« Sal. Jug. 45 | Sal. Jug. 46 | Sal. Jug. 47 | About This Work »
46Jugurtha meanwhile learned through messengers what Metellus was about, and at the same time received word from Rome that his opponent was incorruptible. 2He therefore began to lose heart in his cause and for the first time attempted to arrange a genuine surrender. Accordingly, he sent envoys to the consul with tokens of submission,merely asking that his own life and those of his children be spared and leaving all else to the discretion of the Roman people. 3But Metellus had already learned from experience that the Numidians were a treacherous race, of fickle disposition, and fond of a change. He therefore separated the envoys and approached them one by one. 4When by gradually sounding them he found that they could be used for his design, he induced them by lavish promises to deliver Jugurtha into his hands, alive if possible; or dead, if he could not be taken alive. But publicly he bade them take back a reply in accordance with the king’s wishes.
5A few days later the consul with his army alert and ready for battle invaded Numidia, where he found nothing to indicate a state of war; the huts were full of men, and cattle and farmers were to be seen in the fields. The king’s officers came out to meet him from the towns and villages, offering to furnish grain, transport provisions—in short, to do everything that they were ordered. 6None the less, exactly as if the enemy were close at hand, Metellus advanced with his line protected on all sides, and reconnoitred the country far and wide, believing that these indications of submission were a pretence and that the enemy were seeking an opportunity for treachery. 7Accordingly, he himself led the van with the light-armed cohorts as well as a picked body of slingers and archers, his lieutenant Gaius Marius with the cavalry had charge of the rear, while on both flanks he had apportioned the cavalry of the auxiliaries to the tribunes of the legions and the prefects of the cohorts. With these the light-armed troops were mingled, whose duty it was to repel the attacks of the enemy’s horsemen, wherever they might be made. 8For Jugurtha was so crafty, so well acquainted with the region and so versed in military science, that it was not certain whether he was more dangerous when absent or when present, at peace or making war.
« Sal. Jug. 45 | Sal. Jug. 46 | Sal. Jug. 47 | About This Work »