attended to the sacred festival which, they said, now
belonged to the Arians. And the Libyans, indeed, were angry on this
account and altogether at a loss, but Cyprian, they say, often sent them
a dream saying that there was not the least need for the Christians to
be concerned about him; for he himself as time went on would be his own
avenger. And when the report of this was passed around and came to all
the Libyans, they were expecting that some vengeance would come upon the
Vandals at some time because of this sacred festival, but were unable to
conjecture how in the world the vision would be realized for them. Now,
therefore, when the emperor's expedition had come to Libya, since the
time had already come round and would bring the celebration of the
festival on the succeeding day, the priests of the Arians, in spite of
the fact that Ammatas had led the Vandals to Decimum, cleansed the whole
sanctuary and were engaged in hanging up the most beautiful of the
votive offerings there, and making ready the lamps and bringing out the
treasures from the store-houses and preparing all things with exactness,
arranging everything according to its appropriate use. But the events in
Decimum turned out in the manner already described. And the priests of
the Arians were off in flight, while the Christians who conform to the
orthodox faith came to the temple of Cyprian, and they burned all the
lamps and attended to the sacred festival just as is customary for them
to perform this service, and thus it was known to all what the vision of
the dream was foretelling. This, then, came about in this way.

XXII

And the Vandals, recalling an ancient saying, marvelled, understanding
clearly thereafter that for a man, at least, no hope could be impossible
nor any possession secure. And what this saying was and in what manner
it was spoken I shall explain. When the Vandals originally, pressed by
hunger, were about to remove from their ancestral abodes, a certain part
of them was left behind who were reluctant to go and not desirous of
following Godigisclus. And as time went on it seemed to those who had
remained that they were well off as regards abundance of provisions, and
Gizeric with his followers gained possession of Libya. And when this was
heard by those who had not followed Godigisclus, they rejoiced, since
thenceforth the country was altogether sufficient for them to live upon.
But fearing lest at some time much later either the v