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BEL strange form of incantation? While they wondered and sought from each other an explanation of the prodigy, the Huns fell upon them. Of the two thousand not one survived. Of these things going on at the outposts, it would appear that both Gelimer and Belisarius were ignorant till a later part of the day. Yet more strange, Gelimer's guides appear not to have been well acquainted with the ground, as he was deceived by the windings of the hills, and carried beyond the point where he had planned to meet the Roman army. Belisarius, we are told by Procopius, never in the first instance hazarded his whole army, but sent a body of confederates in front; then followed the main body of the cavalry; and after them he himself with his "lancers and targeteers." Those in front fell in with the dead body of Amatus, and thus learned the skirmish of the morning. Before they could communicate with Belisarius, they saw Gelimer's army approaching. A rising spot of ground gave some advantage. They and the Vandals ran to have possession of it. The Vandals gained the hill, and succeeded in putting their antagonists to flight. In the performance of the funeral rites of Amatus, Gelimer lost an opportunity that could not be recalled, and Belisarius made his own of the moment. Gelimer fled to the deserts of Numidia. On the next day, the feast of St. Cyprian, the victor entered Carthage.

A second engagement, in which another brother of Gelimer, and Gelimer himself, aided by some Moorish tribes, encountered Belisarius at Tricameron, decided the fate of Africa. The brother fell in the battle, and Gelimer for a while found a retreat at the village of Modenus in the mountain district of Papua. Belisarius returned to Carthage, to provide for the civil administration of the province, leaving a squadron of Heruli, with Pharas, their commander, to watch Gelimer's movements. In a communication with the Herulian officer, the Vandal king entreated three gifts—a lyre, a loaf of bread, and a sponge: the lyre, that he might accompany with its music an ode which he had written on his misfortunes; the bread, that he might once more taste the food of civilized man; and the sponge, that he might relieve his eyes, sore with weeping. He at last capitulated, and was brought a prisoner to his own capital, into the presence of his conqueror. Meantime Belisarius's success awakened jealousy in the mind of Justinian, who feared that his general might seek to secure for himself the country he had subdued, or perhaps aspire to the imperial purple. The fear was groundless. If Belisarius had any passion it was devoted loyalty, and he instantly returned to Constantinople. His presence dispelled the emperor's apprehensions, who welcomed him as subject was never before welcomed. A medal, one side of which presented the effigies of the emperor, the other that of Belisarius, with the inscription, "," was struck to commemorate the day. A triumph—the first ever celebrated at Constantinople—recalled the recollections of the parent republic.

The recovery of Africa to the empire was calculated to suggest the hope of regaining Italy, now a Gothic kingdom. Theodotus, the reigning king, held the throne by a title that had been purchased by perjury and murder. These circumstances favoured Justinian's project of seizing the kingdom; and he determined to invade it at the same moment by a naval armament, under Belisarius's command, in the west, and on the east by an inroad on Dalmatia, the conduct of which was intrusted to Mundus, governor of Illyrium. Belisarius undertook the expedition with an army which consisted of four thousand confederates, three thousand Isaurian mountaineers, some detachments of Hunnish and Moorish cavalry, and, best of all, his own personal guards. The object of the expedition was masked by the pretence of reinforcing the troops in Africa. Belisarius possessed himself of Sicily with little difficulty, and afterwards of Panormus, the modern Palermo. He proposed to winter in Syracuse, and wait till spring should enable him to commence the campaign in Italy. An insurrection in Africa in some degree varied this plan, by calling him for a while to that province. On his return, a revolt which arose in Sicily during his absence, was soon quelled, and he then proceeded to Italy. Negotiations, meanwhile, had been going on between Theodotus and the Byzantine court. Theodotus had agreed to surrender Italy to Justinian, on obtaining an estate in the eastern provinces yielding annually twelve hundred pounds weight of gold. Some successes of his generals in Dalmatia made him recede from the bargain, and the war in Italy continued. Belisarius landed in Rhegium. He met with no opposition till he came to Naples, which he took after a siege of twenty days, by introducing into the city some of his troops through the channel of an intercepted aqueduct.

