with the same ease as their arms, their families, and their cattle, which consisted of sheep, oxen, and camels. During the vigour of the Roman power, they observed a respectful distance from Carthage and the sea-shore; under the feeble reign of the Vandals, they invaded the cities of Numidia, occupied the seacoast from Tangier to Cæsarea, and pitched their camps, with impunity, in the fertile province of Byzacium. The formidable strength and artful conduct of Belisarius secured the neutrality of the Moorish princes, whose vanity aspired to receive, in the emperor's name, the ensigns of their regal dignity.P They were astonished by the rapid event, and trembled in the presence of their conqueror. But his approaching departure soon relieved the apprehensions of a savage and superstitious people; the number of their wives allowed them to disregard the safety of their infant hostages; and when the Roman general hoisted sail in the port of Carthage, he heard the cries, and almost beheld the flames, of the desolated province. Yet he persisted in his resolution; and leaving only a part of his guards to reinforce the feeble garrisons, he intrusted the command of Africa to the eunuch Solomon, who proved himself not unworthy to be the successor of Belisarius. In the first invasion, some detachments, with two officers of merit, were surprised and intercepted; but Solomon speedily assembled his troops, marched from Carthage into the heart of the country, and in two great battles

q

• Virgil (Georgic. iii. 339) and Pomponius Mela (i. 8) describe the wandering life of the African shepherds, similar to that of the Arabs and Tartars; and Shaw (p. 222) is the best commentator on the poet and the geographer.

P. The customary gifts were a sceptre, a crown or cap, a white cloak, a figured tunic and shoes, all adorned with gold and silver, nor were these precious metals less acceptable in the shape of coin (Procop. Vandal. 1. i. c. 25).

a See the African government and warfare of Solomon, in Procopius (Vandal. 1. ii. c. 10, 11, 12, 13. 19, 20). He was recalled, and again restored; and his last victory dates in the xiiith year of Justinian (A. D. 539). An accident in his childhood had rendered him an eunuch (1. i. c. 11): the other Roman generals were amply furnished with beards, πωγονος επιπλαμενοι (1. ii. c. 8).

CHAP.

XLI.

CHAP. destroyed sixty thousand of the barbarians.

XLI.

The Moors depended on their multitude, their swiftness, and their inaccessible mountains; and the aspect and smell of their camels are said to have produced some confusion in the Roman cavalry. But as soon as they were commanded to dismount, they derided this contemptible obstacle; as soon as the columns ascended the hills, the naked and disorderly crowd was dazzled by glittering arms and regular evolutions; and the menace of their female prophets was repeatedly fulfilled, that the Moors should be discomfited by a beardless antagonist. The victorious eunuch advanced thirteen days' journey from Carthage, to besiege mount Aurasius, the citadel, and at the same time the garden of Numidia. That range of hills, a branch of the great Atlas, contains, within a circumference of one hundred and twenty miles, a rare variety of soil and climate; the intermediate valleys and elevated plains abound with rich pastures, perpetual streams, and fruits of a delicious taste and uncommon magnitude. This fair solitude is decorated with the ruins of Lambesa, a Roman city, once the seat of a legion, and the residence of forty thousand inhabitants. The Ionic temple of Esculapius is encompassed with Moorish huts; and the cattle now graze in the midst of an amphitheatre, under the shade of Corinthian columns. A sharp perpendicular rock rises above the level of the mountain, where the African princes deposited their wives and treasure; and a proverb is familiar to the Arabs, that the man

r This natural antipathy of the horse for the camel is affirmed by the ancients (Xenophon. Cyropæd. l. vi. p. 438. 1. vii. p. 483. 492. edit. Hutchinson. Polyæn. Stratagem. vii. 6. Plin. Hist. Nat. viii. 26. Ælian de Natur. Animal. 1. iii. c. 7); but it is disproved by daily experience, and derided by the best judges, the Orientals (Voyage d'Olearius, p. 553).

Procopius is the first who describes mount Aurasius (Vandal. 1. ii. c. 13. De Edific. l. vi. c. 7). He may be compared with Leo Africanus (dell Africa, parte v. in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 77. recto), Marmol (tom. ii. p. 430), and Shaw (p. 56-59).

