THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 169
Belisarius and the Byzantine Destruction of the Vandals
11-8. Belisarius and the Byzantine Destruction of the Vandals
The scheme directed against the Vandal kingdom found no approval from the body of crown councillors before whom Justinian laid it for an opinion. They objected to the chronic want of money in the state treasury and that the same fate might easily be prepared for the Byzantines as had befallen Basiliscus under Gaiseric The troops, too, which had just sustained the fatigues of the Persian campaign, were little fit to be again sent to an uncertain conflict against a powerful and famous kingdom on the other side of the sea. Justinian was almost persuaded to give up the undertaking when a fresh impulse, that of religion, made itself felt. An oriental bishop appeared at Court and declared that God himself had, in a dream, commanded him to reproach the Emperor on account of his indecision and to tell him that he might count on the support of Heaven if he would march forth to liberate the Christian (that is, the orthodox) people of Africa from the dominion of the heretics.
Through this kind of influence on the part of the Catholic clergy, and through the endeavours of the Roman nobility who had been reinstated by Hilderic but driven forth again by Gelimer, Justinian was entirely brought round. Belisarius, previously commander-in-chief in the Persian war, was placed at the head of the expedition with unlimited authority. It was very fortunate for the Emperor that, in the first place, the Ostrogoth queen Amalasuntha declared for him and held out prospects of supplying provisions and horses in Sicily, and, further, that the Vandal governor of Sardinia, Godas, rose against Gelimer and asked for troops to enable him to hold his own, and finally that the population of Tripolis, led by a distinguished Roman, Prudentius, declared itself in favour of union with Byzantium.
In June 533 the preparations for war were completed The army mustered reckoned 10,000 infantry under Johannes of Epidamnus and about 5000 cavalry, also the 5000 men of Belisarius powerfully mounted guard, 400 Herds, and 600 Huns. The fleet was composed of 500 transport vessels and 92 battleships under the command of Kalonymus. Among Belisarius' attendants was the historian Procopius of Caesarea, to whom we owe the vivid and trustworthy description of the campaign. The departure of the ships took place at the end of July, and the last hour of the kingdom which was once so powerful had struck.
It is only in Africa that we are well acquainted with the internal circumstances of the Vandal kingdom; for of the parallel conditions in the Spanish communities of the Sueves, Alans, and the Silingian and Asdingian Vandals we only know, at the present time, that they were under monarchical rule. The centre of Vandal rule in Africa was Carthage; here all the threads of the government converged, here the king also held court. The Roman division of the land into provinces (Mauretania: Tingitana, Caesariensis, Sitifensis; Numidia; Proconsularis or Zeugitana; Byzacene; Tripolitana) remained the same. The districts assigned to the Vandals, the so-called "Sortes Vandalorum," were separated as especial commands. The governing people were the Vandals of the Asdingian branch which now alone survived, with whom were joined the Alans and contingents from different peoples, among whom in particular were Goths. The Alans, who probably were already Germanised at the time of the transference to Africa, seem to have maintained a kind of independence for a while, but in Procopius' time these foreign elements had become completely merged in the Vandals.
The Romans were by far more numerous. These were by no means looked upon as having equal privileges, but were treated as conquered subjects according to the usages of war. Marriages between them and the Vandals were forbidden, as they were in all the German States founded on Roman soil except among the Franks. If, however, the hitherto existing arrangements outside the Vandal settlements remained the same in the main — and indeed even the high offices were left in the hands of the Romans — this only happened because the Vandal kings proved themselves incapable of providing a fresh political organisation.
On the other hand, the numerous Moorish tribes were to a great extent held in only slight subjection. They retained their autonomy, as they did in the time of the Romans, but their princes received from the hands of the Vandal kings the insignia of their dignity. Under Gaiseric's stern government they conducted themselves quietly and completely left off their raids into civilised districts, which had occurred so frequently in the last years of the Roman rule, but even under Huneric they began with ever-increasing success to struggle for their independence. The destruction which befell the works of ancient civilisation in Africa must be placed to the account of the Moors, not of the Vandals.
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