As soon as the tumult had subsided, the several parts of the army informed
each other of the accidents of the day; and Belisarius pitched his camp on
the field of victory, to which the tenth mile-stone from Carthage had
applied the Latin appellation of Decimus. From a wise suspicion of the
stratagems and resources of the Vandals, he marched the next day in order
of battle, halted in the evening before the gates of Carthage, and allowed
a night of repose, that he might not, in darkness and disorder, expose the
city to the license of the soldiers, or the soldiers themselves to the
secret ambush of the city. But as the fears of Belisarius were the result
of calm and intrepid reason, he was soon satisfied that he might confide,
without danger, in the peaceful and friendly aspect of the capital.
Carthage blazed with innumerable torches, the signals of the public joy;
the chain was removed that guarded the entrance of the port; the gates
were thrown open, and the people, with acclamations of gratitude, hailed
and invited their Roman deliverers. The defeat of the Vandals, and the
freedom of Africa, were announced to the city on the eve of St. Cyprian,
when the churches were already adorned and illuminated for the festival of
the martyr whom three centuries of superstition had almost raised to a
local deity. The Arians, conscious that their reign had expired, resigned
the temple to the Catholics, who rescued their saint from profane hands,
performed the holy rites, and loudly proclaimed the creed of Athanasius
and Justinian. One awful hour reversed the fortunes of the contending
parties. The suppliant Vandals, who had so lately indulged the vices of
conquerors, sought an humble refuge in the sanctuary of the church; while
the merchants of the East were delivered from the deepest dungeon of the
palace by their affrighted keeper, who implored the protection of his
captives, and showed them, through an aperture in the wall, the sails of
the Roman fleet. After their separation from the army, the naval
commanders had proceeded with slow caution along the coast till they
reached the Hermaean promontory, and obtained the first intelligence of
the victory of Belisarius. Faithful to his instructions, they would have
cast anchor about twenty miles from Carthage, if the more skilful seamen
had not represented the perils of the shore, and the signs of an impending
tempest. Still ignorant of the revolution, they declined, however, the
rash attempt of forcing the chain of the port; and the adjacent harbor and
suburb of Mandracium were insulted only by the rapine of a private
officer, who disobeyed and deserted his leaders. But the Imperial fleet,
advancing 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 despatched orders that the
greatest part of the mariners should be immediately landed to join the
triumph, and to swell the apparent numbers, of the Romans. 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 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. 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
favor of the people. The fortifications of Carthage 2011
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 Arian sectaries and the confederate Huns.
Under these circumstances, 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, 2012 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 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 fields
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 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 galleys at the port of Caghari,
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
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 Massagetae, who
secretly reserved their aid for the conquerors. The historian has
inserted, and the reader may easily supply, the speeches 21
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 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 vanquished, death was a relief, life a burden,
and infamy 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 guardians 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 despatching 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. 22
The season, and the certain intelligence that the Vandal had fled to an
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.
Belisarius spoke the language of truth. The surviving Vandals yielded,
without resistance, their arms and their freedom; the neighborhood of
Carthage submitted to his presence; and the more distant provinces were
successively subdued by the report of his victory. Tripoli was confirmed
in her voluntary allegiance; Sardinia and Corsica surrendered to an
officer, who carried, instead of a sword, the head of the valiant Zano;
and the Isles of Majorca, Minorca, and Yvica consented to remain an humble
appendage of the African kingdom. Caesarea, a royal city, which in looser
geography may be confounded with the modern Algiers, was situate thirty
days’ march to the westward of Carthage: by land, the road was infested by
the Moors; but the sea was open, and the Romans were now masters of the
sea. An active and discreet tribune sailed as far as the Straits, where he
occupied Septem or Ceuta, 23 which rises opposite to Gibraltar on the
African coast; that remote place was afterwards adorned and fortified by
Justinian; and he seems to have indulged the vain ambition of extending
his empire to the columns of Hercules. He received the messengers of
victory at the time when he was preparing to publish the Pandects of the
Roman laws; and the devout or jealous emperor celebrated the divine
goodness, and confessed, in silence, the merit of his successful general.
