Still ignorant of the revolution, they declined, however,
the rash attempt of forcing the chain of the port; and the
adjacant harbour and suburb of Mandracium were insult-
ed only by the rapine of a private officer who disobeyed
and deserted his leaders. But the Imperial fleet, advanc
ing with a fair wind, steered through the narrow entrance
of the Goletta, and occupied in the deep and capacious
lake of Tunis a secure station about five miles from the
capital.
19 No sooner was Belisarius informed of their
arrival, than he dispatched orders that the greatest part
of the mariners should be immediately landed to join the
triumph, and to swell the apparent numbers of the Ro-
mans. Before he allowed them to enter the gates of
Carthage, he exhorted them, in a discourse worthy of
himself and the occasion, not to disgrace the glory of their
arms; and to remember that the Vandals had been the
tyrants, but that they were the deliverers of the Africans,
who must now be respected as the voluntary and affec-
tionate subjects of their common sovereign. The Ro-
mans 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 con-
tinued 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 laboured

19 The neighbourhood of Carthage, the sea, the land, and the rivers, are changed almost as much as the works of man. The isthmus, or neck, of the city is now confounded with the continent: the harbour is a dry plain; and the lake, or stagnum, no more than a morass, with six or seven feet water in the mid channel. See d'Anville (Geographie Ancienne, tom. iii. p. 82), Shaw, (Travels, p. 77...84), Marmol (Description de l'Afrique, tom. ii. p. 465), and Thuanus (lviii. 12. tom. iii. p. 334).

XLI.

CHAP.
XLI.

Final de

limer and

the Van

dals,

A. D. 533,

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.20 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 favour 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 dispatch 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 labour; 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, feat of Ge- 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 November. 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 an high reward for the head of every Roman; affected to spare the persons and property of his African subjects, and secretly negotiated with the Arian sectaries

20 From Delphi, the name of Delphicum was given, both in Greek and Latin, to a tripod; and, by an easy analogy, the same appellation was extended at Rome, Constantinople, and Carthage, to the royal banquetting room (Procopius, Vandal. I. i. c. 21. Ducange, Gloss. Græc. p. 277. AλPinoy, ad Alexiad. p. 412).

XLI.

and the confederate Huns. Under these circumstances, CHAP. 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. "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 Ammatus, 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 igno"minious repose, at the expense of their wives and "children, their wealth and liberty. Nothing now re"mains, except the field of Bulla, and the hope of your "valour. Abandon Sardinia; fly to our relief; restore

our empire, or perish by our side." On the receipt of this epistle, Zano imparted his grief to the principal Vandals; but the intelligence was prudently concealed from the natives of the island. The troops embarked in one hundred and twenty gallies 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; no 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 monarchy and religion. The military strength

CHAP.
XLI.

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 separate station and ambiguous faith of the Massagetæ, who secretly reserved their aid for the conquerors. The historian has inserted, and the reader may easily supply, the speeches" of the commanders, who, by arguments the most appo site 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 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 eight hundred Vandals, were found on the field of battle; so inconsiderable was the carnage of a day, which extinguished a nation, and transferred the empire of Africa. In the evening, Belisarius led his infantry to the attack of the camp; and the pusillanimous flight of Gelimer exposed the vanity of his recent declarations, that to the

21 These orations always express the sense of the times, and sometimes of the actors. I have condensed that sense, and thrown away declamation.

XLI.

vanquished death was a relief, like a burthen, and infamy CHAP. the only object of terror. His departure was secret; but as soon as the Vandals discovered that their king had deserted them, they hastily dispersed, anxious only for their personal safety, and careless of every object that is dear or valuable to mankind. The Romans entered the camp without resistance; and the 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 planted his standard on a hill, recalled his guards and veterans, and gradually restored the modesty and obedience of the camp. It was equally the concern of the Roman general to subdue the hostile, and to save the prostrate Barbarian: and the suppliant Vandals, who could be found only in churches, were protected by his authority, disarmed, and separately confined, that they might neither disturb the public peace, nor become the victims of popular revenge. After dispatching a light detachment to tread the footsteps of Gelimer, he advanced with his whole army, about ten days' march, as far as Hippo Regius, which no longer possessed the relics of St. Augustin. The season, and the certain

22 The relics of St. Augustin were carried by the African bishops to