for a little money, such acts of violence
will reconcile these implacable enemies, and unite them in a just and
holy league against the invaders of their country." These exhortations
were enforced by a rigid discipline, of which the soldiers themselves
soon felt and praised the salutary effects. The inhabitants, instead of
deserting their houses, or hiding their corn, supplied the Romans with a
fair and liberal market: the civil officers of the province continued to
exercise their functions in the name of Justinian: and the clergy, from
motives of conscience and interest, assiduously labored to promote
the cause of a Catholic emperor. The small town of Sullecte, one day's
journey from the camp, had the honor of being foremost to open her
gates, and to resume her ancient allegiance: the larger cities of Leptis
and Adrumetum imitated the example of loyalty as soon as Belisarius
appeared; and he advanced without opposition as far as Grasse, a palace
of the Vandal kings, at the distance of fifty miles from Carthage. The
weary Romans indulged themselves in the refreshment of shady groves,
cool fountains, and delicious fruits; and the preference which Procopius
allows to these gardens over any that he had seen, either in the East
or West, may be ascribed either to the taste, or the fatigue, or the
historian. In three generations, prosperity and a warm climate had
dissolved the hardy virtue of the Vandals, who insensibly became the
most luxurious of mankind. In their villas and gardens, which might
deserve the Persian name of _Paradise_, they enjoyed a cool and elegant
repose; and, after the daily use of the bath, the Barbarians were seated
at a table profusely spread with the delicacies of the land and sea.
Their silken robes loosely flowing, after the fashion of the Medes, were
embroidered with gold; love and hunting were the labors of their life,
and their vacant hours were amused by pantomimes, chariot-races, and the
music and dances of the theatre.

In a march of ten or twelve days, the vigilance of Belisarius was
constantly awake and active against his unseen enemies, by whom, in
every place, and at every hour, he might be suddenly attacked. An
officer of confidence and merit, John the Armenian, led the vanguard of
three hundred horse; six hundred Massagetae covered at a certain distance
the left flank; and the whole fleet, steering along the coast, seldom
lost sight of the army, which moved each day about twelve miles,