Belisarius: The Last Roman General (23 page)

Recognising that he could no longer trust the nobles or the army to remain loyal and fight for him, Gelimer decided to escape before he was either killed or handed over to the Byzantines. Although not the act of a Germanic hero, the decision to flee probably saved his life. By now Bonifatius and the Vandal treasures should have been safely on their way to Theudis in Spain. Gelimer decided to join them.

Turning to the Byzantines, it is unclear what role Belisarius played in the battle. Although Procopius has him ‘advising’ John, it would seem clear that John was in control. By deploying the guard in the centre, opposite the Vandals’ veterans from Sardinia, John’s strategy appears to have been to weaken the Vandal centre by luring them into crossing the stream and being attacked at a disadvantage. He could then break through the centre, before rolling up the enemy’s line to right and left. The morale of the rest of the Vandal forces would be suspect after their capitulation at Ad Decimum and the lack of a defence at Carthage. They might easily fly if put under enough pressure. Whether the plan was John’s or Belisarius’, it worked.

What is usually overlooked at this point is Belisarius’ order of march, and the fact that he again sent the cavalry ahead. This resulted in over half of his army being unavailable when the time came for battle. Although it can be argued that the victories are all the more noteworthy in that they were actually won by less than ten thousand men, such a situation is not the mark of a great commander. At both the Battle of Ad Decimum and the later Battle of Tricamerum, Belisarius failed to keep his forces united and so risked all with only a small portion of the available forces. It is fortunate for him that the Vandals had fewer men than is often claimed, and that at the vital moment the Vandal leaders gave the initiative to the Byzantines.

The End of Vandal Africa

In the meantime, John the Armenian had been giving chase to the Vandal king. Finally, after five days and nights, the Byzantines had finally closed the gap and were close enough to engage. It was not to be: in a bizarre accident, Uliaris, one of Belisarius’ aides, shot John with an arrow whilst aiming at a bird. John was struck in the neck and died shortly after.

As he came up with the advance party, Belisarius found them mourning their leader. He joined the mourning, providing funds for the regular maintenance of John’s grave. After an investigation, it was concluded that the incident was purely an accident and Uliaris was given a full pardon for his part in John’s death.

Gelimer continued his flight to Hippo Regius (Bona), from where he travelled to an ancient Moorish city called Medeus. Situated on the slopes of Mount Papua, the natives were allied to Gelimer and prepared to face a long siege. Having established Gelimer’s position, Belisarius set Pharas the Herul along with his 400 men to blockade the city. Pharas and his Heruls were praised by Procopius as exceptional – for Heruls – in the manner of their conduct both on and off the battlefield (Proc,
Wars,
IV.iv.29–31). Obviously Belisarius shared his high regard for Pharas. Belisarius himself now returned to the nearby city of Hippo Regius, maintaining his policy of pledging safety to all of the Vandals currently in sanctuary. They were returned to Carthage under guard.

It may be recalled that Gelimer had given orders to his secretary Bonifatius to place the royal treasury on board ship in Hippo Regius and, if he saw that the Vandals were losing, to set sail for Spain and the court of King Theudis. Gelimer expected to join Bonifatius later, and calculated that Theudis would give him sanctuary.

When Bonifatius became aware that all was lost, he set sail as instructed for Spain. Unfortunately, adverse winds drove him straight back to Hippo Regius, and he was trapped in the harbour by a storm. Realising that he could not escape, he sent men to a sanctuary in the city with instructions to tell Belisarius
that Bonifatius had the treasure, but not to reveal the whereabouts until they had been given pledges for Bonifatius’ safety. Belisarius quickly agreed and so captured the last of the Vandals’ treasure. Bonifatius was allowed to go free, retaining his own wealth and, according to Procopius, stealing a large sum from the Vandal treasury as well (Proc,
Wars,
IV.iv.41).

It is possible that it was only at this late stage that word reached Gelimer that his overtures to Theudis had been rejected. With few men and no money, his brothers lost and now no hope of a powerful alliance to help him, the end was near for Gelimer.

