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H U M H REY M LF RD P I O ,

OX FO RD UN V Y PRESS AM EN C N E . C. I ERSIT . OR ER, L IFE A N D L ETT E RS IN

RO MA N A FR ICA

E . S . BO UCH IE R, M . A .

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B H . K D E . BLAC WELL , BROA STRE T I 9 13

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cmp‘rzn T E FR A N I. H A IC N PROVI CES

. TH E CAPITALS : CARTHAGE I N II THREE , C RTA, A D

E R I D N 111. L A N NG AND E UCATIO

IV PR V TE L IFE A MU M N —TH E R . I A AND SE E TS A TS

V FRONTO H IS CIRCLE . AND

VI L Y R EL G O —APULE US . PHI OSOPH AND I I N I

VII Y . POETR

AN AFR VIII. CHRISTI ICA

IX V AL BYZ T E R D . AND AND AN IN PE IO S

X OME N DE A N ON THE STYLE . S CO SI R TIO S AND L ANGUAGE O F AFR ICAN WRITERS

INDEX

7 4 0 8 9

L IFE A ND L ETTERS IN RO M A N A FR ICA

C HAPTE R I

T H E AFRICAN PROVI NCES

ie b eiden Scho fun en aesars das Keltenl an d un d No d D p g C , r ’ e li — M O MMS N mrn erbauten b eben . r i a sin d Trfi . Af c , g E

T H E small procon sular province which was annexed Pun ic War by Rome at the close of the third , by the su ccessive absorptions of the Tripolitan district u u and the client kingdoms of N midia and Ma ritania , had by the reign of Claudiu s grow n to a domain extending from the Atlantic to the Greater Syrtis , and bou nded on the so uth by the Atlas range and its fo contin u ations . It now included ur provinces fri ca u C aesarien sis A proper , Numidia , Ma ritania , and — Mau ritania Tingitana with the seats of government a Ca s at Carth ge , Cirta, e area , and Tingi , respectively . The district lay between two nearly parallel lines of mountains , the southerly separating it from the

Sahara the northern , of less altitude , sloping down to the Mediterranean shore , and having on the r n northern face the p i cipa l port s . ' ‘ «Th ei A fri can P ro v i n ces

There were no wide plains of great fertility , but many valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains could be made productive by carefu l agricultu re ; B a radas and the valley of the g near Carthage , together with parts of Numidia , were as rich and u populo s as the Nile region of Egypt . Even to the north of Atlas , however , especially towards Mauri tania, were many treeless wastes , interspersed with w as salt lakes , and the southern frontier constantly exposed to the forays of robber tribes from the great

- . was desert The climate semi tropical , with no bu t - winter , a two months rainy season ; and in spite of the prevalence of hot dry winds , and dangers from serpents and scorpions , it was considered by 1 the Romans very healthy . Corn was thro ughou t the staple product ; as early f fi o rs C . as the middle the t century B . the popa la u s tion of Rome s bsi ted largely on African supplies , and a special frument ary fleet was established under the Antonines for its conveyance to Italy . The more stable condition of affairs under the empire also led to the plantation of extensive vine and s olive yards , and oil became one of the main export , being in special request among bathers at Rome . Considerable remains of an oil factory exi st near

Theveste , with a large hall having rows of columns

1 ’ C . Sall . u . I : ler os ue sen ectus dissolvit f j g 7 p q . This is c on firmed by the great ages record ed i n the African in scrip n s The sco ion was so much as o ia tio . rp s c ted with Afr ica a s me imes to be i en as a s mbol so t g v y to be held by the figur e of

im e ial o n . C b A ri ca on c i s elo . 6 . f p r f . w, p 5 2 Nat ural Feat ure s an d Pro d uc t s

- The and a number of olive pre sse s . Ph oenicians had been noted for their attention to natural prod n e s ts , and many of the plant and vegetables which were widely cultivated by Roman settlers owed their n introduction to the Carthagi ians . Such were the - al rn olive , vine , artichoke , pomegranate , and date p , a branch of which last appears on Carthaginian coins by the side of the horse . O h P unic Christian tombs such a branch is often united to a cross. s s fort ified Isolated farmhou e , near the southern frontier, were scattered among the more fertile parts ; s and though the wide estate held by absentee owners , s a s and later the large imperial domain , became a s common in Italy and Sicily, they were often divided among free tenant farmers instead of being

- . u wa s worked by slave gangs The co ntry a dry one , and seldom well wooded . Irrigation had therefore u w as to be caref lly studied , and rain preserved in tanks placed on the heights or in ci stern s at

- interval s a long the chief military roads . L ow lying fields s a rt ificial and garden were watered by canals , which were dug out or cleared on the approach of u rain . I n the heat of the day bees cl stered round t he these streams , affording to poetic imagination a simile for the eager rush to the water of an ex 1 hansted army . The manufacture of purple dye set up by the C n s arthaginians continued under the Roma , and the dye was also obtained from the Atlantic coast of

. was s Mauritania There much trade in woollen good , 1 C i or . 0 h V II c . 2 18. pp 7 . . 339 ; f The African Prov inces

skins , fruit , and sponges , and, by means of caravans , in negro slaves , gold dust , ivory , ebony , and in elephants or other wild beasts intended for pu blic spectacles in the great towns of Europe . Commerce with the interior was greatly facilitated by the intro im duction of camels under the Romans , and an portant trade rou te from the land of the G araman t es to the ports of Tripoli was secured under Augu st u s l 1 by the expedition of Corneli u s Ba bus . Many districts were noted for quarries of white or pink marble , and in the ruins of Carthaginian buildings may be fou nd marbles of the favourite yellow or brown tint dug from the imperial qu arries at Simuthu , near Hippo , but often called Numidian

Tabraca . from , the port of shipment Porphyry and u finest onyx , sed in the African building, were found in Mauritania . The absence of any neighbouring civilized State made it possible to defend this extensive region s u by mean of a single legion , with some a xiliary forces and Moorish militia . The headquarters of first the legionaries were at at Theveste , later farther L ambaesis west at , where they were able to hold the approaches of the Aurus range against the a Gararn ant ian wild G etulian and tribesmen . A small detachment from the legion , together with u s a few rban cohorts , was tationed at Carthage to preserve order in that excitable but seldom mutinous capital ; and in the Antonine period other detachments were distributed along the southern 1 Pli n N H V . 6 . . . 5 , 3 . 4 D efe nsiv e Sy st e m on t he Fron t i er li mes s , as well as in some of the oases to the outh of s the mountains . All important pa ses or roads were u fort ified thus g arded by posts , consisting of a square t he enclosure with towers , and of quarters for soldiers also providing a refu ge for the neighbouring farmers in case of a raid . Isolated towers were ' s bur z as scattered along the line j oining uch g , they u were afterward called , and on these beacons co ld be s kindled , or signals made by rai ing or lowering so beams of wood, as to concentrate troops at the point of danger . The barbarians who threatened u i h these provinces were us ally marauding bands , capable of acting in concert , but further help could u be bro ght from Spain or Cyrenaica if needed . The legi o ter ti a A ug usta remained in Africa for fixed three centuries , and many remains of its camp L ambaesis at are preserved , as well as of the neigh bourin g town which grew up to provide re sidences ' for the officers and soldiers . It wa s legally a mum ci i um scholw p , with forum , capitol , temples , and or - u club rooms for the vario s grades in the service . The numerous inscriptions from here in the eighth book of the Corpus give a good idea of the position s of uch a military town , the inhabitants of which were gradually becoming more and more national , both in birth and sentiment , Without losing their loyalty to the empire . The civil government varied according to the degree of civilization which the communities had attained . The Punic towns , with their locally su etes u elected fi , and a constit tion very similar t o T he African Prov i nces

s u n that of Italian municipalities , were left almo t touched till the time of the Antonines , when they had become sufficien t ly Romanized to accept the ' usual government of duovi ri and deczmones without any real break . Some received Latin rights , and fe w a Roman , but these Were sparingly granted in the earlier period . Libyans , so far as they were s u u ettled in reg lar comm nities , were treated similarly, but the conditions of these people varied so greatly that no general principles can be given . Some had the greater or lesser franchise (probably only when a certain number of Italian settlers had been joined to u the community) , and were of course under the us al municipal system . Among other peoples we hear of ri nce s — a p p , or headman either a Roman or a native

‘ fort ified castellum who resided in some village or , aided in some cases by a small body of councillors1

- i n (for , like the present day Berbers , the Libyans cli n e d s to to democracy) , and was respon ible the a chiefl imperial government . This w s y in Southern u im N midia and Mauritania . If the tribe were be portant , a regular prefect might detailed by the 2 governor, or legionary commander, to supervise it ; su officers efficien t l s and ch , if y supported , eem to u have been s ccessful , and not really unpopular with

u . the natives , who preferred military to civil r le The wide tolerance shown to native religions is illustrated

1 i n e s et un decim rimus en is C I L . VIII. 182 r c Cf . . . 4 P p p g t ‘ u da N ord b i i e Hist. d e l a Con éte eta Sa oidum an d Bo ss er , q , , ’ ’ d A n u e 1 ci se . f q , p . 39 q 2 C C I L . VIII 2 1 . f . . . . 7 5 Nat iv e Peopl es an d t h eir T reat m en t by dedications in Latin to Moorish divinities such 1 — as B acax . u u In Mauritania , however less fr itf l than e s the other r gion , and accordingly less thoroughly Romanized - semi - independent settlements were 2 allowed to remain round the remoter strongholds .

Their chiefs were tributary to the empire , but , if aided s s by the wholly free tribe to the outh and west , might prove formidable enemies . These men often served in the Roman armies with auxiliary bod ies e armed in native fashion , and , when they dar d to utilize their military experience against their em l er i l o s d fficu t . p y , proved exceedingly to reduce A good idea ofthe appearance of such M oorish irregulars ’ s can be formed from Trajan s Column , on which tho e who fought for the empire in Dacia appear riding l s u sma l unbridled horses , and wearing hort t nics u u gathered up at the sho lders , the hair c rled tightly round the head ; they carry a small shield , and were probably armed with lances . Besides the Punic and Libyan communities there s were numerou veteran and other European colonies , a s mostly planted in the period of C esar and Augustu , either as entirely new foundation s or added to already existing societies. Italian traders and specu lators appear in Africa in considerable numbers even at an earlier date than these colonies , but few

Romans of high rank became permanent settlers . Nobility of birth was little regarded the strength

1 I L V III 2 8 c 0 C C. . . f . . . 5 3 ; f. 4 33 2 A m R i s om i s s m 2 . . ex s e me u e i C . . d n i n scri f 9 , p 399 t p i mu i i e t on s of the chi efs of su ch com n t s. The African P rov i nc es of the country lay in the middle and commercial s classes , who for the mo t part took the place of any

real aristocracy . A few characteristics of the races which inhabited

Roman Africa may be added . The Phoenicians u were numero s only near the coast , but here most

I an d of the chief towns were under their control , they

supplied a large proportion of the craftsmen , traders , fl and sailors . The in uence of this Oriental element

appears in the habits , costume , pronunciation , and 1 religion , of the provincials . A rich and vivid, but s u ometimes nhealthy, imagination characterizes u them , res lting in mysticism in religion , a proneness

to magical arts , and showiness and exaggeration in

language . There is the desire to convert or per s u who uade hearers at all costs , to persec te those resist and by the side of all this the strong practical

interests of a race of traders , a love of country life , and of the produ cts of that careful agricu ltu ral system

which the Romans inherited from their predecessors . The Italian element was stronger in Carthage than 2 in other African towns ; the Phoenicians resided J chiefl y in one quarter, and the richer families among

them gradually retired to their country seats . I n neighbouring towns Punic remained the common

Speech of the lower orders , and in a few, such as

4 L e t is offi c iall A . D . 10 0 p and Oea , was used y till about ,

if less generally than Greek in the eastern provinces . u u There was a distinct branch of P nic eloq ence , and

1 ' C P M n aux L s ca zns 2 . o ce A r i . f . . , e f , p 4 2 O n ly thirty Pun ic i n scripti on s there ar e sub sequent t o he con ues t q t . 8 Ch arac t eri st ics of t he P un i c P opul at i o n

old Carthaginian literature was studied . Even in u u the fo rth cent ry , when Greek and Syriac had u w e ousted P nic from its home in Asia , read of a

- P Punic speaking bishop being needed for ussala , s ow n fl ock and , in a ermon to his at Hippo , Augustine ‘ s s : dicam Pun ice ay Latine vobis , quia non omnes i ’ n ost s . The same authority , referring to the rustics ‘ u : in his neighbo rhood , remarks I nterrogati quid ’ s s . int re pondent Chanani However , Punic went t o w as out of use in the schools , sank a patois , and extinct by the era of the Arab conquest . The ' 1 str i dor s zcus Africans were noted for , and , as u l Semitic lang ages were rich in sibi ants , we may suppose that passages mentioning a pecu liar pro i 2 n un ciat on of Latin denote undue sibilation . A chiefl few other characteristics of style , y belonging to the Christian period , have parallels in Hebrew , but whether they arose through P unic in flue n ce or from the st udy of versions of the Hebrew scriptures 3 is a matter of doubt . s - The Libyan were a tall blue eyed race, with s slight but powerful frame and fair hair , clearly closer akin to the Indo - European stock than either 4 s t o o to the Bantu races to the outh or the Ph enicians .

1 me E e o . J r , p. 97 2 E . a V 1 1 i i . . S r g , p t . . 5 , 9 3 Thr e e typ es of phrases ar e q uoted (a ) Episcopus epi sco p orum n uga n ugar um (Aug ) (b) successi on um vi ce s a ari i a crud eli tatis i t v ita i v t (V c . ae s t empor s Ar n ( ob . ) (c) un ct us Dei 4 Th di i e con u sed a on i n al l 14 . 18 su es s ha he f tr t S . 7 g gg t t t t y er e immi r an s romS ain a n d he li ed chiefl in Numdia i . w g t f p , t y v y The M oo s to the es er e of a dark e race r w t w r . 9 The African Prov in ces

They were monogamous , their women had a high s s s position , and their communitie were u ually ba ed s on republican principles . Individual might , how s ever, obtain an ascendancy , and unite everal com mun it es i under a temporary kingship . They had u u considerable aptitude for agric lt re , and under the guidance of Masinissa the resource s of N umidia were O n greatly developed by their means . the whole they shrank from town life , and , dwelling apart from the two civilized races , maintained unimpaired their language and alphabet , both probably of Aryan

. To origin the native element in the population , accordin t o s g Monceaux , we may attribute the trongly marked personality of the provincials , sometimes leading to obstinacy or violence , but associated with a love of independence and of the native land which impelled Africans to return thither however far s they had wandered . Numerous Libyan in criptions , stelw often inscribed on of Punic fashion , occur in the country districts round Cirta and Hippo , and the language still holds its own against Arabic and i nfluen e French . The only c which can be detected in African Latin is the confusion between I and r in 1 1 - certain p ace names . s s s However mixed their origin , the African pos es ed a national spirit more strongly developed than other T provincial peoples . heir unpopularity at Rome encouraged them to accent their non - Italian ele s ments , and to take a pride in calling themselve by

1 ' E il n ol 2 8 an e isco al li st i s M e s M t eo i . . i v Pt . e . g , v p III p p g v

’ e i sco us Arsa ca r zta nus r e erri n t o the o n Ar sacal . p p , f g t w I O

The Afri can P rov i n ces

exem lified innovation , as p by the formation of su r compounds , derivatives , or diminutives , far passed the steadily crystallizing classical idiom . It maintained old - fashioned phrases which we may search for in vain in the centuries between Plau t u s and Apuleius or Tertullian , but which had never fallen out of common speech . O n such a dialect i n fl uen e the Augustan and Silver Ages had little c . A literary revival is a retu rn to the purity of speech Which prevailed in the time of Enni u s ; even Cicero marks the beginning of a decline . Seneca is the l originator of al that should be avoided .

We see, therefore , a people partly Italian , partly

- Asiatic by descent , placed in a semi tropical climate , u e r led by Roman law, but with national f elings of r avi tas their own . Roman g and the warlike spirit are gone ; in ordinary life external splendour and u diversions of every kind are so ght for , in dress u richness and bright colours , in literat re versatility and display .

12 C HAPTER II

T H E TH REE A TAL S : ARTHA E RTA AND C PI C G , CI , CZESAREA

H aec igitur recidiva v iget p ost busta r esurgens ’ — n i i mo em DRACO NTIUS V . 11 . hoe cis n . P r , 5

LITTL E more than twenty years from the conque st was s had elapsed , when an attempt made to re ettle the devoted site of the Punic capital . The new city of Junonia , named from the former protectress of who ide nt ified Carthage , had been by the Romans

12 2 B . C . with Juno , was in colonized by 1 C . Italians under the direction of Gracchus , apparently slightly to the north of the former city, in El the suburb known to the Arabs as Mersa. Evil fir omens attended this foundation . The st standard wa s sacrifices broken down by the wind , were blown s away from the altars , wolve tore up the new boundary mark and on the triumph of the oligarchy at Rome the legal existence of the colony as a 2 r es ubli ca . p ceased The settlers could not , however, be removed , but they were joined by others , both 1 C lu C a a h 1 A B C 2 . r c . 1 . . . I En o 1 f . P t . G pp . 4 tr p . IV . 9 . 3 F or th e l e al osi ion of th e col on is s and heir lan d s g p t t t , - c . o m en i n 6 1 M m s C. I L I. . 0 6 f . . , pp 9 I 3 The Th re e Capi t al s

o . Libyan and Ph enician , from neighbouring towns The seat of Roman government w as now away at U s u influen ce tica , and trong traces of P nic reasserted u d themselves in Carthage ; grim Semitic c lts revive , B rsa f the temples on the y were rebuilt , and o fers of 1 assistance made to the enemies of Rome . Coins of 2 this age bear the names of sufietes (the Hebrew magistrates not replaced by duovi r i for nearly a century . There are few references to Carthage during the remainder of the repu blican u period , and it must have been far from prospero s 3 when Marius took refuge among its ruined walls , never rebuilt till the era of Theodosius , or when a C esar , encamping near the ancient site , had the mou rnfu l vision of a great army weeping over the desolation of their city ‘1 ’ C ae sar s design of recolonizing Carthage was ’ 5 apparently not executed in the dictator s lifetime .

A first restoration was attempted in 3 5 B . C . by S t at ilius Taurus , and on the devastation of the city

“ and expulsion of many of the settlers by Lepidu s a was o ut second party of colonists sent by Augustus , who wished to show that Rome bore no grudge agamst her ancient rival ; and the remainder of the commu nity were recruited from the neighbourhood . iu s S a urn i 16 B . C . S ent t nus About , through the care of , defin it el Carthage became y a colony , receiving the

1 A hen V . 0 . t . 5 2 ’ l m l a n A i u 1 - 1 1 Mu ler Nu ism. de c. r e . . , f q , I I 49 5 3 1‘ M a A P u n . 1 6 lu . r . 0 . . P t 4 pp 3 . ’ 5 Ter D a ll os lon as Caesaris mo as t. e P . p t g r . 14 — Rest orat i on o f Cart h age C ost u mes franchise and becoming the headquarters of the Pro cons ul of Africa . The inhabitant s were a pleas ure - loving yet i h K d st riou s . s u race een lover of beauty of every kind , ma n ificen t they were devoted to g buildings , rich s s s s mo aic , tatue , paintings , music , and oratorical or u theatrical displays . In dress effeminacy and l xury The prevailed . toga, adopted after the Italian settle 1 was s r ment , again di ca ded , and Tertullian vainly ‘ ’ declaims against the storied folds and spreading ' 2 trains of the pallium worn by the di sci ncti Afrz of

. S al vian his day Later , according to , men showed ’ them selves openly in women s costume . The richness

of female apparel , in which much of the gorgeousness l s u s s of an Oriental capita was di played, f rni hed till ’ more material for the moralist s warning . A special treatise of Cyprian denounces the garments of s coloured wool , the necklet of mixed j ewels and ‘ - s se flame gold , ear ring , dyed or fal (preferably ’ s coloured ) hair , the cosmetics, armlets and anklet , with which even Christian converts could not bring 3 s s themselve to di pense . A special manufactory of su ch adornment s (gynwceum) existed at Carthage in Notitiw the period of the . Class distinctions were at first less strongly

marked than at Rome , but in time wealth came to

be concentrated in fewer hands , and the rich , ‘ ’ l u apparently ca led the men of the mo nt , from the

1 2 De a ll . ad i ni . V r e . E u 2 P t g . VII I . 7 4. 3 C r . De La s. 0 c id . . D H a b. V r . m . yp p 3 f , e i g ; Com od Instr .

