The Historians' History of the World 05

The more prudent or more severe among the senators believed that reform in the state might be averted by a reformation of manners. But in vain. The business of Jugurtha brought into full light the venality and corruption of the dominant statesmen.

We have said little of the wars of Rome since the fall of Numantia and the termination of the Servile War. They were not considerable. The kingdom of Pergamus had formed the tenth province. The eldest son of old Metellus earned the title of Balearicus for subduing the Balearic Isles (121 B.C.); his eldest nephew that of Dalmaticus for putting down an outbreak of the Dalmatians (117 B.C.).

More attention was excited by wars in the south of Gaul, and more permanent effects followed. The success of Fulvius Flaccus, the friend of the Gracchi, in defending Marseilles, has been already noticed. C. Sextius, who succeeded Flaccus in 123 B.C., secured his conquests by founding the colony of Aquæ Sextiæ, which under the name of Aix still attracts visitors for the sake of its hot springs. These conquests brought the Romans in contact with the Allobrogians, between the Rhone and the Isère; and this people threw themselves on the protection of Bituitus, chief of the Arvernians (Auvergne). Q. Fabius, while Opimius was crushing C. Gracchus, crossed the Isère. A desperate battle ensued, in which the proconsul, with 30,000 men, is said to have so completely routed 200,000 Gauls that in the battle and pursuit no less than 130,000 fell. Fabius was suffering from a quartan ague, but in the heat of conflict shook off his disease. He assumed the title of Allobrogicus with better right than many who were decorated with these national surnames. The war was now carried into the Arvernian country, and the great triumphs of Cæsar might have been anticipated by some senatorial commander, when it was brought to a sudden end. An enemy, formidable alike to Romans and Gauls, well known a few years later under the dreaded names of Cimbrians and Teutones, had appeared on the northeastern frontier of Gaul, and threatened to overrun all southern Europe. But circumstances deferred for a time the conflict between Italy and those barbarous hordes, and for the present the dominion of Rome was firmly established in the southern angle of Gaul, between the Alps and Pyrenees, a district which still preserves its Roman name, “the province,” in the French Provence. The whole northern coast of the Mediterranean, from the Pillars of Hercules to Syria, now owned the sovereignty of Rome.b

THE JUGURTHINE WAR

The miserable inefficiency and complete worthlessness of the Roman government was especially noticeable in the Jugurthine War, which on that account, and not because of its magnitude or dangerous character, is of interest.

Masinissa, known to us as king of Numidia, died in the year 148 and left the government of his kingdom to be shared in common by his three sons, Micipsa, Gulussa, and Mastanabal. The death of the last two following soon after, Micipsa, the eldest, was left to reign alone. He was a feeble, peacefully inclined old man, who preferred devoting himself to Greek philosophy; and, as his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, were not yet of age, he abandoned the administration to his nephew Jugurtha, an illegitimate son of Mastanabal. Jugurtha was a magnificent type of man, bold and full of talent, well versed in all the arts of war, and held in high esteem by the Numidians.

As leader of the Numidian auxiliary forces in the Numantian War, he had distinguished himself in Scipio’s army by his bravery, and had won many friends among the Romans of name. When he returned home he brought Micipsa a letter from Scipio, in which the latter congratulates Micipsa on his gallant nephew, who, he declares, has endeared himself to every Roman by his services. Micipsa now began to fear lest this youth, standing so high in the favour of both Romans and Numidians, might become dangerous to his own two sons. He therefore thought it best to propitiate him by benefits; he adopted him, and in his will provided that Jugurtha should share his kingdom with his sons.

[118-112 B.C.]

Micipsa died in the year 118. His eyes were scarcely closed when his two sons, grudging Jugurtha his share in the kingdom, fell out with him so that the idea of mutual government seemed no longer feasible.