A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate Part 35

[967] Urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit! (Ibid.

35. 10).

[968] There was still an heir in Gauda--one too who had been recognised in the testament of Micipsa (p. 323); but he may not have been regarded as a suitable candidate.

[969] Sall. _Jug_. 36. 1 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.

[970] Cf. Sall. _Jug_. 36. 1 Armis aut deditione aut quovis modo.

[971] Sall. _Jug_. 36. 3 Ac fuere qui tum Albinum haud ignarum consili regis existumarent, neque ex tanta properantia tam facile tractum bellum socordia magis quam dolo crederent.

[972] His colleague Quintus Minucius Rufus was making war with the barbarians of Thrace (Liv. _Ep_. lxv; Vellei. ii. 8; Florus i. 39 (iii.

4); Eutrop. iv. 27).

[973] See cf. Meinel _Zur Chronologie des Jug. Krieges_ p. 11.

[974] Quae dissensio totius anni comitia inpediebat (Sall. _Jug_. 37.

2).

[975] The tribunician year ended with 9th December, but it is not likely that the consuls of 109, Metellus and Sila.n.u.s, were elected between this date and 1st January of 109. Had they been, Metellus would have held Numidia and Sp. Albinus would not have been allowed to return there.

[976] Sall. _Jug_. 37. 3.

[977] There is little probability that the Calama (Gelma) of Orosius (v.

15) and the Suthul of Sall.u.s.t are identical. Those who have visited the site of Gelma deny that Sall.u.s.t's description suits this region and think that Suthul was a place near by. Grellois (_Ghelma_ pp. 263 foll.) thinks that Suthul may be placed on a site where now stands the village of Henschir Ain Neschma, one hour's distance from Gelma. See Wilmanns in C.I. L. viii. p. 521.

[978] Sall. _Jug_. 37. 4.

[979] Vineas agere, aggerem jacere, aliaque quae incepto usui forent properare (Sall. _Jug_. 37. 4).

[980] Sall. _Jug. 38. 9. The treaty perhaps gave to Jugurtha a specific guarantee of the undisturbed possession of Numidia.

[981] Oros. v. 15.

[982] Sail. _Jug_. 39. 1.

[983] Sall.u.s.t (_Jug_. 39. 2) improperly calls him _consul_. The only position which he held now was that of proconsul of Numidia.

[984] Senatus ita uti par fuerat decernit, suo atque populi injussu nullum potuisse foedus fieri (Sall. _Jug_. 39. 3).

[985] Sall. _Jug_. 39. 4.

[986] Sall. _Jug_. 40. 1.

[987] Occulte per amicos ac maxume per homines nominis Latini et socios Italicos inpedimenta parabant (Ibid. 40. 2). For the later relations of the government with the Latins and allies see p. 288.

[988] Sed plebes incredibile memoratu est quam intenta fuerit quantaque vi rogationem jusserit, magis odio n.o.bilitatis cui mala illa parabantur, quam cura rei publicae: tanta lubido in partibus erat (Sall. _Jug_.

40. 3).

[989] Ibid. 40. 4.

[990] [Victor] _de Vir. Ill_. 72; Plut. _Quaest. Rom_. 50.

[991] Sall. _Jug_. 40. 5 Sed quaestio exercita aspere violenterque ex rumore et lubidine plebis. Ut saepe n.o.bilitatem, sic ea tempestate plebem ex secundis rebus insolentia ceperat.

[992] Cic. _Brut_. 34. 128 Invidiosa lege Mamilia quaestio C. Galbam sacerdotem et quattuor consulates, L. Bestiam, C. Catonem, Sp. Albinum civemque praestantissimum L. Opimium, Gracchi interfectorem, a populo absolutum, c.u.m is contra populi studium stetisset. Gracchani judices sustulerunt. For the condemnation of Opimius cf. _pro Sest_. 67, 140; for that of Galba, _Brut_. 33. 127. Here honour is paid to Galba's speech in his defence (Extat ejus peroratio, qui epilogus dicitur: qui tanto in honore pueris n.o.bis erat, ut eum etiam edisceremus). Of Galba it is said (l.c.) Hic, qui in collegio sacerdotum esset, primus post Romam conditam judicio publico est condemnatus. He was perhaps a member of the college of pontiffs (Long _Decline of the Rom. Rep_. i. p. 415).

(For the exile of Cato at Tarraco see _pro Balbo_ 11. 28).

[993] Sall. _Jug_. 43. I; Liv. _Ep_. lxv.