- . 18 8 I I , 5 . I S The Th ree C apit als

fin est s B rsa congregation of the hou es on the y ,

became harsh and oppressive . Carthage enjoyed s freedom from foreign and civil war , had a moderate

government not enforced by military violence , and was favoured by many emperors . The great amount

of trade , especially in corn , olives , minerals , such as B a rada s lead from the valley of the g , iron , and s marble ; in slave from the interior , purple dyes , rich u woods from the Atlas Mountains , woollen st ffs , and — leather all this led to the amassing of great fortu nes . While during its earlier years Roman Carthage s subse developed slowly , author of the second and quent cent uries constantly refer to its opulence and prosperity, placing it second only to Rome , which ’ ’ 1 mt s the African s spoke of as S or or Cz a . Besides s merchants there were large bodies of engineer ,

s s s . mechanic , culptor , architects , etc Lawyers and s u u rhetorician were n merous , and the vario s religious worships and superstitions gave employment to hosts f . o of priests , augurs , and diviners I n spite this wealth and activity , poverty was widespread and grinding , nor was any organized attempt made to relieve the sufferings of the poor until Christianity 2 3 firml . S alvian u had been y established , in his l rid pictu re of the wickedness of African society in the u last years before the Vandal conq est , dwells on the inhumanity of the age , the spoliation of orphans ,

1 l er ll . I. c Ptol . H e odian . 6 1 Sa . T . a . t P f . IV 37 r VI I v 6 0 . M ar . Ca . 6 Gu b D . . . VI t p VI . 9 2 l Fon Vi t. C r cd H ar e . O tat . . . t . yp . ( . t ) II p III 3 3 Gu b D 16 . . VI . . 16 P ublic Bu ildi n g s of Cart h age

crucifixion s oppression of widows , and of the poor , cruelties which drove many of the lower orders to join the ranks of the barbarian invaders . The absence of long - standing tradition cau sed the client bond to break sooner than at Rome ; and , as in Italy z long before , the growth of gra ing land and the concentration of property in the hands of a few forced small farmers and labo u rers into the lower quarters of the city . Carthage formed an irreg ular i sosceles triangle between the sea and an unhealthy lagoon . At the 1 was B rsa centre the y or Acropolis , a plateau on u which were congregated the chief public b ildings , a the Pr etorium , Curia , Basilica and several temples . The temple of ZEsculapius contained a public library ffi and record o ce . There were also many private B b wa B . s rsa houses y the inner har our the lesser y ,

' - parallel to , and north east of, the greater , and on it C aele st is u the vast temple of is tho ght to have stood . u t wo u — a h The harbo r had reg lar basins outer , 2 Ma n dra cium , for commerce , and an inner, the

- Cothon , for war vessels , containing an island on 3 which were dockyards . A passage of Appian suggest s that the Punic agora or forum was near the e latter harbour , but it cannot be prov d that the u s Roman forum occ pied the ame place , which may P lain have been the site of the maritime forum , the 1‘ u M a ri tima of Aug stine . The streets were narrow

1 A Pun . 1. pp.

2 2 - Pr oco B Va nd I 20 . P a n 1 2 . p . . . . . 9 4 P E A u n 8 roc0 d . o . p. . VI . g C f . I I . 5 I 7 The Th ree C apit al s

s and lined with houses six or even stories high , and , in view of the heat , often carried some distance fin est below the level of the grou nd . The road was Vi cus A r entari us that of the money changers , g , called ‘ 1 by the geographer a praecipu u m opu s publicum ; Pla tea N ova u another , , partly occ pied by a flight of B rsa steps , may have led to the y . Others were named 2 from temples , as Vicus Saturni , Via Veneria . Streets

- were often planted with rows of olive trees, and some groves in the city were used for worship according to the old Ph oenician custom . The u u e hor ti s b rbs were taken up with spl ndid , the parks of the richer citizens , and across these, west of the ma n ifice nt u city, a g aqued ct , the largest in the u world, bro ght water direct from the mountains of 3 the interior . The better houses an d public buildings were con structed of African marble , the dwellings of the u poorer classes of t fa coated with pitch , whence Pliny 4 u u remarks that , contrary to the sual c stom , the Carthaginians used pitch for their houses and chalk for their wine . Similar calcareo us tufa was employed for the rebuilding of the walls by Theodosi us . 5 6 a 7 A stadium , a pal estra , and gymnasia , existed ,

1 Ex osi t To M u n d A . t. . C . u . on . p f g C f . VI 9 . 2 C A ct C r . f . . yp II . 2 Cf . illus ra ion in la fair Tra vels i n the Footste s o B ru ce t t P y , p f ,

1 . p. 30 4 N . H . 6 8 , 3 , 4 .

' 5 1’ Ter . D S c e e t . Scar . . A ul . Flor 18 t p , III , p VI p . . 7 Ter D S ct. P meli u V . e e . a s i i Tert. 20 t p III . 4. 18

' The ree a t a s

Th C pi ‘ l

D . the God of eath , armed with a hammer These contests formed part of the Pythian and ZEsculapian u s games which were introd ced in the econd century, u s and , tho gh uppressed for a time after the conversion of the empire , were revived by Gratian in I t appears that in the later period a special tax for u munem w a s s ch levied on the wealthy citizens , and official they were under the management of a special , tri bunas volu ta tum was the p , who directly responsible to the emperor .

u - The circus , about quarter of a mile so th east of the amphitheatre , measured more than a third of a mile 1 0 s i nal n by 3 yards ; its p still sta ds, without casing . El Behri perhaps refers to the circus in his accou nt Koumech s s of the , a building of everal tories , having flut ed u col mns of marble white as crystal , so large 2 that twelve men could sit at table on one of them .

u The stables adj oining the circ s , with their elaborate ’ F - painting of ame , and the horses drinking fountain , 3 were also richly adorned . Therm ae were bu ilt o r re u M x imi n u M . u a a b ilt by A reli s , others by ; and in the a G ar ilian a centre of the city were the Therm e g , a cool , u u u spacio s building , large enough , according to A g s tine , to be used for important conferences and recita 4 r tions . Othe baths were added by the Vandal kings , u ae a Thra samu n d s ch as the Parv Bai e of , which had s white marble columns ornamented with hells , and supplied both hot and cold water . Lastly come the a Theodosian ae s Therm e , erected by Ju tinian after the

1 2 Cod . Tk eod P rad d e Sla . . . 10 6 n e . . XV 7, 3 , t . 3 4 L ux ri us 66 . C n o . Dracont . Co tr v a 4 , 474 f o . d fin . 20 The P ro co nsul of Afri ca reconquest of Africa . There were also fashionable u hot springs in the neighbo rhood , some of which 1 u s had c rative propertie ; and that of Carpi , a 2 colony of Hippo , of which Pliny tells the story of the tame dolphins , attracted idlers from the whole district . The a official Pr etorium , or residence ofthe governor , lay on a slope , probably the eastern slope , of the 3 B rsa y , and not far from the forum . Portions of this u b ilding , afterwards the palace of the Vandal kings , have been excavated , and consist of seven parallel al u b ls , with va lting and floor of mosaics set in white

. u office marble The procons l held for one year , and received a salary of a million sesterces . Africa being u u a peacef l province , he was not req ired to have had wa s much military experience , but often some dis t in uished g j urisconsult or orator who , when not on as circuit , would act the head of society and patron of s literature . Such were Claudius Maximu the Stoic , av olen us Priscus who tried Apuleius for witchcraft ; J , L o llian u s a celebrated lawyer ; and Gordian , both s orator ; Pertinax , future emperor, and once a teacher s of literature ; and Symmachu , orator and letter writer . Under the proconsul stood a body of legal s asses ors, probably nominated by himself and the officials s s whole hierarchy of , down to the urveyor of s w a s u a s roads and quares , caref lly organized the empire advanced , the degree of reverence to be paid 4 to each being accurately laid down .

1 2 A ul Flor XV I E 5. IX . . p . . . 1 33 3 1 C Sal . Gu b. D . 6 C ic V . 10 . 1 . it . f . V t. . , p 4 f . v VI 2 1 The Th re e C apit al s

The old N u midian capital of Cirta la y abo ut fifty

Roman miles from the Mediterranean , on a pedestal u se a - of rock a tho sand feet above level . The River Am sa a u p g , passing thro gh deep precipitous gorges , u e s rrounds it xcept at one point , and on the north u west is a lofty range of hills . Altho gh the name u was of P nic origin , akin to that of Carthage , and u u first there was a P nic element in the pop lation , it appears in history as the capital of the N u midian 1 M a ss lii u u y nder Syphax , Masinissa , and his s cces o . Mic i sa s rs p , who was specially allotted Cirta by 2 fort ific at i on s Scipio Minor, greatly strengthened the , and increased the military reso urces of the district to

- H e men , one third cavalry . also planted there 3 a body of Greek settlers from the Cyrenaic region , and we recognize their i n fl uen ce in certain Greek inscriptions , and in the attempt to connect the origin of the city and of the Numidian royal family with the 4 ’ O n Mici sa . s general body of Greek legend p death , $ Adherbal the elder son , , obtained the sovereignty over u first this part of N umidia , and d ring this period we 5 u chiefl hear of a n mber of Italian settlers , y merchants with their families and servants . After Cirta was u u s rrendered to J gurtha , a massacre took place both fi of the N u midian inhabitants and of these negoti a tores I n the co u rse of the Jugurthine war we fin d Cirta 7 u occ pied by Metellus , who placed there his captives

1 Pu n 2 L iv XXX 12 A . . . . . pp 7 2 C all 11 2 . b . . S . P u n . 0 6 S ra . . . App. 1 ; t XVII 3 f 7 g 3 3 4 5 ll d . 8 Sall 11 2 1 6 A o o . . . S rab . 1. c . . . t p I I 7, 7 g , 3 6 7 - S u . 2 ) . all . 81 . d 2 Liv . E . 6 Ibi . 6 1 4 ? g 2 2 C i rt a before t he A ge o f A u gust u s

l i o won v ct r . and baggage , and near by Marius his y It again became the capital of the client kings 2 ’ H iem sal p and Juba , and in the latter s reign a prince of the blood , Masinissa , was in command of the town , and allied himself with the Pompeian faction . I n

P . i iu Nu eria 6 B . C . S tt s c 4 a partisan of Catiline , of , left Rome for Spain and Africa in the hope of collect i n g sufli cien t forces to assist Piso and strengt hen the 3 rebel cause in those provinces. Piso was soon mur S it t i us dered by the oppressed Spaniards , and , having u s inc rred a sentence of exile, took ervice , with a band l u of Ita ian and Spanish mercenaries , nder the Moorish 4 K n B occhu s u i g , whom he is conject red to have aided in the reorganization of his naval and military forces . O n the o u tbreak of the great civil w ar Bocchu s em a r u Sit t ius braced the C esa ean ca se , and , acting as his u l lieutenant , capt red Cirta from the riva faction of a j u ba and Pompey . I n reward C esar granted him 5 the town and district on peculiar conditions . I t coloni a became a directly dependent on Rome , though 10 1 locally situated in the kingdom of , most of which was later merged in the province of C aesarien sis. N o lax coloni ca a s a separate was required , C esar had pro cu red an agrarian law under which the foundation i i was to be carried out by one of his legates . S t t us first thus , besides becoming the curator of the colony , had wide powers as lega tus pro pmtore. H e lived to

1 2 A B C . . Sall . 11 . 88 . . . 7 g . pp IV 54 3 C Su l . 20 6 . Sall Ca t 2 1 i c. P ro l . . , 5 4 A . l c Dio . C . . pp . . 43 , 3 5 M i n H mes v ol . i . C . ommsen r f e , 23 T he Th re e C apit al s

bu t subse divide the land among his men , fell in the u war q ent , during which Arabio , son of the expelled his Masinissa , temporarily recovered capital , and the

city suffered heavily . U nder Au gustu s Cirta was ’ a probably organized according to C esar s intention , ' u duovi r z u and placed nder , being recr ited with fresh a i settlers from Italy . I n its territory were several p g , fi bu t at rst mere dependencies , before long the em pet or (perhaps A u gu stu s himself) allowed bodies of decur i on es e few to be stablished in a of the largest , 1 ’ which became colonies . Yet C aesar s grant to the

Sit t ia n s was not abrogated . The whole territory was ' a s r es ublzca established a federation or p , governed by the Ordo of Cirta , to which , however, delegates cur i ae were sent from the of the other colonies , and fi ' a i duovzri who even from the larger p g The , here rce ecti i uri di czmdo only enjoyed the right , appointed p f to administer the chief dependencies. Towards the first u end of the cent ry , in view of the increasing s u u dutie , the d mvirate was changed to a triumvirate , fli 3 u o ce . was a uniq e in a colony It annual , the holders being ex - aediles chosen by the popular as se mbl fift h y , and acting every year as censors with the title of Q uinquennales . One of the three ap aren t l Ru sicade p y resided at the largest dependency , ’ fire — the headland of and was called Prefect , while the others visited the lesser places to hear civil

1 Rusicade hili e ill e on the c oas Mil e Milah (P pp v ) t, v ( ) ,

hull u ollo Gui ch l emila . C (C ) , (Dj ) 2 Recu ezl d e Con sh, 26 . 3 C. I . L . . F on o . 200 ed . Nabcr . VIII r t , p ( ) 24 Ci rt a u n der t h e Empire s fin ances uits , control , and supervise the local magis first trates . All were in theory subject at to the di s proconsul , later to the N umidian legate , but the o - tri t long maintained a semi independent position , analogou s to that of a client kingdom ; and it w as only as a result of military exigencies that in the third century the whole group was placed under the ordinary provincial system . Tbrough this period

Cirta , though troubled by Moorish and Frankish u inc rsions , increased in wealth and importance , but the civil con flict s at the beginning of the fourth centu ry resulted in the destruction of the greater part 1 u of the town . Reorganization and reb ilding were carried out by order of Constantine the Great Cirta received the name of that emperor , which it still was bears , and soon covered with gorgeous buildings , s s in a debased tyle indeed , but rich with marble and s s as s of mo aic , and , in the ca e the largest viaduct , sometimes showing great engineering skill . s s s I n pite of religiou di putes , mostly originating D it s in the onatist schism , which took rise here , C irta remained prosperou s for some centuries longer . Protected by its isolation and by the anti - Catholic s - tendencies of its bishop , it was left in semi inde en dence al p during the Vand rule , and under the Greek empire still formed an important religious and administrative centre . The t wo periods of greatest architectural activity s u were the econd and fourth cent ries , but all con siderable remains belong to the latter . To the north

1 S x 2 e . i c ars. 1 8 t V t. C 4 , . 25 The Th ree Capital s w as u u the large sq are of the capitol , with a tri mphal five hu arch and temples , the est , perhaps , that of 1 u J piter Victor . Adjoining w as a splendid ny mph aeum - , a kind of museum and resting place for the

. s citizens Two amphitheatres existed , several bath a n ow and therm e , and a theatre , which has dis but was appeared , compared by Edrisi , an Arab traveller of the thirteenth century , to that of aormi T n a .

Five bridges spanned the almost encircling river ,

- t w o of which that to the south east , with tiers of u richly adorned arcades resting on nat ral arches , m u st have been one of the most remarkable in the l 18 who e empire . Constructed in 3 3 5 , it fell in 57, and is n ow known from the account of the Arab 2 El u Behri , and from pict res in the works of Playfair 3 u u and Delamare . Another richly adorned str ct re was the triumphal arch called by the Arabs u Fortress of the Gho l , probably leading to the hippodrome ; and many of the tombs are dis t in gui shed by frescoes and mosaics . R e i o A zimaci cma The district to the north , g , at one time largely in the possession of some of the

u Sitt ii u numero s , abo nded in hot springs , and vegetation here was most luxuriant , oranges and pomegranates ripening u nder the shade of palm trees . The harvests round Cirta were so abundant that labourers would flock in from the far east of

1 6 1 C . c I . L . . 8 . f . VIII 9 2 r a vels i n the Footste s o Br uce . 8 T p f , p 4 . 3 S i n t. de l . 11 . Expl . c e p 3 2 6

The Th ree Capit als

who takes part in the dialogue O cta vi us of Minucius 1 Felix . Other settlers who had formed part of the army of Sit ti us established them selves some distance to the s east , at Sicca Veneria, on the border of the pro

consular province . In scriptions here refer to a colony

from Cirta , and the name N ova Cirta was sometimes 2 it but w e applied to , do not hear of any political u connection with the N midian capital . It was a u centre of the worship of Ven s, with a body of priests V e n erii n called , and later had an importa t Christian

community with a large basilica . Among the natives E ut chi us Proculu s of Sicca were y , a learned gram

M . Arn obiu s marian and instructor of Aurelius ; , the C aeliu s u u of Christian apologist ; and A relian s , who m some medical treatises are extant .

