The siege of Carthage was now begun, and Gelimer's first hostile act was to cut off the main water supply by making a breach in the aqueduct. No military assault was attempted, nor did the Vandals raid the country, as they looked on everything as their own property. A passive beleaguerment, by isolating the inhabitants from the outside world, seemed to them to be sufficient to bring about the submission of the capital. Belisarius on his side at first maintained an equal quietude, deferring active measures until the walls had been fully consolidated. He was also distrustful of the Huns under his command, whose murmurs against their protracted absence from home augured ill for their loyal bearing in the event of a battle.
After the lapse of a few weeks the fortifications were rendered secure, and then the Byzantine general marched out with all his forces to seek the enemy. Gelimer's encampment was soon discovered to be at Tricamerum, seventeen miles beyond the city. Belisarius hastened to the spot with all his cavalry, which on his arrival he disposed in three divisions opposite the hostile camp, he himself occupying the centre with his standard-bearer. The Huns drew themselves up apart, according to their custom, and in this instance meditated treachery should the fortune of the day prove adverse to the Byzantines. The infantry were halted at some distance in the rear. A rivulet now separated the two armies, and on the following morning the Vandals ranged themselves in order of battle on the opposite bank. Tzazo, with the veterans from Sardinia, led the van, whilst Gelimer rode along the line exhorting his troops to rely solely on their swords. First of all the Armenian John, with a small band, dashed across the stream against the Vandal centre, but was repulsed. He returned to the charge with a larger following, and was again repulsed. For the third onslaught Belisarius undertook the attack in person; the Romans sent up a great war-shout, and the Imperial standard was swept along as the whole centre drove down impetuously on the barbarians. A powerful impact resulted; the Vandals made a strenuous defence, but Tzazo was soon slain, whereupon they desisted and betook themselves to flight. All the Roman horse now put themselves into motion, including the vacillating Huns, and the enemy were hotly pursued, until they saved themselves by plunging into their camp. This victory cost the Byzantines only fifty men, but of the Vandals eight hundred fell.
On the evening of the same day Belisarius advanced with both horse and foot to assault the enemy's camp. On arriving he found, however, that Gelimer had hurried away secretly with a few friends, intent on hiding himself in the recesses of Numidia, and that the Vandal host, on perceiving themselves to be deserted by their King, had dispersed, eager only to preserve their lives. Thus the derelict camp, with its whole contents, became the immediate prize of the victors. It was found to be replete with wealth, the accumulated treasures of the Vandal nation, which had been amassed during the raids of Genseric on every part of the Roman dominions. Such an immense hoard of money, it seemed, could never before have been brought together into one repository. Pillage now became the sole object of the Byzantine soldiery, all discipline was ignored, and the army was only discernible in the form of numerous pairs of companions who overran the district engaged in rapine. This abandonment continued throughout the night, and at dawn Belisarius, with great difficulty, collected his men, when all returned to Carthage laden with immense booty. Besides valuables, the seizures comprised women and boys, all men who seemed to belong to the hostile nation being butchered. It was now the middle of December, and just three months since the Byzantines had entered the African capital.
To secure the person of Gelimer was a matter of prime importance, and John, the Armenian, with a company of two hundred, had been despatched in pursuit of the fugitive. For five days they hurried after him on his track, and then, by a deplorable mischance, the leader was transfixed and mortally wounded by an arrow discharged from the hand of one of his own men. Belisarius was at once informed, and hastened to the locality, but the unavoidable delay enabled the flying King to make good his escape. On inquiry, it was elicited that he had taken refuge among the Moors of Pappua, a rugged and almost inaccessible mountain in a remote corner of Numidia. Belisarius followed on, and, having made a survey of the stronghold, decided that it was impregnable to an attack. He therefore appointed one of his officers, Pharas, a Herule, to blockade the outlets and cut off supplies to the refugees. He himself returned to Carthage by way of Hippo Regius, where he had the good fortune to capture the reserve treasures of the Vandal King in a weather-bound ship, which had failed to convey them to the custody of Gelimer's ally, the King of the Visigoths in Spain. Belisarius now sent a legate to Sardinia and Corsica, who displayed the head of Tzazo, and secured the submission of those islands to the suzerainty of Justinian. Wherever the Vandals had ruled missions were despatched to announce the circumstances of the conquest, and thus the whole of North Africa, together with the islands of Ebusa, Majorca, and Minorca, were transferred to the dominion of the Eastern Emperor.
