Numantia

“ Jugurtha was to be sent to Numantia to lead the Numidian auxiliaries of horse and foot, to be a member of the charmed circle that surrounded Scipio, to see, as he moved amongst the young nobility, the promise of greatness that was in store for Rome in the field whether of politics or of war, to form perhaps binding friendships and to lay up stores of gratitude for future use. ”

“ For years the tranquillity of Spain, which lasted from 179 to 153, had been disturbed by wars, and it was not until Scipio was sent thither that peace was restored. That warrior first put his forces into an effective condition, and then laid siege to the city of Numantia, situated on an elevation and well fortified. The citizens defended themselves with the greatest bravery, and showed wonderful endurance, but were at last obliged to surrender, and the town was levelled to the ground, most of the inhabitants being sold as slaves. ”

“ A prolonged resistance of the citizens within their walls might have given the impulse to a general rising of the Latins. Had Fregellae played the part of a second Numantia, the Social War might have been anticipated by thirty-five years. But the advantage to be gained from time was foiled by treason. A certain Numitorius Pullus betrayed the state to the praetor Lucius Opimius, who had been sent with an army from Rome. ”

“ No province cost the Roman [p. 362] people a price so great. The struggle for Numantia, which lasted fourteen years, the wars against Viriates, and the war of Sertorius,—to say nothing of that between Pompey and Cæsar,—all show the formidable character of the protracted contest by which alone the Roman power could be confirmed in the Peninsula; so that, though Spain was the first portion of the continent out of Italy which the Romans began to occupy as a province, it was the very last of which their possession was peaceful and unquestioned. ”

“ On the destruction of Numantia, when Scipio had determined to dismiss the auxiliaries and return home himself, having bestowed great presents and high encomiums on Jugurtha in the presence of the whole army, he brought him into his tent; and there advised him in private “to court the friendship of the Roman people in a public rather than private way, and not to bestow bribes on any; that it was dangerous to purchase from a few what belonged to all. If he would but continue in his virtuous practices, that glory and sovereignty would in time conduct him to the possession of supreme rank ”

“ See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1798. NULLIFICATION: Doctrine and Ordinance in South Carolina. See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1828-1833. ----------NULLIFICATION: End-------- NUMANTIAN WAR, The. "In 143 B. C. the Celtiberians again appeared in the field [resisting the Romans in Spain] ; and when, on the death of Viriathus, D. Junius Brutus had pushed the legions to the Atlantic in 137 B. C., and practically subdued Lusitania, the dying spirit of Spanish independence still held out in the Celtiberian fortress city of Numantia. ”

“ Alfonsos: Alfonso VI. of Castile and his successors.
l. 18. Rodrigo: i.e., Rodrigo de Bivar, the Cid.
l. 31. Agar: Hagar, regarded as ancestress of the Saracens.
Page 241.—l. 7. Tarifa: on the Strait of Gibraltar. Here the Arabs landed in 711 (cf. note to p. 100, l. 26) , and, according to the legend, the place was betrayed into their hands by Count Julian.
l. 16. pueblo numantino: a reference to Numantia in Hispania Citerior, taken by Scipio Africanus, after a bloody siege, in 133 B.C.
382 JUAN NICASIO GALLEGO. A cleric who spent much time at Madrid and was a close friend of Quintana. ”

“ Enjoy sweet life, Leoncio, whilst thou may;
Remain within the town, for I would spurn
By act of mine thy blooming youth to slay.
Alone I have to go, alone return,
Beladen with the richest spoil and rare,
Which constant faith and fervent love can earn.
Leoncio.
If so, Morandro, thou art well aware
How my desires, in good or evil fate,
Go hand in hand with thine in equal share,
Then wilt thou feel, no fears however great,
Not Death itself, nor other power malign,
Can keep me from thy fortunes separate. ”

