f Genseric;
and however trained to servitude, the genius of Belisarius must have
secretly rebelled. He was immediately declared consul for the ensuing
year, and the day of his inauguration resembled the pomp of a second
triumph: his curule chair was borne aloft on the shoulders of captive
Vandals; and the spoils of war, gold cups, and rich girdles, were
profusely scattered among the populace. [Footnote 32: After the title of
imperator had lost the old military sense, and the Roman auspices were
abolished by Christianity, (see La Bleterie, Mem. de l'Academie, tom.
xxi. p. 302--332,) a triumph might be given with less inconsistency to a
private general.]

[Footnote 33: If the Ecclesiastes be truly a work of Solomon, and not,
like Prior's poem, a pious and moral composition of more recent times,
in his name, and on the subject of his repentance. The latter is the
opinion of the learned and free-spirited Grotius, (Opp. Theolog. tom.
i. p. 258;) and indeed the Ecclesiastes and Proverbs display a larger
compass of thought and experience than seem to belong either to a Jew or
a king. * Note: Rosenmuller, arguing from the difference of style from
that of the greater part of the book of Proverbs, and from its nearer
approximation to the Aramaic dialect than any book of the Old Testament,
assigns the Ecclesiastes to some period between Nehemiah and Alexander
the Great Schol. in Vet. Test. ix. Proemium ad Eccles. p. 19.--M.]

Chapter XLI: Conquests Of Justinian, Charact Of Balisarius.--Part III.

Although Theodatus descended from a race of heroes, he was ignorant of
the art, and averse to the dangers, of war. Although he had studied the
writings of Plato and Tully, philosophy was incapable of purifying his
mind from the basest passions, avarice and fear. He had purchased a
sceptre by ingratitude and murder: at the first menace of an enemy, he
degraded his own majesty and that of a nation, which already disdained
their unworthy sovereign. Astonished by the recent example of Gelimer,
he saw himself dragged in chains through the streets of Constantinople:
the terrors which Belisarius inspired were heightened by the eloquence
of Peter, the Byzantine ambassador; and that bold and subtle advocate
persuaded him to sign a treaty, too ignominious to become the foundation
of a lasting peace. It was stipulated, that in the acclamations of the
Roman people, the name of the emperor should be always proclaimed before
that of the Gothic