Z/ a - The third capital , C esarea Iol (corrupted by the Z o Arabs to erschell) , had been a small Ph enician trading -station with a good harbour protected by an

island , lying at the foot of the northern range of

mountains in Eastern Mauritania, and in the neigh

bourhood of much rich wooded country . When the son of that King J uba of Numidia who had sided with Pompey in the civil war was re

leased from captivity at Rome by Augustus , he at ’ first his received a portion of father s dominions , was n ew but soon , by a arrangement , transferred to

Mauritania , and chose for his residence the town of

1 e au i n H ermes XV . 1 et se . Cf . D ss , 47 q 2 C C. I L . . 16 1 Si ccen ses Cirthen ses. f . . VIII 4 , 2 8 H ist o ry an d Topog raphy of C aesarea

a s Iol , which he renamed C e area , in honour of his s u s e patron . The ta tes of J ba were tho e of a litt ra t e ur and protector of art rather than of an African king . Himself married to a daughter of the last u Macedonian q een of Egypt , he made his court a i n fluen ce centre of Greek , and produced books on the history of Rome and of Arabia , on geography , the — s drama , music , etc . probably mere compilation , but much praised by contemporaries . This client u kingdom came to an end under Calig la , with the

u . re deposition of Ptolemy, son of J ba I n the C u a organization of Africa by la dius , C sarea became t o uiri n e a colony attached the Q tribe , and the residence of the procurator of the new provmce ri n i i i C aesa e s s . Little s known about t s history s before the coming of the Vandals. I t had the u ual colonial official s : duovi ri (cal led qui nquenna les in the a diles s census years) , , a curator , and several religiou flamen s on t ifices den corporations , such as , p , and ' dr o or z o i li u r ov ci w h . c nc m i n p The p , which regulated 1 ffi ial o c . s worships , also met here Public game , S everi a Commodi a and , were established towards the u a end of the second cent ry, when C esarea was the station of a war - fle et designed to check Moorish i n

. al t wo roads on Spain A strong w l , nearly miles long e and forty feet high , with buttress s , ran along by w as the sea , and there an amphitheatre , in part of marble ; a hippodrome with portico ; an d therm ae 0 0 with facade more than 3 feet long , adorned with s statue , and having a frigidarium paved with slabs 1 A n n . E i r V 1 0 2 . pg . . , 9 29 The Th re e C apit al s of onyx ; besides other baths . Eighteen arches remain of the aquedu ct which brought water from i n t erl or the ; this had a triple tier of arches , and 10 0 was over feet high . There are all usions in inscriptions to bodies of Greek actors , and to makers u fin e st of rich f rniture , but the period of the art u seems to have been before the Roman occ pation , and of this many relics are preserved , partly in the u town , partly in muse ms at Algiers or Paris . The 1 fin est monument is the royal mausoleu m of the

fir . D st u A . early years of the cent ry , east of the town , with Ionic col umns and bronze ornamentation stone lions adorn the inner door, and within are sepulchral chambers of an Egyptian type . N umbers fin e of statues and other fragments remain , of Greek bu t art , of local stone , indicating the hospitality i r shown by J uba to Greek a rt fice s. Among the former , a faun of marble with a panther at his feet , and a headless goddess , probably Artemis , deserve 2 a mention ; and Corinthian and Ionic c pitals , friezes , and mouldings , have often been discovered . The Church of C aesarea ranked high in the third u u was and fo rth cent ries the bishop a metropolitan , and in the cathedral Au gustine dispu ted against the u u Donatist leader . After being b rnt and pl ndered u Firmu s aes w a s by the Moors nder , C area restored u by Theodosi s , only to be again almost destroyed who ss s by the Vandals , , however , left the po es ion as of the ru ined city to the natives . It w recovered 1 ’ llus ra ed i n ahams Roma n A r i ca . 2 8. I t t Gr f , p 2 ’ lo i ue 1886 l . . Cf. a ette A rcheo G z g q , , p 7 3 0 A rchmological M on um e nt s

he u w as for t empire by Belisari s , and the seat of a military dux and another era of importance opened with the later Middle Ages , especially in the time K An t of Barbarossa , the pirate ing of Algiers . ear h quake reduced it to ruins in 1738. Ma crin us Among the natives were the Emperor , fift h and Priscian , a celebrated grammarian of the hi fl c e . century, who resided y at Constantinople

3 1 CHAPTER III L EARN ING AND EDUCATIO N

En ri ue chacun écri a sa mamer e et selon ses ou Ils Af q t g ts. ' son en én é al moi n s souci eux d élé an ce et d e en u e lus t g r g t , p ’ dé a és d es ré l es lus e son n els et s aban d on n en t d a an g g g , p p r , v ’ a e al eu én i e ro —B 1 5 1 R 0 3 E . t g r g p pre .

E D UCAT IO N was widely diffused through the African n fi i l su er c a u . provinces , eve if somewhat p and frivolo s 1 s Handbooks and abridgments were much u ed , and s chiefl acrostics or cento , y Vergilian , were favourite 2 subjects for school exercises. While no great e n couragemen t was given to learning by the imperial e governm nt , local enterprise was seldom lacking , so that small towns like Madau ra could s upply adequate teaching for a young Apuleius or Au g ustine who wished to prepare for the central u niversity of u s Carthage . This ed cation was accessible to per ons ’ son of humble rank, like Tertullian , the centurion s , who readily obtained the right of pleading in the

- Carthaginian law courts .

’ 1 h m n of r ok b ul i i u E . . t e ar u e s e il s bo s S c s A olli g , g t V g y p p n aris an e i ome of Sallus b Exu eran tius the di s ichs of , p t t y p , t

a o an d the ar ha i nian an holo Bahren s oet. L a t C t , C t g t gy ( , P . Mi n in cludin ex ac s om classical a n d n a i e . g tr t fr t v a uthor s. 2 T er D e Prazsc. H ow . . t. 39 3 2 The C urric u l u m o f Afri can Scho ols

1 s s Schoolmaster wore a distinctive dres , and often u taught in booths adjoining the for m , which were 2 e u u cover d o tside by c rtains , under porticoes , or on floors u the upper of private ho ses , whence it prob ably comes that no remain s of scholastic buildings are to be found among the ruins of African towns . They were paid a regular salary by the local

u . a thorities , and besides received fees from parents Students might be sent from villages to the schools 3 u r i mi of a neighbo ring town , but even in villages p ' ma i stm u g co ld often be found , who gave instruction in reading , writing , and calculation . The study of Vergil was one of the earliest im os r a mmati ci s p ed by g , or master of the more s s s u advanced chool , and pupil might be req ired to s repeat in prose the ubstance of one of his speeches . ‘1 Masters were accused of harshness and cru elty ; e they were ever, says Augustin , on the watch for barbarisms , and , though visiting with severe punish k ment any misplacement of the letter , would com mend a showy and well - expressed recital of ill 5 . At s s deeds some chool stenography , both Latin u and Greek , was ta ght , a valuable acquisition for those who wished to enter the profession of clerk 6 . s or secretary We also hear of lesson in painting , and of singing used to diversify the ordinary routine 7 of recitation and grammar . 1 ’ Pae n ulati ma istri Au on 1 g , g . C f . I I . 5 . 2 I 3 bid . I. 1 . u . on . . 3 A g C f I I . 3 ‘ f f. Ibid I. 1 . L mF u . C . uxorius 8 I n G a mma tzcu i osum r r . 4 f , 44 , 5 6 Au . n I 1 o . . . C I . L . . 2 . g C f 7 . VII I 7 4 7 Au on 6 g. C f . I I I . . 33 L earn i n g an d Educat ion

Young men who wished to embark on a cou rse u of legal st dy , on leaving these schools , generally u abo t the age of seventeen , proceeded to Carthage , where teachers both of rhetoric and j u rispru dence 1 u - had set p their lecture rooms from an early date . 2 S u ch you ths became J a ms studi osi or studen tes ; bu t u V they were nder no control or discipline , and the ices of the capital ha d a corrupting infl uence on their

. u eversores character Bands of disorderly st dents , , u wo ld sweep the streets , and it was a favourite am u sement to break into the lect ure -room of a 3 professor and disperse his class . Numbers of travelling lecturers on semi - philo sophical themes drew their auditors from among u u these students . The more ambitious yo ths wo ld also enter for some of the many literary contests held

in the city . Those in poetry lasted to a late period ,

and were very popular . They were held in the on theatre , and wreaths of dried grass were placed ’ the victors heads by the Proconsul of Africa . A u hams i ces reg lar class of p existed , who by making offerings to demons cou ld procure victory for su ch 4 candidates as cared to pay for their services . 5 u was but The expense of s ch an education great , who it was readily borne by parents , knew that a

capable pleader w a s sure of constant employment . 1 A ul F10 7 . C . Floren i n us 2 p . XIX . f t 3 . 2 E h E i r V . 1 1 a Lib a n a e C . I L . V . 2 0 . n i f C. . II I 47 ; p p g . 9 ( y t v n stu d e t) . 2 E 18 . C . A ul . M t 1 . Au . on . . e . . g C f III . 3 p 5 f p II 7 1 C al o Vo . Num r . Au . on . . 2 s e . g C f IV . f . p XI 2 C. I L . 0 . . VIII 537 . 3 4

L earn i n g and Edu cat ion to instruct in their art the contemporary heirs to the empire , and four of the great African Christian okole r tori w teachers had once kept s he c . The corru pt state of the j u dicature in most provinces would su ggest that earnest argument or u caref l reasoning would meet with little success , and u that sarcasm , ad lation and display, exerted greater i n flue n ce . of Accordingly, the only specimen African

u De M a i a. legal eloq ence which remains , the g of

Apuleius , is long and disjointed , crammed with ill s digested learning , and indicate to what a degree forensic oratory had been i nflue nced by the taste for showy rhetoric , poetical quotations , anecdotes , s s and popular philosophical disquisitions . No eriou attempt is made to refute most of the charges ; they are rather taken a s texts for self- laudation and for blackening the characters of the prosecutors This widespread devotion to j urisprudence had i nfluen ce some on the language of the time , in which 1 legal parodies are frequent . Further, Tertullian and other converted rhetoricians helped to mou ld Western theology into a legal form strongly contrast ing with the metaphysical leanings of the Greek s Church . Speculative questions such as tho e which underlay the heresies of Nestori us or the Mon oph ysit es were little regarded by the Christians of ’ Africa . What were man s rights and duties with

1 n ul u M 2 Se e al exam l es occu i A ei s et. . v r p r p VI 3 , IX . Tertul lian refers to a mime ?ovi s M or i a i Testa men tum as

' o ular at ar ha e e ha s of the same class as the ex an p p C t g , p r p t t n l us testame t of Grun n ius Porce l . 36 — Leg al El oqu en ce D ecl am at ions

regard to God ; should converted heretics be re ba ptized ; should believers who had lapsed under persecution be readmitted to communion ; could a believer take the oath of allegiance to the emperor ? Such semi - legal questions were passionately discussed throughout the provinces . s Recitations , which the satire of Roman writer had s made less popular in Europe , attracted large audience u in Africa through the second cent ry . They were s l u ua ly oratorical rather than poetical , and the care 1 ful workmanship and refin emen t which characterize them show that orators had at last realized how subordinate the matter of oratory m u st henceforth be to the mode of expression . Some idea of the nature of these lectures may be derived from the F lori da , or selections from public speeches delivered u by Apuleius at Carthage . They are not calc lated to make great demands on the intellectual powers of

. s s his hearers Short anecdotes , storie of trange men and beasts , elaborate similes , or eulogies of u s provincial governors , wo ld serve to amu e the dilettanti , and give scope for the exercise of their 2 keen critical faculties . The travelling lecturer or sophist was a well - known fi ure u s a n d g by the age of Lucian and Apulei , there are references to his continued existence in the Con essi ons u f of A gu stine . With a very small retinue of slaves he wou ld pass from one to another of the towns of N orthern Africa , receiving hospitality at

1 C Fro 6 n o . f . t , p . 5 2 Flor . IX . 37 L e arni n g an d Educat ion

' the house of some admirer in the places where he s topped to speak , and seizing any opportunity of n u i creasing his collection of nat ral curiosities , of u gaining acq aintance with fresh religious mysteries, or of enlarging in any way his stock -i n -trade as an

' hum kn l adept in every branch of an ow edge . The writing of history was little regarded till the

Christian period , when , having been converted into a u branch of polemics , it formed the s bject of some u declamatory works , not indeed without val e , but displaying little conception of the tru e functions of a O t at us historian . S uch were the history of p of Milev, O D near Cirta , in pposition to the onatists , and an accou nt of the Vandal persecution s by Victor i i V t e n s s . A number of grammarians and critics bu t appear , at a comparatively late date , and their u works , being us ally compilations from earlier non

African writings , have little local interest . Among others are Noniu s Marcell u s of Thubursicum in

N umidia , noteworthy for the many early quotations au which he preserves , and Victorinus , the thor of Ciceronian commentaries and works on rhetoric and metre . Both belonged to the fourth century .

Augustine wrote treatises on grammar , music , logic, and rhetoric , designed to form parts of

a . a cyclop edia Some technical works also remain , such as the poetical treatise on metres by Tere nt ianus u C aelius Maur s , medical writings by Aurelianus , a ‘ ’ s s representative of the methodic chool of Soranu , u s G ar ilius and the hortic ltural work of g Martialis , a n ative of Mauritania . 38 — T ech n ic al Writ e rs G reek Learn in g

u P blic libraries existed in several towns , usually founded by private benefactors . That at Thamuga di 1 is well preserved . It was approached by a colon h u aded court , and consisted of a large semicirc lar u hall with rectang lar niches to receive the rolls , reached from a platform , and having a gallery above for fu rther rows of shelves . The study of Greek in Africa underwent curious

fl uct uat ion s . s of In the clo ing years the republic ,

Greek was encouraged by the native kings , a Greek colony settled at Cirta , and the nearness of Hellenic settlements in Cyrenaica, Spain , and Gaul , combined o with the overthrow of the Ph enicians , who had long i n fl ux . barred their advance , led to an of Greeks The capital of the Greek author and king Juba was for a time the Hellenizing centre , and Greek came to be generally understood by the upper and commercial clas ses . From the beginning of the second century to the reconquest of Africa by Belisariu s it was losing

. u ground Settlers were freq ently ignorant veterans , u ntouched by Hellenic culture ; children even of al we thier parents were cared for , not by Greek peda o ues g g , but by black slaves from the interior , and the speci ally Greek purs uits of philosophy and poetry appealed little to the legal and rhetorical mind of the African . Further, African products were exported chiefl was y to Italy , and little trade done with the East . Th u s African literatu re came to owe little to a Greek canons . The language w s indeed taught by

1 ‘ C H . ua n s m o Rom H i s 1 0 S o e o . z t f . t rt J , C p . , p. 4 . 39 L e arnin g an d Educat i on

r a mmati ci g in the secondary schools , and was gener ally understood by literary men up to the age of Severus ; but within the next century and a half it had come to be one of the most u npopu lar subjects . P u pils would complain that the diffi culty of acquiring a foreign tongue drenched with gall all the sweetness ’ 1 u of Greek legend , and thoro gh knowledge of the ‘ a language w as seldom gained except throu gh residence in Italy or the East . The popu larity of the theatre at Carthage has sometimes been adduced as an argument in favour of a wider knowledge of Greek than is here su ggested . Actors and dancers were 2 u frequently of Greek origin , and the favo rite themes 3 u u all ded to by Tertullian , s ch as the fate of Phaethon , ’ Cybele s love for Attis , the judgment of Paris , or ’ tu lyrical treatments of Jupiter s adven res , seem to have been presented by means of selections from the u u u Greek tragedians . Ap lei s also ass mes in his 4 audience a knowledge of Philemon and Menander . 5 u In some cases , however , a Latin translation was sed ; in others an interpreter explained the bearing of the 6 u n play to the a dience before the performance bega , d s others were acted mainly in umb how, for the pantomime was throu ghout exceedingly popu lar at Carthage and more attention w as paid to the

1 1 C Ter en t Maur 1 Au . on I. 1 . . . . 1. g C f . 3 , 4 f 97 2 h mal e da n er Th as who di ed C C. I. L on t e e c f . . f y , of our e en at the age f t . 3 D Na I 10 e a ll . A ol 1 Ad t. . p . 5 ; . ; P 4 4 XV I Flor . .

’ 5 a ion rom a L a i n Gi di as Flor C A ul eius s uo . . f . p q t t f t p ( XVIII) 5 Au D e doctr . Chr . 2 8. g. II . 5 , 3 40 G re ek In flu e n ce le sse ns un d e r t he Empire

u u gest res , dancing , and music , than to the lang age of the drama . The climax was surely reached under an tomima the Vandals , when a pigmy p is described as dancing the play of Andromache , and the carry 1 ing away of Helen . In the second centu ry private letters were still s ometimes written in Greek , such as the epistle Puden tilla u u of , which was bro ght p in evidence 2 E i stolae Grcecaz against Apuleius , or the p of Fronto ; but they have a certain heaviness of style , and were regarded by their authors as open to the charge of s a barbarism . A m ll number of Greek words were u u incorporated into the lang age of the early Ch rch , when Latin equivalents for phrases indissolubly con n ect ed with religion could not easily be found ; but the awkward forms they assume , and the attempts made to assimilate them to the analogy of the was u vernacular, indicate that Greek nfamiliar to 3

u . Pk the b lk of African converts , as in Italian , is 4 u us ally represented by f , and the archaic tendency u of the African dialect , bro ght over before the use of w a s firml s y y established in Latin , led to uch forms

Chreusi s S eams Sa turus Sy m osi um. as , , , p s The result of rhetorical training , not cha tened by s the Greek ideals of order and moderation , uper

1 2 L uxori us 6 A ol . . 10 , 4 4 . p , p 5 . 3 n s B u u Cf . Di acon es, or Z a co e otr s

' Omelia s i c Acholi tos Ca ti cu mi n i Exhor czsta seud o (V t . , , (P

Z a bo i cus mm H oroma t Act . l (Co od . ) e ( 4 Tr fi i o mus, Niceforus Den dr oforus F ala

'

Act. er Filo ela A e r zt. er i ( P k ), m ( g P ) . 41 Learn i n g an d Edu cat i on v e n in g on a passionate and semi - Oriental tempera s u ment , is vi ible in most African literary prod ctions . They display a luxuriance of imagination and an

- ever present desire to elaborate , to avoid the common 1 z place at all ha ards , whether by the use of archaistic u language or of contemporary v lgarisms . s Such a tyle , though wearisome if long continued , in some instances strikes a note almost unknown in the ancient world , approximating to that which lends s their perennial charm to collection of Eastern tales . Favo urable specimens of this manner are the legend ’ u u u P of C pid and Psyche in Ap lei s , ronto s allegory 2 ’ ’ P er vz i lzum Vener i s if of the Creation of Sleep, the g ( u rightly referred to an African so rce) , and the de 3 scription in Dracon tius of the chariot of Venus :

Flor ea ur ureas retin eban t en a col umbas p p fr , Et r osa blan difl uas r utilan s n ect ebat hab en as

L ilia sun in ser a r osis i n a ulchra v ol ucr um t t , g p Ver ber e ur ur eo is i nhe ir e i u ales p p Cypr t g , ’ i a ammotis en n ar u la sibus al e s Remg t p mp u .

The classical rhythm is almost gone ; the wealth of epithets , the assonances , and accumulations of words su expressing kindred ideas , help to mmon before the mi n d a vivid image which has a certain beauty of it s s so own , similar to the brilliant mo aic work much beloved by all classes in Africa .

Yet this same straining after realism , these detailed s o s s description , may become gr te que or unplea ant ,

’ 1 mmen da ion 6 of in s era a C Fronto s eco . a ue f . r t (p 3) p t tq ’ i n o i n a a erba p t v .

2 - 2 - P 2 2 8 2 0 . . . p. 3 VI 75 79 42

CHAPTER IV PRIVATE L I FE AND AMUSEMENTS—T HE ARTS

’ V en ari lavari l ud er e ride e occ est i ere —In scr i >tion i n , , , r , v v . j Hze oruma t Tha mu a di 1 f g .

