Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/676

Rh 662 JUSTINIANUS. who exercised an extraordinary influence over him. Being present at the privy council, where the emperor declared his resolution of leaving the city, she rose, and with impressive words, sometimes reproaching and sometimes encouraging, produced a happy change in the minds of Justinian and his councillors. Narses bribed the chiefs of the Blue, and soon rekindled those hostilities between the two factions which only an extraordinarj- event had appeased for a moment ; and, sure of the as- sistance of the Blue, Belisarius led a body of 3000 veterans against the hippodrome, where the Green had fortified themselves. In a dreadful carnage 30,000 of the Green were massacred within the space of one day ; and Hypatius and Pompeius having been made prisoners, were led to death, with eighteen other leaders of patrician or con- sular rank. Thus ended one of the most terrible riots that had ever happened at Constantinople ; but the power of the Green was far from being broken, and the two factions continued to make the hippodrome an occasional scene of bloodshed during the whole reign of Justinian. Immediately after these troubles Justinian made serious preparations for a war against the Vandals. His pretext was to avenge the deposition of the aged Hilderic, the lawful king of the Vandals, and a great favourite of Justinian, on account of his orthodoxy, who had been deprived of his throne by the warrior Gelimer ; but his design upon Car- thage was blamed by the people, who had in mind the unhappy campaign of Basiliscus against the Van- dals in A. D. 468, and still more so by most of his ministers, especially John of Cappadocia, who, however, acted from very selfish motives. [Jo- annes of Cappadocia.] Nor does it appear that Justinian originated the plan, which seems to have been suggested to him by Theodora and Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, and to which he was finally persuaded by this great general. This was the last contest between Rome and Carthage, but on neither side was it carried on by Romans or Car- thaginians, those who boasted of the former name being Greeks and Scythian or Gothic barbarians, while the defenders of Carthage were a mixture of Germans and Slavonians, commanded by Ger- manic chiefs. An army of 35,000 soldiers, com- manded by Belisarius, left the Bosponis in June, 533, in a fleet of 500 ships, manned by 20,000 mariners, and among the troops were several thou- sand archers with coats of mail, who fought on horseback, and of which Procopius gives a descrip- tion which strongly resembles that of the brave Caucasians in our time. From the Bosporus the fleet made for Methone (Modon), in Messenia, where the troops were landed, and remained a short time on the shore to refresh themselves ; thence they sailed round the Peloponnesus, reached Zante, and cast anchor at Caucana, about 50 miles from Syracuse, where they were well treated by the Goths — a great act of imprudence on their part — and they finally landed on the African shore, near the promontory of Caput Vada, now Capaudia, at five days' journey south of Carthage. Gelimer, having dispatched part of his army and fleet for the conquest of Sardinia, was unable to offer any eflfective resistance : moreover, the aborigines of the country, and the descendants of the former Roman settlers, received the Romans as Catholic brethren, and Belisarius advanced as far as the palace of Grasse, only 50 miles from Carthage, meeting only JUSTINIANUS. with friends, and not with enemies. At 10 miles distance from Carthage the Romans encountered the main army of the Vandals, Avho were routed, and so completely dispersed, that Gelimer despaired of defending his capital with success, and fled into the interior, in order to collect a new army. A few daj's afterwards, on the 15th of September, 533, the inhabitants of Carthage opened their gates to the victor, not only without resistance, but with manifestations of joy. While Belisarius employed his time in repairing the fortifications of Carthage, Gelimer succeeded in raising a considerable number of troops, and his brother Zano, who had mean- while conquered Sardinia, returned in haste with his arm}', which, however, was only 5000 men strong, and joined Gelimer in his camp at Balla, five days' journey from the capital. They marched upon Carthage, and their forces increased daily ;*ko that when they arrived at Tricameron, 20 miles from Carthage, they commanded an army ten times more numerous than that of Belisarius. But the Vandals who defended Africa were no longer the same who had conquered it : they were enervated by the climate and the luxuries of the South ; and in a pitched battle at Tricameron they were en- tirely defeated. Gelimer fled into the mountains in the South, but was pursued by the Roman Pharas, who kept him besieged in a castle on Mount Papua, where he was reduced to such ex- tremity that he at last surrendered, and after having been presented to Belisarius at Carthage, was sent to Constantinople, where he was treated by Justinian with great generosity. [Gelimer.] After the conquest of Carthage, Belisarius reduced the whole tract of Africa along the shore of the Mediterranean, as far as the columns of Hercules, and brought likewise the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, as well as the Baleares, under the authority of Justinian. The overthrow of the Vandal kingdom in Africa was followed by a war with the East Goths in Itiily, which arose out of the following circumstances, in which the cunning and artfulness of Justinian were no less conspicuous than the frank heroism of Belisa- rius. Shortly after the accession of Justinian, the young king of the East Goths, Athalaric, died, and his mother Amalasuntha, a highly gifted woman, who was the youngest daughter of the great Theodoric, succeeded her son, and, in order to establish her power the better, married her cousin Theodat. It happened, however, that Justinian contemplated a marriage with that queen, although he was already married to Theodora ; and we cannot doubt that, in order to obtain his ends, he would have sacri- ficed both his wife and king Theodivt. Suspecting his designs, Theodora secretly negotiated with Theodat, and made him great promises, if he would put Amalasuntha to death. Theodat saw his danger, and lost no time in seizing his unfortunate queen, and confining her in a castle, where she was found strangled some time after her imprisonment (534). The anger of Justinian was extreme, and as the Gothic kingdom was shaken by political factions, while his own power had much increased through his conquest of Africa, he prepared for an invasion of Italy. The pretext he alleged was to avenge the mur- der of Amalasuntha. He began his hostile demon- strations by demanding the fortress of Lilybaeum, in Sicily, from the Goths : this town had been given to Thrasimond, king of the Vandals, by Theodoric the Great, but after the overthrow of 1