duct themselves properly in office; but to me, who has passed my whole life in the most honorable occupations, to act well has from habit become nature.
You have commanded me to carry on the war against Jugurtha[1]—a commission at which the nobility are highly offended. Consider with yourselves, I pray you, whether it would be a change for the better, if you were to send to this, or to any other such appointment, one of yonder crowd of nobles—a man of ancient family, of innumerable statues, and of no military experience—in order forsooth, that in so important an office, and being ignorant of everything connected with it, he may exhibit hurry and trepidation, and select one of the people to instruct him in his duty. For so it generally happens, that he whom you have chosen to direct, seeks another to direct him. I know some, my fellow citizens, who, after they have been elected consuls, have begun to read the acts of their ancestors, and the military precepts of the Greeks—persons who invert the order of things; for tho to discharge the duties of the office is posterior, in point of time, to election, it is, in reality and practical importance, prior to it.
- ↑ War against Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had been declared six years before (in 112 B.C.), but owing to bribes from Jugurtha no Roman general had fought him successfully until 109, when Metellus forced him to seek protection from another African king. Marius now succeeded Metellus, under whom, in a previous campaign, he had served.
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