rpose, then, they had come. And when they proposed the alliance,
Theudis bade them go to the sea-coast; "For from there," he said, "you
will learn of the affairs at home with certainty." And the envoys,
supposing that the man was in his cups and his words were not sane,
remained silent. But when on the following day they met him and made
mention of the alliance, and Theudis used the same words a second time,
then at length they understood that some change of fortune had befallen
them in Libya, but never once thinking of Carthage they sailed for the
city. And upon coming to land close by it and happening upon Roman
soldiers, they put themselves in their hands to do with them as they
wished. And from there they were led away to the general, and reporting
the whole story, they suffered no harm at his hand. These things, then,
happened thus. And Cyril,[64] upon coming near to Sardinia and learning
what had happened to Godas, sailed to Carthage, and there, finding the
Roman army and Belisarius victorious, he remained at rest; and
Solomon[65] was sent to the emperor in order to announce what had been
accomplished.

XXV

But Gelimer, upon reaching the plain of Boulla, which is distant from
Carthage a journey of four days for an unencumbered traveller, not far
from the boundaries of Numidia, began to gather there all the Vandals
and as many of the Moors as happened to be friendly to him. Few Moors,
however, joined his alliance, and these were altogether insubordinate.
For all those who ruled over the Moors in Mauretania and Numidia and
Byzacium sent envoys to Belisarius saying that they were slaves of the
emperor and promised to fight with him. There were some also who even
furnished their children as hostages and requested that the symbols of
office be sent them from him according to the ancient custom. For it was
a law among the Moors that no one should be a ruler over them, even if
he was hostile to the Romans, until the emperor of the Romans should
give him the tokens of the office. And though they had already received
them from the Vandals, they did not consider that the Vandals held the
office securely. Now these symbols are a staff of silver covered with
gold, and a silver cap,--not covering the whole head, but like a crown
and held in place on all sides by bands of silver,--a kind of white
cloak gathered by a golden brooch on the right shoulder in the form of a
Thessalian cape, and a white tunic with embroidery, and