<h2><SPAN name="chap33.2"></SPAN> Chapter XXXIII: Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.—Part II. </h2>
<p>By the skill of Boniface, and perhaps by the ignorance of the Vandals, the
siege of Hippo was protracted above fourteen months: the sea was
continually open; and when the adjacent country had been exhausted by
irregular rapine, the besiegers themselves were compelled by famine to
relinquish their enterprise. The importance and danger of Africa were
deeply felt by the regent of the West. Placidia implored the assistance of
her eastern ally; and the Italian fleet and army were reenforced by Asper,
who sailed from Constantinople with a powerful armament. As soon as the
force of the two empires was united under the command of Boniface, he
boldly marched against the Vandals; and the loss of a second battle
irretrievably decided the fate of Africa. He embarked with the
precipitation of despair; and the people of Hippo were permitted, with
their families and effects, to occupy the vacant place of the soldiers,
the greatest part of whom were either slain or made prisoners by the
Vandals. The count, whose fatal credulity had wounded the vitals of the
republic, might enter the palace of Ravenna with some anxiety, which was
soon removed by the smiles of Placidia. Boniface accepted with gratitude
the rank of patrician, and the dignity of master-general of the Roman
armies; but he must have blushed at the sight of those medals, in which he
was represented with the name and attributes of victory. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.32" name="linknoteref-33.32" id="linknoteref-33.32">32</SPAN>
The discovery of his fraud, the displeasure of the empress, and the
distinguished favor of his rival, exasperated the haughty and perfidious
soul of Ætius. He hastily returned from Gaul to Italy, with a retinue, or
rather with an army, of Barbarian followers; and such was the weakness of
the government, that the two generals decided their private quarrel in a
bloody battle. Boniface was successful; but he received in the conflict a
mortal wound from the spear of his adversary, of which he expired within a
few days, in such Christian and charitable sentiments, that he exhorted
his wife, a rich heiress of Spain, to accept Ætius for her second
husband. But Ætius could not derive any immediate advantage from the
generosity of his dying enemy: he was proclaimed a rebel by the justice of
Placidia; and though he attempted to defend some strong fortresses,
erected on his patrimonial estate, the Imperial power soon compelled him
to retire into Pannonia, to the tents of his faithful Huns. The republic
was deprived, by their mutual discord, of the service of her two most
illustrious champions. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.33" name="linknoteref-33.33" id="linknoteref-33.33">33</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.32" id="linknote-33.32">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
32 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.32">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Ducange, Fam. Byzant.
p. 67. On one side, the head of Valentinian; on the reverse, Boniface,
with a scourge in one hand, and a palm in the other, standing in a
triumphal car, which is drawn by four horses, or, in another medal, by
four stags; an unlucky emblem! I should doubt whether another example can
be found of the head of a subject on the reverse of an Imperial medal. See
Science des Medailles, by the Pere Jobert, tom. i. p. 132-150, edit. of
1739, by the haron de la Bastie. * Note: Lord Mahon, Life of Belisarius,
p. 133, mentions one of Belisarius on the authority of Cedrenus—M.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.33" id="linknote-33.33">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
33 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.33">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Procopius (de Bell.
