facinus suum cum animo reputans, timere populum Romanum neque adversus
iram ejus usquam nisi in avaritia nobilitatis et pecunia sua spem habere.
Itaque paucis diebus[75] cum auro et argento multo legatos Romam mittit,
quis praecepit, primum uti veteres amicos muneribus expleant, deinde
novos acquirant, postremo quaecunque possint largiundo parare ne
cunctentur. Sed ubi Romam legati venere et ex praecepto regis hospitibus
aliisque, quorum ea tempestate in senatu auctoritas pollebat, magna
munera misere, tanta commutatio incessit, uti ex maxima invidia in
gratiam et favorem nobilitatis Jugurtha veniret; quorum pars spe, alii
praemio inducti, singulos ex senatu ambiundo[76] nitebantur, ne gravius
in eum consuleretur.[77] Igitur ubi legati satis confidunt, die
constituto senatus utrisque datur. Tum Adherbalem hoc modo locutum
accepimus:

[73] _Parat_, in the sense of _se parat_, 'he prepares himself,' or 'sets
about;' and thus _parare_ is not unfrequently used by Sallust
absolutely in the sense of _statuere_ and _instituere_.
[74] _Provincia_ here is the Roman province of Africa, consisting of the
territory of Carthage which had been destroyed, and containing the
towns of Leptis, Hadrumetum, Utica, and Carthage, which was
gradually rising again as a Roman town. That territory now belongs
to the dey of Tunis, a vassal prince of the Turkish sultan. Numidia,
in the west of the Roman province, was bounded in the west by the
kingdom of Mauretania, and comprised the modern Algeria which is
possessed by the French.
[75] _Paucis diebus_, 'within a few days;' that is, a few days after.
See Zumpt, S 480.
[76] _Singulos ambire_, 'to go about addressing individual persons,' has
at the same time the meaning of 'attempting to gain them over by
intreaties or promises.'