum_. And what is understood in French by prudence? It is, +according to the Dictionary of the Academy, 'a virtue by which we +discern and practice what is proper in the conduct of life.' This is +almost a translation of the words of Cicero". + +[244] That--death is a relief from suffering, not a torment, etc. +--This Epicurean doctrine prevailed very much at Rome in Caesar's, and +afterward. We may very well suppose Caesar to have been a sincere +convert to it. Cato alludes to this passage in the speech which +follows; as also Cicero, in his fourth Oration against Catiline, c. 4. +See, for opinions on this point, the first book of Cicero's Tusculan +Questions. + +[245] The Porcian Law--_Lex Porcia_. A law proposed by P. Porcius +Loeca, one of the tribunes, A.U.O. 454, which enacted that no one +should bind, scourge or kill a Roman citizen. See Liv., x. 9; Cic. +pro. Rabir., 3, 4: Verr., v 63; de Rep., ii, 31. + +[246] Other laws--_Aliae leges_. So Caesar says below, "Tum lex +Porcia aliaeque paratae, quibus legibus auxilium damnatis permissum;" +what other laws these were is uncertain. One of them, however, was the +Sempronian law, proposed by Caius Gracchus, which ordained that +sentence should not be passed on the life of a Roman citizen without +the order of the people. See Cic. pro Rabir. 4. So "O lex Porcia +legesque Semproniae!" Cic. in. Verr., v. 63. + +[247] Parricides--See c. 14, 32. + +[248] The course of events--_Dies_. "Id est, temporis momentum +(_der veraenderte Zeitpunkt_)." _Dietsch_. Things change, and that +which is approved at one period, is blamed at another. _Tempus_ and +_dies_ are sometimes joined (Liv., xxii. 39, ii. 45), as if not only +time in general, but particular periods, as _from day to day_, were +intended. + +[249] All precedents productive of evil effects--_Omnia mala exempla_. +Examples of severe punishments are meant. + +[250] Any new example of severity, etc.--_Novum illud exemplum ab +dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transferetur_. Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, and Bernouf, agree to giving to this passage the +sense which is given in the translation. _Digni_ and _idonei_ are +here used in a bad sense, for _digni et idonei qui poena afficiantur_, +deserving and fit objects for punishment. + +[251] When they had conquered the Athenians--At the conclusion of +the Peloponnesian war. + +[252] Damasippus--"He, in the consulship of Caius Marius, the younger, +and Cneius Carbo, was city praetor, and put to death some of the most +eminent senators, a short time before the victory of Sylla. See Vell. +Paterc. ii. 26." _Bernouf_. + +[253] Ensigns of authority--_Insignia magistratum_. "The fasces and +axes of the twelve lictors, the robe adorned with purple, the curule +chair, and the ivory scepter. For the Etrurians, as Dionysius +Halicarnassensis relates, having been subdued, in a nine years' war, +by Tarquinius Priscus, and having obtained peace on condition of +submitting to him as their sovereign, presented him with the +_insignia_ of their own monarchs. See Strabo, lib. V.; Florus, i. 5," +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[254] Best able to bear the expense--_Maxime opibus valent_. Are +possessed of most resources. + +[255] LII. The rest briefly expressed their assent, etc.--_Caeteri +verbo, alius alii, varie assentiebantur. Verbo assentiebantur_ +signifies that they expressed their assent merely by a word or two, +as _assentior Silano, assentior Tiberio Neroni, aut Caesari_, the +three who had already spoken. _Varie_, "in support of their different +proposals." + +[256] My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different, +etc.--_Longe mihi alia mens est, P. C._, etc. The commencement of +Cato's speech is evidently copied from the beginning of the third +Olynthiac of Demosthenes: [Greek: _Ouchi tauta paristatai moi +ginoskein, o andres Athaenaioi, otan te eis ta pragmata apoblepso kai +otan pros tous logous ous akouo tous men gar logous peri tou +timoraesasthai Philippon oro gignomenous, ta de pragmata eis touto +proaekonta oste opos mae peisometha autoi proteron kakos skepsasthai +deon_.] "I am by no means affected in the same manner. Athenians, when +I review the state of our affairs, and when I attend to those speakers +who have now declared their sentiments. They insist that we should +punish Philip; but our affairs, situated as they now appear, warn us +to guard against the dangers with which we ourselves are threatened." +_Leland_. + +[257] Their altars and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis._ +"When _arae_ and _foci_ are joined, beware of supposing that they are +to be distinguished as referring the one (_arae) to the public +temples, and the other (_foci_) to private dwellings. Both are to be +understood of private houses, in which the _ara_ belonged to the _Dii +Penates_, and was placed in the _impluvium_ in the inner part of the +house; the _focus_ was dedicated to the _lares_, and was in the hall." +Ernesti, Clav. Cic., sub. v. _Ara_. Of the commentators on Sallust, +Kritzius is, I believe, the only one who has concurred in this notion +of Ernesti; Langins and Dietsch (with Cortius) adhere to the common +opinion that _arae_ are the public altars. Dietsch refers, for a +complete refutation of Ernesti, to G. A. B. Hertzberg _de Diis +Romanorum Penatibus_, Halae, 1840, p. 64; a book which I have not +seen. Certainly, in the observation of Cicero ad Att., vii. 11, "Non +est respublica in parietibus, sed in aris et focis," _arae_ must be +considered (as Schiller observes) to denote the public altars and +national religion. See Schiller's Lex. v. _Ara_. + +[258] In vain appeal to justice--_Frusta judicia implores. Judicia_, +trials, to procure the inflictions of legal penalties. + +[259] Could not easily pardon the misconduct, etc.--_Haud facile +alterius lubidini malefacta condonabam_. "Could not easily forgive the +licentiousness of another its evil deeds." + +[260] Yet the republic remained secure; its own strength, etc. +--_Tamen respublica firma, opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat_. This is +Cortius's reading; some editors, as Havercamp, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +insert _erat_ after _firma_. Whether _opulentia_ is the nominative or +ablative, is disputed. "_Opulentia_," says Allen, "casum sextum +intellige, et repete _respublica_ (ad _tolerabat_)." "_Opulentia_," +says Kritzius, "melius nominativo capiendum videtur; nam quae +sequuntur verba novam enunciationem efficiunt." I have preferred to +take it as a nominative. + +[261] We have lost the real names of things, etc.--Imitated from +Thucydides, iii. 32: [Greek: _Kai taen eiothuian axiosin ton onomaton +es ta erga antaellaxan tae dikaiosei. Tolma men gar alogistos, andria +philetairos enomisthae, mellasis te promaethaes, deilia euprepaes to +de sophron. Tou anandrou proschaema, kai to pros apan syneton, epi pan +argon_.] "The ordinary meaning of words was changed by them as they +thought proper. For reckless daring was regarded as courage that was +true to its friends; prudent delay, as specious cowardice; moderation, +as a cloak for unmanliness; being intelligent in every thing, as being +useful for nothing." _Dale's_ translation; Bohn's Classical Library. + +[262] Elegant language--_Composite_. See above, c. 51. + +[263] In a most excellent condition--_Multo pulcherrumam._ See c. 36. + +[264] For of allies and citizens, etc.--Imitated from Demosthenes, +Philipp. III.4. + +[265] I advise you to have mercy upon them--_Misereamini censeo, +i.e._, censeo _ut_ misereanum, spoken ironically. Most translators +have taken the words in the sense of "You would take pity on them, I +suppose," or something similar. + +[266] Unless this be the second time that he has made war upon +his country--"Cethegus first made war on his country in conjunction +with Marius." _Bernouf_. Whether Sallust alludes to this, or intimates +(as Gerlach thinks) that he was engaged in the first conspiracy, is +doubtful. + +[267] Is ready to devour us--_Faucibus urget_. Cortius, Kritzius, +Gerlach, Burnouf, Allen, and Dietsch, are unanimous in interpreting +this as a metaphorical expression, alluding to a wild beast with open +jaws ready to spring upon its prey. They support this interpretation +by Val. Max., v. 3: "Faucibus apprehensam rempublicam;" Cic. pro. +Cluent., 31: "Quum faucibus premetur;" and Plaut. Casin. v. 3,4, +"Manifesto faucibus teneor." Some, editors have read _in faucibus_, +and understood the words as referring to the jaws or narrow passes of +Etruria, where Catiline was with his army. + +[268] LIII. All the senators of consular dignity, and a great +part of the rest--_Consulares omnes, itemque senatus magna pars_. "As +the consulars were senators, the reader would perhaps expect Sallust +to have said _reliqui senatus_ but _itemque_ is equivalent to _et +praeter eos_." _Dietsch_. + +[269] That they had carried on wars--_Bella gesta_. That wars had +been carried on _by them_. + +[270] As if the parent stock were exhausted--_Sicuti effoeta +parentum_. This is the reading of Cortius, which he endeavors to +explain thus: "Ac sicuti _effoeta parens_, inter parentes, _sese +habere solet_, ut nullos amplius liberas proferat, sic Roma sese +habuit, ubi multis tempestatibus nemo virtute magnus fuit." "_Est_," +he adds, "or _solet esse_, or _sese habere solet_, may very well be +understood from the _fuit_ which follows." But all this only serves to +show what a critic may find to say in defense of a reading to which he +is determined to adhere. All the MSS., indeed, have _parentum_, except +one, which has _parente_. Dietsch thinks that some word has been lost +between _effoeta_ and _parentum_, and proposes to read _sicuti effoeta +aetate parentum, with the sense, _as if the age of the parents were +too much exhausted to produce strong children_. Kritzius, from a +suggestion of Cortius (or rather of his predecessor, Rupertus), reads +_effoetae parentum_ (the effoetae agreeing with Romae which follows), +considering the sense to be the same as as _effoetae parentis_--as +_divina dearum_ for _divina dea_, etc. Gerlach retains the rending of +Cortius, and adopts his explanation (4to. ed., 1827), but says that +the _explicatio_ may seem _durior_, and that it is doubtful whether we +ought not to have recourse to the _effoeta parente_ of the old critics. +Assuredly if we retain _parentum_, _effoetae_ is the only reading that +we can well put with it. We may compare with it _loca nuda gignentium_, +(Jug. c. 79), i.e. "places bare of objects producing any thing." +Gronovius know not what to do with the passage, called it _locus +intellectus nemini_, and at last decided on understanding _virtute_ +with _effoetae parentum_, which, _pace tarti viri_, and although Allen +has followed him, is little better than folly. The concurrence of the +majority of manuscripts in giving _parentum_ makes the scholar +unwilling to set it aside. However, as no one has explained it +satisfactorily even to himself, I have thought it better, with Dietsch, +to regard it a _scriptura non ferenda_, and to acquiesce, with +Glareanus, Rivius, Burnouf, and the Bipont edition, in the reading +_effoeta parente_. + +[271] LIV. Though attained by different means--_Sed alia alii_. +"Alii alia _gloria_," for _altera alteri_. So Livy, i. 21: _Duo +reges_, alius alia via. + +[272] Simplicity--_Pudore_. The word here seems to mean the absence +of display and ostentation. + +[273] With the temperate--_Cum innocente_. "That is _cum integro +et abstinente_. For _innocentia_ is used for _abstinentia_, and +opposed to _avaritia_. See Cic. pro Lego Manil., c. 13." _Burnouf_. + +[274] LV. The triumvirs--_Triumviros_. The _triumviri capitales_, +who had the charge of the prison and of the punishment of the +condemned. They performed their office by deputy, Val. Max., v. 4. 7. + +[275] The Tullian dungeon--_Tullianum_. "Tullianum" is an adjective, +with which _robur_ must be understood, as it was originally +constructed, wholly or partially, with oak. See Festus, sub voce +_Robum_ or _Robur_: his words are _arcis robustis includebatur_, of +which the sense is not very clear. The prison at Rome was built by +Ancus Marcius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius, from whom this part of +it had its name; Varro de L. L., iv. 33. It is now transformed into a +subterranean chapel, beneath a small church erected over it, called +_San Pietro in Carcere_. De Brosses and Eustace both visited it; See +Eustace's Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 260, in the _Family Library_. See +also Wasse's note on this passage. + +[276] A vaulted roof connected with stone arches--_Camera lapideis +fornicibus vincta_. "That _camera_ was a roof curved in the form of +a _testudo_, is generally admitted; see Vitruv. vii. 3; Varr., +R. R. iii. 7, init." _Dietsch_. The roof is now arched in the usual +way. + +[277] Certain men, to whom orders had been given--_Quibus praeceptum +erat_. The editions of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +have _vindices rerum capitalium, quibus_, etc. Cortius ejected the +first three words from his text, as an intruded gloss. If the words +be genuine, we must consider these _vindices_ to have been the +deputies, or lictors, of the "triumvirs" mentioned above. + +[278] LVI. As far as his numbers would allow--_Pro numero militum_. +He formed his men into two bodies, which he called legions, and +divided each legion, as was usual, into ten cohorts, putting into +each cohort as many men as he could. The cohort of a full legion +consisted of three maniples, or six hundred men; the legion would then +be six thousand men. But the legions were seldom so large as this; +they varied at different periods, from six thousand to three thousand; +in the time of Polybius they were usually four thousand two hundred. +See Adam's Rom. Ant., and Lipsius de Mil. Rom Dial. iv. + +[279] From his confederates--_Ex sociis_. "Understand, not only +the leaders in the conspiracy, but those who, in c. 35, are said to +have set out to join Catiline, though not at that time exactly +implicated in the plot." _Kritzius_. It is necessary to notice this, +because Cortius erroneously supposes "sociis" to mean the _allies of +Rome_. Dahl, Longius, Mueller, Burnouf, Gerlach, and Dietsch, all +interpret in the same manner as Kritzius. + +[280] Hoped himself shortly to find one--_Sperabat propediem sese +habiturum_. Other editions, as those of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, +Dietsch, and Burnouf, have the words _magnas copias_ before _sese_. +Cortius struck them out, observing that _copiae_ occurred too often in +this chapter, and that in one MS. they were wanting. One manuscript, +however, was insufficient authority for discarding them; and the +phrase suits much better with what follows, _si Romae socii incepta +patravissent_, if they are retained. + +[281] Slaves--of whom vast numbers, etc.--_Servitia--cujus magnae +copiae_. "_Cujus_," says Priscian (xvii. 20, vol. ii., p. 81, cd. Krehl), +"is referred _ad rem_, that is _cujus rei servitiorum_." _Servorum_ or +_hominum genus_, is, perhaps, rather what Sallust had in his mind, as +the subject of his relation. Gerlach adduces as an expression most +nearly approaching to Sallust's, Thucyd., iii. 92; [Greek: _Kai dorieis, +hae maetropolis ton Lakedaimonion_]. + +[282] Impolitic--_Alienum suis rationibus_. Foreign to his views; +inconsistent with his policy. + +[283] LVII. In his hurried march into Gaul--_In Galliam properanti_. +These words Cortius inclosed in brackets, pronouncing them as a useless +gloss. But all editors have retained them as genuine, except the Bipont +and Burnouf, who wholly omitted them. + +[284] As he was pursuing, though with a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances; the enemy in +retreat--_Utpote qui magna exercitu, locis aequioribus, expeditus, in +fuga sequeretur_. It would be tedious to notice all that has been +written upon this passage of Sallust. All the editions, before that of +Cortius, had _expeditos, in fugam_, some joining _expeditos_ with +_locis aequioribus_, and some with _in fugam_. _Expeditos in fugam_ +was first condemned by Wasse, no negligent observer of phrases, who +said that no expression parallel to it could be found in any Latin +writer. Cortius, seeing that the _expedition_, of which Sallust is +speaking, is on the part of Antonius, not of Catiline, altered +_expeditos_, though found in all the manuscripts, into _expeditus_; +and _in fugam_, at the same time, into _in fuga_; and in both these +emendations he has been cordially followed by the subsequent editors, +Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch. I have translated _magno exercitu_, +"_though_ with a large army," although, according to Dietsch and some +others, we need not consider a large army as a cause of slowness, but +may rather regard it as a cause of speed; since the more numerous were +Metellus's forces, the less he would care how many he might leave +behind through fatigue, or to guard the baggage; so that he might be +the more _expeditus_, unincumbered. With _sequeretur_ we must +understand _hostes_. The Bipont, Burnouf's, which often follows it, +and Havercamp's, are now the only editions of any note that retain +_expeditos in fugam_. + +[285] LVIII. That a spiritless army can not be rendered active, +etc.--_Neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem ex timido exercitum +oratione imperatoris fieri_. I have departed a little from the literal +reading, for the sake of ease. + +[286] That on your own right hands depend, etc.--_In dextris +portare_. "That you carry in your right hands." + +[287] Those same places--_Eadem illa_. "Coloniae atque municipia +portas claudent." _Burnouf_. + +[288] They contend for what but little concerns them--_Illis +supervacaneum est pugnare_. It is but of little concern to the great +body of them personally: they may fight, but others will have the +advantages of their efforts. + +[289] We might, etc.--_Licuit nobis_. The editions vary between +_nobis_ and _robis_; but most, with Cortius, have _nobis_. + +[290] LIX. In the rear--_In subsidio_. Most translators have +rendered this, "as a body of reserve;" but such can not well be the +signification. It seems only to mean the part behind the front: +Catiline places the eight cohorts _in front_, and the rest of his +force _in subsidio_, to support the front. _Subsidia_, according to +Varro (de L. L., iv. 16) and Festus (v. _Subsidium_), was a term +applied to the Triarii, because they _subsidebant_, or sunk down on +one knee, until it was their turn to act. See Sheller's Lex. v. +_Subsidium_. "Novissimi ordines ita dicuntur." _Gerlach_. _In +subsidiis_, which occurs a few lines below, seems to signify _in lines +in the rear_; as in Jug. 49, _triplicibus subsidiis aciem intruxit, +i.e. with three lines behind the front_. "Subsidium ea pars aciei +vocabatur quae reliquis submitti posset; Caes. B. G., ii. 25." +_Dietsch_. + +[291] All the ablest centurions--_Centuriones omnes lectos_. +"_Lectos_ you may consider to be the same as _eximios, praestantes_, +centurionum praestantissimum quemque." _Kritzius_. Cortius and others +take it for a participle, _chosen_. + +[292] Veterans--_Evocatos_. Some would make this also a participle, +because, say they, it can not signify _evocati_, or _called-out +veterans_, since, though there were such soldiers in a regular Roman +army, there could be none so called in the tumultuary forces of +Catiline. But to this it is answered that Catiline had imitated the +regular disposition of a Roman army, and that his veterans might +consequently be called _evocati_, just as if they had been in one; +and, also that _evocatus_ as a participle would be useless; for if +Catiline removed (_subducit_) the centurions, it is unnecessary to +add that he called them out, "_Evocati_ erant, qui expletis stipendiis +non poterant in delectu scribi, sed precibus imperatoris permoti, aut +in gratiam ejus, militiam resumebant, homines longo uso militiae +peritissimi. Dio., xiv. p. 276. [Greek: _Ek touton de ton anoron kai +to ton Haeouokaton hae Ouokaton systaema (ous Anaklaetous an tis +Ellaenisas, hoti pepaumenoi taes strateias, ep' autein authis +aneklaethmsan, ouomaseien) enomisthae_.] Intelligit itaque ejusmodi +homines veteranos, etsi non proprie erant tales evocati, sed sponte +castra Catilinae essent secuti." _Cortius_. + +[293] Into the foremost ranks--_In primam aciem_. Whether Sallust +means that he ranged them with the eight cohorts, or only in the first +line of the _subsidia_, is not clear. + +[294] A certain officer of Faesulae--_Faesulanum quemdam_. "He is +thought to have been that P. Furius, whom Cicero (Cat., iii. 6, 14) +mentions as having been one of the colonists that Sylla settled at +Faesulae, and who was to have been executed, if he had been +apprehended, for having been concerned in corrupting the Allobrogian +deputies." _Dietsch_. Plutarch calls this officer Furius. + +[295] His freedmen--_Libertis_. "His own freedmen, whom he probably +had about him as a body-guard, deeming them the most attached of his +adherents. Among them was, possibly, that Sergius, whom we find +from Cic. pro Domo, 5, 6, to have been Catiline's armor bearer." +_Dietsch_. + +[296] The colonists--_Colonis_. "Veterans of Sylla, who had been +settled by him as colonists in Etruria, and who had now been induced +to join Catiline." _Gerlach_. See c. 28. + +[297] By the eagle--_Propter aquilam_. See Cic. in Cat., i. 9. + +[298] Being lame--_Pedibus aeger_. It has been common among +translators to render _pedibus aeger_ afflicted with the gout, though +a Roman might surely be lame without having the gout. As the lameness +of Antonius, however, according to Dion Cassius (xxxvii. 39), was only +pretended, it may be thought more probable that he counterfeited the +gout than any other malady. It was with this belief, I suppose, that +the writer of a gloss on one of the manuscripts consulted by Cortius, +interpreted the words, _ultroneam passus est podogram_, "he was +affected with a voluntary gout." Dion Cassius says that he preferred +engaging with Antonius, who had the larger army, rather than with +Metellus, who had the smaller, because he hoped that Antonius would +designedly act in such a way as to lose the victory. + +[299] To meet the present insurrection--_Tumulti causa_. Any sudden +war or insurrection in Italy or Gaul was called _tumultus_. See +Cic. Philipp. v. 12. + +[300] Their temples and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis_. See +c. 52. + +[301] LX. In a furious charge--_Infestis siqnis_. + +[302] Offering but partial resistance--_Alios alibi resistentes_. +Not making a stand in a body, but only some in one place, and some in +another. + +[303] Among the first, etc.--_In primis pugnantes cadunt_. Cortius +very properly refers _in primis_ to _cadunt_. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + +EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. + + +A.U.C 685.--COSS. L. CAECILIUS METELLUS, Q. MARCIIS REX.--Catiline is +Praetor. + +686.--C. CALPURNIUS PISO, M. ACILIUS GLABRIO.--Catiline Governor of +Africa. + +687.--L. VOLCATIUS TULLUS, M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS.--Deputies from Africa +accuse Catiline of extortion, through the agency of Clodius. He is +obliged to desist from standing for the consulship, and forms the +project of the first conspiracy. See Sall. Cat., c. 18. + +688.--L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS, L. AURELIUS COTTA.--_Jan_. 1: Catiline's +project of the first conspiracy becomes known, and he defers the +execution of it to the 5th of February, when he makes an unsuccessful +attempt to execute it. _July_ 17: He is acquitted of extortion, and +begins to canvass for the consulship for the year 690. + +689.--L. JULIUS CAESAR, C. MARCIUS FIGULUS THERMUS.--_June_ 1: +Catiline convokes the chiefs of the second conspiracy. He is +disappointed in his views on the consulship. + +690--M. TULLIUS CICERO, C. ANTONIUS HYBRIDA.--_Oct_. 19: Cicero lays +the affair of the conspiracy before the senate, who decree plenary +powers to the consuls for defending the state. _Oct_. 21: Silanus and +Muraena are elected consuls for the next year, Catiline, who was a +candidate, being rejected. _Oct_. 22: Catiline is accused under the +Plautian Law _de vi_. Sall. Cat., c. 31. _Oct_. 24: Manlius takes up +arms in Etruria. _Nov_. 6: Catiline assembles the chief conspirators, +by the agency of Porcius Laeca Sall. Cat., c. 27. _Nov_. 7: Vargunteius +and Cornelius undertake to assassinate Cicero. Sall. Cat., c. 28. +_Nov_. 8: Catiline appears in the senate; Cicero delivers his first +Oration against him; he threatens to extinguish the flame raised +around him in a general destruction, and quits Rome. Sall. Cat., c. +31. _Nov_. 9: Cicero delivers his second Oration against Catiline, +before an assembly of the people, convoked by order of the senate. +_Nov_. 20, _or thereabouts_: Catiline and Manlius are declared public +enemies. Soon after this the conspirators attempt to secure the +support of the Allobrogian deputies. _Dec_. 3: About two o'clock in +the morning the Allobroges are apprehended. Toward evening Cicero +delivers his third Oration against Catiline, before the people. _Dec_. +5. Cicero's fourth Oration against Catiline, before the senate. Soon +after, the conspirators are condemned to death, and great honors are +decreed by the senate to Cicero. 691.--D. JUNIUS SILANUS, L. LICINIUS +MURAENA--_Jan_. 5: Battle of Pistoria, and death of Catiline. + + * * * * * + +The narrative of Sallust terminates with the account of the battle of +Pistoria. There are a few other particulars connected with the history +of the conspiracy, which, for the sake of the English reader, it may +not be improper to add. + +When the victory was gained, Antonius caused Catiline's head to be cut +off, and sent it to Rome by the messengers who carried the news. +Antonius himself was honored, by a public decree, with the title of +_Imperator_, although he had done little to merit the distinction, and +although the number of slain, which was three thousand, was less than +that for which the title was generally given. See Dio Cass. xxxvii., +40, 41. + +The remains of Catiline's army, after the death of their leader, +continued to make efforts to raise another insurrection. In August, +eight months after the battle, a party, under the command of Lucius +Sergius, perhaps a relative or freedman of Catiline, still offered +resistance to the forces of the government in Etruria. _Reliquiae +conjuratorum, cum L. Sergio, tumultuantur in Hetruria_. Fragm. Act. +Diurn. The responsibility of watching these marauders was left to the +proconsul Metellus Celer. After some petty encounters, in which the +insurgents were generally worsted, Sergius, having collected his force +at the foot of the Alps, attempted to penetrate into the country of +the Allobroges, expecting to find them ready to take up arms; but +Metellus, learning his intention, pre-occupied the passes, and then +surrounded and destroyed him and his followers. + +At Rome, in the mean time, great honors were paid to Cicero. A +thanksgiving of thirty days was decreed in his name, an honor which +had previously been granted to none but military men, and which was +granted to him, to use his own words, because _he had delivered the +city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war_. "If +my thanksgiving," he also observes, "be compared with those of others, +there will be found this difference, that theirs were granted them for +having managed the interests of the republic successfully, but that +mine was decreed to me for having preserved the republic from ruin." +See Cic. Orat. iii., in Cat., c. 6. Pro Sylla, c. 30. In Pison. c. 3. +Philipp. xiv., 8. Quintus Catulus, then _princeps senatus_, and Marcus + + Roma parentem, + Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. + +Juv. Sat., viii. 244. + +Of the inferior conspirators, who did not follow Sergius, and who were +apprehended at Rome, or in other parts of Italy, after the death of +the leaders in the plot, some were put to death, chiefly on the +testimony of Lucius Vettius, one of their number, who turned informer +against the rest. But many whom he accused were acquitted; others, +supposed to be guilty, were allowed to escape. + + + + + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The author's declaration of his design, and +prefatory account of Jugurtha's family, V. Jugurtha's character, VI. +His talents excite apprehensions in his uncle Micipsa, VII. He is sent +to Numantia. His merits, his favor with Scipio, and his popularity in +the army, VIII. He receives commendation and advice from Scipio and is +adopted by Micipsa, who resolves that Jugurtha, Adherbal, and +Hiempsal, shall, at his death, divide his kingdom equally between +them, IX. He is addressed by Micipsa on his death-bed, X. His +proceedings, and those of Adherbal and Hiempsal, after the death of +Micipsa, XI. He murders Hiempsal, XII. He defeats Adherbal, and drives +him for refuge to Rome. He dreads the vengeance of the senate, and +sends embassadors to Rome, who are confronted with those of Adherbal +in the senate-house, XIII. The speech of Adherbal, XIV. The reply of +Jugurtha's embassadors, and the opinions of the senators, XV. The +prevalence of Jugurtha's money, and the partition of the kingdom +between him and Adherbal, XVI. A description of Africa, XVII. An +account of its inhabitants, and of its principal divisions at the +commencement of the Jugurthine war, XVIII., XIX. Jugurtha invades +Adherbal's part of the kingdom, XX. He defeats Adherbal, and besieges +him in Cirta, XXI. He frustrates the intentions of the Roman deputies, +XXII. Adherbal's distresses, XXIII. His letter to the senate, XXIV. +Jugurtha disappoints a second Roman deputation, XXV. He takes Cirta, +and puts Adherdal to death, XXVI. The senate determine to make war +upon him, and commit the management of it to Calpurnius, XXVII. He +sends an ineffectual embassy to the senate. His dominions are +vigorously invaded by Calpurnius, XXVIII. He bribes Calpurnius, and +makes a treaty with him, XXIX. His proceedings are discussed at Rome, +XXX. The speech of Memmius concerning them, XXXI. The consequences of +it, XXXII. The arrival of Jugurtha at Rome, and his appearance before +the people, XXXIII., XXXIV. He procures the assassination of Massiva, +and is ordered to quit Italy, XXXV. Albinus, the successor of +Calpurnius, renews the war. He returns to Rome, and leaves his brother +Aulus to command in his absence, XXXVI. Aulus miscarries in the siege +of Suthul, and concludes a dishonorable treaty with Jugurtha, XXXVII, +XXXVIII. His treaty is annulled by the senate. His brother, Albinus, +resumes the command, XXXIX. The people decree an inquiry into the +conduct of those who had treated with Jugurtha, XL. Consideration on +the popular and senatorial factions, XLI., XLII. Metellus assumes the +conduct of the war, XLIII. He finds the army in Numidia without +discipline, XLIV. He restores subordination, XLV. He rejects +Jugurtha's offers of submission, bribes his deputies, and marches into +the country, XLVI. He places a garrison in Vacca, and seduces other +deputies of Jugurtha, XLVII. He engages with Jugurtha, and defeats +him. His lieutenant, Rutilius, puts to flight Bomilcar, the general of +Jugurtha, XLVIII.-LIII. He is threatened with new opposition. He lays +waste the country. His stragglers are cut off by Jugurtha, LIV. His +merits are celebrated at Rome. His caution. His progress retarded, LV. +He commences the siege of Zama, which is reinforced by Jugurtha. His +lieutenant, Marius, repulses Jugurtha at Sicca, LVI. He is joined by +Marius, and prosecutes the siege. His camp is surprised, LVII., LVIII. +His struggles with Jugurtha, and his operations before the town, LIX., +LX. He raises the siege, and goes into winter quarters. He attaches +Bomilcar to his interest, LXI. He makes a treaty with Jugurtha, who +breaks it, LXII. The ambition of Marius. His character. His desire of +the consulship, LXIII. His animosity toward Metellus. His intrigues to +supplant him, LXIV, LXV. The Vaccians surprise the Roman garrison, and +kill all the Romans but Turpilius, the governor, LXVI., LXVII. +Metellus recovers Vacca, and puts Turpilius to death, LXVIII., LXIX. +The conspiracy of Bomilcar, and Nabdalsa against Jugurtha, and the +discovery of it. Jugurtha's disquietude, LXX.-LXXII. Metellus makes +preparations for a second campaign. Marius returns to Rome, and is +chosen consul, and appointed to command the army in Numidia, LXXIII. +Jugurtha's irresolution. Metellus defeats him, LXXIV. The flight of +Jugurtha to Thala. The march of Metellus in pursuit of him, LXXV. +Jugurtha abandons Thala, and Metellus takes possession of it, LXXVI. +Metellus receives a deputation from Leptis, and sends a detachment +thither, LXXVII. The situation of Leptis, LXXVIII. The history of +the Philaeni, LXXIX. Jugurtha collects an army of Getulians, and gains +the support of Bocchus, King of Mauritania. The two kings proceed +toward Cirta, LXXX., LXXXI. Metellus marches against them, but hearing +that Marius is appointed to succeed him, contents himself with +endeavoring to alienate Bocchus from Jugurtha, and protracting the war +rather than prosecuting it, LXXXII., LXXXIII. The preparations of Marius +for his departure. His disposition toward the nobility. His popularity, +LXXXIV. His speech to the people, LXXXV. He completes his levies, and +arrives in Africa, LXXXVI. He opens the campaign, LXXXVII. The reception +of Metellus in Rome. The successes and plans of Marius. The applications +of Bocchus, LXXXVIII. Marius marches against Capsa, and takes it, +LXXXIX-XCI. He gains possession of a fortress which the Numidians thought +impregnable, XCII.-XCIV. The arrival of Sylla in the camp. His character, +XCV. His arts to obtain the favor of Marius and the soldiers, XCVI. +Jugurtha and Bocchus attack Marius, and are vigorously opposed, XCVII., +XCVIII. Marius surprises them in the night, and routs them with great +slaughter, XCIX. Marius prepares to go into winter quarters. His +vigilance, and maintenance of discipline, C. He fights a second battle +with Jugurtha and Bocchus, and gains a second victory over them, CI. He +arrives at Cirta. He receives a deputation from Bocchus, and sends Sylla +and Manlius to confer with him, CII. Marina undertakes an expedition +Bocchus prepares to send ambassadors to Rome, who being stripped by +robbers, takes refuge in the Roman camp, and are entertained by Sylla +during the absence of Marius, CIII. Marius returns. The ambassadors +set out for Rome. The answer which they receive from the senate, CIV. +Bocchus desires a conference with Sylla; Sylla arrives at the camp of +Bocchus, CV.-CVII. Negotiations between Sylla and Bocchus, CVIII., +CIX. The address of Bocchus to Sylla, CX. The reply of Sylla. The +subsequent transactions between them. The resolution of Bocchus to +betray Jugurtha, and the execution of it, CXI-CXIII. The triumph of +Marius, CXIV. + + + + +I. Mankind unreasonably complain of their nature, that, being weak and +short-lived, it is governed by chance rather than intellectual power;[1] +for, on the contrary, you will find, upon reflection, that there is +nothing more noble or excellent, and that to nature is wanting rather +human industry than ability or time. + +The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it +pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful, +efficient, and worthy of honor,[2] and needs no assistance from +fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good +qualities, nor can take them away. But if the mind, ensnared by +corrupt passions, abandons itself[3] to indolence and sensuality, when +it has indulged for a season in pernicious gratifications, and when +bodily strength, time, and mental vigor, have been wasted in sloth, +the infirmity of nature is accused, and those who are themselves in +fault impute their delinquency to circumstances.[4] + +If man, however, had as much regard for worthy objects, as he has +spirit in the pursuit of what is useless,[5] unprofitable, and even +perilous, he would not be governed by circumstances more than he would +govern them, and would attain to a point of greatness, at which, +instead of being mortal,[6] he would be immortalized by glory. + +II. As man is composed of mind and body, so, of all our concerns and +pursuits, some partake the nature of the body, and some that of the +mind. Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and +all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal. + +Of the advantages of person and fortune, as there is a beginning, +there is also an end; they all rise and fall,[7] increase and decay. +But the mind, incorruptible and eternal, the ruler of the human race, +actuates and has power over all things,[8] yet is itself free from +control. + +The depravity of those, therefore, is the more surprising, who, +devoted to corporeal gratifications, spend their lives in luxury and +indolence, but suffer the mind, than which nothing is better or +greater in man, to languish in neglect and inactivity; especially when +there are so many and various mental employments by which the highest +renown may be attained. + +III. Of these occupations, however, civil and military offices,[9] and +all administration of public affairs, seem to me at the present time, +by no means to be desired; for neither is honor conferred on merit, +nor are those, who have gained power by unlawful means, the more +secure or respected for it. To rule our country or subjects[10] by +force, though we may have the ability, and may correct what is wrong, +is yet an ungrateful undertaking; especially as all changes in the +state lead to[11] bloodshed, exile, and other evils of discord; while +to struggle in ineffectual attempts, and to gain nothing, by wearisome +exertions, but public hatred, is the extreme of madness; unless when a +base and pernicious spirit, perchance, may prompt a man to sacrifice +his honor and liberty to the power of a party. + +IV. Among other employments which are pursued by the intellect, the +recording of past events is of pre-eminent utility; but of its merits +I may, I think, be silent, since many have spoken of them, and since, +if I were to praise my own occupation, I might be considered as +presumptuously[12] praising myself. I believe, too, that there will be +some, who, because I have resolved to live unconnected with political +affairs, will apply to my arduous and useful labors the name of +idleness; especially those who think it an important pursuit to court +the people, and gain popularity by entertainments. But if such persons +will consider at what periods I obtained office, what sort of men[13] +were then unable to obtain it, and what description of persons have +subsequently entered the senate,[14] they will think, assuredly, that +I have altered my sentiments rather from prudence than from indolence, +and that more good will arise to the state from my retirement, than +from the busy efforts of others. + +I have often heard that Quintus Maximus,[15] Publius Scipio,[16] and +many other illustrious men of our country, were accustomed to observe, +that, when they looked on the images of their ancestors, they felt +their minds irresistibly excited to the pursuit of honor.[17] Not, +certainly, that the wax,[18] or the shape, had any such influence; +but, as they called to mind their forefathers' achievements, such a +flame was kindled in the breasts of those eminent persons, as could +not be extinguished till their own merit had equaled the fame and +glory of their ancestors. + +But, in the present state of manners, who is there, on the contrary, +that does not rather emulate his forefathers in riches and extravagance, +than in virtue and labor? Even men of humble birth,[19] who formerly +used to surpass the nobility in merit, pursue power and honor rather +by intrigue and dishonesty, than by honorable qualifications; as if +the praetorship, consulate, and all other offices of the kind, were +noble and dignified in themselves, and not to be estimated according +to the worth of those who fill them. + +But, in expressing my concern and regret at the manners of the state, +I have proceeded with too great freedom, and at too great length. I +now return to my subject. + +V. I am about to relate the war which the Roman people carried on with +Jugurtha, King of the Numidians; first, because it was great, sanguinary, +and of varied fortune; and secondly, because then, for the first time, +opposition was offered to the power of the nobility; a contest which +threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion,[20] and was +carried to such a height of madness, that nothing but war, and the +devastation of Italy, could put an end to civil dissensions.[21] But +before I fairly commence my narrative, I will take a review of a few +preceding particulars, in order that the whole subject may be more +clearly and distinctly understood. + +In the second Punic war, in which Hannibal, the leader of the +Carthaginians, had weakened the power of Italy more than any other +enemy[22] since the Roman name became great,[23] Masinissa, King of +the Numidians, being received into alliance by Publius Scipio, who, +from his merits was afterward surnamed Africanus, had performed for us +many eminent exploits in the field. In return for which services, +after the Carthaginians were subdued, and after Syphax,[24] whose +power in Italy was great and extensive, was taken prisoner, the Roman +people presented to Masinissa, as a free gift, all the cities and +lands that they had captured. Masinissa's friendship for us, +accordingly, remained faithful and inviolate; his reign[25] and his +life ended together. His son, Micipsa, alone succeeded to his kingdom; +Mastanabal and Gulussa, his two brothers, having been carried off by +disease. Micipsa had two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and had brought +up in his house, with the same care as his own children, a son of his +brother Mastanabal, named Jugurtha, whom Masinissa, as being the son +of a concubine, had left in a private station. + +VI. Jugurtha, as he grew up, being strong in frame, graceful in +person, but, above all, vigorous in understanding, did not allow +himself to be enervated by pleasure and indolence, but, as is the +usage of his country, exercised himself in riding, throwing the +javelin, and contending in the race with his equals in age; and, +though he excelled them all in reputation, he was yet beloved by all. +He also passed much of his time in hunting; he was first, or among the +first, to wound the lion and other beasts; he performed very much, but +spoke very little of himself. + +Micipsa, though he was at first gratified with these circumstances, +considering that the merit of Jugurtha would be an honor to his +kingdom, yet, when he reflected that the youth was daily increasing in +popularity, while he himself was advanced in age, and his children but +young, he was extremely disturbed at the state of things, and revolved +it frequently in his mind. The very nature of man, ambitious of power, +and eager to gratify its desires, gave him reason for apprehension, as +well as the opportunity afforded by his own age and that of his children, +which was sufficient, from the prospect of such a prize, to lead astray +even men of moderate desires. The affection of the Numidians, too, which +was strong toward Jugurtha, was another cause for alarm; among whom, if +he should cut off such a man, he feared that some insurrection or war +might arise. + +VII. Surrounded by such difficulties, and seeing that a man, so +popular among his countrymen, was not to be destroyed either by force +or by fraud, he resolved, as Jugurtha was of an active disposition, +and eager for military reputation, to expose him to dangers in the +field, and thus make trial of fortune. During the Numantine war,[26] +therefore, when he was sending supplies of horse and foot to the +Romans, he gave him the command of the Numidians, whom he dispatched +into Spain, hoping that he would certainly perish, either by an +ostentatious display of his bravery, or by the merciless hand of the +enemy. But this project had a very different result from that which he +had expected. For when Jugurtha, who was of an active and penetrating +intellect, had learned the disposition of Publius Scipio, the Roman +general, and the character of the enemy, he quickly rose, by great +exertion and vigilance, by modestly submitting to orders, and frequently +exposing himself to dangers, to such a degree of reputation, that he was +greatly beloved by our men, and extremely dreaded by the Numantines. He +was indeed, what is peculiarly difficult, both brave in action, and wise +in counsel; qualities, of which the one, from forethought, generally +produces fear, and the other, from confidence, rashness. The general, +accordingly, managed almost every difficult matter by the aid of +Jugurtha, numbered him among his friends, and grew daily more and more +attached to him, as a man whose advice and whose efforts were never +useless. With such merits were joined generosity of disposition, and +readiness of wit, by which he united to himself many of the Romans in +intimate friendship. + +VIII. There were at that time, in our army, a number of officers, some +of low, and some of high birth, to whom wealth was more attractive +than virtue or honor; men who were attached to certain parties, and of +consequence in their own country; but, among the allies, rather +distinguished than respected. These persons inflamed the mind of +Jugurtha, of itself sufficiently aspiring, by assuring him, "that if +Micipsa should die, he might have the kingdom of Numidia to himself; +for that he was possessed of eminent merit, and that anything might be +purchased at Rome." + +When Numantia, however, was destroyed, and Scipio had determined to +dismiss the auxiliary troops, and to return to Rome, he led Jugurtha, +after having honored him, in a public assembly, with the noblest +presents and applauses, into his own tent; where he privately +admonished him "to court the friendship of the Romans rather by +attention to them as a body, than by practicing on individuals;[27] +to bribe no one, as what belonged to many could not without danger be +bought from a few; and adding that, if he would but trust to his own +merits, glory and regal power would spontaneously fall to his lot; +but, should he proceed too rashly, he would only, by the influence of +his money, hasten his own ruin." + +IX. Having thus spoken, he took leave of him, giving him a letter, +which he was to present to Micipsa, and of which the following was +the purport: "The merit of your nephew Jugurtha, in the war against +Numantia, has been eminently distinguished; a fact which I am sure +will afford you pleasure. He is dear to us for his services, and we +shall strive, with our utmost efforts, to make him equally dear to the +senate and people of Rome. As a friend, I sincerely congratulate you; +you have a kinsman worthy of yourself, and of his grandfather +Masinissa." + +Micipsa, when he found, from the letter of the general, that what he +had already heard reported was true, being moved, both by the merit of +the youth and by the interest felt for him by Scipio, altered his +purpose, and endeavored to win Jugurtha by kindness. He accordingly, +in a short time,[28] adopted him as his son, and made him, by his +will, joint-heir with his own children. + +A few years afterward, when, being debilitated by age and disease, he +perceived that the end of his life was at hand, he is said, in the +presence of his friends and relations, and of Adherbal and Hiempsal +his sons, to have spoken with Jugurtha in the following manner: + +X. "I received you, Jugurtha, at a very early age, into my kingdom,[29] +at a time when you had lost your father, and were without prospects or +resources, expecting that, in return for my kindness, I should not be +less loved by you than by my own children, if I should have any. Nor +have my anticipations deceived me; for, to say nothing of your other +great and noble deeds, you have lately, on your return from Numantia, +brought honor and glory both to me and my kingdom; by your bravery, +you have rendered the Romans, from being previously our friends, more +friendly to us than ever; the name of our family is revived in Spain; +and, finally, what is most difficult among mankind, you have suppressed +envy by preeminent merit.[30] + +And now, since nature is putting a period to my life, I exhort and +conjure you, by this right hand, and by the fidelity which you owe to +my kingdom,[31] to regard these princes, who are your cousins by +birth, and your brothers by my generosity, with sincere affection; and +not to be more anxious to attach to yourself strangers, than to retain +the love of those connected with you by blood. It is not armies, or +treasures,[32] that form the defenses of a kingdom, but friends, whom +you can neither command by force nor purchase with gold; for they are +acquired only by good offices and integrity. And who can be a greater +friend than one brother to another?[33] Or what stranger will you find +faithful, if you are at enmity with your own family? I leave you a +kingdom, which will be strong if you act honorably, but weak, if you +are ill-affected to each other; for by concord even small states are +increased, but by discord, even the greatest fall to nothing. + +But on you, Jugurtha, who are superior in age and wisdom, it is +incumbent, more than on your brothers, to be cautious that nothing of +a contrary tendency may arise; for, in all disputes, he that is the +stronger, even though he receive the injury, appears, because his +power is greater, to have inflicted it. And do you, Adherbal and +Hiempsal, respect and regard a kinsman of such a character; imitate +his virtues, and make it your endeavor to show that I have not adopted +a better son[34] than those whom I have begotten." + +XI. To this address, Jugurtha, though he knew that the king had spoken +insincerely,[35] and though he was himself revolving thoughts of a far +different nature, yet replied with good feeling, suitable to the +occasion. A few days afterward Micipsa died. + +When the princes had performed his funeral with due magnificence, they +met together to hold a discussion on the general condition of their +affairs. Hiempsal, the youngest, who was naturally violent, and who +had previously shown contempt for the mean birth of Jugurtha, as being +inferior on his mother's side, sat down on the right hand of Adherbal, +in order to prevent Jugurtha from being the middle one of the three, +which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor.[36] Being +urged by his brother, however, to yield to superior age, he at length +removed, but with reluctance, to the other seat.[37] + +In the course of this conference, after a long debate about the +administration of the kingdom, Jugurtha suggested, among other +measures, "that all the acts and decrees made in the last five years +should be annulled, as Micipsa, during that period, had been enfeebled +by age, and scarcely sound in intellect." + +Hiempsal replied, "that he was exceedingly pleased with the proposal, +since Jugurtha himself, within the last three years, had been adopted +as joint-heir to the throne." This repartee sunk deeper into the mind +of Jugurtha than any one imagined. From that very time, accordingly, +being agitated with resentment and jealousy, he began to meditate and +concert schemes, and to think of nothing but projects for secretly +cutting off Hiempsal. But his plans proving slow in operation, and his +angry feelings remaining unabated, he resolved to execute his purpose +by any means whatsoever. + +XII. At the first meeting of the princes, of which I have just spoken, +it had been resolved, in consequence of their disagreement, that the +treasures should be divided among them, and that limits should be set +to the jurisdiction of each. Days were accordingly appointed for both +these purposes, but the earlier of the two for the division of the +money. The princes, in the mean time, retired into separate places of +abode in the neighborhood of the treasury. Hiempsal, residing in the +town of Thirmida, happened to occupy the house of a man, who, being +Jugurtha's chief lictor,[38] had always been liked and favored by his +master. This man, thus opportunely presented as an instrument, +Jugurtha loaded with promises, and induced him to go to his house, as +if for the purpose of looking over it, and provide himself with false +keys to the gates; for the true ones used to be given to Hiempsal, +adding, that he himself, when circumstances should call for his +presence, would be at the place with a large body of men. This +commission the Numidian speedily executed, and, according to his +instructions, admitted Jugurtha's men in the night, who, as soon as +they had entered the house, went different ways in quest of the +prince; some of his attendants they killed while asleep, and others as +they met them; they searched into secret places, broke open those that +were shut, and filled the whole premises with uproar and tumult. +Hiempsal, after a time, was found concealed in the hut of a +maid-servant,[39] where, in his alarm and ignorance of the locality, +he had at first taken refuge. The Numidians, as they had been ordered, +brought his head to Jugurtha. + +XIII The report of so atrocious an outrage was soon spread through +Africa. Fear seized on Adherbal, and on all who had been subject to +Micipsa. The Numidians divided into two parties, the greater number +following Adherbal, but the more warlike, Jugurtha; who, accordingly, +armed as large a force as he could, brought several cities, partly by +force and partly by their own consent, under his power, and prepared +to make himself sovereign of the whole of Numidia. Adherbal, though he +had sent embassadors to Rome, to inform the senate of his brother's +murder and his own circumstances, yet, relying on the number of his +troops, prepared for an armed resistance. When the matter, however, +came to a contest, he was defeated, and fled from the field of battle +into our province,[40] and from thence hastened to Rome. + +Jugurtha, having thus accomplished his purposes,[41] and reflecting, +at leisure, on the crime which he had committed, began to feel a dread +of the Roman people, against whose resentment he had no hopes of +security but in the avarice of the nobility, and in his own wealth. A +few days afterward, therefore, he dispatched embassadors to Rome, with +a profusion of gold and silver, whom he directed, in the first place, +to make abundance of presents to his old friends, and then to procure +him new ones; and not to hesitate, in short; to effect whatever could +be done by bribery. + +When these deputies had arrived at Rome, and had sent large presents, +according to the prince's direction, to his intimate friends,[42] and +to others whose influence was at that time powerful, so remarkable a +change ensued, that Jugurtha, from being an object of the greatest +odium, grew into great regard and favor with the nobility; who, partly +allured with hope, and partly with actual largesses, endeavored, by +soliciting the members of the senate individually, to prevent any +severe measures from being adopted against him. When the embassadors +accordingly, felt sure of success, the senate, on a fixed day, gave +audience to both parties[43]. On that occasion, Adherbal, as I have +understood, spoke to the following effect: + +XIV. "My father Micipsa, Conscript Fathers, enjoined me, on his +death-bed, to look upon the kingdom of Numidia as mine only by +deputation;[44] to consider the right and authority as belonging to +you; to endeavor, at home and in the field, to be as serviceable to +the Roman people as possible; and to regard you as my kindred and +relatives:[45] saying that, if I observed these injunctions. I should +find, in your friendship, armies, riches, and all necessary defenses +of my realm. By these precepts I was proceeding to regulate my conduct, +when Jugurtha, the most abandoned of all men whom the earth contains, +setting at naught your authority, expelled me, the grandson of Masinissa, +and the hereditary[46] ally and friend of the Roman people, from my +kingdom and all my possessions. + +Since I was thus to be reduced to such an extremity of wretchedness, +I could wish that I were able to implore your aid, Conscript Fathers, +rather for the sake of my own services than those of my ancestors; I +could wish, indeed, above all, that acts of kindness were due to me +from the Romans, of which I should not stand in need; and, next to +this,[47] that, if I required your services, I might receive them as +my due. But as integrity is no defense in itself, and as I had no +power to form the character of Jugurtha,[48] I have fled to you, +Conscript Fathers, to whom, what is the most grievous of all things, I +am compelled to become a burden before I have been an assistance. + +Other princes have been received into your friendship after having +been conquered in war, or have solicited an alliance with you in +circumstances of distress; but our family commenced its league with +the Romans in the war with Carthage, at a time when their faith was a +greater object of attraction than their fortune. Suffer not, then, O +Conscript Fathers, a descendent of that family to implore aid from you +in vain. If I had no other plea for obtaining your assistance but my +wretched fortune; nothing to urge, but that, having been recently a +king, powerful by birth, by character, and by resources, I am now +dishonored, afflicted,[49] destitute, and dependent on the aid of +others, it would yet become the dignity of Rome to protect me from +injury, and to allow no man's dominions to be increased by crime. But +I am driven from those very territories which the Roman people gave to +my ancestors, and from which my father and grandfather, in conjunction +with yourselves, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. It is what you +bestowed that has been wrested from me; in my wrongs you are insulted. + +Unhappy man that I am! Has your kindness, O my father Micipsa, come +to this, that he whom you made equal with your children, and a sharer +of your kingdom, should become, above all others,[50] the destroyers +of your race? Shall our family, then, never be at peace? Shall we +always be harassed with war, bloodshed, and exile? While the +Carthaginians continued in power, we were necessarily exposed to all +manner of troubles; for the enemy were on our frontiers; you, our +friends, were at a distance; and all our dependence was on our arms. +But after that pest was extirpated, we were happy in the enjoyment of +tranquillity, as having no enemies but such as you should happen to +appoint us. But lo! on a sudden, Jugurtha, stalking forth with +intolerable audacity, wickedness, and arrogance, and having put to +death my brother, his own cousin, made his territory, in the first +place, the prize of his guilt; and next, being unable to ensnare me +with similar stratagems, he rendered me, when under your rule I +expected any thing rather than violence or war, an exile, as you see, +from my country and my home, the prey of poverty and misery, and safer +any where than in my own kingdom. + +I was always of opinion, Conscript Fathers, as I had often heard my +father observe, that those who cultivated your friendship might indeed +have an arduous service to perform, but would be of all people the +most secure. What our family could do for you, it has done; it has +supported you in all your wars; and it is for you to provide for our +safety in time of peace. Our father left two of us, brothers; a third, +Jugurtha, he thought would be attached to us by the benefits conferred +upon him; but one of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have +scarcely escaped the hand of lawlessness.[51] What course can I now +take? Unhappy that I am, to what place, rather than another, shall I +betake myself? All the props of our family are extinct; my father, of +necessity, has paid the debt of nature; a kinsman, whom least of all +men it became, has wickedly taken the life of my brother; and as for +my other relatives, and friends, and connections, various forms of +destruction have overtaken them. Seized by Jugurtha, some have been +crucified, and some thrown to wild beasts, while a few, whose lives +have been spared, are shut up in the darkness of the dungeon, and drag +on, amid suffering and sorrow, an existence more grievous than death +itself. + +If all that I have lost, or all that, from being friendly, has become +hostile to me,[52] remained unchanged, yet, in case of any sudden +calamity, it is of you that I should still have to implore assistance, +to whom, from the greatness of your empire, justice and injustice in +general should be objects of regard. And at the present time, when I +am exiled from my country and my home, when I am left alone, and +destitute of all that is suitable to my dignity, to whom can I go, or +to whom shall: I appeal, but to you? Shall I go to nations and kings, +who, from our friendship with Rome, are all hostile to my family? +Could I go, indeed, to any place where there are not abundance of +hostile monuments of my ancestors? Will any one, who, has ever been at +enmity with you, take pity upon me? + +Masinissa, moreover, instructed us, Conscript Fathers, to cultivate +no friendship but that of Rome, to adopt no new leagues or alliances, +as we should find, in your good-will, abundance of efficient support; +while, if the fortune of your empire should change, we must sink +together with it. But, by your own merits, and the favor of the gods, +you are great and powerful; the whole world regards you with favor and +yields to your power; and you are the better able, in consequence, to +attend to the grievances of your allies. My only fear is, that private +friendship for Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead any of you +astray; for his partisans, I hear, are doing their utmost in his +behalf, soliciting and importuning you individually, to pass no +decision against one who is absent, and whose cause is yet untried; +and saying that I state what is false, and only pretend to be an +exile, when I might, if I pleased, have remained still in my kingdom. +But would that I could see him,[53] by whose unnatural crime I am thus +reduced to misery, pretending as I now pretend; and would that, either +with you or with the immortal gods, there may at length arise some +regard for human interests; for then assuredly will he, who is now +audacious and triumphant in guilt, be tortured by every kind of +suffering, and pay a heavy penalty for his ingratitude to my father, +for the murder of my brother, and for the distress which he has +brought upon myself. + +And now, O my brother, dearest object of my affection, though thy +life has been prematurely taken from thee, and by a hand that should +have been the last to touch it, yet I think thy fate a subject for +rejoicing rather than lamentation, for, in losing life, thou hast not +been cut off from a throne, but from flight, expatriation, poverty, +and all those afflictions which now press upon me. But I, unfortunate +that I am, cast from the throne of my father into the depths of +calamity, afford an example of human vicissitudes, undecided what +course to adopt, whether to avenge thy wrongs, while I myself stand in +need of assistance, or to attempt the recovery of my kingdom, while my +life or death depends on the aid of others.[54] + +Would that death could be thought an honorable termination to my +misfortunes, that I might not seem to live an object of contempt, if, +sinking under my afflictions, I tamely submit to injustice. But now I +can neither live with pleasure, nor can die without disgrace.[55] I +implore you, therefore, Conscript Fathers, by your regard for +yourselves,[56] for your children, and for your parents, and by the +majesty of the Roman people, to grant me succor in my distress, to +arrest the progress of injustice, and not to suffer the kingdom of +Numidia, which is your own property, to sink into ruin[57] through +villainy and the slaughter of our family." + +XV. When the prince had concluded his speech, the embassadors of +Jugurtha, depending more on their money than their cause, replied, in +a few words, "that Hiempsal had been put to death by the Numidians for +his cruelty; that Adherbal, commencing war of his own accord, complained, +after he was defeated, of being unable to do injury; and that Jugurtha +entreated the senate not to consider him a different person from what +he had been known to be at Numantia, nor to set the assertions of his +enemy above his own conduct." + +Both parties then withdrew from the senate-house, and the senate +immediately proceeded to deliberate. The partisans of the embassadors, +with a great many others, corrupted by their influence, expressed +contempt for the statements of Adherbal, extolled with the highest +encomiums the merits of Jugurtha, and exerted themselves as +strenuously, with their interest and eloquence, in defense of the +guilt and infamy of another, as they would have striven for their own +honor. A few, however, on the other hand, to whom right and justice +were of more estimation than wealth, gave their opinion that Adherbal +should be assisted, and the murder of Hiempsal severely avenged. Of +all these the most forward was Aemilius Scaurus,[58] a man of noble +birth and great energy, but factious, and ambitious of power, honor, +and wealth; yet an artful concealer of his own vices. He, seeing that +the bribery of Jugurtha was notorious and shameless, and fearing that, +as in such cases often happens, its scandalous profusion might excite +public odium, restrained himself from the indulgence of his ruling +passion.[59] + +XVI. Yet that party gained the superiority in the senate, which +preferred money and interest to justice. A decree was made, "that ten +commissioners should divide the kingdom, which Micipsa had possessed, +between Jugurtha and Adherbal." Of this commission the leading person +was Lucius Opimius,[60] a man of distinction, and of great influence +at that time in the senate, from having in his consulship, on the +death of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, prosecuted the +victory of the nobility over the plebeians with great severity. + +Jugurtha, though he had already counted Scaurus among his friends at +Rome, yet received him with the most studied ceremony, and, by +presents and promises, wrought on him so effectually, that he +preferred the prince's interest to his own character, honor, and all +other considerations. The rest of the commissioners he assailed in a +similar way, and gained over most of them; by a few only integrity was +more regarded than lucre. In the division of the kingdom, that part of +Numidia which borders on Mauretania, and which is superior in +fertility and population, was allotted to Jugurtha; of the other part, +which, though better furnished with harbors and buildings, was more +valuable in appearance than in reality, Adherbal became the possessor. + +XVII. My subject seems to require of me, in this place, a brief +account of the situation of Africa, and of those nations in it with +whom we have had war or alliances. But of those tracts and countries, +which, from their heat, or difficulty of access, or extent of desert, +have been but little visited, I can not possibly give any exact +description. Of the rest I shall speak with all possible brevity. + +In the division of the earth, most writers consider Africa as a third +part; a few admit only two divisions, Asia and Europe,[61] and include +Africa in Europe. It is bounded, on the west, by the strait connecting +our sea with the ocean;[62] on the east, by a vast sloping tract, +which the natives call the Catabathmos.[63] The sea is boisterous, and +deficient in harbors; the soil is fertile in corn, and good for +pasturage, but unproductive of trees. There is a scarcity of water +both from rain and from landsprings. The natives are healthy, swift of +foot, and able to endure fatigue. Most of them die by the gradual +decay of age,[64] except such as perish by the sword or beasts of +prey; for disease finds but few victims. Animals of a venomous nature +they have in great numbers. + +Concerning the original inhabitants of Africa, the settlers that +afterward joined them, and the manner in which they intermingled, I +shall offer the following brief account, which, though it differs from +the general opinion, is that which was interpreted to me from the Punic +volumes said to have belonged to King Hiempsal[65], and which the +inhabitants of that country believe to be consistent with fact. For +the truth of the statement, however, the writers themselves must be +responsible. + +XVIII. Africa, then, was originally occupied by the Getulians and +Libyans,[66] rude and uncivilized tribes, who subsisted on the flesh +of wild animals, or, like cattle, on the herbage of the soil. They +were controlled neither by customs, laws, nor the authority of any +ruler; they wandered about, without fixed habitations, and slept in +the abodes to which night drove them. But after Hercules, as the +Africans think, perished in Spain, his army, which was composed of +various nations,[67] having lost its leader, and many candidates +severally claiming the command of it, was speedily dispersed. Of its +constituent troops, the Medes, Persians, and Armenians,[68] having +sailed over into Africa, occupied the parts nearest to our sea.[69] +The Persians, however, settled more toward the ocean,[70] and used the +inverted keels of their vessels for huts, there being no wood in the +country, and no opportunity of obtaining it, either by purchase or +barter, from the Spaniards; for a wide sea, and an unknown tongue, +were barriers to all intercourse. These, by degrees, formed +intermarriages with the Getulians; and because, from constantly trying +different soils, they were perpetually shifting their abodes, they +called themselves NUMIDIANS.[71] And to this day the huts of the +Numidian boors, which they call _mapalia_, are of an oblong shape, +with curved roofs; resembling the hulls of ships. + +The Medes and Armenians connected themselves with the Libyans, who +dwelled near the African sea; while the Getulians lay more to the +sun,[72] not far from the torrid heats; and these soon built +themselves towns,[73] as, being separated from Spain only by a strait, +they proceeded to open an intercourse with its inhabitants. The name +of Medes the Libyans gradually corrupted, changing it, in their +barbarous tongue, into Moors.[74] + +Of the Persians[75] the power rapidly increased; and at length, the +children, through excess of population, separating from the parents, +they took possession, under the name of Numidians, of those regions +bordering on Carthage which are now called Numidia. In process of +time, the two parties,[76] each assisting the other, reduced the +neighboring tribes, by force or fear, under their sway; but those who +had spread toward our sea, made the greater conquests: for the Lybians +are less warlike than the Getulians[77] At last nearly all lower +Africa[78] was occupied by the Numidians; and all the conquered tribes +were merged in the nation and name of their conquerors. + +XIX. At a later period, the Phoenicians, some of whom wished to lessen +their numbers at home, and others, ambitious of empire, engaged the +populace, and such as were eager for change, to follow them, founded +Hippo,[79] Adrumetum, Leptis,[80] and other cities, on the sea-coast; +which, soon growing powerful, became partly a support, and partly an +honor, to their parent state. Of Carthage I think it better to be +silent, than to say but little; especially as time bids me hasten to +other matters. + +Next to the Catabathmos,[81] then, which divides Egypt from Africa, +the first city along the sea-coast[82] is Cyrene, a colony of +Theraeans;[83] after which are the two Syrtes,[84] with Leptis[85] +between them; then the Altars of the Philaeni,[86] which the +Carthaginians considered the boundary of their dominion on the side of +Egypt; beyond these are the other Punic towns. The other regions, as +far as Mauretania, the Numidians occupy; the Moors are nearest to +Spain. To the south of Numidia,[87] as we are informed, are the +Getulians, of whom some live in huts, and others lead a vagrant and +less civilized life; beyond these are the Ethiopians; and further on, +regions parched by the heat of the sun. + +At the time of the Jugurthine war, most of the Punic towns, and the +territories which Carthage had lately possessed,[88] were under the +government of Roman praetors; a great part of the Getulians, and +Numidia as far as the river Mulucha, were subject to Jugurtha; while +the whole of the Moors were governed by Bocchus, a king who knew +nothing of the Romans but their name, and who, before this period, +was as little known to us, either in war or peace. Of Africa and its +inhabitants I have now said all that my narrative requires. + +XX. When the commissioners, after dividing the kingdom, had left +Africa, and Jugurtha saw that, contrary to his apprehensions, he had +obtained the object of his crimes; he then being convinced of the +truth of what he had heard from his friends at Numantia, "that all +things were purchasable at Rome," and being also encouraged by the +promises of those whom he had recently loaded with presents, directed +his views to the domain of Adherbal. He was himself bold and warlike, +while the other, at whose destruction he aimed, was quiet, unfit for +arms, of a mild temper, a fit subject for injustice, and a prey to +fear rather than an object of it. Jugurtha, accordingly, with a +powerful force, made a sudden irruption into his dominions, took +several prisoners, with cattle and other booty, set fire to the +buildings, and made hostile demonstrations against several places with +his cavalry. He then retreated, with all his followers, into his own +kingdom, expecting that Adherbal, roused by such provocation, would +avenge his wrongs by force, and thus furnish a pretext for war. But +Adherbal, thinking himself unable to meet Jugurtha in the field, and +relying on the friendship of the Romans more than on the Numidians, +merely sent embassadors to Jugurtha to complain of the outrage; and, +although they brought back but an insolent reply, yet he resolved to +endure any thing rather than have recourse to war, which, when he +attempted it before, had ended in his defeat. By such conduct the +eagerness of Jugurtha was not at all allayed; for he had now, indeed, +in imagination, possessed himself of all Adherbal's dominions. He +therefore renewed hostilities, not, as before, with a predatory band, +but at the head of a large army which he had collected, and openly +aspired to the sovereignty of all Numidia. Wherever he marched, he +ravaged the towns and the fields, drove off booty, and raised +confidence in his own men and dismay among the enemy. + +XXI. Adherbal, when he found that matters had arrived at such a point, +that he must either abandon his dominions, or defend them by force of +arms, collected an army from necessity, and advanced to meet Jugurtha. +Both armies took up[89] their position near the town of Cirta[90], at +no great distance from the sea; but, as evening was approaching, +encamped without coming to an engagement. But when the night was far +advanced, and twilight was beginning to appear[91], the troops of +Jugurtha, at a given signal, rushed into the camp of the enemy, whom +they routed and put to flight, some half asleep and others resuming +their arms. Adherbal, with a few of his cavalry, fled to Cirta; and, +had there not been a number of Romans[92] in the town, who repulsed +his Numidian pursuers from the walls, the war between the two princes +would have been begun and ended on the same day. + +Jugurtha proceeded to invest the town, and attempted to storm it with +the aid of mantelets, towers, and every kind of machines; being +anxious above all things, to take it before the ambassadors could +arrive at Rome, who, he was informed, had been dispatched thither by +Adherbal before the battle was fought. But as soon as the senate heard +of their contention, three young men[93] were sent as deputies into +Africa, with directions to go to both of the princes, and to announce +to them, in the words of the senate and people of Rome, "that it was +their will and resolution that they should lay down their arms, and +settle their disputes rather by arbitration than by the sword; since +to act thus would be to the honor both of the Romans and themselves." + +XXII. These deputies soon arrived in Africa, using the greater +dispatch, because, while they were preparing for their journey, a +report was spread at Rome of the battle which had been fought, and of +the siege of Cirta; but this report told much less than the truth[94] +Jugurtha, having given them an audience, replied, "that nothing was of +greater weight with him, nothing more respected, than the authority of +the senate; that it had been his endeavor, from his youth, to deserve +the esteem of all men of worth; that he had gained the favor of +Publius Scipio, a man of the highest eminence, not by dishonorable +practices, but by merit; that, for the same good qualities, and not +from want of heirs to the throne, he had been adopted by Micipsa; but +that, the more honorable and spirited his conduct had been, the less +could his feelings endure injustice; that Adherbal had formed designs +against his life on discovering which, he had counteracted his malice; +that the Romans would act neither justly nor reasonably, if they +withheld from him the common right of nations;[96] and, in conclusion, +that he would soon send embassadors to Rome to explain the whole of +his proceedings." On this understanding, both parties separated. Of +addressing Adherbal the deputies had no opportunity. + +XXIII. Jugurtha, as soon as he thought that they had quitted Africa, +surrounded the walls of Cirta, which, from the nature of its +situation, he was unable to take by assault, with a rampart and a +trench; he also erected towers, and manned them with soldiers; he made +attempts on the place, by force or by stratagem, day and night; he +held out bribes, and some times menaces, to the besieged; he roused +his men, by exhortations, to efforts of valor, and resorted, with the +utmost perseverance, to every possible expedient. + +Adherbal, on the other hand, seeing that his affairs were in a +desperate condition, that his enemy was determined on his ruin, that +there was no hope of succor, and that the siege, from want of +provisions, could not long be protracted, selected from among those +who had fled with him to Cirta, two of his most resolute supporters, +whom he induced, by numerous promises, and an affecting representation +of his distress, to make their way in the night, through the enemy's +lines, to the nearest point of the coast, and from thence to Rome. + +XXIV. The Numidians, in a few days executed their commission; and a +letter from Adherbal was read in the senate, of which the following +was the purport: + +"It is not through my own fault, Conscript Fathers, that I so often +send requests to you; but the violence of Jugurtha compels me; whom so +strong a desire for my destruction has seized, that he pays no +regard[96] either to you or to the immortal gods; my blood he covets +beyond every thing. Five months, in consequence, have I, the ally and +friend of the Roman people, been besieged with an armed force; neither +the remembrance of my father Micipsa's benefits, nor your decrees, are +of any avail for my relief; and whether I am more closely pressed by +the sword, or by famine, I am unable to say. + +From writing further concerning Jugurtha, my present condition deters +me; for I have experienced, even before,[97] that little credit is +given to the unfortunate. Yet I can perceive that his views extend +further than to myself, and that he does not expect to possess, at the +same time, your friendship and my kingdom; which of the two he thinks +the more desirable, must be manifest to every one. For, in the first +place, he murdered my brother Hiempsal; and, in the next, expelled me +from my dominions; which, however, may be regarded as our own wrongs, +and as having no reference to you. But now he occupies your kingdom +with an army; he keeps me, whom you appointed a king over the +Numidians, in a state of blockade; and in what estimation he holds the +words of your embassadors, my perils may serve to show. What then is +left, except your arms, that can make an impression upon him? + +I could wish, indeed, that what I now write, as well as the complaints +which I lately made before the senate, were false, rather than that my +present distresses should confirm the truth of my statements. But +since I am born to be an example of Jugurtha's villainy, I do not now +beg a release from death or distress, but only from the tyranny of an +enemy, and from bodily torture. Respecting the kingdom of Numidia, +which is your own property, determine as you please, but if the memory +of my grandfather Masinissa is still cherished by you, deliver me, I +entreat you, by the majesty of your empire, and by the sacred ties of +friendship, from the inhuman hands of Jugurtha." + +XXV. When this letter was read, there were some who thought that an +army should be dispatched into Africa, and relief afforded to +Adherbal, as soon as possible; and that the senate, in the mean time, +should give judgment on the conduct of Jugurtha, in not having obeyed +the embassadors. But by the partisans of Jugurtha, the same that had +before supported his cause, effectual exertions were made to prevent +any decree from being passed; and thus the public interest, as is too +frequently the case, was defeated by private influence. + +An embassy was, however, dispatched into Africa, consisting of men of +advanced years, and of noble birth, and who had filled the highest +offices of the state; among whom was Marcus Scaurus, already mentioned, +a man who had held the consulship, and who was at that time chief of +the senate[98]. These embassadors, as their business was an affair of +public odium, and as they were urged by the entreaties of the Numidians, +embarked in three days; and having soon arrived at Utica, sent a letter +from thence to Jugurtha, desiring him "to come to the province as +quickly as possible, as they were deputed by the senate to meet him." + +Jugurtha, when he found that men of eminence, whose influence at Rome +he knew to be powerful, were come to put a stop to his proceedings, +was at first perplexed, and distracted between fear and cupidity. He +dreaded the displeasure of the senate, if he should disobey the +embassadors; while his eager spirit, blinded by the lust of power, +hurried him on to complete the injustice which he had begun. At length +the evil incitements of ambition prevailed[99]. He accordingly drew +his army round the city of Cirta, and endeavored, with his utmost +efforts, to force an entrance; having the strongest hopes, that, by +dividing the attention of the enemy's troops, he should be able, by +force or artifice, to secure an opportunity of success. When his +attempts, however, were unavailing, and he found himself unable, as +he had designed, to get Adherbal into his power before he met the +embassadors, fearing that, by further delay, he might irritate +Scaurus, of whom he stood in great dread, he proceeded with a small +body of cavalry into the Province. Yet, though serious menaces were +repeated to him in the name of the senate, because he had not desisted +from the siege, nevertheless, after spending a long time in conference, +the embassadors departed without making any impression upon him. + +XXVI. When news of this result was brought to Cirta, the Italians[100], +by whose exertions the city had been defended, and who trusted that, if +a surrender were made, they would be able, from respect to the greatness +of the Roman power, to escape without personal injury, advised Adherbal +to deliver himself and the city to Jugurtha, stipulating only that his +life should be spared, and leaving all other matters to the care of the +senate. Adherbal, though he thought nothing less trustworthy than the +honor of Jugurtha, yet, knowing that those who advised could also compel +him if he resisted, surrendered the place according to their desire. +Jugurtha immediately proceeded to put Adherbal to death with torture, +and massacred all the inhabitants that were of age, whether Numidians +or Italians, as each fell in the way of his troops. + +XXVII. When this outrage was reported at Rome, and became a matter of +discussion in the senate, the former partisans of Jugurtha applied +themselves, by interrupting the debates and protracting the time, +sometimes exerting their interest, and sometimes quarreling with +particular members, to palliate the atrocity of the deed. And had not +Caius Memmius, one of the tribunes of the people elect, a man of +energy, and hostile to the power of the nobility, convinced the people +of Rome that an attempt was being made, by the agency of a small +faction, to have the crimes of Jugurtha pardoned, it is certain that +the public indignation against him would have passed off under the +protraction of the debates; so powerful was party interest, and the +influence of Jugurtha's money. When the senate, however, from +consciousness of misconduct, became afraid of the people, Numidia and +Italy, by the Sempronian law,[101] were appointed as provinces to the +succeeding consuls, who were declared to be Publius Scipio Nasica[102], +and Lucius Bestia Calpurnius[103]. Numidia fell to Calpurnius, and Italy +to Scipio. An army was then raised to be sent into Africa; and pay, and +all other necessaries of war, were decreed for its use. + +XXVIII. When Jugurtha received this news, which was utterly at +variance with his expectations, as he had felt convinced that all +things were purchasable at Rome, he sent his son, with two of his +friends, as deputies to the senate, and directed them, like those whom +he had sent on the murder of Hiempsal, to attack every body with +bribes. Upon the approach of these deputies to Rome, the senate was +consulted by Bestia, whether they would allow them to be admitted +within the gates; and the senate decreed, "that, unless they came to +surrender Jugurtha's kingdom and himself, they must quit Italy within +the ten following days." The consul directed this decree to be +communicated to the Numidians, who consequently returned home without +effecting their object. + +Calpurnius, in the mean time, having raised an army, chose for his +officers men of family and intrigue, hoping that whatever faults he +might commit, would be screened by their influence; and among these +was Scaurus, of whose disposition and character we have already +spoken. There were, indeed, in our consul Calpurnius, many excellent +qualities, both mental and personal, though avarice interfered with +the exercise of them; he was patient of labor, of a penetrating +intellect, of great foresight, not inexperienced in war, and extremely +vigilant against danger and surprise. + +The troops were conducted through Italy to Rhegium, from thence to +Sicily, and from Sicily into Africa; and Calpurnius's first step, +after collecting provisions, was to invade Numidia with spirit, where +he took many prisoners, and several towns, by force of arms. + +XXIX. But when Jugurtha began, through his emissaries, to tempt him +with bribes, and to show the difficulties of the war which he had +undertaken to conduct, his mind, corrupted with avarice, was easily +altered. His accomplice, however, and manager in all his schemes, was +Scaurus; who, though he had at first, when most of his party were +corrupted, displayed violent hostility to Jugurtha, yet was afterward +seduced, by a vast sum of money, from integrity and honor to injustice +and perfidy. Jugurtha, however, at first sought only to purchase a +suspension of hostilities, expecting to be able, during the interval, +to make some favorable impression, either by bribery or by interest, +at Rome; but when he heard that Scaurus was co-operating with +Calpurnius, he was elated with great hopes of regaining peace, and +resolved upon a conference with them in person respecting the terms of +it. In the mean time, for the sake of giving confidence [104] to +Jugurtha, Sextus the quaestor was dispatched by the consul to Vaga, +one of the prince's towns; the pretext for his journey being the +receiving of corn, which Calpurnius had openly demanded from Jugurtha's +emissaries, on the ground that a truce was observed through their delay +to make a surrender. Jugurtha then, as he had determined, paid a visit +to the consul's camp, where, having made a short address to the council, +respecting the odium cast upon his conduct, and his desire for a +capitulation, he arranged other matters with Bestia and Scaurus in +secret; and the next day, as if by an evident majority of voices[105], +he was formally allowed to surrender. But, as was demanded in the +hearing of the council, thirty elephants, a considerable number of +cattle and horses, and a small sum of money, were delivered into the +hands of the quaestor. Calpurnius then returned to Rome to preside at +the election of magistrates[106], and peace was observed throughout +Numidia and the Roman army. + +XXX. When rumor had made known the affairs transacted in Africa, and +the mode in which they had been brought to pass, the conduct of the +consul became a subject of discussion in every place and company at +Rome. Among the people there was violent indignation; as to the +senators, whether they would ratify so flagitious a proceeding, or +annul the act of the consul, was a matter of doubt. The influence of +Scaurus, as he was said to be the supporter and accomplice of Bestia, +was what chiefly restrained the senate from acting with justice and +honor. But Caius Memmius, of whose boldness of spirit, and hatred to +the power of the nobility, I have already spoken, excited the people +by his harangues, during the perplexity and delay of the senators, to +take vengeance on the authors of the treaty; he exhorted them not to +abandon the public interest or their own liberty; he set before them +the many tyrannical and violent proceedings of the nobles, and omitted +no art to inflame the popular passions. But as the eloquence of +Memmius, at that period, had great reputation and influence I have +thought proper to give in full[107] one out of many of his speeches; +and I take, in preference to others, that which he delivered in the +assembly of the people, after the return of Bestia, in words to the +following effect: + +XXXI. "Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow-citizens, +superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which +would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of +the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all +justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more +danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the +last fifteen years[108], you have been a sport to the arrogance of an +oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders +have perished[109]; and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth +and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, +will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in +awe of those to whom you should be a terror. + +Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an +attack on the power of that faction. That liberty of speech[110], +therefore, which has been left me by my father, I shall assuredly +exert against them; but whether I shall use it in vain, or for your +advantage, must, my fellow-citizens, depend upon yourselves. I do not, +however, exhort you, as your ancestors have often done, to rise in +arms against injustice. + +There is at present no need of violence, no need of secession; for +your tyrants must work their fall by their own misconduct. + +After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring +to be king, persecutions were instituted against the common people of +Rome; and after the slaughter of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, +many of your order were put to death in prison. But let us leave these +proceedings out of the question; let us admit that to restore their +rights to the people, was to aspire to sovereignty; let us allow that +what can not be avenged without shedding the blood of citizens, was +done with justice. You have seen with silent indignation, however, in +past years, the treasury pillaged; you have seen kings, and free +people, paying tribute to a small party of Patricians, in whose hands +were both the highest honors and the greatest wealth; but to have +carried on such proceedings with impunity, they now deem but a small +matter; and, at last, your laws and your honor, with every civil and +religious obligation[111], have been sacrificed for the benefit of +your enemies. Nor do they, who have done these things, show either +shame or contrition, but parade proudly before your faces, displaying +their sacerdotal dignities, their consulships, and some of them their +triumphs, as if they regarded them as marks of honor, and not as +fruits of their dishonesty. Slaves, purchased with money[112], will +not submit to unjust commands from their masters; yet you, my +fellow-citizens, who are born to empire, tamely endure oppression. + +But who are these that have thus taken the government into their +hands? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of +insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by +whom integrity, reputation, public spirit[113], and indeed every +thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of +gain. Some of them make it their defense that they have killed +tribunes of the people; others, that they have instituted unjust +prosecutions; others, that they have shed your blood; and thus, the +more atrocities each has committed, the greater is his security; while +your oppressors, whom the same desires, the same aversions, and the +same fears, combine in strict union (a union which among good men is +friendship, but among the bad confederacy in guilt), have excited in +you, through your want of spirit, that terror which they ought to feel +for their own crimes. + +But if your concern to preserve your liberty were as great as their +ardor to increase their power of oppression, the state would not be +distracted as it is at present; and the marks of favor which proceed +from you[114], would be conferred, not on the most shameless, but on +the most deserving. Your forefathers, in order to assert their rights +and establish their authority, twice seceded in arms to Mount +Aventine; and will not you exert yourselves, to the utmost of your +power, in defense of that liberty which you received from them? Will +you not display so much the more spirit in the cause, from the +reflection that it is a greater disgrace to lose[115] what has been +gained, than not to have gained it at all? + +But some will ask me, 'What course of conduct, then, would you advise +us to pursue?' I would advise you to inflict punishment on those who +have sacrificed the interests of their country to the enemy; not, +indeed, by arms, or any violence (which would be more unbecoming, +however, for you to inflict than for them to suffer), but by +prosecutions, and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself, who, if he has +really surrendered, will doubtless obey your summons; whereas, if he +shows contempt for it, you will at once judge what sort of a peace or +surrender it is, from which springs impunity to Jugurtha for his +crimes, immense wealth to a few men in power, and loss and infamy to +the republic. + +But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; +perhaps these times please you less than those[116] when kingdoms, +provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, +and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an +oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered +by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content +with being allowed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off +your slavery? For myself, indeed, though I think it most disgraceful +to receive an injury without resenting it, yet I could easily allow +you to pardon these basest of traitors, because they are your +fellow-citizens, were it not certain that your indulgence would end in +your destruction. For such is their presumption, that to escape +punishment for their misdeeds will have but little effect upon them, +unless they be deprived, at the same time, of the power of doing +mischief; and endless anxiety will remain for you, if you shall have +to reflect that you must either be slaves or preserve your liberty by +force of arms. + +Of mutual trust, or concord, what hope is there? They wish to be +lords, you desire to be free; they seek to inflict injury, you to +repel it; they treat your allies as enemies, your enemies as allies. +With feelings so opposite, can peace or friendship subsist between +you? I warn, therefore, and exhort you, not to allow such enormous +dishonesty to go unpunished. It is not an embezzlement of the public +money[117] that has been committed; nor is it a forcible extortion of +money from your allies; offenses which, though great, are now, from +their frequency, considered as nothing; but the authority of the +senate, and your own power, have been sacrificed to the bitterest of +enemies, and the public interest has been betrayed for money, both at +home and abroad; and unless these misdeeds be investigated, and +punishment be inflicted on the guilty, what remains for us but to live +the slaves of those who committed them? For those who do what they +will with impunity are undoubtedly kings.[118] + +I do not, however, wish to encourage you, O Romans, to be better +satisfied at finding your fellow-citizens guilty than innocent, but +merely to warn you not to bring ruin on the good, by suffering the bad +to escape. It is far better, in any government, to be unmindful of a +service than of an injury; for a good man, if neglected, only becomes +less active; but a bad man, more daring. Besides, if the crimes of the +wicked are suppressed,[119] the state will seldom need extraordinary +support from the virtuous." + +XXXII. By repeating these and similar sentiments, Memmius prevailed on +the people to send Lucius Cassius,[120] who was then praetor, to +Jugurtha, and to bring him, under guarantee of the public faith[121], +to Rome, in order that, by the prince's evidence, the misconduct of +Scaurus and the rest, whom they charged with having taken bribes, +might more easily be made manifest. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had +left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their +general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced +by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his +deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so +strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had +pervaded the breasts of all. + +Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and +while all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission +to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, +from a sense of guilt, he admonished "that since he had surrendered +himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than +their power." He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not +less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at that period, +was the reputation of Cassius. + +XXXIII. Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but +without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of +a suppliant[122]; and, though he felt great confidence on his own +part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy +he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the +aid of Caius Baebius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he +hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm. + +An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although they were +violently exasperated against Jugurtha, (some demanding that he should +be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his +accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the +usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather +their character than their resentment, endeavored to calm their +turbulence and mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as +depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, +when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed +them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and +set forth his crimes toward his father and brothers; and admonished +the prince, "that the Roman people, though they were well aware by +whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony +from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope +for him in the honor and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed +it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and +his hopes forever." + +XXXIV. But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was +expected to give his answer, Caius Baebius, the tribune of the people, +whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to +hold his peace[123]; and though the multitude, who formed the +assembly, were desperately enraged, and endeavored to terrify the +tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every +other act to which anger prompts[124], his audacity was at last +triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the +place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the +others, whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented. +XXXV. There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named +Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having +been, in the dissensions among the princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had +been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, +to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with +Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, +as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung +over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom +of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for the conduct of a war, was +desirous that affairs should be disturbed[125], rather than sink into +tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia +had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. + +When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, +Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as +a sense of guilt deterred some, and evil report or timidity others, +from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most +attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by +which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and +to do it secretly if he could; but, if secrecy should be impossible, +to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon +found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such +service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of +leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places +[126], and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of +their number sprung upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and +killed him; but being himself caught, he made, at the instigation of +many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. +Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the +principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of +nations[127], as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on +a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though +clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the +truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong +for his interest or his money. For which reason, although, at the +commencement of the proceedings[128], he had given fifty of his +friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet, thinking more of his kingdom than +of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia; for he feared +that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be +deterred from obeying him[129]. A few days after, he himself departed, +having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going +from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, +to have at last exclaimed, "That it was a venal city, and would soon +perish, if it could but find a purchaser!"[130] + +XXXVI. The war being now renewed, Albinus hastened to transport +provisions, money, and other things necessary for the army, into +Africa, whither he himself soon followed, with the hope that, before +the time of the comitia, which was not far distant, he might be able, +by an engagement, by capitulation, or by some other method, to bring +the contest to a conclusion. + +Jugurtha, on the other hand, tried every means of protracting the war, +continually inventing new causes for delay; at one time he promised to +surrender, at another he feigned distrust; he retreated when Albinus +attacked him, and then, lest his men should lose courage, attacked in +return, and thus amused the consul with alternate procrastinations of +war and of peace. + +There were some, at that time, who thought that Albinus understood +Jugurtha's object, and who believed that so ready a protraction of the +war, after so much haste at the commencement, was to be attributed +less to tardiness than to treachery. However this might be, Albinus, +when time passed on, and the day of the comitia approached, left his +brother Aulus in the camp as propraetor[131], and returned to Rome. + +XXXVII. The republic, at this time, was grievously distracted by the +contentions of the tribunes. Two of them, Publius Lucullus and Lucius +Annius, were struggling against the will of their colleagues, to +prolong their term of office; and this dispute put off the comitia +throughout the year[132]. In consequence of this delay, Aulus, who, as +I have just said, was left as propraetor in the camp, conceiving hopes +either of finishing the war, or of extorting money from Jugurtha by +the terror of his army, drew out his troops in the month of January, +from their winter-quarters into the field, and by forced marches, +during severe weather, made his way to the town of Suthul, where +Jugurtha's treasures were deposited. And though this place, both from +the inclemency of the season, and from its advantageous situation, +could neither be taken nor besieged; for around its walls, which were +built on the edge of a steep hill[133], a marshy plain, flooded by the +rains of winter, had been converted into a lake; yet Aulus, either as +a feint to strike terror into Jugurtha, or blinded by avarice, began +to move forward his vineae[134], to cast up a rampart, and to hasten +all necessary preparations for a siege. + +XXXVIII. Jugurtha, seeing the propraetor's vanity and ignorance, +artfully strengthened his infatuation; he sent him, from time to time, +deputies with submissive messages, while he himself, as if desirous to +escape, led his army away through woody defiles and cross-roads. At +length he succeeded in alluring Aulus, by the prospect of a surrender +on conditions, to leave Suthul, and pursue him, as if in full retreat, +into the remoter parts of the country. Meanwhile, by means of skillful +emissaries, he tampered night and day with our men, and prevailed on +some of the officers, both of infantry and cavalry, to desert to him +at once, and upon others to quit their posts at a given signal, that +their defection might thus be less observed[135]. Having prepared +matters according to his wishes, he suddenly surrounded the camp of +Aulus, in the dead of night, with a vast body of Numidians. The Roman +soldiers were alarmed with an unusual disturbance; some of them seized +their arms, others hid themselves, others encouraged those that were +afraid; but consternation prevailed every where; for the number of the +enemy was great, the sky was thick with clouds and darkness, the +danger was indiscernible, and it was uncertain whether it were safer +to flee or to remain. Of those whom I have just mentioned as being +bribed, one cohort of Ligurians, with two troops of Thracian horse, +and a few common soldiers, went over to Jugurtha; and the chief +centurion[136] of the third legion allowed the enemy an entrance at +the very post which he had been appointed to defend, and at which all +the Numidians poured into the camp. Our men fled disgracefully, the +greater part having thrown away their arms, and took possession of a +neighboring hill. Night, and the spoils of the camp, prevented the +enemy from making full use of this victory. On the following day, +Jugurtha, coming to a conference with Aulus, told him, "that though he +held him hemmed in by famine and the sword, yet that, being mindful of +human vicissitudes, he would, if they would make a treaty with him, +allow them to depart uninjured; only that they must pass under the +yoke, and quit Numidia within ten days." These terms were severe and +ignominious; but, as death was the alternative[137], peace was +concluded as Jugurtha desired. + +XXXIX. When this affair was made known at Rome, consternation and +dismay pervaded the city; some were concerned for the glory of the +republic; others, ignorant of war, trembled for their liberty. But +all were indignant at Aulus, and especially those who had been +distinguished in the field, because, with arms in his hands, he had +sought safety in disgrace rather than in resistance. The consul +Albinus, apprehending, from the delinquency of his brother, odium and +danger to himself, consulted the senate on the treaty which had been +made, but, at the same time, raised recruits for the army, sent for +auxiliaries to the allies and Latins, and made general preparations +for war. The senate, as was just, decreed, "that no treaty could be +made without their own consent and that of the people." + +The consul, though he was hindered by the influence of the tribunes +from taking with him the force which he had raised, set out in a few +days for the province of Africa, where the whole army, being +withdrawn, according to the agreement, from Numidia, had gone into +winter-quarters. When he arrived there, although he longed to pursue +Jugurtha, and diminish the odium that had fallen on his brother, yet, +when he saw the state of the troops, whom, besides the flight and +relaxation of discipline, licentiousness, and debauchery had +corrupted, he determined, under all the circumstances of the +case[138], to attempt nothing. + +XL. At Rome, in the mean time, Caius Mamilius Limetanus, one of the +tribunes, proposed that the people should pass a bill for instituting +an inquiry into the conduct of those by whose influence Jugurtha had +set at naught the decrees of the senate, as well as of those who, +whether as embassadors or commanders, had received money from him, or +who had restored to him his elephants and deserters, or had made any +compacts with the enemy relative to peace or war. To this bill some, +who were conscious of guilt, and others, who apprehended danger from +the jealousy of parties, secretly raised obstructions through the +agency of friends, and especially of men among the Latins and Italian +allies[139], since they could not openly resist it, without admitting +that these and similar practices met their approbation. But as to the +people, it is incredible what eagerness they displayed, and with what +spirit they approved, voted, and passed the bill, though rather from +hatred to the nobility, against whom these severe measures were +directed, than from concern for the republic; so violent was the fury +of party. + +While the rest of the delinquents were in trepidation, Marcus Scaurus +[140], whom I have previously noticed as Bestia's lieutenant, +contrived, amid the exultation of the populace, the dismay of his own +party, and the continued agitation in the city, to have himself +elected one of the three commissioners who were appointed by the bill +of Mamilius to carry it into execution. But the investigation, +notwithstanding, was conducted [141] with great rigor and violence, +under the influence of common rumor and popular caprice; for the +insolence of success, which had often distinguished the nobility, on +this occasion characterized the people. + +XLI. The prevalence of parties among the people, and of factions in +the senate, and of all evil practices attendant on them, had its +origin at Rome, a few years before, during a period of tranquillity, +and amid the abundance of all that mankind regarded as desirable. For, +before the destruction of Carthage, the senate and people managed the +affairs of the republic with mutual moderation and forbearance; there +were no contests among the citizens for honor or ascendency; but the +dread of an enemy kept the state in order. When that fear, however, +was removed from their minds, licentiousness and pride, evils which +prosperity loves to foster, immediately began to prevail; and thus +peace, which they had so eagerly desired in adversity, proved, when +they had obtained it, more grievous and fatal than adversity itself. +The patricians carried their authority, and the people their liberty, +to excess; every man took, snatched, and seized[142] what he could. +There was a complete division into two factions, and the republic was +torn in pieces between them. Yet the nobility still maintained an +ascendency by conspiring together; for the strength of the people, +being disunited and dispersed among a multitude, was less able to +exert itself. Things were accordingly directed, both at home and in +the field, by the will of a small number of men, at whose disposal +were the treasury, the provinces, offices, honors, and triumphs; while +the people were oppressed with military service and with poverty, and +the generals divided the spoils of war with a few of their friends. +The parents and children of the soldiers,[143] meantime, if they +chanced to dwell near a powerful neighbor, were driven from their +homes. Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and +wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding +alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its +own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility[144], who +preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a +tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a +convulsion of the earth. + +XLII. Thus when Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose forefathers had +done much to increase the power of the state in the Punic and other +wars, began to vindicate the liberty of the people, and to expose the +misconduct of the few, the nobility, conscious of guilt, and seized +with alarm, endeavored, sometimes by means of the allies and +Latins[145], and sometimes by means of the equestrian order, whom the +hope of coalition with the patricians had detached from the people, to +put a stop to the proceedings of the Gracchi; and first they killed +Tiberius, and a few years after Caius, who pursued the same measures +as his brother, the one when he was tribune, and the other when he was +one of a triumvirate for settling colonies; and with them they cut off +Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. In the Gracchi, indeed, it must be allowed +that, from their ardor for victory, there was not sufficient prudence. +But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit[146] to +injustice than to triumph over it by improper means. The nobility, +however, using their victory with wanton extravagance, exterminated +numbers of men by the sword or by exile, yet rather increased, for the +time to come, the dread with which they were regarded, than their real +power. Such proceedings have often ruined powerful states; for of two +parties, each strives to suppress the other by any means whatever, and +take vengeance with undue severity on the vanquished. + +But were I to attempt to treat of the animosities of parties, and of +the morals of the state, with minuteness of detail, and suitably to +the vastness of the subject, time would fail me sooner than matter. I +therefore return to my subject. + +XLIII. After the treaty of Aulus, and the disgraceful flight of our +army, Quintus Metellus and Marcus Silanus, the consuls elect, divided +the provinces between them; and Numidia fell to Metellus, a man of +energy, and, though an opponent of the popular party, yet of a +character uniformly irreproachable[147]. He, as soon as he entered on +his office, regarded all other things as common to himself and his +colleague[148], but directed his chief attention to the war which he +was to conduct. Distrusting, therefore, the old army, he began to +raise new troops, to procure auxiliaries from all parts, and to +provide arms, horses, and other military requisites, besides +provisions in abundance, and every thing else which was likely to be +of use in a war varied in its character, and demanding great +resources. To assist in accomplishing these objects, the allies and +Latins, by the appointment of the senate, and different princes[149] +of their own accord, sent supplies; and the whole state exerted itself +in the cause with the greatest zeal. Having at length prepared and +arranged every thing according to his wishes, Metellus set out for +Numidia, attended with sanguine expectations on the part of his +fellow-citizens, not only because of his other excellent qualities, +but especially because his mind was proof against gold; for it was +through the avarice of our commanders, that, down to this period, our +affairs in Numidia had been ruined, and those of the enemy rendered +prosperous. + +XLIV. When he arrived in Africa, the command of the army was resigned +to him by Albinus, the proconsul[150]; but it was an army spiritless +and unwarlike; incapable of encountering either danger or fatigue; +more ready with the tongue than with the sword; accustomed to plunder +our allies, while itself was the prey of the enemy; unchecked by +discipline, and void of all regard to its character. The new general, +accordingly, felt more anxiety from the corrupt morals of the men, +than confidence or hope from their numbers. He determined, however, +though the delay of the comitia had shortened his summer campaign, and +though he knew his countrymen to be anxious for the result of his +proceedings, not to commence operations, until, by a revival of the +old discipline, he had brought the soldiers to bear fatigue. For +Albinus, dispirited by the disaster of his brother Aulus and his army, +and having resolved not to leave the province during the portion of +the summer that he was to command, had kept the soldiers, for the most +part, in a stationary camp[151], except when stench, or want of +forage, obliged them to remove. But neither had the camp been +fortified[152], nor the watches kept, according to military usage; +every one had been allowed to leave his post when he pleased. The +camp-followers, mingled with the soldiers, wandered about day and +night, ravaging the country, robbing the houses, and vying with each +other in carrying off cattle and slaves, which they exchanged with +traders for foreign wine[153] and other luxuries; they even sold the +corn, which was given them from the public store, and bought bread +from day to day; and, in a word, whatever abominations, arising from +idleness and licentiousness, can be expressed or imagined, and even +more, were to be seen in that army. + +XLV. But I am assured that Metellus, in these difficult circumstances, +no less than in his operations against the enemy, proved himself a +great and wise man; so just a medium did he observe between an +affectation of popularity and an excessive enforcement of discipline. +His first measure was to remove incentives to idleness, by a general +order that no one should sell bread, or any other dressed provisions, +in the camp; that no sutlers should follow the army; and that no +common soldier should have a servant, or beast of burden, either in a +camp or on a march. He made the strictest regulations, too, with +regard to other things.[154] He moved his camp daily, exercising the +soldiers by marches across the country; he fortified it with a rampart +and a trench, exactly as if the enemy had been at hand; he placed +numerous sentinels[155] by night, and went the rounds with his +officers; and, when the army was on the march; he would be at one time +in the front, at another in the rear, and at another in the center, to +see that none quitted their ranks, that the men kept close to their +standards, and that every soldier carried his provisions and his arms. +Thus by preventing rather than punishing irregularities, he in a short +time rendered his army effective. + +XLVI. Jugurtha, meantime, having learned from his emissaries how +Metellus was proceeding, and having heard, when he was in Rome, of the +integrity of the consul's character, began to despair of his plans, +and at length actually endeavored to effect a capitulation. He +therefore sent deputies to the consul with proposals of submission, +stipulating only for his own life and that of his children, and +offering to surrender every thing else to the Romans. But Metellus had +already learned by experience, that the Numidians were a faithless +race, of unsettled disposition, and fond of change; and he accordingly +applied himself to each of the deputies separately, and after +gradually sounding them, and finding them proper instruments for his +purpose, prevailed on them, by large promises, to deliver Jugurtha +into his hands; bringing him alive, if they could, or dead, if to take +him alive was impracticable. In public, however, he directed that such +an answer should be given to the king as would be agreeable to his +wishes. + +A few days afterward, he led the army, which was now vigorous and +resolute, into Numidia, where, instead of any appearance of war, he +found the cottages full of people, and the cattle and laborers in the +fields, while the officers of Jugurtha came from the towns and +villages[156] to meet him, offering to supply him with corn, to convey +provisions for him, and to do whatever might be required of them. +Metellus, notwithstanding, made no diminution in the caution with +which he marched, but kept as much upon the defensive as if an enemy +had been at hand; and he dispatched scouts to explore the country, +thinking that these signs of submission were but pretense, and that +the Numidians were watching an opportunity for treachery. He himself, +with some light-armed cohorts, and a select body of slingers and +archers, advanced always in the front; while Caius Marius, his +lieutenant-general, at the head of the cavalry, had charge of the +rear. The auxiliary horse, distributed among the tribunes of the +legions and prefects of the cohorts, he placed on the flanks, so that, +with the aid of the light troops mixed with them, they might repel the +enemy whenever an approach should be made. For such was the subtlety +of Jugurtha, and such his knowledge of the country and the art of war, +that it was doubtful whether he was more formidable absent or present, +offering peace or threatening hostilities. + +XLVII. There lay, not far from the route which Metellus was pursuing, +a city of the Numidians named Vaga, the most celebrated place for +trade in the whole kingdom, in which many Italian merchants were +accustomed to reside and traffic. Here the consul, to try the +disposition of the inhabitants, and, should they allow him, to take +advantage of the situation of the place[157], established a garrison, +and ordered the people to furnish him with corn, and other necessaries +for war; thinking, as circumstances indeed suggested, that the +concourse of merchants, and frequent arrival of supplies[158], would +add strength to his army, and further the plans which he had already +formed. + +In the midst of these proceedings, Jugurtha, with extraordinary +earnestness[159], sent deputies to sue for peace, offering to resign +every thing to Metellus, except his own life and that of his children. +These, like the former, the consul first reduced to treachery, and +then sent back; the peace which Jugurtha asked, he neither granted nor +refused, but waited, during these delays, the performance of the +deputies' promises. XLVIII. Jugurtha, on comparing the words of +Metellus with his actions, perceived that he was assailed with his own +artifices; for though peace was offered him in words, a most vigorous +war was in reality pursued against him; one of his strongest cities +was wrested from him; his country was explored by the enemy, and the +affections of his subjects alienated. Being compelled, therefore, by +the necessity of circumstances, he resolved to try the fortune of a +battle. Having, with this view, informed himself of the exact route of +the enemy, and hoping for success from the advantage of the ground, he +collected as large a force of every kind as he could, and, marching by +cross-roads, got in advance of Metellus' army. + +There was, in that part of Numidia, of which, on the division of the +kingdom, Adherbal had become possessor, a river named Muthul, flowing +from the south; and, about twenty miles from it, was a range of +mountains running parallel with the stream[160], wild and +uncultivated; but from the center of it stretched a kind of hill, +reaching to a vast distance, covered with wild olives, myrtles, and +other trees, such as grow in a dry and sandy soil. The plain, which +lay between the mountains and the Muthul, was uninhabited from want of +water, except the parts bordering on the river, which were planted +with trees, and full of cattle and inhabitants. + +XLIX. On this hill, which I have just mentioned, stretching in a +transverse direction[161], Jugurtha took post with his line drawn out +to a great length. The command of the elephants, and of part of the +infantry, he committed to Bomilcar, and gave him instructions how to +act. He himself, with the whole of the cavalry and the choicest of the +foot, took his station nearer to the range of mountains. Then, riding +round among the several squadrons and battalions, he exhorted and +conjured them to call to mind their former prowess and triumphs, and +to defend themselves and their country from Roman rapacity; saying +that they would have to engage with those whom they had already +conquered and sent under the yoke, and that, though their commander +was changed, there was no alteration in their spirit. He added, that +he had provided for his men every thing becoming a general; that he +had chosen the higher ground, where they, being well acquainted with +the country[162], would contend with adversaries ignorant of it; nor +would they engage, inferior in numbers and skill, with a larger or +more experienced force; and that they should, therefore, be ready, +when the signal should be given, to fall vigorously on the Romans, as +that day would either crown[163] all their labors and victories, or be +a prelude to the most grievous calamities. He also addressed himself, +individually, to any one whom he had rewarded with money or honors for +military desert, reminding him of his favors, and pointing him out as +an example to the rest; and finally he excited all his men, some in +one way and some in another, by threats or entreaties, according to +the different dispositions of each. + +Metellus, who was still ignorant of the enemy's position, was now +seen[164] descending the mountain with his army. He was at first +doubtful what the strange appearance before him indicated; for the +Numidians, both cavalry and infantry, had taken post among the wood, +not entirely concealing themselves, by reason of the lowness of the +trees, yet rendering it uncertain[165] what they were, as both +themselves and their standards were screened as well by the nature of +the ground as by artifice; but soon perceiving that there were men in +ambush, he halted awhile, and, having altered the arrangement of his +troops, he drew up those in the right wing, which was nearest to the +enemy, in three lines[166]; he distributed the slingers and archers +among the infantry, posted all the cavalry on the flanks, and having +made a brief address, such as time permitted, to his men, he led them +down, with the front changed into a flank[167], toward the plain. + +L. But when he observed that the Numidians remained quiet, and did not +offer to descend from the hill, he became apprehensive that his army, +from the season of the year and the scarcity of water, might be +overcome with thirst, and therefore sent Rutilius, one of his +lieutenant-generals, with the light-armed cohorts and a detachment of +cavalry, toward the river, to secure ground for an encampment, +expecting that the enemy, by frequent charges and attacks on his +flank, would endeavor to impede his march, and, as they despaired of +success in arms, would try the effect of fatigue and thirst on his +troops. + +He then continued to advance by degrees, as his circumstances and the +ground permitted, in the same order in which he had descended from the +range of mountains. He assigned Marius his post behind the front +line[168], and took on himself the command of the cavalry on the left +wing, which, on the march, had become the van[169]. + +When Jugurtha perceived that the rear of the Roman army had passed his +first line, he took possession of that part of the mountain from which +Metellus had descended, with a body of about two thousand infantry, +that it might not serve the enemy, if they were driven back, as a +place of retreat, and afterward as a post of defense; and then, +ordering the signal to be given, suddenly commenced his attack. Some +of his Numidians made havoc in the rear of the Romans, while others +assailed them on the right and left wings; they all advanced and +charged furiously, and every where threw the consul's troops into +confusion. Even those of our men who made the stoutest resistance, +were baffled by the enemy's versatile method of fighting, and wounded +from a distance, without having the power of wounding in return, or of +coming to close combat; for the Numidian cavalry, as they had been +previously instructed by Jugurtha, retreated whenever a troop of +Romans attempted to pursue them, but did not keep in a body, or +collect themselves into one place, but dispersed as widely as +possible. Thus, being superior in numbers, if they could not deter the +Romans from pursuing, they surrounded them, when disordered, on the +rear or flank, or, if the hill seemed more convenient for retreat than +the plain, the Numidian horses, being accustomed to the brushwood, +easily made their way among it, while the difficulty of the ascent, +and want of acquaintance with the ground, impeded those of the Romans. + +LI. The aspect of the whole struggle[170] was indeed various, +perplexing, direful, and lamentable; the men, separated from their +comrades, were partly fleeing, partly pursuing; neither standards nor +ranks were regarded, but wherever danger pressed, there they made a +stand and defended themselves; arms and weapons, horses and men, +enemies, and fellow-countrymen, were all mingled in confusion; nothing +was done by direction or command, but chance ordered every thing. +Though the day, therefore, was now far advanced, the event of the +contest was still uncertain. At last, however, when all were faint +with exertion and the heat of the day, Metellus, observing that the +Numidians were less vigorous in their charges, drew his troops +together by degrees, restored order among them, and led four cohorts +of the legions against the enemy's infantry, of whom a great number, +overcome with fatigue, had seated themselves on the high ground. He at +the same time entreated and exhorted his men not to lose courage, nor +to suffer a flying enemy to be victorious; adding that they had +neither camp nor citadel to which they could flee, but that their only +dependence was on their arms. Nor was Jugurtha, in the mean time, +inactive; he rode round among his troops, cheered them, renewed the +contest, and, at the head of a select body, made every possible effort +for victory; supporting his own men, charging such of the enemy as +wavered, and repressing with missiles such as he saw remaining +unshaken. + +LII. Thus did these two commanders, both eminent men, maintain the +contest against each other. In personal ability they were equal, but +in circumstances unequal. Metellus had resolute troops, but a +disadvantageous position; Jugurtha had every thing in his favor except +men. At last the Romans, seeing that they had no place of refuge, that +the enemy allowed no opportunity for a regular engagement, and that +the evening was fast approaching, forced their way, according to the +orders which were given, up the hill. The Numidians were thus driven +from their position, routed, and put to flight; a few of them were +slain, but their speed, and the enemy's ignorance of the country[171], +saved the greater number of them. + +Meanwhile Bomilcar, who, as I have said before, was appointed by +Jugurtha over the elephants and a part of the infantry, having seen +Rutilius pass by him, led down his men gradually into the plain, and +while Rutilius hastened to the river, to which he had been dispatched, +quietly drew them up in such order as circumstances required; not +omitting, at the same time, to watch every movement of the enemy. When +he learned that Rutilius had taken his position, and seemed free from +apprehension of danger, and heard, at the same time, an increasing +noise where Jugurtha was engaged, fearing lest the lieutenant-general, +taking the alarm, should go to the support of his countrymen in +difficulties, he, in order to intercept his march, increased the +extent of his lines, which, from distrust of the bravery of his men, +he had previously condensed, and advanced in this order toward +Rutilius' camp. + +LIII. The Romans, on a sudden, observed a vast cloud of dust, which, +as the ground, thickly covered with brushes, obstructed their view, +they at first supposed to be only sand raised by the wind; but at +length, when they saw that it continued uniform, and approached nearer +and nearer as the line advanced, they understood the real cause of it, +and, hastily seizing their arms, drew up, as their commander directed, +before the camp. When the enemy came up, both sides rushed to the +encounter with loud shouts. But the Numidians maintained the contest +only as long as they trusted for support to their elephants; for, when +they saw the animals entangled in the boughs of the trees, and +dispersed or surrounded by the enemy, they betook themselves to +flight, and most of them, having thrown away their arms, escaped, by +favor of the hill, or of the night, which was now coming on, without +injury. Of the elephants, four were taken, and the rest, to the number +of forty, were killed. + +The Romans, though fatigued and exhausted[172] with their march, the +construction of their camp, and the engagement, yet, as Metellus was +longer in coming than they expected, advanced to meet him in regular +and steady order. The subtlety of the Numidians, indeed, allowed them +neither rest nor relaxation. But as the two parties drew together, in +the obscurity of the night, each occasioned, by a noise like that of +enemies approaching, alarm and trepidation in the other; and, had not +parties of horse, sent forward from both sides, ascertained the truth, +a fatal disaster was on the point of happening from the mistake. +However, in place of fear, joy quickly succeeded; the soldiers met +with mutual congratulations, relating their adventures, or listening +to those of others, and each extolling his own achievements to the +skies. For thus it is with human affairs; in success, even cowards may +boast; while defeat lowers the character even of heroes. + +LIV. Metellus remained four days in the same camp. He carefully +provided for the recovery of the wounded, rewarded, in military +fashion, such as had distinguished themselves in the engagements, and +praised and thanked them all in a public address; exhorting them to +maintain equal resolution in their future labors, which would be less +arduous, as they had fought sufficiently for victory, and would now +have to contend only for spoil. In the mean time he dispatched +deserters, and other eligible persons, to ascertain where Jugurtha +was, or what he was doing; whether he had but few followers, or a +large army; and how he conducted himself under his defeat. The prince, +he found, had retreated to places full of wood, well defended by +nature, and was there collecting an army, which would be more numerous +indeed than the former, but inactive and inefficient, as being +composed of men better acquainted with husbandry and cattle than with +war. This had happened from the circumstance, that, in case of flight, +none of the Numidian troops, except the royal cavalry, follow their +king; the rest disperse, wherever inclination leads them; nor is this +thought any disgrace to them as soldiers, such being the custom of the +people. + +Metellus, therefore, seeing that Jugurtha's spirit was still +unsubdued; that a war was being renewed, which could only be +conducted[173] according to the prince's pleasure; and that he was +struggling with the enemy on unequal terms, as the Numidians suffered +a defeat with less loss than his own men gained a victory, he resolved +to manage the contest, not by pitched battles or regular warfare, but +in another method. He accordingly marched into the richest parts of +Numidia, captured and burned many fortresses and towns, which were +insufficiently or wholly undefended, put the youth to the sword, and +gave up every thing else as plunder to his soldiers. From the terror +caused by these proceedings, many persons were given up as hostages to +the Romans; corn, and other necessaries, were supplied in abundance; +and garrisons were admitted wherever Metellus thought fit. + +These measures alarmed Jugurtha much more than the loss of the late +battle; for he, whose whole security lay in flight, was compelled to +pursue; and he who could not defend his own part of the kingdom, was +obliged to make war in that which was occupied by others. Under these +circumstances, however[174], he adopted what seemed the most eligible +plan. He ordered the main body of his army to continue stationary; +while he himself, with a select troop of cavalry, went in pursuit of +Metellus, and coming upon him unperceived, by means of night marches +and by-roads, he fell upon such of the Roman as were straggling about, +of whom the greater number, being unarmed, were slain, and several +others made prisoners; not one of them, indeed, escaped unharmed; and +the Numidians, before assistance could arrive from the camp, fled, as +they had been ordered, to the nearest hills. + +LV. In the mean time great joy appeared at Rome when the proceedings +of Metellus were reported, and when it was known how he was conducting +himself and his army conformably to the ancient discipline; how, on +adverse ground, he had gained a victory by his valor; how he was +securing possession of the enemy's territory; and how he had driven +Jugurtha, when elated by the weakness of Aulus, to depend for safety +on the desert or on flight. For these successes, accordingly, the +senate decreed a thanksgiving[175] to the immortal gods; the city, +which had been full of anxiety, and apprehensive as to the event of +the war, was now filled with joy; and the fame of Metellus was raised +to the utmost height. + +The consul's eagerness to gain a complete victory was thus increased; +he exerted himself in every possible way, taking care, at the same +time, to give the enemy no opportunity of attacking him to advantage. +He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the +more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and +circumspection. He never went out to plunder, after the sudden attack +of Jugurtha, with his troops in scattered parties; when corn or forage +was sought, a body of cohorts, with the whole of the cavalry, were +stationed as a guard. He himself conducted part of the army, and +Marius the rest. The country was wasted, however, more by fire than by +spoliation. They had separate camps, not far from each other; whenever +there was occasion for force, they formed a union; but, that +desolation and terror might spread the further, they acted separately. +Jugurtha, meanwhile, continued to follow them along the hills, +watching for a favorable opportunity or situation for an attack. He +destroyed the forage, and spoiled the water, which was scarce, +wherever he found that the enemy were coming. He presented himself +sometimes to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius; he would attack their +rear upon a march, and instantly retreat to the hills; he would +threaten sometimes one point, and sometimes another, neither giving +battle nor allowing rest, but making it his great object to retard the +progress of the enemy. + +LVI. The Roman commander, finding himself thus harassed by artifices, +and allowed no opportunity of coming to a general engagement, resolved +on laying siege to a large city, named Zama, which was the bulwark of +that part of the kingdom in which it was situate; expecting that +Jugurtha, as a necessary consequence, would come to the relief of his +subjects in distress, and that a battle would then follow. But the +king, being apprised by some deserters of the consul's design, reached +the place, by rapid marches, before him, and exhorted the inhabitants +to defend their walls, giving them, as a reinforcement, a body of +deserters; a class of men, who, of all the royal forces, were the most +to be trusted, inasmuch as they dared not be guilty of treachery[176]. +He also promised to support them, whenever it should be necessary, +with his whole army. + +Having taken these precautions, he retired into the deserts of the +interior; where he soon after learned that Marius, with a few cohorts, +had been dispatched from the line of march to bring provisions from +Sicca[177], a town which had been the first to revolt from him after +his defeat. To this place he hastened by night, accompanied by a +select body of cavalry, and attacked the Romans at the gate, just as +they were leaving the city; calling to the inhabitants, at the same +time, with a loud voice, to surround the cohorts in the rear; adding, +that Fortune had given them an opportunity for a glorious exploit; and +that, if they took advantage of it, he would henceforth enjoy his +kingdom, and they their liberty, without fear. And had not Marius +hastened to advance the standards, and to escape from the town, it is +certain that all, or the greater part of the inhabitants, would have +changed their allegiance; so great is the fickleness which the +Numidians exhibit in their conduct. The soldiers of Jugurtha, animated +for a time by their king, but finding the enemy pressing them with +superior force, betook themselves, after losing a few of their number, +to flight. + +LVII. Marius arrived at Zama. This town, built on a plain, was better +fortified by art than by nature. It was well supplied with +necessaries, and contained plenty of arms and men. Metellus, having +made arrangements suitable for the time and the place, encompassed the +whole city with his army, assigning to each of his officers his post +of command. At a given signal, a loud shout was raised on every side, +but without exciting the least alarm in the Numidians, who awaited the +attack full of spirit and resolution. The assault was consequently +commenced; the Romans were allowed to act each according to his +inclination; some annoyed the enemy with slings and stones from a +distance; others came close up to the walls, and attempted to +undermine or scale them, desiring to engage in close combat with the +besieged. The Zamians, on the other hand, rolled down stones, and +hurled burning stakes, javelins[178], and wood smeared with pitch and +sulphur, on the nearest assailants. Nor was caution a sufficient +protection to those who kept aloof; for darts, discharged from engines +or by the hand, inflicted wounds on most of them; and thus the brave and +the timid, though of unequal merit, were exposed to equal danger. + +LVIII. While the struggle was thus continued at Zama, Jugurtha, at the +head of a large force, suddenly attacked the camp of the Romans, and, +through the remissness of those left to guard it, who expected any +thing rather than an attack, effected an entrance at one of the gates. +Our men, struck with sudden consternation, acted each on his own +impulse; some fled, others seized their arms; and many of them were +wounded or slain. About forty, however, out of the whole number +mindful of the honor of Rome, formed themselves into a body, and took +possession of a slight eminence, from which they could not be +dislodged by the utmost efforts of the enemy, but hurled back the +darts discharged at them, and, as they were few against many, not +without execution. If the Numidians came near them, they displayed +their courage, and slaughtered, repulsed, and dispersed them, with the +greatest fury. Metellus, meanwhile, who was vigorously pursuing the +siege, heard a noise, as of enemies, in his rear, and, turning round +his horse, perceived a party of soldiers in flight toward him; a +certain proof that they were his own men. He instantly, therefore, +dispatched the whole of the cavalry to the camp, and immediately +afterward Caius Marius, with the cohorts of the allies, entreating him +with tears, by their mutual friendship, and by his regard for the +public welfare, to allow no stain to rest on a victorious army, and +not to let the enemy escape with impunity. Marius soon executed his +orders. Jugurtha, in consequence, after being embarrassed in the +intrenchments of the camp, while some of his men threw themselves over +the ramparts, and others, in their haste, obstructed each other at the +gates, fled, with considerable loss, to his strongholds, Metellus, not +succeeding in his attempt on the town, retired with his forces, at the +approach of night, into his camp. + +LIX. On the following day, before he marched out to resume the siege, +he ordered the whole of his cavalry to take their station before the +camp, on the side where the approach of Jugurtha was to be apprehended; +assigning the gates, and adjoining posts, to the charge of the tribunes. +He then marched toward the town, and commenced an assault upon the walls +as on the day before. Jugurtha, meanwhile, issuing from his concealment, +suddenly attacked our men in the camp, of whom those stationed in advance +were for the moment alarmed and thrown into confusion; but the rest soon +came to their support; nor would the Numidians have longer maintained +their ground, had not their foot, which were mingled with the cavalry, +done great execution in the struggle; for the horse, relying on the +infantry, did not, as is common in actions of cavalry, charge and then +retreat, but pressed impetuously forward, disordering and breaking the +ranks, and thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost succeeded +in giving the army a defeat[179]. + +LX. The conflict at Zama, at the same time, was continued with great +fury. Wherever any lieutenant or tribune commanded, there the men +exerted themselves with the utmost vigor. No one seemed to depend for +support on others, but every one on his own exertions. The townsmen, +on the other side, showed equal spirit. Attacks, or preparations for +defense, were made in all quarters[180]. All appeared more eager to +wound their enemies than to protect themselves. Shouts, mingled with +exhortations, cries of joy, and the clashing of arms, resounded +through the heavens. Darts flew thick on every side. If the besiegers, +however, in the least relaxed their efforts, the defenders of the +walls immediately turned their attention to the distant engagement of +the cavalry; they were to be seen sometimes exhibiting joy, and +sometimes apprehension, according to the varying fortune of Jugurtha, +and, as if they could be heard or seen by their friends, uttering +warnings or exhortations, making signs with their hands, and moving +their bodies to and fro, like men avoiding or hurling darts. This +being noticed by Marius, who commanded on that side of the town, he +artfully relaxed his efforts, as if despairing of success, and allowed +the besieged to view the battle at the camp unmolested. Then, while +their attention was closely fixed on their countrymen, he made a +vigorous assault on the wall, and the soldiers mounting their scaling +ladders, had almost gained the top, when the townsmen rushed to the +spot in a body, and hurled down upon them stones, firebrands, and +every description of missiles. Our men made head against these +annoyances for a while, but at length, when some of the ladders were +broken, and those who had mounted them dashed to the ground, the rest +of the assailants retreated as they could, a few indeed unhurt, but +the greater number miserably wounded. Night put an end to the efforts +of both parties. + +LXI. When Metellus saw that all his attempts were vain; that the town +was not to be taken; that Jugurtha was resolved to abstain from +fighting, except from an ambush, or on his own ground, and that the +summer was now far advanced, he withdrew his army from Zama, and +placed garrisons in such of the cities that had revolted to him as +were sufficiently strong in situation or fortifications. The rest of +his forces he settled in winter quarters, in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia[181]. + +This season of repose, however, he did not, like other commanders, +abandon to idleness and luxury; but as the war had been but slowly +advanced by fighting, he resolved to try the effect of treachery on +the king through his friends, and to employ their perfidy instead of +arms. He accordingly addressed himself with large promises, to +Bomilcar, the same nobleman who had been with Jugurtha at Rome, and +who had fled from thence, notwithstanding he had given bail, to escape +being tried for the murder of Massiva; selecting this person for his +instrument, because, from his great intimacy with Jugurtha, he had the +best opportunities of betraying him. He prevailed on him, in the first +place, to come to a conference with him privately, when, having given +him his word, "that, if he should deliver up Jugurtha, alive or dead, +the senate would grant him a pardon, and the full possession of his +property," he easily brought him over to his purpose, especially as he +was naturally faithless, and also apprehensive that, if peace were +made with the Romans, he himself would be surrendered to justice by +the terms of it. + +LXII. Bomilcar took the earliest opportunity of addressing Jugurtha, +at a time when he was full of anxiety, and lamenting his ill success. +He exhorted and implored him, with tears in his eyes, to take at +length some thought for himself and his children, as well as for the +people of Numidia, who had so much claim upon him. He reminded him +that they had been, defeated in every battle; that the country was +laid waste; that numbers of his subjects had been captured or slain; +that the resources of the kingdom were greatly reduced; that the valor +of his soldiers, and his own fortune, had been already sufficiently +tried; and that he should beware, lest, if he delayed to consult for +his people, his people should consult for themselves. By these and +similar appeals, he prevailed with Jugurtha to think of a surrender. +Embassadors were accordingly sent to the Roman general, announcing +that Jugurtha was ready to submit to whatever he should desire, and to +trust himself and his kingdom unconditionally to his honor. Metellus, +on receiving this statement, summoned such of his officers as were of +senatorial rank, from their winter quarters; of whom, with, others +whom he thought eligible, he formed a council. By a resolution of this +assembly, in conformity with ancient usage, he demanded of Jugurtha, +through his embassadors, two hundred thousand pounds' weight of +silver, all his elephants, and a portion of his horses and arms. These +requisitions being immediately complied with, he next desired that all +the deserters should be brought to him in chains. A large number of +them were accordingly brought; but a few, when the surrender first +began to be mentioned, had fled into Mauretania to king Bocchus. + +When Jugurtha, however, after being thus despoiled of arms, men and +money, was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium[182], to await the +consul's commands, he began again to change his mind, dreading, from a +consciousness of guilt, the punishment due to his crimes. Having spent +several days in hesitation, sometimes, from disgust at his ill +success, believing any thing better than war, and sometimes +considering with himself how grievous would be the fall from +sovereignty to slavery, he at last determined, notwithstanding that he +had lost so many and so valuable means of resistance, to commence +hostilities anew. + +At Rome, meanwhile, the senate, having been consulted about the +provinces, had decreed Numidia to Metellus. + +LXIII. About the same time, as Caius Marius, who happened to be at +Utica, was sacrificing to the gods[183], an augur told him that great +and wonderful things were presaged to him; that he might therefore +pursue whatever designs he had formed, trusting to the gods for +success; and that he might try fortune as often as he pleased, for +that all his undertakings would prosper. Previously to this period an +ardent longing for the consulship had possessed him; and he had, +indeed, every qualification for obtaining it, except antiquity of +family; he had industry, integrity, great knowledge of war, and a +spirit undaunted in the field; he was temperate in private life, +superior to pleasure and riches, and ambitious only of glory. +Having been born at Arpinum, and brought up there during his boyhood, +he employed himself, as soon as he was of age to bear arms, not in the +study of Greek eloquence, nor in learning the refinements of the city, +but in military service; and thus, amid the strictest discipline, his +excellent genius soon attained full vigor. When he solicited the +people, therefore, for the military tribuneship, he was well known by +name, though most were strangers to his face, and unanimously elected +by the tribes. After this office he attained others in succession, and +conducted himself so well in his public duties, that he was always +deemed worthy of a higher station than he had reached. Yet, though +such had been his character hitherto (for he was afterward carried +away by ambition), he had not ventured to stand for the consulship. +The people, at that time, still disposed of[184] other civil offices, +but the nobility transmitted the consulship from hand to hand among +themselves. Nor had any commoner appeared, however famous or +distinguished by his achievements, who would not have been thought +unworthy of that honor, and, as it were, a disgrace to it[185]. + +LXIV. But when Marius found that the words of the augur pointed in the +same direction as his own inclinations prompted him, he requested of +Metellus leave of absence, that he might offer himself a candidate for +the consulship. Metellus, though eminently distinguished by virtue, +honor, and other qualities valued by the good, had yet a haughty and +disdainful spirit, the common failing of the nobility. He was at +first, therefore, astonished at so extraordinary an application, +expressed surprise at Marius's views, and advised him, as if in +friendship, "not to indulge such unreasonable expectations, or elevate +his thoughts above his station; that all things were not to be coveted +by all men; that his present condition ought to satisfy him; and, +finally, that he should be cautious of asking from the Roman people +what they might justly refuse him." Having made these and similar +remarks, and finding that the resolution of Marius was not at all +affected by them, he told him "that he would grant what he desired as +soon as the public business would allow him".[186] On Marius repeating +his request several times afterward, he is reported to have said, +"that he need not be in a hurry to go, as he would be soon enough if +he became a candidate with his own son."[187] Metellus's son was then +on service in the camp with his father[188], and was about twenty +years old. + +This taunt served only to rouse the feelings of Marius, as well for +the honor at which he aimed, as against Metellus. He suffered himself +to be actuated, therefore, by ambition and resentment, the worst of +counselors. He omitted nothing henceforward, either in deeds or words, +that could increase his own popularity. He allowed the soldiers, of +whom he had the command in the winter quarters, more relaxation of +discipline than he had ever granted them before. He talked of the war +among the merchants, of whom there was a great number at Utica, +censoriously with respect to Metellus, and vauntingly with regard to +himself; saying "that if but half of the army were granted him, he +would in a few days have Jugurtha in chains; but that the war was +purposely protracted by the consul, because, being a man of vanity and +regal pride, he was too fond of the delights of power." All these +assertions appeared the more credible to the merchants, as, by the +long continuance of the war, they had suffered in their fortunes; and +to impatient minds no haste is sufficient. + +LXV. There was then in our army a Numidian named Gauda, the son of +Mastanabal, and grandson of Masinissa, whom Micipsa, in his will, had +appointed next heir to his immediate successors. This man had been +debilitated by ill-health, and, from the effect of it, was somewhat +impaired in his understanding. He had petitioned Metellus to allow him +a seat, like a prince, next to himself, and a troop of horse for a +bodyguard; but Metellus had refused him both; the seat, because it was +granted only to those whom the Roman people had addressed as kings, +and the guard, because it would be an indignity to Roman cavalry to +act as guards to a Numidian. While Gauda was discontented at these +refusals, Marius paid him a visit, and prompted him, with his +assistance, to seek revenge for the affronts put upon him by the +general; inflating his mind, which was as weak as his body,[189] with +flattering speeches, telling him that he was a prince, a great man, +and the grandson of Masinissa; that if Jugurtha were taken or killed, +he would immediately become king of Numidia; and that this event might +soon happen, if he himself were sent as consul to the war. + +Thus partly the influence of Marius himself, and partly the hope of +obtaining peace, induced Gauda, as well as most of the Roman knights, +both soldiers and merchants,[190] to write to their friends at Rome, +in a style of censure, respecting Metellus's management of the war, +and to intimate that Marius should be appointed general. The consulship, +accordingly, was solicited for him by numbers of people, with the most +honorable demonstrations in his favor.[191] It happened that the +people too, at this juncture, having just triumphed over the nobility +by the Mamilian law,[192] were eager to raise commoners to office. +Hence every thing was favorable to Marius's views. + +LXVI. Jugurtha, meantime, who, after relinquishing his intention to +surrender, had renewed the war, was now hastening the preparations for +it with the utmost diligence. He assembled an army; he endeavored, by +threats or promises, to recover the towns that had revolted from him; +he fortified advantageous positions;[193] he repaired or purchased +arms, weapons, and other necessaries, which he had given up on the +prospect of peace; he tried to seduce the slaves of the Romans, and +even tempted with bribes the Romans themselves who occupied the +garrisons; he, indeed, left nothing untried or neglected, but put +every engine in motion. + +Induced by the entreaties of their king, from whom, indeed, they had +never been alienated in affection, the leading inhabitants of Vacca, a +city in which Metellus, when Jugurtha began to treat for peace, had +placed a garrison, entered into a conspiracy against the Romans. As +for the common people of the town, they were, as is generally the +case, and especially among the Numidians, of a fickle disposition, +factious and turbulent, and therefore already desirous of a change, +and adverse to peace and quiet. Having arranged their plans, they +fixed upon the third day following for the execution of them, because +that day, being a festival, celebrated throughout Africa, would +promise merriment and dissipation rather than alarm. When the time +came, they invited the centurions and military tribunes, with Titus +Turpilius Silanus, the governor of the town, to their several houses, +and butchered them all, except Turpilius, at their banquets; and then +fell upon the common soldiers, who, as was to be expected on such a +day, when discipline was relaxed, were wandering about without their +arms. The populace followed the example of their chiefs, some of them +having been previously instructed to do so, and others induced by a +liking for such disorders, and, though ignorant of what had been done +or intended, finding sufficient gratification in tumult and variety. + +LXVII. The Roman soldiers, perplexed with sudden alarm, and not +knowing what was best for them to do, were in trepidation. At the +citadel,[194] where their standards and shields were, was posted a +guard of the enemy; and the city-gates, previously closed, prevented +escape. Women and children, too, on the roofs of the houses,[195] +hurled down upon them, with great eagerness, stones and whatever else +their position furnished. Thus neither could such twofold danger be +guarded against, nor could the bravest resist the feeblest; the worthy +and the worthless, the valiant and the cowardly, were alike put to +death unavenged. In the midst of this slaughter, while the Numidians +were exercising every cruelty, and the town was closed on all sides, +Turpilius was the only one, of all the Italians, that escaped unhurt. +Whether his flight was the consequence of compassion in his entertainer, +of compact, or of chance, I have never discovered; but since, in such a +general massacre, he preferred inglorious safety to an honorable name, +he seems to have been a worthless and infamous character.[196] + +LXVIII. When Metellus heard of what had happened at Vacca, he retired +for a time, overpowered with sorrow, from the public gaze; but at +length, as indignation mingled with his grief, he hastened, with the +utmost spirit, to take vengeance for the outrage. He led forth, at +sunset, the legion that was in winter quarters with him, and as many +Numidian horse as he could, and arrived, about the third hour on the +following day, at a certain plain surrounded by rising grounds. Here +he acquainted the soldiers, who were now exhausted with the length of +their march, and averse to further exertion,[197] that the town of +Vacca was not above a mile distant, and that it became them to bear +patiently the toil that remained, with the hope of exacting revenge for +their countrymen, the bravest and most unfortunate of men. He likewise +generously promised them the whole of the plunder. Their courage being +thus revived, he ordered them to resume their march, the cavalry +maintaining an extended line in front, and the infantry, with their +standards concealed, keeping the closest order behind. + +LXIX. The people of Vacca, perceiving an army coming toward them, +judged rightly at first that it was Metellus, and shut their gates; +but, after a while, when they saw that their fields were not laid +waste, and that the front consisted of Numidian cavalry, they imagined +that it was Jugurtha, and went out with great joy to meet him. A +signal being immediately given, both cavalry and infantry commenced an +attack; some cut down the multitude pouring from the town, others +hurried to the gates, others secured the towers, revenge and the hope +of plunder prevailing over their weariness. Thus Vacca triumphed only +two days in its treachery; the whole city, which was great and +opulent, was given up to vengeance and spoliation. Turpilius, the +governor, whom we mentioned as the only person that escaped, was +summoned by Metellus to answer for his conduct, and not being able to +clear himself, was condemned, as a native of Latium,[198] to be +scourged and put to death. + +LXX. About this time, Bomilcar, at whose persuasion Jugurtha had +entered upon the capitulation which he had discontinued through fear, +being distrusted by the king, and distrusting him in return, grew +desirous of a change of government. He accordingly meditated schemes +for Jugurtha's destruction, racking his invention night and day. At +last, to leave nothing untried, he sought an accomplice in Nabdalsa, a +man of noble birth and great wealth, who was in high regard and favor +with his countrymen, and who, on most occasions, used to command a +body of troops distinct from those of the king, and to transact all +business to which Jugurtha, from fatigue, or from being occupied with +more important matters, was unable to attend;[199] employments by +which he had gained both honors and wealth. By these two men in +concert, a day was fixed for the execution of their treachery; +succeeding matters they agreed to settle as the exigences of the +moment might require. Nabdalsa then proceeded to join his troops, +which he kept in readiness, according to orders, among the winter +quarters of the Romans,[200] to prevent the country from being ravaged +by the enemy with impunity. + +But as Nabdalsa, growing alarmed at the magnitude of the undertaking, +failed to appear at the appointed time, and allowed his fears to +hinder their plans, Bomilcar, eager for their execution, and +disquieted at the timidity of his associate, lest he should relinquish +his original intentions and adopt some new course, sent him a letter +by some confidential person, in which he "reproached him with +pusillanimity and irresolution, and conjured him by the gods, by whom +he had sworn, not to turn the offers of Metellus to his own +destruction;" assuring him "that the fall of Jugurtha was approaching; +that the only thing to be considered was whether he should perish by +their hand or by that of Metellus; and that, in consequence, he might +consider whether to choose rewards, or death by torture." + +LXXI. It happened that when this letter was brought, Nabdalsa, +overcome with fatigue, was reposing on his couch, where, after reading +Bomilcar's letter, anxiety at first, and afterward, as is usual with a +troubled mind, sleep overpowered him. In his service there was a +certain Numidian, the manager of his affairs, a person who possessed +his confidence and esteem, and who was acquainted with all his designs +except the last. He, hearing that a letter had arrived, and supposing +that there would be occasion, as usual, for his assistance or +suggestions, went into the tent, and, while his master was asleep, +took up the letter thrown carelessly upon the cushion behind his +head,[201] and read it; and, having thus discovered the plot, set off +in haste to Jugurtha. Nabdalsa, who awoke soon after, missing the +letter, and hearing of the whole affair, and how it had happened, at +first attempted to pursue the informer, but finding that pursuit was +vain, he went himself to Jugurtha to try to appease him; saying that +the disclosure which he intended to make, had been anticipated by the +perfidy of his servant; and beseeching him with tears, by his +friendship, and by his own former proofs of fidelity, not to think +that he could be guilty of such treachery. + +LXXII. To these entreaties the king replied with a mildness far +different from his real feelings. After putting to death Bomilcar, and +many others whom he knew to be privy to the plot, he refrained from +any further manifestation of resentment, lest an insurrection should +be the consequence of it. But after this occurrence he had no peace +either by day or by night; he thought himself safe neither in any +place, nor with any person, nor at any time; he feared his subjects +and his enemies alike; he was always on the watch, and was startled at +every sound; he passed the night sometimes in one place, and sometimes +in another, and often in places little suited to royal dignity; and +sometimes, starting from his sleep, he would seize his arms and raise +an alarm. He was indeed so agitated by extreme terror, that he +appeared under the influence of madness. + +LXXIII. Metellus, hearing from some deserters of the fate of Bomilcar, +and the discovery of the conspiracy, made fresh preparations for +action, and with the utmost dispatch, as if entering upon an entirely +new war. Marius, who was still importuning him for leave of absence, +he allowed to go home; thinking that as he served with reluctance, and +bore him personal enmity, he was not likely to prove a very useful +officer. + +The common people at Rome, having learned the contents of the letters +written from Africa concerning Metellus and Marius, had listened to +the accounts given of both with eagerness. But the noble birth of +Metellus, which had previously been a motive for paying him honor, had +now become a cause of unpopularity; while the obscurity of Marius's +origin had procured him favor. In regard to both, however, party +feeling had more influence than the good or bad qualities of either. +The factious tribunes,[202] too, inflamed the populace, charging +Metellus, in their harangues, with offenses worthy of death, and +exaggerating the excellent qualities of Marius. At length the people +were so excited that all the artisans and rustics, whose whole +subsistence and credit depended on their labor, quitting their several +employments, attended Marius in crowds, and thought less of their own +wants than of his exaltation. Thus the nobility being borne down, the +consulship, after the lapse of many years,[203] was once more given to +a man of humble birth. And afterward, when the people were asked by +Manilius Mancinus, one of their tribunes, whom they would appoint to +carry on the war against Jugurtha, they, in a full assembly, voted it +to Marius. The senate had previously decreed it to Metellus; but that +decree was thus rendered abortive.[204] + +LXXIV. During this period, Jugurtha, as he was bereft of his friends +(of whom he had put to death the greater number, while the rest, under +the influence of terror, had fled partly to the Romans, and partly to +Bocchus), as the war, too, could not be carried on without officers, +and as he thought it dangerous to try the faith of new ones after such +perfidy among the old, was involved in doubt and perplexity; no +scheme, no counsel, no person could satisfy him; he changed his route +and his captains daily; he hurried sometimes against the enemy, and +sometimes toward the deserts; depended at one time on flight, and at +another on resistance; and was unable to decide whether he could less +trust the courage or the fidelity of his subjects. Thus, to whatever +direction he turned his thoughts, the prospect was equally +disheartening. + +In the midst of his irresolution, Metellus suddenly made his +appearance with his army. The Numidians were assembled and drawn up by +Jugurtha, as well as time permitted; and a battle was at once +commenced. Where the king commanded in person, the struggle was +maintained for some time; but the rest of his force was routed and put +to flight at the first onset. The Romans took a considerable number of +standards and arms, but not many prisoners; for, in almost every +battle, their feet afforded more security to the Numidians than their +swords. + +LXXV. In consequence of this defeat, Jugurtha, feeling less confidence +in the state of his affairs than ever, retreated with the deserters, +and part of his cavalry, first into the deserts, and afterward to +Thala,[205] a large and opulent city, where lay the greater portion of +his treasures, and where there was magnificent provision for the +education of his children. When Metellus was informed of this, +although he knew that there was, between Thala and the nearest river, +a dry and desert region fifty miles broad, yet, in the hope of +finishing the war if he should gain possession of the town, he +resolved to surmount all difficulties, and to conquer even Nature +herself. He gave orders that the beasts of burden, therefore, should +be lightened of all the baggage excepting ten days' provision; and +that they should be laden with skins and other utensils for holding +water. He also collected from the fields as many laboring cattle as he +could find, and loaded them with vessels of all sorts, but chiefly +wooden, taken from the cottages of the Numidians. He directed such of +the neighboring people, too, as had submitted to him after the retreat +of Jugurtha, to bring him as much water as they could carry, +appointing a time and a place for them to be in attendance. He then +loaded his beasts from the river, which, as I have intimated, was the +nearest water to the town, and, thus provided, set out for Thala. + +When he came to the place at which he had desired the Numidians to +meet him, and had pitched and fortified his camp, so copious a fall of +rain is said to have happened, as would have furnished more than +sufficient water for his whole army. Provisions, too, were brought him +far beyond his expectations; for the Numidians, like most people after +a recent surrender, had done more than was required of them.[206] The +men, however, from a religious feeling, preferred using the +rain-water; the fall of which greatly increased their courage, for +they thought of themselves the peculiar care of the gods. On the next +day, to the surprise of Jugurtha, they arrived at Thala. The +inhabitants, who thought themselves secured by difficulties of the +approach to them, were astonished at so strange and unexpected a +sight, but, nevertheless, prepared for their defense. Our men showed +equal alacrity on their side. + +LXXVI. But Jugurtha himself, believing that Metellus, who, by his +exertions, had triumphed over every obstacle, over arms, deserts, +seasons, and finally over Nature herself that controls all, nothing +was impossible, fled with his children, and a great portion of his +treasure, from the city during the night. Nor did he ever, after this +time, continue[207] more than one day or night in any place; +pretending to be hurried away by business, but in reality dreading +treachery, which he thought he might escape by change of residence, as +schemes of such a kind are the result of leisure and opportunity. + +Metellus, seeing that the people of Thala were determined on +resistance, and that the town was defended both by art and situation, +surrounded the walls with a rampart and a trench. He then directed his +machines against the most eligible points, threw up a mound, and +erected towers upon it to protect[208] the works and the workmen. The +townsmen, on the other hand, were exceedingly active and diligent; and +nothing was neglected on either side. At last the Romans, though +exhausted with much previous fatigue and fighting, got possession, +forty days after their arrival, of the town, and the town only; for +all the spoil had been destroyed by the deserters; who, when they saw +the walls shaken by the battering-ram, and their own situation +desperate, had conveyed the gold and silver, and whatever else is +esteemed valuable, to the royal palace, where, after being sated with +wine and luxuries, they destroyed the treasures, the building, and +themselves, by fire, and thus voluntarily submitted to the sufferings +which, in case of being conquered, they dreaded at the hands of the +enemy. + +LXXVII. At the very time that Thala was taken, there came to Metellus +embassadors from the city of Leptis,[209] requesting him to send them +a garrison and a governor; saying "that a certain Hamilcar, a man of +rank, and of a factious disposition, against whom the magistrates and +the laws were alike powerless, was trying to induce them to change +sides; and that unless he attended to the matter promptly, their own +safety,[210] and the allies of Rome, would be in the utmost danger." +For the people at Leptis, at the very commencement of the war with +Jugurtha, had sent to the consul Bestia, and afterward to Rome, +desiring to be admitted into friendship and alliance with us. Having +been granted their request, they continued true and faithful adherents +to us, and promptly executed all orders from Bestia, Albinus, and +Metellus. They therefore readily obtained from the general the aid +which they solicited; and four cohorts of Ligurians were dispatched to +Leptis, with Caius Annius to be governor of the place. + +LXXVIII. This city was built by a party of Sidonians, who, as I have +understood, being driven from their country through civil dissensions, +came by sea into those parts of Africa. It is situated between the two +Syrtes, which take their name from their nature[211] These are two +gulfs almost at the extremity of Africa[212] of unequal size, but of +similar character. Those parts of them next to the land are very deep; +the other parts sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, as chance may +direct; for when the sea swells, and is agitated by the winds, the +waves roll along with them mud, sand, and huge stones; and thus the +appearance of the gulfs changes with the direction of the wind. + +Of this people, the language alone[213] has been altered by their +intermarriages with the Numidians; their laws and customs continue for +the most part Sidonian; which they have preserved with the greater +ease, through living at so great a distance from the king's +dominions.[214] Between them and the populous parts of Numidia lie +vast and uncultivated deserts. + +LXXIX. Since the affairs of Leptis have led me into these regions, it +will not be foreign to my subject to relate the noble and singular act +of two Carthaginians, which the place has brought to my recollection. + +At the time when the Carthaginians were masters of the greater part of +Africa, the Cyrenians were also a great and powerful people. The +territory that lay between them was sandy, and of a uniform +appearance, without a stream or a hill to determine their respective +boundaries; a circumstance which involved them in a severe and +protracted war. After armies and fleets had been routed and put to +flight on both sides, and each people had greatly weakened their +opponents, fearing lest some third party should attack both victors +and vanquished in a state of exhaustion, they came to an agreement, +during a short cessation of arms, "that on a certain day deputies +should leave home on either side, and that the spot where they should +meet should be the common boundary between the two states." From +Carthage, accordingly, were dispatched two brothers, who were named +Philaeni,[215] and who traveled with great expedition. The deputies of +the Cyrenians proceeded more slowly; but whether from indolence or +accident I have not been informed. However, a storm of wind in these +deserts will cause obstruction to passengers not less than at sea; for +when a violent blast, sweeping over a level surface devoid of +vegetation,[216] raises the sand from the ground, it is driven onward +with great force, and fills the mouth and eyes of the traveler, and +thus, by hindering his view, retards his progress. The Cyrenian +deputies, finding that they had lost ground, and dreading punishment +at home for their mismanagement, accused the Carthaginians of having +left home before the time; quarreling about the matter, and preferring +to do any thing rather than submit. The Philaeni, upon this, asked +them to name any other mode of settling the controversy, provided it +were equitable; and the Cyrenians gave them their choice, "either that +they should be buried alive in the spot which they claimed as the +boundary for their people, or that they themselves, on the same +conditions, should be allowed to go forward to whatever point they +should think proper." The Philaeni, having accepted the conditions, +sacrificed themselves[217] to the interest of their country, and were +interred alive. The people of Carthage consecrated altars to the +brothers on the spot; and other honors were instituted to them at +home. I now return to my subject. + +LXXX. After the loss of Thala, Jugurtha, thinking no place sufficiently +secure against Metellus, fled with a few followers into the country of +the Getulians, a people savage and uncivilized, and, at that period, +unacquainted with even the name of Rome. Of these barbarians he collected +a great multitude, and trained them by degrees to march in ranks, to +follow standards, to obey the word of command, and to perform other +military exercises. He also gained over to his interest, by large +presents and larger promises, the intimate friends of king Bocchus, and +working upon the king by their means, induced him to commence war +against the Romans. This was the more practicable and easy, because +Bocchus, at the commencement of hostilities with Jugurtha, had sent an +embassy to Rome to solicit friendship and alliance; but a faction, +blinded by avarice, and accustomed to sell their votes on every question +honorable or dishonorable,[218] had caused his advances to be rejected, +though they were of the highest consequence to the war recently begun. +A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha,[219] but such a +connection, among the Numidians and Moors, is but lightly regarded; +for every man has as many wives as he pleases, in proportion to his +ability to maintain them; some ten, others more, but the kings most of +all. Thus the affection of the husband is divided among a multitude; +no one of them becomes a companion to him,[220] but all are equally +neglected. + +LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies,[221] met in a place settled +by mutual agreement, where, after pledges of amity were given and +received, Jugurtha inflamed the mind of Bocchus by observing "that the +Romans were a lawless people, of insatiable covetousness, and the +common enemies of mankind; that they had the same motive for making +war on Bocchus as on himself and other nations, the lust of dominion; +that all independent states were objects of hatred to them; at present, +for instance, himself; a little before, the Carthaginians had been so, +as well as king Perses; and that, in future, as any sovereign became +conspicuous for his power, so would he assuredly be treated as an enemy +by the Romans." + +Induced by these and similar considerations, they determined to march +against Cirta, where Metellus had deposited his plunder, prisoners, +and baggage. Jugurtha supposed that, if he took the city, there would +be ample recompense for his exertions; or that, if the Roman general +came to succor his adherents, he would have the opportunity of +engaging him in the field. He also hastened this movement from policy, +to lessen Bocchus's chance of peace;[222] lest, if delay should be +allowed, he should decide upon something different from war. + +LXXXII. Metellus, when he heard of the confederacy of the kings, did +not rashly, or in every place, give opportunities of fighting, as he +had been used to do since Jugurtha had been so often defeated, but, +fortifying his camp, awaited the approach of the kings at no great +distance from Cirta; thinking it better, when he should have learned +something of the Moors,[223] as they were new enemies in the field, +to give battle on an advantage. In the mean time he was informed, by +letters from Rome, that the province of Numidia was assigned to Marius, +of whose election to the consulship he had already heard. + +Being affected at these occurrences beyond what was proper and +decorous, he could neither restrain his tears nor govern his tongue; +for though he was a man eminent in other respects, he had too little +firmness in bearing trouble of mind. His irritation was by some +imputed to pride; others said that a noble spirit was wounded by +insult; many thought him chagrined because victory, just attained, was +snatched from his grasp. But to me it is well known that he was more +troubled at the honor bestowed on Marius than at the injustice done to +himself; and that he would have shown much less uneasiness if the +province of which he was deprived had been given to any other than +Marius. + +LXXXIII. Discouraged, therefore, by such a mortification, and thinking +it folly to promote another man's success at his own hazard, he sent +deputies to Bocchus, entreating him "not to become an enemy to the +Romans without cause;" and observing "that he had a fine opportunity +of entering into friendship and alliance with them, which were far +preferable to war; that though he might have confidence in his +resources, he ought not to change certainties for uncertainties; that +a war was easily begun, but discontinued with difficulty; that its +commencement and conclusion were not dependent on the same party; that +any one, even a coward, might commence hostilities, but that they +could be broken off only when the conqueror thought proper; and that +he should therefore consult for his interest and that of his kingdom, +and not connect his own prosperous circumstances with the ruined +fortunes of Jugurtha." + +To these representations the king mildly answered, "that he desired +peace, but felt compassion for the condition of Jugurtha, to whom if +similar proposals were made, all would easily be arranged." Metellus, +in reply to this request of Bocchus, sent deputies with overtures, of +which the King approved some, and rejected others. Thus, in sending +messengers to and fro, the time passed away, and the war, according to +the consul's desire, was protracted without being advanced. + +LXXXIV. Marius, who, as I said before, had been made consul with great +eagerness on the part of the populace, began, though he had always +been hostile to the patricians, to inveigh against them, after the +people gave him the province of Numidia, with great frequency and +violence; he attacked them sometimes individually and sometimes in a +body; he said that he had snatched from them the consulship as spoils +from vanquished enemies; and uttered other remarks laudatory to +himself and offensive to them. Meanwhile he made the provision for the +war his chief object; he asked for reinforcements for the legions; he +sent for auxiliaries from foreign states, kings, and allies; he also +enlisted all the bravest men from Latium, most of whom were known to +him by actual service, some few only by report, and induced, by +earnest solicitation, even discharged veterans[224] to accompany him. +Nor did the senate, though adverse to him, dare to refuse him any +thing; the additions to the legions they had voted even with +eagerness, because military service was thought to be unpopular with +the multitude, and Marius seemed likely to lose either the means of +warfare[225], or the favor of the people. But such expectations were +entertained in vain, so ardent was the desire of going with Marius +that had seized on almost all. Every one cherished the fancy[226] that +he should return home laden with spoil, crowned with victory, or +attended with some similar good fortune. Marius himself, too, had +excited them in no small degree by a speech; for, when all that he +required was granted, and he was anxious to commence a levy, he called +an assembly of the people, as well to encourage them to enlist, as to +inveigh, according to his practice, against the nobility. He spoke, on +the occasion, as follows: + +LXXXV. "I am aware, my fellow-citizens, that most men do not appear as +candidates before you for an office, and conduct themselves in it when +they have obtained it, under the same character; that they are at +first industrious, humble, and modest, but afterward lead a life of +indolence and arrogance. But to me it appears that the contrary should +be the case; for as the whole state is of greater consequence than the +single office of consulate or praetorship, so its interests ought to +be managed[227] with greater solicitude than these magistracies are +sought. Nor am I insensible how great a weight of business I am, +through your kindness, called upon to sustain. To make preparations +for war, and yet to be sparing of the treasury; to press those into +the service whom I am unwilling to offend; to direct every thing at +home and abroad; and to discharge these duties when surrounded by the +envious, the hostile,[228] and the factious, is more difficult, my +fellow-citizens, than is generally imagined. In addition to this, if +others fail in their undertakings, their ancient rank, the heroic +actions of their ancestors, the power of their relatives and +connections, their numerous dependents, are all at hand to support +them; but as for me, my whole hopes rest upon myself, which I must +sustain by good conduct and integrity; for all other means are +unavailing. + +I am sensible, too, my fellow-citizens, that the eyes of all men are +turned upon me; that the just and good favor me, as my services are +beneficial to the state, but that the nobility seek occasion to attack +me. I must therefore use the greater exertion, that you may not be +deceived in me,[229] and that their views may be rendered abortive. I +have led such a life, indeed, from my boyhood to the present hour, +that I am familiar with every kind of toil and danger; and that +exertion, which, before your kindness to me, I practiced gratuitously, +it is not my intention to relax after having received my reward. For +those who have pretended to be men of worth only to secure their +election,[230] it may be difficult to conduct themselves properly in +office: but to me, who have passed my whole life in the most honorable +occupations, to act well has from habit become nature. + +You have commanded me to carry on the war against Jugurtha; a +commission at which the nobility are highly offended. Consider with +yourselves, I pray you, whether it would be a change for the better, +if you were to send to this, or to any other such appointment, one of +yonder crowd of nobles[231], a man of ancient family, of innumerable +statues, and of no military experience; in order, forsooth, that in so +important an office, and being ignorant of every thing connected with +it, he may exhibit hurry and trepidation, and select one of the people +to instruct him in his duty. For so it generally happens, that he whom +you have chosen to direct, seeks another to direct him. I know some, +my fellow-citizens, who, after they have been elected[232] consuls, +have begun to read the acts of their ancestors, and the military +precepts of the Greeks; persons who invert the order of things;[233] +for though to discharge the duties of the office[234] is posterior, in +point of time, to election, it is, in reality and practical +importance, prior to it. + +Compare now, my fellow-citizens, me, who am _a new man,_ with those +haughty nobles.[235] What they have but heard or read, I have +witnessed or performed. What they have learned from books, I have +acquired in the field; and whether deeds or words are of greater +estimation, it is for you to consider. + +They despise my humbleness of birth; I contemn their imbecility. My +condition[236] is made an objection to me; their misconduct is a +reproach to them. The circumstance of birth,[237] indeed, I consider +as one and the same to all; but think that he who best exerts himself +is the noblest. And could it be inquired of the fathers,[238] of +Albinus and Bestia, whether they would rather be the parents of them +or of me, what do you suppose that they would answer, but that they +would wish the most deserving to be their offspring! If the patricians +justly despise me, let them also despise their own ancestors, whose +nobility, like mine, had its origin in merit. They envy me the honor +that I have received; let them also envy me the toils, the +abstinence,[239] and the perils, by which I obtained that honor. + +But they, men eaten up with pride, live as if they disdained all the +distinctions that you can bestow, and yet sue for those distinctions +as if they had lived so as to merit them. Yet those are assuredly +deceived, who expect to enjoy, at the same time, things so +incompatible as the pleasures of indolence and the rewards of +honorable exertion.[240] + +When they speak before you, or in the senate, they occupy the +greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors;[241] +for, they suppose that, by recounting the heroic deeds of their +forefathers, they render themselves more illustrious. But the reverse +of this is the case; for the more glorious were the lives of their +ancestors, the more scandalous is their own inaction. The truth, +indeed, is plainly this, that the glory of ancestors sheds a light on +their posterity,[242] which suffers neither their virtues nor their +vices to be concealed. Of this light, my fellow-citizens, I have no +share; but I have, what confers much more distinction, the power of +relating my own actions. Consider, then, how unreasonable they are; +what they claim to themselves for the merit of others, they will not +grant to me for my own; alleging, forsooth, that I have no statues, +and that my distinction is newly-acquired; but it is surely better to +have acquired such distinction myself than to bring disgrace on that +received from others. + +I am not ignorant, that, if they were inclined to reply to me, they +would make an abundant display of eloquent and artful language. Yet, +since they attack both you and myself on occasion of the great favor +which you have conferred upon me, I did not think proper to be silent +before them, lest any one should construe my forbearance into a +consciousness of demerit. As for myself, indeed, nothing that is said +of me, I feel assured,[243] can do me injury; for what is true, must +of necessity speak in my favor; what is false, my life and character +will refute. But since your judgment, in bestowing on me so +distinguished an honor and so important a trust, is called in +question, consider, I beseech you, again and again, whether you are +likely to repent of what you have done. I can not, to raise your +confidence in me, boast of the statues, or triumphs, or consulships of +my ancestors; but, if it be thought necessary, I can show you spears,[244] +a banner,[245] caparisons[246] for horses, and other military rewards; +besides the scars of wounds on my breast. These are my statues; this +is my nobility; honors, not left, like theirs, by inheritance, but +acquired amid innumerable toils and dangers. + +My speech, they say, is inelegant; but that I have ever thought of +little importance. Worth sufficiently displays itself; it is for my +detractors to use studied language, that they may palliate base +conduct by plausible words. Nor have I learned Greek; for I had no +wish to acquire a tongue that adds nothing to the valor[247] of those +who teach it. But I have gained other accomplishments, such as are of +the utmost benefit to a state; I have learned to strike down an enemy; +to be vigilant at my post;[248] to fear nothing but dishonor; to bear +cold and heat with equal endurance; to sleep on the ground; and to +sustain at the same time hunger and fatigue. And with such rules of +conduct I shall stimulate my soldiers, not treating them with rigor +and myself with indulgence, nor making their toils my glory. Such a +mode of commanding is at once useful to the state, and becoming to a +citizen. For to coerce your troops with severity, while you yourself +live at ease, is to be a tyrant, not a general. + +It was by conduct such as this, my fellow-citizens, that your +ancestors made themselves and the republic renowned. Our nobility, +relying on their forefathers' merits, though totally different from +them in conduct, disparage us who emulate their virtues; and demand of +you every public honor, as due, not to their personal merit, but to +their high rank. Arrogant pretenders, and utterly unreasonable! For +though their ancestors left them all that was at their disposal, their +riches, their statues, and their glorious names, they left them not, +nor could leave them, their virtue; which alone, of all their +possessions, could neither be communicated nor received. + +They reproach me as being mean, and of unpolished manners, because, +forsooth, I have but little skill in arranging an entertainment, and +keep no actor,[249] nor give my cook[250] higher wages than my +steward; all which charges I must, indeed, acknowledge to be just; for +I learned from my father, and other venerable characters, that vain +indulgences belong to women, and labor to men; that glory, rather than +wealth, should be the object of the virtuous; and that arms and armor, +not household furniture, are marks of honor. But let the nobility, if +they please, pursue what is delightful and dear to them; let them +devote themselves to licentiousness and luxury; let them pass their +age as they have passed their youth, in revelry and feasting, the +slaves of gluttony and debauchery; but let them leave the toil and +dust of the field, and other such matters, to us, to whom they are +more grateful than banquets. This, however, they will not do; for when +these most infamous of men have disgraced themselves by every species +of turpitude, they proceed to claim the distinctions due to the most +honorable. Thus it most unjustly happens that luxury and indolence, +the most disgraceful of vices, are harmless to those who indulge in +them, and fatal only to the innocent commonwealth. + +As I have now replied to my calumniators, as far as my own character +required, though not so fully as their flagitiousness deserved, I +shall add a few words on the state of public affairs. In the first +place, my fellow-citizens, be of good courage with regard to Numidia; +for all that hitherto protected Jugurtha, avarice, inexperience, and +arrogance[251], you have entirely removed. There is an army in it, +too, which is well acquainted with the country, though, assuredly, +more brave than fortunate; for a great part of it has been destroyed +by the avarice or rashness of its commanders. Such of you, then, as +are of military age, co-operate with me, and support the cause of your +country; and let no discouragement, from the ill-fortune of others, or +the arrogance of the late commanders, affect any one of you. I myself +shall be with you, both on the march and in the battle, both to direct +your movements and to share your dangers. I shall treat you and myself +on every occasion alike; and, doubtless, with the aid of the gods, all +good things, victory, spoil, and glory, are ready to our hands; though, +even if they were doubtful or distant, it would still become every able +citizen to act in defense of his country. For no man, by slothful +timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals[252]; nor has any parent wished +for his children[253] that they might live forever, but rather that they +might act in life with virtue and honor. I would add more, my +fellow-citizens, if words could give courage to the faint-hearted; to +the brave I think that I have said enough." + +LXXXVI. After having spoken to this effect, Marius, when he found that +the minds of the populace were excited, immediately freighted vessels +with provisions, pay, arms, and other necessaries, and ordered Aulus +Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to set sail with them. He himself, in +the mean time, proceeded to enlist soldiers, not after the ancient +method, or from the classes[254], but taking all that were willing to +join him, and the greater part from the lowest ranks. Some said that +this was done from a scarcity of better men, and others from the +consul's desire to pay court[255] to the poorer class, because it was +by that order of men that he had been honored and promoted; and, +indeed, to a man grasping at power, the most needy are the most +serviceable, persons to whom their property (as they have none) is not +an object of care, and to whom every thing lucrative appears honorable. +Setting out, accordingly, for Africa, with a somewhat larger force than +had been decreed, he arrived in a few days at Utica. The command of the +army was resigned to him by Publius Rutilius, Metullus's +lieutenant-general; for Metullus himself avoided the sight of Marius, +that he might not see what he could not even endure to hear mentioned. + +LXXXVII. Marius, having filled up his legions[256] and auxiliary +cohorts, marched into a part of the country which was fertile and +abundant in spoil, where, whatever he captured, he gave up to his +soldiers. He then attacked such fortresses or towns as were ill +defended by nature or with troops, and ventured on several +engagements, though only of a light character, in different places. +The new recruits, in process of time, began to join in an encounter +without fear; they saw that such as fled were taken prisoners or +slain; that the bravest were the safest; that liberty, their country, +and parents,[257] are defended, and glory and riches acquired, by +arms. Thus the new and old troops soon became as one body, and the +courage of all was rendered equal. + +The two kings, when they heard of the approach of Marius, retreated, +by separate routes, into parts that were difficult of access; a plan +which had been proposed by Jugurtha, who hoped that, in a short time, +the enemy might be attacked when dispersed over the country, supposing +that the Roman soldiers, like the generality of troops, would be less +careful and observant of discipline when the fear of danger was removed. + +LXXXVIII. Metellus, meanwhile, having taken his departure for Rome, +was received there, contrary to his expectation, with the greatest +feelings of joy, being equally welcomed, since public prejudice had +subsided, by both the people and the patricians. + +Marius continued to attend, with equal activity and prudence, to his +own affairs and those of the enemy. He observed what would be +advantageous, or the contrary, to either party; he watched the +movements of the kings, counteracted their intentions and stratagems, +and allowed no remissness in his own army, and no security in that of +the enemy. He accordingly attacked and dispersed, on several +occasions, the Getulians and Jugurtha on their march, as they were +carrying off spoil from our allies;[258] and he obliged the king +himself, near the town of Cirta, to take flight without his arms[259] +But finding that such enterprises merely gained him honor, without +tending to terminate the war, he resolved on investing, one after +another, all the cities, which, by the strength of their garrisons or +situation, were best suited either to support the enemy, or to resist +himself; so that Jugurtha would either be deprived of his fortresses, +if he suffered them to be taken, or be forced to come to an engagement +in their defense. As to Bocchus, he had frequently sent messengers to +Marius, saying that he desired the friendship of the Roman people, and +that the consul need fear no act of hostility from him. But whether he +merely dissembled, with a view to attack us unexpectedly with greater +effect, or whether, from fickleness of disposition he habitually +wavered between war and peace, was never fairly ascertained. + +LXXXIX. Marius, as he had determined, proceeded to attack the +fortified towns and places of strength, and to detach them, partly by +force, and partly by threats or offers of reward, from the enemy. His +operations in this way, however, were at first but moderate; for he +expected that Jugurtha, to protect his subjects, would soon come to an +engagement. But finding that he kept at a distance, and was intent on +other affairs, he thought it was time to enter upon something of +greater importance and difficulty. Amid the vast deserts there lay a +great and strong city, named Capsa, the founder of which is said to have +been the Libyan Hercules.[260] Its inhabitants were exempted from taxes +by Jugurtha, and under mild government, and were consequently regarded +as the most faithful of his subjects. They were defended against enemies, +not only by walls, magazines of arms, and bodies of troops, but still +more by the difficulty of approaching them; for, except the parts +adjoining the walls, all the surrounding country is waste and +uncultivated, destitute of water, and infested with serpents, whose +fierceness, like that of other wild animals, is aggravated by want of +food; while the venom of such reptiles, deadly in itself, is exacerbated +by nothing so much as by thirst. Of this place Marius conceived a strong +desire[261] to make himself master, not only from its importance for the +war, but because its capture seemed an enterprise of difficulty; for +Metellus had gained great glory by taking Thala, a town similarly +situated and fortified; except that at Thala there were several springs +near the walls, while the people of Capsa had only one running stream, +and that within the town, all the water which they used beside being +rain-water. But this scarcity, both here and in other parts of Africa, +where the people live rudely and remote from the sea, was endured with +the greater ease, as the inhabitants subsist mostly on milk and wild +beasts' flesh,[262] and use no salt, or other provocatives of appetite, +their food being merely to satisfy hunger or thirst, and not to encourage +luxury or excess. + +XC. The consul,[263] having made all necessary investigations, and +relying, I suppose, on the gods (for against such difficulties he +could not well provide by his own forethought, as he was also +straitened for want of corn, because the Numidians apply more to +pasturage than agriculture, and had conveyed, by the king's order, +whatever corn had been raised into fortified places, while the ground +at the time, it being the end of summer, was parched and destitute of +vegetation), yet, under the circumstances, conducted his arrangements +with great prudence. All the cattle, which had been taken for some +days previous, he consigned to the care[264] of the auxiliary cavalry; +and directed Aulus Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to proceed with +the light-armed cohorts to the town of Lares,[265] where he had +deposited provisions and pay for the army, telling him that, after +plundering the country, he would join him there in a few days. Having +by this means concealed his real design, he proceeded toward the river +Tana. + +XCI. On his march he distributed daily, to each division of the +infantry and cavalry, an equal portion of the cattle, and gave orders +that water-bottles should be made of their hides; thus compensating, +at once, for the scarcity of corn, and providing, while all remained +ignorant of his intention, utensils which would soon be of service. At +the end of six days, accordingly, when he arrived at the river, a +large number of bottles had been prepared. Having pitched his camp, +with a slight fortification, he ordered his men to take refreshment, +and to be ready to resume their march at sunset; and, having laid aside +all their baggage, to load themselves and their beasts only with water. +As soon as it seemed time, he quitted the camp, and, after marching the +whole night,[266] encamped again. + +The same course he pursued on the following night, and on the third, +long before dawn, he reached a hilly spot of ground, not more than two +miles distant from Capsa, where he waited, as secretly as possible, +with his whole force. But when daylight appeared, and many of the +Numidians, having no apprehensions of an enemy, went forth out of the +town, he suddenly ordered all the cavalry, and with them the lightest +of the infantry, to hasten forward to Capsa, and secure the gates. He +himself immediately followed, with the utmost ardor, restraining his +men from plunder. + +When the inhabitants perceived that the place was surprised, their +state of consternation and extreme dread, the suddenness of the +calamity, and the consideration that many of their fellow-citizens +were without the walls in the power of the enemy, compelled them to +surrender. The town, however, was burned; of the Numidians, such as +were of adult age, were put to the sword; the rest were sold, and the +spoil divided among the soldiers. This severity, in violation of the +usages of war, was not adopted from avarice or cruelty in the consul, +but was exercised because the place was of great advantage to Jugurtha, +and difficult of access to us, while the inhabitants were a fickle and +faithless race, to be influenced neither by kindness nor by terror. + +XCII. When Marius had achieved so important an enterprise, without any +loss to his troops, he who was great and honored before became still +greater and still more honored. All his undertakings,[267] however +ill-concerted, were regarded as proofs of superior ability; his +soldiers, kept under mild discipline, and enriched with spoil, +extolled him to the skies; the Numidians dreaded him as some thing +more than human; and all, indeed, allies as well as enemies, believed +that he was either possessed of supernatural power, or had all things +directed for him by the will of the gods. + +After his success in this attempt, he proceeded against other towns; a +few, where they offered resistance, he took by force; a greater number, +deserted in consequence of the wretched fate of Capsa, he destroyed by +fire; and the whole country was filled with mourning and slaughter. + +Having at length gained possession of many places, and most of them +without loss to his army, he turned his thoughts to another enterprise, +which, though not of the same desperate character as that at Capsa, was +yet not less difficult of execution.[268] Not far from the river Mulucha, +which divided the kingdoms of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the +midst of a plain,[269] a rocky hill, sufficiently broad at the top for +a small fort; it rose to a vast height, and had but one narrow ascent +left open, the whole of it being as steep by nature as it could have +been rendered by labor and art. This place, as there were treasures of +the king in it, Marius directed his utmost efforts to take.[270] But +his views were furthered more by fortune than by his own contrivance. +In the fortress there were plenty of men and arms for its defense, +as well as an abundant store of provisions, and a spring of water; +while its situation was unfavorable for raising mounds, towers, and +other works; and the road to it, used by its inhabitants, was extremely +steep, with a precipice on either side. The vineae were brought up with +great danger, and without effect; for, before they were advanced any +considerable distance, they were destroyed with fire or stones. And from +the difficulties of the ground, the soldiers could neither stand in front +of the works, nor act among the vineae,[271] without danger; the boldest +of them were killed or wounded, and the fear of the rest increased. + +XCIII. Marius having thus wasted much time and labor, began seriously +to consider whether he should abandon the attempt as impracticable, or +wait for the aid of Fortune, whom he had so often found favorable. +While he was revolving the matter in his mind, during several days and +nights, in a state of much doubt and perplexity, it happened that a +certain Ligurian, a private soldier in the auxiliary cohorts,[272] +having gone out of the camp to fetch water, observed, near that part +of the fort which was furthest from the besiegers, some snails +crawling among the rocks, of which, when he had picked up one or two, +and afterward more, he gradually proceeded, in his eagerness for +collecting them, almost to the top of the hill. When he found this +part deserted, a desire, incident to the human mind, of seeing what he +had never seen,[273] took violent possession of him. A large oak +chanced to grow out among the rocks, at first, for a short distance, +horizontally,[274] and then, as nature directs all vegetables,[275] +turning and shooting upward. Raising himself sometimes on the boughs +of this tree, and sometimes on the projecting rocks, the Ligurian, as +all the Numidians were intently watching the besiegers, took a full +survey of the platform of the fortress. Having observed whatever he +thought it would afterward prove useful to know, he descended the same +way, not unobservantly, as he had gone up, but exploring and noticing +all the peculiarities of the path. He then hastened to Marius, +acquainted him with what he had done, and urged him to attack the fort +on that side where he had ascended, offering himself to lead the way +and the attempt. Marius sent some of those about him, along with the +Ligurian, to examine the practicability of his proposal, who, +according to their several dispositions, reported the affair as +difficult or easy. The consul's hopes, however, were somewhat +encouraged; and he accordingly selected, from his band of trumpeters +and bugle-men, five of the most nimble, and with them four centurions +for a guard;[276] all of whom he directed to obey the Ligurian, +appointing the next day for commencing the experiment. + +XCIV. When, according to their instructions, it seemed time to set +out, the Ligurian, after preparing and arranging every thing, +proceeded to the place of ascent. Those who commanded the +centuries,[277] being previously instructed by the guide, had changed +their arms and dress, having their heads and feet bare, that their +view upward, and their progress among the rocks, might be less +impeded;[278] their swords were slung behind them, as well as their +shields, which were Numidian, and made of leather, both for the sake +of lightness, and in order that, if struck against any object, they +might make less noise. The Ligurian went first, and tied to the rocks, +and whatever roots of trees projected through age, a number of ropes, +by which the soldiers supporting themselves might climb with the +greatest ease. Such as were timorous, from the extraordinary nature of +the path, he sometimes pulled up by the hand; when the ascent was +extremely rugged, he sent them on singly before him without their +arms, which he then carried up after them; whatever parts appeared +unsafe,[279] he first tried them himself, and, by going up and down +repeatedly in the same place, and then standing aside, he inspired the +rest with courage to proceed. At length, after uninterrupted and +harassing exertion they reached the fortress, which, on that side, was +undefended, for all the occupants, as on other days, were intent on +the enemy in the opposite quarter. + +Though Marius had kept the attention of the Numidians, during the +whole day, fixed on his attacks, yet, when he heard from his scouts +how the Ligurian had succeeded, he animated his soldiers to fresh +exertions, and he himself, advancing beyond the vineae, and causing a +testudo to be formed,[280] came up close under the walls, annoying the +enemy, at the same time, with his engines, archers, and slingers, from +a distance. + +But the Numidians, having often before overturned and burned the +vineae of the Romans, no longer confined themselves within the +fortress, but spent day and night before the walls, railing at the +Romans, upbraiding Marius with madness, threatening our soldiers with +being made slaves to Jugurtha, and exhibiting the utmost audacity on +account of their successful defense. In the mean time, while both the +Romans and Numidians were engaged in the struggle, the one side +contending for glory and dominion, the other for their very existence, +the trumpets suddenly sounded a blast in the rear of the enemy, at +which the women and children, who had gone out to view the contest, +were the first to flee; next those who were nearest to the wall, and +at length the whole of the Numidians, armed and unarmed, retreated +within the fort. When this had happened, the Romans pressed upon the +enemy with increased boldness, dispersing them, and at first only +wounding the greater part, but afterward making their way over the +bodies of those who fell, thirsting for glory, and striving who should +be first to reach the wall; not a single individual being detained by +the plunder. Thus the rashness of Marius, rendered successful by +fortune, procured him renown from his very error. + +XCV. During the progress of this affair, Lucius Sylla, Marius's +quaestor, arrived in the camp with a numerous body of cavalry, which +he had been left at Rome to raise among the Latins and allies. + +Of so eminent a man, since my subject brings him to my notice, I think +it proper to give a brief account of the character and manners; for I +shall in no other place allude to his affairs;[281] and Lucius +Sisenna,[282] who has treated that subject the most ably and accurately +of all writers, seems to me to have spoken with too little freedom. +Sylla, then, was of patrician descent, but of a family almost sunk in +obscurity by the degeneracy of his forefathers. He was skilled, equally +and profoundly, in Greek and Roman literature. He was a man of large +mind, fond of pleasure, but fonder of glory. His leisure was spent in +luxurious gratifications, but pleasure never kept him from his duties, +except that he might have acted more for his honor with regard to his +wife[283]. He was eloquent and subtle, and lived on the easiest terms +with his friends.[284] His depth of thought in disguising his +intentions, was incredible; he was liberal of most things, but +especially of money. And though he was the most fortunate [285] of all +men before his victory in the civil war, yet his fortune was never +beyond his desert;[286] and many have expressed a doubt whether his +success or his merit were the greater. As to his subsequent acts, I +know not whether more of shame, or of regret must be felt at the +recital of them. + +XCVI. When Sylla came with his cavalry into Africa, as has just been +stated, and arrived at the camp of Marius, though he had hitherto been +unskilled and undisciplined in the art of war, he became, in a short +time, the most expert of the whole army. He was besides affable to the +soldiers; he conferred favors on many at their request, and on others +of his own accord, and was reluctant to receive any in return. But he +repaid other obligations more readily than those of a pecuniary +nature; he himself demanded repayment from no one; but rather made it +his object that as many as possible should be indebted to him. He +conversed, jocosely as well as seriously, with the humblest of the +soldiers; he was their frequent companion at their works, on the +march, and on guard. Nor did he ever, as is usual with depraved +ambition, attempt to injure the character of the consul, or of any +deserving person. + +His sole aim, whether in the council or the field, was to suffer none +to excel him; to most he was superior. By such conduct he soon became +a favorite both with Marius and with the army. + +XCVII. Jugurtha, after he had lost the city of Capsa, and other strong +and important places, as well as a vast sum of money, dispatched +messengers to Bocchus, requesting him to bring his forces into Numidia +as soon as possible, and stating that the time for giving battle was +at hand. But finding that he hesitated, and was balancing the +inducements to peace and war, he again corrupted his confidants, as on +a previous occasion, with presents, and promised the Moor himself a +third part of Numidia, should either the Romans be driven from Africa, +or the war brought to an end without any diminution of his own +territories. Being allured by this offer, Bocchus joined Jugurtha with +a large force. + +The armies of the kings being thus united, they attacked Marius, on +his march to his winter quarters, when scarcely a tenth part of the +day remained[287], expecting that the night, which was now coming on, +would be a shelter to them if they were beaten, and no impediment if +they should conquer, as they were well acquainted with the country, +while either result would be worse for the Romans in the dark. At the +very moment, accordingly, that Marius heard from various quarters[288] +of the enemy's approach, the enemy themselves were upon him, and +before the troops could either form themselves or collect the baggage, +before they could receive even a signal or an order, the Moorish and +Getulian horse, not in line, or any regular array of battle, but in +separate bodies, as chance had united them, rushed furiously on our +men; who, though all struck with a panic, yet, calling to mind what +they had done on former occasions, either seized their arms, or +protected those who were looking for theirs, while some, springing on +their horses, advanced against the enemy. But the whole conflict was +more like a rencounter with robbers than a battle; the horse and foot +of the enemy, mingled together without standards or order, wounded +some of our men, and cut down others, and surprised many in the rear +while fighting stoutly with those in front; neither valor nor arms +were a sufficient defense, the enemy being superior in numbers, and +covering the field on all sides. At last the Roman veterans, who were +necessarily well experienced in war,[289] formed themselves, wherever +the nature of the ground or chance allowed them to unite, in circular +bodies, and thus secured on every side, and regularly drawn up, +withstood the attacks of the enemy. + +XCVIII. Marius, in this desperate emergency, was not more alarmed or +disheartened than on any previous occasion, but rode about with his +troop of cavalry, which he had formed of his bravest soldiers rather +than his nearest friends, in every quarter of the field, sometimes +supporting his own men when giving way, sometimes charging the enemy +where they were thickest, and doing service to his troops with his +sword, since, in the general confusion, he was unable to command with +his voice. + +The day had now closed, yet the barbarians abated nothing of their +impetuosity, but, expecting that the night would be in their favor, +pressed forward, as their kings had directed them, with increased +violence. Marius, in consequence, resolved upon a measure suited to +his circumstances, and, that his men might have a place of retreat, +took possession of two hills contiguous to each other, on one of +which, too small for a camp, there was an abundant spring of water, +while the other, being mostly elevated and steep, and requiring little +fortification, was suited for his purpose as a place of encampment. He +then ordered Sylla, with a body of cavalry, to take his station for +the night on the eminence containing the spring, while he himself +collected his scattered troops by degrees, the enemy being not less +disordered[290], and led them all at a quick march[291] up the other +hill. Thus the kings, obliged by the strength of the Roman position, +were deterred from continuing the combat; yet they did not allow their +men to withdraw to a distance, but, surrounding both hills with a +large force, encamped without any regular order. Having then lighted +numerous fires, the barbarians, after their custom, spent most of the +night in merriment, exultation, and tumultuous clamor, the kings, +elated at having kept their ground, conducting themselves as +conquerors. This scene, plainly visible to the Romans, under cover of +the night and on the higher ground, afforded great encouragement to +them. + +XCIX. Marius, accordingly, deriving much confidence from the +imprudence of the enemy, ordered the strictest possible silence to be +kept, not allowing even the trumpets, as was usual, to be sounded when +the watches were changed;[292] cavalry, and legions, to sound all and +then, when day approached, and the enemy were fatigued and just +sinking to sleep, he ordered the sentinels, with the trumpeters of the +auxiliary cohorts,[293] their instruments at once, and the soldiers, +at the same time, to raise a shout, and sally forth from the camp[294] +upon the enemy. The Moors and Getulians, suddenly roused by the +strange and terrible noise, could neither flee, nor take up arms, +could neither act, nor provide for their security, so completely had +fear, like a stupor,[295] from the uproar and shouting, the absence of +support, the charge of our troops, and the tumult and alarm, seized +upon them all. The whole of them were consequently routed and put to +flight; most of their arms, and military standards, were taken; and +more were killed in this than in all former battles, their escape +being impeded by sleep and the sudden alarm. + +C. Marius now continued the route, which he had commenced, toward his +winter quarters, which, for the convenience of getting provisions, he +had determined to fix in the towns on the coast. He was not, however, +rendered careless or presumptuous by his victory, but marched with his +army in form of a square[296] just as if he were in sight of the +enemy. Sylla, with his cavalry, was on the right; Aulus Manlius, with +the slingers and archers, and Ligurian cohorts, had the command on the +left; the tribunes, with the light-armed infantry, the consul had +placed in the front and rear. The deserters, whose lives were of +little value, and who were well acquainted with the country, observed +the route of the enemy. Marius himself, too, as if no other were +placed in charge, attended to every thing, went through the whole of +the troops, and praised or blamed them according to their desert. He +was always armed and on the alert, and obliged his men to imitate his +example. He fortified his camp with the same caution with which he +marched; stationing cohorts of the legions to watch the gates, and the +auxiliary cavalry in front, and others upon the rampart and lines. He +went round the posts in person, not from suspicion that his orders +would not be observed, but that the labor of the soldiers, shared +equally by their general, might be endured by them with cheerfulness. +[297] Indeed, Marius, as well at this as at other periods of the war, +kept his men to their duty rather by the dread of shame[298] than of +severity; a course which many said was adopted from desire of popularity, +but some thought it was because he took pleasure in toils to which he had +been accustomed from his youth, and in exertions which other men call +perfect miseries. The public interest, however, was served with as much +efficiency and honor as it could have been under the most rigorous +command. + +CI. At length, on the fourth day of his march, when he was not far +from the town of Cirta, his scouts suddenly made their appearance from +all quarters at once; a circumstance by which the enemy was known to +be at hand. But as they came in from different points, and all gave +the same account, the consul, doubting in what form to draw up his +army, made no alteration in it, but halted where he was, being already +prepared for every contingency. Jugurtha's expectations, in consequence, +disappointed him; for he had divided his force into four bodies, trusting +that one of them, assuredly,[299] would surprise the Romans in the rear. +Sylla, meanwhile, with whom they first came in contact, having cheered +on his men, charged the Moors, in person and with his officers,[300] +with troop after troop of cavalry, in the closest order possible; while +the rest of his force, retaining their position, protected themselves +against the darts thrown from a distance, and killed such of the enemy +as fell into their hands. + +While the cavalry was thus engaged, Bocchus, with his infantry, which +his son Volux had brought up, and which, from delay on their march, +had not been present in the former battle, assailed the Romans in the +rear. Marius was at that moment occupied in front, as Jugurtha was +there with his largest force. The Numidian king, hearing of the +arrival of Bocchus, wheeled secretly about, with a few of his +followers, to the infantry,[301] and exclaimed in Latin, which he had +learned to speak at Numantia, "that our men wore struggling in vain; +for that he had just slain Marius with his own hand;" showing, at the +same time, his sword besmeared with blood, which he had, indeed, +sufficiently stained by vigorously cutting down our infantry[302]. + +When the soldiers heard this, they felt a shock, though rather at the +horror of such an event, than from belief in him who asserted it; the +barbarians, on the other hand, assumed fresh courage, and advanced +with greater fury on the disheartened Romans, who were just on the +point of taking to flight, when Sylla, having routed those to whom he +had been opposed, fell upon the Moors in the flank. Bocchus instantly +fled. Jugurtha, anxious to support his men, and to secure a victory so +nearly won, was surrounded by our cavalry, and all his attendants, +right and left, being slain, had to force a way alone, with great +difficulty, through the weapons of the enemy. Marius, at the same +time, having put to flight the cavalry, came up to support such of his +men as he had understood to be giving ground. At last the enemy were +defeated in every quarter. The spectacle on the open plains was then +frightful;[303] some were pursuing, others fleeing; some were being +slain, others captured; men and horses were dashed to the earth; many, +who were wounded, could neither flee nor remain at rest, attempting to +rise, and instantly falling back; and the whole field, as far as the +eye could reach, was strewed with arms and dead bodies, and the +intermediate spaces saturated with blood. + +CII. At length the consul, now indisputably victor, arrived at the +town of Cirta, whither he had at first intended to go. To this place, +on the fifth day after the second defeat of the barbarians, came +messengers from Bocchus, who, in the king's name, requested of Marius +to send him two persons in whom he had full confidence, as he wished +to confer with them on matters concerning both the interest of the +Roman people and his own. Marius immediately dispatched Sylla and +Aulus Manlius; who, though they went at the king's invitation, thought +proper, notwithstanding, to address him first, in the hope of altering +his sentiments, if he were unfavorable to peace, or of strengthening +his inclination, if he were disposed to it. Sylla, therefore, to whose +superiority, not in years but in eloquence, Manlius yielded +precedence, spoke to Bocchus briefly as follows: + +"It gives us great pleasure, King Bocchus, that the gods have at +length induced a man, so eminent as yourself, to prefer peace to war, +and no longer to stain your own excellent character by an alliance +with Jugurtha, the most infamous of mankind; and to relieve us, at the +same time, from the disagreeable necessity of visiting with the same +punishment your errors and his crimes. Besides, the Roman people, even +from the very infancy[304] of their state, have thought it better to +seek friends than slaves, thinking it safer to rule over willing than +forced subjects. But to you no friendship can be more suitable than +ours; for, in the first place, we are at a distance from you, on which +account there will be the less chance of misunderstanding between us, +while our good feeling for you will be as strong as if we were near; +and, secondly, because, though we have subjects in abundance, yet +neither we, nor any other nation, can ever have a sufficiency of +friends. Would that such had been your inclination from the first; for +then you would assuredly, before this time, have received from the +Roman people more benefits than you have now suffered evils. But since +Fortune has the chief control in human affairs, and it has pleased her +that you should experience our force as well as our favor, now, when, +she gives you this fair opportunity, embrace it without delay, and +complete the course which you have begun. You have many and excellent +means of atoning, with great ease, for past errors by future services. +Impress this, however, deeply on your mind, that the Roman people are +never outdone in acts of kindness; of their power in war you have +already sufficient knowledge." + +To this address Bocchus made a temperate and courteous reply, offering +a few observations, at the same time, in extenuation of his error; and +saying "that he had taken arms, not with any hostile feeling, but to +defend his own dominions, as part of Numidia, out of which he had +forcibly driven Jugurtha,[305] was his by right of conquest, and he +could not allow it to be laid waste by Marius; that when he formerly +sent embassadors to the Romans, he was refused their friendship; but +that he would say nothing more of the past, and would, if Marius gave +him permission, send another embassy to the senate." But no sooner was +this permission granted, than the purpose of the barbarian was altered +by some of his friends, whom Jugurtha, hearing of the mission of Sylla +and Manlius, and fearful of what was intended by it, had corrupted +with bribes. + +CIII. Marius, in the mean time, having settled his army in winter +quarters, set out, with the light-armed cohorts and part of the +cavalry, into a desert part of the country, to besiege a fortress of +Jugurtha's, in which he had placed a garrison consisting wholly of +Roman deserters. And now again Bocchus, either from reflecting on what +he had suffered in the two engagements, or from being admonished by +such of his friends as Jugurtha had not corrupted, selected, out of +the whole number of his adherents, five persons of approved integrity +and eminent abilities, whom he directed to go, in the first place, to +Marius, and afterward to proceed, if Marius gave his consent, as +embassadors to Rome, granting them full powers to treat concerning his +affairs, and to conclude the war upon any terms whatsoever. These five +immediately set out for the Roman winter-quarters, but being beset and +spoiled by Getulian robbers on the way, fled, in alarm and ill +plight,[306] to Sylla, whom the consul, when he went on his expedition, +had left as pro-praetor with the army. Sylla received them, not, as they +had deserved, like faithless enemies, but with the greatest ceremony and +munificence; from which the barbarians concluded that what was said of +Roman avarice was false, and that Sylla, from his generosity, must be +their friend. For interested bounty,[307] in those days, was still +unknown to many; by whom every man who was liberal was also thought +benevolent, and all presents were considered to proceed from kindness. +They therefore disclosed to the quaestor their commission from Bocchus, +and asked him to be their patron and adviser; extolling, at the same +time, the power, integrity, and grandeur of their monarch, and adding +whatever they thought likely to promote their objects, or to procure +the favor of Sylla. Sylla promised them all that they requested; and, +being instructed how to address Marius and the senate, they tarried in +the camp about forty days.