allen to Leon, who
had been set in this position by Aspar, since Marcian had already passed
from the world. [457 A.D.]

Afterwards Gizeric devised the following scheme. He tore down the walls
of all the cities in Libya except Carthage, so that neither the Libyans
themselves, espousing the cause of the Romans, might have a strong base
from which to begin a rebellion, nor those sent by the emperor have any
ground for hoping to capture a city and by establishing a garrison in it
to make trouble for the Vandals. Now at that time it seemed that he had
counselled well and had ensured prosperity for the Vandals in the safest
possible manner; but in later times when these cities, being without
walls, were captured by Belisarius all the more easily and with less
exertion, Gizeric was then condemned to suffer much ridicule, and that
which for the time he considered wise counsel turned out for him to be
folly. For as fortunes change, men are always accustomed to change with
them their judgments regarding what has been planned in the past. And
among the Libyans all who happened to be men of note and conspicuous for
their wealth he handed over as slaves, together with their estates and
all their money, to his sons Honoric and Genzon. For Theodorus, the
youngest son, had died already, being altogether without offspring,
either male or female. And he robbed the rest of the Libyans of their
estates, which were both very numerous and excellent, and distributed
them among the nation of the Vandals, and as a result of this these
lands have been called "Vandals' estates" up to the present time. And it
fell to the lot of those who had formerly possessed these lands to be in
extreme poverty and to be at the same time free men; and they had the
privilege of going away wheresoever they wished. And Gizeric commanded
that all the lands which he had given over to his sons and to the other
Vandals should not be subject to any kind of taxation. But as much of
the land as did not seem to him good he allowed to remain in the hands
of the former owners, but assessed so large a sum to be paid on this
land for taxes to the government that nothing whatever remained to those
who retained their farms. And many of them were constantly being sent
into exile or killed. For charges were brought against them of many
sorts, and heavy ones too; but one charge seemed to be the greatest of
all, that a man, having money of his own, was hiding it. Thus the
Libyans we