When the inhabitants perceived that the place was surprised, their state of consternation and extreme dread, the suddenness of the calamity, and the consideration that many of their fellow-citizens were without the walls in the power of the enemy, compelled them to surrender. The town, however, was burned; of the Numidians, such as were of adult age, were put to the sword; the rest were sold, and the spoil divided among the soldiers. This severity, in violation of the usages of war, was not adopted from avarice or cruelty in the consul, but was exercised because the place was of great advantage to Jugurtha, and difficult of access to us, while the inhabitants were a fickle and faithless race, to be influenced neither by kindness nor by terror. XCII. When Marius had achieved so important an enterprise, without any loss to his troops, he who was great and honored before became still greater and still more honored. All his undertakings,[267] however ill-concerted, were regarded as proofs of superior ability; his soldiers, kept under mild discipline, and enriched with spoil, extolled him to the skies; the Numidians dreaded him as some thing more than human; and all, indeed, allies as well as enemies, believed that he was either possessed of supernatural power, or had all things directed for him by the will of the gods. After his success in this attempt, he proceeded against other towns; a few, where they offered resistance, he took by force; a greater number, deserted in consequence of the wretched fate of Capsa, he destroyed by fire; and the whole country was filled with mourning and slaughter.