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 chap, xxxvi] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 29 was gradually reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Eicimer, Naval war of the a.d. 461-467 by the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. 71 In the vandals. spring of each year they equipped a formidable navy in the port of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age, still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His designs were concealed with impenetrable secrecy, till the moment that he hoisted sail. When he was asked by his pilot, what course he should steer; "Leave the determination to the winds (replied the Barbarian with pious arrogance) ; they will transport us to the guilty coast, whose inhabitants have provoked the divine justice ; " but, if Genseric himself deigned to issue more precise orders, he judged the most wealthy to be the most criminal. The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria, Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily ; they were tempted to subdue the island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the centre of the Mediterranean ; and their arms spread desolation, or terror, from the columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. As they were more ambitious of spoil than of glory, they seldom attacked any fortified cities or engaged any regular troops in the open field. But the celerity of their motions enabled them, almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most distant objects which attracted their desires ; and, as they always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner landed than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light cavalry. Yet, notwithstanding the example of their king, the native Vandals and Alani insensibly declined this toilsome and perilous 71 The naval war of Genseric is described by Priscus (Excerpta Legation, p. 42 [fr. 29]), Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 5, p. 189, 190, and c. 22, p. 228), Victor Vitensis (de Persecut. Vandal. 1. i. c. 17, and Ruin. p. 467-481), and in the three panegyrics of Sidonius, whose chronological order is absurdly transposed in the editions both of Savaron and Sirrnond. (Avit. Carm. vii. 441-451, Majorian. Carm. v. 327-350, 385-440. Anthem. Carm. ii. 348-386.) In one passage the poet seems inspired by his subject, and expresses a strong idea by a lively image [Carm. 2, 348 sqq.] :— Hinc Vandalus hostis Urget ; et in nostrum numerosa classe quotannis Militat exeidium ; conversoque ordine Fati Torrida Caucaseos infert mihi Byrsa furores. [Italy was also attacked on another side in the year 464 by an invasion of Alani, repulsed by Eicimer near Bergamo ad Pedem Montis (a phrase which, as Hodgkin observes, suggests Piedmont). Anon. Cuspin. ad ann.]