GENTL EM EN farmers living on their estates formed an important class in Africa . The great commercial activity enabled them to acqu ire wealth without maintaining large slave gangs , and the goodness of the roads and great nu mbers of camels available for transport caused agricultural produ cts to be speedily conveyed from cou ntry villas to the nearest mart . u S ch villas , whether managed by bailiffs, and only the occasional residence of the master , or the real u s co ntry seats of wealthy landowners and trader , u were numero s in the vicinity of the great towns . Many of the latter class stood in the midst of hor ti as extensive , or parks , such covered most of the western su burbs of Carthage and of the district north of Cirta . They were often richly appointed ,

- with frescoed walls , gilded ceilings , and marble lined ’

. C u n chambers yprian s house, tho gh oisy with - s slaves within , had vine haded cloisters in the midst of spacious and beautiful gardens , well suited for

1 I L . C . . . VIII 44 Afr i c an C ou n t ry S eat s

1 rest or quiet discussion . Gardens were fragrant l with ba sam , and sometimes were used Specially for

u . the c ltivation of medicinal herbs I n some , singing birds were let loose , in others , aviaries were kept ,

- i u . a rt fic ia l sometimes incl ding sea birds In many , streams passed between mossy banks . I n parks at a greater distance from the capitals stags were kept , and packs of hou nds formed a part of the regu lar equipment ; for the provincials were devoted to u s h nting , hardly relinqui hing the pastime when old 2 . fishin and crippled with gout Boating , and g with net , line , or harpoon , are frequently represented among the mosaics of African country districts . Considerable portion s of the large villa of Pomponi - a anus , probably of fourth century d te , have been 3 excavated some distance west of Cirta . They hi fl consist c e y of the extensive private baths. At was one end a hypocaust surrounded by corridors , and provided with baths of three different tem erat ures ca lda ri um suda tori um te i dar i um p , , , and p , their a as a tr i m walls consisting of m rble slabs . Next w an u 0 4 feet long , adorned with Corinthian pillars , and adjoining this a swimming bath with circu lar l floors g al ery . All the rooms have tessellated with s mosaics , which repre ent the house itself with its

- three storied lookout tower , and the contiguous ' s ecucmi cottage of the forester , p , or herdsmen , and

s . s s s s other servant There are al o hown the table , in

1 F n . Vi i . r d ona . I. o C r . C . C . A t t yp . II f yp D 2 ’ C L ux s 1 a m v en a i on i st ud en t e . ori u 6 In od r u t m. f , 4 p g 3 M m c ch n . I . L . é . d l So . A d o st C . e a r . e . 6 C . , p 434 ; . VI II 9 9 45 — P ri v at e Life and Amuse men ts The Arts

- s which stand race hor es with their names attached , the park with a troop of gazelles , gardens, and the two dogs Fidelis and Castu s . Tw o special scenes are of u u interest . I n one , dogs are p rs ing a deer, followed by beaters and by a tr0 0 p of horsemen armed with loso locus lances . Another, labelled fi fi , represents an

- enclos ure with vine covered trees . Beneath a palm sits a matron over whom a parasol is held by a u who yo ng man in short tunic , has in the other s hand a leash to which a dog is attached, a cene recalling the entertainment given to the philosopher ’ O Apulei us in Pude n t illa s mansion near ea . A f U t hi n a typical A rican country house , that at , is ’ i o to R m n M . H m an n r . S Co o a illustrated in . Jones s p 1 H i stor - u u y . The living rooms are gro ped ro nd a large u peristyle with garden having a fo ntain at the centre . The colonnade has a pavement tessellated in geo metrical patterns , and other rooms are grouped about ’ colonnaded a tri a behind . Stables and slaves qu arters adjoin the entrance . The pleasu res of these splendid cou ntry seats might be rudely interru pted by the u inc rsion of wild tribes from the sou th . Mansions for t ified far from the coast were , indeed , and defended but u by bodies of armed slaves, the open co ntry s near the Roman settlement was liable to be ravaged , s and the tenants and country people, e pecially

a . u 2 children , carried way to the interior Th s , in 53 the B av a re s plundered Numidia up to the walls of

Milev , and a sum of sesterces was raised at 2 Carthage to ransom Christian children then taken . 1 2 PI. 0 . C . C r. E ) . 62 3 f yp , 1 . 46 To w n Life an d i ts Am u se men t s

- Tha mu adi The best preserved African town is g , or

Timgad , an imperial creation of the second century , with streets colonnaded in the later Greek fashion . u It had a large oblong for m , colonnaded , and adorned with statues . Adj oining were a basilica ,

- u the senate ho se , a temple , perhaps containing the u municipal treasury in its basement , and vario s l s sma l shop . There is also a provision market with u a semicircular row of shops attached , and a p blic u vi llw library . The private ho ses , like the , consist u mainly of rooms gro ped about a colonnaded court , but cover a m u ch smaller area . There are many all u sions to the Splendour of r u African banquets. Ga lands and ung ents were freely used ; musicians and buffoons amused the guests ; troops of slaves bringing in dishes and handing round food and drink are favourite su bjects for Carthaginian mosaics , which once probably adorned the walls and floors of private banqu eting halls . At marriage feasts the music and festivities were such as to call for the severe denunciation of t he 1 Christian moralist . Town life w as dive rsified by gladiatorial and the at rical performances , by chariot races , and for the more cultured by declamations and poetical or u u m sical contests . Music was popular througho t u the provinces , tho gh seldom of a very elevating character . It played a large part in the drama , where recitative and singing almost su perseded

° dialogue , and it was a constant accompaniment 1 Id D H a b. V . e i rg. 2 1. 47 — P riv ate Life an d Am useme nts The A rt s

u s of banquets , and of religio s festival , where the flute was used to excite the participants to a kind ' lt - . P sa rzce of ecstasy , or female cymbal players , still 1 i n flat e d appear under the Vandals , and epitaphs on professional singers may be found among the In scrip 2 tions . When in the second centu ry the right was granted to Carthage of holding a Pythian m u sical contest , no great compunction was felt at placing Odeum Vi ellius the foundations of the , which g S at urn in us it erected for , on an ancient Punic 3 cemetery . This building wa s destroyed by the ide nt ified Vandals , and no remains have been with certainty . Some explorers conj ecture that it stood on semicircu lar fou ndation s discovered between the B r a lesser y s and the sea . A sure method of winning popularity in African towns was by the construction of public baths , a especially therm e , which were peculiarly necessary in districts liable to be swept by sultry winds from 4 the Sahara . Their absence from baths is specially mentioned as an aggravation of the sufferings of 5 on fin d ru i Christian martyrs c e in the mines of Cu b s. The Carthaginians were passionately devoted to 6 P acti ones chariot races and similar contests . with party colours existed as in other Roman town s.

1 L uxorius 1 , 5 5 . 2 ' ’ E . 10 0 7 86 m Ka i cir a ea ( wv v . g . VII I . 7, 3p p p fi fi 3 c m. 2 D e r esur . a . Tert. 4 1 C abo e . 20 an d for ba hs at i a C. I L . . 0 1. f . v , p , t C rt . VIII 7 3 5 C E ) 6 2 . r . . yp 1 7 , 3 . Mu n Sal . Gu b. D . T er . Scor . Ex osi t . Tot. d t p VI , p v

12 . VI . 48 T he D ram a i n Africa

Moors were the most expert drivers , and , like the u African horses which they drove , were so ght for

r . u in othe provinces also Even nder the Vandals , 1 J e ct ofia n the Green is mentioned by L uxoriu s a s a famous charioteer . a There were theatres at Cirta , C esarea , and other s towns , and that of Carthage was a favourite re ort , being u sed for pe rformances of almost every kind

— - tragedies , comedies , rope walking , conjuring , and 2 - It s semi philosophical harangues . exact position is doubtful , but we are told that it had marble 3 w a columns and ceiling fretted with gold . It s occasionally u sed for mimic sea -fight s

N o native African playwrights are mentioned , and the broad humour of the Atellan farces long continued popular, as well as mimes and pantomimes . Telling situations from Greek tragedies seem to have been selected ; or portion s of Vergil and Ovid might be sung on the stage , accompanied by dancing . Plautus 5 remained familiar to the Africans , and we read of Am hit r o t o u his p y being acted conciliate J piter , a curiou s revival of the original intention of Greek dramatic performances . There existed professional teachers of histrionics , who are bitterly attacked by the Christian writers for the effeminate gestures ° which were learned from them . O f hue s u the art , architect re and sculpture were

2 C . A ul FIor 1 f p . . 8. 3 - A ul 1. c seudo C r D ct . e S e . . p . P yp . p 9 1 Au . En a r r . i n P s 80 2 10 . g . , 3 ; 39 , 5 5 A ul Fl or . Ar n ob . C r E . p . . XVIII VII . yp . p II . 49 4 — P riv at e Life an d Am use m ents The Art s

u practised with s ccess , but without conspicuous originality . The designers follow Hellenic models , and in most cases probably studied in Greek lands .

The Roman Africans , however , show a decided o advance on the Ph enicians , who , though admirers u of bea ty themselves , had no creative power , and u imported foreign architects and sc lptors , or ready made Greek and Egyptian works of art . The e n Romans were less absorbed in commerce , and joyed longer periods of peace and prosperity , and the chief settlements were soon filled with fin e temples , basilicas , amphitheatres , and circuses , u adorned with painting , sc lpture , and mosaics . The Corinthian order was that most often employed in u u p blic b ildings , and there are also several examples 1 of the Composite ; but the simpler Greek styles ’ u C & sare a are extremely rare o tside Juba s capital of . Marble colu mns wou ld su pport the roofs of su ch u b ildings , their capitals often worked in marbles of t w o f u u u c ut di ferent colo rs , the shaft s ally from a single block . The inner walls wou ld also be covered With thin layers of marble placed on a coating of fin cement . Many fragments of e internal decoration : have been discovered carved cornices with dentels, u V elaborate brackets , oak , la rel , and ine foliage u twining round the pillars, and va lts composed of u fl sq are stone panels carved with ow ers . Some times inscrip tions in metal - work were carried round

1 ' These styles are combin ed i n th e facade of the large am hi hea r e at Th sdrus hich esembles th Roman p t t y , w r e n l Colosseumi p a n . 50

— Pri vat e Life and Am usement s The A rt s

1 u lance . In the same city was a gro p consisting u u u u u of a bronze stat e of Ven s s rro nded by C pids ,

- set up by J u lius Martialis . Many bas reliefs are very s u uccessf l , such as that of the woman under a scallop shell canopy treading on two elephants , on the chief arch of the viad uct at Cirta already referred to . Bas - reliefs on sarcophagi of the Christian age are 2 u also of freq uent occ rrence .

Few perfect specimens of African painting remain , bu t there are many traces of colo u r on the stuccoed fin e wall s of temples and tombs . A example of the u fift h fo rth or century , of a saint with nimbus , robed w as u as a bishop , found in an undergro nd chapel at Carthage in Paintings also adorned the n m kwum y p of Cirta , and formed part of the decora ’ tions of many martyrs shrines . In mosaic work the Africans were acknowledged to possess great rofic ien c t he p y, and y were employed in other pro 4 u vinces . I n Carthage there were reg lar companies of workers who u ndertook the decoration of both pu blic u u and private b ildings , for which the ab ndance of white and colou red marbles found in the province afforded great facility . The chief classes of designs — I were ( ) Geometrical patterns , foliage , and ara bes u es 2 fi ures q ( ) separate g , whether birds , animals ,

1 C I . L 6 81. . . VIII . 9 2 The r ich r elief wor k on the a mbo of a basili ca n amed after St ri an at ar ha e i s s ill men i on ed b r e or of Tour s . Cyp C t g t t y G g y i n th e six h cen ur as on e of th e on d er s of A ri ca t t y w f . 3 d ollen a r ha Rom i n C . Au t e a e . 660 ci se . a aluabl e f t, C g , p q ( v au hor i on all the A i can fin e a s t ty fr rt ) . 1 C I . L . 22 20 0 0 . . XII I 3 5, . 52 a an an d C h ri st i an M osai cs ‘ P g

s or human beings (3) ymbolical , as a representation of s the months and easons , within a border , found on a tessellated pavement at Carthage ; (4) complete s s scenes, ometime mythological , such as Pegasus and the nymphs , Europa and the bull , or of con s temporary life . Some cenes are altogether fantastic , such as that represented on the vault in the tomb of 1 s the poetical gold mith at Cirta , in which flames play riffin s about winged genii , and by them are g sur A R u i rounded by a twining plant . t s cade are pictu res fi ure s of native tribes , broad squat g with peaked caps having a flap before and behind . Another mosaic in the same place shows brightly coloured N ereids su r

- fish . rounded by sea horses and I n general , town s — mosaic incline to festive designs chariot races , u - or u pleas re gardens , , again , allegories s ch as the tale of Cupid and Psyche . I n country villas appear vin s a s s tage and farmyard cenes , nimal , laves at work , s varieties of merchant vessels , etc . , with a con tant desire to represent motion and life .

After the conversion of Africa the subj ects change ,

. n hn d but not the style We the Christian emblems , s such as chalices or vine leave , on tombs , the epitaphs being of black and white cubes set in the main design .

The walls and floor , in later times the roof also , of s basilicas and baptisterie , were covered with mosaics u fish in bright colo r , depicting foliage , , vases, the s s as paschal lamb , the cro s , or Scriptural cenes , such

1 C . elamar e l 1 C I L 1 6 The e i a h f D , p . 39 , . . . VI I I . 7 5 . p t p b egin n ing H i c ego qui i a cea versi bus mea vi ta demonstr o i s a ood exam l e of ul a L a in g p v g r t . 53 — Pri v at e Life and Amu se men t s The A rt s the three Jews in the furnace . Somewhat similar u designs on square earthenware plaq es were used , , to s adorn the wall of less important buildings , and earthenware statuettes are frequently met with . Metal and ivory work reached a high degree of fin el - cut s excellence , and y jewels are di covered among the ruins of African villas . Another art which was characteristic of African life from early in the empire till long after the con

- u version was that of magic . I n the break p of the official c ults d uring the first century after Christ there wa s a great i n fl ux of Orientalism to all s u the Western provinces , and thi incl ded both reli ious g mysticism and magic . How these might be brought in together is illu strated by the life of Apol lon iu s ma us of Tyana . I n Africa the g , whether was fi ure practising white or black magic , a familiar g , in Spite of various legal enactments from the days of s i n Tiberius to those of the Digests . Mo t of the formation about these magicians comes from the Con essi ons Ci t o God u u f and y f of A gustine , nat rally a but somewhat biassed authority, they seem to have fallen into three main classes : ( 1) Astrologers ma themati ci - ( ) , including fortune tellers and compilers of horoscopes (genethli a ci) . S uch persons had a grave demeanour , and enj oyed a better reputation than the others . Sometimes they seem to have s s played the part of confessors , con oling their penitent by ascribing h u man misdoings to the agency of some 1 2 i r o o kistaz who s deity . ( ) Q uacks ( a t s p ) profes ed

1 Au on . g . C f . IV 3 , 4. 54 The Blac k A rt

1 u s to c re diseases by incantation or charms . (3) D iviners and clairvoyants . The latter while in a u u state of hysteria claimed to reveal the f t re , or would cast children into a mesmeric trance for the 2 u same object , or call p the souls of the dead . 3 D u - Albice riu s was iviners , of whom the fo rth century u one of the most famous , co ld recover lost property , u detect robberies , read tho ghts , and discover springs

- fin ders of water . African water were in high repute , 4 and were employed in other parts of the empire ; even in the fift h cent ury we hear of African diviners still pursuing their trade among the pro 5 fessing Christians of Southern Gaul . A belief in the 6 - evil eye was prevalent from early times , and magic was so widespread that gaolers took special pre caution s to prevent the escape of prisoners by this 7 means . Love incantations were often resorted to by 8 private person s ; and malevolent incantations written s chiefl on leave of lead , y emanating from the lower s s s s order , lave , freedmen , or gladiators , are ome times met with , partly covered with cabalistic sym bols . A similar leaf might be inscribed with an ’ enemy s name and placed in a tomb . The dead man u was s pposed to convey this to the infernal deities ,

1 C F l M h . u . t . . L ux ori us f g y III ; , 453 . 2 T er D e a ni m 2 8 A ol 2 t . . ; p . 3 . 3 A u C Aca d I 1 g. . . . 7. 4 C assiod . I II . 53 . 5 Sid . A oll . 11 p VII I . . 5 7 Pli n N H 2 Act . er et . . . . . VII . , 4 . P p XVI 3 f a L a i n C Gabr l n L l Mou . Eccl L i t. I or o a d ec erc . f . q , . t exam l e ri e l e p w tt n i n Gr eek tters . 55 — Pri v a t e Life an d Am u semen t s The A r ts

who might then carry out the curse invoked . This 1 u device was resorted to by rival charioteers . Am lets fi u res s were popular , and in particular g of scorpion i n s metal, sometimes with cabali tic symbols , were placed under the foundation s of hou ses as a homoeo pathic safeguard against those scourges of the African

provinces . The Apology of Apulei u s gives some idea of the equipment and character of the higher class of ma u u u g s. Tho gh the orator apparently s cceeded u in repelling the charges bro ght against him , there u u u is little do bt that he claimed s pernat ral powers , s and really believed , as did the writer of the early L a ct a nt iu s Middle Ages , following the lead of and 2 Augustine , that he possessed them . That the belief in such arts extended to the highest ranks may be inferred from the statements of the historian that under Constantine a philosopher named 8 0 pater was found guilty of casting a spell on the winds so as to interfere with African corn u ships bo nd for Italy, and that a Proconsul of Africa 3 was exiled for con sulting sorcerers .

1 C I L . . . VIII . 2 i A o C . Abt D e l . des A u l . u nd di e a n tike Z a u ber ei f , p p . The a uthor i n p arti c ular p oin ts ou t the magical u ses of a mirro — for i n s a n ce for bri n in i n fl uence to bea on the r t , g g r moon or cr s al - a i n Cf A oh 1 , y t g z g. . p , p. 9 . 3 Amm 2 8 1 1 . , , 9 . CHAPTE R V

F RONTO AND H IS CI RCL E

’ — u n ihil n isi u d L ibi i n a sacrav it H O RAC . Mirat rque q o t . E

RO M AN literatu re had sunk to a low ebb when

Fronto , the gifted native of Cirta , arrived in the

. s capital The Silver Age , then j ust pa sed away , had left some splendid mon u ments of individu al u u it geni s ; but the causes which prod ced , the con centration of literary activity in a small circle apart u t from p blic life and though , had permanently weakened the la n guage and restricted its powers of development . It had depr ived Latin of its capacity for forming new words by composition , had reduced the number and impaired the freedom of

Latin metres , and carried to great lengths the divorce between the written and spoken languages , ’ fii i n l already su c e t y marked in Cicero s time . No s u u successor to L can , J uvenal , or Tacitus , co ld be hoped for , and Rome was bidding fair to become an unimportant branch of the Hellenistic - world of literature . C M . orneliu s Fronto was probably born early ’ in Traj an s reign , and coming from a district whither the i nfluen ce of Silver Age Latin had hardl y 57 Fron t o an d hi s Ci rcle

u penetrated , Speaking the pop lar dialect taken over Sit t ius u by the veterans of , and devoted from yo th

s - to the tudy of ante classical writings , he conceived the idea of restoring strength to the langu age by infusing into the literary idiom the popular elements that constitute the only source to which an attenuated speech can turn for a renewal of vigo ur . Spasmodic antiquarian revivals had not , indeed , been wanting from the days of Varro and Sall u st lauda tores tem ' ’ poms a oiz had always been found to urge by precept or example a return to the models of early re u p blican literature . Fronto , however , had a clear field , and in the estimation of his contemporaries attained remarkable success .

