1When Adherbal realised that things had come to the point where the kingdom must either be abandoned or held by arms, he raised forces out of necessity and advanced to meet Jugurtha. 2Meanwhile the two armies encamped not far from the sea near the town of Cirta, and, because it was the end of the day, battle was not begun. 2But when most of the night had passed, while the light was still dim, Jugurtha's soldiers at a given signal attacked the enemy's camp, and routed and scattered them, some half-asleep, others taking up their arms. 2Adherbal fled to Cirta with a few horsemen, and if there had not been a crowd of men in togas, which kept the pursuing Numidians from the walls, the war between the two kings would have been begun and finished in a single day.
3So Jugurtha besieged the town and set about storming it with mantlets, towers and engines of every kind, hurrying above all to forestall the arrival of the envoys who, he had heard, had been sent to Rome by Adherbal before the battle was fought. 4But after the senate heard of their war, three young men were sent as envoys to Africa, to go to both kings and announce, in the words of the senate and the Roman people, that it was their wish and resolve that the kings should lay down their arms and settle their disputes by law rather than by war: this was worthy both of the Romans and of themselves.