[Edited 9/29/2014]
WAR
WITH JUGURTHA
Without reason do mankind
complain of
their nature, on the ground that it is weak and of short duration and
ruled
rather by chance than by virtue. For reflection would show on the
contrary that
nothing is greater or more excellent, and that nature has more often
found
diligence lacking in men than strength or endurance in itself.
But
the leader and ruler of man's life is the mind, and when this advances
to glory
by the path of virtue, it has power and potency in abundance, as well
as fame;
and it needs not fortune, since fortune can neither give to any man
honesty,
diligence, and other good qualities, nor can she take them away.
But
if through the lure of base desires the mind has sunk into sloth and
the
pleasures of the body, when it has enjoyed ruinous indulgence for a
season,
when strength, time, and talents have been wasted through indolence,
the
weakness of human nature is accused, and the guilty shift their own
blame to
circumstances.
But if men had as great
regard for
honourable enterprises as they have ardour in pursuing what is foreign
to their
interests, and bound to be unprofitable and often even dangerous, they
would
control fate rather than be controlled by it, and would attain to that
height
of greatness where from mortals their glory would make them immortal.
For just as
mankind is made
up of body and soul, so all our acts and pursuits partake of the nature
either
of the body or of the mind. Therefore notable beauty and great riches,
as well
as bodily strength and all other gifts of that kind, soon pass away,
but the
splendid achievements of the intellect, like the soul, are everlasting.
Pretty
impressive stuff, I think—followed by a pretty
impressive history.
Sallust
starts his account of the Jugurthine War by returning
to the days of the 2nd Punic War and the initial formation
of close
ties between Rome and Numidia.
Numidia
(“land of the nomad”) was a Berber kingdom
bordering Carthage. They had become more civilized in part through
Carthaginian
influence, but the Carthaginian king (Masinissa) had sided with Rome in
the
last stages of the war with Hannibal (204-202). Masinissa had lived
into his 80’s
dying in 149 BC. His son Micipsa
(149-118 BC) was also long lived, also quite able, and also an ally of
the
Romans.
Under
monarchy, long-lived rulers tend to be good: the
dangerous times for a kingdom typically involve the death of a ruler
and jockeying
for power during the transition. But,
when a ruler is long-lived, the transition period might be even more
than
usually dangerous.
Micipsa
tried to make sure things would go smoothly
after his death. His plan was to split
the kingdom among his two sons and their older, more capable cousin
Jugurtha.
Sallust gives Micipsa a fine speech urging unity:
When
you were a
small boy, Jugurtha, an orphan without prospects or means, I took you
into the
royal household, believing that because of my kindness you would love
me as if
you were my own child. And I was not mistaken; for, to say training of
your
other great and noble actions, of late on your return from Numantia you
have
conferred honour upon me and my realm by your glory, and by your
prowess have
made the Romans still more friendly to Numidia than before; while in
Spain the
name of our family has been given new life. Finally, by the glory you
have won
you have overcome envy, a most difficult feat for mortal man. Now,
since nature
is bringing my life to its close, I conjure and implore you by this
right hand,
by the loyalty due to the kingdom, hold dear these youths who are your
kinsmen
by birth and through my favour are your brothers; and do not desire to
make new
friends among strangers in preference to keeping the love of those who
are
bound to you by ties of blood. Neither armies nor treasure form the
bulwarks of
a throne, but friends; these you can neither acquire by force of arms
nor buy
with gold; it is by devotion and loyalty that they are won. But who is
more
bound by ties of friendship than brother to brother, or what stranger
will you
find loyal, if you become the enemy of your kindred? I deliver to you
three a
realm that is strong if you prove virtuous, but weak if you do ill; for
harmony
makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest
empires. As
for the rest, it devolves upon you, Jugurtha, rather than upon these
children,
since you are older and wiser than they, to see to it that my hopes are
not
disappointed. For in all strife the stronger, even though he suffer
wrong, is
looked upon as the aggressor because of his superior power. As for you,
Adherbal and Hiempsal, love and respect this great man, emulate his
virtues,
and strive to show that I did not adopt better children than I begat.
Things
don’t work out at all as Micipsa had hoped. His
sons (apparently) insult Jugurtha, with Hiempsel refusing Jugurtha a
place of
honor. Then when Jugurtha suggests
reversing the decisions Micipsa had made during his declining years,
the
brothers chime in: good idea. Especially, let’s reverse the decision
that gave
you any power.
