suis anteponerent_. In Cicero, _ante_ is not used to denote
preference as in Sallust, _Cat._ 53: _Graeci ante Romanos fuere_ for
_Graeci Romanis praestabant_.
[114] According to Sallust's mode of speaking, we should have expected
_depravati_, _pars_ being only another form for _alii_. But nothing
can be said against the grammatical agreement _pars depravata_, it
being that form which, according to grammar, should be used.
[115] Scaurus dreaded the stained audacity of those who accepted bribes
from Jugurtha without any scruple or shame, and would have liked to
stir up against them the hatred and envy of others. _Licentia_ is the
conduct of a man who thinks he is allowed to do anything, and
accordingly here signifies to accept bribes by which statesmen
disgrace themselves. The adjective which properly refers to men
(_pollutus_) is here transferred to _licentia_. Sallust describes
Aemelius Scaurus, one of the most eminent men of his age (he was
twice consul and princeps senatus), as a prudent aristocrat, anxious
to keep up a respectable appearance, and to avoid suspicion as much
as possible; although in secret he, too, had recourse to unfair means
to obtain influence and wealth. The events which Sallust has related
hitherto, the murder of Hiempsal, the expulsion of Adherbal by
Jugurtha, and Adherbal's flight to Rome, belong to the year B.C. 116,
a time when, if we except some trifling wars against barbarous tribes
on the frontiers, the Roman Republic was not engaged in any military
undertaking.

16. Vicit tamen in senatu pars illa, quae vero pretium aut gratiam
anteferebat. Decretum fit, uti decem legati regnum, quod Micipsa
obtinuerat, inter Jugurtham et Adherbalem dividerent. Cujus legationis
princeps fuit L. Opimius, homo clarus et tum in senatu potens, quia
consul, G. Graccho et M. Fulvio Flacco interfectis, acerrime victoriam