Iug. 52.1Eō modō inter sē duo imperātōrēs, summī virī, certābant, ipsī parēs, cēterum opibus disparibus.In this way the two commanders, both men of the highest ability, contended with one another, themselves equal, but with unequal resources. Iug. 52.2Nam Metellō virtūs mīlitum erat, locus advorsus;For Metellus had the valour of his soldiers, but the ground against him; Iug. 52.2iugurthae alia omnia praeter mīlitēs opportūna.Jugurtha had everything else in his favour except his soldiers. Iug. 52.3Dēnique Rōmānī, ubi intellegunt neque sibi perfugium esse neque ab hoste cōpiam pugnandī fierī — et iam diē vesper erat —, advorsō colle, sīcutī praeceptum fuerat, ēvādunt.At last the Romans, realising that they had no refuge and that the enemy gave them no opportunity of fighting — and it was already evening —, made their way up the hill in front of them, as they had been ordered. Iug. 52.4Āmissō locō Numidae fūsī fugātīque;Having lost their position, the Numidians were routed and put to flight; Iug. 52.4paucī interiēre, plērōsque vēlōcitās et regiō hostibus ignāra tūtāta sunt.few were killed; most were saved by their speed and by a country unknown to their enemies.
Iug. 52.5Intereā Bomilcar, quem elephantīs et partī cōpiārum pedestrium praefectum ab Iugurthā suprā dīximus, ubi eum Rutilius praetergressus est, paulātim suōs in aequom locum dēdūcit ac, dum lēgātus ad flūmen, quō praemissus erat, festīnāns pergit, quiētus, utī rēs postulābat, aciem exōrnat neque remittit, quid ubīque hostis ageret, explōrāre.Meanwhile Bomilcar, who we said above had been put in command of the elephants and part of the infantry forces by Jugurtha, when Rutilius had passed him, gradually led his men down to level ground, and while the lieutenant was hurrying on to the river, to which he had been sent ahead, he quietly drew up his line, as the situation required, and did not cease to find out what the enemy was doing everywhere. Iug. 52.6Postquam Rutilium cōnsēdisse iam et animō vacuom accēpit, simulque ex Iugurthae proeliō clamōrem augērī, veritus, nē lēgātus cognitā rē labōrantibus suīs auxiliō foret, aciem, quam diffīdēns virtūtī mīlitum arte statuerat, quō hostium itinerī officeret, lātius porrigit eōque modō ad Rutilī castra prōcēdit.After he learned that Rutilius had now encamped and was free from anxiety, and at the same time that the shouting from Jugurtha's battle was growing louder, fearing that the lieutenant, on learning of this, might go to the help of his hard-pressed comrades, he extended his line more widely, which, distrusting the courage of his soldiers, he had drawn up in close order, in order to block the enemy's route, and in that formation advanced on Rutilius' camp.