en transports, incapable of action, and of light
brigantines that seemed only qualified for flight. Belisarius had
secretly trembled when he overheard his soldiers, in the passage,
emboldening each other to confess their apprehensions: if they were once
on shore, they hoped to maintain the honor of their arms; but if they
should be attacked at sea, they did not blush to acknowledge that they
wanted courage to contend at the same time with the winds, the waves,
and the Barbarians. [16] The knowledge of their sentiments decided
Belisarius to seize the first opportunity of landing them on the coast
of Africa; and he prudently rejected, in a council of war, the proposal
of sailing with the fleet and army into the port of Carthage. [1611]
Three months after their departure from Constantinople, the men and
horses, the arms and military stores, were safely disembarked, and five
soldiers were left as a guard on board each of the ships, which were
disposed in the form of a semicircle. The remainder of the troops
occupied a camp on the sea-shore, which they fortified, according to
ancient discipline, with a ditch and rampart; and the discovery of
a source of fresh water, while it allayed the thirst, excited the
superstitious confidence, of the Romans. The next morning, some of the
neighboring gardens were pillaged; and Belisarius, after chastising the
offenders, embraced the slight occasion, but the decisive moment, of
inculcating the maxims of justice, moderation, and genuine policy. "When
I first accepted the commission of subduing Africa, I depended much
less," said the general, "on the numbers, or even the bravery of my
troops, than on the friendly disposition of the natives, and their
immortal hatred to the Vandals. You alone can deprive me of this hope;
if you continue to extort by rapine what might be purchased for a little
money, such acts of violence will reconcile these implacable enemies,
and unite them in a just and holy league against the invaders of their
country." These exhortations were enforced by a rigid discipline,
of which the soldiers themselves soon felt and praised the salutary
effects. The inhabitants, instead of deserting their houses, or hiding
their corn, supplied the Romans with a fair and liberal market: the
civil officers of the province continued to exercise their functions in
the name of Justinian: and the clergy, from motives of conscience
and interest, assiduously labored to promote the cause of a