Theodotus's design of betraying the kingdom into the hands of Justinian was soon known and punished by deposition. Vitiges, who commanded the troops in southern Italy, was raised by his brother-soldiers on their shields, according to a custom familiar with all the Gothic tribes, and proclaimed king. This tumultuous election was confirmed by the senate, the nobles, and the clergy at Rome. To aid his title to the crown, Vitiges murdered Theodotus, and married a daughter of the house of Theodoric. He purchased the zealous aid of three nations of the Franks, by ceding to them the district between the Rhone and the Alps, and by the payment of two thousand pounds' weight of gold. He had no means of defending Rome, and he retired to Ravenna. Belisarius at once occupied Rome; and, anticipating a siege, lost no time in putting it in a state of defence. Vitiges, in February, 537, took the field with 150,000 men. His object was to possess himself of Rome, and accident seemed to favour his design. The only bridge over the Tiber, in the neighbourhood of Rome, was the Pons Milvius; and this Belisarius had so fortified and garrisoned, that he regarded it as secure, and calculated on the delay which making another bridge, or moving the army over in boats would occasion, as giving him at least twenty days more to improve the defences of the city. The party placed to watch and defend the bridge, when they saw the approach of the enemy, deserted, and the advanced guard of the Gothic cavalry passed over unopposed. Belisarius, ignorant of what had occurred, rode out from the city with a guard of about a thousand men, to observe the movements of the enemy, whom he believed to be on the opposite bank. To his amazement he found himself surrounded by the Goths. He and his men fought their way bravely. The squadron which they encountered retreated, while other divisions of the Goths were crossing the crowded bridge. The Romans pursued. There were many changes of fortune through this eventful day. The strangest, perhaps, was that, when Belisarius was returning at night to the city, he found it closed against him, the Romans having believed a report of his having been slain, and fearing that if they opened their gates they might be admitting the enemy. This led to a new and desperate charge from Belisarius against the Goths, who could not imagine it to have proceeded from soldiers harrassed by the toils of the day; they thought it must be a new army issuing from the city, and fled. The next day the siege of Rome commenced. It lasted for more than a year. In skirmishing, the advantage was in general with Belisarius. Sylverius, the pope, was detected in a correspondence proposing to admit the Goths into the city. He was degraded and deposed, and another took his bishopric, who, however, paid for it in gold numbered and weighed. Some supplies of men from Constantinople and of food from Compania now arrived, and a truce of three months, ill observed, however, by either party, was agreed on. A dispute arose between two officers, which, while Belisarius was investigating, one of them drew his sword on the general. The attempt at assassination proved abortive, and the criminal was at the moment put to death. The justice of this proceeding would seem to admit little doubt; but the precipitation of the act, and the absence of any trial in the case, form one of the most serious charges which his enemies bring against Belisarius.

The truce was but ill observed. Belisarius had expected it to be broken by the Goths, and directed that, on its actual violation, the province of Picenum should be invaded. John the Sanguinary, an officer who deserved his name, was intrusted with this duty. In executing it, he left in the power of the enemy, as unworthy of his arms, several small fortresses, and posted himself at Rimini, from which the garrison, at his approach, fled to Ravenna. The wife of Vitiges, who knew John to be avaricious, thought him the man for her money, entered into communication with him, proposed to him the murder of her husband, and offered her person and the kingdom of Italy as his tempting reward. Vitiges made unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with Justinian. On the day the truce expired he withdrew his forces from Rome, and retreated over the Milvian bridge. Belisarius did not suffer the Gothic army to retire unmolested. When about half of them had reached the Tuscan bank of the river, he sallied out against the rest. He pursued the forces moving to the bridge, and, as he had anticipated, the reinforcements returning to their relief created such disorder, as gave him an easy victory. The retreating army