licitando multa perfecit, uti famae, fide,1 postremo omnibus suis rebus commodum regis anteferret. Reliquos legatos eadem via aggressus, plerosque capit; paucis carior fides quam pecunia fuit. In divisione, quae pars Numidiae Mauretaniam attingit, agro virisque opulentior, Jugurthae traditur: illam alteram specie quam usu potiorem, quae portuosior et aedificiis magis exornata erat, Adherbal possedit.2

17. Res postulare videtur Africae situm paucis exponere et eas gentes, quibuscum nobis bellum aut amicitia fuit, attingere. Sed quae loca et nationes ob calorem aut asperitatem, item solitudines minus frequentata3 sunt, de iis haud facile compertum narraverim; cetera quam paucissimis absolvam. In divisione orbis terrae plerique in parte tertia1 Africam posuere, pauci tantummodo Asiam et Europam esse, sed Africam in Europa.5 Ea fines habet ab occidente fretum nostri maris et Oceani,6 ab ortu solis declivem latitudinem,7

1 Fide for fidei. See Zumpt, § 85, note 3.

Possedit, he took possession of.' The present possideo only means 'to possess;' but the past tenses, possedi, possessum, at the same time have the meaning of 'taking possession,' as if they were formed from a present possido, possidere. Compare the similarly-formed compounds of sido, sidère, in Zumpt, § 189.

3 Frequentata sunt, they have been frequented.' The participle is in the neuter, the subjects being both animate and inanimate. Asperitas refers to the inaccessible nature of mountainous districts.

4 Other editions have in partem tertiam, and this deviation from the common mode of speaking (which is to use pono with in and the ablative) commentators explain by the remark, that the division was not yet made, but only supposed. But the Latin language knows of no such distinction.

5 In the earliest times, before the earth was divided into three parts, it was rather customary to consider Africa, especially Egypt and the countries about the Nile, as belonging to Asia. To connect Africa with Europe could only have been an idea of those who divided the earth into an eastern and a western half, and did not know the vast extent of Africa to the south.

6 Fretum, &c.; that is, the Fretum Herculeum, or the Straits of Gibraltar. It is clear that Sallust wants to state only the northern frontier of Africa on the Mediterranean, and the frontiers in the east and west. The extent of Africa southward was too little known to him to speak about it.

7 The inclined plain;' or, as the geographer Mela says, 'the valley which inclines towards Egypt.' The length of this valley extends from south to north as far as the Mediterranean, and in the upper part it separates the immense desert in the west from the oasis in the east, which is considered as a part of Egypt. The easternmost country in Africa on the Mediterranean was Cyrenaica. It is therefore quite clear that Sallust does not include Egypt in Africa.

quem locum Katabathmon incolae appellant. Mare saevum, importuosum, ager frugum fertilis, bonus pecori, arbore infecundus, coelo terraque penuria aquarum. Genus hominum salubri corpore, velox, patiens laborum; plerosque senectus dissolvit, nisi qui ferro aut bestiis interiere; nam morbus haud saepe quemquam superat; ad hoc malefici generis plurima animalia. Sed qui mortales initio Africam habuerint, quique postea accesserint, aut quomodo inter se permixti sint, quamquam ab ea fama, quae plerosque obtinet, diversum est, tamen uti ex libris Punicis, qui regis Hiempsalis dicebantur, interpretatum nobis est, utique rem sese habere cultores ejus terrae putant, quam paucissimis dicam.1 Ceterum fides ejus rei penes auctores erit.

18. Africam initio habuere Gaetuli et Libyes, asperi incultique, quîs cibus erat caro ferina atque humi pabulum, uti pecoribus. Hi neque moribus neque lege aut imperio cujusquam regebantur; vagi, palantes, qua nox coëgerat, sedes habebant. Sed postquam in Hispania Hercules, sicuti Afri putant, interiit, exercitus ejus, compositus ex variis gentibus, amisso duce ac passim multis sibi quisque imperium petentibus,2 brevi dilabitur. Ex eo numero Medi, Persae et Armenii, navibus in Africam transvecti, proximos nostro mari3 locos occupavere. Sed Persae intra Oceanum magis;

1 Sallust wants to give a short account of the original inhabitants of Africa, and their amalgamation with new immigrants, such as it was translated for him from the Punic books of King Hiempsal. This Hiempsal is not the same as the one already mentioned, who had been murdered by Jugurtha, but a later descendant of Masinissa, who ruled after Jugurtha, and was still alive in the days of Cicero, about B. C. 60. Interpretatum est, in a passive sense. See Zumpt, § 632. 2 Within the clause expressed by the ablative absolute (multispetentibus) there is inserted another stating that each did so for himself, and that in the nominative case, because multis petentibus is, after all, only a different form for quum multi peterent. Grammatically speaking, it ought to be sibi quoque; but no Latin would have understood this, since he would have taken quoque as an adverb. See Zumpt, § 710. Passim, in different places,' 'scattered everywhere,' but not here and there.' The tradition of the immense conquests extending to the western extremities of the known earth, which are ascribed to Hercules (Heracles), who occurs in the traditions of various nations, runs through the whole of ancient history.

