Quintus Caecilius Metellus: born in Roma 152 BC, died in 91 BC in Roma

A Roman Consul and general, who obtained the surname of Numidicus, in consequence of his successes in the Numidian war, against Jugurtha; was supplanted by Marius, and, at his instigation, banished from Rome; but was subsequently recalled, and highly esteemed for his integrity and disinterested conduct.

Jugurtha's capture
Gabriel de Borbon

0f the early life of Metellus little is known. He is described to have been one of the most eminent of the Roman orators, during the time of Scipio, Lalius, and the Gracchi; and, with Marcus Junius Silanus, was elected consul, in the year of the city 644.

It is recorded, to his honour, that, at a time when many of the Roman nobility and senate had shown themselves the meanest slaves of avarice, his actions could, in no respect, be influenced by wealth. The government was in the hands of men, whose cruelty, avarice, and oppression, were exceeded only by their pride; and who did not hesitate to apply what ever had before been held sacred, in piety, honour, or friendship, to the basest and most mercenary purposes. They had no longer a rival to dread, in Carthage; and virtue had declined, not gradually, but rapidly, and vice alone seemed to flourish. It was in the midst of this contagion, that Metellus had the merit of preserving his integrity.

On being elected to the consulate, it fell to his lot to proceed into Africa, for the purpose of conducting the war which had been commenced against Jugurtha. But as Rome was corrupted, so also were the Roman armies. The officers had, in numerous instances, been guilty of bribery; and the soldiers were undisciplined and under no control. Indolence, luxury, and licentiousness, almost every where prevailed among the troops. After his arrival in Africa, Metellus, by a well-regulated conjunction of rigour and moderation, and without inflicting any capital punishment, restored the army to a state of correct discipline.

In Numidia he carried on, with diligence and activity, that war, which was, perhaps, the most just and honourable that the Romans had ever been employed in. Jugurtha, informed of the improved state of the army, and despairing of success, against such an officer as Metellus, sent messengers to state that he was ready to capitulate, on condition only that the lives of himself and his children should be spared. But Metellus, incapable of being amused from his purposes with mere proposals of peace; well knowing the perfidy of the Numidians, and also knowing that no people were more susceptible of corruption than they, proved the sincerity of these messengers, by himself prevailing with them, under large promises, to declare that they would deliver up Jugurtha, to him : at the same time ordering them to state to Jugurtha, that he, Metellus, assented to his wish, and was ready to receive his capitulation.

This was a procedure which, in common life, would be considered extremely dishonourable. But it was one of those stratagems, in war, which were frequently practised the ancients; and the event proved that Metellus and Jugurtha were each trying to outwit the other.

Metellus, having received no further communications from his enemies, marched into the interior of the country, with his army ready for action. Here was no appearance whatever of war. The officers of Jugurtha came out, from the towns, to meet him, and to furnish his troops with corn and other provisions. Notwithstanding this peaceable aspect, Metellus proceeded with the utmost caution: his army was always ready. Jugurtba, he knew to be a man of so much subtility, that it was difficult to say whether he was to be feared as most dangerous, when he was absent, or when he was present.

This prince, having found himself unable to obtain any advantage by negociation, determined to risk the event of a battle. He attacked the Roman army, and, at first, obtained some advantage; but he was finally defeated, and obliged to retire into a woody and strong part of the country, where he was protected from attack, and where he endeavoured to recruit his forces.

Metellus now resolved to march into the richest parts of Numidia. Here he acted in a manner which, though authorized by the inhuman practices of those times. He not only ravaged the whole country through which he passed, and took numerous towns and castles that were slightly fortified, but he ordered all the males that were of age to bear arms, to be slain; and granted unrestrained permission to his soldiers, to plunder the houses of the inhabitants. These proceedings occasioned more alarm to Jugurtha, than even the result of his late disastrous contest; and, when information, concerning them, was conveyed to Rome, the senate and the people expressed great approbation, not merely of the success of Metellus, but of the manner in which he had conducted the war.

This general, however, was afterwards much harassed by Jugurtha. The crafty Numidian cut off his resources, attacked his outposts, and impeded his marches, but could not be brought to hazard a general engagement. In the hope of being able to effect this, Metellus laid siege to a city called Zama, Jugurtha did not fall into the snare. Without yiking a battle, he so much annoyed the besiegers, requent skirmishes, that Metellus was, at last, obliged to retire, unsuccessful, into winter quarters.

