th and then,
disregarding what had been sworn, had thus brought them to Byzantium),
and accordingly they received the words of the Vandals, and promised
that when they should come to real fighting they would turn with them
against the Roman army. But Belisarius had a suspicion of all this (for
he had heard it from the deserters), and also the circuit-wall had not
as yet been completed entirely, and for these reasons he did not think
it possible for his men to go out against the enemy for the present, but
he was making his preparations within as well as possible. And one of
the Carthaginians, Laurus by name, having been condemned on a charge of
treason and proved guilty by his own secretary, was impaled by
Belisarius on a hill before the city, and as a result of this the others
came to feel a sort of irresistible fear and refrained from attempts at
treason. And he courted the Massagetae with gifts and banquets and every
other manner of flattering attention every day, and thus persuaded them
to disclose to him what Gelimer had promised them on condition of their
turning traitors in the battle. And these barbarians said that they had
no enthusiasm for fighting, for they feared that, if the Vandals were
vanquished, the Romans would not send them back to their native land,
but they would be compelled to grow old and die right there in Libya;
and besides they were also concerned, they said, about the booty, lest
they be robbed of it. Then indeed Belisarius gave them pledges that, if
the Vandals should be conquered decisively, they would be sent without
the least delay to their homes with all their booty, and thus he bound
them by oaths in very truth to assist the Romans with all zeal in
carrying through the war.

And when all things had been prepared by him in the best way possible,
and the circuit-wall had been already completed, he called together the
whole army and spoke as follows: "As for exhortation, fellow Romans, I
do not know that it is necessary to make any to you,--men who have
recently conquered the enemy so completely that Carthage here and the
whole of Libya is a possession of your valour, and for this reason you
will have no need of admonition that prompts to daring. For the spirits
of those who have conquered are by no means wont to be overcome. But I
think it not untimely to remind you of this one thing, that, if you on
the present occasion but prove equal to your own selves in valour,
straightway there will