o that it would
neither be possible for Gelimer to leave the mountain nor for any
supplies to be brought in to him. And Pharas acted accordingly. Then
Belisarius turned to the Vandals who were sitting as suppliants in the
sanctuaries in Hippo Regius,--and there were many of them and of the
nobility--and he caused them all to accept pledges and arise, and then
he sent them to Carthage with a guard. And there it came about that the
following event happened to him.

In the house of Gelimer there was a certain scribe named Boniface, a
Libyan, and a native of Byzacium, a man exceedingly faithful to Gelimer.
At the beginning of this war Gelimer had put this Boniface on a very
swift-sailing ship, and placing all the royal treasure in it commanded
him to anchor in the harbour of Hippo Regius, and if he should see that
the situation was not favourable to their side, he was to sail with all
speed to Spain with the money, and go to Theudis, the leader of the
Visigoths, where he was expecting to find safety for himself also,
should the fortune of war prove adverse for the Vandals. So Boniface, as
long as he felt hope for the cause of the Vandals, remained there; but
as soon as the battle in Tricamarum took place, with all the other
events which have been related, he spread his canvas and sailed away
just as Gelimer had directed him. But an opposing wind brought him back,
much against his will, into the harbour of Hippo Regius. And since he
had already heard that the enemy were somewhere near, he entreated the
sailors with many promises to row with all their might for some other
continent or for an island. But they were unable to do so, since a very
severe storm had fallen upon them and the waves of the sea were rising
to a great height, seeing that it was the Tuscan sea,[8] and then it
occurred to them and to Boniface that, after all, God wished to give the
money to the Romans and so was not allowing the ship to put out.
However, though they had got outside the harbour, they encountered great
danger in bringing their ship back to anchorage. And when Belisarius
arrived at Hippo Regius, Boniface sent some men to him. These he
commanded to sit in a sanctuary, and they were to say that they had been
sent by Boniface, who had the money of Gelimer, but to conceal the place
where he was, until they should receive the pledges of Belisarius that
upon giving Gelimer's money he himself should escape free from harm,
having all that was his own