After many weeks of besieging Gelimer, Pharas grew weary of his task and led his men in an assault upon the city. Due to the steep approach and the alertness of the defenders, he was beaten back, losing 110 of his men. The episode proved that Pharas could not take the city, but also finally established that Gelimer could not escape. Following an exchange of letters and with starvation looming, Gelimer agreed to surrender providing that Belisarius gave pledges for his safety. Elated, Belisarius sent Cyprian to give the guarantees to Gelimer. The last king of the Vandals accepted them and was escorted to Carthage. The Byzantines had landed in September 533; by March 534 the Vandalic War was at an end.

Unwilling to wait for Gelimer to make a decision, Belisarius had not been idle. With the Vandal kingdom all but conquered, he had begun to take control of and reorganise the provinces that they had ruled. He sent the general Cyril with a large force to take control of Sardinia. As the natives were terrified of the Vandals and would be suspicious of claims that the Vandals had been defeated, Cyril was given Tzazon’s head to take as a token of proof that the Vandals were no longer a threat to the island. Once in control of the island, Cyril sent a portion of his army to Corsica and that, too, now returned to the control of the empire.

Belisarius also sent other leaders to claim distant outposts of the Vandal kingdom. John, one of his officers, was sent to Caesarea (Cherchel) in Mauretania with a detachment of the
cotmitatus.

Another John, one of Belisarius’ guardsmen, was sent to Gadira and the fort of Septem, close to the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). Apollinarius was sent to reclaim the Balearic Islands for the empire. He was an Italian who had lived in Libya and served Hilderic. When Hilderic was overthrown by Gelimer, Apollinarius was one of the ambassadors who travelled to Constantinople to plead for help. He had joined the Byzantine expedition and proved himself to be a brave and loyal fighter, especially at Tricamerum. Furthermore, Belisarius now sent troops to aid Pudentius and Tattimuth. Following the rebellion, they had been attacked by the neighbouring Moors. With Byzantine help, the Moors were repulsed and order restored.

All of the Vandals that had been captured or who had surrendered following Belisarius’ pledges for their safety were gathered together in Carthage. Belisarius
now awaited the spring, when he could take them to Constantinople and the emperor.

Belisarius also sent envoys to the Goths concerning the status of Lilybaeum in Sicily. He claimed that although Sicily was under Gothic rule, as Lilybaeum had been owned by the Vandals it, too, was now a part of the empire. The Goths refused to allow this. Embassies now passed between Belisarius and Amalasuintha, before the Gothic regent suggested that the matter should be put before Justinian for arbitration. Before Justinian could decide the case, circumstances in Italy were to change drastically.

Antonina

Antonina had accompanied Belisarius on the campaign. There are many possible reasons for this. Amongst them are the often-aired theories that Belisarius did not trust Antonina and forced her to accompany him so that he could keep an eye on her, or that Antonina wanted to maintain her influence over Belisarius (see, for example, Norwich, 1988, p. 206 for the former;
PLRE
IIIA, 1992,
Antonina,
1, p. 92 for the latter).

There is something amiss here; Antonina was a close friend and agent of the Empress Theodora. If she did not want to go to Africa, an appeal to the empress couched in the correct way would have enabled her to stay in Constantinople. There is little reason to suppose that Belisarius could force her to go against her will. On the other hand, if she wanted to maintain her influence, surely it would have been better to remain with the empress than attempt to maintain her hold over a general, no matter how powerful he was.

Fortunately, another reason presents itself. Since Procopius does not mention the marriage of Belisarius and Antonina, nor tell us the length of the courtship, we are left to assume that both took place in the brief period between Belisarius’ return from the east and his departure for Africa. The speed of the marriage and Antonina’s inability to maintain her fidelity suggests that romance may not have been high on the agenda. Yet there was a major political reason for the union. Although Justinian and Belisarius knew each other well, and Justinian felt that Belisarius was trustworthy, Theodora had no such relationship with or trust in Belisarius. Yet Theodora was the power behind the throne as shown in the Nika Revolt. Before sending Belisarius on such a risky venture, she devised a scheme to ensure that Belisarius remained loyal. The marriage was a political union which enabled Theodora to keep a close watch upon Belisarius: Antonina could easily have reported any threat of rebellion or other misdemeanour to the empress. This is the reason why the two married in such haste, and also explains why Antonina accompanied Belisarius on his campaigns. Furthermore, it also explains her inability to remain loyal to the general – since she had few, if any, personal feelings for him.

