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tyrants, but that they were the deliverers, of the Africans, who must now be respected as the voluntary and affectionate subjects of their common sovereign. The Romans marched through the streets in close ranks, prepared for battle if an enemy had appeared; the strict order maintained by the general imprinted on their minds the duty of obedience; and in an age in which custom and impunity almost sanctified the abuse of conquest the genius of one man repressed the passions of a victorious army. The voice of menace and complaint was silent; the trade of Carthage was not interrupted; while Africa changed her master and her government the shops continued open and busy; and the soldiers, after sufficient guards had been posted, modestly departed to the houses which were allotted for their reception.

Belisarius fixed his residence in the palace, seated himself on the throne of Genseric, accepted and distributed the barbaric spoil, granted their lives to the suppliant Vandals and labored to repair the damage which the suburb of Mandracium had sustained in the preceding night. At supper he entertained his principal officers with the form and magnificence of a royal banquet. The victor was respectfully served by the captive officers of the household, and in the moments of festivity, when the impartial spectators applauded the fortune and merit of Belisarius, his envious flatterers secretly shed their venom on every word and gesture which might alarm the suspicions of a jealous monarch. One day was given to these pompous scenes, which may not be despised as useless if they attracted the popular veneration; but the active mind of Belisarius, which in the pride of victory could suppose

a defeat, had already resolved that the Roman empire in Africa should not depend on the chance of arms or the favor of the people. The fortifications of Carthage had alone been exempted from the general proscription, but in the reign of ninety-five years they were suffered to decay by the thoughtless and indolent Vandals. A wiser conqueror restored with incredible despatch the walls and ditches of the city. His liberality encouraged the workmen ; the soldiers, the mariners and the citizens vied with each other in the salutary labor; and Gelimer, who had feared to trust his person in an open town, beheld with astonishment and despair the rising strength of an impregnable fortress.

That unfortunate monarch, after the loss of his capital, applied himself to collect the remains of an army scattered rather than destroyed by the preceding battle, and the hopes of pillage attracted some Moorish bands to the standard of Gelimer. He encamped in the fields of Bulla, four days' journey from Carthage, insulted the capital, which he deprived of the use of an aqueduct, proposed a high reward for the head of every Roman, affected to spare the persons and property of his African subjects and secretly negotiated with the the confederate Huns. stances, the conquest of Sardinia served only to aggravate his distress. He reflected with the deepest anguish that he had wasted in that useless enterprise five thousand of his bravest troops, and he read with grief and shame the victorious letters of his brother Zano, who expressed a sanguine confidence. that the king, after the example of their ancestors, had already chastised the rashness of the Roman invader.

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archy and religion. The military strength of the nation advanced to battle, and such was the rapid increase that before their army reached Tricameron, about twenty miles from Carthage, they might boast, perhaps with some exaggeration, that they surpassed in a tenfold proportion the diminutive powers of the Romans. But these powers were under the command of Belisarius; and, as he was conscious of their superior merit, he permitted the barbarians to surprise him at an unseasonable hour. The Romans were instantly under arms. A rivulet covered their front; the cavalry formed the first line, which Belisarius supported in the centre, at the head of five hundred guards; the infantry, at some distance, was posted in the second line, and the vigilance of the general watched the sepa

"Alas, my brother," replied Gelimer, Heaven has declared against our unhappy nation. While you have subdued Sardinia, we have lost Africa. No sooner did Belisarius appear with a handful of soldiers than courage and prosperity deserted the cause of the Vandals. Your nephew Gibamund, your brother Ammatas, have been betrayed to death by the cowardice of their followers. Our horses, our ships, Carthage itself, and all Africa, are in the power of the enemy. Yet the Vandals still prefer an ignominious repose at the expense of their wives and children, their wealth and liberty. Nothing now remains except the field of Bulla and the hope of your valor. Abandon Sardinia; fly to our relief. Restore our empire or perish by our side." On the receipt of this epistle Zano impart-rate station and ambiguous faith of the Mased his grief to the principal Vandals, but the sagetæ, who secretly reserved their aid for intelligence was prudently concealed from the the conquerors. The historian has inserted, natives of the island. and the reader may easily supply, the speeches of the commanders, who by arguments the most apposite to their situation inculcated the importance of victory and the contempt of life. Zano, with the troops which had followed him to the conquest of Sardinia, was placed in the centre, and the throne of No Genseric might have stood if the multitude of Vandals had imitated their intrepid resolution. Casting away their lances and missile weapons, they drew their swords and expected the charge. The Roman cavalry thrice passed the rivulet; they were thrice repulsed, and the conflict was firmly maintained till Zano fell and the standard of Belisarius was displayed. Gelimer retreated to his camp; the Huns joined the pursuit, and the victors despoiled the bodies of the slain. Yet no more than fifty Romans and

The troops embarked in one hundred and twenty galleys at the port of Cagliari, cast anchor the third day on the confines of Mauritania and hastily pursued their march to join the royal standard in the camp of Bulla. Mournful was the interview. The two brothers embraced; they wept in silence. questions were asked of the Sardinian victory; no inquiries were made of the African misfortunes they saw before their eyes the whole extent of their calamities; and the absence of their wives and children afforded a melancholy proof that either death or captivity had been their lot.