XLI.

may eat fire, who dares to attack the craggy cliffs CHAP. and inhospitable natives of mount Aurasius. This hardy enterprise was twice attempted by the eunuch Solomon from the first, he retreated with some disgrace; and in the second, his patience and provisions were almost exhausted; and he must again have retired, if he had not yielded to the impetuous courage of his troops, who audaciously scaled, to the astonishment of the Moors, the mountain, the hostile camp, and the summit of the Geminian rock. A citadel was erected to secure this important conquest, and to remind the barbarians of their defeat: and as Solomon pursued his march to the west, the long-lost province of Mauritanian Sitifi was again annexed to the Roman empire. The Moorish war continued several years after the departure of Belisarius; but the laurels which he resigned to a faithful lieutenant, may be justly ascribed to his own triumph.

of the

The experience of past faults, which may some- Neutrality times correct the mature age of an individual, is Visigoths. seldom profitable to the successive generations of mankind. The nations of antiquity, careless of each other's safety, were separately vanquished and enslaved by the Romans. This awful lesson might have instructed the barbarians of the West to oppose, with timely counsels and confederate arms, the unbounded ambition of Justinian. Yet the same error was repeated, the same consequences were felt, and the Goths, both of Italy and Spain, insensible of their approaching danger, beheld with indifference, and even with joy, the rapid downfal of the Vandals. After the failure of the royal line, Theudes, a valiant and powerful chief, ascended the throne of Spain, which he had formerly administered in the name of Theodoric and his infant grandson. Under his command, the Visigoths besieged the fortress of Ceuta, on the African coast but, while they spent the sabbath-day

XLI.

of the

Romans

A.D. 550

t

CHAP. in peace and devotion, the pious security of their camp was invaded by a sally from the town; and the king himself, with some difficulty and danger, escaped from the hands of a sacrilegious enemy. It was not long before his pride and resentment were gratified by a suppliant embassy from the unfortunate Gelimer, who implored, in his distress, the aid of the Spanish monarch. But instead of sacrificing these unworthy passions to the dictates of generosity and prudence, Theudes amused the ambassadors, till he was secretly informed of the loss of Carthage, and then dismissed them with obscure and contemptuous advice, to seek in their native country a true knowledge of the state Conquests of the Vandals." The long continuance of the Italian war delayed the punishment of the Visigoths; in Spain, and the eyes of Theudes were closed before they tasted the fruits of his mistaken policy. After his death, the sceptre of Spain was disputed by a civil war. The weaker candidate solicited the protection of Justinian, and ambitiously subscribed a treaty of alliance, which deeply wounded the independence and happiness of his country. Several cities, both on the ocean and the Mediterranean, were ceded to the Roman troops, who afterwards refused to evacuate those pledges, as it should seem, either of safety or payment; and as they were fortified by perpetual supplies from Africa, they maintained their. impregnable stations, for the mischievous purpose of inflaming the civil and religious factions of the barbarians. Seventy years elapsed before this painful thorn could be extirpated from the bosom of the monarchy; and as long as the emperors retained any share of these remote and useless possessions, their vanity might number Spain in the list of their pro

-620.

t Isidor. Chron. p. 722. edit. Grot. Mariana, Hist. Hispan. 1. v. c. 8. p. 173. Yet according to Isidore, the siege of Ceuta, and the death of Theudes, happened, A. Æ. H. 586: A. D. 548; and the place was defended, not by the Vandals, but by the Romans. Procopius, Vandal. 1. i. c. 24.

u

vinces, and the successors of Alaric in the rank of CHAP. their vassals."

X

W

XLI.

threatens

Italy,

The error of the Goths who reigned in Italy was Belisarius less excusable than that of their Spanish brethren, the Ostroand their punishment was still more immediate and goths of terrible. From a motive of private revenge, they A. D. 534. enabled their most dangerous enemy to destroy their most valuable ally. A sister of the great Theodoric had been given in marriage to Thrasimond the African king: on this occasion, the fortress of Lilybæum in Sicily was resigned to the Vandals: and the princess Amalafrida was attended by a martial train of one thousand nobles, and five thousand Gothic soldiers, who signalized their valour in the Moorish wars. Their merit was over-rated by themselves, and perhaps neglected by the Vandals: they viewed the country with envy, and the conquerors with disdain; but their real or fictitious conspiracy was prevented by a massacre; the Goths were oppressed, and the captivity of Amalafrida was soon followed by her secret and suspicious death. The eloquent pen of Cassiodorius was employed to reproach the Vandal court with the cruel violation of every social and public duty; but the vengeance which he threatened in the name of his sovereign might be derided with impunity, as long as Africa was protected by the sea, and the Goths were destitute of a navy. In the blind impotence of grief and indignation, they joyfully saluted the approach of the Romans, entertained the fleet of Belisarius in

See the original Chronicle of Isidore, and the vth and vith books of the History of Spain by Mariana. The Romans were finally expelled by Suintila king of the Visigoths (A.D. 621–626), after their reunion to the Catholic church.

w See the marriage and fate of Amalafrida in Procopius (Vandal. I. i. c. 8, 9), and in Cassiodorius (Var. ix. 1.) the expostulation of her royal brother. Compare likewise the Chronicle of Victor Tunnunensis.

* Lilybæum was built by the Carthaginians, Olym. xcv. 4.; and in the first Punic war, a strong situation, and excellent harbour, rendered that place an important object to both nations.