[308] + +CIV. When Marius, having failed in the object[309] of his expedition, +returned to Cirta, and was informed of the arrival of the embassadors, +he desired both them and Sylla to come to him, together with Lucius +Bellienus, the praetor from Utica, and all that were of senatorial rank +in any part of the country, with whom he discussed the instructions of +Bocchus to his embassadors; to whom permission to proceed to Rome was +granted by the consul. In the mean time a truce was asked, a request +to which assent was readily expressed by Sylla and the majority; the +few, who advocated harsher measures, were men inexperienced in human +affairs, which, unstable and fluctuating, are always verging to +opposite extremes.[310] + +The Moors having obtained all that they desired, three of them started +for Rome with Oneius Octavius Rufus, who, as quaestor, had brought pay +for the army to Africa; the other two returned to Bocchus, who heard +from them, with great pleasure, their account both of other +particulars, and especially of the courtesy and attention of Sylla. + +To his three embassadors that went to Rome, when, after a deprecatory +acknowledgment that their king had been in error, and had been led +astray by the treachery of Jugurtha, they solicited for him friendship +and alliance, the following answer was given: "The senate and people +of Rome are wont to be mindful of both services and injuries; they +pardon Bocchus, since he repents of his fault, and will grant him +their alliance and friendship when he shall have deserved them." + +CV. When this reply was communicated to Bocchus, he requested Marius, +by letter, to send Sylla to him, that, at his discretion,[311] +measures might be adopted for their common interest. Sylla was +accordingly dispatched, attended with a guard of cavalry, infantry, +and Balearic slingers, besides some archers and a Pelignian cohort, +who, for the sake of expedition, were furnished with light arms, +which, however, protected them, as efficiently as any others, against +the light darts of the enemy. As he was on his march, on the fifth day +after he set out, Volux, the son of Bocchus, suddenly appeared on the +open plain with a body of cavalry, which amounted in reality to not +more than a thousand, but which, as they approached in confusion and +disorder, presented to Sylla and the rest the appearance of a greater +number, and excited apprehensions of hostility. Every one, therefore, +prepared himself for action, trying and presenting[312] his arms and +weapons; some fear was felt among them, but greater hope, as they were +now conquerors, and were only meeting those whom they had often +overcome. After a while, however, a party of horse sent forward to +reconnoiter, reported, as was the case, that nothing but peace was +intended. + +CVI. Volux, coming forward, addressed himself to Sylla, saying that he +was sent by Bocchus his father to meet and escort him. The two parties +accordingly formed a junction, and prosecuted their journey, on that +day and the following, without any alarm. But when they had pitched +their camp, and evening had set in, Volux came running, with looks of +perplexity, to Sylla, and said that he had learned from his scouts +that Jugurtha was at hand, entreating and urging him, at the same +time, to escape with him privately in the night. Sylla boldly replied, +"that he had no fear of Jugurtha, an enemy so often defeated; that he +had the utmost confidence in the valor of his troops; and that, even +if certain destruction were at hand, he would rather keep his ground, +than save, by deserting his followers, a life at best uncertain, and +perhaps soon to be lost by disease." Being pressed, however, by Volux, +to set forward in the night, he approved of the suggestion, and +immediately ordered his men to dispatch their supper,[313] to light as +many fires as possible in the camp, and to set out in silence at the +first watch. + +When they were all fatigued with their march during the night, and +Sylla was preparing, at sunrise, to pitch his camp, the Moorish +cavalry announced that Jugurtha was encamped about two miles in +advance. At this report, great dismay fell upon our men; for they +believed themselves betrayed by Volux, and led into an ambuscade. Some +exclaimed that they ought to take vengeance on him at once, and not +suffer such perfidy to remain unpunished. + +CVII. But Sylla, though he had similar thoughts, protected the Moor +from violence; exhorting his soldiers to keep up their spirits; and +saying, "that a handful of brave men had often fought successfully +against a multitude; that the less anxious they were to save their +lives in battle, the greater would be their security; and that no man, +who had arms in his hands, ought to trust for safety to his unarmed +heels, or to turn to the enemy, in however great danger, the +defenseless and blind parts of his body".[314] Having then called +almighty Jupiter to witness the guilt and perfidy of Bocchus, he +ordered Volux, as being an instrument of his father's hostility,[315] +to quit the camp. + +Volux, with tears in his eyes, entreated him to entertain no such +suspicions; declaring "that nothing in the affair had been caused by +treachery on his part, but all by the subtlety of Jugurtha, to whom +his line of march had become known through his scouts. But as Jugurtha +had no great force with him, and as his hopes and resource were +dependent on his father Bocchus, he assuredly would not attempt any +open violence, when the son of Bocchus would himself be a witness of +it. He thought it best for Sylla, therefore, to march boldly through +the middle of his camp, and that as for himself, he would either send +forward his Moors, or leave them where they were, and accompany Sylla +alone." This course, under such circumstances, was adopted; they set +forward without delay, and, as they came upon Jugurtha unexpectedly, +while he was in doubt and hesitation how to act, they passed without +molestation. In a few days afterward, they arrived at the place to +which their march was directed. + +CVIII. There was, at this time, in constant and familiar intercourse +with Bocchus, a Numidian named Aspar, who had been sent to him by +Jugurtha, when he heard of Sylla's intended interview, in the +character of embassador, but secretly to be a spy on the Mauretanian +king's proceedings. There was also with him a certain Dabar, son of +Massugrada, one of the family of Masinissa,[316] but of inferior birth +on the maternal side, as his father was the son of a concubine. Dabar, +for his many intellectual endowments, was liked and esteemed by +Bocchus, who, having found him faithful[317] on many former occasions, +sent him forthwith to Sylla, to say that "he was ready to do whatever +the Romans desired; that Sylla himself should appoint the place, day, +and hour,[318] for a conference; that he kept all points, which he had +settled with him before, inviolate;[319] and that he was not to fear +the presence of Jugurtha's embassador as any restraint[320] on the +discussion of their common interests, since, without admitting him, he +could have no security against Jugurtha's treachery". I find, however, +that it was rather from African duplicity[321] than from the motives +which he professed, that Bocchus thus allured both the Romans and +Jugurtha with the hopes of peace; that he frequently debated with +himself whether he should deliver Jugurtha to the Romans, or Sylla to +Jugurtha; and that his inclination swayed him against us, but his +fears in our favor. + +CIX. Sylla replied, "that he should speak on but few particulars +before Aspar, and discuss others at a private meeting, or in the +presence of only a few;" dictating, at the same time, what answer +should be returned by Bocchus.[322] Afterward, when they met, as +Bocchus had desired, Sylla stated, "that he had come, by order of the +consul, to inquire whether he would resolve on peace or on war." +Bocchus, as he had been previously instructed by Sylla, requested him +to come again at the end of ten days, since he had as yet formed no +determination, but would at that time give a decisive answer. Both +then retired to their respective camps.[323] But when the night was +far advanced, Sylla was secretly sent for by Bocchus. At their +interview, none but confidential interpreters were admitted on either +side, together with Dabar, the messenger between them, a man of honor, +and held in esteem by both parties. The king at once commenced thus: + +CX. "I never expected that I, the greatest monarch in this part of the +world, and the richest of all whom I know, should ever owe a favor to +a private man. Indeed, Sylla, before I knew you, I gave assistance to +many who solicited me, and to others without solicitation, and stood +in need of no man's assistance. + +But at this loss of independence, at which others are wont to repine, +I am rather inclined to rejoice. It will be a pleasure to me[324] to +have once needed your friendship, than which I hold nothing dearer to +my heart. Of the sincerity of this assertion you may at once make +trial, take my arms, my soldiers, my money, or whatever you please, +and use it as your own. But do not suppose, as long as you live, that +your kindness to me has been fully requited; my sense of it will +always remain undiminished, and you shall, with my knowledge, wish for +nothing in vain. For, as I am of opinion, it is less dishonorable to a +prince to be conquered in battle than to be surpassed in generosity. + +With respect to your republic, whose interests you are sent to guard, +hear briefly what I have to say. I have neither made war upon the +Roman people, nor desired that it should be made; I have merely +defended my territories with arms against an armed force. But from +hostilities, since such is your pleasure, I now desist. Prosecute the +war with Jugurtha as you think proper. The river Malucha, which was +the boundary between Miscipsa and me, I shall neither pass myself, nor +suffer Jugurtha to come within it. And if you shall ask any thing +besides, worthy of me and of yourself, you shall not depart with a +refusal." + +CXI. To this speech Sylla replied, as far as concerned himself, +briefly and modestly; but spoke, with regard to the peace and their +common concerns, much more at length. He signified to the king "that +the senate and people of Rome, as they had the superiority in the +field, would think themselves little obliged by what he promised; that +he must do something which would seem more for their interest than his +own; and that for this there was now a fair opportunity, since he had +Jugurtha in his power, for, if he delivered him to the Romans, they +would feel greatly indebted to him, and their friendship and alliance, +as well as that part of Numidia which he claimed,[325] would readily +be granted him." Bocchus at first refused to listen to the proposal, +saying that affinity, the ties of blood,[326] and a solemn league, +connected him with Jugurtha; and that he feared, if he acted +insincerely, he might alienate the affections of his subjects, by whom +Jugurtha was beloved, and the Romans disliked. But at last, after +being frequently importuned, his resolution gave way,[327] and he +engaged to do every thing in accordance with Sylla's wishes. They then +concerted measures for conducting a pretended treaty of peace, of +which Jugurtha, weary of war, was extremely desirous. Having settled +their plans, they separated. + +CXII. On the next day Bocchus sent for Aspar, Jugurtha's envoy, and +acquainted him that he had ascertained from Sylla, through Dabar, that +the war might be concluded on certain conditions; and that he should +therefore make inquiry as to the sentiments of his king. Aspar +proceeded with joy to Jugurtha's camp, and having received full +instructions from him, returned in haste to Bocchus at the end of +eight days, with intelligence "that Jugurtha was eager to do whatever +might be required, but that he put little confidence in Marius, as +treaties of peace, concluded with Roman generals, had often before +proved of no effect; that if Bocchus, however, wished to consult the +interests of both,[328] and to have an established peace, he should +endeavor to bring all parties together to a conference, as if to +settle the conditions, and then deliver Sylla into his hands, for when +he had such a man in his power, a treaty would at once be concluded by +order of the senate and people of Rome; as a man of high rank, who had +fallen into the hands of the enemy, not from want of spirit, but from +zeal for the public interest, would not be left in captivity". + +CXIII. The Moor, after long meditation on these suggestions, at length +expressed his assent to them, but whether in pretense or sincerity I +have not been able to discover. But the inclinations of kings, as they +are violent, are often fickle, and at variance with themselves. At +last, after a time and place were fixed for coming to a conference +about the treaty, Bocchus addressed himself at one time to Sylla and +at another to the envoy of Jugurtha, treating them with equal +affability, and making the same professions to both. Both were in +consequence equally delighted, and animated with the fairest +expectations. But on the night preceding the day appointed for the +conference, the Moor, after first assembling his friends, and then, +on a change of mind, dismissing them, is reported to have had many +anxious struggles with himself, disturbed alike in his thoughts and +his gestures, which, even when he was silent, betrayed the secret +agitation of his mind. At last, however, he ordered that Sylla should +be sent for, and, according to his desire, laid an ambush for +Jugurtha. + +As soon as it was day, and intelligence was brought that Jugurtha was +at hand, Bocchus, as if to meet him and do him honor, went forth, +attended by a few friends, and our quaestor, as far as a little hill, +which was full in the view of the men who were placed in ambush. To +the same spot came Jugurtha with most of his adherents, unarmed, +according to agreement; when immediately, on a signal being given, he +was assailed on all sides by those who were lying in wait. The others +were cut to pieces, and Jugurtha himself was delivered bound to Sylla, +and by him conducted to Marius. + +CXIV. At this period war was carried on unsuccessfully by our generals +Quintus Caepio and Marcus Manlius, against the Gauls; with the terror +of which all Italy was thrown into consternation. Both the Romans of +that day, indeed, and their descendants, down to our own times, +maintained the opinion that all other nations must yield to their +valor, but that they contended with the Gauls, not for glory, but +merely in self-defense. But after the war in Numidia was ended, and +it was announced that Jugurtha was coming in chains to Rome, Marius, +though absent from the city, was created consul, and Gaul decreed to +him as his province. On the first of January he triumphed as consul, +with great glory. At that time[329] the hopes and dependence of the +state were placed on him. + + + + +NOTES FOR THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +[1] I. Intellectual power--_Virtute_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, at the commencement of the Conspiracy of Catiline. A little +below, I have rendered _via virtutis_, "the path of true merit." + +[2] Worthy of honor--_Clarus_. "A person may be called _clarus_ +either on account of his great actions and merits; or on account of +some honor which he has obtained, as the consuls were called +_clarissimi viri_; or on account of great expectations which are +formed from him. But since the worth of him who is _clarus_ is known +by all, it appears that the mind is here called _clarus_ because its +nature is such that pre-eminence is generally attributed to it, and +the attention of all directed toward it." _Dietsch_. + +[3] Abandons itself--_Pessum datus est_. Is altogether sunk and +overwhelmed. + +[4] Impute their delinquency to circumstances, etc.--_Suam quisque +culpam ad negotia transferunt_. Men excuse their indolence and +inactivity, by saying that the weakness of their faculties, or the +circumstances in which they are placed, render them unable to +accomplish any thing of importance. But, says Seneca, _Satis natura, +homini dedit roboris, si illo utamur;--nolle in causa, non posse +praetenditur_. "Nature has given men sufficient powers, if they will +but use them; but they pretend that they can not when the truth is +that they will not." "_Negotia_ is a common word with Sallust, for +which other writers would use _res, facta_." Gerlach. "Cajus rei nos +ipsi sumus auctores, ejus culpam rebus externis attribuimus." +_Muller_. "Auctores" is the same as the [Greek: _aitioi_]. + +[5] Useless--_Aliena_. Unsuitable, not to the purpose, not +contributing to the improvement of life. + +[6] Instead of being mortal--_Pro mortalibus_. There are two senses +in which these words may be taken: _as far as mortals can_, and +_instead of being mortals_. Kritz and Dietsch say that the latter is +undoubtedly the true sense. Other commentators are either silent or +say little to the purpose. As for the translators, they have studied +only how to get over the passage delicately. The latter sense is +perhaps favored by what is said in c. 2, that "the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." + +[7] II. They all rise and fall, etc.--_Omnia orta occidunt, et +aucta senescunt_. This is true of things in general, but is here +spoken only of the qualities of the body, as De Brosses clearly +perceived. + +[8] Has power over all things--_Habet cuncta_. "All things are in +its power." Dietsch. "_Sub ditione tenet_. So Jupiter, Ov. Met. +i. 197: + Quum mihi qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque." +_Burnouf_. So Aristippus said, _Habeo Laidem, non habeor a Laide_, +[Greek: _echo ouk echomai_]. Cic. Epist. ad Fam. ix. 26. + +[9] III. Civil and military offices--_Magistratus et imperia_. +"Illo vocabule civilia, hoc militaria munera, significantur." +_Dietsch_. + +[10] To rule our country or subjects, etc.--_Nam vi quidem regere +patriam aut parentes_, etc. Cortius, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Muller are unanimous in understanding _parentes_ as the participle of +the verb _pareo_. That this is the sense, says Gerlach, is +sufficiently proved by the conjunction _aut_; for if Sallust had meant +_parents_, he would have used _ut_; and in this opinion Allen +coincides. Doubtless, also, this sense of the word suits extremely +well with the rest of the sentence, in which changes in government are +mentioned. But Burnouf, with Crispinus, prefers to follow Aldus +Manutius, who took the word in the other signification, supposing that +Sallust borrowed the sentiment from Plato, who says in his Epistle _ad +Dionis Propinquos_: [Greek: _Patera de hae maetera ouch osion +haegoumai prosbiazesthai, mae noso paraphrosunaes hechomenous. Bian de +patridi politeias metabolaes aeae prospherein, otan aneu phugon, kai +sphagaes andron, mae dunaton hae ginesthae taen ariostaen_.] And he +makes a similar observation in his Crito: [Greek: _Pantachou +poiaetaen, o an keleuoi hae polis te, kai hae patris.--Biazesthai de +ouch osion oute maetera, oute patera poly de touton eti aetton taen +patrida_.] On which sentiments Cicero, ad Fam. i. 9, thus comments: +_Id enim jubet idem ille Plato, quem ego auctorem vehementer sequor; +tantum contendere in republica quantum probare tuis civibus possis: +vim neque parenti, neque patriae afferre oportere_. There is also +another passage in Cicero, Cat. i. 3, which seems to favor this sense +of the word: _Si te parentes timerent atque odissent tui, neque eos +ulla ratione placare posses, ut opinor, ab eorum oculis aliquo +concederes; nunc te patria, quae communis est omnium nostrum parens +odit ac metuit_, etc. Of the first passage cited from Plato, indeed, +Sallust's words may seem to be almost a translation. Yet, as the +majority of commentators have followed Cortius, I have also followed +him. Sallust has the word in this sense in Jug., c. 102; _Parentes +abunde habemus_. So Vell. Pat. ii. 108: _Principatis constans ex +voluntate parentium_. + +[11] Lead to--_Portendant_. "_Portendere_ in a _pregnant sense_, +meaning not merely to indicate, but _quasi secum ferre_, to carry +along with them." _Kritzius_. + +[12] IV, Presumptuously--_Per insolentiam_. The same as +_insolenter_, though some refer it, not to Sallust, but to _quis +existumet,_ in the sense of _strangely,_ i. e. _foolishly or +ignorantly._ I follow Cortius's interpretation. + +[13] At what periods I obtained office, what sort of men, etc. +--_Quibus ego temporibus maqistratus adeptus sum, et quales viri,_ etc. +--"Sallust obtained the quaestorship a few years after the conspiracy +of Catiline, about the time when the state was agitated by the +disorders of Clodius and his party. He was tribune of the people, +A.U.C. 701, the year in which Clodius was killed by Milo. He was +praetor in 708, when Caesar had made himself ruler. In the expression +_quales viri,_ etc., he alludes chiefly to Cato, who, when he stood +for the praetorship, was unsuccessful." _Burnouf._ Kritzius defends +_adeptus sum._ + +[14] What description of persons have subsequently entered the +senate--"Caesar chose the worthy and unworthy, as suited his own +purposes, to be members of the senate." _Burnouf._ + +[15] Quintus Maximus--Quintus Fabius Maximus, of whom Ennius says, + Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem. + +[16] Publius Scipio--Scipio Africanus the Elder, the conqueror of +Hannibal. See c. 5. + +[17] To the pursuit of honor--_Ad vertutem. Virtus_ in the same +sense as in _virtutis via,_ c. 1. + +[18] The wax--_Ceram illam._ The images or busts of their ancestors, +which the nobility kept in the halls of their houses, were made of wax. +See Plin. H. N. xxxv., 2. + +[19] Men of humble birth--_Homines novi_. See Cat., c. 23. + +[20] V. Threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion--_Divina +et humana cuncta permiscuit_. "All things, both divine and human, were +so changed, that their previous condition was entirely subverted." +_Dietsch_. + +[21] Civil dissensions--_Studiis civilibus_. This is the sense in +which most commentators take _studia_; and if this be right, the whole +phrase must be understood as I have rendered it. So Cortius; "Ut non +prius finirentur [_studia civilia_] nisi bello et vastitate Italiae." +Sallust has _studia partium_ Jug. c. 42; and Gerlach quotes from Cic. +pro Marcell. c. 10: "_Non enim consiliis solis et studiis, sed armis +etiam et castris dissidebamus_". + +[22] More than any other enemy--_Maxime_. + +[23] Since the Roman name became great--_Post magnitudinem nominis +Romani_. "I know not why interpreters should find any difficulty in +this passage. I understand it to signify simply _since_ the Romans +became so great as they were in the time of Hannibal; for, _before_ +that period they had suffered even heavier calamities, especially +from the Gauls." _Cortius_. + +[24] Syphax--"He was King of the Masaesyli in Numidia; was at first +an enemy to the Carthaginians (Liv. xxiv. 48), and afterward their +friend (Liv. xxviii. 17). He then changed sides again, and made +a treaty with Scipio; but having at length been offered the hand of +Sophonisba, the daughter of Asdrubal, in marriage, he accepted it, +and returned into alliance with the Carthaginians. Being subsequently +taken prisoner by Masinissa and Laelius, the lieutenant of Scipio, +(Liv. xxx. 2) he was carried into Italy, and died at Tibur (Liv. xxx. +45)." _Burnouf_. + +[25] His reign--_Imperii_. Cortius thinks that the grant of the +Romans ceased with the life of Masinissa, and that his son, Micipsa, +reigned only over that part of Numidia which originally belonged to +his father. But in this opinion succeeding commentators have generally +supposed him to be mistaken. + +[26] VII. During the Numantine war--_Bella Numantino_. Numantia, +which stood near the source of the Durius or _Douro_ in Spain, was +so strong in its situation and fortifications, that it with stood the +Romans for fourteen years. See Florus, ii. 17,18; Vell. Pat. ii. 4. + +[27] VIII. Rather by attention to them as a body, than by practicing +on individuals--_Publice quam privatim._ "Universae potius civitatis, +quam privatorum gratiam quaerendo." _Burnouf_. The words can only be +rendered periphrastically. + +[28] IX. In a short time--_Statim_. If what is said in c. 11 be +correct, that Jugurtha was adopted within three years of Micipsa's +death, his adoption did not take place till twelve years after the +taking of Numantia, which surrendered in 619, and Micipsa died in 634. +_Statim_ is therefore used with great latitude, unless we suppose +Sallust to mean that Micipsa signified to Jugurtha his intention to +adopt him immediately on his return from Numantia, and that the formal +ceremony of the adoption was delayed for some years. + +[29] X. I received you--into my kingdom--_In meuum regnum accepi_. +By these words it is only signified that Micipsa received Jugurtha +into his palace so as to bring him up with his own children. The +critics who suppose that there is any allusion to the adoption, or +a pretended intention of it on the part of Micipsa, are evidently in +the wrong. + +[30] Pre-eminent merit--_Gloria_. Our English word _glory_ is too +strong. + +[31] By the fidelity which you owe to my kingdom--_Per regni +fidem_. This seems to be the best of all the explanations that have +been offered of these words. "Per fidem quam tu rex (futurus) mihi +regi praestare debes." _Bournouf_. "Per fidem quae decet in regno, _i. +e._ regem." _Dietsch_. "Per eam fidem, qua esse decet eum qui regnum +obtinet. _Kritzius_. + +[32] It is not armies, or treasures, etc.--[Greek: _Ou tode to +chrusoun skaeptron to taen basileian diasozon estin, alla oi polloi +philoi skaeptron basileioin ulaethestaton kai asphalestaton_.] "It is +not this golden scepter that can preserve a kingdom; but numerous +friends are to princes their trust and safest scepter." Xen. Cyrop., +viii. 7,14. + +[33] And who can be a greater friend than one brother to another? +--_Quis autem amicior, quam frater fratri?_ "[Greek: _Nomiz +adelphous tous alaethinous philous_] Menander." _Wasse_. + +[34] That I have not adopted a better son, &c--_Ne ego meliores +liberos sumsissevidear quam genuisse_. As there is no allusion to +Micipsa's adoption of any other son than Jugurtha, Sallust's +expression _liberos sumsisse_ can hardly be defended. It is necessary +to give _son_ in the singular, in the translation. + +[35] XI. Had spoken insincerely--_Ficta locutum_. Jugurtha saw +that Micipsa pretended more love for him than he really felt. Compare +c. 6,7. + +[36] Which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor--_Quad +apud Numidas honori ducitur_. "I incline," says Sir Henry Steuart, +"to consider those manuscripts as the most correct, in which the word +_et_ is placed immediately before _apud, Quod et apud Numidas honori +ducitur_." Sir Henry might have learned, had he consulted the +commentators, that "_ the word_ et _is placed immediately before_ +apud" in no manuscript; that Lipsius was the first who proposed its +insertion; and that Crispinus, the only editor who has received it +into his text, is ridiculed by Wasse for his folly. "Lipsius," says +Cortius, "cum sciret apud Romanos etiam medium locum honoratiorem +fuisse, corrigit: _quod et apud Numidas honori ducitur_. Sed quis +talia ab historico exegerit? Si de Numidis narrat, non facile aliquis +intulerit, aliter propterea fuisse apud Romanos." + +[37] To the other seat--_In alteram partem_. We must suppose that +the three seats were placed ready for the three princes; that Adherbal +sat down first, in one of the outside seats; the one, namely, that +would be on the right hand of a spectator facing them; and that +Hiempsal immediately took the middle seat, on Adherbal's right hand, +so as to force Jugurtha to take the other outside one. Adherbal had +then to remove Hiempsal _in alteram partem_, that is, to induce him to +take the seat corresponding to his own, on the other side of the +middle one. + +[38] Chief lictor--_Proximus lictor_. "The _proximus lictor_ was +he who, when the lictors walked before the prince or magistrate in a +regular line, one behind the other, was last, or next to the person on +whom they attended." _Cortius_. He would thus be ready to receive the +great man's commands, and be in immediate communication with him. We +must suppose either that Sallust merely speaks in conformity with the +practice of the Romans, or, what is more probable, that the Roman +custom of being preceded by lictors had been adopted in Numidia. + +[39] Hut of a maid-servant--_Tugurio muliers ancillae_ Rose renders +_tugurio_ "a mean apartment," and other translators have given +something similar, as if they thought that the servant must have had a +room in the house. But she, and other Numidian servants, may have had +huts apart from the dwelling-house. _Tugurium_ undoubtedly signifies +_a hut_ in general. + +[40] XIII. Into our province--_In Provinciam_. "The word _province_, +in this place, signifies that part of Africa which, after the +destruction of Carthage, fell to the Romans by the right of conquest, +in opposition to the kingdom of Micipsa." _Wasse_. + +[41] Having thus accomplished his purposes--_Patratis consiliis_. +After _consiliis_, in all the manuscripts, occur the words _postquam +omnis Numidia potiebatur_, which were struck out by Cortius, as being +_turpissima glossa_. The recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Burnouf, have restored them. + +[42] His intimate friends--_Hospitibus_. Persons probably with whom +he had been intimate at Numantia, or who had since visited him in +Numidia. + +[43] The senate--gave audience to both parties--_senatus utrisque +datur_. "The embassadors of Jugurtha, and Adberbal in person, are +admitted into the senate-house to plead their cause." _Burnouf_. + +[44] By deputation--_Procuratione_. He was to consider himself only +the _procurator_, manager, or deputed governor, of the kingdom. + +[45] Kindred--and relatives--_Cognatorum--affinium_. _Cognatus_ is +a blood relation; _affinis_ is properly a relative by marriage. + +[46] Hereditary--_Ab stirpe_. + +[47] Next to this--_Secundum ea_. "Priscianus, lib. xiii., de +praepositione agens, _Secundum_, inquit, _quando pro [Greek: _kata ei +meta_] loco praepositionis est_. Sallustius in Jugurthino: _secundum +ea, uti deditis uterer_.--Videlicet hoc dicit, _Secundum_ in Sallustii +exemple, _post_ vel _proxime_ significare." _Rivius_. + +[48] As I had no power to form the character of Jugurtha--_Neque mihi +in manu fuit, qualis Jugurtha foret_. "_In manu fuit_ is simply +_in potestate fuit_--Ter. Hec., iv. 4, 44: _Uxor quid faciat in manu +non est mea_." _Cortius_. + +[49] Dishonored, afflicted--_Deformatus aerumnis. + +[50] Above all others--_Potissimum_. + +[51] One of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have scarcely +escaped the hand of lawlessness--_Alter eorum necatus, alterius ipse +ego manus impias vix effugi_. This is the general reading, but it can +not be right. Adherbal speaks of himself and his brother as two +persons, and of Jugurtha as a third, and says that _of those two_ the +one (_alter_) has been killed; he would then naturally proceed to +speak of himself as the other; _i. e._ he would use the word _alter_ +concerning himself, not apply it to Jugurtha. Allen, therefore, +proposes to read _alter necatus, alter manus impias vix effugi_. This +mode of correction strikes out too much; but there is no doubt that +the second _alter_ should be in the nominative case. + +[52] From being friendly, has become hostile to me--_Ex necessariis +adversa facta sunt._ "Si omnia mihi incolumia manerent, neque quidquam +rerum mearum (s. praesidiorum) amisissem, neque Jugurtha aliique mihi +ex necessariis inimici facti essent."_Kritzius_. + +[53] But would that I could see him, etc.--_Quod utinam illum--videam_. +The _quod_, in _quod utinam_, is the same as that in _quod si_, which +we commonly translate, _but if_. _Quod_, in such expressions, serves +as a particle of connection, between what precedes and what follows it; +the Latins being fond of connection by means of relatives. See Zumpt's +Lat. Grammar on this point, Sect. 63, 82, Kenrick's translation. +Kritzius writes _quodutinam_, _quodsi_, _quodnisi_, etc., as one word. +Cortius injudiciously interprets _quod_ in this passage as having +_facientem_ understood with it. + +[54] My life or death depends on the aid of others--_Cujus vitae +necisque ex opibus alienis pendet_. On the aid of the Romans. Unless +they protected him, he expected to meet with the same fate as Hiempsal +at the hands of Jugurtha. + +[55] Without disgrace--_Sine dedecore_. That is, if he did not succeed +in getting revenge on Jugurtha. + +[56] By your regard for yourselves, etc.--I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _per, vos, liberos atque parentes_, +i. e. _vos (obsecro) per liberos_, etc., as most critics would explain +it, though Cortius himself prefers taking _vos_ as the nominative case, +and joining it with _subvenite_, which follows. Most other editions +have _per vos, per liberos, atque parentes vestros_, to which I have +adhered. _Per vos_, though an adjuration not used in modern times, +is found in other passages of the Roman writers. Thus Liv. xxix. 18: +_Per vos, fidemque vestram_. Cic. pro Planc., c. 42; _Per vos, per +fortunas vestras_. + +[57] To sink into ruin--_Tabescere_. "Paullatim interire." +_Cortius_. Lucret. ii. 1172: _Omnia paullatim tabescere el ire Ad +capulum_. "This speech," says Gerlach, "though of less weighty +argument than the other speeches of Sallust, is composed with great +art. Neither the speaker nor his cause was adapted for the highest +flights of eloquence; but Sallust has shrouded Adherbal's weakness in +excellent language. That there is a constant recurrence to the same +topics, is no ground for blame; indeed, such recurrence could hardly +be avoided, for it is natural to all speeches in which the orator +earnestly labors to make his hearers adopt his own feelings and views. +The Romans were again and again to be supplicated, and again and again +to be reminded of the character and services of Masinissa, that they +might be induced, if not by the love of justice, yet by the dread of +censure, to relieve the distresses of his grandson.... He omits no +argument or representation that could move the pity of the Romans; and +if his abject prostration of mind appears more suitable to a woman +than a man, it is to be remembered that it is purposely introduced by +Sallust to exhibit the weakness of his character." + +[58] XV. Aemilius Scaurus--He was _princeps senatus_(see c. 25), +and seems to be pretty faithfully characterized by Sallust as a man of +eminent abilities, but too avaricious to be strictly honest. Cicero, +who alludes to him in many passages with commendation (Off., i. 20, +30; Brut. 29; Pro Muraen., 7; Pro Fonteio, 7), mentions an anecdote +respecting him (De Orat. ii. 70), which shows that he had a general +character for covetousness. See Pliny, H. N, xxxvi. 14. Valerius +Maximus (iii. 7, 8) tells another anecdote of him, which shows that he +must have been held in much esteem, for whatever qualities, by the +public. Being accused before the people of having taken a bribe from +Mithridates, he made a few remarks on his own general conduct; and +added, "Varius of Sucro says that Marcus Scaurus, being bribed with +the king's money, has betrayed the interests of the Roman people. +Marcus Scaurus denies that he is guilty of what is laid to his charge. +Which of the two do you believe?" The people dismissed the accusation; +but the words of Scaurus may be regarded as those of a man rather +seeking to convey a notion of his innocence, than capable of proving +it. The circumstance which Cicero relates is this: Scaurus had +incurred some obloquy for having, as it was said, taken possession of +the property of a certain rich man, named Phyrgio Pompeius, without +being entitled to it by any will; and being engaged as an advocate in +some cause, Mommius, who was pleading on the opposite side, seeing a +funeral pass by at the time, said, "Scaurus, yonder is a dead man, on +his way to the grave; if you can but get possession of his property!" +I mention these matters, because it has been thought that Sallust, +from some ill-feeling, represents Scaurus as more avaricious than he +really was. + +[59] His ruling passion--_Consueta libidine_. Namely, avarice. + +[60] XVI. Lucius Opimius--His contention with the party of C. Gracchus +may be seen in any history of Rome. For receiving bribes from Jugurtha +he was publicly accused, and being condemned, ended his life, which +was protracted to old age, in exile and neglect. Cic. Brut. 33; +Planc. 28. + +[61] XVII. Only two divisions, Asia and Europe--Thus Varro, de L. +L. iv.13, ed. Bip. "As all nature is divided into heaven and earth, so +the heaven is divided into regions, and the earth into Asia and +Europe." See Bronkh. ad Tibull., iv. 1, 176. + +[62] The strait connecting our sea with the ocean--_Fretum nostri +maris et oceani_. That is, the _Fretum Gaditanum_, or Strait of +Gibraltar. By _our see_, he means the Mediterranean. See Pomp. Mela, +i. 1. + +[63] A vast sloping tract--Catabathmos--_Declivem latitudinem, +quem locum Catabathmon incolae appellant. Catabathmus--vallis repente +convexa_, Plin. H. N. v 5. _Catabathmus, vallis devexa in Aegyptum_, +Pomp. Mela, i. 8. I have translated _declivem latitudinem_ in +conformity with these passages. _Catabathmus_, a Greek word, means _a +descent_. There were two, the _major_ and _minor_; Sallust speaks of +the _major_. + +[64] Most of them die by the gradual decay of age--_Plerosque +senectus dissolvit_ "A happy expression; since the effect of old age +on the bodily frame is not to break it in pieces suddenly, but to +dissolve it, as it were, gradually and imperceptibly." _Burnouf_. + +[65] King Hiempsal--"This is not the prince that was murdered by +Jugurtha, but the king who succeeded him; he was grandson of +Masinissa, son of Gulussa, and father of Juba. After Juba was killed +at Thapsus, Caesar reduced Numidia to the condition of a province, and +appointed Sallust over it, who had thus opportunities of gaining a +knowledge of the country, and of consulting the books written in the +language of it." _Burnouf_. + +[66] XVIII. Getulians and Lybians--_Gaetuli et Libyes_, "See +Pompon. Mel. i. 4; Plin. H. N. v. 4, 6, 8, v. 2, xxi. 13; Herod, iv. +159, 168." _Gerlach_. The name _Gaetuli_, is, however, unknown to +Herodotus. They lay to the south of Numidia and Mauretania. See +Strabo, xvii. 3. _Libyes_ is a term applied by the Greek writers +properly to the Africans of the North coast, but frequently to the +inhabitants of Africa in general. + +[67] His army, which was composed of various nations--This seems +to have been an amplification of the adventure of Hercules with +Geryon, who was a king in Spain. But all stories that make Hercule +a leader of armies appear to be equally fabulous. + +[68] Medes, Persians and Armenians--De Brosses thinks that these +were not real Medes, etc., but that the names were derived from +certain companions of Hercules. The point is not worth discussion. + +[69] Our sea--The Mediterranean. See above, c. 17. + +[70] More toward the Ocean--_Intra oceanum magis_. "_Intra oceanum_ +is differently explained by different commentators. Cortius, Muller +and Gerlach, understand the parts bounded by the ocean, lying close +upon it, and stretching toward the west; while Langius thinks that +the regions more remote from the Atlantic Ocean, and extending +toward the east, are meant. But Langius did not consider that those +who had inverted keels of vessels for cottages, could not have +strayed far from the ocean, but must have settled in parts +bordering upon it_. And this is what is signified by _intra oceanum_. +For _intra aliquam rem_ is not always used to denote what is actually +_in a thing,_ and circumscribed by its boundaries, but what approaches +toward it, and reaches close to it." Kritzius. He then instances +_intra modum, intra legem; Hortensii scripta intra famam sunt_, +Quintil. xi. 8, 8. But the best example which he produces is Liv. xxv. +11: _Fossa ingens ducta, et vallum_, intra eam _erigitur_. Cicero, in +Verr. iii. 89, has also, he notices, the same, expression, _Locus_ +intra oceanum _jam nullus est--quo non nostrorum hominum libido +iniquitasque pervaserit_, i. e.. _locus oceano conterminus_. Burnouf +absurdly follows Langius. + +[71] Numidians--_Numidas_. The same as _Nomades_, or wanderers; a +term applied to pastoral nations, and which, as Kritzius observes, +the Africans must have had from the Greeks, perhaps those of Sicily. + +[72] More to the sun--_sub sole magis_. I have borrowed this +expression from Rose. The Getulians were more southward. + +[73] These soon built themselves towns--That is, the united Medes, +Armenians, and Libyans. + +[74] Medes--into Moors--_Mauris pro Medis_. A most improbable, +not to say impossible corruption. + +[75] Of the Persians--_Persarum_. That is, of the Persians and +Getulians united. + +[76] The two parties--_Utrique_. The older Numidians, and the +younger, who had emigrated toward Carthage. + +[77] Those who had spread toward our sea--for the Libyans are +less warlike than the Getulians--_Magis hi, qui ad nostrum mare +processerant; quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi_. The Persians +and Getulians (under the name of Numidians), and their colonists, who +were more toward the Mediterranean, and were more warlike than the +Libyans (who were united with the Medes and Armenians) took from them +portions of their territories by conquest. This is clearly the sense, +as deducible from the preceding portion of the text. + +[78] Lower Africa--_Africa pars inferior_. The part nearest to the +sea. The ancients called the maritime parts of a country _the lower +parts_, and the inland parts _the higher_, taking the notion, probably, +from the course of the rivers. Lower Egypt was the part at the mouth of +the Nile. + +[79] XIX. Hippo--"It is not Hippo Regius" (now called _Bona_) "that is +meant, but another Hippo, otherwise called _Diarrhytum_ or _Zarytum_, +situate in Zengitana, not far from Utica. This is shown by the order +in which the places are named, as has already been observed by Cortius." +_Kritzius_. + +[80] Leptis--There were two cities of this name. Leptis Major, now +_Lebida_, lay between the two Syrtes; Leptis Minor, now _Lempta_, +between the smaller Sytis and Carthage. It is the latter that is meant +here, and in c. 77, 78. + +[81] Next to the Catabathmos--_Ad Catabathmon_. _Ad_ means, on the +side of the country toward the Catabathmos. "Catabathmon _initium_ +ponens Sallustius ab eo _discedit_." Kritzius. + +[82] Along the sea-coast--_Secundo mari_. "Si quis secundum mare +pergat" _Wasse._ + +[83] Of Therseans--_Theraeon_. From the island of Thera, one of the +Sporades, in the Aegean Sea, now called _Santorin_. Battus was the +leader of the colony. See Herod., iv. 145; Strab., xvii. 8; Pind. +Pyth., iv. + +[84] Two Syrtes--See c. 78. + +[85] Leptis--That is, _Leptis Major_. See above on this c. + +[86] Altars of the Philaeni--see c. 79. + +[87] To the south of Numidia--_Super Numidiam_. "Ultra Numidiam, +meridiem versus." _Burnouf_. + +[88] Had lately possessed--_Novissime habuerant_. In the interval +between the second and third Punic wars. + +[89] XXI. Both armies took up, etc.--I have omitted the word +_interim_ at the beginning of this sentence, as it would be worse than +useless in the translation. It signifies, _during the interval before +the armies came to an engagement_; but this is sufficiently expressed +at the termination of the sentence. + +[90] Cirta--Afterward named _Sittianorum Colonia_, from P. Sittius +Nucerinus (mentioned in Cat., c. 21), who assisted Caesar in the +African war, and was rewarded by him with the possession of this +city and its lands. It is now called _Constantina_, from Constantine +the Great, who enlarged and restored it when it had fallen into decay. +Strabo describes it, xvii. 3. + +[91] Twilight was beginning to appear--_Obscuro etiam tum lumine_. +Before day had fairly dawned. + +[92] Romans--_Togatorum_. Romans, with, perhaps, some of the +allies, engaged in merchandise, or other peaceful occupations, and +therefore wearing the _toga_. They are called _Italici_ in c. 26. + +[93] Three young men--_Tres adolescentes_. Cortius includes these +words in brackets, regarding them as the insertion of some sciolist. But +a sciolist, as Burnouf observes, would hardly have thought of inserting +_tres adolescentes_. The words occur in all the MSS., and are pretty +well confirmed by what is said below, c. 25, that when the senate next +sent a deputation, they took care to make it consist of _majores natu, +nobiles_. See on _adolescens_, Cat., c. 38. + +[94] XXII. Told much less than the truth--_Sed is rumor clemens erat_. +"It fell below the truth, not telling the whole of the atrocity that +had been committed." _Gruter._ "Priscian (xviii. 26) interprets +_clemens_ 'non nimius,' alluding to this passage of Sallust." +_Kritzius._ All the later commentators have adopted this interpretation, +except Burnouf, who adopts the supposition of Ciacconius, that a _vague +and uncertain_ rumor is meant. + +[95] Right of nations--_Jure gentium._ "That is, the right of avenging +himself." _Rupertus._ + +[96] XXIV. Pays no regard--_Neque--in animo habeat._ This letter of +Adherbal's, both in matter and tone, is very similar to his speech +in c. 14. + +[97] I have experienced, even before--_Jam antea expertus sum._ +He means, in the result of his speech to the senate. + +[98] XXV. Chief of the senate--_Princeps senatus._ "He whose name +was first entered in the censors' books was called _Princeps Senatus_, +which title used to be given to the person who of those alive had been +censor first (_qui primus censor, ex iis qui viverent, fuisset_), but +after the year 544, to him whom the censors thought most worthy, Liv., +xxvii. 13. This dignity, although it conferred no command or emolument, +was esteemed the very highest, and was usually retained for life, Liv., +xxxiv. 44; xxxix. 52. It is called _Principatus_; and hence afterward +the Emperor was named _Princeps_, which word properly denotes rank, and +not power." Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 3. + +[99] At length the evil incitements of ambition prevailed--_Vicit +tamen in avido ingenio pravum consilium._ "Evil propensities gained +the ascendency in his ambitious disposition." + +[100] XXVI. The Italians--_Italici._ See c. 21. + +[101] XXVII. By the Sempronian law--_Lege Sempronia._ This was +the _Lex Sempronia de Provinciis._ In the early ages of the republic, +the provinces were decreed by the senate to the consuls after they +were elected; but by this law, passed A.U.C. 631, the senate fixed on +two provinces for the future consuls before their election (Cic. Pro +Dom., 9; De Prov. Cons., 2), which they, after entering on their +office, divided between themselves by lot or agreement. The law was +passed by Caius Gracchus. See Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 105. + +[102] Publius Scipio Nasica--"The great-grandson of him who was +pronounced by the senate to be _vir optimus_; and son of him who, +though holding no office at the time, took part in putting to death +Tiberius Gracchus. He was consul with Bestia, A.U.C. 643, and died in +his consulship. Cic. Brut., 34." _Burnouf._ + +[103] Lucius Bestia Calpurnius--"He had been on the side of the +nobility against the Gracchi, and was therefore in favor with the +senate. After his consulship he was accused and condemned by the +Mamilian law (c. 40), for having received money from Jugurtha, Cic. +Brut. c. 34. De Brosses thinks that he was the grandfather of that +Bestia who was engaged in the conspiracy of Catilina." Burnouf._ + +[104] XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence--_Fidei causa._ "In +order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the +quaestor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns." +_Cortius._ + +[105] As if by an evident majority of voices--_Quasi per saturam +exquisitis sententiis._ "The opinions being taken in a confused +manner," or, as we say, _in the lump_. The sense manifestly is, that +there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in +Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each +individual in order. _Satura_, which some think to be always an +adjective, with _lanx_ understood, though _lanx_, according to +Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was _a +plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered +to the gods._ "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris +infertur, quae satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat., i. 1, +_init_. "Lanx. referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris +inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483."Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus +conditum," Festus _sub voce_. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satira, ii. 4; +Kritzius ad h. l., and Scheller's Lex. v., _Satur._ In the Pref. to +Justinian's Pandects, that work is called _opus sparsim et quasi per +saturam collectum, utile cum inutilibus mixtim._ + +[106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus +rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the +people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._ + +[107] XXX. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length." +The reader might suppose, at first, that Sallust transcribed this +speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, +he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following +_hujuscemodi_ shows that Sallust did not profess to give the exact +words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sallustian +phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is +imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following +fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt +huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius. + +[108] XXXI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ +"It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of +Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, +not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." +_Burnouf._ The manuscripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and +others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, +which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is +also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576. + +[109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ +Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. + +[110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently +intended. + +[111] Every civil and religions obligation--_Divina et humana omnia._ +"They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an +enemy; against the honor of Rome when they did what was unworthy of +it, and greatly to its injury; and against gods and men, against all +divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not +only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." _Dietsch._ + +[112] Slaves purchased with money, etc.--_Servi, aere parati,_ etc. +This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is +preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: _Servi injurias nimis aegre ferunt; quid +illos bono genere natos, magna virtute praeditos, animi habuisse atque +habituros, dum vivent?_ "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of +injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and +of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live?" + +[113] Public spirit--_Pietas._ Under this word are included all +duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately +connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, +and the gods. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose. + +[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--_Beneficia vestra._ +Offices of state, civil and military. + +[115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est +parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas +aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62. + +[116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam +haec tempora magis placent,_ etc. "_Those times_, which immediately +succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for +the tyranny of the nobles, and the humiliation of the people; _these +times_, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert +their liberty." _Burnouf._ + +[117] Embezzlement of the public money--_Peculatus aerarii._ "Peculator, +qui furtum facit pecuniae publicae." Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr i. + +[118] Kings--I have substituted the plural for the singular. "No +name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, +accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of +Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." _Dietsch._ + +[119] If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.--_Si injuriae +non sint, haud saepe auxilii egeas._ "Some foolishly interpret +_auxilium_ as signifying _auxilium tribunicium_, the aid of the +tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sallust means _aid against +the injuries of bad men_, i.e. revenge or punishment." _Kritzius._ "If +injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the +help of good men and it will be of less consequence if they become +inactive." _Dietsch._ + +[120] XXXII. Lucius Cassius--This is the man from whom came the +common saying _cui bono?_ "Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people +thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed +constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, _cui bono fuisset_, +of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 80. "His +tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his +excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on +account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into +Numidia. + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ +See Cat.47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interposita fide publica._ +See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[122] XXXIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant--_Cultu +quam maxime miserabili_. "In such a garb as accused persons, or +suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite +compassion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard +to grow." _Burnouf._ + +[123] XXXIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace--A single tribune +might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost +any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom. +Ant., under the head "Tribunes of the People." + +[124] Every other act to which anger prompts--_Aliis omnibus, qua +ira fieri amat._ "These words have given rise to wonderful +hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many +expressions of Sallust are borrowed from the Greek, as _Vulgus amat +fieri,_ all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the +structure of Sallust's words must be Greek, and have taken _ira,_ in +this passage, for an ablative, and _quae_ for a nominative plural. +Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited +By Quintilian, and to correct them, please the gods, into _quae in +Vulgus amat fieri._ But how could there have been such want of +penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of +the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by +Quintilian, has reference merely to the word [Greek: philei], _amat_, +they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb +on a neuter plural? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, +does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this +mode of expression in other writers." _Kritzius._ Dietsch agrees with +Kritzius; and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that _quae_ is +the accusative and _ira_ the nominative; the sense being, "which anger +loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been +suggested, namely, to understand _multitudo_ as the nominative case to +_amat_, making _ira_ the ablative; but this method is far more +cumbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sallust. The +words quoted by Quintilian do not refer, as Cortius erroneously +supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is +now lost. + +[125] XXXV. Should be disturbed--_Movere_ is the reading of Cortius; +_moveri_ that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS. +and early editions. + +[126] The times at which he resorted to particular places--_Loca +atque tempora cuncta._ "All his places and times." There can be no +doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text. + +[127] In accordance with the law of nations, etc.--As the public faith +had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the +same footing as that of embassadors, the persons of whose attendants +are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no +offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If +any such offense is committed by an attendant of an embassador, an +application is usually made by the government to the embassador to +deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended +without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own +country, the Portuguese embassador's brother, who was one of his +retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver +Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell, et Pac., xviii, 8; +Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, +says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not +Jugurtha's object. + +[128] At the commencement of the proceedings--_In priori actione._ +That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder. + +[129] His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him--_Reliquos +popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi._ "Fear of obeying him should +take possession of his other subjects." + +[130] That it was a venal city, etc.--_Urbem venalem,_ etc. I +consider, with Cortias, that this is the proper way of taking these +words. Some would render them _O venal city,_ etc., because Livy, +Epit. lxiv., has _O urbem venalem,_ but this seems to require that the +verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy +we should either eject the O or read _inveneris._ Florus, iii. 1, +gives the words in the same way as Sallust. + +[131] XXXVI. As propraetor--_Pro praetore._ With the power of +lieutenant-general. + +[132] XXXVII. Throughout the year--_Totius anni._ That is, all that +remained of the year. + +[133] On the edge of a steep hill--_In praerupti montis extremo. +"In extremo_ a scholiast rightly interprets _in margine_," Gerlach. +Cortius, whom Langius follows, considers that _in extremo_ means _at +the bottom_; a notion which Kritzius justly condemns; for, as Gerlach +asks, what would that have to do withthe strength of the place? Muller +would have us believe that _in extremo_ means _at the top_; but if +Sallust had meant to say that the city was at the top, he would hardly +have chosen the word _extremus_ for the purpose. Doubtless, as Gerlach +observes, the city was on the top of the hill, which was broad enough +to hold it; but the words _in extremo_ signify that the walls were +even with the side of the hill. Of the site of the town of Suthul no +traces are now to be found. + +[134] Vineae--Defenses made of hurdles or other wood, and often +covered with raw hides, to defend the soldiers who worked the +battering-ram. The word that comes nearest to _vineae_ in our language +is _mantelets_. Before this word, in many editions, occurs the phrase +_ob thesauros oppidi potiundi_, which Cortius, whom I follow, omits. + +[135] XXXIII. That their defection might thus be less observed--_Ita +delicta occultiora fore._ Cortius transferred these words to this place +from the end of the preceding sentence; Kritzius and Dietsch have +restored them to their former place. Gerlach thinks them an intruded +gloss. + +[136] The chief centurion--_Centurio primi pili._There were sixty +centurions in a Roman legion; the one here meant was the first, or +oldest, centurion of the Triarii, or Pilani. + +[137] As death was the alternative--_Quia mortis metu mutabant. +Neither manuscripts nor critics are agreed about this passage. Cortius, +from a suggestion of Palmerius, adopted _mutabant_; most other editors +have _mutabantur_; but both are to be taken in the same sense; for +_mutabant_ is equivalent to _mutabant se_. Cortius's interpretation +appears the most eligible: "Permutabantur cum metuenda morte," i.e. +there were those conditions on one side, and death on the other, and +if they did not accept the conditions, they must die. Kritzius +fancifully and strangely interprets, _propter mortis metum se mutabant, +i.e., alia videbantur atque erant_, or the acceptance of the terms +appeared excusable to the soldiers, because they were threatened with +death if they did not accept them. It is worth while to notice the +variety of readings exhibited in the manuscripts collated by Cortius: +ten exhibit _mutabantur_; three, _minitabantur_; three, _multabantur_; +three, _tenebantur_; one, _tenebatur_; one, _cogebantur_; one, +_cogebatur_; one, _angustiabantur_; one, _urgebantur_; and one _mortis +metuebant pericula_. There is also, he adds, in some copies, _mutabant_, +which the Bipont editors and Mueller absurdly adopted. + +[138] XXXIX. Under all the circumstances of the case--_Ex copia rerum._ +From the number of things which he had to consider. + +[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, +et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all +the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not +obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this +period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be +employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42. + +[140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this +occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence. + +[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed +quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to +mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that +Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, +Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. +See Brut., c. 34. + +[142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_. +"_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some +degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly +refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows. + +[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.-- + + Quid quod usque proximos + Revellis agri terminos, et ultra + Limites clientium + Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos + In sinu ferens deos + Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos. + + _Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18. + + What can this impious av'rice stay? + Their sacred landmarks torn away. + You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, + And overleap your client's bounds, + Helpless the wife and husband flee, + And in their arms, expell'd by thee, + Their household gods, adored in vain, + Their infants, too, a sordid train. + +[144] Among the nobility--_Ex nobilitate._ Cortius injudiciously +omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi. + +[145] By means of the allies and Latins--See on, c. 40. + +[146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, +etc.--_Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. +Bono,_ sc. _viro_. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy +characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have +revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled +manner." _Dietsch._ Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which +notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, +think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The +brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to +decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the +Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non +satis moderatum animum fuiase; _quae res ipsis adeo interitum +attulit_; sed _sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam_ bono vinci," +etc. Langius and Burnouf join _bono_ with _more_, but do not differ +much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by +Dietsch. + +[147] XLIII. Of a character uniformly irreproachable--_Fama tamen +aequabili et inviolata. Aequabilis_ is uniform, always the same, +keeping an even tenor. + +[148] Regarded all things as common to himself and his colleague--_Ali +omnia sibi cum collega ratus._ "Other matters, unconnected with the war +against Jugurtha, he thought that he would have to manage in +conjunction with his colleague, and that, consequently, he might give +but partial attention to them; but that the war in Numidia was +committed to his sole care." _Cortius._ Other interpretations of these +words have been suggested; but they are fanciful and unworthy of notice. + +[149] Princes--_Reges._ Who these were, the commentators have not +attempted to conjecture. + +[150] XLIV. By Spurius Albinus, the proconsul.--_A Spurio Albino +proconsule_. This is the general reading. Cortius has, _Spurii Albini +pro consule_, with which we may understand _agentis_ or _imperantis_, +but can hardly believe it to be what Sallust wrote. Kritzius reads, +_Spurii Albini proconsulis_. + +[151] In a stationary camp--_Stativis castris_. In contradistinction +to that which the soldiers formed at the end of a day's march. + +[152] But neither had the camp been fortified, etc.--_Sed neque +muniebantur ea_ (se. castra), _neque more militari vigiliae +deducebantur_. "The words _sed neque muniebantur ea_ are wanting in +almost all the manuscripts, as well as in all the editions, except +that of Cyprianus Popma." _Kritzius_. Gerlach, however, had, +previously to Kritz, inserted them in his text though in brackets; +for he supposed them to be a mere conjecture of some scribe, who was +not satisfied with a single _neque_. But they have been found in a +codex of Fronto, by Angelo Mai, and have accordingly been received +as genuine by Kritz and Dietsch. Potter and Burnouf have omitted the +_ea_, thinking, I suppose, that in such a position it could hardly be +Sallust's; but the verb requires a nominative case to prevent it from +being referred to the following _vigiliae_. + +[153] Foreign wine--_Vino advectitio_ Imported. Africa does not +abound in wine. + +[154] XLV. With regard to other things--Caeteris. Cortius, whom +Gerlach follows, considers this word as referring to the men or +officers; but Kritzius and Dietsch, with better judgment, understand +_rebus_. + +[155] Numerous sentinels--_Vigilias crebras_. At short intervals, +says Kritzius, from each other. + +[156] XLVI. Villages--_Mapalibus_. See c. xviii. The word is here +used for a collection of huts, a village. + +[157] Here the consul, to try the disposition of the inhabitants, +and, should they allow him, to take advantage of the situation of the +place, etc.--_Huc consul, simul tentandi gratia, et si paterentur, +opportuniatis loci, praesidium imponit._ This is a _locus +veratissimus_, about which no editor has satisfied himself. I have +deserted Cortius and followed Dietsch, who seems to have settled the +passage, on the basis of Havercamp's text, with more judgment than any +other commentator. Cortius read, _Huc consul simul tentandi gratia, si +paterent opportunitates loci_, etc., taking _opportuniatates_ in the +sense of _munitiones_, "defenses;" but would Sallust have said _that +Metellus put a garrison in the place, to try if its defenses would be +open to him?_ Havercamp's reading is, _simul tentan si gratia, et si +paterentur opportunitates loci_, etc. Palmerius conjectured _simul +tentandi gratia, si paterentur; et opportunitate loci,_ which Gerlach +and Kritsius adopt, except that they change the place of the _et_, and +put it before _si_. Allen thinks that he has amended the passage by +reading _Huc consul, simul si paterentur tentandi, et opportunitatis +loci, gratia;_ but this conjecture is liable to similar objection with +that of Cortius. Other varieties of reading it is needless to notice. +But it is observable that four manuscripts, as Kritzius remarks, have +_propter opportunitates,_ which led me long ago to suppose that the +true reading must be _simul tentandi gratia, simul propter +opportunitates loci. Simul propter_ might easily have been corrupted +into _si paterentur_. + +[158] Frequent arrival of supplies--_Commeatum._ "Frumenti et omnium +rerum quarum in bello usus est, largam copiam." _Kritzius_. I follow +the text of Cortius (retaining the words _juvaturum ecercitum_) +which Kritzius sufficiently justifies. There is a variety of readings, +but all much the same in sense. + +[159] Extraordinary earnestness--_Impensius modo._ Cortius and +Kritzius interpret this _modo_ as the ablative case of _modus; i. e. +quam modus erat,_ or _supra modum;_ but Dietsch and Burnouf question +the propriety of this interpretation, and consider the _modo_ to be +the same as that in _tantummodo, dummodo,_ etc. The same expression +occurs again in c. 75. + +[160] XLVIII. Running parallel with the stream--_Tractu pari._ It +may be well to illustrate this and the following chapter by a copy of +the lines which Cortius has drawn, "to excite," as he says, "the +imagination of his readers:" + + River Muthul, flowing from the south + -------------------------------------------------- + I Hill on + North I which + <----------- I I Jugurtha + I I posted + I I himself + -------------------------------------------------- + Range of hills, parallel I with the Muthul + I + I Route of Metellus + I + +[161] XLIX. In a transverse direction--_Transverso itinere_. It lay on +the flank of the Romans as they marched toward the river, _in dextero +latere_, c.49, fin. + +[162] Well acquainted with the country--_Prudentes._ "Periti loci +et regionis." _Cortius._Or it may mean knowing what they were to do, +while the enemy would be _imperiti,_ surprised and perplexed. + +[163] Would crown--_Confirmaturum_. Would establish, settle, put the +last hand to them. + +[164] Was seen--_Conspicitur._ This is the reading adopted by Cortius, +Mueller, and Allen, as being that of all the manuscripts. Havercamp, +Kritzius, and Dietsch admitted into their texts, on the sole authority +of Donatus ad Ter. Eun. ii. 3, _conspicatur_, i.e. (Metellus) _catches +sight_ of the enemy. The latter reading, perhaps, makes a better +connection. + +[165] Rendering it uncertain--_Incerti._ Presenting such an +appearance that a spectator could not be certain what they were. + +[166] He drew up these in the right wing--in three lines--_In +dextero latere triplicibus subsidiis aciem instruxit._ In the other +passages in which Sallust has the word _subsidia_ (Cat. c. 59), he +uses it for _the lines behind the front._ Thus he says of Catiline, +_Octo cohortes in fronte constituit; reliqua signa in subsidiis +arctius collocat;_ and of Petreius, _Cohortes veteranas--in fronte; +post eas reliquum exercitum in subsidiis locat._ But whether he uses +the word in the same sense here; whether we might, as Cortius thinks +(whom Gerlach and Dietsch follow), call the division of Metellus's +troops _quadruple_ instead of _triple,_ or whether he arranged them as +De Brosses and others suppose, in the usual disposition of Hastati, +Principes, and Triarii, who shall place beyond dispute? The probability, +however, if Sallust is consistent with himself in his use of the word, +lies with Cortius. Gerlach refers to Caesar, De Bell, Civ., iii. 89: +"_Celeriter ex tertia acie singulas cohortes detraxit, atque ex his +quartam instituit;_ but this does not illustrate Sallust's use of the +word _subsidia_: Caesar forms a fourth _acies_; Metellus draws up one +_acies_ triplicibus subsidia". + +[167] With the front changed into a flank--_Transversis principiis._ +He made the whole army wheel to the left, so that what was their front +line, or _principia,_ as they faced the enemy on the hill, became their +flank as they marched from the mountain toward the river. + +[168] L. Behind the front line--_Post principia._ The _principia_ +are the same as those mentioned in the preceding note, that is, the +front line when the army faced that of Jugurtha on the hill, but which +presented its flank to the enemy when the army was on its march. So +that Marius commanded in the center ("in medio agmine," says Dietsch), +while Metellus took the lead with the cavalry of the left wing. See +the following note. + +[169] Cavalry on the left wing--which, on the march, had become +the van--_Sinistrae ulae equitibus--qui in agmine principes facti +erant._ When Metellus halted (c. 49, fin.), and drew up his troops +fronting the hill on which Jugurtha was posted, he placed all his +cavalry in the wings; consequently, when the army wheeled to the left, +and marched forward, the cavalry of the left wing became the van. + +[170] LI. Of the whole struggle--_Totius negotii._ That is, on the side +of the Romans. + +[171] LII. The enemy's ignorance of the country--_Regio hostibus ignara. +Ignara_ for _ignota;_ a country unknown to the enemy. + +[172] LIII. Fatigued and exhausted--_Fessi lassique._ I am once more +obliged to desert Cortius, who reads _laetique_. The sense, as Kritzius +and Dietsch observe, shows that _laeti_ can not be the reading, for +there must evidently be a complete antithesis between the two parts of +the sentence; an antithesis which would be destroyed by the introduction +of _laeti_. Gerlach, though he retains _laeti_ in his text, condemns it +in his notes. + +[173] LIV. Which could only be conducted, etc.--_Quod, nisi ex illius +lubidine, geri non posset._ Cortius omits the _non_ before _posset_, +but almost every other editor, except Allen, has retained it, from a +conviction of necessity. + +[174] Under these circumstances, however--_Ex copia tamen._ With +_copia_ we must understand _consiliorum_ or _rerum,_ as at the end of +c. 39. All the manuscripts, except two, have _inopia_, which editors +have justly rejected as inconsistent with the sense. + +[175] LV. A thanksgiving--_Supplicia._ The same as _supplicatio,_ on +which the reader may consult Adam's Rom. Ant., or Dr. Smith's +Dictionary. + +[176] LVI. Dared not be guilty of treachery--_Fallere nequibant._ +"Through dread of the severest punishments if they should fall into +the hands of the Romans. Valerius Maximus, ii. 7, speaks of deserters +having been deprived of their hands by Quintus Fabius Maximus; of +others who were crucified or beheaded by the elder Africanus; of +others who were thrown to wild beasts by Africanus the younger; and of +others who were sentenced by Paulus Aemilius to be trampled to death +by elephants. Hence it appears that the punishment of deserters was +left to the pleasure of the general." _Burnouf_. + +[177] Sicca--It stood on the banks of the Bagradas, at some distance +from the coast, and contained a celebrated Temple of Venus. Val. Max., +ii. 6. D'Anville thinks it the same as the modern _Kef._ + +[178] LVII. Javelins--_Pila._ This _pilum_ may have been, as Mueller +suggests, similar to the _falarica_ which Livy (xxi. 8) says that the +Saguntines used against their besiegers. _Falarica erat Saguntinis, +missile telum hastili abiegno--id, sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppa +circumligabant, linebantque pice:--quod cum medium accensum mitteretur_, +etc. Of Sallust's other words, in the latter part of this sentence, +the sense is clear, but the readings of different editors are extremely +various. Cortius and Gerlach have _sudes, pila praeterea picem sulphure +et taeda mixtam ardentia mittere:_ but it can scarcely be believed that +Sallust wrote _picem--taeda mixtam._ Havercamp gives _pice et sulphure +taedam mixtam ardentia mittere,_ which has been adopted by Kritzius and +Dietsch, except that they have changed _ardentia,_ on the authority of +some of the manuscripts, into _ardenti_. + +[179] LIX. And thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost +succeeded in giving the enemy a defeat--_Ita expeditis peditibus suis +hostes paene victos dare._ Cortius, Kritzius, and Allen, concur in +regarding _expeditis peditibus_ as an ablative of the instrument, i.e. +as equivalent to _per expeditos pedites_ and _victos dare_ as nothing +more than _vincere._ This appears to be the right mode of explanation; +but most of the translators, French as well as English, have taken +_expeditis peditibus_ as a dative, and given to the passage the sense +that "the cavalry delivered up the enemy, when nearly conquered, to be +dispatched by the light-armed foot." + +[180] LX. Attacks, or preparations for defense, were made in all +quarters--_Oppugnare aut parare omnibus locis._ There is much +discussion among the critics whether these verbs are to be referred to +the besiegers or the besieged. Cortius and Gerlach attribute +_oppugnare_ to the Romans, and _parare_ to the men of Zama; a +distinction which Kritzius justly condemns. There can be little doubt +that they are spoken of both parties equally. + +[181] LXI. The rest of his forces--in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia--_Caeterum exercitum in provinciam, quae proxima +est Numidiae, hiemandi gratia collocat._ "The words _quae proxima est +Numidiae_ Cortius would eject as superfluous and spurious. But it is +to be understood that Metellus did not distribute his troops through +the whole of the province, but in that part which is nearest to +Numidia, in order that they might be easily assembled in case of an +attack of the enemy or any other emergency. There is, therefore, no +need to read with the Bipont edition and Mueller, _qua proxima,_ etc. +though this is in itself not a bad conjecture." _Kritzius_. + +[182] LXII. Was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium, etc. +--_Cum ipse ad imperandum Tisidium vocaretur._ The gerund is used, as +grammarians say, in a passive sense. "The town of Tisidium is nowhere +else mentioned. Strabo (xvii. 3, p. 488, Ed. Tauch.) speaks of a place +named [Greek: _Tisiaioi_], which was utterly destroyed, and not a +vestige of it left." _Gerlach_. + +[183] LXIII. Sacrificing to the gods--_Per hostias dis supplicante._ +Supplicating or worshiping the gods with sacrifices, and trying to +learn their intentions as to the future by inspection of the entrails. +"Marius was either a sincere believer in the absurd superstitions and +dreams of the soothsayers, or pretended to be so, from a knowledge of +the nature of mankind, who are eager to listen to wonders, and are +ore willing to be deceived than to be taught." _Burnouf._ See Plutarch, +Life of Marius. He could interpret omens for himself, according to +Valerius Maximus, i. 5. + +[184] The people--disposed of, etc.--_Etiam tum alios magistratus +plebes, consulatum nobilitas, inter se per manus tradebat._ The +commentators have seen the necessity of understanding a verb with +_plebes._ Kritzius suggests _habebat;_ Gerlach _grebat_ or _accipiebat_. + +[185] A disgrace to it--_Pollutus._ He was considered, as it were, +unclean. See Cat., c. 23, _fin_. + +[186] LXIV. As soon as the public business would allow him--_Ubi +primum potuisset per negotia publica._ As soon as he could through +(regard to) the public business. + +[187] With his own son--_Cum filio suo._ With the son of Metellus. +He tells Marius that it would be soon enough for him to stand for +the consulship in twenty-three years' time, the legitimate age for +the consulship being forty-three. + +[188] In the camp with his father--_Contubernio patris._ He was +among the young noblemen in the consul's retinue, who were sent out +to see military service under him. This was customary. See Cic. Pro +Cael. Pro Planc. 11. + +[189] LXV. Which was as weak as his body--_Ob morbos--parum valido._ +Sallust had already expressed this a few lines above. + +[190] Merchants--_Negotiatores._ "Every one knows that Romans of +equestrian dignity were accustomed to trade in the provinces." +_Burnouf_. + +[191] With the most honorable demonstrations in his favor +--_Honestissima suffragatione._ "_Suffragatio_ was the zealous +recommendation of those who solicited the votes of their +fellow-citizens in favor of some candidate. See Festus, s.v. +_Suffragatores,_ p. 266, Lindem." _Dietsch._ It was honorable, in +the case of Marius, as it was without bribery, and seemed to have +the good of the republic in view. + +[192] The Mamilian law--See c. 40. + +[193] LXVI. Advantageous positions--_Suos locos._ Places favorable +for his views. See Kritzius on c. 54. + +[194] LXVII. Were in trepidation. At the citadel, etc.--I have +translated this passage in conformity with the texts of Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, Mueller, and Allen, who put a point between +_trepidare_ and _ad arcem_. Cortina, Havercamp, and Burnouf have +_trepidare ad arcem_, without any point. Which method gives the better +sense, any reader can judge. + +[195] On the roofs of the houses--_Pro tectis aedificiorum_. In +front of the roofs of the houses; that is, at the parapets. "In prima +tectorum parte." _Kritzius_. The roofs were flat. + +[196] Worthless and infamous character--_Improbus intestabilisque_. +These words are taken from the twelve tables of the Roman law: See +Aul. Gell. vi. 7, xv. 3. Horace, in allusion to them, has _intestabilis +et sacer_, Sat. ii. 3.181, _Intestabilis_ signified a person to be of +so infamous a character that he was not allowed to give evidence in a +court of justice. + +[197] LXVIII. Averse to further exertion--_Tum abnuentes omnia_. +Most of the translators have understood by these words that the troops +refused to obey orders; but Sallust's meaning is only that they +expressed, by looks and gestures, their unwillingness to proceed. + +[198] LXIX As a native of Latium--_Nam is civis ex Latio erat_. +"As he was a Latin, he was not protected by the Porcian law (see Cat., +c. 51), though how far this law had power in the camp, is not agreed." +_Allen_. Gerlach thinks that it had the same power in the camp as +elsewhere, with reference to Roman citizens. But Roman citizenship was +not extended to the Latins till the end of the Social War, A.U.C. 662. +Plutarch, however, in his Life of Caius Gracchus (c. 9), speaks of +Livius Drusus having been abetted by the patricians in proposing a law +for exempting the Latin soldiers from being flogged, about thirty +years earlier; and it seems to have been passed, but, from this +passage of Sallust, appears not to have remained in force. Lipsius +touches on this obscure point in his _Militia Romana_, v. 18, but +settles nothing. Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, c. 8, says that +Turpilius was an old retainer of the family of Metellus, whom he +attended, in this war, as _prafectus fabrum_, or master of the +artificers; that, being afterward appointed governor of Vacea, he +exercised his office with great justice and humanity, that his life +was spared by Jugurtha at the solicitation of the inhabitants; that, +when he was brought to trial, Metellus thought him innocent, and that +he would not have been condemned but for the malice of Marius, who +exasperated the other members of the council against him. He adds, +that after his death, his innocence became apparent, and that Marius +boasted of having planted in the breast of Metellus an avenging fury, +that would not fail to torment him for having put to death the +innocent friend of his family. Hence Sir Henry Steuart has accused +Sallust of wilfully misrepresenting the character of Turpilius, as +well as the whole transaction. But as much credit is surely due to +Sallust as to Plutarch. + +[199] LXX. To which Jugurtha--was unable to attend--_Quae Jugartha, +fesso, aut majoribus astricto, superaverant_. "Which had remained to +(or been too much for) Jugurtha, when weary, or engaged in more +important affairs." + +[200] Among the winter-quarters of the Romans--_Inter hiberna +Romanorum_.It is stated in c. 61, as Kritzius observes, that Metellus, +when he put his army into winter-quarters, had, at the same time, +placed garrisons in such of Jugurtha's towns as had revolted to him. +The forces of the Romans being thus dispersed, Nabdalsa might justly +be said to have his army _inter hiberna_, "_among_ their +winter-quarters." + +[201] LXXI. Behind his head--_Super caput_. On the back of the +bolster that supported his head; part of which might be higher than +the head itself. + +[202] LXXIIL The factious tribunes--_Seditiosi magistratus_. + +[203] After the lapse of many years--_Post multas tempestates_. +Apparently the period since A.U.C. 611, when Quintus Pompeius, who, as +Cicero says (in Verr. ii. 5), was _humile atque obscuro loco natus_, +obtained the consulship; that is, a term of forty-three or forty-four +years. + +[204] That decree was thus rendered abortive--_Ea res frustra fuit_. +By a _lex Sempronia_, a law of Caius Gracchus, it was enacted that the +senate should fix the provinces for the future consuls before the +_comitia_ for electing them were held. But from Jug. c. 26, it appears +that the consuls might settle by lot, or by agreement between +themselves, which of those two provinces each of them should take. How +far the senate were allowed or accustomed in general, to interfere in +the arrangement, it is not easy to discover: but on this occasion they +had taken on themselves to pass a resolution in favor of the patrician. +Lest similar scenes, however, to those of the Sempronian times should +be enacted, they yielded the point to the people. + +[205] LXXV. Thala--The river on which this town stood is not named by +Sallust, but it appears to have been the Bagrada. It seems to have been +nearly destroyed by the Romans, after the defeat of Juba, in the time +of Julius Caesar; though Tacitus, Ann. iii. 21, mentions it as having +afforded a refuge to the Romans in the insurrection of the Numidian +chief, Tacfarinas. D'Anville and Dr. Shaw, _Travels in Bombay_, vol. +i. pt. 2, ch. 5, think it the same with Telepte, now _Ferre-anah_; but +this is very doubtful. See Cellar. iv. 5. It was in ruins in the time +of Strabo. + +[206] Had done more than was required of them--_Officia intenderant._ +"Auxit _intenditque_ saevitiam exacerbatus indicio filii sui Drusi" +Suet. Tib. 62. + +[207] LXXVI. Nor did he ever--continue, etc.--_Neque postea--moratus, +simulabat_, etc.--Most editors take _moratus_ for _morans_; Allen +places a colon after it, as if it were for _moratus est_. + +[208] And erected towns upon it to protect, etc.--_Et super aggerem +impositis turribus epus et administros tutari_. "And protected +the work and the workmen with towers placed on the mound." _Impositis +turribus_ is not the ablative absolute, but the ablative of the +instrument. + +[209] LXXVII. Leptis--Leptis Major, now _Lebida_. In c. 19, Leptis Minor +is meant. + +[210] Their own safety--_Suam salutem_: i.e. the safety of the people of +Leptis. + +[211] LXXVIII. Which take their name from their nature--_Quibus +nomen ex re inditum._ From [Greek: _surein_], _to draw,_ because the +stones and sand were drawn to and fro by the force of the wind and +tide. But it has been suggested that this etymology is probably false; +it is less likely that their name should be from the Greek than from +the Arabic, in which _sert_ signifies a desert tract or region, a term +still applied to the desert country bordering on the Syrtea. See +Ritter, Allgem. vergleich, Geog. vol. i. p. 929. The words which, in +Havercamp, close this description of the Syrtes, "Syrtes ab tractu +nominatae", and which Gruter and Putschius suspected not to be +Sallust's, Cortius omitted; and his example has been followed by +Muller and Burnouf; Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, have retained +them. Gerlach, however, thinks them a gloss, though they are found in +every manuscript but one. + +[212] Almost at the extremity of Africa--_Prope in extrema Africa._ +"By _extrema Africa_ Gerlach rightly understands the eastern part of +Africa, bordering on Egypt, and at a great distance from Numidia." +_Kritzius_. + +[213] The language alone--_Lingua modo_. + +[214] From the king's dominions--_Ab imperio regis._ "Understand +Masinissa's, Micipsa's, or Jugurtha's." _Burnouf_. + +[215] LXXIX. Philaeni--The account of these Carthaginian brothers +with a Greek name, _philainoi, praise-loving_, is probably a fable. +Cortius thinks that the inhabitants, observing two mounds rising above +the surrounding level, fancied they must have been raised, not by +nature, but by human labor, and invented a story to account for their +existence. "The altars," according to Mr. Rennell (Geog. of Herod., p. +640), "were situated about seven ninths of the way from Carthage to +Cyrene; and the deception," he adds, "would have been too gross, had +it been pretended that the Carthaginian party had traveled seven parts +in nine, while the Cyrenians had traveled no more than two such parts +of the way." Pliny (II. N. v. 4) says that the altars were of sand; +Strabo (lib. iii.) says that in his time they had vanished. Pomponius +Mela and Valerius Maximus repeat the story, but without adding any +thing to render it more probable. + +[216] Devoid of vegetation--_Nuda gignentium_. So c. 93, _cunota +gignentium natura_. Kritzius justly observes that _gignentia_ is not +to be taken in the sense of _genita_, as Cortius and others interpret, +but in its own active sense; the ground was bare _of all that was +productive_, or _of whatever generates any thing_. This interpretation +is suggested by Perizonius ad Sanctu Minerv. i. 15. + +[217] Sacrificed themselves--_Seque vitamque--condonavere_. +"Nihil aliud est quam _vitam suam_, sc.[Greek: _eu dia dyoin_]." +_Allen_. + +[218] LXXX. Sell--honorable or dishonorable--_Omnia honesta atque +inhonesta vendere_. See Cat. c. 30. They had been bribed by Jugurtha +to use their influence against Bocchus. + +[219] A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha--_Jugurthae +filia Bocchi nupserat_. Several manuscripts and old editions have +_Boccho_, making Bocchus the son-in-law of Jugurtha. But Plutarch +(Vit. Mar. c. 10, Sull. c. 8) and Florus (iii. 1) agree in speaking +of him as Jugurtha's father-in-law. Bocchus was doubtless an older man +than Jugurtha, having a grown up son, Volux, c. 105. Castilioneus and +Cortius, therefore, saw the necessity of reading _Bocchi_, and, other +editors have followed them, except Gerlach, "who," says Kritzius, "has +given _Bocchi_ in his larger, and _Boccho_ in his smaller and more +recent edition, in order that readers using both may have an +opportunity of making a choice." + +[220] No one of them becomes a companion to him--_Nulla pro socia +obtinet The use of _obtinet_ absolutely, or with the word dependent on +it understood, prevails chiefly among the later Latin writers. Livy, +however, has _fama obtinuit_, xxi. 46. "The _tyro_ is to be reminded," +says Dietsch, "that _obtinet_ is not the same as _habetar_, but is +always for _locum obtinet_." + +[221] LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies--The text has only +_exercitus_. + +[222] To lessen Bocchus's chance of peace--_Bocchi pacem +imminuere_. He wished to engage Bocchus in some act of hostility +against the Romans, so as to render any coalition between them +impossible. + +[223] LXXXII. Should have learned something of the Moors +--_Cognitis Mauris, i.e._ after knowing something of the Moors, +_and not before_. _Cognitis militibus_ is used in the same way in c. +39; and Dietsch says that _amicitia Jugurthae parum cognita_ is for +_nondum cognita_, c. 14. + +[224] LXXXIV. Discharged veterans--_Homines emeritis stipendiis._ +Soldiers who had completed their term of service. + +[225] Means of warfare--_Usum belli._ That is _ea quae belli usus +posceret_, troops and supplies. + +[226] Cherished the fancy--_Animis trahebant. "Trahere animo_ is +always to revolve in the mind, not to let the thought of a thing +escape from the mind." _Kritzius_. + +[227] LXXXV. Its interests ought to be managed, etc.--_Majore cura +illam administrari quam haec peti debere._ Cortius injudiciously +omits the word _illam_. No one has followed him but Allen. + +[228] Hostile--_Occursantis._ Thwarting, opposing. + +[229] That you may not be deceived in me--_Ut neque vos capiamini._ +"This verb is undoubtedly used in this passage for _decipere_. +Compare Tibull. Eleg. iii. 6, 45: _Nec vos aut capiant pendentia +brachia collo, Aut fallat blanda sordida tingua prece._ Cic. Acad. +iv. 20: _Sapientis vim maximam esse cavere, ne capiatur._" Gerlach. + +[230] To secure their election--_Per ambitionem. Ambire_ is to +canvass for votes; to court the favor of the people. + +[231] Of yonder crowd of nobles--_ex illo globo nobilitatis. Illo,_ +[Greek: _deiktikos_]. + +[232] I know some--who after they have been elected, etc.--"At +whom Marina directs this observation, it is impossible to tell. +Gerlach referring to Cic. Quest. Acad. ii. 1, 2, thinks that Lucullus +is meant. But if he supposes that Lucullus was present _to the mind of +Marius_ when he spoke, he is egregiously deceived, for Marius was +forty years antecedent to Lucullus. It is possible, however, that +_Sallust_, thinking of Lucullus when he wrote Marius's speech, may +have fallen into an anachronism, and have attributed to Marius, whose +character he had assumed, an observation which might justly have been +made in his own day." _Kritzius_. + +[233] Persons who invert the order of things--_Homines Praeposteri._ +Men who do that last which should be done first. + +[234] For though to discharge the duties of the office, etc.--_Nam +gerere, quam fieri, tempore posterius, re atque usu prius est._ With +_gerere_ is to be understood _consulatum_; with _fieri, consulem._ +This is imitated from Demosthenes, Olynth. iii.: [Greek: _To gar +prattein ton legein kai cheirotonein, usteron on tae taxei, proteron +tae dynamei kai kreitton esti_.] "Acting is posterior in order to +speaking and voting, but prior and superior in effect." + +[235] With those haughty nobles--_Cum illorum superbui. Virtus +Scipiades et mitis sapientia Laeli._ + +[236] My condition _Mihi fortuna_. "That is, my lot, or condition, +in which I was born, in which I had no hand in producing." _Dietsch_. + +[237] The circumstance of birth, etc. _Naturam unam et communem +omnium existumo_. "Nascendi sortem" is the explanation which Dietsch +gives to _naturam_. One man is _born_ as well as another, but the +difference between men is made by their different modes of action; a +difference which the nobles falsely suppose to proceed from fortune. +"Voltaire, Mohammed, Act.I., sce. iv., has expressed the sentiment of +Sallust exactly: + + Les mortels sont egaux, ce n'est point la naissance, + C'est la seule vertu qui fait leur difference." _Burnouf._ + +[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam +ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this +passage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is +apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were +probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The passage which Anthon +quotes from Plutarch to illustrate _patres_, is not applicable, for +the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae +kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai +paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, +all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9. +"He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the +ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity +like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high +birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_. + +[239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence. + +[240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and +Jug. c. 1. + +[241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their +ancestors--_Pleraque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their +ancestors in the greatest part of their speech." + +[242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, +viii.138: + + Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum + Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. + + Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display + Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day. + +[243] I feel assured--_Ex animi sententia_. "It was a common form of strong +asseveration." _Gerlach._ + +[244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was +anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in +battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had +struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. +v.17." _Burnouf_. + +[245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards. +Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two +colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa +was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the +color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius +thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, +as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261: + + Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique + Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_. + +[246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: + + _Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: + Hic _torque_ aurato circumdat bellica collae. + +Juvenal, xv. 60: + + Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes. + +These passages show that _phalerae_, a name for the ornaments of +horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the +_torques_, or collars, in this respect, that the _phalerae_ hung down +over the breast, and the _torques_ only encircled the neck. See Lips. +ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." _Burnouf_. + +[247] Valor--_Virtutem._ "The Greeks, those illustrious instructors +of the world, had not been able to preserve their liberty; their +learning therefore had not added to their valor. _Virtus_, in this +passage, is evidently _fortitudo bellica_, which, in the opinion of +Marius, was _the only virtue_." Burnouf. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. c. 2. + +[248] To be vigilant at my post--_Praesidia agitare_. Or "to keep +guard at my post." "_Praesidia agitare_ signifies nothing more than to +protect a party of foragers or the baggage, or to keep guard round a +besieged city." _Vortius_. + +[249] Keep no actor--_Histrionem nullum--habeo_. "Luxuriae peregrinae +origo ab exercitu Asiatico (Manlii sc. Vulsonis, A.U.C. 563) invecta +in urbem est.----Tum psaltriae sambucistriaeque et convivalia +_ludionum_ obiectamenta, addita epulis." Liv. xxxix. 6. "By this army +returning from Asia was the origin of foreign luxury imported into the +city.----At entertainments--were introduced players on the harp and +timbrel, with _buffoons_ for the diversion of the guests." _Baker_. +Professor Anthon, who quotes this passage, says that _histrio_ "here +denotes a buffoon kept for the amusement of the company." But such is +not the meaning of the word _histrio_. It signifies one who in some way +_acted_, either by dancing and gesticulation, or by reciting, perhaps +to the music of the _sambucistriae or other minstrels. See Smith's +Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. Art. _Histrio_, sect. 2. Scheller's Lex. +sub. vv. _Histrio, Ludio_, and _Salto_. The emperors had whole companies +of actors, _histriones aulici_, for their private amusement. Suetonius +says of Augustus (c. 74) that at feasts he introduced _acroamata et +histriones_. See also Spartian. _Had_. c. 19; Jul.Capitol. _Verus_, c.8. + +[250] My cook--_Coquum_. Livy, in the passage just cited from him, adds +_tum coquus villisimum antiquis mancipium, et estimatione et usu in +pretio esse; ut quod ministerium fuerat, ars haberi coepta_. "The cook, +whom the ancients considered as the meanest of their slaves both in +estimation and use, became highly valuable." _Baker_. + +[251] Avarice, inexperience, and arrogance--_Avaritiam, imperitiam, +superbiam_. "The President De Brosses and Dotteville have observed, +that Marius, in these words, makes an allusion to the characters of +all the generals that had preceded him, noticing at once the avarice +of Calpurnius, the inexperience of Albinus, and the pride of Metellus." +_Le Brun_. + +[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of +mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English +translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to +be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not +the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however +cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to +immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper +connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens +liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in +the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these +lines of Tyrtaeus: + +[Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin + Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton + Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton + Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.] + + + To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, + Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: + Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, + The silent foot of fate at home has found. + +The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la +lachete n'a preserve de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour etre un +lache, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly +_inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_. + +[253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: +_Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai +eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will +never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20. +"This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sallust both in +words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and +objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold +character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished +and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The +phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoarse.----But +it is animated and fervid, rushing on like a torrent; and by language +of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are +excellently represented." _Gerlach_. + +[254] LXXXVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the classes--_Non +more majorum, neque ex classibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, +who divided the Roman people into six classes, the highest class +consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in +regular gradation, none of the sixth class, who were not considered as +having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were +allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, +commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to +render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders. +See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10. + +[255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_. + +[256] LXXXVII. Having filled up his legions, etc. Their numbers had been +thinned in actions with the enemy, and Metellus perhaps took home some +part of the army which did not return to it. + +[257] Their country and parents, etc--_Patriam parentesque_, etc. +Sallust means to say that the soldiers would see such to be the general +effect and result of vigorous warfare; not that they had any country or +parents to protect in Numidia. But the observation has very much of the +rhetorician in it. + +[258] LXXXVIII. From our allies--_Ex sociis nostris_. The people of the +province. + +[259] Obliged the king himself--to take flight without his arms +_Ipsumque regem--armis exuerat_. He attacked Jugurtha so suddenly and +vigorously that he was compelled to flee, leaving his arms behind him. + +[260]: LXXXIX. The Libyan Hercules--_Hercules Libys_. "He is one of +the forty and more whom Varro mentions, and who, it is probable, were +leaders of trading expeditions or colonies. See _supra_, c. 18. A +Libyan Hercules is mentioned by Solinus xxvii." _Bernouf_. + +[261] Marius conceived a strong desire--_Marium maxima cupido +invaserat_. "A strong desire had seized Marius." + +[262] Wild beasts' flesh--_Ferina carne_. Almost all our +translators have rendered this "venison." But the Africans lived on +the flesh of whatever beasts they took in the chase. + +[263] XC. The consul, etc.--Here is a long and awkward parenthesis. +I have adhered to the construction of the original. The "yet," _tamen_, +that follows the parenthesis, refers to the matter included in it. + +[264] He consigned to the care, etc.--_Equitibus auxiliariis agendum +attribuit_. "He gave to be driven by the auxiliary cavalry." + +[265] The town of Lares--_Oppidum Laris_. Cortius seems to have +been right in pronouncing _Laris_ to be an accusative plural. Gerlach +observes that Lares occurs in the Itinerary of Antonius and in St. +Augustine, Adv. Donatist., vi. 28. + +[266] XCI. After marching the whole night.--He seems to have +marched in the night for the sake of coolness. + +[267] XCII. All his undertakings, etc.--_Omnia non bene consulta +in virtutem trahebantur_. "All that he did rashly was attributed to +his _consciousness of_ extraordinary power." If they could not praise +his prudence, they praised his resolution and energy. + +[268] Difficult of execution--_Difficilem_. There seemed to be as +many impediments to success as in the affair at Capsa, though the +undertaking was not of so perilous a nature. + +[269] In the midst of a plain--_Inter caeteram planitiem_. By +_caeteram_ he signifies that _the rest_ of the ground, except the part +on which the fort stood, was plain and level. + +[270] Directed his utmost efforts to take--_Summa vi capere +intendit_. It is to be observed that _summa vi_ refers to _intendit_, +not to _capere_. _Summa ope_ animum _intendit ut caperet_. + +[271] Among the vineae--_Inter vineas_. "_Inter_, for which Mueller, +from a conjecture of Glareanus, substituted _intra_ is supported by +all the manuscripts, and ought not to be altered, although _intra_ +would have been more exact, as the signification of _inter_ is of +greater extent, and includes that of _intra_. _Inter_ is used when +a thing is inclosed on each side; _intra_, when it is inclosed on +all sides. If the soldiers, therefore, are considered as surrounded +with the _vineae_, they should be described as _intra vineas_; but +as there is no reason why they may not also be contemplated as being +inclosed only laterally by the _vineae_, the phrase _inter vineas_ +may surely in that case be applied to them. Gronovius and Drakenborch +ad Liv., i. 10, have observed how often these propositions are +interchanged when referred to _time_." Kritzius. On _vineae_, see +c. 76. + +[272] XCIII. A certain Ligurian--in the auxiliary cohorts--The +Ligurians were not numbered among the Italians or _socii_ in the Roman +army, but attached to it only as auxiliaries. + +[273] A desire--of seeing what he had never seen--_More humani +ingenii, cupido ignara visundi invadit_. This is the reading of +Cortius, to which Muller and Allen adhere. Gerlach inserted in his +text, _More humani ingeni, cupidio difficilia faciundi animum vortit_; +which Kritzius, Orelli, and Dietsch, have adopted, and which Cortius +acknowledged to be the reading of the generality of the manuscripts, +except that they vary as to the last two words, some having +_animad vortit_. The sense of this reading will be, "the desire of +doing something difficult, which is natural to the human mind, drew +off his thoughts from gathering snails, and led him to contemplate +something of a more arduous character." But the reading of Cortius +gives so much better a sense to the passage, that I have thought +proper to follow it. Burnouf, with Havercamp and the editions +antecedent to Cortius, reads _more humanae cupidinis ignara visundi +animum vortit_, of which the first five words are taken from a +quotation of Aulus Gellius, ix. 12, who, however, may have transcribed +them from some other part of Sallust's works, now lost. + +[274] Horizontally--_Prona_. This word here signifies _forward_, not +_downward_, as Anthon and others interpret, for trees growing out +of a rock or bank will not take a _descending_ direction. + +[275] As nature directs all vegetables--_Quo cuncta gignentium +natura fert_. It is to be observed that the construction is _natura +fert cuncta gignentium_, for _cuncta gignentia_. On _gignentia_, i.e. +vegetable, or _whatever produces any thing_, see c. 79, and Cat., c. +53. + +[276] Four centurions for a guard--_Praesidio qui forent, quatuor +centuriones_. It is a question among the commentators whether the +centurions were attended by their centuries or not; Cortius thinks +that they were not, as ten men were sufficient to cause an alarm in +the fortress, which was all that Marius desired. But that Cortius is +in the wrong, and that there were common soldiers with the centurions, +appears from the following considerations: 1. Marius would hardly have +sent, or Sallust have spoken of, _four_ men as a guard to _six_. 2. +Why should centurions only have been selected, and not common soldiers +as well as their officers? 