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Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine War by Sallust

S >> Sallust >> Conspiracy of Catiline and The Jurgurthine War




XLII. Thus when Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, whose forefathers had
done much to increase the power of the state in the Punic and other
wars, began to vindicate the liberty of the people, and to expose the
misconduct of the few, the nobility, conscious of guilt, and seized
with alarm, endeavored, sometimes by means of the allies and
Latins[145], and sometimes by means of the equestrian order, whom the
hope of coalition with the patricians had detached from the people, to
put a stop to the proceedings of the Gracchi; and first they killed
Tiberius, and a few years after Caius, who pursued the same measures
as his brother, the one when he was tribune, and the other when he was
one of a triumvirate for settling colonies; and with them they cut off
Marcus Fulvius Flaccus. In the Gracchi, indeed, it must be allowed
that, from their ardor for victory, there was not sufficient prudence.
But to a reasonable man it is more agreeable to submit[146] to
injustice than to triumph over it by improper means. The nobility,
however, using their victory with wanton extravagance, exterminated
numbers of men by the sword or by exile, yet rather increased, for the
time to come, the dread with which they were regarded, than their real
power. Such proceedings have often ruined powerful states; for of two
parties, each strives to suppress the other by any means whatever, and
take vengeance with undue severity on the vanquished.

But were I to attempt to treat of the animosities of parties, and of
the morals of the state, with minuteness of detail, and suitably to
the vastness of the subject, time would fail me sooner than matter. I
therefore return to my subject.

XLIII. After the treaty of Aulus, and the disgraceful flight of our
army, Quintus Metellus and Marcus Silanus, the consuls elect, divided
the provinces between them; and Numidia fell to Metellus, a man of
energy, and, though an opponent of the popular party, yet of a
character uniformly irreproachable[147]. He, as soon as he entered on
his office, regarded all other things as common to himself and his
colleague[148], but directed his chief attention to the war which he
was to conduct. Distrusting, therefore, the old army, he began to
raise new troops, to procure auxiliaries from all parts, and to
provide arms, horses, and other military requisites, besides
provisions in abundance, and every thing else which was likely to be
of use in a war varied in its character, and demanding great
resources. To assist in accomplishing these objects, the allies and
Latins, by the appointment of the senate, and different princes[149]
of their own accord, sent supplies; and the whole state exerted itself
in the cause with the greatest zeal. Having at length prepared and
arranged every thing according to his wishes, Metellus set out for
Numidia, attended with sanguine expectations on the part of his
fellow-citizens, not only because of his other excellent qualities,
but especially because his mind was proof against gold; for it was
through the avarice of our commanders, that, down to this period, our
affairs in Numidia had been ruined, and those of the enemy rendered
prosperous.

XLIV. When he arrived in Africa, the command of the army was resigned
to him by Albinus, the proconsul[150]; but it was an army spiritless
and unwarlike; incapable of encountering either danger or fatigue;
more ready with the tongue than with the sword; accustomed to plunder
our allies, while itself was the prey of the enemy; unchecked by
discipline, and void of all regard to its character. The new general,
accordingly, felt more anxiety from the corrupt morals of the men,
than confidence or hope from their numbers. He determined, however,
though the delay of the comitia had shortened his summer campaign, and
though he knew his countrymen to be anxious for the result of his
proceedings, not to commence operations, until, by a revival of the
old discipline, he had brought the soldiers to bear fatigue. For
Albinus, dispirited by the disaster of his brother Aulus and his army,
and having resolved not to leave the province during the portion of
the summer that he was to command, had kept the soldiers, for the most
part, in a stationary camp[151], except when stench, or want of
forage, obliged them to remove. But neither had the camp been
fortified[152], nor the watches kept, according to military usage;
every one had been allowed to leave his post when he pleased. The
camp-followers, mingled with the soldiers, wandered about day and
night, ravaging the country, robbing the houses, and vying with each
other in carrying off cattle and slaves, which they exchanged with
traders for foreign wine[153] and other luxuries; they even sold the
corn, which was given them from the public store, and bought bread
from day to day; and, in a word, whatever abominations, arising from
idleness and licentiousness, can be expressed or imagined, and even
more, were to be seen in that army.