Jugurtha’s
men attack and kill Hiempsel, and Adherbal
and Jugurtha are at war. Jugurtha, who
had fought alongside Scipio Aemilianus (the Roman General who had
masterminded
the defeat of Carthage in the 3rd Punic War), was the far
superior
leader, and Adherbal was about to be crushed.
He appeals to Rome for help:
Fathers
of the
Senate, my sire Micipsa admonished me on his death-bed to consider that
I was
only a steward of the kingdom of Numidia, but that the right and
authority were
in your hands; at the same time he bade me strive to be as helpful as
possible
to the Roman people in peace and in war and to regard you as my kindred
and
relatives. He declared that if I did this, I should find in your
friendship an
army, and wealth, and bulwarks for my kingdom. As I was following these
injunctions of my father, Jugurtha, wickedest of all men on the face of
the
earth, in despite of your power robbed me, the grandson of Masinissa
and
hereditary friend and ally of the Roman people, of my throne and all my
fortunes.
And
for myself,
Fathers of the Senate, since I was doomed to such a depth of
wretchedness, I
could wish that I might ask your help rather because of my own services
than
those of my ancestors; I could wish above all that favours were due to
me from
the Roman people which I did not need; and failing this, that if they
were
needed I might accept them as my due. 4 But since virtue alone is not
its own
protection, and since it was not in my power to mould the character of
Jugurtha, I have had recourse to you, Fathers of the Senate, to whom
(and this
is greatest part of my wretchedness) I am compelled to be a burden
before I
have been an aid. All other kings have been admitted to your friendship
when
they were vanquished in war, or have sought your alliance in their time
of
peril; our family established friendly relations with Rome during the
war with
Carthage, at a time when the plighted word of Rome was a greater
inducement to
us than her fortune. Therefore do not allow me, their descendant and
the
grandson of Masinissa, to implore your aid in vain.
If
I had no other
reason for asking the favour than my pitiable lot — of late a king,
mighty in
family, fame and fortune; now broken by woes, destitute and appealing
to others
for help — it would nevertheless be becoming to the majesty of the
Roman people
to defend me against wrong and not to allow any man's power to grow
great
through crime. 8 But in fact I am driven from the lands which the
people of
Rome gave to my forefathers and from which my father and grandfather
helped you
to drive Syphax and the Carthaginians. It is your gift, Fathers of the
Senate,
which has been wrested from me, and in the wrong done to me you have
been
scorned. Woe's me! O my father Micipsa, has this been the effect of
your
kindness, that the man whom you put on an equality with your own
children, whom
you made a partner in your kingdom, should of all men be the destroyer
of your house?
Shall
my family
then never find rest? Shall we always dwell amid bloodshed, arms and
exile? While
the Carthaginians were unconquered, we naturally suffered all kinds of
hardship; the enemy were upon our flank, you, our friends, were far
away; all
our hope was in our arms. After Africa had been freed from that
pestilence, we
enjoyed the delights of peace, since we had no enemy, unless haply at
your
command. But lo! on a sudden, Jugurtha, carried away by intolerable
audacity,
wickedness and arrogance, after killing my brother, who was also his
kinsman,
first made Hiempsal's realm the spoil of his crime; then, when he had
failed to
outwit me by the same wiles, and when under your sovereignty I was
looking for anything
rather than violence or war, he has made me, as you see, an exile from
home and
country, a prey to want and wretchedness, and safer anywhere than in my
own
kingdom.
I
always used to
think, Fathers of the Senate, as I had heard my father maintain, that
those who
diligently cultivated your friendship undertook an arduous duty,
indeed, but were
safe beyond all others. Our family has done its best to aid you in all
your
wars; that we may enjoy peace and safety, Fathers of the Senate, is in
your
power. Our father left two of us brothers; a third, Jugurtha, he hoped
to add
to our number by his favours. One of the three has been slain; I myself
have
barely escaped the sacrilegious hands of the other. What shall I do, or
to what
special protection shall I appeal in my troubles? All the defences of
my house
are destroyed. My father, as was inevitable, has paid the debt of
nature. My
brother has lost his life through the crime of a kinsman, the last man
who
ought to have raised a hand against him. Relatives, friends, and others
who
were near to me have fallen by one blow or another. Of those taken by
Jugurtha
some have been crucified, others thrown to wild beasts; a few, whose
lives were
spared, in gloomy dungeons amid sorrow and lamentation drag out an
existence
worse than death. But if all that I have lost, or all that has turned
from
affection to hostility, remained untouched, even then, if any
unexpected
misfortune had befallen me, I should appeal to you, Fathers of the
Senate, whom
it befits, because of the extent of your dominion, to take under your
care all
matters of right and wrong everywhere. As it is, however, an exile from
home
and country, alone, and stripped of all that becomes my station, where
shall I
take refuge or to whom shall I appeal? To nations or kings, all of whom
are
hostile to our family because of our friendship for you? To what land
can I
turn and not find there many a record of my ancestors' acts of
hostility? Can
anyone feel compassion for us who was ever your enemy? Finally, Fathers
of the
Senate, Masinissa instructed us to attach ourselves to none save the
Roman
people and to contract no new leagues and alliances; he declared that
in your
friendship there would be for us all an ample protection, and that, if
the
fortune of your empire should change, we must fall with it.
