Iug. 15.1Postquam rēx fīnem loquundī fēcit, lēgātī Iugurthae largītiōne magis quam causā frētī paucīs respondent: Hiempsalem ob saevitiam suam ab Numidīs interfectum, Adherbalem ultrō bellum īnferentem, postquam superātus sit, querī, quod iniūriam facere nequīvisset.After the king had finished speaking, Jugurtha's envoys, relying more on bribery than on their case, reply briefly: Hiempsal had been killed by the Numidians because of his cruelty; Adherbal had made war unprovoked and, after he had been beaten, was complaining because he had been unable to do wrong. Iug. 15.1Iugurtham ab senātū petere, nē sē alium putārent ac Numantiae cognitus esset, neu verba inimīcī ante facta sua pōnerent.Jugurtha asked the senate not to think him a different man from the one he had been known to be at Numantia, and not to put the words of an enemy before his deeds. Iug. 15.2Deinde utrīque cūriā ēgrediuntur.Then both parties leave the senate house. Iug. 15.2Senātus statim cōnsulitur.The senate is at once consulted. Iug. 15.2Fautōrēs lēgātōrum, praetereā senātūs magna pars grātiā dēprāvātā Adherbalis dicta contemnere, Iugurthae virtūtem extollere laudibus;The supporters of the envoys, and besides a large part of the senate corrupted by influence, scorned what Adherbal had said and extolled Jugurtha's merit with praises; Iug. 15.2grātiā, vōce, dēnique omnibus modīs prō aliēnō scelere et flāgitiō, suā quasi prō glōriā, nītēbantur.by influence, by speech, in short by every means they exerted themselves on behalf of another man's crime and disgrace, as if for their own glory.
Iug. 15.3At contrā paucī, quibus bonum et aequom dīvitiīs cārius erat, subveniundum Adherbalī et Hiempsalis mortem sevērē vindicandam cēnsēbant, sed ex omnibus māxumē Aemilius Scaurus, homō nōbilis inpiger factiōsus, avidus potentiae honōris dīvitiārum, cēterum vitia sua callidē occultāns.But on the other side a few, to whom the good and the just were dearer than riches, proposed that help should be given to Adherbal and Hiempsal's death severely avenged; but above all of them Aemilius Scaurus, a nobleman, energetic, factious, greedy for power, office and wealth, but cunningly concealing his vices. Iug. 15.5Is postquam videt rēgis largītiōnem fāmōsam inpudentemque, veritus, quod in tālī rē solet, nē pollūta licentia invidiam accenderet, animum ā cōnsuētā lubīdine continuit.When he saw that the king's bribery was notorious and shameless, fearing, as usually happens in such a case, that unbridled corruption might kindle resentment, he held his mind back from its usual greed.