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having established a certain guard in Numidia for the sake of security (for it was now winter 4.13.40) with the remainder he went to Carthage. There indeed he both explained and arranged each matter, so that at the beginning of spring with a greater preparation and, if he were able, without Maurusian allies, he might march again upon Aurasium 4.13.41. And at the same time he was pre4.13.42 paring generals and another army and a fleet of ships against the Maurusii, who are settled on the island of Sardinia; for this island is large and otherwise prosperous, stretching mostly towards two parts of Sicily (for its circumference is a twenty days' journey for a well-girt man), and lying between Rome and Carthage it is oppressed by the Maurusii who are settled there. 4.13.43 For the Vandals long ago, being angry with these barbarians, sent a certain few of them with their women to 4.13.44 Sardinia and confined them there. As time went on, they occupied the mountains which are somewhere near Caranalis, at first making raids in secret upon their neighbours, but when they became no fewer than three thousand, they also overran the country openly, and least of all thinking it right to remain unseen, they plundered all the places there, being called Barbaricini by the natives. 4.13.45 Against these Maurusii, then, Solomon was preparing the fleet in this winter. So these things were happening in Libya in this way. 4.14.1 But in Italy at the same time the following things happened to take place. Belisarius was sent by the Emperor Justinian against both Theudatus and the nation of the Goths, and after sailing to Sicily, he took this very 4.14.2 island with no trouble. And in what manner, will be told by me in the subsequent account, when my narrative leads me to the history of the 4.14.3 Italian affairs. For now it has seemed to me not out of place, having recorded all the events that took place in Libya, to proceed thus to the account 4.14.4 concerning Italy and the Goths. So this winter Belisarius spent in Syracuse, and So4.14.5 lomon in Carthage. And it came to pass that in this year a most dreadful portent occurred. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during this whole year, and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear 4.14.6 nor such as it is accustomed to shed. And from the time when this thing happened, men were free neither from war nor pestilence nor any other thing leading to death. And it was the time when Justinian was in the tenth year of his reign. 