24
Impatient to abolish the temporal and spiritual tyranny of the Vandals, he
proceeded, without delay, to the full establishment of the Catholic
church. Her jurisdiction, wealth, and immunites, perhaps the most
essential part of episcopal religion, were restored and amplified with a
liberal hand; the Arian worship was suppressed; the Donatist meetings were
proscribed; 25 and the synod of Carthage, by the voice of
two hundred and seventeen bishops, 26 applauded the just
measure of pious retaliation. On such an occasion, it may not be presumed,
that many orthodox prelates were absent; but the comparative smallness of
their number, which in ancient councils had been twice or even thrice
multiplied, most clearly indicates the decay both of the church and state.
While Justinian approved himself the defender of the faith, he entertained
an ambitious hope, that his victorious lieutenant would speedily enlarge
the narrow limits of his dominion to the space which they occupied before
the invasion of the Moors and Vandals; and Belisarius was instructed to
establish five dukes or commanders in the convenient stations of Tripoli,
Leptis, Cirta, Caesarea, and Sardinia, and to compute the military force
of palatines or borderers that might be sufficient for the defence of
Africa. The kingdom of the Vandals was not unworthy of the presence of a
Praetorian præfect; and four consulars, three presidents, were appointed
to administer the seven provinces under his civil jurisdiction. The number
of their subordinate officers, clerks, messengers, or assistants, was
minutely expressed; three hundred and ninety-six for the præfect himself,
fifty for each of his vicegerents; and the rigid definition of their fees
and salaries was more effectual to confirm the right than to prevent the
abuse. These magistrates might be oppressive, but they were not idle; and
the subtile questions of justice and revenue were infinitely propagated
under the new government, which professed to revive the freedom and equity
of the Roman republic. The conqueror was solicitous to extract a prompt
and plentiful supply from his African subjects; and he allowed them to
claim, even in the third degree, and from the collateral line, the houses
and lands of which their families had been unjustly despoiled by the
Vandals. After the departure of Belisarius, who acted by a high and
special commission, no ordinary provision was made for a master-general of
the forces; but the office of Praetorian præfect was intrusted to a
soldier; the civil and military powers were united, according to the
practice of Justinian, in the chief governor; and the representative of
the emperor in Africa, as well as in Italy, was soon distinguished by the
appellation of Exarch. 27
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 sea-shore, and chased the
unfortunate monarch, with some faithful followers, to the inaccessible
mountain of Papua, 28 in the inland country of Numidia. He was
immediately besieged by Pharas, an officer whose truth and sobriety were
the more applauded, as such qualities could seldom be found among the
Heruli, the most corrupt of the Barbarian tribes. To his vigilance
Belisarius had intrusted 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, 29 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 imbittered 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 hopeless
obstinacy? Why will you ruin 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 his 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, 30 a sponge, and a loaf
of bread.” From the Vandal messenger, Pharas was informed of the motives
of this singular request. It was long since the king of Africa 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. 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. 31
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 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 Caesars.32
From the palace of Belisarius, the procession was conducted
through the principal streets to the hippodrome; 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 stature and manly
countenance. Gelimer slowly advanced: he was clad in a purple robe, and
still maintained the majesty of a king. Not a tear escaped from his eyes,
not a sigh was heard; but his pride or piety derived some secret
consolation from the words of Solomon, 33 which he repeatedly
pronounced, Vanity! vanity! all is vanity! Instead of ascending a
triumphal car drawn by four horses or elephants, the modest conqueror
marched on foot at the head of his brave companions; his prudence might
decline an honor too conspicuous for a subject; and his magnanimity might
justly disdain what had been so often sullied by the vilest of tyrants.
The glorious procession entered the gate of the hippodrome; was saluted by
the acclamations of the senate and people; and halted before the throne
where Justinian and Theodora were seated to receive homage of the captive
monarch and the victorious hero. They both performed the customary
adoration; and falling prostrate on the ground, respectfully touched the
footstool of a prince who had not unsheathed his sword, and of a
prostitute who had danced on the theatre; some gentle violence was used to
bend the stubborn spirit of the grandson of Genseric; and however trained
to servitude, the genius of Belisarius must have secretly rebelled. He was
immediately declared consul for the ensuing year, and the day of his
inauguration resembled the pomp of a second triumph: his curule chair was
borne aloft on the shoulders of captive Vandals; and the spoils of war,
gold cups, and rich girdles, were profusely scattered among the populace.
