Iug. 35.1Erat eā tempestāte Rōmae Numida quīdam nōmine Massiva, Gulussae fīlius, Masinissae nepōs, quī, quia in dissēnsiōne rēgum Iugurthae advorsus fuerat, dēditā Cirtā et Adherbale interfectō profugus ex patriā abierat.There was at that time at Rome a certain Numidian named Massiva, son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, because he had been opposed to Jugurtha in the quarrel of the kings, had left his country as a fugitive after Cirta was surrendered and Adherbal killed. Iug. 35.2Huic Sp. Albīnus, quī proxumō annō post Bēstiam cum Q. Minuciō Rūfō cōnsulātum gerēbat, persuādet, quoniam ex stirpe Masinissae sit Iugurthamque ob scelera invidiā cum metū urgeat, regnum Numidiae ab senātū petat.Spurius Albinus, who held the consulship with Quintus Minucius Rufus in the year after Bestia, persuaded him that, since he was of the stock of Masinissa and Jugurtha was beset by hatred and fear because of his crimes, he should ask the senate for the kingdom of Numidia. Iug. 35.3Avidus cōnsul bellī gerundī movēre quam senēscere omnia mālēbat.The consul, eager to wage war, preferred that everything should be stirred up rather than grow stale.
Iug. 35.3Ipsī prōvincia Numidia, Minuciō Macedonia ēvēnerat.To him had fallen the province of Numidia, to Minucius Macedonia. Iug. 35.4Quae postquam Massiva agitāre coepit neque Iugurthae in amīcīs satis praesidī est, quod eōrum alium cōnscientia, alium mala fāma et timor impediēbat, Bomilcarī, proxumō ac māxumē fīdō sibi, imperat, pretiō, sīcutī multa cōnfēcerat, īnsidiātōrēs Massivae pāret ac māxumē occultē, sīn id parum prōcēdat, quōvīs modō Numidam interficiat.When Massiva began to press this matter, and Jugurtha found too little protection among his friends, because a guilty conscience hampered one, bad repute and fear another, he ordered Bomilcar, his closest and most loyal follower, to procure assassins to lie in wait for Massiva with money, the means by which he had accomplished many things, and to do it as secretly as possible, but, if that did not succeed, to kill the Numidian by any means at all. Iug. 35.5Bomilcar mātūrē rēgis mandāta exequitur et per hominēs tālis negōtī artificēs itinera ēgressūsque eius, postrēmō loca atque tempora cūncta explōrat.Bomilcar promptly carried out the king's orders and through men skilled in such business spied out Massiva's journeys and goings out, in short all his places and times.
Iug. 35.5Deinde, ubi rēs postulābat, īnsidiās tendit.Then, when the situation demanded, he laid the ambush. Iug. 35.6Igitur ūnus ex eō numerō, quī ad caedem parātī erant, paulō incōnsultius Massivam aggreditur.So one of those who had been made ready for the murder attacked Massiva somewhat rashly. Iug. 35.6Illum obtruncat, sed ipse dēprehēnsus multīs hortantibus et in prīmīs Albīnō cōnsule indicium profitētur.He cut him down, but was himself caught, and at the urging of many, above all of the consul Albinus, he turned informer. Iug. 35.7Fit reus magis ex aequō bonōque quam ex iūre gentium Bomilcar, comes eius, quī Rōmam fidē pūblicā vēnerat.Bomilcar was put on trial, more in accordance with what was fair and good than with the law of nations, since he was the companion of a man who had come to Rome under a public pledge. Iug. 35.8At Iugurtha manufestus tantī sceleris nōn prius omīsit contrā vērum nītī, quam animadvortit suprā grātiam atque pecūniam suam invidiam factī esse.But Jugurtha, though plainly guilty of so great a crime, did not stop struggling against the truth until he perceived that the odium of the deed was beyond his influence and money.
Iug. 35.9Igitur, quamquam in priōre āctiōne ex amīcīs quīnquāgintā vadēs dederat, regnō magis quam vadibus cōnsulēns clam in Numidiam Bomilcarem dīmittit, veritus, nē reliquōs populārīs metus invāderet pārendī sibi, sī dē illō supplicium sūmptum foret.So, although at the first hearing he had given fifty of his friends as sureties, thinking more of his kingdom than of the sureties, he sent Bomilcar away secretly to Numidia, afraid that fear of obeying him would seize the rest of his subjects if Bomilcar were punished. Iug. 35.9Et ipse paucīs diēbus eōdem profectus est, iussus ā senātū Ītaliā dēcēdere.And he himself set out for the same place a few days later, ordered by the senate to leave Italy. Iug. 35.10Sed postquam Rōmā ēgressus est, fertur saepe eō tacitus respiciēns postrēmō dīxisse "ō urbem vēnālem et mātūrē peritūram, sī ēmptōrem invēnerit."But after he had left Rome, he is said to have looked back at it often in silence and at last to have said, 'O city for sale, and soon to perish, if it finds a buyer!'