3. An expression in the following chapter, +_laqueis--quibus allevati milites facilius escenderent_, seems to +prove that there were others present besides the centurions and the +trumpeters. The word _milites_ is indeed wanting in the text of +Cortius, but appears to have been omitted by him merely to favor his +own notion as to the absence of soldiers, for he left it out, as +Kritzius says, _summa libidine, ne uno quidem codice assentiente_, +"purely of his own will, and without the authority of a single +manuscript." Taking a fair view of the passage, we seem necessarily +led to believe that the centurions were attended by a portion, if not +the whole, of their companies. See the following note. + +[277] XCIV. Those who commanded the centuries--_Illi qui centuriis +praeerant_. This is the reading of several manuscripts, and of almost +all the editions before that of Kritzius, and may be tolerated if we +suppose that the centurions were attended by their men, and that +Sallust, in speaking of the change of dress, meant _to include the +men_, although he specifies only the officers. Yet it is difficult +to conceive why Sallust should have used such a periphrase for +_centuriones_. Seven of the manuscripts, however, have _qui adsensuri +erant_, which Kritzius and Dietsch have adopted. Two have _qui ex +centuriis praeerant_. Allen, not unhappily, conjectures, _qui +praesidio erant_. Cortius suspected the phrase, _qui centuriis +praeerant_, and thought it a transformation of the words _qui +adscensuris praeerat_, which somebody had written in the margin as an +explanation of the following word _duce_, and which were afterward +altered and thrust into the text. + +[278] Progress--might be less impeded--_Nisus--facilius foret_. The +adverb for the adjective. So in the speech of Adherbal, c. 14, _ut +tutius essem_. + +[279] Unsafe--_Dubia nisu_. "Not to be depended upon for support." +_Nisu_ is the old dative for _nisui_. + +[280] Causing a testudo to be formed--_Testudine acta_. The soldiers +placed their shields over their heads, and joined them close together, +forming a defense like the shell of a tortoise. + +[281] XCV. For I shall in no other place allude to his affairs--_Neque +enim allo loco de Sullae rebus dicturi sumus._ "These words show that +Sallust, at this time, had not thought of writing _Histories_, but +that he turned his attention to that pursuit after he had finished +the Jugurthine war. For that he spoke of Sylla in his large history +is apparent from several extant fragments of it, and from Plutarch, +who quotes Sallust, Vit. Syll., c. 3." _Kritzius._ + +[282] Lucius Sisenna--He wrote a history of the civil wars between +Sylla and Marius, Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. Cicero alludes to his style +as being jejune and puerile, Brut., c. 64, De Legg. i. 2. About a +undred and fifty fragments of his history remain. + +[283] Except that he might have acted more for his honor with +regard to his wife--_Nisi quod de uxore potuit honestius consuli._ As +these words are vague and indeterminate, it is not agreed among the +critics and translators to what part of Sylla's life Sallust refers. +I suppose, with Rupertus, Aldus, Manutius, Crispinus, and De Brosses, +that the allusion is to his connection with Valeria, of which the +history is given by Plutarch in his life of Sylla, which the English +reader may take in Langhorne's translation: "A few months after +Metella's death, he presented the people with a show of gladiators; +and as, at that time, men and women had no separate places, but sat +promiscuously in the theater, a woman of great beauty, and of one of +the best families, happened to sit near Sylla. She was the daughter of +Messala, and sister to the orator Hortensius; her name was Valeria; +and she had lately been divorced from her husband. This woman, coming +behind Sylla, touched him, and took off a little of the nap of his +robe, and then returned to her place. Sylla looked at her, quite +amazed at her familiarity, when she said, 'Wonder not, my lord, at +what I have done; I had only a mind to share a little in your good +fortune.' Sylla was far from being displeased; on the contrary, it +appeared that he was flattered very agreeably, for he sent to ask her +name, and to inquire into her family and character. Then followed an +interchange of amorous regards and smiles, which ended in a contract +and marriage. The lady, perhaps, was not to blame. But Sylla, though +he got a woman of reputation, and great accomplishments, yet came into +the match upon wrong principles. Like a youth, he was caught with soft +looks and languishing airs, things that are wont to excite the lowest +of the passions." Others have thought that Sallust refers to Sylla's +conduct on the death of his wife Metella, above mentioned, to whom, as +she happened to fall sick when he was giving an entertainment to the +people, and as the priest forbade him to have his house defiled with +death on the occasion, he unfeelingly sent a bill of divorce, ordering +her to be carried out of the house while the breath was in her. +Cortius, Kritz, and Langius. think that the allusion is to Sylla'a +general faithlessness to his wives, for he had several; as if Sallust +had used the singular for the plural, _uxore_ for _uxoribus_, or +_reuxoria_; but if Sallust meant to allude to more than one wife, why +should he have restricted himself to the singular? + +[284] Lived on the easiest terms with his friends--_Facilis +amicitia_ The critics are in doubt about the sense of this phrase. I +have given that which Dietsch prefers, who says that a man _facilis +amicitia_ is "one who easily grants his friends all that they desire, +exacts little from them, and is no severe censor of their morals." +Cortius explains it _facilis ad amicitiam_, and Facciolati, in his +Lexicon, _facile sibi amicos parans_, but these interpretations, as +Kritzius observes, are hardly suitable to the ablative case. + +[285] Most fortunate--_Felicissumo_. Alluding, perhaps, to the +title of Felix, which he assumed after his great victory over Marius. + +[286] His desert--_Industriam_. That is, the efforts which he made to +attain distinction. + +[287] XCVII. When scarcely a tenth part of the day remained--_Vix +decima parte die reliqua._ A remarkably exact specification of the time. + +[288] From various quarters--_Ex multis._ From his scouts, who came in +from all sides. + +[289] The Roman veterans, who were necessarily well experienced +in war,--The reading of Cortius is, _Romani veteres, novique, et ob +ea scientes belli;_ which he explains by supposing that the new +recruits _were joined with_ the veterans, and that both united were +consequently well skilled in war, citing, in support of his +supposition, a passage in c. 87: _Sic brevi spatio_ novi veteresqua +_coaluere, et virtus omnium aequalis facta._ And Ascensius had +previously given a similar explanation, _quod etiam veterani +adessent._ But many later critics have not been induced to believe +that Cortius's reading will bear any such interpretation; and +accordingly Kritzius, Dietsch, and Orelli, have ejected _novique_; as +indeed Ciaeconius and Ursinus had long before recommended. Muller, +Burnouf, and Allen, retain it, adopting Cortius's interpretation. +Gerlach also retains it, but not without hesitation. But it is very +remarkable that it occurs in all the manuscripts but one, which has +_Romani veteres boni scientes erant ut quos locus,_ etc. + +[290] _Neque minus hostibus conturbatis_. If the enemy had not been +in as much disorder as himself, Marius would hardly have been able to +effect his retreat. + +[291] _Pleno gradu_.--"By the _militaris gradus_ twenty miles were +completed in five hours of a summer day; by the _plenusus_, which is +quicker, twenty-four miles were traversed in the same time." Veget. i.9. + +[292] XCIX. When the watches were changed--_Per vigilias: i. e. +at the end of each watch, when the guards were relieved. "The nights, +by the aid of a clepsydra, were divided into four watches, the +termination of each being marked by the blast of a trumpet or horn. +See Viget. in. 8: _A tubicine omnes vigiliae committuntur; et finitis +horis a cornicine revocantur_." Kritzius He also refers to Liv. vii. +35; Lucan. viii. 24; Tacit. Hist. v. 22. + +[293] Auxiliary cohorts--_Cohortium_. I have added the word _auxiliary_. +That they were the cohorts of the auxiliaries or allies is apparent, +as the word _legionum_ follows. Kritzius indeed thinks otherwise, +supposing that the cohorts had particular trumpeters, distinct from +those of the whole legion. But for this notion there seems to be no +sufficient ground. Sallust speaks of the _cohortes sociorum_, c. 58, +and _cohortes Ligurum_, c. 100. + +[294] Sally forth from the camp--_Portis erumpere_. Sallust uses +the common phrase for issuing from the camp. It can hardly be +supposed, that the Romans had formed a regular camp with gates during +the short time that they had been upon the hill, especially as they +had fled to it in great disorder. + +[295] Stupor--_Vecordia_. A feeling that deprived them of all sense. + +[296] C. in form of a square--_Quadrato agmine_. "A hollow square, +with the baggage in the center; see Serv. ad Verg. Aen. xii.121. ... +Such an _agmen_ Sallust, in c. 46, calls _munitum_, as it was +prepared to defend itself against the enemy, from whatever quarter +they might approach." _Kritzius_. + +[297] Might be endured by them with cheerfulness _Volentibus +esset._ A Greek phrase, _Boulomenois eiae._ + +[298] Dread of shame--_Pudore._ Inducing each to have a regard to +his character. + +[299] CI. Trusting that one of them, assuredly, etc.--_Ratua es +omnibus aque aliquos ab tergo hostibus ventures. By aequo Sallust_ +signifies that each of the four bodies would have an equal chance of +coming on the rear of the Romans. + +[300] In person and with his officers--_Ipse aliique._ "The +_alii_, are the _praefecti equitum,_ officers of the cavalry." +_Kritzius._ + +[301] Wheeled secretly about, with a few of his followers, to the +infantry--_Clam--ad pedites convertit_. What infantry are meant, the +commentators can not agree, nor is there any thing in the narrative on +which a satisfactory decision can be founded. As the arrival of +Bocchus is mentioned immediately before, Cortius supposes that the +infantry of Bocchus are signified; and it may be so; but to whatever +party the words wore addressed, they were intended to be heard by the +Romans, or for what purpose were they spoken in Latin? Jugurtha may +have spoken the words in both languages, and this, from what follows, +would appear to have been the case, for both sides understood him. +_Quod ubi milites_ (evidently the Roman soldiers) _accepere--simul +barbari animos tollere_, etc. The _clam_ signifies that Jugurtha +turned about, or wheeled off, so as to escape the notice of Marius, +with whom he had been contending. + +[302] By vigorously cutting down our infantry--_Satis impigre +occiso pedite nostro_. "A ces mots il leur montra son epee teinte du +sang des notres, dont il venait, en effet, de faire une assez cruelle +boucherie." _De Brosses_. Of the other French translators, Beauzee and +Le Brun render the passage in a similar way; Dotteville and Durean +Delamalle, as well as all our English translators, take _pedite_ as +signifying _only one soldier_. Sir Henry Steuart even specifies that +it was "a legionary soldier." The commentators, I should suppose, have +all regarded the word as having a plural signification; none of them, +except Burnouf, who expresses a needless doubt, say any thing on the +point. + +[303] The spectacle on the open plains was then frightful--_Tum +spectaculum horribile campis patentibus_, etc. The idea of this +passage was probably taken, as Ciacconius intimates, from a +description in Xenophon, Agesil. ii. 12, 14, part of which is quoted +by Longinus, Sect. 19, as an example of the effect produced by the +omission of conjunctions: [Greek: _Kai symbalontes tas aspidas +eothounto, emachonto, apekteinon, apethnaeskon Epei ge maen elaexen +hae machae, paraen dae theasasthai entha synepeson allaelois, taen men +gaen aimati pe, ormenaen, nekrous de peimenous philious kai polemious +met allaelon, aspidas de diatethrummenas, dorata syntethrausmena, +egchoipidia gumna kouleon ta men chamai, ta d'en somasi, ta d'eti meta +cheiras_.] "Closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, +... But when the battle was over, you might have seen, where they had +fought, the ground clotted with blood, the corpses of friends and +enemies mingled together, and pierced shields, broken lances, and +swords without their sheaths, strewed on the ground, sticking in the +dead bodies, or still remaining in the hands that had wielded them +when alive." Tacitus, Agric. c. 37. has copied this description of +Sallust, as all the commentators have remarked: _Tum vero patentibus +locis grande et atrox spectaculum. Sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque +eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare.... Passim, arma et corpora, et +laceri artus, et cruenta humus_. "The sight on the open field was then +striking and horrible; they pursued, they inflicted wounds, they took +... Every where were seen arms and corpses, mangled limbs, and the +ground stained with blood." + +[304] Besides, the Roman people, even from the very infancy--The +reading of this passage, before the edition of Cortius, was this: _Ad +hoc, populo Romano jam a principio inopi melius visum amicos, quam +servos, quaerere_. Gruter proposed to read _Ad hoc populo Romano inopi +melius est visum_, etc., whence Cortius made _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam +inopi visum_, etc. But the Bipont editors, observing that _inopi_ was +not quite consistent with _quaerere servos_, altered the passage to +_Ad hoc, populo Romano jam a principio reipublicae melius visum_, +etc., which seems to be the best emendation that has been proposed, +and which I have accordingly followed. Kritzius and Dietsch adopt it, +except that they omit _reipublicae_, and put nothing in the place of +_inopi_. Gerlach retains _inopi_, on the principle of "quo +insolentius, eo verius," and it may, after all, be genuine. Cortius +omitted _melius_ on no authority but his own. + +[305] Out of which he had forcibly driven Jugurtha--_Unde ut +Jugurtham expulerit [expulerat]_ There is here some obscurity. The +manuscripts vary between _expulerit_ and _expulerat_. Cortius, and +Gerlaen in his second edition, adopt _expulerat_, which they of +necessity refer to Marius; but to make Bocchus speak thus, is, as +Kritzius says, to make him speak very foolishly and arrogantly. +Kritzius himself, accordingly, adopts _expulerit_, and supposes that +Bocchus invents a falsehood, in the belief that the Romans wouldhave +no means of detecting it. But Bocchus may have spoken truth, referring, +as Mueller suggests, to some previous transactions between him and +Jugurtha, to which Sallust does not elsewhere allude. + +[306] In ill plight--_Sine decore_. + +[307] For interested bounty--_Largitio_. "The word signifies liberal +treatment of others with a view to our own interest; without any real +goodwill." _Mueller_. "He intends a severe stricture on his own age, +and the manners of the Romans." _Dietsch_. + +[308] About forty days. Waiting, apparently, for the return of Marius. + +[309] CIV. Having failed in the object, etc.--_Infecto, quo +intenderat, negotio._ Though this is the reading of most of the +manuscripts, Kritzius, Mueller, and Dietach, read _confecto_, as if +Marius could not have failed in his attempt. + +[310] Are always verging to opposite extremes.--_Semper in adversa +mutant_. Rose renders this "are always changing, and constantly for +the worse;" and most other translators have given something similar. +But this is absurd; for every one sees that all changes in human +affairs are not for the worse. _Adversa_ is evidently to be taken in +the sense which I have given. + +[311] CV. At his discretion--_Arbitratu_. Kritzius observes that +this word comprehends the notion of plenary powers to treat and +decide: _der mit unbeschraenkter Vollmacht unterhandeln koennte_. + +[312] Presenting--_Intendere_. The critics are in doubt to what +to refer this word; some have thought of understanding _animum_; +Cortius, Wasse, and Mueller, think it is meant only of the bows of the +archers; Kritzius, Burnouf, and Allen, refer it, apparently with +better judgment, to the _arma_ and _tela_ in general. + +[313] CVI. To dispatch their supper--_Coenatos esse_. "The perfect is +not without its force; it signifies that Sylla wished his orders to +be performed with the greatest expedition." _Kritzius_. He orders them +_to have done_ supper. + +[314] CVII. And blind parts of his body--_Caecum corpus_. Imitated +from Xenephon, Cyrop. iii. 3, 45: [Greek: _Moron gar to kratein +boulomenous, ta tuphla, tou somatos, kai aopla, tauta enantia +tattein tois polemiois pheugontas_.] "It is folly for those that +desire to conquer to turn the blind, unarmed, and handless parts of +the body, to the enemy in flight." + +[315] At being an instrument of his father's hostility--_Quoniam +hostilia faceret_. "Since he wished to deceive the Romans by pretended +friendship." _Mueller_. + +[316] CVIII. Of the family of Masinissa--_Ex gente Masinissae._ +Massugrada was the son of Masinissa by a concubine. + +[317] Faithful--_Fidum_. After this word, in the editions of Cortius, +Kritzius, Gerlach, Allen, and Dietsch, follows _Romanis_ or _esse +Romanis_. These critics defend _Romanis_ on the plea that a dative +is necessary after _fidum_, and that it was of importance, as +Castilioneus observes that Dabar should be well disposed toward the +Romans, and not have been corrupted, like many other courtiers of +Bocchus, by the bribes of Jugurtha. Glarcanus, Badius Ascensius, the +Bipont editors, and Burnouf, with, most of the translators, omit +_Romanis_, and I have thought proper to imitate their example. + +[318] Place, day, and hour--_Diem, locum, tempus._ Not only the +day, but the time of the day. + +[319] That he kept all points, which he had settled with him +before, inviolate--_Consulta sese omnia cum illo integra habere_. +Kritzius justly observes that most editors, in interpreting this +passage, have erroneously given to _consulta_ the sense of +_consulenda_; and that the sense is, "that all that he had arranged +with Sylla before, remained unaltered, and that he was not drawn from +his resolutions by the influence of Jugurtha." + +[320] And that he was not to fear the presence of Jugurtha's +embassador, as any restraint, etc.--_Neu Jugurthae legatum +pertimesceret, quo res communis licentius gereretur_. There is some +difficulty in this passage. Burnouf makes the nearest approach to a +satisfactory explanation of it. "Sylla," says he, "was not to fear the +envoy of Jugurtha, _quo_, on which account (equivalent to _eoque_, and +on that account, _i. e._ on account of his freedom from apprehension) +their common interests would be more freely arranged." Yet it appears +from what follows that fear of Jugurtha's envoy _could not be +dismissed_, and that there could be no freedom of discussion in his +presence, as Sylla was to say but little before him, and to speak more +at large at a private meeting. These considerations have induced +Kritzius to suppose that the word _remoto_, or something similar, has +been lost after _quo_. The Bipont editors inserted _cautum esse_ +before _quo_, which is without authority, and does not at all assist +the sense. + +[321] African duplicity--_Punica fide_. "_Punica fides_ was a +well-known proverbial expression for treachery and deceit. The origin +of it is perhaps attributable not so much to fact, as to the implacable +hatred of the Romans toward the Carthaginians." _Burnouf_. + +[322] CIX. What answer should be returned by Bocchus--That is, in +the presence of Aspar. + +[323] Both then retired to their respective camps--_Deinde ambo in +sua castra digressi_. Both, _i. e._ Bocchus and Sylla, not Aspar and +Sylla, as Cortius imagines. + +[324] CX. It will be a pleasure to me--_Fuerit mihi_. Some editions, +as that of Langius, the Bipont, and Burnouf's, have _fuerit mihi +pretium_. Something of the kind seems to be wanting. "Res in bonis +numeranda fuerit mihi." _Burnouf_. Allen, who omits _pretium_, +interprets, "Grata mihi egestas sit, quae ad tuam, amicitiam +coufugiat;" but who can deduce this sense from the passage, unless he +have _pretium_, or something similar, in his mind? + +[325] CXI. That part of Numidia which he claimed--_Numidiae partem +quam nunc peteret_. See the second note on c. 102. Bocchus continues, +in his speech in the preceding chapter, to signify that a part of +Numidia belonged to him. + +[326] The ties of blood--_Cognationem_. To this blood-relationship +between him and Jugurtha no allusion is elsewhere made. + +[327] His resolution gave way--_Lenitur_. Cortius whom Gerlach and +Mueller follow, reads _leniter_, but, with Kritzius and Gerlach, I +prefer the verb to the adverb; which, however, is found in the greater +number of the manuscripts. + +[328] CXII. Interests of both--_Ambobus_. Both himself and Jugurtha. + +[329] CXIV. At that time--_ Ea tempestate_. "In many manuscripts +is found _ex ea tempestate_, by which the sense is wholly perverted. +Sallust signifies that Marius did not continue always deserving of +such honor; for, as is said in c. 63, 'he was afterward carried +headlong by ambition.'" _Kritzius_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The +Jurgurthine War, by Sallust + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + +This file should be named 7ccat10.txt or 7ccat10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7ccat11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7ccat10a.txt + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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JOHN SELBY +WATSON, M.A. + + + + +CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The character of Catiline, V. Virtues of the +ancient Romans, VI.-IX. Degeneracy of their posterity, X.-XIII. +Catiline's associates and supporters, and the arts by which he +collected them, XIV. His crimes and wretchedness, XV. His tuition of +his accomplices, and resolution to subvert the government, XVI. His +convocation of the conspirators, and their names, XVII. His concern in +a former conspiracy, XVIII., XIX. Speech to the conspirators, XX. His +promises to them, XXI. His supposed ceremony to unite them, XXII. His +designs discovered by Fulvia, XXIII. His alarm on the election of +Cicero to the consulship, and his design in engaging women in his +cause, XXIV. His accomplice, Sempronia, characterized, XXV. His +ambition of the consulship, his plot to assassinate Cicero, and his +disappointment in both, XXVI. His mission of Manlius into Etruria, and +his second convention of the conspirators, XXVII. His second attempt +to kill Cicero; his directions to Manlius well observed, XXVIII. His +machinations induce the Senate to confer extraordinary power on the +consuls, XXIX. His proceedings are opposed by various precautions, +XXX. His effrontery in the Senate, XXXI. He sets out for Etruria, +XXXII. His accomplice, Manlius, sends a deputation to Marcius, XXXIII. +His representations to various respectable characters, XXXIV. His +letter to Catulus, XXXV. His arrival at Manlius's camp; he is declared +an enemy by the Senate; his adherents continue faithful and resolute, +XXXVI. The discontent and disaffection of the populace in Rome, +XXXVII. The old contentions between the patricians and plebeians, +XXXVIII. The effect which a victory of Catiline would have produced, +XXXIX. The Allobroges are solicited to engage in the conspiracy, XL. +They discover it to Cicero, XLI. The incaution of Catiline's +accomplices in Gaul and Italy, XLII. The plans of his adherents at +Rome, XLIII. The Allobroges succeed in obtaining proofs of the +conspirators' guilt, XLIV. The Allobroges and Volturcius are arrested +by the contrivance of Cicero, XLV. The principal conspirators at Rome +are brought before the Senate, XLVI. The evidence against them, and +their consignment to custody, XLVII. The alteration in the minds of +the populace, and the suspicions entertained against Crassus, XLVIII. +The attempts of Catulus and Piso to criminate Caesar, XLIX. The plans +of Lentulus and Cethegus for their rescue, and the deliberations of +the Senate, L. The speech of Caesar on the mode of punishing the +conspirators, LI. The speech of Cato on the same subject, LII. The +condemnation of the prisoners; the causes of Roman greatness, LIII. +Parallel between Caesar and Cato, LIV. The execution of the criminals, +LV. Catiline's warlike preparations in Etruria, LVI. He is compelled +by Metullus and Antonius to hazard an action, LVII. His exhortation to +his men, LVIII. His arrangements, and those of his opponents, for the +battle, LIX. His bravery, defeat, and death, LX., LXI. + + * * * * * + +I. It becomes all men, who desire to excel other animals,[1] to strive, +to the utmost of their power,[2] not to pass through life in obscurity, +[3] like the beasts of the field,[4] which nature has formed groveling[5] +and subservient to appetite. + +All our power is situate in the mind and in the body.[6] Of the mind +we rather employ the government;[7] of the body the service.[8] The +one is common to us with the gods; the other with the brutes. It +appears to me, therefore, more reasonable[9]to pursue glory by means +of the intellect than of bodily strength, and, since the life which we +enjoy is short, to make the remembrance of us as lasting as possible. +For the glory of wealth and beauty is fleeting and perishable; that of +intellectual power is illustrious and immortal.[10] + +Yet it was long a subject of dispute among mankind, whether military +efforts were more advanced by strength of body, or by force of +intellect. For, in affairs of war, it is necessary to plan before +beginning to act,[11] and, after planning, to act with promptitude +and vigor.[12] Thus, each[13] being insufficient of itself, the one +requires the assistance of the other.[14] + +II. In early times, accordingly, kings (for that was the first title +of sovereignty in the world) applied themselves in different ways;[15] +some exercised the mind, others the body. At that period, however,[16] +the life of man was passed without covetousness;[17] every one was +satisfied with his own. But after Cyrus in Asia[18] and the +Lacedaemonians and Athenians in Greece, began to subjugate cities and +nations, to deem the lust of dominion a reason for war, and to imagine +the greatest glory to be in the most extensive empire, it was then at +length discovered, by proof and experience,[19] that mental power has +the greatest effect in military operations. And, indeed,[20] if the +intellectual ability[21] of kings and magistrates[22] were exerted to +the same degree in peace as in war, human affairs would be more +orderly and settled, and you would not see governments shifted from +hand to hand,[23] and things universally changed and confused. For +dominion is easily secured by those qualities by which it was at first +obtained. But when sloth has introduced itself in the place of industry, +and covetousness and pride in that of moderation and equity, the fortune +of a state is altered together with its morals; and thus authority is +always transferred from the less to the more deserving.[24] + +Even in agriculture,[25] in navigation, and in architecture, whatever +man performs owns the dominion of intellect. Yet many human beings, +resigned to sensuality and indolence, un-instructed and unimproved, +have passed through life like travellers in a strange country[26]; to +whom, certainly, contrary to the intention of nature, the body was a +gratification, and the mind a burden. Of these I hold the life and +death in equal estimation[27]; for silence is maintained concerning +both. But he only, indeed, seems to me to live, and to enjoy life, +who, intent upon some employment, seeks reputation from some ennobling +enterprise, or honorable pursuit. + +But in the great abundance of occupations, nature points out different +paths to different individuals. III. To act well for the Commonwealth +is noble, and even to speak well for it is not without merit[28]. Both +in peace and in war it is possible to obtain celebrity; many who have +acted, and many who have recorded the actions of others, receive their +tribute of praise. And to me, assuredly, though by no means equal +glory attends the narrator and the performer of illustrious deeds, it +yet seems in the highest degree difficult to write the history of +great transactions; first, because deeds must be adequately +represented[29] by words; and next, because most readers consider that +whatever errors you mention with censure, are mentioned through +malevolence and envy; while, when you speak of the great virtue and +glory of eminent men, every one hears with acquiescence[30] only that +which he himself thinks easy to be performed; all beyond his own +conception he regards as fictitious and incredible[31]. + +I myself, however, when a young man[32], was at first led by +inclination, like most others, to engage in political affairs[33]; but +in that pursuit many circumstances were unfavorable to me; for, +instead of modesty, temperance, and integrity[34], there prevailed +shamelessness, corruption, and rapacity. And although my mind, +inexperienced in dishonest practices, detested these vices, yet, in +the midst of so great corruption, my tender age was insnared and +infected[35] by ambition; and, though I shrunk from the vicious +principles of those around me, yet the same eagerness for honors, the +same obloquy and jealousy[36], which disquieted others, disquieted +myself. + +IV. When, therefore, my mind had rest from its numerous troubles and +trials, and I had determined to pass the remainder of my days +unconnected with public life, it was not my intention to waste my +valuable leisure in indolence and inactivity, or, engaging in servile +occupations, to spend my time in agriculture or hunting[37]; but, +returning to those studies[38] from which, at their commencement, a +corrupt ambition had allured me, I determined to write, in detached +portions[39], the transactions of the Roman people, as any occurrence +should seem worthy of mention; an undertaking to which I was the +rather inclined, as my mind was uninfluenced by hope, fear, or +political partisanship. I shall accordingly give a brief account, with +as much truth as I can, of the Conspiracy of Catiline; for I think it +an enterprise eminently deserving of record, from the unusual nature +both of its guilt and of its perils. But before I enter upon my +narrative, I must give a short description of the character of the +man. + +V. Lucius Catiline was a man of noble birth[40], and of eminent mental +and personal endowments; but of a vicious and depraved disposition. +His delight, from his youth, had been civil commotions, bloodshed, +robbery, and sedition[41]; and in such scenes he had spent his early +years.[42] His constitution could endure hunger, want of sleep, and +cold, to a degree surpassing belief. His mind was daring, subtle, and +versatile, capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished.[43] +He was covetous of other men's property, and prodigal of his own. He +had abundance of eloquence,[44] though but little wisdom. His +insatiable ambition was always pursuing objects extravagant, romantic, +and unattainable. + +Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship,[45] a strong desire of seizing +the government possessed him, nor did he at all care, provided that he +secured power[46] for himself, by what means he might arrive at it. +His violent spirit was daily more and more hurried on by the +diminution of his patrimony, and by his consciousness of guilt; both +which evils he had increased by those practices which I have mentioned +above. The corrupt morals of the state, too, which extravagance and +selfishness, pernicious and contending vices, rendered thoroughly +depraved,[47] furnished him with additional incentives to action. + +Since the occasion has thus brought public morals under my notice, the +subject itself seems to call upon me to look back, and briefly to +describe the conduct of our ancestors[48] in peace and war; how they +managed the state, and how powerful they left it; and how, by gradual +alteration, it became, from being the most virtuous, the most vicious +and depraved. + +VI. Of the city of Rome, as I understand,[49] the founders and +earliest inhabitants were the Trojans, who, under the conduct of +Aeneas, were wandering about as exiles from their country, without any +settled abode; and with these were joined the Aborigines,[50] a savage +race of men, without laws or government, free, and owning no control. +How easily these two tribes, though of different origin, dissimilar +language, and opposite habits of life, formed a union when they met +within the same walls, is almost incredible.[51] But when their state, +from an accession of population and territory, and an improved +condition of morals, showed itself tolerably flourishing and powerful, +envy, as is generally the case in human affairs, was the consequence +of its prosperity. The neighboring kings and people, accordingly, +began to assail them in war, while a few only of their friends came to +their support; for the rest, struck with alarm, shrunk from sharing +their dangers. But the Romans, active at home and in the field, +prepared with alacrity for their defense.[52] They encouraged one +another, and hurried to meet the enemy. They protected, with their +arms, their liberty, their country, and their homes. And when they had +at length repelled danger by valor, they lent assistance to their +allies and supporters, and procured friendships rather by +bestowing[53] favors than by receiving them. + +They had a government regulated by laws. The denomination of their +government was monarchy. Chosen men, whose bodies might be enfeebled +by years, but whose minds were vigorous in understanding, formed the +council of the state; and these, whether from their age, or from the +similarity of their duty, were called FATHERS.[54] But afterward, when +the monarchical power, which had been originally established for the +protection of liberty, and for the promotion of the public interest, +had degenerated into tyranny and oppression, they changed their plan, +and appointed two magistrates,[55] with power only annual; for they +conceived that, by this method, the human mind would be least likely +to grow overbearing for want of control. + +VII. At this period every citizen began to seek distinction, and to +display his talents with greater freedom; for, with princes, the +meritorious are greater objects of suspicion than the undeserving, and +to them the worth of others is a source of alarm. But when liberty was +secured, it is almost incredible[56] how much the state strengthened +itself in a short space of time, so strong a passion for distinction +had pervaded it. Now, for the first time, the youth, as soon as they +were able to bear the toil of war,[57] acquired military skill by +actual service in the camp, and took pleasure rather in splendid arms +and military steeds than in the society of mistresses and convivial +indulgence. To such men no toil was unusual, no place was difficult or +inaccessible, no armed enemy was formidable; their valor had overcome +every thing. But among themselves the grand rivalry was for glory; +each sought to be first to wound an enemy, to scale a wall, and to be +noticed while performing such an exploit. Distinction such as this +they regarded as wealth, honor, and true nobility.[58] They were +covetous of praise, but liberal of money; they desired competent +riches but boundless glory. I could mention, but that the account +would draw me too far from my subject, places in which the Roman +people, with a small body of men, routed vast armies of the enemy; and +cities, which, though fortified by nature, they carried by assault. + +VIII. But, assuredly, Fortune rules in all things. She makes every +thing famous or obscure rather from caprice than in conformity with +truth. The exploits of the Athenians, as far as I can judge, were very +great and glorious,[59] something inferior to what fame has represented +them. But because writers of great talent flourished there, the actions +of the Athenians are celebrated over the world as the most splendid +achievements. Thus, the merit of those who have acted is estimated at +the highest point to which illustrious intellects could exalt it in +their writings. + +But among the Romans there was never any such abundance of writers;[60] +for, with them, the most able men were the most actively employed. No +one exercised the mind independently of the body: every man of ability +chose to act rather than narrate,[61] and was more desirous that his +own merits should be celebrated by others, than that he himself should +record theirs. + +IX. Good morals, accordingly, were cultivated in the city and in the +camp. There was the greatest possible concord, and the least possible +avarice. Justice and probity prevailed among the citizens, not more +from the influence of the laws than from natural inclination. They +displayed animosity, enmity, and resentment only against the enemy. +Citizens contended with citizens in nothing but honor. They were +magnificent in their religious services, frugal in their families, +and steady in their friendships. + +By these two virtues, intrepidity in war, and equity in peace, they +maintained themselves and their state. Of their exercise of which +virtues, I consider these as the greatest proofs; that, in war, +punishment was oftener inflicted on those who attacked an enemy +contrary to orders, and who, when commanded to retreat, retired too +slowly from the contest, than on those who had dared to desert their +standards, or, when pressed by the enemy,[62] to abandon their posts; +and that, in peace, they governed more by conferring benefits than by +exciting terror, and, when they received an injury, chose rather to +pardon than to revenge it. + +X. But when, by perseverance and integrity, the republic had increased +its power; when mighty princes had been vanquished in war;[63] when +barbarous tribes and populous states had been reduced to subjection; +when Carthage, the rival of Rome's dominion, had been utterly +destroyed, and sea and land lay every where open to her sway, Fortune +then began to exercise her tyranny, and to introduce universal +innovation. To those who had easily endured toils, dangers, and +doubtful and difficult circumstances, ease and wealth, the objects of +desire to others, became a burden and a trouble. At first the love of +money, and then that of power, began to prevail, and these became, as +it were, the sources of every evil. For avarice subverted honesty, +integrity, and other honorable principles, and, in their stead, +inculcated pride, inhumanity, contempt of religion, and general +venality. Ambition prompted many to become deceitful; to keep one +thing concealed in the breast, and another ready on the tongue;[64] to +estimate friendships and enmities, not by their worth, but according +to interest; and to carry rather a specious countenance than an honest +heart. These vices at first advanced but slowly, and were sometimes +restrained by correction; but afterward, when their infection had +spread like a pestilence, the state was entirely changed, and the +government, from being the most equitable and praiseworthy, became +rapacious and insupportable. + +XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice,[65] that +influenced the minds of men; a vice which approaches nearer to virtue +than the other. For of glory, honor, and power, the worthy is as +desirous as the worthless; but the one pursues them by just methods; +the other, being destitute of honorable qualities, works with fraud +and deceit. But avarice has merely money for its object, which no wise +man has ever immoderately desired. It is a vice which, as if imbued +with deadly poison, enervates whatever is manly in body or mind.[66] +It is always unbounded and insatiable, and is abated neither by +abundance nor by want. + +But after Lucius Sylla, having recovered the government[67] by force +of arms, proceeded, after a fair commencement, to a pernicious +termination, all became robbers and plunderers;[68] some set their +affections on houses, others on lands; his victorious troops knew +neither restraint nor moderation, but inflicted on the citizens +disgraceful and inhuman outrages. Their rapacity was increased by the +circumstance that Sylla, in order to secure the attachment of the +forces which he had commanded in Asia,[69] had treated them, contrary +to the practice of our ancestors, with extraordinary indulgence, and +exemption from discipline; and pleasant and luxurious quarters had +easily, during seasons of idleness, enervated the minds of the +soldiery. Then the armies of the Roman people first became habituated +to licentiousness and intemperance, and began to admire statues, +pictures, and sculptured vases; to seize such objects alike in public +edifices and private dwellings;[70] to spoil temples; and to cast off +respect for every thing, sacred and profane. Such troops, accordingly, +when once they obtained the mastery, left nothing to be vanquished. +Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would +those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. + +XII. When wealth was once considered an honor, and glory, authority, +and power attended on it, virtue lost her influence, poverty was +thought a disgrace, and a life of innocence was regarded as a life of +ill-nature.[71] From the influence of riches, accordingly, luxury, +avarice, and pride prevailed among the youth; they grew at once +rapacious and prodigal; they undervalued what was their own, and +coveted what was another's; they set at naught modesty and continence; +they lost all distinction between sacred and profane, and threw off +all consideration and self-restraint. + +It furnishes much matter for reflection,[72] after viewing our modern +mansions and villas extended to the size of cities, to contemplate the +temples which our ancestors, a most devout race of men, erected to the +gods. But our forefathers adorned the fanes of the deities with devotion, +and their homes with their own glory, and took nothing from those whom +they conquered but the power of doing harm; their descendants, on the +contrary, the basest of mankind,[73] have even wrested from their allies, +with the most flagrant injustice, whatever their brave and victorious +ancestors had left to their vanquished enemies; as if the only use of +power were to inflict injury. + +XIII. For why should I mention those displays of extravagance, which +can be believed by none but those who have seen them; as that mountains +have been leveled, and seas covered with edifices,[74] by many private +citizens; men whom I consider to have made a sport of their wealth,[75] +since they were impatient to squander disreputably what they might have +enjoyed with honor. + +But the love of irregular gratification, open debauchery, and all +kinds of luxury,[76] had spread abroad with no less force. Men forgot +their sex; women threw off all the restraints of modesty. To gratify +appetite, they sought for every kind of production by land and by sea; +they slept before there was any inclination for sleep; they no longer +waited to feel hunger, thirst, cold,[77] or fatigue, but anticipated +them all by luxurious indulgence. Such propensities drove the youth, +when their patrimonies were exhausted, to criminal practices; for +their minds, impregnated with evil habits, could not easily abstain +from gratifying their passions, and were thus the more inordinately +devoted in every way to rapacity and extravagance. + +XIV. In so populous and so corrupt a city, Catiline, as it was very +easy to do, kept about him, like a body-guard, crowds of the +unprincipled and desperate. For all those shameless, libertine, and +profligate characters, who had dissipated their patrimonies by +gaming,[78] luxury, and sensuality; all who had contracted heavy +debts, to purchase immunity for their crimes or offenses; all +assassins[79] or sacrilegious persons from every quarter, convicted or +dreading conviction for their evil deeds; all, besides, whom their +tongue or their hand maintained by perjury or civil bloodshed; all, in +fine, whom wickedness, poverty, or a guilty conscience disquieted, +were the associates and intimate friends of Catiline. And if any one, +as yet of unblemished character, fell into his society, he was +presently rendered, by daily intercourse and temptation, similar and +equal to the rest. But it was the young whose acquaintance he chiefly +courted; as their minds, ductile and unsettled from their age, were +easily insnared by his stratagems. For as the passions of each, +according to his years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to +some, bought horses and dogs for others, and spared, in a word, +neither his purse nor his character, if he could but make them his +devoted and trustworthy supporters. There were some, I know, who +thought that the youth, who frequented the house of Catiline, were +guilty of crimes against nature; but this report arose rather from +other causes than from any evidence of the fact[80]. + +XV. Catiline, in his youth, had been guilty of many criminal +connections, with a virgin of noble birth[81], with a priestess of +Vesta[82], and of many other offenses of this nature, in defiance +alike of law and religion. At last, when he was smitten with a passion +for Aurelia Orestilla[83], in whom no good man, at any time of her +life, commended any thing but her beauty, it is confidently believed +that because she hesitated to marry him, from the dread of having a +grown-up step-son[84], he cleared the house for their nuptials by +putting his son to death. And this crime appears to me to have been +the chief cause of hurrying forward the conspiracy. For his guilty +mind, at peace with neither gods nor men, found no comfort either +waking or sleeping; so effectually did conscience desolate his +tortured spirit.[85] His complexion, in consequence, was pale, his +eyes haggard, his walk sometimes quick and sometimes slow, and +distraction was plainly apparent in every feature and look. + +XVI. The young men, whom, as I said before, he had enticed to join +him, he initiated, by various methods, in evil practices. From among +them he furnished false witnesses,[86] and forgers of signatures; and +he taught them all to regard, with equal unconcern, honor, property, +and danger. At length, when he had stripped them of all character and +shame, he led them to other and greater enormities. If a motive for +crime did not readily occur, he incited them, nevertheless, to +circumvent and murder inoffensive persons[87] just as if they had +injured him; for, lest their hand or heart should grow torpid for want +of employment, he chose to be gratuitously wicked and cruel. + +Depending on such accomplices and adherents, and knowing that the load +of debt was every where great, and that the veterans of Sylla,[88] +having spent their money too liberally, and remembering their spoils +and former victory, were longing for a civil war, Catiline formed the +design of overthrowing the government. There was no army in Italy; +Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world;[89] he himself had +great hopes of obtaining the consulship; the senate was wholly off its +guard;[90] every thing was quiet and tranquil; and all those +circumstances were exceedingly favorable for Catiline. + +XVII. Accordingly, about the beginning of June, in the consulship of +Lucius Caesar[91] and Caius Figulus, he at first addressed each of his +accomplices separately, encouraged some, and sounded others, and +informed them, of his own resources, of the unprepared condition of +the state, and of the great prizes to be expected from the conspiracy. +When he had ascertained, to his satisfaction, all that he required, he +summoned all whose necessities were the most urgent, and whose spirits +were the most daring, to a general conference. + +At that meeting there were present, of senatorial rank, Publius +Lentulus Sura,[92] Publius Autronius,[93] Lucius Cassius Longinus,[94] +Caius Cethegus,[95] Publius and Servius Sylla[96] the sons of +Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius,[97] Quintus Annius,[98] Marcus +Porcius Laeca,[99] Lucius Bestia,[100] Quintus Curius;[101] and, of +the equestrian order, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior,[102] Lucius +Statilius,[103] Publius Gabinius Capito,[104] Caius Cornelius;[105] +with many from the colonies and municipal towns,[106] persons of +consequence in their own localities. There were many others, too, +among the nobility, concerned in the plot, but less openly: men whom +the hope of power, rather than poverty or any other exigence, prompted +to join in the affair. But most of the young men, and especially the +sons of the nobility, favored the schemes of Catiline; they who had +abundant means of living at ease, either splendidly or voluptuously, +preferred uncertainties to certainties, war to peace. There were some, +also, at that time, who believed that Marcus Licinius Crassus[107] was +not unacquainted with the conspiracy; because Cneius Pompey, whom he +hated, was at the head of a large army, and he was willing that the +power of any one whomsoever should raise itself against Pompey's +influence; trusting, at the same time, that if the plot should +succeed, he would easily place himself at the head of the +conspirators. + +XVIII. But previously[108] to this period, a small number of persons, +among whom was Catiline, had formed a design against the state: of +which affair I shall here give as accurate account as I am able. Under +the consulship of Lucius Tullus and Marcus Lepidus, Publius Autronius +and Publius Sylla,[109] having been tried for bribery under the laws +against it,[110] had paid the penalty of the offense. Shortly after +Catiline, being brought to trial for extortion,[111] had been +prevented from standing for the consulship, because he had been unable +to declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number of +days.[112] There was at that time, too, a young patrician of the most +daring spirit, needy and discontented, named Cneius Piso,[113] whom +poverty and vicious principles instigated to disturb the government. +Catiline and Autronius,[114] having concerted measures with this Piso, +prepared to assassinate the consuls, Lucius Cotta and Lucius Torquatus, +in the Capitol, on the first of January,[115] when they, having seized +on the fasces, were to send Piso with an army to take possession of the +two Spains.[116] But their design being discovered, they postponed the +assassination to the fifth of February; when they meditated the +destruction, not of the consuls only, but of most of the senate. And had +not Catiline, who was in front of the senate-house, been too hasty to +give the signal to his associates, there would that day have been +perpetrated the most atrocious outrage since the city of Rome was +founded. But as the armed conspirators had not yet assembled in +sufficient numbers, the want of force frustrated the design. + +XIX. Some time afterward, Piso was sent as quaestor, with Praetorian +authority, into Hither Spain; Crassus promoting the appointment, +because he knew him to be a bitter enemy to Cneius Pompey. Nor were +the senate, indeed, unwilling[117] to grant him the province; for they +wished so infamous a character to be removed from the seat of +government; and many worthy men, at the same time, thought that there +was some security in him against the power of Pompey, which was then +becoming formidable. But this Piso, on his march toward his province, +was murdered by some Spanish cavalry whom he had in his army. These +barbarians, as some say, had been unable to endure his unjust, +haughty, and cruel orders; but others assert that this body of +cavalry, being old and trusty adherents of Pompey, attacked Piso at +his instigation; since the Spaniards, they observed, had never before +committed such an outrage, but had patiently submitted to many severe +commands. This question we shall leave undecided. Of the first +conspiracy enough has been said. + +XX. When Catiline saw those, whom I have just above mentioned,[118] +assembled, though he had often discussed many points with them singly, +yet thinking it would be to his purpose to address and exhort them in +a body, retired with them into a private apartment of his house, +where, when all witnesses were withdrawn, he harangued them to the +following effect: + +"If your courage and fidelity had not been sufficiently proved by me, +this favorable opportunity[119] would have occurred to no purpose; +mighty hopes, absolute power, would in vain be within our grasp; nor +should I, depending on irresolution or ficklemindedness, pursue +contingencies instead of certainties. But as I have, on many remarkable +occasions, experienced your bravery and attachment to me, I have +ventured to engage in a most important and glorious enterprise. I am +aware, too, that whatever advantages or evils affect you, the same +affect me; and to have the same desires and the same aversions, is +assuredly a firm bond of friendship. + +"What I have been meditating you have already heard separately. But my +ardor for action is daily more and more excited, when I consider what +our future condition of life must be, unless we ourselves assert our +claims to liberty.[120] For since the government has fallen under the +power and jurisdiction of a few, kings and princes[121] have constantly +been their tributaries; nations and states have paid them taxes; but all +the rest of us, however brave and worthy, whether noble or plebeian, +have been regarded as a mere mob, without interest or authority, and +subject to those, to whom, if the state were in a sound condition, we +should be a terror. Hence, all influence, power, honor, and wealth, are +in their hands, or where they dispose of them: to us they have left only +insults,[122] dangers, persecutions, and poverty. To such indignities, +O bravest of men, how long will you submit? Is it not better to die in +a glorious attempt, than, after having been the sport of other men's +insolence, to resign a wretched and degraded existence with ignominy? + +"But success (I call gods and men to witness!) is in our own hands. +Our years are fresh, our spirit is unbroken; among our oppressors, on +the contrary, through age and wealth a general debility has been +produced. We have therefore only to make a beginning; the course of +events[123] will accomplish the rest. + +"Who in the world, indeed, that has the feelings of a man, can endure +that they should have a superfluity of riches, to squander in building +over seas[124] and leveling mountains, and that means should be wanting +to us even for the necessaries of life; that they should join together +two houses or more, and that we should not have a hearth to call our +own? They, though they purchase pictures, statues, and embossed plate; +[125] though they pull down now buildings and erect others, and lavish +and abuse their wealth in every possible method; yet can not, with the +utmost efforts of caprice, exhaust it. But for us there is poverty at +home, debts abroad; our present circumstances are bad, our prospects +much worse; and what, in a word, have we left, but a miserable existence? + +"Will you not, then, awake to action? Behold that liberty, that +liberty for which you have so often wished, with wealth, honor, and +glory, are set before your eyes. All these prizes fortune offers to +the victorious. Let the enterprise itself, then, let the opportunity, +let your poverty, your dangers, and the glorious spoils of war, +animate you far more than my words. Use me either as your leader or +your fellow-soldier; neither my heart nor my hand shall be wanting to +you. These objects I hope to effect, in concert with you, in the +character of consul; unless, indeed, my expectation deceives me, and +you prefer to be slaves rather than masters." + +XXI. When these men, surrounded with numberless evils, but without any +resources or hopes of good, had heard this address, though they +thought it much for their advantage to disturb the public tranquillity, +yet most of them called on Catiline to state on what terms they were to +engage in the contest; what benefits they were to expect from taking up +arms; and what support and encouragement they had, and in what quarters. +[126] Catiline then promised them the abolition of their debts;[127] a +proscription of the wealthy citizens;[128] offices, sacerdotal dignities, +plunder, and all other gratifications which war, and the license of +conquerors, can afford. He added that Piso was in Hither Spain, and +Publius Sittius Nucerinus with an army in Mauritania, both of whom were +privy to his plans; that Caius Antonius, whom he hoped to have for a +colleague, was canvassing for the consulship, a man with whom he was +intimate, and who was involved in all manner of embarrassments; and that, +in conjunction with him, he himself, when consul, would commence +operations. He, moreover, assailed all the respectable citizens with +reproaches, commended each of his associates by name, reminded one of +his poverty, another of his ruling passion,[129] several others of their +danger or disgrace, and many of the spoils which they had obtained by +the victory of Sylla. When he saw their spirits sufficiently elevated, +he charged them to attend to his interest at the election of consuls, +and dismissed the assembly. + +XXII. There were some, at the time, who said that Catiline, having +ended his speech, and wishing to bind his accomplices in guilt by an +oath, handed round among them, in goblets, the blood of a human body +mixed with wine; and that when all, after an imprecation, had tasted +of it, as is usual in sacred rites, he disclosed his design; and they +asserted[130] that he did this, in order that they might be the more +closely attached to one another, by being mutually conscious of such +an atrocity. But some thought that this report, and many others, were +invented by persons who supposed that the odium against Cicero, which +afterward arose, might be lessened by imputing an enormity of guilt to +the conspirators who had suffered death. The evidence which I have +obtained, in support of this charge, is not at all in proportion to +its magnitude. + +XXIII. Among those present at this meeting was Quintus Curius,[131] a +man of no mean family, but immersed in vices and crimes, and whom the +censors had ignominiously expelled from the senate. In this person +there was not less levity than impudence; he could neither keep secret +what he heard, not conceal his own crimes; he was altogether heedless +what he said or what he did. He had long had a criminal intercourse +with Fulvia, a woman of high birth; but growing less acceptable to her, +because, in his reduced circumstances, he had less means of being +liberal, he began, on a sudden, to boast, and to promise her seas and +mountains;[132] threatening her, at times, with the sword, if she were +not submissive to his will; and acting, in his general conduct, with +greater arrogance than ever.[133] Fulvia, having learned the cause of +his extravagant behavior, did not keep such danger to the state a +secret; but, without naming her informant, communicated to several +persons what she had heard and under what circumstances, concerning +Catiline's conspiracy. This intelligence it was that incited the +feelings of the citizens to give the consulship to Marcus Tullius +Cicero.[134] For before this period, most of the nobility were moved +with jealousy, and thought the consulship in some degree sullied, if a +man of no family,[135] however meritorious, obtained it. But when +danger showed itself, envy and pride were laid aside. XXIV. +Accordingly, when the comitia were held, Marcus Tullius and Caius +Antonius were declared consuls; an event which gave the first shock to +the conspirators. The ardor of Catiline, however, was not at all +diminished; he formed every day new schemes; he deposited arms, in +convenient places, throughout Italy; he sent sums of money borrowed on +his own credit, or that of his friends, to a certain Manlius,[136] at +Faesulae,[137] who was subsequently the first to engage in hostilities. +At this period, too, he is said to have attached to his cause great +numbers of men of all classes, and some women, who had, in their earlier +days, supported an expensive life by the price of their beauty, but who, +when age had lessened their gains but not their extravagance, had +contracted heavy debts. By the influence of these females, Catiline +hoped to gain over the slaves in Rome, to get the city set on fire, and +either to secure the support of their husbands or take away their lives. + +XXV. In the number of those ladies was Sempronia,[138] a woman who had +committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, +in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was +skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and +dance,[139] with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and +possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. +But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. +Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, it would +have been difficult to decide. Her desires were so ardent that she +oftener made advances to the other sex than waited for solicitation. +She had frequently, before this period, forfeited her word, forsworn +debts, been privy to murder, and hurried into the utmost excesses by +her extravagance and poverty. But her abilities were by no means +despicable;[140] she could compose verses, jest, and join in +conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In a word, she was +distinguished[141] by much refinement of wit, and much grace of +expression. + +XXVI. Catiline, having made these arrangements, still canvassed for +the consulship for the following year; hoping that, if he should be +elected, he would easily manage Antonius according to his pleasure. +Nor did he, in the mean time remain inactive, but devised schemes, in +every possible way, against Cicero, who, however, did not want skill +or policy to guard, against them. For, at the very beginning of his +consulship, he had, by making many promises through Fulvia, prevailed +on Quintus Curius, whom I have already mentioned, to give him secret +information of Catiline's proceedings. He had also persuaded his +colleague, Antonius, by an arrangement respecting their provinces,[142] +to entertain no sentiment of disaffection toward the state; and he kept +around him, though without ostentation, a guard of his friends and +dependents. + +When the day of the comitia came, and neither Catiline's efforts for +the consulship, nor the plots which he had laid for the consuls in the +Campus Martius,[143] were attended with success, he determined to +proceed to war, and resort to the utmost extremities, since what he +had attempted secretly had ended in confusion and disgrace.[144] + +XXVII. He accordingly dispatched Caius Manlius to Faesulae, and the +adjacent parts of Etruria; one Septimius, of Carinum,[145] into the +Picenian territory; Caius Julius into Apulia; and others to various +places, wherever he thought each would be most serviceable.[146] He +himself, in the mean time, was making many simultaneous efforts at +Rome; he laid plots for the consul; he arranged schemes for burning +the city; he occupied suitable posts with armed men; he went constantly +armed himself, and ordered his followers to do the same; he exhorted +them to be always on their guard and prepared for action; he was active +and vigilant by day and by night, and was exhausted neither by +sleeplessness nor by toil. At last, however, when none of his +numerous projects succeeded,[147] he again, with the aid of Marcus +Porcius Laeca, convoked the leaders of the conspiracy in the dead of +night, when, after many complaints of their apathy, he informed them +that he had sent forward Manlius to that body of men whom he had +prepared to take up arms; and others of the confederates into other +eligible places, to make a commencement of hostilities; and that he +himself was eager to set out to the army, if he could but first cut +off Cicero, who was the chief obstruction to his measures. + +XXVIII. While, therefore, the rest were in alarm and hesitation, Caius +Cornelius, a Roman knight, who offered his services, and Lucius +Vargunteius, a senator, in company with him, agreed to go with an +armed force, on that very night, and with but little delay,[148] to +the house of Cicero, under pretense of paying their respects to him, +and to kill him unawares, and unprepared for defense, in his own +residence. But Curius, when he heard of the imminent danger that +threatened the consul, immediately gave him notice, by the agency of +Fulvia, of the treachery which was contemplated. The assassins, in +consequence, were refused admission, and found that they had +undertaken such an attempt only to be disappointed. + +In the mean time, Manlius was in Etruria, stirring up the populace, +who, both from poverty, and from resentment for their injuries (for, +under the tyranny of Sylla, they had lost their lands and other +property) were eager for a revolution. He also attached to himself all +sorts of marauders, who were numerous in those parts, and some of +Sylla's colonists, whose dissipation and extravagance had exhausted +their enormous plunder. + +XXIX. When these proceedings were reported to Cicero, he, being +alarmed at the twofold danger, since he could no longer secure the +city against treachery by his private efforts, nor could gain +satisfactory intelligence of the magnitude or intentions of the army +of Manlius, laid the matter, which was already a subject of discussion +among the people, before the senate. The senate, accordingly, as is +usual in any perilous emergency, decreed that THE CONSULS SHOULD MAKE +IT THEIR CARE THAT THE COMMONWEALTH SHOULD RECEIVE NO INJURY. This is +the greatest power which, according to the practice at Rome, is +granted[149] by the senate to the magistrate, and which authorizes him +to raise troops; to make war; to assume unlimited control over the +allies and the citizens; to take the chief command and jurisdiction at +home and in the field; rights which, without an order of the people, +the consul is not permitted to exercise. + +XXX. A few days afterward, Lucius Saenius, a senator, read to the +senate a letter, which, he said, he had received from Faesulae, and in +which, it was stated that Caius Manlius, with a large force, had taken +the field by the 27th of October.[150] Others at the same time, as is +not uncommon in such a crisis, spread reports of omens and prodigies; +others of meetings being held, of arms being transported, and of +insurrections of the slaves at Capua and in Apulia. In consequence of +these rumors, Quintus Marcius Rex[151] was dispatched, by a decree of +the senate, to Faesulae, and Quintus Metellus Creticus[152] into +Apulia and the parts adjacent; both which officers, with the title of +commanders,[153] were waiting near the city, having been prevented +from entering in triumph, by the malice of a cabal, whose custom it +was to ask a price for every thing, whether honorable or infamous. The +praetors, too, Quintus Pompeius Rufus, and Quintus Metellus Celer, were +sent off, the one to Capua, the other to Picenum, and power was given +them to levy a force proportioned to the exigency and the danger. The +senate also decreed, that if any one should give information of the +conspiracy which had been formed against the state, his reward should +be, if a slave, his freedom and a hundred sestertia; if a freeman, a +complete pardon and two hundred sestertia[154]. They further appointed +that the schools of gladiators[155] should be distributed in Capua and +other municipal towns, according to the capacity of each; and that, at +Rome, watches should be posted throughout the city, of which the +inferior magistrates[156] should have the charge. + +XXXI. By such proceedings as these the citizens were struck with +alarm, and the appearance of the city was changed. In place of that +extreme gayety and dissipation,[157] to which long tranquillity[158] +had given rise, a sudden gloom spread over all classes; they became +anxious and agitated; they felt secure neither in any place, nor with +any person; they were not at war, yet enjoyed no peace; each measured +the public danger by his own fear. The women, also, to whom, from the +extent of the empire, the dread of war was new, gave way to lamentation, +raised supplicating hands to heaven, mourned over their infants, made +constant inquiries, trembled at every thing, and, forgetting their pride +and their pleasures, felt nothing but alarm for themselves and their +country. + +Yet the unrelenting spirit of Catiline persisted in the same purposes, +notwithstanding the precautions that were adopted against him, and +though he himself was accused by Lucius Paullus under the Plautian +law.[159] At last, with a view to dissemble, and under pretense of +clearing his character, as if he had been provoked by some attack, he +went into the senate-house. It was then that Marcus Tullius, the +consul, whether alarmed at his presence, or fired with indignation +against him, delivered that splendid speech, so beneficial to the +republic, which he afterward wrote and published.[160] + +When Cicero sat down, Catiline, being prepared to pretend ignorance of +the whole matter, entreated, with downcast looks and suppliant voice, +that "the Conscript Fathers would not too hastily believe any thing +against him;" saying "that he was sprung from such a family, and had +so ordered his life from his youth, as to have every happiness in +prospect; and that they were not to suppose that he, a patrician, +whose services to the Roman people, as well as those of his ancestors, +had been so numerous, should want to ruin the state, when Marcus +Tullius, a mere adopted citizen of Rome,[161] was eager to preserve +it." When he was proceeding to add other invectives, they all raised +an outcry against him, and called him an enemy and a traitor.[162] +Being thus exasperated, "Since I am encompassed by enemies," he +exclaimed,[163] "and driven to desperation, I will extinguish the +flame kindled around me in a general ruin." + +XXXII He then hurried from the senate to his own house; and then, +after much reflection with himself, thinking that, as his plots +against the consul had been unsuccessful, and as he knew the city to +be secured from fire by the watch, his best course would be to augment +his army, and make provision for the war before the legions could be +raised, he set out in the dead of night, and with a few attendants, to +the camp of Manlius. But he left in charge to Lentulus and Cethegus, +and others of whose prompt determination he was assured, to strengthen +the interests of their party in every possible way, to forward the +plots against the consul, and to make arrangements for a massacre, for +firing the city, and for other destructive operations of war; +promising that he himself would shortly advance on the city with a +large army. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, Caius Manlius +dispatched some of his followers as deputies to Quintus Marcius Rex, +with directions to address him[164] to the following effect: + +XXXIII. "We call gods and men to witness, general, that we have taken +up arms neither to injure our country, nor to occasion peril to any +one, but to defend our own persons from harm; who, wretched and in +want, have been deprived most of us, of our homes, and all of us of +our character and property, by the oppression and cruelty of usurers; +nor has any one of us been allowed, according to the usage of our +ancestors, to have the benefit of the law,[165] or, when our property +was lost to keep our persons free. Such has been the inhumanity of the +usurers and of the praetor.[166] + +Often have your forefathers, taking compassion on the commonalty at +Rome, relieved their distress by decrees;[167] and very lately, within +our own memory, silver, by reason of the pressure of debt, and with +the consent of all respectable citizens, was paid with brass.[168] + +Often too, we must own, have the commonalty themselves, driven by +desire of power, or by the arrogance of their rulers, seceded[169] +under arms from the patricians. But at power or wealth, for the sake +of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not +aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes +but with life. We therefore conjure you and the senate to befriend +your unhappy fellow-citizens; to restore us the protection of the law, +which the injustice of the praetor has taken from us; and not to lay +on us the necessity of considering how we may perish, so as best to +avenge our blood." + +XXXIV. To this address Quintus Marcius replied, that, "if they wished +to make any petition to the senate, they must lay down their arms, and +proceed as suppliants to Rome;" adding, that "such had always been the +kindness[170] and humanity of the Roman senate and people, that none +had ever asked help of them in vain." + +Catiline, on his march, sent letters to most men of consular dignity, +and to all the most respectable citizens, stating that "as he was +beset by false accusations, and unable to resist the combination of +his enemies, he was submitting to the will of fortune, and going into +exile at Marseilles; not that he was guilty of the great wickedness +laid to his charge, but that the state might be undisturbed, and that +no insurrection might arise from his defense of himself." + +Quintus Catulus, however, read in the senate a letter of a very +different character, which, he said, was delivered to him in the +name of Catiline, and of which the following is a copy. + +[171]XXXV. "Lucius Catiline to Quintus Catulus, wishing health. Your +eminent integrity, known to me by experience,[172] gives a pleasing +confidence, in the midst of great perils, to my present recommendation. +[173] I have determined, therefore, to make no formal defense[174] with +regard to my new course of conduct; yet I was resolved, though conscious +of no guilt,[175] to offer you some explanation,[176] which, on my word +of honor,[177] you may receive as true.[178] Provoked by injuries and +indignities, since, being robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion, +[179] I did not obtain the post of honor due to me,[180] I have +undertaken, according to my custom, the public cause of the distressed. +Not but that I could have paid, out of my own property, the debts +contracted on my own security;[181] while the generosity of Orestilla, +out of her own fortune and her daughter's, would discharge those +incurred on the security of others. But because I saw unworthy men +ennobled with honors, and myself proscribed[182] on groundless suspicion, +I have for this very reason, adopted a course,[183] amply justifiable +in my present circumstances, for preserving what honor is left to me. +When I was proceeding to write more, intelligence was brought that +violence is preparing against me. I now commend and intrust Orestilla +to your protection;[184] intreating you, by your love for your own +children, to defend her from injury.[185] Farewell." + +XXXVI. Catiline himself, having stayed a few days with Caius Flaminius +Flamma in the neighborhood of Arretium,[186] while he was supplying +the adjacent parts, already excited to insurrection, with arms, +marched with his fasces, and other ensigns of authority, to join +Manlius in his camp. + +When this was known at Rome, the senate declared Catiline and Manlius +enemies to the state, and fixed a day as to the rest of their force, +before which they might lay down their arms with impunity, except such +as had been convicted of capital offenses. They also decreed that the +consuls should hold a levy; that Antonius, with an army, should hasten +in pursuit of Catiline; and that Cicero should protect the city. + +At this period the empire of Rome appears to me to have been in an +extremely deplorable condition;[187] for though every nation, from the +rising to the setting of the sun, lay in subjection to her arms, and +though peace and prosperity, which mankind think the greatest +blessings, were hers in abundance, there yet were found, among her +citizens, men who were bent with obstinate determination, to plunge +themselves and their country into ruin; for, notwithstanding the two +decrees of the senate,[188] not one individual, out of so vast a +number, was induced by the offer of reward to give information of the +conspiracy; nor was there a single deserter from the camp of Catiline. +So strong a spirit of disaffection had, like a pestilence, pervaded +the minds of most of the citizens. + +XXXVII. Nor was this disaffected spirit confined to those who were +actually concerned in the conspiracy; for the whole of the common +people, from a desire of change, favored the projects of Catiline. +This they seemed to do in accordance with their general character; +for, in every state, they that are poor envy those of a better class, +and endeavor to exalt the factious;[189] they dislike the established +condition of things, and long for something new; they are discontented +with their own circumstances, and desire a general alteration; they +can support themselves amid tumult and sedition, without anxiety, +since poverty does not easily suffer loss.[190] + +As for the populace of the city, they had become disaffected[191] from +various causes. In the first place,[192] such as every where took the +lead in crime and profligacy, with others who had squandered their +fortunes in dissipation, and, in a word, all whom vice and villainy +had driven from their homes, had flocked to Rome as a general +receptacle of impurity. In the next place, many, who thought of the +success of Sylla, when they had seen some raised from common soldiers +into senators, and others so enriched as to live in regal luxury and +pomp, hoped, each for himself, similar results from victory, if they +should once take up arms. In addition to this, the youth, who, in the +country, had earned a scanty livelihood by manual labor, tempted by +public and private largesses, had preferred idleness in the city to +unwelcome toil in the field. To these, and all others of similar +character, public disorders would furnish subsistence. It is not at +all surprising, therefore, that men in distress, of dissolute +principles and extravagant expectations, should have consulted the +interest of the state no further than as it was subservient to their +own. Besides, those whose parents, by the victory of Sylla, had been +proscribed, whose property had been confiscated, and whose civil +rights had been curtailed,[193] looked forward to the event of a war +with precisely the same feelings. + +All those, too, who were of any party opposed to that of the senate, +were desirous rather that the state should be embroiled, than that +they themselves should be out of power. This was an evil, which, after +many years, had returned upon the community to the extent to which it +now prevailed.[194] + +XXXVIII. For after the powers of the tribunes, in the consulate of +Cneius Pompey and Marcus Crassus, had been fully restored,[195] +certain young men, of an ardent age and temper, having obtained that +high office,[196] began to stir up the populace by inveighing against +the senate, and proceeded, in course of time, by means of largesses +and promises, to inflame them more and more; by which methods they +became popular and powerful. On the other hand, the most of the +nobility opposed their proceedings to the utmost; under pretense, +indeed, of supporting the senate, but in reality for their own +aggrandizement. For, to state the truth in few words, whatever +parties, during that period, disturbed the republic under plausible +pretexts, some, as if to defend the rights of the people, others, to +make the authority of the senate as great as possible, all, though +affecting concern for the public good, contended every one for his own +interest. In such contests there was neither moderation nor limit; +each party made a merciless use of its successes. + +XXXIX. After Pompey, however, was sent to the maritime and Mithridatic +wars, the power of the people was diminished, and the influence of the +few increased. These few kept all public offices, the administration +of the provinces, and every thing else, in their own hands; they +themselves lived free from harm,[197] in flourishing circumstances, +and without apprehension; overawing others, at the same time, with +threats of impeachment,[198] so that when in office, they might be +less inclined to inflame the people. But as soon as a prospect of +change, in this dubious state of affairs, had presented itself, the +old spirit of contention awakened their passions; and had Catiline, in +his first battle, come off victorious, or left the struggle undecided, +great distress and calamity must certainly have fallen upon the state, +nor would those, who might at last have gained the ascendency, have +been allowed to enjoy it long, for some superior power would have +wrested dominion and liberty from them when weary and exhausted. + +There were some, however, unconnected with the conspiracy, who set out +to join Catiline at an early period of his proceedings. Among these +was Aulus Fulvius, the son of a senator, whom, being arrested on his +journey, his father ordered to be put to death.[199] In Rome, at the +same time, Lentulus, in pursuance of Catiline's directions, was +endeavoring to gain over, by his own agency or that of others, all +whom he thought adapted, either by principles or circumstances, to +promote an insurrection; and not citizens only, but every description +of men who could be of any service in war. + +XL. He accordingly commissioned one Publius Umbrenus to apply to +certain deputies of the Allobroges,[200] and to lead them, if he +could, to a participation in the war; supposing that as they were +nationally and individually involved in debt, and as the Gauls were +naturally warlike, they might easily be drawn into such an enterprise. +Umbrenus, as he had traded in Gaul, was known to most of the chief men +there, and personally acquainted with them; and consequently, without +loss of time, as soon as he noticed the deputies in the Forum, he +asked them, after making a few inquiries about the state of their +country, and affecting to commiserate its fallen condition, "what +termination they expected to such calamities?" When he found that they +complained of the rapacity of the magistrates, inveighed against the +senate for not affording them relief, and looked to death as the only +remedy for their sufferings, "Yet I," said he, "if you will but act as +men, will show you a method by which you may escape these pressing +difficulties." When he had said this, the Allobroges, animated with +the highest hopes, besought Umbrenus to take compassion on them; +saying that there was nothing so disagreeable or difficult, which they +would not most gladly perform, if it would but free their country from +debt. He then conducted them to the house of Decimus Brutus, which was +close to the Forum, and, on account of Sempronia, not unsuitable to +his purpose, as Brutus was then absent from Rome.[201] In order, too, +to give greater weight to his representations, he sent for Gabinius, +and, in his presence, explained the objects of the conspiracy, and +mentioned the names of the confederates, as well as those of many +other persons, of every sort, who were guiltless of it, for the +purpose of inspiring the embassadors with greater confidence. At +length, when they had promised their assistance, he let them depart. + +XLI. Yet the Allobroges were long in suspense what course they should +adopt. On the one hand, there was debt, an inclination for war, and +great advantages to be expected from victory;[202] on the other, +superior resources, safe plans, and certain rewards[203] instead of +uncertain expectations. As they were balancing these considerations, +the good fortune of the state at length prevailed. They accordingly +disclosed the whole affair, just as they had learned it, to Quintus +Fabius Sanga,[204] to whose patronage their state was very greatly +indebted. Cicero, being apprized of the matter by Sanga, directed the +deputies to pretend a strong desire for the success of the plot, to +seek interviews with the rest of the conspirators, to make them fair +promises, and to endeavor to lay them open to conviction as much as +possible. + +XLII. Much about the same time there were commotions[205] in Hither +and Further Gaul, in the Picenian and Bruttian territories, and in +Apulia. For those, whom Catiline had previously sent to those parts, +had begun, without consideration, and seemingly with madness, to +attempt every thing at once; and, by nocturnal meetings, by removing +armor and weapons from place to place, and by hurrying and confusing +every thing, had created more alarm than danger. Of these, Quintus +Metellus Celer, the praetor, having brought several to trial,[206] +under the decree of the senate, had thrown them into prison, as had +also Caius Muraena in Further Gaul,[207] who governed that province in +quality of legate. + +XLIII. But at Rome, in the mean time, Lentulus, with the other leaders +of the conspiracy, having secured what they thought a large force, had +arranged, that as soon as Catiline should reach the neighborhood of +Faesulae, Lucius Bestia, a tribune of the people, having called an +assembly, should complain of the proceedings of Cicero, and lay the +odium of this most oppressive war on the excellent consul;[208] and +that the rest of the conspirators, taking this as a signal, should, on +the following night, proceed to execute their respective parts. + +These parts are said to have been thus distributed. Statilius and +Gabinius, with a large force, were to set on fire twelve places of the +city, convenient for their purpose,[209] at the same time; in order +that, during the consequent tumult,[210] an easier access might be +obtained to the consul, and to the others whose destruction was +intended; Cethegus was to beset the gate of Cicero, and attack him +personally with violence; others were to single out other victims; +while the sons of certain families, mostly of the nobility, were to +kill their fathers; and, when all were in consternation at the +massacre and conflagration, they were to sally forth to join Catiline. + +While they were thus forming and settling their plans, Cethegus was +incessantly complaining of the want of spirit in his associates; +observing, that they wasted excellent opportunities through hesitation +and delay;[211] that, in such an enterprise, there was need, not of +deliberation, but of action; and that he himself, if a few would +support him, would storm the senate-house while the others remained +inactive. Being naturally bold, sanguine, and prompt to act, he +thought that success depended on rapidity of execution. + +XLIV. The Allobroges, according to the directions of Cicero, procured +interviews, by means of Gabinius, with the other conspirators; and +from Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cassius, they demanded an +oath, which they might carry under seal to their countrymen, who +otherwise would hardly join in so important an affair. To this the +others consented without suspicion; but Cassius promised them soon to +visit their country,[212] and, indeed, left the city a little before +the deputies. + +In order that the Allobroges, before they reached home, might confirm +their agreement with Catiline, by giving and receiving pledges of +faith, Lentulus sent with them one Titus Volturcius, a native of +Crotona, he himself giving Volturcius a letter for Catiline, of which +the following is a copy: + +"Who I am, you will learn from the person whom I have sent to you. +Reflect seriously in how desperate a situation you are placed, and +remember that you are a man.[213] Consider what your views demand, and +seek aid from all, even the lowest." In addition, he gave him this +verbal message: "Since he was declared an enemy by the senate, for +what reason should he reject the assistance of slaves? That, in the +city, every thing which he had directed was arranged; and that he +should not delay to make nearer approaches to it." + +XLV. Matters having proceeded thus far, and a night being appointed +for the departure of the deputies, Cicero, being by them made +acquainted with every thing, directed the praetors,[214] Lucius +Valerius Flaccus, and Caius Pomtinus, to arrest the retinue of the +Allobroges, by laying in wait for them on the Milvian Bridge;[215] he +gave them a full explanation of the object with which they were +sent,[216] and left them to manage the rest as occasion might require. +Being military men, they placed a force, as had been directed, without +disturbance, and secretly invested the bridge; when the deputies, with +Volturcius, came to the place, and a shout was raised from each side +of the bridge,[217] the Gauls, at once comprehending the matter, +surrendered themselves immediately to the praetors. Volturcius, at +first, encouraging his companions, defended himself against numbers +with his sword; but afterward, being unsupported by the Allobroges, he +began earnestly to beg Pomtinus, to whom he was known, to save his +life, and at last, terrified and despairing of safety, he surrendered +himself to the praetors as unconditionally as to foreign enemies. + +XLVI. The affair being thus concluded, a full account of it was +immediately transmitted to the consul by messengers. Great anxiety, +and great joy, affected him at the same moment. He rejoiced that, by +the discovery of the conspiracy, the state was freed from danger; but +he was doubtful how he ought to act, when citizens of such eminence +were detected in treason so atrocious. He saw that their punishment +would be a weight upon himself, and their escape the destruction of +the Commonwealth. Having, however, formed his resolution, he ordered +Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and one Quintus Coeparius of +Terracina, who was preparing to go to Apulia to raise the slaves, to +be summoned before him. The others came without delay; but Coeparius, +having left his house a little before, and heard of the discovery of +the conspiracy, had fled from the city. The consul himself conducted +Lentulus, as he was praetor, holding him by the hand, and ordered the +others to be brought into the Temple of Concord, under a guard. Here +he assembled the senate, and in a very full attendance of that body, +introduced Volturcius with the deputies. Hither also he ordered +Valerius Flaccus, the praetor, to bring the box with the letters[218] +which he had taken from the deputies. + +XLVII. Volturcius, being questioned concerning his journey, concerning +his letter,[219] and lastly, what object he had had in view,[220] and +from what motives he had acted, at first began to prevaricate,[221] +and to pretend ignorance of the conspiracy; but at length, when he was +told to speak on the security of the public faith,[222] he disclosed +every circumstance as it had really occurred, stating that he had been +admitted as an associate, a few days before, by Gabinius and Coeparius; +that he knew no more than the deputies, only that he used to hear from +Gabinius, that Publius Autronius, Servius Sylla, Lucius Vargunteius, +and many others, were engaged in the conspiracy. The Gauls made a +similar confession, and charged Lentulus, who began to affect ignorance, +not only with the letter to Catiline, but with remarks which he was in +the habit of making, "that the sovereignty of Rome, by the Sibylline +books, was predestined to three Cornelii; that Cinna and Sylla had ruled +already;[223] and that he himself was the third, whose fate it would be +to govern the city; and that this, too, was the twentieth year since the +Capitol was burned; a year which the augurs, from certain omens, had +often said would be stained with the blood of civil war." + +The letter then being read, the senate, when all had previously +acknowledged their seals,[224] decreed that Lentulus, being deprived +of his office, should, as well as the rest, be placed in private +custody.[225] Lentulus, accordingly, was given in charge to Publius +Lentulus Spinther, who was then aedile; Cethegus, to Quintus +Cornificius; Statilius, to Caius Caesar; Gabinius, to Marcus Crassus; +and Coeparius, who had just before been arrested in his flight, to +Cneius Terentius, a senator. + +XLVIII. The common people, meanwhile, who had at first, from a desire +of change in the government, been too much inclined to war, having, on +the discovery of the plot, altered their sentiments, began to execrate +the projects of Catiline, to extol Cicero to the skies; and, as if +rescued from slavery, to give proofs of joy and exultation. Other +effects of war they expected as a gain rather than a loss; but the +burning of the city they thought inhuman, outrageous, and fatal, +especially to themselves, whose whole property consisted in their +daily necessaries and the clothes which they wore. + +On the following day, a certain Lucius Tarquinius was brought before +the senate, who was said to have been arrested as he was setting out +to join Catiline. This person, having offered to give information of +the conspiracy, if the public faith were pledged to him,[226] and +being directed by the consul to state what he knew, gave the senate +nearly the same account as Volturcius had given, concerning the +intended conflagration, the massacre of respectable citizens, and the +approach of the enemy, adding that "he was sent by Marcus Crassus to +assure Catiline that the apprehension of Lentulus, Cethegus, and +others of the conspirators, ought not to alarm him, but that he should +hasten, with so much the more expedition to the city, in order to +revive the courage of the rest, and to facilitate the escape of those +in custody".[227] When Tarquinius named Crassus, a man of noble birth, +of very great wealth, and of vast influence, some, thinking the +statement incredible, others, though they supposed it true, yet, +judging that at such a crisis a man of such power[228] was rather to +be soothed than irritated (most of them, too, from personal reasons, +being; under obligation to Crassus), exclaimed that he was "a false +witness," and demanded that the matter should be put to the vote. +Cicero, accordingly, taking their opinions, a full senate decreed +"that the testimony of Tarquinius appeared false; that he himself +should be kept in prison; and that no further liberty of speaking[229] +should be granted him, unless he should name the person at whose +instigation he had fabricated so shameful a calumny." + +There were some, at that time, who thought that this affair was +contrived by Publius Autronius, in order that the interest of Crassus, +if he were accused, might, from participation in the danger, more +readily screen the rest. Others said that Tarquinius was suborned by +Cicero, that Crassus might not disturb the state, by taking upon him, +as was his custom,[230] the defense of the criminals. That this attack +on his character was made by Cicero, I afterward heard Crassus himself +assert. + +XLIX. Yet, at the same time, neither by interest, nor by solicitation, +nor by bribes, could Quintus Catulus, and Caius Piso, prevail upon +Cicero to have Caius Caesar falsely accused, either by means of the +Allobroges, or any other evidence. Both of these men were at bitter +enmity with Caesar; Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was +on[231] his trial for extortion, on a charge of having illegally put +to death a Transpadane Gaul; Catulus, as having hated him ever since +he stood for the pontificate, because, at an advanced age, and after +filling the highest offices, he had been defeated by Caesar, who was +then comparatively a youth.[232] The opportunity, too, seemed +favorable for such an accusation; for Caesar, by extraordinary +generosity in private, and by magnificent exhibitions in public,[233] +had fallen greatly into debt. But when they failed to persuade the +consul to such injustice, they themselves, by going from one person to +another, and spreading fictions of their own, which they pretended to +have heard from Volturcius or the Allobroges, excited such violent +odium against him, that certain Roman knights, who were stationed as +an armed guard round the Temple of Concord, being prompted, either by +the greatness of the danger, or by the impulse of a high spirit, to +testify more openly their zeal for the republic, threatened Caesar +with their swords as he went out of the senate-house. + +L. While these occurrences were passing in the senate, and while +rewards were being voted, an approbation of their evidence, to the +Allobrogian deputies and to Titus Volturcius, the freedmen, and some +of the other dependents of Lentulus, were urging the artisans and +slaves, in various directions throughout the city,[234] to attempt his +rescue; some, too, applied to the ringleaders of the mob, who were +always ready to disturb the state for pay. Cethegus, at the same time, +was soliciting, through his agents, his slaves[235] and freedmen, men +trained to deeds of audacity, to collect themselves into an armed +body, and force a way into his place of confinement. + +The consul, when he heard that these things were in agitation, having +distributed armed bodies of men, as the circumstances and occasion +demanded, called a meeting of the senate, and desired to know "what +they wished to be done concerning those who had been committed to +custody." A full senate, however, had but a short time before[236] +declared them traitors to their country. On this occasion, Decimus +Junius Silanus, who, as consul elect, was first asked his opinion, +moved[237] that capital punishment should be inflicted, not only on +those who were in confinement, but also on Lucius Cassius, Publius +Furius, Publius Umbrenus, and Quintus Annius, if they should be +apprehended; but afterward, being influenced by the speech of Caius +Caesar, he said that he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius +Nero,[238] who had proposed that the guards should be increased, and +that the senate should deliberate further on the matter. Caesar, when +it came to his turn, being asked his opinion by the consul, spoke to +the following effect: + +LI. "It becomes all men,[239] Conscript Fathers, who deliberate on +dubious matters, to be influenced neither by hatred, affection, anger, +nor pity. The mind, when such feelings obstruct its view, can not +easily see what is right; nor has any human being consulted, at the +same moment, his passion and his interest. When the mind is freely +exerted, its reasoning is sound; but passion, if it gain possession of +it, becomes its tyrant, and reason is powerless. + +I could easily mention, Conscript Fathers, numerous examples of kings +and nations, who, swayed by resentment or compassion, have adopted +injudicious courses of conduct; but I had rather speak of these +instances in which our ancestors, in opposition, to the impulse of +passion, acted with wisdom and sound policy. + +In the Macedonian war, which we carried on against king Perses, the +great and powerful state of Rhodes, which had risen by the aid of the +Roman people, was faithless and hostile to us; yet, when the war was +ended, and the conduct of the Rhodians was taken into consideration, +our forefathers left them unmolested lest any should say that war was +made upon them for the sake of seizing their wealth, rather than of +punishing their faithlessness. Throughout the Punic war, too, though +the Carthaginians, both during peace and in suspension of arms, were +guilty of many acts of injustice, yet our ancestors never took +occasion to retaliate, but considered rather what was worthy of +themselves, than what might be justly inflicted on their enemies. + +Similar caution, Conscript Fathers, is to be observed by yourselves, +that the guilt of Lentulus, and the other conspirators, may not have +greater weight with you than your own dignity, and that you may not +regard your indignation more than your character. If, indeed, a +punishment adequate to their crimes be discovered, I consent to +extraordinary measures;[240] but if the enormity of their crime +exceeds whatever can be devised,[241] I think that we should inflict +only such penalties as the laws have provided. + +Most of those, who have given their opinions before me, have +deplored, in studied and impressive language,[242] the sad fate that +threatens the republic; they have recounted the barbarities of war, +and the afflictions that would fall on the vanquished; they have told +us that maidens would be dishonored, and youths abused; that children +would be torn from the embraces of their parents; that matrons would +be subjected to the pleasure of the conquerors; that temples and +dwelling-houses would be plundered; that massacres and fires would +follow; and that every place would be filled with arms, corpses, +blood, and lamentation. But to what end, in the name of the eternal +gods! was such eloquence directed? Was it intended to render you +indignant at the conspiracy? A speech, no doubt, will inflame him whom +so frightful and monstrous a reality has not provoked! Far from it: +for to no man does evil, directed against himself, appear a light +matter; many, on the contrary, have felt it more seriously than was +right. + +But to different persons, Conscript Fathers, different degrees of +license are allowed. If those who pass a life sunk in obscurity, +commit any error, through excessive anger, few become aware of it, for +their fame is as limited as their fortune; but of those who live +invested with extensive power, and in an exalted station, the whole +world knows the proceedings. Thus in the highest position there is the +least liberty of action; and it becomes us to indulge neither +partiality nor aversion, but least of all animosity; for what in +others is called resentment, is in the powerful termed violence and +cruelty. + +I am indeed of opinion, Conscript Fathers, that the utmost degree of +torture is inadequate to punish their crime; but the generality of +mankind dwell on that which happens last, and, in the case of +malefactors, forget their guilt, and talk only of their punishment, +should that punishment have been inordinately severe. I feel assured, +too, that Decimus Silanus, a man of spirit and resolution, made the +suggestions which he offered, from zeal for the state, and that he had +no view, in so important a matter, to favor or to enmity; such I know +to be his character, and such his discretion.[243] Yet his proposal +appears to me, I will not say cruel (for what can be cruel that is +directed against such characters?), but foreign to our policy. For +assuredly, Silanus, either your fears, or their treason, must have +induced you, a consul elect, to propose this new kind of punishment. +Of fear it is unnecessary to speak, when by the prompt activity of +that distinguished man our consul, such numerous forces are under +arms; and as to the punishment, we may say, what is indeed the truth, +that in trouble and distress, death is a relief from suffering, and +not a torment;[244] that it puts an end to all human woes; and that, +beyond it, there is no place either for sorrow or joy. + +But why, in the name of the immortal gods, did you not add to your +proposal, Silanus, that, before they were put to death, they should be +punished with the scourge? Was it because the Porcian law[245] forbids +it? But other laws[246] forbid condemned citizens to be deprived of +life, and allow them to go into exile. Or was it because scourging is +a severer penalty than death? Yet what can be too severe, or too +harsh, toward men convicted of such an offense? But if scourging be a +milder punishment than death, how is it consistent to observe the law +as to the smaller point, when you disregard it as to the greater? + +But who it may be asked, will blame any severity that shall be +decreed against these parricides[247] of their country? I answer that +time, the course of events,[248] and fortune, whose caprice governs +nations, may blame it. Whatever shall fall on the traitors, will fall +on them justly; but it is for you, Conscript Fathers, to consider well +what you resolve to inflict on others. All precedents productive of +evil effects,[249] have had their origin from what was good; but when +a government passes into the hands of the ignorant or unprincipled, +any new example of severity,[250] inflicted on deserving and suitable +objects, is extended to those that are improper and undeserving of it. +The Lacedaemonians, when they had conquered the Athenians,[251] +appointed thirty men to govern their state. These thirty began their +administration by putting to death, even without a trial, all who were +notoriously wicked, or publicly detestable; acts at which the people +rejoiced, and extolled their justice. But afterward, when their +lawless power gradually increased, they proceeded, at their pleasure, +to kill the good and the bad indiscriminately, and to strike terror +into all; and thus the state, overpowered and enslaved, paid a heavy +penalty for its imprudent exultation. + +Within our own memory, too, when the victorious Sylla ordered +Damasippus,[252] and others of similar character, who had risen by +distressing their country, to be put to death, who did not commend the +proceeding? All exclaimed that wicked and factious men, who had +troubled the state with their seditious practices, had justly +forfeited their lives. Yet this proceeding was the commencement of +great bloodshed. For whenever anyone coveted the mansion or villa, or +even the plate or apparel of another, he exerted his influence to have +him numbered among the proscribed. Thus they, to whom the death of +Damasippus had been a subject of joy, were soon after dragged to death +themselves; nor was there any cessation of slaughter, until Sylla had +glutted all his partisans with riches. + +Such excesses, indeed, I do not fear from Marcus Tullius, or in these +times. But in a large state there arise many men of various +dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, +like the present, may have an army at his command, some false +accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a +precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of +the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury? + +Our ancestors, Conscript Fathers, were never deficient in conduct or +courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of +other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. Their armor, and +weapons of war, they borrowed from the Samnites; their ensigns of +authority,[253] for the most part, from the Etrurians; and, in short, +whatever appeared eligible to them, whether among allies or among +enemies, they adopted at home with the greatest readiness, being more +inclined to emulate merit than to be jealous of it. But at the same +time, adopting a practice from Greece, they punished their citizens +with the scourge, and inflicted capital punishment on such as were +condemned. When the republic, however, became powerful, and faction +grew strong from the vast number of citizens, men began to involve the +innocent in condemnation, and other like abuses were practiced; and it +was then that the Porcian and other laws were provided, by which +condemned citizens were allowed to go into exile. This lenity of our +ancestors, Conscript Fathers, I regard as a very strong reason why we +should not adopt any new measures of severity. For assuredly there was +greater merit and wisdom in those, who raised so mighty an empire from +humble means, than in us, who can scarcely preserve what they so +honorably acquired. Am I of opinion, then, you will ask, that the +conspirators should be set free, and that the army of Catiline should +thus be increased? Far from it; my recommendation is, that their +property be confiscated, and that they themselves be kept in custody +in such of the municipal towns as are best able to bear the +expense;[254] that no one hereafter bring their case before the +senate, or speak on it to the people; and that the senate now give +their opinion, that he who shall act contrary to this, will act +against the republic and the general safety." + +LII. When Caesar had ended his speech, the rest briefly expressed +their assent,[255] some to one speaker, and some to another, in +support of their different proposals; but Marcius Porcius Cato, being +asked his opinion, made a speech to the following purport: + +"My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different,[256] when I +contemplate our circumstances and dangers, and when I revolve in my +mind the sentiments of some who have spoken before me. Those speakers, +as it seems to me, have considered only how to punish the traitors who +have raised war against their country, their parents, their altars, +and their homes;[257] but the state of affairs warns us rather to +secure ourselves against them, than to take counsel as to what +sentence we should pass upon them. Other crimes you may punish after +they have been committed; but as to this, unless you prevent its +commission, you will, when it has once taken effect, in vain appeal to +justice.[258] When the city is taken, no power is left to the +vanquished. But, in the name of the immortal gods, I call upon you, +who have always valued your mansions and villas, your statues and +pictures, at a higher price than the welfare of your country; if you +wish to preserve those possessions, of whatever kind they are, to +which you are attached; if you wish to secure quiet for the enjoyment +of your pleasures, arouse yourselves, and act in defense of your +country. We are not now debating on the revenues, or on injuries done +to our allies, but our liberty and our life is at stake. + +Often, Conscript Fathers, have I spoken at great length in this +assembly; often have I complained of the luxury and avarice of our +citizens, and, by that very means, have incurred the displeasure of +many. I, who never excused to myself, or to my own conscience, the +commission of any fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct,[259] +or indulge the licentiousness, of others. But though you little +regarded my remonstrances, yet the republic remained secure; its own +strength[260] was proof against your remissness. The question, however, +at present under discussion, is not whether we live in a good or a bad +state of morals; nor how great, or how splendid, the empire of the +Roman people is; but whether these things around us, of whatever value +they are, are to continue our own, or to fall, with ourselves, into the +hands of the enemy. + +In such a case, does any one talk to me of gentleness and compassion? +For some time past, it is true, we have lost the real name of things; +[261] for to lavish the property of others is called generosity, and +audacity in wickedness is called heroism; and hence the state is reduced +to the brink of ruin. But let those, who thus misname things, be liberal, +since such is the practice, out of the property of our allies; let them +be merciful to the robbers of the treasury; but let them not lavish our +blood, and, while they spare a few criminals, bring destruction on all +the guiltless. + +Caius Caesar, a short time ago, spoke in fair and elegant language, +[262] before this assembly, on the subject of life and death; considering +as false, I suppose, what is told of the dead; that the bad, going a +different way from the good, inhabit places gloomy, desolate, dreary, and +full of horror. He accordingly proposed _that the property of the +conspirators should be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody in +the municipal towns_; fearing, it seems, that, if they remain at Rome, +they may be rescued either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or by +a hired mob; as if, forsooth, the mischievous and profligate were to be +found only in the city, and not through the whole of Italy, or as if +desperate attempts would not be more likely to succeed where there is +less power to resist them. His proposal, therefore, if he fears any +danger from them, is absurd; but if, amid such universal terror, he +alone is free from alarm, it the more concerns me to fear for you and +myself. + +Be assured, then, that when you decide on the fate of Lentulus and +the other prisoners, you at the same time determine that of the army +of Catiline, and of all the conspirators. The more spirit you display +in your decision, the more will their confidence be diminished; but if +they shall perceive you in the smallest degree irresolute, they will +advance upon you with fury. + +Do not suppose that our ancestors, from so small a commencement, +raised the republic to greatness merely by force of arms. If such had +been the case, we should enjoy it in a most excellent condition;[263] +for of allies and citizens,[264] as well as arms and horses, we have a +much greater abundance than they had. But there were other things +which made them great, but which among us have no existence; such as +industry at home, equitable government abroad, and minds impartial in +council, uninfluenced by any immoral or improper feeling. Instead of +such virtues, we have luxury and avarice; public distress, and private +superfluity; we extol wealth, and yield to indolence; no distinction +is made between good men and bad; and ambition usurps the honors due +to virtue. Nor is this wonderful; since you study each his individual +interest, and since at home you are slaves to pleasure, and here to +money or favor; and hence it happens that an attack is made on the +defenseless state. + +But on these subjects I shall say no more. Certain citizens, of the +highest rank, have conspired to ruin their country; they are engaging +the Gauls, the bitterest foes of the Roman name, to join in a war +against us; the leader of the enemy is ready to make a descent upon +us; and do you hesitate; even in such circumstances, how to treat +armed incendiaries arrested within your walls? I advise you to have +mercy upon them;[265] they are young men who have been led astray by +ambition; send them away, even with arms in their hands. But such +mercy, and such clemency, if they turn those arms against you, will +end in misery to yourselves. The case is, assuredly, dangerous, but +you do not fear it; yes, you fear it greatly, but you hesitate how to +act, through weakness and want of spirit, waiting one for another, and +trusting to the immortal gods, who have so often preserved your +country in the greatest dangers. But the protection of the gods is not +obtained by vows and effeminate supplications; it is by vigilance, +activity, and prudent measures, that general welfare is secured. When +you are once resigned to sloth and indolence, it is in vain that you +implore the gods; for they are then indignant and threaten vengeance. + +In the days of our forefathers, Titus Manlius Torquatus, during a war +with the Gauls, ordered his own son to be put to death, because he had +fought with an enemy contrary to orders. That noble youth suffered for +excess of bravery; and do you hesitate what sentence to pass on the +most inhuman of traitors? Perhaps their former life is at variance +with their present crime. Spare, then, the dignity of Lentulus, if he +has ever spared his own honor or character, or had any regard for gods +or for men. Pardon the youth of Cethegus, unless this be the second +time that he has made war upon his country.[266] As to Gabinius, +Slatilius, Coeparius, why should I make any remark upon them? Had they +ever possessed the smallest share of discretion, they would never have +engaged in such a plot against their country. + +In conclusion, Conscript Fathers, if there were time to amend an +error, I might easily suffer you, since you disregard words, to be +corrected by experience of consequences. But we are beset by dangers on +all sides; Catiline, with his army, is ready to devour us;[267] while +there are other enemies within the walls, and in the heart of the +city; nor can any measures be taken, or any plans arranged, without +their knowledge. The more necessary is it, therefore, to act with +promptitude. What I advise, then, is this: that since the state, by a +treasonable combination of abandoned citizens, has been brought into +the greatest peril; and since the conspirators have been convicted on +the evidence of Titus Volturcius, and the deputies of the Allobroges, +and on their own confession, of having concerted massacres, +conflagrations, and other horrible and cruel outrages, against their +fellow-citizens and their country, punishment be inflicted, according +to the usage of our ancestors, on the prisoners who have confessed +their guilt, as on men convicted of capital crimes." + +LIII. When Cato had resumed his seat, all the senators of consular +dignity, and a great part of the rest,[268] applauded his opinion, and +extolled his firmness of mind to the skies. With mutual reproaches, +they accused one another of timidity, while Cato was regarded as the +greatest and noblest of men; and a decree of the senate was made as he +had advised. + +After reading and hearing of the many glorious achievements which the +Roman people had performed at home and in the field, by sea as well as +by land, I happened to be led to consider what had been the great +foundation of such illustrious deeds. I knew that the Romans had +frequently, with small bodies of men, encountered vast armies of the +enemy; I was aware that they had carried on wars[269] with limited +forces against powerful sovereigns; that they had often sustained, +too, the violence of adverse fortune; yet that, while the Greeks +excelled them in eloquence, the Gauls surpassed them in military +glory. After much reflection, I felt convinced that the eminent virtue +of a few citizens had been the cause of all these successes; and hence +it had happened that poverty had triumphed over riches, and a few over +a multitude. And even in later times, when the state had become +corrupted by luxury and indolence, the republic still supported +itself, by its own strength, under the misconduct of its generals and +magistrates; when, as if the parent stock were exhausted,[270] there +was certainly not produced at Rome, for many years, a single citizen +of eminent ability. Within my recollection, however, there arose two +men of remarkable powers, though of very different character, Marcus +Cato and Caius Caesar, whom, since the subject has brought them before +me, it is not my intention to pass in silence, but to describe, to the +best of my ability, the disposition and manners of each. + +LIV. Their birth, age, and eloquence, were nearly on an equality; +their greatness of mind similar, as was also their reputation, though +attained by different means.