ROMAN AFRICA.*
Two nations in the world—the Roman and the English—have shown themselves supreme in the art of colonising, and each of them won a conspicuous triumph in Africa. The Phoenicians, of course, preceded the Romans, and Carthage was a cele- brated city many centuries before the battle of Zama ; but with the close of the Second Punic War Africa began a new chapter of its history, a chapter which is sketched by Mr. Graham with considerable skill and erudition. The author has consulted most of the modern authorities, and, better still, he has made excellent use of the inscriptions and monu- ments in which the North of Africa is peculiarly rich. His monograph, therefore, contains much information which cannot elsewhere be found between two covers, and though • Roman Africa : an Outline of The History of the Roman Occupation of North Africa. By Alexander Graham, F 8 A F ELBA. London : Longinana and Co. [16s.]
there are one or two gaps which might wisely have been filled, we recommend the book to all those of our readers who are interested in what Gibbon called " exotio history."
The battle of Zama crushed the power of Hannibal, but the success of Scipio and Masinissa did not establish the Roman rule with efficient security. Not only was the policy of play- ing off the Carthaginians and Numidians the one against the other dangerous, but the configuration of the country made the task of colonising difficult. On the north lay the sea, on the south the sand, and the transport of troops was no easier than the government of the various and hostile races. The early Emperors, moreover, found enough to do nearerhome. In fact, it was not until the reign of Trajan that Roman Africa became a wealthy and distinguished country. What Trajan began the Antonines finished, and Carthage rose to a height of splendour of which even Hannibal never dreamed. But what is more remarkable than the revived splendour of Carthage was its culture. Rome, which gave its colonists liberal laws and the opportunity of the greatest citizenship the world had ever known, inspired them also to cultivate the arts. In this respect Rome was more fortunate than England. It was not her fault, of course, that men of genius were born in her remote provinces, but she profited by the hazard, and paid honour to all such as exalted her language. Our Colonies, on the other hand, loyal and energetic as they are, cannot boast as yet a brilliant success in literature. The fiction of Australia, the verse of Canada, are marked by the rude vigour of a primitive and growing talent, which may in years to come develop into the artistic expression of new facts and fresh theories. But Roman Africa was congenial to letters. Greek and Latin were studied to equal purpose, and the African school, distinct in diction and style, has kept its celebrity unto the present day. The University of Carthage did more than teach ; it inculcated a theory cf literature. Its first law was elaboration, and we find Fronts, the friend of Marcus Aurelius, and perhaps the master of Apuleius, condemning Cicero on the ground that his style lacked research, and urging his pupils to use insperata et inopinata verba. This extravagance is not unnatural in a school whose members are using what is in a sense a foreign tongue. The scholars of our own Uni- versities write Latin and Greek with a care and an elegance with whic.h they know not how to embellish their own tongue, and it is impossible to read the works of any African without noting in his style that which is called in the literary slang of to-day "decadence." The great glory of the newer Carthage was Apuleius, who may fairly be taken as the best example of his school. Now, he tells us that while he was master of both languages, he was forced to learn Latin anew when be went to Rome. But if he learned the language anew, he did not write it as Livy and Cicero wrote it. In his bands it assumed a colour and brilliance it had never known before, and his Metamorphoses holds a place apart in Latin literature. But it is not only by a fantastic vocabulary that Apuleius proves his loyalty to the African school. His material is exotic in a higher degree than its expression Witchcraft envelops his romance in a heavy atmosphere, and, though his sense of humour was superior to the practice of wizardry, it is not surprising that he was charged with cunning enchantments. His Apologia, indeed, is characteristic both of himself and of his time, and it contains such a sketch of a cultured African as enables us to appreciate the fantastic curiosity of his education.
While Apuleius is the best example of African literature as it was practised, Fronts is pre-eminent as the advocate of the new method. It is uncertain whether he was the master of Apuleius, but he was assuredly the tutor of Marcus Aurelius, and Mr. Graham quotes several letters addressed by the Emperor to his instructor. One letter has that touch of familiarity which makes all things modern. After attending the Emperor at a sacrifice, "I went to take some refreshment," writes Marcus Aurelius. "And what do you think I ate ? A little morsel of bread, while I saw others devouring boiled beans, and onions, and pilchards. After that we went to the vineyards, where we laboured and amused ourselves. At the sixth hour we returned home. I studied a little, but without profit. Afterwards, sitting with my dear mother on a couch, I prattled of many things. I said : What do you think my Front* is doing now ? ' But she replied: 'But what do you think my Gratia is doing I" Then I said : No. What is our dear sweet little Gratia doing ? ' While we were talking and disputing which loved you the most the discus sounded. We supped. And now before I turn on my side and snore, I give an account of the day to my dear master, whom I could not love more than I do." It is not much, but it gives a reality to Pronto which in our scanty knowledge we might miss, and the reality is deepened by an inscription (quoted by Mr. Graham) which may still be read in the wall of a house at ICalama, and which describes the learned Fronts as a patron of the town. But there are other men of letters to prove that the African school was versatile as well as brilliant. Tertullian was born at Carthage, and was also an orna- ment of that University. Moreover, he wrote with the true African style, and cared so little for the Latin of Cicero that he embellished his periods with a fancy and elaboration which Apuleius would not have disdained. Surely, then, no man better deserves a full discussion in a history of Roman Africa, of whom Mr. Graham says no word.
But the Roman power declined in Africa as elsewhere, and when the famous Augustine went to Carthage as a student it was already moribund. And to-day it is remembered only as a dead civilisation, to be recovered from the inscriptions and monuments, carefully examined and noted by Mr. Graham. With the most of his conclusions we are in agree- ment, but he will find it difficult to support the statement that the Phoenicians did not penetrate the interior of Africa. The temples of Rhodesia are still matter for controversy, but the theory which attributes some ruins of Zimbabwe to the Phoenicians is supported by many sound arguments.
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