yourselves brave men and do not bring shame upon the
fame of Gizeric."

After speaking such words, Gelimer commanded his brother Tzazon to
deliver an exhortation separately to the Vandals who had come with him
from Sardinia. And he gathered them together a little apart from the
camp and spoke as follows: "For all the Vandals, fellow soldiers, the
struggle is in behalf of those things which you have just heard the king
recount, but for you, in addition to all the other considerations, it so
happens that you are vying with yourselves. For you have recently been
victorious in a struggle for the maintenance of our rule, and you have
recovered the island for the empire of the Vandals; there is every
reason, therefore, for you to make still greater display of your valour.
For those whose hazard involves the greatest things must needs display
the greatest zeal for warfare also. Indeed, when men who struggle for
the maintenance of their rule are defeated, should it so happen, they
have not failed in the most vital part; but when men are engaged in
battle for their all, surely their very lives are influenced by the
outcome of the struggle. And for the rest, if you shew yourselves brave
men at the present time, you will thereby prove with certainty that the
destruction[2] of the tyrant Godas was an achievement of valour on your
part; but if you weaken now, you will be deprived of even the renown of
those deeds, as of something which does not belong to you at all. And
yet, even apart from this, it is reasonable to think that you will have
an advantage over the rest of the Vandals in this battle. For those who
have failed are dismayed by their previous fortune, while those who have
encountered no reverse enter the struggle with their courage unimpaired.
And this too, I think, will not be spoken out of season, that if we
conquer the enemy, it will be you who will win the credit for the
greatest part of the victory, and all will call you saviours of the
nation of the Vandals. For men who achieve renown in company with those
who have previously met with misfortune naturally claim the better
fortune as their own. Considering all these things, therefore, I say
that you should bid the women and children who are lamenting their fate
to take courage even now, should summon God to fight with us, should go
with enthusiasm against the enemy, and lead the way for our compatriots
into this battle."

III

After both Gelimer and Tzazon had