XLV. But I am assured that Metellus, in these difficult circumstances,
no less than in his operations against the enemy, proved himself a
great and wise man; so just a medium did he observe between an
affectation of popularity and an excessive enforcement of discipline.
His first measure was to remove incentives to idleness, by a general
order that no one should sell bread, or any other dressed provisions,
in the camp; that no sutlers should follow the army; and that no
common soldier should have a servant, or beast of burden, either in a
camp or on a march. He made the strictest regulations, too, with
regard to other things.[154] He moved his camp daily, exercising the
soldiers by marches across the country; he fortified it with a rampart
and a trench, exactly as if the enemy had been at hand; he placed
numerous sentinels[155] by night, and went the rounds with his
officers; and, when the army was on the march; he would be at one time
in the front, at another in the rear, and at another in the center, to
see that none quitted their ranks, that the men kept close to their
standards, and that every soldier carried his provisions and his arms.
Thus by preventing rather than punishing irregularities, he in a short
time rendered his army effective.

XLVI. Jugurtha, meantime, having learned from his emissaries how
Metellus was proceeding, and having heard, when he was in Rome, of the
integrity of the consul's character, began to despair of his plans,
and at length actually endeavored to effect a capitulation. He
therefore sent deputies to the consul with proposals of submission,
stipulating only for his own life and that of his children, and
offering to surrender every thing else to the Romans. But Metellus had
already learned by experience, that the Numidians were a faithless
race, of unsettled disposition, and fond of change; and he accordingly
applied himself to each of the deputies separately, and after
gradually sounding them, and finding them proper instruments for his
purpose, prevailed on them, by large promises, to deliver Jugurtha
into his hands; bringing him alive, if they could, or dead, if to take
him alive was impracticable. In public, however, he directed that such
an answer should be given to the king as would be agreeable to his
wishes.

A few days afterward, he led the army, which was now vigorous and
resolute, into Numidia, where, instead of any appearance of war, he
found the cottages full of people, and the cattle and laborers in the
fields, while the officers of Jugurtha came from the towns and
villages[156] to meet him, offering to supply him with corn, to convey
provisions for him, and to do whatever might be required of them.
Metellus, notwithstanding, made no diminution in the caution with
which he marched, but kept as much upon the defensive as if an enemy
had been at hand; and he dispatched scouts to explore the country,
thinking that these signs of submission were but pretense, and that
the Numidians were watching an opportunity for treachery. He himself,
with some light-armed cohorts, and a select body of slingers and
archers, advanced always in the front; while Caius Marius, his
lieutenant-general, at the head of the cavalry, had charge of the
rear. The auxiliary horse, distributed among the tribunes of the
legions and prefects of the cohorts, he placed on the flanks, so that,
with the aid of the light troops mixed with them, they might repel the
enemy whenever an approach should be made. For such was the subtlety
of Jugurtha, and such his knowledge of the country and the art of war,
that it was doubtful whether he was more formidable absent or present,
offering peace or threatening hostilities.

XLVII. There lay, not far from the route which Metellus was pursuing,
a city of the Numidians named Vaga, the most celebrated place for
trade in the whole kingdom, in which many Italian merchants were
accustomed to reside and traffic. Here the consul, to try the
disposition of the inhabitants, and, should they allow him, to take
advantage of the situation of the place[157], established a garrison,
and ordered the people to furnish him with corn, and other necessaries
for war; thinking, as circumstances indeed suggested, that the
concourse of merchants, and frequent arrival of supplies[158], would
add strength to his army, and further the plans which he had already
formed.

In the midst of these proceedings, Jugurtha, with extraordinary
earnestness[159], sent deputies to sue for peace, offering to resign
every thing to Metellus, except his own life and that of his children.
These, like the former, the consul first reduced to treachery, and
then sent back; the peace which Jugurtha asked, he neither granted nor
refused, but waited, during these delays, the performance of the
deputies' promises. XLVIII. Jugurtha, on comparing the words of
Metellus with his actions, perceived that he was assailed with his own
artifices; for though peace was offered him in words, a most vigorous
war was in reality pursued against him; one of his strongest cities
was wrested from him; his country was explored by the enemy, and the
affections of his subjects alienated. Being compelled, therefore, by
the necessity of circumstances, he resolved to try the fortune of a
battle. Having, with this view, informed himself of the exact route of
the enemy, and hoping for success from the advantage of the ground, he
collected as large a force of every kind as he could, and, marching by
cross-roads, got in advance of Metellus' army.