The languid spirit of the Vandals was at length awakened and united by the entreaties of their king, the example of Zano and the instant danger which threatened their mon

eight hundred Vandals were found on the | planted his standard on a hill, recalled his field of battle, so inconsiderable was the car- guards and veterans and gradually restored nage of a day which extinguished a nation the modesty and obedience of the camp. It and transferred the empire of Africa. In was equally the concern of the Roman genthe evening Belisarius led his infantry to eral to subdue the hostile and to save the the attack of the camp, and the pusillanimous prostrate barbarian; and the suppliant Vanflight of Gelimer exposed the vanity of his re- dals, who could be found only in churches, cent declarations that to the vanquished death were protected by his authority, disarmed was a relief, life a burthen and infamy the and separately confined, that they might only object of terror. His departure was neither disturb the public peace nor become secret, but as soon as the Vandals discovered the victims of popular revenge. After dethat their king had deserted them they has- spatching a light detachment to tread the tily dispersed, anxious only for their person- footsteps of Gelimer, he advanced with his al safety and careless of every object that is whole army about ten days' march, as far as dear or valuable to mankind. The Romans Hippo Regius, which no longer possessed the entered the camp without resistance, and the relics of St. Augustine. wildest scenes of disorder were veiled in the darkness and confusion of the night. Every barbarian who met their swords was inhumanly massacred; their widows and daughters, as rich heirs or beautiful concubines, were embraced by the licentious soldiers, and avarice itself was almost satiated with the treasures of gold and silver, the accumulated fruits of conquest or economy in a long period of prosperity and peace. In this frantic search the troops even of Belisarius forgot their caution and respect. Intoxicated with lust and rapine, they explored in small parties or alone the adjacent fields, the woods, the rocks and the caverns that might possibly conceal any desirable prize; laden with booty, they deserted their ranks and wandered without a guide on the high-road to Carthage; and if the flying enemies had dared to return, very few of the conquerors would have escaped.

Deeply sensible of the disgrace and danger, Belisarius passed an apprehensive night on the field of victory; at the dawn of day he

The season and the certain intelligence that the Vandal had fled to the inaccessible country of the Moors determined Belisarius to relinquish the vain pursuit and to fix his winter-quarters at Carthage. From thence he despatched his principal lieutenant to inform the emperor that in the space of three months he had achieved the conquest of Africa [A. D. 534].

Yet the conquest of Africa was imperfect till her former sovereign was delivered, either alive or dead, into the hands of the Romans. Doubtful of the event, Gelimer had given secret orders that a part of his treasure should be transported to Spain, where he hoped to find a secure refuge at the court of the king of the Visigoths. But these intentions were disappointed by accident, treachery and the indefatigable pursuit of his enemies, who intercepted his flight from the seashore and chased the unfortunate monarch, with some faithful followers, to the inaccessible mountain of Papua, in the inland country of Numidia. He was immediately besieged

by Pharas, an officer whose truth and so- | hopeless obstinacy? Why will you ruin

briety were the more applauded as such qualities could be seldom found among the Heruli, the most corrupt of the barbarian tribes. To his vigilance Belisarius had entrusted this important charge, and after a bold attempt to scale the mountain, in which he lost a hundred and ten soldiers, Pharas expected during a winter siege the operation of distress and famine on the mind of the Vandal king. From the softest habits of pleasure, from the unbounded command of industry and wealth, he was reduced to share the poverty of the Moors, supportable only to themselves by their ignorance of a happier condition. In their rude hovels of mud and hurdles, which confined the smoke and excluded the light, they promiscuously slept on the ground, perhaps on a sheep-skin, with their wives, their children and their cattle. Sordid and scanty were their garments; the use of bread and wine was unknown; and their oaten or barley-cakes, imperfectly baked in the ashes, were devoured almost in a crude state by the hungry savages.

