beings.
Pitiable, weak, mortal god! Will your bolt hit the mark? Will it not
recoil against you? The demi-god Justinian and the goddess Theodora
have prepared this thunder-bolt; the eagle Belisarius will carry it; we
are starting for Africa to make war upon the Vandals.

Now you know much, O Cethegus. But you do not yet know all,--at least,
not all about the Vandals. So learn it from me; I know. During the last
few months I have been obliged to deliver lectures to the two gods--and
the eagle--about these fair-haired fools. But whoever is compelled to
deliver lectures has sense enough bestowed upon him to perform the
task. Look at the professors at Athens. Since the reign of Justinian
the lecture-rooms have been closed to them. Who still thinks them wise?

So listen: The Vandals are cousins of your dear masters, the
Ostrogoths. They came about a hundred years ago--men, women, and
children, perhaps fifty thousand in number--from Spain to Africa. Their
leader was a terrible king, Gizericus by name (commonly called
Genseric); a worthy comrade of Attila, the Hun. He defeated the Romans
in hard-fought battles, captured Carthage, plundered Rome. He was never
vanquished. The crown passed to his heirs, the Asdings, who were said
to be descended from the pagan gods of the Germans. The oldest male
scion of the family always ascends the throne.

But Genseric's posterity inherited only his sceptre, not his greatness.
The Catholics in their kingdom (the Vandals are heretics, Arians) were
most cruelly persecuted, which was more stupid than it was unjust. It
really was not so very unjust; they merely applied to the Catholics,
the Romans, in their kingdom the selfsame laws which the Emperor in the
Roman Empire had previously issued against the Arians. But it was
certainly extremely stupid. What harm can the few Arians do in the
Roman Empire? But the numerous Catholics in the Vandal kingdom could
overthrow it, if they should rebel. True; they will not rise
voluntarily. But we are coming to rouse them.

Shall we conquer? There is much probability of it. King Hilderic lived
in Constantinople a long time, and is said to have secretly embraced
the Catholic faith. He is Justinian's friend: this great-grandson of
Genseric abhors war. He has dealt his own kingdom the severest blow by
transforming its best prop, the friendship with the Ostrogoths in
Italy, into mortal hatred. The wise King Theodoric at Ravenna made a
treaty of friendship an