There was, in that part of Numidia, of which, on the division of the
kingdom, Adherbal had become possessor, a river named Muthul, flowing
from the south; and, about twenty miles from it, was a range of
mountains running parallel with the stream[160], wild and
uncultivated; but from the center of it stretched a kind of hill,
reaching to a vast distance, covered with wild olives, myrtles, and
other trees, such as grow in a dry and sandy soil. The plain, which
lay between the mountains and the Muthul, was uninhabited from want of
water, except the parts bordering on the river, which were planted
with trees, and full of cattle and inhabitants.

XLIX. On this hill, which I have just mentioned, stretching in a
transverse direction[161], Jugurtha took post with his line drawn out
to a great length. The command of the elephants, and of part of the
infantry, he committed to Bomilcar, and gave him instructions how to
act. He himself, with the whole of the cavalry and the choicest of the
foot, took his station nearer to the range of mountains. Then, riding
round among the several squadrons and battalions, he exhorted and
conjured them to call to mind their former prowess and triumphs, and
to defend themselves and their country from Roman rapacity; saying
that they would have to engage with those whom they had already
conquered and sent under the yoke, and that, though their commander
was changed, there was no alteration in their spirit. He added, that
he had provided for his men every thing becoming a general; that he
had chosen the higher ground, where they, being well acquainted with
the country[162], would contend with adversaries ignorant of it; nor
would they engage, inferior in numbers and skill, with a larger or
more experienced force; and that they should, therefore, be ready,
when the signal should be given, to fall vigorously on the Romans, as
that day would either crown[163] all their labors and victories, or be
a prelude to the most grievous calamities. He also addressed himself,
individually, to any one whom he had rewarded with money or honors for
military desert, reminding him of his favors, and pointing him out as
an example to the rest; and finally he excited all his men, some in
one way and some in another, by threats or entreaties, according to
the different dispositions of each.

Metellus, who was still ignorant of the enemy's position, was now
seen[164] descending the mountain with his army. He was at first
doubtful what the strange appearance before him indicated; for the
Numidians, both cavalry and infantry, had taken post among the wood,
not entirely concealing themselves, by reason of the lowness of the
trees, yet rendering it uncertain[165] what they were, as both
themselves and their standards were screened as well by the nature of
the ground as by artifice; but soon perceiving that there were men in
ambush, he halted awhile, and, having altered the arrangement of his
troops, he drew up those in the right wing, which was nearest to the
enemy, in three lines[166]; he distributed the slingers and archers
among the infantry, posted all the cavalry on the flanks, and having
made a brief address, such as time permitted, to his men, he led them
down, with the front changed into a flank[167], toward the plain.

L. But when he observed that the Numidians remained quiet, and did not
offer to descend from the hill, he became apprehensive that his army,
from the season of the year and the scarcity of water, might be
overcome with thirst, and therefore sent Rutilius, one of his
lieutenant-generals, with the light-armed cohorts and a detachment of
cavalry, toward the river, to secure ground for an encampment,
expecting that the enemy, by frequent charges and attacks on his
flank, would endeavor to impede his march, and, as they despaired of
success in arms, would try the effect of fatigue and thirst on his
troops.

He then continued to advance by degrees, as his circumstances and the
ground permitted, in the same order in which he had descended from the
range of mountains. He assigned Marius his post behind the front
line[168], and took on himself the command of the cavalry on the left
wing, which, on the march, had become the van[169].

When Jugurtha perceived that the rear of the Roman army had passed his
first line, he took possession of that part of the mountain from which
Metellus had descended, with a body of about two thousand infantry,
that it might not serve the enemy, if they were driven back, as a
place of retreat, and afterward as a post of defense; and then,
ordering the signal to be given, suddenly commenced his attack. Some
of his Numidians made havoc in the rear of the Romans, while others
assailed them on the right and left wings; they all advanced and
charged furiously, and every where threw the consul's troops into
confusion. Even those of our men who made the stoutest resistance,
were baffled by the enemy's versatile method of fighting, and wounded
from a distance, without having the power of wounding in return, or of
coming to close combat; for the Numidian cavalry, as they had been
previously instructed by Jugurtha, retreated whenever a troop of
Romans attempted to pursue them, but did not keep in a body, or
collect themselves into one place, but dispersed as widely as
possible. Thus, being superior in numbers, if they could not deter the
Romans from pursuing, they surrounded them, when disordered, on the
rear or flank, or, if the hill seemed more convenient for retreat than
the plain, the Numidian horses, being accustomed to the brushwood,
easily made their way among it, while the difficulty of the ascent,
and want of acquaintance with the ground, impeded those of the Romans.

