Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/169

 estates of the conquered were confiscated to the crown; and thus the impromptu settlers in a short time found themselves exposed to summary ejection. Such was the most considerable complement of the malcontents. To these were added the Arian barbarians, numbering about a thousand, who had taken part in the expedition. The fanaticism of the latter was inflamed by the dispossessed Vandal clergy, to whom the practice of Christianity according to their heretical rites was now interdicted. The third contingent consisted of a remnant of the Vandal army, which had taken refuge in the Aurasian mountains on the south of Numidia. This party was made up almost wholly of fugitive prisoners of war who had been transported to Constantinople, whence it was decided to distribute them among the garrison towns of the East. They were despatched by sea to their destination, but on arriving at Lesbos about four hundred of them seized the ships in which they had been embarked and made good their escape to the African coast. Communication and conjuration between the first two sections was established at Carthage, and it was agreed that on Easter Sunday (536) Solomon, the Master of the Forces, who had replaced Belisarius, should be assassinated in church. The rebels would then seize the reins of government. The secret of the conspiracy was well kept, for even the unaffiliated reserved their suspicions, being privately elated at the prospect of