The Scarlet Banner
Page 42
CHAPTER XVII
We are still encamped before the entrance of the mountain ravine ofPappua. We cannot get in; they cannot get out. I have seen a cat watcha mouse-hole a long time in the same way,--very tiresome for the cat.But if the hole has no other outlet, the little mouse finally eitherstarves or runs into the cat's claws.
To-day news and reinforcements came from Carthage. Belisarius, who hadbeen informed of the state of affairs, gave the chief command to Farain the place of Althias. Fara and his Herulians won Belisarius's mostglorious victory, in the Persian battle at Dara, when the Roman rankswere beginning to waver and only the German boldness which is nearlyallied to madness could save the day. Fara left more than half hisHerulians dead on the field. The General himself is marching on Hippo.
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Fresh news--from Hippo.
Belisarius took the city without resistance. The Vandals, among themnumerous nobles, fled to the Catholic churches, and left these asylumsonly on the assurance that their lives would be spared. And again thewind blew, literally, rich gains into our hands. The Tyrant,distrusting the fidelity of the citizens and the broken walls, hadprudently removed the royal treasure of the Vandals from the citadel ofCarthage, and placed it on a ship. He ordered Bonifacius, his privatesecretary, in case the victory of the Vandals seemed uncertain, to sailto Hispania to Theudis, the King of the Visigoths, with whom, if thekingdom fell, Gelimer intended to seek refuge, perhaps with theexpectation of recovering the treasure by the aid of the Visigoths.
A violent storm drove the ship back into the harbor of Hippo, justafter Belisarius had occupied it. The treasure of the Vandals, gatheredby Genseric from the coasts and islands of three seas, will go into thehands of the imperial pair at Constantinople. Theodora, your piety isprofitable!
Yet no; the royal treasure of the Vandals will not reach Constantinopleabsolutely intact. And this is due to a singular circumstance, which isprobably worth relating. Perhaps, too, I may mention the thoughts whichthe incident aroused in my mind. Of all the nations of whom I have anyknowledge, the Germans are the most foolish: these fair-haired giantsblindly follow their impulses and run to open ruin. True, theseimpulses and delusions are in a measure honorable--for Barbarians. Butthe excess, the fury with which they obey their impulses, must ruinthem, aided by their so-called virtues. "Heroism," as they term it,they carry to the sheerest absurdity, even to contempt of death,keeping their promises from mere obstinacy; for instance, when, in theblind excitement of gambling, they stake their own liberty on the lastthrow. They call this fidelity. Sometimes they manifest the mostdiabolical craftiness, yet they often carry truthfulness to actualself-destruction, when a neat little lie, a slight, clever manipulationof the bald truth, or even a calm silence would surely save them. Allthis is by no means rooted in a sense of duty, but in their tamelesspride, in arrogance, in defiance; and they call it honor. The key ofall their actions, their final unspoken motive is this: "Let nonethink, far less be able to say, that a German does or fails to doanything because he fears any man, or any number of men; he wouldrather rush to certain death." Therefore, no matter what any one ofthese stubborn fools may have set his heart upon, to go to destructionfor it is "heroic," "honorable." True, they often set their hearts ontheir people, liberty, fame; but just as frequently on swilling,--itcannot be called drinking,--on brawling, on dice-throwing. And theypursue the heroism of swilling and gambling just as blindly as that ofbattle. Anything rather than to yield! If "honor" (that is, obstinacy)is once fixed upon anything,--wise or foolish,--then pursue it even todestruction. Though pleasure in the game has long been exhausted,out-drink or out-wrestle the other man; do anything but own thatstrength and spirit are consumed; rather die thrice over. I can speakthus, because I know these Germans. Many thousands of them--from nearlyevery one of their numerous tribes--have I seen in war and peace, assoldiers, prisoners, envoys, hostages, mercenaries, colonists, in theservice of the Emperor, as leaders of the army, and as magistrates. Ihave long wondered how any Germans are left; for, in truth, theirvirtues vie with their vices in hastening their destruction.
Of all the nations I know, the shrewdest are the Jews, if shrewdnessconsists first in the art of self-preservation, and then in theacquisition and increase of worldly goods. They are the least, as theGermans are the most ready, to rush upon ruin through blind passion,through noble or ignoble impetuosity and defiance. They are the mostcrafty of mortals and at the same time by no means the worst. But theyare clever to a degree which makes one marvel why they did not long agorule all other peoples; something must be lacking there too.
Do you ask, O Cethegus, how in the camp of Belisarius before MountPappua I have attained this singular view of the much-despised Hebrews?Very simply.
They have accomplished something which I consider the most impossible.They have not plundered; by no means, not even stolen, for they stealalmost less than the Christians; but they have actually talked manythousand pounds of gold belonging to the Vandal booty out of theavaricious hands of the Emperor Justinian. The Emperor Titus, afterthe fall of Jerusalem, brought to Rome the treasures of the JewishTemple,--candlesticks, vessels, dishes, jugs, and all sorts of gold andsilver articles set with pearls and precious stones. When Gensericpillaged Rome, he bore away the Temple treasures on his corsair shipsto Carthage. The Empress knew this, and probably it was not the leastof the reasons for which the Bishop was compelled to dream. Belisariuswished to exhibit all the booty on his entrance into Constantinople;but when it was unloaded at Hippo, to be taken at once, with the restof the treasure, to Carthage, the oldest of the Jews in Hippo went tohim and said: "Let me warn you, mighty warrior! Do not convey thesetreasures to Constantinople. Listen to a tale from the lips of yourhumble servant.
