The Scarlet Banner

by Felix Dahn

  CHAPTER II

  Triumph, O Cethegus! Belisarius's former good fortune is flutteringover the pennons at our mast-heads: the gods themselves are blindingthe Vandals; they are depriving them of their reason, consequently theymust desire their destruction. Hermes is breaking the path for us,removing danger and obstacles from our way.

  The Vandal fleet, the bugbear of our valiant warriors, is floatingharmless away from Carthage toward the north; while we, with all sailsset--the east wind is filling them merrily--are flying from Sicily overthe blue flood westward to Carthage. We cut the rippling waves as if ona festal excursion. No foe, no spy, far or near, to oppose us or givewarning of our approach to the threatened Vandals, on whom we shallfall like a meteor crashing from a clear sky.

  That all this has come to the General's knowledge, and that he can makeinstant use of it, is due to Procopius, or--to speak more honestly--toblind chance, the capricious goddess Tyche. It seems to me, though I amno philosopher, that she rather than Nemesis guides the destinies ofnations.

  I wrote last that I was running about the streets of Syracuse, somewhathelplessly, not without being laughed at by the mockers, asking all thepeople whether no Vandals had been seen. One--this time it was a Gothiccount named Totila, as handsome as he was insolent--had just answered,laughing and shrugging his shoulders: "Seek your enemies yourselves. Iwould far rather go with the Vandals to find and sink you." I wasthinking how correctly this young Barbarian had perceived the advantageof his people and the folly of his Regent, when, vexed with the Goths,with myself, and most of all with Belisarius, I turned a street cornerand almost ran against some one coming from the opposite direction. Itwas Hegelochus, my schoolmate from Caesarea, who, I knew, had settled asa merchant, a speculator in grain, somewhere in Sicily, but I wasignorant in which city.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked, after the first exchange ofgreetings.

  "I?--I am only looking for a trifle," I answered rather irritably, forI already heard in imagination his jeering laugh. "I am searchingeverywhere for a hundred and fifty to two hundred Vandal war-ships. Doyou happen to know where they are?"

  "Certainly I do," he replied, without laughing. "They are lying in theharbor of Caralis in Sardinia."

  "Omniscient grain-dealer," I cried, rigid with amazement, "where didyou learn that?"

  "In Carthage, which I left only three days ago," he said quietly.

  Then the questioning began. And often as I squeezed the shrewd,sensible man like a sponge, a stream of news most important for usflowed out.

  So we have nothing to fear for our fleet from the Vandal war vessels.The Barbarians as yet have no suspicion that we are advancing uponthem. The flower of their army has gone on the dreaded galleys toSardinia. Gelimer feels no anxiety for Carthage, or any other city onthe coast. He is in Hermione, in the province of Byzacena, four days'journey from the sea. What can he be doing there, on the edge of thedesert? We are, therefore, safe from every peril, and can land inAfrica wherever wind, waves, and our own will may guide us.

  During this conversation, and while I was constantly questioning him, Ihad wound my arm around my friend's neck, and now asked him to come tothe harbor with me and look at my ship, which lay at anchor there. Itwas a very swift sailer of a new model. The merchant agreed. As soon asI had him safely on board, I drew my sword, cut the rope which mooredus to the metal ring of the harbor mole, and ordered my sailors to takeus swiftly to Caucana.

  Hegelochus was startled; he scolded and threatened. But I soothed him,saying: "Forgive this abduction, my friend; it is absolutely necessarythat Belisarius himself, not merely his legal adviser, should talk withand question you. He alone knows everything that is at stake. And Iwill not undertake the responsibility of having failed to inquire aboutsome important point or of having misunderstood some answer. Some godwho is angered against the Vandals has sent you to me; woe betide me ifI do not profit by it. You must tell the General everything you havelearned; you must accompany our ships, nay, guide them to Africa. Thisone involuntary voyage to Carthage will bring you richer profits fromthe royal treasures of the Vandals than sailing to and fro with wheatmany hundred times. And the reward awaiting you in Heaven for yourparticipation in the destruction of the heretics--I will not estimate."

