48. Jugurtha ubi Metelli dicta cum factis composuit ac se suis artibus temptari animadvertit, quippe cui verbis pax nuntiabatur, ceterum re bellum asperrimum erat, urbs maxima alienata, ager hostibus cognitus, animi popularium temptati, coactus rerum necessitudine statuit armis certare. Igitur explorato hostium itinere, in spem victoriae adductus ex opportunitate loci, quam maximas potest copias omnium generum parat ac per tramites occultos exercitum Metelli antevenit.[271] Erat in ea parte Numidiae, quam Adherbal in divisione possederat, flumen oriens a meridie, nomine Muthul; a quo aberat mons ferme milia passuum viginti tractu pari,[272] vastus ab natura et humano cultu. Sed ex eo medio quasi collis oriebatur, in immensum pertingens,[273] vestitus oleastro ac murtetis aliisque generibus arborum, quae humi arido atque arenoso[274] gignuntur. Media autem planities deserta penuria aquae, praeter flumini propinqua loca; ea consita arbustis, pecore atque cultoribus frequentabantur. [271] _Exercitum antevenit_. See Zumpt, S 386, note. [272] 'In an equal direction;' that is, likewise extending from south to north. [273] In the midst of this range there arose another group, extending far and wide; and, as will be seen hereafter (chapter 49), in a transverse direction (_transverso itinere_) from the range to the river running parallel with it. _In immensum_, however, must be understood relatively of a very great extent, and not absolutely of an infinite extent. [274] 'On dry and sandy ground' is a very singular expression, and has been noticed as such by the Roman grammarians themselves; for _humi_ (on the ground) is otherwise used without an adjective as an adverb. The adjective is here put in the ablative, to denote the place where, and in the neuter gender, _humi_ being regarded as indeclinable. In ordinary language, it would be _in humo arida_.