Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/650

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loc cit.
loc cit.

636 JUBA. ordinary level of barbarians ; but it must be ad- mitted that these accounts are derived from his enemies : had the pai-ty of Pompey triumphed, we should perhaps have been led to form a more fa- vourable estimate of the Numidian king. The coins of Juba are numerous ; they all bear his head on the obverse, and are accommodated to the same standard of weight with the Roman denarius : one of them is figured on the preceding page. [E. H. B.] JUBA II. {'lo€as), king of Mauritania, son of the preceding. He was a mere child at the time of his father's death (b. c. 46), after which event he was carried a prisoner to Rome by Caesar, and compelled to grace the conqueror's triumph. (Ap- pian, B. C. ii. 101 ; Plut. Cacs. 55.) In other respects he appears to have been well treated. He was brought up in Italy, where he received an ex- cellent education, and applied himself with such diligence to study, that he turned out one of the most learned men of his day. As he rose to man- hood he obtained a high place in the favour of Octavian, whom he accompanied in his expedition to the East ; nor did he fail to reap the fruits of f,his favour, in the general settlement of the affiiirs of the empire, after the death of Antony (b. c. 80). On that occasion Octavian restored his young friend to the possession of bis paternal kingdom of Numidia, at the same time that he gave him in marriage Cleopatra, otherwise called Selene, the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra. (Dion Cass, li. 15 ; Plut. Ajit. 87 ; Strab. xvii. p. 828.) At a subsequent period (b. c. 25) Augustus gave him the two provinces of Mauritania (afterwards called Tingitana and Caesariensis), which had formed the kingdoms of Bocchus and Bogud, in exchange for Numidia, which was reduced to a Roman pro- vince. Some of the Gaetulian tribes were at the same time subjected to his sway ; and almost the only event of his long reign that we find recorded is an insurrection of these tribes, which assumed so formidable an aspect, that Juba was unable to re press it by his own efforts ; and even the Roman general Cornelius Cossus, whom he called in to his assistance, did not succeed in reducing them until after a long protracted struggle, by which he earned the honorary appellation of Gaetulicus. (Dion Cass. liii. 26, Iv. 28 ; comp. Strab. xvii. pp. 828, 831.) The exact period of his death is nowhere mentioned, but Strabo more than once speaks of him as lately dead (xvii. pp. 828, 829, 840) at the time that he himself was writing ; and this state- ment, coupled with the evidence of one of his coins, which bears the date of the 48th year of his reign, renders it probable that we may assign his death to A. D. 18 or 19 at latest. (See Eckhel, vol. iv. p. 157 ; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 203.) The tranquil reign of Juba appears to have af- forded but few materials for history ; but it is evident that his kingdom rose to a pitch of power and prosperity under his rule far exceeding what it had befoie attained, and he endeavoured to intro- duce as far as possible the elements of Greek and Roman civilisation among his barbarian subjects. Among other things, he converted a town called lol into a handsome city, with an excellent port, to which he gave the name of Caesareia, and which continued from thenceforth the capital of Mauri- tania. (Strab. xvii. p. 831 ; Eutrop. vii. 10.) So great was the reverence entertained for him by his own subjects, that they even paid him divine ho- nours after his death (Lactant. de Fah. Rdig, i. JUBA. 11; Minucius Felix, 23), nor are there wanting proofs of the consideration which he enjoyed during his lifetime in foreign countries also. Thus we find him obtaining the honorary title of duumvir of the wealthy city of Gades (Avienus, de Ora Marit. v. 275), and apparently at New Carthage also {Mem. de VAcad. 4es Inscr. vol. xxxviii. p. 104) ; and Pausanias mentions a statue erected to his memory at Athens itself. (Pans. i. 17. § 2.) But it is to his literary works that Juba is indebted for his chief reputation. He appears to have re- tained on the throne the habits of study which he had acquired in early life ; and in the number and variety of his writings he might vie with many professed grammarians. His works are continually cited by Pliny (//. N. v. viii. x. xii. xiii. &c. pas- sim), who regards his authority with the utmost deference. Plutarch {Sert. 9) calls him o itavroiv IfTTopiKcoTaTOs fiacriXecov, Athenaeus (iii. p. 83, b.) dvT)p TToXv/iiadia-TaTos ; and Avienus {de Ora Ma- rit. v. 279) has described him as Octaviano principi acceptissimus Et literarum semper in studio Juba. He appears indeed to have laboured in almost every branch of literature ; some of his works being purely grammatical or antiquarian, while others comprise a wide field of history, geography, natural history', and tlie fine arts. The most important among those of which the names have been tians- mitted to us are the following: — 1. A history of Africa {AiSvkol, Plut. Parallel. M'mor. 23 ; irepi AigwTjs (Tvyypa.ixp.aTa. Athen. iii. p. 83, b.), in which he had made use of the Punic authorities accessible to him, a circumstance which must have rendered it especially valuable. It is evident, how- ever, from some of the passages cited from it, that he had mixed these up with fables of Greek origin. (Plut. Sert. 9.) It is probably from this work that most of the information quoted from his authority concerning the natural history of lions, elephants, &c. is derived, though the title of the book is not mentioned (Plin. H. N. viii. 4, 5, 13, &c.; Aelian, Hist. Aniin. vii. 23, ix. 58 ; Plut. de Solert. Anhn. p. 972, a. ; Philostr. Vit. Apollon. ii. 13, p. 62, ed. Olear.), and it was doubtless here also that he gave that account of the origin of the Nile, derived, as we are expressly told, from Punic sources, which is cited by Pliny and other authors. (Plin. v. 10; Amm. Marc. xxii. 15 ; Solin. 35.) It may in- deed be regarded as Pliny's chief authority for the geographical account of Africa contained in the fifth book of his Natural History. The third book of this work is quoted by Plutarch {Parallel. I. c). 2. Uepl *A(T(rvplwu, in two books, in which he followed the authority of Berosus. (Tatian, Orat. adv. Grace. 58 ; Clem. Alex. Strom, i. p. 329) 3. A history of Arabia, which he addressed to C. Caesar (the grandson of Augustus) when that prince was about to proceed on his expedition to the East, b. c. 1. It appears to have contained a general description of the country, and all that was then known concerning its geography, natural pro- ductions, &c. It is cited by Pliny as the most trustworthy account of those regions which was known to him (//. A^. vi. 26, 28, 30, xii. 31.). 4. Pwp.aiic-fi toTTopia, cited repeatedly by Stephanus of Byzantium {s. vv. 'ASopiylves, ^ncrrla, &c.). Nu- merous statements quoted by Plutarch, from Juba, without mentioning any particular work, but relating to the eaily history and antiquities of Rome, ai-e