Iug. 92.1Postquam tantam rem perēgit Marius sine ūllō suōrum incommodō, magnus et clārus anteā, maior atque clārior habērī coepit.After Marius had accomplished so great a feat without any loss to his own men, he who had been great and famous before began to be thought greater and more famous. Iug. 92.2Omnia nōn bene cōnsulta in virtūtem trahēbantur: mīlitēs, modestō imperiō habitī simul et locuplētēs, ad caelum ferre;All his ill-considered actions were put down to merit: the soldiers, kept under mild discipline and at the same time enriched, praised him to the skies; Iug. 92.2numidae magis quam mortālem timēre;the Numidians feared him as more than mortal; Iug. 92.2postrēmō omnēs, sociī atque hostēs, crēdere illī aut mentem dīvīnam esse aut deōrum nūtū cūncta portendī.in short all, allies and enemies alike, believed that he had either a divine mind or that everything was revealed to him by the will of the gods. Iug. 92.3Sed cōnsul, ubi ea rēs bene ēvēnit, ad alia oppida pergit, pauca repugnantibus Numidīs capit, plūra dēserta propter Capsēnsium miseriās ignī corrumpit: lūctū atque caede omnia conplentur.But the consul, when this affair turned out well, goes on to other towns, takes a few in the face of Numidian resistance, and destroys with fire more which had been abandoned because of the sufferings of the people of Capsa: everything is filled with grief and slaughter.
Iug. 92.4Dēnique multīs locīs potītus ac plērīsque exercitū incruentō aliam rem aggreditur, nōn eādem asperitāte quā Capsēnsium, cēterum haud secus difficilem.At last, having taken many places, most of them without bloodshed to his army, he undertakes another enterprise, not of the same harshness as that of Capsa, but no less difficult. Iug. 92.5Namque haud longē ā flūmine Mulucchā, quod Iugurthae Bocchīque regnum diiungēbat, erat inter cēteram plānitiem mōns saxeus, mediocrī castellō satis patēns, in inmēnsum ēditus, ūnō perangustō aditū relictō;For not far from the river Muluccha, which divided the kingdoms of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there was amid an otherwise level plain a rocky hill, broad enough for a moderate fort, rising to an immense height, with only one very narrow approach left; Iug. 92.5nam omnis nātūra velut opere atque cōnsultō praeceps.for its whole nature was sheer, as if by design and handiwork. Iug. 92.6Quem locum Marius, quod ibi rēgis thēsaurī erant, summā vī capere intendit.Marius set out to capture this place with all his might, because the king's treasures were there. Iug. 92.6Sed ea rēs forte quam cōnsiliō melius gesta.But the affair was managed better by luck than by planning.
Iug. 92.7Nam castellō virōrum atque armōrum satis magna vīs et frūmentī et fōns aquae;For the fort had a large enough force of men and arms, a great store of grain and a spring of water; Iug. 92.7aggeribus turribusque et aliīs māchinātiōnibus locus inportūnus;the site was unsuited to siege mounds, towers and other engines; Iug. 92.7iter castellānōrum angustum admodum, utrimque praecīsum.the path of the garrison was very narrow and cut off on both sides. Iug. 92.8Eā vīneae cum ingentī perīculō frūstrā agēbantur;Along it the mantlets were pushed forward at great risk and in vain; Iug. 92.8nam quom eae paulō prōcesserant, ignī aut lapidibus corrumpēbantur.for when they had advanced a little, they were destroyed by fire or stones. Iug. 92.9Mīlitēs neque prō opere cōnsistere propter inīquitātem locī neque inter vīneās sine perīculō administrāre: optumus quisque cadere aut sauciārī, cēterīs metus augērī.The soldiers could neither stand firm in front of the works because of the unevenness of the ground, nor work among the mantlets without danger: all the best of them fell or were wounded, and fear grew among the rest.