In the meantime the blockade of Pappua had been rigorously maintained, and Gelimer had been reduced to the greatest straits for the want of proper provisions. At length Pharas expostulated with him on his obduracy, and tempting proposals were made to him should he surrender himself to the clemency of Justinian; the rank of a Roman patrician fortified with a liberal endowment of lands and money. Gelimer replied that he would never accept a favour from one who had conquered him in an unjust war, and implored the officer not to aggravate his sufferings by the repetition of such offers. His letter concluded with the words, "I beg of you, my dear Pharas, to send me a lyre, a loaf of bread, and a sponge." At a loss to understand this seemingly strange request, Pharas interrogated the messenger, who explained that the musical instrument was required in order to accompany a dirge in which the Vandal King bewailed his misfortunes; that the hard fare of the Moors did not include such a luxury as baked bread; and that the sponge was intended to bathe the eyes of the sufferer, which had become inflamed by weeping. The officer compassionately acceded to the prayer, but maintained his guard as strictly as before. After the lapse of three months the pride and resentment of Gelimer became subdued, chiefly through his being a spectator of the hardships entailed on those who had attended him to his comfortless retreat; and he signified his willingness to resign himself to the custody of Belisarius. He was conducted to Carthage, and shortly afterwards the Byzantine leader, with his principal captives and all the spoils of the war, set sail for Constantinople. Belisarius was, in fact, glad that the time had come for him to take his departure, as envy and slander had lately begun to be rife about him; and it was insinuated at Court that he had assumed a regal state, as if he contemplated an independent sovereignty, a line of conduct which was wholly foreign to his temperament and aspirations.[429]
On an appointed day in the autumn of the same year a scene was enacted in the Imperial capital which recalled the triumphs of former ages, but so modified as to exalt the glory of the Emperor far above that of his most conspicuous subject. Belisarius, accompanied by the deposed King, his relatives and nobles, moved through the city, on foot, at the head of a procession in which were displayed all the precious resources and costly appurtenances which illustrated the recent magnificence of the Vandal Kingdom, and were now become the prize of the conqueror. Golden chairs, state carriages, a profusion of sparkling gems, cups of gold, all the appointments of the royal banquets, myriads of silver talents, and the heirlooms of plate which had adorned the palace, were borne along the streets to the Hippodrome, in the area of which they were accumulated to make a dazzling exhibition. Among them were the spoils of Jerusalem, translated to Rome by Vespasian and Titus,[430] and afterwards pillaged from thence by the insatiable Genseric, who carried them off to Carthage. Justinian sat aloft upon his throne, and Gelimer, still invested with the insignia of a King, was conducted to his feet. There he was stripped of his purple robe and forced to kiss the ground before the triumphant monarch. After his illustrious captive the victorious general rendered a similar homage to his Imperial master. Throughout the ceremony the Vandal King maintained a dignified composure, but he repeated aloud continually the words of Scripture, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Subsequently ample estates in Galatia were conferred on him, but the patriciate was withheld, as he declined to abjure his Arian faith. All the scions of Vandal royalty had been transported to Constantinople, and among them were the daughters of Hilderic, who in the female line were the direct descendants of the last Emperors of the West. These princesses were consigned to the care of Theodora, and the ultimate representatives of the dynasty founded by the great Theodosius became the pensioners of the fortunate prostitute.[431] As for the treasures of the extinct Hebrew nationality, a Jewish spectator of the pageantry inferred, within the hearing of Justinian, that the retention of these sacred relics had brought destruction to Rome, and determined the doom of Carthage, whence he foreboded that the Byzantine capital would fall under the ban of the Almighty should they remain inside its walls. No resting-place, he asserted, would be found for them unless where Solomon had consecrated them to the worship of Jehovah. The Emperor was struck by the admonition, and decided to divest himself of these fateful valuables by sending them to be deposited in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at Jerusalem. In the following January Belisarius was honoured with the Consulship of the year (535), and a large amount of the booty, which had fallen to his lot at Carthage, was distributed as largess among the populace. His reputation had now risen to such a height that he seemed to be too great to remain in the position of a subject; and the Imperial couple thought it prudent to extract from his complaisance a solemn pledge that he would never aim at the sovereignty during the lifetime of Justinian.[432]
