province of
Cyrene, was much longer than that of Heraclius from Tripoli. He passed
the deep sandy desert in thirty days, and it was found necessary to
provide, besides the ordinary supplies, a great number of skins filled
with water, and several Psylli, who were supposed to possess the art of
sucking the wounds which had been made by the serpents of their native
country. See Plutarch in Caton. Uticens. tom. iv. p. 275. Straben
Geograph. l. xxii. p. 1193.]

[Footnote 86: The principal sum is clearly expressed by Procopius, (de
Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191;) the smaller constituent parts,
which Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 396) has laboriously
collected from the Byzantine writers, are less certain, and less
important. The historian Malchus laments the public misery, (Excerpt.
ex Suida in Corp. Hist. Byzant. p. 58;) but he is surely unjust, when
he charges Leo with hoarding the treasures which he extorted from the
people. * Note: Compare likewise the newly-discovered work of Lydus, de
Magistratibus, ed. Hase, Paris, 1812, (and in the new collection of the
Byzantines,) l. iii. c. 43. Lydus states the expenditure at 65,000
lbs. of gold, 700,000 of silver. But Lydus exaggerates the fleet to the
incredible number of 10,000 long ships, (Liburnae,) and the troops to
400,000 men. Lydus describes this fatal measure, of which he charges the
blame on Basiliscus, as the shipwreck of the state. From that time all
the revenues of the empire were anticipated; and the finances fell into
inextricable confusion.--M.] Experience has shown, that the success
of an invader most commonly depends on the vigor and celerity of his
operations. The strength and sharpness of the first impression are
blunted by delay; the health and spirit of the troops insensibly
languish in a distant climate; the naval and military force, a mighty
effort which perhaps can never be repeated, is silently consumed;
and every hour that is wasted in negotiation, accustoms the enemy to
contemplate and examine those hostile terrors, which, on their first
appearance, he deemed irresistible. The formidable navy of Basiliscus
pursued its prosperous navigation from the Thracian Bosphorus to the
coast of Africa. He landed his troops at Cape Bona, or the promontory
of Mercury, about forty miles from Carthage. [87] The army of Heraclius,
and the fleet of Marcellinus, either joined or seconded the Imperial
lieutenant; and the Vandals who opposed his progress b