Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/669

Rh M A IT M A U 637 latter river so as to include the whole territory from the Ampsaga to the Atlantic Ocean. Towards the south it was bounded by the great range of Mount Atlas, and it appears to have been regarded by geographers as extending along the coast of the Atlantic as far as the point where that chain descends to the sea, in about 30 N. lat., though the Roman province of the name extended but a little beyond Sala (Bailee), and it is probable that there were no towns or permanent settlements farther south. The magnificent plain, or rather plateau, in which the city of Morocco is situated seems to have been unknown to ancient geographers, and was certainly never included in the Roman empire. On the other hand the Gaetulians, who inhabited the narrow strip of fertile date-producing territory on the southern slopes of the Atlas, though not included under the name of Mauretania, seem to have always owned a precarious subjection to the kings of that country, and in after days to its Roman governors. The physical geography of the country will be described under the heading MOROCCO, though it must be observed that the term Mauretania, as used by the Romans, com prised also the greater portion of the French colony of Algeria, including the provinces of Oran arid Algiers, and even a part of that of Constantine. The range of Mount Atlas forms throughout the backbone of the country, from which the streams descend to the Mediterranean and the ocean. The most important of those on the north coast is the Mulucha or Molochath, which in the earliest times con stituted the eastern limit of the country ; it is still called Muluya. Farther east are the Chinala, the Usar, and the Ampsaga. Of those that flow westward towards the Atlantic, the most considerable were the Lixus, Subur, and Sala. But from the proximity of the mountain ranges to the sea none of these streams were of any import ance, or navigable beyond a short distance from the sea. A large part of the country is of great natural fertility, and was in ancient times extensively cultivated, and pro duced large quantities of corn, while the slopes of Mount Atlas were clothed with vast forests, which, besides other kinds of timber, supplied the celebrated ornamental wood called Citrus, for tables of which the Romans gave such fabulous prices. Mauretania, or Maurusia, as it was called by Greek writers, un questionably signified the land of the Mauri, a term still retained in tlie modern name of Moors, and probably meaning originally nothing but &quot;black men.&quot; The origin and ethnical affinities of the race are unknown ; but it is probable that the inhabitants of all this northern tract of Africa along the coast of the Mediterranean were kindred races belonging to the family which is represented at the present day by the Berbers of the mountain districts and the Tuaricks of the tract south of the Atlas. They first appear in his tory at the time of the Jngurthine War (110-106 B.C.), when Mauretania west of the Mulucha was under the government of a king called Bocchus, and appears to have constituted a regular and organized state. It retained its independence till the time of Augustus, who in 25 B.C. bestowed the sovereignty of the previously existing kingdom upon Juba II., king of Numidia, at the same time uniting with it the western portion of Numidia, from the Mulucha to the Ampsagn, which now received the name of Mauretania Cresariensis, while the province that had previously constituted the kingdom, or Mauretania Proper, came to be known as Mauretania Tingitaua. This distinction continued to subsist after the incor poration of the two provinces in the Roman empire under Claudius in 42 A.D., and remained unchanged till the time of Constantine. In the time of Pliny and Ptolemy, Mauretania contained a number of flourishing cities and towns, several of which enjoyed the privileges of Roman colonies, having been founded no doubt in great part with a view of keeping in check the wild barbarians who still occupied the greater part of the country. The most important of these places were Tingis, on the site of the modern Tangier, the capital of the province to which it gave its name ; Lixus and Sala, on the coast of the Atlantic, at the mouths of the rivers of the same name ; and three towns in the interior of the same province, Zilis, Babba, and Banasa, all of them bearing the title of Roman colonies. On the coast of the Mediterranean stood Rusaddir (now Melilla), within the limits of Tingitana ; and beyond the Mulucha Garten na (now Tenes) ; lol, surnamed Cicsarea, which was made his capital by Juba II., and continued to be that of Mauretania Cresariensis under the Romans (its site is now called Cherchell) ; Icosium (the modern Algiers) ; Saldse (Bujeyah) ; Igilgili (Jijeli) near the eastern limit of the province ; and Sitifis (Setif) at no great distance in the interior, a town of considerable importance, which after the time of Constantine gave the name of Mauretania Sitifensis to this eastern portion of the province. The prosperity of this part of Africa under the Roman empire, previous to the irruption of the Vandals in 429 A.D. y is shown by the fact that no less than one hundred and seventy towns which were episcopal sees are enumerated in the Notitia in the two provinces of Mauretania. MAURICE (MATJRICIUS), ST, and his companions are commemorated as martyrs by the Roman Church on September 22. The earliest extant form of the legend relating to them is that of Eucherius, bishop of Lyons about the middle of the 5th century, who tells us that Maurice was in command of the Theban legion (so called because raised in the Thebais) when it was sent into the West and attached to the army of Maximian. Themselves Christians to a man, its members refused to persecute their coreligionists, and for this, after having twice been decimated, the legion was utterly destroyed by command of the emperor at Octodurum (Martigny) near Geneva. A later form of thejegend connects it with the expedition of Maximian against the Bagaudas, who are taken to have been Christians ; the martyrdom of the legion arises out of its refusal to take part in a great sacrifice which had been ordered at Octodurum ; and another name that of Exsuperius is associated with Maurice s. Later still, Gregory of Tours knows of a company of the same legion which suffered at Cologne (their leader subsequently became known as Gereon). The date usually assigned to the martyrdom of the Theban legion is 286 A.D. ; but it is matter of history that at that period the Christians were everywhere unmolested in the exercise of their religion throughout the Roman empire. On the other hand, at no later date have we any evidence of the presence of Maximian in the Valais ; and, apart from the great a priori improbability of the extirpation of a whole legion under any circumstances on account of its Christian profession, it is practically impossible to get over the fact that such writers as Eusebius, Lactantius, Orosius, and Sulpicius Severus know nothing of such a noteworthy and startling event having taken place. But in the long and voluminous controversy as to the historical character of this legend it has of course never been attempted to deny that isolated cases of officers being put to death on account of their religion occurred during the reign of Maximian. The cultus of St Maurice and other members of the Theban legion occurs chiefly in Switzerland, the region of the Rhine, and northern Italy; the foundation of the abbey of St Maurice (Agaunum) in the Valais is usually ascribed to Sigismund of Burgundy (515). MAURICE (MAURICIUS FLAVIUS TIBERIUS), emperor of the East from 582 to 602, was of Roman descent but a native of Arabissus in Cappadocia, where he was born about 539. He spent his youth at the court of Justin II., and, having joined the army, fought with distinction in the Persian war (578-581). At the age of forty -three he was declared Caesar by the dying emperor Tiberius II., who bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter Constantina. In the meagre annals of the reign of Maurice the most conspicuous events are the termination of the long struggle in the East with the restoration to the Persian throne of Chosroes II. by the Roman general Narses (not the conqueror of Italy) in 591, and the successes of Priscus in the protracted war against the Avars. Some inopportune attempts at army reform, and an ill-judged refusal to provide a ransom which might have prevented the massacre of twelve thousand prisoners in the hands of the enemy, led to a rebellion