“ He persists, and, accompanied by a faithful friend, penetrates into the Roman camp and obtains bread. In the contest he is wounded; but still, forcing his way back to the city, by the mere energy of despair, he gives to Lira the food he has won, wet with his own blood, and then falls dead at her feet.
A very high authority in dramatic criticism speaks [p. 76] of the Numancia as if it were not merely one of the more distinguished efforts of the early Spanish theatre, but one of the more striking exhibitions of modern poetry. ”

“ Davis drew Numè into a corner of the balcony, and sat down to give her a little lecture.
"Now, dear, I'm going to speak to you, not as your hostess, but as your—a—chaperon—and friend. You must not speak too familiarly to any man. Now, you ought not to have sat with Mr. Sinclair so long. There were lots of other men around you, and you didn't speak to any of them."
"Bud I do nod lig' all the udder mans," the girl protested. "Me? I lig' only the—a—Mister Sinka."
"Yes; but, Numè, you must not like people so—so quickly. And you must not let any one know it, if you do." ”

“ Davis came towards them with a fresh company of Americans, all eager to meet her. Numè belonged to the Kazoku order of Japanese (the nobles) , the most exclusive class in Japan. They lived, as a rule, in the Province of Kyushu, and their women were supposed to be extremely beautiful, and kept in great seclusion, as the daughters of nobles usually are. Numè's father, however, had gone into business in Tokyo, and later had become a large land-owner there, so that the girl had mingled very little with her own class. ”

“ From [Pg 306] the fifth of November to the fifth of January the Spaniards had lost the whole of their naval force in the Esmeralda, the Prueba and Vengansa having disappeared: Numancia, considered the flower of their army and the prop of their authority, had deserted their cause; the division under the command of their trusty general, O'Reilly, had been defeated by a minor force; all the provinces to the northward of Lima had declared their independence, and were contributing with men and every other necessary to support the army then encamped within thirty leagues of the capital of Peru ”

“ The king of Numidia was a friend of the Roman people, and had fought with them against Carthage. So Rome had a good deal to do with Numidia, and the Numidians often helped Rome in her wars. In 118 a king of Numidia died, and left the kingdom to his two sons and an adopted son named Jugurtha. Jugurtha determined to have the kingdom all to himself, so he murdered one of the sons and made war upon the other, who applied to Rome for help. See NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104. {2683} The Senate was bribed by Jugurtha, and did all it could to please him ”

“ Come, follow him! Or, if you stay, I myself will go alone; never will I yield to a vassal's yoke; my native land shall remain unconquered, and my monarch's foes, Castilian or Portuguese, shall heap the plain!'
"Inspired by Nuño's eloquence the Lusians took the field and defeated the Spanish in the battle of Aljubarota. Still dissatisfied, Nuño pressed into Spain and dictated the terms of peace at Seville. Having established himself upon the throne of Portugal, John carried the war into Africa, which wars were continued after his death by his son Edward. ”

“ On the third of December the battalion of Numancia, being six hundred and fifty strong, left the service of the Viceroy of Lima, and passed over to that of the Patria, joining a detachment of the liberating army, sent to meet them at Retes in the valley of Chancay. This corps, which was entirely composed of Colombians, had retained the name of a regiment sent from Spain under General Morillo, and was considered the stay of the viceregal authority in Peru. ”

“ After dinner Numè resumed her seat by Mrs. Davis, while her husband took Koto through the house, glad of an opportunity to air his limited knowledge of Japanese; for Numè seldom permitted them to address her save in English, pretending to make great fun of their Japanese in order to make them speak English to her. They, on the other hand, always praised her English extravagantly.
"I want you to promise me, Numè, that you will never tell any man you care for him again, unless it is Orito."
"Why shall I promise?" the girl asked.
"Because it is not the right thing to say to any one." ”

“ When the party broke up and the guests were slowly passing into their jinrikishas, numbers of them lingered in the garden, bidding laughing farewells.
Numè, who was spending the night with Mrs. Davis, stood a lonely little figure in the shadow of the balcony. She did not wish to say good-bye to [Pg 94] any of them—she did not like the pretty Americans, she told herself, because she did not believe them any longer. ”

