Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jurgurthine War Part 25

[302] By vigorously cutting down our infantry--_Satis impigre occiso pedite nostro_. "A ces mots il leur montra son epee teinte du sang des notres, dont il venait, en effet, de faire une a.s.sez cruelle boucherie." _De Brosses_. Of the other French translators, Beauzee and Le Brun render the pa.s.sage in a similar way; Dotteville and Durean Delamalle, as well as all our English translators, take _pedite_ as signifying _only one soldier_. Sir Henry Steuart even specifies that it was "a legionary soldier." The commentators, I should suppose, have all regarded the word as having a plural signification; none of them, except Burnouf, who expresses a needless doubt, say any thing on the point.

[303] The spectacle on the open plains was then frightful--_Tum spectaculum horribile campis patentibus_, etc. The idea of this pa.s.sage was probably taken, as Ciacconius intimates, from a description in Xenophon, Agesil. ii. 12, 14, part of which is quoted by Longinus, Sect. 19, as an example of the effect produced by the omission of conjunctions: [Greek: _Kai symbalontes tas aspidas eothounto, emachonto, apekteinon, apethnaeskon Epei ge maen elaexen hae machae, paraen dae theasasthai entha synepeson allaelois, taen men gaen aimati pe, ormenaen, nekrous de peimenous philious kai polemious met allaelon, aspidas de diatethrummenas, dorata syntethrausmena, egchoipidia gumna kouleon ta men chamai, ta d'en somasi, ta d'eti meta cheiras_.] "Closing their shields together, they pushed, they fought, ... But when the battle was over, you might have seen, where they had fought, the ground clotted with blood, the corpses of friends and enemies mingled together, and pierced shields, broken lances, and swords without their sheaths, strewed on the ground, sticking in the dead bodies, or still remaining in the hands that had wielded them when alive." Tacitus, Agric. c. 37. has copied this description of Sall.u.s.t, as all the commentators have remarked: _Tum vero patentibus locis grande et atrox spectaculum. Sequi, vulnerare, capere, atque eosdem, oblatis aliis, trucidare.... Pa.s.sim, arma et corpora, et laceri artus, et cruenta humus_. "The sight on the open field was then striking and horrible; they pursued, they inflicted wounds, they took ... Every where were seen arms and corpses, mangled limbs, and the ground stained with blood."

[304] Besides, the Roman people, even from the very infancy--The reading of this pa.s.sage, before the edition of Cortius, was this: _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam a principio inopi melius visum amicos, quam servos, quaerere_. Gruter proposed to read _Ad hoc populo Romano inopi melius est visum_, etc., whence Cortius made _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam inopi visum_, etc. But the Bipont editors, observing that _inopi_ was not quite consistent with _quaerere servos_, altered the pa.s.sage to _Ad hoc, populo Romano jam a principio reipublicae melius visum_, etc., which seems to be the best emendation that has been proposed, and which I have accordingly followed. Kritzius and Dietsch adopt it, except that they omit _reipublicae_, and put nothing in the place of _inopi_. Gerlach retains _inopi_, on the principle of "quo insolentius, eo verius," and it may, after all, be genuine. Cortius omitted _melius_ on no authority but his own.

[305] Out of which he had forcibly driven Jugurtha--_Unde ut Jugurtham expulerit [expulerat]_ There is here some obscurity. The ma.n.u.scripts vary between _expulerit_ and _expulerat_. Cortius, and Gerlaen in his second edition, adopt _expulerat_, which they of necessity refer to Marius; but to make Bocchus speak thus, is, as Kritzius says, to make him speak very foolishly and arrogantly.

Kritzius himself, accordingly, adopts _expulerit_, and supposes that Bocchus invents a falsehood, in the belief that the Romans wouldhave no means of detecting it. But Bocchus may have spoken truth, referring, as Muller suggests, to some previous transactions between him and Jugurtha, to which Sall.u.s.t does not elsewhere allude.

[306] In ill plight--_Sine decore_.

[307] For interested bounty--_Largitio_. "The word signifies liberal treatment of others with a view to our own interest; without any real goodwill." _Muller_. "He intends a severe stricture on his own age, and the manners of the Romans." _Dietsch_.

[308] About forty days. Waiting, apparently, for the return of Marius.

[309] CIV. Having failed in the object, etc.--_Infecto, quo intenderat, negotio._ Though this is the reading of most of the ma.n.u.scripts, Kritzius, Muller, and Dietach, read _confecto_, as if Marius could not have failed in his attempt.

[310] Are always verging to opposite extremes.--_Semper in adversa mutant_. Rose renders this "are always changing, and constantly for the worse;" and most other translators have given something similar.

But this is absurd; for every one sees that all changes in human affairs are not for the worse. _Adversa_ is evidently to be taken in the sense which I have given.

[311] CV. At his discretion--_Arbitratu_. Kritzius observes that this word comprehends the notion of plenary powers to treat and decide: _der mit unbeschrankter Vollmacht unterhandeln konnte_.