The health of Gelimer must have sunk under these strange and unwonted hardships, from whatsoever cause they had been endured; but his actual misery was embittered by the recollection of past greatness, the daily insolence of his protectors and the just apprehension that the light and venal Moors might be tempted to betray the rights of hospitality.

The knowledge of his situation dictated the humane and friendly epistle of Pharas. "Like yourself," said the chief of the Heruli, “I am an illiterate barbarian, but I speak the language of plain sense and an honest heart. Why will you persist in

yourself, your family and nation? The love of freedom and abhorrence of slavery? Alas, my dearest Gelimer, are you not already the worst of slaves, the slave of the vile nation of the Moors? Would it not be preferable to sustain at Constantinople a life of poverty and servitude rather than to reign the undoubted monarch of the mountain of Papua? Do you think it a disgrace to be the subject of Justinian? Belisarius is his subject, and we ourselves, whose birth is not inferior to your own, are not ashamed of our obedience to the Roman emperor. That generous prince will grant you a rich inheritance of lands, a place in the Senate and the dignity of patrician: such are his gracious intentions, and you may depend with full assurance on the word of Belisarius. So long as Heaven has condemned us to suffer, patience is a virtue; but if we reject the proffered deliverance, it degenerates into blind and stupid despair."

"I am not insensible," replied the king of the Vandals, "how kind and rational is your advice, but I cannot persuade myself to become the slave of an unjust enemy who has deserved my implacable hatred. Him I had never injured either by word or deed, yet he has sent against me, I know not from whence, a certain Belisarius, who has cast me headlong from the throne into this abyss of misery. Justinian is a man; he is a prince does he not dread for himself a similar reverse of fortune? I can write no more; my grief oppresses me. Send me, I beseech you, my dear Pharas-send me a lyre, a sponge and a loaf of bread."

From the Vandal messenger Pharas was informed of the motives of this singular re

had tasted bread; a defluxion had fallen on his eyes, the effect of fatigue or incessant weeping; and he wished to solace the melancholy hours by singing to the lyre the sad story of his own misfortunes.

The humanity of Pharas was moved; he sent the three extraordinary gifts, but even his humanity prompted him to redouble the vigilance of his guard, that he might sooner compel his prisoner to embrace a resolution advantageous to the Romans, but salutary to himself.

quest. It was long since the king of Africa | rather than of confidence. An honorable alternative, of remaining in the province or of returning to the capital, was indeed submitted to the discretion of Belisarius, but he wisely concluded, from intercepted letters and the knowledge of his sovereign's temper, that he must either resign his head, erect his standard or confound his enemies by his presence and submission. Innocence and courage decided his choice. His guards, captives and treasures were diligently embarked; and so prosperous was the navigation that his arrival at Constantinople preceded any certain account of his departure from the port of Carthage. Such unsuspecting loyalty removed the apprehensions of Justinian; envy was silenced and inflamed by the public gratitude, and the third Africanus obtained the honors of a triumph-a ceremony which the city of Constantine had never seen, and which ancient Rome, since the reign of Tiberius, had reserved for the auspicious arms of the Cæsars. From the palace of Belisarius the procession was conducted through the principal streets to the hipprodrome, and this memorable day seemed to avenge the injuries of Genseric and to expiate the shame of the Romans. The wealth of nations was displayed, the trophies of martial or effeminate luxury; rich armor, golden thrones and the chariots of state which had been used by the Vandal queen; the massy furniture of the royal banquet, the splendor of precious stones, the elegant forms of statues and vases, the more substantial treasure of gold and the holy vessels of the Jewish temple, which after their long peregrination were respectfully deposited in the Christian church of Jerusalem. A long train of the noblest Vandals reluctantly exposed their lofty stat

The obstinacy of Gelimer at length yielded to reason and necessity; the solemn assurances of safety and honorable treatment were ratified in the emperor's name by the ambassador of Belisarius, and the king of the Vandals descended from the mountain. The first public interview was in one of the suburbs of Carthage; and when the royal captive accosted his conqueror, he burst into a fit of laughter. The crowd might naturally believe that extreme grief had deprived Gelimer of his senses, but in this mournful state unseasonable mirth insinuated to more intelligent observers that the vain and transitory scenes of human greatness are unworthy of a serious thought. Their contempt was soon justified by a new example of a vulgar truth-that flattery adheres to power, and envy to superior merit. The chiefs of the Roman army presumed to think themselves the rivals of a hero. Their private despatches maliciously affirmed that the conqueror of Africa, strong in his reputation and the public love, conspired to seat himself on the throne of the Vandals.

Justinian listened with too patient an ear, and his silence was the result of jealousy

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