But the purest reward of Belisarius was in the faithful execution of a
treaty for which his honor had been pledged to the king of the Vandals.
The religious scruples of Gelimer, who adhered to the Arian heresy, were
incompatible with the dignity of senator or patrician: but he received
from the emperor an ample estate in the province of Galatia, where the
abdicated monarch retired, with his family and friends, to a life of
peace, of affluence, and perhaps of content.34
The daughters of Hilderic
were entertained with the respectful tenderness due to their age and
misfortune; and Justinian and Theodora accepted the honor of educating and
enriching the female descendants of the great Theodosius. The bravest of
the Vandal youth were distributed into five squadrons of cavalry, which
adopted the name of their benefactor, and supported in the Persian wars
the glory of their ancestors. But these rare exceptions, the reward of
birth or valor, are insufficient to explain the fate of a nation, whose
numbers before a short and bloodless war, amounted to more than six
hundred thousand persons. After the exile of their king and nobles, the
servile crowd might purchase their safety by abjuring their character,
religion, and language; and their degenerate posterity would be insensibly
mingled with the common herd of African subjects. Yet even in the present
age, and in the heart of the Moorish tribes, a curious traveller has
discovered the white complexion and long flaxen hair of a northern race;35
and it was formerly believed, that the boldest of the Vandals fled beyond
the power, or even the knowledge, of the Romans, to enjoy their solitary
freedom on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.36
Africa had been their empire, it became their prison; nor could they
entertain a hope, or even a wish, of returning to the banks of the Elbe,
where their brethren, of a spirit less adventurous, still wandered in
their native forests. It was impossible for cowards to surmount the
barriers of unknown seas and hostile Barbarians; it was impossible for
brave men to expose their nakedness and defeat before the eyes of their
countrymen, to describe the kingdoms which they had lost, and to claim a
share of the humble inheritance, which, in a happier hour, they had
almost unanimously renounced.37
In the country between the Elbe and the Oder, several populous villages
of Lusatia are inhabited by the Vandals: they still preserve their
language, their customs, and the purity of their blood; support, with
some impatience, the Saxon or Prussian yoke; and serve, with secret and
voluntary allegiance, the descendant of their ancient kings, who in his
garb and present fortune is confounded with the meanest of his
vassals.38
The name and situation of this unhappy people might indicate
their descent from one common stock with the conquerors of Africa. But the
use of a Sclavonian dialect more clearly represent them as the last
remnant of the new colonies, who succeeded to the genuine Vandals, already
scattered or destroyed in the age of Procopius.39
If Belisarius had been tempted to hesitate in his allegiance, he might
have urged, even against the emperor himself, the indispensable duty of
saving Africa from an enemy more barbarous than the Vandals. The origin of
the Moors is involved in darkness; they were ignorant of the use of
letters.40
Their limits cannot be precisely defined; a boundless continent was open
to the Libyan shepherds; the change of seasons and pastures regulated
their motions; and their rude huts and slender furniture were transported
with the same case as their arms, their families, and their cattle, which
consisted of sheep, oxen, and camels.41
During the vigor of the Roman power, they observed a respectful distance
from Carthage and the sea-shore: under the feeble reign of the Vandals,
they invaded the cities of Numidia, occupied the sea-coast from Tangier
to Cæsarea, and pitched their camps, with impunity, in the fertile
province of Byzacium. The formidable strength and artful conduct of
Belisarius secured the neutrality of the Moorish princes, whose vanity
aspired to receive, in the emperor's name, the ensigns of their regal
dignity.42
They were astonished by the rapid event, and trembled in the presence of
their conqueror. But his approaching departure soon relieved the
apprehensions of a savage and superstitious people; the number of their
wives allowed them to disregard the safety of their infant hostages; and
when the Roman general hoisted sail in the port of Carthage, he heard the
cries, and almost beheld the flames, of the desolated province. Yet he
persisted in his resolution, and leaving only a part of his guards to
reënforce the feeble garrisons, he intrusted the command of Africa to the
eunuch Solomon,43