3 Nostram mare is the Mediterranean, the African coast of which was occupied by the parts of Hercules' army here mentioned; and the Persae, it is farther stated, occupied that coast which is more within (that is, on this side,' as a person writing at Rome would say) the

ocean.

hique alveos navium inversos pro tuguriis habuere, quia neque materia in agris neque ab Hispanis emundi aut mutandi copia erat; mare magnum et ignaral lingua commercia prohibebant. Hi paulatim per connubia Gaetulos secum miscuere, et quia saepe temptantes agros2 alia, deinde alia loca petiverant, semet ipsi Nomadas appellavere. Ceterum adhuc aedificia Numidarum agrestium, quae mapalia illi vocant, oblonga, incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinae sunt. Medi autem et Armenii accessere Libyes3 (nam hi propius mare Africum agitabant, Gaetuli sub sole magis, haud procul ab ardoribus) hique mature oppida habuere; nam freto divisi ab Hispania mutare res inter se instituerant. Nomen eorum paulatim Libyes corrupere, barbara lingua Mauros pro Medist appellantes. Sed res Persarum brevi adolevit; ac postea nomine Numidae, propter multitudinem a parentibus digressi, possedere ea loca, quae proxime Carthaginem Numidia appellatur. Deinde utriqueð alteris freti finitimos armis aut metu sub imperium suum coëgere, nomen gloriamque sibi addidere; magis ii, qui ad nostrum mare processerant, quia Libyes quam Gaetuli minus bellicosi. Denique Africae pars inferior pleraque ab Numidis possessa est; victi omnes in gentem nomenque imperantium concessere.

1 Gnarus and ignarus have most commonly an active meaning, denoting one who does know,' or 'one does not know;' but sometimes, and especially in Sallust and Tacitus, they have a passive meaning, 'he who is known,' and 'he who is not known.' So here ignara lingua is the same as ignota lingua.

They tried the fields;' that is, 'the soil,' as to whether it was fruitful, and in this manner they sometimes inhabited one place, and sometimes another. Alia, deinde alia, is the same as alia atque alia, as in chap. 26. Hence they were called in Greek Nouades, and the Greek accusative of this word, Nomadas for Nomades, is used by Sallust in the next sentence. See Zumpt, § 74.

3 The Medes and Armenians in the army of Hercules joined the Libyans, the ancient inhabitants of Africa. Libyes is the accusative, for accedere is joined with the accusative as well as the dative of the person whom one joins. See Zumpt, § 386, note.

+ This derivation of the name Mauri is very improbable. The Mauri are the inhabitants of the western part of the African coast of the Mediterranean. They lived to the west of the mouth of the river Mulucha (which separated them from the Numidians), opposite Malaga and Cadiz, and also on the coast of the ocean extending southward as far as those countries were known to the ancients. The modern name of Moors is derived from the ancient Mauri.

5 Utrique refers to parentes and their descendants, the Numidae. One part of the nation trusted to the other (alteris freti), and was supported by it.

19. Postea Phoenices, alii multitudinis domi minuendae gratia, pars imperii cupidine, sollicitata plebe et aliis novarum rerum avidis, Hipponem, Hadrumetum, Leptim2 aliasque urbes in ora maritima condidere, eaeque brevi multum auctae, pars originibus suis3 praesidio, aliae decori fuere. Nam de Carthagine silere melius puto quam parum dicere, quoniam alio properare tempus monet. Igitur ad Katabathmon, qui locus Aegyptum ab Africa dividit, secundo mari5 prima Cyrene est, colonia Theraeon, ac deinceps duae Syrtes,6 interque eas Leptis; deinde Philaenon arae,7 quem locum Aegyptum versus finem imperii habuere Carthaginienses, post aliae Punicae urbes. Cetera loca usque ad Mauretaniam Numidae tenent; proxime Hispaniam Mauri sunt. Super Numidiam Gaetulos accepimus partim in tuguriis, alios incultius vagos

1 To aliis-avidis supply sollicitatis.

2 All three are cities in the territory of Carthage, which afterwards became the province of Africa. Hippo with the surname of Diarrhytus, (there being another town, Hippo Regius, on the coast of Numidia), is said to be the modern Bizerta; Hadrumetum, south-east of Carthage, and Leptis, surnamed minor (there being another town, Leptis magna, more to the east), are now in ruins.

