Juba II of Mauretania

“ This manufacture flourished through the whole imperial period. Among the few deeds which king Juba II. has to show, is the arrangement for obtaining purple on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and on the adjacent islands.304 Woollen stuffs of inferior quality and leather goods were manufactured in Mauretania, apparently by the natives, also for export.305 The trade in slaves was very considerable. The products of the interior of the country naturally passed by way of North Africa into general commerce, but not to such an extent as by way of Egypt. ”

“ Cult. ii. 368. See also Grimm, Teutonic Mythology (E. T.) , p. 593 foll.
466. Quaest. Rom. 86. This work is undoubtedly drawn chiefly from Varro’s writings, but largely through the medium of those of Juba the king of Mauretania, who wrote in Greek (Barth de Jubae Ὁμοιότησιν in Plutarcho expressis: Göttingen, 1876) .
467. Parallels in Baumkultus, pp. 170, 178, 211, 409. These are examples of May-trees and other objects, sometimes decked out as human beings, which are hung up in the homestead for a certain time—e. g. in Austria from May-day to St. ”

“ Juba’s attention was distracted by a counter invasion of his territories by Bocchus the younger and Sittius; but, finding that his lieutenant Sabura was able to defend his interests, he rejoined the Pompeians with a large force, and shared the defeat at Thapsus. Fleeing from the field with the Roman general M. Petreius, he wandered about as a fugitive. At length, in despair, Juba killed Petreius, and sought the aid of a slave in despatching himself (46) . Juba was a thorough savage; brave, treacherous, insolent and cruel. (See Numidia.) ”

“ And Juba's realm returns the hoarse alarms;
The swarthy tribes in burnish'd armour shine,
Their warlike march Abyla's shepherds join.
The great Miramolin on Tago's shores
Far o'er the coast his banner'd thousands pours;
Twelve kings and one beneath his ensigns stand,
And wield their sabres at his dread command.
The plundering bands far round the region haste,
The mournful region lies a naked waste. ”

“ Juba! ... Juba ... oh! Juba! give me yet four hours, and I renounce all my literary glory, all my works, everything that has placed me so high [Pg 409] in the opinion of the world.' 'Four hours of life for that!' exclaimed the negro with contempt.... 'That's a great deal; but never mind; you shan't say I refused your last dying request.' 'Oh! no! no! Juba, don't say my last dying request.... Juba! Juba! I beg of you, give me until this evening, give me twelve hours, the whole day, and may my exploits, my victories, my military fame, my whole career be forever effaced from the memory of men!... ”

“ But the reason why this superiority of chronology will, after all, but little avail the general student is, that it relates merely to the Assyrian or Persian princes in their intercourse with the courts of Jerusalem or of Samaria.
[27] Juba, King of Mauritania, during the struggle of Cæsar and Pompey.
[28] Which clannish feeling, be it observed, always depends for its life and intensity upon the comparison with others; as they are despised, in that ratio rises the clannish self-estimation. Whereas the nobler pride of a Roman patriotism is αυταρκης and independent of external relations. ”

“ Cunning Juba, here, has access to her person; and by her skilled decoctions can make her beauty waste, and her life flicker to extinction, like a lamp unreplenished with oil."
"Yes, Juba has learned, in the old land of the Nile, some of the dark secrets of Egypt," whispered, with bated breath, the dusky African. "But it is very perilous to use them. The palace is full of suspicion; and that new favourite, Callirhoë,—how I hate her!—keeps watch over her mistress like the wild gazelle of the desert over its mate. It will take much gold to pay for the risk." ”

“ Tingitania was not decidedly reduced to a Roman province till after the death of Bocchus. Augustus afterwards gave the two Mauritanias, and a part of Getulia, to the younger Juba, as a remuneration for the loss of his father's kingdom (Numidia) . ”