who proved himself not unworthy to be the successor of Belisarius. In the
first invasion, some detachments, with two officers of merit, were
surprised and intercepted; but Solomon speedily assembled his troops,
marched from Carthage into the heart of the country, and in two great
battles destroyed sixty thousand of the Barbarians. The Moors depended on
their multitude, their swiftness, and their inaccessible mountains; and
the aspect and smell of their camels are said to have produced some
confusion in the Roman cavalry.44
But as soon as they were commanded to dismount, they derided this
contemptible obstacle: as soon as the columns ascended the hills, the
naked and disorderly crowd was dazzled by glittering arms and regular
evolutions; and the menace of their female prophets was repeatedly
fulfilled, that the Moors should be discomfited by a beardless
antagonist. The victorious eunuch advanced thirteen days journey from
Carthage, to besiege Mount Aurasius,45
the citadel, and at the same time the garden, of Numidia. That range of
hills, a branch of the great Atlas, contains, within a circumference of
one hundred and twenty miles, a rare variety of soil and climate; the
intermediate valleys and elevated plains abound with rich pastures,
perpetual streams, and fruits of a delicious taste and uncommon
magnitude. This fair solitude is decorated with the ruins of Lambesa, a
Roman city, once the seat of a legion, and the residence of forty
thousand inhabitants. The Ionic temple of Æsculapius is encompassed with
Moorish huts; and the cattle now graze in the midst of an amphitheatre,
under the shade of Corinthian columns. A sharp perpendicular rock rises
above the level of the mountain, where the African princes deposited
their wives and treasure; and a proverb is familiar to the Arabs, that
the man may eat fire who dares to attack the craggy cliffs and
inhospitable natives of Mount Aurasius. This hardy enterprise was twice
attempted by the eunuch Solomon: from the first, he retreated with some
disgrace; and in the second, his patience and provisions were almost
exhausted; and he must again have retired, if he had not yielded to the
impetuous courage of his troops, who audaciously scaled, to the
astonishment of the Moors, the mountain, the hostile camp, and the summit
of the Geminian rock. A citadel was erected to secure this important
conquest, and to remind the Barbarians of their defeat; and as Solomon
pursued his march to the west, the long-lost province of Mauritanian
Sitifi was again annexed to the Roman empire. The Moorish war continued
several years after the departure of Belisarius; but the laurels which he
resigned to a faithful lieutenant may be justly ascribed to his own
triumph.
The experience of past faults, which may sometimes correct the mature age
of an individual, is seldom profitable to the successive generations of
mankind. The nations of antiquity, careless of each other's safety, were
separately vanquished and enslaved by the Romans. This awful lesson might
have instructed the Barbarians of the West to oppose, with timely counsels
and confederate arms, the unbounded ambition of Justinian. Yet the same
error was repeated, the same consequences were felt, and the Goths, both
of Italy and Spain, insensible of their approaching danger, beheld with
indifference, and even with joy, the rapid downfall of the Vandals. After
the failure of the royal line, Theudes, a valiant and powerful chief,
ascended the throne of Spain, which he had formerly administered in the
name of Theodoric and his infant grandson. Under his command, the
Visigoths besieged the fortress of Ceuta on the African coast: but, while
they spent the Sabbath day in peace and devotion, the pious security of
their camp was invaded by a sally from the town; and the king himself,
with some difficulty and danger, escaped from the hands of a sacrilegious
enemy.46
It was not long before his pride and resentment were gratified by a
suppliant embassy from the unfortunate Gelimer, who implored, in his
distress, the aid of the Spanish monarch. But instead of sacrificing these
unworthy passions to the dictates of generosity and prudence, Theudes
amused the ambassadors till he was secretly informed of the loss of
Carthage, and then dismissed them with obscure and contemptuous advice, to
seek in their native country a true knowledge of the state of the
Vandals.47
The long continuance of the Italian war delayed the punishment of the
Visigoths; and the eyes of Theudes were closed before they tasted the
fruits of his mistaken policy. After his death, the sceptre of Spain was
disputed by a civil war. The weaker candidate solicited the protection of
Justinian, and ambitiously subscribed a treaty of alliance, which deeply
wounded the independence and happiness of his country. Several cities,
