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But when Jugurtha began, through his emissaries, to tempt him with bribes, and to show the difficulties of the war which he had undertaken to conduct, his mind, corrupted with avarice, was easily altered. His accomplice, however, and manager in all his schemes, was Scaurus; who, though he had at first, when most of his party were corrupted, displayed violent hostility to Jugurtha, yet was afterward seduced, by a vast sum of money, from integrity and honor to injustice and perfidy-Jugurtha, however, at first sought only to purchase a suspension of hostilities, expecting to be able, during the interval, to make some favorable impression, either by bribery or by interest, at Rome; but when he heard that Scaurus was co-operating with Calpurnius, he was elated with great hopes of regaining peace, and resolved upon a conference with them in person respecting the terms of it. In the mean time, for the sake of giving confidence1 to Jugurtha, Sextus the quæstor was dispatched by the consul to Vaga, one of the prince's towns; the pretext for his journey being the receiving of corn, which Calpurnius had openly demanded from Jugurtha's emissaries, on the ground that a truce was observed through their delay to make a surrender. Jugurtha then, as he had determined, paid a visit to the consul's camp, where, having made a short address to the council, respecting the odium cast upon his conduct, and his desire for a capitulation, he arranged other matters with Bestia and Scaurus in secret; and the next day, as if by an evident majority of voices,2 he was formally allowed to surrender. But, as was demanded in the hearing of the council, thirty elephants, a considerable number of cattle and horses, and a small sum of money, were delivered into the hands of the quæstor. Calpurnius then returned to Rome to preside at the election of magistrates,3 and peace was observed throughout Numidia and the Roman army.
1 XXIX. For the sake of giving confidence] “Fidei causâ.” “"In order that Jugurtha might have confidence in Bestia, Sextius the quæstor was sent as a sort of hostage into one of Jugurtha's towns."” Cortius.
2 As if by an evident majority of voices] “Quasi per saturam exquisitis sententiis.” "The opinions being taken in a confused manner," or, as we say, in the lump. The sense manifestly is, that there was (or was said to be) such a preponderating majority in Jugurtha's favor, that it was not necessary to ask the opinion of each individual in order. Satura, which some think to be always an adjective, with lanx understood, though lanx, according to Scheller, is never found joined with it in ancient authors, was a plate filled with various kinds of fruit, such as was annually offered to the gods. "Lanx plena diversis frugibus in templum Cereris infertur, quæ satura nomine appellatur," Acron. ad Hor. Sat i. 1, init. "Lanx, referta variis multisque primitiis, sacris Cereris inferebatur," Diomed., iii. p. 483. "Satura, cibi genus ex variis rebus conditum," Festus sub voce. See Casaubon. de Rom. Satirâ, ii. 4; Kritzius ad h. 1., and Scheller's Lex. v., Satur. In the Pref. to Justinian's Pandects, that work is called opus sparsim et quasi per saturam collectum, utile cum inutilibus mixtim.
3 To preside at the election of magistrates] “Ad magistratus rogandos.” The presiding magistrate had to ask the consent of the people, saying Velitis, jubeatis--rogo Quirites.
Sallust. The Jugurthine War. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. New York and London. Harper & Brothers. 1899.
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