Iug. 89.1Sed cōnsul, utī statuerat, oppida castellaque mūnīta adīre, partim vī, alia metū aut praemia ostentandō āvortere ab hostibus.But the consul, as he had decided, approached the fortified towns and strongholds and detached them from the enemy, partly by force, others by fear or by holding out rewards. Iug. 89.2Ac prīmō mediocria gerēbat, existumāns Iugurtham ob suōs tūtandōs in manūs ventūrum.And at first he undertook only modest operations, thinking that Jugurtha would come to close quarters to protect his subjects. Iug. 89.3Sed ubi illum procul abesse et aliīs negōtiīs intentum accēpit, maiōra et magis aspera aggredī tempus vīsum est.But when he learned that he was far away and intent on other business, it seemed time to undertake greater and harsher tasks. Iug. 89.4Erat inter ingentīs sōlitūdinēs oppidum magnum atque valēns nōmine Capsa, quoius conditor Herculēs Libys memorābātur.There was, amid vast wastes, a large and strong town named Capsa, whose founder was said to be the Libyan Hercules. Iug. 89.4Eius cīvēs apud Iugurtham immūnēs, levī imperiō et ob ea fidēlissumī habēbantur, mūnītī advorsum hostīs nōn moenibus modo et armīs atque virīs, vērum etiam multō magis locōrum asperitāte.Its citizens were exempt from taxes under Jugurtha, governed with a light hand, and for these reasons regarded as most loyal, protected against enemies not only by walls, arms and men, but far more by the harshness of the country.
Iug. 89.5Nam praeter oppidō propinqua alia omnia vāsta, inculta, egentia aquae, īnfesta serpentibus, quārum vīs sīcutī omnium ferārum inopiā cibī ācrior.For apart from the land near the town, everything else was desolate, uncultivated, lacking water and infested with snakes, whose ferocity, like that of all wild beasts, is the fiercer for want of food. Iug. 89.5Ad hoc nātūra serpentium ipsa perniciōsa sitī magis quam aliā rē accenditur.Besides, the nature of snakes, deadly in itself, is inflamed by thirst more than by anything else. Iug. 89.6Eius potiundī Marium maxuma cupīdō invāserat, quom propter ūsum bellī tum quia rēs aspera vidēbātur et Metellus oppidum Thalam magnā glōriā cēperat, haud dissimiliter situm mūnītumque, nisi quod apud Thalam nōn longē ā moenibus aliquot fontēs erant, Capsēnsēs ūnā modo atque eā intrā oppidum iugī aquā, cētera pluviā ūtēbantur.A very great desire to take it had seized Marius, both for its usefulness in the war and because the task seemed hard, and because Metellus had taken the town of Thala with great glory, a town not unlike it in position and fortification, except that at Thala there were several springs not far from the walls, whereas the people of Capsa had only one source of running water, and that within the town, and used rainwater for the rest.
Iug. 89.7Id ibique et in omnī Āfricā, quae procul ā marī incultius agēbat, eō facilius tolerābātur, quia Numidae plērumque lacte et ferīnā carne vēscēbantur et neque salem neque alia irrītāmenta gulae quaerēbant: cibus illīs advorsum famem atque sitim, nōn lubīdinī neque luxuriae erat.This, both there and in all of Africa which lived in a rougher way far from the sea, was the more easily endured because the Numidians mostly lived on milk and the flesh of wild animals, and sought neither salt nor other stimulants of the palate: food for them served against hunger and thirst, not for desire or luxury.