both on the ocean and the Mediterranean, were ceded to the Roman troops,
who afterwards refused to evacuate those pledges, as it should seem,
either of safety or payment; and as they were fortified by perpetual
supplies from Africa, they maintained their impregnable stations, for the
mischievous purpose of inflaming the civil and religious factions of the
Barbarians. Seventy years elapsed before this painful thorn could be
extirpated from the bosom of the monarchy; and as long as the emperors
retained any share of these remote and useless possessions, their vanity
might number Spain in the list of their provinces, and the successors of
Alaric in the rank of their vassals.48
The error of the Goths who reigned in Italy was less excusable than that
of their Spanish brethren, and their punishment was still more immediate
and terrible. From a motive of private revenge, they enabled their most
dangerous enemy to destroy their most valuable ally. A sister of the great
Theodoric had been given in marriage to Thrasimond, the African king:49
on this occasion, the fortress of Lilybæum50
in Sicily was resigned to the Vandals; and the princess Amalafrida was
attended by a martial train of one thousand nobles, and five thousand
Gothic soldiers, who signalized their valor in the Moorish wars. Their
merit was overrated by themselves, and perhaps neglected by the Vandals;
they viewed the country with envy, and the conquerors with disdain; but
their real or fictitious conspiracy was prevented by a massacre; the
Goths were oppressed, and the captivity of Amalafrida was soon followed
by her secret and suspicious death. The eloquent pen of Cassiodorus was
employed to reproach the Vandal court with the cruel violation of every
social and public duty; but the vengeance which he threatened in the name
of his sovereign might be derided with impunity, as long as Africa was
protected by the sea, and the Goths were destitute of a navy. In the
blind impotence of grief and indignation, they joyfully saluted the
approach of the Romans, entertained the fleet of Belisarius in the ports
of Sicily, and were speedily delighted or alarmed by the surprising
intelligence, that their revenge was executed beyond the measure of their
hopes, or perhaps of their wishes. To their friendship the emperor was
indebted for the kingdom of Africa, and the Goths might reasonably think,
that they were entitled to resume the possession of a barren rock, so
recently separated as a nuptial gift from the island of Sicily. They were
soon undeceived by the haughty mandate of Belisarius, which excited their
tardy and unavailing repentance. “The city and promontory of
Lilybæum,” said the Roman general, “belonged to the Vandals,
and I claim them by the right of conquest. Your submission may deserve
the favor of the emperor; your obstinacy will provoke his displeasure,
and must kindle a war, that can terminate only in your utter ruin. If you
compel us to take up arms, we shall contend, not to regain the possession
of a single city, but to deprive you of all the provinces which you
unjustly withhold from their lawful sovereign.” A nation of two
hundred thousand soldiers might have smiled at the vain menace of
Justinian and his lieutenant: but a spirit of discord and disaffection
prevailed in Italy, and the Goths supported, with reluctance, the
indignity of a female reign.51
The birth of Amalasontha, the regent and queen of Italy,52
united the two most illustrious families of the Barbarians. Her mother,
the sister of Clovis, was descended from the long-haired kings of the
Merovingian race;53 and the regal succession of the Amali was illustrated in the
eleventh generation, by her father, the great Theodoric, whose merit
might have ennobled a plebeian origin. The sex of his daughter excluded
her from the Gothic throne; but his vigilant tenderness for his family
and his people discovered the last heir of the royal line, whose
ancestors had taken refuge in Spain; and the fortunate Eutharic was
suddenly exalted to the rank of a consul and a prince. He enjoyed only a
short time the charms of Amalasontha, and the hopes of the succession;
and his widow, after the death of her husband and father, was left the
guardian of her son Athalaric, and the kingdom of Italy. At the age of
about twenty-eight years, the endowments of her mind and person had
attained their perfect maturity. Her beauty, which, in the apprehension
of Theodora herself, might have disputed the conquest of an emperor, was
animated by manly sense, activity, and resolution. Education and
experience had cultivated her talents; her philosophic studies were
exempt from vanity; and, though she expressed herself with equal elegance
and ease in the Greek, the Latin, and the Gothic tongue, the daughter of
Theodoric maintained in her counsels a discreet and impenetrable silence.
