on that very food and the domestics of Gelimer served it and poured the wine and waited upon us in every way.  And it was possible to see Fortune in her glory and making a display of the fact that all things are hers and that nothing is the private possession of any man.  And it fell to the lot of Belisarius on that day to win such fame as no one of the men of his time ever won nor indeed any of the men of olden times.  For though the Roman soldiers were not accustomed to enter a subject city without confusion, even if they numbered only five hundred, and especially if they made the entry unexpectedly, all the soldiers under the command of this general showed themselves so orderly that there was not a single act of insolence nor a threat, and indeed nothing happened to hinder the business of the city; but in a captured city, one which had changed its government and shifted its allegiance, it came about that no man’s household was excluded from the privileges of the marketplace; on the contrary, the clerks drew up their lists of the men and conducted the soldiers to their lodgings, just as usual,[56] and the soldiers themselves, getting their lunch by purchase from the market, rested as each one wished.

Afterwards Belisarius gave pledges to those Vandals who had fled into the sanctuaries, and began to take thought for the fortifications.  For the circuit-wall of Carthage had been so neglected that in many places it had become accessible to anyone who wished and easy to attack.  For no small part of it had fallen down, and it was for this reason, the Carthaginians said, that Gelimer had not made his stand in the city.  For he thought that it would be impossible in a short time to restore such a circuit-wall to a safe condition.  And they said that an old oracle had been uttered by the children in earlier times in Carthage, to the effect that “gamma shall pursue beta, and again beta itself shall pursue gamma.”  And at that time it had been spoken by the children in play and had been left as an unexplained riddle, but now it was perfectly clear to all.  For formerly Gizeric had driven out Boniface and now Belisarius was doing the same to Gelimer.  This, then, whether it was a rumour or an oracle, came out as I have stated.

At that time a dream also came to light, which had been seen often before this by many persons, but without being clear as to how it would turn out.  And the dream was as follows.  Cyprian,[57] a holy man, is reverenced above all others by the Carthaginians.  And they have founded a very noteworthy temple in his honour before the city on the sea-shore, in which they conduct all other customary services, and also celebrate there a festival which they call the “Cypriana”; and the sailors are accustomed to name after Cyprian the storm, which I mentioned lately,[58] giving it the same name as the festival, since it is wont to come on at the time at which the Libyans have always been accustomed to celebrate the festival.  This