Numidians

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I'm about to write a history of the war which the Roman people carried on with Jugurtha, king of the Numidians, in the first place because it was a great and severe contest, waged with varying success, and in the second because resistance was then for the first time made to the pride of the nobility, and this struggle threw all things, both human and divine, into confusion, and reached such a pitch of fury that amid the passions of her citizens, war and devastation made an end of Italy.

But before I set forth how these things began, I will touch on a few points of earlier history, that my whole narrative may be clearer and more open to the view.

In the Second Punic War, in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal inflicted the severest blow that the resources of Italy had received since the Roman power became supreme, Massinissa, king of the Numidians, was admitted to our friendship by Publius Scipio, whose merit subsequently gained him the title Africanus.

He achieved many brilliant military successes, and after the conquest of the Carthaginians and the capture of Suffix, whose rule was powerful in Africa and of wide extent, was rewarded by the Roman people with a gift of all the cities and lands which they had conquered.

Thus favored Massinissa ever remained our loyal and honorable friend, and at last his authority and his life came to a common conclusion.

When, however, he marked his nephew in the prime of life ever rising in importance, while his own existence was now near its close, and his children were still young, he was greatly disquieted, and turned over in his mind many remedies.

He was terrified as he thought of man's innate lust for power and rashness in indulging his heart's desire, and reflected, besides, how his own and his children's age offered the favorable chance which leads even unambitious men astray in the hope of gain.

He had ordered the Numidian horse to proceed him and approach the enemy's fortified camp to provoke him and attempt to draw his cavalry out, after which they were to give way and retire until they rejoined himself.

The Numidians acting on these orders advanced up to one of the camps and the Roman cavalry at once issued forth and boldly attacked them.

The Africans retreated as they had been ordered until they joined Hanno's army and then, wheeling round and encircling the enemy, they attacked them, killing many and pursuing the rest as far as the camp.

After this Hanno encamped opposite the Romans, occupying the hill called Taurus, at a distance of about ten stadia from the enemy.

Having made themselves masters of the town called Tunis, which was a suitable base for these raids, and also well situated for operations against the capital and its immediate environs, they established themselves there.

End of chapter 30 Chapter 31 The Carthaginians, having thus been twice defeated, shortly before at sea and now on land, in both cases owing to no lack of bravery in their troops, but owing to the incompetence of their commanders, were now in a thoroughly difficult position.

For, in addition to the misfortunes I have mentioned, the Numidians, attacking them at the same time as the Romans, inflicted not less but even more damage on the country than the latter.

The terror-stricken inhabitants took refuge in the city of Carthage, where utter despondency and extreme famine prevailed, the latter owing to overcrowding and the former owing to the expectation of a siege.

Of his life, scarcely anything more of importance is known than the particulars respecting himself, which may be collected from his works, and these are as follows.

He lived in the second century, about the time of Antoninus Pius, and was a native of Madaura, a Roman colony in Africa, and hence, in his Apology, he calls himself a semi-Gaetulian and a semi-Numidian, because the place of his birth was situated on the very confines of Numidia and Gaetulia.

His family was of considerable rank, for his father, whose name was Theseus, had exercised at Madaura the office of duumvir, which was the first dignity of a colony, and his mother, whose name was Salvia, was originally of Thessaly and descended from the family of Plutarch.

He appears to have been well instructed in all the liberal disciplines of the Greeks, to have been graceful in his person, and to have abounded in wit and learning.