"The eagle stole from the sacrifice burning on the altar a piece ofmeat and bore it to his eyrie. But a few glimmering coals clung to theoffering which had been consecrated to God. And these glimmering coalsset fire to the nest of the great bird of prey, and burned the young,which were not yet able to fly, and the eagle mother. The male eagle,trying to save the young brood, dashed into the flames and scorched hiswings. So perished miserably the strong robber that had borne to hisown abode what belonged to God. Indeed, indeed, I tell you, the capitolof Rome fell into the hands of the foe because it contained the sacredvessels of Jehovah; the citadel of the Vandals fell into the hands ofthe foe because it concealed these treasures. Must the stronghold ofthe Emperor--God bless the protector of justice--at Constantinoplebecome the third eyrie which is destroyed for their sake? In truth Isay unto you, thus saith the Lord: This gold, this silver, will wanderover the earth, will destroy all the cities to which the stolentreasure is dragged, until the gold and the silver again lie in theholy city, Jerusalem."
And, lo, Belisarius was startled.
He wrote to the Emperor Justinian the story of the old Jew, and--reallyand truly--the patriarch Moses can work still greater miracles thanSaint Cyprian. Justinian, more greedy and avaricious than the wholerace of Jews put together, ordered these treasures to be taken, not toConstantinople, but Jerusalem, where they are to be divided among theChristian churches and the Jewish synagogues.
So the old Jew has recovered a portion of the treasures of hispeople,--without a single sword-stroke,--while Romans, Vandals,Byzantines, gained them only after fierce battles and much bloodshed.Does the old man believe in the curse that rests upon the treasure? Ithink he does. He does not lie, and it is useful for his purpose tobelieve it; so he credits it easily and seriously. The German says:"Gain by blood rather than by sweat." The Jew says: "Gain by sweatrather than by blood, and far, far rather by money than by sweat!" Itmay be said in praise of the Jews that both their faults and theirvirtues vie in preserving them and increasing their wealth and theirnumbers, while the Germans destroy themselves, their lives, theirpossessions, and their power by boundless indolence and boundlessrevelling no less than by their boundless obstinacy and their stupidh
eroism of honor. (True, these Vandals in their carousing have evenforgotten their obstinacy and their love of fighting!) We hate anddespise the Jews; I think we ought to fear and--in their good qualitiesstrive to excel them.
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I have read aloud my opinion of the Germans to my friend Fara, whosethirst for honor did not impel him toward reading and writing; he heardme quietly to the end, drained a cup of unmixed wine, stroked his longreddish-yellow beard thoughtfully, and said:
"Little Greek! You are a shrewd little Greek! Perhaps you are notaltogether wrong. But to me my German faults are much dearer than thevirtues of all other nations."
Gradually--so we learn--all the rest of the Barbarian kingdom will beplucked leaf by leaf, like an artichoke, without a sword-stroke, forJustinian's wide-open mouth. Belisarius's first care, after his victoryover the land forces, was to secure the hostile fleet.
He discovered its landing-place from the prisoners, and also learnedthat it was lying at anchor almost wholly without men; Zazo had takenall his troops to his brother. A few of our triremes, sent fromCarthage, were sufficient to capture the one hundred and fifty galleyswhich were occupied only by sailors; not a single spear flew.Genseric's much-dreaded dragon-ships were towed to Carthage; theyallowed themselves to be captured without resistance, like a flock ofwild swans, which, storm-beaten, wearied, and crippled, enter aninclosed pond; the proud birds can be grasped with the hand. One ofBelisarius's commanders obtained Sardinia; it was necessary, but amplysufficient, to show them Zazo's head on a spear; the islanders wouldnot believe in the defeat of the Vandals before; now that they couldtouch the head of their dreaded conqueror, they did believe it.
Corsica, too, submitted. Also populous Caesarea in Mauritania, and oneof the Pillars of Hercules; Septa, with Ebusa and the Balearic Isles.Tripolis was besieged by Moors, who, during the battle between theByzantines and the Vandals, were trying to win land and people on theirown account. The city was occupied by our troops and received from thehands of Pudentius for the Emperor.
One might think the whole Vandal nation existed in its royal family anda few of the nobles. When Zazo and the nobles about him fell, after theKing vanished, all resistance ceased; it was like a bundle of sticks:when the string that fastens them is cut, they all fall apart. Sincethe day of Trikameron the Barbarians everywhere allow themselves to beseized like sheep without defence. They are mainly to be foundweaponless in the Catholic basilicas, where, seeking refuge, theyembrace the altars which they have so often dishonored. The men arejust the same as the women and children.
Really, if their brothers in Italy and Spain, and their cousins, theFranks, Alemanni, or whatever else the Barbarians in Gaul and Germanyare called, were as highly educated as these Vandal writers of Greekand Latin poetry, the Imperator Justinianus could speedily recover thewhole West through Belisarius and Narses. But I fear the Vandals alonehave attained such a degree of culture.