By a faithful imitation of the virtues, she revived the prosperity, of
his reign; while she strove, with pious care, to expiate the faults, and
to obliterate the darker memory of his declining age. The children of
Boethius and Symmachus were restored to their paternal inheritance; her
extreme lenity never consented to inflict any corporal or pecuniary
penalties on her Roman subjects; and she generously despised the clamors
of the Goths, who, at the end of forty years, still considered the people
of Italy as their slaves or their enemies. Her salutary measures were
directed by the wisdom, and celebrated by the eloquence, of Cassiodorus;
she solicited and deserved the friendship of the emperor; and the
kingdoms of Europe respected, both in peace and war, the majesty of the
Gothic throne. But the future happiness of the queen and of Italy
depended on the education of her son; who was destined, by his birth, to
support the different and almost incompatible characters of the chief of
a Barbarian camp, and the first magistrate of a civilized nation. From
the age of ten years,54
Athalaric was diligently instructed in the arts and sciences, either
useful or ornamental for a Roman prince; and three venerable Goths were
chosen to instil the principles of honor and virtue into the mind of
their young king. But the pupil who is insensible of the benefits, must
abhor the restraints, of education; and the solicitude of the queen,
which affection rendered anxious and severe, offended the untractable
nature of her son and his subjects. On a solemn festival, when the Goths
were assembled in the palace of Ravenna, the royal youth escaped from his
mother's apartment, and, with tears of pride and anger, complained of a
blow which his stubborn disobedience had provoked her to inflict. The
Barbarians resented the indignity which had been offered to their king;
accused the regent of conspiring against his life and crown; and
imperiously demanded, that the grandson of Theodoric should be rescued
from the dastardly discipline of women and pedants, and educated, like a
valiant Goth, in the society of his equals and the glorious ignorance of
his ancestors. To this rude clamor, importunately urged as the voice of
the nation, Amalasontha was compelled to yield her reason, and the
dearest wishes of her heart. The king of Italy was abandoned to wine, to
women, and to rustic sports; and the indiscreet contempt of the
ungrateful youth betrayed the mischievous designs of his favorites and
her enemies. Encompassed with domestic foes, she entered into a secret
negotiation with the emperor Justinian; obtained the assurance of a
friendly reception, and had actually deposited at Dyrachium, in Epirus, a
treasure of forty thousand pounds of gold. Happy would it have been for
her fame and safety, if she had calmly retired from barbarous faction to
the peace and splendor of Constantinople. But the mind of Amalasontha was
inflamed by ambition and revenge; and while her ships lay at anchor in
the port, she waited for the success of a crime which her passions
excused or applauded as an act of justice. Three of the most dangerous
malcontents had been separately removed under the pretence of trust and
command, to the frontiers of Italy: they were assassinated by her private
emissaries; and the blood of these noble Goths rendered the queen-mother
absolute in the court of Ravenna, and justly odious to a free people. But
if she had lamented the disorders of her son she soon wept his
irreparable loss; and the death of Athalaric, who, at the age of sixteen,
was consumed by premature intemperance, left her destitute of any firm
support or legal authority. Instead of submitting to the laws of her
country which held as a fundamental maxim, that the succession could
never pass from the lance to the distaff, the daughter of Theodoric
conceived the impracticable design of sharing, with one of her cousins,
the regal title, and of reserving in her own hands the substance of
supreme power. He received the proposal with profound respect and
affected gratitude; and the eloquent Cassiodorus announced to the senate
and the emperor, that Amalasontha and Theodatus had ascended the throne
of Italy. His birth (for his mother was the sister of Theodoric) might be
considered as an imperfect title; and the choice of Amalasontha was more
strongly directed by her contempt of his avarice and pusillanimity which
had deprived him of the love of the Italians, and the esteem of the
Barbarians. But Theodatus was exasperated by the contempt which he
deserved: her justice had repressed and reproached the oppression which
he exercised against his Tuscan neighbors; and the principal Goths,
united by common guilt and resentment, conspired to instigate his slow
and timid disposition. The letters of congratulation were scarcely
despatched before the queen of Italy was imprisoned in a small island of
the Lake of Bolsena,55
where, after a short confinement, she was strangled in the bath, by the
order, or with the connivance of the new king, who instructed his
turbulent subjects to shed the blood of their sovereigns.
