with Pharas as their leader, and set them to maintain the siege of the mountain.  Now this Pharas was energetic and thoroughly serious and upright in every way, although he was an Erulian by birth.  And for an Erulian not to give himself over to treachery and drunkenness, but to strive after uprightness, is no easy matter and merits abundant praise.[7] But not only was it Pharas who maintained orderly conduct, but also all the Erulians who followed him.  This Pharas, then, Belisarius commanded to establish himself at the foot of the mountain during the winter season and to keep close guard, so that it would neither be possible for Gelimer to leave the mountain nor for any supplies to be brought in to him.  And Pharas acted accordingly.  Then Belisarius turned to the Vandals who were sitting as suppliants in the sanctuaries in Hippo Regius,—­and there were many of them and of the nobility—­and he caused them all to accept pledges and arise, and then he sent them to Carthage with a guard.  And there it came about that the following event happened to him.

In the house of Gelimer there was a certain scribe named Boniface, a Libyan, and a native of Byzacium, a man exceedingly faithful to Gelimer.  At the beginning of this war Gelimer had put this Boniface on a very swift-sailing ship, and placing all the royal treasure in it commanded him to anchor in the harbour of Hippo Regius, and if he should see that the situation was not favourable to their side, he was to sail with all speed to Spain with the money, and go to Theudis, the leader of the Visigoths, where he was expecting to find safety for himself also, should the fortune of war prove adverse for the Vandals.  So Boniface, as long as he felt hope for the cause of the Vandals, remained there; but as soon as the battle in Tricamarum took place, with all the other events which have been related, he spread his canvas and sailed away just as Gelimer had directed him.  But an opposing wind brought him back, much against his will, into the harbour of Hippo Regius.  And since he had already heard that the enemy were somewhere near, he entreated the sailors with many promises to row with all their might for some other continent or for an island.  But they were unable to do so, since a very severe storm had fallen upon them and the waves of the sea were rising to a great height, seeing that it was the Tuscan sea,[8] and then it occurred to them and to Boniface that, after all, God wished to give the money to the Romans and so was not allowing the ship to put out.  However, though they had got outside the harbour, they encountered great danger in bringing their ship back to anchorage.  And when Belisarius arrived at Hippo Regius, Boniface sent some men to him.  These he commanded to sit in a sanctuary, and they were to say that they had been sent by Boniface, who had the money of Gelimer, but to conceal the place where he was, until they should receive the pledges of Belisarius that upon giving Gelimer’s money he himself should escape free from harm, having all that was his own.  These men, then, acted according to these instructions, and Belisarius was pleased at the good news and did not decline to take an oath.  And sending some of his associates he took the treasure of Gelimer and released Boniface in possession of his own money and also with an enormous sum which he plundered from Gelimer’s treasure.