verbis faceret. Sed quoniam eo natus sum, ut Jugurthae scelerum ostentui
essem,[155] non jam mortem neque aerumnas, tantummodo inimici imperium et
crutiatus corporis deprecor.[156] Regno Numidiae, quod vestrum est, uti
libet consulite; me ex manibus impiis eripite per majestatem imperii, per
amicitiae fidem, si ulla apud vos memoria remanet avi mei Masinissae.'

[153] _Nisi tamen intellego_ refers to the preceding _plura scribere
nolo_, and expresses an exception, as is always the case with _nisi_
after a negative: he will write nothing else, but still add the
remark that Jugurtha aimed at something beyond the kingdom of
Adherbal; namely, that he intended afterwards to attack the Romans
themselves, because he saw that the acquisition of the kingdom of
Adherbal was irreconcilable with the friendship of Rome. _Plura non
scribam nisi hoc intellego_ is an elliptical expression, equivalent
to _plura non scribam, nisi hoc scribam, me intellegere_.
[154] 'Whatever may have been our mutual acts of injustice, it is no
concern of yours;' that is, they must be indifferent to you. Consider
only the fact, that he has taken possession of the kingdom of your
ally.
[155] Adherbal, for the purpose of exciting the sympathy of the senate,
represents it as a fact that he is born only to exhibit (endure) the
crimes of Jugurtha. Respecting the dative _ostentui_, see Zumpt,
SS 90 and 422.
[156] Adherbal prays the senate to _prevent (deprecor)_ his enemy from
acquiring the sole sovereignty, and from killing him amid tortures.

25. His litteris recitatis fuere, qui exercitum in Africam mittendum
censerent et quam primum Adherbali subveniundum; de Jugurtha interim uti
consuleretur,[157] quoniam legatis non paruisset. Sed ab iisdem illis
regis fautoribus summa ope enisum,[158] ne tale decretum fieret. Ita