to benefit yourselves, and you wish to bring upon your ruler, though he does not so will it and is far distant from the scene of these actions, the hostility of the great emperor, whose good-will he has, having won it with great labour.  And yet how could you but seem to be acting contrary to the ways of men, it you recently allowed Gelimer to hold the fortress, but have decided to wrest from the emperor, Gelimer’s master, the possessions of the slave?  You, at least, should not act thus, most excellent sirs.  But reflect that, while it is the nature of friendship to cover over many faults, hostility does not brook even the smallest misdeeds, but searches the past for every offence, and allows not its enemy to grow rich on what does not in the least belong to them.[15] Moreover, the enemy fights to avenge the wrongs which it says have been done to its ancestors; and whereas, if friendship thus turned to hostility fails in the struggle, it suffers no loss of its own possessions, yet if it succeeds, it teaches the vanquished to take a new view of the indulgence which has been shewn them in the past.  See to it, then, that you neither do us further harm nor suffer harm yourselves, and do not make the great emperor an enemy to the Gothic nation, when it is your prayer that he be propitious toward you.  For be well assured that, if you lay claim to this fortress, war will confront you immediately, and not for Lilybaeum alone, but for all the possessions you claim as yours, though not one of them belongs to you.”

Such was the message of the letter.  And the Goths reported these things to the mother[16] of Antalaric, and at her direction made the following reply:  “The letter which you have written, most excellent Belisarius, carries sound admonition, but pertinent to some other men, not to us the Goths.  For there is nothing of the Emperor Justinian’s which we have taken and hold; may we never be so mad as to do such a thing!  The whole of Sicily we claim because it is our own, and the fortress of Lilybaeum is one of its promontories.  And if Theoderic gave his sister, who was the consort of the king of the Vandals, one of the trading-ports of Sicily for her use, this is nothing.  For this fact could not afford a basis for any claim on your part.  But you, O General, would be acting justly toward us, if you should be willing to make the settlement of the matters in dispute between us, not as an enemy, but as a friend.  And there is this difference, that friends are accustomed to settle their disagreements by arbitration, but enemies by battle.  We, therefore, shall commit this matter to the Emperor Justinian, to arbitrate[17] in whatever manner seems to him lawful and just.  And we desire that the decisions you make shall be as wise as possible, rather than as hasty as possible, and that you, therefore, await the decision of your emperor.”  Such was the message of the letter of the Goths.  And Belisarius, reporting all to the emperor, remained quiet until the emperor should send him word what his wish was.