Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/174

 or, at least, of her Imperial connection, and he eagerly followed her when she returned to Constantinople.

For fifteen years after the conquest of the Vandals continual uprisings of the Moorish clans troubled the settlement of Africa, and a fitful warfare, sometimes furious, was waged between them and the Empire. Swarms of these nomads often appeared in the field, but their jealousy and distrust of each other was so inveterate that their forces could on no occasion be mustered to act in combination. Their internecine feuds were never allayed, and during most of their revolts great hosts of them elected to fight as allies of the Byzantines in order to suppress the efforts of their own kin. On each side more than one hundred thousand often appeared in arms simultaneously, but to the disciplined and mail-clad soldiers of the Empire their martial equipment always seemed contemptible. Notwithstanding their contiguity to the Romans for so many centuries, they had not profited by their observation and experience to imitate the methods of warfare which had invariably proved effectual against themselves. A burnous of white linen enveloped their head and body, leaving the legs and arms bare; a small leather shield formed their sole defensive armour; and their only weapons of attack were a short sword and a couple of javelins. When at war all the members of a tribe, accompanied by their flocks and herds, marched in conjunction to the battle-field. To the women was entrusted the duty of tending the cattle, sharpening the weapons, building huts, and entrenching the camp. A great circle was enclosed by a living rampart consisting of the domestic animals. Externally ranks of camels, linked together twelve deep, formed the main defence;