[403] Tot. Orb. Descript. (Müller).
[404] Salvian (op. cit., vii, 13) is copious in his condemnation of the Africans and concedes them no merit whatever. "The Goths are perfidious, but continent; the Alani incontinent, but less perfidious; the Franks are liars, but hospitable; the Saxons are cruel and barbarous, but wonderfully chaste. In almost all Africans I know naught but evil. If inhumanity is blamable, they are inhuman; if drunkenness, they are drunken; if falsity, they are most false; if dishonesty, they are most fraudulent; if avarice, they are most avaricious; if perfidy, they are most perfidious. But they are immoral beyond the measure of all these taken together." In his own Aquitain the complaint is that the nobles have their houses full of maidservants whom they use as concubines.
[405] Ibid., 17, 18, 19.
[406] When Mithradates attempted to overthrow the Roman power in the East (88 B.C.) they were considerable enough to send him an embassy proffering their aid; Athenaeus, v, 50.
[407] Thus the son-in-law of Apuleius at the age of twenty could speak only Punic; Apology; cf. Procopius, De Bel. Vand., ii, 10. There were in Numidia, he says, two white columns on which was inscribed, "We are those who fled before the face of the robber, Joshua, the son of Nun." Some notion of the dress of the Carthaginians under the Empire may be formed from mosaics unearthed of late years and preserved in French museums. There was nothing very characteristic, but I may quote the following summary of what is to be seen. "Hommes en longue dalmatique verte ou blanche ornée de larges bandes de broderies, avec le manteau triangulaire de laine brune enveloppant le buste, et l'orarium passé autour du cou; femmes en étroites robes collantes brodées au cou et au poignet, serrées à la taille par un ceinture rouge et que recouvre une ample tunique aux larges manches de couleur éclatante, avec les bijoux sur la poitrine, l'écharpe claire flottant sur les épaules et parfois encadrant le visage; enfants en culottes collantes alternées de jaune et de rouge, ou courtes tuniques blanches à bandes de couleur"; Diehl, L'Afrique Byzant., Paris, 1896, p. 392. A mosaic found in Numidia shows a Roman mansion with horses, etc., and might pass for a view of an English manor-house; Tissot, Géog. Comp. d'Afrique Rom., Paris, 1884, p. 360.
[408] An exhaustive treatise has been devoted to the manners and customs of this people by Hanotaux and Letourneux, La Kabylée, 3 vols., Paris, 1892.
[409] One of the most important revolts was suppressed by Theodosius, father of the first emperor of that name; another by Stilicho, the famous general and father-in-law of Honorius; Claudian, De Bel. Gildonico.
[410] They are dealt with at length in all church histories; the sources are chiefly Optatus Mil. and Cyprian's Epistles.
[411] The story is told most fully by Procopius, De Bel. Vand., i, 3; cf. Jordanes, De Reb. Get., 33. Boniface was a friend of Augustine, who reproaches him for his conduct (Epist. 220). The name of the Vandal king is found variously as Genseric, Gizeric, and Gaiseric.
[412] The sequel to the story seems to be historical. After his return the Count of Africa met Aetius in battle, but, though victorious with his troops, received a mortal wound from his rival's lance.