[46] 'In the war against Numantia.' Numantia was the capital of the
Arevaci, a tribe of the Celtiberians in Spain, and was situated
on the upper Durius (now Duero), in the mountainous district whence
the Durius and Tagus flow westward, and other rivers eastward,
into the Iberus (Ebro), and southward into the Mediterranean. This
city carried on a desperate war against Rome to defend its own
independence. After a brave resistance of many years, it was taken
and destroyed, B. C. 133, by Scipio the younger, the destroyer of
Carthage. Its ruins are believed to be in the neighbourhood of the
modern Soria.
[47] _Qui tum erat_--that is, _quem tum Romani imperatorem habebant_.
[48] _Difficillimum in primis_, like _difficillimum omnium_; that is, the
most difficult among those that were the first or foremost in
difficulty.
[49] The one--namely, to be good in council--usually produces
timidity; the other--namely, to be bold in battle--rashness.
_Alterum--alterum_, takes up the things mentioned before, but in an
inverse order; respecting which, see Zumpt, S 700, note.
[50] _Erat_ for the usual subjunctive _esset_.

8. Ea tempestate in exercitu nostro fuere complures novi atque nobiles,
quibus divitiae bono honestoque potiores erant,[51] factiosi domi,
potentes apud socios, clari magis quam honesti, qui Jugurthae non
mediocrem animum pollicitando accendebant, si Micipsa rex occidisset,
fore, uti solus imperio Numidiae potiretur, in ipso maximam virtutem,
Romae omnia venalia esse. Sed postquam Numantia deleta P. Scipio
dimittere auxilia et ipse reverti domum decrevit, donatum atque laudatum
magnifice pro contione[52] Jugurtham in praetorium abduxit ibique secreto
monuit, uti potius publice quam privatim amicitiam populi Romani coleret