  He grinned, calmed down, then laughed. But the hero Belisarius smiledfar more joyously when he saw before him the man "just from Carthage,"and could question him to his heart's content. How he praised me forthe accident of this meeting! The command to sail was given with theblast of the tuba. How the sails flew aloft! How proudly our galleysswept forward! Woe to thee, Vandalia! Woe to the lofty towers ofGenseric's citadel!

  * * * * *

  The swift voyage continued past the islands of Gaulos and Melita, whichdivide the Adriatic from the Tyrrhenian Sea. At Melita the wind, as ifordered by Belisarius, grew still fresher,--a strong east-southeastgale which, on the following day, drove us upon the African coast atCaput Vada, five days' march from Carthage. That is, for a swift walkerwithout baggage; we shall probably require a much longer time.Belisarius ordered the sails to be lowered, the anchors dropped, andsummoned all the leaders of the troops to a council of war on his ownship. It was now to be decided whether we should disembark the troopsand march against Carthage by land, or keep them on the fleet andconquer the capital from the sea. Opinions were very conflicting.

  * * * * *

  The decision has been reached; we shall march against Carthage by land.True, Archelaus, the Quaestor, protested, saying that we had no harborfor the ships without men, no fortress for the men without ships. Everystorm might scatter them upon the open sea, or hurl them against thecliffs along the shore. He also called attention to the lack of wateralong the coast region, and the want of means to supply food. "Only letno one ask me, as quaestor, for anything to eat," he cried angrily. "Aquaestor who has only the office, but no bread, cannot satisfy you withhis position." He advised hastening by sea to Carthage, to occupy theharbor of Stagnum, which could hold the entire fleet, and was at thattime entirely undefended; thence to rush from the ships upon the city,which could be taken at the first attack, if the King and his army werereally four days' march from the coast.

  But Belisarius said: "God has fulfilled our most ardent desire; He haspermitted us to reach Africa without encountering the hostile fleet.Shall we now remain at sea, and perhaps yet meet those ships beforewhich our men threaten to fly? As for the danger of tempests, it wouldbe better to have the galleys lost when they are empty, than whilefilled with our troops. We have still the advantage of surprising theunprepared foe; every delay will enable them to make ready to meet us.Here we can land without fighting; elsewhere and later we must perhapsbattle against the wind and the enemy. So I say, we will land here.Walls and ditches around the camp will supply the place of a fortress.And have no anxiety about stores: if we defeat the foe, we shall alsocapture his provisions." Thus spoke Belisarius. I thought that, asusual, his reasoning was weak, but his courage strong. The truth is, healways chooses the shortest way to the battle.

  The council of war closed. Belisarius's will was carried out.

  We brought the horses, weapons, baggage, and implements of war to land.About fourteen thousand soldiers and nineteen thousand sailors began toshovel, to dig, to drive stakes into the hot, dry sand; the General notonly threw out the first spadeful, but, working uninterruptedly, thelast. His perspiration abundantly bedewed the soil of Africa, and themen were so spurred by his example that they vied with each othervaliantly. Before night closed in, the ditch, the wall, and thepalisade were completed around the entire camp. Only one-fifth of thearchers spent the night on the ships.

  So far all was well. Our galleys still contained an ample store ofprovisions, thanks to the hospitality of the Ostrogoths in Sicily.These simpletons, by the learned Regent's command, almost gave useverything an army needs for man and horse (the troublesome Totila, whois no wel
l-wisher of ours, was instantly recalled). In reply to ouramazed questions, they answered, by the learned Cassiodorus'sinstructions: "You will pay us by avenging us upon the Vandals." Well,Justinian will reward them. I wonder if the scholar knows the fable ofhow the horse, because he hated the stag, carried the man upon his backand hunted the stag to death? The free animal had taken the man on hisback for this ride only, but never again was he rid of his captor. Butthe water is giving out. What we have with us is scanty, foul, andputrid; and to march for days under the African sun with no water formen and beasts--how will it end?

