rve the just order and
regular intervals of such a multitude of ships: as the wind was fair and
moderate, their labors were not unsuccessful, and the troops were safely
disembarked at Methone on the Messenian coast, to repose themselves for
a while after the fatigues of the sea. In this place they experienced
how avarice, invested with authority, may sport with the lives of
thousands which are bravely exposed for the public service. According to
military practice, the bread or biscuit of the Romans was twice prepared
in the oven, and the diminution of one fourth was cheerfully allowed
for the loss of weight. To gain this miserable profit, and to save the
expense of wood, the praefect John of Cappadocia had given orders that
the flour should be slightly baked by the same fire which warmed the
baths of Constantinople; and when the sacks were opened, a soft and
mouldy paste was distributed to the army. Such unwholesome food,
assisted by the heat of the climate and season, soon produced an
epidemical disease, which swept away five hundred soldiers. Their health
was restored by the diligence of Belisarius, who provided fresh bread
at Methone, and boldly expressed his just and humane indignation the
emperor heard his complaint; the general was praised but the minister
was not punished. From the port of Methone, the pilots steered along
the western coast of Peloponnesus, as far as the Isle of Zacynthus, or
Zante, before they undertook the voyage (in their eyes a most arduous
voyage) of one hundred leagues over the Ionian Sea. As the fleet was
surprised by a calm, sixteen days were consumed in the slow navigation;
and even the general would have suffered the intolerable hardship of
thirst, if the ingenuity of Antonina had not preserved the water in
glass bottles, which she buried deep in the sand in a part of the ship
impervious to the rays of the sun. At length the harbor of Caucana, on
the southern side of Sicily, afforded a secure and hospitable shelter.
The Gothic officers who governed the island in the name of the daughter
and grandson of Theodoric, obeyed their imprudent orders, to receive the
troops of Justinian like friends and allies: provisions were liberally
supplied, the cavalry was remounted, and Procopius soon returned from
Syracuse with correct information of the state and designs of
the Vandals. His intelligence determined Belisarius to hasten his
operations, and his wise impatience was seconded by the winds. The