LI. The aspect of the whole struggle[170] was indeed various,
perplexing, direful, and lamentable; the men, separated from their
comrades, were partly fleeing, partly pursuing; neither standards nor
ranks were regarded, but wherever danger pressed, there they made a
stand and defended themselves; arms and weapons, horses and men,
enemies, and fellow-countrymen, were all mingled in confusion; nothing
was done by direction or command, but chance ordered every thing.
Though the day, therefore, was now far advanced, the event of the
contest was still uncertain. At last, however, when all were faint
with exertion and the heat of the day, Metellus, observing that the
Numidians were less vigorous in their charges, drew his troops
together by degrees, restored order among them, and led four cohorts
of the legions against the enemy's infantry, of whom a great number,
overcome with fatigue, had seated themselves on the high ground. He at
the same time entreated and exhorted his men not to lose courage, nor
to suffer a flying enemy to be victorious; adding that they had
neither camp nor citadel to which they could flee, but that their only
dependence was on their arms. Nor was Jugurtha, in the mean time,
inactive; he rode round among his troops, cheered them, renewed the
contest, and, at the head of a select body, made every possible effort
for victory; supporting his own men, charging such of the enemy as
wavered, and repressing with missiles such as he saw remaining
unshaken.

LII. Thus did these two commanders, both eminent men, maintain the
contest against each other. In personal ability they were equal, but
in circumstances unequal. Metellus had resolute troops, but a
disadvantageous position; Jugurtha had every thing in his favor except
men. At last the Romans, seeing that they had no place of refuge, that
the enemy allowed no opportunity for a regular engagement, and that
the evening was fast approaching, forced their way, according to the
orders which were given, up the hill. The Numidians were thus driven
from their position, routed, and put to flight; a few of them were
slain, but their speed, and the enemy's ignorance of the country[171],
saved the greater number of them.

Meanwhile Bomilcar, who, as I have said before, was appointed by
Jugurtha over the elephants and a part of the infantry, having seen
Rutilius pass by him, led down his men gradually into the plain, and
while Rutilius hastened to the river, to which he had been dispatched,
quietly drew them up in such order as circumstances required; not
omitting, at the same time, to watch every movement of the enemy. When
he learned that Rutilius had taken his position, and seemed free from
apprehension of danger, and heard, at the same time, an increasing
noise where Jugurtha was engaged, fearing lest the lieutenant-general,
taking the alarm, should go to the support of his countrymen in
difficulties, he, in order to intercept his march, increased the
extent of his lines, which, from distrust of the bravery of his men,
he had previously condensed, and advanced in this order toward
Rutilius' camp.

LIII. The Romans, on a sudden, observed a vast cloud of dust, which,
as the ground, thickly covered with brushes, obstructed their view,
they at first supposed to be only sand raised by the wind; but at
length, when they saw that it continued uniform, and approached nearer
and nearer as the line advanced, they understood the real cause of it,
and, hastily seizing their arms, drew up, as their commander directed,
before the camp. When the enemy came up, both sides rushed to the
encounter with loud shouts. But the Numidians maintained the contest
only as long as they trusted for support to their elephants; for, when
they saw the animals entangled in the boughs of the trees, and
dispersed or surrounded by the enemy, they betook themselves to
flight, and most of them, having thrown away their arms, escaped, by
favor of the hill, or of the night, which was now coming on, without
injury. Of the elephants, four were taken, and the rest, to the number
of forty, were killed.

The Romans, though fatigued and exhausted[172] with their march, the
construction of their camp, and the engagement, yet, as Metellus was
longer in coming than they expected, advanced to meet him in regular
and steady order. The subtlety of the Numidians, indeed, allowed them
neither rest nor relaxation. But as the two parties drew together, in
the obscurity of the night, each occasioned, by a noise like that of
enemies approaching, alarm and trepidation in the other; and, had not
parties of horse, sent forward from both sides, ascertained the truth,
a fatal disaster was on the point of happening from the mistake.
However, in place of fear, joy quickly succeeded; the soldiers met
with mutual congratulations, relating their adventures, or listening
to those of others, and each extolling his own achievements to the
skies. For thus it is with human affairs; in success, even cowards may
boast; while defeat lowers the character even of heroes.

