against us, we shall oppose you with all our power,
calling to witness the oaths which were sworn by Zeno, from whom you
have received the kingdom which you hold." The Emperor Justinian, upon
receiving this letter, having been angry with Gelimer even before then,
was still more eager to punish him. And it seemed to him best to put an
end to the Persian war as soon as possible and then to make an
expedition to Libya; and since he was quick at forming a plan and prompt
in carrying out his decisions, Belisarius, the General of the East, was
summoned and came to him immediately, no announcement having been made
to him nor to anyone else that he was about to lead an army against
Libya, but it was given out that he had been removed from the office
which he held. And straightway the treaty with Persia was made, as has
been told in the preceding narrative.[35]

X

And when the Emperor Justinian considered that the situation was as
favourable as possible, both as to domestic affairs and as to his
relations with Persia, he took under consideration the situation in
Libya. But when he disclosed to the magistrates that he was gathering an
army against the Vandals and Gelimer, the most of them began immediately
to show hostility to the plan, and they lamented it as a misfortune,
recalling the expedition of the Emperor Leon and the disaster of
Basiliscus, and reciting how many soldiers had perished and how much
money the state had lost. But the men who were the most sorrowful of
all, and who, by reason of their anxiety, felt the keenest regret, were
the pretorian prefect, whom the Romans call "praetor," and the
administrator of the treasury, and all to whom had been assigned the
collection of either public or imperial[36] taxes, for they reasoned
that while it would be necessary for them to produce countless sums for
the needs of the war, they would be granted neither pardon in case of
failure nor extension of time in which to raise these sums. And every
one of the generals, supposing that he himself would command the army,
was in terror and dread at the greatness of the danger, if it should be
necessary for him, if he were preserved from the perils of the sea, to
encamp in the enemy's land, and, using his ships as a base, to engage in
a struggle against a kingdom both large and formidable. The soldiers,
also, having recently returned from a long, hard war, and having not yet
tasted to the full the blessings of home, were in despai