In Rome he was received with favour, and before long his ambition was satisfied. He was elected Consul, and given the command of the army in Africa. When Marius returned to take up his new position in Africa, Metellus had already left the army in charge of an officer. His pride would not let him stay to receive his erstwhile subordinate, who, as he said in anger, had now usurped his command. Soon after this Metellus sailed for Rome, with the miserable feeling that he had been disgraced. He was, however, surprised by the welcome the people gave to him. They had not forgotten that he had refused to touch the gold of Jugurtha. CHAPTER LXXXVI THE CAPTURE OF JUGURTHA’S TREASURE TOWNS Jugurtha and Bocchus knew that they had cause to dread the new Roman general. Certainly he would move swiftly, so the king and his ally resolved to march in different directions, in the hope that one of them would be able to fall upon Marius when he was least expecting an attack. But it was Marius who in the end surprised Jugurtha, near the town of Cirta, and after a skirmish forced him to fly. Bocchus, at no time an eager ally of his son-in-law, hearing that he was defeated, determined to forsake him and make peace with Rome. But Marius was too anxious to capture Jugurtha to pay much attention to the advances of King Bocchus. As the kings had foreseen, Marius moved swiftly. He marched first to Capsa, a city in which Jugurtha kept many of his royal treasures. It was taken without much difficulty and burned, while the inhabitants were either killed or sold into slavery. City after city, fort after fort, fell into the hands of the untiring general, until at length he reached another of the king’s treasure forts. The name of the fort is unknown. It was not a town, but a mere border citadel in the far west of Numidia, and was built on the top of a high rock, which looked impossible to scale. The one way of approach to the fort was by a steep and narrow path. Marius besieged the fort, but it was strongly defended, and had a large store of arms, as well as of food and water. It was here that a reinforcement of Italian cavalry joined him, under the command of Cornelius Sulla. As Marius had proved a thorn in the flesh to Metellus, so Sulla was to prove to his commander. In days to come he was his rival and his most bitter enemy. Marius had at length decided to give up the siege of the border fort, when a way was found to take it. A soldier from the Roman camp was one day looking at the steep rock which sloped down from the fort, when he noticed a ledge on which there were a number of snails. As snails happened to be his favourite food, he climbed up to gather them, then clambered farther in search of more. Higher and higher he mounted, until at length he found himself near the top of the cliff. He now saw that he was close to an oak tree, the root of which was embedded deep in a crevice.