History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 285 pages of information about History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8).

History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 285 pages of information about History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8).
Roman camp.  And a third time with almost all the guards and spearmen of Belisarius he took the general’s standard and made his attack with much shouting and a great noise.  But since the barbarians manfully withstood them and used only their swords, the battle became fierce, and many of the noblest of the Vandals fell, and among them Tzazon himself, the brother of Gelimer.  Then at last the whole Roman army was set in motion, and crossing the river they advanced upon the enemy, and the rout, beginning at the centre, became complete; for each of the Roman divisions turned to flight those before them with no trouble.  And the Massagetae, seeing this, according to their agreement among themselves[5] joined the Roman army in making the pursuit, but this pursuit was not continued for a great distance.  For the Vandals entered their own camp quickly and remained quiet, while the Romans, thinking that they would not be able to fight it out with them inside the stockade, stripped such of the corpses as had gold upon them and retired to their own camp.  And there perished in this battle, of the Romans less than fifty, but of the Vandals about eight hundred.

But Belisarius, when the infantry came up in the late afternoon, moved as quickly as he could with the whole army and went against the camp of the Vandals.  And Gelimer, realising that Belisarius with his infantry and the rest of his army was coming against him straightway, without saying a word or giving a command leaped upon his horse and was off in flight on the road leading to Numidia.  And his kinsmen and some few of his domestics followed him in utter consternation and guarding with silence what was taking place.  And for some time it escaped the notice of the Vandals that Gelimer had run away, but when they all perceived that he had fled, and the enemy were already plainly seen, then indeed the men began to shout and the children cried out and the women wailed.  And they neither took with them the money they had nor did they heed the laments of those dearest to them, but every man fled in complete disorder just as he could.  And the Romans, coming up, captured the camp, money and all, with not a man in it; and they pursued the fugitives throughout the whole night, killing all the men upon whom they happened, and making slaves of the women and children.  And they found in this camp a quantity of wealth such as has never before been found, at least in one place.  For the Vandals had plundered the Roman domain for a long time and had transferred great amounts of money to Libya, and since their land was an especially good one, nourishing abundantly with the most useful crops, it came about that the revenue collected from the commodities produced there was not paid out to any other country in the purchase of a food supply, but those who possessed the land always kept for themselves the income from it for the ninety-five years during which the Vandals ruled Libya.  And from this it resulted that their wealth, amounting to an extraordinary sum, returned once more on that day into the hands of the Romans.  So this battle and the pursuit and the capture of the Vandals’ camp happened three months after the Roman army came to Carthage, at about the middle of the last month, which the Romans call “December.” [533 A.D.]

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.