Vandal. l. i. c. 3, p. 185) continues the history of Boniface no further
than his return to Italy. His death is mentioned by Prosper and
Marcellinus; the expression of the latter, that Ætius, the day before,
had provided himself with a longer spear, implies something like a regular
duel.]</p>
<p>It might naturally be expected, after the retreat of Boniface, that the
Vandals would achieve, without resistance or delay, the conquest of
Africa. Eight years, however, elapsed, from the evacuation of Hippo to the
reduction of Carthage. In the midst of that interval, the ambitious
Genseric, in the full tide of apparent prosperity, negotiated a treaty of
peace, by which he gave his son Hunneric for a hostage; and consented to
leave the Western emperor in the undisturbed possession of the three
Mauritanias. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.34" name="linknoteref-33.34" id="linknoteref-33.34">34</SPAN> This moderation, which cannot be imputed to
the justice, must be ascribed to the policy, of the conqueror.</p>
<p>His throne was encompassed with domestic enemies, who accused the baseness
of his birth, and asserted the legitimate claims of his nephews, the sons
of Gonderic. Those nephews, indeed, he sacrificed to his safety; and their
mother, the widow of the deceased king, was precipitated, by his order,
into the river Ampsaga. But the public discontent burst forth in dangerous
and frequent conspiracies; and the warlike tyrant is supposed to have shed
more Vandal blood by the hand of the executioner, than in the field of
battle. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.35" name="linknoteref-33.35" id="linknoteref-33.35">35</SPAN> The convulsions of Africa, which had favored
his attack, opposed the firm establishment of his power; and the various
seditions of the Moors and Germans, the Donatists and Catholics,
continually disturbed, or threatened, the unsettled reign of the
conqueror. As he advanced towards Carthage, he was forced to withdraw his
troops from the Western provinces; the sea-coast was exposed to the naval
enterprises of the Romans of Spain and Italy; and, in the heart of
Numidia, the strong inland city of Corta still persisted in obstinate
independence. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.36" name="linknoteref-33.36" id="linknoteref-33.36">36</SPAN> These difficulties were gradually subdued by
the spirit, the perseverance, and the cruelty of Genseric; who alternately
applied the arts of peace and war to the establishment of his African
kingdom. He subscribed a solemn treaty, with the hope of deriving some
advantage from the term of its continuance, and the moment of its
violation. The vigilance of his enemies was relaxed by the protestations
of friendship, which concealed his hostile approach; and Carthage was at
length surprised by the Vandals, five hundred and eighty-five years after
the destruction of the city and republic by the younger Scipio. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.37" name="linknoteref-33.37" id="linknoteref-33.37">37</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.34" id="linknote-33.34">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
34 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.34">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Procopius, de Bell.
Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p. 186. Valentinian published several humane laws, to
relieve the distress of his Numidian and Mauritanian subjects; he
discharged them, in a great measure, from the payment of their debts,
reduced their tribute to one eighth, and gave them a right of appeal from
their provincial magistrates to the praefect of Rome. Cod. Theod. tom. vi.
Novell. p. 11, 12.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.35" id="linknote-33.35">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
35 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.35">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor Vitensis, de
Persecut. Vandal. l. ii. c. 5, p. 26. The cruelties of Genseric towards
his subjects are strongly expressed in Prosper’s Chronicle, A.D. 442.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.36" id="linknote-33.36">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
36 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.36">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Possidius, in Vit.
Augustin. c. 28, apud Ruinart, p. 428.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.37" id="linknote-33.37">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
37 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.37">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Chronicles of
Idatius, Isidore, Prosper, and Marcellinus. They mark the same year, but
different days, for the surprisal of Carthage.]</p>
<p>A new city had arisen from its ruins, with the title of a colony; and
though Carthage might yield to the royal prerogatives of Constantinople,
and perhaps to the trade of Alexandria, or the splendor of Antioch, she
still maintained the second rank in the West; as the Rome (if we may use
the style of contemporaries) of the African world. That wealthy and
opulent metropolis <SPAN href="#linknote-33.38" name="linknoteref-33.38" id="linknoteref-33.38">38</SPAN> displayed, in a dependent condition, the
image of a flourishing republic. Carthage contained the manufactures, the
arms, and the treasures of the six provinces. A regular subordination of
civil honors gradually ascended from the procurators of the streets and
quarters of the city, to the tribunal of the supreme magistrate, who, with
the title of proconsul, represented the state and dignity of a consul of
ancient Rome. Schools and gymnasia were instituted for the education of
the African youth; and the liberal arts and manners, grammar, rhetoric,
and philosophy, were publicly taught in the Greek and Latin languages. The
buildings of Carthage were uniform and magnificent; a shady grove was
planted in the midst of the capital; the new port, a secure and capacious
harbor, was subservient to the commercial industry of citizens and
strangers; and the splendid games of the circus and theatre were exhibited
almost in the presence of the Barbarians. The reputation of the
Carthaginians was not equal to that of their country, and the reproach of
Punic faith still adhered to their subtle and faithless character. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.39" name="linknoteref-33.39" id="linknoteref-33.39">39</SPAN>
The habits of trade, and the abuse of luxury, had corrupted their manners;
