distinguished glory. You have, by your valour, rendered the Roman commonwealth, which before was well affected to our interest, much more friendly. In Spain you have raised the honour of my name nd crown; and you have surmounted what is justly reckoned one of the greatest difficulties, having, by your merit, silenced envy. My dissolution seems now to be fast approaching. I therefore beseech and conjure you, my dear Jugurtha, by this right hand; Entreating. by the remembrance of my past kindness to you; by the honour of my kingdom, and by the majesty of the gods—be kind to my two sons, whom my favour to you has made your brothers; and do not think of forming a connexion with any stranger to the prejudice of your relations. It is not by arms, nor by treasures, that a kingdom is secured, but by well- Warning. affected subjects and allies. And it is by faithful and important services that friendship (which neither gold Teaching. will purchase nor arms extort) is secured. But what friendship is more perfect than that which ought to Remonobtain between brothers? What fidelity can be strance. expected among strangers, if it is wanting among relations? The kingdom I leave you is in good condition, if you govern it properly; if otherwise, it is Warning. weak for by agreement, a small state increases; by division, a great one goes to ruin. It will lie upon you, Jugurtha, who are come to riper years, more Inculcation. than your brothers, to provide, that no misconduct produce any bad effect. And if any difference should arise between you and your brothers (which may the gods avert!) the public will charge you, however Devotion. innocent you may be, as the aggressor, because your years and abilities give you the superiority. But I firmly persuade myself, that you will treat them with kindness, and that they will honour and esteem you Hope. as your distinguished virtue deserves. XXII. COMPLAINING-ENTREATING. The speech of Adherbal, son of Micipsa, King of Numidia, complaining to the Roman Senate, and imploring assistance against the violence of Jugurtha, adopted, and left co-heir of the kingdom, by Micipsa, with himself and Hiempsal, which last Jugurtha had procured to be murdered.-Sallust. Explaining. FATHERS, it is known to you, that the King Micipsa, my father, on his death-bed, left in charge to Jugurtha, his adopted son, conjointly with my unfortunate brother Hiempsal and myself, the children of his own body, the administration of the kingdom of Submission. Numidia, directing us to consider the Senate and people of Rome as proprietors of it. He charged us to use our best endeavours to be serviceable to the Roman commonwealth in peace and war; assuring us, that your protection would prove to us a defence against all enemies, and would be instead of armies, fortifications, and treasures. Grief. While my brother and I were thinking of nothing but how to regulate ourselves according to the directions of our deceased father, Jugurtha—the most Complaining infamous of mankind !—breaking through all ties of gratitude, and of common humanity, and trampling on the authority of the Roman commonwealth, procured the murder of my unfortunate brother, and has driven me from my throne and native country, though he knows I inherit, from my grandfather Massinissa, and my father Micipsa, the friendship and alliance of the Romans. Grief. For a prince to be reduced, by villany, to my distressful circumstances, is calamity enough; but my misfortunes are heightened by the consideration, that I find myself obliged to solicit your assistance, fathers, for the services done you by my ancestors; not for any I have been able to render you in my ën person. Jugurtha has put it out of my power Complaining to deserve any thing at your hands, and has forced me to be burdensome before I could be useful to you. And yet, if I had no plea but my undeserved misery, who, from a powerful prince, the descendant of a race of illustrious monarchs, find myself, without any fault of my own, destitute of every support, and reduced to the necessity of begging foreign assistance against an enemy, who has seized my throne and kingdom— vindictive if my unequalled distresses were all I had to plead, it Submission. would become the greatness of the Roman common- Entreating. wealth, the arbitress of the world, to protect the injured, and to check the triumph of daring wickedness over helpless innocence. But, to provoke your Exciting to vengeance to the utmost, Jugurtha has driven me from the very dominions which the senate and people of Rome gave to my ancestors, and from whence my grandfather and my father, under your auspices, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. Thus, fathers, your kindness to our family is defeated, and Jugurtha, in injuring me, throws contempt on you. ness. O wretched prince! O cruel reverse of fortune! Lamenting. O father Micipsa! is this the consequence of your generosity—that he whom your goodness raised to an equality with your own children should be the murderer of your children! Must, then, the royal house Horror. of Numidia always be a scene of havoc and blood? Lamenting. While Carthage remained, we suffered, as was to be expected, all sorts of hardships, from their hostile attacks; our enemy near; our only powerful ally, the Roman commonwealth, at a distance; while we were so circumstanced, we were always in arms and in action. When that scourge of Africa was no more, Glimmering we congratulated ourselves on the prospect of estab- hope. lished peace; but instead of peace, behold the kingdom of Numidia drenched with royal blood, and the Horror. Anguish. Horror. Distrust. Grief. Horror. only surviving son of its late king flying from an adopted murderer, and seeking that safety in foreign countries which he cannot command in his own kingdom. Whither-oh, whither shall I fly? If I return to the royal palace of my ancestors, my father's throne is seized by the murderer of my brother. What can I there expect, but that Jugurtha should hasten to imbrue in my blood those hands which are now reeking with my brother's? If I were to fly for refuge, or for assistance, to any other court, from what prince can I hope for protection, if the Roman commonwealth gives me up? From my own family or friends I have no expectations. My royal father is no more. He is beyond the reach of violence, and out of hearing of the complaints of his unhappy son. Were my brother alive, our mutual sympathy would be some alleviation; but he is hurried out of life in his early youth by the very hand which should have been the last to injure any of the royal family of Numidia. The bloody Jugurtha has butchered all whom he suspected to be in my interest. Some have been destroyed by the lingering torment of the cross ; others have been given a prey to wild beasts, and their anguish made the sport of men more cruel than wild beasts. If there be any yet alive, they are shut up in dungeons, there to drag out a life more intolerable than death. Submission. Look down, illustrious senators of Rome, from that Entreating. height of power to which you are raised, on the unexampled distresses of a prince, who is, by the Submission, cruelty of a wicked intruder, become an outcast from Cautioning. all mankind. Let not the crafty insinuations of him who returns murder for adoption, prejudice your judgment. Do not listen to the wretch who has butchered the son and relations of a king, who gave Horror. him power to sit on the same throne with his own sons. I have been informed that he labours by his Accusation. emissaries to prevent your determining any thing against him in his absence, pretending that I magnify my distress, and that I might, for him, have stayed in peace in my own kingdom. But, if ever the time come Complaining. when the due vengeance from above shall overtake him, he will then dissemble in the very same manner as I do. Then he who now, hardened in wickedness, triumphs over those whom his violence has laid low, will, in his turn, feel distress, and suffer for his impious ingratitude to my father, and his blood-thirsty cruelty to my brother. Oh, murdered, butchered brother! Oh, dearest to Lamenting. my heart—now gone for ever from my sight.-But why should I lament his death? He is indeed deprived of the blessed light of heaven, of life, and kingdom at once by the very person who ought to have been the first to hazard his own life in defence of any one of Micipsa's family: but, as things are, my brother is not so much deprived of these comforts as delivered from terror, from flight, from exile, and the endless train of miseries which render life to me a burden. He lies full low, gored with wounds Horror. and festering in his own blood. But he lies in peace. He feels none of the miseries which rend Anguish. my soul with agony and distraction; whilst I am set up a spectacle to all mankind of the uncertainty of human affairs. So far from having it in my power to revenge his death, I am not master of the means of securing my own life. So far from being in a condition to defend my kingdom from the violence of the usurper, I am obliged to apply for foreign protection for my own person. Fathers! Senators of Rome! the arbiters of the Vehement solicitation, world! To you I fly for refuge from the murderous |