“ The dragoons, unwilling to abide that storm of fire, and hopeless of success, fled. Still the English captain and Juba rolled upon the earth, in deadly contest, till at last the Englishman, with a desperate exertion of his great strength, shook off the grasp of the black, and rose to his knees. Juba, well-skilled in ground-fighting, instantly caught him by the collar, and suddenly drawing up his knees to his bosom, as he lay upon his back, and placing his feet upon the Briton's breast, with a violent exertion, sent him whirling over the edge of the precipice which bordered the road. ”

“ Juba, a son of one of the Numidian kings, is said to have been their first explorer, about the year of Rome 776. In the middle ages, according to some accounts, Arabs, Genoese, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Biscayans, had partially visited this interesting group of islands. In 1393, a Spanish gentleman named Almonaster, who was commanding an expedition, succeeded in landing on Lancerota, one of these islands, and brought back, with several prisoners, some produce which was a sufficient guarantee of the fertility of this archipelago. ”

“ Juba's work was dedicated to Caius Cæsar, b.c. 1, when just about to start on an expedition to the East. Ombrios, from its mountain lake, has been identified with Palma; Nivaria more easily with Teneriffe and Canaria with Grand Canary; Junonia is difficult to fix, as we have the statement that a second and smaller island of the same name is in its neighbourhood; Capraria is supposed to be Ferro. The remaining two of our modern archipelago, Lancarote and Fuerteventura, are supposed by some to be the "Purpurariae" of Juba. ”

“ In Africa, before Thapsus, when his officers were nervous at the reported approach of Juba, he called them together and said briefly, “You will understand that within a day King Juba will be here with the legions, thirty thousand horse, a hundred thousand skirmishers, and three hundred elephants. You are not to think or ask questions. I tell you the truth, and you must prepare for it. If any of you are alarmed, I shall send you home.”
Yet he was singularly careful of his soldiers. He allowed his legions rest, though he allowed none to himself. He rarely fought a battle at a disadvantage. ”

“ From Metagonium to Tretum are 6000 stadia; according to others, the distance is less.
Upon the sea-coast are many cities and rivers, and a country which is very fertile. It will be sufficient to mention the most renowned. The city of Siga,955 the royal seat of Syphax, is at the distance of 1000 stadia from the above-mentioned boundaries. It is now razed. After Syphax, the country was in the possession of Masanasses, then of Micipsa, next of his successors, and in our time of Juba, the father of the Juba who died lately. Zama,956 which was Juba’s palace, was destroyed by the Romans. ”

“ When Cato, Act II. turns the senators out of the hall, upon pretence of acquainting Juba with the result of their debates, he appears to me to do a thing which is neither reasonable nor civil. Juba might certainly have better been made acquainted with the result of that debate in some private apartment of the palace. But the poet was driven upon this absurdity to make way for another; and this is, to give Juba an opportunity to demand Marcia of her father. ”

“ But now let us sum up all these absurdities together. Sempronius goes at noonday, in Juba's clothes, and with Juba's guards, to Cato's palace, in order to pass for Juba, in a place where they were both so very well known: he meets Juba there, and resolves to murder him with his own guards. Upon the guards appearing a little bashful, he threatens them:
'Hah! dastards, do you tremble!
Or act like men; or, by yon azure heav'n!'—
But the guards still remaining restive, Sempronius himself attacks Juba, while each of the guards is representing Mr. ”

“ Now, how a man could fight, and fall, with his face muffled up in his garment, is, I think, a little hard to conceive! Besides, Juba, before he killed him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by his garment that he knew this; it was by his face, then: his face therefore was not muffled. Upon seeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls a-raving; and, owning her passion for the supposed defunct, begins to make his funeral oration. Upon which Juba enters listening, I suppose on tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can enter listening in any other posture. ”

“ But so great was the terror in general that some said that Juba's forces were marching up, others that Varus was hastening with his legions, and that they already saw the dust raised by their coming; of which not one circumstance had happened: others suspected that the enemy's fleet would immediately be upon them. Therefore, in the general consternation, every man consulted his own safety. Those who were on board of the fleet, were in a hurry to set sail, and their flight hastened the masters of the ships of burden. ”

