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)

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CONCLUSION

No country ever occupied by the Romans possesses, at the
commencement of this twentieth century, more remarkable
monumental remains or a greater wealth of inscriptions than
North Africa. They are there to tell their own tale of national
progress of a civilising people, of Emperors good and bad, of
munificent citizens, of scholars eminent in philosophy and skilled
in rhetoric, of men and women in all ranks of life obedient to
the laws, loyal to their rulers, and leaving behind them a
pleasant memory to be faithfully recorded on imperishable
stone. If the popularity of any one of the Emperors can be
tested by the number of dedications in his honour, some two or
three will head the list without fear of contradiction ; while of
others, who were raised to the throne at the will of the legions
and passed rapidly across the stage as mere adventurers, it will
be seen that inscriptions are but few, and in some cases their
very names have been erased by an aggrieved or dissatisfied
populace.

The difficulties which beset the Romans in their career of
conquest, at the close of the second Punic war, arose in a great
measure from the general configuration of the country, which
seemed fatal also to the native races in their attempts to expel
the invader. The three zones of country, separated by high
mountains, never impassable, but presenting natural difficulties
in the transport of large bodies of disciplined troops, may be
said to represent three distinct regions. On the north was the
broad stretch of sea—the mare scevum which, for so many gene-
rations, proved an insuperable barrier to Roman advancement,
and on the south the sea of sand—the mysterious desert
stretching across the Equator, and unfit for habitation by