H is u . method was partly so nd , partly mistaken The Latin of the old comedians was u ndou btedly u more vigorous than that of Seneca or Stati s , and many of their phrases had continu ed in u se among the lower orders . Their revival would be a decided ’ ' P s s artificial gain , but ronto ystem was too often and pedantic . The words he wished to restore were frequ ently forgotten creations of some daring

. O n innovator , which had taken no real root w a s the other hand , though Fronto too scholarly to sanction mere vulgarisms not established by u - a thority, his followers were less well read or less u scrupulo u s . Archaic v lgarisms were succeeded by such as were merely contemporary , and Fronto became an involuntary apostle of the debasement of a language which he strove to ennoble . A simple and vigorous speech can only evolve itself amidst a 58

Fro n t o an d hi s Circl e leader of all who desired to shake off the authority of Seneca and return to the simpler models of the

u . u rep blic These followers incl ded many Africans , some of whom retu rned to teach in their native land ; others were the natural advisers of African youths

stu dying in Rome . Fronto th u s had considerable i n fl ue n ce in repel ling the assau lts of Greek on Italy and the western

provinces , and in restoring to Latin something of its u u old place in literat re . Nor sho ld the issue be looked on merely as a struggle between Latin and

Greek for the mastery . I n no case co u ld the ro ugh spoken Hellenistic Greek have been generally adopted but in the West at this period , Latin might easily have u u a s nk to the condition of a patois , which wo ld h ve f of ered no more resistance to the Visigoths , Lom

bards , and Franks , than it did to their kinsmen in ’ l c tzo el . e o u nov la A u Britain The , of which Fronto and p a u lei s may be considered j oint fo nders , was succeeded by the great patristic literatu re of the Africans Ter u L a ct a n t iu s t llian , Cyprian , and , and these , again , by the rhetorical schools of Bordeaux , Autun , and other

. u Gallic towns The Ch rch , the schools , and the u u u u se pop lace , being th s nited in the of Latin the inrush of barbarism produced far less effect than it u wou ld otherwise have done . The Te tonic element u u in Spanish and Port g ese is almost negligible , Prov e n al small in Italian and g ; even in French , despite the repeated Germanic invasions and settle ments , it probably covers less than one tenth of the vocabulary . 60 H i s J udgme nts on hi s P re dece ssors

Tw o of the chief members of this school were u G elli us u u Aul s , from whom we learn m ch abo t its u u n methods , and S lpici s Apolli aris , a Carthaginian , the teacher both of G elliu s and of the fu tu re u Emperor Pertinax . Sulpici s was a great student of u u u u Sallust , and a thor of metrical prolog es to Pla t s , u Terence , and Vergil . Tho gh neither Fronto nor G ellius u mentions him , we can hardly do bt that the ’ L u former s brilliant young countryman , . Apulei s , ’ was among the orator s hearers d u ring hi s fir st stay 1 at Rome . ’ s P In view of the lo s of ronto s speeches , we have to form our ideas of his methods from his letters to his u u imperial p pils Aurelius and Ver s , and from the c No tes A tti cce . These letters contain estimates of ’ P s ronto s chief predecessor , and advice or criticism addressed to his correspondents . Ancient writers are specially commended for their careful choice of words , — as C u such ato , Pla tus , Ennius , and the archaizing u Lucretius and Sall st . Cicero had the power of but ornamenting everything which he said , neglected ’ i stles u . E to choose his words caref lly Cicero s p , u which naturally admitted of a more pop lar style , are , u however , highly praised . The A gustan Age is passed u over with hardly a mention , and of the s cceeding period Seneca is taken as the representative , and bitterly satirized for his jerky and epigrammatic phrases ; Lucan , too , the nephew of Seneca , is derided ” for monotony and poverty of thought . Roundabout

1 For o he A ican s c F on o . 16 1 8 200 20 1 t r fr , f . r t , pp 9 , 9 , , ;

ell . 10 G XIX . . 6 1 Fron t o an d his Ci rcl e

x u u e pressions , like one of which A reli s himself had

been guilty , must be abandoned for phrases alike apt

and forcible . The coin of modern writers is generally found to be of lead good money is stamped with a

- rep u blican mint mark . The greatest care is to be exercised in selecting u f words ; for instance , the val es of dif erent compounds u o ula of a verb m st be well weighed , and as , in a p p u tion exha sted by conscription , the men who do not so press forward for service are the most valuable , u less obvio s expressions should , if possible; be chosen . u Commonplace phrases are , however , s perior to such

- as are far fetched , and express our meaning less well . Nor must the order of words be neglected ; they should not be arranged like the guests at a dru nken

carousal . The cases where a repetition of the same u word or idea is desirable sho ld be observed . One ought not to allow a su bstantive to fall Hat by pre fix ing an adjective which necessarily anticipates its men na vem tri r a . meaning, as Neologisms are to be avoided ; rather let the orator aim at recalling half forgotten words which will both be recognized as in u se among the ancients and give pleasure through u their u nfamiliarity . Yet s ch archaisms are recom u mended only as ornaments , not as s itable for form ing the entire substance of a book or speech . Fronto who was far from the conservatism of the Greeks , inclined always to retain the dialect first used by the inventor of any branch of literature . For oratorical training the first requisite is the careful st u dy of old writers ; other u sefu l exercises are the collection of 62 ’ Pro nt o s Ad v i ce t o an O rat or s im ynonyms , the search for rare words , and the provement of humble or inelegant compositions by inserting elaborate similes , archaisms , etc . f Fronto was an amiable and a fectionate man , of high moral character, who in an age of literary frivolity showed real earnestness in the study of 1 letters and a complete contempt for sciolism . N ot , d bu t perhaps , possessed of great strength of min , u somewhat cred lous and pedantic , he was yet able u u and ind strio s , and endowed with a rich and delicate i a i nes . m imagination H is g , or similes , however ill ’ 2 placed , show the poet s capacity for seeing analogies . l u u Some of them are of rea bea ty, ill strating that close observation of natural phenomena which characterizes the Romans of Africa . Aurelius while still under the protection of his father - i h - law Anto u nin s , is compared to a lake within an island , the 3 shores of which bear all the bu ffetings of the waves; u and again , when held back from the st dy of rhetoric by the bands of philosophy, he is like a lofty pine , 4 forcibly bowed to the grou nd . G ellius un re , unlike Fronto , adopts an easy and p s but N octas A tti ca; u tending tyle, his are val able both for the information given abou t old writers and cus toms , and for the pictures of the life of these literary Africans who were seeking to regenerate the worn out Latin of the day . They combined a certain pedantry and exclusiveness with a genuine love of literatu re . The greatest triumph of a grammarian

1 2 P . 6 1 fin r i s . oet . . 1 . . A t P XXI I 7 3 4 P P . 1 for o he s c 8 . 45 . 43 t r , f . pp. 7, 5 . 63 Fron t o an d his Ci rcle

u discomfit ure s 1 wo ld be the of ome pretentious sciolist . u They held learned banq ets , at which a slave would

“ 2 read grammatical treatises aloud to the guests . D isc u ssions arose among literary men while waiting u u in the vestib le of the palace to sal te the emperor , 8 or when on a visit to a sick friend . The grammarian ’ u wo ld spend his mornings in Trajan s library, or wrangle with a rival about a point of accidence in the A ri ae or use Campus g pp , if young and enthusiastic , su ch a jargon of archaisms as to be s upposed to be 4 talking Gallic or Etruscan . The most gifted of the Africans who resided at was Rome during this period the philosopher, mystic , and novelist , Lucius Apuleius . I reserve the con sideration of his philosophical and religious views for his s another chapter, but style de erves mention here as a direct outcome of the archaizing tendencies of F ron t on ia n the circle , united to a strong and vivid imagination and comparative freedom from pedantry . I n Apulei u s the reaction against the far- fetched turns - u of expression , the epigrams , and high so nding com m l on a ce s . p , of the Silver Age reaches its climax u u but Archaic words are introd ced in prof sion , in a great proportion of cases (as may be inferred from their reappearance in later writers u naffected by the 5 re archaistic movement , or in Romance ) they had u se or mained in throughout in popular speech ; , even if not , their meaning was plain to all . But

1 2 XV I 6 . . 2 2 c . 1 . . II , f . VI 3 3 4 6 . c . I 10 2 1 . I I . , XX . . XI 7, f . 5 m E cille a n n ir e Macc us Praesti iator E Cord oli u c . .g. , , , G , , g 64 Styl e 0 1 A pul eiu s

' &7ra e ue besides these , a larger number of § m va. could probably be collected from Apuleius than from any other extant Latin writer ; and though some may n ow have occurred in works lost , a considerable resi ’ d ue m u st be ascribed to the author s own fertility and poetical feeling . Amidst the overthrow of recognized canons of taste , Latin seemed to be recovering the facu lty of compou nding words and of forming new derivatives and dimin u tives . u The diction of Ap leius is copious , evincing the u greatest art , caref lly concealed so as to present the H fi appearance of perfect spontaneity . e was the rst to introduce the Oriental warmth of colou ring and the minute description , which invest with a charm n o u the poetical pro se w superseding reg lar verse . f s The classical ramework , as to a les extent in some ’ h P as . of ronto s descriptive passages , almost vanished s s s s In tead we have a erie of long rambling clau es , u fin i re n s . perpet ally g , rejecting , and trengthening a m lifi The old devices of antithesis , emphasis , and p but cation , disappear , and in their place are flowery shapeless sentences , in which epithet after epithet is or u heaped on , again , short symmetrical cla ses , often u one u alliterative or rhyming , s cceed another witho t a pau se or attempt at subordination . CH APTE R VI P H I L OSOP HY AND REL I GIO N— APU L EI U S

‘ e iles uamv i s id ola c olan t amem summum e um G n t q , t D ’ — atr em cr eat or em co n oscun t et con fiten tur . SATU RN1NUS p g , 1 Bishop of Ta cca . ‘ m ti M r ch en z So spitzt si ch das u ber u ge a u ein er weih erv ollen Bek ehr ungsgeschicht e zu ; di e Eselmetamorphose w ar n ur ein urch an s un k zur i n n er en Wi ed er eb ur en e D g g p t g t, j D emii tigun g di en t d er spat eren Erhohun g un d Verklarun g ’ — e R BB CK . zur F oli . I E

AT the time when African literature first comes into

r A . D . p ominence , the middle of the second century , the received modes of thou ght on philosophy and — u u religion indeed , the whole classical c lt re of the Mediterranean nations— were being revolutionized by the wide dissemination of id eas which the peace and prosperity of the Antonine Age rendered possible . u Rapid changes were ndergone in one lifetime , as by the Peregrinu s described by Lucian ; and the “ tendency was to shake oh the agnostic or atheistic u attitude which had been prominent a cent ry earlier , and to deepen religious feeling by seeking closer u u comm nion with some s preme deity , either by adopting Oriental c u lts or by initiation into the m reviving Greek ysteries . The same change of feel

1 ’ In Har el s ri a n I t Cyp , . 454 . 66

— Philosophy an d R eligi on Apul eiu s

u f These feelings were partic larly strong in A rica , where the Semitic cast of thought encou raged belief u iden t ifica in a vag e monotheism , or at least in the tion of the chief deities as different aspects of one

- . u power The kindly nat re gods of Greece and Rome , who could be bought over to favou r the worshipper fi by a certain amount of sacri ce and prayer , were f very di ferent from Baal or Tanit or Melcarth , some fierce u but times and destr ctive , sometimes benign , - u at least all powerf l , and to be represented by a fi ure symbol rather than by any g in human form . In such conditions it is not su rprising that the lack of deep or original thought was fatal to genuine u philosophical st dy . Travelling sophists with their i nverecunda i actanti a were indeed frequently seen in 1 bu t Carthage and other large towns , they did little more than deliver declamatory lectures of a popular type to chance auditors , making no attempt to gather a permanent following ; and philosophy was acknow l 2 ledged to be the art of living we l and speaking well . ’ u u e u Ap lei s , who best repres nts the f sion between

A. D . 12 philosophy and religion , was born about 5 at the veteran colony of Madaura , on the borders of

N u midia and G aet ulia . The son of one of the ' duovim of , he would have the right sitting in the ur a H e u local c i . received the chief part of his ed ca

‘ t ion es eciall , p y in grammar and rhetoric , at Carthage , and continued to acknowledge with gratitude his 3 debt to the African university . This was supple 1 fi C r D e Bon Pa t. . n . yp . . II 2 3 m A ul Flor VII Ibid . xv . p . . . , 6 8 Life an d Work s of Apulei u s men t ed first s an d by a stay, at Athen other Greek u u u u towns , where he acq ired m ch religio s and occ lt lore , then at Rome, where , from the number of local 1 s s s t o allu ion , he seem have produced (possibly first his M etamor hoses anonymously at ) p , and where he would also come under the i n flue n ce of the F r n o t on ian school of rhetoric . Returning to Africa about 155 he contracted a marriage with a wealthy u Widow of Oea, and after some f rther travels settled rhetor down at Carthage as a professional , and sacer dos r ovi nci czz eventually as p , or director of the imperial worships. of his A large proportion works are lost , and many of them were only compilation s designed to make up an encyclop aedia of the liberal arts . They included u a number of poetical composito s , historical , zoo logical , arithmetical , musical , astronomical , medical , s s and horticultural works , beside the extant treati es s on philo ophy . These are devoted t o an exposition s s s of the Platonic tenets, of which Apuleiu how no ss real grasp , and to a discu ion about the nature of

s . demons , probably ba ed on some lost Greek original s s u - Another treati e , an adaptation of the p e do Aristo D e M undo chiefl telian , is concerned y with astronomy and physical geography . Some spurious works on logic and on the Herme s of the mysteries have also been attached . 1 Thus 8 the fin der of s che is to oduce her behin d (VI . ) P y pr the meta? M urciaz the si e of a cha el of en us on the , t p V

A en i n e slo e . u id b eaks th e l ex u li a an d ods who v t p C p r j , g absen hemsel es r om the coun cil like d e aul i n sen a o s t t v f , f t g t r , i n cu a fin e of ses e ces r t r . 69 — Philosophy an d Religi o n Apul eiu s

It is on the M etamorphoses that the reputation of chiefl Apuleius y rests , and it is this romance which

- strongly exhibits the Janus like nature of the writer , a religious mystic deeply conscious of the hollow u s ness of life , the tr e beauty of holine s and com u m nion with the divine , and from another point of view the professional rhetorician and public

. u who entertainer The so l of the hero , is represented d bu t as naturally inclined to goo , with no very strong principles , becomes in Pythagorean fashion incarnate in an animal , and that one of the most despised . I n this state he is able to st udy all the

' : u u u s seamy side of life j ealo s h sbands , deceitf l Wive , savage stepmothers , dissolute priests , brigands , and H e dishonest servants . hears the allegory of how the Soul is by patience and divine grace purged of s s her mortal weakness , pa se unharmed through the is shadow of death , and at last raised by heavenly

. s Love to a celestial sphere Finally his own oul ,

u u - in - thro gh the grace of the s preme deity truth , Isis of the Egyptians , but among other peoples called De Cybele , Athena , Venus , Artemis , Persephone, 1 r - meter, He a , or Hecate is restored to a human body ; and after the solemn rites of initiation , which refi ure s p g death and rebirth , he become a full par u t icipan t in divine knowledge and favo r . Combined s with this are pre ented many playful , romantic , or tragic scenes from middle and low class life in the a provinces , as studied by a shrewd and imparti l u spectator, depicted with a realism till then uneq alled , 1 M et . . XI 5 70 — ’ The M e tamorph oses M arti an u s C apella and in a style almost Oriental in its richness of u colo ring .

The Greek novel , wrongly attributed to Lucian , from which , or from a common source with which , u Apulei s derived the leading idea of his plot , is u known , but it is bald and d ll , and the mystical element is lacking . Probably, also , most of the other episodes , some of which have been familiar themes u in many q arters of the globe , are also borrowed , for Apulei u s is not strikingly inventive . His langu age , however, and , especially towards the end , his u u religio s fervour, give him a uniq e place in the

- ancient world ; while in his power of word painting , s of describing rural cenes , and of drawing character u u in a few rapid strokes , he nites some of the pec liar s qualitmie of mime , idyll , and satire , with those of the conte porary Greek erotic romance . Little remains to be said on the study of phi ’ loso h p y in Africa . A translation of some of Plato s C works by Victorinus appeared under onstantine , w as and this studied by Augustine , who himself 1 l An made some progress with Greek phi osoPhy . acquaintance with this is al so displayed 2 by one a u of the last Afric n prose writers on a sec lar theme , u the Carthaginian attorney Martian s Capella, a

u u . heathen , and , like Ap lei s , a native of Madaura fift h H is work , published probably early in the u D e N u ti is M er cur i et Phi lolo i e cent ry , is called p g

1 on . 2 . C f VII I . 2 C 2 12 h er e th e au h or ha s a v isi on of r ee k f . II . , w t G hiloso h o r a i n s p p ers p erformi n g a ppr p i te act o . 71 — Philosophy an d Religi on Apul e i u s

s u . on the seven liberal art , and is of a mystical nat re u but Its contrib tions to learning are slight , it is not u witho t value , as illustrating the development then

u . attained by m sic , rhetoric , geometry, etc , and as

epitomizing the works of many earlier writers , from

Varro to S olin u s . The form is mixed prose and

verse , like the old satire , the prose portions being

fl orid . sometimes tame , sometimes and declamatory but The verse is incorrect , shows knowledge of many f less common metres . Capella a fects loaded epithets

and short balanced clau ses in the manner of Apu lei us . u His treatise was very pop lar in the Middle Ages , i n flue n ce u u when it exercised an on ed cation , sc lp u t re , and illumination .

It remains to review the principal worships , u u whether p rely Roman , mixed Roman and P nic , Th n or Oriental , which prevailed in Africa . e Roma s were always disinclined to leave the cu lts of a subject people in open antagonism to their own and while religiou s persecution is rare in the ancient u world , much ingen ity was shown , not only in f u A rica , but in Ga l and other parts , in identifying t o w entirely different mythologies and sets of usages . In Africa the names of the amalgamated deities m u became predominantly Ro an , and P nic sym bolism bu t gave place to Roman anthropomorphism , otherwise the chief worships remained primarily u Oriental , and retained large numbers of enth siastic adherents down to the time of the conversion of the provinces . O fficial Roman cults n o t ide nt ified with pre

72. R o m an and P un i c Worships existing beliefs never gained much foothold o utside fin d i n scri the Italian colonies . We allusions in p deified e rson ificat ion tions to the p of Rome , her 1 priests being nearly always Italian offi cials . There were many fl amen s devoted t o the service of the 2 de ifi e ed emperors as a body , or of some s parate con cili a emperor , and provincial met in the chief i towns to organize the ceremonies connected with t .

Some large towns also had Capitoline temples , ded i ca t e d u u to J piter, J no , and Minerva , even these 3 sometimes associated with alien worships , as Mithras , 4 fi or l oca l genii . Mars was almost con n e d to garrison towns , Liber seldom appears away from Italian s D e a settlements ; Vesta , J anu , and Bona , have f u ew dedications . The really popular c lts were those Caelest is of Baal Saturn , Melcarth Hercules , Tanit ,

- E schmou n ZE scula iu s . p , and Mercury

Baal , the chief Phoenician male deity , had by the time of the Roman conquest completely absorbed the worship of Molech , the protector of Tyre , and was closely connected with Melcarth the lord of the city and with Tanit or Pené - Baal the face of - i the moon goddess . Though n Car hage ] t

' his position was subordinate to t hat ~ of his fe mi n in e 5 u u co nterpart , he was m ch regarded in Cirta , and still more in the country districts , where in votive s inscriptions his name stand alone , or before that C ael est i s of . The Romans felt disinclined to iden

1 L hub ursi u C C. I 1 2 T c m f . . . VII I . 4 7 ( ) . 2 2 Ibi d . 8 6 8 Ibi d . 8 , 49 , 99 5 . , 457 . 4 5 Ibi d 26 11 26 12 E 1 . . 0 , , g. , 7 4. — Phil osophy an d Religion Apulei u s t ify this sanguinary deity with their own national u u god , and s ally called him Saturn , in view of the ca n n ibal ist tendencies attributed to the correspond u ing Greek divinity . We thus have the c u rio s n spectacle of the ki dly agricultural god , who reigned a e in Italy in the g of innocence , worshipped with fire - the rites of the ferocious lord of the Ammonites . Children of the best families were placed on the fi ure arms of a brazen g , which let the victims fall u u into a furnace , while fl tes and dr ms drowned their 1 2 At fir t o cries . s t w were offered annually ; later u u b lls and rams were sed on ordinary occasions , h u man victims being reserved for times of p ublic calamity or danger . A determined attempt was made by the Roman government to put down these s barbarities under Tiberius , and everal priests of Baal were cru cified at Carthage on the trees of the grove which su rrounded their temple but the h u man sacrifices continu ed in secret till the end 3 of the second century . The priests wore a red robe 4 u with a large purple stripe . Tho gh worshipped in u larger towns in a temple with stat es , more often ’ Baal w as symbolized by stel ae representing the sun s

e fix e d u rays , sometim s inscribed , and in the gro nd - w as against walls or on hill tops . The god often ’ 5 known by the e uphemistic title of the old man .

