Write an account of the war which the Romans fought with Jugurtha, king of Numidia.

I propose to write an account of the war which the Romans fought with Jugurtha, king of Numidia: first, because it was a hard-fought and bloody contest in which victories alternated with defeats; secondly, because it was at this time that the first challenge was offered to the arrogance of the Roman nobles, the beginning of a struggle that played havoc with all our institutions, human and divine, and reached such a pitch of fury that civil strife was ended only by a war which left Italy a desert. Before explaining how Rome came to be involved in this bitter fight with Jugurtha, I will go back to certain earlier events in order to set my narrative in a clearer light and make it more readily understood.