[994] Sall.u.s.t's language (_Jug_. 43. 1) is indeterminate, but suggests the use of the lot--Metellus et Sila.n.u.s consules designati provincias inter se partiverant, Metelloque Numidia evenerat. There are instances in later times of a manipulation of the _sort.i.tio_. See Cic. _ad Fam_.

v. 2. 3; _ad Att_. i. 16. 8. This a.s.signment of the provinces followed the treaty of Aulus (l.c.), i.e. it took place early in 109, but not in the very first months of that year, as Spurius Albinus had gone back to Africa as proconsul (p. 373). As we have seen (p. 369) there is no probability that the consuls of 109 were elected in 110. Sall.u.s.t's words (l.c.) "consules designati" simply mean "appointed consuls" and have no reference to the usual status of "consuls designate".

[995] Polyb. vi. 56.

[996] Cic. _pro Balbo_ 5. 11; _ad Att_. i. 16. 4; Val. Max. ii. 10. 1.

It is supposed that Sicily may have been the province, which he had governed as propraetor, and from which he had returned when he was subjected to this trial. See Drumann _Gesch. Roms_. ii. p. 31.

[997] Acri viro et, quamquam advorso populi partium, fama tamen aequabili et inviolata (Sall. _Jug_. 43. 1).

[998] Ibid. 43. 4.

[999] Sall. _Jug_. 44. Cf. Val. Max. ii. 7. 2; Frontin. _Strat_.

iv. 1. 2.

[1000] Sed in ea difficultate Metellum non minus quam in rebus hostilibus magnum et sapientem virum fuisse conperior: tanta temperantia inter ambitionem saevitiamque moderatum.... Ita prohibendo a delictis magis quam vindicando exercitum brevi confirmavit (Sall. _Jug_. 45).

[1001] Sall. _Jug_. 46. 1.

[1002] Jugurtha ... diffidere suis rebus ac tum demum veram deditionem facere conatus est (Ibid.).

[1003] Sall. _Jug_. 46. 2.

[1004] Sed Metello jam antea experimentis cognitum erat genus Numidarum infidum, ingenio mobili, novarum rerum avidum esse (Ibid. 46. 3).

[1005] Sall. _Jug_. 46. 5.

[1006] Sall. _Jug_. 47. 1 Oppidum Numidarum nomine Vaga, forum rerum venalium totius regni maxume celebratum, ubi et incolere et mercari consueverant Italici generis multi mortales. Sall.u.s.t does not say that Italian merchants were still in the town. Their presence in Numidian cities since the ma.s.sacre at Cirta may be doubted, although the fact that the town was so near the province may have mastered the fears of some of the traders.

[1007] Sall. _Jug_. 47. 4.

[1008] Ibid. 48. 1 Coactus rerum necessitudine statuit armis certare.

[1009] Tissot _Geographie comparee_ 1. pp. 67-68. I have followed Tissot in his identification of the Muthul with the Wad Mellag. This view makes Metellus's efforts concentrate for the time on S.E. Numidia. He intended to secure his communications before proceeding farther, whether south or west. The older view, which identified the Muthul with the Ubus (Mannert and Forbiger) would represent Metellus as opening his campaign in the direction of Hippo Regius--Western Numidia would thus be his object and the subsequent campaign about Zama would indicate a change of plan. This is not an impossible view; but there are other indications which favour the hypothesis that the Muthul is the Wad Mellag. One is that Sicca in its neighbourhood veered round to the Romans after the battle (Sall.

_Jug_. 56. 3). The other is the alleged suitability of this region to the topographical description given by Sall.u.s.t. Tissot believed that every step in the great battle could be traced on the ground. The "mons tractu pari" is the Djebel Hemeur mta Ouargha, parallel to the course of the Wad Mellag and extending from the Djebel Sara to the Wad Zouatin.

The hill projected by this chain perpendicularly to the river is the Koudiat Abd Allah, which detaches itself from the central block of the Djebel Hemeur and the direction of which is perpendicular both to the mountain and to the Wad Mellag. The plain, waterless and desert in the angle formed by the hill and the mountain but inhabited and cultivated in the neighbourhood of the Muthul, is the Feid-es-Smar, watered in its lower part by two streams which empty into the Wad Mellag. The distance, however, which separates Djebel Hemeur from the left bank of the Wad Mellag, is not twenty (the number given by the MSS. of Sall.u.s.t) but about seven miles. S. Reinach in his edition of Tissot has not reproduced the author's own sketch of the battle of the Muthul, but a map of the district will be found in the Atlas appended to the work (Map xviii., Medjerda superieure). This map forms the basis of the one which I have given.

[1010] See note 1. One must agree with Tissot that the "ferme milia pa.s.suum viginti" of Sall.u.s.t (_Jug_. 48. 3) cannot be accepted. Such a distance is impossible from a strategic point of view, as Metellus could never have sent his vanguard such a distance in advance, when he himself was engaged with the enemy. It is also inconsistent with the account of the battle, the details of which obviously show that it took place in a much smaller area. The actual distance between the conjectured sites is about seven Roman miles (note 1. See Tissot op. cit. i. p. 71).