Through
valour and
the favour of the gods you are mighty and powerful, all things are
favourable
and yield obedience to you; hence you may the more readily have regard
to the
wrongs of your allies. My only fear is lest private friendship for
Jugurtha,
the true character of which is not evident, may lead some of your
number
astray; for I hear that his partisans are using every effort, and are
soliciting and entreating each of you separately not to pass any
judgment upon
him in his absence without a hearing. They declare that I am speaking
falsely
and feigning the necessity for flight, when I might have remained in my
own
kingdom. As to that, I hope that I may yet see the man through whose
impious
crime I have been subjected to these woes making the same pretence, and
that at
last either you or the immortal gods may begin to take thought for
human
affairs! Then of a truth that wretch, who now exults and glories in his
crimes,
will be tortured by ills of every kind and pay a heavy penalty for his
treachery to our father, for the murder of my brother, and for my
unhappiness.
At
last, brother
dearest to my heart, although life has been taken from you untimely by
the last
hand that should have been raised against you, yet your fate seems to
me a
cause for joy rather than for sorrow. For when you lost your life it
was not
your throne you lost, but it was flight, exile, want and all these woes
which
weigh me down. While I, poor wretch, hurled from my father's throne
into this
sea of troubles, present a tragedy of human vicissitude, being at a
loss what
course to take, whether to try to avenge your wrongs when I myself am
in need
of aid, or to take thought for my throne when the very question of my
life or
death hangs upon the help of others. Would that death were an
honourable means
of escape for one of my estate! Would that, worn out by affliction, I
could
succumb to oppression without appearing justly contemptible! As it is,
life has
no charms for me, but death is impossible without shame.
Fathers
of the
Senate, I beseech you in your own name, by your children and parents,
and by
the majesty of the Roman people, aid me in my distress, set your faces
against
injustice, do not permit the kingdom of Numidia, which belongs to you,
to be
ruined by villainy and the blood-guiltiness of our family.
The
Romans intervene and divide Numidia in a way that
seems to them equitable—or, rather, seems to some equitable. Maybe
Jugurtha got
more than he deserved because he had bribed some of the senators.
Suspicious!
And
Jugurtha wants more anyway. He attacks
Cirta (Adherbal’s capital city). Adherbal
calls on Rome for help, but there’s
too much delay while the senate debates: should we send immediate help,
or just
messages? Cirta falls, Adherbal is dead—and some Romans living in Cirta
are
massacred as well.
This
means war: the Romans send Bestia, one of the
consuls for 111 BC, to deal with Jugurtha. He doesn’t make much
progress, and
since 111 is an election year in Rome (every years is an election
year!) he has
to return to supervise the elections before any settlement can be
reached.
Now
back in Rome, prominent men are jockeying for
political support, hoping to be elected consuls, praetors, or
quaestors—or
maybe as tribunes. Men from senatorial families are hoping to add
additional “auctoritas”
or “dignitas” to their family name, while the most successful
equestrians are
hoping to become “new men,” winning election and moving their own
family into
the senatorial ranks.
In
general, the politically ambitious are in one of two
camps. First of all, there are the “Optimates,” those who argue that
Rome
should be guided by the “best” men, i.e., those from old established
Roman
families. Rivaling them are the
“Populares,”
those who argue that Rome should be guided by those who best represent
popular
opinion. In general, the Optimates favor
governance by the senate and the consuls while the Poplulares are more
likely
to work through the tribunes and the assembly. Now this isn’t an
absolute: a
consul might well be a Populare, and a tribune might well be an
Optimate.
