DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0044
i6
Roman Africa
commencement of the Jugurthine war, B.C. 112, the country
was governed by Bocchus, who (to use the words of Sallust)
' was ignorant of the Romans except by name, and who,
prior to this time, was as little known to us, either in peace
or war.'1 The immediate result of the war was that all
Numidia lay at the mercy of the Romans. So vast a territory
could only be held by a large army and the establishment of
fortified posts on the southern and western frontiers. Rome
was not prepared for so great an undertaking, preferring to
reduce the strength of the country by dividing the kingdom
of Masinissa into territories or provinces. The western portion
of Numidia was transferred to Bocchus as the reward of
treachery to his kinsman. Tripoli and the adjacent parts, that
had formerly belonged to Carthage, were appropriated by the
Romans. The rest of the country, still retaining the title of
Numidia, was placed under the rule of an imbecile prince
named Gauda, the grandson of Masinissa and the rightful
heir to the throne. At the close of his brief reign Numidia
was divided between his two sons Hiempsal and Hierbas, whose
joint career was one of lifelong war and interminable rivalry.'
In the civil wars of Sylla and Marius they took opposite sides.
Hierbas joined the Marian party, was besieged in the city of
Bulla by the combined forces of Sylla and Pompey, defeated
and put to death B.C. 81. Hiempsal, the ally of the victors,
was thus established on the throne of Numidia, and had every
prospect of preserving, by the exercise of tact and good
government, the splendid heritage of his great grandfather
Masinissa. But ill-fortune tempted him in his later days into
the wrong camp, and prompted him to oppose the invading
army of the all-conquering Caesar. The sovereignty of the
world was then in dispute between two noble Romans. At the
outset the parties seemed fairly matched, the one, headed by
Cneius Pompeius, upholding the maintenance of the authority
of the Republic ; the other, under the leadership of C. Julius
Csesar, advocating the principles of democracy and fore-
shadowing a revolution in Roman policy. During the first
1 Bocchus died about B.C. 91. He left the western portion of his dominions to
his eldest son Bogud, and the newly annexed portions to his second son Bocchus.
Fifteen years later the names of the kings were reversed, Bogud ruling in the east
and Bocchus in the west. (Vide Rev. Afr. xiv. 45.)
Roman Africa
commencement of the Jugurthine war, B.C. 112, the country
was governed by Bocchus, who (to use the words of Sallust)
' was ignorant of the Romans except by name, and who,
prior to this time, was as little known to us, either in peace
or war.'1 The immediate result of the war was that all
Numidia lay at the mercy of the Romans. So vast a territory
could only be held by a large army and the establishment of
fortified posts on the southern and western frontiers. Rome
was not prepared for so great an undertaking, preferring to
reduce the strength of the country by dividing the kingdom
of Masinissa into territories or provinces. The western portion
of Numidia was transferred to Bocchus as the reward of
treachery to his kinsman. Tripoli and the adjacent parts, that
had formerly belonged to Carthage, were appropriated by the
Romans. The rest of the country, still retaining the title of
Numidia, was placed under the rule of an imbecile prince
named Gauda, the grandson of Masinissa and the rightful
heir to the throne. At the close of his brief reign Numidia
was divided between his two sons Hiempsal and Hierbas, whose
joint career was one of lifelong war and interminable rivalry.'
In the civil wars of Sylla and Marius they took opposite sides.
Hierbas joined the Marian party, was besieged in the city of
Bulla by the combined forces of Sylla and Pompey, defeated
and put to death B.C. 81. Hiempsal, the ally of the victors,
was thus established on the throne of Numidia, and had every
prospect of preserving, by the exercise of tact and good
government, the splendid heritage of his great grandfather
Masinissa. But ill-fortune tempted him in his later days into
the wrong camp, and prompted him to oppose the invading
army of the all-conquering Caesar. The sovereignty of the
world was then in dispute between two noble Romans. At the
outset the parties seemed fairly matched, the one, headed by
Cneius Pompeius, upholding the maintenance of the authority
of the Republic ; the other, under the leadership of C. Julius
Csesar, advocating the principles of democracy and fore-
shadowing a revolution in Roman policy. During the first
1 Bocchus died about B.C. 91. He left the western portion of his dominions to
his eldest son Bogud, and the newly annexed portions to his second son Bocchus.
Fifteen years later the names of the kings were reversed, Bogud ruling in the east
and Bocchus in the west. (Vide Rev. Afr. xiv. 45.)