Masinissa, moreover, instructed us, Conscript Fathers, to cultivate no friendship but that of Rome, to adopt no new leagues or alliances, as we should find, in your good-will, abundance of efficient support; while, if the fortune of your empire should change, we must sink together with it. But, by your own merits, and the favor of the gods, you are great and powerful; the whole world regards you with favor and yields to your power; and you are the better able, in consequence, to attend to the grievances of your allies. My only fear is, that private friendship for Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead any of you astray; for his partisans, I hear, are doing their utmost in his behalf, soliciting and importuning you individually, to pass no decision against one who is absent, and whose cause is yet untried; and saying that I state what is false, and only pretend to be an exile, when I might, if I pleased, have remained still in my kingdom. But would that I could see him,[53] by whose unnatural crime I am thus reduced to misery, pretending as I now pretend; and would that, either with you or with the immortal gods, there may at length arise some regard for human interests; for then assuredly will he, who is now audacious and triumphant in guilt, be tortured by every kind of suffering, and pay a heavy penalty for his ingratitude to my father, for the murder of my brother, and for the distress which he has brought upon myself.
And now, O my brother, dearest object of my affection, though thy life has been prematurely taken from thee, and by a hand that should have been the last to touch it, yet I think thy fate a subject for rejoicing rather than lamentation, for, in losing life, thou hast not been cut off from a throne, but from flight, expatriation, poverty, and all those afflictions which now press upon me. But I, unfortunate that I am, cast from the throne of my father into the depths of calamity, afford an example of human vicissitudes, undecided what course to adopt, whether to avenge thy wrongs, while I myself stand in need of assistance, or to attempt the recovery of my kingdom, while my life or death depends on the aid of others.[54]
Would that death could be thought an honorable termination to my misfortunes, that I might not seem to live an object of contempt, if, sinking under my afflictions, I tamely submit to injustice. But now I can neither live with pleasure, nor can die without disgrace.[55] I implore you, therefore, Conscript Fathers, by your regard for yourselves,[56] for your children, and for your parents, and by the majesty of the Roman people, to grant me succor in my distress, to arrest the progress of injustice, and not to suffer the kingdom of Numidia, which is your own property, to sink into ruin[57] through villainy and the slaughter of our family."
XV. When the prince had concluded his speech, the embassadors of Jugurtha, depending more on their money than their cause, replied, in a few words, "that Hiempsal had been put to death by the Numidians for his cruelty; that Adherbal, commencing war of his own accord, complained, after he was defeated, of being unable to do injury; and that Jugurtha entreated the senate not to consider him a different person from what he had been known to be at Numantia, nor to set the assertions of his enemy above his own conduct."
Both parties then withdrew from the senate-house, and the senate immediately proceeded to deliberate. The partisans of the embassadors, with a great many others, corrupted by their influence, expressed contempt for the statements of Adherbal, extolled with the highest encomiums the merits of Jugurtha, and exerted themselves as strenuously, with their interest and eloquence, in defense of the guilt and infamy of another, as they would have striven for their own honor. A few, however, on the other hand, to whom right and justice were of more estimation than wealth, gave their opinion that Adherbal should be assisted, and the murder of Hiempsal severely avenged. Of all these the most forward was Aemilius Scaurus,[58] a man of noble birth and great energy, but factious, and ambitious of power, honor, and wealth; yet an artful concealer of his own vices. He, seeing that the bribery of Jugurtha was notorious and shameless, and fearing that, as in such cases often happens, its scandalous profusion might excite public odium, restrained himself from the indulgence of his ruling passion.[59]
XVI. Yet that party gained the superiority in the senate, which preferred money and interest to justice. A decree was made, "that ten commissioners should divide the kingdom, which Micipsa had possessed, between Jugurtha and Adherbal." Of this commission the leading person was Lucius Opimius,[60] a man of distinction, and of great influence at that time in the senate, from having in his consulship, on the death of Caius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, prosecuted the victory of the nobility over the plebeians with great severity.
Jugurtha, though he had already counted Scaurus among his friends at Rome, yet received him with the most studied ceremony, and, by presents and promises, wrought on him so effectually, that he preferred the prince's interest to his own character, honor, and all other considerations. The rest of the commissioners he assailed in a similar way, and gained over most of them; by a few only integrity was more regarded than lucre. In the division of the kingdom, that part of Numidia which borders on Mauretania, and which is superior in fertility and population, was allotted to Jugurtha; of the other part, which, though better furnished with harbors and buildings, was more valuable in appearance than in reality, Adherbal became the possessor.
XVII. My subject seems to require of me, in this place, a brief account of the situation of Africa, and of those nations in it with whom we have had war or alliances. But of those tracts and countries, which, from their heat, or difficulty of access, or extent of desert, have been but little visited, I can not possibly give any exact description. Of the rest I shall speak with all possible brevity.
In the division of the earth, most writers consider Africa as a third part; a few admit only two divisions, Asia and Europe,[61] and include Africa in Europe. It is bounded, on the west, by the strait connecting our sea with the ocean;[62] on the east, by a vast sloping tract, which the natives call the Catabathmos.[63] The sea is boisterous, and deficient in harbors; the soil is fertile in corn, and good for pasturage, but unproductive of trees. There is a scarcity of water both from rain and from landsprings. The natives are healthy, swift of foot, and able to endure fatigue. Most of them die by the gradual decay of age,[64] except such as perish by the sword or beasts of prey; for disease finds but few victims. Animals of a venomous nature they have in great numbers.
Concerning the original inhabitants of Africa, the settlers that afterward joined them, and the manner in which they intermingled, I shall offer the following brief account, which, though it differs from the general opinion, is that which was interpreted to me from the Punic volumes said to have belonged to King Hiempsal[65], and which the inhabitants of that country believe to be consistent with fact. For the truth of the statement, however, the writers themselves must be responsible.