The Scarlet Banner
Page 8
CHAPTER VII
TO CETHEGUS, A FRIEND.
The Vandal war has been given up, and for what pitiable reasons! Youknow that I have thought it far wiser for our rulers to attend to thematters immediately around us than to meddle with the Barbarians. Forso long as this unbearable burden of taxation and abuse of officialpower continues in the Roman Empire, so long every conquest, everyincrease in the number of our subjects, will merely swell the list ofunfortunates. Yet if Africa could be restored to the Empire, we oughtnot to relinquish the proud thought from sheer cowardice!
There stands the ugly word,--unhappily a true one. From cowardice? NotTheodora's. Indeed, that is not one of the faults of this delicate,otherwise womanly woman. Two years ago, when the terrible insurrectionof the Greens and Blues in the Circus swept victoriously over the wholecity, when Justinian despaired and wished to fly, Theodora's couragekept him in the palace, and Belisarius's fidelity saved him. But thistime the blame does not rest upon the Emperor; it is the cowardice ofthe Roman army, or especially, the fleet. True, Justinian's zealhas cooled considerably since the failure of the crafty plan todestroy Genseric's kingdom; almost without a battle, principally by"arts,"--treachery, ordinary people term them. Hilderic, at anappointed time, was to send his whole army into the interior for agreat campaign against the Moors; our fleet was to run into theunprotected harbors of Carthage, land the army, occupy the city, andmake Hilderic, Hoamer, and a Senator the Emperor's three governors ofthe recovered province of Africa.
But this time we crafty ones were outwitted by a brain still moresubtle. Our friend from Tripolis writes that he was deceived in theArian priest whom he believed he had won for our cause. This man,at first well disposed, afterwards became wavering, warned,dissuaded--nay, perhaps even betrayed the plan to the Vandals. So anopen attack must be made. This pleased Belisarius, but not the Emperor.He hesitated.
Meanwhile--Heaven knows through whom--the rumor of the coming Vandalwar spread through the court, into the city, among the soldiers andsailors; and--disgrace and shame on us--nearly all the greatestdignitaries, the generals, and also the army and the fleet were seizedwith terror. All remembered the last great campaign against thisdreaded foe, when, two generations ago--it was under the EmperorLeo--the full strength of the whole empire was employed. The ruler ofthe Western Empire attacked the Vandals simultaneously in Sardinia andTripolis. Constantinople accomplished magnificent deeds. One hundredand thirty thousand pounds of gold were used; Basiliscus, the Emperor'sbrother-in-law, led a hundred thousand warriors to the Carthaginiancoast. All were destroyed in a single night. Genseric attacked withfirebrands the triremes packed too closely together at the Promontoryof Mercury, while his swift horsemen at the same time assailed the campon the shore; fleet and army were routed in blood and flame. Even tothe present day do the Prefect and the Treasurer lament the loss. "Itwill be just the same now as it was then. The last money in the almostempty coffers will be flung into the sea!" But the generals (exceptBelisarius and Narses), what heroes they are! Each fears that theEmperor will choose him. And how, even if they overcome the terrors ofthe ocean, is a landing to be made upon a hostile coast defended by thedreaded Germans? The soldiers, who have just returned from the PersianWar, have barely tasted the joys of home. They are talking mutinouslyin every street; no sooner returned from the extreme East, they must besent to the farthest West, to the Pillars of Hercules, to fight withMoors and Vandals. They were not used to sea-battles, were not trainedfor them, were not enlisted for the purpose, and therefore were underno obligations. The Prefect, especially, represented to the Emperorthat Carthage was a hundred and fifty days' march by land from Egypt,while the sea was barred by the invincible fleet of the Vandals. "Don'tmeddle with this African wasp's nest," he warned him. "Or the corsairships will ravage all our coasts and islands as they did in the days ofGenseric." And this argument prevailed. The Emperor has changed hismind. How the hero Belisarius fumes and rages!
Theodora resents--in silence. But she vehemently desired this war! I amreally no favorite of hers. I am far too independent, too much themaster of my own thoughts, and my conscience pricks me often enoughfor my insincerity. She certainly has the best--that is, the besttrained--conscience: it no longer disturbs her. Doubtless she smootheddown its pricks long ago. But I have repeatedly received the daintylittle papyrus rolls whose seal bears a scorpion surrounded byflames,--little notes in which she earnestly urged me to the "warspirit," if I desired to retain her friendship.