[197] LXVIII. Averse to further exertion—Tum abnuentes omnia. Most of the translators have understood by these words that the troops refused to obey orders; but Sallust's meaning is only that they expressed, by looks and gestures, their unwillingness to proceed.
[198] LXIX As a native of Latium—Nam is civis ex Latio erat. "As he was a Latin, he was not protected by the Porcian law (see Cat., c. 51), though how far this law had power in the camp, is not agreed." Allen. Gerlach thinks that it had the same power in the camp as elsewhere, with reference to Roman citizens. But Roman citizenship was not extended to the Latins till the end of the Social War, A.U.C. 662. Plutarch, however, in his Life of Caius Gracchus (c. 9), speaks of Livius Drusus having been abetted by the patricians in proposing a law for exempting the Latin soldiers from being flogged, about thirty years earlier; and it seems to have been passed, but, from this passage of Sallust, appears not to have remained in force. Lipsius touches on this obscure point in his Militia Romana, v. 18, but settles nothing. Plutarch, in his Life of Marius, c. 8, says that Turpilius was an old retainer of the family of Metellus, whom he attended, in this war, as prafectus fabrûm, or master of the artificers; that, being afterward appointed governor of Vacea, he exercised his office with great justice and humanity, that his life was spared by Jugurtha at the solicitation of the inhabitants; that, when he was brought to trial, Metellus thought him innocent, and that he would not have been condemned but for the malice of Marius, who exasperated the other members of the council against him. He adds, that after his death, his innocence became apparent, and that Marius boasted of having planted in the breast of Metellus an avenging fury, that would not fail to torment him for having put to death the innocent friend of his family. Hence Sir Henry Steuart has accused Sallust of wilfully misrepresenting the character of Turpilius, as well as the whole transaction. But as much credit is surely due to Sallust as to Plutarch.
[199] LXX. To which Jugurtha—was unable to attend—Quae Jugartha, fesso, aut majoribus astricto, superaverant. "Which had remained to (or been too much for) Jugurtha, when weary, or engaged in more important affairs."
[200] Among the winter-quarters of the Romans—Inter hiberna Romanorum.It is stated in c. 61, as Kritzius observes, that Metellus, when he put his army into winter-quarters, had, at the same time, placed garrisons in such of Jugurtha's towns as had revolted to him. The forces of the Romans being thus dispersed, Nabdalsa might justly be said to have his army inter hiberna, "among their winter-quarters."
[201] LXXI. Behind his head—Super caput. On the back of the bolster that supported his head; part of which might be higher than the head itself.
[202] LXXIIL The factious tribunes—Seditiosi magistratus.
[203] After the lapse of many years—Post multas tempestates. Apparently the period since A.U.C. 611, when Quintus Pompeius, who, as Cicero says (in Verr. ii. 5), was humile atque obscuro loco natus, obtained the consulship; that is, a term of forty-three or forty-four years.
[204] That decree was thus rendered abortive—Ea res frustra fuit. By a lex Sempronia, a law of Caius Gracchus, it was enacted that the senate should fix the provinces for the future consuls before the comitia for electing them were held. But from Jug. c. 26, it appears that the consuls might settle by lot, or by agreement between themselves, which of those two provinces each of them should take. How far the senate were allowed or accustomed in general, to interfere in the arrangement, it is not easy to discover: but on this occasion they had taken on themselves to pass a resolution in favor of the patrician. Lest similar scenes, however, to those of the Sempronian times should be enacted, they yielded the point to the people.
[205] LXXV. Thala—The river on which this town stood is not named by Sallust, but it appears to have been the Bagrada. It seems to have been nearly destroyed by the Romans, after the defeat of Juba, in the time of Julius Caesar; though Tacitus, Ann. iii. 21, mentions it as having afforded a refuge to the Romans in the insurrection of the Numidian chief, Tacfarinas. D'Anville and Dr. Shaw, Travels in Bombay, vol. i. pt. 2, ch. 5, think it the same with Telepte, now Ferre-anah; but this is very doubtful. See Cellar. iv. 5. It was in ruins in the time of Strabo.
[206] Had done more than was required of them—Officia intenderant. "Auxit intenditque saevitiam exacerbatus indicio filii sui Drusi" Suet. Tib. 62.