[167] With the front changed into a flank—Transversis principiis. He made the whole army wheel to the left, so that what was their front line, or principia, as they faced the enemy on the hill, became their flank as they marched from the mountain toward the river.
[168] L. Behind the front line—Post principia. The principia are the same as those mentioned in the preceding note, that is, the front line when the army faced that of Jugurtha on the hill, but which presented its flank to the enemy when the army was on its march. So that Marius commanded in the center ("in medio agmine," says Dietsch), while Metellus took the lead with the cavalry of the left wing. See the following note.
[169] Cavalry on the left wing—which, on the march, had become the van—Sinistrae ulae equitibus—qui in agmine principes facti erant. When Metellus halted (c. 49, fin.), and drew up his troops fronting the hill on which Jugurtha was posted, he placed all his cavalry in the wings; consequently, when the army wheeled to the left, and marched forward, the cavalry of the left wing became the van.
[170] LI. Of the whole struggle—Totius negotii. That is, on the side of the Romans.
[171] LII. The enemy's ignorance of the country—Regio hostibus ignara. Ignara for ignota; a country unknown to the enemy.
[172] LIII. Fatigued and exhausted—Fessi lassique. I am once more obliged to desert Cortius, who reads laetique. The sense, as Kritzius and Dietsch observe, shows that laeti 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 laeti. Gerlach, though he retains laeti in his text, condemns it in his notes.
[173] LIV. Which could only be conducted, etc.—Quod, nisi ex illius lubidine, geri non posset. Cortius omits the non before posset, but almost every other editor, except Allen, has retained it, from a conviction of necessity.
[174] Under these circumstances, however—Ex copiâ tamen. With copiâ we must understand consiliorum or rerum, as at the end of c. 39. All the manuscripts, except two, have inopiâ, which editors have justly rejected as inconsistent with the sense.
[175] LV. A thanksgiving—Supplicia. The same as supplicatio, on which the reader may consult Adam's Rom. Ant., or Dr. Smith's Dictionary.
[176] LVI. Dared not be guilty of treachery—Fallere nequibant. "Through dread of the severest punishments if they should fall into the hands of the Romans. Valerius Maximus, ii. 7, speaks of deserters having been deprived of their hands by Quintus Fabius Maximus; of others who were crucified or beheaded by the elder Africanus; of others who were thrown to wild beasts by Africanus the younger; and of others who were sentenced by Paulus Aemilius to be trampled to death by elephants. Hence it appears that the punishment of deserters was left to the pleasure of the general." Burnouf.