but their impious contempt of monks, and the shameless practice of
unnatural lusts, are the two abominations which excite the pious vehemence
of Salvian, the preacher of the age. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.40"
name="linknoteref-33.40" id="linknoteref-33.40">40</SPAN> The king of the
Vandals severely reformed the vices of a voluptuous people; and the
ancient, noble, ingenuous freedom of Carthage (these expressions of Victor
are not without energy) was reduced by Genseric into a state of
ignominious servitude. After he had permitted his licentious troops to
satiate their rage and avarice, he instituted a more regular system of
rapine and oppression. An edict was promulgated, which enjoined all
persons, without fraud or delay, to deliver their gold, silver, jewels,
and valuable furniture or apparel, to the royal officers; and the attempt
to secrete any part of their patrimony was inexorably punished with death
and torture, as an act of treason against the state. The lands of the
proconsular province, which formed the immediate district of Carthage,
were accurately measured, and divided among the Barbarians; and the
conqueror reserved for his peculiar domain the fertile territory of
Byzacium, and the adjacent parts of Numidia and Getulia. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.41" name="linknoteref-33.41" id="linknoteref-33.41">41</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.38" id="linknote-33.38">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
38 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.38">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The picture of
Carthage; as it flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries, is taken
from the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 17, 18, in the third volume of
Hudson’s Minor Geographers, from Ausonius de Claris Urbibus, p. 228, 229;
and principally from Salvian, de Gubernatione Dei, l. vii. p. 257, 258.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.39" id="linknote-33.39">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
39 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.39">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The anonymous author of
the Expositio totius Mundi compares in his barbarous Latin, the country
and the inhabitants; and, after stigmatizing their want of faith, he
coolly concludes, Difficile autem inter eos invenitur bonus, tamen in
multis pauci boni esse possunt P. 18.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.40" id="linknote-33.40">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
40 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.40">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ He declares, that the
peculiar vices of each country were collected in the sink of Carthage, (l.
vii. p. 257.) In the indulgence of vice, the Africans applauded their
manly virtue. Et illi se magis virilis fortitudinis esse crederent, qui
maxime vires foeminei usus probositate fregissent, (p. 268.) The streets
of Carthage were polluted by effeminate wretches, who publicly assumed the
countenance, the dress, and the character of women, (p. 264.) If a monk
appeared in the city, the holy man was pursued with impious scorn and
ridicule; de testantibus ridentium cachinnis, (p. 289.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.41" id="linknote-33.41">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
41 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.41">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Compare Procopius de
Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 5, p. 189, 190, and Victor Vitensis, de Persecut
Vandal. l. i. c. 4.]</p>
<p>It was natural enough that Genseric should hate those whom he had injured:
the nobility and senators of Carthage were exposed to his jealousy and
resentment; and all those who refused the ignominious terms, which their
honor and religion forbade them to accept, were compelled by the Arian
tyrant to embrace the condition of perpetual banishment. Rome, Italy, and
the provinces of the East, were filled with a crowd of exiles, of
fugitives, and of ingenuous captives, who solicited the public compassion;
and the benevolent epistles of Theodoret still preserve the names and
misfortunes of Cælestian and Maria. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.42"
name="linknoteref-33.42" id="linknoteref-33.42">42</SPAN> The Syrian bishop
deplores the misfortunes of Cælestian, who, from the state of a noble and
opulent senator of Carthage, was reduced, with his wife and family, and
servants, to beg his bread in a foreign country; but he applauds the
resignation of the Christian exile, and the philosophic temper, which,
under the pressure of such calamities, could enjoy more real happiness
than was the ordinary lot of wealth and prosperity. The story of Maria,
the daughter of the magnificent Eudaemon, is singular and interesting. In
the sack of Carthage, she was purchased from the Vandals by some merchants
of Syria, who afterwards sold her as a slave in their native country. A
female attendant, transported in the same ship, and sold in the same
family, still continued to respect a mistress whom fortune had reduced to
the common level of servitude; and the daughter of Eudaemon received from
her grateful affection the domestic services which she had once required
from her obedience. This remarkable behavior divulged the real condition
of Maria, who, in the absence of the bishop of Cyrrhus, was redeemed from
slavery by the generosity of some soldiers of the garrison. The liberality
of Theodoret provided for her decent maintenance; and she passed ten
months among the deaconesses of the church; till she was unexpectedly
informed, that her father, who had escaped from the ruin of Carthage,
exercised an honorable office in one of the Western provinces. Her filial
impatience was seconded by the pious bishop: Theodoret, in a letter still
extant, recommends Maria to the bishop of Aegae, a maritime city of
Cilicia, which was frequented, during the annual fair, by the vessels of
the West; most earnestly requesting, that his colleague would use the
maiden with a tenderness suitable to her birth; and that he would intrust
her to the care of such faithful merchants, as would esteem it a
sufficient gain, if they restored a daughter, lost beyond all human hope,
to the arms of her afflicted parent.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.42" id="linknote-33.42">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