  * * * * *

  I shall really soon believe that we are God's chosen favorites--we, thechaste-hearted warriors of Justinian the truthful and Theodora! Or havethe Vandals and their King called down upon themselves the wrath ofHeaven so heavily that miracles continually happen against theseBarbarians and in our favor?

  Yesterday evening we all, from the General to the camel, were in soreanxiety about water. To-day the slave Agnellus--he is a countryman ofyours, O Cethegus, and the son of a fisherman from Stabiae--brought tomy tent whole amphorae of the most delicious spring water, not only fordrinking, but amply sufficient for bathing. With the last strokes ofthe spade our Herulians opened a large bubbling spring on the easternedge of the camp--an unprecedented thing in the Byzacena province,between the sea and the "desert,"--so the people here call all thecountry southwest of the great road along which we are marching, andsurely quite unjustly, for some of it is very fertile; yet it is olddesert ground and often merges imperceptibly into the real wilderness.At any rate, this spring gushed forth for us from the surrounding drysand. The stream of water is so abundant that men and animals candrink, boil, and bathe, pour out the foul water from the ships, andreplace it with the best. I hastened to Belisarius and congratulatedhim, not only because of the actual usefulness of this discovery, butbecause it is an omen of victory. "Water gushes out of the wildernessfor you. General," I exclaimed. "That means an effortless victory. Youare the favorite of Heaven." He smiled. We always like to hear suchthings.

  * * * * *

  Belisarius commissioned me to compose an order to be read aloud at thedeparture of each body of troops.

  A few dozen of our precious Huns dashed out into the country and seizedsome of the harvests just ripening in the fields, over which theybecame involved in a discussion with the Roman colonists. As theHuns, unfortunately, speak their Latin only with leather whips andlance-thrusts, there were several dead men after the conference,--ofcourse only on the side of the wicked peasants, who would not let thehorses of the Huns eat their fill of their best grain. Our beloved Hunscut off the heads of the men whom they had thus happily liberated fromthe Vandal yoke, hung them to their saddles, and brought them to theGeneral for a dessert. Belisarius foamed with rage. He often foams; andwhen Belisarius lightens, Procopius must usually thunder.

  So it was now. So I wrote a proclamation that we were the saviors,liberators, and benefactors of the provincials, and therefore wouldneither consider their best grain-fields as litter for our horses norplay ball with their heads. "In this case," I wrote convincingly, "suchconduct is not only criminal, but extremely stupid. Our little body oftroops could venture to land only because we expect that theinhabitants of the provinces will be hostile to the Vandals and helpfulto us." But I appealed to our heroes still more impressively,addressing not their honor or their conscience, but their stomachs! "Ifye die of hunger, O admirable men," I wrote, "the peasants will bringus nothing to eat. If ye kill them, the dead will sell you nothing moreand the living almost less. You will drive the provincials to be theallies of the Vandals--to say nothing of God and His opinion of you,which is already somewhat clouded. So spare the people, at least forthe present, or they will discover too early that Belisarius's Huns areworse than Gelimer's Vandals. When the Emperor's tax-officers once rulethe land, then, dear descendants of Attila, you will no longer need toimpose any constraint upon yourselves; then the 'liberated' will havealready learned to estimate their freedom. You cannot go as far asJustinian's tax-collectors, beloved Huns and robbers." The proclamationwas of that purport, only dressed in somewhat fairer words. We aremarching forward. No sign of the Barbarians. Where are they hiding?Where is this King of the Vandals dreaming? If he does not wake soon,he will find himself without a kingdom.

  * * * * *

  We were still marching on. One piece of good fortune follows another.

