IV
Y.R. 647 When Marius arrived at Cirta messengers came to him from Bocchus asking that he would send somebody to hold a conference with him. He accordingly sent Aulus Manlius, B.C.107 his lieutenant, and Cornelius Sulla, his quaestor. To them Bocchus said that he fought against the Romans on account of the acts of Marius, who had taken from him the territory which he himself had taken from Jugurtha. To this complaint of Bocchus, Manlius replied that the Romans had taken this territory from Syphax by the law of war, and had made a present of it to Masinissa, and that such gifts were made by the Romans to be kept by those who received them during the pleasure of the Senate and people of Rome. Nor did the Romans take back their gifts without reason. Masinissa was dead, and Jugurtha, who had murdered his grandchildren, was at war with the Romans. It is not right, he said, that an enemy should keep the gift that we made to a friend, nor should you think that you can take from Jugurtha property that belongs to the Romans. These were the words of Manlius concerning the territory in question.
V
Bocchus sent another embassy who were to solicit peace from Marius and urge Sulla to assist them in the negotiation. These ambassadors were despoiled by robbers on the road, but Sulla received them kindly and entertained them until Marius returned from Gaetulia. Marius advised them to urge Bocchus to consult with Sulla as to all his affairs. Accordingly, when Bocchus was inclined to betray Jugurtha he sent messengers around to the neighboring Ethiopians (who extend from eastern Ethiopia westward to the Mauritanian Mount Atlas) under pretence of raising a new army, and then asked Marius to send Sulla to him for a conference, and Marius did so. In this way Bocchus himself, and his friend Magdalses, and a certain freedman of Carthage, named Cornelius, deceived Apsar, the friend of Jugurtha, who had been left in Bocchus’ camp to keep watch on his doings.