4.14.7 And at the beginning of spring, when the Christians were celebrating the festival which they call Paschalia, a mutiny broke out among the soldiers in Libya. How this arose and to what it en4.14.8 ded, I am about to tell. After the Vandals were defeated in the battle, as has been said by me before, the Roman soldiers took their daughters and wives in the po4.14.9 sition of wives. And each of them urged her husband to claim possession of the lands of which she herself had formerly been mistress, saying it was not right that, while living with the Vandals they enjoyed these things, yet having come in marriage to those who had conquered them, they should thus of their own possessions be depri4.14.10 ved. The soldiers, having these things in mind, did not think it right to yield to Solomon when he wished to register the lands of the Vandals for the public treasury and for the emperor's house, and when he said that it was not unreasonable for the slaves and all other property to go to the soldiers as booty, but that the land itself belonged to the emperor and the Roman state, which had both nurtured them and made them to be called and to be soldiers, not so that they might possess for themselves whatever lands they might take from barbarians invading the Roman empire, but so that these should go to the public treasury, from which it happens that both they themselves and all others receive their 4.14.11 rations. This, then, was one cause of the mutiny that occurred. And a certain other one happened to arise as follows, which was no less, if not even more, powerful to throw into confusion all 4.14.12 the affairs in Libya. In the Roman army it happened that there were no fewer than a thousand soldiers of the Arian belief; of whom

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τινα φυλακῆς ἕνεκα ἐν Νουμιδίᾳ καταστησάμενος (χειμὼν γὰρ 4.13.40 ἤδη ἦν) ξὺν τοῖς ἐπιλοίποις ἐς Καρχηδόνα ᾔει. ἔνθα δὴ ἕκαστα διεῖπέ τε καὶ διεκόσμει, ὅπως ἅμα ἦρι ἀρχομένῳ πλείονι παρασκευῇ καὶ, ἢν δύνηται, ξυμμάχων Μαυρουσίων ἐκτὸς ἐπὶ τὸ Αὐράσιον αὖθις 4.13.41 στρατεύοι. ἅμα δὲ καὶ στρατηγούς τε καὶ στρατιὰν ἄλλην καὶ νηῶν στόλον ἐπὶ Μαυρουσίους ἐξηρ4.13.42 τύετο, οἳ ἐν Σαρδοῖ τῇ νήσῳ ἵδρυνται· αὕτη γὰρ ἡ νῆσος μεγάλη μέν ἐστι καὶ ἄλλως εὐδαίμων, ἐς τὰς δύο μάλιστα τῆς Σικελίας κατατείνουσα μοίρας (ἡμερῶν γὰρ ὁδὸν εἴκοσιν εὐζώνῳ ἀνδρὶ τὸ τῆς γῆς περίμετρον ἔχει), Ῥώμης τε καὶ Καρχηδόνος ἐν μέσῳ κειμένη πρὸς Μαυρουσίων τῶν ταύτῃ ᾠκημένων πιέζεται. 4.13.43 Βανδίλοι γὰρ τὸ παλαιὸν ἐς τούτους τοὺς βαρβάρους ὀργῇ χρώμενοι ὀλίγους δή τινας σὺν ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἐς 4.13.44 Σαρδὼ πέμψαντες ἐνταῦθα εἷρξαν. χρόνου δὲ προϊόντος τὰ ὄρη καταλαμβάνουσιν, ἃ Καρανάλεως ἐγγύς πού ἐστι, τὰ μὲν πρῶτα λῃστείας ἐκ τοῦ ἀφανοῦς ἐς τοὺς περιοίκους ποιούμενοι, ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐχ ἧσσον ἐγένοντο ἢ τρισχίλιοι, καὶ ἐς τοὐμφανὲς καταθέοντες, λανθάνειν τε ἥκιστα ἀξιοῦντες ἅπαντα ἐληίζοντο τὰ ἐκείνῃ χωρία, Βαρβαρικῖνοι πρὸς τῶν ἐπιχωρίων καλούμενοι. 4.13.45 ἐπὶ τούτους δὴ τοὺς Μαυρουσίους ὁ Σολόμων ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χειμῶνι τὸν στόλον ἡτοίμαζε. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐν Λιβύῃ ἐφέρετο τῇδε. 4.14.1 Ἐν δὲ Ἰταλίᾳ κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τοὺς αὐτοὺς τάδε γενέσθαι τετύχηκε. Βελισάριος ἐπὶ Θευδᾶτόν τε καὶ τὸ Γότθων ἔθνος πρὸς Ἰουστινιανοῦ βασιλέως ἐστέλλετο, καταπλεύσας δὲ ἐς Σικελίαν ταύτην δὴ τὴν 4.14.2 νῆσον πόνῳ οὐδενὶ ἔσχεν. ὅντινα δὲ τρόπον, ἐν τοῖς ὄπισθέν μοι λόγοις λελέξεται, ὅτε με ὁ λόγος ἐς τῶν 4.14.3 Ἰταλικῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ἱστορίαν ἄγει. νῦν γάρ μοι οὐκ ἄπο τρόπου ἔδοξεν εἶναι ξύμπαντα ἀναγραψάμενον τὰ ἐν Λιβύῃ ξυνενεχθέντα οὕτω δὴ ἐπὶ τὸν λόγον 4.14.4 τὸν ἀμφὶ Ἰταλίαν τε καὶ Γότθους ἰέναι. τὸν μὲν οὖν χειμῶνα τοῦτον Βελισάριος μὲν ἐν Συρακούσαις, Σο4.14.5 λόμων δὲ ἐν Καρχηδόνι διέτριψε. καὶ τέρας ἐν τῷδε τῷ ἔτει ξυνηνέχθη γενέσθαι δεινότατον. ὁ γὰρ ἥλιος ἀκτίνων χωρὶς τὴν αἴγλην, ὥσπερ ἡ σελήνη, ἐς τοῦτον δὴ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἅπαντα ἠφίει, ἐκλείποντί τε ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐῴκει, τὴν ἀμαρυγὴν τὴν αὑτοῦ οὐ καθαρὰν 4.14.6 οὐδὲ ᾗπερ εἰώθει ποιούμενος. ἐξ οὗ τε ξυμβῆναι τοῦτο τετύχηκεν, οὔτε πόλεμος οὔτε λοιμὸς οὔτε τι ἄλλο ἐς θάνατον φέρον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπέλιπε. χρόνος δὲ ἦν, ὅτε δέκατον ἔτος Ἰουστινιανὸς τὴν βασιλείαν εἶχεν. 4.14.7 Ἅμα δὲ ἦρι ἀρχομένῳ, ὅτε οἱ Χριστιανοὶ ἑορτὴν ἦγον, ἣν δὴ Πασχαλίαν καλοῦσι, στρατιώταις στάσις ἐν Λιβύῃ ἐνέπεσεν. ἣ ὅπως τε ἐφύη καὶ ἐς ὅ τι ἐτε4.14.8 λεύτησεν, ἐρῶν ἔρχομαι. ἐπειδὴ Βανδίλοι ἡσσήθησαν τῇ μάχῃ, ὥσπερ μοι ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται, οἱ Ῥωμαίων στρατιῶται τὰς αὐτῶν παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας ἐν γα4.14.9 μετῶν ἐποιήσαντο λόγῳ. ἡ δὲ αὐτῶν ἑκάστη τὸν ἄνδρα ἐνῆγε τῶν χωρίων τῆς κτήσεως μεταποιεῖσθαι, ὧν αὐτὴ πρότερον κυρία ἐτύγχανεν οὖσα, οὐχ ὅσιον λέγουσα εἶναι, εἰ Βανδίλοις μὲν ξυνοικοῦσαι τούτων ἀπώναντο, τοῖς δὲ αὐτοὺς νενικηκόσιν ἐς γάμον ἐλθοῦσαι οὕτω δὴ τῶν σφίσιν ὑπαρχόντων στερή4.14.10 σονται. ταῦτα δὲ οἱ στρατιῶται ἐν νῷ ἔχοντες Σολόμωνι εἴκειν οὐκ ᾤοντο χρῆναι τὰ Βανδίλων χωρία ἔς τε τὸ δημόσιον καὶ ἐς τὸν βασιλέως οἶκον ἐθέλοντι ἀναγράψασθαι, φάσκοντί τε ὡς τὰ μὲν ἀνδράποδα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα χρήματα τοῖς στρατιώταις ἐς λάφυρα ἰέναι οὐκ ἀπεικὸς εἶναι, γῆν μέντοι αὐτὴν βασιλεῖ τε καὶ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχῇ προσήκειν, ἥπερ αὐτοὺς ἐξέθρεψέ τε καὶ στρατιώτας καλεῖσθαί τε καὶ εἶναι πεποίηκεν, οὐκ ἐφ' ᾧ σφίσιν αὐτοῖς τὰ χωρία κεκτήσονται, ὅσα ἂν βαρβάρους ἐπιβατεύοντας τῆς Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας ἀφέλοιντο, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ᾧ ἐς τὸ δημόσιον ταῦτα ἰέναι, ὅθεν σφίσι τε ξυμβαίνει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασι τὰς 4.14.11 σιτήσεις κομίζεσθαι. αὕτη μὲν τῆς στάσεως αἰτία ξυνέπεσε μία. καὶ ἑτέραν δέ τινα ξυνηνέχθη γενέσθαι τοιάνδε, ἣ οὐδέν τι ἧσσον, εἰ μὴ καὶ μᾶλλον, ἅπαντα 4.14.12 ξυνταράξαι τὰ ἐν Λιβύῃ πράγματα ἴσχυσεν. ἐν τῷ Ῥωμαίων στρατοπέδῳ τῆς Ἀρείου δόξης οὐχ ἧσσον ἢ χιλίους στρατιώτας εἶναι ξυνέπεσεν· ὧν