lains of
Liguria; and their formidable strength was balanced by their mutual
animosities. [46] They passed the Alps in a severe winter. The emperor
led the way, on foot, and in complete armor; sounding, with his long
staff, the depth of the ice, or snow, and encouraging the Scythians,
who complained of the extreme cold, by the cheerful assurance, that they
should be satisfied with the heat of Africa. The citizens of Lyons had
presumed to shut their gates; they soon implored, and experienced, the
clemency of Majorian. He vanquished Theodoric in the field; and admitted
to his friendship and alliance a king whom he had found not unworthy of
his arms. The beneficial, though precarious, reunion of the greater part
of Gaul and Spain, was the effect of persuasion, as well as of force;
[47] and the independent Bagaudae, who had escaped, or resisted, the
oppression, of former reigns, were disposed to confide in the virtues
of Majorian. His camp was filled with Barbarian allies; his throne was
supported by the zeal of an affectionate people; but the emperor had
foreseen, that it was impossible, without a maritime power, to achieve
the conquest of Africa. In the first Punic war, the republic had exerted
such incredible diligence, that, within sixty days after the first
stroke of the axe had been given in the forest, a fleet of one hundred
and sixty galleys proudly rode at anchor in the sea. [48] Under
circumstances much less favorable, Majorian equalled the spirit and
perseverance of the ancient Romans. The woods of the Apennine were
felled; the arsenals and manufactures of Ravenna and Misenum were
restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal contributions
to the public service; and the Imperial navy of three hundred large
galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels,
was collected in the secure and capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain.
[49] The intrepid countenance of Majorian animated his troops with a
confidence of victory; and, if we might credit the historian Procopius,
his courage sometimes hurried him beyond the bounds of prudence. Anxious
to explore, with his own eyes, the state of the Vandals, he ventured,
after disguising the color of his hair, to visit Carthage, in the
character of his own ambassador: and Genseric was afterwards mortified
by the discovery, that he had entertained and dismissed the emperor of
the Romans. Such an anecdote may be rejected as an improbable fiction;
bu