o an
officer, who carried, instead of a sword, the head of the valiant Zano;
and the Isles of Majorca, Minorca, and Yvica consented to remain an
humble appendage of the African kingdom. Caesarea, a royal city, which
in looser geography may be confounded with the modern Algiers, was
situate thirty days' march to the westward of Carthage: by land, the
road was infested by the Moors; but the sea was open, and the Romans
were now masters of the sea. An active and discreet tribune sailed as
far as the Straits, where he occupied Septem or Ceuta, [23] which
rises opposite to Gibraltar on the African coast; that remote place
was afterwards adorned and fortified by Justinian; and he seems to have
indulged the vain ambition of extending his empire to the columns of
Hercules. He received the messengers of victory at the time when he was
preparing to publish the Pandects of the Roman laws; and the devout
or jealous emperor celebrated the divine goodness, and confessed, in
silence, the merit of his successful general. [24] Impatient to abolish
the temporal and spiritual tyranny of the Vandals, he proceeded,
without delay, to the full establishment of the Catholic church. Her
jurisdiction, wealth, and immunites, perhaps the most essential part of
episcopal religion, were restored and amplified with a liberal hand;
the Arian worship was suppressed; the Donatist meetings were proscribed;
[25] and the synod of Carthage, by the voice of two hundred and
seventeen bishops, [26] applauded the just measure of pious retaliation.
On such an occasion, it may not be presumed, that many orthodox prelates
were absent; but the comparative smallness of their number, which in
ancient councils had been twice or even thrice multiplied, most clearly
indicates the decay both of the church and state. While Justinian
approved himself the defender of the faith, he entertained an ambitious
hope, that his victorious lieutenant would speedily enlarge the narrow
limits of his dominion to the space which they occupied before the
invasion of the Moors and Vandals; and Belisarius was instructed
to establish five dukes or commanders in the convenient stations of
Tripoli, Leptis, Cirta, Caesarea, and Sardinia, and to compute the
military force of palatines or borderers that might be sufficient for
the defence of Africa. The kingdom of the Vandals was not unworthy
of the presence of a Praetorian praefect; and four consulars, three
presidents, were appointed to adminis