In
any case, the Optimates had dominated Roman affairs
almost completely since the time of Gaius Gracchus, having slaughtered
man of
those who would have led the Populare cause.
To get back into the game, the Populares needed an issue, and
the Jugurtha
situation seemed perfect for the 111 campaign, an ideal way to
discredit the
Optimates.
The
initial division of Numidia in 117 looked
suspicious. The failure to send an army
immediately to help the besieged Adherbal looked suspicious. And Bestia’s failure to bring a quick end to
the conflict looked even more suspicious.
Were prominent senators taking bribes from Jugurtha? It seemed so.
One of the tribunes, Gaius Memmius, stated particularly clearly
the
Populare case against the senate:
Were
not devotion
to our country paramount, I should be deterred, fellow citizens, from
addressing you by many considerations: the power of the dominant
faction, your
spirit of submission, the absence of justice, and especially because
more
danger than honour awaits integrity. Some things, indeed, I am ashamed
to speak
of how during the past fifteen years you have been the sport of a few
men's
insolence; how shamefully your defenders have perished unavenged; how
your own
spirits have been so demoralized because of weakness and cowardice that
you do
not rise even now, when your enemies are in your power, but still fear
those in
whom you ought to inspire fear. But
although conditions are such, yet my spirit prompts me to brave the
power of
this faction. At least, I shall make use
of the freedom of speech which is my inheritance from my father; but
whether I
shall do so in vain or to good purpose lies in your hands, my
countrymen. I do
not urge you to take up arms against your oppressors, as your fathers
often did;
there is no need of violence, none of secession. They must go to ruin
their own
way. After the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, whom they accused of trying
to make
himself king, prosecutions were instituted against the Roman commons.
Again,
after Gaius Gracchus and Marcus Fulvius were slain, many men of your
order suffered
death in the dungeon. In both cases
bloodshed was ended, not by law, but by the caprice of the victors
But
let us admit
that to restore their rights to the commons was the same thing as to
aspire to
royal power, and that whatever cannot be avenged without shedding the
blood of
citizens was justly done. In former years you were silently indignant
that the
treasury was pillaged, that kings and free peoples paid tribute to a
few
nobles, that those nobles possessed supreme glory and vast wealth. Yet
they
were not satisfied with having committed with impunity these great
crimes, and
so at last the laws, your sovereignty, and all things human and divine
have been
delivered to your enemies. And they who
have done these things are neither ashamed nor sorry, but they walk in
grandeur
before your eyes, some flaunting their priesthoods and consulships,
others
their triumphs, just as if these were honours and not stolen goods.
Slaves
bought with
a price do not put up with unjust treatment from their masters; will
you, Roman
citizens born to power, endure slavery with patience? But
who are they who have seized upon our
country? Men stained with crime, with gory hands, of monstrous greed,
guilty,
yet at the same time full of pride, who have made honour, reputation,
loyalty,
in short everything honourable and dishonourable, a source of gain.
Some of
them are safeguarded by having slain tribunes of the commons, others by
unjust
prosecutions, many by having shed your blood. Thus the more atrocious
the
conduct, the greater the safety. They have shifted fear from their
crimes to
your cowardice, united as they are by the same desires, the same
hatred, the
same fears. This among good men constitutes friendship; among the
wicked it is
faction. But if your love of freedom were as great as the thirst for
tyranny
which spurs them on, surely our country would not be torn asunder as it
now is,
and your favours would be bestowed on the most virtuous, not on the
most
reckless. Your forefathers, to assert their legal rights and establish
their
sovereignty, twice seceded and took armed possession of the Aventine;
will you not
exert yourself to the utmost in order to retain the liberty which they
bequeathed to you? And will you not show the greater ardour, because it
is more
shameful to lose what has been won than never to have won it?
I
seem to hear
someone say, 'What then do you advise?' I reply, 'Let those who have
betrayed
their country to the enemy be punished, not by arms or by violence,
which it is
less becoming for you to inflict than for them to suffer, but by the
courts and
Jugurtha's own testimony. If he is a
prisoner of war, he will surely be obedient to your commands; but if he
scorns
them, you may well ask yourself what kind of peace or surrender that is
from
which Jugurtha has gained impunity for his crimes and a few powerful
men
immense wealth, while our country suffers damage and disgrace. Unless
haply you
are not even yet sated with their domination, unless these times please
you
less than the days when kingdoms, provinces, statutes, laws, courts,
war and
peace, in short all things human and divine, were in the hands of a
few; and
when you, that is to say the Roman people, unconquered by your enemies,
rulers
of all nations, were content to retain the mere breath of life. For
which of
you dared to refuse slavery?
