Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator), 34

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But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was expected to give his answer, Caius Bæbius, the tribune of the people, whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, enjoined the prince to hold his peace;¹ 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,² 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.

Bellum Iugurthinum. Sallust. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator). New York and London. 1899.

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Current edition Perseus

Jugurthine War (English) (Sallust. Sallust, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus. Watson, J. S. (John Selby), translator. London: Harper & Brothers, 1899.)

Editions (2)

Bellum Iugurthinum Perseus (Sallust. C. Sallusti Crispi Catilina, Iugurtha, orationes et epistulae excerptae de historiis. Ahlberg, Axel Wilhelm, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1919.) — 35 focus

1 Erat ea tempestate Romae Numida quidam nomine Massiva, Gulussae filius, Masinissae nepos, qui, quia in dissensione regum Iugurthae advorsus fuerat, dedita Cirta et Adherbale interfecto profugus ex patria abierat. 2 huic Sp. Albinus, qui proxumo anno post Bestiam cum Q. Minucio Rufo consulatum gerebat, persuadet, quoniam ex stirpe Masinissae sit Iugurthamque ob scelera invidia cum metu urgeat, regnum Numidiae ab senatu petat. 3 avidus consul belli gerundi movere quam senescere omnia malebat. ipsi provincia Numidia, Minucio Macedonia evenerat. 4 quae postquam Massiva agitare coepit neque Iugurthae in amicis satis praesidi est, quod eorum alium conscientia, alium mala fama et timor impediebat, Bomilcari, proxumo ac maxume fido sibi, imperat, pretio, sicuti multa confecerat, insidiatores Massivae paret ac maxume occulte, sin id parum procedat, quovis modo Numidam interficiat. 5 Bomilcar mature regis mandata exequitur et per homines talis negoti artifices itinera egressusque eius, postremo loca atque tempora cuncta explorat. deinde, ubi res postulabat, insidias tendit. 6 igitur unus ex eo numero, qui ad caedem parati erant, paulo inconsultius Massivam aggreditur. illum obtruncat, sed ipse deprehensus multis hortantibus et in primis Albino consule indicium profitetur. 7 fit reus magis ex aequo bonoque quam ex iure gentium Bomilcar, comes eius, qui Romam fide publica venerat. 8 at Iugurtha manufestus tanti sceleris non prius omisit contra verum niti, quam animadvortit supra gratiam atque pecuniam suam invidiam facti esse. 9 igitur, quamquam in priore actione ex amicis quinquaginta vades dederat, regno magis quam vadibus consulens clam in Numidiam Bomilcarem dimittit, ventus, ne reliquos popularis metus invaderet parendi sibi, si de illo supplicium sumptum foret. et ipse paucis diebus eodem profectus est, iussus a senatu Italia decedere. 10 sed postquam Roma egressus est, fertur saepe eo tacitus respiciens postremo dixisse 'o urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit.'

36 1 Interim Albinus renovato bello commeatum, stipendium aliaque, quae militibus usui forent, maturat in Africam portare; ac statim ipse profectus, uti ante comitia, quod tempus haud longe aberat, armis aut deditione aut quovis modo bellum conficeret. 2 at contra Iugurtha trahere omnia et alias, deinde alias morae causas facere; polliceri deditionem ac deinde metum simulare; cedere instanti et paulo post, ne sui diffiderent, instare: ita belli modo, modo pacis mora consulem ludificare. 3 ac fuere qui tum Albinum haud ignarum consili regis existumarent neque ex tanta properantia tam facile tractum bellum socordia magis quam dolo crederent. 4 sed postquam dilapso tempore comitiorum dies adventabat, Albinus Aulo fratre in castris pro praetore relicto Romam decessit.

Bellum Iugurthinum Perseus (Sallust. Bellum Iugurthinum. (No bibliographic information found).) — 34 focus

Deinde ubi Memmius dicendi finem fecit et Iugurtha respondere iussus est, C. Baebius tribunus plebis, quem pecunia corruptum supra diximus, regem tacere iubet, ac tametsi multitudo, quae in contione aderat, vehementer accensa terrebat eum clamore, uultu, saepe impetu atque aliis omnibus, quae ira fieri amat, vicit tamen impudentia. Ita populus ludibrio habitus ex contione discedit; Iugurthae Bestiaeque et ceteris, quos illa quaestio exagitabat, animi augescunt.

Notes on the current edition

The Jugurthine War

1. 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."

2. Every other act to which anger prompts]

Aliis omnibus, quœ 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 quœ 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 quœ 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 φιλεῖ, 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 quœ 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 notrefer, as Cortius erroneously supposes, to this passage, but to some part of Sallust's works that is now lost.

Sallust Bellum Iugurthinum 34

Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator)

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