When it was reported to the Emperor that the Kingdom of the Vandals was overthrown, he at once drew up a scheme for the local government of this accession to his dominions. A third Praetorian Praefect, with a salary of 100 lb. of gold (£4,000), was created to administer the Diocese of Africa, as it was now denominated. His official seat was at Carthage, and under him seven Rectors were nominated to rule the minor divisions of the country.[433] The island of Sardinia was included in this disposition, and formed a separate province.[434] The civil and military powers were kept apart, and a Master of Soldiers, with five local Dukes, was appointed to command the army corps required for the protection of the Diocese.[435] The Roman system of taxation had been suppressed by Genseric, and under the Vandal supremacy the inhabitants had been almost relieved from the burden of the imposts; but on the restoration a pair of logothetes were commissioned to survey the country, and assess the population for the benefit of the treasury. Much displeasure was felt by the Africans at this recurrence to the old methods of exaction, which they had become oblivious of during their remission for nearly a century.[436]
Although the Vandal power in Africa was annihilated by the victories of Belisarius, the peaceful settlement of the Diocese was deferred for more than ten years owing to the insubordination of the army of occupation and the unwillingness of the Moors to submit to the Byzantine yoke. In two instances leaders of the rebellious soldiery promoted a mutiny with such effect that for the time being the recent conquest was virtually severed from the Empire. The episodes of Stotzas and Gontharis may be briefly recounted.
1. In the first sedition three distinct parties were conjoined, who, through circumstances peculiar to each one, were inspired with animosity against the government. A large number of the Roman military found fortune in Africa by the capture of wives and daughters of Vandals who were either slaughtered at the time or expelled from their possessions. The newcomers married these women, and installed themselves in the lands and dwellings previously held by their male relatives. By Imperial decree, however, the 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.[437] 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 rapine; but the assassins elect shrunk from perpetrating the murder on the first, and even on a subsequent occasion. Noisy recriminations in the public places followed, and it became evident to everyone that there was a plot. The conspirators now threw off all disguise, having discovered that they were in a majority, and applied themselves to looting the city and suburbs. Solomon, with Procopius as his companion, under cover of night fled to the coast and made sail for Syracuse, where Belisarius was known to be engaged on a mission. The three returned with the utmost speed, and found that the rebels to the number of eight thousand, including the fugitive Vandals, had massed themselves on the plain of Bulla. They had chosen as their leader a guardsman of vigorous character named Stotzas. A march on Carthage was contemplated, but Belisarius, having levied as many loyal troops as possible, intercepted the project and forced them to give battle. Although his forces were quadrupled by those of the enemy, the prestige of his name, their indecision, and an adverse wind which blew in their faces, enabled him to win a victory. The sedition, however, was merely demulced for a time and Belisarius had to return immediately to Sicily. Later on Justinian despatched his nephew Germanus to Africa, and this general, by tact and blandishments, succeeded in winning back nearly half of the supporters of Stotzas. A battle was fought in which the rebel leader was utterly defeated and his followers scattered, with the loss of all the valuables they had collected in their camp. Stotzas himself fled to Mauritania, where he settled down with a daughter of one of the petty princes as his wife; but a few years afterwards (545) he reappeared in arms, fighting on the side of the Moors. In an encounter he was slain tragically by the Roman general opposed to him, who pierced him with one of his arrows, but was himself struck down forthwith by a mortal wound. The two antagonists expired almost in sight of one another, each one expressing his welcome acceptance of death in view of the gratification afforded by that of his rival.[438]