42 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.42">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Ruinart (p. 441-457)
has collected from Theodoret, and other authors, the misfortunes, real and
fabulous, of the inhabitants of Carthage.]</p>
<p>Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted to
distinguish the memorable fable of the Seven Sleepers; <SPAN href="#linknote-33.43" name="linknoteref-33.43" id="linknoteref-33.43">43</SPAN>
whose imaginary date corresponds with the reign of the younger Theodosius,
and the conquest of Africa by the Vandals. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.44"
name="linknoteref-33.44" id="linknoteref-33.44">44</SPAN> When the emperor
Decius persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths of Ephesus concealed
themselves in a spacious cavern in the side of an adjacent mountain; where
they were doomed to perish by the tyrant, who gave orders that the
entrance should be firmly secured by the a pile of huge stones. They
immediately fell into a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged
without injuring the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and
eighty-seven years. At the end of that time, the slaves of Adolius, to
whom the inheritance of the mountain had descended, removed the stones to
supply materials for some rustic edifice: the light of the sun darted into
the cavern, and the Seven Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a
slumber, as they thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of
hunger; and resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should secretly
return to the city to purchase bread for the use of his companions. The
youth (if we may still employ that appellation) could no longer recognize
the once familiar aspect of his native country; and his surprise was
increased by the appearance of a large cross, triumphantly erected over
the principal gate of Ephesus. His singular dress, and obsolete language,
confounded the baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the
current coin of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a secret
treasure, was dragged before the judge. Their mutual inquiries produced
the amazing discovery, that two centuries were almost elapsed since
Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from the rage of a Pagan tyrant.
The bishop of Ephesus, the clergy, the magistrates, the people, and, as it
is said, the emperor Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of
the Seven Sleepers; who bestowed their benediction, related their story,
and at the same instant peaceably expired. The origin of this marvellous
fable cannot be ascribed to the pious fraud and credulity of the modern
Greeks, since the authentic tradition may be traced within half a century
of the supposed miracle. James of Sarug, a Syrian bishop, who was born
only two years after the death of the younger Theodosius, has devoted one
of his two hundred and thirty homilies to the praise of the young men of
Ephesus. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.45" name="linknoteref-33.45" id="linknoteref-33.45">45</SPAN> Their legend, before the end of the sixth
century, was translated from the Syriac into the Latin language, by the
care of Gregory of Tours. The hostile communions of the East preserve
their memory with equal reverence; and their names are honorably inscribed
in the Roman, the Abyssinian, and the Russian calendar. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.46" name="linknoteref-33.46" id="linknoteref-33.46">46</SPAN>
Nor has their reputation been confined to the Christian world. This
popular tale, which Mahomet might learn when he drove his camels to the
fairs of Syria, is introduced as a divine revelation, into the Koran. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.47" name="linknoteref-33.47" id="linknoteref-33.47">47</SPAN>
The story of the Seven Sleepers has been adopted and adorned by the
nations, from Bengal to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion; <SPAN href="#linknote-33.48" name="linknoteref-33.48" id="linknoteref-33.48">48</SPAN>
and some vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the
remote extremities of Scandinavia. <SPAN href="#linknote-33.49"
name="linknoteref-33.49" id="linknoteref-33.49">49</SPAN> This easy and
universal belief, so expressive of the sense of mankind, may be ascribed
to the genuine merit of the fable itself. We imperceptibly advance from
youth to age, without observing the gradual, but incessant, change of
human affairs; and even in our larger experience of history, the
imagination is accustomed, by a perpetual series of causes and effects, to
unite the most distant revolutions. But if the interval between two
memorable eras could be instantly annihilated; if it were possible, after
a momentary slumber of two hundred years, to display the new world to the
eyes of a spectator, who still retained a lively and recent impression of
the old, his surprise and his reflections would furnish the pleasing
subject of a philosophical romance. The scene could not be more
advantageously placed, than in the two centuries which elapsed between the
reigns of Decius and of Theodosius the Younger. During this period, the
seat of government had been transported from Rome to a new city on the
banks of the Thracian Bosphorus; and the abuse of military spirit had been
suppressed by an artificial system of tame and ceremonious servitude. The
throne of the persecuting Decius was filled by a succession of Christian
and orthodox princes, who had extirpated the fabulous gods of antiquity:
and the public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and
martyrs of the Catholic church, on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The
union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the
dust; and armies of unknown Barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of
the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest
provinces of Europe and Africa.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.43" id="linknote-33.43">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
43 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.43">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The choice of fabulous
circumstances is of small importance; yet I have confined myself to the
narrative which was translated from the Syriac by the care of Gregory of
Tours, (de Gloria Martyrum, l. i. c. 95, in Max. Bibliotheca Patrum, tom.
