This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
When this outrage was reported at Rome, and became a matter of discussion in the senate, the former partisans of Jugurtha applied themselves, by interrupting the debates and protracting the time, sometimes exerting their interest, and sometimes quarreling with particular members, to palliate the atrocity of the deed. And had not Caius Memmius, one of the tribunes of the people elect, a man of energy, and hostile to the power of the nobility, convinced the people of Rome that an attempt was being made, by the agency of a small faction, to have the crimes of Jugurtha pardoned, it is certain that the public indignation against him would have passed off under the protraction of the debates; so powerful was party interest, and the influence of Jugurtha's money. When the senate, however, from consciousness of misconduct, became afraid of the people, Numidia and Italy, by the Sempronian law,1 were appointed as provinces to the succeeding consuls, who were declared to be Publius Scipio Nasica,2 and Lucius Bestia Calpurnius.3 Numidia fell to Calpurnius, and Italy to Scipio. An army was then raised to be sent into Africa; and pay, and all other necessaries of war, were decreed for its use.
1 XXVII. By the Sempronian law] “Lege Semproniâ.” This was the Lex Sempronia de Provinciis. In the early ages of the republic, the provinces were decreed by the senate to the consuls after they were elected; but by this law, passed A.U.C. 631, the senate fixed on two provinces for the future consuls before their election (Cic. Pro Dom., 9; De Prov. Cons., 2), which they, after entering on their office, divided between themselves by lot or agreement. The law was passed by Caius Gracchus. See Adam's Rom. Antiq., p. 105.
2 Publius Scipio Nasica] “"The great-grandson of him who was pronounced by the senate to be vir optimus; and son of him who, though holding no office at the time, took part in putting to death Tiberius Gracchus. He was "consul with Bestia, A.U.C. 643, and died in his consulship. Cic. Brut., 34."” Bernouf.
3 Lucius Bestia Calpurnius] “"He had been on the side of the nobility against the Gracchi, and was therefore in favor with the senate. After his consulship he was accused and condemned by the Mamilian law (c. 40), for having received money from Jugurtha, Cic. Brut. c. 34. De Brosses thinks that he was the grandfather of that Bestia who was engaged in the conspiracy of Catiline."” Bernouf.
Sallust. The Jugurthine War. Rev. John Selby Watson, M.A. New York and London. Harper & Brothers. 1899.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.