Second Battle of Cirta

As the Romans neared Cirta, Marius' scouts reported Jugurtha's army advancing on them in four divisions. Since Marius was unsure about Jugurtha's tactics he decided to halt his army and let the enemy come to him. Jugurtha ordered his men to attack the Romans and the battle began. Sulla's wing came under attack first, his men withstanding the assault. At this point in the battle, the Mauritanian king Bocchus and his son Vollux appeared and attacked the Roman rear. Soon the Romans were under assault from every direction. The Romans were severely outnumbered, according to ancient sources the North Africans had marshalled 90,000 soldiers, almost giving them a three to one advantage.^[6]

Jugurtha tried to dispirit the Romans, and called out to them that he had just killed Gaius Marius, and exposed his sword dripping with blood. For a short while the trick worked and the Romans were thrown into confusion, but Sulla, who had counter-attacked and driven off the enemy in his section of the battlefield, threw his forces against Bocchus. The Mauritanians broke under Sulla's assault and Bocchus fled the battlefield. Meanwhile, Marius had restored order to his troops and went on the offensive himself; he put a Jugurthine cavalry detachment to flight and moved on to the next weak spot in his line. Marius and Sulla focused their efforts on the weakest part of their lines and slowly the tide of battle turned. The Romans gained the advantage and killed or routed the bulk of Jugurtha's army. The Numidian king and his remaining troops were surrounded and all were killed except Jugurtha who somehow was able to escape. The Romans had won the battle and slaughtered their enemy.^[7]

The Romans resumed their march on Cirta and Marius put his men into winter quarters.^[8]

Jugurtha continued his war against Rome, reverting to guerilla warfare. Unfortunately for Jugurtha, Marius and Sulla were able to convince king Bocchus it was in his best interest to abandon his son-in-law. Bocchus conspired with Sulla, who had traveled to Mauretania on a special mission to capture Jugurtha. It was a dangerous operation from the beginning, with King Bocchus weighing up the advantages of handing Jugurtha over to Sulla or Sulla over to Jugurtha. In the end, Bocchus decided his future lay with Rome and he helped capture Jugurtha.^[9] Although Sulla had engineered the capture of Jugurtha, as Sulla was serving under Marius at the time, Marius took credit for this feat. The publicity attracted by this feat boosted Sulla's political career.