For
my own part,
although I consider it most shameful for a true man to suffer wrong
without
taking vengeance, yet I could willingly allow you to pardon those most
criminal
of men, since they are your fellow citizens, were it not that mercy
would end
in destruction. For such is their
insolence that they are not satisfied to have done evil with impunity,
unless
the opportunity for further wrong-doing be wrung from you; and you will
be left
in eternal anxiety, because of the consciousness that you must either
submit to
slavery or use force to maintain your freedom.
Pray,
what hope
have you of mutual confidence or harmony? They wish to be tyrants, you
to be
free; they desire to inflict injury, you to prevent it; finally, they
treat our
allies as enemies and our enemies as allies. Are peace and friendship
compatible
with sentiments so unlike? They are not, and therefore I warn and
implore you
not to let such wickedness go unscathed. It is not a matter of
plundering the
treasury or of extorting money from our allies — serious crimes, it is
true,
but so common now-a‑days
as to be disregarded. Nay, the senate's dignity has been
prostituted to a ruthless enemy, your sovereignty has been betrayed,
your
country has been offered for sale at home and abroad. Unless cognizance
is
taken of these outrages, unless the guilty are punished, what will
remain
except to pass our lives in submission to those who are guilty of these
acts?
For to do with impunity whatever one fancies is to be king. I am not
urging
you, Romans, to rejoice rather in the guilt than in the innocence of
your
fellow citizens; but you should not insist upon ruining the good by
pardoning
the wicked. Moreover, in a republic it is far better to forget a
kindness than
an injury. The good man merely becomes less active in well doing when
you
neglect him, but the bad man grows more wicked. Finally, if there
should be no
wrongs, you would not often need help.
Now
this is a great speech, but in order to bring
corrupt senators to justice, one needs evidence: really solid evidence. And who could give such evidence?
Well, how about Jugurtha? Jugurtha
is asked to come to Rome to help
with the investigation—and he complies!
But, before he can say anything, one of the tribunes exercises
his veto
power and the investigation is stalled.
Meanwhile,
Jugurtha’s thugs assassinate one of Jugurtha’s
rivals in Rome (Massiva), and, since the investigation is going
nowhere, the
Romans send Jugurtha back home.
In
110, the newly-elected consul Albinus takes over in
Numidia. He doesn’t finish the job, and,
toward the end of the year, returns to supervise elections, leaving his
brother
Aulus in charge. Aulus really messes things up, and, to the Populares,
it
seemed a deliberate failure. The
Populares use the issue to secure a (temporarily) dominant position. Sallust unfortunately gives no details, but
he says that the Populares used their dominant position to behave just
as
tyrannically as the senators had.
Under
Populare pressure, the senate refuses to ratify
the treaty Aulus had negotiated with Jugurtha, and, in 109, the senate
sends
yet another consul (Metellus) to take on Jugurtha.
Jugurtha plays cat-and-mouse, and Metellus
isn’t able to finish the job. Meanwhile,
a subordinate of Metullus, Gaius Marius, wants to go back to Rome and
run for a
consulship. Marius’ family had been
clients of the Metelli, but the relationship was going sour. It got even more sour when Marius based has
campaign on the alleged incompetence of Metellus in dealing with
Jugurtha.
Marius
won his consulship, and does get the command
against Jugurtha. He adopts a strategy
not all that different from Metullus, and the victory isn’t quite as
swift as
he had promised. Nevertheless, he does get
Jugurtha on the run. Jugurtha takes
refuge with Bocchus of Mauretania. Marius sends his quaestor, Sulla, to
negotiate. Jugurtha wants Bocchus to
betray Sulla—a man of patrician status who would make a valuable
hostage. Sulla
wants Bocchus to betray his guest, Jugurtha.
Bocchus perhaps might have won either way, but (quite rightly)
saw
greater advantage in siding with the Romans.
So Marius gets to return in Rome for a triumph.
Jugurtha is led through the streets with the
other captives. His royal robes are
stripped off. His earrings are torn off
too—and he loses an earlobe. He’s then tossed into prison where he dies
of
starvation.
Our
noble Romans aren’t looking quite so noble are
they? Well, it will soon get worse.