Metellus Numidicus, Quintus Caecilius
Metellus Numidicus, Quintus Caecilius
Died 91 B.C. Roman general and politician.
Metellus was a consul in 109 and a censor in 102 B.C. From 109 to 107 he commanded the Roman troops in Africa during Rome’s war against the Numidian king Jugurtha; he defeated Jugurtha on the Muthul River in 109, after which he received the title Numidicus. In 100, Metellus Numidicus was banished from Rome for his refusal to support the agrarian law of Appuleius Saturninus in the Senate, but he returned in 99 B.C. Classical authors depict Metellus as a convinced and uncompromsing aristocrat and a severe and incorruptible man.