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MOost worthy fathers, it is not throughe my faute yt I sende so often to you requiring your socours, & complaining myne iniures, but the vi¦olence
& rigour of Iugurth, compelleth therto, whose mynde is filled with so great a lust and desire to bereue my lyfe: yt neyther hath he in mynde the dred of goddes punishement, nor feare of your displeasure. My bloude he coueiteth more than all thinges: Insomoch that now is the .v. moneth sith I am kept closed & besiged wt ar∣med men, by tiranny of Iugurth. He nothing regardīg that I am confederate felowe & frende of the people of Rome. Neither can preuaile nor help ye great benefites of my father Micipsa done to this Iugurth, nor youre authorite nor ordynaunces or decres. I am vncertaine whyther I am constrained & oppressed more greuously by force of armes or by hunger, for bothe involueth me on all sides, I wolde wryte vnto you moche more tou∣ching the tirannous cruelte of Iugurth but my misera¦ble fortune moueth me contrary: and moreouer I haue often perceiued before this time: that small credence is gyuen to such as ar oppressed with misery. Saue this I perceiue clerely that the mind of Iugurth coueteth a greater thinge thā my deth or kyngdom. And if by your sufferāce: he shal subdue me and bereue me of my king∣dom: at last he shal ryse and rebel agynst your empyre. Wherfore yf ye lyste not to defende and socour my lyfe: at leest defende your kyngdome of Numidy, and pre∣uente the vsurper of youre empire. Suffre not this ty∣ran to enioye the kyngedome of Numidye, and your good wyll wythall. But truely ye may well perceyue that he loketh not after your fauour: after he shal haue vsurped the realme of Numidy. But whyther he set∣teth lesse by losse of youre frendshyppe and fauoure, or of the domynion of Numidy, none is so blynde but that maye euydentlye perceyue the trouth. For his deedes
declare: that he counteth lesse greuous to haue youre hygh displeasur, than to lose his fiers purpose to sle me, and than to ocupy the hole lande of Numidy. For this hath he proued and made manifeste by hys vnnaturall and cruell dedes, first of all he hathe slayne my brother Hiempsall: which dede he durst not haue done if he had feared your displeasure, next that, he droue me forth of my countrey & fathers kyngedome. But these iniures for certayne wer done agaynst my brother and me, & no¦thinge they longed to you. But nowe he conspyred hyer inuadinge, vsurpinge, and wastynge the hole lande of Numidy with force of armes. And where as ye set me as your leuetenaunte vnder you to gouerne a parte of Numidy. This Iugurth nowe hath dryuen me frome my libertie into the towne of Cirtha, and besegeth me wyth menne of armes closed on all sydes with outward drede and inwarde famine: So that my peryls maye playnlye declare howe lytell he setteth by the wordes of youre embassadours. Certaynly I can se nothinge remayninge able to remoue his violence: nor that cane socoure this my misery, saue onely your power and vi∣olence. I wolde right gladly: that these thynges whiche nowe I write to youe: and all those thinges whiche I haue complayned before in the counsell house were but fayned and false rather than this my euidente myserye shulde proue them true and credible vnto you. But sith I was borne in that hour, and my destiny is suche that Iugurth mooste manifesteth his coursed crueltye by me: therfore nowe my request nor prayer is not that I may escape the sharpenes and cruelte of deth whiche I behold instant & ineuitable but onely my prayer is yt I
maye escape the long subiection and bondage of my en∣nemie and prolonged tourmentes of my miserable bo∣dy. But worthy fathers: touchinge the kyngdō of Nu∣midy, whiche apertayneth to you: prouide youe for the same as it likethe you, and if it be your pleasure: rid and deliuer me from the cruell and vnmercyfull handes of Iugurth my mortall ennemy for the honoure and ma∣geste of your empyre, and for the fidelite of all frenshyp yf any remembraunce of my grandfather Massinissa remayneth yet among you.