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 burthen 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 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 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. Augustine. 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 hist 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 yourself, your family and nation? The love qualities could be seldom found among the of freedom and abhorrence of slavery? Heruli, the most corrupt of the barbarian Alas, my dearest Gelimer, are you not altribes. To his vigilance Belisarius had en- ready the worst of slaves, the slave of the trusted this important charge, and after a vile nation of the Moors? Would it not be bold attempt to scale the mountain, in which preferable to sustain at Constantinople a life he lost a hundred and ten soldiers, Pharas of poverty and servitude rather than to reign expected during a winter siege the operation the undoubted monarch of the mountain of of distress and famine on the mind of the Papua? Do you think it a disgrace to be Vandal king. From the softest habits of the subject of Justinian? Belisarius is his pleasure, from the unbounded command of subject, and we ourselves, whose birth is not industry and wealth, he was reduced to share inferior to your own, are not ashamed of our the poverty of the Moors, supportable only obedience to the Roman emperor. That to themselves by their ignorance of a happier generous prince will grant you a rich inhercondition. In their rude hovels of mud and itance of lands, a place in the Senate and hurdles, which confined the smoke and ex- the dignity of patrician: such are his gracluded the light, they promiscuously slept on cious intentions, and you may depend with the ground, perhaps on a sheep-skin, with full assurance on the word of Belisarius. their wives, their children and their cattle. So long as Heaven has condemned us to sufSordid and scanty were their garments; fer, patience is a virtue; but if we reject the the use of bread and wine was unknown; and proffered deliverance, it degenerates into blind their oaten or barley-cakes, imperfectly baked and stupid despair." 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. “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 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 had tasted bread; a defluxion had fallen on alternative, of remaining in the province or his eyes, the effect of fatigue or incessant of returning to the capital, was indeed subweeping; and he wished to solace the melan- mitted to the discretion of Belisarius, but he choly hours by singing to the lyre the sad wisely concluded, from intercepted letters story of his own misfortunes. 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 ure and manly countenance. Gelimer slowly | his honor had been pledged to the king of the advanced; he was clad in a purple robe and Vandals. The religious scruples of Gelimer, still maintained the majesty of a king. Not who adhered to the Arian heresy, were ina tear escaped from his eyes, not a sigh was compatible with the dignity of senator or heard; but his pride or piety derived some patrician; but he received from the emperor secret consolation from the words of Solomon an ample estate in the province of Galatia, which he repeatedly pronounced: "Vanity! where the abdicated monarch retired with his vanity all is vanity." Instead of ascend- family and friends to a life of peace, of affluing a triumphal car drawn by four horses or ence, and perhaps of content. The daughters elephants, the modest conqueror marched on of Hilderic were entertained with the respectfoot at the head of his brave companions; ful tenderness due to their age and misfortune, his prudence might decline an honor too con- and Justinian and Theodora accepted the spicuous for a subject, and his magnanimity honor of educating and enriching the female might justly disdain what had been so often descendants of the great Theodosius. The sullied by the vilest of tyrants. The glori- bravest of the Vandal youth were distributed ous procession entered the gate of the hip- into five squadrons of cavalry, which adopted podrome, was saluted by the acclamations of the name of their benefactor and supported the Senate and people, and halted before the in the Persian wars the glory of their ancesthrone where Justinian and Theodora were tors. But these rare exceptions, the reward seated to receive the homage of the captive of birth or valor, are insufficient to explain monarch and the victorious hero. They both the fate of a nation whose numbers before a performed the customary adoration, and, fall- short and bloodless war amounted to more ing prostrate on the ground, respectfully than six hundred thousand persons. After touched the footstool of a prince who had the exile of their kings and nobles, the sernot unsheathed his sword, and of a prosti- vile crowd might purchase their safety by tute who had danced on the theatre. Some abjuring their character, religion and langentle violence was used to bend the stub- guage, and their degenerate posterity would born spirit of the grandson of Genseric, and, be insensibly mingled with the common herd however trained to servitude, the genius of of African subjects. Yet even in the presBelisarius must have secretly rebelled. He ent age, and in the heart of the Moorish was immediately declared consul for the en- tribes, a curious traveller has discovered the suing year, and the day of his inauguration white complexion and long flaxen hair of a resembled the pomp of a second triumph: Northern race, and it was formerly believed his curule chair was borne aloft on the shoul- that the boldest of the Vandals fled beyond ders of captive Vandals, and the spoils of the power, or even the knowledge, of the war, gold cups and rich girdles were pro- Romans, to enjoy their solitary freedom on fusely scattered among the populace [Janu- the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Africa had ary 1, 535]. 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, But the purest reward of Belisarius was in the faithful execution of a treaty for which 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. 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. 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 represents them as the last remnant of the new colonies who succeeded to the genuine Vandals, already scattered or destroyed in the age of Procopius. CONQUEST OF ITALY [A. D. 536-540]. 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 only of 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 wars, was again, after a long separation, united to the Roman empire. 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 |