Here he, once again, acted in a manner which does not confer honour upon his memory. Availing himself of the same arts which the Numidian prince had often, and successfully, practised against other commanders, Metellus, by specious Bomilcar, Jugurtha's most intimate confidant, to persuade his master to surrender himself to the romans. This plan, in part, succeeded; Jugurtha was induced to inform Metellus that he would do so; and, as a security for the performance of his promise, he sent, to the Roman camp, two hundred thousand pounds weight of silver, all his elephants, all the Roman deserters, and a great quantity of horses and arms. But he repented of the element he had made; and, though thus greatly reduced in power, he resolved once more to resort to arms.

After the termination of his consulship, Metellus was continued in the command, as proconsul and Caius Marius, one of his lieutenant-generals, at this time, a young officer of great ambition, had long and earnestly importuned that he might be permitted to return to Rome, for the purpose of becoming a candidate for the consulship. This permission being at last obtained, he left the army, and hastened to Italy. In former times; the noble descent of a candidate for this office had been an advantage to him, but now, such a descent exposed him to the hatred of the people. The friends of Metellus proposed him as the opponent of Marius; but they had little chance of success; for the low birth of the latter alone obtained for him a preponderance in the popular favour. Faction and partyrage operated much more with regard both to Marius and Metellus, than their own qualification for the office. Some of the factions magistrates inflamed the popular indignation by falsely charging Metellus with capital crimes; and extolling the character and with capital crimes; and extolling the character and conduct of Marius, as entitled to unreserved approbation. The contests between the patricians and plebeians occasioned a serious commotion in the state; but the power of the population prevailed, and the cousulship was conferred on Marius.

During these contentions in Rome, a dreadful conflict took place in Africa, between the armies of Jugurtha and Metellus, in which the latter took nearly all the Numidian standards and arms, but only a small number of prisoners; for, after a deafeat, the Numidian soldiers, in making their escape, generally threw down their weapons, that they might flee with greater rapidity. After some further reverses, Jugurtha hastened, with a small retinue, through vast and almost impenetrable deserts, into Getulia, who, at this time, were unacquainted with even the Roman name; and here formed an allinnce with Bocchus, the king of the country.

Metellus had pitched his camp near the town of Cirta, and was waiting an attack of their united forces, when he received letters from Rome, informing him that the province of Numidia had been assigned to Marius. The intelligence of this ap- pointment was excessively mortifying to him. His indignation was so great, that he could neither refrain from tears nor govern his tongue. He conceived that he had brought the war so nearly to a conclusion, that there remained little more to be done than to take the person of Jugurtha; and Marius would thus snatch from him all the merit of his labours.

Sallust, speaking of Metellus, says that whatever could be done in Numidia, was done by him: that his progress could be impeded by no artifice, nor by any effort of the enemy: and that every obstacle, arising from the nature of the country, to which others had submitted, he surmounted. Paterculus asserts that he was second to no general of his time. But it was not alone by his victories over Jugurtha, that Metellus signalized himself. He acquired a still higher glory, by continuing, in the field, as inaccessible to bribes, as he had before been in the senate. Thus far we may, with justice, speak favourably of his character. But, alas! it was far from being complete. Some parts of it seem to have been sadly tainted with the degeneracy of the times. Although Metellus would himself receive no bribe, he, most inconsistently, endeavoured to corrupt others. He seems also to have been too proud of his rank, too jealous of Marius, and too much vexed at the promotion of his rival. Such were the defects observable in his character, at this period of his life; but it is satisfactory to know, that some of them were reformed in his later years.

When Marius arrived at the Roman camp, the command of the army was delivered to him by the lieutenant-general, Publius Rutilius; for Metellus had, some days before, set out on his return to Italy. On his arrival in Rome, his reception was much more favourable than he had expected. His actions were spoken of in the senate with applause. Even the plebeians crowded around him, to congratulate him on his success; and he was honoured with a public triumph, and with the surname of "Numidicus".

The very circumstance of Metellus, in the midst of his victories, being supplanted by Marius, seems to have been advantageous to his moral character. To witness the final triumph of his rival over Jugurtha, and over those far more formidable enemies of his country, the Teutones and Cimbri; to see Marius, whom he had endeavoured to prevent from acquiring his first consulship, crowned with that honour for several successive years: these must have been severe, and very humiliating trials to Metellus, but they were extremely beneficial to him. If, after such humiliations, we compare him with Marius, we shall have an instructive example, to convince us that the "fruits of adversity are often infinitely more wholesome than those of prosperity".