[271] Caesar grew eminent by generosity +and munificence; Cato by the integrity of his life. Caesar was +esteemed for his humanity and benevolence; austereness had given +dignity to Cato. Caesar acquired renown by giving, relieving, and +pardoning; Cato by bestowing nothing. In Caesar, there was a refuge +for the unfortunate; in Cato, destruction for the bad. In Caesar, his +easiness of temper was admired; in Cato, his firmness. Caesar, in +fine, had applied himself to a life of energy and activity; intent +upon the interest of his friends, he was neglectful of his own; he +refused nothing to others that was worthy of acceptance, while for +himself he desired great power, the command of an army, and a new war +in which his talents might be displayed. But Cato's ambition was that +of temperance, discretion, and, above all, of austerity; he did not +contend in splendor with the rich, or in faction with the seditious, +but with the brave in fortitude, with the modest in simplicity,[272] +with the temperate[273] in abstinence; he was more desirous to be, +than to appear, virtuous; and thus, the less he courted popularity, +the more it pursued him. + +LV. When the senate, as I have stated, had gone over to the opinion of +Cato, the counsel, thinking it best not to wait till night, which was +coming on, lest any new attempts should be made during the interval, +ordered the triumvirs[274] to make such preparations as the execution +of the conspirators required. He himself, having posted the necessary +guards, conducted Lentulus to the prison; and the same office was +performed for the rest by the praetors. There is a place in the +prison, which is called the Tullian dungeon,[275] and which, after a +slight ascent to the left, is sunk about twelve feet under ground. +Walls secure it on every side, and over it is a vaulted roof connected +with stone arches;[276] but its appearance is disgusting and horrible, +by reason of the filth, darkness, and stench. When Lentulus had been +let down into this place, certain men, to whom orders had been +given,[277] strangled him with a cord. Thus this patrician, who was of +the illustrious family of the Cornelii, and who filled the office of +consul at Rome, met with an end suited to his character and conduct. +On Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Coeparius, punishment was +inflicted in a similar manner. + +LVI. During these proceedings at Rome, Catiline, out of the entire +force which he himself had brought with him, and that which Manlius +had previously collected, formed two legions, filling up the cohorts +as far as his number would allow;[278] and afterward, as any +volunteers, or recruits from his confederates,[279] arrived in his +camp, he distributed them equally throughout the cohorts, and thus +filled up his legions, in a short time, with their regular number of +men, though at first he had not more than two thousand. But, of his +whole army, only about a fourth part had the proper weapons of +soldiers; the rest, as chance had equipped them, carried darts, +spears, or sharpened stakes. + +As Antonius approached with his army, Catiline directed his march over +the hills, encamping, at one time, in the direction of Rome, at +another in that of Gaul. He gave the enemy no opportunity of fighting, +yet hoped himself shortly to find one,[280] if his accomplices at Rome +should succeed in their objects. Slaves, meanwhile, of whom vast numbers +[281] had at first flocked to him, he continued to reject, not only as +depending on the strength of the conspiracy, but as thinking it impolitic +[282] to appear to share the cause of citizens with runagates. + +LVII. When it was reported in his camp, however, that the conspiracy +had been discovered at Rome, and that Lentulus, Cethegus, and the rest +whom I have named, had been put to death, most of those whom the hope +of plunder, or the love of change, had led to join in the war, fell +away. The remainder Catiline conducted, over rugged mountains, and by +forced marches, into the neighborhood of Pistoria, with a view to +escape covertly, by cross roads, into Gaul. + +But Quintus Metellus Celer, with a force of three legions, had at that +time, his station in Picenum, who suspected that Catiline, from the +difficulties of his position, would adopt precisely the course which +we have just described. When, therefore, he had learned his route from +some deserters, he immediately broke up his camp, and took his post at +the very foot of the hills, at the point where Catiline's descent +would be, in his hurried march into Gaul[283]. Nor was Antonius far +distant, as he was pursuing, though with, a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances, the enemy in retreat.[284] + +Catiline, when he saw that he was surrounded by mountains and by +hostile forces, that his schemes in the city had been unsuccessful, +and that there was no hope either of escape or of succor, thinking it +best, in such circumstances, to try the fortune of a battle, resolved +upon engaging, as speedily as possible, with Antonius. Having, +therefore, assembled his troops, he addressed them in the following +manner: + +LVIII. "I am well aware, soldiers, that words can not inspire courage; +and that a spiritless army can not be rendered active,[285] or a timid +army valiant, by the speech of its commander. Whatever courage is in +the heart of a man, whether from nature or from habit, so much will be +shown by him in the field; and on him whom neither glory nor danger +can move, exhortation is bestowed in vain; for the terror in his +breast stops his ears. + +I have called you together, however, to give you a few instructions, +and to explain to you, at the same time, my reasons for the course +which I have adopted. You all know, soldiers, how severe a penalty the +inactivity and cowardice of Lentulus has brought upon himself and us; +and how, while waiting for reinforcements from the city, I was unable +to march into Gaul. + +In what situation our affairs now are, you all understand as well as +myself. Two armies of the enemy, one on the side of Rome, and the +other on that of Gaul, oppose our progress; while the want of corn, +and of other necessaries, prevents us from remaining, however strongly +we may desire to remain, in our present position. Whithersoever we +would go, we must open a passage with our swords. I conjure you, +therefore, to maintain a brave and resolute spirit; and to remember, +when you advance to battle, that on your own right hands depend[286] +riches, honor, and glory, with the enjoyment of your liberty and of +your country. If we conquer, all will be safe; we shall have +provisions in abundance; and the colonies and corporate towns will +open their gates to us. But if we lose the victory through want of +courage, these same places[287] will turn against us; for neither +place nor friend will protect him whom his arms have not protected. +Besides, soldiers, the same exigency does not press upon our +adversaries, as presses upon us; we fight for our country, for our +liberty, for our life; they contend for what but little concerns +them,[288] the power of a small party. Attack them, therefore, with so +much the greater confidence, and call to mind your achievements of +old. + +We might,[289] with the utmost ignominy, have passed the rest of our +days in exile. Some of you, after losing your property, might have +waited at Rome for assistance from others. But because such a life, to +men of spirit, was disgusting and unendurable, you resolved upon your +present course. If you wish to quit it, you must exert all your +resolution, for none but conquerors have exchanged war for peace. To +hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy +the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed madness. In battle, +those who are most afraid are always in most danger; but courage is +equivalent to a rampart. When I contemplate you, soldiers, and when I +consider your past exploits, a strong hope of victory animates me. +Your spirit, your age, your valor, give me confidence; to say nothing +of necessity, which makes even cowards brave. To prevent the numbers +of the enemy from surrounding us, our confined situation is +sufficient. But should Fortune be unjust to your valor, take care not +to lose your lives unavenged; take care not to be taken and butchered +like cattle, rather than fighting like men, to leave to your enemies a +bloody and mournful victory." + +LIX. When he had thus spoken, he ordered, after a short delay, the +signal for battle to be sounded, and led down his troops, in regular +order, to the level ground. Having then sent away the horses of all +the cavalry, in order to increase the men's courage by making their +danger equal, he himself, on foot, drew up his troops suitably to +their numbers and the nature of the ground. As a plain stretched +between the mountains on the left, with a rugged rock on the right, he +placed eight cohorts in front, and stationed the rest of his force, in +close order, in the rear.[290] From among these he removed all the +ablest centurions,[291] the veterans,[293] and the stoutest of the +common soldiers that were regularly armed, into the foremost +ranks.[293] He ordered Caius Manlius to take the command on the right, +and a certain officer of Faesulae[294] on the left; while he himself, +with his freedmen[295] and the colonists,[296] took his station by the +eagle,[297] which Caius Marius was said to have had in his army in the +Cimbrian war. + +On the other side, Caius Antonius, who, being lame,[298] was unable to +be present in the engagement, gave the command of the army to Marcus +Petreius, his lieutenant-general. Petreius, ranged the cohorts of +veterans, which he had raised to meet the present insurrection,[299] +in front, and behind them the rest of his force in lines. Then, riding +round among his troops, and addressing his men by name, he encouraged +them, and bade them remember that they were to fight against unarmed +marauders, in defense of their country, their children, their temples, +and their homes.[300] Being a military man, and having served with +great reputation, for more than thirty years, as tribune, praefect, +lieutenant, or praetor, he knew most of the soldiers and their +honorable actions, and, by calling these to their remembrance, roused +the spirits of the men. + +LX. When he had made a complete survey, he gave the signal with the +trumpet, and ordered the cohorts to advance slowly. The army of the +enemy followed his example; and when they approached so near that the +action could be commenced by the light-armed troops, both sides, with +a loud shout, rushed together in a furious charge.[301] They threw +aside their missiles, and fought only with their swords. The veterans, +calling to mind their deeds of old, engaged fiercely in the closest +combat. The enemy made an obstinate resistance; and both sides +contended with the utmost fury. Catiline, during this time, was +exerting himself with his light troops in the front, sustaining such +as were pressed, substituting fresh men for the wounded, attending to +every exigency, charging in person, wounding many an enemy, and +performing at once the duties of a valiant soldier and a skillful +general. + +When Petreius, contrary to his expectation, found Catiline attacking +him with such impetuosity, he led his praetorian cohort against the +centre of the enemy, among whom, being thus thrown into confusion, and +offering but partial resistance,[302] he made great slaughter, and +ordered, at the same time, an assault on both flanks. Manlius and the +Faesulan, sword in hand, were among the first[303] that fell; and +Catiline, when he saw his army routed, and himself left with but few +supporters, remembering his birth and former dignity, rushed into the +thickest of the enemy, where he was slain, fighting to the last. + +LXI. When the battle was over, it was plainly seen what boldness, and +what energy of spirit, had prevailed throughout the army of Catiline; +for, almost every where, every soldier, after yielding up his breath, +covered with his corpse the spot which he had occupied when alive. A +few, indeed, whom the praetorian cohort had dispersed, had fallen +somewhat differently, but all with wounds in front. Catiline himself +was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the +enemy; he was not quite breathless, and still expressed in his +countenance the fierceness of spirit which he had shown during his +life. Of his whole army, neither in the battle, nor in flight, was any +free-born citizen made prisoner, for they had spared their own lives +no more than those of the enemy. + +Nor did the army of the Roman people obtain a joyful or bloodless +victory; for all their bravest men were either killed in the battle, +or left the field severely wounded. + +Of many who went from the camp to view the ground, or plunder the +slain, some, in turning over the bodies of the enemy, discovered a +friend, others an acquaintance, others a relative; some, too, +recognized their enemies. Thus, gladness and sorrow, grief and joy, +were variously felt throughout the whole army. + + + + +NOTES. + + +[1] I. Desire to excel other animals--_Sese student praestare +caeteris animalibus._ The pronoun, which is usually omitted, is, says +Cortius, not without its force; for it is equivalent to _ut ipsi_: +student _ut ipsi praestent_. In support of his opinion he quotes, with +other passages, Plaut. Asinar. i. 3, 31: Vult placere sese amicae, +i.e. vult _ut ipse amicae placeat_; and Coelius Antipater apud Festum +in "Topper," Ita uti sese quisque vobis studeat aemulari, i.e. +_studeat ut ipse aemuletur._ This explanation is approved by Bernouf. +Cortius might have added Cat. 7: _sese_ quisque hostem _ferire +--properabat._ "Student," Cortius interprets by "cupiunt." + +[2] To the utmost of their power--_Summâ ope_, with their utmost +ability. "A Sallustian mode of expression. Cicero would have said +_summâ operâ, summo studio, summâ contentione._ Ennius has '_Summa +nituntur opum vi_.'" Colerus. + +[3] In obscurity--_Silentio._ So as to have nothing said of them, +either during their lives or at their death. So in c. 2: _Eorum ego +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo, quoniam de utrâque siletur_. When Ovid +says, _Bene qui latuit, bene vixit,_ and Horace, _Nec vixit malè, qui +vivens moriensque fefellit,_ they merely signify that he has some +comfort in life, who, in ignoble obscurity, escapes trouble and +censure. But men thus undistinguished are, in the estimation of +Sallust, little superior to the brute creation. "Optimus quisque," +says Muretus, quoting Cicero, "honoris et gloriae studio maximè +ducitur;" the ablest men are most actuated by the desire of honor and +glory, and are more solicitous about the character which they will +bear among posterity. With reason, therefore, does Pallas, in the +Odyssey, address the following exhortation to Telemachus: + + "Hast thou not heard how young Orestes, fir'd + With great revenge, immortal praise acquir'd? + + O greatly bless'd with ev'ry blooming grace, + With equal steps the paths of glory trace! + Join to that royal youth's your rival name, + And shine eternal in the sphere of fame." + +[4] Like the beasts of the field--_Veluti pecora._ Many translators +have rendered _pecora_ "brutes" or "beasts;" _pecus_, however, does +not mean brutes in general, but answers to our English word _cattle_. + +[5] Groveling--_Prona._ I have adopted _groveling_ from Mair's +old translation. _Pronus_, stooping _to the earth_, is applied to +_cattle_, in opposition to _erectus_, which is applied to _man_; as +in the following lines of Ovid, Met. i.: + + "_Prona_ que cum spectent animalia caetera terram, + Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri + Jussit, et _erectos_ ad sidera tollere vultus." + + "--while the mute creation downward bend + Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, + Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes + Beholds his own hereditary skies." _Dryden._ + +Which Milton (Par. L. vii. 502) has paraphrased: + + "There wanted yet the master-work, the end + Of all yet done; a creature, who not _prone + And 'brute as other creatures_, but endued + With sanctity of reason, might _erect_ + _His stature_, and _upright with front serene_ + Govern the rest, self-knowing, and from thence + Magnanimous to correspond with heaven." + "Nonne vides hominum ut celsos ad sidera vultus + Sustulerit Deus, et sublimia fluxerit ora, + Cùm pecudes, voluerumque genus, formasque ferarum, + Segnem atque obscoenam passim stravisset in alvum." + + "See'st thou not how the Deity has rais'd + The countenance of man erect to heav'n, + Gazing sublime, while prone to earth he bent + Th' inferior tribes, reptiles, and pasturing herds, + And beasts of prey, to appetite enslav'd" + +"When Nature," says Cicero, de Legg. i. 9, "had made other animals +abject, and consigned them to the pastures, she made man alone +upright, and raised him to the contemplation of heaven, as of his +birthplace and former abode;" a passage which Dryden seems to have had +in his mind when he translated the lines of Ovid cited above. Let us +add Juvenal, xv, 146. + + "Sensum à coelesti demissum traximus arce, + Cujus egent prona et terram spectantia." + + "To us is reason giv'n, of heav'nly birth, + Denied to beasts, that prone regard the earth." + +[6] All our power is situate in the mind and in the body--_Sed +omnis nostra vis in animo et corpore sita_. All our power is placed, +or consists, in our mind and our body. The particle _sed,_ which is +merely a connective, answering to the Greek _dé_, and which would be +useless in an English translation, I have omitted. + +[7] Of the mind we--employ the government--_Animi imperio--utimur_. +"What the Deity is in the universe, the mind is in man; what matter +is to the universe, the body is to us; let the worse, therefore, +serve the better."--Sen. Epist. lxv. _Dux et imperator vitae mortalium +animus est,_ the mind is the guide and ruler of the life of mortals. +--Jug. c. 1. "An animal consists of mind and body, of which the one +is formed by nature to rule, and the other to obey."--Aristot. Polit. +i. 5. Muretus and Graswinckel will supply abundance of similar passages. + +[8] Of the mind we rather employ the government; of the body, the +service--_Animi imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur_. The word +_magis_ is not to be regarded as useless. "It signifies," says Cortius, +"that the mind rules, and the body obeys, _in general_, and _with +greater reason_." At certain times the body may _seem to have the +mastery_, as when we are under the irresistible influence of hunger +or thirst. + +[9] It appears to me, therefore, more reasonable, etc.--_Quo mihi +rectius videtur_, etc. I have rendered _quo_ by _therefore_. "_Quo_," +observes Cortius, "is _propter quod_, with the proper force of the +ablative case. So Jug. c. 84: _Quo_ mihi acrius adnitendum est, etc; +c. 2, _Quo_ magis pravitas eorum admiranda est. Some expositors would +force us to believe that these ablatives are inseparably connected +with the comparative degree, as in _quo minus, eo major_, and similar +expressions; whereas common sense shows that they can not be so +connected." Kritzius is one of those who interprets in the way to +which Cortius alludes, as if the drift of the passage were, _Quanto +magis animus corpori praestat, tanto rectius ingenii opibus gloriam +quaerere_. But most of the commentators and translators rightly follow +Cortius. "_Quo_," says Pappaur, "is for _quocirca_." + +[10] _That of_ intellectual power is illustrious and immortal--_Virtus +clara aeternaque habetur_. The only one of our English translators who +has given the right sense of _virtus_ In this passage, is Sir Henry +Steuart, who was guided to it by the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée. +"It appears somewhat singular," says Sir Henry, "that none of the +numerous translators of Sallust, whether among ourselves or among +foreign nations--the Abbé Thyvon and M. Beauzée excepted--have thought +of giving to the word _virtus_, in this place, what so obviously is the +meaning intended by the historian; namely, 'genius, ability, +distinguished talents.'" Indeed, the whole tenor of the passage, as well +as the scope of the context, leaves no room to doubt the fact. The main +objects of comparison, throughout the three first sections of this +Proemium, or introductory discourse, are not vice and virtue, but body +and mind; a listless indolence, and a vigorous, honorable activity. +On this account it is pretty evident, that by _virtus_ Sallust could +never mean the [Greek _aretae_], 'virtue or moral worth,' but that he +had in his eye the well-known interpretation of Varro, who considers it +_ut viri vis_ (De Ling. Lat. iv.), as denoting the useful energy which +ennobles a man, and should chiefly distinguish him among his +fellow-creatures. In order to be convinced of the justice of this +rendering, we need only turn to another passage of our author, in the +second section of the Proemium to the Jugurthine War, where the same +train of thought is again pursued, although he gives it somewhat a +different turn in the piece last mentioned. The object, notwithstanding, +of both these dissertations is to illustrate, in a striking manner, the +pre-eminence of the mind over extrinsic advantage, or bodily endowments, +and to show that it is by genius alone that we may aspire to a reputation +which shall never die. "_Igitur praeclara facies, magnae divitiae, +adhuc vis corporis, et alia hujusmondi omnia, brevi dilabuntur: at +ingenii egregia facinora, sicut anima, immortalia sunt_". + +[11] It is necessary to plan before beginning to act--_Priusquam +incipias, consulto--opus est_. Most translators have rendered +_consulto_ "deliberation," or something equivalent; but it is +_planning_ or _contrivance_ that is signified. Demosthenes, in his +Oration _de Pace_, reproaches the Athenians with acting without any +settled plan: [Greek: _Oi men gar alloi puntes anthropoi pro ton +pragmatonheiothasi chraesthai to Bouleuesthai, umeis oude meta ta +pragmata_.] + +[12] To act with promptitude and vigor--_Maturè facto opus est_. +"Maturè facto" seems to include the notions both of promptitude and +vigor, of force as well as speed; for what would be the use of acting +expeditiously, unless expedition be attended with power and effect? + +[13] Each--_Utrumque_. The corporeal and mental faculties. + +[14] The one requires the assistance of the other--_Alterum +alterius auxilio eget_. "_Eget_," says Cortius, "is the reading of all +the MSS." _Veget_, which Havercamp and some others have adopted, was +the conjecture of Palmerius, on account of _indigens_ occurring in the +same sentence. But _eget_ agrees far better with _consulto et--maturè +facto opus est_, in the preceding sentence. + +[15] II. Applied themselves in different ways--_Diversi_. "Modo +et instituto diverso, diversa sequentes." _Cortius_. + +[16] At that period, however--_Et jam tum_. "Tunc temporis +_praecisè_, at that time _precisely_, which is the force of the +particle _jam_. as donatus shows. I have therefore written _et jam_ +separately. Virg. Aen. vii. 737. Late _jam tum_ ditione premebat +Sarrastes populos." _Cortius_. + +[17] Without covetousness--Sine cupiditate_. "As in the famous +golden age. See Tacit. Ann. iii. 28." _Cortius_. See also Ovid. Met. +i. 80, _seq_. But "such times were never," as Cowper says. + +[18] But after Cyrus in Asia, etc.--_Postea verò quàm in, Asiâ +Cyrus_, etc. Sallust writes as if he had supposed that kings were more +moderate before the time of Cyrus. But this can hardly have been the +case. "The Romans," says De Brosses, whose words I abridge, "though +not learned in antiquity, could not have been ignorant that there were +great conquerors before Cyrus; as Ninus and Sesostris. But as their +reigns belonged rather to the fabulous ages, Sallust, in entering upon +a serious history, wished to confine himself to what was certain, and +went no further back than the records of Herodotus and Thucydides." +Ninus, says Justin. i. 1, was the first to change, through inordinate +ambition, the _veterem et quasi avitum gentibus morem_, that is, to +break through the settled restraints of law and order. Gerlach agrees +in opinion with De Brosses. + +[19] Proof and experience--_Periculo atque negotiis_. Gronovius +rightly interprets _periculo_ "experiundo, experimentis," by +experiment or trial. Cortius takes _periculo atque negotiis_ for +_periculosis negotiis_, by hendyadys; but to this figure, as Kritzius +remarks, we ought but sparingly to have recourse. It is better, he +adds, to take the words in their ordinary signification, understanding +by _negotia_ "res graviores." Bernouf judiciously explains _negotiis_ +by "ipsa negotiorum tractatione," _i. e._ by the management of affairs, +or by experience in affairs. Dureau Delamalle, the French translator, +has "l'expérience et la pratique." Mair has "trial and experience." +which, I believe, faithfully expresses Sallust's meaning. Rose gives +only "experience" for both words. + +[20] And, indeed, if the intellectual ability, etc.--_Quod +si--animi virtus_, etc. "Quod si" can not here be rendered _but if;_ +it is rather equivalent to _quapropter si_, and might be expressed by +_wherefore if, if therefore, if then, so that if_. + +[21] Intellectual ability--_Animi virtus_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, above noted. + +[22] Magistrates--_Imperatorum_. "Understand all who govern +states, whether in war or in peace." _Bernouf_. Sallust calls the +consuls _imperatores_, c. 6. + +[23] Governments shifted from hand to hand--_aliud aliò ferri_. +Evidently alluding to changes in government. + +[24] Less to the more deserving--_Ad optimum quemque à minus +bono_. "From the less good to the best." + +[25] Even in agriculture, etc.--_Quae homines arant, navigant, +aedificant, virtuti omnia parent_. Literally, _what men plow, sail_, +etc. Sallust's meaning is, that agriculture, navigation, and +architecture, though they may seem to be effected by mere bodily +exertion, are as much the result of mental power as the highest of +human pursuits. + +[26] Like travelers in a strange country--_Sicuti peregrinantes_. +"Vivere nesciunt; igitur in vita quasi hospites sunt:" they know not +how to use life, and are therefore, as it were, strangers in it. +_Dietsch_. "_Peregrinantes_, qui, qua transeunt, nullum sui vestigium +relinquunt;" they are as travelers who do nothing to leave any trace +of their course. Pappaur. + +[27] Of these I hold the life and death in equal estimation--_Eorum +ego vitam mortemque juxta aestimo_. I count them of the same value dead +as alive, for they are honored in the one state as much as in the other. +"Those who are devoted to the gratification of their appetites," as +Sallust says, "let us regard as inferior animals, not as men; and some, +indeed, not as living, but as dead animals." Seneca, Ep. lx. + +[28] III. Not without merit--_Haud absurdum_. I have borrowed +this expression from Rose, to whom Muretus furnished "sua laude non +caret." "The word _absurdus_ is often used by the Latins as an epithet +for sounds disagreeable to the ear; but at length it came to be +applied to any action unbecoming a rational being." _Kunhardt_. + +[29] Deeds must be adequately represented, etc.--_Facta dictis +sunt exaequanda_. Most translators have regarded these words as +signifying _that the subject must be equaled by the style_. But it is +not of mere style that Sallust is speaking. "He means that the matter +must be so represented by the words, that honorable actions may not be +too much praised, and that dishonorable actions may not be too much +blamed; and that the reader may at once understand what was done and +how it was done." _Kunhardt_. + +[30] Every one hears with acquiescence, etc.--_Quae sibi--aequo +animo accipit_, etc. This is taken from Thucydides, ii. 35. "For +praises spoken of others are only endured so far as each one thinks +that he is himself also capable of doing any of the things he hears; +but that which exceeds their own capacity, men at once envy and +disbelieve." Dale's Translation: Bohn's Classical Library. + +[31] Regards as fictitious and incredible--_Veluti ficta, pro +falsis ducit. Ducit pro falsis_, he considers as false or incredible, +_veluti ficta_, as if invented. + +[32] When a young man--_Adolescentulus_. "It is generally admitted +that all were called _adolescentes_ by the Romans, who were between +the fifteenth or seventeenth year of their age and the fortieth. +The diminutive is used in the same sense, but with a view to contrast +more strongly the ardor and spirit of youth with the moderation, +prudence, and experience of age. So Caesar is called _adolescentulus_, +in c. 49, at a time when he was in his thirty-third year." _Dietsch_. +And Cicero, referring to the time of his consulship, says, _Defendi +rempublicam adolescens_, Philipp. ii. 46. + +[33] To engage in political affairs--_Ad rempublicam_. "In the phrase +of Cornelius Nepos, _honoribus operam dedi_, I sought to obtain some +share in the management of the Republic. All public matters were +comprehended under the term _Respublica_." _Cortius_. + +[34] Integrity--_Virtute_. Cortius rightly explains this word as +meaning_justice, equity_, and all other virtues necessary in those who +manage the affairs of a state. Observe that it is here opposed to +_avaritia_, not, as some critics would have it, to _largitio_. + +[35] Was ensnared and infected--_Corrupta, tenebatur_. As +_obsessus tenetur_, Jug., c. 24. + +[36] The same eagerness for honors, the same obloquy and +jealousy, etc.--_Honoris cupido eadem quae caeteros, fama atque +invidia vexabat_. I follow the interpretation of Cortius: "Me vexabat +honoris cupido, et vexabat _propterea_ etiam eadem, quae caeteros, +fama atqua invidia." He adds, from a gloss in the Guelferbytan MS., +that it is a _zeugma_. "_Fama atque invidia_," says Gronovius, "is +[Greek: _en dia duoin_], for _invidiosa et maligna fama_." Bernouf, +with Zanchius and others, read _fama atque invidia_ in the ablative +case; and the Bipont edition has _eadem qua--fama, etc._; but the +method of Cortius is, to me, by far the most straightforward and +satisfactory. Sallust, observes De Brosses, in his note on this +passage, wrote the account of Catiline's conspiracy shortly after his +expulsion from the Senate, and wishes to make it appear that he +suffered from calumny on the occasion; though he took no trouble, in +the subsequent part of his life, to put such calumny to silence. + +[37] IV. Servile occupations--agriculture or hunting--_Agrum +colendo, aut venando, servilibus officiis intentum_. By calling +agriculture and hunting _servilia officia_, Sallust intends, as is +remarked by Graswinckelius, little more than was expressed in the +saying of Julian the emperor, _Turpe est sapienti, cum habeat animum, +captare laudes ex corpore_. "Ita ergo," adds the commentator, +"agricultura et venatio servilio officia sunt, quum in solo consistant +corporis usu, animum, vero nec meliorem nec prudentiorem reddant. Quia +labor in se certe est illiberalis, ei praesertim cui facultas sit ad +meliora." Symmachus (1 v. Ep. 66) and some others, whose remarks the +reader may see in Havercamp, think that Sallust might have spoken of +hunting and agriculture with more respect, and accuse him of not +remembering, with sufficient veneration, the kings and princes that +have amused themselves in hunting, and such illustrious plowmen as +Curius and Cincinnatus. Sallust, however, is sufficiently defended +from censure by the Abbé Thyvon, in a dissertation much longer than +the subject deserves, and much longer than most readers are willing to +peruse. + +[38] Returning to those studies, etc.--_A quo incepto studio me +ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem regressus_. "The study, namely, of +writing history, to which he signifies that he was attached in c. 3." +_Cortius_. + +[39] In detached portions--_Carptim_. "Plin. Ep. viii., 47: +Respondebis non posse perinde _carptim_, ut _contexta_ placere: et vi. +22: Egit _carptim_ et [Greek: _kata kephulaia_]," _Dietsch_. + +[40] V. Of noble birth--_Nobili genere natus_. His three names +were Lucius _Sergius_ Catilina, he being of the family of the Sergii, +for whose antiquity Virgil is responsible, Aen. v. 121: _Sergestusque, +domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen_. And Juvenal says, Sat. viii. 321: +_Quid, Catilino, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi Inveniet quisquam +sublimius?_ His great grandfather, L. Sergius Silus, had eminently +distinguished himself by his services in the second Punic war. See +Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 29. "Catiline was born A.U.C. 647, A.C. 107." +_Dietsch_. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. xxv.) says that he was the last +of the Sergii. + +[41] _Sedition--Discordia civilis_. + +[42] And in such scenes he had spent his early years--_Ibique +juventutem suam exercuit_. "It is to be observed that the Roman +writers often used an adverb, where we, of modern times, should +express ourselves more specifically by using a noun." _Dietsch_ on c. +3, _ibique multa mihi advorsa fuere_. _Juventus_ properly signified +the time between thirty and forty-five years of age; _adolescentia_ +that between fifteen and thirty. But this distinction was not always +accurately observed. Catiline had taken an active part in supporting +Sylla, and in carrying into execution his cruel proscriptions and +mandates. "Quis erat hujus (Syllae) imperii minister? Quis nisi +Catilina jam in omne facinus manus exercens?" Sen. de Ira, iii. 18. + +[43] Capable of pretending or dissembling whatever he wished +--_Cujuslibet, rei simulator ac dissimulator_. "Dissimulation is +the negative, when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not +that he is; simulation is the affirmative, when a man industriously +and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not." Bacon, +Essay vi. + +[44] Abundance of eloquence--_Satis eloquentiae_. Cortius reads +_loquentiae_ "_Loquentia_ is a certain facility of speech not +necessarily attended with sound sense; called by the Greeks [Greek: +_lalia_]." _Bernouf_. "Julius Candidus used excellently to observe +that _eloquentia_ was one thing, and _loquentia_ another; for +eloquence is given to few, but what Candidus called _loquentia_, or +fluency of speech, is the talent of many, and especially of the most +impudent." Plin. Ep. v. 20. But _eloquentiae_ is the reading of most +of the MSS., and _loquentiae_, if Aulus Gellius (i. 15) was rightly +informed, was a correction of Valerius Probus, the grammarian, who +said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could not +agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, the grammarian, +who said that Sallust _must_ have written so, as _eloquentiae_ could +not agree with _sapientiae parum_. This opinion of Probus, however, +may be questioned. May not Sallust have written _eloquentiae_, with +the intention of signifying that Catiline had abundance of eloquence +to work on the minds of others, though he wanted prudence to regulate +his own conduct? Have there not been other men of whom the same may be +said, as Mirabeau, for example? The speeches that Sallust puts into +Catiline's mouth (c. 20, 58) are surely to be characterized rather as +_eloquentia_, than _loquentia_. On the whole, and especially from the +concurrence of MSS., I prefer to read _eloquentiae_, with the more +recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz and Dietsch. + +[45] Since the time of Sylla's dictatorship--_Post dominationem +Lucii Syllae_. "The meaning is not the same as if it were _finitâ +dominatione_ but is the same as _ab eo tempore quo dominari caeperat_. +In French, therefore, _post_ should be rendered by _depuis_, not, as +it is commonly translated, _après_." _Bernouf_. As _dictator_ was the +title that Sylla assumed, I have translated _dominatio_, "dictatorship". +Rose, Gordon, and others, render it "usurpation". + +[46] Power--_Regnum_. Chief authority, rule, dominion. + +[47] Rendered thoroughly depraved--_Vexabant_. "Corrumpere et +pessundare studebant." _Bernouf_. _Quos vexabant_, be it observed, +refers to _mores_, as Gerlach and Kritz interpret, not to _cives_ +understood in _civitatis_, which is the evidently erroneous method of +Cortius. + +[48] Conduct of our ancestors--_Instituta majorum_. The principles +adopted by our ancestors, with regard both to their own conduct, and +to the management of the state. That this is the meaning, is evident +from the following account. + +[49] VI. As I understand--_Sicuti ego accepi_. "By these words he +plainly shows that nothing certain was known about the origin of Rome. +The reader may consult Livy, lib. i.; Justin, lib. xliii.; and Dionys. +Halicar., lib.i.; all of whom attribute its rise to the Trojans." +_Bernouf_. + +[50] Aborigines--_Aborigines_. The original inhabitants of Italy; +the same as _indigenae_, or the [Greek: _Autochthones_]. + +[51]: Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. "Non credi potest, +si memoratur; superat omnem fidem." _Pappaur_. Yet that which +actually happened, can not be absolutely incredible; and I have, +therefore, inserted _almost_. + +[52] Prepared with alacrity for there defense--_Festinare, parare_. +"Made haste, prepared." "_Intenti ut festinanter pararent_ ea, quae +defensioni aut bello usui essent." _Pappaur_. + +[53] Procured friendships rather by bestowing, etc;--_Magisque +dandis, quam accipiundis beneficiis amicitias parabant_. Thucyd. ii., +40: [Greek: _Ou paschontes eu, alla drontes, ktometha tous philous_] + +[54] FATHERS--PATRES. "(Romulus) appointed that the direction of +the state should be in the hands of the old men, who, from their +authority, were called _Fathers_; from their age, _Senatus_." Florus, +i. 1. _Senatus_ from _senex_. "_Patres_ ab honore--appellati." +_Livy_. + +[55] Two magistrates--_Binos imperatores_. The two consuls. They +were more properly called _imperatores_ at first, when the law, which +settled their power, said "_Regio imperio_ duo sunto" (Cic. de Legg. +iii. 4), than afterward, when the people and tribunes had made +encroachments on their authority. + +[56] VII. Almost incredible--_Incredibile memoratu_. See above, c. 6. + +[57] Able to bear the toils of war--_Laboris ac belli patiens_. +As by _laboris_ the labor of war is evidently intended, I have thought +it better to render the words in this manner. The reading is Cortius'. +Havercamp and others have "simul _ac belli_ patiens erat, in castris +_per laborem usu_ militiam discebat;" but _per laborem usu_ is +assuredly not the hand of Sallust. + +[58] Honor and true nobility--_Bonam famam magnamque nobilitatem_. + +[59] VIII. Very great and glorious--_Satis amplae magnificaeque_. +In speaking of this amplification of the Athenian exploits, he +alludes, as Colerus observes, to the histories of Thucydides, +Xenophen, and perhaps Herodotus; not, as Wasse seems to imagine, +to the representations of the poets. + +[60] There was never any such abundance of writers--_Nunquam ea +copia fuit_. I follow Kuhnhardt, who thinks _copia_ equivalent to +_multitudo_. Others render it _advantage_, or something similar; +which seems less applicable to the passage. Compare c.28: +_Latrones_--_quorum_--magna copia _erat_. + +[61] Chose to act rather than narrate--"For," as Cicero says, +"neither among those who are engaged in establishing a state, nor +among those carrying on wars, nor among those who are curbed and +restrained under the rule of kings, is the desire of distinction in +eloquence wont to arise." _Graswinckelius_. + +[62] IX. Pressed by the enemy--_Pulsi_. In the words _pulsi loco +cedere ausi erant_, _loco_ is to be joined, as Dietsch observes, with +cedere_, not, as Kritzius puts it, with _pulsi_. "To retreat," adds +Dietsch, "is disgraceful only to those _qui ab hostibus se pelli +patiantur_, who suffer themselves to be _repulsed by the enemy_." + +[63] X. When mighty princes had been vanquished in war--Perses, +Antiochus, Mithridates, Tigranes, and others. + +[64] To keep one thing concealed in the breast, and another ready +on the tongue--_Aliud clausum in pectore, aliud in lingua promptum, + +[Greek: Echthros gar moi keinos homos Aidao pulaesin. + Os ch' eteron men keuthei eni phresin, allo de Bazei.] + + Who dares think one thing, and another tell, + My heart detests him as the gates of hell. + _Pope_. + +[65] XI. At first, however, it was ambition, rather than avarice, +etc.--_Sed primo magis ambitio quam avaritia animos hominum +exercebat_. Sallust has been accused of having made, in this passage, +an assertion at variance with what he had said before (c.10), _Igitur +primo pecuniae, deinde imperii cupido, crevit_, and it will be hard to +prove that the accusation is not just. Sir H. Steuart, indeed, +endeavors to reconcile the passages by giving them the following +"meaning", which, he says, "seems perfectly evident": "Although +avarice was the first to make its appearance at Rome, yet, after both +had had existence, it was ambition that, of the two vices, laid the +stronger hold on the minds of men, and more speedily grew to an +inordinate height". To me, however, it "seems perfectly evident" that +the Latin can be made to yield no such "meaning". "How these passages +agree," says Rupertus, "I do not understand: unless we suppose that +Sallust, by the word _primo_, does not always signify order". + +[66] Enervates whatever is manly in body or mind--_Corpus +virilemque animum effaeminat_. That avarice weakens the mind, is +generally admitted. But how does it weaken the body? The most +satisfactory answer to this question is, in the opinion of Aulus +Gellius (iii. 1), that those who are intent on getting riches devote +themselves to sedentary pursuits, as those of usurers and +money-changers, neglecting all such exercises and employments as +strengthen the body. There is, however, another explanation by +Valerius Probus, given in the same chapter of Aulus Gellius, which +perhaps is the true one; namely, that Sallust, by _body and mind_, +intended merely to signify _the whole man_. + +[67] Having recovered the government--_Receptâ republicâ_. Having +wrested it from the hands of Marius and his party. + +[68] All became robbers and plunderers--_Rapere omnes, trahere_. +He means that there was a general indulgence in plunder among Sylla's +party, and among all who, in whatever character, could profit by +supporting it. Thus he says immediately afterward, "neque modum neque +modestiam _victores_ habere." + +[69] which he had commanded in Asia--_Quem in Asiâ dustaverat_. I +have here deserted Cortius, who gives _in Asiam_, "into Asia," but this, +as Bernouf justly observes, is incompatible with the frequentative verb +_ductaverat_. + +[70] in public edifices and private dwellings--_Privatim ac +publice_. I have translated this according to the notion of Burnouf. +Others, as Dietsch and Pappaur, consider _privatim_ as signifying +_each on his own account_, and _publice_, _in the name of the +Republic_. + +[71] XII. A life of innocence was regarded as a life of ill-nature +--_Innocentia pro malivolentiâ duci caepit_. "Whoever continued honest +and upright, was considered by the unprincipled around him as their +enemy; for a good man among the bad can never be regarded as of their +party." _Bernouf_. + +[72] It furnishes much matter for reflection--_Operae pretium est_. + +[73] Basest of mankind--_Ignavissumi mortales_. It is opposed to +_fortissumi viri_, which follows, "Qui nec fortiter nec bene quidquam +fecere." _Cortius_. + +[74] XIII. Seas covered with edifices--_Maria constructa esse_. + + Contracta pisces aequora sentiunt, + _Jactis in altum molibus_, etc. Hor. Od., iii. 1. + + --The haughty lord, who lays + His deep foundations in the seas, + And scorns earth's narrow bound; + The fish affrighted feel their waves + Contracted by his numerous slaves, + Even in the vast profound. _Francis_. + +[75] To have made a sport of their wealth--_Quibus mihi videntur +ledibrio fuisse divitiae_. "They spent their riches on objects which, +in the judgment of men of sense, are ridiculous and contemptible." +_Cortius_. + +[76] Luxury--_Cultûs_. "Deliciarum in victu_, luxuries of the table; +for we must be careful not to suppose that apparel is meant." +_Cortius_. + +[77] Cold--_Frigus_. It is mentioned by Cortius that this word is +wanting in one MS.; and the English reader may possibly wish that it +were away altogether. Cortius refers it to cool places built of stone, +sometimes underground, to which the luxurious retired in the hot +weather; and he cites Pliny, Ep., v. 6, who speaks of _crytoporticus_, +a gallery from which the sun was excluded, almost as if it were +underground, and which, even in summer was cold nearly to freezing. +He also refers to Ambros., Epist. xii., and Casaubon. Ad Spartian. +Adrian., c. x., p. 87. + +[78] XIV. Gaming--_Manu_. Gerlach, Dietsch, Kritzius, and all the +recent editors, agree to interpret _manu_ by _gaming_. + +[79] Assassins--_Parricidae_. "Not only he who had killed his father +was called a _parricide_, but he who had killed any man; as is +evident from a law of Numa Pompilius: If any one unlawfully and +knowingly bring a free man to death, let him be _a parricide_." +_Festus_ sub voce _Parrici_. + +[80] Than from any evidence of the fact--_Quam quod cuiquam id +compertum foret_. + +[81] XV. With a virgin of noble birth--_Cum virgine nobili_. Who +this was is not known. The name may have been suppressed from respect +to her family. If what is found in a fragment of Cicero be true, +Catiline had an illicit connection with some female, and afterward +married the daughter who was the fruit of the connection: _Ex eodem +stupro et uxorem et filiam invenisti_; Orat. in Tog. Cand. (Oration +xvi., Ernesti's edit.) On which words Asconius Pedianus makes this +comment: "Dicitur Catilinam adulterium commisisse cum ea quae ci +postea socrus fuit, et ex eo stupro duxisse uxorem, cum filia ejus +esset. Haec Lucceius quoque Catilinae objecit in orationibus, quas in +eum scripsit. Nomina harum mulierum nondum inveni." Plutarch, too +(Life of Cicero, c. 10), says that Catiline was accused of having +corrupted his own daughter. + +[82] With a priestess of Vesta--_Cum sacerdote Vestae_. This +priestess of Vesta was Fabia Terentia, sister to Terentia, Cicero's +wife, whom Sallust, after she was divorced by Cicero, married. Clodius +accused her, but she was acquitted, either because she was thought +innocent, or because the interest of Catulus and others, who exerted +themselves in her favor, procured her acquittal. See Orosius, vi. 3; +the Oration of Cicero, quoted in the preceding note; and Asconius's +commentary on it. + +[83] Aurelia Orestilla--See c. 35. She was the sister or daughter, +as De Brosses thinks, of Cneius Aurelius Orestis, who had been praetor, +A.U.C. 677. + +[84] A grown-up step-son--_Privignum adulta aetate_. A son of +Catiline's by a former marriage. + +[85] Desolate his tortured spirit--_Mentem exciteam vastabat_. +"Conscience desolates the mind, when it deprives it of its proper +power and tranquillity, and introduces into it perpetual disquietude." +_Cortius_. Many editions have _vexabat_. + +[86] XVI. He furnished false witnesses, etc. _Testis signatoresque +falsos commodare_. "If any one wanted any such character, Catiline was +ready to supply him from among his troop."_Bernouf_. + +[87] Inoffensive persons, etc.--_Insontes, sicuti sontes._ Most +translators have rendered these words "innocent" and "guilty," terms +which suggest nothing satisfactory to the English reader. The +_insontes_ are those who had given Catiline no cause of offens; the +_sontes_ those who had in some way incurred his displeasure, or become +objects of his rapacity. + +[88] Veterans of Sylla, etc.--Elsewhere called the colonists of +Sylla; men to whom Sylla had given large tracts of land as rewards for +their services, but who, having lived extravagantly, had fallen into +such debt and distress, that, as Cicero said, nothing could relieve +them but the resurrection of Sylla from the dead. Cic. ii. Orat. in +Cat. + +[89] Pompey was fighting in a distant part of the world--_In extremis +terris_. Pompey was then conducting the war against Mithridates and +Tigranes, in Pontus and Armenia. + +[90] The senate was wholly off its guard--_Senatus nihil sane intentus_. +The senate was _regardless_, and unsuspicious of any danger. + +[91] XVII. Lucius Caesar--He was a relation of Julius Caesar; and his +sister was the wife of M. Antonius, the orator, and mother of Mark +Antony, the triumvir. + +[92] Publius Lentulus Sura--He was of the same family with Sylla, +that of the Cornelii. He had filled the office of consul, but his +conduct had been afterward so profligate, that the censors expelled +him from the senate. To enable him to resume his seat, he had +obtained, as a qualification, the office of praetor, which he held at +the time of the conspiracy. He was called Sura, because, when he had +squandered the public money in his quaestorship, and was called to +account by Sylla for his dishonesty, he declined to make any defense, +but said, "I present you the calf of my leg (_sura_);" alluding to a +custom among boys playing at ball, of inflicting a certain number of +strokes on the leg of an unsuccessful player. Plutarch, Life of +Cicero, c.17. + +[93] Publius Autronius--He had been a companion of Cicero in his +boyhood, and his colleague in the quaestorship. He was banished in the +year after the conspiracy, together with Cassius, Laeca, Vargunteius, +Servius Sylla, and Caius Cornelius, under the Plautian law. _De +Brosses_. + +[94] Lucius Cassius Longinus.--He had been a competitor with Cicero +for the consulship. Ascon. Ped., in Cic. Orat. in Tog. Cand. His +corpulence was such that Cassius's fat (_Cassii adeps_) became +proverbial. Cic. Orat. in Catil., iii. 7. + +[95] Caius Cethegus--He also was one of the Cornelian family. In the +civil wars, says De Brosses, he had first taken the side of Marius, +and afterward that of Sylla. Both Cicero (Orat. in Catil., ii.7) and +Sallust describe him as fiery and rash. + +[96] Publius and Servius Sylla--These were nephews of Sylla the +dictator. Publius, though present on this occasion, seems not to have +joined in the plot, since, when he was afterward accused of having +been a conspirator, he was defended by Cicero and acquitted. See Cic. +Orat. pro P. Sylla. He was afterward with Caesar in the battle of +Pharsalia. Caes. de B.C., iii. 89. + +[97] Lucius Vargunteius--"Of him or his family little is known. +He had been, before this period, accused of bribery, and defended by +Hortensius. Cic. pro P. Sylla, c. 2." _Bernouf_. + +[98] Quintus Annius--He is thought by De Brosses to have been the same +Annius that cut off the head of M. Antonius the orator, and carried it +to Marius. Plutarch, Vit. Marii, c. 44. + +[99] Marcus Porcius Laeca--He was one of the same _gens_ with the +Catones, but of a different family. + +[100] Lucius Bestia--Of the Calpurnian _gens_. He escaped death +on the discovery of the conspiracy, and was afterward aedile, and +candidate for the praetorship, but was driven into exile for bribery. +Being recalled by Caesar, he became candidate for the consulship, but +was unsuccessful. _De Brosses_. + +[101] Quintus Curius--He was a descendant of M. Curius Dentatus, the +opponent of Pyrrhus. He was so notorious as a gamester and a profligate, +that he was removed from the senate, A.U.C. 683. See c. 23. As he had +been the first to give information of the conspiracy to Cicero, public +honors were decreed him, but he was deprived of them by the influence of +Caesar, whom he had named as one of the conspirators. Sueton. Caes. 17; +Appian. De Bell. Civ., lib. ii. + +[102] M. Fulvius Nobilior--"He was not put to death, but exiled, +A.U.C. 699. Cic. ad Att. iv., 16." _Bernouf_. + +[103] Lucius Statilius--of him nothing more is known than is told by +Sallust. + +[104] Publius Gabinius Capito--Cicero, instead of Capito, calls him +Cimber. Orat. in Cat., iii. 3. The family was originally from Gabii. + +[105] Caius Cornelius--There were two branches of the _gens Cornelia_, +one patrician, the other plebeian, from which sprung this conspirator. + +[106] Municipal towns--_Municipiis_. "The _municipia_ were towns +of which the inhabitants were admitted to the rights of Roman citizens, +but which were allowed to govern themselves by their own laws, and to +choose their own magistrates. See Aul. Gell, xvi. 13; Beaufort, Rep. +Rom., vol. v." _Bernouf_. + +[107] Marcus Licinius Crassus--The same who, with Pompey and Caesar, +formed the first triumvirate, and who was afterward killed in his +expedition against the Parthians. He had, before the time of the +conspiracy, held the offices of praetor and consul. + +[108] XVIII. But previously, etc.--Sallust here makes a digression, +to give an account of a conspiracy that was formed three years before +that of Catiline. + +[109] Publius Autronius and Publius Sylla--The same who are mentioned +in the preceding chapter. They were consuls elect, and some editions +have the words _designati consules_, immediately following their names. + +[110] Having been tried for bribery under the laws against it +--_Legibus ambitus interrogati_. _Bribery at their election_, is the +meaning of the word _ambitus_, for _ambire_, as Cortius observes, is +_circumeundo favorem et suffragia quaerere_. De Brosses translates the +passage thus: "Autrone et Sylla, convaincus d'avoir obtenu le consulat +par corruption des suffrages, avaient été punis selon la rigueur de la +loi". There were several very severe Roman laws against bribery. +Autronius and Sylla were both excluded from the consulship. + +[111] For extortion--_Pecuniarum repetundarum_. Catiline had been +praetor in Africa, and, at the expiration of his office, was accused +of extortion by Publius Clodius, on the part of the Africans. He +escaped by bribing the prosecutor and judges. + +[112] To declare himself a candidate within the legitimate number +of days--_Prohibitus erat consulatum petere, quod intra legitimos +dies profiteri_ (se candidatum, says Cortius, citing Suet. Aug. 4) +_nequiverit_. A person could not be a candidate for the consulship, +unless he could declare himself free from accusation within a certain +number of days before the time of holding the _comitia centuriata_. +That number of days was _trinundinum spatium_, that is, the time +occupied by three market-days, _tres nundinae_, with seven days +intervening between the first and second, and between the second and +third; or _seventeen days_. The _nundinae_ (from _novem_ and _dies_) +were held, as it is commonly expressed, every ninth day; whence +Cortius and others considered _trinundinum spatium_ to be twenty-seven, +or even thirty days; but this way of reckoning was not that of the +Romans, who made the last day of _the first ennead_ to be also the first +day _of the second_. Concerning the _nundinae_ see Macrob., Sat. i. 16. +"Muller and Longius most erroneously supposed the _trinundinum_ to be +about thirty days; for that it embraced only seventeen days has been +fully shown by Ernesti. Clav. Cic., sub voce; by Scheller in Lex. Ampl., +p. 11, 669; by Nitschius Antiquitt. Romm. i. p. 623: and by Drachenborch +(cited by Gerlach) ad Liv. iii. 35." _Kritzius_. + +[113] Cneius Piso--Of the Calpurnian gens. Suetonius (Vit. Caes., c. 9) +mentions three authors who related that Crassus and Caesar were both +concerned in this plot; and that, if it had succeeded, Crassus was to +have assumed the dictatorship, and made Caesar his master of the horse. +The conspiracy, as these writers state, failed through the remorse or +irresolution of Crassus. + +[114] Catiline and Autronius--After these two names, in Havercamp's +and many other editions, follow the words _circiter nonas Decembres_, +_i.e._, about the fifth of December. + +[115] On the first of January--_Kalendis Januariis_. On this day the +consuls were accustomed to enter on their office. The consuls whom +they were going to kill, Cotta and Torquatus, were those who had been +chosen in the place of Antronius and Sylla. + +[116] The two Spains--Hither and Thither Spain. _Hispania Citerior_ +and _Ulterior_, as they were called by the Romans. + +[117] XIX. Nor were the senate, indeed, unwilling, etc.--See Dio Cass. +xxxvi. 27. + +[118] XX. Just above mentioned--In c. 17. + +[119] Favorable opportunity--_Opportuna res_. See the latter part +of c. 16. + +[120] Assert our claims to liberty--_Nosmet ipsi vindicamus in +libertatem_.Unless we vindicate ourselves into liberty. See below, +"En illa, illa, quam saepe optastis, libertas," etc. + +[121] Kings and princes--_Reges tetrarchae_. _Tetrarchs_ were +properly those who had the government of the fourth part of the +country; but at length, the signification of the word being extended, +it was applied to any governors of any country who were possessed of +supreme authority, and yet were not acknowledged as kings by the +Romans. See Hirt. Bell. Alex. c. 67: "Deiotarus, at that time +_tetrarch_ of almost all Gallograecia, a supremacy which the other +_tetrarchs_ would not allow to be granted him either by the laws or by +custom, but indisputably acknowledged as king of Armenia Minor by the +senate," etc. _Dietsch._ "Hesychius has, [Greek: _Tetrarchas, +basileis_]. See Isidor., ix. 8; Alex. ab. Alex., ii. 17." _Colerus_. +"Cicero, Phil. II., speaks of Reges Tetrarchas Dynastasque. And Lucan +has (vii. 46) Tetrarchae regesque tenent, magnique tyranni." _Wasse._ +Horace also says, + + --Modo reges atque tetrarchas, + Omnia magna loquens. + +I have, with Rose, rendered the word _princes_, as being the most +eligible term. + +[122] Insults--_Repulsas_. Repulses in standing for office. + +[123] The course of events, etc.--_Caetera res expediet_.--"Of. Cic. +Ep. Div. xiii. 26: _explicare et expedire negotia_." Gerlach. + +[124] Building over seas--See c. 13. + +[125] Embossed plate--_Toreumata_. The same as _vasa coelata_, +sculptured vases, c. 11. Vessels ornamented in bas-relief; from +[Greek: _toreuein_], _sculpere_; see Bentley ad Hor. A. P., 441. +"Perbona toreumata, in his pecula duo," etc. Cic. in Verr. iv. 18. + +[126] XXI. What support or encouragement they had, and in what +quarters.--_Quid ubique opis aut spei haberent; i.e._ quid opis aut + So c. 27, _init._ Quem ubique opportunum credebat, _i.e._, says +Cortius, "quem, et ubi _illum_, opportunum credebat". + +[127] Abolition of their debts--_Tabulas novas._ Debts were +registered on tablets; and, when the debts were paid, the score was +effaced, and the tablets were ready to be used _as new._ See Ernesti's +Clav. in Cio._sub voce_. + +[128] Proscription of the wealthy citizens--_Proscriptionem +locupletium._ The practice of proscription was commenced by Sylla, who +posted up, in public places of the city, the names of those whom he +doomed to death, offering rewards to such as should bring him their +heads. Their money and estates he divided among his adherents, and +Catiline excited his adherents with hopes of similar plunder. + +[129] Another of his ruling passion--_Admonebat--alium cupiditatis +suae_. Rose renders this passage, "Some he put in mind of their +poverty, others of their amours." De Brosses renders it, "Il +remontre à l'un sa pauvreté, à l'autre son ambition." _Ruling +passion_, however, seems to be the proper sense of _cupiditatis_; +as it is said, in c. 14, "As the passions of each, according to his +years, appeared excited, he furnished mistresses to some, bought +horses and dogs for others", etc. + +[130] XXII. They asserted--_Dictitare_. In referring this word to +the circulators of the report, I follow Cortius, Gerlach, Kritzius, +and Bernouf. Wasse, with less discrimination, refers it to Catiline. +This story of the drinking of human blood is copied by Florus, iv 1, +and by Plutarch in his Life of Cicero. Dio Cassius (lib. xxxvii.) says +that the conspirators were reported to have killed a child on the +occasion. + +[131] XXIII. Quintus Curius--the same that is mentioned in c. 17. + +[132] To promise her seas and mountains--_Maria montesque polliceri_. +A proverbial expression. Ter. Phorm., i. 2, 18: _Modò non montes auri +pollicens_. Perc., iii. 65: _Et quid opus Cratero magnos promittere +emontes._ + +[133] With greater arrogance than ever--_Ferocius quam solitus erat._ + +[134] To Marcus Tullius Cicero--Cicero was now in his forty-third +year, and had filled the office of quaestor, aedile, and praetor. + +[135] A man of no family--_Novus homo._ A term applied to such as +could not boast of any ancestor that had held any curule magistracy, +that is, had been consul, praetor, censor, or chief aedile. + +[136] XXIV. Manlius--He had been an officer in the army of Sylla, +and, having been distinguished for his services, had been placed at +the head of a colony of veterans settled about Faesulae: but he had +squandered his property in extravagance. See Plutarch, Vit. Cic., Dio +Cassius, and Appian. + +[137] Faesulae--A town of Etruria, at the foot of the Appennines, + + At evening from the top of Fesole, + Or in Valdarno to descry new lands, etc. +Par. L. i. 28. + +[138] XXV. Sempronia--Of the same _gens_ as the two Gracchi. She +was the wife of Decimus Brutus. + +[139] Sing, play, and dance--_Psallere, saltare._ As _psallo_ +signifies both to play on a musical instrument, and to sing to it +while playing, I have thought it necessary to give both senses in the +translation. + +[140] By no means despicable--_Haud absurdum._ Compare, _Bene dicere +haud absurdum est,_ c. 8. + +[141] She was distinguished, etc.--_Multae facetiae, multusque lepos +inerat._ Both _facetiae_ and _lepos_ mean "agreeableness, humor, +pleasantry," but _lepos_ here seems to refer to diction, as in Cic. +Orat. i. 7: _Magnus in jocando lepos._ + +[142] XXVI. By an arrangement respecting their provinces--_Pactione +provinciae_. This passage has been absurdly misrepresented by most +translators, except De Brosses. Even Rose, who was a scholar, translated +_pactione provinciae_, "by promising a province to his colleague." +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that the two provinces, which +Cicero and his colleague Antonius shared between them, were Gaul and +Macedonia, and that Cicero, in order to retain Antonius in the interest +of the senate, exchanged with him Macedonia, which had fallen to himself, +for the inferior province of Gaul. See Jug., c. 27. + +[143] Plots which he had laid for the consuls in the Campus Martius +--_Insidiae quas consuli in campo fecerat_. I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _consulibus_, thinking that Catiline, in +his rage, might have extended his plots even to the consuls-elect. But +_consuli_, there is little doubt, is the right reading, as it is favored +by what is said at the beginning of the chapter, _insidias parabat +Ciceroni_, by what follows in the next chapter, _consuli insidias tendere_, +and by the words, _sperans, si designatus foret, facile se ex voluntate +Antonio usurum_; for if Catiline trusted that he should be able to use +his pleasure with Antonius, he could hardly think it necessary to form +plots against his life. I have De Brosses on my side, who translates the +phrase, _les pieges où il comptait faire périr le consul_. The words _in +campo_, which look extremely like an intruded gloss, I wonder that +Cortius should have retained. "_Consuli_," says Gerlach, "appears the +more eligible, not only on account of _consuli insidias tendere_, c. 27, +but because nothing but the death of Cicero was necessary to make +everything favorable for Catiline." Kritzius, Bernouf, Dietsch, Pappaur, +Allen, and all the modern editors, read _Consuli_. See also the end of +c. 27: _Si prius Ciceronem oppressisset_.] [note 144: Had ended in +confusion and disgrace--_Aspera faedaque evenerant_. I have borrowed +from Murphy. + +[145] XXVII. Of Camerinum--Camertem. "That is, a native of Camerinum, +a town on the confines of Umbria and Picenum. Hence the noun _Camers_, +as Cic. Pro. Syll., c. 19, _in agro Camerti_." Cortius. + +[146] Wherever he thought each would be most serviceable--_Ubi +quemque opportunum credebat. "Proprie reddas: quam, _et ubi_ illum, +_opportunum credebat_," Cortius. See c. 23. + +[147] When none of his numerous projects succeeded--_Ubi multa +agilanti nihil procedit_. + +[148] XXVIII. On that very night, and with but little delay--_Ea +nocte, paulo post_. They resolved on going soon after the meeting +broke up, so that they might reach Cicero's house early in the +morning, which was the usual time for waiting on great men. _Ingentem +foribus domus alla superbis_ Mane _salutantûm totis vomit aedibus +undam_. Virg. Georg., ii. 461. + +[149] XXIX. This is the greatest power which--is granted, etc. +--_Ea potestas per senatum, more Romano, magistratui maxima +permittitur_. Cortius, _mirâ judicii peversitate_, as Kritzius +observes, makes _ea_ the ablative case, understanding "decretione," +"formula," or some such word; but, happily, no one has followed him. + +[150] XXX. By the 27th of October--_Ante diem VI. Kalendas +Novembres_. He means that they were in arms on or before that day. + +[151] Quintus Marcius Rex--He had been proconsul in Cilicia, and +was expecting a triumph for his successes. + +[152] Quintus Metellus Creticus--He had obtained the surname of +Creticus from having reduced the island of Crete. + +[153] Both which officers, with the title of commanders, etc. +--_hi utrique ad urbem imperatores erant; impediti ne triumpharent +calumniâ paucorum quibus omnia honesta atque inhonesta vendere mos +erat_. "Imperator" was a title given by the army, and confirmed by the +senate, to a victorious general, who had slain a certain number of the +enemy. What the number was is not known. The general bore this title +as an addition to his name, until he obtained (if it were granted him) +a triumph, for which he was obliged to wait _ad urbem_, near the city, +since he was not allowed to enter the gates as long as he held any +military command. These _imperatores_ had been debarred from their +expected honor by a party who would sell _any thing honorable_, as a +triumph, or _any thing dishonorable_, as a license to violate the laws. + +[154] A hundred sestertia--two hundred sestertia--A hundred sestertia +were about 807£. 5s. 10d. of our money. + +[155] Schools of gladiators--_Gladiatoriae familiae_. Any number of +gladiators under one teacher, or trainer (_lanista_), was called +_familia_. They were to be distributed in different parts, and to be +strictly watched, that they might not run off to join Catiline. See +Graswinckelius, Rupertus, and Gerlach. + +[156] The inferior magistrates--The aediles, tribunes, quaestors, +and all others below the consuls, censors, and praetors. Aul. Cell., +xiii. 15. + +[157] XXXI. Dissipation--Lascivia. "Devotion to public amusements +and gayety. The word is used in the same sense as in Lucretius, v. + + Tum caput atque humeros planis redimire coronis. + Floribus et foliis, lascivia laeta monebat. + +_"Then sportive gayety prompted them to deck their heads and shoulders +with garlands of flowers and leaves." Bernouf_. + +[158] Long tranquillity--_Diuturna quies_. "Since the victory of +Sylla to the time of which Sallust is speaking, that is, for about +twenty years, there had been a complete cessation from civil discord +and disturbance" _Bernouf_. + +[159] The Plautian law--_Lege Plautia_. "This law was that of M. +Plautius Silanus, a tribune of the people, which was directed against +such as excited a sedition in the state, or formed plots against the +life of any individual." _Cyprianus Popma_. See Dr. Smith's Dict. of +Gr. and Rom. Antiquities, sub Vis. + +[160] Which he afterward wrote and published--_Quam postea scriptam +edidit_. This was the first of Cicero's four Orations against +Catiline. The epithet applied to it by Sallust, which I have rendered +"splendid," is _luculentam_; that is, says Gerlach, "luminibus +verborum et sententiarum ornatam," distinguished by much brilliancy of +words and thoughts. And so say Kritzius, Bernouf, and Dietsch. Cortius, +who is followed by Dahl, Langius, and Muller, makes the word equivalent +merely to _lucid_, in the supposition that Sallust intended to bestow +on the speech, as on other performances of Cicero, only very cool praise. +_Luculentus_, however, seems certainly to mean something more than +_lucidus_. + +[161] A mere adopted citizen of Rome--_Inquilinus civis urbis Romae_. +"Inquilinus" means properly a lodger, or tenant in the house of another. +Cicero was born at Arpinum, and is therefore called by Catiline a +citizen of Rome merely by adoption or by sufferance. Appian, in +repeating this account (Bell. Civ., ii. 104), says, [Greek: +_Ingkouilinon, phi raemati kalousi tous enoikountas en allotriais +oikiais_.] + +[162] Traitor--_Parricidam_. See c. 14. "An oppressor or betrayer +of his country is justly called a parricide; for our country is the +common parent of all. Cic. ad Attic." _Wasse_. + +[163] Since I am encompassed, by enemies, he exclaimed, etc.--"It +was not on this day, nor indeed to Cicero, that this answer was made +by Catiline. It was a reply to Cato, uttered a few days before the +comitia for electing consuls, which were held on the 22d day of +October. See Cic. pro Muraeno, c. 25. Cicero's speech was delivered on +the 8th of November. Sallust is, therefore, in error on this point, as +well as Florus and Valerius Maximus, who have followed him." +_Bernouf_. From other accounts we may infer that no reply was made to +Cicero by Catiline on this occasion. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, +says that Catiline, before Cicero rose, seemed desirous to address the +senate in defense of his proceedings, but that the senators refused to +listen to him. Of any answer to Cicero's speech, on the part of +Catiline, he makes no mention. Cicero himself, in his second Oration +against Catiline, says that Catiline _could not endure his voice_, +but, when he was ordered to go into exile, "paruit, quievit," _obeyed +and submitted in silence_. And in his Oration, c. 37, he says, "That +most audacious of men, Catiline, when he was accused by me in the +senate, was dumb." + +[164] XXXII. With directions to address him, etc.--_Cum mandatis +hujuscemodi_. The communication, as Cortius observes, was not an +epistle, but a verbal message. + +[165] XXXIII. To have the benefit of the law--_Lege uti_. The law +here meant was the Papirian law, by which it was provided, contrary to +the old law of the Twelve Tables, that no one should be confined in +prison for debt, and that the property of the debtor only, not his +person, should be liable for what he owed. Livy (viii. 28) relates the +occurrence which gave rise to this law, and says that it ruptured one +of the strongest bonds of credit. + +[166] The praetor--The _praetor urbanus_, or city praetor, who +decided all causes between citizens, and passed sentence on debtors. + +[167] Relieved their distress by decrees--_Decretis suis inopiae +opitulati sunt_. In allusion to the laws passed at various times for +diminishing the rate of interest. + +[168] Silver--was paid with brass--_Agentum aere solutum est_. +Thus a _sestertius_, which was of silver, and was worth four _asses_, +was paid with one _as_, which was of brass; or _the fourth part only +of the debt was paid_. See Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 3; and Velleius +Paterculus, ii. 23; who says, _quadrantem solvi_, that _a quarter_ of +their debts were paid by the debtors, by a law of Valerius Flaccus, +when he became consul on the death of Marius. + +[169] Often--have the commonalty--seceded, etc.--"This happened +three times: 1. To the Mons Sacer, on account of debt; Liv. ii. 32. 2. +To the Aventine, and thence to the Mons Sacer, through the tyranny of +Appius Claudius, the decemvir; Liv. iii. 50. 3. To the Janiculum, on +account of debt; Liv. Epist. xi." _Bernouf_. + +[170] XXXIV. That such had always been the kindness, etc.--_Ea, +mansuetudine atque misericordia senatum populumque Romanum, semper +fuisse._ "That the senate, etc., had always been of such kindness." I +have deserted the Latin for the English idiom. + +[171] XXXV. The commencement of this letter is different in different +editions. In Havercamp it stands thus: _Egregiatua fides, re cognita, +grata mihi, magnis in meis periculis, fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius corrected it as follows: _Egregia tua fides, re +cognita, gratam in magnis periculis fiduciam commendationi meae +tribuit._ Cortius's reading has been adopted by Kritzius, Bernouf, and +most other editors. Gerlach and Dietsch have recalled the old text. +That Cortius's is the better; few will deny; for it can hardly be +supposed that Sallust used _mihi, meis_, and _meae_ in such close +succession. Some, however, as Rupertus and Gerlach, defend Havercamp's +text, by asserting, from the phrase _earum exemplam infra scriptum,_ +that this is a true copy of the letter, and that the style is, +therefore, not Sallust's, but Catiline's. But such an opinion is +sufficiently refuted by Cortius, whose remarks I will transcribe: +"Rupertus," says he, "quod in promptu erat, Catilinae culpam tribuit, +qui non eo, quo Crispus, stilo scripserit. Sed cur oratio ejus tam +apta et composita suprà, c. 20 refertur? At, inquis, hic ipsum +litterarum exemplum exhibetur. At vide mihi exemplum litterarum +Lentuli, c. 44; et lege Ciceronem, qui idem exhibet, et senties sensum +magis quam verba referri. Quare inanis haec quidem excusatio." Yet it +is not to be denied that _grata mihi_ is the reading of all the +manuscripts. + +[172] Known--by experience.--_Re cognita._ "Cognita" be it observed, +_tironum gratia,_ is the nominative case. "Catiline had experienced +the friendship of Catulus in his affair with Fabia Terentia; for it +was by his means that he escaped when he was brought to trial, as is +related by Orosius." _Bernouf._ + +[173] Recommendation--_Commendationi._ His recommendation of his +affairs, and of Orestilla, to the care of Catulus. + +[174] Formal defense--_Defensionem._ Opposed to _satisfactionem_, +which follows, and which means a private apology or explanation. +"_Defensio_, a defense, was properly a statement or speech to be made +against an adversary, or before judges; _satisfactio_ was rather an +excuse or apology made to a friend, or any other person, in a private +communication." _Cortius._ + +[175] Though conscious of no guilt--_Ex nullâ conscientiâ de culpâ_. +This phrase is explained by Cortius as equivalent to "Propter +conscientam denullâ culpâ," or "inasmuch as I am conscious of no +fault." "_De culpâ_, he adds, is the same as _culpae_; so in the ii. +Epist. to Caesar, c. 1: Neque _de futuro_ quisquam satix callidus; +and c. 9: _de illis_ potissimum jactura fit." + +[176] To make no formal defense--to offer you some explanation +--_Defensionem--parare; satisfactionem--proponere_. "Parare," says +Cortius, "is applied to a defense which might require some study and +premeditation; _proponere_ to such a statement as it was easy to make +at once". + +[177] On my word of honor--_Me dius fidius_, sc. juvet. So may the +god of faith help me, as I speak truth. But who is the god of faith? +_Dius_, say some, is the same as _Deus_ (Plautus has _Deus_ fidius, +Asin i. 1, 18); and the god here meant is probably Jupiter (_sub dio_ +being equivalent to _sub Jove_); so that _Dius fidius_ (_fidius_ being +an adjective from _fides_) will be the [Greek: _Zeus pistios_] of the +Greeks. "_Me dius fidius_" will therefore be, "May Jupiter help me!" +This is the mode of explication adopted by Gerlach, Bernouf, and +Dietsch. Others, with Festus (sub voce _Medius fidius_) make _fidius_ +equivalent to _filius_, because the ancients, according to Festus, +often used D for L, and _dius fidius_ will then be the same as [Greek: +_Dios_] or Jovis filius, or Hercules, and _medius fidius_ will be the +same as _mehercules_ or _mehercule_. Varro de L. L. (v. 10, ed. +Sprengel) mentions a certain Aelius who was of this opinion. Against +this derivation there is the quantity of _fidius_, of which the first +syllable is short: _Quaerebam Nonas Sanco fidone referrem_, Ov. Fast. +vi. 213. But if we consider _dius_ the same as _deus_, we may as well +consider _dius fidius_ to be the god Hercules as the god Jupiter, and +may thus make _medius fidius_ identical with _mehercules_, as it +probably is. "Tertullian, de Idol. 20, says that _medius fidius_ is a +form of swearing by Hercules." Schiller's Lex. sub _Fidius_. This +point will be made tolerably clear if we consider (with Varro, v. 10, +and Ovid, _loc. cit._) Dius Fidius to be the same with the Sabine +Sancus, or Semo Sancus, and Semo Sancus to be the same with Hercules. + +[178] You may receive as true--_Veram licet cognoscas_. Some +editions, before that of Cortius, have _quae--licet vera mecum +recognoscas_; which was adopted from a quotation of Servius ad Aen. +iv. 204. But twenty of the best MSS., according to Certius, have +_veram licet cognoscas_. + +[179] Robbed of the fruit of my labor and exertion--_Fructu laboris +industriaeque meae privatus_. "The honors which he sought he +elegantly calls the _fruit_ of his labor, because the one is obtained +by the other." _Cortius_. + +[180] Post of honor due to me--_Statum dignitatis_. The consulship. + +[181] On my own security--_Meis nominibus_. "He uses the plural," +says Herzogius, "because he had not borrowed once only, or from one +person, but oftentimes, and from many." No other critic attempts to +explain this point. For _alienis nominibus_, which follows, being in +the plural, there is very good reason. My translation is in conformity +with Bernouf's comment. + +[182] Proscribed--_Alienatum_. "Repulsed from all hope of the +consulship." _Bernouf_. + +[183] Adopted a course--_Spes--secutus sum_. "_Spem sequi_ is a +phrase often used when the direction of the mind to any thing, action, +or course of conduct, and the subsequent election and adoption of what +appears advantageous, is signified." _Cortius_. + +[184] Protection--_Fidei_. + +[185] Intreating you, by your love for your own children, to defend +her from injury--_Eam ab injuria defendas, per liberos tuos rogatus_. +"Defend her from injury, being intreated [to do so] by [or for the +sake of] your own children." + +[186] XXXVI. In the neighborhood of Arretium--_In agro Arretino_. +Havercamp, and many of the old editions, have _Reatino_; "but," says +Cortius, "if Catiline went the direct road to Faesulae, as is rendered +extremely probable by his pretense that he was going to Marseilles, +and by the assertion of Cicero, made the day after his departure, that +he was on his way to join Manlius, we must certainly read _Arretino_." +Arretium (now _Arezzo_) lay in his road to Faesulae; Reate was many +miles out of it. + +[187] In an extremely deplorable condition--_Multo maxime miserabile_. +_Multe_ is added to superlatives, like _longe_. So c. 52, _multo +pulcherrimam_ eam nos haberemus. Cortius gives several other instances. + +[188] Notwithstanding the two decrees of the senate--_Duobus senati +decretis._ I have translated it "_the_ two decrees," with Rose. +One of the two was that respecting the rewards mentioned in c. 30; the +other was that spoken of in c. 36., allowing the followers of Catiline +to lay down their arms before a certain day. + +[189] XXXVII. Endeavor to exalt the factious--_Malos extollunt_. +They strive to elevate into office those who resemble themselves. + +[190] Poverty does not easily suffer loss--_Egestas facile habetur +sine damna_ He that has nothing, has nothing to lose. Petron. +Sat., c. 119: _Inops audacia tuta est_. + +[191] Had become disaffected--Praeceps abierat. Had grown demoralized, +sunk in corruption, and ready to join in any plots against the state. +So Sallust says of Sempronia, _praeceps abierat_, c. 25. + +[192] In the first place--Primum omnium. "These words refer, not to +_item_ and _postremo in the same sentence, but to _deinde_ at the +commencement of the next." _Bernouf_. + +[193] Civil rights had been curtailed--_Jus libertatis imminutum +erat_. "Sylla, by one of his laws, had rendered the children of +proscribed persons incapable of holding any public office; a law +unjust, indeed, but which, having been established and acted upon for +more than twenty years, could not be rescinded without inconvenience +to the government. Cicero, accordingly, opposed the attempts which +were made, in his consulship, to remove this restriction, as he +himself states in his Oration against Piso, c. 2." _Bernouf_. See +Vell. Patere., ii., 28; Plutarch, Vit. Syll.; Quintil., xi. 1, where a +fragment of Cicero's speech, _De Proscriptorum Liberis_, is preserved. +This law of Sylla was at length abrogated by Julius Caesar, Suet. J. +Caes. 41; Plutarch Vit. Caes.; Dio Cass., xli. 18. + +[194] This was an evil--to the extent to which it now prevailed--_Id +adeò malum multos post annos in civitatem reverterat_. "_Adeò_, says +Cortius, "_in particula elegantissima_" Allen makes it equivalent to + _eò usque_. + +[195] XXXVIII. The powers of the tribunes--had been fully restored +--_Tribunicia potestas restituta_. Before the time of Sylla, +the power of the tribunes had grown immoderate, but Sylla diminished +and almost annihilated it, by taking from them the privileges of +holding any other magistracy after the tribunate, of publicly +addressing the people, of proposing laws, and of listening to appeals. +But in the consulship of Cotta, A.U.C. 679, the first of these +privileges had been restored; and in that of Pompey and Crassus, +A.U.C. 683, the tribunes were reinstated in all their former powers. + +[196] Having obtained that high office--_Summam potestatem nacti_. +Cortius thinks these words spurious. + +[197] XXXIX. Free from harm--_Innoxii_. In a passive sense. + +[198] Overawing others--with threats of impeachment--_Caeteros +judiciis terrere_. "Accusationibus et judiciorum periculis." +_Bernouf_. + +[199] His father ordered to be put to death--_Parens necari jussit_. +"His father put him to death, not by order of the consuls, but by his +own private authority; nor was he the only one who, at the same +period, exercised similar power." Dion. Cass., lib. xxxvii. The +father observed on the occasion, that, "he had begotten him, not for +Catiline against his country, but for his country against Catiline". +Val. Max., v.8. The Roman laws allowed fathers absolute control over +the lives of their children. + +[200] XL. Certain deputies of the Allobroges--_Legatos Allobrogum_. +Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says that there were then at Rome +_two deputies_ from this Gallic nation, sent to complain of oppression +on the part of the Roman governors. + +[201] As Brutus was then absent from Borne--_Nam tum Brutus ab +Româ, aberat_. From this remark, say Zanchius and Omnibonus, it is +evident that Brutus was not privy to the conspiracy. "What sort of +woman _Sempronia_ was, has been told in c. 25. Some have thought that +she was the wife of Decimus Brutus; but since Sallust speaks of her as +being in the decay of her beauty at the time of the conspiracy, and +since Brutus, as may be seen in Caesar (B. G. vii., sub fin.), was +then very young, it is probable that she had only an illicit +connection with him, but had gained such an ascendency over his +affections, by her arts of seduction, as to induce him to make her his +mistress, and to allow her to reside in his house." _Beauzée_. I have, +however, followed those who think that Brutus was the husband of +Sempronia. Sallust (c. 24), speaking of the woman, of whom Sempronia +was one, says that Catiline _credebat posse--viros earum vel adjungere +sibi, vel interficere_. The truth, on such a point, is of little +importance. + +[202] XLI. To be expected from victory--_In spe victoriae_. + +[203] Certain rewards--_Certa praemia_. "Offered by the senate to +those who should give information of the conspiracy. See c. 30." +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[204] Quintus Fabius Sanga--"A descendent of that Fabius who, for +having subdued the Allobroges, was surnamed Allobrogicus." _Bernouf_. +Whole states often chose patrons as well as individuals. + +[205] XLII. There were commotions--_Motus erat_. "_Motus_ is also +used by Cicero and Livy in the singular number for _seditiones_ and +_tumultus_. No change is therefore to be made in the text." _Gerlach_. +"Motus bellicos intelligit, _tumultus_; ut Flor., iii. 13." _Cortius_. + +[206] Having brought several to trial--_Complures--caussâ cognitâ. +"Caussum cognoscere_ is the legal phrase for examining as to the +authors and causes of any crime." _Dietsch_. + +[207] Caius Muraena in Further Gaul--_In Ulteriore Galliâ C. Muraena_. +All the editions, previous to that of Cortius, have _in citeriore +Galliâ_. "But C. Muraena," says the critic, "commanded in Gallia +Transalpina, or Ulterior Gaul, as appears from Cic. pro Muraena, +c. 41. To attribute such an error to a lapse or memory in Sallust, +would be absurd. I have, therefore, confidently altered _citeriore_ +into _ulteriore_." The praise of having first discovered the error, +however, is due, not to Cortius, but to Felicius Durantinus, a friend +of Rivius, in whose note on the passage his discovery is recorded. + +[208] XLIII. The excellent consul--_Optimo consuli_. With the +exception of the slight commendation bestowed on his speech, +_luculentam_ atque _utilem reipublicae_, c. 31, this is the only +epithet of praise that Sallust bestows on the consul throughout his +narrative. That it could be regarded only as frigid eulogy, is +apparent from a passage in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (xii. +21), in which he speaks of the same epithet having been applied to him +by Brutus: "Brutus thinks that he pays me a great compliment when he +calls me an excellent consul (optimum consulem); but what enemy could +speak more coldly of me?" + +[209] Twelve places of the city, convenient for their purpose--_ +Duodecim--opportuna loca_. Plutarch, in his Life of Cicero, says a +hundred places. Few narratives lose by repetition. + +[210] In order that, during the consequent tumult--_Quò tumultu_. +"It is best," says Dietsch, "to take _quo_ as the _particula finalis_ +(to the end that), and _tumultu_ as the ablative of the instrument". + +[211] Delay--_Dies prolatando_. By putting off from day to day. + +[212] XLIV. Soon to visit their country--_Semet eò brevi venturum_. +"It is plain that the adverb relates to what precedes (_ad cives_); +and that Cassius expresses an intention to set out for Gaul." _Dietsch_. + +[213] Remember that you are a man--_Memineris te virum_. Remember +that you are a man, and ought to act as one. Cicero, in repeating this +letter from memory (Orat. in Cat., iii. 5), gives the phrase, _Cura ut +vir sis_. + +[214] XLV. The praetors--_Praetoribus_ urbanis, the praetors of the city. + +[215] The Milvian Bridge--_Ponte Mulvio_. Now _Ponte Molle_. + +[216] Of the object with which they were sent--_Rem--cujus gratiâ +mittebantur_. + +[217] From each side of the bridge--_Utrinque_. "Utrinque," observes +Cortius, "glossae MSS. exponunt _ex utrâque parte pontis," and there +is little doubt that the exposition is correct. No translator, however, +before myself, has availed himself of it. + +[218] XLVI. The box with the letters--_Scrinium cum literis. Litterae_ +may be rendered either _letter_ or _letters_. There is no mention made +previously of more letters than that of Lentulus to Catiline, c. 44. +But as it is not likely that the deputies carried a box to convey only +one letter, I have followed other translators by putting the word in +the plural. The oath of the conspirators, too, which was a written +document, was probably in the box. + +[219] XLVII. His letter--_Litteris._ His own letter to Catiline, c. 44. +So _praeter litteras_ a little below. + +[220] What object he had had in view, etc.--_Quid, aut quâ de causâ, +consilli habuisset_. What design he had entertained, and from what +motive _he had entertained it_. + +[221] To prevaricate.--_Fingere alia._ "To pretend other things +than what had reference to the conspiracy." _Bernouf._ + +[222] On the security of the public faith--_Fide publicá._ +"Cicero pledged to him the public faith, with the consent of the +senate; or engaged, in the name of the republic, that his life +should be spared, if he would but speak the truth." _Bernouf._ + +[223] That Cinna and Sylla had ruled already--_Cinnam atque Syllam +antea._ "Had ruled," or something similar, must be supplied. Cinna +had been the means of recalling Marius from Africa, in conjunction +with whom he domineered over the city, and made it a scene of +bloodshed and desolation. + +[224] Their seals--_Signa sua_. "Leurs cachets, leurs sceaux." +Bernouf. The Romans tied their letters round with a string, the knot +of which they covered with wax, and impressed with a seal. To open the +letter it was necessary to cut the string: "_nos linum incidimus_." +Cic. Or. in Cat. iii. 5. See also C. Nep. Panc. 4, and Adam's _Roman +Antiquities_. The seal of Lentulus had on it a likeness of one of his +ancestors; see Cicero, _loc. cit._ + +[225] In private custody--_In liberis custodiis._ Literally, in +"free custody," but "private custody" conveys a better notion of the +arrangement to the mind of the English reader. It was called _free_ +because the persons in custody were not confined in prison. Plutarch +calls it [Greek: _adeomon phylakin_] as also Dion., cap. lviii. 3. See +Tacit. Ann. vi. 8. It was adopted in the case of persons of rank and +consideration. + +[226] XLVIII. If the public faith were pledged to him--_Si fides +publica data, esset_. See c. 47. + +[227] And to facilitate the escape of those in custody--_Et illi +facilius è periculo eriperentur_. + +[228] A man of such power--_Tanta vis hominis_. So great power of +the man. + +[229] Liberty of speaking--_Potestatem_. "Potestatem loquendi." +_Cyprianus Popma_. As it did not appear that he spoke the truth, the +pledge which the senate had given him, _on condition that he spoke the +truth_, went for nothing; he was not allowed to continue his evidence, +and was sent to prison. + +[230] As was his custom--_More suo_. Plutarch, in his Life of Crassus, +relates that frequently when Pompey, Caesar, and Cicero, had refused +to undertake the defense of certain persons, as being unworthy of +their support, Crassus would plead in their behalf; and that he thus +gained great popularity among the common people. + +[231] XLIX. Piso, as having been attacked by him, when he was on, +etc.--_Piso oppugnatus in judicio repetundarum propter cujusdam +Transpadani supplicium injustum_. Such is the reading and punctuation +of Cortius. Some editions insert _pecuniarum_ before _repetundarum_, +and some a comma after it. I have interpreted the passage in +conformity with the explanation of Kritzius, which seems to me the +most judicious that has been offered. _Oppugnatus_, says he, is +equivalent to _gravitur vexatus_, or violently assailed; and Piso was +thus assailed by Caesar on account of his unjust execution of the +Gaul; the words _in judicio repetundarum_ merely mark the time when +Caesar's attack was made. While he was on his trial for one thing, he +was attacked by Caesar for another. Gerlach, observing that the words +_in judicio_ are wanting in one MS., would emit them, and make +_oppugnatus_ govern _pecuniarum repetundarum_, as if it were +_accusatus_; a change which would certainly not improve the passage. +The Galli Transpadani seem to have been much attached to Caesar; see +Cic. Ep. ad Att., v. 2; ad Fam. xvi. 12. + +[232] Comparatively a youth--_Adolescentalo_. Caesar was then in +the thirty-third, or, as some say, the thirty-seventh year of his age. +See the note on this word, c. 3. + +[233] By magnificent exhibitions in public--_Publicè maximis muneribus_. +Shows of gladiators. + +[234] L. In various directions throughout the city--_Variis itineribus +--in vicis_. Going hither and thither through the streets. + +[235] Slaves--_Familiam_. "Servos suos, qui proprie _familia_," +Cortius. _Familia_ is a number of _famuli_. + +[236] A full senate, however, had but a short time before, +etc.--The senate had already decreed that they were enemies to their +country; Cicero now calls a meeting to ascertain what sentence should +be passed on them. + +[237] On this occasion--moved--_Tunc--decreverat_. The _tunc_ +(or, as most editors have it, _tum_) must be referred to the second +meeting or the senate, for it does not appear that any proposal +concerning the punishment of the prisoners was made at the first +meeting. There would be no doubt on this point, were it not for the +pluperfect tense, _decreverat_. I have translated it as the perfect. +We must suppose that Sallust had his thoughts on Caesar's speech, +which was to follow, and signifies that all this business _had been +done_ before Caesar addressed the house. Kritzius thinks that the +pluperfect was referred by Sallust, not to Caesar's speech, but to the +decree of the senate which was finally made; but this is surely a less +satisfactory method of settling the matter. Sallust often uses the +pluperfect, where his reader would expect the perfect; see, for +instance, _concusserat_, at the beginning of c. 24. + +[238] That he would go over to the opinion of Tiberius Nero--_Pedibus +in sententian Tib. Neronis--iturum_. Any question submitted to the +senate was decided by the majority of votes, which was ascertained +either by _numeratio_, a counting of the votes, or by _discessio_, +when those who were of one opinion, at the direction of the presiding +magistrate, passed over to one side of the house, and those who were +of the contrary opinion, to the other. See Aul. Gell. xiv. 7; Suet. +Tib. 31; Adam's Rom. Ant.; Dr. Smith's Dictionary, Art. _Senatus_. + +[239] LI. It becomes all men, etc.--The beginning of this speech, +attributed to Caesar, is imitated from Demosthenes, [Greek: _Peri ton +hen Chersonaeso pragmaton: Edei men, o andres Athaenaioi, tous +legontas apantas en umin maete pros echthran poieisthai logon maedena, +maete pros charin_]. "It should be incumbent on all who speak before +you, O Athenians, to advance no sentiment with any view either to +enmity or to favor." + +[240] I consent to extraordinary measures--_Novum consilium adprobo_. +"That is, I consent that you depart from the usage of your ancestors, +by which Roman citizens were protected from death." _Bernouf_. + +[241] Whatever can be devised--_Omnium ingenia_. + +[242] Studied and impressive language--_Compositè atque magnificè. +Compositè_, in language nicely put together; elegantly. _Magnificè_, +in striking or imposing terms. _Compositè_ is applied to the speech +of Caesar, by Cato, in the following chapter. + +[243] Such I know to be his character, such his discretion--_Eos +mores, eam modestiam viri cognovi_. I have translated _modestiam, +discretion_, which seems to be the proper meaning of the word. Beauzée +renders it _prudence_, and adds a note upon it, which may be worth +transcription. "I translate _modestia_," says he, "by _prudence_, and +think myself authorized to do so. _Sic definitur a Stoicis_, says +Cicero (De Off. i. 40), _ut modestia sit sicentia earum rerum, quae +agentur, aut dicentur, loco suo collocandarum_; and shortly afterward, +_Sic fit ut modestia scientia sit opportunitatis idoneorum ad agendum +temporum_. And what is understood in French by prudence? It is, +according to the Dictionary of the Academy, 'a virtue by which we +discern and practice what is proper in the conduct of life.' This is +almost a translation of the words of Cicero". + +[244] That--death is a relief from suffering, not a torment, etc. +--This Epicurean doctrine prevailed very much at Rome in Caesar's, and +afterward. We may very well suppose Caesar to have been a sincere +convert to it. Cato alludes to this passage in the speech which +follows; as also Cicero, in his fourth Oration against Catiline, c. 4. +See, for opinions on this point, the first book of Cicero's Tusculan +Questions. + +[245] The Porcian Law--_Lex Porcia_. A law proposed by P. Porcius +Loeca, one of the tribunes, A.U.O. 454, which enacted that no one +should bind, scourge or kill a Roman citizen. See Liv., x. 9; Cic. +pro. Rabir., 3, 4: Verr., v 63; de Rep., ii, 31. + +[246] Other laws--_Aliae leges_. So Caesar says below, "Tum lex +Porcia aliaeque paratae, quibus legibus auxilium damnatis permissum;" +what other laws these were is uncertain. One of them, however, was the +Sempronian law, proposed by Caius Gracchus, which ordained that +sentence should not be passed on the life of a Roman citizen without +the order of the people. See Cic. pro Rabir. 4. So "O lex Porcia +legesque Semproniae!" Cic. in. Verr., v. 63. + +[247] Parricides--See c. 14, 32. + +[248] The course of events--_Dies_. "Id est, temporis momentum +(_der veränderte Zeitpunkt_)." _Dietsch_. Things change, and that +which is approved at one period, is blamed at another. _Tempus_ and +_dies_ are sometimes joined (Liv., xxii. 39, ii. 45), as if not only +time in general, but particular periods, as _from day to day_, were +intended. + +[249] All precedents productive of evil effects--_Omnia mala exempla_. +Examples of severe punishments are meant. + +[250] Any new example of severity, etc.--_Novum illud exemplum ab +dignis et idoneis ad indignos et non idoneos transferetur_. Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, and Bernouf, agree to giving to this passage the +sense which is given in the translation. _Digni_ and _idonei_ are +here used in a bad sense, for _digni et idonei qui poena afficiantur_, +deserving and fit objects for punishment. + +[251] When they had conquered the Athenians--At the conclusion of +the Peloponnesian war. + +[252] Damasippus--"He, in the consulship of Caius Marius, the younger, +and Cneius Carbo, was city praetor, and put to death some of the most +eminent senators, a short time before the victory of Sylla. See Vell. +Paterc. ii. 26." _Bernouf_. + +[253] Ensigns of authority--_Insignia magistratum_. "The fasces and +axes of the twelve lictors, the robe adorned with purple, the curule +chair, and the ivory scepter. For the Etrurians, as Dionysius +Halicarnassensis relates, having been subdued, in a nine years' war, +by Tarquinius Priscus, and having obtained peace on condition of +submitting to him as their sovereign, presented him with the +_insignia_ of their own monarchs. See Strabo, lib. V.; Florus, i. 5," +_Kuhnhardt_. + +[254] Best able to bear the expense--_Maxime opibus valent_. Are +possessed of most resources. + +[255] LII. The rest briefly expressed their assent, etc.--_Caeteri +verbo, alius alii, varie assentiebantur. Verbo assentiebantur_ +signifies that they expressed their assent merely by a word or two, +as _assentior Silano, assentior Tiberio Neroni, aut Caesari_, the +three who had already spoken. _Varie_, "in support of their different +proposals." + +[256] My feelings, Conscript Fathers, are extremely different, +etc.--_Longe mihi alia mens est, P. C._, etc. The commencement of +Cato's speech is evidently copied from the beginning of the third +Olynthiac of Demosthenes: [Greek: _Ouchi tauta paristatai moi +ginoskein, o andres Athaenaioi, otan te eis ta pragmata apoblepso kai +otan pros tous logous ous akouo tous men gar logous peri tou +timoraesasthai Philippon oro gignomenous, ta de pragmata eis touto +proaekonta oste opos mae peisometha autoi proteron kakos skepsasthai +deon_.] "I am by no means affected in the same manner. Athenians, when +I review the state of our affairs, and when I attend to those speakers +who have now declared their sentiments. They insist that we should +punish Philip; but our affairs, situated as they now appear, warn us +to guard against the dangers with which we ourselves are threatened." +_Leland_. + +[257] Their altars and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis._ +"When _arae_ and _foci_ are joined, beware of supposing that they are +to be distinguished as referring the one (_arae) to the public +temples, and the other (_foci_) to private dwellings. Both are to be +understood of private houses, in which the _ara_ belonged to the _Dii +Penates_, and was placed in the _impluvium_ in the inner part of the +house; the _focus_ was dedicated to the _lares_, and was in the hall." +Ernesti, Clav. Cic., sub. v. _Ara_. Of the commentators on Sallust, +Kritzius is, I believe, the only one who has concurred in this notion +of Ernesti; Langins and Dietsch (with Cortius) adhere to the common +opinion that _arae_ are the public altars. Dietsch refers, for a +complete refutation of Ernesti, to G. A. B. Hertzberg _de Diis +Romanorum Penatibus_, Halae, 1840, p. 64; a book which I have not +seen. Certainly, in the observation of Cicero ad Att., vii. 11, "Non +est respublica in parietibus, sed in aris et focis," _arae_ must be +considered (as Schiller observes) to denote the public altars and +national religion. See Schiller's Lex. v. _Ara_. + +[258] In vain appeal to justice--_Frusta judicia implores. Judicia_, +trials, to procure the inflictions of legal penalties. + +[259] Could not easily pardon the misconduct, etc.--_Haud facile +alterius lubidini malefacta condonabam_. "Could not easily forgive the +licentiousness of another its evil deeds." + +[260] Yet the republic remained secure; its own strength, etc. +--_Tamen respublica firma, opulentia neglegentiam tolerabat_. This is +Cortius's reading; some editors, as Havercamp, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +insert _erat_ after _firma_. Whether _opulentia_ is the nominative or +ablative, is disputed. "_Opulentia_," says Allen, "casum sextum +intellige, et repete _respublica_ (ad _tolerabat_)." "_Opulentia_," +says Kritzius, "melius nominativo capiendum videtur; nam quae +sequuntur verba novam enunciationem efficiunt." I have preferred to +take it as a nominative. + +[261] We have lost the real names of things, etc.--Imitated from +Thucydides, iii. 32: [Greek: _Kai taen eiothuian axiosin ton onomaton +es ta erga antaellaxan tae dikaiosei. Tolma men gar alogistos, andria +philetairos enomisthae, mellasis te promaethaes, deilia euprepaes to +de sophron. Tou anandrou proschaema, kai to pros apan syneton, epi pan +argon_.] "The ordinary meaning of words was changed by them as they +thought proper. For reckless daring was regarded as courage that was +true to its friends; prudent delay, as specious cowardice; moderation, +as a cloak for unmanliness; being intelligent in every thing, as being +useful for nothing." _Dale's_ translation; Bohn's Classical Library. + +[262] Elegant language--_Compositè_. See above, c. 51. + +[263] In a most excellent condition--_Multo pulcherrumam._ See c. 36. + +[264] For of allies and citizens, etc.--Imitated from Demosthenes, +Philipp. III.4. + +[265] I advise you to have mercy upon them--_Misereamini censeo, +i.e._, censeo _ut_ misereanum, spoken ironically. Most translators +have taken the words in the sense of "You would take pity on them, I +suppose," or something similar. + +[266] Unless this be the second time that he has made war upon +his country--"Cethegus first made war on his country in conjunction +with Marius." _Bernouf_. Whether Sallust alludes to this, or intimates +(as Gerlach thinks) that he was engaged in the first conspiracy, is +doubtful. + +[267] Is ready to devour us--_Faucibus urget_. Cortius, Kritzius, +Gerlach, Burnouf, Allen, and Dietsch, are unanimous in interpreting +this as a metaphorical expression, alluding to a wild beast with open +jaws ready to spring upon its prey. They support this interpretation +by Val. Max., v. 3: "Faucibus apprehensam rempublicam;" Cic. pro. +Cluent., 31: "Quum faucibus premetur;" and Plaut. Casin. v. 3,4, +"Manifesto faucibus teneor." Some, editors have read _in faucibus_, +and understood the words as referring to the jaws or narrow passes of +Etruria, where Catiline was with his army. + +[268] LIII. All the senators of consular dignity, and a great +part of the rest--_Consulares omnes, itemque senatus magna pars_. "As +the consulars were senators, the reader would perhaps expect Sallust +to have said _reliqui senatús_ but _itemque_ is equivalent to _et +praeter eos_." _Dietsch_. + +[269] That they had carried on wars--_Bella gesta_. That wars had +been carried on _by them_. + +[270] As if the parent stock were exhausted--_Sicuti effoeta +parentum_. This is the reading of Cortius, which he endeavors to +explain thus: "Ac sicuti _effoeta parens_, inter parentes, _sese +habere solet_, ut nullos amplius liberas proferat, sic Roma sese +habuit, ubi multis tempestatibus nemo virtute magnus fuit." "_Est_," +he adds, "or _solet esse_, or _sese habere solet_, may very well be +understood from the _fuit_ which follows." But all this only serves to +show what a critic may find to say in defense of a reading to which he +is determined to adhere. All the MSS., indeed, have _parentum_, except +one, which has _parente_. Dietsch thinks that some word has been lost +between _effoeta_ and _parentum_, and proposes to read _sicuti effoetá +aetate parentum, with the sense, _as if the age of the parents were +too much exhausted to produce strong children_. Kritzius, from a +suggestion of Cortius (or rather of his predecessor, Rupertus), reads +_effoetae parentum_ (the effoetae agreeing with Romae which follows), +considering the sense to be the same as as _effoetae parentis_--as +_divina dearum_ for _divina dea_, etc. Gerlach retains the rending of +Cortius, and adopts his explanation (4to. ed., 1827), but says that +the _explicatio_ may seem _durior_, and that it is doubtful whether we +ought not to have recourse to the _effoeta parente_ of the old critics. +Assuredly if we retain _parentum_, _effoetae_ is the only reading that +we can well put with it. We may compare with it _loca nuda gignentium_, +(Jug. c. 79), i.e. "places bare of objects producing any thing." +Gronovius know not what to do with the passage, called it _locus +intellectus nemini_, and at last decided on understanding _virtute_ +with _effoetae parentum_, which, _pace tarti viri_, and although Allen +has followed him, is little better than folly. The concurrence of the +majority of manuscripts in giving _parentum_ makes the scholar +unwilling to set it aside. However, as no one has explained it +satisfactorily even to himself, I have thought it better, with Dietsch, +to regard it a _scriptura non ferenda_, and to acquiesce, with +Glareanus, Rivius, Burnouf, and the Bipont edition, in the reading +_effoetâ parente_. + +[271] LIV. Though attained by different means--_Sed alia alii_. +"Alii alia _gloria_," for _altera alteri_. So Livy, i. 21: _Duo +reges_, alius alia via. + +[272] Simplicity--_Pudore_. The word here seems to mean the absence +of display and ostentation. + +[273] With the temperate--_Cum innocente_. "That is _cum integro +et abstinente_. For _innocentia_ is used for _abstinentia_, and +opposed to _avaritia_. See Cic. pro Lego Manil., c. 13." _Burnouf_. + +[274] LV. The triumvirs--_Triumviros_. The _triumviri capitales_, +who had the charge of the prison and of the punishment of the +condemned. They performed their office by deputy, Val. Max., v. 4. 7. + +[275] The Tullian dungeon--_Tullianum_. "Tullianum" is an adjective, +with which _robur_ must be understood, as it was originally +constructed, wholly or partially, with oak. See Festus, sub voce +_Robum_ or _Robur_: his words are _arcis robustis includebatur_, of +which the sense is not very clear. The prison at Rome was built by +Ancus Marcius, and enlarged by Servius Tullius, from whom this part of +it had its name; Varro de L. L., iv. 33. It is now transformed into a +subterranean chapel, beneath a small church erected over it, called +_San Pietro in Carcere_. De Brosses and Eustace both visited it; See +Eustace's Classical Tour, vol. i. p. 260, in the _Family Library_. See +also Wasse's note on this passage. + +[276] A vaulted roof connected with stone arches--_Camera lapideis +fornicibus vincta_. "That _camera_ was a roof curved in the form of +a _testudo_, is generally admitted; see Vitruv. vii. 3; Varr., +R. R. iii. 7, init." _Dietsch_. The roof is now arched in the usual +way. + +[277] Certain men, to whom orders had been given--_Quibus praeceptum +erat_. The editions of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, +have _vindices rerum capitalium, quibus_, etc. Cortius ejected the +first three words from his text, as an intruded gloss. If the words +be genuine, we must consider these _vindices_ to have been the +deputies, or lictors, of the "triumvirs" mentioned above. + +[278] LVI. As far as his numbers would allow--_Pro numero militum_. +He formed his men into two bodies, which he called legions, and +divided each legion, as was usual, into ten cohorts, putting into +each cohort as many men as he could. The cohort of a full legion +consisted of three maniples, or six hundred men; the legion would then +be six thousand men. But the legions were seldom so large as this; +they varied at different periods, from six thousand to three thousand; +in the time of Polybius they were usually four thousand two hundred. +See Adam's Rom. Ant., and Lipsius de Mil. Rom Dial. iv. + +[279] From his confederates--_Ex sociis_. "Understand, not only +the leaders in the conspiracy, but those who, in c. 35, are said to +have set out to join Catiline, though not at that time exactly +implicated in the plot." _Kritzius_. It is necessary to notice this, +because Cortius erroneously supposes "sociis" to mean the _allies of +Rome_. Dahl, Longius, Müller, Burnouf, Gerlach, and Dietsch, all +interpret in the same manner as Kritzius. + +[280] Hoped himself shortly to find one--_Sperabat propediem sese +habiturum_. Other editions, as those of Havercamp, Gerlach, Kritzius, +Dietsch, and Burnouf, have the words _magnas copias_ before _sese_. +Cortius struck them out, observing that _copiae_ occurred too often in +this chapter, and that in one MS. they were wanting. One manuscript, +however, was insufficient authority for discarding them; and the +phrase suits much better with what follows, _si Romae socii incepta +patravissent_, if they are retained. + +[281] Slaves--of whom vast numbers, etc.--_Servitia--cujus magnae +copiae_. "_Cujus_," says Priscian (xvii. 20, vol. ii., p. 81, cd. Krehl), +"is referred _ad rem_, that is _cujus rei servitiorum_." _Servorum_ or +_hominum genus_, is, perhaps, rather what Sallust had in his mind, as +the subject of his relation. Gerlach adduces as an expression most +nearly approaching to Sallust's, Thucyd., iii. 92; [Greek: _Kai dorieis, +hae maetropolis ton Lakedaimonion_]. + +[282] Impolitic--_Alienum suis rationibus_. Foreign to his views; +inconsistent with his policy. + +[283] LVII. In his hurried march into Gaul--_In Galliam properanti_. +These words Cortius inclosed in brackets, pronouncing them as a useless +gloss. But all editors have retained them as genuine, except the Bipont +and Burnouf, who wholly omitted them. + +[284] As he was pursuing, though with a large army, yet through +plainer ground, and with fewer hinderances; the enemy in +retreat--_Utpote qui magna exercitu, locis aequioribus, expeditus, in +fuga sequeretur_. It would be tedious to notice all that has been +written upon this passage of Sallust. All the editions, before that of +Cortius, had _expeditos, in fugam_, some joining _expeditos_ with +_locis aequioribus_, and some with _in fugam_. _Expeditos in fugam_ +was first condemned by Wasse, no negligent observer of phrases, who +said that no expression parallel to it could be found in any Latin +writer. Cortius, seeing that the _expedition_, of which Sallust is +speaking, is on the part of Antonius, not of Catiline, altered +_expeditos_, though found in all the manuscripts, into _expeditus_; +and _in fugam_, at the same time, into _in fuga_; and in both these +emendations he has been cordially followed by the subsequent editors, +Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch. I have translated _magno exercitu_, +"_though_ with a large army," although, according to Dietsch and some +others, we need not consider a large army as a cause of slowness, but +may rather regard it as a cause of speed; since the more numerous were +Metellus's forces, the less he would care how many he might leave +behind through fatigue, or to guard the baggage; so that he might be +the more _expeditus_, unincumbered. With _sequeretur_ we must +understand _hostes_. The Bipont, Burnouf's, which often follows it, +and Havercamp's, are now the only editions of any note that retain +_expeditos in fugam_. + +[285] LVIII. That a spiritless army can not be rendered active, +etc.--_Neque ex ignavo strenuum, neque fortem ex timido exercitum +oratione imperatoris fieri_. I have departed a little from the literal +reading, for the sake of ease. + +[286] That on your own right hands depend, etc.--_In dextris +portare_. "That you carry in your right hands." + +[287] Those same places--_Eadem illa_. "Coloniae atque municipia +portas claudent." _Burnouf_. + +[288] They contend for what but little concerns them--_Illis +supervacaneum est pugnare_. It is but of little concern to the great +body of them personally: they may fight, but others will have the +advantages of their efforts. + +[289] We might, etc.--_Licuit nobis_. The editions vary between +_nobis_ and _robis_; but most, with Cortius, have _nobis_. + +[290] LIX. In the rear--_In subsidio_. Most translators have +rendered this, "as a body of reserve;" but such can not well be the +signification. It seems only to mean the part behind the front: +Catiline places the eight cohorts _in front_, and the rest of his +force _in subsidio_, to support the front. _Subsidia_, according to +Varro (de L. L., iv. 16) and Festus (v. _Subsidium_), was a term +applied to the Triarii, because they _subsidebant_, or sunk down on +one knee, until it was their turn to act. See Sheller's Lex. v. +_Subsidium_. "Novissimi ordines ita dicuntur." _Gerlach_. _In +subsidiis_, which occurs a few lines below, seems to signify _in lines +in the rear_; as in Jug. 49, _triplicibus subsidiis aciem intruxit, +i.e. with three lines behind the front_. "Subsidium ea pars aciei +vocabatur quae reliquis submitti posset; Caes. B. G., ii. 25." +_Dietsch_. + +[291] All the ablest centurions--_Centuriones omnes lectos_. +"_Lectos_ you may consider to be the same as _eximios, praestantes_, +centurionum praestantissimum quemque." _Kritzius_. Cortius and others +take it for a participle, _chosen_. + +[292] Veterans--_Evocatos_. Some would make this also a participle, +because, say they, it can not signify _evocati_, or _called-out +veterans_, since, though there were such soldiers in a regular Roman +army, there could be none so called in the tumultuary forces of +Catiline. But to this it is answered that Catiline had imitated the +regular disposition of a Roman army, and that his veterans might +consequently be called _evocati_, just as if they had been in one; +and, also that _evocatus_ as a participle would be useless; for if +Catiline removed (_subducit_) the centurions, it is unnecessary to +add that he called them out, "_Evocati_ erant, qui expletis stipendiis +non poterant in delectu scribi, sed precibus imperatoris permoti, aut +in gratiam ejus, militiam resumebant, homines longo uso militiae +peritissimi. Dio., xiv. p. 276. [Greek: _Ek touton de ton anoron kai +to ton Haeouokaton hae Ouokaton systaema (ous Anaklaetous an tis +Ellaenisas, hoti pepaumenoi taes strateias, ep' autein authis +aneklaethmsan, ouomaseien) enomisthae_.] Intelligit itaque ejusmodi +homines veteranos, etsi non proprie erant tales evocati, sed sponte +castra Catilinae essent secuti." _Cortius_. + +[293] Into the foremost ranks--_In primam aciem_. Whether Sallust +means that he ranged them with the eight cohorts, or only in the first +line of the _subsidia_, is not clear. + +[294] A certain officer of Faesulae--_Faesulanum quemdam_. "He is +thought to have been that P. Furius, whom Cicero (Cat., iii. 6, 14) +mentions as having been one of the colonists that Sylla settled at +Faesulae, and who was to have been executed, if he had been +apprehended, for having been concerned in corrupting the Allobrogian +deputies." _Dietsch_. Plutarch calls this officer Furius. + +[295] His freedmen--_Libertis_. "His own freedmen, whom he probably +had about him as a body-guard, deeming them the most attached of his +adherents. Among them was, possibly, that Sergius, whom we find +from Cic. pro Domo, 5, 6, to have been Catiline's armor bearer." +_Dietsch_. + +[296] The colonists--_Colonis_. "Veterans of Sylla, who had been +settled by him as colonists in Etruria, and who had now been induced +to join Catiline." _Gerlach_. See c. 28. + +[297] By the eagle--_Propter aquilam_. See Cic. in Cat., i. 9. + +[298] Being lame--_Pedibus aeger_. It has been common among +translators to render _pedibus aeger_ afflicted with the gout, though +a Roman might surely be lame without having the gout. As the lameness +of Antonius, however, according to Dion Cassius (xxxvii. 