1'Conscript fathers, my father Micipsa instructed me on his deathbed to consider only the stewardship of the kingdom of Numidia as mine, but its right and sovereignty to rest with you; 1at the same time to strive to be of the greatest possible service to the Roman people at home and in war; 1to regard you in the place of kinsmen, in the place of relations by marriage: if I did these things, I would have in your friendship an army, riches and defences for my kingdom. 2While I was putting these precepts of my father into practice, Jugurtha, the wickedest of all men whom the earth supports, in contempt of your authority, drove me, the grandson of Masinissa and from my very birth an ally and friend of the Roman people, out of my kingdom and all my fortunes.
3And I, conscript fathers, since I was destined to come to such misery, could wish that I were able to seek help from you on account of my own services rather than those of my ancestors, and above all that services were owed to me by the Roman people which I did not need, and next, if they were to be needed, that I might make use of them as my due. 4But since honesty by itself is not safe enough, and it was not in my power to determine what kind of man Jugurtha would be, I have fled to you, conscript fathers, to whom, what is most wretched for me, I am forced to be a burden before I have been of use.
5Other kings have either been received into your friendship after being conquered in war, or have sought alliance with you when their own affairs were in danger; 5our family established friendship with the Roman people during the Carthaginian war, at a time when it was its good faith rather than its fortune that was to be sought. 6Do not, conscript fathers, allow me, a descendant of these men, the grandson of Masinissa, to seek help from you in vain. 7If I had no reason for obtaining it except my pitiable fortune, that I, who a little while ago was a king powerful in birth, fame and resources, am now disfigured by misfortunes, destitute and waiting on the resources of others, it would still befit the majesty of the Roman people to prevent wrongdoing and not to allow anyone's kingdom to grow through crime.
8But I have been driven from those lands which the Roman people gave to my ancestors, from which my father and my grandfather, together with you, drove out Syphax and the Carthaginians. 8It is your gifts that have been snatched from me, conscript fathers; it is you who have been scorned in the wrong done to me. 9Alas, wretch that I am! 9Is this the outcome of your kindnesses, father Micipsa, that the man whom you made equal with your children and a partner in the kingdom should be, of all people, the destroyer of your line? 9Will our family, then, never be at peace? 9Will it always be caught up in blood, the sword and flight?
10While the Carthaginians were unharmed, we suffered every cruelty as was only natural: enemies at our side, you our friends far off, all our hope lay in arms. 10After that plague was cast out of Africa, we lived happily in peace, since we had no enemy, unless perhaps one whom you had ordered us to have. 11But see, all of a sudden Jugurtha, carried away by unbearable audacity, wickedness and arrogance, killed my brother, who was also his own kinsman, and first made his kingdom the prize of his crime; 11then, when he could not catch me by the same tricks, while I was expecting nothing less than violence or war under your rule, he made me, as you see, an exile from my country and home, destitute and overwhelmed with miseries, so that I was safer anywhere than in my own kingdom.
12I used to think, conscript fathers, as I had heard my father declare, that those who diligently cultivated your friendship undertook much labour, but were of all men the most safe. 13What lay in our family's power it has performed, so that it stood by you in every war; 13that we may be safe in time of peace lies in your hands, conscript fathers. 14Our father left us two brothers, and thought that a third, Jugurtha, would be bound to us by his kindnesses. 14One of them has been murdered; from the impious hands of the other I myself have barely escaped. 15What am I to do? 15Or where, unhappy man, should I turn above all?
15All the protections of my family have been extinguished. 15My father, as was inevitable, has yielded to nature. 15My brother has had his life torn from him by a kinsman, the last person who should have done it, through crime. 15My relations by marriage, my friends and my other kinsmen have been crushed, one by one disaster, another by another: captured by Jugurtha, some have been crucified, some thrown to wild beasts, and a few, whose lives have been spared, shut up in darkness, drag out in grief and mourning a life harder than death. 16If everything that I have either lost or seen turned from friendly to hostile were still unharmed, nevertheless, if some sudden misfortune had befallen me, I would be imploring you, conscript fathers, whom it befits, in view of the greatness of your empire, to take care of all matters of right and wrong.
17But now, an exile from country and home, alone and in want of everything that befits my rank, where am I to turn or whom am I to appeal to? 17To nations or kings, who are all hostile to our family because of your friendship? 17Or may I go anywhere where there are not very many hostile monuments of my ancestors? 17Or can anyone who was once your enemy take pity on us? 18Finally, Masinissa so trained us, conscript fathers, that we should cultivate no one except the Roman people, should accept no new alliances or treaties: we would have abundantly great protection in your friendship; 18if the fortune of this empire should change, we must fall along with it.
19By your valour and the gods' good will you are great and rich, and all things are favourable and obedient to you: so much the more easily can you attend to the wrongs done to your allies. 20I fear only this, that private friendship with Jugurtha, too little understood, may lead some astray. 20I hear that these men are striving with all their might, canvassing and pestering you one by one, so that you may decide nothing about him in his absence, before his case has been heard; 20that I am inventing my story and feigning flight, when I could have stayed in my kingdom. 21Would that I might see him, through whose impious crime I have been cast into these miseries, feigning these same things, and that at last, either among you or among the immortal gods, some concern for human affairs might arise: then truly he who is now fierce and illustrious through his crimes, tortured by every ill, would pay a heavy penalty for his impiety towards our father, for the murder of my brother and for my miseries.
22Ah, my brother, dearest to my heart, although your life was snatched from you before its time and by the one who should least have done it, nevertheless I think your fate is a matter for rejoicing rather than for grief. 23For it was not a kingdom that you lost along with your life, but flight, exile, want and all these hardships which oppress me. 23But I, unhappy man, hurled from my father's kingdom into such great evils, present a spectacle of human fortunes, uncertain what to do, whether to avenge the wrongs done to you, when I myself need help, or to look after my kingdom, when the power over my own life and death hangs on the resources of others.
24Would that death were an honourable way out of my misfortunes, and that I might not seem justly despised if, worn out by my troubles, I had given in to injustice. 24As it is, I have no wish to live, and I cannot die without disgrace. 25Conscript fathers, by yourselves, by your children and parents, by the majesty of the Roman people, help me in my misery, oppose this injustice, do not allow the kingdom of Numidia, which is yours, to waste away through crime and the blood of our family.'