y of Numidian
horse; but his only hope of continuing the war now rested on Bocchus.
The latter was for some time uncertain what course to adopt, but was at
length gained over by Sulla, the Quaestor of Marius, to the Roman cause,
and joined in a plan for seizing the person of the Numidian king.
Jugurtha fell into the snare; he was induced, under pretense of a
conference, to repair with only a few followers to meet Bocchus, when he
was instantly surrounded, his attendants cut to pieces, and he himself
made prisoner, and delivered in chains to Sulla, by whom he was conveyed
directly to the camp of Marius. This occurred early in the year B.C.
106.

L. Cornelius Sulla, the Quaestor of Marius, who afterward plays such a
distinguished part in Roman history, was descended from a Patrician
family which had been reduced to great obscurity. But his means were
sufficient to secure him a good education. He studied the Greek and
Roman writers with diligence and success, and early imbibed that love of
literature and art by which he was distinguished throughout his life.
But he was also fond of pleasure, and was conspicuous even among the
Romans for licentiousness and debauchery. He was in every respect a
contrast to Marius. He possessed all the accomplishments and all the
vices which the old Cato had been most accustomed to denounce, and he
was one of those advocates of Greek literature and of Greek profligacy
who had since Cato's time become more and more common among the Roman
Nobles. But Sulla's love of pleasure did not absorb all his time, nor
enfeeble his mind; for no Roman during the latter days of the Republic,
with the exception of Julius Caesar, had a clearer judgment, a keener
discrimination of character, or a firmer will. Upon his arrival in
Africa, Marius was not well pleased that a Quaestor had been assigned to
him who was only known for his profligacy, and who had had no
experience in war; but the zeal and energy with which Sulla attended to
his new duties soon rendered him a useful and skillful officer, and
gained for him the unqualified approbation of his commander,
notwithstanding his previous prejudices against him. He was equally
successful in winning the affections of the soldiers. He always
addressed them with the greatest kindness, seized every opportunity of
conferring favors upon them, was ever ready to take part in all the
jests of the camp, and at the same time never shrank from sharing in all
their labors a