to him, either with money or by other means, and bring them back to loyalty toward the emperor.  And he sent a letter to Theodorus, charging him to take care of Carthage and to handle the other matters as should seem possible to him, and he himself with Procopius went to Belisarius at Syracuse.  And after reporting everything to him which had taken place in Libya, he begged him to come with all speed to Carthage and defend the emperor, who was suffering unholy treatment at the hands of his own soldiers, Solomon, then, was thus engaged.

XV

But the mutineers, after plundering everything in Carthage, gathered in the plain of Boulla, and chose Stotzas,[50] one of the guards of Martinus, and a passionate and energetic man, as tyrant over them, with the purpose of driving the emperor’s commanders out of all Libya and thus gaining control over it.  And he armed the whole force, amounting to about eight thousand men, and led them on to Carthage, thinking to win over the city instantly with no trouble.  He sent also to the Vandals who had run away from Byzantium with the ships and those who had not gone there with Belisarius in the beginning, either because they had escaped notice, or because those who were taking off the Vandals at that time took no account of them.  Now they were not fewer than a thousand, and after no great time they joined Stotzas and the army with enthusiasm.  And a great throng of slaves also came to him.  And when they drew near Carthage, Stotzas sent orders that the people should surrender the city to him as quickly as possible, on condition of their remaining free from harm.  But those in Carthage and Theodorus, in reply to this, refused flatly to obey, and announced that they were guarding Carthage for the emperor.  And they sent to Stotzas Joseph, the secretary of the emperor’s guards, a man of no humble birth and one of the household of Belisarius, who had recently been sent to Carthage on some mission to them, and they demanded that Stotzas should go no further in his violence.  But Stotzas, upon hearing this, straightway killed Joseph and commenced a siege.  And those in the city, becoming terrified at the danger, were purposing to surrender themselves and Carthage to Stotzas under an agreement.  Such was the course of events in the army in Libya.

But Belisarius selected one hundred men from his own spearmen and guards, and taking Solomon with him, sailed into Carthage with one ship at about dusk, at the time when the besiegers were expecting that the city would be surrendered to them on the following day.  And since they were expecting this, they bivouacked that night.  But when day had come and they learned that Belisarius was present, they broke up camp as quickly as possible and disgracefully and in complete disorder beat a hasty retreat And Belisarius gathered about two thousand of the army and, after urging them with words to be loyal to the