238 MARTIN L. ROUSE, ESQ., ON " PROCOPIUs's AFRICAN 



we said, had come from Palestine, and are now called 

 Moors; and the Carthaginians got the mastery of them, 

 and forced them to live as far away from Carthage as 

 possible. And, later on, the Romans, getting the upper 

 hand of all men, in war, settled the Moors in the extreme 

 confines of the inhabited part of Libya, and made both the 

 Carthaginians and the rest of the Libyans subject to 

 themselves for the raising of tribute. But, later still, the 

 Moors, having won many victories over the Vandals, came 

 to hold both what is now called Mauritania, stretching from 

 Gadeira to Ctesarea [that is from opposite Cadiz to Shershel], 

 and most of the districts in the rest of Libya. In much this 

 manner did the phases of Moorish settlement in Libya follow 

 one another." 



But Numidia is a Avide word. Does Procopius, I asked 

 myself, give no other clue to the position of this stone 

 record? Yes, I found that he adverted once, though only 

 once, to the vanished Numidian Tigisis ; and this allusion 

 contains much to help us to fix its locality, besides being 

 the pivot of a fascinating tale. At the outset of Chapter 

 13 of the same book, he says : — 



" Now, while these things were happening in Byzacium, 

 Jabdas, who reigned over the Moors in Aurasium, having 

 gathered together 30,000 fighting men, was plundering the 

 towns and villages of Numidia and carrying off many 

 Libyans as slaves. And it happened that Althias com- 

 manded a guard among the regular troops attached to the 

 forts there ; and, being eager to release some of the captives 

 from the enemy, he sallied out of his fort with the Huns 

 that he commanded, being about seventy in number. But, 

 deeming that in actual fighting he was no match with 

 seventy men for so great a host of Moors, he aimed at 

 seizing some narrow passage ; so that, as the enemy were 

 making their way through it, he might be able to rescue 

 some of their prisoners. Now, since there is no such 

 passage in that district (for round all its towns and villages 

 there are only gentle slopes), he hit upon the following 

 plan : there is a city somewhere* near, Tigisis by name, 

 which was at the time well fortified and had a large 

 fountain! standing in a narrow pass ; this place Althias 



* TTov, wliicli may possibly, however, mean somewhat (in contrast with 

 the usage of ovSafiij, see p. 239, note *). 

 t See p. 237, note t. 



