[599] To this and the following infinitive we must supply _dicit_, which is to be taken out of the preceding _negat_. See Zumpt, S 774. [600] _Mansurum potius, quam--vitae parceret_ is correctly said, though it might also be _quam vitae parsurum_. See Zumpt, S 603, 2. The indicative _quos ducebat_ is a remark of the historian; _quos duceret_ would be a remark of the speaker, which would here have been the regular form. _Coenatos esse_, 'they were to have finished dining.' See Zumpt, S 148. [601] _Ante eos_, 'before them;' that is, on the road along which they had to march. 107. At Sulla, quamquam eadem existimabat, tamen ab injuria Maurum prohibet;[602] suos hortatur, uti fortem animum gererent; saepe ante paucis strenuis[603] adversum multitudinem bene pugnatum; quanto sibi in proelio minus pepercissent, tanto tutiores fore, nec quemquam decere, qui manus armaverit, ab inermis[604] pedibus auxilium petere, in maximo metu nudum et caecum corpus ad hostes vertere. Deinde Volucem, quoniam hostilia faceret, Jovem maximum obtestatus, ut sceleris atque perfidiae Bocchi testis adesset, ex castris abire jubet. Ille lacrimans orare, ne ea crederet; nihil dolo factum, ac magis calliditate Jugurthae, cui videlicet speculanti iter suum cognitum esset. Ceterum, quoniam neque ingentem multitudinem haberet et spes opesque ejus ex patre suo penderent, credere illum nihil palam ausurum, quum ipse filius testis adesset; quare optimum factu[605] videri per media ejus castra palam transire; sese vel praemissis vet ibidem relictis Mauris solum cum Sulla iturum. Ea res ut in tali negotio[606] probata; ac statim profecti, quia de improviso acciderant,[607] dubio atque haesitante Jugurtha, incolumes transeunt. Deinde paucis diebus, quo ire intenderant, perventum est. [602] 'He protects the Mauretanian against violence.' [603] A dative. See Zumpt, S 419. [604] The same as _inermibus_. See Zumpt, S 101. _Nudum et caecum corpus_, 'the undefended part of the body, and not provided with eyes;' that is, the back, which a person ought not to turn towards the enemy, if he wants to be safe. [605] 'It seemed to him to be the most advisable.' Instead of _factu_, other editions have _factum_, 'it seemed to him to be the best thing.' [606] 'As the matter stood,' a limitation suggesting that, under other circumstances, that dangerous way would not have been chosen. [607] 'As they had come upon him unexpectedly;' for Jugurtha had not imagined that the Romans would thus, without negotiation, pass through his lines.