there, fearing the warning of the general, but the sailors would not
obey. For they said that the promontory at that point was without a
harbour and also that the indications were that a well-known storm,
which the natives call Cypriana, would arise immediately. And they
predicted that, if it came upon them in that place, they would not be
able to save even one of the ships. And it was as they said. So they
slackened their sails for a short time and deliberated; and they did not
think they ought to try for Mandracium (for they shrank from violating
the commands of Belisarius, and at the same time they suspected that the
entrance to Mandracium was closed by the chains, and besides they feared
that this harbour was not sufficient for the whole fleet) but Stagnum
seemed to them well situated (for it is forty stades distant from
Carthage), and there was nothing in it to hinder them, and also it was
large enough for the whole fleet. There they arrived about dusk and all
anchored, except, indeed, that Calonymus with some of the sailors,
disregarding the general and all the others, went off secretly to
Mandracium, no one daring to hinder him, and plundered the property of
the merchants dwelling on the sea, both foreigners and Carthaginians.

On the following day Belisarius commanded those on the ships to
disembark, and after marshalling the whole army and drawing it up in
battle formation, he marched into Carthage; for he feared lest he should
encounter some snare set by the enemy. There he reminded the soldiers at
length of how much good fortune had come to them because they had
displayed moderation toward the Libyans, and he exhorted them earnestly
to preserve good order with the greatest care in Carthage. For all the
Libyans had been Romans in earlier times and had come under the Vandals
by no will of their own and had suffered many outrages at the hands of
these barbarians. For this very reason the emperor had entered into war
with the Vandals, and it was not holy that any harm should come from
them to the people whose freedom they had made the ground for taking the
field against the Vandals. [Sept. 15, 533 A.D.] After such words of
exhortation he entered Carthage, and, since no enemy was seen by them,
he went up to the palace and seated himself on Gelimer's throne. There a
crowd of merchants and other Carthaginians came before Belisarius with
much shouting, persons whose homes were on the sea, and they made the
charge th