“ Twice since Numa's reign has it been shut, once after the first Punic war in the consulship of T. Manlius, the second time, which heaven has allowed our generation to witness, after the battle of Actium, when peace on land and sea was secured by the emperor Caesar Augustus. After forming treaties of alliance with all his neighbours and closing the temple of Janus, Numa turned his attention to domestic matters. The removal of all danger from without would induce his subjects to luxuriate in idleness, as they would be no longer restrained by the fear of an enemy or by military discipline. ”

“ She does not need that kind of a charm. She is a charm all by herself. Every movement she makes is charming, every halting word,—her own strange, sweet beauty. She is irresistible, Walter. You remember that Englishman who stayed over at the Cranstons'? Well, you know what a connoisseur of beauty every one thought him. You ought to have heard him after he had seen Numè. He was simply wild about her—called her a dainty piece of Dresden china—a rose and lily and cherry blossom in one. ”

“ The soldiers, who were kept under mild discipline [134] and at the same time enriched, extolled him to the skies, the Numidians feared him as if he were more than mortal; all, in short, friends and enemies alike, believed that he either possessed divine insight or that everything was revealed to him by the favour of the gods.
After his success at Capsa the consul proceeded to other towns. A few he took in spite of the resistance of the Numidians, but the greater number were abandoned through dread of the wretched fate of Capsa, and burned; all Numidia was filled with bloodshed and lamentation. ”

“ Nuñez had an eye for all beautiful things, and it seemed to him that the glow upon the snow-fields and glaciers that rose about the valley on every side was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. His eyes went from that inaccessible glory to the village and irrigated fields, fast sinking into the twilight, and suddenly a wave of emotion took him, and he thanked God from the bottom of his heart that the power of sight had been given him. ”

“ He doesn't like Japanese women much—he told me so himself. Says they are all alike. That they haven't any heart."
"Is it true?"
"Well, dear, I don't know. It is not true of all of them, at any rate. There is one girl I know who is the dearest, best-hearted little thing in the world. Cleo, she is the sweetest thing you ever saw. I won't attempt to describe her to you, because I am not a poet, and it would take a poet to describe Numè."
"Numè?"
"Yes—Mr. Takashima's little sweetheart, you know. Ever heard him speak of her?" ”

“ She settled herself at his elbow, and began to chatter away, pointing out with one skinny claw, while she balanced herself on the other, every object of interest, evidently believing, as no doubt all its inhabitants did, that there was no capital in the world like the great metropolis of Nomansland. ”

“ He won distinction in the field and a repute for justice in his dealings with the subject tribes, while his simplicity of life and capacity for toil suggested the veteran campaigner, not the tyro from the most luxurious of cities. [582] The extent of the services in Sardinia and neighbouring lands which his name and character enabled him to render to the State, has been perhaps exaggerated, or at least faultily stated, by our authority; but, in view of the unquestioned confidence shown by the Numantines in his brother when as young a man, there is no reason to doubt their reality. ”

“ Something like remorse crept into his own heart; for was he entirely blameless? But he forgot everything painful when he arrived home, for there was a perfume-scented little note written on thin rice-paper, waiting for him, and Numè was expecting him that day. When one has present happiness, it is not hard to forget the sorrows of others.
[Pg 214]
CHAPTER LVIII. MRS. DAVIS'S NERVES.
The next day Sinclair brought Cleo to call on Numè. It was the first time the two girls had ever really talked with each other. ”

“ How dreadful!—how perfectly awful!—you do not know the Japanese as I do, dear. It will just break the two old men's hearts. They have looked forward to his marriage with Numè all their lives. They don't love their children as we do in America. Their pride in them is too pathetic, Cleo; and when they disappoint them it is like a death-blow. ”

“ The fortunes of the kingdom of Numidia, so far as they affected that kingdom itself, deserved to be neglected by its suzerain; for the power which Masinissa had won by arms and diplomacy was more than sufficient to protect its own interests. The Numidia of the day formed in territorial extent one of the mightiest kingdoms of the world, and ranked only second to Egypt amongst the client powers of Rome. ”