39), was only +pretended, it may be thought more probable that he counterfeited the +gout than any other malady. It was with this belief, I suppose, that +the writer of a gloss on one of the manuscripts consulted by Cortius, +interpreted the words, _ultroneam passus est podogram_, "he was +affected with a voluntary gout." Dion Cassius says that he preferred +engaging with Antonius, who had the larger army, rather than with +Metellus, who had the smaller, because he hoped that Antonius would +designedly act in such a way as to lose the victory. + +[299] To meet the present insurrection--_Tumulti causa_. Any sudden +war or insurrection in Italy or Gaul was called _tumultus_. See +Cic. Philipp. v. 12. + +[300] Their temples and their homes--_Aris atque focis suis_. See +c. 52. + +[301] LX. In a furious charge--_Infestis siqnis_. + +[302] Offering but partial resistance--_Alios alibi resistentes_. +Not making a stand in a body, but only some in one place, and some in +another. + +[303] Among the first, etc.--_In primis pugnantes cadunt_. Cortius +very properly refers _in primis_ to _cadunt_. + + + + +CHRONOLOGY OF THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. + +EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. + + +A.U.C 685.--COSS. L. CAECILIUS METELLUS, Q. MARCIIS REX.--Catiline is +Praetor. + +686.--C. CALPURNIUS PISO, M. ACILIUS GLABRIO.--Catiline Governor of +Africa. + +687.--L. VOLCATIUS TULLUS, M. AEMILIUS LEPIDUS.--Deputies from Africa +accuse Catiline of extortion, through the agency of Clodius. He is +obliged to desist from standing for the consulship, and forms the +project of the first conspiracy. See Sall. Cat., c. 18. + +688.--L. MANLIUS TORQUATUS, L. AURELIUS COTTA.--_Jan_. 1: Catiline's +project of the first conspiracy becomes known, and he defers the +execution of it to the 5th of February, when he makes an unsuccessful +attempt to execute it. _July_ 17: He is acquitted of extortion, and +begins to canvass for the consulship for the year 690. + +689.--L. JULIUS CAESAR, C. MARCIUS FIGULUS THERMUS.--_June_ 1: +Catiline convokes the chiefs of the second conspiracy. He is +disappointed in his views on the consulship. + +690--M. TULLIUS CICERO, C. ANTONIUS HYBRIDA.--_Oct_. 19: Cicero lays +the affair of the conspiracy before the senate, who decree plenary +powers to the consuls for defending the state. _Oct_. 21: Silanus and +Muraena are elected consuls for the next year, Catiline, who was a +candidate, being rejected. _Oct_. 22: Catiline is accused under the +Plautian Law _de vi_. Sall. Cat., c. 31. _Oct_. 24: Manlius takes up +arms in Etruria. _Nov_. 6: Catiline assembles the chief conspirators, +by the agency of Porcius Laeca Sall. Cat., c. 27. _Nov_. 7: Vargunteius +and Cornelius undertake to assassinate Cicero. Sall. Cat., c. 28. +_Nov_. 8: Catiline appears in the senate; Cicero delivers his first +Oration against him; he threatens to extinguish the flame raised +around him in a general destruction, and quits Rome. Sall. Cat., c. +31. _Nov_. 9: Cicero delivers his second Oration against Catiline, +before an assembly of the people, convoked by order of the senate. +_Nov_. 20, _or thereabouts_: Catiline and Manlius are declared public +enemies. Soon after this the conspirators attempt to secure the +support of the Allobrogian deputies. _Dec_. 3: About two o'clock in +the morning the Allobroges are apprehended. Toward evening Cicero +delivers his third Oration against Catiline, before the people. _Dec_. +5. Cicero's fourth Oration against Catiline, before the senate. Soon +after, the conspirators are condemned to death, and great honors are +decreed by the senate to Cicero. 691.--D. JUNIUS SILANUS, L. LICINIUS +MURAENA--_Jan_. 5: Battle of Pistoria, and death of Catiline. + + * * * * * + +The narrative of Sallust terminates with the account of the battle of +Pistoria. There are a few other particulars connected with the history +of the conspiracy, which, for the sake of the English reader, it may +not be improper to add. + +When the victory was gained, Antonius caused Catiline's head to be cut +off, and sent it to Rome by the messengers who carried the news. +Antonius himself was honored, by a public decree, with the title of +_Imperator_, although he had done little to merit the distinction, and +although the number of slain, which was three thousand, was less than +that for which the title was generally given. See Dio Cass. xxxvii., +40, 41. + +The remains of Catiline's army, after the death of their leader, +continued to make efforts to raise another insurrection. In August, +eight months after the battle, a party, under the command of Lucius +Sergius, perhaps a relative or freedman of Catiline, still offered +resistance to the forces of the government in Etruria. _Reliquiae +conjuratorum, cum L. Sergio, tumultuantur in Hetruria_. Fragm. Act. +Diurn. The responsibility of watching these marauders was left to the +proconsul Metellus Celer. After some petty encounters, in which the +insurgents were generally worsted, Sergius, having collected his force +at the foot of the Alps, attempted to penetrate into the country of +the Allobroges, expecting to find them ready to take up arms; but +Metellus, learning his intention, pre-occupied the passes, and then +surrounded and destroyed him and his followers. + +At Rome, in the mean time, great honors were paid to Cicero. A +thanksgiving of thirty days was decreed in his name, an honor which +had previously been granted to none but military men, and which was +granted to him, to use his own words, because _he had delivered the +city from fire, the citizens from slaughter, and Italy from war_. "If +my thanksgiving," he also observes, "be compared with those of others, +there will be found this difference, that theirs were granted them for +having managed the interests of the republic successfully, but that +mine was decreed to me for having preserved the republic from ruin." +See Cic. Orat. iii., in Cat., c. 6. Pro Sylla, c. 30. In Pison. c. 3. +Philipp. xiv., 8. Quintus Catulus, then _princeps senatus_, and Marcus + + Roma parentem, + Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. + +Juv. Sat., viii. 244. + +Of the inferior conspirators, who did not follow Sergius, and who were +apprehended at Rome, or in other parts of Italy, after the death of +the leaders in the plot, some were put to death, chiefly on the +testimony of Lucius Vettius, one of their number, who turned informer +against the rest. But many whom he accused were acquitted; others, +supposed to be guilty, were allowed to escape. + + + + + +THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + + + +THE ARGUMENT. + + +The Introduction, I.-IV. The author's declaration of his design, and +prefatory account of Jugurtha's family, V. Jugurtha's character, VI. +His talents excite apprehensions in his uncle Micipsa, VII. He is sent +to Numantia. His merits, his favor with Scipio, and his popularity in +the army, VIII. He receives commendation and advice from Scipio and is +adopted by Micipsa, who resolves that Jugurtha, Adherbal, and +Hiempsal, shall, at his death, divide his kingdom equally between +them, IX. He is addressed by Micipsa on his death-bed, X. His +proceedings, and those of Adherbal and Hiempsal, after the death of +Micipsa, XI. He murders Hiempsal, XII. He defeats Adherbal, and drives +him for refuge to Rome. He dreads the vengeance of the senate, and +sends embassadors to Rome, who are confronted with those of Adherbal +in the senate-house, XIII. The speech of Adherbal, XIV. The reply of +Jugurtha's embassadors, and the opinions of the senators, XV. The +prevalence of Jugurtha's money, and the partition of the kingdom +between him and Adherbal, XVI. A description of Africa, XVII. An +account of its inhabitants, and of its principal divisions at the +commencement of the Jugurthine war, XVIII., XIX. Jugurtha invades +Adherbal's part of the kingdom, XX. He defeats Adherbal, and besieges +him in Cirta, XXI. He frustrates the intentions of the Roman deputies, +XXII. Adherbal's distresses, XXIII. His letter to the senate, XXIV. +Jugurtha disappoints a second Roman deputation, XXV. He takes Cirta, +and puts Adherdal to death, XXVI. The senate determine to make war +upon him, and commit the management of it to Calpurnius, XXVII. He +sends an ineffectual embassy to the senate. His dominions are +vigorously invaded by Calpurnius, XXVIII. He bribes Calpurnius, and +makes a treaty with him, XXIX. His proceedings are discussed at Rome, +XXX. The speech of Memmius concerning them, XXXI. The consequences of +it, XXXII. The arrival of Jugurtha at Rome, and his appearance before +the people, XXXIII., XXXIV. He procures the assassination of Massiva, +and is ordered to quit Italy, XXXV. Albinus, the successor of +Calpurnius, renews the war. He returns to Rome, and leaves his brother +Aulus to command in his absence, XXXVI. Aulus miscarries in the siege +of Suthul, and concludes a dishonorable treaty with Jugurtha, XXXVII, +XXXVIII. His treaty is annulled by the senate. His brother, Albinus, +resumes the command, XXXIX. The people decree an inquiry into the +conduct of those who had treated with Jugurtha, XL. Consideration on +the popular and senatorial factions, XLI., XLII. Metellus assumes the +conduct of the war, XLIII. He finds the army in Numidia without +discipline, XLIV. He restores subordination, XLV. He rejects +Jugurtha's offers of submission, bribes his deputies, and marches into +the country, XLVI. He places a garrison in Vacca, and seduces other +deputies of Jugurtha, XLVII. He engages with Jugurtha, and defeats +him. His lieutenant, Rutilius, puts to flight Bomilcar, the general of +Jugurtha, XLVIII.-LIII. He is threatened with new opposition. He lays +waste the country. His stragglers are cut off by Jugurtha, LIV. His +merits are celebrated at Rome. His caution. His progress retarded, LV. +He commences the siege of Zama, which is reinforced by Jugurtha. His +lieutenant, Marius, repulses Jugurtha at Sicca, LVI. He is joined by +Marius, and prosecutes the siege. His camp is surprised, LVII., LVIII. +His struggles with Jugurtha, and his operations before the town, LIX., +LX. He raises the siege, and goes into winter quarters. He attaches +Bomilcar to his interest, LXI. He makes a treaty with Jugurtha, who +breaks it, LXII. The ambition of Marius. His character. His desire of +the consulship, LXIII. His animosity toward Metellus. His intrigues to +supplant him, LXIV, LXV. The Vaccians surprise the Roman garrison, and +kill all the Romans but Turpilius, the governor, LXVI., LXVII. +Metellus recovers Vacca, and puts Turpilius to death, LXVIII., LXIX. +The conspiracy of Bomilcar, and Nabdalsa against Jugurtha, and the +discovery of it. Jugurtha's disquietude, LXX.-LXXII. Metellus makes +preparations for a second campaign. Marius returns to Rome, and is +chosen consul, and appointed to command the army in Numidia, LXXIII. +Jugurtha's irresolution. Metellus defeats him, LXXIV. The flight of +Jugurtha to Thala. The march of Metellus in pursuit of him, LXXV. +Jugurtha abandons Thala, and Metellus takes possession of it, LXXVI. +Metellus receives a deputation from Leptis, and sends a detachment +thither, LXXVII. The situation of Leptis, LXXVIII. The history of +the Philaeni, LXXIX. Jugurtha collects an army of Getulians, and gains +the support of Bocchus, King of Mauritania. The two kings proceed +toward Cirta, LXXX., LXXXI. Metellus marches against them, but hearing +that Marius is appointed to succeed him, contents himself with +endeavoring to alienate Bocchus from Jugurtha, and protracting the war +rather than prosecuting it, LXXXII., LXXXIII. The preparations of Marius +for his departure. His disposition toward the nobility. His popularity, +LXXXIV. His speech to the people, LXXXV. He completes his levies, and +arrives in Africa, LXXXVI. He opens the campaign, LXXXVII. The reception +of Metellus in Rome. The successes and plans of Marius. The applications +of Bocchus, LXXXVIII. Marius marches against Capsa, and takes it, +LXXXIX-XCI. He gains possession of a fortress which the Numidians thought +impregnable, XCII.-XCIV. The arrival of Sylla in the camp. His character, +XCV. His arts to obtain the favor of Marius and the soldiers, XCVI. +Jugurtha and Bocchus attack Marius, and are vigorously opposed, XCVII., +XCVIII. Marius surprises them in the night, and routs them with great +slaughter, XCIX. Marius prepares to go into winter quarters. His +vigilance, and maintenance of discipline, C. He fights a second battle +with Jugurtha and Bocchus, and gains a second victory over them, CI. He +arrives at Cirta. He receives a deputation from Bocchus, and sends Sylla +and Manlius to confer with him, CII. Marina undertakes an expedition +Bocchus prepares to send ambassadors to Rome, who being stripped by +robbers, takes refuge in the Roman camp, and are entertained by Sylla +during the absence of Marius, CIII. Marius returns. The ambassadors +set out for Rome. The answer which they receive from the senate, CIV. +Bocchus desires a conference with Sylla; Sylla arrives at the camp of +Bocchus, CV.-CVII. Negotiations between Sylla and Bocchus, CVIII., +CIX. The address of Bocchus to Sylla, CX. The reply of Sylla. The +subsequent transactions between them. The resolution of Bocchus to +betray Jugurtha, and the execution of it, CXI-CXIII. The triumph of +Marius, CXIV. + + + + +I. Mankind unreasonably complain of their nature, that, being weak and +short-lived, it is governed by chance rather than intellectual power;[1] +for, on the contrary, you will find, upon reflection, that there is +nothing more noble or excellent, and that to nature is wanting rather +human industry than ability or time. + +The ruler and director of the life of man is the mind, which, when it +pursues glory in the path of true merit, is sufficiently powerful, +efficient, and worthy of honor,[2] and needs no assistance from +fortune, who can neither bestow integrity, industry, or other good +qualities, nor can take them away. But if the mind, ensnared by +corrupt passions, abandons itself[3] to indolence and sensuality, when +it has indulged for a season in pernicious gratifications, and when +bodily strength, time, and mental vigor, have been wasted in sloth, +the infirmity of nature is accused, and those who are themselves in +fault impute their delinquency to circumstances.[4] + +If man, however, had as much regard for worthy objects, as he has +spirit in the pursuit of what is useless,[5] unprofitable, and even +perilous, he would not be governed by circumstances more than he would +govern them, and would attain to a point of greatness, at which, +instead of being mortal,[6] he would be immortalized by glory. + +II. As man is composed of mind and body, so, of all our concerns and +pursuits, some partake the nature of the body, and some that of the +mind. Thus beauty of person, eminent wealth, corporeal strength, and +all other things of this kind, speedily pass away; but the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal. + +Of the advantages of person and fortune, as there is a beginning, +there is also an end; they all rise and fall,[7] increase and decay. +But the mind, incorruptible and eternal, the ruler of the human race, +actuates and has power over all things,[8] yet is itself free from +control. + +The depravity of those, therefore, is the more surprising, who, +devoted to corporeal gratifications, spend their lives in luxury and +indolence, but suffer the mind, than which nothing is better or +greater in man, to languish in neglect and inactivity; especially when +there are so many and various mental employments by which the highest +renown may be attained. + +III. Of these occupations, however, civil and military offices,[9] and +all administration of public affairs, seem to me at the present time, +by no means to be desired; for neither is honor conferred on merit, +nor are those, who have gained power by unlawful means, the more +secure or respected for it. To rule our country or subjects[10] by +force, though we may have the ability, and may correct what is wrong, +is yet an ungrateful undertaking; especially as all changes in the +state lead to[11] bloodshed, exile, and other evils of discord; while +to struggle in ineffectual attempts, and to gain nothing, by wearisome +exertions, but public hatred, is the extreme of madness; unless when a +base and pernicious spirit, perchance, may prompt a man to sacrifice +his honor and liberty to the power of a party. + +IV. Among other employments which are pursued by the intellect, the +recording of past events is of pre-eminent utility; but of its merits +I may, I think, be silent, since many have spoken of them, and since, +if I were to praise my own occupation, I might be considered as +presumptuously[12] praising myself. I believe, too, that there will be +some, who, because I have resolved to live unconnected with political +affairs, will apply to my arduous and useful labors the name of +idleness; especially those who think it an important pursuit to court +the people, and gain popularity by entertainments. But if such persons +will consider at what periods I obtained office, what sort of men[13] +were then unable to obtain it, and what description of persons have +subsequently entered the senate,[14] they will think, assuredly, that +I have altered my sentiments rather from prudence than from indolence, +and that more good will arise to the state from my retirement, than +from the busy efforts of others. + +I have often heard that Quintus Maximus,[15] Publius Scipio,[16] and +many other illustrious men of our country, were accustomed to observe, +that, when they looked on the images of their ancestors, they felt +their minds irresistibly excited to the pursuit of honor.[17] Not, +certainly, that the wax,[18] or the shape, had any such influence; +but, as they called to mind their forefathers' achievements, such a +flame was kindled in the breasts of those eminent persons, as could +not be extinguished till their own merit had equaled the fame and +glory of their ancestors. + +But, in the present state of manners, who is there, on the contrary, +that does not rather emulate his forefathers in riches and extravagance, +than in virtue and labor? Even men of humble birth,[19] who formerly +used to surpass the nobility in merit, pursue power and honor rather +by intrigue and dishonesty, than by honorable qualifications; as if +the praetorship, consulate, and all other offices of the kind, were +noble and dignified in themselves, and not to be estimated according +to the worth of those who fill them. + +But, in expressing my concern and regret at the manners of the state, +I have proceeded with too great freedom, and at too great length. I +now return to my subject. + +V. I am about to relate the war which the Roman people carried on with +Jugurtha, King of the Numidians; first, because it was great, sanguinary, +and of varied fortune; and secondly, because then, for the first time, +opposition was offered to the power of the nobility; a contest which +threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion,[20] and was +carried to such a height of madness, that nothing but war, and the +devastation of Italy, could put an end to civil dissensions.[21] But +before I fairly commence my narrative, I will take a review of a few +preceding particulars, in order that the whole subject may be more +clearly and distinctly understood. + +In the second Punic war, in which Hannibal, the leader of the +Carthaginians, had weakened the power of Italy more than any other +enemy[22] since the Roman name became great,[23] Masinissa, King of +the Numidians, being received into alliance by Publius Scipio, who, +from his merits was afterward surnamed Africanus, had performed for us +many eminent exploits in the field. In return for which services, +after the Carthaginians were subdued, and after Syphax,[24] whose +power in Italy was great and extensive, was taken prisoner, the Roman +people presented to Masinissa, as a free gift, all the cities and +lands that they had captured. Masinissa's friendship for us, +accordingly, remained faithful and inviolate; his reign[25] and his +life ended together. His son, Micipsa, alone succeeded to his kingdom; +Mastanabal and Gulussa, his two brothers, having been carried off by +disease. Micipsa had two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and had brought +up in his house, with the same care as his own children, a son of his +brother Mastanabal, named Jugurtha, whom Masinissa, as being the son +of a concubine, had left in a private station. + +VI. Jugurtha, as he grew up, being strong in frame, graceful in +person, but, above all, vigorous in understanding, did not allow +himself to be enervated by pleasure and indolence, but, as is the +usage of his country, exercised himself in riding, throwing the +javelin, and contending in the race with his equals in age; and, +though he excelled them all in reputation, he was yet beloved by all. +He also passed much of his time in hunting; he was first, or among the +first, to wound the lion and other beasts; he performed very much, but +spoke very little of himself. + +Micipsa, though he was at first gratified with these circumstances, +considering that the merit of Jugurtha would be an honor to his +kingdom, yet, when he reflected that the youth was daily increasing in +popularity, while he himself was advanced in age, and his children but +young, he was extremely disturbed at the state of things, and revolved +it frequently in his mind. The very nature of man, ambitious of power, +and eager to gratify its desires, gave him reason for apprehension, as +well as the opportunity afforded by his own age and that of his children, +which was sufficient, from the prospect of such a prize, to lead astray +even men of moderate desires. The affection of the Numidians, too, which +was strong toward Jugurtha, was another cause for alarm; among whom, if +he should cut off such a man, he feared that some insurrection or war +might arise. + +VII. Surrounded by such difficulties, and seeing that a man, so +popular among his countrymen, was not to be destroyed either by force +or by fraud, he resolved, as Jugurtha was of an active disposition, +and eager for military reputation, to expose him to dangers in the +field, and thus make trial of fortune. During the Numantine war,[26] +therefore, when he was sending supplies of horse and foot to the +Romans, he gave him the command of the Numidians, whom he dispatched +into Spain, hoping that he would certainly perish, either by an +ostentatious display of his bravery, or by the merciless hand of the +enemy. But this project had a very different result from that which he +had expected. For when Jugurtha, who was of an active and penetrating +intellect, had learned the disposition of Publius Scipio, the Roman +general, and the character of the enemy, he quickly rose, by great +exertion and vigilance, by modestly submitting to orders, and frequently +exposing himself to dangers, to such a degree of reputation, that he was +greatly beloved by our men, and extremely dreaded by the Numantines. He +was indeed, what is peculiarly difficult, both brave in action, and wise +in counsel; qualities, of which the one, from forethought, generally +produces fear, and the other, from confidence, rashness. The general, +accordingly, managed almost every difficult matter by the aid of +Jugurtha, numbered him among his friends, and grew daily more and more +attached to him, as a man whose advice and whose efforts were never +useless. With such merits were joined generosity of disposition, and +readiness of wit, by which he united to himself many of the Romans in +intimate friendship. + +VIII. There were at that time, in our army, a number of officers, some +of low, and some of high birth, to whom wealth was more attractive +than virtue or honor; men who were attached to certain parties, and of +consequence in their own country; but, among the allies, rather +distinguished than respected. These persons inflamed the mind of +Jugurtha, of itself sufficiently aspiring, by assuring him, "that if +Micipsa should die, he might have the kingdom of Numidia to himself; +for that he was possessed of eminent merit, and that anything might be +purchased at Rome." + +When Numantia, however, was destroyed, and Scipio had determined to +dismiss the auxiliary troops, and to return to Rome, he led Jugurtha, +after having honored him, in a public assembly, with the noblest +presents and applauses, into his own tent; where he privately +admonished him "to court the friendship of the Romans rather by +attention to them as a body, than by practicing on individuals;[27] +to bribe no one, as what belonged to many could not without danger be +bought from a few; and adding that, if he would but trust to his own +merits, glory and regal power would spontaneously fall to his lot; +but, should he proceed too rashly, he would only, by the influence of +his money, hasten his own ruin." + +IX. Having thus spoken, he took leave of him, giving him a letter, +which he was to present to Micipsa, and of which the following was +the purport: "The merit of your nephew Jugurtha, in the war against +Numantia, has been eminently distinguished; a fact which I am sure +will afford you pleasure. He is dear to us for his services, and we +shall strive, with our utmost efforts, to make him equally dear to the +senate and people of Rome. As a friend, I sincerely congratulate you; +you have a kinsman worthy of yourself, and of his grandfather +Masinissa." + +Micipsa, when he found, from the letter of the general, that what he +had already heard reported was true, being moved, both by the merit of +the youth and by the interest felt for him by Scipio, altered his +purpose, and endeavored to win Jugurtha by kindness. He accordingly, +in a short time,[28] adopted him as his son, and made him, by his +will, joint-heir with his own children. + +A few years afterward, when, being debilitated by age and disease, he +perceived that the end of his life was at hand, he is said, in the +presence of his friends and relations, and of Adherbal and Hiempsal +his sons, to have spoken with Jugurtha in the following manner: + +X. "I received you, Jugurtha, at a very early age, into my kingdom,[29] +at a time when you had lost your father, and were without prospects or +resources, expecting that, in return for my kindness, I should not be +less loved by you than by my own children, if I should have any. Nor +have my anticipations deceived me; for, to say nothing of your other +great and noble deeds, you have lately, on your return from Numantia, +brought honor and glory both to me and my kingdom; by your bravery, +you have rendered the Romans, from being previously our friends, more +friendly to us than ever; the name of our family is revived in Spain; +and, finally, what is most difficult among mankind, you have suppressed +envy by preeminent merit.[30] + +And now, since nature is putting a period to my life, I exhort and +conjure you, by this right hand, and by the fidelity which you owe to +my kingdom,[31] to regard these princes, who are your cousins by +birth, and your brothers by my generosity, with sincere affection; and +not to be more anxious to attach to yourself strangers, than to retain +the love of those connected with you by blood. It is not armies, or +treasures,[32] that form the defenses of a kingdom, but friends, whom +you can neither command by force nor purchase with gold; for they are +acquired only by good offices and integrity. And who can be a greater +friend than one brother to another?[33] Or what stranger will you find +faithful, if you are at enmity with your own family? I leave you a +kingdom, which will be strong if you act honorably, but weak, if you +are ill-affected to each other; for by concord even small states are +increased, but by discord, even the greatest fall to nothing. + +But on you, Jugurtha, who are superior in age and wisdom, it is +incumbent, more than on your brothers, to be cautious that nothing of +a contrary tendency may arise; for, in all disputes, he that is the +stronger, even though he receive the injury, appears, because his +power is greater, to have inflicted it. And do you, Adherbal and +Hiempsal, respect and regard a kinsman of such a character; imitate +his virtues, and make it your endeavor to show that I have not adopted +a better son[34] than those whom I have begotten." + +XI. To this address, Jugurtha, though he knew that the king had spoken +insincerely,[35] and though he was himself revolving thoughts of a far +different nature, yet replied with good feeling, suitable to the +occasion. A few days afterward Micipsa died. + +When the princes had performed his funeral with due magnificence, they +met together to hold a discussion on the general condition of their +affairs. Hiempsal, the youngest, who was naturally violent, and who +had previously shown contempt for the mean birth of Jugurtha, as being +inferior on his mother's side, sat down on the right hand of Adherbal, +in order to prevent Jugurtha from being the middle one of the three, +which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor.[36] Being +urged by his brother, however, to yield to superior age, he at length +removed, but with reluctance, to the other seat.[37] + +In the course of this conference, after a long debate about the +administration of the kingdom, Jugurtha suggested, among other +measures, "that all the acts and decrees made in the last five years +should be annulled, as Micipsa, during that period, had been enfeebled +by age, and scarcely sound in intellect." + +Hiempsal replied, "that he was exceedingly pleased with the proposal, +since Jugurtha himself, within the last three years, had been adopted +as joint-heir to the throne." This repartee sunk deeper into the mind +of Jugurtha than any one imagined. From that very time, accordingly, +being agitated with resentment and jealousy, he began to meditate and +concert schemes, and to think of nothing but projects for secretly +cutting off Hiempsal. But his plans proving slow in operation, and his +angry feelings remaining unabated, he resolved to execute his purpose +by any means whatsoever. + +XII. At the first meeting of the princes, of which I have just spoken, +it had been resolved, in consequence of their disagreement, that the +treasures should be divided among them, and that limits should be set +to the jurisdiction of each. Days were accordingly appointed for both +these purposes, but the earlier of the two for the division of the +money. The princes, in the mean time, retired into separate places of +abode in the neighborhood of the treasury. Hiempsal, residing in the +town of Thirmida, happened to occupy the house of a man, who, being +Jugurtha's chief lictor,[38] had always been liked and favored by his +master. This man, thus opportunely presented as an instrument, +Jugurtha loaded with promises, and induced him to go to his house, as +if for the purpose of looking over it, and provide himself with false +keys to the gates; for the true ones used to be given to Hiempsal, +adding, that he himself, when circumstances should call for his +presence, would be at the place with a large body of men. This +commission the Numidian speedily executed, and, according to his +instructions, admitted Jugurtha's men in the night, who, as soon as +they had entered the house, went different ways in quest of the +prince; some of his attendants they killed while asleep, and others as +they met them; they searched into secret places, broke open those that +were shut, and filled the whole premises with uproar and tumult. +Hiempsal, after a time, was found concealed in the hut of a +maid-servant,[39] where, in his alarm and ignorance of the locality, +he had at first taken refuge. The Numidians, as they had been ordered, +brought his head to Jugurtha. + +XIII The report of so atrocious an outrage was soon spread through +Africa. Fear seized on Adherbal, and on all who had been subject to +Micipsa. The Numidians divided into two parties, the greater number +following Adherbal, but the more warlike, Jugurtha; who, accordingly, +armed as large a force as he could, brought several cities, partly by +force and partly by their own consent, under his power, and prepared +to make himself sovereign of the whole of Numidia. Adherbal, though he +had sent embassadors to Rome, to inform the senate of his brother's +murder and his own circumstances, yet, relying on the number of his +troops, prepared for an armed resistance. When the matter, however, +came to a contest, he was defeated, and fled from the field of battle +into our province,[40] and from thence hastened to Rome. + +Jugurtha, having thus accomplished his purposes,[41] and reflecting, +at leisure, on the crime which he had committed, began to feel a dread +of the Roman people, against whose resentment he had no hopes of +security but in the avarice of the nobility, and in his own wealth. A +few days afterward, therefore, he dispatched embassadors to Rome, with +a profusion of gold and silver, whom he directed, in the first place, +to make abundance of presents to his old friends, and then to procure +him new ones; and not to hesitate, in short; to effect whatever could +be done by bribery. + +When these deputies had arrived at Rome, and had sent large presents, +according to the prince's direction, to his intimate friends,[42] and +to others whose influence was at that time powerful, so remarkable a +change ensued, that Jugurtha, from being an object of the greatest +odium, grew into great regard and favor with the nobility; who, partly +allured with hope, and partly with actual largesses, endeavored, by +soliciting the members of the senate individually, to prevent any +severe measures from being adopted against him. When the embassadors +accordingly, felt sure of success, the senate, on a fixed day, gave +audience to both parties[43]. On that occasion, Adherbal, as I have +understood, spoke to the following effect: + +XIV. "My father Micipsa, Conscript Fathers, enjoined me, on his +death-bed, to look upon the kingdom of Numidia as mine only by +deputation;[44] to consider the right and authority as belonging to +you; to endeavor, at home and in the field, to be as serviceable to +the Roman people as possible; and to regard you as my kindred and +relatives:[45] saying that, if I observed these injunctions. I should +find, in your friendship, armies, riches, and all necessary defenses +of my realm. By these precepts I was proceeding to regulate my conduct, +when Jugurtha, the most abandoned of all men whom the earth contains, +setting at naught your authority, expelled me, the grandson of Masinissa, +and the hereditary[46] ally and friend of the Roman people, from my +kingdom and all my possessions. + +Since I was thus to be reduced to such an extremity of wretchedness, +I could wish that I were able to implore your aid, Conscript Fathers, +rather for the sake of my own services than those of my ancestors; I +could wish, indeed, above all, that acts of kindness were due to me +from the Romans, of which I should not stand in need; and, next to +this,[47] that, if I required your services, I might receive them as +my due. But as integrity is no defense in itself, and as I had no +power to form the character of Jugurtha,[48] I have fled to you, +Conscript Fathers, to whom, what is the most grievous of all things, I +am compelled to become a burden before I have been an assistance. + +Other princes have been received into your friendship after having +been conquered in war, or have solicited an alliance with you in +circumstances of distress; but our family commenced its league with +the Romans in the war with Carthage, at a time when their faith was a +greater object of attraction than their fortune. Suffer not, then, O +Conscript Fathers, a descendent of that family to implore aid from you +in vain. If I had no other plea for obtaining your assistance but my +wretched fortune; nothing to urge, but that, having been recently a +king, powerful by birth, by character, and by resources, I am now +dishonored, afflicted,[49] destitute, and dependent on the aid of +others, it would yet become the dignity of Rome to protect me from +injury, and to allow no man's dominions to be increased by crime. But +I am driven from those very territories which the Roman people gave to +my ancestors, and from which my father and grandfather, in conjunction +with yourselves, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. It is what you +bestowed that has been wrested from me; in my wrongs you are insulted. + +Unhappy man that I am! Has your kindness, O my father Micipsa, come +to this, that he whom you made equal with your children, and a sharer +of your kingdom, should become, above all others,[50] the destroyers +of your race? Shall our family, then, never be at peace? Shall we +always be harassed with war, bloodshed, and exile? While the +Carthaginians continued in power, we were necessarily exposed to all +manner of troubles; for the enemy were on our frontiers; you, our +friends, were at a distance; and all our dependence was on our arms. +But after that pest was extirpated, we were happy in the enjoyment of +tranquillity, as having no enemies but such as you should happen to +appoint us. But lo! on a sudden, Jugurtha, stalking forth with +intolerable audacity, wickedness, and arrogance, and having put to +death my brother, his own cousin, made his territory, in the first +place, the prize of his guilt; and next, being unable to ensnare me +with similar stratagems, he rendered me, when under your rule I +expected any thing rather than violence or war, an exile, as you see, +from my country and my home, the prey of poverty and misery, and safer +any where than in my own kingdom. + +I was always of opinion, Conscript Fathers, as I had often heard my +father observe, that those who cultivated your friendship might indeed +have an arduous service to perform, but would be of all people the +most secure. What our family could do for you, it has done; it has +supported you in all your wars; and it is for you to provide for our +safety in time of peace. Our father left two of us, brothers; a third, +Jugurtha, he thought would be attached to us by the benefits conferred +upon him; but one of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have +scarcely escaped the hand of lawlessness.[51] What course can I now +take? Unhappy that I am, to what place, rather than another, shall I +betake myself? All the props of our family are extinct; my father, of +necessity, has paid the debt of nature; a kinsman, whom least of all +men it became, has wickedly taken the life of my brother; and as for +my other relatives, and friends, and connections, various forms of +destruction have overtaken them. Seized by Jugurtha, some have been +crucified, and some thrown to wild beasts, while a few, whose lives +have been spared, are shut up in the darkness of the dungeon, and drag +on, amid suffering and sorrow, an existence more grievous than death +itself. + +If all that I have lost, or all that, from being friendly, has become +hostile to me,[52] remained unchanged, yet, in case of any sudden +calamity, it is of you that I should still have to implore assistance, +to whom, from the greatness of your empire, justice and injustice in +general should be objects of regard. And at the present time, when I +am exiled from my country and my home, when I am left alone, and +destitute of all that is suitable to my dignity, to whom can I go, or +to whom shall: I appeal, but to you? Shall I go to nations and kings, +who, from our friendship with Rome, are all hostile to my family? +Could I go, indeed, to any place where there are not abundance of +hostile monuments of my ancestors? Will any one, who, has ever been at +enmity with you, take pity upon me? + +Masinissa, moreover, instructed us, Conscript Fathers, to cultivate +no friendship but that of Rome, to adopt no new leagues or alliances, +as we should find, in your good-will, abundance of efficient support; +while, if the fortune of your empire should change, we must sink +together with it. But, by your own merits, and the favor of the gods, +you are great and powerful; the whole world regards you with favor and +yields to your power; and you are the better able, in consequence, to +attend to the grievances of your allies. My only fear is, that private +friendship for Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead any of you +astray; for his partisans, I hear, are doing their utmost in his +behalf, soliciting and importuning you individually, to pass no +decision against one who is absent, and whose cause is yet untried; +and saying that I state what is false, and only pretend to be an +exile, when I might, if I pleased, have remained still in my kingdom. +But would that I could see him,[53] by whose unnatural crime I am thus +reduced to misery, pretending as I now pretend; and would that, either +with you or with the immortal gods, there may at length arise some +regard for human interests; for then assuredly will he, who is now +audacious and triumphant in guilt, be tortured by every kind of +suffering, and pay a heavy penalty for his ingratitude to my father, +for the murder of my brother, and for the distress which he has +brought upon myself. + +And now, O my brother, dearest object of my affection, though thy +life has been prematurely taken from thee, and by a hand that should +have been the last to touch it, yet I think thy fate a subject for +rejoicing rather than lamentation, for, in losing life, thou hast not +been cut off from a throne, but from flight, expatriation, poverty, +and all those afflictions which now press upon me. But I, unfortunate +that I am, cast from the throne of my father into the depths of +calamity, afford an example of human vicissitudes, undecided what +course to adopt, whether to avenge thy wrongs, while I myself stand in +need of assistance, or to attempt the recovery of my kingdom, while my +life or death depends on the aid of others.[54] + +Would that death could be thought an honorable termination to my +misfortunes, that I might not seem to live an object of contempt, if, +sinking under my afflictions, I tamely submit to injustice. But now I +can neither live with pleasure, nor can die without disgrace.[55] I +implore you, therefore, Conscript Fathers, by your regard for +yourselves,[56] for your children, and for your parents, and by the +majesty of the Roman people, to grant me succor in my distress, to +arrest the progress of injustice, and not to suffer the kingdom of +Numidia, which is your own property, to sink into ruin[57] through +villainy and the slaughter of our family." + +XV. When the prince had concluded his speech, the embassadors of +Jugurtha, depending more on their money than their cause, replied, in +a few words, "that Hiempsal had been put to death by the Numidians for +his cruelty; that Adherbal, commencing war of his own accord, complained, +after he was defeated, of being unable to do injury; and that Jugurtha +entreated the senate not to consider him a different person from what +he had been known to be at Numantia, nor to set the assertions of his +enemy above his own conduct." + +Both parties then withdrew from the senate-house, and the senate +immediately proceeded to deliberate. The partisans of the embassadors, +with a great many others, corrupted by their influence, expressed +contempt for the statements of Adherbal, extolled with the highest +encomiums the merits of Jugurtha, and exerted themselves as +strenuously, with their interest and eloquence, in defense of the +guilt and infamy of another, as they would have striven for their own +honor. A few, however, on the other hand, to whom right and justice +were of more estimation than wealth, gave their opinion that Adherbal +should be assisted, and the murder of Hiempsal severely avenged. Of +all these the most forward was Aemilius Scaurus,[58] a man of noble +birth and great energy, but factious, and ambitious of power, honor, +and wealth; yet an artful concealer of his own vices. He, seeing that +the bribery of Jugurtha was notorious and shameless, and fearing that, +as in such cases often happens, its scandalous profusion might excite +public odium, restrained himself from the indulgence of his ruling +passion.[59] + +XVI. Yet that party gained the superiority in the senate, which +preferred money and interest to justice. A decree was made, "that ten +commissioners should divide the kingdom, which Micipsa had possessed, +between Jugurtha and Adherbal." Of this commission the leading person +was Lucius Opimius,[60] a man of distinction, and of great influence +at that time in the senate, from having in his consulship, on the +death of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, prosecuted the +victory of the nobility over the plebeians with great severity. + +Jugurtha, though he had already counted Scaurus among his friends at +Rome, yet received him with the most studied ceremony, and, by +presents and promises, wrought on him so effectually, that he +preferred the prince's interest to his own character, honor, and all +other considerations. The rest of the commissioners he assailed in a +similar way, and gained over most of them; by a few only integrity was +more regarded than lucre. In the division of the kingdom, that part of +Numidia which borders on Mauretania, and which is superior in +fertility and population, was allotted to Jugurtha; of the other part, +which, though better furnished with harbors and buildings, was more +valuable in appearance than in reality, Adherbal became the possessor. + +XVII. My subject seems to require of me, in this place, a brief +account of the situation of Africa, and of those nations in it with +whom we have had war or alliances. But of those tracts and countries, +which, from their heat, or difficulty of access, or extent of desert, +have been but little visited, I can not possibly give any exact +description. Of the rest I shall speak with all possible brevity. + +In the division of the earth, most writers consider Africa as a third +part; a few admit only two divisions, Asia and Europe,[61] and include +Africa in Europe. It is bounded, on the west, by the strait connecting +our sea with the ocean;[62] on the east, by a vast sloping tract, +which the natives call the Catabathmos.[63] The sea is boisterous, and +deficient in harbors; the soil is fertile in corn, and good for +pasturage, but unproductive of trees. There is a scarcity of water +both from rain and from landsprings. The natives are healthy, swift of +foot, and able to endure fatigue. Most of them die by the gradual +decay of age,[64] except such as perish by the sword or beasts of +prey; for disease finds but few victims. Animals of a venomous nature +they have in great numbers. + +Concerning the original inhabitants of Africa, the settlers that +afterward joined them, and the manner in which they intermingled, I +shall offer the following brief account, which, though it differs from +the general opinion, is that which was interpreted to me from the Punic +volumes said to have belonged to King Hiempsal[65], and which the +inhabitants of that country believe to be consistent with fact. For +the truth of the statement, however, the writers themselves must be +responsible. + +XVIII. Africa, then, was originally occupied by the Getulians and +Libyans,[66] rude and uncivilized tribes, who subsisted on the flesh +of wild animals, or, like cattle, on the herbage of the soil. They +were controlled neither by customs, laws, nor the authority of any +ruler; they wandered about, without fixed habitations, and slept in +the abodes to which night drove them. But after Hercules, as the +Africans think, perished in Spain, his army, which was composed of +various nations,[67] having lost its leader, and many candidates +severally claiming the command of it, was speedily dispersed. Of its +constituent troops, the Medes, Persians, and Armenians,[68] having +sailed over into Africa, occupied the parts nearest to our sea.[69] +The Persians, however, settled more toward the ocean,[70] and used the +inverted keels of their vessels for huts, there being no wood in the +country, and no opportunity of obtaining it, either by purchase or +barter, from the Spaniards; for a wide sea, and an unknown tongue, +were barriers to all intercourse. These, by degrees, formed +intermarriages with the Getulians; and because, from constantly trying +different soils, they were perpetually shifting their abodes, they +called themselves NUMIDIANS.[71] And to this day the huts of the +Numidian boors, which they call _mapalia_, are of an oblong shape, +with curved roofs; resembling the hulls of ships. + +The Medes and Armenians connected themselves with the Libyans, who +dwelled near the African sea; while the Getulians lay more to the +sun,[72] not far from the torrid heats; and these soon built +themselves towns,[73] as, being separated from Spain only by a strait, +they proceeded to open an intercourse with its inhabitants. The name +of Medes the Libyans gradually corrupted, changing it, in their +barbarous tongue, into Moors.[74] + +Of the Persians[75] the power rapidly increased; and at length, the +children, through excess of population, separating from the parents, +they took possession, under the name of Numidians, of those regions +bordering on Carthage which are now called Numidia. In process of +time, the two parties,[76] each assisting the other, reduced the +neighboring tribes, by force or fear, under their sway; but those who +had spread toward our sea, made the greater conquests: for the Lybians +are less warlike than the Getulians[77] At last nearly all lower +Africa[78] was occupied by the Numidians; and all the conquered tribes +were merged in the nation and name of their conquerors. + +XIX. At a later period, the Phoenicians, some of whom wished to lessen +their numbers at home, and others, ambitious of empire, engaged the +populace, and such as were eager for change, to follow them, founded +Hippo,[79] Adrumetum, Leptis,[80] and other cities, on the sea-coast; +which, soon growing powerful, became partly a support, and partly an +honor, to their parent state. Of Carthage I think it better to be +silent, than to say but little; especially as time bids me hasten to +other matters. + +Next to the Catabathmos,[81] then, which divides Egypt from Africa, +the first city along the sea-coast[82] is Cyrene, a colony of +Theraeans;[83] after which are the two Syrtes,[84] with Leptis[85] +between them; then the Altars of the Philaeni,[86] which the +Carthaginians considered the boundary of their dominion on the side of +Egypt; beyond these are the other Punic towns. The other regions, as +far as Mauretania, the Numidians occupy; the Moors are nearest to +Spain. To the south of Numidia,[87] as we are informed, are the +Getulians, of whom some live in huts, and others lead a vagrant and +less civilized life; beyond these are the Ethiopians; and further on, +regions parched by the heat of the sun. + +At the time of the Jugurthine war, most of the Punic towns, and the +territories which Carthage had lately possessed,[88] were under the +government of Roman praetors; a great part of the Getulians, and +Numidia as far as the river Mulucha, were subject to Jugurtha; while +the whole of the Moors were governed by Bocchus, a king who knew +nothing of the Romans but their name, and who, before this period, +was as little known to us, either in war or peace. Of Africa and its +inhabitants I have now said all that my narrative requires. + +XX. When the commissioners, after dividing the kingdom, had left +Africa, and Jugurtha saw that, contrary to his apprehensions, he had +obtained the object of his crimes; he then being convinced of the +truth of what he had heard from his friends at Numantia, "that all +things were purchasable at Rome," and being also encouraged by the +promises of those whom he had recently loaded with presents, directed +his views to the domain of Adherbal. He was himself bold and warlike, +while the other, at whose destruction he aimed, was quiet, unfit for +arms, of a mild temper, a fit subject for injustice, and a prey to +fear rather than an object of it. Jugurtha, accordingly, with a +powerful force, made a sudden irruption into his dominions, took +several prisoners, with cattle and other booty, set fire to the +buildings, and made hostile demonstrations against several places with +his cavalry. He then retreated, with all his followers, into his own +kingdom, expecting that Adherbal, roused by such provocation, would +avenge his wrongs by force, and thus furnish a pretext for war. But +Adherbal, thinking himself unable to meet Jugurtha in the field, and +relying on the friendship of the Romans more than on the Numidians, +merely sent embassadors to Jugurtha to complain of the outrage; and, +although they brought back but an insolent reply, yet he resolved to +endure any thing rather than have recourse to war, which, when he +attempted it before, had ended in his defeat. By such conduct the +eagerness of Jugurtha was not at all allayed; for he had now, indeed, +in imagination, possessed himself of all Adherbal's dominions. He +therefore renewed hostilities, not, as before, with a predatory band, +but at the head of a large army which he had collected, and openly +aspired to the sovereignty of all Numidia. Wherever he marched, he +ravaged the towns and the fields, drove off booty, and raised +confidence in his own men and dismay among the enemy. + +XXI. Adherbal, when he found that matters had arrived at such a point, +that he must either abandon his dominions, or defend them by force of +arms, collected an army from necessity, and advanced to meet Jugurtha. +Both armies took up[89] their position near the town of Cirta[90], at +no great distance from the sea; but, as evening was approaching, +encamped without coming to an engagement. But when the night was far +advanced, and twilight was beginning to appear[91], the troops of +Jugurtha, at a given signal, rushed into the camp of the enemy, whom +they routed and put to flight, some half asleep and others resuming +their arms. Adherbal, with a few of his cavalry, fled to Cirta; and, +had there not been a number of Romans[92] in the town, who repulsed +his Numidian pursuers from the walls, the war between the two princes +would have been begun and ended on the same day. + +Jugurtha proceeded to invest the town, and attempted to storm it with +the aid of mantelets, towers, and every kind of machines; being +anxious above all things, to take it before the ambassadors could +arrive at Rome, who, he was informed, had been dispatched thither by +Adherbal before the battle was fought. But as soon as the senate heard +of their contention, three young men[93] were sent as deputies into +Africa, with directions to go to both of the princes, and to announce +to them, in the words of the senate and people of Rome, "that it was +their will and resolution that they should lay down their arms, and +settle their disputes rather by arbitration than by the sword; since +to act thus would be to the honor both of the Romans and themselves." + +XXII. These deputies soon arrived in Africa, using the greater +dispatch, because, while they were preparing for their journey, a +report was spread at Rome of the battle which had been fought, and of +the siege of Cirta; but this report told much less than the truth[94] +Jugurtha, having given them an audience, replied, "that nothing was of +greater weight with him, nothing more respected, than the authority of +the senate; that it had been his endeavor, from his youth, to deserve +the esteem of all men of worth; that he had gained the favor of +Publius Scipio, a man of the highest eminence, not by dishonorable +practices, but by merit; that, for the same good qualities, and not +from want of heirs to the throne, he had been adopted by Micipsa; but +that, the more honorable and spirited his conduct had been, the less +could his feelings endure injustice; that Adherbal had formed designs +against his life on discovering which, he had counteracted his malice; +that the Romans would act neither justly nor reasonably, if they +withheld from him the common right of nations;[96] and, in conclusion, +that he would soon send embassadors to Rome to explain the whole of +his proceedings." On this understanding, both parties separated. Of +addressing Adherbal the deputies had no opportunity. + +XXIII. Jugurtha, as soon as he thought that they had quitted Africa, +surrounded the walls of Cirta, which, from the nature of its +situation, he was unable to take by assault, with a rampart and a +trench; he also erected towers, and manned them with soldiers; he made +attempts on the place, by force or by stratagem, day and night; he +held out bribes, and some times menaces, to the besieged; he roused +his men, by exhortations, to efforts of valor, and resorted, with the +utmost perseverance, to every possible expedient. + +Adherbal, on the other hand, seeing that his affairs were in a +desperate condition, that his enemy was determined on his ruin, that +there was no hope of succor, and that the siege, from want of +provisions, could not long be protracted, selected from among those +who had fled with him to Cirta, two of his most resolute supporters, +whom he induced, by numerous promises, and an affecting representation +of his distress, to make their way in the night, through the enemy's +lines, to the nearest point of the coast, and from thence to Rome. + +XXIV. The Numidians, in a few days executed their commission; and a +letter from Adherbal was read in the senate, of which the following +was the purport: + +"It is not through my own fault, Conscript Fathers, that I so often +send requests to you; but the violence of Jugurtha compels me; whom so +strong a desire for my destruction has seized, that he pays no +regard[96] either to you or to the immortal gods; my blood he covets +beyond every thing. Five months, in consequence, have I, the ally and +friend of the Roman people, been besieged with an armed force; neither +the remembrance of my father Micipsa's benefits, nor your decrees, are +of any avail for my relief; and whether I am more closely pressed by +the sword, or by famine, I am unable to say. + +From writing further concerning Jugurtha, my present condition deters +me; for I have experienced, even before,[97] that little credit is +given to the unfortunate. Yet I can perceive that his views extend +further than to myself, and that he does not expect to possess, at the +same time, your friendship and my kingdom; which of the two he thinks +the more desirable, must be manifest to every one. For, in the first +place, he murdered my brother Hiempsal; and, in the next, expelled me +from my dominions; which, however, may be regarded as our own wrongs, +and as having no reference to you. But now he occupies your kingdom +with an army; he keeps me, whom you appointed a king over the +Numidians, in a state of blockade; and in what estimation he holds the +words of your embassadors, my perils may serve to show. What then is +left, except your arms, that can make an impression upon him? + +I could wish, indeed, that what I now write, as well as the complaints +which I lately made before the senate, were false, rather than that my +present distresses should confirm the truth of my statements. But +since I am born to be an example of Jugurtha's villainy, I do not now +beg a release from death or distress, but only from the tyranny of an +enemy, and from bodily torture. Respecting the kingdom of Numidia, +which is your own property, determine as you please, but if the memory +of my grandfather Masinissa is still cherished by you, deliver me, I +entreat you, by the majesty of your empire, and by the sacred ties of +friendship, from the inhuman hands of Jugurtha." + +XXV. When this letter was read, there were some who thought that an +army should be dispatched into Africa, and relief afforded to +Adherbal, as soon as possible; and that the senate, in the mean time, +should give judgment on the conduct of Jugurtha, in not having obeyed +the embassadors. But by the partisans of Jugurtha, the same that had +before supported his cause, effectual exertions were made to prevent +any decree from being passed; and thus the public interest, as is too +frequently the case, was defeated by private influence. + +An embassy was, however, dispatched into Africa, consisting of men of +advanced years, and of noble birth, and who had filled the highest +offices of the state; among whom was Marcus Scaurus, already mentioned, +a man who had held the consulship, and who was at that time chief of +the senate[98]. These embassadors, as their business was an affair of +public odium, and as they were urged by the entreaties of the Numidians, +embarked in three days; and having soon arrived at Utica, sent a letter +from thence to Jugurtha, desiring him "to come to the province as +quickly as possible, as they were deputed by the senate to meet him." + +Jugurtha, when he found that men of eminence, whose influence at Rome +he knew to be powerful, were come to put a stop to his proceedings, +was at first perplexed, and distracted between fear and cupidity. He +dreaded the displeasure of the senate, if he should disobey the +embassadors; while his eager spirit, blinded by the lust of power, +hurried him on to complete the injustice which he had begun. At length +the evil incitements of ambition prevailed[99]. He accordingly drew +his army round the city of Cirta, and endeavored, with his utmost +efforts, to force an entrance; having the strongest hopes, that, by +dividing the attention of the enemy's troops, he should be able, by +force or artifice, to secure an opportunity of success. When his +attempts, however, were unavailing, and he found himself unable, as +he had designed, to get Adherbal into his power before he met the +embassadors, fearing that, by further delay, he might irritate +Scaurus, of whom he stood in great dread, he proceeded with a small +body of cavalry into the Province. Yet, though serious menaces were +repeated to him in the name of the senate, because he had not desisted +from the siege, nevertheless, after spending a long time in conference, +the embassadors departed without making any impression upon him. + +XXVI. When news of this result was brought to Cirta, the Italians[100], +by whose exertions the city had been defended, and who trusted that, if +a surrender were made, they would be able, from respect to the greatness +of the Roman power, to escape without personal injury, advised Adherbal +to deliver himself and the city to Jugurtha, stipulating only that his +life should be spared, and leaving all other matters to the care of the +senate. Adherbal, though he thought nothing less trustworthy than the +honor of Jugurtha, yet, knowing that those who advised could also compel +him if he resisted, surrendered the place according to their desire. +Jugurtha immediately proceeded to put Adherbal to death with torture, +and massacred all the inhabitants that were of age, whether Numidians +or Italians, as each fell in the way of his troops. + +XXVII. When this outrage was reported at Rome, and became a matter of +discussion in the senate, the former partisans of Jugurtha applied +themselves, by interrupting the debates and protracting the time, +sometimes exerting their interest, and sometimes quarreling with +particular members, to palliate the atrocity of the deed. And had not +Caius Memmius, one of the tribunes of the people elect, a man of +energy, and hostile to the power of the nobility, convinced the people +of Rome that an attempt was being made, by the agency of a small +faction, to have the crimes of Jugurtha pardoned, it is certain that +the public indignation against him would have passed off under the +protraction of the debates; so powerful was party interest, and the +influence of Jugurtha's money. When the senate, however, from +consciousness of misconduct, became afraid of the people, Numidia and +Italy, by the Sempronian law,[101] were appointed as provinces to the +succeeding consuls, who were declared to be Publius Scipio Nasica[102], +and Lucius Bestia Calpurnius[103]. Numidia fell to Calpurnius, and Italy +to Scipio. An army was then raised to be sent into Africa; and pay, and +all other necessaries of war, were decreed for its use. + +XXVIII. When Jugurtha received this news, which was utterly at +variance with his expectations, as he had felt convinced that all +things were purchasable at Rome, he sent his son, with two of his +friends, as deputies to the senate, and directed them, like those whom +he had sent on the murder of Hiempsal, to attack every body with +bribes. Upon the approach of these deputies to Rome, the senate was +consulted by Bestia, whether they would allow them to be admitted +within the gates; and the senate decreed, "that, unless they came to +surrender Jugurtha's kingdom and himself, they must quit Italy within +the ten following days." The consul directed this decree to be +communicated to the Numidians, who consequently returned home without +effecting their object. + +Calpurnius, in the mean time, having raised an army, chose for his +officers men of family and intrigue, hoping that whatever faults he +might commit, would be screened by their influence; and among these +was Scaurus, of whose disposition and character we have already +spoken. There were, indeed, in our consul Calpurnius, many excellent +qualities, both mental and personal, though avarice interfered with +the exercise of them; he was patient of labor, of a penetrating +intellect, of great foresight, not inexperienced in war, and extremely +vigilant against danger and surprise. + +The troops were conducted through Italy to Rhegium, from thence to +Sicily, and from Sicily into Africa; and Calpurnius's first step, +after collecting provisions, was to invade Numidia with spirit, where +he took many prisoners, and several towns, by force of arms. + +XXIX. But when Jugurtha began, through his emissaries, to tempt him +with bribes, and to show the difficulties of the war which he had +undertaken to conduct, his mind, corrupted with avarice, was easily +altered. His accomplice, however, and manager in all his schemes, was +Scaurus; who, though he had at first, when most of his party were +corrupted, displayed violent hostility to Jugurtha, yet was afterward +seduced, by a vast sum of money, from integrity and honor to injustice +and perfidy. Jugurtha, however, at first sought only to purchase a +suspension of hostilities, expecting to be able, during the interval, +to make some favorable impression, either by bribery or by interest, +at Rome; but when he heard that Scaurus was co-operating with +Calpurnius, he was elated with great hopes of regaining peace, and +resolved upon a conference with them in person respecting the terms of +it. In the mean time, for the sake of giving confidence [104] to +Jugurtha, Sextus the quaestor was dispatched by the consul to Vaga, +one of the prince's towns; the pretext for his journey being the +receiving of corn, which Calpurnius had openly demanded from Jugurtha's +emissaries, on the ground that a truce was observed through their delay +to make a surrender. Jugurtha then, as he had determined, paid a visit +to the consul's camp, where, having made a short address to the council, +respecting the odium cast upon his conduct, and his desire for a +capitulation, he arranged other matters with Bestia and Scaurus in +secret; and the next day, as if by an evident majority of voices[105], +he was formally allowed to surrender. But, as was demanded in the +hearing of the council, thirty elephants, a considerable number of +cattle and horses, and a small sum of money, were delivered into the +hands of the quaestor. Calpurnius then returned to Rome to preside at +the election of magistrates[106], and peace was observed throughout +Numidia and the Roman army. + +XXX. When rumor had made known the affairs transacted in Africa, and +the mode in which they had been brought to pass, the conduct of the +consul became a subject of discussion in every place and company at +Rome. Among the people there was violent indignation; as to the +senators, whether they would ratify so flagitious a proceeding, or +annul the act of the consul, was a matter of doubt. The influence of +Scaurus, as he was said to be the supporter and accomplice of Bestia, +was what chiefly restrained the senate from acting with justice and +honor. But Caius Memmius, of whose boldness of spirit, and hatred to +the power of the nobility, I have already spoken, excited the people +by his harangues, during the perplexity and delay of the senators, to +take vengeance on the authors of the treaty; he exhorted them not to +abandon the public interest or their own liberty; he set before them +the many tyrannical and violent proceedings of the nobles, and omitted +no art to inflame the popular passions. But as the eloquence of +Memmius, at that period, had great reputation and influence I have +thought proper to give in full[107] one out of many of his speeches; +and I take, in preference to others, that which he delivered in the +assembly of the people, after the return of Bestia, in words to the +following effect: + +XXXI. "Were not my zeal for the good of the state, my fellow-citizens, +superior to every other feeling, there are many considerations which +would deter me from appearing in your cause; I allude to the power of +the opposite party, your own tameness of spirit, the absence of all +justice, and, above all, the fact that integrity is attended with more +danger than honor. Indeed, it grieves me to relate, how, during the +last fifteen years[108], you have been a sport to the arrogance of an +oligarchy; how dishonorably, and how utterly unavenged, your defenders +have perished[109]; and how your spirit has become degenerate by sloth +and indolence; for not even now, when your enemies are in your power, +will you rouse yourselves to action, but continue still to stand in +awe of those to whom you should be a terror. + +Yet, notwithstanding this state of things, I feel prompted to make an +attack on the power of that faction. That liberty of speech[110], +therefore, which has been left me by my father, I shall assuredly +exert against them; but whether I shall use it in vain, or for your +advantage, must, my fellow-citizens, depend upon yourselves. I do not, +however, exhort you, as your ancestors have often done, to rise in +arms against injustice. + +There is at present no need of violence, no need of secession; for +your tyrants must work their fall by their own misconduct. + +After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of aspiring +to be king, persecutions were instituted against the common people of +Rome; and after the slaughter of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius, +many of your order were put to death in prison. But let us leave these +proceedings out of the question; let us admit that to restore their +rights to the people, was to aspire to sovereignty; let us allow that +what can not be avenged without shedding the blood of citizens, was +done with justice. You have seen with silent indignation, however, in +past years, the treasury pillaged; you have seen kings, and free +people, paying tribute to a small party of Patricians, in whose hands +were both the highest honors and the greatest wealth; but to have +carried on such proceedings with impunity, they now deem but a small +matter; and, at last, your laws and your honor, with every civil and +religious obligation[111], have been sacrificed for the benefit of +your enemies. Nor do they, who have done these things, show either +shame or contrition, but parade proudly before your faces, displaying +their sacerdotal dignities, their consulships, and some of them their +triumphs, as if they regarded them as marks of honor, and not as +fruits of their dishonesty. Slaves, purchased with money[112], will +not submit to unjust commands from their masters; yet you, my +fellow-citizens, who are born to empire, tamely endure oppression. + +But who are these that have thus taken the government into their +hands? Men of the most abandoned character, of blood-stained hands, of +insatiable avarice, of enormous guilt, and of matchless pride; men by +whom integrity, reputation, public spirit[113], and indeed every +thing, whether honorable or dishonorable, is converted to a means of +gain. Some of them make it their defense that they have killed +tribunes of the people; others, that they have instituted unjust +prosecutions; others, that they have shed your blood; and thus, the +more atrocities each has committed, the greater is his security; while +your oppressors, whom the same desires, the same aversions, and the +same fears, combine in strict union (a union which among good men is +friendship, but among the bad confederacy in guilt), have excited in +you, through your want of spirit, that terror which they ought to feel +for their own crimes. + +But if your concern to preserve your liberty were as great as their +ardor to increase their power of oppression, the state would not be +distracted as it is at present; and the marks of favor which proceed +from you[114], would be conferred, not on the most shameless, but on +the most deserving. Your forefathers, in order to assert their rights +and establish their authority, twice seceded in arms to Mount +Aventine; and will not you exert yourselves, to the utmost of your +power, in defense of that liberty which you received from them? Will +you not display so much the more spirit in the cause, from the +reflection that it is a greater disgrace to lose[115] what has been +gained, than not to have gained it at all? + +But some will ask me, 'What course of conduct, then, would you advise +us to pursue?' I would advise you to inflict punishment on those who +have sacrificed the interests of their country to the enemy; not, +indeed, by arms, or any violence (which would be more unbecoming, +however, for you to inflict than for them to suffer), but by +prosecutions, and by the evidence of Jugurtha himself, who, if he has +really surrendered, will doubtless obey your summons; whereas, if he +shows contempt for it, you will at once judge what sort of a peace or +surrender it is, from which springs impunity to Jugurtha for his +crimes, immense wealth to a few men in power, and loss and infamy to +the republic. + +But perhaps you are not yet weary of the tyranny of these men; +perhaps these times please you less than those[116] when kingdoms, +provinces, laws, rights, the administration of justice, war and peace, +and indeed every thing civil and religious, was in the hands of an +oligarchy; while you, that is, the people of Rome, though unconquered +by foreign enemies, and rulers of all nations around, were content +with being allowed to live; for which of you had spirit to throw off +your slavery? For myself, indeed, though I think it most disgraceful +to receive an injury without resenting it, yet I could easily allow +you to pardon these basest of traitors, because they are your +fellow-citizens, were it not certain that your indulgence would end in +your destruction. For such is their presumption, that to escape +punishment for their misdeeds will have but little effect upon them, +unless they be deprived, at the same time, of the power of doing +mischief; and endless anxiety will remain for you, if you shall have +to reflect that you must either be slaves or preserve your liberty by +force of arms. + +Of mutual trust, or concord, what hope is there? They wish to be +lords, you desire to be free; they seek to inflict injury, you to +repel it; they treat your allies as enemies, your enemies as allies. +With feelings so opposite, can peace or friendship subsist between +you? I warn, therefore, and exhort you, not to allow such enormous +dishonesty to go unpunished. It is not an embezzlement of the public +money[117] that has been committed; nor is it a forcible extortion of +money from your allies; offenses which, though great, are now, from +their frequency, considered as nothing; but the authority of the +senate, and your own power, have been sacrificed to the bitterest of +enemies, and the public interest has been betrayed for money, both at +home and abroad; and unless these misdeeds be investigated, and +punishment be inflicted on the guilty, what remains for us but to live +the slaves of those who committed them? For those who do what they +will with impunity are undoubtedly kings.[118] + +I do not, however, wish to encourage you, O Romans, to be better +satisfied at finding your fellow-citizens guilty than innocent, but +merely to warn you not to bring ruin on the good, by suffering the bad +to escape. It is far better, in any government, to be unmindful of a +service than of an injury; for a good man, if neglected, only becomes +less active; but a bad man, more daring. Besides, if the crimes of the +wicked are suppressed,[119] the state will seldom need extraordinary +support from the virtuous." + +XXXII. By repeating these and similar sentiments, Memmius prevailed on +the people to send Lucius Cassius,[120] who was then praetor, to +Jugurtha, and to bring him, under guarantee of the public faith[121], +to Rome, in order that, by the prince's evidence, the misconduct of +Scaurus and the rest, whom they charged with having taken bribes, +might more easily be made manifest. + +During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom Bestia had +left in Numidia in command of the army, following the example of their +general, had been guilty of many scandalous transactions. Some, seduced +by gold, had restored Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his +deserters; others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so +strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a pestilence, had +pervaded the breasts of all. + +Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been carried, and +while all the nobility were in consternation, set out on his mission +to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, and despairing of his fortune, +from a sense of guilt, he admonished "that since he had surrendered +himself to the Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than +their power." He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued not +less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at that period, +was the reputation of Cassius. + +XXXIII. Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but +without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as possible, of +a suppliant[122]; and, though he felt great confidence on his own +part, and was supported by all those through whose power or villainy +he had accomplished his projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the +aid of Caius Baebius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he +hoped to be protected against the law, and against all harm. + +An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although they were +violently exasperated against Jugurtha, (some demanding that he should +be cast into prison, others that, unless he should name his +accomplices in guilt, he should be put to death, according to the +usage of their ancestors, as a public enemy), yet, regarding rather +their character than their resentment, endeavored to calm their +turbulence and mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as +depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At length, +when silence was obtained, he brought forward Jugurtha, and addressed +them. He detailed the misdeeds of Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and +set forth his crimes toward his father and brothers; and admonished +the prince, "that the Roman people, though they were well aware by +whose support and agency he had acted, yet desired further testimony +from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, there was great hope +for him in the honor and clemency of the Romans; but if he concealed +it, he would certainly not save his accomplices, but ruin himself and +his hopes forever." + +XXXIV. But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was +expected to give his answer, Caius Baebius, the tribune of the people, +whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to +hold his peace[123]; and though the multitude, who formed the +assembly, were desperately enraged, and endeavored to terrify the +tribune by outcries, by angry looks, by violent gestures, and by every +other act to which anger prompts[124], his audacity was at last +triumphant. The people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the +place of assembly; and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the +others, whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly augmented. +XXXV. There was at this period in Rome a certain Numidian named +Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, from having +been, in the dissensions among the princes, opposed to Jugurtha, had +been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta and the murder of Adherbal, +to make his escape out of Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with +Quintus Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this man, +as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and terror hung +over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the senate for the kingdom +of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for the conduct of a war, was +desirous that affairs should be disturbed[125], rather than sink into +tranquillity; especially as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia +had fallen to himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. + +When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into execution, +Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient support in his friends, as +a sense of guilt deterred some, and evil report or timidity others, +from coming forward in his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most +attached and faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by +which he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; and +to do it secretly if he could; but, if secrecy should be impossible, +to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This commission Bomilcar soon +found means to execute; and, by the agency of men versed in such +service, ascertained the direction of his journeys, his hours of +leaving home, and the times at which he resorted to particular places +[126], and, when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of +their number sprung upon Massiva, though with too little caution, and +killed him; but being himself caught, he made, at the instigation of +many, and especially of Albinus the consul, a full confession. +Bomilcar was accordingly committed for trial, though rather on the +principles of reason and justice than in accordance with the law of +nations[127], as he was in the retinue of one who had come to Rome on +a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But Jugurtha, though +clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease to struggle against the +truth, until he perceived that the infamy of the deed was too strong +for his interest or his money. For which reason, although, at the +commencement of the proceedings[128], he had given fifty of his +friends as bail for Bomilcar, yet, thinking more of his kingdom than +of the sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia; for he feared +that if such a man should be executed, his other subjects would be +deterred from obeying him[129]. A few days after, he himself departed, +having been ordered by the senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going +from Rome, he is said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, +to have at last exclaimed, "That it was a venal city, and would soon +perish, if it could but find a purchaser!"[130] + +XXXVI. The war being now renewed, Albinus hastened to transport +provisions, money, and other things necessary for the army, into +Africa, whither he himself soon followed, with the hope that, before +the time of the comitia, which was not far distant, he might be able, +by an engagement, by capitulation, or by some other method, to bring +the contest to a conclusion. + +Jugurtha, on the other hand, tried every means of protracting the war, +continually inventing new causes for delay; at one time he promised to +surrender, at another he feigned distrust; he retreated when Albinus +attacked him, and then, lest his men should lose courage, attacked in +return, and thus amused the consul with alternate procrastinations of +war and of peace. + +There were some, at that time, who thought that Albinus understood +Jugurtha's object, and who believed that so ready a protraction of the +war, after so much haste at the commencement, was to be attributed +less to tardiness than to treachery. However this might be, Albinus, +when time passed on, and the day of the comitia approached, left his +brother Aulus in the camp as propraetor[131], and returned to Rome. + +XXXVII. The republic, at this time, was grievously distracted by the +contentions of the tribunes. Two of them, Publius Lucullus and Lucius +Annius, were struggling against the will of their colleagues, to +prolong their term of office; and this dispute put off the comitia +throughout the year[132]. In consequence of this delay, Aulus, who, as +I have just said, was left as propraetor in the camp, conceiving hopes +either of finishing the war, or of extorting money from Jugurtha by +the terror of his army, drew out his troops in the month of January, +from their winter-quarters into the field, and by forced marches, +during severe weather, made his way to the town of Suthul, where +Jugurtha's treasures were deposited. And though this place, both from +the inclemency of the season, and from its advantageous situation, +could neither be taken nor besieged; for around its walls, which were +built on the edge of a steep hill[133], a marshy plain, flooded by the +rains of winter, had been converted into a lake; yet Aulus, either as +a feint to strike terror into Jugurtha, or blinded by avarice, began +to move forward his vineae[134], to cast up a rampart, and to hasten +all necessary preparations for a siege. + +XXXVIII. Jugurtha, seeing the propraetor's vanity and ignorance, +artfully strengthened his infatuation; he sent him, from time to time, +deputies with submissive messages, while he himself, as if desirous to +escape, led his army away through woody defiles and cross-roads. At +length he succeeded in alluring Aulus, by the prospect of a surrender +on conditions, to leave Suthul, and pursue him, as if in full retreat, +into the remoter parts of the country. Meanwhile, by means of skillful +emissaries, he tampered night and day with our men, and prevailed on +some of the officers, both of infantry and cavalry, to desert to him +at once, and upon others to quit their posts at a given signal, that +their defection might thus be less observed[135]. Having prepared +matters according to his wishes, he suddenly surrounded the camp of +Aulus, in the dead of night, with a vast body of Numidians. The Roman +soldiers were alarmed with an unusual disturbance; some of them seized +their arms, others hid themselves, others encouraged those that were +afraid; but consternation prevailed every where; for the number of the +enemy was great, the sky was thick with clouds and darkness, the +danger was indiscernible, and it was uncertain whether it were safer +to flee or to remain. Of those whom I have just mentioned as being +bribed, one cohort of Ligurians, with two troops of Thracian horse, +and a few common soldiers, went over to Jugurtha; and the chief +centurion[136] of the third legion allowed the enemy an entrance at +the very post which he had been appointed to defend, and at which all +the Numidians poured into the camp. Our men fled disgracefully, the +greater part having thrown away their arms, and took possession of a +neighboring hill. Night, and the spoils of the camp, prevented the +enemy from making full use of this victory. On the following day, +Jugurtha, coming to a conference with Aulus, told him, "that though he +held him hemmed in by famine and the sword, yet that, being mindful of +human vicissitudes, he would, if they would make a treaty with him, +allow them to depart uninjured; only that they must pass under the +yoke, and quit Numidia within ten days." These terms were severe and +ignominious; but, as death was the alternative[137], peace was +concluded as Jugurtha desired. + +XXXIX. When this affair was made known at Rome, consternation and +dismay pervaded the city; some were concerned for the glory of the +republic; others, ignorant of war, trembled for their liberty. But +all were indignant at Aulus, and especially those who had been +distinguished in the field, because, with arms in his hands, he had +sought safety in disgrace rather than in resistance. The consul +Albinus, apprehending, from the delinquency of his brother, odium and +danger to himself, consulted the senate on the treaty which had been +made, but, at the same time, raised recruits for the army, sent for +auxiliaries to the allies and Latins, and made general preparations +for war. The senate, as was just, decreed, "that no treaty could be +made without their own consent and that of the people." + +The consul, though he was hindered by the influence of the tribunes +from taking with him the force which he had raised, set out in a few +days for the province of Africa, where the whole army, being +withdrawn, according to the agreement, from Numidia, had gone into +winter-quarters. When he arrived there, although he longed to pursue +Jugurtha, and diminish the odium that had fallen on his brother, yet, +when he saw the state of the troops, whom, besides the flight and +relaxation of discipline, licentiousness, and debauchery had +corrupted, he determined, under all the circumstances of the +case[138], to attempt nothing. + +XL. At Rome, in the mean time, Caius Mamilius Limetanus, one of the +tribunes, proposed that the people should pass a bill for instituting +an inquiry into the conduct of those by whose influence Jugurtha had +set at naught the decrees of the senate, as well as of those who, +whether as embassadors or commanders, had received money from him, or +who had restored to him his elephants and deserters, or had made any +compacts with the enemy relative to peace or war. To this bill some, +who were conscious of guilt, and others, who apprehended danger from +the jealousy of parties, secretly raised obstructions through the +agency of friends, and especially of men among the Latins and Italian +allies[139], since they could not openly resist it, without admitting +that these and similar practices met their approbation. But as to the +people, it is incredible what eagerness they displayed, and with what +spirit they approved, voted, and passed the bill, though rather from +hatred to the nobility, against whom these severe measures were +directed, than from concern for the republic; so violent was the fury +of party. + +While the rest of the delinquents were in trepidation, Marcus Scaurus +[140], whom I have previously noticed as Bestia's lieutenant, +contrived, amid the exultation of the populace, the dismay of his own +party, and the continued agitation in the city, to have himself +elected one of the three commissioners who were appointed by the bill +of Mamilius to carry it into execution. But the investigation, +notwithstanding, was conducted [141] with great rigor and violence, +under the influence of common rumor and popular caprice; for the +insolence of success, which had often distinguished the nobility, on +this occasion characterized the people. + +XLI. The prevalence of parties among the people, and of factions in +the senate, and of all evil practices attendant on them, had its +origin at Rome, a few years before, during a period of tranquillity, +and amid the abundance of all that mankind regarded as desirable. For, +before the destruction of Carthage, the senate and people managed the +affairs of the republic with mutual moderation and forbearance; there +were no contests among the citizens for honor or ascendency; but the +dread of an enemy kept the state in order. When that fear, however, +was removed from their minds, licentiousness and pride, evils which +prosperity loves to foster, immediately began to prevail; and thus +peace, which they had so eagerly desired in adversity, proved, when +they had obtained it, more grievous and fatal than adversity itself. +The patricians carried their authority, and the people their liberty, +to excess; every man took, snatched, and seized[142] what he could. +There was a complete division into two factions, and the republic was +torn in pieces between them. Yet the nobility still maintained an +ascendency by conspiring together; for the strength of the people, +being disunited and dispersed among a multitude, was less able to +exert itself. Things were accordingly directed, both at home and in +the field, by the will of a small number of men, at whose disposal +were the treasury, the provinces, offices, honors, and triumphs; while +the people were oppressed with military service and with poverty, and +the generals divided the spoils of war with a few of their friends. +The parents and children of the soldiers,[143] meantime, if they +chanced to dwell near a powerful neighbor, were driven from their +homes. Thus avarice, leagued with power, disturbed, violated, and +wasted every thing, without moderation or restraint; disregarding +alike reason and religion, and rushing headlong, as it were, to its +own destruction. For whenever any arose among the nobility[144], who +preferred true glory to unjust power, the state was immediately in a +tumult, and civil discord spread with as much disturbance as attends a +convulsion of the earth. + +XLII. Thus when Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose forefathers had +done much to increase the power of the state in the Punic and other +wars, began to vindicate the liberty of the people, and to expose the +misconduct of the few, the nobility, conscious of guilt, and seized +with alarm, endeavored, sometimes by means of the allies and +Latins[145], and sometimes by means of the equestrian order, whom the +hope of coalition with the patricians had detached from the people, to +put a stop to the proceedings of the Gracchi; and first they killed +Tiberius, and a few years after Caius, who pursued the same measures +as his brother, the one when he was tribune, and the other when he was +one of a triumvirate for settling colonies; and with them they cut off +Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. In the Gracchi, indeed, it must be allowed +that, from their ardor for victory, there was not sufficient prudence. +But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit[146] to +injustice than to triumph over it by improper means. The nobility, +however, using their victory with wanton extravagance, exterminated +numbers of men by the sword or by exile, yet rather increased, for the +time to come, the dread with which they were regarded, than their real +power. Such proceedings have often ruined powerful states; for of two +parties, each strives to suppress the other by any means whatever, and +take vengeance with undue severity on the vanquished. + +But were I to attempt to treat of the animosities of parties, and of +the morals of the state, with minuteness of detail, and suitably to +the vastness of the subject, time would fail me sooner than matter. I +therefore return to my subject. + +XLIII. After the treaty of Aulus, and the disgraceful flight of our +army, Quintus Metellus and Marcus Silanus, the consuls elect, divided +the provinces between them; and Numidia fell to Metellus, a man of +energy, and, though an opponent of the popular party, yet of a +character uniformly irreproachable[147]. He, as soon as he entered on +his office, regarded all other things as common to himself and his +colleague[148], but directed his chief attention to the war which he +was to conduct. Distrusting, therefore, the old army, he began to +raise new troops, to procure auxiliaries from all parts, and to +provide arms, horses, and other military requisites, besides +provisions in abundance, and every thing else which was likely to be +of use in a war varied in its character, and demanding great +resources. To assist in accomplishing these objects, the allies and +Latins, by the appointment of the senate, and different princes[149] +of their own accord, sent supplies; and the whole state exerted itself +in the cause with the greatest zeal. Having at length prepared and +arranged every thing according to his wishes, Metellus set out for +Numidia, attended with sanguine expectations on the part of his +fellow-citizens, not only because of his other excellent qualities, +but especially because his mind was proof against gold; for it was +through the avarice of our commanders, that, down to this period, our +affairs in Numidia had been ruined, and those of the enemy rendered +prosperous. + +XLIV. When he arrived in Africa, the command of the army was resigned +to him by Albinus, the proconsul[150]; but it was an army spiritless +and unwarlike; incapable of encountering either danger or fatigue; +more ready with the tongue than with the sword; accustomed to plunder +our allies, while itself was the prey of the enemy; unchecked by +discipline, and void of all regard to its character. The new general, +accordingly, felt more anxiety from the corrupt morals of the men, +than confidence or hope from their numbers. He determined, however, +though the delay of the comitia had shortened his summer campaign, and +though he knew his countrymen to be anxious for the result of his +proceedings, not to commence operations, until, by a revival of the +old discipline, he had brought the soldiers to bear fatigue. For +Albinus, dispirited by the disaster of his brother Aulus and his army, +and having resolved not to leave the province during the portion of +the summer that he was to command, had kept the soldiers, for the most +part, in a stationary camp[151], except when stench, or want of +forage, obliged them to remove. But neither had the camp been +fortified[152], nor the watches kept, according to military usage; +every one had been allowed to leave his post when he pleased. The +camp-followers, mingled with the soldiers, wandered about day and +night, ravaging the country, robbing the houses, and vying with each +other in carrying off cattle and slaves, which they exchanged with +traders for foreign wine[153] and other luxuries; they even sold the +corn, which was given them from the public store, and bought bread +from day to day; and, in a word, whatever abominations, arising from +idleness and licentiousness, can be expressed or imagined, and even +more, were to be seen in that army. + +XLV. But I am assured that Metellus, in these difficult circumstances, +no less than in his operations against the enemy, proved himself a +great and wise man; so just a medium did he observe between an +affectation of popularity and an excessive enforcement of discipline. +His first measure was to remove incentives to idleness, by a general +order that no one should sell bread, or any other dressed provisions, +in the camp; that no sutlers should follow the army; and that no +common soldier should have a servant, or beast of burden, either in a +camp or on a march. He made the strictest regulations, too, with +regard to other things.