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 438 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliii reduced ; he passed into Sicily, the object of his implacable resentment ; and the island was stripped of its gold and silver, of the fruits of the earth, and of an infinite number of horses, sheep, and oxen. Sardinia and Corsica obeyed the fortune of Italy ; and the sea-coast of Greece was visited by a fleet of three [a.d.551] hundred galleys. 48 The Goths were landed in Corcyra and the ancient continent of Epirus ; they advanced as far as Nicopolis, the trophy of Augustus, and Dodona, 49 once famous by the oracle of Jove. In every step of his victories, the wise Barbarian re- peated to Justinian his desire of peace, applauded the concord of their predecessors, and offered to employ the Gothic arms in the service of the empire. Prepara- Justinian was deaf to the voice of peace ; but he neglected Justinian the prosecution of war ; and the indolence of his temper disap- Gothic pointed, in some degree, the obstinacy of his passions. From 1^549-551 this salutary slumber the emperor was awakened by the pope Vigilius and the patrician Cethegus, who appeared before his throne, and adjured him in the name of God and the people to resume the conquest and deliverance of Italy. In the choice of the generals, caprice, as well as judgment, was shewn. A fleet and army sailed for the relief of Sicily, under the con- duct of Liberius ; but his want of youth and experience were afterwards discovered, and, before he touched the shores of the island, he was overtaken by his successor. In the place of Liberius the conspirator Artaban was raised from a prison to military honours ; in the pious presumption that gratitude would animate his valour and fortify his allegiance. Belisarius reposed in the shade of his laurels, but the command of the principal army was reserved for Germanus, 60 the emperor's nephew, whose rank and merit had been long depressed by 48 In these seas, Procopius searched without success for the isle of Calypso. He was shewn, at Phaeacia or Corcyra, the petrified ship of Ulysses (Odyss. xiii. 163) ; but he found it a recent fabric of many stones, dedicated by a merchant to Jupiter Casius (1. iv. c. 22). Eustathiu6 had supposed it to be the fanciful like- ness of a rock. 4!> M. d'Anville (M^moircs de l'Acad. torn, xxxii. p. 513-528) illustrates the gulf of Ambracia ; but ho caDnot ascertain the situation of Dodona. A country in Bight of Italy is less known than the wilds of America. M See the acts of Germanus in the public (Vandal. 1. ii. c. 16, 17, 18 ; Goth. 1. iii. o. 31, 32) and private history (Anecdot. o. 5), and those of his son Justin, in Agathias (1. iv. p. 130, 131 [o. 21]). Notwithstanding an ambiguous expression of Jornandes, fratri suo, Alemannus has proved that he was the son of the emperor'u brother.