1Not far from the route by which Metellus was marching there was a town of the Numidians called Vaga, the most frequented market of the whole kingdom, where many men of Italian stock had been accustomed both to live and to trade. 2Here the consul placed a garrison, both to test them, to see whether they would allow it, and because of the advantages of the place. 2Besides this he ordered them to bring in grain and other things which would be of use for the war, thinking, as the situation suggested, that the large number of traders would help the army with supplies and would serve as a protection for the stores already prepared.
3In the midst of these activities Jugurtha only sent suppliant envoys the more urgently, begging for peace and surrendering everything to Metellus except his own life and his children's. 4These too, like the earlier ones, the consul enticed into treachery and sent home; to the king he neither refused nor promised the peace which he asked for, and in the meantime he awaited the fulfilment of the envoys' promises.