A.U.C. CHRONOLOGY OF THE JUGURTHINE WAR. EXTRACTED FROM DE BROSSES. 545. Coss. M. CLAUDIUS MARCELLUS, T. QUINTIUS CRISPINUS.-Masinissa succeeds to the throne of his father Gala. 549.-M. CORNELIUS CETHEGUS, P. SEMPRONIUS TUDITANUS. -Masinissa, driven from his dominions by Syphax, king of another part of Numidia, joins the Romans. 550.-CN. SERVILIUS CAPIO, C. SERVILIUS NEPOS.-Syphax is taken prisoner. Masinissa is restored to his throne, and unites all Numidia under his sway. 595.-Q. FULVIUS NOBILIOR, T. ANNIUS LUSUS.-About this time Jugurtha is born. 605.-SP. POSTHUMIUS ALBINUS, L. CALPURNIUS PISO.Masinissa, after a reign of sixty years, dies, leaving three sons, Micipsa, Mastanabal, and Gulussa; but the two latter dying, Micipsa becomes sole king. 613.-C. LELIUS SAPIENS, Q. SERVILIUS CÆPIO.-The siege of Numantia is commenced, during which Jugurtha and Marius serve together under Scipio. 620.-P. MUTIUS SCEVOLA, L. CALPURNIUS PISO.-Numantia is taken. 632.-Q. FABIUS EMILIANUS MAXIMUS, L. OPIMIUS.Micipsa adopts Jugurtha, son of Mastanabal. 635.-M. PORCIUS CATO, Q. MARCIUS REX.-Micipsa dies, after a reign of thirty years, and his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, with Jugurtha, succeed conjointly to his dominions. 636.-L. CÆCILIUS METELLUS, Q. MUCIUS SCEVOLA.Hiempsal is killed by Jugurtha in the first year of his reign. Civil war ensues between Jugurtha and Adherbal, who is defeated, and takes refuge in the Roman province. A... 637. Coss. C. LICINIUS GETA, Q. FABIUS EBURNUS.-Adherbal arrives at Rome, whither also Jugurtha sends ambassadors. Both parties plead before the Senate. Opimius is deputed by the Senate into Africa. 638.-M. EMILIUS SCAURUS, M. CECILIUS METELLUS. -Opimus divides Numidia between Adherbal and Jugurtha. 639.-M. ACILIUS BALBUS, C. PORCIUS CATO.-War is renewed between Adherbal and Jugurtha. 640.-C. CECILIUS METELLUS, CN. PAPIRIUS CARBO.Adherbal is defeated, and takes refuge in Cirta, which is besieged by Jugurtha. The Senate sends three com missioners into Africa. 641.-M. LIVIUS DRUSUS, L. CALPURNIUS PISO. Cirta having been besieged more than four months, Adherbal addresses a letter to the Senate. Scaurus goes as deputy into Africa. Cirta is taken, and Adherbal put to death in the sixth year of his reign. Memmius is tribune of the people. The Romans declare war against Jugurtha. 642.-P. CORNELIUS SCIPIO NASICA, L. CALPURNIUS PISO BESTIA. Calpurnius is appointed general of the army in Numidia, and Scaurus second in command. Jugurtha sends ambassadors to Rome, with bribes. The Roman army enters Numidia, and the war is commenced. Jugurtha induces Calpurnius to make a treaty of peace. Calpurnius sets out from Africa, about the month of July, to hold the comitia at Rome. Memmius makes a speech to the people, Sall. Jug. c. 31. Cassius, in consequence of it, is sent into Numidia. Jugurtha accompanies Cassius to Rome. 643.-M. MINUCIUS RUFUS, SP. POSTHUMIUS ALBINUS.Bomilcar, at the instigation of Jugurtha, assassinates Massiva at Rome. Jugurtha returns to Numidia. The consul Albinus enters Numidia with his army, but performs no operation of importance. In the autumn he returns to Rome, leaving the army under the command of his brother Aulus. Mamilius Limetanus becomes tribune of the people. 644.-Q. CECILIUS METELLUS NUMIDICUS, M. JUNIUS SILANUS.-Aulus leads his army out from its winter quarters in the month of January, and lays siege to A.U.C. Suthul. He raises the siege, is surprised by Jugurtha, and surrenders on disgraceful terms, making at the same time a treaty with Jugurtha, which the Senate afterwards declare invalid. Albinus returns to Numidia, and resigns the command of the army to the consul Metellus. Metellus chooses for his lieutenant-generals Marius and Rutilius. The Mamilian law is passed, by which Calpurnius, Albinus, and Opimius, are sent into exile. Vacca is taken. Battle near the Muthul. Siege of Zama by Metellus. Affair of cavalry near Sicca. Metellus raises the siege of Zama, and goes into winter quarters in the Roman province. 645.-SERV. SULPITIUS GALBA, M. ÆMILIUS SCAURUS HORTENSIUS.-Jugurtha makes a treaty with Metellus, breaks it, and resumes hostilities. The Numidians surprise the city of Vacca; Metellus recovers it. Nabdalsa and Bomilcar conspire against Jugurtha. Marius quits the army, and obtains the consulship at Rome. Jugurtha is defeated, and throws himself into Thala, which Metellus soon after besieges. C. Annius, with a party of soldiers, is sent as governor to Leptis. Thala is taken; Jugurtha flees into Getulia, and forms a league with Bocchus, king of Mauretania. The two kings take up their position near Cirta, and Metellus encamps at no great distance from them. 646.-L. CASSIUS LONGINUS, C. MARIUS.