[318] 'The Numidian horsemen would not have resisted any longer, had not their infantry mingled with the cavalry caused a great carnage' (among the Romans). Respecting the imperfect in the protasis, though the apodosis contains the pluperfect, see Zumpt, S 525. The Numidian horse, accordingly, here did not follow their usual custom of making a sudden attack, and then retreating; on the contrary, they fought in such a manner that their own horses and those of the Romans stood head to head, and thus gained an almost complete victory, by procuring a respite for their struggling infantry. 60. Eodem tempore apud Zamam magna vi certabatur. Ubi quisque legatus aut tribunus curabat, eo acerrime niti,[319] neque alius in alio magis quam in sese[320] spem habere: pariterque oppidani agere; oppugnare aut parare omnibus locis, avidius alteri alteros sauciare quam semet tegere, clamor permixtus hortatione, laetitia, gemitu, item strepitus armorum ad coelum ferri, tela utrimque volare. Sed illi, qui moenia defensabant, ubi hostes paulum modo pugnam remiserant, intenti proelium equestre prospectabant, eos, uti quaeque Jugurthae res erant, laetos modo, modo pavidos animadverteres,[321] ac, sicuti audiri a suis aut cerni possent,[322] monere alii, alii hortari aut manu significare aut niti corporibus,[323] et ea huc et illuc quasi vitabundi aut jacientes tela agitare. Quod ubi Mario cognitum est (nam is in ea parte curabat) consulto lenius agere ac diffidentiam rei simulare, pati Numidas sine tumultu[324] regis proelium visere. Ita illis studio suorum astrictis,[325] repente magna vi murum aggreditur, et jam scalis egressi milites prope summa ceperant, quum oppidani concurrunt, lapides, ignem, alia praeterea tela ingerunt. Nostri primo resistere, deinde, ubi unae atque alterae scalae comminutae, qui supersteterant, afflicti sunt, ceteri, quoquo modo potuere, pauci integri, magna pars vulneribus confecti abeunt Denique utrimque proelium nox diremit.