LIV. Metellus remained four days in the same camp. He carefully
provided for the recovery of the wounded, rewarded, in military
fashion, such as had distinguished themselves in the engagements, and
praised and thanked them all in a public address; exhorting them to
maintain equal resolution in their future labors, which would be less
arduous, as they had fought sufficiently for victory, and would now
have to contend only for spoil. In the mean time he dispatched
deserters, and other eligible persons, to ascertain where Jugurtha
was, or what he was doing; whether he had but few followers, or a
large army; and how he conducted himself under his defeat. The prince,
he found, had retreated to places full of wood, well defended by
nature, and was there collecting an army, which would be more numerous
indeed than the former, but inactive and inefficient, as being
composed of men better acquainted with husbandry and cattle than with
war. This had happened from the circumstance, that, in case of flight,
none of the Numidian troops, except the royal cavalry, follow their
king; the rest disperse, wherever inclination leads them; nor is this
thought any disgrace to them as soldiers, such being the custom of the
people.

Metellus, therefore, seeing that Jugurtha's spirit was still
unsubdued; that a war was being renewed, which could only be
conducted[173] according to the prince's pleasure; and that he was
struggling with the enemy on unequal terms, as the Numidians suffered
a defeat with less loss than his own men gained a victory, he resolved
to manage the contest, not by pitched battles or regular warfare, but
in another method. He accordingly marched into the richest parts of
Numidia, captured and burned many fortresses and towns, which were
insufficiently or wholly undefended, put the youth to the sword, and
gave up every thing else as plunder to his soldiers. From the terror
caused by these proceedings, many persons were given up as hostages to
the Romans; corn, and other necessaries, were supplied in abundance;
and garrisons were admitted wherever Metellus thought fit.

These measures alarmed Jugurtha much more than the loss of the late
battle; for he, whose whole security lay in flight, was compelled to
pursue; and he who could not defend his own part of the kingdom, was
obliged to make war in that which was occupied by others. Under these
circumstances, however[174], he adopted what seemed the most eligible
plan. He ordered the main body of his army to continue stationary;
while he himself, with a select troop of cavalry, went in pursuit of
Metellus, and coming upon him unperceived, by means of night marches
and by-roads, he fell upon such of the Roman as were straggling about,
of whom the greater number, being unarmed, were slain, and several
others made prisoners; not one of them, indeed, escaped unharmed; and
the Numidians, before assistance could arrive from the camp, fled, as
they had been ordered, to the nearest hills.

LV. In the mean time great joy appeared at Rome when the proceedings
of Metellus were reported, and when it was known how he was conducting
himself and his army conformably to the ancient discipline; how, on
adverse ground, he had gained a victory by his valor; how he was
securing possession of the enemy's territory; and how he had driven
Jugurtha, when elated by the weakness of Aulus, to depend for safety
on the desert or on flight. For these successes, accordingly, the
senate decreed a thanksgiving[175] to the immortal gods; the city,
which had been full of anxiety, and apprehensive as to the event of
the war, was now filled with joy; and the fame of Metellus was raised
to the utmost height.

The consul's eagerness to gain a complete victory was thus increased;
he exerted himself in every possible way, taking care, at the same
time, to give the enemy no opportunity of attacking him to advantage.
He remembered that envy is the concomitant of glory, and thus, the
more renowned he became, the greater was his caution and
circumspection. He never went out to plunder, after the sudden attack
of Jugurtha, with his troops in scattered parties; when corn or forage
was sought, a body of cohorts, with the whole of the cavalry, were
stationed as a guard. He himself conducted part of the army, and
Marius the rest. The country was wasted, however, more by fire than by
spoliation. They had separate camps, not far from each other; whenever
there was occasion for force, they formed a union; but, that
desolation and terror might spread the further, they acted separately.
Jugurtha, meanwhile, continued to follow them along the hills,
watching for a favorable opportunity or situation for an attack. He
destroyed the forage, and spoiled the water, which was scarce,
wherever he found that the enemy were coming. He presented himself
sometimes to Metellus, and sometimes to Marius; he would attack their
rear upon a march, and instantly retreat to the hills; he would
threaten sometimes one point, and sometimes another, neither giving
battle nor allowing rest, but making it his great object to retard the
progress of the enemy.

Fidel and Che: a revolutionary friendship

After last week's fairly open theme, I thought I'd go with something a bit more structured this time. As I type this, I'm listening to Steeleye Span and thinking about the great ballad traditions of Britain and Ireland. What is a ballad? I suppose the most inclusive definition would be that it's a singable narrative poem: that covers a multitude but will do for the moment.

