fusedly piled together. Most of the arcades and public buildings, too, appear to have been made up of massy blocks of sandstone and conglomerate, disposed in layers, without cement, or with a species of it which has almost entirely dissolved. The greatest care seems to have been lavished upon the temples. These edifices were constructed in a style of the utmost magnificence, and adorned with immense columns of granite and marble; the shafts of which, generally speaking, consisted of a single piece.

Even here, however, there are indications that the Roman Carthage was indebted for some of its decorations to the Carthage founded by the Phoenicians. Many of the pillars now found are of the Corinthian order, and belong, of course, to an improved epoch of the art: but among them are also seen enormous masses of a different description, displaying capitals and triglyphs, which render it extremely probable that a structure of Doric architecture had previously occupied the site at present covered with their common ruins. The more modern city, at all events, must have been encompassed with strong walls of solid masonry, furnished with magnificent gates, and ornamented with spacious porticoes. It was divided, too, from its principal suburb on the east by a river, the mouth of which, forming an extensive basin, was called the "Cothon," defended at its narrow entrance by two strong fortifications, connected with which were a couple of moles, still seen stretching out under the water. On the banks of this stream, the bed of which continues to be occupied by a rivulet, are the remains of various aqueducts, and some large reservoirs in excellent preservation. Between the principal cisterns and a torrent which passes to the westward of Leptis, some mounds have been constructed across the plain, by means of which the winter rains were conveyed for the use of the city. On the eastern bank of the river already mentioned are the vestiges of a galley-port and of numerous baths, together with a circus richly ornamented with obelisks and columns. The whole plain, indeed, from the Margib Hills to the Cinyphus, presents unequivocal proofs of great opulence and a dense population.*

Beechey, p. 74. Leo Africanus remarks, "Notissimum hoc atque antiquissisimum oppidum a quodam populo extructum fuit qui ex Syria huc venerat. Alii vero a Regina quadam conditum

These fragments of ancient magnificence leave no doubt as to the care bestowed by the Romans upon the capital of their Africa, however difficult it may be to determine the proportion of them which belongs to a remoter period. Nor can it be necessary to remark that the second Carthage, with the provinces subjected to its jurisdiction, shared largely in those vicissitudes and political commotions which shook the empire itself, both before and after the reign of Constantine. At one time three hundred cities are said to have acknowledged her authority, after she had risen with new splendour from her ashes, and when she had once more acquired, as a provincial metropolis, all the advantages which can be separated from independent sovereignty.*

The first calamities which Roman Africa endured, arose from the ferocious character of her neighbours, and the avarice of those who were sent by the imperial court to exercise the government. In the reign of Valentinian, about the middle of the fourth century, the military command was intrusted to a chief whose sordid views were the leading motives of his conduct, and who, on most occasions, acted as if he had been the enemy of the province, and the friend of the barbarians by whom it was assailed. The three flourishing cities of Oea, Leptis, and Sabrata, which, under the name of Tripolis, had long constituted a federal union, were obliged, for the first time, to shut their gates in order to protect the lives and property of their inhabitants from the savages of the Desert. After much suffering, the civic rulers applied to Romanus, entitled the Count of Africa, entreating him to march to their relief, and promising to raise, without delay, the supplies of money and camels which he had made the condition of their obtaining his protection.

But the mercenary general, hoping that the fears of the Tripolitans would hasten their gifts, delayed his assistance till many of the citizens were surprised and massacred, their villages burnt, their suburbs plundered, and the vines and fruit-trees of their fine territory rooted up or consumed with malunt. Quare nihil est in præsentia quod de hujus conditoribus affirmem; nam præterquam quod variè Afri atque historiographi inter se dissentiant, nemo est illorum qui inde aliquid scriptum reliquerit nisi post Romani imperii decrementum.-P. 553, edit. 1632.

* Strab. Geog., lib xvii

fire. A deputation to Rome was instantly resolved upon by the assembly of the three cities, the members of which were instructed to inform Valentinian of their deplorable condition, and, at the same time, to convey to his ears the well-founded complaint, that they were ruined by the enemy, and betrayed by his lieutenant. The count, however, contrived to anticipate this intelligence, which must have endangered his command and perhaps his life, and to impress upon the minds of the imperial council, that the murmurs against him had no other foundation than the cowardice or disaffection of the provincialists. An investigation was commanded by the emperor, who appears to have been animated with a sincere desire to discover the truth, and to pronounce an award according to justice. But Romanus experienced as little difficulty in deceiving or corrupting the commissioners, as he had to encounter in his attempts upon the honesty of the supreme government. The charge against him was declared to be false; the information lodged by the people of Tripolis was interpreted as the proof of a conspiracy; and orders were given to prosecute the authors of it as traitors to their lawful sovereign. The inquiries were managed with so much dexterity, that the citizens of Leptis, who had sustained a siege of eight days, were compelled to contradict the truth of their own decrees, and to censure the behaviour of their own deputies. A sentence, sanctioned by Valentinian, condemned the president of the Tripolitan council to death; and, accordingly, this distinguished person, as well as four others of similar rank, was publicly executed, as accomplice in an imaginary treason.*