“ Master Juba (William H. Lane) was a colored man, and as a jig dancer it is said that the world never saw his equal.
He played the tambourine with the Georgia Champions Minstrels in 1843, and several engagements with Charley White’s Minstrels in New York.
He went to Europe about 1848, and in the Spring of the following year played an engagement with Pell’s Serenaders at the Surrey Theatre in London. He was lionized in Europe, and took the Britishers by storm. He married a white woman there.
“Master” Juba died in London, England, about 1852; he was born in the United States about 1825. ”

“ In consequence of the number of reptiles, they work with coverings on the legs; other parts of the body also are protected by skins.
12. On this coast was a city called Iol,959 which Juba, the father of Ptolemy, rebuilt and changed its name to Cæsarea. It has a harbour and a small island in front of it. Between Cæsarea and Tretum960 is a large harbour called Salda,961 which now forms the boundary between the territories subject to Juba and the Romans; for the country has been subject to many changes, having had numerous occupants ”

“ In the coast towns of the eastern seaboard there are Swahili Arab and Indian settlements, and tribes, such as the Amaran, of mixed Arab and Somali blood.
Agriculture and Trade.—Though much of the land is barren, the soil is fairly fertile in the valleys of the Webi Shebeli and Wadi Nogal. But the most fertile district is the valley of the lower Juba, where for over 100 m. is a strip of land varying from a few hundred yards to some 4 m. wide, annually inundated by the rise of the river. Here are cultivated rich crops of millet and other grains. ”

“ In its middle course the Daua has cut a deep narrow valley through the plain; lower down it bends N.E. to its junction with the Ganale. The river is not deep and can be forded in many places; the banks are fringed with thick bush and dom-palms. At the junction of the Ganale and the Web the river is swift-flowing and 85 yards across; just below the Daua confluence it is 200 yds. wide, the altitude here—300 m. in a direct line from the source of the Ganale—being only 590 ft.
Below the Daua the river, now known as the Juba, receives no tributary of importance. ”

“ Is any one getting a rise in the world, or a downfall? How blows the wind? Are there changes in the camp? This Decius, I suspect, will not last long.”
“They all seem desperately frightened,” said Juba, “lest they should not smite your friends hard enough, Gurta. Root and branch is the word. They’ll have to make a few Christians for the occasion, in order to kill them: and I almost think they’re about it,” he added, thoughtfully. “They have to show that they are not surpassed by the rabble. ’Tis a pity Christians are so few, isn’t it, mother?” ”

“ The incline is uniformly to the south-east, and apart from the few coast streams that reach the Gulf of Aden during the rains, all the running waters are collected in three rivers—the Nogal in the north, the Webi Shebeli in the centre, and the Juba (q.v.) in the south—which have a parallel south-easterly direction towards the Indian Ocean. But so slight is the precipitation that the Juba alone has a permanent discharge seawards. The Nogal sends down a turbulent stream during the freshets, while the Shebeli, notwithstanding the far greater extent of its basin, does not reach the sea. ”

“ Later in the same year the British East Africa Company transferred to Italy—the transference being subsequently approved by the sultan of Zanzibar—the ports of Brava, Marka, Mukdishu and Warsheik, leased from Zanzibar. On the 24th of March 1891 an agreement between Italy and Great Britain fixed the northern bank of the Juba up to latitude 6° N. as the southern boundary of Italian influence in Somaliland, the boundary being provisionally prolonged along lines of latitude and longitude to the intersection of the Blue Nile with 35° E. longitude. ”

“ The chief authorities used are Caesius Bassus and the Latin adaptation by Juba the grammarian of the Τέχνη of Heliodorus. Fortunatianus being a common name in the African provinces, it is probable that the author was a countryman of Juba, Terentianus Maurus and Victorinus. ”

“ I must not pass by the birds of Diomedes in silence. Juba calls them “cataractæ,” and says that they have teeth and eyes of a fiery color, while the rest of the body is white: they always have two chiefs, the one to lead the main body, the other to take charge of the rear, they excavate holes with their bills, and then cover them with hurdles, which they cover again with the earth that has been thus thrown up; in these places they hatch their young ”