Iug. 66.1Interim Iugurtha, postquam omissā dēditiōne bellum incipit, cum magnā cūrā parāre omnia, festīnāre: cōgere exercitum;Meanwhile Jugurtha, after abandoning surrender and beginning the war again, prepared everything with great care and in haste: he gathered an army; Iug. 66.1cīvitātis, quae ab sē dēfēcerant, formīdine aut ostentandō praemia adfectāre;he tried to win back the communities that had revolted from him, by fear or by holding out rewards; Iug. 66.1conmūnīre suōs locōs, arma tēla aliaque, quae spē pācis āmīserat, reficere aut conmercārī;he fortified his strongholds, repaired or bought arms, weapons and the other things he had given up in the hope of peace; Iug. 66.1servitia Rōmānōrum adlicere et eōs ipsōs, quī in praesidiīs erant, pecūniā temptāre;he tried to lure away the slaves of the Romans and to tempt with money the very men who were in the garrisons; Iug. 66.1prōrsus nihil intāctum neque quiētum patī, cūncta agitāre.in short, he let nothing stay untouched or quiet, and stirred everything up. Iug. 66.2Igitur Vagēnsēs, quō Metellus initiō Iugurthā pācificante praesidium imposuerat, fatīgātī rēgis suppliciīs neque anteā voluntāte aliēnātī, prīncipēs cīvitātis inter sē coniūrant.So at Vaga, where Metellus had placed a garrison at the beginning when Jugurtha was suing for peace, the leading men of the community, worn down by the king's entreaties and not estranged from him in sentiment even before, conspired together.
Iug. 66.2Nam volgus, utī plērumque solet et māxumē Numidārum, ingeniō mōbilī, sēditiōsum atque discordiōsum erat, cupidum novārum rērum, quiētī et ōtiō advorsum.For the common people, as is usually the case and especially among the Numidians, were fickle in temper, seditious and quarrelsome, eager for revolution and hostile to quiet and peace. Iug. 66.2Dein conpositīs inter sē rēbus in diem tertium cōnstituunt, quod is fēstus celebrātusque per omnem Āfricam lūdum et lascīviam magis quam formīdinem ostentābat.Then, having arranged matters among themselves, they fixed on the third day following, because that day, a holiday observed throughout Africa, promised merriment and licence rather than alarm. Iug. 66.3Sed ubi tempus fuit, centuriōnēs tribūnōsque mīlitārīs et ipsum praefectum oppidī T. Turpilium Sīlānum alius alium domōs suās invītant.But when the time came, they invited the centurions and military tribunes, and the commander of the town himself, Titus Turpilius Silanus, to their homes, each a different man. Iug. 66.3Eōs omnīs praeter Turpilium inter epulās obtruncant, posteā mīlitēs pālantīs inermōs, quippe in tālī diē ac sine imperiō, aggrediuntur.All of these except Turpilius they cut down in the midst of the feast; then they attacked the soldiers, who were wandering about unarmed, as was natural on such a day and with no one in command.
Iug. 66.4Idem plēbēs facit, pars ēdoctī ab nōbilitāte, aliī studiō tālium rērum incitātī, Quīs ācta cōnsiliumque ignōrantibus tumultus ipse et rēs novae satis placēbant.The common people did the same, some instructed by the nobles, others roused by a liking for such doings, who, knowing nothing of what had been done or planned, were content with the uproar itself and the upheaval.