xi. p. 856,) to the Greek acts of their martyrdom (apud Photium, p. 1400,
1401) and to the Annals of the Patriarch Eutychius, (tom. i. p. 391, 531,
532, 535, Vers. Pocock.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.44" id="linknote-33.44">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
44 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.44">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Two Syriac writers, as
they are quoted by Assemanni, (Bibliot. Oriental. tom. i. p. 336, 338,)
place the resurrection of the Seven Sleepers in the year 736 (A.D. 425) or
748, (A.D. 437,) of the era of the Seleucides. Their Greek acts, which
Photius had read, assign the date of the thirty-eighth year of the reign
of Theodosius, which may coincide either with A.D. 439, or 446. The period
which had elapsed since the persecution of Decius is easily ascertained;
and nothing less than the ignorance of Mahomet, or the legendaries, could
suppose an internal of three or four hundred years.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.45" id="linknote-33.45">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
45 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.45">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ James, one of the
orthodox fathers of the Syrian church, was born A.D. 452; he began to
compose his sermons A.D. 474; he was made bishop of Batnae, in the
district of Sarug, and province of Mesopotamia, A.D. 519, and died A.D.
521. (Assemanni, tom. i. p. 288, 289.) For the homily de Pueris Ephesinis,
see p. 335-339: though I could wish that Assemanni had translated the text
of James of Sarug, instead of answering the objections of Baronius.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.46" id="linknote-33.46">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
46 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.46">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Acta Sanctorum
of the Bollandists, Mensis Julii, tom. vi. p. 375-397. This immense
calendar of Saints, in one hundred and twenty-six years, (1644-1770,) and
in fifty volumes in folio, has advanced no further than the 7th day of
October. The suppression of the Jesuits has most probably checked an
undertaking, which, through the medium of fable and superstition,
communicates much historical and philosophical instruction.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.47" id="linknote-33.47">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
47 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.47">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Maracci Alcoran.
Sura xviii. tom. ii. p. 420-427, and tom. i. part iv. p. 103. With such an
ample privilege, Mahomet has not shown much taste or ingenuity. He has
invented the dog (Al Rakim) the Seven Sleepers; the respect of the sun,
who altered his course twice a day, that he might not shine into the
cavern; and the care of God himself, who preserved their bodies from
putrefaction, by turning them to the right and left.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.48" id="linknote-33.48">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
48 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.48">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See D’Herbelot,
Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 139; and Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin.
p. 39, 40.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-33.49" id="linknote-33.49">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
49 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-33.49">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Paul, the deacon of
Aquileia, (de Gestis Langobardorum, l. i. c. 4, p. 745, 746, edit. Grot.,)
who lived towards the end of the eight century, has placed in a cavern,
under a rock, on the shore of the ocean, the Seven Sleepers of the North,
whose long repose was respected by the Barbarians. Their dress declared
them to be Romans and the deacon conjectures, that they were reserved by
Providence as the future apostles of those unbelieving countries.]</p>
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