Catholic
emperor. The small town of Sullecte, [17] one day's journey from the
camp, had the honor of being foremost to open her gates, and to resume
her ancient allegiance: the larger cities of Leptis and Adrumetum
imitated the example of loyalty as soon as Belisarius appeared; and he
advanced without opposition as far as Grasse, a palace of the Vandal
kings, at the distance of fifty miles from Carthage. The weary Romans
indulged themselves in the refreshment of shady groves, cool fountains,
and delicious fruits; and the preference which Procopius allows to these
gardens over any that he had seen, either in the East or West, may be
ascribed either to the taste, or the fatigue, or the historian. In
three generations, prosperity and a warm climate had dissolved the
hardy virtue of the Vandals, who insensibly became the most luxurious
of mankind. In their villas and gardens, which might deserve the Persian
name of Paradise, [18] they enjoyed a cool and elegant repose; and,
after the daily use of the bath, the Barbarians were seated at a table
profusely spread with the delicacies of the land and sea. Their silken
robes loosely flowing, after the fashion of the Medes, were embroidered
with gold; love and hunting were the labors of their life, and their
vacant hours were amused by pantomimes, chariot-races, and the music and
dances of the theatre.

[Footnote 16: A centurion of Mark Antony expressed, though in a more
manly train, the same dislike to the sea and to naval combats, (Plutarch
in Antonio, p. 1730, edit. Hen. Steph.)]

[Footnote 1611: Rather into the present Lake of Tunis. Lord Mahon, p.
92.--M.]

[Footnote 17: Sullecte is perhaps the Turris Hannibalis, an old
building, now as large as the Tower of London. The march of Belisarius
to Leptis. Adrumetum, &c., is illustrated by the campaign of Caesar,
(Hirtius, de Bello Africano, with the Analyse of Guichardt,) and Shaw's
Travels (p. 105--113) in the same country.]

[Footnote 18: The paradises, a name and fashion adopted from Persia, may
be represented by the royal garden of Ispahan, (Voyage d'Olearius, p.
774.) See, in the Greek romances, their most perfect model, (Longus.
Pastoral. l. iv. p. 99--101 Achilles Tatius. l. i. p. 22, 23.)]

In a march of ten or twelve days, the vigilance of Belisarius was
constantly awake and active against his unseen enemies, by whom, in
every place, and at every hour, he might be suddenly attacked. An
officer of confidence and meri