nobiles, factiosos, quorum auctoritate, quae deliquisset, munita fore
sperabat; in quis fuit Scaurus, cujus de natura et habitu supra[170]
memoravimus. Nam in consule nostro multae bonaeque artes animi et
corporis erant, quas omnes avaritia praepediebat; patiens laborum, acri
ingenio, satis providens, belli haud ignarus, firmissimus contra pericula
et insidias. Sed legiones per Italiam Rhegium atque inde Siciliam,[171]
porro ex Sicilia in Africam transvectae. Igitur Calpurnius initio,
paratis commeatibus, acriter Numidiam ingressus est, multosque mortales
et urbes aliquot pugnando cepit.

[166] _Venum eo_, or contracted _veneo_, infinitive _venire_, 'to go to
be sold,' or 'to be sold;' the passive of _vendo_ (I sell) is not in
use. Zumpt, S 187.
[167] _Adventabant_, with the accusative, see Zumpt, S 489.
[168] _In diebus_, &c.; for _in_, with words denoting time, see Zumpt,
S 479. _Deditum_ is a supine.
[169] _Legare_ properly signifies 'to despatch,' and 'to add to;' whence
the word _legatus_ means both 'an ambassador,' and 'a person added
to an officer,' who, when necessary, supplies his place. See _Catil._
chap. 59. It was the business of the senate to supply such legates
to a magistrate (_senatus legat aliquem alicui_), but as this was
commonly done on the proposal or recommendation of the magistrate
himself, we also read _legat sibi_, 'he chooses some one to be his
legate.'
[170] _Supra_. See chap. 15.
[171] Respecting the omission of _in_ before _Siciliam_, see Zumpt,
S 398, note 1.

29. Sed ubi Jugurtha per legatos pecunia temptare bellique quod
administrabat asperitatem ostendere coepit, animus aeger avaritia[172]