e to Sergius with any
treacherous intent, and that Sergius had not the slightest reason for
suspecting them, but having invited them to a banquet and taken an
oath not to harm them, he cruelly butchered them.

Solomon, the Roman army, and all the Libyans were lost owing to this
crime; for, in consequence of what he had done, especially after
Solomon's death, no officer or soldier would expose himself to the
dangers of war. John, the son of Sisinniolus, was especially averse to
taking the field, out of the hatred which he bore to Sergius, until
Areobindus arrived in Libya.

Sergius was effeminate and unwarlike, very young both in years and in
mind, excessively jealous and insolent to all men, luxurious in his
habits, and inflated with pride. However, after he had become the
accepted husband of the niece of Antonina, Belisarius's wife, the
Empress would not permit him to be punished in any way or removed from
his office, although she saw distinctly that the state of affairs in
Libya threatened its utter ruin; and she even induced the Emperor to
pardon Solomon, Sergius's brother, for the murder of Pegasius. How
this came to pass I will now explain.

After Pegasius had ransomed Solomon from captivity among the Levathae,
and the barbarians had returned home, Solomon and Pegasius, who had
ransomed him, set out, accompanied by a few soldiers, to Carthage. On
the way Pegasius reproached Solomon with the wrong he had done, and
bade him remember that Heaven had only just rescued him from the
enemy. Solomon, enraged at being taunted with his captivity,
straightway slew Pegasius, and thus requited him for having ransomed
him. But when Solomon reached Byzantium, the Emperor absolved him from
the guilt of murder, on the pretext that he had slain a traitor to the
Roman Empire, and gave him letters of acquittal. Solomon, having thus
escaped all punishment for his crime, departed gladly for the East, to
visit his own country and his family; but the vengeance of God fell
upon him on the way, and removed him from amongst mankind. This is
what happened in regard to Solomon and Pegasius.

CHAPTER VI

I now come to the description of the private life and character of
Justinian and Theodora, and of the manner in which they rent the Roman
Empire asunder.

At the time when Leo occupied the imperial throne, three young
husbandmen, of Illyrian birth, named Zimarchus, Ditybistus, and Justin
of Bederiane, in order to escape from the