nobilitatis in plebem exercuerat.[116] Eum Jugurtha tametsi Romae in
inimicis habuerat, tamen accuratissime recepit, dando et pollicitando
multa perfecit, uti famae, fide,[117] postremo omnibus suis rebus
commodum regis anteferret. Reliquos legates eadem via aggressus,
plerosque capit; paucis carior fides quam pecunia fuit. In divisione,
quae pars Numidiae Mauretaniam attingit, agro virisque opulentior,
Jugurthae traditur: illam alteram specie quam usu potiorem, quae
portuosior et aedificiis magis exornata erat, Adherbal possedit.[118]

[116] Opimius had been consul in B.C. 121, and in that year he had,
with the authority of the senate, crushed the democratical party of
G. Gracchus by force of arms. In consequence of that victory,
several very harsh measures had been adopted by the aristocracy
to strengthen and increase the power of the senate and the nobility.
Opimius, too, was a statesman of loose principles, as is clear from
the narrative of Sallust.
[117] _Fide_ for _fidei_. See Zumpt, S 85, note 3.
[118] _Possedit_, 'he took possession of.' The present _possideo_ only
means 'to possess;' but the past tenses, _possedi_, _possessum_, at
the same time have the meaning of 'taking possession,' as if they
were formed from a present _possido_, _possidere_. Compare the
similarly-formed compounds of _sido_, _sidere_, in Zumpt, S 189.

17. Res postulare videtur Africae siturn paucis exponere et eas gentes,
quibuscum nobis bellum aut amicitia fuit, attingere. Sed quae loca
et nationes ob calorem aut asperitatem, item solitudines minus
frequentata[119] sunt, de iis haud facile compertum narraverim; cetera
quam paucissimis absolvam. In divisione orbis terrae plerique in parte
tertia[120] Africam posuere, pauci tantummodo Asiam et Europam esse, sed
Africam in Europa.[121]Ea fines habet ab occidente fretum nostri maris et