Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

i8

Roman Africa

battle-field, and to whom the fall of Cirta (Constantine), the
capital and stronghold of Numidia, was mainly due, Caesar
allotted the towns of Milevum (Mila), Chullu (Collo), and
Rusicada (Philippeville), as well as the capital itself and the
adjacent country. In the same year the little kingdom of
Cyrene, which had been subservient to Rome since B.C. 74,
and had been regarded as a Roman province, was handed over
by the ruling king, Ptolemy Apion. All North Africa, from
the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, was now under
the control of the Romans. Mauritania was preserved as a
separate kingdom, remaining for nearly a century in quasi-
independence. With this new order of African affairs a form
of government had to be inaugurated which should prove
acceptable to the native tribes and their rulers, which should
respect their ancient forms of religion, and should hold in
check the turbulent spirit of the populous tribes of the south.
With the fall of the Roman Republic and the dawn of imperial
rule commences a fresh chapter in the history of Roman
Africa.

In the foregoing pages an outline of the principal events
which paved the way for Roman occupation gives a fair idea
of the difficulties which had to be surmounted at each succes-
sive stage. They form a prelude to a long career of peace and
prosperity, disturbed at intervals by harassing warfare with
untameable tribes on the Desert frontier, of successful colonisa-
tion, of progress in civil life, of encouragement of the arts of
peace, and of decline in later years when the great Empire was
tottering to its fall.