3To their origin;' that is, to their mother country Phoenicia, whence the settlers had come.

4 The transition to Carthage by the conjunction nam presupposes the ellipsis of some such sentiment as I only meant to mention these Phoenician settlements on the African coast, for it is well known that Carthage also was a settlement of the Phoenicians.'

5 Secundo mari, along the sea,' is said according to the analogy of secundo flumine (see Caes. Bell. Gall. vii. 58) secundo flumine ad Lutetiam iter facere coepit. The sea has indeed no current like a river, but the direction is determined by the person travelling on the coast, and in this case it is the direction from east to west. Theraei are the inhabitants of the island of Thera, in the Greek Archipelago, south of Peloponnesus, whence the first Greek settlers at Cyrene proceeded in B. C. 631, under the leadership of Battus. Respecting the Greek genitive on, instead of orum, see Zumpt, § 52, 1.

6 Syrtis major and Syrtis minor are two large sandbanks near the coast of Africa between Cyrene and Carthage. They were very dangerous to navigation, and between them lay the route to Leptis magna, a city of considerable importance. Compare chap. 78, where Sallust describes these sandbanks and the bays named after them.

7 The origin of the name of this place is stated by Sallust, chap. 79. As it was situated above the great, that is, the eastern Syrtis, it is clear that deinde is used somewhat vaguely, since only the great Syrtis, but not the town of Leptis and the small Syrtis, precede the place Arae Philaenon in the order of succession.

8 Above Numidia;' that is, southward, towards the inland, the coast being always, or at least being always conceived to be, lower than the inland districts.

agitare, post eos Aethiopas esse, dein loca exusta solis ardoribus. Igitur bello Jugurthino pleraque ex Punicis oppida et fines Carthaginiensium, quos novissimel habuerant, populus Romanus per magistratus administrabat, Gaetulorum magna pars et Numidae usque ad flumen Mulucham sub Jugurtha erant, Mauris omnibus rex Bocchus imperitabat, praeter nomen cetera ignarus2 populi Romani, itemque nobis neque bello neque pace antea cognitus. De Africa et ejus incolis ad necessitudinem rei satis dictum.

20. Postquam, diviso regno, legati Africa decessere, et Jugurtha contra timorem animi praemia sceleris adeptum sese videt, certum ratus, quod ex amicis apud Numantiam acceperat, omnia Romae venalia esse, simul et illorum pollicitationibus accensus, quos paulo ante muneribus expleverat, in regnum Adherbalis animum intendit. Ipse acer, bellicosus; at is, quem petebat, quietus, imbellis, placido ingenio, opportunus injuriae, metuens magis quam metuendus. Igitur ex improviso fines ejus cum magna manu invadit; multos mortales cum pecore atque alia praeda capit, aedificia incendit, pleraque loca hostiliter cum equitatu accedit, deinde cum omni multitudine in regnum suum convertit, existimans dolore permotum Adherbalem injurias suas manu vindicaturum, eamque rem belli causam fore. At ille, quod neque se parem armis existimabat et amicitia populi Romani magis quam Numidis fretus erat, legatos ad Jugurtham de injuriis questum3 misit; qui tametsi contumeliosa dicta retulerant, prius tamen omnia pati decrevit quam bellum sumere, quia temptatum antea secus4 cesserat. Neque eo magis cupido Jugurthae minuebatur, quippe qui totum ejus regnum animo jam invaserat. Itaque non uti antea cum praedatoria manu, sed magno exercitu comparato bellum gerere coepit et aperte totius Numidiae imperium petere. Ceterum qua pergebat urbes, agros vastare, praedas agere, suis animum, hostibus terrorem augere.

1 Novissime, latterly; that is, at the beginning of the third Punic the result of which was, that Carthage and its territory became a Roman province.

war,

2 Cetera ignarus, 'otherwise unknown.' Compare p. 91, note 1; and on cetera, Zumpt, § 459.

3

Questum, the supine, in order to complain.'

4The war previously undertaken had turned out unsuccessfully,' About secus, see Zumpt, § 283.