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)

102 Roman Africa

pedestals of stone and marble and alabaster, its statues and
busts of men and women honoured in their lives, its inscriptions
recording the lives of its citizens clear and imperishable. On
your right you see where the Roman multitude thronged the
basilica. On your left stands pre-eminent the magnificent
peristyle of the lordly Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and a
little lower down the beautiful Arch with its attendant groups
of pedestals and statuary, and the Lambsesis road winding
gracefully through it up the hillside. These bare mountain slopes
were once forests of oak and ash. Those spots on the adjacent
hills were cultivated gardens, the delight of the magnates of
Thamugas. Beyond were the olive woods covering the spurs
of the mountain, and below was the great plain, a sea of
fruitful verdure or abundant grain. Thamugas must have been
a pleasant dwelling-place seventeen centuries ago.

No other city of equal importance in North Africa yet
unearthed is so intimately associated with the name of Trajan.
But the spade and the pickaxe are constantly at work ; and
persistent enthusiasm, which is the keynote of archaeology, may
one day bring to light his honoured name in many other parts
of Roman Africa.