“Fellow-soldiers, you are not acting justly in taking the field against kinsmen and those who have been reared with you, and in raising arms against men who in vexation at your misfortunes and the wrongs you have suffered have decided to make war upon the emperor and the Romans.  Or do you not remember that you have been deprived of the pay which has been owing you for a long time back, and that you have been robbed of the enemy’s spoil, which the law of war has set as prizes for the dangers of battle?  And that the others have claimed the right to live sumptuously all their lives upon the good things of victory, while you have followed as if their servants?  If, now, you are angry with me, it is within your power to vent your wrath upon this body, and to escape the pollution of killing the others; but if you have no charge to bring against me, it is time for you to take up your weapons in your own behalf.”  So spoke Stotzas; and the soldiers listened to his words and greeted him with great favour.  And when the commanders saw what was happening, they withdrew in silence and took refuge in a sanctuary which was in Gazophyla.  And Stotzas combined both armies into one and then went to the commanders.  And finding them in the sanctuary, he gave pledges and then killed them all.

XVI

When the emperor learned this, he sent his nephew Germanus, a man of patrician rank, with some few men to Libya.  And Symmachus also and Domnicus, men of the senate, followed him, the former to be prefect and charged with the maintenance of the army, while Domnicus was to command the infantry forces.  For John,[55] who had held the office of prefect, had already died of disease.  And when they had sailed into Carthage, Germanus counted the soldiers whom they had, and upon looking over the books of the scribes where the names of all the soldiers were registered, he found that the third part of the army was in Carthage and the other cities, while all the rest were arrayed with the tyrant against the Romans.  He did not, therefore, begin any fighting, but bestowed the greatest care upon his army.  And considering that those left in Carthage were the kinsmen or tentmates of the enemy, he kept addressing many winning words to all, and in particular said that he had himself been sent by the emperor to Libya in order to defend the soldiers who had been wronged and to punish those who had unprovoked done them any injury.  And when this was found out by the mutineers, they began to come over to him a few at a time.  And Germanus both received them into the city in a friendly manner and, giving pledges, held them in honour, and he gave them their pay for the time during which they had been in arms against the Romans.  And when the report of these acts was circulated and came to all, they began now to detach themselves in large numbers from the tyrant and to march to Carthage.  Then at last Germanus, hoping that in the battle he would be evenly matched in strength with his opponents, began to make preparations for the conflict.