Iug. 50.1Sed ubi Numidās quiētōs neque colle dēgredī animadvortit, veritus ex annī tempore et inopiā aquae, nē sitī cōnficerētur exercitus, Rutilium lēgātum cum expedītīs cohortibus et parte equitum praemīsit ad flūmen, utī locum castrīs antecaperet, existumāns hostīs crēbrō impetū et trānsvorsīs proeliīs iter suom remorātūrōs et, quoniam armīs diffīderent, lassitūdinem et sitim mīlitum temptātūrōs.But when he noticed that the Numidians were keeping still and not coming down from the hill, fearing because of the season of the year and the lack of water that the army would be worn out by thirst, he sent his lieutenant Rutilius ahead to the river with the light-armed cohorts and part of the cavalry, to seize a site for the camp in advance, thinking that the enemy would delay his march with frequent attacks and flank skirmishes and, since they had no confidence in their arms, would try to exploit the weariness and thirst of his soldiers. Iug. 50.2Deinde ipse prō rē atque locō, sīcutī monte dēscenderat, paulātim prōcēdere, Marium post prīncipia habēre, ipse cum sinistrae alae equitibus esse, quī in agmine prīncipēs factī erant.Then he himself, as the situation and the ground required, advanced slowly, in the order in which he had come down from the mountain, kept Marius behind the front line, and was himself with the cavalry of the left wing, which on the march had become the front.
Iug. 50.3At Iugurtha, ubi extrēmum agmen Metellī prīmōs suōs praetergressum videt, praesidiō quasi duum mīlium peditum montem occupat, quā Metellus dēscenderat, nē forte cēdentibus advorsāriīs receptuī ac post mūnīmentō foret.But Jugurtha, when he saw that the rear of Metellus' column had passed his own front ranks, with a force of about two thousand infantry seized the mountain where Metellus had come down, so that it might not by chance serve his opponents as a refuge if they retreated, and afterwards as a stronghold. Iug. 50.4Dein repente signō datō hostīs invādit.Then, suddenly giving the signal, he attacked the enemy. Iug. 50.4Numidae aliī postrēmōs caedere, pars ā sinistrā ac dextrā temptāre, īnfēnsī adesse atque īnstāre, omnibus locīs Rōmānōrum ōrdinēs conturbāre.Some of the Numidians cut down the rearmost, some made attacks from left and right; they pressed on, fierce and persistent, and threw the ranks of the Romans into confusion everywhere. Iug. 50.4Quōrum etiam quī firmiōribus animīs obviī hostibus fuerant, lūdificātī incertō proeliō ipsī modo ēminus sauciābantur, neque contrā feriundī aut cōnserundī manum cōpia erat.Even those of them who had met the enemy with steadier spirits were baffled by the irregular fighting and were themselves merely wounded from a distance, nor had they any opportunity of striking back or of coming to close quarters.
Iug. 50.5Ante iam doctī ab Iugurthā equitēs, ubi Rōmānōrum turma īnsequī coeperat, nōn cōnfertim neque in ūnum sēsē recipiēbant, sed alius aliō quam māxumē dīvorsī.The horsemen, already instructed by Jugurtha, whenever a squadron of Romans began to pursue, did not retreat in close order or to one place, but scattered as widely as possible in different directions. Iug. 50.6Ita numerō priōrēs, sī ab persequendō hostīs dēterrēre nequīverant, disiectōs ab tergō aut lateribus circumveniēbant;So, being superior in numbers, if they had not managed to deter the enemy from pursuit, they surrounded them, now dispersed, from the rear or the flanks; Iug. 50.6sīn opportūnior fugae collis quam campī fuerat, eā vērō cōnsuētī Numidārum equī facile inter virgulta ēvādere, nostrōs asperitās et īnsolentia locī retinēbat.if, however, the hill had been more suitable for flight than the plain, there indeed the horses of the Numidians, being used to it, easily got away among the brushwood, while the roughness and strangeness of the ground held our men back.