1 P in 6 Au i v. D Di d . 1 l . N H . . C o . 6 . C . XX 4, ; . 3 , 5 f g V II 6 . 2 . 2 Dra n t V 1 co . 8. . 4 3 4 im Ter A XV Id D c Test. An . . o . t . p l . II 5 Au . D e on s Ev. I 6 . g C . . 3 74

— Phil osophy an d Religion Apulei us

it In three priestesses were attached to , and the ‘ scr i ti on f p s call the dea. vi rg o Cwlesti s the mighty ’ 1 u protector of the Tarpeian mount . Legacies co ld 2 u lawf lly be left for the su pport of this cult . From the time of the Antonines till some way t u into the hird cent ry , the Carthaginian temple was u - the seat of a m ch frequented oracle , which drew 3 to itself some of the former importance of Delphi . The priestesses of C aelest is were excited to ecstasy fl ut es u . by , and then answered inq iries This practice may have been pu t down by the government d u before the mi dle of the third cent ry , and there is evidence that it had had some effect in stirring up u u s rpers . Many votive inscriptions are found thank ing the goddess for advice secretly given , and she was supposed to have the power of bringing rain . e los The sacred robe , or pp , which covered the idol s was richly embroidered , and was used to inve t the t Tet ri cu s 2 6 tyran m 5 , on his elevation to the throne 4 A of Africa . t Carthage there were annual games C aele st is in honour of and Cybele jointly , when the u stat e was placed before the shrine in the Area , and 5 u licentious songs were su ng by actors . The stat e w as then solemnly washed , clearly an adaptation of the Roman washing of the image of the Magna A Mater in the Almo . t Sicca the worship of 6 C aelestis was attended with rites such as disgraced

1 ’ 2 o i d 6 N t z ll S a v . Ul ra . 22 . e e c z 18 2 . 0 . . , 9 , p 4 7 p f g 3 C a i ro l M c F r m E rr Re . . i . . . a f i n er i ic . f C p t . 3 , P . 4 . P f 4 4 5 Tr e b . ll Tri v D o T r 2 8 Au . Ci . . . . P . g. y . . g II 4 5 Val M ax . . 6 . II . 76 — O racl e at C art hage The C ael e st is Te mpl e

ul s the c t of Corinthian and Cyprian Aphrodite , and this may in part explain the vehement outbreaks Ar n obi u s of , a native of this town , against some of the aspects of paganism . From the vaguer denuncia u tions of Aug stine , it is to be feared that a similar od az class of hi er ul existed at Carthage . B rsa The temple stood on the lesser y , probably

- not far from the shrine of Baal Saturn , and was of vast extent , adorned with rich columns and 1 a s mosaics . There w a large area su rrou nded by porticoes , and enclosed by walls with openings to several chapels . Considerable remains have been : found an apse , Corinthian capitals , marble columns , 2 s s . mosaic , ci terns , and an aqueduct Long after the conversion of the empire C ae lest is remained an object of reverence and worship . Initia tions into the cult lasted down to the Vandal con 3 quest , and children were dedicated to her from birth . Many professing Christian s continued their sacrific e s was u even after the temple closed nder Constantine , and the road to it planted with thorns . I n 399 the w as but seat of the bishop established in the temple , the bu ilding was demolished thirty years later on a 4 pagan revival being apprehended . w as I n the same temple the shrine of Ceres , who C r was in Africa more u s u ally worshipped as the e re es . The legend w a s that this goddess had been brought

1 ' i D r i ss P aedzct D e 8. m . t r . An n o e . o . e P II I 3 2 ela e Bu ll . E i 188 . 1 . D ttr , pgm 4, p 3 7 3 Sal . Gu b D 2 v . . VIII . . A 1 6 Pros . . 8 . p q , , , 7 77 — Philosophy and Religion Apuleiu s

off from Sicily, before the Roman conquest , to ward a pestilence ; and , in harmony with this , marble u serpents have been fo nd near her statue . There is , ’ u Cer es A mcana however , little do bt that the f , as she IS Ceres e ca often called in contrast to the , is cht ho merely another aspect of Tanit , namely , the nian ; and as the empire advanced she became le i - a entirely merged in C ae st s . Ceres worship w s rare in the West , and the use of priests in Carthage u al who s (the ann Cereales , were greatly re pected) for this service was an unusual feature . Priestesses , 1 mostly widows , also existed , and the worshippers fi were disting uished by a llet . E schmoun -JEsculapi us ranked next in dignity to u aelest is H e Sat rn and C . had a temple on the u B rsa s mmit of the y at Carthage , reached by a long

. u flight of steps It was reb ilt by the Romans , and enclosed the large public library and archives u u s Ap lei s , himself a priest of thi god , delivered many 2 of his addresses in one or other of these b u ildings .

Some remains have been found , showing that the temple w as of white marble with friezes and fl ut ed

Corinthian colu mn s . The priests wore an archaic 3 u a lli um . s cost me , with p and sandals I n other part of Africa the worship of ZE sculapiu s was joined to C aelest is that of , and shrines were also set up to him 4 . s near healing springs As in Greece , patients pent one or more nights in the temple , When remedies

1 T Ad I D E h Ux . 6 e x or a st X er . t . . t . , C III . 2 l u . E . Fl . B ll i 8 C . u . or . r 1 8 . f Ap , XVII I p g , 5 3 4 T er P a ll . I. C. I L . . t . . VI II 997. [Escul api u s and Mercu riu s were revealed in dreams . Ro und the E sculapiu s temple at L a mbaesis are grouped several buildings with baths and hypocausts , perhaps designed to aid the curative treatment . The native originals u u u but of Silvan s and Merc ry are nknown , both seem to have received fresh cha racteristics after their u introd ction from Italy , and they are often confused with each other . Silvanus is primarily a god of u h nting , worshipped in the country or in small 1 u towns , sometimes in conj nction with Libyan deities . u al a tr i a s A u ustus Merc ry, sometimes c led p or g , is 2 u u tho ght to represent some P nic god of commerce , ca duceus originally symbolized by the , which is found a instead of the palm on some C rthaginian coins . Roman anthropomorphism replaced this rod by a fi gure of Mercury . It is characteristic of the cruel Punic religion that at Carthage a person attired as Mercury 3 experimented on fallen gladiators with a heated rod , to be certain that they were dead , before handing them over to the care of Pluto .

- u M . t T rning to non Punic Oriental cults , Cumon distinguishes four su ccessive waves of Oriental re ligiou s i n fl ue n ces (though affected by Hellenistic philosophical speculation) which swept over the s we tern provinces , connected respectively with Asia

Minor (Cybele and Attis) , Egypt (Isis and Serapis) , u Syria (various local Baals or J piters, and Atar or the S ri an oddess s gatas , y g ) , and Per ia ( Mithras ,

1 C I . L . 26 0 . . VI II . 5 ’ 2 ai n l n s da ns l Em i r Roma i n C Tou u tes Pa i e e . f . t , C p 3 Te A ol 1 . rt . p . 5 79 — Philosophy and Religion Apule i us

a later Manich eism) . Three of these had their effect

in Africa, though this was less marked than in taly owing to the greater vi ali y etained by I t t r $ the - - Romano Punic national worships . Cybele worship

C&lest i s was important from its association with ,

who , as already mentioned , rode on a lion like the - Pessi n us u earth goddess of , and whose stat e was u ann ally washed with similar ceremonies . With this goddess was connected the cu riou s brotherhood of D endr o hori p , who appear at Carthage , Cirta , and 1 R usica de , in the course of the third century . There is some reason for thinking that they were at one time an Italian corporation of woodcutters , devoted to the service of Silvanus ; and when the cult of was iden t ified Cybele reached Italy , their god with her minister Attis . In Africa they supplied wood for the public works , had a prefect , a chest , a - a s common meeting place , and perhaps , elsewhere , fire s helped in extingu ishing . They also had certain u u i priestly f nctions , at the ann al fest val carrying ' u fi u rin ro nd the sacred tree g g Attis , the dead spirit ' of vegetation ; and performing the mystic taur obolzum 2 or cr ioboli u m for the safety of the emperor . They cur i ae u were elected by the local , s bj ect to the approval of the central body of fift ee n at Rome . a lli The g , or begging priests of Cybele , were still 3 familiar figures at Carthage in the fou rth centu ry . Isis had enth u siastic worshippers at Carthage in out the Antonine Age , but the cult died earlier than

1 L 12 6 0 6 . I . C. . . VII I 57, 94 , 795 2 3 Au i r) D . 26 . 2 C . . L V 2 8 0 . . C C. I . . . f . II I 55 4, 3 g VII 80 ‘ Lat er O ri en t al Wo rships

C . some , probably soon after the reign of onstantine Vi cus Isidi s A existed , and probably passed her 1 temple . Another shrine was set up to her and

- Serapis by a second century lega tus at L ambaesis . u u There was a Serape m at Carthage , where Nept ne 2 u S e ra ic u s also was worshipped , nder a p sacerdos , who at one time bore the Egyptian name of ’ 3 Manetho . A Serapis statue With a dog s head has u e ffi ie s been fo nd , and g of crocodiles and serpents 4 were also worshipped .

The third or Syrian wave , which was the most u demoralizing , and Which prod ced its effect in Italy largely through the number of Asiatic traders

and freedmen already settled there , had no great i n flu n ce o e in Africa . The Ph enician religion corre s on de d p closely to the earlier form of the Syrian , and the latter therefore fo u nd the gro u nd already

’ a i h occu pied . Apuleius spe ks w t loathing of the 5 devotees of the Syrian goddess , and the attitude of the Carthaginians towards the contemptible Syrian emperor who robbed them of the Palladi u m of their 6 city was very similar . One record there is of i n fl ue n ce Rl Syrian , a dedication in the oasis of ’ K Mal a bal antara to g the messenger of the lord , iden t ifie d originally Babylonian , but with Astarte) 7 by a body of Palmyrene mercenaries .

su n - s s The Persian god Mithras , who e wor hip , 1 Te Idol . rt . . XX 2 Id De Th a r C I L . 10 0 2 10 0 1 . e t . . . C. . . 0 0 . , VI II f VIII , 7, 9 3 E h E i r 4 C r Ad D m . . . . 16 e etr p pg VII 7. yp . XII . 5 M t 2 5 e . . . V . su . VIII 9 pr. , p 75 7 C. I . L 2 . VI II . 497. 81 — Philosophy an d Religion Apul ei u s

u first the highest of all pagan c lts , had been intro ’ du ce d to the West by Pompey s legionaries , had many African shrines ; of one, a grotto on the 1 w e . Capitol of Cirta , have special mention His u on mysteries , with which from the third cent ry wards those of Attis were largely combined , were u fl a e lla celebrated in a cave ; and h nger, thirst , g u o tion , solit de , sometimes als the baptism of blood , fi uri n g g death and rebirth , were imposed on all who aimed at perfection . A regular scale of dignity among the initiated existed , and at Carthage there are examples of the admission of women . Like the u later Isis c lt , Mithraism had evidently borrowed u certain feat res from Christianity, as well as from w o the Roman military organization . These t were the most formidable rivals to the Gospel in the third and fou rth centuries . The religious philosophy of u of Mani , which inherited its principle of the d alism good and evil powers from Mithraism , but combined with it a wide astronomical knowledge , found some adherents in Africa in the fourth century , and M anich aean lecturers had much i n fluen ce in the u days of A gustine , who , attracted by their apparent piety and asceticism , for some years made a profession of their creed . u The Semitic c lt of meteorites , known in Africa A bbaddiy ide n t ified as , and by mythologists with the u w a s stone swallowed by Sat rn , very prominent in 2 some parts , especially in Numidia .

1 I L 6 . C . . . . VIII 975 2 loss. Pa s v . Abbaddir C I L G p. . . . . VIII . 82

CHAPTER VII

PO ETRY

O mn is e t an i ui ul a a est abu la sae cli t q v g t f , Nos saltus virid esqu e plagas camposque paten tes ’ u amur Scr t . NEMEsxANUS C n e . , y g 47.

U THO GH Africa produced few poets , even in the days 1 J f Horace it su pplied a market for the works of Roman writers when the sale began to slacken in 1n scr1 t ion s Italy . I n Africa, too , more p in verse are

' or a crost ics found , often in ambitious metres , than in any other province . Barbarou s in form and language , they confessedly emanate from men of — 2 3 4 hu a i . mble station courier, reaper , or goldsm th This of itself implies a wider dispersion of the taste For v ersificat ion than could be inferred from a too u great precision , s ch as would result from the

- employment of professional epitaph writers. African u s poems fall into three classes , from a conf ion between which some misunderstanding has arisen : works of educated men who defin it ely set classical models before them , and present few provincial me ia n us Dra c n s e. . Ne s o t ius C or peculiaritie , g , , , or

2 1 C I L 1 E I 20 1 . . . . . 0 2 p. . , 3 VII I 7 3 4 E h E i r V . 2 V . su p . pg . 79 . pr. p. 53 84 Th re e Classes of Afri can P oet ry ippus ; those of poets hardly less educated who s abandoned clas ical models , and sought , by adapting their verses to the popular accent and mode of t o speech , Win readier acceptance of their message , as Commodia n us Verecun dus such and ; lastly, verses which are the outcome of mere ignorance . Here are vague recollection s of classical authors s s read at school , elaborate metre half under tood , s e ab urd grammatical mistakes , and a real po tical u vocabulary mixed with v lgarisms . Such kinds of poetry are plentifully represented in the Africa n inscription s . s The claims of the fugitive piece of Florus , a poet Per vi i li um of the age of Hadrian , and of the g Veneris t o , which probably belongs the end of the

u u . second century , to an African origin , are do btf l

The latter , however , has close resemblances to acknowledged African works i n its strongly rhetorical colouring , its appreciation of natural beauty , and in 1 some traces of late and provincial language . It i s the work of a learned man , familiar with Ovid and t et ra m Vergil , who returned to the ancient trochaic eter which had been disused by poets through the s clas ical age , but remained popular with the lower orders , and was adopted by soldiers for the rude chants with which they accompanied their

‘ triumphant entries into Rome . It wa s again s employed by the African writers Augu tine ,

1 D f m e i al = = ras c r ma n or a or ro m c . F d e e ter a n e . i t r , p p ( f ) ’ i otu = om s n m suffi xes in - r s n is co e er vi cla nda fe . t zx y p (p ) , hich ar e common in Af ri can hr i s ian li e a ur e w C t t r t . 85 Poet ry

u L ux oriu s D racon t i us . Martian s Capella , , and This metre the author of the P er vigi li um treated with unusual dignity and grace , and by means of the refrain and of several u n literary phrases and con st ruct ion s endeavoured to recall , in What seems u y intended as the complaint of an nhappy lo er , some of the charm of early village s ongs and pastorals . The chief African poems which have come down de fin it ely dealing with rural pursuits are the ’ Cyn egetzca and four eclogues of the elegant v ersifier Nemesian us who Carthaginian , also wrote

fishin . H e flourished on g , and possibly on fowling u in the reigns of Car s and his sons , enjoying the Nu meria n friendship of the prince , With whom he C ne eti ca entered into some poetical contests . The y g first claims to be the Latin poem on the chase , a token that the work of G rat i us on that subj ect had already fallen into oblivion . In a long exordium the poet “ points out the threadbare nature of most u available themes , so that he is compelled to t rn to

u u . H e r ral purs its promises , like many of his pre dece ssors u , to sing at a f ture time of the victories of his s imperial patrons , and proceeds to deal at ome of length With the breeding dogs , passing on to s s s recommendations about the election of hor e , in s off the course of which the fragment break abruptly . 2 was It consists of 3 5 hexameters , and composed in 1 u Africa . The eclogues amount in all to abo t

0 0 . Ver il ext en din 3 lines The close imitation of g , g

1 L 2 1 . 5 . 86 — N e mesi an u s Min or W orks

u se even to the of a refrain , prevents these from throwing m u ch light on the state of letters bu t the romantic realism with which mythological legends are treated is very u nlike anything in classical o poetry . There are t w or three archaisms and some strange compounds , but the style is on the w o whole fairly correct . Only t or three attempts at epic are referred to during these centu ries ; one is the poem on Alexander the Great , by a friend of u Ap leius , the sweet and learned Clemens another ,

’ A ntomni as u u the of the elder Gordian , the nfort nate

r emperor of Africa , a long work in thi ty books on u the deeds of Antoninus Pi s and A u reli u s . u A few stray elegiac poems s rvive , and the metre contin u ed in use for erotic works of small compass

u A olo u (such as those q oted in the p gy of Apulei s) , and for short mythological poems like the D e A ve hce i e L a a n iu P n c ct t s. , sometimes attributed to All the grace and brightness of the Ovidian co u plet have disappeared , the hexameters are harsh and u of irreg lar , the pentameters have large numbers inelegant endings ; nor was it till the age of Au sonius and Na mat ian that anything like a classical form was restored to a metre which had gone out of favour even in the Silver Age . As often happens when a form of literature has u fallen into neglect , the r les which governed poetry u were caref lly studied . The fragments of a metrical treatise q uoted by grammarians under the name of u n j ba , and apparently belo ging to the second u a s r cent ry , are too slight for to be ce tain of its 87 Poe t ry

1 u u African origin , tho gh this has been s ggested . T ere nt i a n u s The work of the learned Moor has ,

however, come down . The writer describes himself who as a man had retired from active life , and wished to maintain his facu lties in fu ll exercise 1 The poem falls into three parts , discussing ( ) letters , 2 ( ) syllables and words , (3) metres, not only those of r Ho ace , as the title of the work promises , but others , u a a s ch as Saturnian , anap estic , and Phal ecian

hendecasyllable, all of which he derives ulti

mately from the hexameter and iambic trimeter . Tere n t i an us displays an extraordinary facu lty for ex pressing the most complex and prosaic ideas in H e elegant verse of various metres . also shows that all Africans had not been led away by P ronto ’ s depreciation of the classical age . H e evidently had a good knowledge of Greek (thou gh hinting that this was not very common among his cou ntry u men) , and mentions Sappho , E ripides , Theocritus ,

Phalaecus . , etc , besides referring the national

Sat urnia n measure to a Greek sou rce . While 2 C . a praising the eloquence of Gracchus , and p 3 re ci at in A e p g the genius of some Silver g writers , he draws the bulk of his examples from Catullus,

Vergil , and Horace , speaking without enthusiasm of t he du lci a opuscula in paltry metres by his contemporaries . Tho ugh classical poets were still stu died in the u s schools , the laws reg lating their pro ody were

1 l a C T e uffe . . f . , 373 , 5 2 3 - 6 88 2 1 . 9 . 35 88 — Teren t i an us M au rus C h rist i an Poet ry

comprehended only by a few . Africans are fre quently blamed by the grammarians for their 1 neglect of quantity, no metrical convention pre few vailed throughout the province , and the correct i v ersifiers are studied and art ific al . I n the various Christian poems produced in Africa from the s middle of the third century, often by men of ome s s u education , mea ure and accentuation of a pop lar type are introduced in preference to the di splay u of classical learning , which the Ch rch long dis countenanced . Among the most important are the two hexameter treatises of C ommodia n us Instr ucti ones Car men A olo eti cum H mnus and p g , the y de R esurr ecti one u u , vario sly attrib ted to Tertullian , V e recu n dus a n Cyprian , and ( African bishop of the ’ E xhor ta ti o P cemtendi Vandal period) , and the of

- ar men A olo eti the last named . The date of the C p g cum is fix ed by internal evidence as contemporary u with the Gothic invasion of the third cent ry , and following on the seventh persecution of the Church , that of Deci us . The author appears to have been a lawyer of heathen origin , a native of Gaza in Syria

(though probably of Roman descent) , and according ub cr i ti o to the s s p a bishop . The notice of Com 2 modi an us in G e n n adius contain s no all u sion to his u place of settlement , but the n mber of parallelisms 3 in langu age and metre between C ommodian us and

1 8 on sen 2 . C A u En uf f i n PS . 20 D B aei r . . 1 e . C t. 39 , 3 f g . 3 , 2 h 2 Sc i t E cc C r . r l . 4, 4 p . . XV . 3 C C. I L 1 2 for si mila ba bar ou s erses i n A r ic a f . . VIII . 5 , r r v f e arl i n the hi rd c e n ur y t t y . 89 Poet ry

African poetical inscriptions , the resemblance to the style of the African A eta M a r ty mmand of t he letters of ’ Cyprian s correspondents , as well as the similarity of the l uxurious life here deno u nced to that which is known to have existed at Carthage and other cities , make it probable that he was one of the 1 u u t n mero s African bishops , who were of en chosen from the lower orders , and were hardly superior to ordinary presbyters . The poet was well read in the classical authors and the early African Fathers ; his a fulfil c esura is strict , and here and there lines the most exacting laws of metre . Assonance and alliteration are common ; there are tendencies to u wards rhyme and some leonine verses . H iat s u occ rs , but elision very sparingly . The grammatical i fl n ex ion s . s u are of interest Ca es are in conf sion , and becoming superseded by prepositions ; the old accu sative and i n fin it iv e constru ction is giving place ’ u uad ui a uoma m to s bordinate clauses with q , q , or q comparatives are formed with plus irregularities of declension or conj u gation are smoothed away ; intransitive verbs become transitive ; neuter pl urals are mistaken for feminines in -a ; and many other traces of Romance usage may be discerned . Classical Latin verse had corresponded to a transition from a strictly quantitative system like u the Greek to the accentual , and the accent al or rhythmical tendencies gained fresh strength in the third century , especially affecting the dactylic s measures , as less in harmony than ome others with

1 ’ mm di n i n M la n s R m r C Boissier Co o e e e e . f . , é g 90

CHAPTE R VIII C H R I S T I A N A F R IC A

‘ — Quis melior medicus quam p assus vul n era victor CO M

M O DIANUS. ‘ “ Felix e i sco us dixi M eli us est me i n i ad u i uam p p t, g r q scri t uras d eificas uia b on um est obedir e Deo ma is uam p , q g q ” homin ibu s —Acid Felicis . .