This cruel and unjust decision, by showing the subjects of the Roman colony that they were excluded from the benefits of an equal government, diminished whatever affection or confidence they might entertain towards the masters of Africa. An occurrence soon took place, which exposed their allegiance to a severe test. Firmus, the son of Nabal, a Moorish prince, had forced his way to the occupation of his barbarian sovereignty by destroying the life of a brother, whose birth gave him a better claim, and who, moreover, enjoyed the patronage of the Romans. Imitating the conduct of Jugurtha, this usurper had recourse at once to policy and

* Ammian. Marcell., lib. xviii., c. 6.

arms; but finding the former unavailing, and that the count was about to prove an inexorable enemy, he took the field at the head of a powerful body of troops, and bade defiance to his resentment. The authority of Firmus was soon established in all the provinces of Numidia and Mauritania; while the indiscriminating fury with which he pursued his conquests along the shores of the Mediterranean, compelled or induced many of the provincialists to join his standard.*

Romanus, whose talents were only displayed in the arts of oppression and fraud, found himself unequal to oppose the victorious insurgents, who already possessed, as confederates or vassals, nearly all the towns between Cæsarea and the ocean. Africa, accordingly, must have been severed from the empire, had not Theodosius been sent to restore its affairs, and to repel the ravages of the Moors. Firmus, though his arms and treasures were still undiminished, gave way to despair as soon as he learned that a commander so renowned had landed on the coast, At first, he had recourse to an apparent submission, with a view to deceive the vigilance of his opponent; and he even attempted to corrupt the soldiers whom he dared not to encounter in the field. The imperial lieutenant, who was not ignorant of the character of the prince with whom he condescended to negotiate, listened to his expressions of repentance and promises of fidelity; but, at the same time, kept a watchful eye over his proceedings, and was busy in making preparations for the war in which he was aware that all their professions of mutual friendship must ultimately terminate. Nor was it long before these suspicions were realized. A conspiracy, which aimed at the life of Theodosius, was detected, and involved in capital punishment some of the principal adherents of the Mauritanian chief, although he himself, who was ready to profit by their success, effected his escape into his native dominions, and left them to their fate. But the Roman general having determined that his life also should pay the penalty of his rashness, in presuming to attack the subjects of the empire, pursued him into the fastnesses of Mount Atlas, and finally succeeded in making him prisoner. Firmus, however, resolved to disappoint the triumph of his adversary, who had meant to make him a public example; and, adopting the

* Ammian. Marcell., lib. xxix., c. 5.

maxims of his age and country as to the right of the human being to shorten or protract his own existence, relieved himself from shame by committing suicide.

At

A. D. 386. But the death of this tyrant did not secure permanent tranquillity to the African provinces. Gildo, his brother, had been allowed to retain the vast possessions which had been forfeited by treason; and as his fidelity and services to the empire seemed to merit a still higher reward, he was raised to the dignity of a count, and invested with the command of the Roman territory. As, however, his power increased, his insolence and cruelty became daily more intolerable and, profiting by the dissensions which preceded the accession of Theodosius to the throne, he hesitated not to announce himself the sovereign of Africa. During twelve years, the country groaned under the domination of an upstart, who seemed at once to disregard his native land, and to encourage the factions by which it was divided." length, when Arcadius was elevated to the government of the East, the count, who had promised to respect the au thority of Honorius, his rightful sovereign, chose to transfer to the former his allegiance and aid, which the ministers of that weak prince advised him to accept. But at this important crisis the councils of the West were directed by Stilicho, a brave soldier and experienced statesman, who prevailed upon the senate to denounce Gildo as a rebel and public enemy. Troops were assembled and transports were pre→ pared to carry the revenge of the republic against the ungrateful Moor, to strip him of the honours which he had abused, and to punish the numerous crines laid to his charge. The command of a small army of veterans was confided to Mascezel, another son of the house of Nabal, who, being obliged to fly from the ferocious jealousy of his brother, had sought refuge in Italy, where he heard of the inhuman mas sacre of his wife and children, whom he was compelled to leave behind.*

A. D. 398. Gildo, who soon received notice of the preparations which were making against him, exerted his utmost activity and means to collect an army that might successfully repel the meditated invasion. He endeavoured, by the most profuse liberality, to secure the attachment of the regular

* Claudian. de Bell. Gild., v. 389, &c. Orosius, lib. vii., c. 36.