1As soon as there was an opportunity, he went to Jugurtha, who was anxious and lamenting his fortunes, and warned and implored him with tears to provide at last for himself, his children and the Numidian nation, which had deserved so well of him: they had been beaten in every battle, the land was laid waste, many men had been captured or killed, the resources of the kingdom were crushed; 1often enough already both the valour of the soldiers and fortune had been tested; 1let him beware lest, while he delayed, the Numidians should look out for themselves. 2With these and other such words he drove the king's mind towards surrender.
3Envoys were sent to the general to say that Jugurtha would do what was commanded and was surrendering himself and his kingdom to his good faith without any conditions. 4Metellus hastily ordered all those of senatorial rank to be summoned from the winter quarters; 4he held a council of them and of others whom he thought suitable. 5So, in the manner of their ancestors, in accordance with the decree of the council, he demanded of Jugurtha through envoys two hundred thousand pounds of silver, all his elephants, and a considerable quantity of horses and arms. 6When this had been done without delay, he ordered all the deserters to be brought to him in chains.
7A large part of them were brought, as had been ordered; 7a few, as soon as the surrender began, had gone away to King Bocchus in Mauretania. 8So Jugurtha, when he had been stripped of arms, men and money, and was himself summoned to Tisidium to receive orders, began again to change his mind and, from a bad conscience, to fear what he deserved. 9At last, after many days had been spent in hesitation, while at one moment, out of weariness with misfortune, he thought anything preferable to war, and at another considered within himself how heavy a fall it would be from a kingdom into slavery, having uselessly thrown away many great resources, he took up war afresh.
10And at Rome the senate, consulted about the provinces, had assigned Numidia to Metellus.