THERE were numerous settlements of Jews in Africa , u u especially after the fall of Jer salem , and synagog es i ifi S t s . are mentioned at Cirta , , and Carthage Three Jewish teachers of the law are referred to in the T to almud as resident at Carthage , and the north of the city have been found portions of a Jewish u 20 0 cemetery with traces of abo t tombs , some with su Hebrew inscriptions and richly frescoed walls , g s in ge t g that the Jews here were men of wealth .

Having been once an independent people, and having

a separate national God , they did not come into con o fli t with the authorities , but through them Chris t ia n ity wa s probably introd u ced into Africa early in the second cent ury . The bulk of the Jewish com munity, however , showed determined hostility to the new faith , and seem to have been partly responsible 1 s was for the gross libel with which it assailed , still

1 Ad Na t I 1 Fr on a Min l l Ter . Fe u C ...... f. t 4 ; t p IX ; Ap

i 1 . M e . . IX 4 9 2 J e ws i n Afri ca opposing the efforts of Christian teachers in the time 1 of Cyprian . u The nderlying monotheism , which the Christians es themselv attributed to African paganism , its ten den cy t o worship gro ups of t wo or three deities a f closely associated , and in f ct merely di ferent aspects of one power, together with the absence of strongly s marked per onalities in its mythology , made the

’ s n e w change an ea y one , and the religion was em braced by the provincials with their usual impetuosity .

Though converts were also drawn from rural districts , the Church aimed first at secu ring the centres of life and activity, and here became strongly organized . s s s Bishop , whose repre entative gathering formed the m only free assemblies in the empire , were chosen fro l the middle and professiona classes for the most part , and in early days were frequently converted rhet ori e u ia s . Their legal knowledge was utilized by the s who t o congregation , preferred abide by their decisions rather than resort to heathen cou rts .

Already familiar with public life , they proved capable s admini trators , prepared to discourage both the fanaticismwhich introduced sectarian warfare at an r ea ly date , and the asceticism which impelled many converts , shrinking from the depravity of contem

orar . p y paganism , to withdraw altogether from society The gathering of presbyters (consessus) also had cer tain judicial functions conferred by the consent of 2 s the congregation , and acted with one or more

1 C r E m od I nsi f . I . . T r ud m C e Adv. I . Co . . . yp p. 59 f . t. 37

93 Ch rist ian Africa bishops in inq uiring about the fit n ess for ordination of candidates put forward by the congregations . In towns the clergy usu ally lived on the collegiate sys

a n d . tem , were paid

Persecution was not long in making itself felt , and all the chief eras of persecution claimed many mar F amil u u tyrs in Africa . y rites wo ld be interr pted by the withdrawal of individual members who had been

n e w u won to the religion , military service wo ld be ’ u sacrifice s u ref sed , to the emperor s genius scornf lly f 1 rej ected . The existing Acts of the A rican martyrs , f o 180 beginning with those who suf ered at S illi in , u well ill strate the high spirit of the converts , their uncompromising hostility to everything that savou red of heathendom , and also the consideration of the official s who u higher Roman , co ld not help admiring of s u the courage their victim , tho gh compelled to u resort to repressive meas res , both by the orders of their superiors and by the feeling that Christianity was dividing the empire at a time when barbarians 18 were most aggressive . In the interval between 0 1 8 and 9 the See of Carthage was formed , an African

t I . pries was raised to the papacy as Victor , and as u many as seventy bishops met in co ncil at Carthage .

The Gospel also began to extend to the native races . Yet an insidiou s evil made itself felt in the intervals u e n of persec tion , the t ndency to worldli ess which , r partly owing to the poverty of the converts, pa tly to t he u u the example of l x rious life around , caused of o many relapses . We hear bish p s who had their 1 ’ C . R. Kn o A us ewdhlte Md r t remcteri f pf, g y 94

Ch risti an Afr ica

communion those who had fallen and sacrificed to u De u u n u m idols during the persec tion of ci s , fo nd

bers of adherents . Still stronger was the i n fl uen ce D of the onatist faction , which seems to represent the impatience felt by native races of Roman methods of u u out thought and r le , and in partic lar stood against ’ any leniency towards the tra di tores of Diocletian s

. s reign This heresy la ted till , and materially aided ,

the Vandal conquest , and there sprang from it a

phenomenon characteristic of the zeal of the Africans ,

quite capable of degenerating into ferocity . The Circumcellion es of Numidia were bodies of Pu nic s speaking peasant , half friars , half bandits , acknow

ledging no rule and possessing no property or home . They wo u ld wander about amon g t he cellae of the

- country people , begging or robbing and having

nothing to lose and being fearless of death , they became ready instruments in the hands of designing D onatist leaders , who organized them in opposition u ar - to the imperial government . Sho ting their w cry of D eo laudes $ they gathered in large bodies , which more than once in the fourth cent ury committed massacres among the inhabitants of Cirta and neighbouring 1 towns . The Carthaginian Church from the ou tset assumed s first a leading po ition , and gave its bishop the famous P 2 5 office tit le of 12 . The bishopric was an of great power , especially in the time of Cyprian , about whose s wide , almost universal , authority tradition long lin

1 O tat 68 Au En uf f i n PS 1 2 sid . D e p . III . ; g . . . 3 , 3 ; I H a r es . 54. 96 R e v ere n c e for Mart y rs an d t h ei r Sh rines

1 r ge ed in other provinces . The Christians here who included many persons of wealth , set the example of combating the plagu e which desolated ’ s the city during Cyprian s epi copate , and later did somethi ng to alleviate the distress of the vast body

a r ea: u - u of poor . Separate or b rial places were sec red for the converts by the third century, and as the n u mber of basilicae grew disting uished persons or u martyrs came to be b ried in these . The shrines of t he i martyrs , in which a vessel supposed to conta n wa s some of their blood often preserved , sometimes u became objects of idolatrous veneration , or nseemly 2 festivities took place in connection . Acts of the martyrs began t o be collected at an earlier date than ’ nata li tza in most provinces , and their , or the anni v e rsar y of their suffering , were celebrated with great ’ as reverence . Especially w this true of Cyprian s day (September which became a festival for t rade i win ds the whole province , so that even the which us ually blew abo ut that time were known as ’ ’ 3 - Cyprian s winds . Among the twenty two churches u which Carthage possessed in the fourth cent ry, the u great basilica o tside the walls , with its nine aisles ' - mart rzum and three lobed y , was especially con icu u sp o s . The great i n fl ue n ce of Carthage on Ch u rch history was due partly to the ability and high character of it s

1 r N z 2 e a . G g. . 4, 7 2 A u D e M ar . Eccl . a th g. C . 34. 3 il rima s rom o he o Pr B ll a nd I 20 . e 0 0 0 e V . p. . . P g g f t r pr v ’ a s shr i i n ces were often ma d e to Cypri n n e . 97 Ch ri st i an Africa

i b shops , partly to its distance from the centre of imperial government as compared with the Roman u see . After the removal of the seat of empire nder

in flue n ce . Constantine , Carthaginian waned Worldly t s fl ocked and insincere converts , still hea hen at heart , to join the dominant creed ; earnest men retired to the smaller towns and cou ntry districts monks were O penly ins ulted in the street ; and Carthage aban m l u u rofl i ac do ed itself to that revel of x ry , p g y, and u tter want of principle , showing that all creeds had i n fl ue n ce h n d lost their , which we described in the S alv ia n u u nl pages of and A g stine , and which was o y interru pted by the barbarian invasion . The Christian comm unity w as at first mainly

- s u Greek speaking , but thi lang age was little under e stood among the middle and lower class s in Africa , and at an earlier period than in Italy it w as fou nd advisable to prepare versions of the Scriptures written u in the popular dialect c rrent in the province . S ome portions of the Vetus I ta lc; may have been of African origin , but there seem to have been in existence many concu rrent Latin translations of parts of the Scrip u u t res , the choice among which was left to individ al bishops ; and q uotations from several of these are preserved in the works of African F a t he rs . The African pope Victor se t the example of pu blishing

Latin theological treatises , and the African teachers strongly opposed the stu dy of Greek classical authors 1 and philosophers . Christianity thus came to be

essentially Latin , and received in Africa those charac

1 ' D m. H m C Te . e ra C r E . f . rt P . VI . yp . p. 35 98

Ch rist ian Afri ca

’ manner of Seneca s philosophical works . In the invention of new words and forms Tertullian displays u u great skill , prod cing a theological vocab lary which enabled the Latin Church to hold its own to some extent against the flex ibilit y and vast power of growth inherent in the Greek langu age . Tha sciu s C aecili us C ria nus The rhetorician yp , also , S uidas wa s according to , a native of Carthage , con Caecili u s 2 6 verted by in 4 , became bishop of the city 2 8 u u in 4 , and perished d ring the persec tion of Valerian ’ six years later . Cyprian s letters and treatises mark u an advance on the immature manner of Tert llian , avoiding his harsh Hellenistic idioms . His language , more level , elegant , and polished , than that of most

Africans , proves him to have been a good scholar ; and he edited a dictionary of Ciceronian phraseology , besides writing a treatise on the N ate Ti r oni cmee which lasted down to the Middle Ages . The theo A d D ana tum logical works , especially the , show a con siderable debt to Seneca , with reminiscences of Vergil ’ and Seneca s tragedies . In many places he exhibits a desire to improve on earlier Biblical versions, striving to find Latin equ ivalents for the Greek or Hebrew words which had crept into popu lar religious 1 u lang uage . Shrinking , too , from the v lgarisms by the help of which Tertullian had made his dissertations forcible and popular , Cyprian adopts stately and less usual phrases , together with alliteration , rhyme ,

1 d L u . r . E W . Wa son St le a n a n a e o Si i a n Cf. Dr . t , y g g f Cyp , or examples. I O O Cypri an an d A rnobiu s

al s poetic diction , and a ymmetrical arrangement of

. was balanced clauses Rhetorician as he , he strongly appreciated the attractiveness of heathen rhetorical s s as t hose u s and my tical treatises , uch of Apulei , and himself produced books in something of the same — s e . . A d D ana tum s tyle , g , the with the obj ect of etting forth Christianity also as a mystery , only to be attained to through revelation , for the time ignoring it s A u moral teaching . The rhetorical devices of p leius u reappear in s ch works , not because Cyprian s u but con cio sly follows him , because both had been ed ucated in the declamatory schools of Africa . Cyprian to a large extent frees himself from these s trammels of rhetoric , and ri es to his highest level in the pastoral epistles , designed to strengthen con vert s or to mediate between con flict i ng parties in the E i stles Church . They display a grace worthy of the p s ss s of Pliny, together with an earne tne and incerity rare in African writers . I f we could imagine Apuleiu s converted t o Chris t ia nit s his s s y, and for aking frivolou declamation for a stern denunciation of the errors which he had abandoned , we should have an idea of the rhetorician s of Sicca , who , after keeping a chool of rhetoric so famous as to draw pupils (incl uding L a ct a n t ius him f Diocle sel ) from all Roman Africa , composed under tian that tremendou s diatribe against almost the L i bm’ VII whole civilization of antiquity , known as a h dversus Na ti ones. s There is the ame arc aic tinge, Arn obius the same love of variety, in as in the author Metamor h of the p oses. Both display a rhetorical lack 10 1 C hrist i an Afri ca

u u of moderation , both delight in the acc m lation of similar expressions , crowded epithets , asyndeta , and the elaboration of detached episodes . of Ignorant , as it appears , the Old Testament , and 1 u so only imperfectly acq ainted with the N ew, ill informed abou t orthodox Christianity as to put forward notorious Gnostic errors 2 as the tenets of the whole u Arn obi us Ch rch , while still a catechumen , in order his to prove the sincerity of conversion , composed these seven books in a style compou nded of the ordinary declamatory manner of his day and of

- H e a large element of ante classical idiom . owes little or nothing to Christian predecessors in the

$Vest . Clement of Alexandria is imitated in places but Arn obi us s is more familiar with Homer , Sophocle , O r hica s Plato , the p , and in Latin with Lucretiu and

Varro . After a brief and inadequate defence of Chri stianity against the charge of bringing misfortune on the Arn obius empire, turns to the task most congenial to f s himsel , and proceeds to paint the licentiousnes and degrading tendency of heathen religion s in the coarsest and most glaring colours . The last books are occupied u - with den nciations of temple worship , idolatry , sacrifices , and dramatic representations , the plays of Sophocles being placed on a level with the lowest u mimes , as eq ally derogatory to the dignity of the u u deities concerned in them . His manner is thro gho t that of a rhetorician rather than of a preacher . I n u order to produce a highly coloured pict re , he gathers

1 2 I. 6 I. 62 . 6 . 4 . , I I 3 I O Z

Ch risti a n Africa

and while in the second and third cent u ries Africa had taken the lead in elevating vulgar speech to be u u the lang age of literat re , in the sixth and seventh a purer Latin was probably spoken there than in any other province .

10 4 C HAPTE R IX VAN DAL AND BYZ ANTI NE PERIODS

” ‘ ‘ ’ ’ Ek e ov 36 x a t n a k azov kd ov e v K a ov c e i o ea t (i) ; 7 0 y y pq pfi , 7

° ‘ 0103 6 1 To K ai 7167111) 7 0 8116 6 1 7 0 vv vl 02 r er ék ecrr a t 5 B, 5 5 7 , ‘ ’ ‘ fl péf epov ydp I t gépcxos' Bo m¢ cin ov v ii v 86 Bel w dpt os‘ ‘ ' — T H O P HAN S . I eNp epa . E E ‘ ' ‘ ’ ‘ ' ” - e Pco a i oz aM ov Be r cbv Pw a ccov 71016 Re t a x/a fiv m . Av r p , F p N xfi — A n on . M onodi a .

TH E later part of the fourth century witnessed a steady decline in the prosperity of the African prov ’ i nces disafiect ion , and a growing spirit of in the n s. P ative tribe Thus , irmus the Moor came forward as s a real national repre entative , assuming the diadem as of an independent monarch , not a mere chief banditti like Tacfarin as in earlier years and his as revolt , well as that of his brother Gildo, could only be suppressed by enli sting other chiefs in support of the Roman authority . The provincials themselves u steadily ref sed to serve in the army, an attempt to u enforce a levy at Carthage led to a pop lar outbreak , and the province had to be left to the protection of Moorish auxiliaries and some bodies of German mercenaries . The ben efit s resulting from the complete establish ment of Christianity had been largely neutralized by 10 5 Van dal an d Byzan t i n e Perio ds the herce persecution of heathens and heretics which ensued , a persecution that at length forced the power ful D onatists to declare openly against the empire .

In the country districts serfage , a branch of the cor orat ion p system , that curse of the later principate , u u had grown p d ring the fourth centu ry . Rent was paid by the coloni in money or kind to the owners of the large estates , and the former were forbidden to leave the land on pain of losing all their property . ’ decumones The owners themselves were the local , an office so much hated owing to the exactions of governors and other officials that the curi w had sometimes to be fille d up with outlaws or Jews . u it With all these elements of unrest abo t , Carthage , u u as proud and lux rio s as ever , was seen to be defence 2 less , and in 4 4, when the barbarian invasion was already threatening , Theodosius allowed it to be fortified first s a s , for the time ince the d y of the younger Scipio . Five years later the Vandals landed in Africa , and were joined by large bands of maraud u D who ing Moors , and by the persec ted onatists shared with the Arian invaders in a common hatred sur towards the Catholic Church . Carthage was not prised till 43 9 , for the Vandals had little skill in attacking walled towns . When the province was entirely reduced the conquerors showed great harsh e ness , especially towards the larger propri tors and

u . the Church , the mainstays of Roman r le in Africa

The former lost their lands , and were banished or ’ sank to the condition of colom the wealthier clergy were also expelled from their possessions , and the 10 6

V an dal an d Byzan t i n e P eri ods

churches was the well - known Gothic version of Ulfilas ; but Latin came soon to be generally under s tood , being needed for trade and intercourse with

other Mediterranean states . Nor did the Vandals prove themselves inaccessible to humanizing i n fl uen ces , however much the epigrammatists might 1 mock at their rough Teutonic speech . Their later u Thrasamu n d u kings were well ed cated . st died theo s s logical controversie , and in cribed Latin acrostic lines 2 on the baths which he raised at Carthage . While on their first arrival the barbarians had caused great u u havoc in the city , destroying many p blic b ildings , a fort ificat ion s u Thra sa basilic e , and the new , nder

6 - 2 n e w mund (49 5 3 ) a palace and church arose , a Alli ca n a town called was founded in the vicinity, and at a distance of fiv e miles a royal country - seat was Chrasis s u laid out at (Grasse) , urrounded by parks f ll of limpid streams and countless plantations of fru it 3 was trees . The theatre of Carthage restored , and s even Greek drama were occasionally performed , mostly , it appears , in dumb show . Some attempt had already been made to restore external decency by a rigid enforcement of marriage laws and other 4 social measures . Prosperity in the country districts also revived to

1 B hr en s o t L a M n V 2 a e . t i I , P . . . 4 9

n er ci ls oti cum sca ia ma tzi a i a d r mca n I t g p , ’ Non aud e ui s uam di n os e d ucer e ersus t q q g v .

