1When Jugurtha compared the words of Metellus with his deeds and perceived that he was being attacked with his own arts, since peace was being announced to him in words, but in fact the bitterest war was being waged, his largest city had been estranged, his country had become known to the enemy, and the loyalty of his people had been tampered with, he was compelled by the force of circumstances and decided to fight it out with arms. 2So, having found out the enemy's route and being led to hope for victory by the advantage of the ground, he got ready the largest forces of every kind that he could and by hidden paths got ahead of the army of Metellus.
3There was in that part of Numidia which Adherbal had held in the division a river rising in the south, called the Muthul, and from it, at a distance of about twenty miles, a mountain ran in a parallel line, desolate by nature and unworked by man. 3But from about the middle of it there rose a sort of hill, stretching out a great distance, clothed with wild olive and myrtle and other kinds of trees which grow in dry and sandy soil. 4The plain in between, moreover, was deserted for lack of water, except for the places near the river; 4these, planted with orchards, were thronged with cattle and farmers.