  A day's march westward from our landing place at Caput Vada on the roadto Carthage near the sea, is the city of Syllektum. The ancient walls,it is true, had been torn down since the reign of Genseric, but theinhabitants, to repel the attacks of the Moors, had again put nearlythe whole city in a state of defence. Belisarius sent Borais, one ofhis bodyguard, with several shield-bearers, to venture areconnoissance. It was entirely successful. After nightfall the menstole to the entrances (they could not be called gates, only openingsof streets), but found them barricaded and guarded. They spent thenight quietly in the ditch of the old fortifications, for there mightstill be Vandals in the city. In the morning peasants from thesurrounding country came driving up in carts with racks: it was marketday. Our men threatened the terrified rustics with death if theyuttered a word, and forced the drivers to conceal them under the tilts.The watchmen of Syllektum removed the barricades to admit the wagons.Then our soldiers jumped down, took possession of the city without asword-stroke. There was not a Vandal in it. We occupied the Curia andthe Forum; we summoned the Catholic Bishop and the noblest inhabitantsof Syllektum,--they are remarkably stupid people,--and told them thatthey were now free; happy also, for they were the subjects ofJustinian. At the same time, with swords drawn, our men asked forbreakfast. The Senators of Syllektum gave Borais the keys of theircity, but unfortunately the gates for them were missing; the Vandals orMoors had burned them long ago. The Bishop entertained them in theporch of the basilica. Borais said the wine was very good. At the endof the repast, the Bishop blessed Borais, and asked him to restore thetrue, pure faith quickly. The warrior, a Hun, is unfortunately a pagan;so he had little comprehension of what was expected of him. But herepeated to me several times that the wine was excellent. So we havealready saved one city in Africa. In the evening we all marchedthrough. Belisarius enjoined the most rigid discipline. Unfortunately,a large number of houses burst into flames.

  * * * * *

  Beyond Syllektum we again made a lucky capture. The chief official ofthe whole Vandal mail service, a Roman, had been sent out from Carthageby the King several days before with all his horses, numerous wagons,and many slaves, to carry the sovereign's commands in all directionsthrough his empire. On his way to the east he had heard of our landing,and he sought us out with everything he still had in his possession.All the letters, all the secret messages of the Vandals, are in thehands of Belisarius--a whole basket of them, which I must read.

  It really seems as if an angel of the Lord had led us into thewriting-room and the council hall of the Asdings. Verus, the Archdeaconof the Arians, dictated most of the letters. But we were thoroughlydeceived in this priest. Theodora believed him to be her tool, yet hehas become Gelimer's chancellor. Strange that these secrets wereintrusted to a Roman for conveyance and protection, not to a Vandal.Besides, must not Verus have known how near we were, when he sent thepapers, unguarded, directly to us.

  True, the most important thing for us to know,--namely, where the Kingand his army are at present,--does not appear in these letters, whichwere written a week ago. Yet we learn from them at last what inducedhim to remain so far from Carthage and the coast, on the edge of thedesert and within it. He has made contracts with many Moorish tribes,and been promised thousands of foot-soldiers--almost equal in number toour whole army. These Moorish auxiliaries are gathering in Numidia, inthe plain of Bulla. That is far, far west of Carthage, near the borderof the wilderness. Could the Vandal intend
to abandon his capital andall the tract of country for such a distance, without striking a singleblow, and await us there, at Bulla?

  Belisarius--what a trick of chance!--is now sending to Gelimer by theVandal mail system Justinian's declaration of war, and despatching inevery direction to the Vandal nobles, army leaders, and officials aninvitation to abandon Gelimer. The summons is well worded (I composedit myself): "I am not waging war with the Vandals, nor do I break thecompact of perpetual peace concluded with Genseric. We desire only tooverthrow your Tyrant, who has broken the law and imprisoned yourrightful King. Therefore help us! Shake off the yoke of such shamelessdespotism, that you may enjoy liberty and the prosperity we arebringing you. We call upon God to witness our sincerity."

  Postscript, added after the close of the war: "Strange, yet it iscertainly noble. This appeal did not win a single Vandal to our sideduring the entire campaign. These Germans have become enfeebled. Butthere was not even _one_ traitor among them!"