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91Now every day during the march Marius had distributed cattle equally among the centuries and the divisions of cavalry, taking care that bottles for water should be made from the hides; thus at the same time he made good the lack of grain and without revealing his purpose provided something which was soon to be useful. When they finally reached the river on the sixth day, a great quantity of bottles had been prepared. 2Having pitched his camp by the river and fortified it slightly, he ordered the soldiers to eat their dinners and be ready to march at sunset, throwing aside all their baggage and loading themselves and the pack-animals with water only. 3Then, when he thought the proper time had come, he left the camp and marched all night before halting. He did the same thing the next night, and on the third night long before daybreak he came to a hilly tract, distant not more than two miles from Capsa. There he waited with all his forces, keeping as much in concealment as possible. 4When day dawned and the Numidians, who had no fear of an attack, sallied forth in large numbers from the town, he suddenly ordered all the cavalry and with them the swiftest of the foot-soldiers to hasten at the double-quick to Capsa and beset the gates. Then he himself quickly followed, keeping on the alert and not allowing his soldiers to plunder. 5When the townspeople perceived what was going on, their disorder, their great panic, their unexpected plight and the fact that a part of their fellow citizens were outside the walls and in the power of the enemy, compelled them to surrender. 6But nevertheless the town was burned and the adult Numidians put to the sword; all the rest were sold and the proceeds divided among the soldiers. 7The consul was guilty of this violation of the laws of war, not because of avarice or cruelty, but because the place was of advantage to Jugurtha and difficult of access for us, while the people were fickle and untrustworthy and had previously shown themselves amenable neither to kindness nor to fear.
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