Ballads in English stretch back to the middle ages, with fine examples to be found among the Scottish border ballads and the English Robin Hood poems. These early ballads are among the best-known poems and stories in the language, and form part of the common heritage of English speakers everywhere. They gave rise to a tradition of ballad-making that endures down to the present day.

In fact, most poets since have tried their hand at the ballad at one time or another, and the result has been to deny any definition more specific than the one I ventured in my first paragraph. If you look around the internet, you'll come up with a wide selection of poems that are called ballads but have little in common formally. Stanza length varies from two to 10 or more lines, and all sorts of metrical and rhyming patterns are used. A good number will be singable in only the loosest possible sense, and at times the narrative tends to get lost in a mesh of more-or-less successful verbal embroidery.

So, what should a ballad be? Well, "proper" ballad stanzas are quatrains in which the first and third lines have four stresses and the second and third have three. The lines will rhyme A-B-C-B or A-B-A-B. It's as simple, and as difficult, as that. Here's an example, from Robert Burns's extremely singable Comin Thro' the Rye:

Gin a body meet a body
          Comin thro' the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body –
          Need a body cry.

Burns wrote a good number of ballads, and his lead was followed by many 19th-century poets. Two examples that I particularly like are Robert Browning's Confessions and Christina Rossetti's Up-Hill, but you can find ballads by just about any Romantic or Victorian poet if you look for them.

There is a long, strong tradition of ballads and ballad singers in Ireland, too. It is hardly surprising, then, that the great appropriator of tradition, WB Yeats, tried his hand at the form. At least four of his poems have the word "ballad" in the title; the pick of the bunch, for my money, is The Ballad of Father Gilligan, which may have benefited from having been written with a specific tune in mind.

Ballads continued to be written in the 20th century; perhaps the most unexpected exponents were Ezra Pound, with his Ballad of the Goodly Fere, and WH Auden. In fact, the ballad The Quarry is probably my favourite Auden poem.

And so, this week I invite a chorus of balladeering. You may choose to go the whole hog and write in ballad stanzas or you might prefer to take a more liberal view of the formal requirements. Either way, sing up and – as they say at all the best Irish sessions when calling for a bit of hush for the singer – one voice please.

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Obituary: Donald Westlake

The disputed Holocaust memoir, written by Herman Rosenblat, which was dropped from Penguin Group's publication schedule at the end of December is now set to appear as a work of fiction.

Rosenblat's memoir - which Oprah Winfrey called "the single greatest love story" she had heard in two decades in television - recounted how as a teenage boy in a Nazi concentration camp, he was kept alive by the food which was thrown to him by a young girl, Roma Radzicky. Penguin's US imprint Berkley Books had planned to publish the story, which sees Rosenblat reunited with Radzicky on a blind date years later, as Angel at the Fence: the True Story of a Love That Survived, next month.

But a Holocaust historian said it would have been impossible to approach the fence in the Schlieben concentration camp to throw food over it, concluding that this part of the story was made-up. Berkley initially defended the book, saying it was a work of memory, but then decided to cancel its planned publication, and demanded the return of the advance it had made to Rosenblat. A $25m film based on the book, to be called The Flower of the Fence, is still going ahead, with production due to start this year.

Publisher York House Press based in White Plains, New York, has entered into a tentative agreement with the film production company to publish a novel based on the film script early this spring. It said the book would be "grounded in fact", and would rise "to the proper levels of artistic value, ethical conduct and social responsibility".

A spokesperson for York House Press condemned the attacks which were made on the 80-year-old Rosenblat after the veracity of his story was questioned, describing them as a "savage" response to what was otherwise "a credible, heart-wrenching, and verifiable account" of his time in the concentration camp.

"No deliberate untruth is permissible, but beneath any fabrication is motivation and intent. We believe Mr. Rosenblat's motivations were very human, understandable and forgivable," the spokesperson said. "It is beyond our expertise to know how Holocaust survivors cope with their trauma. Do they deny, try to forget, rationalise or fantasise and promote fiction along with truth? Perhaps the coping mechanisms are as individual as the survivors themselves."

The president of the company producing the film, Harris Salomon from Atlantic Overseas Productions, said the book, "regardless of its shortcomings", would "challenge, educate and enlighten" readers about the horrors of the Holocaust. "The documented fact, acknowledged by his critics, is that Herman is a survivor of concentration camps," he said.

But Rosenblat's agent, Andrea Hurst, said that neither she nor Rosenblat were involved with this version of his story. "Usually book rights from films come out after the movie is released," she told guardian.co.uk. "I think the timing on this is very insensitive."

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