[154] He moved his camp daily, exercising the +soldiers by marches across the country; he fortified it with a rampart +and a trench, exactly as if the enemy had been at hand; he placed +numerous sentinels[155] by night, and went the rounds with his +officers; and, when the army was on the march; he would be at one time +in the front, at another in the rear, and at another in the center, to +see that none quitted their ranks, that the men kept close to their +standards, and that every soldier carried his provisions and his arms. +Thus by preventing rather than punishing irregularities, he in a short +time rendered his army effective. + +XLVI. Jugurtha, meantime, having learned from his emissaries how +Metellus was proceeding, and having heard, when he was in Rome, of the +integrity of the consul's character, began to despair of his plans, +and at length actually endeavored to effect a capitulation. He +therefore sent deputies to the consul with proposals of submission, +stipulating only for his own life and that of his children, and +offering to surrender every thing else to the Romans. But Metellus had +already learned by experience, that the Numidians were a faithless +race, of unsettled disposition, and fond of change; and he accordingly +applied himself to each of the deputies separately, and after +gradually sounding them, and finding them proper instruments for his +purpose, prevailed on them, by large promises, to deliver Jugurtha +into his hands; bringing him alive, if they could, or dead, if to take +him alive was impracticable. In public, however, he directed that such +an answer should be given to the king as would be agreeable to his +wishes. + +A few days afterward, he led the army, which was now vigorous and +resolute, into Numidia, where, instead of any appearance of war, he +found the cottages full of people, and the cattle and laborers in the +fields, while the officers of Jugurtha came from the towns and +villages[156] to meet him, offering to supply him with corn, to convey +provisions for him, and to do whatever might be required of them. +Metellus, notwithstanding, made no diminution in the caution with +which he marched, but kept as much upon the defensive as if an enemy +had been at hand; and he dispatched scouts to explore the country, +thinking that these signs of submission were but pretense, and that +the Numidians were watching an opportunity for treachery. He himself, +with some light-armed cohorts, and a select body of slingers and +archers, advanced always in the front; while Caius Marius, his +lieutenant-general, at the head of the cavalry, had charge of the +rear. The auxiliary horse, distributed among the tribunes of the +legions and prefects of the cohorts, he placed on the flanks, so that, +with the aid of the light troops mixed with them, they might repel the +enemy whenever an approach should be made. For such was the subtlety +of Jugurtha, and such his knowledge of the country and the art of war, +that it was doubtful whether he was more formidable absent or present, +offering peace or threatening hostilities. + +XLVII. There lay, not far from the route which Metellus was pursuing, +a city of the Numidians named Vaga, the most celebrated place for +trade in the whole kingdom, in which many Italian merchants were +accustomed to reside and traffic. Here the consul, to try the +disposition of the inhabitants, and, should they allow him, to take +advantage of the situation of the place[157], established a garrison, +and ordered the people to furnish him with corn, and other necessaries +for war; thinking, as circumstances indeed suggested, that the +concourse of merchants, and frequent arrival of supplies[158], would +add strength to his army, and further the plans which he had already +formed. + +In the midst of these proceedings, Jugurtha, with extraordinary +earnestness[159], sent deputies to sue for peace, offering to resign +every thing to Metellus, except his own life and that of his children. +These, like the former, the consul first reduced to treachery, and +then sent back; the peace which Jugurtha asked, he neither granted nor +refused, but waited, during these delays, the performance of the +deputies' promises. XLVIII. Jugurtha, on comparing the words of +Metellus with his actions, perceived that he was assailed with his own +artifices; for though peace was offered him in words, a most vigorous +war was in reality pursued against him; one of his strongest cities +was wrested from him; his country was explored by the enemy, and the +affections of his subjects alienated. Being compelled, therefore, by +the necessity of circumstances, he resolved to try the fortune of a +battle. Having, with this view, informed himself of the exact route of +the enemy, and hoping for success from the advantage of the ground, he +collected as large a force of every kind as he could, and, marching by +cross-roads, got in advance of Metellus' army. + +There was, in that part of Numidia, of which, on the division of the +kingdom, Adherbal had become possessor, a river named Muthul, flowing +from the south; and, about twenty miles from it, was a range of +mountains running parallel with the stream[160], wild and +uncultivated; but from the center of it stretched a kind of hill, +reaching to a vast distance, covered with wild olives, myrtles, and +other trees, such as grow in a dry and sandy soil. The plain, which +lay between the mountains and the Muthul, was uninhabited from want of +water, except the parts bordering on the river, which were planted +with trees, and full of cattle and inhabitants. + +XLIX. On this hill, which I have just mentioned, stretching in a +transverse direction[161], Jugurtha took post with his line drawn out +to a great length. The command of the elephants, and of part of the +infantry, he committed to Bomilcar, and gave him instructions how to +act. He himself, with the whole of the cavalry and the choicest of the +foot, took his station nearer to the range of mountains. Then, riding +round among the several squadrons and battalions, he exhorted and +conjured them to call to mind their former prowess and triumphs, and +to defend themselves and their country from Roman rapacity; saying +that they would have to engage with those whom they had already +conquered and sent under the yoke, and that, though their commander +was changed, there was no alteration in their spirit. He added, that +he had provided for his men every thing becoming a general; that he +had chosen the higher ground, where they, being well acquainted with +the country[162], would contend with adversaries ignorant of it; nor +would they engage, inferior in numbers and skill, with a larger or +more experienced force; and that they should, therefore, be ready, +when the signal should be given, to fall vigorously on the Romans, as +that day would either crown[163] all their labors and victories, or be +a prelude to the most grievous calamities. He also addressed himself, +individually, to any one whom he had rewarded with money or honors for +military desert, reminding him of his favors, and pointing him out as +an example to the rest; and finally he excited all his men, some in +one way and some in another, by threats or entreaties, according to +the different dispositions of each. + +Metellus, who was still ignorant of the enemy's position, was now +seen[164] descending the mountain with his army. He was at first +doubtful what the strange appearance before him indicated; for the +Numidians, both cavalry and infantry, had taken post among the wood, +not entirely concealing themselves, by reason of the lowness of the +trees, yet rendering it uncertain[165] what they were, as both +themselves and their standards were screened as well by the nature of +the ground as by artifice; but soon perceiving that there were men in +ambush, he halted awhile, and, having altered the arrangement of his +troops, he drew up those in the right wing, which was nearest to the +enemy, in three lines[166]; he distributed the slingers and archers +among the infantry, posted all the cavalry on the flanks, and having +made a brief address, such as time permitted, to his men, he led them +down, with the front changed into a flank[167], toward the plain. + +L. But when he observed that the Numidians remained quiet, and did not +offer to descend from the hill, he became apprehensive that his army, +from the season of the year and the scarcity of water, might be +overcome with thirst, and therefore sent Rutilius, one of his +lieutenant-generals, with the light-armed cohorts and a detachment of +cavalry, toward the river, to secure ground for an encampment, +expecting that the enemy, by frequent charges and attacks on his +flank, would endeavor to impede his march, and, as they despaired of +success in arms, would try the effect of fatigue and thirst on his +troops. + +He then continued to advance by degrees, as his circumstances and the +ground permitted, in the same order in which he had descended from the +range of mountains. He assigned Marius his post behind the front +line[168], and took on himself the command of the cavalry on the left +wing, which, on the march, had become the van[169]. + +When Jugurtha perceived that the rear of the Roman army had passed his +first line, he took possession of that part of the mountain from which +Metellus had descended, with a body of about two thousand infantry, +that it might not serve the enemy, if they were driven back, as a +place of retreat, and afterward as a post of defense; and then, +ordering the signal to be given, suddenly commenced his attack. Some +of his Numidians made havoc in the rear of the Romans, while others +assailed them on the right and left wings; they all advanced and +charged furiously, and every where threw the consul's troops into +confusion. Even those of our men who made the stoutest resistance, +were baffled by the enemy's versatile method of fighting, and wounded +from a distance, without having the power of wounding in return, or of +coming to close combat; for the Numidian cavalry, as they had been +previously instructed by Jugurtha, retreated whenever a troop of +Romans attempted to pursue them, but did not keep in a body, or +collect themselves into one place, but dispersed as widely as +possible. Thus, being superior in numbers, if they could not deter the +Romans from pursuing, they surrounded them, when disordered, on the +rear or flank, or, if the hill seemed more convenient for retreat than +the plain, the Numidian horses, being accustomed to the brushwood, +easily made their way among it, while the difficulty of the ascent, +and want of acquaintance with the ground, impeded those of the Romans. + +LI. The aspect of the whole struggle[170] was indeed various, +perplexing, direful, and lamentable; the men, separated from their +comrades, were partly fleeing, partly pursuing; neither standards nor +ranks were regarded, but wherever danger pressed, there they made a +stand and defended themselves; arms and weapons, horses and men, +enemies, and fellow-countrymen, were all mingled in confusion; nothing +was done by direction or command, but chance ordered every thing. +Though the day, therefore, was now far advanced, the event of the +contest was still uncertain. At last, however, when all were faint +with exertion and the heat of the day, Metellus, observing that the +Numidians were less vigorous in their charges, drew his troops +together by degrees, restored order among them, and led four cohorts +of the legions against the enemy's infantry, of whom a great number, +overcome with fatigue, had seated themselves on the high ground. He at +the same time entreated and exhorted his men not to lose courage, nor +to suffer a flying enemy to be victorious; adding that they had +neither camp nor citadel to which they could flee, but that their only +dependence was on their arms. Nor was Jugurtha, in the mean time, +inactive; he rode round among his troops, cheered them, renewed the +contest, and, at the head of a select body, made every possible effort +for victory; supporting his own men, charging such of the enemy as +wavered, and repressing with missiles such as he saw remaining +unshaken. + +LII. Thus did these two commanders, both eminent men, maintain the +contest against each other. In personal ability they were equal, but +in circumstances unequal. Metellus had resolute troops, but a +disadvantageous position; Jugurtha had every thing in his favor except +men. At last the Romans, seeing that they had no place of refuge, that +the enemy allowed no opportunity for a regular engagement, and that +the evening was fast approaching, forced their way, according to the +orders which were given, up the hill. The Numidians were thus driven +from their position, routed, and put to flight; a few of them were +slain, but their speed, and the enemy's ignorance of the country[171], +saved the greater number of them. + +Meanwhile Bomilcar, who, as I have said before, was appointed by +Jugurtha over the elephants and a part of the infantry, having seen +Rutilius pass by him, led down his men gradually into the plain, and +while Rutilius hastened to the river, to which he had been dispatched, +quietly drew them up in such order as circumstances required; not +omitting, at the same time, to watch every movement of the enemy. When +he learned that Rutilius had taken his position, and seemed free from +apprehension of danger, and heard, at the same time, an increasing +noise where Jugurtha was engaged, fearing lest the lieutenant-general, +taking the alarm, should go to the support of his countrymen in +difficulties, he, in order to intercept his march, increased the +extent of his lines, which, from distrust of the bravery of his men, +he had previously condensed, and advanced in this order toward +Rutilius' camp. + +LIII. The Romans, on a sudden, observed a vast cloud of dust, which, +as the ground, thickly covered with brushes, obstructed their view, +they at first supposed to be only sand raised by the wind; but at +length, when they saw that it continued uniform, and approached nearer +and nearer as the line advanced, they understood the real cause of it, +and, hastily seizing their arms, drew up, as their commander directed, +before the camp. When the enemy came up, both sides rushed to the +encounter with loud shouts. But the Numidians maintained the contest +only as long as they trusted for support to their elephants; for, when +they saw the animals entangled in the boughs of the trees, and +dispersed or surrounded by the enemy, they betook themselves to +flight, and most of them, having thrown away their arms, escaped, by +favor of the hill, or of the night, which was now coming on, without +injury. Of the elephants, four were taken, and the rest, to the number +of forty, were killed. + +The Romans, though fatigued and exhausted[172] with their march, the +construction of their camp, and the engagement, yet, as Metellus was +longer in coming than they expected, advanced to meet him in regular +and steady order. The subtlety of the Numidians, indeed, allowed them +neither rest nor relaxation. But as the two parties drew together, in +the obscurity of the night, each occasioned, by a noise like that of +enemies approaching, alarm and trepidation in the other; and, had not +parties of horse, sent forward from both sides, ascertained the truth, +a fatal disaster was on the point of happening from the mistake. +However, in place of fear, joy quickly succeeded; the soldiers met +with mutual congratulations, relating their adventures, or listening +to those of others, and each extolling his own achievements to the +skies. For thus it is with human affairs; in success, even cowards may +boast; while defeat lowers the character even of heroes. + +LIV. Metellus remained four days in the same camp. He carefully +provided for the recovery of the wounded, rewarded, in military +fashion, such as had distinguished themselves in the engagements, and +praised and thanked them all in a public address; exhorting them to +maintain equal resolution in their future labors, which would be less +arduous, as they had fought sufficiently for victory, and would now +have to contend only for spoil. In the mean time he dispatched +deserters, and other eligible persons, to ascertain where Jugurtha +was, or what he was doing; whether he had but few followers, or a +large army; and how he conducted himself under his defeat. The prince, +he found, had retreated to places full of wood, well defended by +nature, and was there collecting an army, which would be more numerous +indeed than the former, but inactive and inefficient, as being +composed of men better acquainted with husbandry and cattle than with +war. This had happened from the circumstance, that, in case of flight, +none of the Numidian troops, except the royal cavalry, follow their +king; the rest disperse, wherever inclination leads them; nor is this +thought any disgrace to them as soldiers, such being the custom of the +people. + +Metellus, therefore, seeing that Jugurtha's spirit was still +unsubdued; that a war was being renewed, which could only be +conducted[173] according to the prince's pleasure; and that he was +struggling with the enemy on unequal terms, as the Numidians suffered +a defeat with less loss than his own men gained a victory, he resolved +to manage the contest, not by pitched battles or regular warfare, but +in another method. He accordingly marched into the richest parts of +Numidia, captured and burned many fortresses and towns, which were +insufficiently or wholly undefended, put the youth to the sword, and +gave up every thing else as plunder to his soldiers. From the terror +caused by these proceedings, many persons were given up as hostages to +the Romans; corn, and other necessaries, were supplied in abundance; +and garrisons were admitted wherever Metellus thought fit. + +These measures alarmed Jugurtha much more than the loss of the late +battle; for he, whose whole security lay in flight, was compelled to +pursue; and he who could not defend his own part of the kingdom, was +obliged to make war in that which was occupied by others. Under these +circumstances, however[174], he adopted what seemed the most eligible +plan. He ordered the main body of his army to continue stationary; +while he himself, with a select troop of cavalry, went in pursuit of +Metellus, and coming upon him unperceived, by means of night marches +and by-roads, he fell upon such of the Roman as were straggling about, +of whom the greater number, being unarmed, were slain, and several +others made prisoners; not one of them, indeed, escaped unharmed; and +the Numidians, before assistance could arrive from the camp, fled, as +they had been ordered, to the nearest hills. + +LV. In the mean time great joy appeared at Rome when the proceedings +of Metellus were reported, and when it was known how he was conducting +himself and his army conformably to the ancient discipline; how, on +adverse ground, he had gained a victory by his valor; how he was +securing possession of the enemy's territory; and how he had driven +Jugurtha, when elated by the weakness of Aulus, to depend for safety +on the desert or on flight. For these successes, accordingly, the +senate decreed a thanksgiving[175] to the immortal gods; the city, +which had been full of anxiety, and apprehensive as to the event of +the war, was now filled with joy; and the fame of Metellus was raised +to the utmost height. + +The consul's eagerness to gain a complete victory was thus increased; +he exerted himself in every possible way, taking care, at the same +time, to give the enemy no opportunity of attacking him to advantage. +He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the +more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and +circumspection. He never went out to plunder, after the sudden attack +of Jugurtha, with his troops in scattered parties; when corn or forage +was sought, a body of cohorts, with the whole of the cavalry, were +stationed as a guard. He himself conducted part of the army, and +Marius the rest. The country was wasted, however, more by fire than by +spoliation. They had separate camps, not far from each other; whenever +there was occasion for force, they formed a union; but, that +desolation and terror might spread the further, they acted separately. +Jugurtha, meanwhile, continued to follow them along the hills, +watching for a favorable opportunity or situation for an attack. He +destroyed the forage, and spoiled the water, which was scarce, +wherever he found that the enemy were coming. He presented himself +sometimes to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius; he would attack their +rear upon a march, and instantly retreat to the hills; he would +threaten sometimes one point, and sometimes another, neither giving +battle nor allowing rest, but making it his great object to retard the +progress of the enemy. + +LVI. The Roman commander, finding himself thus harassed by artifices, +and allowed no opportunity of coming to a general engagement, resolved +on laying siege to a large city, named Zama, which was the bulwark of +that part of the kingdom in which it was situate; expecting that +Jugurtha, as a necessary consequence, would come to the relief of his +subjects in distress, and that a battle would then follow. But the +king, being apprised by some deserters of the consul's design, reached +the place, by rapid marches, before him, and exhorted the inhabitants +to defend their walls, giving them, as a reinforcement, a body of +deserters; a class of men, who, of all the royal forces, were the most +to be trusted, inasmuch as they dared not be guilty of treachery[176]. +He also promised to support them, whenever it should be necessary, +with his whole army. + +Having taken these precautions, he retired into the deserts of the +interior; where he soon after learned that Marius, with a few cohorts, +had been dispatched from the line of march to bring provisions from +Sicca[177], a town which had been the first to revolt from him after +his defeat. To this place he hastened by night, accompanied by a +select body of cavalry, and attacked the Romans at the gate, just as +they were leaving the city; calling to the inhabitants, at the same +time, with a loud voice, to surround the cohorts in the rear; adding, +that Fortune had given them an opportunity for a glorious exploit; and +that, if they took advantage of it, he would henceforth enjoy his +kingdom, and they their liberty, without fear. And had not Marius +hastened to advance the standards, and to escape from the town, it is +certain that all, or the greater part of the inhabitants, would have +changed their allegiance; so great is the fickleness which the +Numidians exhibit in their conduct. The soldiers of Jugurtha, animated +for a time by their king, but finding the enemy pressing them with +superior force, betook themselves, after losing a few of their number, +to flight. + +LVII. Marius arrived at Zama. This town, built on a plain, was better +fortified by art than by nature. It was well supplied with +necessaries, and contained plenty of arms and men. Metellus, having +made arrangements suitable for the time and the place, encompassed the +whole city with his army, assigning to each of his officers his post +of command. At a given signal, a loud shout was raised on every side, +but without exciting the least alarm in the Numidians, who awaited the +attack full of spirit and resolution. The assault was consequently +commenced; the Romans were allowed to act each according to his +inclination; some annoyed the enemy with slings and stones from a +distance; others came close up to the walls, and attempted to +undermine or scale them, desiring to engage in close combat with the +besieged. The Zamians, on the other hand, rolled down stones, and +hurled burning stakes, javelins[178], and wood smeared with pitch and +sulphur, on the nearest assailants. Nor was caution a sufficient +protection to those who kept aloof; for darts, discharged from engines +or by the hand, inflicted wounds on most of them; and thus the brave and +the timid, though of unequal merit, were exposed to equal danger. + +LVIII. While the struggle was thus continued at Zama, Jugurtha, at the +head of a large force, suddenly attacked the camp of the Romans, and, +through the remissness of those left to guard it, who expected any +thing rather than an attack, effected an entrance at one of the gates. +Our men, struck with sudden consternation, acted each on his own +impulse; some fled, others seized their arms; and many of them were +wounded or slain. About forty, however, out of the whole number +mindful of the honor of Rome, formed themselves into a body, and took +possession of a slight eminence, from which they could not be +dislodged by the utmost efforts of the enemy, but hurled back the +darts discharged at them, and, as they were few against many, not +without execution. If the Numidians came near them, they displayed +their courage, and slaughtered, repulsed, and dispersed them, with the +greatest fury. Metellus, meanwhile, who was vigorously pursuing the +siege, heard a noise, as of enemies, in his rear, and, turning round +his horse, perceived a party of soldiers in flight toward him; a +certain proof that they were his own men. He instantly, therefore, +dispatched the whole of the cavalry to the camp, and immediately +afterward Caius Marius, with the cohorts of the allies, entreating him +with tears, by their mutual friendship, and by his regard for the +public welfare, to allow no stain to rest on a victorious army, and +not to let the enemy escape with impunity. Marius soon executed his +orders. Jugurtha, in consequence, after being embarrassed in the +intrenchments of the camp, while some of his men threw themselves over +the ramparts, and others, in their haste, obstructed each other at the +gates, fled, with considerable loss, to his strongholds, Metellus, not +succeeding in his attempt on the town, retired with his forces, at the +approach of night, into his camp. + +LIX. On the following day, before he marched out to resume the siege, +he ordered the whole of his cavalry to take their station before the +camp, on the side where the approach of Jugurtha was to be apprehended; +assigning the gates, and adjoining posts, to the charge of the tribunes. +He then marched toward the town, and commenced an assault upon the walls +as on the day before. Jugurtha, meanwhile, issuing from his concealment, +suddenly attacked our men in the camp, of whom those stationed in advance +were for the moment alarmed and thrown into confusion; but the rest soon +came to their support; nor would the Numidians have longer maintained +their ground, had not their foot, which were mingled with the cavalry, +done great execution in the struggle; for the horse, relying on the +infantry, did not, as is common in actions of cavalry, charge and then +retreat, but pressed impetuously forward, disordering and breaking the +ranks, and thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost succeeded +in giving the army a defeat[179]. + +LX. The conflict at Zama, at the same time, was continued with great +fury. Wherever any lieutenant or tribune commanded, there the men +exerted themselves with the utmost vigor. No one seemed to depend for +support on others, but every one on his own exertions. The townsmen, +on the other side, showed equal spirit. Attacks, or preparations for +defense, were made in all quarters[180]. All appeared more eager to +wound their enemies than to protect themselves. Shouts, mingled with +exhortations, cries of joy, and the clashing of arms, resounded +through the heavens. Darts flew thick on every side. If the besiegers, +however, in the least relaxed their efforts, the defenders of the +walls immediately turned their attention to the distant engagement of +the cavalry; they were to be seen sometimes exhibiting joy, and +sometimes apprehension, according to the varying fortune of Jugurtha, +and, as if they could be heard or seen by their friends, uttering +warnings or exhortations, making signs with their hands, and moving +their bodies to and fro, like men avoiding or hurling darts. This +being noticed by Marius, who commanded on that side of the town, he +artfully relaxed his efforts, as if despairing of success, and allowed +the besieged to view the battle at the camp unmolested. Then, while +their attention was closely fixed on their countrymen, he made a +vigorous assault on the wall, and the soldiers mounting their scaling +ladders, had almost gained the top, when the townsmen rushed to the +spot in a body, and hurled down upon them stones, firebrands, and +every description of missiles. Our men made head against these +annoyances for a while, but at length, when some of the ladders were +broken, and those who had mounted them dashed to the ground, the rest +of the assailants retreated as they could, a few indeed unhurt, but +the greater number miserably wounded. Night put an end to the efforts +of both parties. + +LXI. When Metellus saw that all his attempts were vain; that the town +was not to be taken; that Jugurtha was resolved to abstain from +fighting, except from an ambush, or on his own ground, and that the +summer was now far advanced, he withdrew his army from Zama, and +placed garrisons in such of the cities that had revolted to him as +were sufficiently strong in situation or fortifications. The rest of +his forces he settled in winter quarters, in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia[181]. + +This season of repose, however, he did not, like other commanders, +abandon to idleness and luxury; but as the war had been but slowly +advanced by fighting, he resolved to try the effect of treachery on +the king through his friends, and to employ their perfidy instead of +arms. He accordingly addressed himself with large promises, to +Bomilcar, the same nobleman who had been with Jugurtha at Rome, and +who had fled from thence, notwithstanding he had given bail, to escape +being tried for the murder of Massiva; selecting this person for his +instrument, because, from his great intimacy with Jugurtha, he had the +best opportunities of betraying him. He prevailed on him, in the first +place, to come to a conference with him privately, when, having given +him his word, "that, if he should deliver up Jugurtha, alive or dead, +the senate would grant him a pardon, and the full possession of his +property," he easily brought him over to his purpose, especially as he +was naturally faithless, and also apprehensive that, if peace were +made with the Romans, he himself would be surrendered to justice by +the terms of it. + +LXII. Bomilcar took the earliest opportunity of addressing Jugurtha, +at a time when he was full of anxiety, and lamenting his ill success. +He exhorted and implored him, with tears in his eyes, to take at +length some thought for himself and his children, as well as for the +people of Numidia, who had so much claim upon him. He reminded him +that they had been, defeated in every battle; that the country was +laid waste; that numbers of his subjects had been captured or slain; +that the resources of the kingdom were greatly reduced; that the valor +of his soldiers, and his own fortune, had been already sufficiently +tried; and that he should beware, lest, if he delayed to consult for +his people, his people should consult for themselves. By these and +similar appeals, he prevailed with Jugurtha to think of a surrender. +Embassadors were accordingly sent to the Roman general, announcing +that Jugurtha was ready to submit to whatever he should desire, and to +trust himself and his kingdom unconditionally to his honor. Metellus, +on receiving this statement, summoned such of his officers as were of +senatorial rank, from their winter quarters; of whom, with, others +whom he thought eligible, he formed a council. By a resolution of this +assembly, in conformity with ancient usage, he demanded of Jugurtha, +through his embassadors, two hundred thousand pounds' weight of +silver, all his elephants, and a portion of his horses and arms. These +requisitions being immediately complied with, he next desired that all +the deserters should be brought to him in chains. A large number of +them were accordingly brought; but a few, when the surrender first +began to be mentioned, had fled into Mauretania to king Bocchus. + +When Jugurtha, however, after being thus despoiled of arms, men and +money, was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium[182], to await the +consul's commands, he began again to change his mind, dreading, from a +consciousness of guilt, the punishment due to his crimes. Having spent +several days in hesitation, sometimes, from disgust at his ill +success, believing any thing better than war, and sometimes +considering with himself how grievous would be the fall from +sovereignty to slavery, he at last determined, notwithstanding that he +had lost so many and so valuable means of resistance, to commence +hostilities anew. + +At Rome, meanwhile, the senate, having been consulted about the +provinces, had decreed Numidia to Metellus. + +LXIII. About the same time, as Caius Marius, who happened to be at +Utica, was sacrificing to the gods[183], an augur told him that great +and wonderful things were presaged to him; that he might therefore +pursue whatever designs he had formed, trusting to the gods for +success; and that he might try fortune as often as he pleased, for +that all his undertakings would prosper. Previously to this period an +ardent longing for the consulship had possessed him; and he had, +indeed, every qualification for obtaining it, except antiquity of +family; he had industry, integrity, great knowledge of war, and a +spirit undaunted in the field; he was temperate in private life, +superior to pleasure and riches, and ambitious only of glory. +Having been born at Arpinum, and brought up there during his boyhood, +he employed himself, as soon as he was of age to bear arms, not in the +study of Greek eloquence, nor in learning the refinements of the city, +but in military service; and thus, amid the strictest discipline, his +excellent genius soon attained full vigor. When he solicited the +people, therefore, for the military tribuneship, he was well known by +name, though most were strangers to his face, and unanimously elected +by the tribes. After this office he attained others in succession, and +conducted himself so well in his public duties, that he was always +deemed worthy of a higher station than he had reached. Yet, though +such had been his character hitherto (for he was afterward carried +away by ambition), he had not ventured to stand for the consulship. +The people, at that time, still disposed of[184] other civil offices, +but the nobility transmitted the consulship from hand to hand among +themselves. Nor had any commoner appeared, however famous or +distinguished by his achievements, who would not have been thought +unworthy of that honor, and, as it were, a disgrace to it[185]. + +LXIV. But when Marius found that the words of the augur pointed in the +same direction as his own inclinations prompted him, he requested of +Metellus leave of absence, that he might offer himself a candidate for +the consulship. Metellus, though eminently distinguished by virtue, +honor, and other qualities valued by the good, had yet a haughty and +disdainful spirit, the common failing of the nobility. He was at +first, therefore, astonished at so extraordinary an application, +expressed surprise at Marius's views, and advised him, as if in +friendship, "not to indulge such unreasonable expectations, or elevate +his thoughts above his station; that all things were not to be coveted +by all men; that his present condition ought to satisfy him; and, +finally, that he should be cautious of asking from the Roman people +what they might justly refuse him." Having made these and similar +remarks, and finding that the resolution of Marius was not at all +affected by them, he told him "that he would grant what he desired as +soon as the public business would allow him".[186] On Marius repeating +his request several times afterward, he is reported to have said, +"that he need not be in a hurry to go, as he would be soon enough if +he became a candidate with his own son."[187] Metellus's son was then +on service in the camp with his father[188], and was about twenty +years old. + +This taunt served only to rouse the feelings of Marius, as well for +the honor at which he aimed, as against Metellus. He suffered himself +to be actuated, therefore, by ambition and resentment, the worst of +counselors. He omitted nothing henceforward, either in deeds or words, +that could increase his own popularity. He allowed the soldiers, of +whom he had the command in the winter quarters, more relaxation of +discipline than he had ever granted them before. He talked of the war +among the merchants, of whom there was a great number at Utica, +censoriously with respect to Metellus, and vauntingly with regard to +himself; saying "that if but half of the army were granted him, he +would in a few days have Jugurtha in chains; but that the war was +purposely protracted by the consul, because, being a man of vanity and +regal pride, he was too fond of the delights of power." All these +assertions appeared the more credible to the merchants, as, by the +long continuance of the war, they had suffered in their fortunes; and +to impatient minds no haste is sufficient. + +LXV. There was then in our army a Numidian named Gauda, the son of +Mastanabal, and grandson of Masinissa, whom Micipsa, in his will, had +appointed next heir to his immediate successors. This man had been +debilitated by ill-health, and, from the effect of it, was somewhat +impaired in his understanding. He had petitioned Metellus to allow him +a seat, like a prince, next to himself, and a troop of horse for a +bodyguard; but Metellus had refused him both; the seat, because it was +granted only to those whom the Roman people had addressed as kings, +and the guard, because it would be an indignity to Roman cavalry to +act as guards to a Numidian. While Gauda was discontented at these +refusals, Marius paid him a visit, and prompted him, with his +assistance, to seek revenge for the affronts put upon him by the +general; inflating his mind, which was as weak as his body,[189] with +flattering speeches, telling him that he was a prince, a great man, +and the grandson of Masinissa; that if Jugurtha were taken or killed, +he would immediately become king of Numidia; and that this event might +soon happen, if he himself were sent as consul to the war. + +Thus partly the influence of Marius himself, and partly the hope of +obtaining peace, induced Gauda, as well as most of the Roman knights, +both soldiers and merchants,[190] to write to their friends at Rome, +in a style of censure, respecting Metellus's management of the war, +and to intimate that Marius should be appointed general. The consulship, +accordingly, was solicited for him by numbers of people, with the most +honorable demonstrations in his favor.[191] It happened that the +people too, at this juncture, having just triumphed over the nobility +by the Mamilian law,[192] were eager to raise commoners to office. +Hence every thing was favorable to Marius's views. + +LXVI. Jugurtha, meantime, who, after relinquishing his intention to +surrender, had renewed the war, was now hastening the preparations for +it with the utmost diligence. He assembled an army; he endeavored, by +threats or promises, to recover the towns that had revolted from him; +he fortified advantageous positions;[193] he repaired or purchased +arms, weapons, and other necessaries, which he had given up on the +prospect of peace; he tried to seduce the slaves of the Romans, and +even tempted with bribes the Romans themselves who occupied the +garrisons; he, indeed, left nothing untried or neglected, but put +every engine in motion. + +Induced by the entreaties of their king, from whom, indeed, they had +never been alienated in affection, the leading inhabitants of Vacca, a +city in which Metellus, when Jugurtha began to treat for peace, had +placed a garrison, entered into a conspiracy against the Romans. As +for the common people of the town, they were, as is generally the +case, and especially among the Numidians, of a fickle disposition, +factious and turbulent, and therefore already desirous of a change, +and adverse to peace and quiet. Having arranged their plans, they +fixed upon the third day following for the execution of them, because +that day, being a festival, celebrated throughout Africa, would +promise merriment and dissipation rather than alarm. When the time +came, they invited the centurions and military tribunes, with Titus +Turpilius Silanus, the governor of the town, to their several houses, +and butchered them all, except Turpilius, at their banquets; and then +fell upon the common soldiers, who, as was to be expected on such a +day, when discipline was relaxed, were wandering about without their +arms. The populace followed the example of their chiefs, some of them +having been previously instructed to do so, and others induced by a +liking for such disorders, and, though ignorant of what had been done +or intended, finding sufficient gratification in tumult and variety. + +LXVII. The Roman soldiers, perplexed with sudden alarm, and not +knowing what was best for them to do, were in trepidation. At the +citadel,[194] where their standards and shields were, was posted a +guard of the enemy; and the city-gates, previously closed, prevented +escape. Women and children, too, on the roofs of the houses,[195] +hurled down upon them, with great eagerness, stones and whatever else +their position furnished. Thus neither could such twofold danger be +guarded against, nor could the bravest resist the feeblest; the worthy +and the worthless, the valiant and the cowardly, were alike put to +death unavenged. In the midst of this slaughter, while the Numidians +were exercising every cruelty, and the town was closed on all sides, +Turpilius was the only one, of all the Italians, that escaped unhurt. +Whether his flight was the consequence of compassion in his entertainer, +of compact, or of chance, I have never discovered; but since, in such a +general massacre, he preferred inglorious safety to an honorable name, +he seems to have been a worthless and infamous character.[196] + +LXVIII. When Metellus heard of what had happened at Vacca, he retired +for a time, overpowered with sorrow, from the public gaze; but at +length, as indignation mingled with his grief, he hastened, with the +utmost spirit, to take vengeance for the outrage. He led forth, at +sunset, the legion that was in winter quarters with him, and as many +Numidian horse as he could, and arrived, about the third hour on the +following day, at a certain plain surrounded by rising grounds. Here +he acquainted the soldiers, who were now exhausted with the length of +their march, and averse to further exertion,[197] that the town of +Vacca was not above a mile distant, and that it became them to bear +patiently the toil that remained, with the hope of exacting revenge for +their countrymen, the bravest and most unfortunate of men. He likewise +generously promised them the whole of the plunder. Their courage being +thus revived, he ordered them to resume their march, the cavalry +maintaining an extended line in front, and the infantry, with their +standards concealed, keeping the closest order behind. + +LXIX. The people of Vacca, perceiving an army coming toward them, +judged rightly at first that it was Metellus, and shut their gates; +but, after a while, when they saw that their fields were not laid +waste, and that the front consisted of Numidian cavalry, they imagined +that it was Jugurtha, and went out with great joy to meet him. A +signal being immediately given, both cavalry and infantry commenced an +attack; some cut down the multitude pouring from the town, others +hurried to the gates, others secured the towers, revenge and the hope +of plunder prevailing over their weariness. Thus Vacca triumphed only +two days in its treachery; the whole city, which was great and +opulent, was given up to vengeance and spoliation. Turpilius, the +governor, whom we mentioned as the only person that escaped, was +summoned by Metellus to answer for his conduct, and not being able to +clear himself, was condemned, as a native of Latium,[198] to be +scourged and put to death. + +LXX. About this time, Bomilcar, at whose persuasion Jugurtha had +entered upon the capitulation which he had discontinued through fear, +being distrusted by the king, and distrusting him in return, grew +desirous of a change of government. He accordingly meditated schemes +for Jugurtha's destruction, racking his invention night and day. At +last, to leave nothing untried, he sought an accomplice in Nabdalsa, a +man of noble birth and great wealth, who was in high regard and favor +with his countrymen, and who, on most occasions, used to command a +body of troops distinct from those of the king, and to transact all +business to which Jugurtha, from fatigue, or from being occupied with +more important matters, was unable to attend;[199] employments by +which he had gained both honors and wealth. By these two men in +concert, a day was fixed for the execution of their treachery; +succeeding matters they agreed to settle as the exigences of the +moment might require. Nabdalsa then proceeded to join his troops, +which he kept in readiness, according to orders, among the winter +quarters of the Romans,[200] to prevent the country from being ravaged +by the enemy with impunity. + +But as Nabdalsa, growing alarmed at the magnitude of the undertaking, +failed to appear at the appointed time, and allowed his fears to +hinder their plans, Bomilcar, eager for their execution, and +disquieted at the timidity of his associate, lest he should relinquish +his original intentions and adopt some new course, sent him a letter +by some confidential person, in which he "reproached him with +pusillanimity and irresolution, and conjured him by the gods, by whom +he had sworn, not to turn the offers of Metellus to his own +destruction;" assuring him "that the fall of Jugurtha was approaching; +that the only thing to be considered was whether he should perish by +their hand or by that of Metellus; and that, in consequence, he might +consider whether to choose rewards, or death by torture." + +LXXI. It happened that when this letter was brought, Nabdalsa, +overcome with fatigue, was reposing on his couch, where, after reading +Bomilcar's letter, anxiety at first, and afterward, as is usual with a +troubled mind, sleep overpowered him. In his service there was a +certain Numidian, the manager of his affairs, a person who possessed +his confidence and esteem, and who was acquainted with all his designs +except the last. He, hearing that a letter had arrived, and supposing +that there would be occasion, as usual, for his assistance or +suggestions, went into the tent, and, while his master was asleep, +took up the letter thrown carelessly upon the cushion behind his +head,[201] and read it; and, having thus discovered the plot, set off +in haste to Jugurtha. Nabdalsa, who awoke soon after, missing the +letter, and hearing of the whole affair, and how it had happened, at +first attempted to pursue the informer, but finding that pursuit was +vain, he went himself to Jugurtha to try to appease him; saying that +the disclosure which he intended to make, had been anticipated by the +perfidy of his servant; and beseeching him with tears, by his +friendship, and by his own former proofs of fidelity, not to think +that he could be guilty of such treachery. + +LXXII. To these entreaties the king replied with a mildness far +different from his real feelings. After putting to death Bomilcar, and +many others whom he knew to be privy to the plot, he refrained from +any further manifestation of resentment, lest an insurrection should +be the consequence of it. But after this occurrence he had no peace +either by day or by night; he thought himself safe neither in any +place, nor with any person, nor at any time; he feared his subjects +and his enemies alike; he was always on the watch, and was startled at +every sound; he passed the night sometimes in one place, and sometimes +in another, and often in places little suited to royal dignity; and +sometimes, starting from his sleep, he would seize his arms and raise +an alarm. He was indeed so agitated by extreme terror, that he +appeared under the influence of madness. + +LXXIII. Metellus, hearing from some deserters of the fate of Bomilcar, +and the discovery of the conspiracy, made fresh preparations for +action, and with the utmost dispatch, as if entering upon an entirely +new war. Marius, who was still importuning him for leave of absence, +he allowed to go home; thinking that as he served with reluctance, and +bore him personal enmity, he was not likely to prove a very useful +officer. + +The common people at Rome, having learned the contents of the letters +written from Africa concerning Metellus and Marius, had listened to +the accounts given of both with eagerness. But the noble birth of +Metellus, which had previously been a motive for paying him honor, had +now become a cause of unpopularity; while the obscurity of Marius's +origin had procured him favor. In regard to both, however, party +feeling had more influence than the good or bad qualities of either. +The factious tribunes,[202] too, inflamed the populace, charging +Metellus, in their harangues, with offenses worthy of death, and +exaggerating the excellent qualities of Marius. At length the people +were so excited that all the artisans and rustics, whose whole +subsistence and credit depended on their labor, quitting their several +employments, attended Marius in crowds, and thought less of their own +wants than of his exaltation. Thus the nobility being borne down, the +consulship, after the lapse of many years,[203] was once more given to +a man of humble birth. And afterward, when the people were asked by +Manilius Mancinus, one of their tribunes, whom they would appoint to +carry on the war against Jugurtha, they, in a full assembly, voted it +to Marius. The senate had previously decreed it to Metellus; but that +decree was thus rendered abortive.[204] + +LXXIV. During this period, Jugurtha, as he was bereft of his friends +(of whom he had put to death the greater number, while the rest, under +the influence of terror, had fled partly to the Romans, and partly to +Bocchus), as the war, too, could not be carried on without officers, +and as he thought it dangerous to try the faith of new ones after such +perfidy among the old, was involved in doubt and perplexity; no +scheme, no counsel, no person could satisfy him; he changed his route +and his captains daily; he hurried sometimes against the enemy, and +sometimes toward the deserts; depended at one time on flight, and at +another on resistance; and was unable to decide whether he could less +trust the courage or the fidelity of his subjects. Thus, to whatever +direction he turned his thoughts, the prospect was equally +disheartening. + +In the midst of his irresolution, Metellus suddenly made his +appearance with his army. The Numidians were assembled and drawn up by +Jugurtha, as well as time permitted; and a battle was at once +commenced. Where the king commanded in person, the struggle was +maintained for some time; but the rest of his force was routed and put +to flight at the first onset. The Romans took a considerable number of +standards and arms, but not many prisoners; for, in almost every +battle, their feet afforded more security to the Numidians than their +swords. + +LXXV. In consequence of this defeat, Jugurtha, feeling less confidence +in the state of his affairs than ever, retreated with the deserters, +and part of his cavalry, first into the deserts, and afterward to +Thala,[205] a large and opulent city, where lay the greater portion of +his treasures, and where there was magnificent provision for the +education of his children. When Metellus was informed of this, +although he knew that there was, between Thala and the nearest river, +a dry and desert region fifty miles broad, yet, in the hope of +finishing the war if he should gain possession of the town, he +resolved to surmount all difficulties, and to conquer even Nature +herself. He gave orders that the beasts of burden, therefore, should +be lightened of all the baggage excepting ten days' provision; and +that they should be laden with skins and other utensils for holding +water. He also collected from the fields as many laboring cattle as he +could find, and loaded them with vessels of all sorts, but chiefly +wooden, taken from the cottages of the Numidians. He directed such of +the neighboring people, too, as had submitted to him after the retreat +of Jugurtha, to bring him as much water as they could carry, +appointing a time and a place for them to be in attendance. He then +loaded his beasts from the river, which, as I have intimated, was the +nearest water to the town, and, thus provided, set out for Thala. + +When he came to the place at which he had desired the Numidians to +meet him, and had pitched and fortified his camp, so copious a fall of +rain is said to have happened, as would have furnished more than +sufficient water for his whole army. Provisions, too, were brought him +far beyond his expectations; for the Numidians, like most people after +a recent surrender, had done more than was required of them.[206] The +men, however, from a religious feeling, preferred using the +rain-water; the fall of which greatly increased their courage, for +they thought of themselves the peculiar care of the gods. On the next +day, to the surprise of Jugurtha, they arrived at Thala. The +inhabitants, who thought themselves secured by difficulties of the +approach to them, were astonished at so strange and unexpected a +sight, but, nevertheless, prepared for their defense. Our men showed +equal alacrity on their side. + +LXXVI. But Jugurtha himself, believing that Metellus, who, by his +exertions, had triumphed over every obstacle, over arms, deserts, +seasons, and finally over Nature herself that controls all, nothing +was impossible, fled with his children, and a great portion of his +treasure, from the city during the night. Nor did he ever, after this +time, continue[207] more than one day or night in any place; +pretending to be hurried away by business, but in reality dreading +treachery, which he thought he might escape by change of residence, as +schemes of such a kind are the result of leisure and opportunity. + +Metellus, seeing that the people of Thala were determined on +resistance, and that the town was defended both by art and situation, +surrounded the walls with a rampart and a trench. He then directed his +machines against the most eligible points, threw up a mound, and +erected towers upon it to protect[208] the works and the workmen. The +townsmen, on the other hand, were exceedingly active and diligent; and +nothing was neglected on either side. At last the Romans, though +exhausted with much previous fatigue and fighting, got possession, +forty days after their arrival, of the town, and the town only; for +all the spoil had been destroyed by the deserters; who, when they saw +the walls shaken by the battering-ram, and their own situation +desperate, had conveyed the gold and silver, and whatever else is +esteemed valuable, to the royal palace, where, after being sated with +wine and luxuries, they destroyed the treasures, the building, and +themselves, by fire, and thus voluntarily submitted to the sufferings +which, in case of being conquered, they dreaded at the hands of the +enemy. + +LXXVII. At the very time that Thala was taken, there came to Metellus +embassadors from the city of Leptis,[209] requesting him to send them +a garrison and a governor; saying "that a certain Hamilcar, a man of +rank, and of a factious disposition, against whom the magistrates and +the laws were alike powerless, was trying to induce them to change +sides; and that unless he attended to the matter promptly, their own +safety,[210] and the allies of Rome, would be in the utmost danger." +For the people at Leptis, at the very commencement of the war with +Jugurtha, had sent to the consul Bestia, and afterward to Rome, +desiring to be admitted into friendship and alliance with us. Having +been granted their request, they continued true and faithful adherents +to us, and promptly executed all orders from Bestia, Albinus, and +Metellus. They therefore readily obtained from the general the aid +which they solicited; and four cohorts of Ligurians were dispatched to +Leptis, with Caius Annius to be governor of the place. + +LXXVIII. This city was built by a party of Sidonians, who, as I have +understood, being driven from their country through civil dissensions, +came by sea into those parts of Africa. It is situated between the two +Syrtes, which take their name from their nature[211] These are two +gulfs almost at the extremity of Africa[212] of unequal size, but of +similar character. Those parts of them next to the land are very deep; +the other parts sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, as chance may +direct; for when the sea swells, and is agitated by the winds, the +waves roll along with them mud, sand, and huge stones; and thus the +appearance of the gulfs changes with the direction of the wind. + +Of this people, the language alone[213] has been altered by their +intermarriages with the Numidians; their laws and customs continue for +the most part Sidonian; which they have preserved with the greater +ease, through living at so great a distance from the king's +dominions.[214] Between them and the populous parts of Numidia lie +vast and uncultivated deserts. + +LXXIX. Since the affairs of Leptis have led me into these regions, it +will not be foreign to my subject to relate the noble and singular act +of two Carthaginians, which the place has brought to my recollection. + +At the time when the Carthaginians were masters of the greater part of +Africa, the Cyrenians were also a great and powerful people. The +territory that lay between them was sandy, and of a uniform +appearance, without a stream or a hill to determine their respective +boundaries; a circumstance which involved them in a severe and +protracted war. After armies and fleets had been routed and put to +flight on both sides, and each people had greatly weakened their +opponents, fearing lest some third party should attack both victors +and vanquished in a state of exhaustion, they came to an agreement, +during a short cessation of arms, "that on a certain day deputies +should leave home on either side, and that the spot where they should +meet should be the common boundary between the two states." From +Carthage, accordingly, were dispatched two brothers, who were named +Philaeni,[215] and who traveled with great expedition. The deputies of +the Cyrenians proceeded more slowly; but whether from indolence or +accident I have not been informed. However, a storm of wind in these +deserts will cause obstruction to passengers not less than at sea; for +when a violent blast, sweeping over a level surface devoid of +vegetation,[216] raises the sand from the ground, it is driven onward +with great force, and fills the mouth and eyes of the traveler, and +thus, by hindering his view, retards his progress. The Cyrenian +deputies, finding that they had lost ground, and dreading punishment +at home for their mismanagement, accused the Carthaginians of having +left home before the time; quarreling about the matter, and preferring +to do any thing rather than submit. The Philaeni, upon this, asked +them to name any other mode of settling the controversy, provided it +were equitable; and the Cyrenians gave them their choice, "either that +they should be buried alive in the spot which they claimed as the +boundary for their people, or that they themselves, on the same +conditions, should be allowed to go forward to whatever point they +should think proper." The Philaeni, having accepted the conditions, +sacrificed themselves[217] to the interest of their country, and were +interred alive. The people of Carthage consecrated altars to the +brothers on the spot; and other honors were instituted to them at +home. I now return to my subject. + +LXXX. After the loss of Thala, Jugurtha, thinking no place sufficiently +secure against Metellus, fled with a few followers into the country of +the Getulians, a people savage and uncivilized, and, at that period, +unacquainted with even the name of Rome. Of these barbarians he collected +a great multitude, and trained them by degrees to march in ranks, to +follow standards, to obey the word of command, and to perform other +military exercises. He also gained over to his interest, by large +presents and larger promises, the intimate friends of king Bocchus, and +working upon the king by their means, induced him to commence war +against the Romans. This was the more practicable and easy, because +Bocchus, at the commencement of hostilities with Jugurtha, had sent an +embassy to Rome to solicit friendship and alliance; but a faction, +blinded by avarice, and accustomed to sell their votes on every question +honorable or dishonorable,[218] had caused his advances to be rejected, +though they were of the highest consequence to the war recently begun. +A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha,[219] but such a +connection, among the Numidians and Moors, is but lightly regarded; +for every man has as many wives as he pleases, in proportion to his +ability to maintain them; some ten, others more, but the kings most of +all. Thus the affection of the husband is divided among a multitude; +no one of them becomes a companion to him,[220] but all are equally +neglected. + +LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies,[221] met in a place settled +by mutual agreement, where, after pledges of amity were given and +received, Jugurtha inflamed the mind of Bocchus by observing "that the +Romans were a lawless people, of insatiable covetousness, and the +common enemies of mankind; that they had the same motive for making +war on Bocchus as on himself and other nations, the lust of dominion; +that all independent states were objects of hatred to them; at present, +for instance, himself; a little before, the Carthaginians had been so, +as well as king Perses; and that, in future, as any sovereign became +conspicuous for his power, so would he assuredly be treated as an enemy +by the Romans." + +Induced by these and similar considerations, they determined to march +against Cirta, where Metellus had deposited his plunder, prisoners, +and baggage. Jugurtha supposed that, if he took the city, there would +be ample recompense for his exertions; or that, if the Roman general +came to succor his adherents, he would have the opportunity of +engaging him in the field. He also hastened this movement from policy, +to lessen Bocchus's chance of peace;[222] lest, if delay should be +allowed, he should decide upon something different from war. + +LXXXII. Metellus, when he heard of the confederacy of the kings, did +not rashly, or in every place, give opportunities of fighting, as he +had been used to do since Jugurtha had been so often defeated, but, +fortifying his camp, awaited the approach of the kings at no great +distance from Cirta; thinking it better, when he should have learned +something of the Moors,[223] as they were new enemies in the field, +to give battle on an advantage. In the mean time he was informed, by +letters from Rome, that the province of Numidia was assigned to Marius, +of whose election to the consulship he had already heard. + +Being affected at these occurrences beyond what was proper and +decorous, he could neither restrain his tears nor govern his tongue; +for though he was a man eminent in other respects, he had too little +firmness in bearing trouble of mind. His irritation was by some +imputed to pride; others said that a noble spirit was wounded by +insult; many thought him chagrined because victory, just attained, was +snatched from his grasp. But to me it is well known that he was more +troubled at the honor bestowed on Marius than at the injustice done to +himself; and that he would have shown much less uneasiness if the +province of which he was deprived had been given to any other than +Marius. + +LXXXIII. Discouraged, therefore, by such a mortification, and thinking +it folly to promote another man's success at his own hazard, he sent +deputies to Bocchus, entreating him "not to become an enemy to the +Romans without cause;" and observing "that he had a fine opportunity +of entering into friendship and alliance with them, which were far +preferable to war; that though he might have confidence in his +resources, he ought not to change certainties for uncertainties; that +a war was easily begun, but discontinued with difficulty; that its +commencement and conclusion were not dependent on the same party; that +any one, even a coward, might commence hostilities, but that they +could be broken off only when the conqueror thought proper; and that +he should therefore consult for his interest and that of his kingdom, +and not connect his own prosperous circumstances with the ruined +fortunes of Jugurtha." + +To these representations the king mildly answered, "that he desired +peace, but felt compassion for the condition of Jugurtha, to whom if +similar proposals were made, all would easily be arranged." Metellus, +in reply to this request of Bocchus, sent deputies with overtures, of +which the King approved some, and rejected others. Thus, in sending +messengers to and fro, the time passed away, and the war, according to +the consul's desire, was protracted without being advanced. + +LXXXIV. Marius, who, as I said before, had been made consul with great +eagerness on the part of the populace, began, though he had always +been hostile to the patricians, to inveigh against them, after the +people gave him the province of Numidia, with great frequency and +violence; he attacked them sometimes individually and sometimes in a +body; he said that he had snatched from them the consulship as spoils +from vanquished enemies; and uttered other remarks laudatory to +himself and offensive to them. Meanwhile he made the provision for the +war his chief object; he asked for reinforcements for the legions; he +sent for auxiliaries from foreign states, kings, and allies; he also +enlisted all the bravest men from Latium, most of whom were known to +him by actual service, some few only by report, and induced, by +earnest solicitation, even discharged veterans[224] to accompany him. +Nor did the senate, though adverse to him, dare to refuse him any +thing; the additions to the legions they had voted even with +eagerness, because military service was thought to be unpopular with +the multitude, and Marius seemed likely to lose either the means of +warfare[225], or the favor of the people. But such expectations were +entertained in vain, so ardent was the desire of going with Marius +that had seized on almost all. Every one cherished the fancy[226] that +he should return home laden with spoil, crowned with victory, or +attended with some similar good fortune. Marius himself, too, had +excited them in no small degree by a speech; for, when all that he +required was granted, and he was anxious to commence a levy, he called +an assembly of the people, as well to encourage them to enlist, as to +inveigh, according to his practice, against the nobility. He spoke, on +the occasion, as follows: + +LXXXV. "I am aware, my fellow-citizens, that most men do not appear as +candidates before you for an office, and conduct themselves in it when +they have obtained it, under the same character; that they are at +first industrious, humble, and modest, but afterward lead a life of +indolence and arrogance. But to me it appears that the contrary should +be the case; for as the whole state is of greater consequence than the +single office of consulate or praetorship, so its interests ought to +be managed[227] with greater solicitude than these magistracies are +sought. Nor am I insensible how great a weight of business I am, +through your kindness, called upon to sustain. To make preparations +for war, and yet to be sparing of the treasury; to press those into +the service whom I am unwilling to offend; to direct every thing at +home and abroad; and to discharge these duties when surrounded by the +envious, the hostile,[228] and the factious, is more difficult, my +fellow-citizens, than is generally imagined. In addition to this, if +others fail in their undertakings, their ancient rank, the heroic +actions of their ancestors, the power of their relatives and +connections, their numerous dependents, are all at hand to support +them; but as for me, my whole hopes rest upon myself, which I must +sustain by good conduct and integrity; for all other means are +unavailing. + +I am sensible, too, my fellow-citizens, that the eyes of all men are +turned upon me; that the just and good favor me, as my services are +beneficial to the state, but that the nobility seek occasion to attack +me. I must therefore use the greater exertion, that you may not be +deceived in me,[229] and that their views may be rendered abortive. I +have led such a life, indeed, from my boyhood to the present hour, +that I am familiar with every kind of toil and danger; and that +exertion, which, before your kindness to me, I practiced gratuitously, +it is not my intention to relax after having received my reward. For +those who have pretended to be men of worth only to secure their +election,[230] it may be difficult to conduct themselves properly in +office: but to me, who have passed my whole life in the most honorable +occupations, to act well has from habit become nature. + +You have commanded me to carry on the war against Jugurtha; a +commission at which the nobility are highly offended. Consider with +yourselves, I pray you, whether it would be a change for the better, +if you were to send to this, or to any other such appointment, one of +yonder crowd of nobles[231], a man of ancient family, of innumerable +statues, and of no military experience; in order, forsooth, that in so +important an office, and being ignorant of every thing connected with +it, he may exhibit hurry and trepidation, and select one of the people +to instruct him in his duty. For so it generally happens, that he whom +you have chosen to direct, seeks another to direct him. I know some, +my fellow-citizens, who, after they have been elected[232] consuls, +have begun to read the acts of their ancestors, and the military +precepts of the Greeks; persons who invert the order of things;[233] +for though to discharge the duties of the office[234] is posterior, in +point of time, to election, it is, in reality and practical +importance, prior to it. + +Compare now, my fellow-citizens, me, who am _a new man,_ with those +haughty nobles.[235] What they have but heard or read, I have +witnessed or performed. What they have learned from books, I have +acquired in the field; and whether deeds or words are of greater +estimation, it is for you to consider. + +They despise my humbleness of birth; I contemn their imbecility. My +condition[236] is made an objection to me; their misconduct is a +reproach to them. The circumstance of birth,[237] indeed, I consider +as one and the same to all; but think that he who best exerts himself +is the noblest. And could it be inquired of the fathers,[238] of +Albinus and Bestia, whether they would rather be the parents of them +or of me, what do you suppose that they would answer, but that they +would wish the most deserving to be their offspring! If the patricians +justly despise me, let them also despise their own ancestors, whose +nobility, like mine, had its origin in merit. They envy me the honor +that I have received; let them also envy me the toils, the +abstinence,[239] and the perils, by which I obtained that honor. + +But they, men eaten up with pride, live as if they disdained all the +distinctions that you can bestow, and yet sue for those distinctions +as if they had lived so as to merit them. Yet those are assuredly +deceived, who expect to enjoy, at the same time, things so +incompatible as the pleasures of indolence and the rewards of +honorable exertion.[240] + +When they speak before you, or in the senate, they occupy the +greatest part of their orations in extolling their ancestors;[241] +for, they suppose that, by recounting the heroic deeds of their +forefathers, they render themselves more illustrious. But the reverse +of this is the case; for the more glorious were the lives of their +ancestors, the more scandalous is their own inaction. The truth, +indeed, is plainly this, that the glory of ancestors sheds a light on +their posterity,[242] which suffers neither their virtues nor their +vices to be concealed. Of this light, my fellow-citizens, I have no +share; but I have, what confers much more distinction, the power of +relating my own actions. Consider, then, how unreasonable they are; +what they claim to themselves for the merit of others, they will not +grant to me for my own; alleging, forsooth, that I have no statues, +and that my distinction is newly-acquired; but it is surely better to +have acquired such distinction myself than to bring disgrace on that +received from others. + +I am not ignorant, that, if they were inclined to reply to me, they +would make an abundant display of eloquent and artful language. Yet, +since they attack both you and myself on occasion of the great favor +which you have conferred upon me, I did not think proper to be silent +before them, lest any one should construe my forbearance into a +consciousness of demerit. As for myself, indeed, nothing that is said +of me, I feel assured,[243] can do me injury; for what is true, must +of necessity speak in my favor; what is false, my life and character +will refute. But since your judgment, in bestowing on me so +distinguished an honor and so important a trust, is called in +question, consider, I beseech you, again and again, whether you are +likely to repent of what you have done. I can not, to raise your +confidence in me, boast of the statues, or triumphs, or consulships of +my ancestors; but, if it be thought necessary, I can show you spears,[244] +a banner,[245] caparisons[246] for horses, and other military rewards; +besides the scars of wounds on my breast. These are my statues; this +is my nobility; honors, not left, like theirs, by inheritance, but +acquired amid innumerable toils and dangers. + +My speech, they say, is inelegant; but that I have ever thought of +little importance. Worth sufficiently displays itself; it is for my +detractors to use studied language, that they may palliate base +conduct by plausible words. Nor have I learned Greek; for I had no +wish to acquire a tongue that adds nothing to the valor[247] of those +who teach it. But I have gained other accomplishments, such as are of +the utmost benefit to a state; I have learned to strike down an enemy; +to be vigilant at my post;[248] to fear nothing but dishonor; to bear +cold and heat with equal endurance; to sleep on the ground; and to +sustain at the same time hunger and fatigue. And with such rules of +conduct I shall stimulate my soldiers, not treating them with rigor +and myself with indulgence, nor making their toils my glory. Such a +mode of commanding is at once useful to the state, and becoming to a +citizen. For to coerce your troops with severity, while you yourself +live at ease, is to be a tyrant, not a general. + +It was by conduct such as this, my fellow-citizens, that your +ancestors made themselves and the republic renowned. Our nobility, +relying on their forefathers' merits, though totally different from +them in conduct, disparage us who emulate their virtues; and demand of +you every public honor, as due, not to their personal merit, but to +their high rank. Arrogant pretenders, and utterly unreasonable! For +though their ancestors left them all that was at their disposal, their +riches, their statues, and their glorious names, they left them not, +nor could leave them, their virtue; which alone, of all their +possessions, could neither be communicated nor received. + +They reproach me as being mean, and of unpolished manners, because, +forsooth, I have but little skill in arranging an entertainment, and +keep no actor,[249] nor give my cook[250] higher wages than my +steward; all which charges I must, indeed, acknowledge to be just; for +I learned from my father, and other venerable characters, that vain +indulgences belong to women, and labor to men; that glory, rather than +wealth, should be the object of the virtuous; and that arms and armor, +not household furniture, are marks of honor. But let the nobility, if +they please, pursue what is delightful and dear to them; let them +devote themselves to licentiousness and luxury; let them pass their +age as they have passed their youth, in revelry and feasting, the +slaves of gluttony and debauchery; but let them leave the toil and +dust of the field, and other such matters, to us, to whom they are +more grateful than banquets. This, however, they will not do; for when +these most infamous of men have disgraced themselves by every species +of turpitude, they proceed to claim the distinctions due to the most +honorable. Thus it most unjustly happens that luxury and indolence, +the most disgraceful of vices, are harmless to those who indulge in +them, and fatal only to the innocent commonwealth. + +As I have now replied to my calumniators, as far as my own character +required, though not so fully as their flagitiousness deserved, I +shall add a few words on the state of public affairs. In the first +place, my fellow-citizens, be of good courage with regard to Numidia; +for all that hitherto protected Jugurtha, avarice, inexperience, and +arrogance[251], you have entirely removed. There is an army in it, +too, which is well acquainted with the country, though, assuredly, +more brave than fortunate; for a great part of it has been destroyed +by the avarice or rashness of its commanders. Such of you, then, as +are of military age, co-operate with me, and support the cause of your +country; and let no discouragement, from the ill-fortune of others, or +the arrogance of the late commanders, affect any one of you. I myself +shall be with you, both on the march and in the battle, both to direct +your movements and to share your dangers. I shall treat you and myself +on every occasion alike; and, doubtless, with the aid of the gods, all +good things, victory, spoil, and glory, are ready to our hands; though, +even if they were doubtful or distant, it would still become every able +citizen to act in defense of his country. For no man, by slothful +timidity, has escaped the lot of mortals[252]; nor has any parent wished +for his children[253] that they might live forever, but rather that they +might act in life with virtue and honor. I would add more, my +fellow-citizens, if words could give courage to the faint-hearted; to +the brave I think that I have said enough." + +LXXXVI. After having spoken to this effect, Marius, when he found that +the minds of the populace were excited, immediately freighted vessels +with provisions, pay, arms, and other necessaries, and ordered Aulus +Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to set sail with them. He himself, in +the mean time, proceeded to enlist soldiers, not after the ancient +method, or from the classes[254], but taking all that were willing to +join him, and the greater part from the lowest ranks. Some said that +this was done from a scarcity of better men, and others from the +consul's desire to pay court[255] to the poorer class, because it was +by that order of men that he had been honored and promoted; and, +indeed, to a man grasping at power, the most needy are the most +serviceable, persons to whom their property (as they have none) is not +an object of care, and to whom every thing lucrative appears honorable. +Setting out, accordingly, for Africa, with a somewhat larger force than +had been decreed, he arrived in a few days at Utica. The command of the +army was resigned to him by Publius Rutilius, Metullus's +lieutenant-general; for Metullus himself avoided the sight of Marius, +that he might not see what he could not even endure to hear mentioned. + +LXXXVII. Marius, having filled up his legions[256] and auxiliary +cohorts, marched into a part of the country which was fertile and +abundant in spoil, where, whatever he captured, he gave up to his +soldiers. He then attacked such fortresses or towns as were ill +defended by nature or with troops, and ventured on several +engagements, though only of a light character, in different places. +The new recruits, in process of time, began to join in an encounter +without fear; they saw that such as fled were taken prisoners or +slain; that the bravest were the safest; that liberty, their country, +and parents,[257] are defended, and glory and riches acquired, by +arms. Thus the new and old troops soon became as one body, and the +courage of all was rendered equal. + +The two kings, when they heard of the approach of Marius, retreated, +by separate routes, into parts that were difficult of access; a plan +which had been proposed by Jugurtha, who hoped that, in a short time, +the enemy might be attacked when dispersed over the country, supposing +that the Roman soldiers, like the generality of troops, would be less +careful and observant of discipline when the fear of danger was removed. + +LXXXVIII. Metellus, meanwhile, having taken his departure for Rome, +was received there, contrary to his expectation, with the greatest +feelings of joy, being equally welcomed, since public prejudice had +subsided, by both the people and the patricians. + +Marius continued to attend, with equal activity and prudence, to his +own affairs and those of the enemy. He observed what would be +advantageous, or the contrary, to either party; he watched the +movements of the kings, counteracted their intentions and stratagems, +and allowed no remissness in his own army, and no security in that of +the enemy. He accordingly attacked and dispersed, on several +occasions, the Getulians and Jugurtha on their march, as they were +carrying off spoil from our allies;[258] and he obliged the king +himself, near the town of Cirta, to take flight without his arms[259] +But finding that such enterprises merely gained him honor, without +tending to terminate the war, he resolved on investing, one after +another, all the cities, which, by the strength of their garrisons or +situation, were best suited either to support the enemy, or to resist +himself; so that Jugurtha would either be deprived of his fortresses, +if he suffered them to be taken, or be forced to come to an engagement +in their defense. As to Bocchus, he had frequently sent messengers to +Marius, saying that he desired the friendship of the Roman people, and +that the consul need fear no act of hostility from him. But whether he +merely dissembled, with a view to attack us unexpectedly with greater +effect, or whether, from fickleness of disposition he habitually +wavered between war and peace, was never fairly ascertained. + +LXXXIX. Marius, as he had determined, proceeded to attack the +fortified towns and places of strength, and to detach them, partly by +force, and partly by threats or offers of reward, from the enemy. His +operations in this way, however, were at first but moderate; for he +expected that Jugurtha, to protect his subjects, would soon come to an +engagement. But finding that he kept at a distance, and was intent on +other affairs, he thought it was time to enter upon something of +greater importance and difficulty. Amid the vast deserts there lay a +great and strong city, named Capsa, the founder of which is said to have +been the Libyan Hercules.[260] Its inhabitants were exempted from taxes +by Jugurtha, and under mild government, and were consequently regarded +as the most faithful of his subjects. They were defended against enemies, +not only by walls, magazines of arms, and bodies of troops, but still +more by the difficulty of approaching them; for, except the parts +adjoining the walls, all the surrounding country is waste and +uncultivated, destitute of water, and infested with serpents, whose +fierceness, like that of other wild animals, is aggravated by want of +food; while the venom of such reptiles, deadly in itself, is exacerbated +by nothing so much as by thirst. Of this place Marius conceived a strong +desire[261] to make himself master, not only from its importance for the +war, but because its capture seemed an enterprise of difficulty; for +Metellus had gained great glory by taking Thala, a town similarly +situated and fortified; except that at Thala there were several springs +near the walls, while the people of Capsa had only one running stream, +and that within the town, all the water which they used beside being +rain-water. But this scarcity, both here and in other parts of Africa, +where the people live rudely and remote from the sea, was endured with +the greater ease, as the inhabitants subsist mostly on milk and wild +beasts' flesh,[262] and use no salt, or other provocatives of appetite, +their food being merely to satisfy hunger or thirst, and not to encourage +luxury or excess. + +XC. The consul,[263] having made all necessary investigations, and +relying, I suppose, on the gods (for against such difficulties he +could not well provide by his own forethought, as he was also +straitened for want of corn, because the Numidians apply more to +pasturage than agriculture, and had conveyed, by the king's order, +whatever corn had been raised into fortified places, while the ground +at the time, it being the end of summer, was parched and destitute of +vegetation), yet, under the circumstances, conducted his arrangements +with great prudence. All the cattle, which had been taken for some +days previous, he consigned to the care[264] of the auxiliary cavalry; +and directed Aulus Manlius, his lieutenant-general, to proceed with +the light-armed cohorts to the town of Lares,[265] where he had +deposited provisions and pay for the army, telling him that, after +plundering the country, he would join him there in a few days. Having +by this means concealed his real design, he proceeded toward the river +Tana. + +XCI. On his march he distributed daily, to each division of the +infantry and cavalry, an equal portion of the cattle, and gave orders +that water-bottles should be made of their hides; thus compensating, +at once, for the scarcity of corn, and providing, while all remained +ignorant of his intention, utensils which would soon be of service. At +the end of six days, accordingly, when he arrived at the river, a +large number of bottles had been prepared. Having pitched his camp, +with a slight fortification, he ordered his men to take refreshment, +and to be ready to resume their march at sunset; and, having laid aside +all their baggage, to load themselves and their beasts only with water. +As soon as it seemed time, he quitted the camp, and, after marching the +whole night,[266] encamped again. + +The same course he pursued on the following night, and on the third, +long before dawn, he reached a hilly spot of ground, not more than two +miles distant from Capsa, where he waited, as secretly as possible, +with his whole force. But when daylight appeared, and many of the +Numidians, having no apprehensions of an enemy, went forth out of the +town, he suddenly ordered all the cavalry, and with them the lightest +of the infantry, to hasten forward to Capsa, and secure the gates. He +himself immediately followed, with the utmost ardor, restraining his +men from plunder. + +When the inhabitants perceived that the place was surprised, their +state of consternation and extreme dread, the suddenness of the +calamity, and the consideration that many of their fellow-citizens +were without the walls in the power of the enemy, compelled them to +surrender. The town, however, was burned; of the Numidians, such as +were of adult age, were put to the sword; the rest were sold, and the +spoil divided among the soldiers. This severity, in violation of the +usages of war, was not adopted from avarice or cruelty in the consul, +but was exercised because the place was of great advantage to Jugurtha, +and difficult of access to us, while the inhabitants were a fickle and +faithless race, to be influenced neither by kindness nor by terror. + +XCII. When Marius had achieved so important an enterprise, without any +loss to his troops, he who was great and honored before became still +greater and still more honored. All his undertakings,[267] however +ill-concerted, were regarded as proofs of superior ability; his +soldiers, kept under mild discipline, and enriched with spoil, +extolled him to the skies; the Numidians dreaded him as some thing +more than human; and all, indeed, allies as well as enemies, believed +that he was either possessed of supernatural power, or had all things +directed for him by the will of the gods. + +After his success in this attempt, he proceeded against other towns; a +few, where they offered resistance, he took by force; a greater number, +deserted in consequence of the wretched fate of Capsa, he destroyed by +fire; and the whole country was filled with mourning and slaughter. + +Having at length gained possession of many places, and most of them +without loss to his army, he turned his thoughts to another enterprise, +which, though not of the same desperate character as that at Capsa, was +yet not less difficult of execution.[268] Not far from the river Mulucha, +which divided the kingdoms of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the +midst of a plain,[269] a rocky hill, sufficiently broad at the top for +a small fort; it rose to a vast height, and had but one narrow ascent +left open, the whole of it being as steep by nature as it could have +been rendered by labor and art. This place, as there were treasures of +the king in it, Marius directed his utmost efforts to take.[270] But +his views were furthered more by fortune than by his own contrivance. +In the fortress there were plenty of men and arms for its defense, +as well as an abundant store of provisions, and a spring of water; +while its situation was unfavorable for raising mounds, towers, and +other works; and the road to it, used by its inhabitants, was extremely +steep, with a precipice on either side. The vineae were brought up with +great danger, and without effect; for, before they were advanced any +considerable distance, they were destroyed with fire or stones. And from +the difficulties of the ground, the soldiers could neither stand in front +of the works, nor act among the vineae,[271] without danger; the boldest +of them were killed or wounded, and the fear of the rest increased. + +XCIII. Marius having thus wasted much time and labor, began seriously +to consider whether he should abandon the attempt as impracticable, or +wait for the aid of Fortune, whom he had so often found favorable. +While he was revolving the matter in his mind, during several days and +nights, in a state of much doubt and perplexity, it happened that a +certain Ligurian, a private soldier in the auxiliary cohorts,[272] +having gone out of the camp to fetch water, observed, near that part +of the fort which was furthest from the besiegers, some snails +crawling among the rocks, of which, when he had picked up one or two, +and afterward more, he gradually proceeded, in his eagerness for +collecting them, almost to the top of the hill. When he found this +part deserted, a desire, incident to the human mind, of seeing what he +had never seen,[273] took violent possession of him. A large oak +chanced to grow out among the rocks, at first, for a short distance, +horizontally,[274] and then, as nature directs all vegetables,[275] +turning and shooting upward. Raising himself sometimes on the boughs +of this tree, and sometimes on the projecting rocks, the Ligurian, as +all the Numidians were intently watching the besiegers, took a full +survey of the platform of the fortress. Having observed whatever he +thought it would afterward prove useful to know, he descended the same +way, not unobservantly, as he had gone up, but exploring and noticing +all the peculiarities of the path. He then hastened to Marius, +acquainted him with what he had done, and urged him to attack the fort +on that side where he had ascended, offering himself to lead the way +and the attempt. Marius sent some of those about him, along with the +Ligurian, to examine the practicability of his proposal, who, +according to their several dispositions, reported the affair as +difficult or easy. The consul's hopes, however, were somewhat +encouraged; and he accordingly selected, from his band of trumpeters +and bugle-men, five of the most nimble, and with them four centurions +for a guard;[276] all of whom he directed to obey the Ligurian, +appointing the next day for commencing the experiment. + +XCIV. When, according to their instructions, it seemed time to set +out, the Ligurian, after preparing and arranging every thing, +proceeded to the place of ascent. Those who commanded the +centuries,[277] being previously instructed by the guide, had changed +their arms and dress, having their heads and feet bare, that their +view upward, and their progress among the rocks, might be less +impeded;[278] their swords were slung behind them, as well as their +shields, which were Numidian, and made of leather, both for the sake +of lightness, and in order that, if struck against any object, they +might make less noise. The Ligurian went first, and tied to the rocks, +and whatever roots of trees projected through age, a number of ropes, +by which the soldiers supporting themselves might climb with the +greatest ease. Such as were timorous, from the extraordinary nature of +the path, he sometimes pulled up by the hand; when the ascent was +extremely rugged, he sent them on singly before him without their +arms, which he then carried up after them; whatever parts appeared +unsafe,[279] he first tried them himself, and, by going up and down +repeatedly in the same place, and then standing aside, he inspired the +rest with courage to proceed. At length, after uninterrupted and +harassing exertion they reached the fortress, which, on that side, was +undefended, for all the occupants, as on other days, were intent on +the enemy in the opposite quarter. + +Though Marius had kept the attention of the Numidians, during the +whole day, fixed on his attacks, yet, when he heard from his scouts +how the Ligurian had succeeded, he animated his soldiers to fresh +exertions, and he himself, advancing beyond the vineae, and causing a +testudo to be formed,[280] came up close under the walls, annoying the +enemy, at the same time, with his engines, archers, and slingers, from +a distance. + +But the Numidians, having often before overturned and burned the +vineae of the Romans, no longer confined themselves within the +fortress, but spent day and night before the walls, railing at the +Romans, upbraiding Marius with madness, threatening our soldiers with +being made slaves to Jugurtha, and exhibiting the utmost audacity on +account of their successful defense. In the mean time, while both the +Romans and Numidians were engaged in the struggle, the one side +contending for glory and dominion, the other for their very existence, +the trumpets suddenly sounded a blast in the rear of the enemy, at +which the women and children, who had gone out to view the contest, +were the first to flee; next those who were nearest to the wall, and +at length the whole of the Numidians, armed and unarmed, retreated +within the fort. When this had happened, the Romans pressed upon the +enemy with increased boldness, dispersing them, and at first only +wounding the greater part, but afterward making their way over the +bodies of those who fell, thirsting for glory, and striving who should +be first to reach the wall; not a single individual being detained by +the plunder. Thus the rashness of Marius, rendered successful by +fortune, procured him renown from his very error. + +XCV. During the progress of this affair, Lucius Sylla, Marius's +quaestor, arrived in the camp with a numerous body of cavalry, which +he had been left at Rome to raise among the Latins and allies. + +Of so eminent a man, since my subject brings him to my notice, I think +it proper to give a brief account of the character and manners; for I +shall in no other place allude to his affairs;[281] and Lucius +Sisenna,[282] who has treated that subject the most ably and accurately +of all writers, seems to me to have spoken with too little freedom. +Sylla, then, was of patrician descent, but of a family almost sunk in +obscurity by the degeneracy of his forefathers. He was skilled, equally +and profoundly, in Greek and Roman literature. He was a man of large +mind, fond of pleasure, but fonder of glory. His leisure was spent in +luxurious gratifications, but pleasure never kept him from his duties, +except that he might have acted more for his honor with regard to his +wife[283]. He was eloquent and subtle, and lived on the easiest terms +with his friends.[284] His depth of thought in disguising his +intentions, was incredible; he was liberal of most things, but +especially of money. And though he was the most fortunate [285] of all +men before his victory in the civil war, yet his fortune was never +beyond his desert;[286] and many have expressed a doubt whether his +success or his merit were the greater. As to his subsequent acts, I +know not whether more of shame, or of regret must be felt at the +recital of them. + +XCVI. When Sylla came with his cavalry into Africa, as has just been +stated, and arrived at the camp of Marius, though he had hitherto been +unskilled and undisciplined in the art of war, he became, in a short +time, the most expert of the whole army. He was besides affable to the +soldiers; he conferred favors on many at their request, and on others +of his own accord, and was reluctant to receive any in return. But he +repaid other obligations more readily than those of a pecuniary +nature; he himself demanded repayment from no one; but rather made it +his object that as many as possible should be indebted to him. He +conversed, jocosely as well as seriously, with the humblest of the +soldiers; he was their frequent companion at their works, on the +march, and on guard. Nor did he ever, as is usual with depraved +ambition, attempt to injure the character of the consul, or of any +deserving person. + +His sole aim, whether in the council or the field, was to suffer none +to excel him; to most he was superior. By such conduct he soon became +a favorite both with Marius and with the army. + +XCVII. Jugurtha, after he had lost the city of Capsa, and other strong +and important places, as well as a vast sum of money, dispatched +messengers to Bocchus, requesting him to bring his forces into Numidia +as soon as possible, and stating that the time for giving battle was +at hand. But finding that he hesitated, and was balancing the +inducements to peace and war, he again corrupted his confidants, as on +a previous occasion, with presents, and promised the Moor himself a +third part of Numidia, should either the Romans be driven from Africa, +or the war brought to an end without any diminution of his own +territories. Being allured by this offer, Bocchus joined Jugurtha with +a large force. + +The armies of the kings being thus united, they attacked Marius, on +his march to his winter quarters, when scarcely a tenth part of the +day remained[287], expecting that the night, which was now coming on, +would be a shelter to them if they were beaten, and no impediment if +they should conquer, as they were well acquainted with the country, +while either result would be worse for the Romans in the dark. At the +very moment, accordingly, that Marius heard from various quarters[288] +of the enemy's approach, the enemy themselves were upon him, and +before the troops could either form themselves or collect the baggage, +before they could receive even a signal or an order, the Moorish and +Getulian horse, not in line, or any regular array of battle, but in +separate bodies, as chance had united them, rushed furiously on our +men; who, though all struck with a panic, yet, calling to mind what +they had done on former occasions, either seized their arms, or +protected those who were looking for theirs, while some, springing on +their horses, advanced against the enemy. But the whole conflict was +more like a rencounter with robbers than a battle; the horse and foot +of the enemy, mingled together without standards or order, wounded +some of our men, and cut down others, and surprised many in the rear +while fighting stoutly with those in front; neither valor nor arms +were a sufficient defense, the enemy being superior in numbers, and +covering the field on all sides. At last the Roman veterans, who were +necessarily well experienced in war,[289] formed themselves, wherever +the nature of the ground or chance allowed them to unite, in circular +bodies, and thus secured on every side, and regularly drawn up, +withstood the attacks of the enemy. + +XCVIII. Marius, in this desperate emergency, was not more alarmed or +disheartened than on any previous occasion, but rode about with his +troop of cavalry, which he had formed of his bravest soldiers rather +than his nearest friends, in every quarter of the field, sometimes +supporting his own men when giving way, sometimes charging the enemy +where they were thickest, and doing service to his troops with his +sword, since, in the general confusion, he was unable to command with +his voice. + +The day had now closed, yet the barbarians abated nothing of their +impetuosity, but, expecting that the night would be in their favor, +pressed forward, as their kings had directed them, with increased +violence. Marius, in consequence, resolved upon a measure suited to +his circumstances, and, that his men might have a place of retreat, +took possession of two hills contiguous to each other, on one of +which, too small for a camp, there was an abundant spring of water, +while the other, being mostly elevated and steep, and requiring little +fortification, was suited for his purpose as a place of encampment. He +then ordered Sylla, with a body of cavalry, to take his station for +the night on the eminence containing the spring, while he himself +collected his scattered troops by degrees, the enemy being not less +disordered[290], and led them all at a quick march[291] up the other +hill. Thus the kings, obliged by the strength of the Roman position, +were deterred from continuing the combat; yet they did not allow their +men to withdraw to a distance, but, surrounding both hills with a +large force, encamped without any regular order. Having then lighted +numerous fires, the barbarians, after their custom, spent most of the +night in merriment, exultation, and tumultuous clamor, the kings, +elated at having kept their ground, conducting themselves as +conquerors. This scene, plainly visible to the Romans, under cover of +the night and on the higher ground, afforded great encouragement to +them. + +XCIX. Marius, accordingly, deriving much confidence from the +imprudence of the enemy, ordered the strictest possible silence to be +kept, not allowing even the trumpets, as was usual, to be sounded when +the watches were changed;[292] cavalry, and legions, to sound all and +then, when day approached, and the enemy were fatigued and just +sinking to sleep, he ordered the sentinels, with the trumpeters of the +auxiliary cohorts,[293] their instruments at once, and the soldiers, +at the same time, to raise a shout, and sally forth from the camp[294] +upon the enemy. The Moors and Getulians, suddenly roused by the +strange and terrible noise, could neither flee, nor take up arms, +could neither act, nor provide for their security, so completely had +fear, like a stupor,[295] from the uproar and shouting, the absence of +support, the charge of our troops, and the tumult and alarm, seized +upon them all. The whole of them were consequently routed and put to +flight; most of their arms, and military standards, were taken; and +more were killed in this than in all former battles, their escape +being impeded by sleep and the sudden alarm. + +C. Marius now continued the route, which he had commenced, toward his +winter quarters, which, for the convenience of getting provisions, he +had determined to fix in the towns on the coast. He was not, however, +rendered careless or presumptuous by his victory, but marched with his +army in form of a square[296] just as if he were in sight of the +enemy. Sylla, with his cavalry, was on the right; Aulus Manlius, with +the slingers and archers, and Ligurian cohorts, had the command on the +left; the tribunes, with the light-armed infantry, the consul had +placed in the front and rear. The deserters, whose lives were of +little value, and who were well acquainted with the country, observed +the route of the enemy. Marius himself, too, as if no other were +placed in charge, attended to every thing, went through the whole of +the troops, and praised or blamed them according to their desert. He +was always armed and on the alert, and obliged his men to imitate his +example. He fortified his camp with the same caution with which he +marched; stationing cohorts of the legions to watch the gates, and the +auxiliary cavalry in front, and others upon the rampart and lines. He +went round the posts in person, not from suspicion that his orders +would not be observed, but that the labor of the soldiers, shared +equally by their general, might be endured by them with cheerfulness. +[297] Indeed, Marius, as well at this as at other periods of the war, +kept his men to their duty rather by the dread of shame[298] than of +severity; a course which many said was adopted from desire of popularity, +but some thought it was because he took pleasure in toils to which he had +been accustomed from his youth, and in exertions which other men call +perfect miseries. The public interest, however, was served with as much +efficiency and honor as it could have been under the most rigorous +command. + +CI. At length, on the fourth day of his march, when he was not far +from the town of Cirta, his scouts suddenly made their appearance from +all quarters at once; a circumstance by which the enemy was known to +be at hand. But as they came in from different points, and all gave +the same account, the consul, doubting in what form to draw up his +army, made no alteration in it, but halted where he was, being already +prepared for every contingency. Jugurtha's expectations, in consequence, +disappointed him; for he had divided his force into four bodies, trusting +that one of them, assuredly,[299] would surprise the Romans in the rear. +Sylla, meanwhile, with whom they first came in contact, having cheered +on his men, charged the Moors, in person and with his officers,[300] +with troop after troop of cavalry, in the closest order possible; while +the rest of his force, retaining their position, protected themselves +against the darts thrown from a distance, and killed such of the enemy +as fell into their hands. + +While the cavalry was thus engaged, Bocchus, with his infantry, which +his son Volux had brought up, and which, from delay on their march, +had not been present in the former battle, assailed the Romans in the +rear. Marius was at that moment occupied in front, as Jugurtha was +there with his largest force. The Numidian king, hearing of the +arrival of Bocchus, wheeled secretly about, with a few of his +followers, to the infantry,[301] and exclaimed in Latin, which he had +learned to speak at Numantia, "that our men wore struggling in vain; +for that he had just slain Marius with his own hand;" showing, at the +same time, his sword besmeared with blood, which he had, indeed, +sufficiently stained by vigorously cutting down our infantry[302]. + +When the soldiers heard this, they felt a shock, though rather at the +horror of such an event, than from belief in him who asserted it; the +barbarians, on the other hand, assumed fresh courage, and advanced +with greater fury on the disheartened Romans, who were just on the +point of taking to flight, when Sylla, having routed those to whom he +had been opposed, fell upon the Moors in the flank. Bocchus instantly +fled. Jugurtha, anxious to support his men, and to secure a victory so +nearly won, was surrounded by our cavalry, and all his attendants, +right and left, being slain, had to force a way alone, with great +difficulty, through the weapons of the enemy. Marius, at the same +time, having put to flight the cavalry, came up to support such of his +men as he had understood to be giving ground. At last the enemy were +defeated in every quarter. The spectacle on the open plains was then +frightful;[303] some were pursuing, others fleeing; some were being +slain, others captured; men and horses were dashed to the earth; many, +who were wounded, could neither flee nor remain at rest, attempting to +rise, and instantly falling back; and the whole field, as far as the +eye could reach, was strewed with arms and dead bodies, and the +intermediate spaces saturated with blood. + +CII. At length the consul, now indisputably victor, arrived at the +town of Cirta, whither he had at first intended to go. To this place, +on the fifth day after the second defeat of the barbarians, came +messengers from Bocchus, who, in the king's name, requested of Marius +to send him two persons in whom he had full confidence, as he wished +to confer with them on matters concerning both the interest of the +Roman people and his own. Marius immediately dispatched Sylla and +Aulus Manlius; who, though they went at the king's invitation, thought +proper, notwithstanding, to address him first, in the hope of altering +his sentiments, if he were unfavorable to peace, or of strengthening +his inclination, if he were disposed to it. Sylla, therefore, to whose +superiority, not in years but in eloquence, Manlius yielded +precedence, spoke to Bocchus briefly as follows: + +"It gives us great pleasure, King Bocchus, that the gods have at +length induced a man, so eminent as yourself, to prefer peace to war, +and no longer to stain your own excellent character by an alliance +with Jugurtha, the most infamous of mankind; and to relieve us, at the +same time, from the disagreeable necessity of visiting with the same +punishment your errors and his crimes. Besides, the Roman people, even +from the very infancy[304] of their state, have thought it better to +seek friends than slaves, thinking it safer to rule over willing than +forced subjects. But to you no friendship can be more suitable than +ours; for, in the first place, we are at a distance from you, on which +account there will be the less chance of misunderstanding between us, +while our good feeling for you will be as strong as if we were near; +and, secondly, because, though we have subjects in abundance, yet +neither we, nor any other nation, can ever have a sufficiency of +friends. Would that such had been your inclination from the first; for +then you would assuredly, before this time, have received from the +Roman people more benefits than you have now suffered evils. But since +Fortune has the chief control in human affairs, and it has pleased her +that you should experience our force as well as our favor, now, when, +she gives you this fair opportunity, embrace it without delay, and +complete the course which you have begun. You have many and excellent +means of atoning, with great ease, for past errors by future services. +Impress this, however, deeply on your mind, that the Roman people are +never outdone in acts of kindness; of their power in war you have +already sufficient knowledge." + +To this address Bocchus made a temperate and courteous reply, offering +a few observations, at the same time, in extenuation of his error; and +saying "that he had taken arms, not with any hostile feeling, but to +defend his own dominions, as part of Numidia, out of which he had +forcibly driven Jugurtha,[305] was his by right of conquest, and he +could not allow it to be laid waste by Marius; that when he formerly +sent embassadors to the Romans, he was refused their friendship; but +that he would say nothing more of the past, and would, if Marius gave +him permission, send another embassy to the senate." But no sooner was +this permission granted, than the purpose of the barbarian was altered +by some of his friends, whom Jugurtha, hearing of the mission of Sylla +and Manlius, and fearful of what was intended by it, had corrupted +with bribes. + +CIII. Marius, in the mean time, having settled his army in winter +quarters, set out, with the light-armed cohorts and part of the +cavalry, into a desert part of the country, to besiege a fortress of +Jugurtha's, in which he had placed a garrison consisting wholly of +Roman deserters. And now again Bocchus, either from reflecting on what +he had suffered in the two engagements, or from being admonished by +such of his friends as Jugurtha had not corrupted, selected, out of +the whole number of his adherents, five persons of approved integrity +and eminent abilities, whom he directed to go, in the first place, to +Marius, and afterward to proceed, if Marius gave his consent, as +embassadors to Rome, granting them full powers to treat concerning his +affairs, and to conclude the war upon any terms whatsoever. These five +immediately set out for the Roman winter-quarters, but being beset and +spoiled by Getulian robbers on the way, fled, in alarm and ill +plight,[306] to Sylla, whom the consul, when he went on his expedition, +had left as pro-praetor with the army. Sylla received them, not, as they +had deserved, like faithless enemies, but with the greatest ceremony and +munificence; from which the barbarians concluded that what was said of +Roman avarice was false, and that Sylla, from his generosity, must be +their friend. For interested bounty,[307] in those days, was still +unknown to many; by whom every man who was liberal was also thought +benevolent, and all presents were considered to proceed from kindness. +They therefore disclosed to the quaestor their commission from Bocchus, +and asked him to be their patron and adviser; extolling, at the same +time, the power, integrity, and grandeur of their monarch, and adding +whatever they thought likely to promote their objects, or to procure +the favor of Sylla. Sylla promised them all that they requested; and, +being instructed how to address Marius and the senate, they tarried in +the camp about forty days.[308] + +CIV. When Marius, having failed in the object[309] of his expedition, +returned to Cirta, and was informed of the arrival of the embassadors, +he desired both them and Sylla to come to him, together with Lucius +Bellienus, the praetor from Utica, and all that were of senatorial rank +in any part of the country, with whom he discussed the instructions of +Bocchus to his embassadors; to whom permission to proceed to Rome was +granted by the consul. In the mean time a truce was asked, a request +to which assent was readily expressed by Sylla and the majority; the +few, who advocated harsher measures, were men inexperienced in human +affairs, which, unstable and fluctuating, are always verging to +opposite extremes.[310] + +The Moors having obtained all that they desired, three of them started +for Rome with Oneius Octavius Rufus, who, as quaestor, had brought pay +for the army to Africa; the other two returned to Bocchus, who heard +from them, with great pleasure, their account both of other +particulars, and especially of the courtesy and attention of Sylla. + +To his three embassadors that went to Rome, when, after a deprecatory +acknowledgment that their king had been in error, and had been led +astray by the treachery of Jugurtha, they solicited for him friendship +and alliance, the following answer was given: "The senate and people +of Rome are wont to be mindful of both services and injuries; they +pardon Bocchus, since he repents of his fault, and will grant him +their alliance and friendship when he shall have deserved them." + +CV. When this reply was communicated to Bocchus, he requested Marius, +by letter, to send Sylla to him, that, at his discretion,[311] +measures might be adopted for their common interest. Sylla was +accordingly dispatched, attended with a guard of cavalry, infantry, +and Balearic slingers, besides some archers and a Pelignian cohort, +who, for the sake of expedition, were furnished with light arms, +which, however, protected them, as efficiently as any others, against +the light darts of the enemy. As he was on his march, on the fifth day +after he set out, Volux, the son of Bocchus, suddenly appeared on the +open plain with a body of cavalry, which amounted in reality to not +more than a thousand, but which, as they approached in confusion and +disorder, presented to Sylla and the rest the appearance of a greater +number, and excited apprehensions of hostility. Every one, therefore, +prepared himself for action, trying and presenting[312] his arms and +weapons; some fear was felt among them, but greater hope, as they were +now conquerors, and were only meeting those whom they had often +overcome. After a while, however, a party of horse sent forward to +reconnoiter, reported, as was the case, that nothing but peace was +intended. + +CVI. Volux, coming forward, addressed himself to Sylla, saying that he +was sent by Bocchus his father to meet and escort him. The two parties +accordingly formed a junction, and prosecuted their journey, on that +day and the following, without any alarm. But when they had pitched +their camp, and evening had set in, Volux came running, with looks of +perplexity, to Sylla, and said that he had learned from his scouts +that Jugurtha was at hand, entreating and urging him, at the same +time, to escape with him privately in the night. Sylla boldly replied, +"that he had no fear of Jugurtha, an enemy so often defeated; that he +had the utmost confidence in the valor of his troops; and that, even +if certain destruction were at hand, he would rather keep his ground, +than save, by deserting his followers, a life at best uncertain, and +perhaps soon to be lost by disease." Being pressed, however, by Volux, +to set forward in the night, he approved of the suggestion, and +immediately ordered his men to dispatch their supper,[313] to light as +many fires as possible in the camp, and to set out in silence at the +first watch. + +When they were all fatigued with their march during the night, and +Sylla was preparing, at sunrise, to pitch his camp, the Moorish +cavalry announced that Jugurtha was encamped about two miles in +advance. At this report, great dismay fell upon our men; for they +believed themselves betrayed by Volux, and led into an ambuscade. Some +exclaimed that they ought to take vengeance on him at once, and not +suffer such perfidy to remain unpunished. + +CVII. But Sylla, though he had similar thoughts, protected the Moor +from violence; exhorting his soldiers to keep up their spirits; and +saying, "that a handful of brave men had often fought successfully +against a multitude; that the less anxious they were to save their +lives in battle, the greater would be their security; and that no man, +who had arms in his hands, ought to trust for safety to his unarmed +heels, or to turn to the enemy, in however great danger, the +defenseless and blind parts of his body".[314] Having then called +almighty Jupiter to witness the guilt and perfidy of Bocchus, he +ordered Volux, as being an instrument of his father's hostility,[315] +to quit the camp. + +Volux, with tears in his eyes, entreated him to entertain no such +suspicions; declaring "that nothing in the affair had been caused by +treachery on his part, but all by the subtlety of Jugurtha, to whom +his line of march had become known through his scouts. But as Jugurtha +had no great force with him, and as his hopes and resource were +dependent on his father Bocchus, he assuredly would not attempt any +open violence, when the son of Bocchus would himself be a witness of +it. He thought it best for Sylla, therefore, to march boldly through +the middle of his camp, and that as for himself, he would either send +forward his Moors, or leave them where they were, and accompany Sylla +alone." This course, under such circumstances, was adopted; they set +forward without delay, and, as they came upon Jugurtha unexpectedly, +while he was in doubt and hesitation how to act, they passed without +molestation. In a few days afterward, they arrived at the place to +which their march was directed. + +CVIII. There was, at this time, in constant and familiar intercourse +with Bocchus, a Numidian named Aspar, who had been sent to him by +Jugurtha, when he heard of Sylla's intended interview, in the +character of embassador, but secretly to be a spy on the Mauretanian +king's proceedings. There was also with him a certain Dabar, son of +Massugrada, one of the family of Masinissa,[316] but of inferior birth +on the maternal side, as his father was the son of a concubine. Dabar, +for his many intellectual endowments, was liked and esteemed by +Bocchus, who, having found him faithful[317] on many former occasions, +sent him forthwith to Sylla, to say that "he was ready to do whatever +the Romans desired; that Sylla himself should appoint the place, day, +and hour,[318] for a conference; that he kept all points, which he had +settled with him before, inviolate;[319] and that he was not to fear +the presence of Jugurtha's embassador as any restraint[320] on the +discussion of their common interests, since, without admitting him, he +could have no security against Jugurtha's treachery". I find, however, +that it was rather from African duplicity[321] than from the motives +which he professed, that Bocchus thus allured both the Romans and +Jugurtha with the hopes of peace; that he frequently debated with +himself whether he should deliver Jugurtha to the Romans, or Sylla to +Jugurtha; and that his inclination swayed him against us, but his +fears in our favor. + +CIX. Sylla replied, "that he should speak on but few particulars +before Aspar, and discuss others at a private meeting, or in the +presence of only a few;" dictating, at the same time, what answer +should be returned by Bocchus.[322] Afterward, when they met, as +Bocchus had desired, Sylla stated, "that he had come, by order of the +consul, to inquire whether he would resolve on peace or on war." +Bocchus, as he had been previously instructed by Sylla, requested him +to come again at the end of ten days, since he had as yet formed no +determination, but would at that time give a decisive answer. Both +then retired to their respective camps.[323] But when the night was +far advanced, Sylla was secretly sent for by Bocchus. At their +interview, none but confidential interpreters were admitted on either +side, together with Dabar, the messenger between them, a man of honor, +and held in esteem by both parties. The king at once commenced thus: + +CX. "I never expected that I, the greatest monarch in this part of the +world, and the richest of all whom I know, should ever owe a favor to +a private man. Indeed, Sylla, before I knew you, I gave assistance to +many who solicited me, and to others without solicitation, and stood +in need of no man's assistance. + +But at this loss of independence, at which others are wont to repine, +I am rather inclined to rejoice. It will be a pleasure to me[324] to +have once needed your friendship, than which I hold nothing dearer to +my heart. Of the sincerity of this assertion you may at once make +trial, take my arms, my soldiers, my money, or whatever you please, +and use it as your own. But do not suppose, as long as you live, that +your kindness to me has been fully requited; my sense of it will +always remain undiminished, and you shall, with my knowledge, wish for +nothing in vain. For, as I am of opinion, it is less dishonorable to a +prince to be conquered in battle than to be surpassed in generosity. + +With respect to your republic, whose interests you are sent to guard, +hear briefly what I have to say. I have neither made war upon the +Roman people, nor desired that it should be made; I have merely +defended my territories with arms against an armed force. But from +hostilities, since such is your pleasure, I now desist. Prosecute the +war with Jugurtha as you think proper. The river Malucha, which was +the boundary between Miscipsa and me, I shall neither pass myself, nor +suffer Jugurtha to come within it. And if you shall ask any thing +besides, worthy of me and of yourself, you shall not depart with a +refusal." + +CXI. To this speech Sylla replied, as far as concerned himself, +briefly and modestly; but spoke, with regard to the peace and their +common concerns, much more at length. He signified to the king "that +the senate and people of Rome, as they had the superiority in the +field, would think themselves little obliged by what he promised; that +he must do something which would seem more for their interest than his +own; and that for this there was now a fair opportunity, since he had +Jugurtha in his power, for, if he delivered him to the Romans, they +would feel greatly indebted to him, and their friendship and alliance, +as well as that part of Numidia which he claimed,[325] would readily +be granted him." Bocchus at first refused to listen to the proposal, +saying that affinity, the ties of blood,[326] and a solemn league, +connected him with Jugurtha; and that he feared, if he acted +insincerely, he might alienate the affections of his subjects, by whom +Jugurtha was beloved, and the Romans disliked. But at last, after +being frequently importuned, his resolution gave way,[327] and he +engaged to do every thing in accordance with Sylla's wishes. They then +concerted measures for conducting a pretended treaty of peace, of +which Jugurtha, weary of war, was extremely desirous. Having settled +their plans, they separated. + +CXII. On the next day Bocchus sent for Aspar, Jugurtha's envoy, and +acquainted him that he had ascertained from Sylla, through Dabar, that +the war might be concluded on certain conditions; and that he should +therefore make inquiry as to the sentiments of his king. Aspar +proceeded with joy to Jugurtha's camp, and having received full +instructions from him, returned in haste to Bocchus at the end of +eight days, with intelligence "that Jugurtha was eager to do whatever +might be required, but that he put little confidence in Marius, as +treaties of peace, concluded with Roman generals, had often before +proved of no effect; that if Bocchus, however, wished to consult the +interests of both,[328] and to have an established peace, he should +endeavor to bring all parties together to a conference, as if to +settle the conditions, and then deliver Sylla into his hands, for when +he had such a man in his power, a treaty would at once be concluded by +order of the senate and people of Rome; as a man of high rank, who had +fallen into the hands of the enemy, not from want of spirit, but from +zeal for the public interest, would not be left in captivity". + +CXIII. The Moor, after long meditation on these suggestions, at length +expressed his assent to them, but whether in pretense or sincerity I +have not been able to discover. But the inclinations of kings, as they +are violent, are often fickle, and at variance with themselves. At +last, after a time and place were fixed for coming to a conference +about the treaty, Bocchus addressed himself at one time to Sylla and +at another to the envoy of Jugurtha, treating them with equal +affability, and making the same professions to both. Both were in +consequence equally delighted, and animated with the fairest +expectations. But on the night preceding the day appointed for the +conference, the Moor, after first assembling his friends, and then, +on a change of mind, dismissing them, is reported to have had many +anxious struggles with himself, disturbed alike in his thoughts and +his gestures, which, even when he was silent, betrayed the secret +agitation of his mind. At last, however, he ordered that Sylla should +be sent for, and, according to his desire, laid an ambush for +Jugurtha. + +As soon as it was day, and intelligence was brought that Jugurtha was +at hand, Bocchus, as if to meet him and do him honor, went forth, +attended by a few friends, and our quaestor, as far as a little hill, +which was full in the view of the men who were placed in ambush. To +the same spot came Jugurtha with most of his adherents, unarmed, +according to agreement; when immediately, on a signal being given, he +was assailed on all sides by those who were lying in wait. The others +were cut to pieces, and Jugurtha himself was delivered bound to Sylla, +and by him conducted to Marius. + +CXIV. At this period war was carried on unsuccessfully by our generals +Quintus Caepio and Marcus Manlius, against the Gauls; with the terror +of which all Italy was thrown into consternation. Both the Romans of +that day, indeed, and their descendants, down to our own times, +maintained the opinion that all other nations must yield to their +valor, but that they contended with the Gauls, not for glory, but +merely in self-defense. But after the war in Numidia was ended, and +it was announced that Jugurtha was coming in chains to Rome, Marius, +though absent from the city, was created consul, and Gaul decreed to +him as his province. On the first of January he triumphed as consul, +with great glory. At that time[329] the hopes and dependence of the +state were placed on him. + + + + +NOTES FOR THE JUGURTHINE WAR + + +[1] I. Intellectual power--_Virtute_. See the remarks on +_virtus_, at the commencement of the Conspiracy of Catiline. A little +below, I have rendered _via virtutis_, "the path of true merit." + +[2] Worthy of honor--_Clarus_. "A person may be called _clarus_ +either on account of his great actions and merits; or on account of +some honor which he has obtained, as the consuls were called +_clarissimi viri_; or on account of great expectations which are +formed from him. But since the worth of him who is _clarus_ is known +by all, it appears that the mind is here called _clarus_ because its +nature is such that pre-eminence is generally attributed to it, and +the attention of all directed toward it." _Dietsch_. + +[3] Abandons itself--_Pessum datus est_. Is altogether sunk and +overwhelmed. + +[4] Impute their delinquency to circumstances, etc.