he wife of Belisarius in the following
manner. She filled with water jars made of glass and constructed a small
room with planks in the hold of the ship where it was impossible for the
sun to penetrate, and there she sank the jars in sand, and by this means
the water remained unaffected. So much, then, for this.

XIV

And as soon as Belisarius had disembarked upon the island, he began to
feel restless, knowing not how to proceed, and his mind was tormented by
the thought that he did not know what sort of men the Vandals were
against whom he was going, and how strong they were in war, or in what
manner the Romans would have to wage the war, or what place would be
their base of operations. But most of all he was disturbed by the
soldiers, who were in mortal dread of sea-fighting and had no shame in
saying beforehand that, if they should be disembarked on the land, they
would try to show themselves brave men in the battle, but if hostile
ships assailed them, they would turn to flight; for, they said, they
were not able to contend against two enemies at once, both men and
water. Being at a loss, therefore, because of all these things, he sent
Procopius, his adviser, to Syracuse, to find out whether the enemy had
any ships in ambush keeping watch over the passage across the sea,
either on the island or on the continent, and where it would be best for
them to anchor in Libya, and from what point as base it would be
advantageous for them to start in carrying on the war against the
Vandals. And he bade him, when he should have accomplished his commands,
return and meet him at the place called Caucana,[45] about two hundred
stades distant from Syracuse, where both he and the whole fleet were to
anchor. But he let it be understood that he was sending him to buy
provisions, since the Goths were willing to give them a market, this
having been decided upon by the Emperor Justinian and Amalasountha, the
mother of Antalaric,[46] who was at that time a boy being reared under
the care of his mother, Amalasountha, and held sway over both the Goths
and the Italians. For when Theoderic had died and the kingdom came to
his nephew, Antalaric, who had already before this lost his father,
Amalasountha was fearful both for her child and for the kingdom and
cultivated the friendship of Justinian very carefully, and she gave heed
to his commands in all matters and at that time promised to provide a
market for his army and did so.

Now when P