Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/49

 his fleet Chap xxxvi] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 25 of the Komans. Such an anecdote may be rejected as an improbable fiction ; but it is a fiction which would not have been imagined, unless in the life of a hero. 69 Without the help of a personal interview, Genseric was The loss of sufficiently acquainted with the genius and designs of his adversary. He practised his customary arts of fraud and delay, but he practised them without success. His applications for peace became each hour more submissive, and perhaps more sincere ; but the inflexible Majorian had adopted the ancient maxim that Eome could not be safe as long as Carthage ex- isted in a hostile state. The king of the Vandals distrusted the valour of his native subjects, who were enervated by the luxury of the South ; 60 he suspected the fidelity of the vanquished people, who abhorred him as an Arian tyrant ; and the desperate measure, which he executed, of reducing Mauritania into a desert, 61 could not defeat the operations of the Roman emperor, who was at liberty to land his troops on any part of the African coast. But Genseric was saved from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some power- ful subjects, envious, or apprehensive, of their master's success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the unguarded fleet in the bay of Carthagena ; many of the ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt ; and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day. 62 After this event, the behaviour of the two antagonists shewed them superior to their fortune. The Vandal, instead of being elated by this accidental victory, immediately renewed his solicitations for peace. The emperor of the West, who was capable of forming great designs, and of 59 Procopius de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 8, p. 194. When Genseric conducted hi6 unknown guest into the arsenal of Carthage, the arms clashed of their own accord. Majorian had tinged his yellow locks with a black colour. 60 Spoliisque potitus Immensis, robur luxu jam perdidit omne, Quo valuit dum pauper erat. Panegyr. Majorian. 330. He afterwards applies to Genseric, unjustly as it should seem, the vices of his subjects. 61 He burnt the villages, and poisoned the springs (Priscus, p. 42). Dubos (Hist. Critique, torn. i. p. 475) observes that the magazines which the Moors buried in the earth might escape his destructive search. Two or three hundred pits are sometimes dug in the same place, and each pit contains at least 400 bushels of corn. Shaw's Travels, p. 139. 82 Idatius, who was safe in Gallicia from the power of Ricimer, boldly and honestly declares, Vandali, per proditores admoniti, &c. ; he dissembles, however, the name of the traitor.