’ F ul Adv Tr a szm I 2 g . . . . . The han h o es r om 1 1. p , C , p. 9 Sal Gu b D V II 20 c Dracon t 81 82 v. . . . f . . VI . , . 10 8 Li t erat u re i n t he Fift h C e n t ury some extent from the more determined resistance to 1 Moorish inroads . A contemporary poet has left a description of the cou ntry seat of the German baron F ridama l u , rich with marbles , stat es , and paintings , incl uding a pictu re of the master killing a wild 2 boar . I n the reign of the same Thra sa mun d an interest ing literary revival took place . African writers who u lived soon after the Vandal conquest , s ch as Priscian D omn u lu s the grammarian , and the poet , a friend u bu t of Sidonius , had retired to foreign co ntries ; towards the end of the fift h centu ry a gro u p of authors appear at Carthage under the auspices of the rhetorician and grammarian F elicia n us (the s D racon t ius who in tructor of ) , united Vandals and 3 Roman s at his lect ures . A curiou s consequence followed from the fact that the r uling powers were out of harmony with the bulk of the Roman population in religious matters . For nearly two centuries African literat u re had been u bu t almost excl sively polemical or theological , as these s u bjects became dangerou s the more edu cated members of Carthaginian society attempted a classical revival , which was patronized by the Vandals , ready u eno gh to divert the attention of their s u bjects . Towards the end of their period of ru le a certain O ct av ian us C of arthage , on the invitation of a Vandal

s . prince , formed an anthology of poems of thi school

1 Cori oh 6 pp. j . I II . 7. 2 L uxorius 8 , 45 . 3 C Dra on t Pras 12 ci se f . c . f . , q. 10 9 Van dal an d By zant i n e P eri ods

u u It passed into E rope , and in the next cent ry was s Codex S almasi a nus mo tly incorporated in the , which ’ P er vi zli um ener i s also contains the g V . D rac on t iu s W ho u f , s f ered imprisonment under the persec uting king G u n da mun d (484 was the u chief poet of the gro p , and for his age writes 1 correctly and with some true feeling . Besides reli n de laudi bus D ei u fin e gio s poems , , which incl de a account of the Creation , he left a number of short chiefl u epics , y on mythological s bjects , having a fl avour strong rhetorical , and often arranged undis uisedl u g y as forensic contests ; f rther , two epithalamia D ra n i and some elegiac poems . co t us shows a good u se knowledge of the Latin classics , and makes C u of Vergil , Ovid , Statius , and la dian . u A long dreary hexameter poem , sually called the ’ Oresti s edza i s Dracon t ius n , sometimes ascribed to , and the remarkable though unpleasant E gr i tudo P er di ce probably originates in the same circle , since h is the story, elsew ere unknown , mentioned in the D n i Hylas poem of raco t us . The Epistle of Di do is of val ue as ill ustrating the complete break - u p of the hexameter by means of a refrain Which in every fe w lines produces a pause at ae u U the hephthemimeral c s ra . nder an earlier king , H u n n eric (477 a certain Cato sang of the ’ u monarch s naval ndertakings , and complimentary

1 The caesura i s en erall car e ul but h hm some i mes g y f , r yt t ‘ o er o er s me ri cal uan i as mItescit sen ectti s muliéri s v p w t q t ty, , , . L on o els b e or e 11 are sho en ed an d ui a ma r e lace the g v w f rt , q y p a ccusa i e an d i n fin itiv e t v . I I O

Van dal an d By zant in e Peri ods

of Belisarius and Johannes . Many Vandals were taken away to Constantinople or drafted into the ’ u o t emperor s forces in Asia, and after a f rther u break against the au thority of the eastern empire all ad ult males of Vandal race who could be fou nd in

Africa were removed to other provinces , and the small remains of the G e r ma n ic i n v a ders disappeared u amidst the mixed pop lation of the province . n ow The Roman dominions , however, extended Am sa a w few only to the p g river on the west , ith a outposts in Mauritania ; and in the course of the

- u next half cent ry the incursions of the Moors , encouraged by the successful brigandage of the

Vandals and by the long period of anarchy , gradually reduced them t o a third of the size of Italy . J ustinian and his immediate successors showed great solicitude for the reconquered province ; forti fied posts were erected along the southern frontier , the materials of towns rul n e d i n the border warfare u cla usulce were used for constr cting fortresses , and ,

s . or long walls , blocked the most important pa ses New a towns also arose , others received therm e , 1 i hi u u s . u fl our s n aq ed ct , and fountains Numero s g monasteries were established . Many, like the M a n dra ci um on the coast near Carthage , and at e Theveste in the south , er cted by the distinguished f ifi i n ort cat o s . general Solomon , were enclosed by s t he H adrumeti n e Other are found in district , con sisting of a series of vaulted chambers with enclosing

1 E a r s i Ecol IV 8 C v . . . 1 . f . g . 112 A rchit ect ure an d A rt i n Six t h Ce n t ury walls. Such establishments often became centres of

- considerable settlements , and the soldier monks who were charged with their defence were in a manner the forerunners of the later mediaeval military Orders .

Carthage , now the seat of the African vicar , was so m u ch transformed as to be Spoken of by ’ K aS Procopius as a v ea a pq v . The Vandal palace again became the residence of the governor ; a fin e 1 church and therm ae were added . I mportant forti ficat ion s u protected the harbo r, and near the shore the squ are called forum mari ti mum was su rrou nded by a double range of porticoes . I n other towns , also , u m ch rebuilding was carried out , and Byzantine architecture figures extensively in the eastern part s al of the province . N or were the other arts together bas- neglected . Marble reliefs found at Carthage in s - s a ixth century ba ilic e , representing the Adoration of the Magi and the Appearance of the Angels to

“

s . the Shepherd , are among the best of their age s s s s s Mo aic al o were till much employed , and tho e in some of the tombs su pply good evidence about the 2 - co stumes of a little known period . They are still Eastern in character ; men have long green or white s dalmatic with broad bands of embroidery , and a triangular cloak of brown wool , with a handkerchief ’ or ommum round the neck . Women wear tight clinging dresses embroidered at the wrists and

s . wai t , and held in by a red girdle Over this is a wide tunic with large sleeves of bright colours ;

1 d B Va n Proco E . d 2 p. . 339 . 474, 5 3 .

' 9 8 1 C Rev. Tuniszen ne 1 6 . . f . , 9 , p 3 5 113 Van dal and Byzan t i ne Per i o ds

j ewels adorn the breast , and a light scarf flows over u the sho lders. Children wear white tunics with

u or s. bands of colo r , and short yellow red trouser The zeal shown by the emperors in the restoration and defence of these remote dependencies deserves

recognition , and , indeed , met with some reward when one of the strongest rulers that Constantinople ever possessed set out from his native Carthage with a u powerf l force , dethroned the incompetent Phocas , an d brought to a fin al issue the age - long strife

between Greek and Persian . duces The , or military governors , in Africa , of whom

one was stationed at Cirta , were frequently men of

great ability , but the civil administration , closely

modelled on the Byzantine type , was the worst that 1 Africa had yet experienced . The heavy taxation

- imposed , the resumption of long alienated imperial s estates , and the persecution of Arian and other

heretics , all helped to impoverish and divide the Roman population ; and the natives were per e t uall u p y goaded into rebellion , and event ally driven

into the arms of the Moslems . M u nicipal government survived in Carthage and u some other towns , and was reorganized by J stinian , who also attempted to restore higher education in $ al the capit . Other African towns as well had schools ' f 2 o gram mar and rhetoric at this period . The literary movement of the later Vandal age con n i tin ed , but closer connection with the East placed

1 ’ C Diehl L A r i u e B a n ti n e f . , f q yz . 1 un ili us D e a r ti bus Di v L e rae f j , P . g , p . 114

Van dal and Byzan t in e Periods

s service of the empire , and was sent on everal impor '

s. ohcmms In L a u tant mission His chief works , j and dem usti ni i j , display a fluent style , insp red by Vergil u and Cla dian , with occasional reminiscences of Ovid ,

Lucan , and Statius . The metre is hexameter, with elegiac prologue . C aesura is much neglected ; words not otherwise admissible are altered in quantity,

Greek words especially being carelessly treated . The former poem throws some light on the condition of s a this small outpo t of a decaying civilization , alre dy confin es u on the of the M iddle Ages , and in a cent ry destined to be swallowed up in the flood of Oriental fanaticism . Especially does it illustrate the great native revival , coincident with the gradual with draw al of the Roman power , a revival characteristic of that vigorou s race which eventually destroyed all traces of European civilization , for generations with modified stood , and at last profoundly that of the

Arab conquerors . For nearly four centuries a small body of Roman 6 Christians lingered on i n par ti bus i nfideli um. In 98 Carthage had been pillaged by the Moslems and defaced , but its principal buildings were not de su stroyed , and long continued to pply stone and marbles for Arabic and Italian communities . A few clergy under their archbishop remained in what was n ow a mere township , and watched over the relics C s as of yprian , the Scillitan and other martyr , until , a compliment to Charlemagne , these were removed al to France by order of Haroun Raschid , Caliph of s Bagdad . A few other Chri tian congregations 116 Ro man C o mmu n it ies u n d er t he Caliph at e existed , retaining Latin for services , but probably resigning themselves to the use of Arabic in ordinary five life . In the eleventh century there were bishops to represent the 60 0 who had presided over the

African chu rches before the Vandal conquest . Yet it was in this season of deep humiliation that the Roman pontiff issued a decree intended to safeguard for ever the metropolitan right s of the See of 1 s Carthage . Even the e few clergy were not united , and w e hear of the archbishop Cyri acu s being imprisoned by the Arabs at the in stigation of some of his own followers . To him Pope Gregory VII . s addres ed a letter of consolation , with renewed u it ass rances that the primacy should remain to , ‘ whether the Church of Carthage should still lie ’ 2 desolate or rise again in glory I n 10 76 Cyriacus was again at liberty , but there was only one other Christian bishop left in Africa . Thence ‘ forward these u nhappy remnants of the race once

Roman fade from the pages of history .

1 L i L 1 E 8 A . D . Nov eri s er o eo . n a i . a t. . IX P r 43 , p 3 ( g pr ocul d ubio quia p ost Roman um pon tificem primu s a r chi e pi scopus et t oti us Afri cae maximus metr opolitan us est C ar ’ t ha i n i e n si s e i3 0 0 u s g p p . 2 a i r L a t 1 8. P . . 4

117 C HAPTER X SOME CONSID ERATIONS O N T H E STYL E AND LAN GUAGE O F AFRICAN W RITERS

‘ En ecce praefamur veniam si quid exoticr son uero ao si ’ i m i i r — u d for en si s ser on s ud s locu o o en d e o . APU L US q r t r ff EI .

T H E great extent of the African country , thinly u s pop lated by Roman or Romanized barbarians , involved a low level of culture , especially in the out s f lying district , in spite of the e forts made by the out rhetorical schools to keep barbarisms . Even u after a period of st dy at Carthage , an African might have to undertake a journey to Rome before any u real literary activity could be entered o . The African C hristian literature of the third century throws much light on the processes which led to the grammatical decay of spoken Latin and the evolution of the Romance languages . In these parts , cut off as they were from the main stream of classical tradition , the popular element in the s i nfl uen ce language had exercised unu ual , and the decay was exceptionally rapid . Forms Which did not become common in Spain for two centuries more may there be found in use by the time of u Cyprian . F rther , as Roman civilization in Africa 118

S tyl e an d Lan guage of Afri can W rit ers

u well acq ainted with classical models , only slightly reflect r s the tendencies of their count ymen , the e are

clearly marked in works like the Acts of the Martyrs , u u Celerin us the epistles of L cian s , , and other u correspondents of Cyprian , the anonymo s treatise D e Reba ti sma te p , and many Christian inscriptions . A large nu mber of German monographs and s magazine articles have been published , ince the ’ appearance of Sit tl s D i e L okalen Verschi edenhei ten

deaf L at . S rache 1882 s p in , on the ubject of African s s Latin , ome maintaining , other rejecting, the existence of a special African dialect . The general be— r results seem to ( ) Local peculiarities did exist , but can seldom be detected now, owing to the absence of literary works from other parts at the same period . (2) Vulgarisms were more widespread and more ready to creep into literature than in other u u a s provinces . (3) Corr ptions , s ch those which led s to the formation of the Romance language , appear very early in Africa . S o many lists of su pposed African peculiarities have been published that I here con fin e myself almost entirely to the last point .

Y AND U C ORTHOGRAPH PRON N IATION . I

s As in other province at a later date , there is frequ ent confusion between 6 and according to 1 birt u s bol un t as Isidore , forms like bita , , , were common in Africa , and this is borne out by inscriptions ,

1 A . . . 0 pp I II , p 5 4 120 Vari at ions i n forms of Words

especially those of the earlier Christian period . Probably the sou nd of both was intermediate

6 v s . between and , as in modern Spani h For similar l m v a r m . c . vu u e v ece confusions f abuelo ( ) , brebis ( ) M n wa s mm m Volu miu s im contracted to or , as , 2 c s mentem ; f . allumer emer A d before m w as contracted to amm or am; in u a mi rabilior D racont ius ammisit Apulei s , in , am 3 i . s a s motis This normal in Italian , ammirare ,

ammettere . s or s s i r as In inscription ometime replaces ; , 4 A a c ucron i . . , macri ; f craindre , from tremere Some traces exi st of the prefixing of a vowel t o s Is es R usicade impure ; as , p (a proper name in a

i s osa . S o s i s oso inscription) , p , etc in Italian i pirito , p , i s s ssum . in Spanish e peso ( p ) , especioso Africans are accused by grammarians of some u a l pec liarity in the pronunci tion of , which they are 5 i n fl n said t o double even when initial . The little ue ce that I has on the preceding syllable in popular 6 s s verse suggest that it had a liquid ound , the double letter resembling Spanish ll .

‘ 1 0 Bix i r u c E . E h E i r . : x t e i ebi . su blima bi z g. , p . pg . VII 43 , q f

er i n the bes M SS . of A ul Flor . p f . ) t p . . II 2 C . I . L . 2 82 VI II . 4 . 3 man n u C . Kluss ms A l r i ca nae on A u . f , C f , p 4 C I . L . . 6 . VII I 54 , 373 . 5 8 n sen . 2 m . on a t. 2 6 o o omm a r t . . C t 394, 7 P p . C D , , 34 3 mm I C . Co od . nstr . I 1 alli i b. 11 v fil n era i b. 11 1 f . 7, , f t ; , ; , , A olli n em p . St yl e an d Lan g uage of African Writ e rs

CC D A I EN CE .

Variation s here proceed from an impa tience of u f irreg larity and of a multitude of di ferent forms , u a Neuter pl rals are confused with feminines in , in s mi ssa r omi ssa r emi ssa or ti a word like , p , } and f (the ’ 2 vzs S o original of fuerza , forza , force) may replace . fé fa a m e t . in French feuille (foliam) , ( ) 3 n e la a fl a i : . . m s uct u t s . Gender are g g , p , fem as in 4 lactem . Italian ; , masc (a Plautine revival) , whence ‘ 5 ta entes as . ad e I lian latto g masc . in French In j c t ives the accu sative neuter is being assimilated to the u masc line form , a token that in time the neuter u gender will disappear . Many instances occ r in

letters to Cyprian , and in the works of his friends , of a ud metallum Si uensem ta lem ecca tum phrases like p g , p , r remdeli ctum du li cam cr i en S o i o m . p , p in an inscription “ ar ti ci us i n eni a s. fi , g J am The ending , according to Augustine , was in u u favour in Africa for the f t re , and he accordingly i i h u s ori et o . fior re se fi ( f Italian ) , knowing it to be 7 D correct . eponent verbs are disappearing , an ante

classical active form being often substituted , and

they have left hardly a trace in Romance . Second

conj u gation terminations are frequently weakened . ’ s Commodian us rwbér e au ér e mer ém Thu , has p , g , e e c . f rire , taire, tordre , plaire , from rid re tac re ,

t or uére e . q , plac re

1 2 mm d A ol 0 C r E 6 Co o . . . yp . p. 4. p 4 3 4 ) 5 mm A ol Ibi d r E 8 o . . 1 C . . 3 . yp . 1. . C p 345 7 1 8 2 I L P s . C . . . . VII I . 3 , 5 12 2

Styl e and Lan g u age of Afri can Writ ers

The ablative of the geru nd has almost the sense of u se u a present participle , a fo nd occasionally in clas ical h s . writers , and normal in Spanis and Italian It

may also take the place of a relative , generally casual , ’ ’ ' 1 u di li tia t t o zce cla se Cum gen feczs z mi ten d N fomm. s Indirect question are frequently in the indicative ,

u si uad ui a . and may be introd ced by . Q , q , etc , with the indicative aft er verbs of saying and thinking ’

are extremely common . Prepositions all have a tendency to be constructed m cu m : e. a b co m m with the accusative g . , , , , p

(expressing rest at a place) , are all so used in the

Christian literature of the third cent ury .

VO CABU L ARY AND SE S O F D U WOR S .

The employment of diminutives , whether revivals

u . u or new inventions , is a feat re of the decay Tho gh

- common in the ante classical period , few fresh diminutives were formed d u ring the best age and it was only with Flavian writers like Martial and

Juvenal that they begin to reappear . Yet dimi nu t ives u always remained pop lar with the lower orders , and th us constitu te the source from which a great part of the Romance vocabulary is drawn . The process continued in literature through the age of

Hadrian , and culminated in Apuleius , to whose 2 dreamy and poetical style they were well suited ; but the desperate earnestness of the persecuted

1 C r E 2 yp . p. 5 . 2 In A ulei us first occur spi n ula é in le f ormicula c p ( p g ) ( f . urmill er somn ul n tus somn olen o e . f ) , ( t) R o man ce U sages i n African A u t h ors

r u Ch istians shrank from these playf l forms , few of 1 which appear in their writings . Among noun suffix es tor and tr i x are very common and in proper names an ending in i tta occu rs several times , a form very rare in Italy outside Etruria, but 2 as etta ette reappearing in Romance , , etc .

u ecci lle . so u The strengthened prono ns , etc , m ch u l u sed in Romance , and preva ent in pop lar speech u a from the time of Plaut s , reappe r in literature with

Apuleiu s. Totus omni s is in process of replacing , an adjective u which found little favour in Romance , tho gh ’ retained in Italian side by side with tutto . 3 [ 536 i dem of 1 is replacing as the pronoun identity, the proper reflexive sen se being now conveyed by $6

s. s e for all person Hence mi mo , medesimo , m me i mu m (met psi ) . The number of adjective suffixes is remarkable ; one of those which proved most productive in

S . e I . a zo r a t u e . Romance i s a i c s ( p aj t gg ; F . g ) I nceptive form s of verb s are often adopted in Romance to the exclusion of the simple stem ; but a s such inceptive s are common in all provinces during the decay , the most interesting African feature is the use of the suffix sea in a curious causal i nnotesco hi laresco dulcesco sen se , as fin i F l . o . s s as ssant ( u g ) f uch participle adoucissant , , also u sed transitively .

1 An exce ion is ovecula : Te . a ll . . Fr . ouaill es S . pt rt P II I ( , p o e a v j ) . 2 2 mm A ol 2 L x . o . . . C Archiv. L a t. e . . f . VII I 495 C p 9 12 5 S tyl e and L an g uage i n Afr i can Wr it ers

O f 97 0 cum prepositional uses , [ for purpose , for de s u instrument , for pos ession , partition , instr ment , s a n or material , have analogie at later dates ; d also u de ost double prepositions sed adverbially , like p

F r . first ( depuis) , which is found in Africa in a temporal sense .

EXAM P L E S O F THE E ARL Y A PPE ARANCE O F

RO M ANCE WORD S O R M EANINGS .

BAL L ARE aik k ew S . bai lcw , dance (from B ) p ;

It . ballare.

I c mbi ar I . CAM B RE S . a t , change p ’

cambzare.

' ercme . c erc It c Fr h ker . VIII . .

C O NC U RRE RE . D . , concur with (Tert , then igests) i S . concurr r . p , etc

F C r . E 2 S . CON ORTARE , strengthen , console ( yp 1) . p

con ortar . f , etc

D CU S . di scutir . IS TERE , debate on p , etc

’

S . ensazo I EXAG IUM C . I L . . t . , scales ( VIII p

es ai . saggi o F r . s

’

P C u It . azzone . A TIO , factio sness f , etc l M A Imom S hos i zi o . U u u f . . H OSPITI , ho se ( p , ) p p , etc i md e . max . S . m It m ta. M E D IE TAS I . , half (Tert , ) p

’

i tzé. F r . mo It M INARE , lead with threatening cries .

F r mener . menar e .

ut A at M 2 7 12 . S . met 7 . M ITTERE , p , throw ( ) p , etc

i membmm . F r . R E M E M O RARI It . r O

r emembr er .

S . estar It stare. STARE , be p . 126

In dex

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I N BIL L NG A ND SO S, L TD . , PR INT E RS , GUIL D F O RD