--_Suam quisque +culpam ad negotia transferunt_. Men excuse their indolence and +inactivity, by saying that the weakness of their faculties, or the +circumstances in which they are placed, render them unable to +accomplish any thing of importance. But, says Seneca, _Satis natura, +homini dedit roboris, si illo utamur;--nolle in causâ, non posse +praetenditur_. "Nature has given men sufficient powers, if they will +but use them; but they pretend that they can not when the truth is +that they will not." "_Negotia_ is a common word with Sallust, for +which other writers would use _res, facta_." Gerlach. "Cajus rei nos +ipsi sumus auctores, ejus culpam rebus externis attribuimus." +_Muller_. "Auctores" is the same as the [Greek: _aitioi_]. + +[5] Useless--_Aliena_. Unsuitable, not to the purpose, not +contributing to the improvement of life. + +[6] Instead of being mortal--_Pro mortalibus_. There are two senses +in which these words may be taken: _as far as mortals can_, and +_instead of being mortals_. Kritz and Dietsch say that the latter is +undoubtedly the true sense. Other commentators are either silent or +say little to the purpose. As for the translators, they have studied +only how to get over the passage delicately. The latter sense is +perhaps favored by what is said in c. 2, that "the illustrious +achievements of the mind are, like the mind itself, immortal." + +[7] II. They all rise and fall, etc.--_Omnia orta occidunt, et +aucta senescunt_. This is true of things in general, but is here +spoken only of the qualities of the body, as De Brosses clearly +perceived. + +[8] Has power over all things--_Habet cuncta_. "All things are in +its power." Dietsch. "_Sub ditione tenet_. So Jupiter, Ov. Met. +i. 197: + Quum mihi qui fulmen, qui vos habeoque regoque." +_Burnouf_. So Aristippus said, _Habeo Laidem, non habeor a Laide_, +[Greek: _echo ouk echomai_]. Cic. Epist. ad Fam. ix. 26. + +[9] III. Civil and military offices--_Magistratus et imperia_. +"Illo vocabule civilia, hoc militaria munera, significantur." +_Dietsch_. + +[10] To rule our country or subjects, etc.--_Nam vi quidem regere +patriam aut parentes_, etc. Cortius, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Muller are unanimous in understanding _parentes_ as the participle of +the verb _pareo_. That this is the sense, says Gerlach, is +sufficiently proved by the conjunction _aut_; for if Sallust had meant +_parents_, he would have used _ut_; and in this opinion Allen +coincides. Doubtless, also, this sense of the word suits extremely +well with the rest of the sentence, in which changes in government are +mentioned. But Burnouf, with Crispinus, prefers to follow Aldus +Manutius, who took the word in the other signification, supposing that +Sallust borrowed the sentiment from Plato, who says in his Epistle _ad +Dionis Propinquos_: [Greek: _Patera de hae maetera ouch osion +haegoumai prosbiazesthai, mae noso paraphrosunaes hechomenous. Bian de +patridi politeias metabolaes aeae prospherein, otan aneu phugon, kai +sphagaes andron, mae dunaton hae ginesthae taen ariostaen_.] And he +makes a similar observation in his Crito: [Greek: _Pantachou +poiaetaen, o an keleuoi hae polis te, kai hae patris.--Biazesthai de +ouch osion oute maetera, oute patera poly de touton eti aetton taen +patrida_.] On which sentiments Cicero, ad Fam. i. 9, thus comments: +_Id enim jubet idem ille Plato, quem ego auctorem vehementer sequor; +tantum contendere in republica quantum probare tuis civibus possis: +vim neque parenti, neque patriae afferre oportere_. There is also +another passage in Cicero, Cat. i. 3, which seems to favor this sense +of the word: _Si te parentes timerent atque odissent tui, neque eos +ullâ ratione placare posses, ut opinor, ab eorum oculis aliquò +concederes; nunc te patria, quae communis est omnium nostrum parens +odit ac metuit_, etc. Of the first passage cited from Plato, indeed, +Sallust's words may seem to be almost a translation. Yet, as the +majority of commentators have followed Cortius, I have also followed +him. Sallust has the word in this sense in Jug., c. 102; _Parentes +abunde habemus_. So Vell. Pat. ii. 108: _Principatis constans ex +voluntate parentium_. + +[11] Lead to--_Portendant_. "_Portendere_ in a _pregnant sense_, +meaning not merely to indicate, but _quasi secum ferre_, to carry +along with them." _Kritzius_. + +[12] IV, Presumptuously--_Per insolentiam_. The same as +_insolenter_, though some refer it, not to Sallust, but to _quis +existumet,_ in the sense of _strangely,_ i. e. _foolishly or +ignorantly._ I follow Cortius's interpretation. + +[13] At what periods I obtained office, what sort of men, etc. +--_Quibus ego temporibus maqistratus adeptus sum, et quales viri,_ etc. +--"Sallust obtained the quaestorship a few years after the conspiracy +of Catiline, about the time when the state was agitated by the +disorders of Clodius and his party. He was tribune of the people, +A.U.C. 701, the year in which Clodius was killed by Milo. He was +praetor in 708, when Caesar had made himself ruler. In the expression +_quales viri,_ etc., he alludes chiefly to Cato, who, when he stood +for the praetorship, was unsuccessful." _Burnouf._ Kritzius defends +_adeptus sum._ + +[14] What description of persons have subsequently entered the +senate--"Caesar chose the worthy and unworthy, as suited his own +purposes, to be members of the senate." _Burnouf._ + +[15] Quintus Maximus--Quintus Fabius Maximus, of whom Ennius says, + Unus qui nobis cunctando restituit rem; + Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem. + +[16] Publius Scipio--Scipio Africanus the Elder, the conqueror of +Hannibal. See c. 5. + +[17] To the pursuit of honor--_Ad vertutem. Virtus_ in the same +sense as in _virtutis viâ,_ c. 1. + +[18] The wax--_Ceram illam._ The images or busts of their ancestors, +which the nobility kept in the halls of their houses, were made of wax. +See Plin. H. N. xxxv., 2. + +[19] Men of humble birth--_Homines novi_. See Cat., c. 23. + +[20] V. Threw every thing, religious and civil, into confusion--_Divina +et humana cuncta permiscuit_. "All things, both divine and human, were +so changed, that their previous condition was entirely subverted." +_Dietsch_. + +[21] Civil dissensions--_Studiis civilibus_. This is the sense in +which most commentators take _studia_; and if this be right, the whole +phrase must be understood as I have rendered it. So Cortius; "Ut non +prius finirentur [_studia civilia_] nisi bello et vastitate Italiae." +Sallust has _studia partium_ Jug. c. 42; and Gerlach quotes from Cic. +pro Marcell. c. 10: "_Non enim consiliis solis et studiis, sed armis +etiam et castris dissidebamus_". + +[22] More than any other enemy--_Maximè_. + +[23] Since the Roman name became great--_Post magnitudinem nominis +Romani_. "I know not why interpreters should find any difficulty in +this passage. I understand it to signify simply _since_ the Romans +became so great as they were in the time of Hannibal; for, _before_ +that period they had suffered even heavier calamities, especially +from the Gauls." _Cortius_. + +[24] Syphax--"He was King of the Masaesyli in Numidia; was at first +an enemy to the Carthaginians (Liv. xxiv. 48), and afterward their +friend (Liv. xxviii. 17). He then changed sides again, and made +a treaty with Scipio; but having at length been offered the hand of +Sophonisba, the daughter of Asdrubal, in marriage, he accepted it, +and returned into alliance with the Carthaginians. Being subsequently +taken prisoner by Masinissa and Laelius, the lieutenant of Scipio, +(Liv. xxx. 2) he was carried into Italy, and died at Tibur (Liv. xxx. +45)." _Burnouf_. + +[25] His reign--_Imperii_. Cortius thinks that the grant of the +Romans ceased with the life of Masinissa, and that his son, Micipsa, +reigned only over that part of Numidia which originally belonged to +his father. But in this opinion succeeding commentators have generally +supposed him to be mistaken. + +[26] VII. During the Numantine war--_Bella Numantino_. Numantia, +which stood near the source of the Durius or _Douro_ in Spain, was +so strong in its situation and fortifications, that it with stood the +Romans for fourteen years. See Florus, ii. 17,18; Vell. Pat. ii. 4. + +[27] VIII. Rather by attention to them as a body, than by practicing +on individuals--_Publicè quàm privatim._ "Universae potius civitatis, +quàm privatorum gratiam quaerendo." _Burnouf_. The words can only be +rendered periphrastically. + +[28] IX. In a short time--_Statim_. If what is said in c. 11 be +correct, that Jugurtha was adopted within three years of Micipsa's +death, his adoption did not take place till twelve years after the +taking of Numantia, which surrendered in 619, and Micipsa died in 634. +_Statim_ is therefore used with great latitude, unless we suppose +Sallust to mean that Micipsa signified to Jugurtha his intention to +adopt him immediately on his return from Numantia, and that the formal +ceremony of the adoption was delayed for some years. + +[29] X. I received you--into my kingdom--_In meuum regnum accepi_. +By these words it is only signified that Micipsa received Jugurtha +into his palace so as to bring him up with his own children. The +critics who suppose that there is any allusion to the adoption, or +a pretended intention of it on the part of Micipsa, are evidently in +the wrong. + +[30] Pre-eminent merit--_Gloriâ_. Our English word _glory_ is too +strong. + +[31] By the fidelity which you owe to my kingdom--_Per regni +fidem_. This seems to be the best of all the explanations that have +been offered of these words. "Per fidem quam tu rex (futurus) mihi +regi praestare debes." _Bournouf_. "Per fidem quae decet in regno, _i. +e._ regem." _Dietsch_. "Per eam fidem, qua esse decet eum qui regnum +obtinet. _Kritzius_. + +[32] It is not armies, or treasures, etc.--[Greek: _Ou tode to +chrusoun skaeptron to taen basileian diasozon estin, alla oi polloi +philoi skaeptron basileioin ulaethestaton kai asphalestaton_.] "It is +not this golden scepter that can preserve a kingdom; but numerous +friends are to princes their trust and safest scepter." Xen. Cyrop., +viii. 7,14. + +[33] And who can be a greater friend than one brother to another? +--_Quis autem amicior, quam frater fratri?_ "[Greek: _Nomiz +adelphous tous alaethinous philous_] Menander." _Wasse_. + +[34] That I have not adopted a better son, &c--_Ne ego meliores +liberos sumsissevidear quam genuisse_. As there is no allusion to +Micipsa's adoption of any other son than Jugurtha, Sallust's +expression _liberos sumsisse_ can hardly be defended. It is necessary +to give _son_ in the singular, in the translation. + +[35] XI. Had spoken insincerely--_Ficta locutum_. Jugurtha saw +that Micipsa pretended more love for him than he really felt. Compare +c. 6,7. + +[36] Which is regarded by the Numidians as the seat of honor--_Quad +apud Numidas honori ducitur_. "I incline," says Sir Henry Steuart, +"to consider those manuscripts as the most correct, in which the word +_et_ is placed immediately before _apud, Quod et apud Numidas honori +ducitur_." Sir Henry might have learned, had he consulted the +commentators, that "_ the word_ et _is placed immediately before_ +apud" in no manuscript; that Lipsius was the first who proposed its +insertion; and that Crispinus, the only editor who has received it +into his text, is ridiculed by Wasse for his folly. "Lipsius," says +Cortius, "cùm sciret apud Romanos etiam medium locum honoratiorem +fuisse, corrigit: _quod et apud Numidas honori ducitur_. Sed quis +talia ab historico exegerit? Si de Numidis narrat, non facile aliquis +intulerit, aliter propterea fuisse apud Romanos." + +[37] To the other seat--_In alteram partem_. We must suppose that +the three seats were placed ready for the three princes; that Adherbal +sat down first, in one of the outside seats; the one, namely, that +would be on the right hand of a spectator facing them; and that +Hiempsal immediately took the middle seat, on Adherbal's right hand, +so as to force Jugurtha to take the other outside one. Adherbal had +then to remove Hiempsal _in alteram partem_, that is, to induce him to +take the seat corresponding to his own, on the other side of the +middle one. + +[38] Chief lictor--_Proximus lictor_. "The _proximus lictor_ was +he who, when the lictors walked before the prince or magistrate in a +regular line, one behind the other, was last, or next to the person on +whom they attended." _Cortius_. He would thus be ready to receive the +great man's commands, and be in immediate communication with him. We +must suppose either that Sallust merely speaks in conformity with the +practice of the Romans, or, what is more probable, that the Roman +custom of being preceded by lictors had been adopted in Numidia. + +[39] Hut of a maid-servant--_Tugurio muliers ancillae_ Rose renders +_tugurio_ "a mean apartment," and other translators have given +something similar, as if they thought that the servant must have had a +room in the house. But she, and other Numidian servants, may have had +huts apart from the dwelling-house. _Tugurium_ undoubtedly signifies +_a hut_ in general. + +[40] XIII. Into our province--_In Provinciam_. "The word _province_, +in this place, signifies that part of Africa which, after the +destruction of Carthage, fell to the Romans by the right of conquest, +in opposition to the kingdom of Micipsa." _Wasse_. + +[41] Having thus accomplished his purposes--_Patratis consiliis_. +After _consiliis_, in all the manuscripts, occur the words _postquam +omnis Numidia potiebatur_, which were struck out by Cortius, as being +_turpissima glossa_. The recent editors, Gerlach, Kritz, Dietsch, and +Burnouf, have restored them. + +[42] His intimate friends--_Hospitibus_. Persons probably with whom +he had been intimate at Numantia, or who had since visited him in +Numidia. + +[43] The senate--gave audience to both parties--_senatus utrisque +datur_. "The embassadors of Jugurtha, and Adberbal in person, are +admitted into the senate-house to plead their cause." _Burnouf_. + +[44] By deputation--_Procuratione_. He was to consider himself only +the _procurator_, manager, or deputed governor, of the kingdom. + +[45] Kindred--and relatives--_Cognatorum--affinium_. _Cognatus_ is +a blood relation; _affinis_ is properly a relative by marriage. + +[46] Hereditary--_Ab stirpe_. + +[47] Next to this--_Secundum ea_. "Priscianus, lib. xiii., de +praepositione agens, _Secundum_, inquit, _quando pro [Greek: _kata ei +meta_] loco praepositionis est_. Sallustius in Jugurthino: _secundum +ea, uti deditis uterer_.--Videlicet hoc dicit, _Secundum_ in Sallustii +exemple, _post_ vel _proximè_ significare." _Rivius_. + +[48] As I had no power to form the character of Jugurtha--_Neque mihi +in manu fuit, qualis Jugurtha foret_. "_In manu fuit_ is simply +_in potestate fuit_--Ter. Hec., iv. 4, 44: _Uxor quid faciat in manu +non est meâ_." _Cortius_. + +[49] Dishonored, afflicted--_Deformatus aerumnis. + +[50] Above all others--_Potissimum_. + +[51] One of us has been murdered, and I, the other, have scarcely +escaped the hand of lawlessness--_Alter eorum necatus, alterius ipse +ego manus impias vix effugi_. This is the general reading, but it can +not be right. Adherbal speaks of himself and his brother as two +persons, and of Jugurtha as a third, and says that _of those two_ the +one (_alter_) has been killed; he would then naturally proceed to +speak of himself as the other; _i. e._ he would use the word _alter_ +concerning himself, not apply it to Jugurtha. Allen, therefore, +proposes to read _alter necatus, alter manus impias vix effugi_. This +mode of correction strikes out too much; but there is no doubt that +the second _alter_ should be in the nominative case. + +[52] From being friendly, has become hostile to me--_Ex necessariis +adversa facta sunt._ "Si omnia mihi incolumia manerent, neque quidquam +rerum mearum (s. praesidiorum) amisissem, neque Jugurtha aliique mihi +ex necessariis inimici facti essent."_Kritzius_. + +[53] But would that I could see him, etc.--_Quod utinam illum--videam_. +The _quod_, in _quod utinam_, is the same as that in _quod si_, which +we commonly translate, _but if_. _Quod_, in such expressions, serves +as a particle of connection, between what precedes and what follows it; +the Latins being fond of connection by means of relatives. See Zumpt's +Lat. Grammar on this point, Sect. 63, 82, Kenrick's translation. +Kritzius writes _quodutinam_, _quodsi_, _quodnisi_, etc., as one word. +Cortius injudiciously interprets _quod_ in this passage as having +_facientem_ understood with it. + +[54] My life or death depends on the aid of others--_Cujus vitae +necisque ex opibus alienis pendet_. On the aid of the Romans. Unless +they protected him, he expected to meet with the same fate as Hiempsal +at the hands of Jugurtha. + +[55] Without disgrace--_Sine dedecore_. That is, if he did not succeed +in getting revenge on Jugurtha. + +[56] By your regard for yourselves, etc.--I have here departed from +the text of Cortius, who reads _per, vos, liberos atque parentes_, +i. e. _vos (obsecro) per liberos_, etc., as most critics would explain +it, though Cortius himself prefers taking _vos_ as the nominative case, +and joining it with _subvenite_, which follows. Most other editions +have _per vos, per liberos, atque parentes vestros_, to which I have +adhered. _Per vos_, though an adjuration not used in modern times, +is found in other passages of the Roman writers. Thus Liv. xxix. 18: +_Per vos, fidemque vestram_. Cic. pro Planc., c. 42; _Per vos, per +fortunas vestras_. + +[57] To sink into ruin--_Tabescere_. "Paullatim interire." +_Cortius_. Lucret. ii. 1172: _Omnia paullatim tabescere el ire Ad +capulum_. "This speech," says Gerlach, "though of less weighty +argument than the other speeches of Sallust, is composed with great +art. Neither the speaker nor his cause was adapted for the highest +flights of eloquence; but Sallust has shrouded Adherbal's weakness in +excellent language. That there is a constant recurrence to the same +topics, is no ground for blame; indeed, such recurrence could hardly +be avoided, for it is natural to all speeches in which the orator +earnestly labors to make his hearers adopt his own feelings and views. +The Romans were again and again to be supplicated, and again and again +to be reminded of the character and services of Masinissa, that they +might be induced, if not by the love of justice, yet by the dread of +censure, to relieve the distresses of his grandson.... He omits no +argument or representation that could move the pity of the Romans; and +if his abject prostration of mind appears more suitable to a woman +than a man, it is to be remembered that it is purposely introduced by +Sallust to exhibit the weakness of his character." + +[58] XV. Aemilius Scaurus--He was _princeps senatus_(see c. 25), +and seems to be pretty faithfully characterized by Sallust as a man of +eminent abilities, but too avaricious to be strictly honest. Cicero, +who alludes to him in many passages with commendation (Off., i. 20, +30; Brut. 29; Pro Muraen., 7; Pro Fonteio, 7), mentions an anecdote +respecting him (De Orat. ii. 70), which shows that he had a general +character for covetousness. See Pliny, H. N, xxxvi. 14. Valerius +Maximus (iii. 7, 8) tells another anecdote of him, which shows that he +must have been held in much esteem, for whatever qualities, by the +public. Being accused before the people of having taken a bribe from +Mithridates, he made a few remarks on his own general conduct; and +added, "Varius of Sucro says that Marcus Scaurus, being bribed with +the king's money, has betrayed the interests of the Roman people. +Marcus Scaurus denies that he is guilty of what is laid to his charge. +Which of the two do you believe?" The people dismissed the accusation; +but the words of Scaurus may be regarded as those of a man rather +seeking to convey a notion of his innocence, than capable of proving +it. The circumstance which Cicero relates is this: Scaurus had +incurred some obloquy for having, as it was said, taken possession of +the property of a certain rich man, named Phyrgio Pompeius, without +being entitled to it by any will; and being engaged as an advocate in +some cause, Mommius, who was pleading on the opposite side, seeing a +funeral pass by at the time, said, "Scaurus, yonder is a dead man, on +his way to the grave; if you can but get possession of his property!" +I mention these matters, because it has been thought that Sallust, +from some ill-feeling, represents Scaurus as more avaricious than he +really was. + +[59] His ruling passion--_Consuetâ libidine_. Namely, avarice. + +[60] XVI. Lucius Opimius--His contention with the party of C. Gracchus +may be seen in any history of Rome. For receiving bribes from Jugurtha +he was publicly accused, and being condemned, ended his life, which +was protracted to old age, in exile and neglect. Cic. Brut. 33; +Planc. 28. + +[61] XVII. Only two divisions, Asia and Europe--Thus Varro, de L. +L. iv.13, ed. Bip. "As all nature is divided into heaven and earth, so +the heaven is divided into regions, and the earth into Asia and +Europe." See Bronkh. ad Tibull., iv. 1, 176. + +[62] The strait connecting our sea with the ocean--_Fretum nostri +maris et oceani_. That is, the _Fretum Gaditanum_, or Strait of +Gibraltar. By _our see_, he means the Mediterranean. See Pomp. Mela, +i. 1. + +[63] A vast sloping tract--Catabathmos--_Declivem latitudinem, +quem locum Catabathmon incolae appellant. Catabathmus--vallis repente +convexa_, Plin. H. N. v 5. _Catabathmus, vallis devexa in Aegyptum_, +Pomp. Mela, i. 8. I have translated _declivem latitudinem_ in +conformity with these passages. _Catabathmus_, a Greek word, means _a +descent_. There were two, the _major_ and _minor_; Sallust speaks of +the _major_. + +[64] Most of them die by the gradual decay of age--_Plerosque +senectus dissolvit_ "A happy expression; since the effect of old age +on the bodily frame is not to break it in pieces suddenly, but to +dissolve it, as it were, gradually and imperceptibly." _Burnouf_. + +[65] King Hiempsal--"This is not the prince that was murdered by +Jugurtha, but the king who succeeded him; he was grandson of +Masinissa, son of Gulussa, and father of Juba. After Juba was killed +at Thapsus, Caesar reduced Numidia to the condition of a province, and +appointed Sallust over it, who had thus opportunities of gaining a +knowledge of the country, and of consulting the books written in the +language of it." _Burnouf_. + +[66] XVIII. Getulians and Lybians--_Gaetuli et Libyes_, "See +Pompon. Mel. i. 4; Plin. H. N. v. 4, 6, 8, v. 2, xxi. 13; Herod, iv. +159, 168." _Gerlach_. The name _Gaetuli_, is, however, unknown to +Herodotus. They lay to the south of Numidia and Mauretania. See +Strabo, xvii. 3. _Libyes_ is a term applied by the Greek writers +properly to the Africans of the North coast, but frequently to the +inhabitants of Africa in general. + +[67] His army, which was composed of various nations--This seems +to have been an amplification of the adventure of Hercules with +Geryon, who was a king in Spain. But all stories that make Hercule +a leader of armies appear to be equally fabulous. + +[68] Medes, Persians and Armenians--De Brosses thinks that these +were not real Medes, etc., but that the names were derived from +certain companions of Hercules. The point is not worth discussion. + +[69] Our sea--The Mediterranean. See above, c. 17. + +[70] More toward the Ocean--_Intra oceanum magis_. "_Intra oceanum_ +is differently explained by different commentators. Cortius, Muller +and Gerlach, understand the parts bounded by the ocean, lying close +upon it, and stretching toward the west; while Langius thinks that +the regions more remote from the Atlantic Ocean, and extending +toward the east, are meant. But Langius did not consider that those +who had inverted keels of vessels for cottages, could not have +strayed far from the ocean, but must have settled in parts +bordering upon it_. And this is what is signified by _intra oceanum_. +For _intra aliquam rem_ is not always used to denote what is actually +_in a thing,_ and circumscribed by its boundaries, but what approaches +toward it, and reaches close to it." Kritzius. He then instances +_intra modum, intra legem; Hortensii scripta intra famam sunt_, +Quintil. xi. 8, 8. But the best example which he produces is Liv. xxv. +11: _Fossa ingens ducta, et vallum_, intra eam _erigitur_. Cicero, in +Verr. iii. 89, has also, he notices, the same, expression, _Locus_ +intra oceanum _jam nullus est--quò non nostrorum hominum libido +iniquitasque pervaserit_, i. e.. _locus oceano conterminus_. Burnouf +absurdly follows Langius. + +[71] Numidians--_Numidas_. The same as _Nomades_, or wanderers; a +term applied to pastoral nations, and which, as Kritzius observes, +the Africans must have had from the Greeks, perhaps those of Sicily. + +[72] More to the sun--_sub sole magis_. I have borrowed this +expression from Rose. The Getulians were more southward. + +[73] These soon built themselves towns--That is, the united Medes, +Armenians, and Libyans. + +[74] Medes--into Moors--_Mauris pro Medis_. A most improbable, +not to say impossible corruption. + +[75] Of the Persians--_Persarum_. That is, of the Persians and +Getulians united. + +[76] The two parties--_Utrique_. The older Numidians, and the +younger, who had emigrated toward Carthage. + +[77] Those who had spread toward our sea--for the Libyans are +less warlike than the Getulians--_Magis hi, qui ad nostrum mare +processerant; quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi_. The Persians +and Getulians (under the name of Numidians), and their colonists, who +were more toward the Mediterranean, and were more warlike than the +Libyans (who were united with the Medes and Armenians) took from them +portions of their territories by conquest. This is clearly the sense, +as deducible from the preceding portion of the text. + +[78] Lower Africa--_Africa pars inferior_. The part nearest to the +sea. The ancients called the maritime parts of a country _the lower +parts_, and the inland parts _the higher_, taking the notion, probably, +from the course of the rivers. Lower Egypt was the part at the mouth of +the Nile. + +[79] XIX. Hippo--"It is not Hippo Regius" (now called _Bona_) "that is +meant, but another Hippo, otherwise called _Diarrhytum_ or _Zarytum_, +situate in Zengitana, not far from Utica. This is shown by the order +in which the places are named, as has already been observed by Cortius." +_Kritzius_. + +[80] Leptis--There were two cities of this name. Leptis Major, now +_Lebida_, lay between the two Syrtes; Leptis Minor, now _Lempta_, +between the smaller Sytis and Carthage. It is the latter that is meant +here, and in c. 77, 78. + +[81] Next to the Catabathmos--_Ad Catabathmon_. _Ad_ means, on the +side of the country toward the Catabathmos. "Catabathmon _initium_ +ponens Sallustius ab eo _discedit_." Kritzius. + +[82] Along the sea-coast--_Secundo mari_. "Si quis secundum mare +pergat" _Wasse._ + +[83] Of Therseans--_Theraeon_. From the island of Thera, one of the +Sporades, in the Aegean Sea, now called _Santorin_. Battus was the +leader of the colony. See Herod., iv. 145; Strab., xvii. 8; Pind. +Pyth., iv. + +[84] Two Syrtes--See c. 78. + +[85] Leptis--That is, _Leptis Major_. See above on this c. + +[86] Altars of the Philaeni--see c. 79. + +[87] To the south of Numidia--_Super Numidiam_. "Ultra Numidiam, +meridiem versus." _Burnouf_. + +[88] Had lately possessed--_Novissimè habuerant_. In the interval +between the second and third Punic wars. + +[89] XXI. Both armies took up, etc.--I have omitted the word +_interim_ at the beginning of this sentence, as it would be worse than +useless in the translation. It signifies, _during the interval before +the armies came to an engagement_; but this is sufficiently expressed +at the termination of the sentence. + +[90] Cirta--Afterward named _Sittianorum Colonia_, from P. Sittius +Nucerinus (mentioned in Cat., c. 21), who assisted Caesar in the +African war, and was rewarded by him with the possession of this +city and its lands. It is now called _Constantina_, from Constantine +the Great, who enlarged and restored it when it had fallen into decay. +Strabo describes it, xvii. 3. + +[91] Twilight was beginning to appear--_Obscuro etiam tum lumine_. +Before day had fairly dawned. + +[92] Romans--_Togatorum_. Romans, with, perhaps, some of the +allies, engaged in merchandise, or other peaceful occupations, and +therefore wearing the _toga_. They are called _Italici_ in c. 26. + +[93] Three young men--_Tres adolescentes_. Cortius includes these +words in brackets, regarding them as the insertion of some sciolist. But +a sciolist, as Burnouf observes, would hardly have thought of inserting +_tres adolescentes_. The words occur in all the MSS., and are pretty +well confirmed by what is said below, c. 25, that when the senate next +sent a deputation, they took care to make it consist of _majores natu, +nobiles_. See on _adolescens_, Cat., c. 38. + +[94] XXII. Told much less than the truth--_Sed is rumor clemens erat_. +"It fell below the truth, not telling the whole of the atrocity that +had been committed." _Gruter._ "Priscian (xviii. 26) interprets +_clemens_ 'non nimius,' alluding to this passage of Sallust." +_Kritzius._ All the later commentators have adopted this interpretation, +except Burnouf, who adopts the supposition of Ciacconius, that a _vague +and uncertain_ rumor is meant. + +[95] Right of nations--_Jure gentium._ "That is, the right of avenging +himself." _Rupertus._ + +[96] XXIV. Pays no regard--_Neque--in animo habeat._ This letter of +Adherbal's, both in matter and tone, is very similar to his speech +in c. 14. + +[97] I have experienced, even before--_Jam antea expertus sum._ +He means, in the result of his speech to the senate. + +[98] XXV. Chief of the senate--_Princeps senatûs._ "He whose name +was first entered in the censors' books was called _Princeps Senatûs_, +which title used to be given to the person who of those alive had been +censor first (_qui primus censor, ex iis qui viverent, fuisset_), but +after the year 544, to him whom the censors thought most worthy, Liv., +xxvii. 13. This dignity, although it conferred no command or emolument, +was esteemed the very highest, and was usually retained for life, Liv., +xxxiv. 44; xxxix. 52. It is called _Principatus_; and hence afterward +the Emperor was named _Princeps_, which word properly denotes rank, and +not power." Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 3. + +[99] At length the evil incitements of ambition prevailed--_Vicit +tamen in avido ingenio pravum consilium._ "Evil propensities gained +the ascendency in his ambitious disposition." + +[100] XXVI. The Italians--_Italici._ See c. 21. + +[101] XXVII. By the Sempronian law--_Lege Semproniâ._ This was +the _Lex Sempronia de Provinciis._ In the early ages of the republic, +the provinces were decreed by the senate to the consuls after they +were elected; but by this law, passed A.U.C. 631, the senate fixed on +two provinces for the future consuls before their election (Cic. Pro +Dom., 9; De Prov. Cons., 2), which they, after entering on their +office, divided between themselves by lot or agreement. The law was +passed by Caius Gracchus. See Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 105. + +[102] Publius Scipio Nasica--"The great-grandson of him who was +pronounced by the senate to be _vir optimus_; and son of him who, +though holding no office at the time, took part in putting to death +Tiberius Gracchus. He was consul with Bestia, A.U.C. 643, and died in +his consulship. Cic. Brut., 34." _Burnouf._ + +[103] Lucius Bestia Calpurnius--"He had been on the side of the +nobility against the Gracchi, and was therefore in favor with the +senate. After his consulship he was accused and condemned by the +Mamilian law (c. 40), for having received money from Jugurtha, Cic. +Brut. c. 34. De Brosses thinks that he was the grandfather of that +Bestia who was engaged in the conspiracy of Catilina." Burnouf._ + +[104] XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence--_Fidei causâ._ "In +order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the +quaestor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns." +_Cortius._ + +[105] As if by an evident majority of voices--_Quasi per saturam +exquisitis sententiis._ "The opinions being taken in a confused +manner," or, as we say, _in the lump_. The sense manifestly is, that +there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in +Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each +individual in order. _Satura_, which some think to be always an +adjective, with _lanx_ understood, though _lanx_, according to +Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was _a +plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered +to the gods._ "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris +infertur, quae satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat., i. 1, +_init_. "Lanx. referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris +inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483."Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus +conditum," Festus _sub voce_. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satirâ, ii. 4; +Kritzius ad h. l., and Scheller's Lex. v., _Satur._ In the Pref. to +Justinian's Pandects, that work is called _opus sparsim et quasi per +saturam collectum, utíle cum inutilibus mixtim._ + +[106] To preside at the election of magistrates--_Ad magistratus +rogandos._ The presiding magistrate had _to ask_ the consent of the +people, saying _Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites._ + +[107] XXX. To give in full--_Perscribere._ "To write at length." +The reader might suppose, at first, that Sallust transcribed this +speech from some publication; but in that case, as Burnouf observes, +he would rather have said _ascribere._ Besides, the following +_hujuscemodi_ shows that Sallust did not profess to give the exact +words of Memmius. And the speech is throughout marked with Sallustian +phraseology. "The commencement of it, there is little doubt, is +imitated from Cato, of whose speech _De Lusitanis_ the following +fragment is extant in Aul. Gell. xiii. 24: _Multa me dehortata sunt +huc prodere, anni, aetas, vox vires, senectus._" Kritzius. + +[108] XXXI. During the last fifteen years--_His annis quindecim._ +"It was at this time, A.U.C. 641, twenty-two years since the death of +Tiberius Gracchus, and ten since that of Caius; Sallust, or Memmius, +not to appear to make too nice a computation, takes a mean." +_Burnouf._ The manuscripts, however, vary; some read _fifteen_, and +others _twelve_. Cortius conjectured _twenty_, as a rounder number, +which Kritzius and Dietsch have inserted in their texts. _Twenty_ is +also found in the Editio Victoriana, Florence, 1576. + +[109] Your defenders have perished--_Perierint vestri defensores._ +Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, and their adherents. + +[110] Liberty of speech--_Libertatem._ Liberty of speech is evidently +intended. + +[111] Every civil and religions obligation--_Divina et humana omnia._ +"They offended against the laws, when they took bribes from an +enemy; against the honor of Rome when they did what was unworthy of +it, and greatly to its injury; and against gods and men, against all +divine and human obligations, when they granted to a wicked prince not +only impunity, but even rewards, for his crimes." _Dietsch._ + +[112] Slaves purchased with money, etc.--_Servi, aere parati,_ etc. +This is taken from another speech of Cato, of which a portion is +preserved in Aul. Gell. x. 3: _Servi injurias nimis aegre ferunt; quid +illos bono genere natos, magnâ virtute praeditos, animi habuisse atque +habituros, dum vivent?_ "Slaves are apt to be too impatient of +injuries; and what feelings do you think that men of good family, and +of great merit, must have had, and will have as long as they live?" + +[113] Public spirit--_Pietas._ Under this word are included all +duties that we ought to perform to those with whom we are intimately +connected, or on whom we are dependent, as our parents, our country, +and the gods. I have borrowed my translation of the word from Rose. + +[114] The marks of favor which proceed from you--_Beneficia vestra._ +Offices of state, civil and military. + +[115] A greater disgrace to lose, etc.--_Quod majus dedecus est +parta amitere quam omnino non paravisse._ [Greek: Aischion de echontas +aphairethaenai ae ktomenous atychaesai] Thucyd. ii. 62. + +[116] These times please you less than those, etc.--_Illa quam +haec tempora magis placent,_ etc. "_Those times_, which immediately +succeeded the deaths of the Gracchi, and which were distinguished for +the tyranny of the nobles, and the humiliation of the people; _these +times_, in which the people have begun to rouse their spirit and exert +their liberty." _Burnouf._ + +[117] Embezzlement of the public money--_Peculatus aerarii._ "Peculator, +qui furtum facit pecuniae publicae." Ascon. Pedian. in Cic. Verr i. + +[118] Kings--I have substituted the plural for the singular. "No +name was more hated at Rome than that of a king; and no sentiment, +accordingly, could have been better adapted to inflame the minds of +Memmius's hearers, than that which he here utters." _Dietsch._ + +[119] If the crimes of the wicked are suppressed, etc.--_Si injuriae +non sint, haud saepe auxilii egeas._ "Some foolishly interpret +_auxilium_ as signifying _auxilium tribunicium_, the aid of the +tribunes; but it is evident to me that Sallust means _aid against +the injuries of bad men_, i.e. revenge or punishment." _Kritzius._ "If +injuries are repressed, or prevented, there will be less need for the +help of good men and it will be of less consequence if they become +inactive." _Dietsch._ + +[120] XXXII. Lucius Cassius--This is the man from whom came the +common saying _cui bono?_ "Lucius Cassius, whom the Roman people +thought the most accurate and wisest of judges, was accustomed +constantly to inquire, in the progress of a cause, _cui bono fuisset_, +of what advantage any thing had been." Cic. pro Rosc. Am. 80. "His +tribunal," says Valerius Maximus (iii. 7), "was called, from his +excessive severity, the rock of the accused." It was probably on +account of this quality in his character that he was now sent into +Numidia. + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interpositâ fide publicâ._ +See Cat.47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[121] Under guarantee of the public faith--_Interpositâ fide publicâ._ +See Cat. 47, 48. So a little below, _fidem suam interponit. Interpono_ +is "to pledge." + +[122] XXXIII. In the garb, as much as possible, of a suppliant--_Cultu +quam maximè miserabili_. "In such a garb as accused persons, or +suppliants, were accustomed to adopt, when they wished to excite +compassion, putting on a mean dress, and allowing their hair and beard +to grow." _Burnouf._ + +[123] XXXIV. Enjoined the prince to hold his peace--A single tribune +might, by such intervention, offer an effectual opposition to almost +any proceeding. On the great power of the tribunes, see Adam's Rom. +Ant., under the head "Tribunes of the People." + +[124] Every other act to which anger prompts--_Aliis omnibus, qua +ira fieri amat._ "These words have given rise to wonderful +hallucinations; for Quintilian, ix. 3. 17, having observed that many +expressions of Sallust are borrowed from the Greek, as _Vulgus amat +fieri,_ all interpreters, from Cortius downward, have thought that the +structure of Sallust's words must be Greek, and have taken _ira,_ in +this passage, for an ablative, and _quae_ for a nominative plural. +Gerlach has even gone so far as to take liberties with the words cited +By Quintilian, and to correct them, please the gods, into _quae in +Vulgus amat fieri._ But how could there have been such want of +penetration in learned critics, such deficiency in the knowledge of +the two languages, that, when the imitation of the Greek, noticed by +Quintilian, has reference merely to the word [Greek: philei], _amat_, +they should think of extending it to the dependence of a singular verb +on a neuter plural? With truth, indeed, though with much simplicity, +does Gerlach observe, that you will in vain seek for instances of this +mode of expression in other writers." _Kritzius._ Dietsch agrees with +Kritzius; and there will, I hope, be no further doubt that _quae_ is +the accusative and _ira_ the nominative; the sense being, "which anger +loves or desires to be done." Another mode of explanation has been +suggested, namely, to understand _multitudo_ as the nominative case to +_amat_, making _ira_ the ablative; but this method is far more +cumbersome, and less in accordance with the style of Sallust. The +words quoted by Quintilian do not refer, as Cortius erroneously +supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is +now lost. + +[125] XXXV. Should be disturbed--_Movere_ is the reading of Cortius; +_moveri_ that of most other editors, in conformity with most of the MSS. +and early editions. + +[126] The times at which he resorted to particular places--_Loca +atque tempora cuncta._ "All his places and times." There can be no +doubt that the sense is what I have given in the text. + +[127] In accordance with the law of nations, etc.--As the public faith +had been pledged to Jugurtha for his security, his retinue was on the +same footing as that of embassadors, the persons of whose attendants +are considered as inviolable as their own, as long as they commit no +offense against the laws of the country in which they are resident. If +any such offense is committed by an attendant of an embassador, an +application is usually made by the government to the embassador to +deliver him up for trial. Bomilcar seems to have been apprehended +without any application having been made to Jugurtha; as, in our own +country, the Portuguese embassador's brother, who was one of his +retinue, was apprehended and executed for a murder, by Oliver +Cromwell. See, on this point, Grotius De Jure Bell, et Pac., xviii, 8; +Vattel, iv. 9; Burlamaqui on Politic Law, part iv. ch. 15. Jugurtha, +says Vattel, should have given up Bomilcar; but such was not +Jugurtha's object. + +[128] At the commencement of the proceedings--_In priori actione._ +That is, when Bomilcar was apprehended and charged with the murder. + +[129] His other subjects would be deterred from obeying him--_Reliquos +popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi._ "Fear of obeying him should +take possession of his other subjects." + +[130] That it was a venal city, etc.--_Urbem venalem,_ etc. I +consider, with Cortias, that this is the proper way of taking these +words. Some would render them _O venal city,_ etc., because Livy, +Epit. lxiv., has _O urbem venalem,_ but this seems to require that the +verb should be in the second person; and it is probable that in Livy +we should either eject the O or read _inveneris._ Florus, iii. 1, +gives the words in the same way as Sallust. + +[131] XXXVI. As propraetor--_Pro praetore._ With the power of +lieutenant-general. + +[132] XXXVII. Throughout the year--_Totius anni._ That is, all that +remained of the year. + +[133] On the edge of a steep hill--_In praerupti montis extremo. +"In extremo_ a scholiast rightly interprets _in margine_," Gerlach. +Cortius, whom Langius follows, considers that _in extremo_ means _at +the bottom_; a notion which Kritzius justly condemns; for, as Gerlach +asks, what would that have to do withthe strength of the place? Muller +would have us believe that _in extremo_ means _at the top_; but if +Sallust had meant to say that the city was at the top, he would hardly +have chosen the word _extremus_ for the purpose. Doubtless, as Gerlach +observes, the city was on the top of the hill, which was broad enough +to hold it; but the words _in extremo_ signify that the walls were +even with the side of the hill. Of the site of the town of Suthul no +traces are now to be found. + +[134] Vineae--Defenses made of hurdles or other wood, and often +covered with raw hides, to defend the soldiers who worked the +battering-ram. The word that comes nearest to _vineae_ in our language +is _mantelets_. Before this word, in many editions, occurs the phrase +_ob thesauros oppidi potiundi_, which Cortius, whom I follow, omits. + +[135] XXXIII. That their defection might thus be less observed--_Ita +delicta occultiora fore._ Cortius transferred these words to this place +from the end of the preceding sentence; Kritzius and Dietsch have +restored them to their former place. Gerlach thinks them an intruded +gloss. + +[136] The chief centurion--_Centurio primi pili._There were sixty +centurions in a Roman legion; the one here meant was the first, or +oldest, centurion of the Triarii, or Pilani. + +[137] As death was the alternative--_Quia mortis metu mutabant. +Neither manuscripts nor critics are agreed about this passage. Cortius, +from a suggestion of Palmerius, adopted _mutabant_; most other editors +have _mutabantur_; but both are to be taken in the same sense; for +_mutabant_ is equivalent to _mutabant se_. Cortius's interpretation +appears the most eligible: "Permutabantur cum metuendâ morte," i.e. +there were those conditions on one side, and death on the other, and +if they did not accept the conditions, they must die. Kritzius +fancifully and strangely interprets, _propter mortis metum se mutabant, +i.e., alia videbantur atque erant_, or the acceptance of the terms +appeared excusable to the soldiers, because they were threatened with +death if they did not accept them. It is worth while to notice the +variety of readings exhibited in the manuscripts collated by Cortius: +ten exhibit _mutabantur_; three, _minitabantur_; three, _multabantur_; +three, _tenebantur_; one, _tenebatur_; one, _cogebantur_; one, +_cogebatur_; one, _angustiabantur_; one, _urgebantur_; and one _mortis +metuebant pericula_. There is also, he adds, in some copies, _mutabant_, +which the Bipont editors and Müller absurdly adopted. + +[138] XXXIX. Under all the circumstances of the case--_Ex copiâ rerum._ +From the number of things which he had to consider. + +[139] XL. The Latins and Italian allies--_Per homines nominis Latini, +et socios Italicos._ "The right of voting was not extended to all +the Latin people till A.U.C. 664, and the Italian allies did not +obtain it till some years afterward." _Kritzius._ So that at this +period, which was twenty years earlier, their influence could only be +employed in an underhand way. Compare c.42. + +[140] Marcus Scaurus--See c. 15. That he was appointed on this +occasion, is an evident proof of his commanding influence. + +[141] But the investigation, notwithstanding, was conducted, etc.--_Sed +quaes tuo exercita_, etc. Scaurus, it is probable, did what he could to +mitigate the violence of the proceedings. Cicero, however, says that +Caius Gallus _sacerdos_, with four _consulares_, Bestia, Caius Cato, +Albinus, and Opimius, were condemned and exiled by this law of Mamilius. +See Brut., c. 34. + +[142] XLI. Took, snatched, and seized--Ducere, _trahere, rapere_. +"_Ducere_ conveys the notion of cunning and fraud; _trahere_ of some +degree of force; _rapere_ of open violence." _Muller_. The words chiefly +refer to offices in the state, as is apparent from what follows. + +[141] The parents and children of the soldiers, etc.-- + + Quid quod usque proximos + Revellis agri terminos, et ultra + Limites clientium + Salis avarus? Pellitur paternos + In sinu ferens deos + Et uxor et vir, sordidosque natos. + + _Hor. Od.,_ ii. 18. + + What can this impious av'rice stay? + Their sacred landmarks torn away. + You plunge into your neighbor's grounds, + And overleap your client's bounds, + Helpless the wife and husband flee, + And in their arms, expell'd by thee, + Their household gods, adored in vain, + Their infants, too, a sordid train. + +[144] Among the nobility--_Ex nobilitate._ Cortius injudiciously +omits those words. The reference is to the Gracchi. + +[145] By means of the allies and Latins--See on, c. 40. + +[146] But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit, +etc.--_Sed bono vinci satius est, quam malo more injuriam vincere. +Bono,_ sc. _viro_. "That is, if the nobility had been truly worthy +characters, they would rather have yielded to the Gracchi, than have +revenged any wrong that they had received from them in an unprincipled +manner." _Dietsch._ Thus this is a reflection on the nobles; in which +notion of the passage Allen concurs with Dietsch. Others, as Cortius, +think it a reflection on the too great violence of the Gracchi. The +brevity with which Sallust had expressed himself makes it difficult to +decide. Kritzius, who thinks that the remark is in praise of the +Gracchi, supplies the ellipse thus: "Sane concedi debet Gracchis non +satis moderatum animum fuiase; _quae res ipsis adeo interitum +attulit_; sed _sic quoque egregii viri putandi sunt; nam_ bono vinci," +etc. Langius and Burnouf join _bono_ with _more_, but do not differ +much in their interpretations of the passage from that given by +Dietsch. + +[147] XLIII. Of a character uniformly irreproachable--_Famâ tamen +aequabili et inviolatâ. Aequabilis_ is uniform, always the same, +keeping an even tenor. + +[148] Regarded all things as common to himself and his colleague--_Ali +omnia sibi cum collegâ ratus._ "Other matters, unconnected with the war +against Jugurtha, he thought that he would have to manage in +conjunction with his colleague, and that, consequently, he might give +but partial attention to them; but that the war in Numidia was +committed to his sole care." _Cortius._ Other interpretations of these +words have been suggested; but they are fanciful and unworthy of notice. + +[149] Princes--_Reges._ Who these were, the commentators have not +attempted to conjecture. + +[150] XLIV. By Spurius Albinus, the proconsul.--_A Spurio Albino +proconsule_. This is the general reading. Cortius has, _Spurii Albini +pro consule_, with which we may understand _agentis_ or _imperantis_, +but can hardly believe it to be what Sallust wrote. Kritzius reads, +_Spurii Albini proconsulis_. + +[151] In a stationary camp--_Stativis castris_. In contradistinction +to that which the soldiers formed at the end of a day's march. + +[152] But neither had the camp been fortified, etc.--_Sed neque +muniebantur ea_ (se. castra), _neque more militari vigiliae +deducebantur_. "The words _sed neque muniebantur ea_ are wanting in +almost all the manuscripts, as well as in all the editions, except +that of Cyprianus Popma." _Kritzius_. Gerlach, however, had, +previously to Kritz, inserted them in his text though in brackets; +for he supposed them to be a mere conjecture of some scribe, who was +not satisfied with a single _neque_. But they have been found in a +codex of Fronto, by Angelo Mai, and have accordingly been received +as genuine by Kritz and Dietsch. Potter and Burnouf have omitted the +_ea_, thinking, I suppose, that in such a position it could hardly be +Sallust's; but the verb requires a nominative case to prevent it from +being referred to the following _vigiliae_. + +[153] Foreign wine--_Vino advectitio_ Imported. Africa does not +abound in wine. + +[154] XLV. With regard to other things--Caeteris. Cortius, whom +Gerlach follows, considers this word as referring to the men or +officers; but Kritzius and Dietsch, with better judgment, understand +_rebus_. + +[155] Numerous sentinels--_Vigilias crebras_. At short intervals, +says Kritzius, from each other. + +[156] XLVI. Villages--_Mapalibus_. See c. xviii. The word is here +used for a collection of huts, a village. + +[157] Here the consul, to try the disposition of the inhabitants, +and, should they allow him, to take advantage of the situation of the +place, etc.--_Huc consul, simul tentandi gratiâ, et si paterentur, +opportuniatis loci, praesidium imponit._ This is a _locus +veratissimus_, about which no editor has satisfied himself. I have +deserted Cortius and followed Dietsch, who seems to have settled the +passage, on the basis of Havercamp's text, with more judgment than any +other commentator. Cortius read, _Huc consul simul tentandi gratiâ, si +paterent opportunitates loci_, etc., taking _opportuniatates_ in the +sense of _munitiones_, "defenses;" but would Sallust have said _that +Metellus put a garrison in the place, to try if its defenses would be +open to him?_ Havercamp's reading is, _simul tentan si gratiâ, et si +paterentur opportunitates loci_, etc. Palmerius conjectured _simul +tentandi gratiâ, si paterentur; et opportunitate loci,_ which Gerlach +and Kritsius adopt, except that they change the place of the _et_, and +put it before _si_. Allen thinks that he has amended the passage by +reading _Huc consul, simul si paterentur tentandi, et opportunitatis +loci, gratiâ;_ but this conjecture is liable to similar objection with +that of Cortius. Other varieties of reading it is needless to notice. +But it is observable that four manuscripts, as Kritzius remarks, have +_propter opportunitates,_ which led me long ago to suppose that the +true reading must be _simul tentandi gratiâ, simul propter +opportunitates loci. Simul propter_ might easily have been corrupted +into _si paterentur_. + +[158] Frequent arrival of supplies--_Commeatum._ "Frumenti et omnium +rerum quarum in bello usus est, largam copiam." _Kritzius_. I follow +the text of Cortius (retaining the words _juvaturum ecercitum_) +which Kritzius sufficiently justifies. There is a variety of readings, +but all much the same in sense. + +[159] Extraordinary earnestness--_Impensius modo._ Cortius and +Kritzius interpret this _modo_ as the ablative case of _modus; i. e. +quam modus erat,_ or _supra modum;_ but Dietsch and Burnouf question +the propriety of this interpretation, and consider the _modo_ to be +the same as that in _tantummodo, dummodo,_ etc. The same expression +occurs again in c. 75. + +[160] XLVIII. Running parallel with the stream--_Tractu pari._ It +may be well to illustrate this and the following chapter by a copy of +the lines which Cortius has drawn, "to excite," as he says, "the +imagination of his readers:" + + River Muthul, flowing from the south + -------------------------------------------------- + I Hill on + North I which + <----------- I I Jugurtha + I I posted + I I himself + -------------------------------------------------- + Range of hills, parallel I with the Muthul + I + I Route of Metellus + I + +[161] XLIX. In a transverse direction--_Transverso itinere_. It lay on +the flank of the Romans as they marched toward the river, _in dextero +latere_, c.49, fin. + +[162] Well acquainted with the country--_Prudentes._ "Periti loci +et regionis." _Cortius._Or it may mean knowing what they were to do, +while the enemy would be _imperiti,_ surprised and perplexed. + +[163] Would crown--_Confirmaturum_. Would establish, settle, put the +last hand to them. + +[164] Was seen--_Conspicitur._ This is the reading adopted by Cortius, +Müller, and Allen, as being that of all the manuscripts. Havercamp, +Kritzius, and Dietsch admitted into their texts, on the sole authority +of Donatus ad Ter. Eun. ii. 3, _conspicatur_, i.e. (Metellus) _catches +sight_ of the enemy. The latter reading, perhaps, makes a better +connection. + +[165] Rendering it uncertain--_Incerti._ Presenting such an +appearance that a spectator could not be certain what they were. + +[166] He drew up these in the right wing--in three lines--_In +dextero latere triplicibus subsidiis aciem instruxit._ In the other +passages in which Sallust has the word _subsidia_ (Cat. c. 59), he +uses it for _the lines behind the front._ Thus he says of Catiline, +_Octo cohortes in fronte constituit; reliqua signa in subsidiis +arctiùs collocat;_ and of Petreius, _Cohortes veteranas--in fronte; +post eas reliquum exercitum in subsidiis locat._ But whether he uses +the word in the same sense here; whether we might, as Cortius thinks +(whom Gerlach and Dietsch follow), call the division of Metellus's +troops _quadruple_ instead of _triple,_ or whether he arranged them as +De Brosses and others suppose, in the usual disposition of Hastati, +Principes, and Triarii, who shall place beyond dispute? The probability, +however, if Sallust is consistent with himself in his use of the word, +lies with Cortius. Gerlach refers to Caesar, De Bell, Civ., iii. 89: +"_Celeriter ex tertiâ acie singulas cohortes detraxit, atque ex his +quartam instituit;_ but this does not illustrate Sallust's use of the +word _subsidia_: Caesar forms a fourth _acies_; Metellus draws up one +_acies_ triplicibus subsidia". + +[167] With the front changed into a flank--_Transversis principiis._ +He made the whole army wheel to the left, so that what was their front +line, or _principia,_ as they faced the enemy on the hill, became their +flank as they marched from the mountain toward the river. + +[168] L. Behind the front line--_Post principia._ The _principia_ +are the same as those mentioned in the preceding note, that is, the +front line when the army faced that of Jugurtha on the hill, but which +presented its flank to the enemy when the army was on its march. So +that Marius commanded in the center ("in medio agmine," says Dietsch), +while Metellus took the lead with the cavalry of the left wing. See +the following note. + +[169] Cavalry on the left wing--which, on the march, had become +the van--_Sinistrae ulae equitibus--qui in agmine principes facti +erant._ When Metellus halted (c. 49, fin.), and drew up his troops +fronting the hill on which Jugurtha was posted, he placed all his +cavalry in the wings; consequently, when the army wheeled to the left, +and marched forward, the cavalry of the left wing became the van. + +[170] LI. Of the whole struggle--_Totius negotii._ That is, on the side +of the Romans. + +[171] LII. The enemy's ignorance of the country--_Regio hostibus ignara. +Ignara_ for _ignota;_ a country unknown to the enemy. + +[172] LIII. Fatigued and exhausted--_Fessi lassique._ I am once more +obliged to desert Cortius, who reads _laetique_. The sense, as Kritzius +and Dietsch observe, shows that _laeti_ can not be the reading, for +there must evidently be a complete antithesis between the two parts of +the sentence; an antithesis which would be destroyed by the introduction +of _laeti_. Gerlach, though he retains _laeti_ in his text, condemns it +in his notes. + +[173] LIV. Which could only be conducted, etc.--_Quod, nisi ex illius +lubidine, geri non posset._ Cortius omits the _non_ before _posset_, +but almost every other editor, except Allen, has retained it, from a +conviction of necessity. + +[174] Under these circumstances, however--_Ex copiâ tamen._ With +_copiâ_ we must understand _consiliorum_ or _rerum,_ as at the end of +c. 39. All the manuscripts, except two, have _inopiâ_, which editors +have justly rejected as inconsistent with the sense. + +[175] LV. A thanksgiving--_Supplicia._ The same as _supplicatio,_ on +which the reader may consult Adam's Rom. Ant., or Dr. Smith's +Dictionary. + +[176] LVI. Dared not be guilty of treachery--_Fallere nequibant._ +"Through dread of the severest punishments if they should fall into +the hands of the Romans. Valerius Maximus, ii. 7, speaks of deserters +having been deprived of their hands by Quintus Fabius Maximus; of +others who were crucified or beheaded by the elder Africanus; of +others who were thrown to wild beasts by Africanus the younger; and of +others who were sentenced by Paulus Aemilius to be trampled to death +by elephants. Hence it appears that the punishment of deserters was +left to the pleasure of the general." _Burnouf_. + +[177] Sicca--It stood on the banks of the Bagradas, at some distance +from the coast, and contained a celebrated Temple of Venus. Val. Max., +ii. 6. D'Anville thinks it the same as the modern _Kef._ + +[178] LVII. Javelins--_Pila._ This _pilum_ may have been, as Müller +suggests, similar to the _falarica_ which Livy (xxi. 8) says that the +Saguntines used against their besiegers. _Falarica erat Saguntinis, +missile telum hastili abiegno--id, sicut in pilo, quadratum stuppa +circumligabant, linebantque pice:--quod cum medium accensum mitteretur_, +etc. Of Sallust's other words, in the latter part of this sentence, +the sense is clear, but the readings of different editors are extremely +various. Cortius and Gerlach have _sudes, pila praeterea picem sulphure +et taedâ mixtam ardentia mittere:_ but it can scarcely be believed that +Sallust wrote _picem--taedâ mixtam._ Havercamp gives _pice et sulphure +taedam mixtam ardentia mittere,_ which has been adopted by Kritzius and +Dietsch, except that they have changed _ardentia,_ on the authority of +some of the manuscripts, into _ardenti_. + +[179] LIX. And thus, with the aid of the light-armed foot, almost +succeeded in giving the enemy a defeat--_Ita expeditis peditibus suis +hostes paene victos dare._ Cortius, Kritzius, and Allen, concur in +regarding _expeditis peditibus_ as an ablative of the instrument, i.e. +as equivalent to _per expeditos pedites_ and _victos dare_ as nothing +more than _vincere._ This appears to be the right mode of explanation; +but most of the translators, French as well as English, have taken +_expeditis peditibus_ as a dative, and given to the passage the sense +that "the cavalry delivered up the enemy, when nearly conquered, to be +dispatched by the light-armed foot." + +[180] LX. Attacks, or preparations for defense, were made in all +quarters--_Oppugnare aut parare omnibus locis._ There is much +discussion among the critics whether these verbs are to be referred to +the besiegers or the besieged. Cortius and Gerlach attribute +_oppugnare_ to the Romans, and _parare_ to the men of Zama; a +distinction which Kritzius justly condemns. There can be little doubt +that they are spoken of both parties equally. + +[181] LXI. The rest of his forces--in that part of our province +nearest to Numidia--_Caeterum exercitum in provinciam, quae proxima +est Numidiae, hiemandi gratiâ collocat._ "The words _quae proxima est +Numidiae_ Cortius would eject as superfluous and spurious. But it is +to be understood that Metellus did not distribute his troops through +the whole of the province, but in that part which is nearest to +Numidia, in order that they might be easily assembled in case of an +attack of the enemy or any other emergency. There is, therefore, no +need to read with the Bipont edition and Müller, _qua proxima,_ etc. +though this is in itself not a bad conjecture." _Kritzius_. + +[182] LXII. Was summoned to appear in person at Tisidium, etc. +--_Cum ipse ad imperandum Tisidium vocaretur._ The gerund is used, as +grammarians say, in a passive sense. "The town of Tisidium is nowhere +else mentioned. Strabo (xvii. 3, p. 488, Ed. Tauch.) speaks of a place +named [Greek: _Tisiaioi_], which was utterly destroyed, and not a +vestige of it left." _Gerlach_. + +[183] LXIII. Sacrificing to the gods--_Per hostias dis supplicante._ +Supplicating or worshiping the gods with sacrifices, and trying to +learn their intentions as to the future by inspection of the entrails. +"Marius was either a sincere believer in the absurd superstitions and +dreams of the soothsayers, or pretended to be so, from a knowledge of +the nature of mankind, who are eager to listen to wonders, and are +ore willing to be deceived than to be taught." _Burnouf._ See Plutarch, +Life of Marius. He could interpret omens for himself, according to +Valerius Maximus, i. 5. + +[184] The people--disposed of, etc.--_Etiam tum alios magistratus +plebes, consulatum nobilitas, inter se per manus tradebat._ The +commentators have seen the necessity of understanding a verb with +_plebes._ Kritzius suggests _habebat;_ Gerlach _grebat_ or _accipiebat_. + +[185] A disgrace to it--_Pollutus._ He was considered, as it were, +unclean. See Cat., c. 23, _fin_. + +[186] LXIV. As soon as the public business would allow him--_Ubi +primum potuisset per negotia publica._ As soon as he could through +(regard to) the public business. + +[187] With his own son--_Cum filio suo._ With the son of Metellus. +He tells Marius that it would be soon enough for him to stand for +the consulship in twenty-three years' time, the legitimate age for +the consulship being forty-three. + +[188] In the camp with his father--_Contubernio patris._ He was +among the young noblemen in the consul's retinue, who were sent out +to see military service under him. This was customary. See Cic. Pro +Cael. Pro Planc. 11. + +[189] LXV. Which was as weak as his body--_Ob morbos--parum valido._ +Sallust had already expressed this a few lines above. + +[190] Merchants--_Negotiatores._ "Every one knows that Romans of +equestrian dignity were accustomed to trade in the provinces." +_Burnouf_. + +[191] With the most honorable demonstrations in his favor +--_Honestissimâ suffragatione._ "_Suffragatio_ was the zealous +recommendation of those who solicited the votes of their +fellow-citizens in favor of some candidate. See Festus, s.v. +_Suffragatores,_ p. 266, Lindem." _Dietsch._ It was honorable, in +the case of Marius, as it was without bribery, and seemed to have +the good of the republic in view. + +[192] The Mamilian law--See c. 40. + +[193] LXVI. Advantageous positions--_Suos locos._ Places favorable +for his views. See Kritzius on c. 54. + +[194] LXVII. Were in trepidation. At the citadel, etc.--I have +translated this passage in conformity with the texts of Gerlach, +Kritzius, Dietsch, Müller, and Allen, who put a point between +_trepidare_ and _ad arcem_. Cortina, Havercamp, and Burnouf have +_trepidare ad arcem_, without any point. Which method gives the better +sense, any reader can judge. + +[195] On the roofs of the houses--_Pro tectis aedificiorum_. In +front of the roofs of the houses; that is, at the parapets. "In prima +tectorum parte." _Kritzius_. The roofs were flat. + +[196] Worthless and infamous character--_Improbus intestabilisque_. +These words are taken from the twelve tables of the Roman law: See +Aul. Gell. vi. 7, xv. 3. Horace, in allusion to them, has _intestabilis +et sacer_, Sat. ii. 3.181, _Intestabilis_ signified a person to be of +so infamous a character that he was not allowed to give evidence in a +court of justice. + +[197] LXVIII. Averse to further exertion--_Tum abnuentes omnia_. +Most of the translators have understood by these words that the troops +refused to obey orders; but Sallust's meaning is only that they +expressed, by looks and gestures, their unwillingness to proceed. + +[198] LXIX As a native of Latium--_Nam is civis ex Latio erat_. +"As he was a Latin, he was not protected by the Porcian law (see Cat., +c. 51), though how far this law had power in the camp, is not agreed." +_Allen_. Gerlach thinks that it had the same power in the camp as +elsewhere, with reference to Roman citizens. But Roman citizenship was +not extended to the Latins till the end of the Social War, A.U.C. 662. +Plutarch, however, in his Life of Caius Gracchus (c. 9), speaks of +Livius Drusus having been abetted by the patricians in proposing a law +for exempting the Latin soldiers from being flogged, about thirty +years earlier; and it seems to have been passed, but, from this +passage of Sallust, appears not to have remained in force. Lipsius +touches on this obscure point in his _Militia Romana_, v. 18, but +settles nothing. Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, c. 8, says that +Turpilius was an old retainer of the family of Metellus, whom he +attended, in this war, as _prafectus fabrûm_, or master of the +artificers; that, being afterward appointed governor of Vacea, he +exercised his office with great justice and humanity, that his life +was spared by Jugurtha at the solicitation of the inhabitants; that, +when he was brought to trial, Metellus thought him innocent, and that +he would not have been condemned but for the malice of Marius, who +exasperated the other members of the council against him. He adds, +that after his death, his innocence became apparent, and that Marius +boasted of having planted in the breast of Metellus an avenging fury, +that would not fail to torment him for having put to death the +innocent friend of his family. Hence Sir Henry Steuart has accused +Sallust of wilfully misrepresenting the character of Turpilius, as +well as the whole transaction. But as much credit is surely due to +Sallust as to Plutarch. + +[199] LXX. To which Jugurtha--was unable to attend--_Quae Jugartha, +fesso, aut majoribus astricto, superaverant_. "Which had remained to +(or been too much for) Jugurtha, when weary, or engaged in more +important affairs." + +[200] Among the winter-quarters of the Romans--_Inter hiberna +Romanorum_.It is stated in c. 61, as Kritzius observes, that Metellus, +when he put his army into winter-quarters, had, at the same time, +placed garrisons in such of Jugurtha's towns as had revolted to him. +The forces of the Romans being thus dispersed, Nabdalsa might justly +be said to have his army _inter hiberna_, "_among_ their +winter-quarters." + +[201] LXXI. Behind his head--_Super caput_. On the back of the +bolster that supported his head; part of which might be higher than +the head itself. + +[202] LXXIIL The factious tribunes--_Seditiosi magistratus_. + +[203] After the lapse of many years--_Post multas tempestates_. +Apparently the period since A.U.C. 611, when Quintus Pompeius, who, as +Cicero says (in Verr. ii. 5), was _humile atque obscuro loco natus_, +obtained the consulship; that is, a term of forty-three or forty-four +years. + +[204] That decree was thus rendered abortive--_Ea res frustra fuit_. +By a _lex Sempronia_, a law of Caius Gracchus, it was enacted that the +senate should fix the provinces for the future consuls before the +_comitia_ for electing them were held. But from Jug. c. 26, it appears +that the consuls might settle by lot, or by agreement between +themselves, which of those two provinces each of them should take. How +far the senate were allowed or accustomed in general, to interfere in +the arrangement, it is not easy to discover: but on this occasion they +had taken on themselves to pass a resolution in favor of the patrician. +Lest similar scenes, however, to those of the Sempronian times should +be enacted, they yielded the point to the people. + +[205] LXXV. Thala--The river on which this town stood is not named by +Sallust, but it appears to have been the Bagrada. It seems to have been +nearly destroyed by the Romans, after the defeat of Juba, in the time +of Julius Caesar; though Tacitus, Ann. iii. 21, mentions it as having +afforded a refuge to the Romans in the insurrection of the Numidian +chief, Tacfarinas. D'Anville and Dr. Shaw, _Travels in Bombay_, vol. +i. pt. 2, ch. 5, think it the same with Telepte, now _Ferre-anah_; but +this is very doubtful. See Cellar. iv. 5. It was in ruins in the time +of Strabo. + +[206] Had done more than was required of them--_Officia intenderant._ +"Auxit _intenditque_ saevitiam exacerbatus indicio filii sui Drusi" +Suet. Tib. 62. + +[207] LXXVI. Nor did he ever--continue, etc.--_Neque postea--moratus, +simulabat_, etc.--Most editors take _moratus_ for _morans_; Allen +places a colon after it, as if it were for _moratus est_. + +[208] And erected towns upon it to protect, etc.--_Et super aggerem +impositis turribus epus et administros tutari_. "And protected +the work and the workmen with towers placed on the mound." _Impositis +turribus_ is not the ablative absolute, but the ablative of the +instrument. + +[209] LXXVII. Leptis--Leptis Major, now _Lebida_. In c. 19, Leptis Minor +is meant. + +[210] Their own safety--_Suam salutem_: i.e. the safety of the people of +Leptis. + +[211] LXXVIII. Which take their name from their nature--_Quibus +nomen ex re inditum._ From [Greek: _surein_], _to draw,_ because the +stones and sand were drawn to and fro by the force of the wind and +tide. But it has been suggested that this etymology is probably false; +it is less likely that their name should be from the Greek than from +the Arabic, in which _sert_ signifies a desert tract or region, a term +still applied to the desert country bordering on the Syrtea. See +Ritter, Allgem. vergleich, Geog. vol. i. p. 929. The words which, in +Havercamp, close this description of the Syrtes, "Syrtes ab tractu +nominatae", and which Gruter and Putschius suspected not to be +Sallust's, Cortius omitted; and his example has been followed by +Muller and Burnouf; Gerlach, Kritzius, and Dietsch, have retained +them. Gerlach, however, thinks them a gloss, though they are found in +every manuscript but one. + +[212] Almost at the extremity of Africa--_Prope in extremâ Africâ._ +"By _extremâ Africâ_ Gerlach rightly understands the eastern part of +Africa, bordering on Egypt, and at a great distance from Numidia." +_Kritzius_. + +[213] The language alone--_Lingua modò_. + +[214] From the king's dominions--_Ab imperio regis._ "Understand +Masinissa's, Micipsa's, or Jugurtha's." _Burnouf_. + +[215] LXXIX. Philaeni--The account of these Carthaginian brothers +with a Greek name, _philainoi, praise-loving_, is probably a fable. +Cortius thinks that the inhabitants, observing two mounds rising above +the surrounding level, fancied they must have been raised, not by +nature, but by human labor, and invented a story to account for their +existence. "The altars," according to Mr. Rennell (Geog. of Herod., p. +640), "were situated about seven ninths of the way from Carthage to +Cyrene; and the deception," he adds, "would have been too gross, had +it been pretended that the Carthaginian party had traveled seven parts +in nine, while the Cyrenians had traveled no more than two such parts +of the way." Pliny (II. N. v. 4) says that the altars were of sand; +Strabo (lib. iii.) says that in his time they had vanished. Pomponius +Mela and Valerius Maximus repeat the story, but without adding any +thing to render it more probable. + +[216] Devoid of vegetation--_Nuda gignentium_. So c. 93, _cunota +gignentium natura_. Kritzius justly observes that _gignentia_ is not +to be taken in the sense of _genita_, as Cortius and others interpret, +but in its own active sense; the ground was bare _of all that was +productive_, or _of whatever generates any thing_. This interpretation +is suggested by Perizonius ad Sanctu Minerv. i. 15. + +[217] Sacrificed themselves--_Seque vitamque--condonavere_. +"Nihil aliud est quàm _vitam suam_, sc.[Greek: _eu dia dyoin_]." +_Allen_. + +[218] LXXX. Sell--honorable or dishonorable--_Omnia honesta atque +inhonesta vendere_. See Cat. c. 30. They had been bribed by Jugurtha +to use their influence against Bocchus. + +[219] A daughter of Bocchus, too, was married to Jugurtha--_Jugurthae +filia Bocchi nupserat_. Several manuscripts and old editions have +_Boccho_, making Bocchus the son-in-law of Jugurtha. But Plutarch +(Vit. Mar. c. 10, Sull. c. 8) and Florus (iii. 1) agree in speaking +of him as Jugurtha's father-in-law. Bocchus was doubtless an older man +than Jugurtha, having a grown up son, Volux, c. 105. Castilioneus and +Cortius, therefore, saw the necessity of reading _Bocchi_, and, other +editors have followed them, except Gerlach, "who," says Kritzius, "has +given _Bocchi_ in his larger, and _Boccho_ in his smaller and more +recent edition, in order that readers using both may have an +opportunity of making a choice." + +[220] No one of them becomes a companion to him--_Nulla pro sociâ +obtinet The use of _obtinet_ absolutely, or with the word dependent on +it understood, prevails chiefly among the later Latin writers. Livy, +however, has _fama obtinuit_, xxi. 46. "The _tyro_ is to be reminded," +says Dietsch, "that _obtinet_ is not the same as _habetar_, but is +always for _locum obtinet_." + +[221] LXXXI. The two kings, with their armies--The text has only +_exercitus_. + +[222] To lessen Bocchus's chance of peace--_Bocchi pacem +imminuere_. He wished to engage Bocchus in some act of hostility +against the Romans, so as to render any coalition between them +impossible. + +[223] LXXXII. Should have learned something of the Moors +--_Cognitis Mauris, i.e._ after knowing something of the Moors, +_and not before_. _Cognitis militibus_ is used in the same way in c. +39; and Dietsch says that _amicitia Jugurthae parum cognita_ is for +_nondum cognita_, c. 14. + +[224] LXXXIV. Discharged veterans--_Homines emeritis stipendiis._ +Soldiers who had completed their term of service. + +[225] Means of warfare--_Usum belli._ That is _ea quae belli usus +posceret_, troops and supplies. + +[226] Cherished the fancy--_Animis trahebant. "Trahere animo_ is +always to revolve in the mind, not to let the thought of a thing +escape from the mind." _Kritzius_. + +[227] LXXXV. Its interests ought to be managed, etc.--_Majore curâ +illam administrari quàm haec peti debere._ Cortius injudiciously +omits the word _illam_. No one has followed him but Allen. + +[228] Hostile--_Occursantis._ Thwarting, opposing. + +[229] That you may not be deceived in me--_Ut neque vos capiamini._ +"This verb is undoubtedly used in this passage for _decipere_. +Compare Tibull. Eleg. iii. 6, 45: _Nec vos aut capiant pendentia +brachia collo, Aut fallat blandâ sordida tingua prece._ Cic. Acad. +iv. 20: _Sapientis vim maximam esse cavere, ne capiatur._" Gerlach. + +[230] To secure their election--_Per ambitionem. Ambire_ is to +canvass for votes; to court the favor of the people. + +[231] Of yonder crowd of nobles--_ex illo globo nobilitatis. Illo,_ +[Greek: _deiktikos_]. + +[232] I know some--who after they have been elected, etc.--"At +whom Marina directs this observation, it is impossible to tell. +Gerlach referring to Cic. Quest. Acad. ii. 1, 2, thinks that Lucullus +is meant. But if he supposes that Lucullus was present _to the mind of +Marius_ when he spoke, he is egregiously deceived, for Marius was +forty years antecedent to Lucullus. It is possible, however, that +_Sallust_, thinking of Lucullus when he wrote Marius's speech, may +have fallen into an anachronism, and have attributed to Marius, whose +character he had assumed, an observation which might justly have been +made in his own day." _Kritzius_. + +[233] Persons who invert the order of things--_Homines Praeposteri._ +Men who do that last which should be done first. + +[234] For though to discharge the duties of the office, etc.--_Nam +gerere, quam fieri, tempore posterius, re atque usu prius est._ With +_gerere_ is to be understood _consulatum_; with _fieri, consulem._ +This is imitated from Demosthenes, Olynth. iii.: [Greek: _To gar +prattein ton legein kai cheirotonein, usteron on tae taxei, proteron +tae dynamei kai kreitton esti_.] "Acting is posterior in order to +speaking and voting, but prior and superior in effect." + +[235] With those haughty nobles--_Cum illorum superbui. Virtus +Scipiades et mitis sapientia Laeli._ + +[236] My condition _Mihi fortuna_. "That is, my lot, or condition, +in which I was born, in which I had no hand in producing." _Dietsch_. + +[237] The circumstance of birth, etc. _Naturam unam et communem +omnium existumo_. "Nascendi sortem" is the explanation which Dietsch +gives to _naturam_. One man is _born_ as well as another, but the +difference between men is made by their different modes of action; a +difference which the nobles falsely suppose to proceed from fortune. +"Voltaire, Mohammed, Act.I., sce. iv., has expressed the sentiment of +Sallust exactly: + + Les mortels sont égaux, ce n'est point la naissance, + C'est la seule vertu qui fait leur différence." _Burnouf._ + +[238] And could it be inquired of the fathers, etc.--_Ac, si jam +ex patribus Alibini aut Bestiae quaeri posset_, etc. _Patres_, in this +passage, is not, as Anthon imagines, the same as _majores_; as is +apparent from the word _gigni_. The fathers of Albinus and Bestia were +probably dead at the time that Marius spoke. The passage which Anthon +quotes from Plutarch to illustrate _patres_, is not applicable, for +the word there is [Greek: _pragonoi: Epunthaneto ton paronton, ei mae +kai tous ekeinon oiontai progonous auto mallon an emxasthai +paraplaesious ekgonous apolitein, ate dae maed autous di eugeneian, +all ap aretaes kai kalon ergon endoxous genomenous_.] Vit. Mar. c. 9. +"He would then ask the people whether they did not think that the +ancestors of those men would have wished rather to leave a posterity +like him, since they themselves had not risen to glory by their high +birth, but by their virtue and heroic achievements?" _Langhorne_. + +[239] Abstinence--_Innocentiae_. Abstinence from all vicious indulgence. + +[240] Honorable exertion--_Virtutis_. See notes on Cat. c. 1, and +Jug. c. 1. + +[241] They occupy the greatest part of their orations in extolling their +ancestors--_Plerâque oratione majores suos extollunt._ "They extol their +ancestors in the greatest part of their speech." + +[242] The glory of ancestors sheds a light on their posterity, Juvenal, +viii.138: + + Incipit ipsorum contra te stare parentum + Nobilitas, claramque facem praeferre pudendis. + + Thy fathers' virtues, clear and bright, display + Thy shameful deeds, as with the light of day. + +[243] I feel assured--_Ex animi sententiâ_. "It was a common form of strong +asseveration." _Gerlach._ + +[244] Spears--_Hastas_. "A _hasta pura_, that is a spear without iron, was +anciently the reward of a soldier the first time that he conquered in +battle, Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 760; it was afterward given to one who had +struck down an enemy in a sally or skirmish, Lips. ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. +v.17." _Burnouf_. + +[245] A banner--_Vexillum_. "Standards were also military rewards. +Vopiscus relates that ten _hastae purae_, and four standards of two +colors, were presented to Aurelian. Suetonius (Aug. 25) says that Agrippa +was presented by Augustus, after his naval victory, with a standard of the +color of the sea. These standards therefore, were not, as Badius Ascensius +thinks, always taken from the enemy; though this was sometimes the case, +as appears from Sil. Ital. x.v. 261: + + Tunc hasta viris, tunc martia cuique + Vexilla, ut meritum, et praedae libamina, dantur." _Burnouf_. + +[246] Caparisons--_Phaleras_. "Sil. Ital. xv. 255: + + _Phaleris_ hic pectora fulget: + Hic _torque_ aurato circumdat bellica collae. + +Juvenal, xv. 60: + + Ut laeti _phaleris_ omnes et _torquibus_ omnes. + +These passages show that _phalerae_, a name for the ornaments of +horses, were also decorations of men; but they differed from the +_torques_, or collars, in this respect, that the _phalerae_ hung down +over the breast, and the _torques_ only encircled the neck. See Lips. +ad Polyb. de Milit. Rom. v. 17." _Burnouf_. + +[247] Valor--_Virtutem._ "The Greeks, those illustrious instructors +of the world, had not been able to preserve their liberty; their +learning therefore had not added to their valor. _Virtus_, in this +passage, is evidently _fortitudo bellica_, which, in the opinion of +Marius, was _the only virtue_." Burnouf. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. c. 2. + +[248] To be vigilant at my post--_Praesidia agitare_. Or "to keep +guard at my post." "_Praesidia agitare_ signifies nothing more than to +protect a party of foragers or the baggage, or to keep guard round a +besieged city." _Vortius_. + +[249] Keep no actor--_Histrionem nullum--habeo_. "Luxuriae peregrinae +origo ab exercitu Asiatico (Manlii sc. Vulsonis, A.U.C. 563) invecta +in urbem est.----Tum psaltriae sambucistriaeque et convivalia +_ludionum_ obiectamenta, addita epulis." Liv. xxxix. 6. "By this army +returning from Asia was the origin of foreign luxury imported into the +city.----At entertainments--were introduced players on the harp and +timbrel, with _buffoons_ for the diversion of the guests." _Baker_. +Professor Anthon, who quotes this passage, says that _histrio_ "here +denotes a buffoon kept for the amusement of the company." But such is +not the meaning of the word _histrio_. It signifies one who in some way +_acted_, either by dancing and gesticulation, or by reciting, perhaps +to the music of the _sambucistriae or other minstrels. See Smith's +Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. Art. _Histrio_, sect. 2. Scheller's Lex. +sub. vv. _Histrio, Ludio_, and _Salto_. The emperors had whole companies +of actors, _histriones aulici_, for their private amusement. Suetonius +says of Augustus (c. 74) that at feasts he introduced _acroamata et +histriones_. See also Spartian. _Had_. c. 19; Jul.Capitol. _Verus_, c.8. + +[250] My cook--_Coquum_. Livy, in the passage just cited from him, adds +_tum coquus villisimum antiquis mancipium, et estimatione et usu in +pretio esse; ut quod ministerium fuerat, ars haberi coepta_. "The cook, +whom the ancients considered as the meanest of their slaves both in +estimation and use, became highly valuable." _Baker_. + +[251] Avarice, inexperience, and arrogance--_Avaritiam, imperitiam, +superbiam_. "The President De Brosses and Dotteville have observed, +that Marius, in these words, makes an allusion to the characters of +all the generals that had preceded him, noticing at once the avarice +of Calpurnius, the inexperience of Albinus, and the pride of Metellus." +_Le Brun_. + +[252] For no man, by slothful timidity, has escaped the lot of +mortals--_Etenim ignavia nemo immortalis factus. The English +translators have rendered this phrase as if they supposed the sense to +be, "No man has gained immortal renown by inaction." But this is not +the signification. What Marius means, is, that _no man, however +cautiously and timidly he may avoid danger, has prolonged his life to +immortality_. Taken in this sense, the words have their proper +connection with what immediately follows: _neque quisquam parens +liberis, uti aeterni forent, optavit_. The sentiment is the same as in +the verse of Horace: _Mors et fugacem persequitur virum_; or in these +lines of Tyrtaeus: + +[Greek: Ou gar kos thanaton ge psygein eimarmenon estin + Andr', oud' haen progonon hae genos athanaton + Pollaki daeiotaeta phygon kai doupon akonton + Erchetai, en d' oiko moira kichen thanaton.] + + + To none, 'mong men, escape from death is giv'n, + Though sprung from deathless habitants of heav'n: + Him that has fled the battle's threatening sound, + The silent foot of fate at home has found. + +The French translator, Le Brun, has given the right sense: "Jamais la +lacheté n'a préservé de la mort;" and Dureau Delamalle: "Pour être un +làche, on n'en serait pas plus immortel." _Ignavia_ is properly +_inaction_; but here signifies _a timid shrinking from danger_. + +[253] Nor has any parent wished for his children, etc.--[Greek: +_Ou gar athanatous sphisi paidas euchontai genesthai, all' agathous kai +eukleeis_.] "Men do not pray that they may have children that will +never die, but such as will be good and honorable." Plato, Menex. 20. +"This speech, differing from the other speeches in Sallust both in +words and thoughts, conveys a clear notion of that fierce and +objurgatory eloquence which was natural to the rude manners and bold +character of Marius. It is a speech which can not be called polished +and modulated, but must rather be termed rough and ungraceful. The +phraseology is of an antique cast, and some of the wordscoarse.----But +it is animated and fervid, rushing on like a torrent; and by language +of such a character and structure, the nature and manners of Marius are +excellently represented." _Gerlach_. + +[254] LXXXVI. Not after the ancient method, or from the classes--_Non +more majorum, neque ex classibus_. By the regulation of Servius Tullius, +who divided the Roman people into six classes, the highest class +consisting of the wealthiest, and the others decreasing downward in +regular gradation, none of the sixth class, who were not considered as +having any fortune, but were _capite censi_, "rated by the head," were +allowed to enlist in the army. The enlistment of the lower order, +commenced, it is said, by Marius, tended to debase the army, and to +render it a fitter tool for the purposes of unprincipled commanders. +See Aul. Gell., xvi. 10. + +[255] Desire to pay court--_Per ambitionem_. + +[256] LXXXVII. Having filled up his legions, etc. Their numbers had been +thinned in actions with the enemy, and Metellus perhaps took home some +part of the army which did not return to it. + +[257] Their country and parents, etc--_Patriam parentesque_, etc. +Sallust means to say that the soldiers would see such to be the general +effect and result of vigorous warfare; not that they had any country or +parents to protect in Numidia. But the observation has very much of the +rhetorician in it. + +[258] LXXXVIII. From our allies--_Ex sociis nostris_. The people of the +province. + +[259] Obliged the king himself--to take flight without his arms +_Ipsumque regem--armis exuerat_. He attacked Jugurtha so suddenly and +vigorously that he was compelled to flee, leaving his arms behind him. + +[260]: LXXXIX. The Libyan Hercules--_Hercules Libys_. "He is one of +the forty and more whom Varro mentions, and who, it is probable, were +leaders of trading expeditions or colonies. See _supra_, c. 18. A +Libyan Hercules is mentioned by Solinus xxvii." _Bernouf_. + +[261] Marius conceived a strong desire--_Marium maxima cupido +invaserat_. "A strong desire had seized Marius." + +[262] Wild beasts' flesh--_Ferinâ carne_. Almost all our +translators have rendered this "venison." But the Africans lived on +the flesh of whatever beasts they took in the chase. + +[263] XC. The consul, etc.--Here is a long and awkward parenthesis. +I have adhered to the construction of the original. The "yet," _tamen_, +that follows the parenthesis, refers to the matter included in it. + +[264] He consigned to the care, etc.--_Equitibus auxiliariis agendum +attribuit_. "He gave to be driven by the auxiliary cavalry." + +[265] The town of Lares--_Oppidum Laris_. Cortius seems to have +been right in pronouncing _Laris_ to be an accusative plural. Gerlach +observes that Lares occurs in the Itinerary of Antonius and in St. +Augustine, Adv. Donatist., vi. 28. + +[266] XCI. After marching the whole night.--He seems to have +marched in the night for the sake of coolness. + +[267] XCII. All his undertakings, etc.--_Omnia non bene consulta +in virtutem trahebantur_. "All that he did rashly was attributed to +his _consciousness of_ extraordinary power." If they could not praise +his prudence, they praised his resolution and energy. + +[268] Difficult of execution--_Difficilem_. There seemed to be as +many impediments to success as in the affair at Capsa, though the +undertaking was not of so perilous a nature. + +[269] In the midst of a plain--_Inter caeteram planitiem_. By +_caeteram_ he signifies that _the rest_ of the ground, except the part +on which the fort stood, was plain and level. + +[270] Directed his utmost efforts to take--_Summâ vi capere +intendit_. It is to be observed that _summâ vi_ refers to _intendit_, +not to _capere_. _Summâ ope_ animum _intendit ut caperet_. + +[271] Among the vineae--_Inter vineas_. "_Inter_, for which Müller, +from a conjecture of Glareanus, substituted _intra_ is supported by +all the manuscripts, and ought not to be altered, although _intra_ +would have been more exact, as the signification of _inter_ is of +greater extent, and includes that of _intra_. _Inter_ is used when +a thing is inclosed on each side; _intra_, when it is inclosed on +all sides. If the soldiers, therefore, are considered as surrounded +with the _vineae_, they should be described as _intra vineas_; but +as there is no reason why they may not also be contemplated as being +inclosed only laterally by the _vineae_, the phrase _inter vineas_ +may surely in that case be applied to them. Gronovius and Drakenborch +ad Liv., i. 10, have observed how often these propositions are +interchanged when referred to _time_." Kritzius. On _vineae_, see +c. 76. + +[272] XCIII. A certain Ligurian--in the auxiliary cohorts--The +Ligurians were not numbered among the Italians or _socii_ in the Roman +army, but attached to it only as auxiliaries. + +[273] A desire--of seeing what he had never seen--_More humani +ingenii, cupido ignara visundi invadit_. This is the reading of +Cortius, to which Muller and Allen adhere. Gerlach inserted in his +text, _More humani ingeni, cupidio difficilia faciundi animum vortit_; +which Kritzius, Orelli, and Dietsch, have adopted, and which Cortius +acknowledged to be the reading of the generality of the manuscripts, +except that they vary as to the last two words, some having +_animad vortit_. The sense of this reading will be, "the desire of +doing something difficult, which is natural to the human mind, drew +off his thoughts from gathering snails, and led him to contemplate +something of a more arduous character." But the reading of Cortius +gives so much better a sense to the passage, that I have thought +proper to follow it. Burnouf, with Havercamp and the editions +antecedent to Cortius, reads _more humanae cupidinis ignara visundi +animum vortit_, of which the first five words are taken from a +quotation of Aulus Gellius, ix. 12, who, however, may have transcribed +them from some other part of Sallust's works, now lost. + +[274] Horizontally--_Prona_. This word here signifies _forward_, not +_downward_, as Anthon and others interpret, for trees growing out +of a rock or bank will not take a _descending_ direction. + +[275] As nature directs all vegetables--_Quò cuncta gignentium +natura fert_. It is to be observed that the construction is _natura +fert cuncta gignentium_, for _cuncta gignentia_. On _gignentia_, i.e. +vegetable, or _whatever produces any thing_, see c. 79, and Cat., c. +53. + +[276] Four centurions for a guard--_Praesidio qui forent, quatuor +centuriones_. It is a question among the commentators whether the +centurions were attended by their centuries or not; Cortius thinks +that they were not, as ten men were sufficient to cause an alarm in +the fortress, which was all that Marius desired. But that Cortius is +in the wrong, and that there were common soldiers with the centurions, +appears from the following considerations: 1. Marius would hardly have +sent, or Sallust have spoken of, _four_ men as a guard to _six_. 2. +Why should centurions only have been selected, and not common soldiers +as well as their officers? 3. An expression in the following chapter, +_laqueis--quibus allevati milites facilius escenderent_, seems to +prove that there were others present besides the centurions and the +trumpeters. The word _milites_ is indeed wanting in the text of +Cortius, but appears to have been omitted by him merely to favor his +own notion as to the absence of soldiers, for he left it out, as +Kritzius says, _summâ libidine, ne uno quidem codice assentiente_, +"purely of his own will, and without the authority of a single +manuscript." Taking a fair view of the passage, we seem necessarily +led to believe that the centurions were attended by a portion, if not +the whole, of their companies. See the following note. + +[277] XCIV. Those who commanded the centuries--_Illi qui centuriis +praeerant_. This is the reading of several manuscripts, and of almost +all the editions before that of Kritzius, and may be tolerated if we +suppose that the centurions were attended by their men, and that +Sallust, in speaking of the change of dress, meant _to include the +men_, although he specifies only the officers. Yet it is difficult +to conceive why Sallust should have used such a periphrase for +_centuriones_. Seven of the manuscripts, however, have _qui adsensuri +erant_, which Kritzius and Dietsch have adopted. Two have _qui ex +centuriis praeerant_. Allen, not unhappily, conjectures, _qui +praesidio erant_. Cortius suspected the phrase, _qui centuriis +praeerant_, and thought it a transformation of the words _qui +adscensuris praeerat_, which somebody had written in the margin as an +explanation of the following word _duce_, and which were afterward +altered and thrust into the text. + +[278] Progress--might be less impeded--_Nisus--faciliùs foret_. The +adverb for the adjective. So in the speech of Adherbal, c. 14, _ut +tutius essem_. + +[279] Unsafe--_Dubia nisu_. "Not to be depended upon for support." +_Nisu_ is the old dative for _nisui_. + +[280] Causing a testudo to be formed--_Testudine actâ_. The soldiers +placed their shields over their heads, and joined them close together, +forming a defense like the shell of a tortoise. + +[281] XCV. For I shall in no other place allude to his affairs--_Neque +enim allo loco de Sullae rebus dicturi sumus._ "These words show that +Sallust, at this time, had not thought of writing _Histories_, but +that he turned his attention to that pursuit after he had finished +the Jugurthine war. For that he spoke of Sylla in his large history +is apparent from several extant fragments of it, and from Plutarch, +who quotes Sallust, Vit. Syll., c. 3." _Kritzius._ + +[282] Lucius Sisenna--He wrote a history of the civil wars between +Sylla and Marius, Vell. Paterc. ii. 9. Cicero alludes to his style +as being jejune and puerile, Brut., c. 64, De Legg. i. 2. About a +undred and fifty fragments of his history remain. + +[283] Except that he might have acted more for his honor with +regard to his wife--_Nisi quod de uxore potuit honestius consuli._ As +these words are vague and indeterminate, it is not agreed among the +critics and translators to what part of Sylla's life Sallust refers. +I suppose, with Rupertus, Aldus, Manutius, Crispinus, and De Brosses, +that the allusion is to his connection with Valeria, of which the +history is given by Plutarch in his life of Sylla, which the English +reader may take in Langhorne's translation: "A few months after +Metella's death, he presented the people with a show of gladiators; +and as, at that time, men and women had no separate places, but sat +promiscuously in the theater, a woman of great beauty, and of one of +the best families, happened to sit near Sylla. She was the daughter of +Messala, and sister to the orator Hortensius; her name was Valeria; +and she had lately been divorced from her husband. This woman, coming +behind Sylla, touched him, and took off a little of the nap of his +robe, and then returned to her place. Sylla looked at her, quite +amazed at her familiarity, when she said, 'Wonder not, my lord, at +what I have done; I had only a mind to share a little in your good +fortune.' Sylla was far from being displeased; on the contrary, it +appeared that he was flattered very agreeably, for he sent to ask her +name, and to inquire into her family and character. Then followed an +interchange of amorous regards and smiles, which ended in a contract +and marriage. The lady, perhaps, was not to blame. But Sylla, though +he got a woman of reputation, and great accomplishments, yet came into +the match upon wrong principles. Like a youth, he was caught with soft +looks and languishing airs, things that are wont to excite the lowest +of the passions." Others have thought that Sallust refers to Sylla's +conduct on the death of his wife Metella, above mentioned, to whom, as +she happened to fall sick when he was giving an entertainment to the +people, and as the priest forbade him to have his house defiled with +death on the occasion, he unfeelingly sent a bill of divorce, ordering +her to be carried out of the house while the breath was in her. +Cortius, Kritz, and Langius. think that the allusion is to Sylla'a +general faithlessness to his wives, for he had several; as if Sallust +had used the singular for the plural, _uxore_ for _uxoribus_, or +_reuxoriâ_; but if Sallust meant to allude to more than one wife, why +should he have restricted himself to the singular? + +[284] Lived on the easiest terms with his friends--_Facilis +amicitiâ_ The critics are in doubt about the sense of this phrase. I +have given that which Dietsch prefers, who says that a man _facilis +amicitiâ_ is "one who easily grants his friends all that they desire, +exacts little from them, and is no severe censor of their morals." +Cortius explains it _facilis ad amicitiam_, and Facciolati, in his +Lexicon, _facilè sibi amicos parans_, but these interpretations, as +Kritzius observes, are hardly suitable to the ablative case. + +[285] Most fortunate--_Felicissumo_. Alluding, perhaps, to the +title of Felix, which he assumed after his great victory over Marius. + +[286] His desert--_Industriam_. That is, the efforts which he made to +attain distinction. + +[287] XCVII. When scarcely a tenth part of the day remained--_Vix +decimâ parte die reliquâ._ A remarkably exact specification of the time. + +[288] From various quarters--_Ex multis._ From his scouts, who came in +from all sides. + +[289] The Roman veterans, who were necessarily well experienced +in war,--The reading of Cortius is, _Romani veteres, novique, et ob +ea scientes belli;_ which he explains by supposing that the new +recruits _were joined with_ the veterans, and that both united were +consequently well skilled in war, citing, in support of his +supposition, a passage in c. 87: _Sic brevi spatio_ novi veteresqua +_coaluere, et virtus omnium aequalis facta._ And Ascensius had +previously given a similar explanation, _quod etiam veterani +adessent._ But many later critics have not been induced to believe +that Cortius's reading will bear any such interpretation; and +accordingly Kritzius, Dietsch, and Orelli, have ejected _novique_; as +indeed Ciaeconius and Ursinus had long before recommended. Muller, +Burnouf, and Allen, retain it, adopting Cortius's interpretation. +Gerlach also retains it, but not without hesitation. But it is very +remarkable that it occurs in all the manuscripts but one, which has +_Romani veteres boni scientes erant ut quos locus,_ etc. + +[290] _Neque minus hostibus conturbatis_. If the enemy had not been +in as much disorder as himself, Marius would hardly have been able to +effect his retreat. + +[291] _Pleno gradu_.--"By the _militaris gradus_ twenty miles were +completed in five hours of a summer day; by the _plénusus_, which is +quicker, twenty-four miles were traversed in the same time." Veget. i.9. + +[292] XCIX. When the watches were changed--_Per vigilias: i. e. +at the end of each watch, when the guards were relieved. "The nights, +by the aid of a clepsydra, were divided into four watches, the +termination of each being marked by the blast of a trumpet or horn. +See Viget. in. 8: _A tubicine omnes vigiliae committuntur; et finitis +horis a cornicine revocantur_." Kritzius He also refers to Liv. vii. +35; Lucan. viii. 24; Tacit. Hist. v. 22. + +[293] Auxiliary cohorts--_Cohortium_. I have added the word _auxiliary_. +That they were the cohorts of the auxiliaries or allies is apparent, +as the word _legionum_ follows. Kritzius indeed thinks otherwise, +supposing that the cohorts had particular trumpeters, distinct from +those of the whole legion. But for this notion there seems to be no +sufficient ground. Sallust speaks of the _cohortes sociorum_, c. 58, +and _cohortes Ligurum_, c. 100. + +[294] Sally forth from the camp--_Portis erumpere_. Sallust uses +the common phrase for issuing from the camp. It can hardly be +supposed, that the Romans had formed a regular camp with gates during +the short time that they had been upon the hill, especially as they +had fled to it in great disorder. + +[295] Stupor--_Vecordia_. A feeling that deprived them of all sense. + +[296] C. in form of a square--_Quadrato agmine_. "A hollow square, +with the baggage in the center; see Serv. ad Verg. Aen. xii.121. ... +Such an _agmen_ Sallust, in c. 46, calls _munitum_, as it was +prepared to defend itself against the enemy, from whatever quarter +they might approach." _Kritzius_. + +[297] Might be endured by them with cheerfulness _Volentibus +esset._ A Greek phrase, _Boulomenois eiae._ + +[298] Dread of shame--_Pudore._ Inducing each to have a regard to +his character. + +[299] CI. Trusting that one of them, assuredly, etc.--_Ratua es +omnibus aque aliquos ab tergo hostibus ventures. By aequo Sallust_ +signifies that each of the four bodies would have an equal chance of +coming on the rear of the Romans. + +[300] In person and with his officers--_Ipse aliique._ "The +_alii_, are the _praefecti equitum,_ officers of the cavalry." +_Kritzius._ + +[301] Wheeled secretly about, with a few of his followers, to the +infantry--_Clam--ad pedites convertit_. What infantry are meant, the +commentators can not agree, nor is there any thing in the narrative on +which a satisfactory decision can be founded. As the arrival of +Bocchus is mentioned immediately before, Cortius supposes that the +infantry of Bocchus are signified; and it may be so; but to whatever +party the words wore addressed, they were intended to be heard by the +Romans, or for what purpose were they spoken in Latin? Jugurtha may +have spoken the words in both languages, and this, from what follows, +would appear to have been the case, for both sides understood him. +_Quod ubi milites_ (evidently the Roman soldiers) _accepere--simul +barbari animos tollere_, etc. The _clam_ signifies that Jugurtha +turned about, or wheeled off, so as to escape the notice of Marius, +with whom he had been contending. + +[302] By vigorously cutting down our infantry--_Satis impigre +occiso pedite nostro_. "A ces mots il leur montra son épée teinte du +sang des notres, dont il venait, en effet, de faire une assez cruelle +boucherie." _De Brosses_. Of the other French translators, Beauzée and +Le Brun render the passage in a similar way; Dotteville and Durean +Delamalle, as well as all our English translators, take _pedite_ as +signifying _only one soldier_. Sir Henry Steuart even specifies that +it was "a legionary soldier." The commentators, I should suppose, have +all regarded the word as having a plural signification; none of them, +except Burnouf, who expresses a needless doubt, say any thing on the +point. + +[303] The spectacle on the open plains was then frightful--_Tum +spectaculum horribile campis patentibus_, etc. The idea of this +passage was probably taken, as Ciacconius intimates, from a +description in Xenophon, Agesil. ii. 12, 14, part of which is quoted +by Longinus, Sect. 19, as an example of the effect produced by the +omission of conjunctions: [Greek: _Kai symbalontes tas aspidas +eothounto, emachonto, apekteinon, apethnaeskon Epei ge maen elaexen +hae machae, paraen dae theasasthai entha synepeson allaelois, taen men +gaen aimati pe, ormenaen, nekrous de peimenous philious kai polemious +met allaelon, aspidas de diatethrummenas, dorata syntethrausmena, +egchoipidia gumna kouleon ta men chamai, ta d'en somasi, ta d'eti meta +cheiras_.] "Closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, +... But when the battle was over, you might have seen, where they had +fought, the ground clotted with blood, the corpses of friends and +enemies mingled together, and pierced shields, broken lances, and +swords without their sheaths, strewed on the ground, sticking in the +dead bodies, or still remaining in the hands that had wielded them +when alive." Tacitus, Agric. c. 37. has copied this description of +Sallust, as all the commentators have remarked: _Tum vero patentibus +locis grande et atrox spectaculum. Sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque +eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare.... Passim, arma et corpora, et +laceri artus, et cruenta humus_. "The sight on the open field was then +striking and horrible; they pursued, they inflicted wounds, they took +... Every where were seen arms and corpses, mangled limbs, and the +ground stained with blood." + +[304] Besides, the Roman people, even from the very infancy--The +reading of this passage, before the edition of Cortius, was this: _Ad +hoc, populo Romano jam a principio inopi melius visum amicos, quam +servos, quaerere_. Gruter proposed to read _Ad hoc populo Romano inopi +melius est visum_, etc., whence Cortius made _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam +inopi visum_, etc. But the Bipont editors, observing that _inopi_ was +not quite consistent with _quaerere servos_, altered the passage to +_Ad hoc, populo Romano jam à principio reipublicae melius visum_, +etc., which seems to be the best emendation that has been proposed, +and which I have accordingly followed. Kritzius and Dietsch adopt it, +except that they omit _reipublicae_, and put nothing in the place of +_inopi_. Gerlach retains _inopi_, on the principle of "quo +insolentius, eo verius," and it may, after all, be genuine. Cortius +omitted _melius_ on no authority but his own. + +[305] Out of which he had forcibly driven Jugurtha--_Unde ut +Jugurtham expulerit [expulerat]_ There is here some obscurity. The +manuscripts vary between _expulerit_ and _expulerat_. Cortius, and +Gerlaen in his second edition, adopt _expulerat_, which they of +necessity refer to Marius; but to make Bocchus speak thus, is, as +Kritzius says, to make him speak very foolishly and arrogantly. +Kritzius himself, accordingly, adopts _expulerit_, and supposes that +Bocchus invents a falsehood, in the belief that the Romans wouldhave +no means of detecting it. But Bocchus may have spoken truth, referring, +as Müller suggests, to some previous transactions between him and +Jugurtha, to which Sallust does not elsewhere allude. + +[306] In ill plight--_Sine decore_. + +[307] For interested bounty--_Largitio_. "The word signifies liberal +treatment of others with a view to our own interest; without any real +goodwill." _Müller_. "He intends a severe stricture on his own age, +and the manners of the Romans." _Dietsch_. + +[308] About forty days. Waiting, apparently, for the return of Marius. + +[309] CIV. Having failed in the object, etc.--_Infecto, quo +intenderat, negotio._ Though this is the reading of most of the +manuscripts, Kritzius, Müller, and Dietach, read _confecto_, as if +Marius could not have failed in his attempt. + +[310] Are always verging to opposite extremes.--_Semper in adversa +mutant_. Rose renders this "are always changing, and constantly for +the worse;" and most other translators have given something similar. +But this is absurd; for every one sees that all changes in human +affairs are not for the worse. _Adversa_ is evidently to be taken in +the sense which I have given. + +[311] CV. At his discretion--_Arbitratu_. Kritzius observes that +this word comprehends the notion of plenary powers to treat and +decide: _der mit unbeschränkter Vollmacht unterhandeln könnte_. + +[312] Presenting--_Intendere_. The critics are in doubt to what +to refer this word; some have thought of understanding _animum_; +Cortius, Wasse, and Müller, think it is meant only of the bows of the +archers; Kritzius, Burnouf, and Allen, refer it, apparently with +better judgment, to the _arma_ and _tela_ in general. + +[313] CVI. To dispatch their supper--_Coenatos esse_. "The perfect is +not without its force; it signifies that Sylla wished his orders to +be performed with the greatest expedition." _Kritzius_. He orders them +_to have done_ supper. + +[314] CVII. And blind parts of his body--_Caecum corpus_. Imitated +from Xenephon, Cyrop. iii. 3, 45: [Greek: _Moron gar to kratein +boulomenous, ta tuphla, tou somatos, kai aopla, tauta enantia +tattein tois polemiois pheugontas_.] "It is folly for those that +desire to conquer to turn the blind, unarmed, and handless parts of +the body, to the enemy in flight." + +[315] At being an instrument of his father's hostility--_Quoniam +hostilia faceret_. "Since he wished to deceive the Romans by pretended +friendship." _Müller_. + +[316] CVIII. Of the family of Masinissa--_Ex gente Masinissae._ +Massugrada was the son of Masinissa by a concubine. + +[317] Faithful--_Fidum_. After this word, in the editions of Cortius, +Kritzius, Gerlach, Allen, and Dietsch, follows _Romanis_ or _esse +Romanis_. These critics defend _Romanis_ on the plea that a dative +is necessary after _fidum_, and that it was of importance, as +Castilioneus observes that Dabar should be well disposed toward the +Romans, and not have been corrupted, like many other courtiers of +Bocchus, by the bribes of Jugurtha. Glarcanus, Badius Ascensius, the +Bipont editors, and Burnouf, with, most of the translators, omit +_Romanis_, and I have thought proper to imitate their example. + +[318] Place, day, and hour--_Diem, locum, tempus._ Not only the +day, but the time of the day. + +[319] That he kept all points, which he had settled with him +before, inviolate--_Consulta sese omnia cum illo integra habere_. +Kritzius justly observes that most editors, in interpreting this +passage, have erroneously given to _consulta_ the sense of +_consulenda_; and that the sense is, "that all that he had arranged +with Sylla before, remained unaltered, and that he was not drawn from +his resolutions by the influence of Jugurtha." + +[320] And that he was not to fear the presence of Jugurtha's +embassador, as any restraint, etc.--_Neu Jugurthae legatum +pertimesceret, quo res communis licentius gereretur_. There is some +difficulty in this passage. Burnouf makes the nearest approach to a +satisfactory explanation of it. "Sylla," says he, "was not to fear the +envoy of Jugurtha, _quo_, on which account (equivalent to _eoque_, and +on that account, _i. e._ on account of his freedom from apprehension) +their common interests would be more freely arranged." Yet it appears +from what follows that fear of Jugurtha's envoy _could not be +dismissed_, and that there could be no freedom of discussion in his +presence, as Sylla was to say but little before him, and to speak more +at large at a private meeting. These considerations have induced +Kritzius to suppose that the word _remoto_, or something similar, has +been lost after _quo_. The Bipont editors inserted _cautum esse_ +before _quo_, which is without authority, and does not at all assist +the sense. + +[321] African duplicity--_Punica fide_. "_Punica fides_ was a +well-known proverbial expression for treachery and deceit. The origin +of it is perhaps attributable not so much to fact, as to the implacable +hatred of the Romans toward the Carthaginians." _Burnouf_. + +[322] CIX. What answer should be returned by Bocchus--That is, in +the presence of Aspar. + +[323] Both then retired to their respective camps--_Deinde ambo in +sua castra digressi_. Both, _i. e._ Bocchus and Sylla, not Aspar and +Sylla, as Cortius imagines. + +[324] CX. It will be a pleasure to me--_Fuerit mihi_. Some editions, +as that of Langius, the Bipont, and Burnouf's, have _fuerit mihi +pretium_. Something of the kind seems to be wanting. "Res in bonis +numeranda fuerit mihi." _Burnouf_. Allen, who omits _pretium_, +interprets, "Grata mihi egestas sit, quae ad tuam, amicitiam +coufugiat;" but who can deduce this sense from the passage, unless he +have _pretium_, or something similar, in his mind? + +[325] CXI. That part of Numidia which he claimed--_Numidiae partem +quam nunc peteret_. See the second note on c. 102. Bocchus continues, +in his speech in the preceding chapter, to signify that a part of +Numidia belonged to him. + +[326] The ties of blood--_Cognationem_. To this blood-relationship +between him and Jugurtha no allusion is elsewhere made. + +[327] His resolution gave way--_Lenitur_. Cortius whom Gerlach and +Müller follow, reads _leniter_, but, with Kritzius and Gerlach, I +prefer the verb to the adverb; which, however, is found in the greater +number of the manuscripts. + +[328] CXII. Interests of both--_Ambobus_. Both himself and Jugurtha. + +[329] CXIV. At that time--_ Eâ tempestate_. "In many manuscripts +is found _ex eâ tempestate_, by which the sense is wholly perverted. +Sallust signifies that Marius did not continue always deserving of +such honor; for, as is said in c. 63, 'he was afterward carried +headlong by ambition.'" _Kritzius_. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Conspiracy of Catiline and The +Jurgurthine War, by Sallust + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE *** + +This file should be named 8ccat10.txt or 8ccat10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ccat11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ccat10a.txt + +Produced by David Starner, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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