The above would certainly help to explain one event narrated by Procopius in the
Anekdota.
Shortly before leaving for Africa, Belisarius had adopted a son by the name of Theodosius. During the voyage to Africa and the campaigns of conquest, Antonina and Theodosius had begun an affair, once even being caught by Belisarius himself
(Anekdota,
1.18). Despite Belisarius’ fury, Antonina had, according to Procopius, been able to give a plausible excuse and so defuse the situation. However, the affair would continue throughout the campaign in Italy that would shortly follow.

Belisarius may have had genuine feelings for Antonina, and this would explain his fury at her being unfaithful. Furthermore, his anger would also be justified in that her actions would make one of Constantinople’s great generals a laughing stock. But in failing to act he reinforced the idea that he was dominated by Antonina.

Yet Belisarius’ failure to act may have had other causes, apart from a possible emotional attachment. Antonina served the empress and any aggressive behaviour, however justifiable, was likely to be punished by the empress, or at least lead to his recall and demotion. In this situation, Belisarius could not win, and the number of possible influences and the complexity of the scandal leaves us in confusion over the actual state of affairs.

Belisarius triumphant

Before leaving Africa, Belisarius continued his reorganization of the provinces that had been retaken. He also had to determine how the troops could be deployed as garrisons to ensure the safety of the newly-won provinces.

At around this time a plot was hatched amongst some of the officers to topple Belisarius from power and so improve their own chances of promotion. Accordingly, they dispatched two messengers to the emperor (in case one was waylaid), claiming that Belisarius was planning to rebel and set himself up as king of the Vandals in Africa.

Belisarius was lucky enough to capture one of the messengers and so discover the details of the plot. When the second messenger reached Constantinople, the emperor decided to test Belisarius’ loyalty. He informed Belisarius that he had a choice: he could either send the captured Vandals to Constantinople and remain behind in Africa, or he could accompany the Vandals and report in person to the emperor. If Belisarius was planning a revolt, he would definitely choose to remain in Africa. In the
Anekdota,
Procopius has Justinian accusing Belisarius of attempted betrayal and recalling him to Constantinople to answer the charge (Proc,
Anekdota,
18.9). This is an extremely harsh interpretation of events by Procopius, intended to discredit the emperor in the eyes of the reader. At no point was Belisarius actually accused of treachery by Justinian.

When the messengers from Justinian arrived, alongside his aforementioned message they delivered a piece of legislation sent by the emperor. Dated 13 April
534, it decreed the manner in which the newly-reclaimed provinces would be garrisoned by the empire. Whilst making preparations for his return journey to Constantinople, Belisarius simultaneously began to put the edict into effect.

These arrangements proved premature. Until now the Moors had remained quiescent, mainly due to their fear of Belisarius. Upon learning that he was returning to Constantinople, they rebelled. Belisarius knew that he could not stay in Africa to deal with the rebellion in person; any hesitation could be interpreted as an attempt at revolt, as suggested by the conspirators. Therefore, he placed most of his
bucellarii
under the command of Solomon and ordered him to quash the rebellion. Belisarius now set sail for Constantinople, taking with him Gelimer, a large number of captive Vandals and a huge amount of treasure.

Possibly arriving in the same ship as the messengers, Tryphon and Eustratius were sent by Justinian as tax assessors to Africa. During the Vandal occupation the registers used for tax had been lost and the two men were instructed to hold a census upon which new taxes could be based. In the best traditions of imperial policy these men claimed the best estates in the name of the emperor and judged that Arians should be excluded from their sacraments. In a very short time the population of Africa began to regret the reconquest. There was one further mistake. Justinian or his ministers did not dispatch the pay for the army. Payment of wages was now overdue.