1About the same time Bomilcar, at whose urging Jugurtha had begun the surrender that he abandoned out of fear, being suspected by the king and himself suspecting him, desired a revolution, looked for a stratagem to destroy him, and wore out his mind day and night. 2At last, by trying everything, he won over Nabdalsa as his accomplice. 2This was a man of noble birth and great wealth, famous and popular among his countrymen, who usually led an army apart from the king and was accustomed to carry out all the tasks left over when Jugurtha was weary or occupied with greater matters; 2from this he had gained glory and wealth.
3So by their joint counsel a day was fixed for the plot; 3the rest, they agreed, should be arranged on the spot as the situation required. 4Nabdalsa set out to the army which he held on orders between the Romans' winter quarters, so that the land should not be ravaged by the enemy unpunished. 5When he, unnerved by the enormity of the crime, did not come at the appointed time and his fear was holding the business back, Bomilcar, at once eager to complete what they had begun and anxious from fear of his accomplice, lest he give up the old plan and look for a new one, sent him a letter by trusty men, in which he reproached the man's weakness and cowardice, called to witness the gods by whom he had sworn, and warned him not to turn the rewards offered by Metellus into his own ruin: Jugurtha's end was at hand, but whether he perished by their courage or by Metellus' was the only question; 5therefore he should consider in his own mind whether he preferred rewards or torture.