[312] Presenting--_Intendere_. The critics are in doubt to what to refer this word; some have thought of understanding _animum_; Cortius, Wa.s.se, and Muller, think it is meant only of the bows of the archers; Kritzius, Burnouf, and Allen, refer it, apparently with better judgment, to the _arma_ and _tela_ in general.

[313] CVI. To dispatch their supper--_Coenatos esse_. "The perfect is not without its force; it signifies that Sylla wished his orders to be performed with the greatest expedition." _Kritzius_. He orders them _to have done_ supper.

[314] CVII. And blind parts of his body--_Caec.u.m corpus_. Imitated from Xenephon, Cyrop. iii. 3, 45: [Greek: _Moron gar to kratein boulomenous, ta tuphla, tou somatos, kai aopla, tauta enantia tattein tois polemiois pheugontas_.] "It is folly for those that desire to conquer to turn the blind, unarmed, and handless parts of the body, to the enemy in flight."

[315] At being an instrument of his father's hostility--_Quoniam hostilia faceret_. "Since he wished to deceive the Romans by pretended friendship." _Muller_.

[316] CVIII. Of the family of Masinissa--_Ex gente Masinissae._ Ma.s.sugrada was the son of Masinissa by a concubine.

[317] Faithful--_Fidum_. After this word, in the editions of Cortius, Kritzius, Gerlach, Allen, and Dietsch, follows _Romanis_ or _esse Romanis_. These critics defend _Romanis_ on the plea that a dative is necessary after _fidum_, and that it was of importance, as Castilioneus observes that Dabar should be well disposed toward the Romans, and not have been corrupted, like many other courtiers of Bocchus, by the bribes of Jugurtha. Glarca.n.u.s, Badius Ascensius, the Bipont editors, and Burnouf, with, most of the translators, omit _Romanis_, and I have thought proper to imitate their example.

[318] Place, day, and hour--_Diem, loc.u.m, tempus._ Not only the day, but the time of the day.

[319] That he kept all points, which he had settled with him before, inviolate--_Consulta sese omnia c.u.m illo integra habere_.

Kritzius justly observes that most editors, in interpreting this pa.s.sage, have erroneously given to _consulta_ the sense of _consulenda_; and that the sense is, "that all that he had arranged with Sylla before, remained unaltered, and that he was not drawn from his resolutions by the influence of Jugurtha."

[320] And that he was not to fear the presence of Jugurtha's emba.s.sador, as any restraint, etc.--_Neu Jugurthae legatum pertimesceret, quo res communis licentius gereretur_. There is some difficulty in this pa.s.sage. Burnouf makes the nearest approach to a satisfactory explanation of it. "Sylla," says he, "was not to fear the envoy of Jugurtha, _quo_, on which account (equivalent to _eoque_, and on that account, _i. e._ on account of his freedom from apprehension) their common interests would be more freely arranged." Yet it appears from what follows that fear of Jugurtha's envoy _could not be dismissed_, and that there could be no freedom of discussion in his presence, as Sylla was to say but little before him, and to speak more at large at a private meeting. These considerations have induced Kritzius to suppose that the word _remoto_, or something similar, has been lost after _quo_. The Bipont editors inserted _cautum esse_ before _quo_, which is without authority, and does not at all a.s.sist the sense.

[321] African duplicity--_Punica fide_. "_Punica fides_ was a well-known proverbial expression for treachery and deceit. The origin of it is perhaps attributable not so much to fact, as to the implacable hatred of the Romans toward the Carthaginians." _Burnouf_.

[322] CIX. What answer should be returned by Bocchus--That is, in the presence of Aspar.

[323] Both then retired to their respective camps--_Deinde ambo in sua castra digressi_. Both, _i. e._ Bocchus and Sylla, not Aspar and Sylla, as Cortius imagines.

[324] CX. It will be a pleasure to me--_Fuerit mihi_. Some editions, as that of Langius, the Bipont, and Burnouf's, have _fuerit mihi pretium_. Something of the kind seems to be wanting. "Res in bonis numeranda fuerit mihi." _Burnouf_. Allen, who omits _pretium_, interprets, "Grata mihi egestas sit, quae ad tuam, amicitiam coufugiat;" but who can deduce this sense from the pa.s.sage, unless he have _pretium_, or something similar, in his mind?

[325] CXI. That part of Numidia which he claimed--_Numidiae partem quam nunc peteret_. See the second note on c. 102. Bocchus continues, in his speech in the preceding chapter, to signify that a part of Numidia belonged to him.

[326] The ties of blood--_Cognationem_. To this blood-relationship between him and Jugurtha no allusion is elsewhere made.

[327] His resolution gave way--_Lenitur_. Cortius whom Gerlach and Muller follow, reads _leniter_, but, with Kritzius and Gerlach, I prefer the verb to the adverb; which, however, is found in the greater number of the ma.n.u.scripts.

[328] CXII. Interests of both--_Ambobus_. Both himself and Jugurtha.

[329] CXIV. At that time--_ Ea tempestate_. "In many ma.n.u.scripts is found _ex ea tempestate_, by which the sense is wholly perverted.

Sall.u.s.t signifies that Marius did not continue always deserving of such honor; for, as is said in c. 63, 'he was afterward carried headlong by ambition.'" _Kritzius_.