-The Senate wish to continue Metellus in command of the army, but are opposed by the people, who give it to Marius. Marius appoints Manlius and Cinna his lieutenant-generals, harangues the people, makes new levies, and, setting out from Rome, lands at Utica. Metellus triumphs. Marius, assuming the command, has several skirmishes with Jugurtha, and then makes an attempt on the city of Capsa, which he takes. 647.—Č. ATTILIUS SERRANUS, Q. SERVILIUS CÆPIO.—Metellus takes a strong fort on the borders of Mauretania. Sylla arrives in the army. Bocchus and Jugurtha again unite their forces, and attack Marius on his march; Marius retires, with some loss, to two neighbouring hills, but attacks and routs the barbarians the following night. Jugurtha and Bocchus are again defeated near Cirta, and A.U.C. the Roman army goes into winter quarters on the seacoast. Bocchus expresses a wish for peace; Sylla and Manlius have an interview with him. Marius makes an unsuccessful attempt on a fortress of Jugurtha's, Sali. Jug. c. 103, 104. 648.—P. RUTILIUS RUFUS, C. MANLIUS MAXIMUS.-Bocchus sends deputies to Marius, who assembles a council to give them audience. The deputies are allowed to proceed as ambassadors to Rome, and the Senate grants Bocchus peace. Sylla goes to confer with Bocchus; is met by his son Volux, who attends him to his father. After some secret negotiation between Bocchus and Sylla, Bocchus betrays Jugurtha into the hands of the Romans. The conclusion of the Jugurthine War is quite as abrupt as that of the Conspiracy of Catiline. Jugurtha, being conveyed to Rome, was led in triumph, with his two sons, by Marius. But the humiliation which he experienced, on that occasion, was more than his haughty spirit could endure, and he lost his senses before the termination of the procession. He was then led to the Tullian dungeon, the same into which the accomplices of Catiline were afterwards thrown, and precipitated, with great ignominy and violence, to the bottom of it. In his descent, he is said to have exclaimed, "Heavens, how cold is this bath of yours!" He survived, according to Plutarch and others, six days. See Plutarch, Vit. Mar. Eutrop. iv., 11, seq. Eutropius, however, says that he was strangled in prison. At the end of some manuscript copies of the Jugurthine War is added the distich, Si cupis ignotum Jugurthæ noscere letum, But this was the production of somebody more willing to inform others than himself. "Sylla had medals distributed, on one side of which was the consul in his chariot, drawn by four horses abreast, holding in his right hand the reins, and in his left a palm-branch, with the inscription C. MARIUS, C. F. Cos., and on the other a head of Jupiter Capitolinus, with the words, L. CORNEL. SYLLA, PR. Q. It is a constant tradition, that the two great trophies which are still to be seen in the court of the Capitol at Rome, and which were transported thither from the Martian aqueduct, are those of Marius. But if they are his, it will not be easy to decide whether they are those of the conquest of Numidia or of the victory over the Cimbri. Petrarch, indeed, says that they are undoubtedly those of the victories over Jugurtha, but he is decidedly in the wrong when he adds that they are representations of those which Bocchus sent to be dedicated in the Capitol. Those of Bocchus, made of gold, and representing Jugurtha delivered by the king of Mauretania to Sylla, were of quite a different nature from those which we see cut in stone in the court of the Capitol. * * * For myself, I am inclined to think that one of the two refers to Jugurtha, and the other to the Cimbri. * * * * "The Romans did not immediately unite the whole of Numidia to their empire. A portion bordering on Mauretania was given to Bocchus, as a recompense for his services, and called New Mauretania. Another portion was given to Hiempsal II., whom Appian calls Mandrestal, son of Gulussa, and grandson of Masinissa. * * To Hiempsal II. succeeded his son Juba I., who took part in the civil war against Cæsar. Cæsar, having defeated him in the battle of Thapsus, united all Numidia to the Roman empire. Augustus restored to his son, Juba II., one of the most learned men of his age, the kingdom of his fathers. This Juba had two wives, Cleopatra, daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, and widow of Alexander, son of Herod of Judea. He was succeeded by Ptolemy, his son by Cleopatra; after whose death Numidia had no more kings, but continued a Roman province. A Numidian named Dac-Barnas, or the little Pharnaces, a name which the Romans metamorphosed into Tacfarinas, usurped the government of it with an army in the reign of Tiberius, but his struggles to retain it ended in his defeat and death, and made no alteration in the condition of the country." De Brosses. |