In fact, after he had been supplanted by Marius, Metellus seems to have acquired a much higher degree of virtue, and a more perfect sense of true glory, than he had ever before possessed. He is represented by historians, as one of the most splendid characters then in Rome. Whereas, on the contrary, Marius, after his return from Numidia, influenced by a restless and insatiable ambition, became a vicious and dreadful example of the consequences of lawless impunity.

He had held the consulship for five successive years, and the state was now harassed by incessant commotions, between the senate and the people. The latter, divided into numerous factions, sold their votes to the highest bidders; and all the elections were decided by bribery. The tribune Saturninus obtained a revival of the Agrarian law, and, in conjunction with Marius, be inserted a clause which required that the senate, in full assembly, should swear to conform to whatever might be decreed by the people; and that all who resisted the oath, should suffer the penalty of banishment. The whole senate, except one, degraded themselves by submitting to the oath: only one of them supported the dignity of his senatorial character, and that one was Metellus. His friends entreated him not to throw himself into the power of his enemies by refusing; but he would not shrink front the dignity of his resolution. He chose to suffer whatever punishment they might inflict, rather than be guilty of so unworthy an action. In the presence of the assembled senate and people, he declared his determination to resist the oath; and he supported his determination by these memorable words: To do ill is at all times shameful: to do well, when it may be done with safety, is not uncommon: but to do well, in the face of danger, this is the true characteristic of a really great and good man.

Seeing him thus resolute, his friends proposed to excite, if possible, an opposition to Marius and Saturninus, which might terminate in their downfall, and his consequent liberation from the oath; but he would not listen to their proposal. He would, on no account, consent that, for him, the tranquillity of the nation should be disturbed. Rather than this should be the case, (he said,) he would willingly submit to all the inconveniences of banishment; for be much more valued the peace of his country, than a residence in it. The population, however, were so much enraged at his refusal, that they at tempted to kill him, and would probably have done so, had not many of the respectable citizens united in his defence. Notwithstanding all his endeavours to prevent it, the popular commotion was so great, that, for some time, confusion and slaughter seemed inevitable. To prevent this, he endeavoured to sooth the exasperated minds of those who had given him their support; and voluntarily withdrew himself into exile. Affairs (said he) will change, and I shall be recalled; or, if they continue, it is more desirable for me to be absent than present. The safety of his country (observes Cicero, in one of his orations) was dearer to him than the sight of it; and he chose rather to depart from the city, from his opinion.

He retired to the island of Rhodes,- and, in all the places through which he passed, he was received with admiration and applause. The island, which he had thus selected as the place of his retirement, was blessed with all the beauties and all the bounties of nature. It was, at this time, the seat of commerce, of science, and of art; and was the residence of many wise and good men. During his continuance in this island, Metellus chiefly applied himself to the study of moral philosophy. This not only tended to amuse and shorten the tedious days of banishment; but was useful, in a more important degree, by enlarging and exalting his mind. Thus occupied, he could pity even the prosperity of those seditious and wicked men, by whom he had been driven into exile.

After the departure of Metellus from Rome, some of his opponents quarrelled among themselves, and their commotion at length broke out into open rebellion. This ended in a restoration to power, of the friends of Metellus; a repeal of all the acts that had been passed during the tribunate of Saturninus, and the recall of Metellus. Thus, after having, with so much glory, struggled through two years of adversity, he was called to the different, and perhaps not less difficult trial of prosperity. But, after his return, be preserved the same even tenour of mind and of conduct, as he had done in exile. On comparing this equanimity with his conduct whilst in Numidia, it is impossible not to perceive that, by his adversity and his philosophical studies, his mind had been greatly improved.

On his return to Rome, he was met, at the gate of the city, by the senate and the people. But the most happy partaker in the joy of his return, was his son. This excellent young man, although he was then at a period of life, when he might have been looking towards the acquisition of public honour for himself, had incessantly laboured to effect the restoration of his father. During the whole period of his father's banishment, he had worn the deepest mourning; and he had earnestly and unremittingly employed himself in soliciting the votes of the people for his recall. And the tenderness and the earnestness with which he urged his solicitations, at length prevailed over the power and the malice of Marius. The young Metellus had himself the honour of recalling his beloved parent from banishment; and he thence deservedly acquired the appellation of Metellus Pius. Thus did the invincible affection of a son, towards his parent in adversity, gain a title far more glorious, and more truly admirable, than that which any victory, or the conquest of any country, ever conferred.

At the ensuing consular election, the people exhibited their esteem for Metellus, by accepting his recommendation to that office, of a person of his own name and family; but from this period no event of importance, concerning him, seems to have been recorded.

Authorities-Sallust, Paterculus, and Hook's Roman History.