Justinian beheld with joy the dissensions of the Goths; and the mediation
of an ally concealed and promoted the ambitious views of the conqueror.
His ambassadors, in their public audience, demanded the fortress of
Lilybæum, ten Barbarian fugitives, and a just compensation for the pillage
of a small town on the Illyrian borders; but they secretly negotiated with
Theodatus to betray the province of Tuscany, and tempted Amalasontha to
extricate herself from danger and perplexity, by a free surrender of the
kingdom of Italy. A false and servile epistle was subscribed, by the
reluctant hand of the captive queen: but the confession of the Roman
senators, who were sent to Constantinople, revealed the truth of her
deplorable situation; and Justinian, by the voice of a new ambassador,
most powerfully interceded for her life and liberty.55a
Yet the secret instructions of the same minister were adapted to serve
the cruel jealousy of Theodora, who dreaded the presence and superior
charms of a rival: he prompted, with artful and ambiguous hints, the
execution of a crime so useful to the Romans;56
received the intelligence of her death with grief and indignation, and
denounced, in his master's name, immortal war against the perfidious
assassin. In Italy, as well as in Africa, the guilt of a usurper appeared
to justify the arms of Justinian; but the forces which he prepared, were
insufficient for the subversion of a mighty kingdom, if their feeble
numbers had not been multiplied by the name, the spirit, and the conduct,
of a hero. A chosen troop of guards, who served on horseback, and were
armed with lances and bucklers, attended the person of Belisarius; his
cavalry was composed of two hundred Huns, three hundred Moors, and four
thousand confederates, and the infantry consisted of only three
thousand Isaurians. Steering the same course as in his former expedition,
the Roman consul cast anchor before Catana in Sicily, to survey the
strength of the island, and to decide whether he should attempt the
conquest, or peaceably pursue his voyage for the African coast. He found
a fruitful land and a friendly people. Notwithstanding the decay of
agriculture, Sicily still supplied the granaries of Rome: the farmers
were graciously exempted from the oppression of military quarters; and
the Goths, who trusted the defence of the island to the inhabitants, had
some reason to complain, that their confidence was ungratefully betrayed.
Instead of soliciting and expecting the aid of the king of Italy, they
yielded to the first summons a cheerful obedience; and this province, the
first fruits of the Punic war, was again, after a long separation, united
to the Roman empire.57
The Gothic garrison of Palermo, which alone attempted to resist, was
reduced, after a short siege, by a singular stratagem. Belisarius
introduced his ships into the deepest recess of the harbor; their boats
were laboriously hoisted with ropes and pulleys to the top-mast head, and
he filled them with archers, who, from that superior station, commanded
the ramparts of the city. After this easy, though successful campaign,
the conqueror entered Syracuse in triumph, at the head of his victorious
bands, distributing gold medals to the people, on the day which so
gloriously terminated the year of the consulship. He passed the winter
season in the palace of ancient kings, amidst the ruins of a Grecian
colony, which once extended to a circumference of two-and-twenty
miles:58
but in the spring, about the festival of Easter, the prosecution of his
designs was interrupted by a dangerous revolt of the African forces.
Carthage was saved by the presence of Belisarius, who suddenly landed
with a thousand guards.58a
Two thousand soldiers of doubtful faith returned to the standard of their
old commander: and he marched, without hesitation, above fifty miles, to
seek an enemy whom he affected to pity and despise. Eight thousand rebels
trembled at his approach; they were routed at the first onset, by the
dexterity of their master: and this ignoble victory would have restored
the peace of Africa, if the conqueror had not been hastily recalled to
Sicily, to appease a sedition which was kindled during his absence in his
own camp.59
Disorder and disobedience were the common malady of the times;
the genius to command, and the virtue to obey, resided only in the mind
of Belisarius.