2. About this time Areobindus, the husband of Justinian's niece Prejecta, was appointed to be Master of the Forces in Africa. He was a man of a timid disposition, and totally unversed in war, to such an extent that he had never been present at the most trivial engagement. Under this inefficient hegemony, Gontharis, Duke of Numidia, aspired to be a despot with the aid of the factious soldiery and the Moorish insurgents. By a league with Antalas, the most potent of the native chiefs, he agreed to surrender to him the province of Byzacium and half the treasures of Areobindus as the price of his support in making himself king over the rest of the country. At first he proceeded insidiously and associated amicably with the Master of Soldiers at Carthage, where he simulated a capture of the city by the Moors in the hope of so terrifying Areobindus that he would see nothing left but to escape by flight to Constantinople. This project was just baulked by the sudden rise of a tempest, which arrested the departing general. Shortly afterwards the designs of Gontharis were fully penetrated, and he thought it wisest to proclaim himself boldly as the head of the government. An attack on the usurper was then organized, and the hostile bands met in the precincts of the palace; but at the sight of the first blood drawn Areobindus lost his nerve and fled to a fortified monastery near the harbour. Gontharis was now supreme, and received the submission of all the officials in the capital from the Praetorian Prefect downwards. The late commander-in-chief was lured from his retreat by threats and a promise of safe dismissal to Constantinople with his household and property. He presented himself to the despot in the dress of a private citizen, leaning on the bishop as he held forth a Gospel, and made an abject profession of his acquiescence in the situation. Gontharis treated him deferentially, and retained him to supper the same evening. After the meal, however, he went out and sent in the captain of his guard, who slew him, regardless of his pitiable appeals for mercy. Africa was now to all appearances restored to independence as completely as if the conquest had never been achieved by Belisarius. The tyrant next attempted to substantiate his position by forming an alliance with Prejecta, whom he induced to send letters to the Emperor, in which the murder of Areobindus was represented as the wanton act of an insolent subordinate. But the foundations of his authority were insecure, and a counter-conspiracy was soon formed by the adherents of the Imperial government, whose allegiance was a mere pretence resorted to under the pressure of expediency. Among those who affected to support him cordially was Artabanes, the commander of an Armenian regiment, and a deserter from the Persian service, in which he had risen to some distinction. He and his associates were ambitious of recovering Africa for Justinian, and they concerted a plot for the assassination of Gontharis during a banquet. Artabanes had been invited by the usurper, and he entered the dining hall attended by two or three of his guards, whose customary duty it was to stand behind their master's couch during a meal. A number of their fellows he desired to loiter about the approaches, mixing with the guards of the palace, as if waiting on his orders. The soldiers in the city, when not equipped for war, were forbidden to wear defensive armour, and allowed to carry only a sword. To obviate this difficulty, Artabanes instructed his men to make a pretence of playing with the shields of those on guard in the vestibule, as they lay ready for use, but to snatch them away altogether should they hear any commotion within. It had been agreed that Artasires, one of the guards in waiting at the couches, should strike the first blow; and he ingeniously protected his left arm by fastening the halves of a split arrow-shaft inside the sleeve of his tunic. At a certain moment it was judged that Gontharis was obfuscated by his potations, signs passed, and then Artasires, sidling towards him with his drawn sword hidden under his arm, aimed a sudden stroke at his head. An instant counter-stroke by the contiguous guard of the despot was parried by his shielded arm, and the man was laid low by a return thrust. Simultaneously Artabanes had sprung up and finished Gontharis with a stroke of his sword as he attempted to rise from his couch. A general clash of arms ensued, and many not in the plot joined the liberators. The rebel guards without, deprived of their shields as planned, were massacred, and soon a cry of "Justinian the Victor" was sent up. A raid on the adherents of the usurper was then undertaken, and they were exterminated in every part of the city. The tyranny of Gontharis had lasted only thirty-six days. Artabanes won great renown by this exploit, a splendid donation in money was bestowed on him by Prejecta, and shortly afterwards the Emperor's commission arrived, creating him Master of the Forces in Africa. To his immediate petition, however, Justinian conceded him the equivalent of his rank at Court, and he left the country without delay. He was, in fact, enamoured of the young princess (she is referred to as a girl), or, at least, of her Imperial connection, and he eagerly followed her when she returned to Constantinople.[439]