Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum, Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. (Translator), 53

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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 exhausted¹ 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.

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.) — 54 focus

1 Metellus in isdem castris quatriduo m moratus saucios cum cura reficit, meritos in proeliis more militiae donat, univorsos in contione laudat atque agit gratias, hortatur, ad cetera, quae levia sunt, parem animum gerant: pro victoria satis iam pugnatum, reliquos labores pro praeda fore. 2 tamen interim transfugas et alios opportunos, Iugurtha ubi gentium aut quid agitaret, cum paucisne esset an exercitum haberet, ut sese victus gereret, exploratum misit. 3 at ille sese in loca saltuosa et natura munita receperat ibique cogebat exercitum numero hominum ampliorem, sed hebetem infirmumque, agri ac pecoris magis quam belli cultorem. 4 id ea gratia eveniebat, quod praeter regios equites nemo omnium Numida ex fuga regem sequitur. quo quoiusque animus fert, eo discedunt, neque id flagitium militiae ducitur: ita se mores habent.

5 Igitur Metellus, ubi videt etiam tum regis animum ferocem esse, bellum renovari, quod nisi ex illius lubidine geri non posset, praeterea iniquom certamen sibi cum hostibus, minore detrimento illos vinci quam suos vincere, statuit non proeliis neque in acie sed alio more bellum gerundum. 6 itaque in loca Numidiae opulentissuma pergit, agros vastat, multa castella et oppida temere munita aut sine praesidio capit incenditque, puberes interficit, iubet alia omnia militum praedam esse. ea formidine multi mortales Romanis dediti; obsides, frumentum et alia, quae usui forent, affatim praebita; ubicumque res postulabat, praesidium inpositum. 7 quae negotia multo magis quam proelium male pugnatum ab suis regem terrebant; quippe, 8 quoius spes omnis in fuga sita erat, sequi cogebatur et, qui sua loca defendere nequiverat, in alienis bellum gerere. 9 tamen ex copia quod optumum videbatur consilium capit: exercitum plerumque in isdem locis opperiri iubet, ipse cum delectis equitibus Metellum sequitur, nocturnis et aviis itineribus ignoratus Romanos palantis repente aggreditur. eorum plerique inermes cadunt, multi capiuntur, nemo omnium intactus profugit, et Numidae, prius quam ex castris subveniretur, sicuti iussi erant, in proxumos collis discedunt.

Bellum Iugurthinum Perseus (Sallust. Bellum Iugurthinum. (No bibliographic information found).) — 53 focus

Romani ex improuiso pulueris vim magnam animaduertunt; nam prospectum ager arbustis consitus prohibebat. Et primo rati humum aridam vento agitari, post ubi aequabilem manere et, sicuti acies movebatur, magis magisque appropinquare vident, cognita re properantes arma capiunt ac pro castris, sicuti imperabatur, consistunt. Deinde ubi propius ventum est, utrimque magno clamore concurritur. Numidae tantummodo remorati, dum in elephantis auxilium putant, postquam eos impeditos ramis arborum atque ita disiectos circumveniri vident, fugam faciunt, ac plerique abiectis armis collis aut noctis, quae iam aderat, auxilio integri abeunt. Elephanti quattuor capti, relicui omnes numero quadraginta interfecti. At Romani, quamquam itinere atque opere castrorum et proelio fessi lassique erant, tamen, quod Metellus amplius opinione morabatur, instructi intentique obviam procedunt; nam dolus Numidarum nihil languidi neque remissi patiebatur. Ac primo obscura nocte, postquam haud procul inter se erant, strepitu uelut hostes adventare, alteri apud alteros formidinem simul et tumultum facere; et paene imprudentia admissum facinus miserabile, ni utrimque praemissi equites rem explorauissent. Igitur pro metu repente gaudium mutatur: milites alius alium laeti appellant, acta edocent atque audiunt, sua quisque fortia facta ad caelum fert. Quippe res humanae ita sese habent: in victoria vel ignavis gloriari licet, aduersae res etiam bonos detrectant.

Notes on the current edition

The Jugurthine War

1. LIII. Fatigued and exhausted]

Fessi lassique.

I am once more obliged to desert Cortius, who reads lœtique. The sense, as Kritzius and Dietsch observe, shows that lœti 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 lœti. Gerlach, though he retains lœti in his text, condemns it in his notes.

Sallust Bellum Iugurthinum 53

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

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